内容摘要：, but Putin has effectively rejected it by imposing far-reaching conditions.

, but Putin has effectively rejected it by imposing far-reaching conditions.

It is molded into noodles and sheets and fermented into wine. In busy markets, motorcyclists lug 10-kilogram (22-pound) bags to their homes. Barges haul mountains of the grain up and down the Mekong River. Rice kernels are then dried and hulled by machines before they’re packed for sale in factories, lined from floor to ceiling with sacks of rice.Rice shop owner Vo Tan Nha and his wife eat bowls of rice for lunch in their shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Rice shop owner Vo Tan Nha and his wife eat bowls of rice for lunch in their shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)Van has been working with one of Vietnam’s largest rice exporters, the Loc Troi Group, for the past two years and is using a different method of irrigation known as alternate wetting and drying, or AWD. This requires less water than traditional farming since his paddy fields aren’t continuously submerged. They also produce less methane.Using the drone to fertilize the crops saves on labor costs. With

, Van said that it’s harder to find people to work the farms. It also ensures precise amounts of fertilizers are applied. Too much fertilizer causes the soil to release Earth-warming nitrogen gases.Workers scoop paddy rice into the mouth of a vacuum tube on a boat for processing at Hoang Minh Nhat, a rice export company in Can Tho, Vietnam, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Workers scoop paddy rice into the mouth of a vacuum tube on a boat for processing at Hoang Minh Nhat, a rice export company in Can Tho, Vietnam, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A worker carries a bag of rice at a warehouse in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)Orthodox Christian monk Father Spyridon speaks with a newly married French couple Thomas and Valentine on their way to the Monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa in Amorgos island, Greece, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Orthodox Christian monk Father Spyridon speaks with a newly married French couple Thomas and Valentine on their way to the Monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa in Amorgos island, Greece, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)Especially during Lent, Father Spyridon cherishes his mission to be present for his people – whether a short walk away or visiting from around the world.

“People are sent by God and it’s the responsibility of the monks to welcome them and feed their hunger for spirituality and for a better hope for the future,” he said.The monastery is blinding white in the Aegean sunshine. During the pitch-black nights, its small windows are the only specks of light in the swirl of stars.