The US secretary of health and human services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has directed the Food and Drug Administration to revise safety rules to help eliminate a provision that allows companies to self-affirm that food ingredients are safe. The move would increase transparency for consumers as well as the FDA’s oversight of food ingredients considered … Read more
An increase in Valentine’s Day gift-buying brought relief for retailers last month amid February’s “grey days”, as consumers held back from spending on big-ticket items, according to industry figures. Jewellery purchases linked to Valentine’s Day were one of the highlights of an otherwise lacklustre month when sales inched ahead, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. … Read more
On day one of his presidency, Donald Trump issued a directive abruptly ending the government’s use of CBP One – an online application that had served as the primary means for people at the southern border to apply for asylum in the US. On Monday, the administration announced it has reimagined the app as a … Read more
All foreign nationals in the UK who receive a criminal conviction would be deported under a new Conservative party policy. The Tory plan would introduce an amendment to the government’s borders bill that would remove the current threshold, in which foreign criminals are only removed after being handed a prison sentence of one year. The … Read more
A health watchdog claimed that Michael Gove wanted to “circumvent” the regulatory process to push through a bid by James Dyson to supply NHS ventilators during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 inquiry heard. Gove, who was the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (CDL), denied seeking to pressure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency … Read more
Colombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, is a vocal critic of the US-led war on drugs, has urged the UN to remove coca – the main ingredient in cocaine – from a list of harmful substances. Used not only for cocaine, the coca leaf is also chewed as a stimulant in countries such as Colombia, Peru, … Read more
The US stock market continued to drop on Monday as the White House denied that Donald Trump’s trade policies were causing lasting chaos within the economy. The S&P 500 fell 2.7%, the Dow Jones dropped 2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 4% as investors sold shares in the so-called “magnificent seven” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, … Read more
A top official in the US state department deleted abusive tweets in which he said the then Florida senator Marco Rubio – who is now secretary of state – had a “low IQ” and spread unsubstantiated rumors about his sexuality, CNN reported. In tweets from 7 January 2021, Darren Beattie referred to scurrilous online rumors … Read more
NHS England will lose half its staff and a huge swathe of its senior management team as part of a brutal restructuring under its new boss. Its workforce will shrink from 13,000 to about 6,500 as entire teams are axed to save money and avoid “duplication” with officials at the Department of Health and Social … Read more
Greenland’s prime minister said voters face a “fateful choice” as the Arctic island prepares to go to the polls in a pivotal election closely watched by Europe and the US. The vote on Tuesday has attracted global attention after Donald Trump’s repeated assertions about acquiring the autonomous territory, using military and economic force if necessary. … Read more