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San Francisco is suing makers of the ultra-processed food that health experts say has led millions of Americans into obesity during decades of over-consumption, the city said Tuesday.In what officials said was a first-of-a-kind lawsuit, the liberal California city is taking to task some of the largest names in groceries, including Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Kellogg.”These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said. “They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body.”Ultra-processed food, including candies, chips, sodas and breakfast cereals, are typically made from ingredients that have been broken down, chemically modified and combined with artificial additives.They frequently contain colors, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, thickeners, foaming agents and emulsifiers, and typically cannot be produced in the home.”Americans want to avoid ultra-processed foods, but we are inundated by them. These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused,” Chiu said.- A common cause -With its lawsuit, lodged in San Francisco Superior Court, the Democratic-run city is making common cause with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement that has coalesced around Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy.The movement is a significant part of the fractious coalition that President Donald Trump rode to the White House for his second term in office.Kennedy has frequently taken aim at processed foods, calling them “poison” and blaming them for rising obesity, chronic illness and poor health, especially among young people.The US Centers for Disease Control says 40 percent of Americans are obese, and almost 16 percent have diabetes, a condition that can result from being excessively overweight.The lawsuit lodged Tuesday, which is demanding unspecified damages, claims that around 70 percent of the products sold in US supermarkets are ultra-processed.It says manufacturers employed a similar strategy to that of tobacco companies, pushing a product they knew was harmful with marketing that ignored or obscured the risks.”Just like Big Tobacco, the ultra-processed food industry targeted children to increase their profits,” a statement said.”The companies surrounded children with consistent product messages and inundated them with advertising using cartoon mascots like Tony the Tiger and Fred Flintstone.”Despite having actual knowledge of the harm they had caused, the ultra-processed food industry continued to inundate children with targeted marketing and make increasingly addictive products with little nutritional value.Sarah Gallo of the Consumer Brands Association, an umbrella grouping of many of the companies targeted in the suit, said manufacturers “support Americans in making healthier choices and enhancing product transparency.””There is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods and attempting to classify foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities.”Companies adhere to the rigorous evidence-based safety standards established by the (government) to deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers depend on every day.”

An Afghan man accused of shooting two members of the National Guard near the White House, killing one, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder charges.Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who was injured during last month’s attack, entered the plea by video feed from a hospital bed, US media reported.Lakanwal is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Sarah Beckstrom, 20, a National Guard member from West Virginia, as well as assault with intent to kill and firearms offenses.Andrew Wolfe, another National Guardsman from West Virginia, was wounded in the November 26 attack and is in critical condition.Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond ordered Lakanwal detained until the next hearing in the case on January 14.- Death penalty sought -Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she plans to seek the death penalty for Lakanwal, who entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to US officials.According to a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, Lakanwal ambushed Beckstrom and Wolfe while they were on a routine patrol outside a metro station in downtown Washington.Another National Guard member who was on the scene was quoted in the complaint as saying that he saw Lakanwal open fire and scream “Allahu Akbar!”The National Guard soldier drew his weapon, shot and wounded Lakanwal and then restrained him as he attempted to reload his gun, the complaint said.US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said over the weekend that Lakanwal may have been radicalized after entering the United States.A resident of the western US state of Washington, he allegedly drove cross-country to carry out the shooting — an attack that shocked Americans on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. President Donald Trump’s administration suspended visas for all Afghan nationals following the attack and froze decisions in all asylum cases.Lakanwal was granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, but officials have blamed what they called lax vetting by the government of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden for his admission to US soil during the Afghan airlift.The Justice Department announced meanwhile that an Afghan man has been charged in Texas with threatening to build a bomb and carry out a suicide attack on Americans.Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, 30, of Fort Worth, allegedly praised the Taliban and made the threats in a November 23 video that he shared on TikTok, X and Facebook, the department said in a statement.”Thanks to public reports of a threatening online video, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended this individual before he could commit an act of violence,” FBI Dallas special agent in charge Joseph Rothrock said.Alokozay faces up to five years in prison if convicted of making a threatening interstate communication.

The American at the forefront of negotiating an end to the Ukraine war is not a veteran diplomat or the US secretary of state but a billionaire real estate developer, Steve Witkoff.Much like President Donald Trump — for years his friend and golfing partner — Witkoff came to the world stage without traditional experience. Instead, he relies on what the two men believe is a successful instinct in human relations and deal-making.For Trump, the 68-year-old Witkoff brings the quality the president most cherishes: personal loyalty. But Witkoff has drawn wide criticism from those who believe he is out of his depth and has shown too much deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Moscow on Tuesday.”I liked him. I thought he was straight up with me,” Witkoff said in March after meeting Putin, who has ruthlessly targeted opponents at home and abroad.”I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy. That is a complicated situation, that war, and all the ingredients that led up to it,” Witkoff said.More recently, Bloomberg News reported a telephone conversation in which Witkoff offered advice to one of Putin’s advisors on the best way to present to Trump a plan to end the Ukraine war.According to the transcript, Witkoff said during the call that he believes Russia — which started the war in Ukraine by launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022 — “has always wanted a peace deal” and that he has “the deepest respect for President Putin.”Witkoff flew to Moscow with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, after meeting Ukrainian negotiators in Florida. An initial version of the plan would ask Ukraine to cede territory that Russia has not won on the battlefield in return for security promises to Ukraine that fall well short of Kyiv’s hopes to join NATO.Trump has fumed about billions of dollars in US assistance to Ukraine and mused in the past that time was on Russia’s side.- Unorthodox approach -It was the latest trip this year to Russia by Witkoff, who was tapped after Trump’s election victory last year as his special envoy on the Middle East and quickly expanded his remit beyond negotiating two ceasefires in Gaza.Witkoff quickly showed he was willing to break traditions to get deals. He worked alongside the outgoing administration of Joe Biden for the first of the ceasefires.At one point, Witkoff flew from the discussions in Qatar to Israel to personally press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept. It was an unusual meeting held on Saturday, when official Israel is closed due to the Jewish Sabbath — Witkoff is also Jewish.In another break with protocol, Witkoff has met directly with representatives of Hamas, which the United States bans as a terrorist group, to push them on a deal.After Israel targeted Hamas leaders meeting in September in Qatar, a close US partner, Witkoff personally offered condolences in Cairo to the top Hamas negotiator, Khalil al-Haya, whose son was killed in the Israeli strike.”I told him that I had lost a son, and that we were both members of a really bad club, parents who have buried children,” Witkoff later told CBS News program “60 Minutes.” Witkoff often speaks of his son Andrew, who died of an opioid overdose at age 22 in 2011.Witkoff was born in the Bronx and made his fortune in real estate, first as a lawyer and later as head of a property group. Forbes estimates his wealth at $2 billion.

Computer tycoon Michael Dell and his wife Susan said Tuesday they were giving $6.25 billion to children’s trust funds under a scheme set up by US President Donald Trump.So-called “Trump accounts” containing $1,000 for all children born after January 1, 2025 were part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that the Republican president pushed through Congress in July.But the Dell donation will now fund $250 deposits in saving accounts for at least 25 million children aged 10 and under, who were born before the cut-off point for the original program.”This will give millions of children a stake in American prosperity, a benefit from the rising stock market, and a better shot at the American dream,” Trump said in a ceremony at the White House.”This is truly one of the most generous acts in the history of our country.”The Dell Technologies founder and CEO, 60, said he hoped the accounts would teach children to save for their own futures.”We kind of started with a smaller amount to be honest” but then decided to donate more money, Michael Dell said.”We believe this is the greatest investment we can possibly make in children,” added Susan Dell.The “Trump accounts” will be available to children once they turn 18.The Dells’ gift will reach nearly 80 percent of children aged 10 and under, particularly targeting those in areas with the lowest income, their charitable foundation said in a fact sheet.The “Trump accounts” for newborns were part of the unpopular tax and spending bill that Trump pushed Republicans to get through a reluctant Congress and cement his second term agenda.The bill also included massive new funding for Trump’s migrant deportation drive, while gutting health and welfare support and sparking concerns that it would balloon the US national debt.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted that he wants to nominate his chief economic adviser Kevin Hassett to replace outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell next year.Introducing guests at a White House event attended by Hassett, Trump said: “It’s a great group, and I guess a potential Fed chair is here too.”He added: “I don’t know, are we allowed to say that, potential? He’s a respected person that I can tell you. Thank you, Kevin.”At a meeting of his cabinet earlier in the day, Trump said he would announce his pick “probably early next year for the new chairman of the Fed.””I think we probably looked at 10 and we have it down to one,” he said.Hassett, a PhD economist, is currently chair of the National Economic Council, a White House body which advises the president and his cabinet on policymaking.He frequently appears on television touting the president’s policies.During Trump’s first term, he served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, another body more dedicated to research and analysis.While Hassett’s loyalty to Trump could open the doors to a Fed nomination, it is also likely to be a key discussion topic among the political and financial class as he seeks confirmation by the Republican-controlled Senate.He will have to convince Senators — and markets — that he is capable of preserving the central bank’s independence and won’t let inflation spiral out of control in the world’s biggest economy.He has joined Trump in publicly criticizing the Fed over its interest-rate decisions, calling for more cuts this year, though he has not used harsh language against Powell like the president.The term of current Fed Chair Powell ends in May 2026.Trump tried unsuccessfully to hasten Powell’s departure, hurling insults and recriminations at the man he picked for the job during his first term in the White House.Since then, Trump has said he bitterly regrets this choice as Powell has resisted pressure to lower interest rates quickly enough.On Tuesday, Trump referred to the Fed chairman as a “stubborn ox” and alleged that the decision to not lower rates more quickly was motivated by personal animus.

The United States will scale back certain drug-safety testing requirements on monkeys, federal regulators said Tuesday, as President Donald Trump’s administration pushes ahead with its pledge to reduce animal use in research.Under new draft guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), computer models, lab-grown mini-organs, and human studies will replace six-month repeat-dose toxicity tests in monkeys for monoclonal antibodies — lab-engineered proteins used to treat cancers, autoimmune conditions and more.”We are delivering on our roadmap commitment to eliminate animal testing requirements in drug evaluation and our promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a statement.The statement added that typical nonclinical programs involving monoclonal antibodies could include more than 100 macaque monkeys — apes are no longer used in any invasive research in the US — yet often do not yield human-approved treatments.The move was welcomed by animal-advocacy groups.Zaher Nahle, a former animal researcher who is now the senior scientific advisor for nonprofit Center for a Humane Economy, told AFP the move was an “important step.””These primates are not reliable in terms of predicting the toxicity, so you can get at least equal or better results in terms of your accuracy in predicting toxicology using other approaches,” he added.What’s more, he noted, studies show that more than 90 percent of drugs deemed safe and effective in animals fail to win approval for human use.The FDA’s announcement follows a report in the journal Science last month that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would close its primate labs, and comes amid broader efforts by federal agencies to shift animal research toward newer technologies.It “moves us one step closer to wiping out the federal government’s wasteful monkey business,” Justin Goodman of White Coat Waste Project told AFP.But the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the country’s primary biomedical research agency — remains a notable “outlier,” he added. According to public data collected by his organization, 7,700 primates are confined in federal government labs and breeding facilities, of which 6,700 are at NIH.- ‘We still need animals’ -Among researchers, the move sparked concern about moving too far, too fast.Deborah Fuller, director of the Washington National Primate Research Center — one of seven such centers established by the NIH in the 1960s — said the FDA’s decision to reduce antibody-toxicity testing in monkeys was “very reasonable” noting that non-animal methods are suitable for this purpose.But she warned that moving too quickly in other areas could jeopardize drug development.”This needs to be driven by the science and the data, not by (the) ideology of people just wanting to suddenly end animal research because it feels good and sounds good,” she told AFP.”In terms of the next cures and biomedical advances, we still need animals,” she said, adding that non-animal methods aren’t yet as capable and that preclinical animal safety testing is the reason “you’re not hearing about people dying” during clinical trials.Proponents of animal testing also argue the research has been indispensable for major medical advances, including vaccines for diphtheria, yellow fever, measles and Covid-19.Critics counter that decades-old laws have created regulatory lock-in, that publication incentives reward animal studies in top journals, and that a lucrative “animal-industrial complex” has helped entrench the status quo.

The defense for the 27-year-old suspect accused of killing a top health insurance executive in New York sought to exclude evidence presented by the prosecution as he appeared in court for a second day Tuesday.Luigi Mangione is charged with the second-degree murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest US health insurer. Thompson, 50, was shot dead on a Manhattan street on December 4, 2024.Mangione, who comes from a wealthy Boston family, has become a lightning rod for anger against the US commercial healthcare system, but also a reminder of growing incidents of deadly violence perpetrated against public figures in the country.His lawyers requested a preliminary hearing in the murder case brought by the State of New York.Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s restaurant in the state of Pennsylvania, days after last year’s shooting.Police found in his backpack a pistol equipped with a silencer and a notebook where he wrote grievances against the healthcare system.According to police, the bullet shell casings at the murder scene matched the weapon Mangione was carrying.But Mangione’s lawyers argue that the defendant’s rights were violated.In their motion, seen by AFP, they say that the evidence recovered from his backpack “must be suppressed because law enforcement failed to obtain a search warrant before searching the backpack.”They also argue that Mangione’s statements to police inside the McDonald’s should be excluded “as they were the result of custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings” about his rights.  In September, a judge threw out two terror charges against Mangione, but he is still accused of second degree murder. If convicted he could face life imprisonment without parole. He also faces federal charges.

The United States has “only just begun” targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted Tuesday, despite a growing outcry over strikes that critics say amount to extrajudicial killings.Hegseth and President Donald Trump’s administration have come under fire particularly over an incident in which US forces launched a follow-up strike on the wreckage of a vessel that had already been hit, reportedly killing two survivors.Both the White House and Pentagon have sought to distance Hegseth from that decision — which some US lawmakers have said could be a war crime — instead pinning the blame on the admiral who directly oversaw the operation.”We’ve only just begun striking narco boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean, because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting.”We’ve had a bit of a pause because it’s hard to find boats to strike right now — which is the entire point, right? Deterrence has to matter,” Hegseth said.The Pentagon chief said he watched the first strike but “did not personally see survivors,” while also defending the second attack, saying it was the “correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”Earlier on Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson insisted that the strikes were legal.The operations “are lawful under both US and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict,” she told a news conference.- Hegseth backs follow-on strikes -Wilson also repeated the White House’s assertion that Admiral Frank Bradley — who now leads US Special Operations Command — made “the decision to re-strike the narco-terrorist vessel,” saying the senior Navy officer was “operating under clear and long-standing authorities to ensure the boat was destroyed.””Any follow-on strikes like those which were directed by Admiral Bradley, the secretary 100 percent agrees with,” she added.Wilson spoke to a friendly audience, with dozens of journalists who refused to sign a new restrictive Pentagon media policy earlier in the year barred from the event.Trump’s administration insists it is effectively at war with alleged “narco-terrorists” and began carrying out strikes in early September on vessels it says were transporting drugs — a campaign that has so far left more than 80 dead.The follow-up strike that killed survivors took place on September 2 and would appear to run afoul of the Pentagon’s own Law of War Manual, which states that “orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.”Democratic senators have slammed the September 2 strikes, with Jacky Rosen and Chris Van Hollen saying the incident may be a war crime, and Chris Murphy accusing Hegseth of “passing the buck.”Trump has deployed the world’s biggest aircraft and an array of other military assets to the Caribbean, insisting they are there for counter-narcotics operations.Regional tensions have flared as a result of the strikes and the military buildup, with Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro accusing Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change” in Caracas.Maduro, whose re-election last year was rejected by Washington as fraudulent, insists there is no drug cultivation in Venezuela, which he says is used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will.

Amazon Web Services launched its in-house-built Trainium3 AI chip on Tuesday, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia in the lucrative market for artificial intelligence computing power.The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia currently dominates with an estimated 80- to 90-percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT.Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia, currently the world’s most valuable company and a bellwether for the AI investment frenzy.This followed the release of Google’s latest AI model last month that was trained using the company’s own in-house chips, not Nvidia’s.AWS, which will make the technology available to its cloud computing clients, said its new chip is lower cost than rivals and delivers over four times the computing performance of its predecessor while using 40 percent less energy.”Trainium3 offers the industry’s best price performance for large scale AI training and inference,” AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in Las Vegas. Inference is the execution phase of AI, where the model stops scouring the internet for training and starts performing tasks in real-world scenarios.Energy consumption is one of the major concerns about the AI revolution, with major tech companies having to scale back or pause their net-zero emissions commitments as they race to keep up on the technology.AWS said its chip can reduce the cost of training and operating AI models by up to 50 percent compared with systems that use equivalent graphics processing units, or GPUs, mainly from Nvidia.”Training cutting-edge models now requires infrastructure investments that only a handful of organizations can afford,” AWS said, positioning Trainium3 as a way to democratize access to high-powered AI computing.AWS said several companies are already using the technology, including Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI assistant and a competitor to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. AWS also announced it is already developing Trainium4, expected to deliver at least three times the performance of Trainium3 for standard AI workloads.The next-generation chip will support Nvidia’s technology, allowing it to work alongside that company’s servers and hardware.Amazon’s in-house chip development reflects a broader trend among cloud providers seeking to reduce dependence on external suppliers while offering customers more cost-effective alternatives for AI workloads.Nvidia puzzled industry observers last week when it responded to Google’s successes in an unusual post on X, saying the company was “delighted” by the competition before adding that Nvidia “is a generation ahead of the industry.” 

A former Honduran president convicted of helping to smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the United States has left prison after being pardoned by President Donald Trump, his wife said Tuesday.Juan Orlando Hernandez was released from a West Virginia prison on Monday and was “once again a free man,” his wife announced on social media. He had been sentenced last year to more than four decades behind bars.Trump’s pardon — issued as the US military carries out a controversial campaign against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America — has provoked fierce criticism from his political opponents and bewilderment by some allies.The ex-president’s release also comes as Hondurans await final results from Sunday’s razor-close presidential election, in which Trump backed the candidate of Hernandez’s right-wing party.Hernandez’s pardon came as a surprise, given Trump has made an ostensible war against Latin American drug trafficking a centerpiece in his turbulent second term.A large contingent of US military forces are deployed in the Caribbean to pressure Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration has designated as part of a drug cartel.US forces are regularly blowing up small boats alleged to be carrying drugs, despite international experts saying the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.Trump is also deeply involved in the Honduran election, where authorities say the result remains too close to call after a preliminary vote count.Trump is backing right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura, who holds a paper-thin lead. Trump warned late Tuesday there would be “hell to pay” if Honduras tries “to change the results.”Rixi Moncada, the ruling party candidate in Sunday’s election who is trailing far behind her right-wing rivals, accused Trump of “interventionist” meddling. – Alleged cartel links -Hernandez, who is from the same party as Asfura, led the Central American nation from 2014 to 2022.He was accused by US prosecutors of years-long efforts to aid drug cartels, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel — designated by the Trump administration this year as a terrorist organization.Hernandez was extradited just weeks after leaving office, convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison.Trump said last week that Hernandez “has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly.”Hernandez’s wife Ana Garcia de Hernandez posted on social media that the release on Monday “was a day we will never forget.””After almost four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernandez is once again a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump.”- ‘Doesn’t make any sense’ -The pardon came under fire from US lawmakers.”Trump is illegally blowing up boats in the Caribbean — supposedly to stop drugs coming into the US. Yet he pardons the former president of Honduras who was convicted of sending cocaine to the US,” Democratic Senator Ed Markey posted on X.”It doesn’t make any sense. Whatever Trump is doing in Venezuela, it’s not about drugs.”Senator Bill Cassidy, from Trump’s Republican Party, also slammed Trump’s move.”Why would we pardon this guy and then go after Maduro for running drugs into the United States?” he asked on X.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday defended Trump, depicting Hernandez as the victim of prosecutorial overreach under former president Joe Biden.”He was opposed to the values of the previous administration and they charged him because he was president of Honduras,” Leavitt said.