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The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday banned the use of red dye No. 3 in foods, drinks and drugs, more than three decades after the synthetic dye was found to cause cancer in male laboratory rats.The dye, a petroleum-based additive, has been used to give candy, soda and other products their vibrant cherry-red hue. Consumer advocates said the FDA's decision to revoke the authorization was long overdue, given the agency's decision in 1990 to ban the chemical's use in cosmetics and topical medications.Under federal rules, the FDA is prohibited from approving food additives that cause cancer in humans or animals.“This is wonderful and long overdue news,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, one of several organizations that have...

After more than 15 months of nearly non-stop fighting in Gaza, diplomats trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expressed cautious hope Tuesday that a deal may finally be within reach.But that optimism has been tempered by uncertainty over whether both sides would ultimately agree, what details might still change and the experience of past months in which ceasefire talks have repeatedly failed.“We believe we are in the final stages, but until we have an announcement, there will be no announcement,” Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of one of the mediating countries, Qatar, told reporters on Tuesday.Here's what we know about the potential ceasefire agreement.What is the status of the talks?US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said Tuesday that Israel and ...

Princess Catherine, wife of Prince William, reported Tuesday that her cancer was in remission. But what does it mean to be in remission from cancer?Doctors unexpectedly discovered her cancer last March when she underwent abdominal surgery. He did not reveal the type of cancer he has, nor how advanced it was when it was discovered.But she said she had chemotherapy, which she said was completed in September. He told British news agency PA Media that he has a port, a small device that is implanted under the skin and connected to a catheter that enters a large vein. It allows medicines such as chemotherapy drugs to be administered directly into the chest veins, avoiding needle sticks.Catherine told PA Media that the chemotherapy was "really tough".“It's a relief to now be in remission and I re...

Meta plans to fire up to 5% of its employees based on performance evaluations, according to an internal memo to workers seen by The New York Times on Tuesday.“I set out to raise the bar on performance management and weed out low-performing workers faster,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, said in the statement. “We typically manage people who don't meet expectations over the course of a year, but now we will make larger cuts based on performance during this cycle.”Zuckerberg said in the memo that workers whose roles were cut will be replaced by new hires in 2025.The layoffs came days after Meta announced sweeping changes to its content moderation policies. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, said it will no longer police certain types of hate speech, ...

At Azara Ballet, dancers are not expected to maintain eye contact with directors and choreographers. If company members need an impromptu break from the bright stage lights during rehearsals, they take one. They also receive clear guidance on hair and makeup well in advance of the performances.The priority at Azara is the health of the dancers. Founded in 2022 by dancers Kate Flowers and Martin Roosaare, who are both autistic (and are a married couple), the company, which is based in Sarasota and Bradenton, Florida, is a haven for neurodivergent artists. (The company is made up of 10 dancers, not all of whom are neurodivergent.)“When I dance,” Flowers said, “as long as it's in a good environment and a safe space, expression through nonverbal movement is something that helps me a lot.”Azara...

High-level ceasefire talks appeared to gain momentum Monday, as Arab and American mediators pressed for a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and release hostages held by Hamas before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes over. assignment on January 20th.It is not yet clear whether the sides have reached a resolution on all the central disputes that proved insurmountable in previous rounds of negotiations, but officials have expressed optimism that a deal is possible.President Biden suggested on Monday that a deal between Israel and Hamas was imminent. “We are on the brink of a proposal that I detailed months ago about the war between Israel and Hamas finally coming to fruition,” he said in a foreign policy speech.Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said there was "a real possibilit...

Greenland is ready to talk.Responding Monday to the diplomatic earthquake unleashed last week by President-elect Donald J. Trump as he contemplated seizing the giant island in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland's prime minister said the territory would like to work more closely with the United States on defense and natural resources.“The reality is that we will work with the United States – yesterday, today and tomorrow,” Prime Minister Múte Egede said at a news conference in Nuuk, Greenland's small frozen capital.But he was firm: Greenlanders did not want to become Americans.“We have to be very smart in how we act,” he said, adding: “The power struggles between the superpowers are increasing and now they are knocking on our door.”Trump has refused to rule out using economic or military force to ...

The Biden administration on Monday issued sweeping rules regulating how artificial intelligence chips and models can be shared with foreign countries, in an effort to create a global framework that will guide the spread of artificial intelligence around the world for years to come.With the power of artificial intelligence growing rapidly, the Biden administration has said the rules are needed to keep a transformative technology under the control of the United States and its allies, and out of the hands of adversaries who could use it to enhance its armies, carry out cyberattack operations, and otherwise threaten the United States.Tech companies have protested the new rules, saying they threaten their sales and the future prospects of the American tech industry.The rules place various limit...

To overcome this problem, one of the major projects funded by HEAL focuses on studying the nervous systems of people with chronic pain more directly, in part by recovering malfunctioning dorsal root ganglia and trigeminal nerves from patients undergoing surgery for chronic pain, as well as from cadaver donors. . These samples are then cultured and examined using a range of new technologies – things like proteomics, spatial transcriptomics and metabolomics – to see how they differ from normal tissue. The goal, Gereau explained, is to identify what changes occur at the cellular level when pain becomes chronic and to create an atlas of those mechanisms and variations. Understanding this, he added, would eventually open the door to precision medicine, in which drugs could be designed to specif...

As Western diplomats explore the possibility of establishing ties with the rebels who have seized power in Syria, a religious minority has led its own diplomatic push to ensure protection for its members as the country rebuilds.A representative of the group, the Druze, recently traveled to Washington to meet with lawmakers, members of the Biden and Trump administrations and diplomats to plead their case.“We are very worried about the future,” Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif said in an interview in Washington, where he urged US officials to prioritize the protection of Syria's 1.2 million Druze as part of their engagement with the new government of village.In December, after a long civil war, a coalition of Syrian rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad and established an interim government. The re...