Latest news with #Rishi Sunak
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Trump says Coca-Cola will change a major ingredient
Donald Trump has announced Coca-Cola has agreed to start using cane sugar in its American-made drinks, replacing the high fructose corn syrup that has sweetened the beverage for decades. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Mr Trump wrote: 'I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so.' 'I'd like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola.' 'This will be a very good move by them - You'll see. It's just better!' Coca-Cola did not confirm a change to its formula but a spokesperson said 'we appreciate President Trump's enthusiasm for our iconic Coca‑Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.' Most Coca-Cola sold outside the US uses cane sugar, including the popular 'Mexican Coke' available in glass bottles. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak described himself as a Coca-Cola addict and has said the Mexican version of the drink is the best. The American version has long relied on corn-based sweeteners, a cheaper alternative introduced widely in the 1980s. Medical experts generally say there is little nutritional difference between cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Famously, Mr Trump's favourite drink is Diet Coke. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr recalled Dana White, the chief executive of UFC, telling him that he had 'never seen Trump drink a glass of water '. In his first term, Mr Trump, had a red button installed on his Oval Office desk so that he could summon a Diet Coke at a moment's notice. It was later removed by his successor, Joe Biden. In January, Coca-Cola's chief executive presented Mr Trump with a custom-made bottle featuring his name, the date of his inauguration on January 20, and a picture of the White House, a symbolic gesture ahead of his anticipated return to the presidency. The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of processed food ingredients, particularly under the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative. Spearheaded by RFK Jr, the campaign has urged major food and beverage manufacturers to eliminate artificial dyes, seed oils, and high fructose corn syrup from their products. As a long-time critic of processed foods, RFK Jr warned about the role of added sugars and artificial ingredients in chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes especially in children. The potential change has sparked backlash from corn industry leaders. 'Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn't make sense,' said Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode. 'Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.' Mr Trump's home state of Florida is the nation's leading producer of sugarcane, while many of the states most reliant on corn production are key political battlegrounds in the Midwest.
Sky News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Starmer says former Tory ministers have 'serious questions to answer' over Afghan data breach
Sir Keir Starmer has said former Tory ministers have "serious questions to answer" about how the names of Afghans who worked with UK forces were exposed. Nearly 7,000 Afghan nationals are being relocated to the UK after their names were accidentally sent in an email in February 2022, when Boris Johnson was prime minister, but the leak was only discovered by the British military in August 2023, when Rishi Sunak was PM. A super-injunction, preventing the reporting of the mistake, was imposed that year in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. The Conservative government at the time then started transporting thousands of Afghans to the UK in secret as they were in danger. On Tuesday, the injunction was lifted. 3:56 Kicking off Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said: "Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen. "The chair of the defence committee has indicated that he intends to hold further inquiries. "I welcome that and hope that those who are in office at the time will welcome that scrutiny." The data breach saw a defence official accidentally release details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch avoided mentioning the data breach, but Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said it was "shocking" how it had been kept secret for three years. Sir Ed said the prime minister will have the Lib Dems' support if he decides to pursue a public inquiry. Mr Healey's Tory predecessor, Sir Ben Wallace, said he makes "no apology" for applying for the initial four-month injunction and insisted it was "not a cover-up". The scheme, which had been kept under wraps until yesterday, has so far cost hundreds of millions of pounds. However, the total cost to the taxpayer of existing schemes to assist Afghans who are deemed eligible for British support, as well as the additional cost from the breach, will come to at least £6bn. 1:59 Earlier, Defence Secretary John Healey told Sky News he is "deeply uncomfortable" with the government using a super-injunction to keep the massive data breach hidden. He said: "I'm really deeply uncomfortable with the idea that a government applies for a super-injunction. "If there are any [other] super-injunctions in place, I just have to tell you - I don't know about them. I haven't been read into them. "The important thing here now is that we've closed the scheme." Mr Healey was informed of the breach while in opposition, and earlier this year he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted. He said "accountability starts now" and added Labour had to deal with the risks, court papers, intelligence assessments and different schemes when they came to power last summer before they could lift the injunction.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
UK set up secret Afghan immigration scheme after data leak
The UK government set up a secret multibillion-pound scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to Britain after a data leak put them at risk of reprisals from the Taliban – and gagged the media with a super-injunction. The names, contact information and other personal details of about 25,000 Afghans, people who worked closely with the UK before the Taliban seized power and some of their family members, were accidentally disclosed by a British soldier in emails in February 2022. The leak of the vast, highly sensitive database was not discovered until August 2023 when it was mentioned in a Facebook group. About 100,000 people were put at risk, the government estimated, when wider family members were included. It also contained email addresses belonging to UK government officials. In response, ministers in Rishi Sunak's former Conservative government instituted a secret scheme to bring Afghans to the UK. READ MORE [ International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women Opens in new window ] The plan as recently as February this year, under Keir Starmer's current Labour administration, was to relocate 25,000 people, at a potential cost of £7 billion (€8 billion), according to a government estimate. 'The current policy response to the [data] incident will mean relocating circa 25,000 Afghans, who have previously been found ineligible for the [Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy] scheme, but who we assess to be at the highest risk of targeting by the Taliban should they have access to the database. This will mean relocating more Afghans to the UK than have been relocated under the ARAP scheme, at time when the UK's immigration and asylum system is under significant strain. This will extend the scheme for another 5 years at a cost of [about] £7 billion. Implementation of the policy has also required unprecedented legal action, in the form of the 'super injunction' that has consequences for scrutiny and transparency.' In recent weeks, as the High Court in London took steps towards lifting the veil on the affair, the government cut short the scheme. British intelligence had previously assessed that the breach had put the Afghans at risk of murder, torture, harassment and intimidation by the Taliban. The UK's ministry of defence said this month that a new review of threats in Afghanistan had found the risk to Afghans still in the country was less than previously thought. Despite the £7 billion estimate revealed in court proceedings, MoD officials said this week that the direct costs of the leak had only ever been estimated at about £2 billion (€2.3 billion), and that the bill for the covert evacuations would now be much lower because the number of eligible Afghans had been reduced. The revelations come at a time when Britain's public finances are under heavy strain and the anti-immigration Reform UK opposition party is leading the country's main establishment parties in the polls. The High Court has been told that civil servants have warned of the risk of 'public disorder' in reaction to news of the secret relocation plan, which comes a year after far-right riots last summer. To date, the UK government has moved about 18,500 Afghans affected by the data breach to Britain. The MoD said most were already eligible under an existing route. Officials said just 5,500 people were relocated directly because of the breach, with at least a further 2,400 due to come. Defence secretary John Healey is expected to announce he is closing the secret scheme – known as the Afghan Response Route – to new applicants in a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday. Earlier this month, the government also abruptly closed the public schemes – known as the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. The events can be reported for the first time after the UK's high court on Tuesday lifted an unparalleled global gagging order that has silenced the press since September 2023. The super-injunction was the first ever to be obtained by the British government. But a fresh interim injunction granted by the High Court until at least next week means that even now crucial details that explain the severity of the incident cannot be published. The database was a detailed record of individuals who had applied – in most cases unsuccessfully – under the public Arap scheme, which offered relocation to the UK for those at risk of reprisals after they worked for or alongside the UK before the Taliban retook power. UK combat operations ended in Afghanistan in 2014 after 13 years, but British troops remained until a chaotic western withdrawal in 2021 that allowed the Taliban's return. The UK government did not discover the leak until an anonymous person posted screenshots of the spreadsheet on Facebook in August 2023 and threatened to disclose the entire database. One of the people familiar with the breach said the database had been sold, at least once, for a five-figure sum. They said that one of the Afghan recipients used their possession of the database as leverage to pressure the government to relocate themselves and 14 family members to the UK. The identity of the soldier, or whether they have been sanctioned, has not been revealed by the MoD. The department has not successfully contained the leak and it is not known whether the Taliban has obtained the list. More than 665 Afghans have started a collective legal action to sue the MoD over the data breach, seeking at least £50,000 each (€57,600), with the potential for thousands more people to join the lawsuit once they learn of the incident and their potential exposure. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025.
