The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has agreed to pay Instacart $ 60 million in refunds in response to allegations that the online grocery delivery service defrauded customers with its membership program and free delivery offers.
The FTC claimed that Instacart’s offer of “free delivery” for first orders was illogical due to the fact that customers were being charged additional fees.
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Additionally, the organization charged Instacart with misleading customers about its refund policy and failing to adequately notify customers about the conversion of their free trials of its Instacart+ subscription service to paid memberships.
According to Christopher Mufarrige, the FTC’s lead advocate for consumer protection, “The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to make sure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms.”
The settlement allows the company to concentrate on customers and retailers, according to a spokesperson for Instacart. The company categorically refutes any allegations of wrongdoing.
The spokesperson stated that we adhere to industry standards and provide straightforward marketing, transparent pricing and fees, clear terms, simple cancellation, and generous refund policies.
After a recent study by nonprofit organizations discovered that individual shoppers at the same stores received different prices for the same items, the shopping platform is currently being scrutinized.
According to a report released on Wednesday by the news agency Reuters, the FTC is looking into the business and has requested information about Instacart’s Eversight pricing tool.
According to Instacart, retailers are accountable for setting prices, and Eversight pricing tests are random and do not rely on user data.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to adjust prices was criticized by the executive director of the economic think tank Groundwork Collaborative, Lindsay Owens.
Instacart chose to conduct AI experiments that are quietly raising prices, according to Owens in written remarks made to Al Jazeera. “At a time when families are being squeezed by the highest grocery costs in a generation, families are being squeezed by the highest prices in a generation.
She also demanded that US President Donald Trump’s administration take action to stop future price manipulation.
While the FTC’s investigation is good news, Owens argued that meaningful action must be taken to put an end to these exploitationist pricing practices and protect consumers. For their algorithmic price manipulation, Instagram must be held accountable, not just a slap in the wrist.
Donald Trump, president of the United States, has signed an executive order to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous.
Attorney General Pam Bondi must expedite the drug-emissions reclassification process, which is scheduled for Thursday.
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A five-tier classification system is used to classify chemicals in the US, with Schedule I being the least restricted tier and Schedule V being the least.
Marijuana was previously categorized as Schedule I, along with heroin and LSD, which were potent drugs. It would be done in a class containing ketamine and anabolic steroids with a quick down-to-Section following Thursday’s order.
Trump claimed that the change “is not the legalization” of marijuana and that it “in no way” forbids its use as a recreational drug.
However, the change will make marijuana research simpler because Schedule III drug studies need much less approval than Schedule I drug studies.
Trump stated earlier this week that the change was well-liked because it “creates a lot of research that can’t be done until you reclassify,” so we are very interested in doing so.
The change is in line with the recent legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational use in a number of states. That has resulted in a number of state-specific laws that conflict with federal law, which still allow marijuana to be illegal.
Former US President Joe Biden had a number of steps taken to lessen marijuana-related federal penalties, including a massive pardon for those who received severe sentences for simple possession.
These convictions had adisproportionate impact on minority communities and fueled mass incarceration in the US.
Before the Democratic president left office in January, the Biden administration had also begun the process of reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III.
Trump’s party has criticized the classification change in some ways. 20 Republican senators wrote to the president to demand that the more stringent restrictions be kept in a letter earlier this year.
According to the group, marijuana continues to be dangerous and that a change would “undermine your strong efforts to Make America Great Again,” in a reference to Trump’s campaign slogan.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board, which is headed by Republican Donald Trump, has been given a new name.
Karoline Leavitt, a White House press secretary, claimed the Trump-appointed board had earlier made the decision. On Thursday, she revealed the change on social media.
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The Kennedy Center’s highly respected Board, which includes some of the world’s most successful individuals, recently approved renaming the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, according to Leavitt.
She claimed that the change would acknowledge “the incredible work that President Trump has done to save the building over the past year.” Leavitt attributed the president’s role in overseeing the facility’s “reconstruction” and bolstering its finances and “reputation” to the president.
However, it’s not clear whether the name change will be finalized without congressional approval.
The Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra are both housed in the arts center, which was inaugurated in Washington, DC, in 1971. It has seven stages and hosts local performances as well as international touring shows.
In 1964, a year after Kennedy, the 35th president of the US, was killed during a public appearance in Dallas, Texas, the foundation was ground breaking.
The Democratic leader is credited with backing the fundraising efforts that led to the realization of the project, despite Kennedy’s prioritization of the idea for a national arts center.
An act of Congress naming the arts center after the slain leader was signed into law on January 23, 1964, by Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. The Arts Complex was originally going to be known as the “National Cultural Center.”
According to the congressional act, the Kennedy Center would be the “living memorial” for the late president. Kennedy was “particularly committed to the advancement of the performing arts,” according to the act.
No other memorial in Kennedy’s name would be erected in Washington, DC, the act stated, adding that “it is only fitting and proper that a suitable monument be dedicated to the memory of this great leader.”
President Donald Trump attends the Kennedy Center’s 48th annual ceremony on December 7. [Getty Images via AFP]
Redefining the capital’s future
Before he became president, Trump, a reality TV star and real estate mogul, sought to leave his mark on the nation’s capital, including by renaming buildings and carrying out large-scale construction projects.
For instance, Trump replaced the East Wing of the White House with a ballroom in October. Since taking office in January, he has also expressed interest in creating a triumphal arch in Paris that would resemble the Arc de Triomphe in style.
The US Institute for Peace, a newly established think tank named in honor of “the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” was named after Trump just this month.
In March, the Trump administration had taken control of the institute by force, and a lawsuit has been filed against the institute’s leadership. However, a May federal judge found the nonprofit’s seizure to be unlawful.
Trump has long desired the Kennedy Center, and changes to the structure quickly hit the scene since the Republican president took office in January.
Deborah Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center, resigned just one week into Trump’s second term, according to rumors of a pressure campaign.
By the beginning of February, Trump had made a purge of the board members of the Kennedy Center, claiming on social media that they opposed his “Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
He said, “At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” giving a twist to his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
He added that he would be in charge of programming and would be the center’s chairman.
This will stop, Trump wrote, “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured drag shows that were specifically geared toward our youth.” The Kennedy Center is “an American jewel,” and it must showcase the nation’s brightest stars. THE BEST IS YET TO COME” for the Kennedy Center!
With the Kennedy Center’s lineup excluding touring productions of hit shows like the musical Hamilton and Fellow Travelers, protests and cancellations were a result of the leadership shakeup.
On October 24, worker Odden Shaw decorates the Hall of Nations at the Kennedy Center with gold-colored paint.
Changing the Kennedy Center’s name
Trump has repeatedly referred to the arts institution as the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” saying that he wanted to have his name engraved on its marble facade in the months that followed.
Additionally, he chose the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, an annual award given for outstanding work in American art and culture.
Trump referenced his petition to change the name of the Kennedy Center in a winking allusion when naming the honorees in August.
On his platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote, “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS.”
He also cheated on the modifications to the art center’s structure, including painting the former gold columns white.
According to Trump, “Tremendous work is being done and money is being spent” on returning it to its absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment. It has been through a lot of physical hardship, but it will soon be making a major comeback! “!
Trump’s request to rebaptize the art center was accepted by some Republicans. For instance, Idaho’s representative Mike Simpson proposed a bill designating First Lady Melania Trump as the name of the complex’s opera house.
Meanwhile, Missouri’s Bob Onder, a member of Congress, introduced a new bill to completely eliminate Kennedy’s name, designating the new “Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts.”
However, the Kennedy family’s surviving descendants have been vocal critics of those proposals.
Maria Shriver, the niece of President Kennedy, expressed shock that the art center might be renamed on Thursday after Leavitt’s announcement.
“Some things leave you speechless, furious, and disbelieving,” he said. It’s always better to be quiet at times like that. She wrote on social media, “For how long, I can’t say. “
Shriver referred to the idea as “insane” and said, “It makes my blood boil” when similar proposals had been made in the past.
In the midterms of 2026, Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson, questioned whether the White House’s announcement was even legitimate.
He wrote on social media that “the board meeting and vote were muted and not unanimous.”
Given the name-changing proposal, some Democrats questioned whether it was even legal, despite the congressional act that gives the structure its name.
For instance, Tennessee’s representative Steve Cohen called the initiative “deeply troubling.”
“Changing the Kennedy Center’s name to include a sitting or former president’s name, particularly one who is still a partisan political figure, undermines the purpose of the institution,” Cohen said in a statement.
London, United Kingdom – Strictly regulated healthcare professionals have issued a warning to six remand prisoners who are on a hunger strike and are immediately at risk of dying.
More than 800 doctors, nurses, therapists, and carers wrote to Justice Secretary David Lammy on Thursday, pleading that “without resolution, there is the real and increasingly likely chance that young British citizens will die in prison, having never even been convicted of an offence.”
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Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha, and Kamran Ahmed are the prisoners who are between the ages of 20 and 31. Due to his diabetes, Lewie Chiaramello is on a partial strike, refusing to eat every other day.
The hunger strikers are simply dying, said James Smith, an emergency physician and lecturer at a press conference in London on Thursday, speaking with some of the victims’ families, politicians, their lawyers, and activists.
They are all in a critical stage right now.
The group is being held in five prisons for allegedly breaking into the British subsidiary of the Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and an RAF base in Oxfordshire. They deny the charges brought against them, including violent disorder and burglary.
The UK government is implicated in Israeli war crimes, according to Palestine Action, which was declared a terrorist organization in July and associated with organizations like ISIL (ISIS).
The pro-Palestine hunger strikers demand the de-proscription of Palestine Action, immediate bail, and the right to a fair trial. Additionally, they demand the closure of all Elbit websites.
One or more of the Palestine Action-linked hunger strikers may soon pass away in prison, according to emergency physician James Smith, who has 11 years of experience.
For almost seven weeks, Zuhrah and Gib have refused to eat.
According to Smith, who has spoken with the hunger strikers, “the body has exhausted fat stores and organ tissue in order to generate enough energy to maintain bodily functions after three weeks.”
He claimed that starvation for a long time could lead to “suddenly cause death” caused by heart muscle breakdown, kidney filtration issues, muscle weakness that could lead to breathing problems, and heart failures.
The healthcare professionals stated in their letter that 24-hour medical coverage, daily blood tests, and twice-daily assessments were required.
“The hunger strikers require care that is not available in the prison if any of the above requirements are not met.” In such circumstances, they should be handled in a hospital setting, particularly if there are any complications.
Lammy has been the subject of a lot of pressure, and he has refused to meet with the activists’ attorneys to discuss their concerns about their welfare.
Low blood pressure, headaches, chest tightness, and shortness of breath are all symptoms of Teuta Hoxha’s strike, which is occurring on its 40th day.
Rahma, Teuta’s 17-year-old sister, claimed Teuta feels “weak” and nauseous and is about to pass away.
She urged Lammy to meet with the attorneys right away to save my sister’s life.
This time period is “very deadly.”
The prisoners do not call their loved ones when they are in a hospital, as they do when they are in jail.
Hoxha claimed that her sister recently called herself out of the hospital after receiving medical advice to update her family about her condition. Zuhrah’s kin, Ella Mousdale, claimed she had done the same.
Zuhrah, 20, has experienced “nothing but physical activity,” with persistent high pulses of 100 bpm, exhaustion, and chest pains. She has claimed to regularly collapse while incarcerated.
She moves very slowly. She is hunched over. She can’t hug me back any longer because she has just had body pains all over and is extremely weak, according to Mousdale, who visited her on Sunday.
She struggles to remain awake, she said. She finds it challenging to talk for a long time.
Zuhrah stopped talking to the family on Wednesday, leading them to believe she had been taken to a hospital. According to Mousdale, the family no longer knew if she was still alive.
She said, “This is a very deadly time.”
Palestinian protesters have demanded that the UK lift the ban on Palestine Action [File: Jack Taylor/Reuters] since it was prohibited.
Medical personnel and protesters gathered outside the HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, where Zuhrah is being detained on suspicion of a crime involving the Bristol incident.
On Wednesday, the left-wing MP Zarah Sultana demanded that Zuhrah be taken to a hospital by prison guards. According to footage shared on social media, an ambulance arrived several hours later, but it was not immediately clear whether Zuhrah had been taken to a hospital.
Zuhrah is safe and is continuing her hunger strike, Sultana confirmed in a post on X on Thursday night.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice confirmed to Al Jazeera that a prison staff member had been injured in a dispute between protesters and the police, but they could not ascertain the nature or extent of their harm.
The prison service has assured ministers that “every case of prisoner food refusal is being managed in accordance with the relevant policy, and with appropriate medical assessment and support – consistent with prisoner rights,” the spokesperson said, citing security risks, and citing security risks.
Prisoners who refuse to eat receive “regular medical evaluation and support from clinicians, as well as being offered mental health support,” according to a spokesperson for Sodexo, the organization that runs HMP Bronzefield.
Ahmed’s sister Shahmina Alam reported that his ketone levels are “steeply rising” once more and that he has been refusing to eat for 39 days. He now weighs 61.5kg , (135.5 pounds), having entered prison at 74kg (163 pounds).
She said, “I request Lammy to have this meeting.” What are they waiting for when Allah’s heart slows down, for it to stop?
More than 50 MPs have joined Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing independent politician, in urging Lammy to meet the lawyers of the hunger strikers, in addition to the petition signed by more than 20 000 people by the campaign group Avaaz.
Labour MP John McDonnell told Al Jazeera, “There is a real anxiety about what the hell is happening right now.” Why don’t we intervene as a government? Why don’t we resolve this issue? There is growing concern that the current circumstance is extremely risky.
The hunger strikers’ attorneys’ attorneys, Daniel Lemberger Cooper, described their attempts to collaborate with the government as an effort to stop the prisoners’ deaths rather than discuss criminal proceedings, but Lammy has not yet responded to the request for a meeting “for reasons he has not explained and which are not clear to us.”
Some defendants will have already served more than two years in prison.
On Wednesday, Mansroor Adayfi, a former Guantanamo detainee who was imprisoned for more than 14 years without charge, joined the hunger strike in show of support.
“Hunger strikes are only a last resort, not a choice,” he said. Adayfi remarked that the British government wants these men and women to quietly vanish.
In the “Presidential Walk of Fame” of Donald Trump, new plaques have been installed that criticize numerous of his predecessors and make questionable assertions about his own accomplishments.
