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Menthol cigarettes could be banned in the US

The Food and Drug Administration could ban menthol cigarettes later this month

The FDA is under a court order to respond to a citizens’ petition to ban menthol cigarettes by 29 April. The deadline comes as President Joe Biden is considering whether to force tobacco companies to reduce nicotine in their products to a level that would stop them being addictive. We hear from Jennifer Maloney, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. The electric sports car maker Tesla will unveil its quarterly results on Monday - they come as the company is trying to reassure Chinese consumers over safety concerns; Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese Studies at Kings College London, tells us more.

This week the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is expected to explain how in order to help combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the government in Rome will spend as much as 220 billion euros of funding from the European Union's war chest, but is it enough? We get analysis from independent economist, Michael Hughes. The Oscars ceremony is underway in Los Angeles, but this year very few stars are walking along the red carpet, amid coronavirus restrictions; Steven Gaydos, executive editor of Variety Magazine tells us more. Plus, as the world’s big spy agencies in the United States, China, Russia and Europe are embracing technology to beef up their defensive and offensive capabilities, Emma Green, director of Green CDL, a cyber and data protection company tells us to forget Hollywood images of James Bond and think more about complex computer programmes.

(Photo: A pack of menthol cigarettes. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Broadcast

  • Mon 26 Apr 2021 00:06GMT