Day: January 18, 2020

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, announced on January 18 that they will surrender their “royal highness” titles and repay the funds spent on renovating their home near Windsor Castle.

The announcement comes 10 days after the couple decided to step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives,” reads the press statement from Buckingham Palace.…

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, flew in the face of royal tradition on January 18, announcing they will surrender their “royal highness” titles and repay the funds spent on renovating their home near Windsor Castle. The announcement comes 10 days after the couple decided to formally step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent.

The decision, which people have started to call “Megxit,” has drawn both backlash and praise for the couple. Less than a week after the royal family’s January 13 summit, which …

Friday marked the Trump administration’s second attempt at loosening regulations governing school meals that were implemented under former President Barack Obama. The administration’s latest target: fresh vegetables and fruit.

The current meal regulations were established under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 spearheaded by Michelle Obama. That law set new standards for school meals for students in grades K-12 to ensure children were receiving more vegetables, fruits, whole-grain rich foods, and fat-free milk. For example, the law required students to have fruit with every school breakfast, and mandated schools serve a set amount of a variety of vegetables that …

The National Archives is facing criticism for editing an image of the 2017 Women’s March in order to make it less “political” — and for making the photo less critical of President Donald Trump to do so.

The image — a 49-by-69-inch photograph depicting a sea of women flooding Pennsylvania Avenue on January 21, 2017 to protest Trump’s inauguration — leads the National Archives’ exhibit “Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote.” The show opened in May to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage; the image of the Women’s March is juxtaposed with a 1913 black-and-white photo of a …

The House Intelligence Committee released a new trove of evidence on Friday that appears to show extensive contact between the top aide for House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Lev Parnas, a former Rudy Giuliani ally and a key figure in the Ukraine scandal.

Following his arrest on campaign finance violation charges, Parnas began providing the committee with a body of notes, photographs, and cellphone data as part of President Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings. These documents have been made public in tranches; earlier releases further defined Giuliani’s role in the push for a Ukrainian investigation into Joe …

Last year, Spotify made a splash when it bought a series of podcasting companies. Now it may be at it again: The company is in conversations to buy The Ringer, the podcast-centric startup founded by sports media entrepreneur Bill Simmons.

Spotify, which spent about $400 million in 2019 by acquiring three podcasting companies — Gimlet Media, Anchor FM, and Parcast — has had talks with Simmons that date back at least as far as October 2019, according to people familiar with discussions. It’s not clear how advanced the talks are now; Spotify may also be interested in buying other …