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King Charles Hands Military Title to Son William in Rare Joint Appearance

Britain's King Charles III officially hands over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, The Prince of Wales in front of an Apache helicopter at the Army Aviation Center in Middle Wallop, England, Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP)
Britain's King Charles III officially hands over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, The Prince of Wales in front of an Apache helicopter at the Army Aviation Center in Middle Wallop, England, Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP)
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King Charles Hands Military Title to Son William in Rare Joint Appearance

Britain's King Charles III officially hands over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, The Prince of Wales in front of an Apache helicopter at the Army Aviation Center in Middle Wallop, England, Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP)
Britain's King Charles III officially hands over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William, The Prince of Wales in front of an Apache helicopter at the Army Aviation Center in Middle Wallop, England, Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP)

Britain's King Charles handed over a senior military role to his son Prince William at a ceremony on Monday, marking a rare joint appearance for the pair as the king steps up his return to public duties after his cancer diagnosis.

Charles presented William with the title of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, a position the 75-year-old monarch held for 32 years, in front of an Apache helicopter, and watched by service personnel at the Army Flying Museum in southern England.

"He's a very good pilot indeed," Charles said of his son, a former helicopter search and rescue pilot for Britain's Royal Air Force.

The visit was Charles' latest engagement since he returned to work at the end of April, almost three months after Buckingham Palace announced he was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer.

William, 41, had also taken a break from official duties for several weeks in March and April this year, choosing to spend time with and care for his wife after she revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer.

He said on Friday she was "doing well".

At the handover ceremony, Charles said he was saying goodbye with "sadness", but the Army Air Corps would go from "strength to strength" under his son.

"Look after yourselves and I can't tell you how proud it has made me to have been involved with you all this time," Charles said.

The title transfer was announced last August after Charles' accession to the throne. William spent time with the Corps, viewing training, equipment and hearing from soldiers later on Monday.

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US Bans Red Food Dye over Possible Cancer Risk

Fruit by the Foot, a product that uses Red Dye No 3, can be seen on a shelf at a supermarket in this illustration photograph on December 27, 2024 - AFP
Fruit by the Foot, a product that uses Red Dye No 3, can be seen on a shelf at a supermarket in this illustration photograph on December 27, 2024 - AFP
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US Bans Red Food Dye over Possible Cancer Risk

Fruit by the Foot, a product that uses Red Dye No 3, can be seen on a shelf at a supermarket in this illustration photograph on December 27, 2024 - AFP
Fruit by the Foot, a product that uses Red Dye No 3, can be seen on a shelf at a supermarket in this illustration photograph on December 27, 2024 - AFP

Outgoing US President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday announced a ban on Red Dye No 3, a controversial food and drug coloring long known to cause cancer in animals.

Decades after scientific evidence first raised alarm, Red 3, as it is also called, is currently used in nearly 3,000 food products in the United States, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

"FDA is revoking the authorized uses in food and ingested drugs of FD&C Red No 3 in the color additive regulations," said a document from the Department of Health and Human Services, published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The decision follows a petition filed in November 2022 by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other advocacy groups, which cited the "Delaney Clause" -- a provision mandating the prohibition of any color additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals.

Notably, the FDA determined as early as 1990 that Red 3 should be banned in cosmetics because of its link to thyroid cancer in lab rats.

However, the additive continued to be used in foods, largely due to resistance from the food industry. Manufacturers of maraschino cherries, for example, relied on Red 3 to maintain the iconic red hue of their products.

It's also present in thousands of candies, snacks and fruit products.

The United States is one of the last major economies to take action on the dye. The European Union prohibited its use in 1994, with similar bans implemented in Japan, China, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

CSPI hailed the decision as overdue and expressed hope it would lead to further action against other potentially harmful chemicals in food.

"They don't add any nutritional value, they don't preserve the food -- they're just there to make food look pretty," Thomas Galligan, a scientist with CSPI, told AFP.

"There's growing discussion across the political spectrum about food additives and chemicals, which reflects ongoing failures by the FDA."