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During an election rally in Texas, US President Donald Trump revealed an unusual way in which his wife, Melania, addressed him, saying that in one situation she called him “sir,” similar to the way an employee might speak to his boss, despite 21 years of marriage.

Trump spoke on Wednesday in front of a crowd of his supporters, during an event in support of Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas and the Republican candidate for the Senate, after the President moved from attacking his Democratic rival, James Talarico, to recalling a situation with his wife regarding the correct pronunciation of the word “vegan,” which means a person who abstains from eating animal products, according to the Independent newspaper.

Trump had gone on to talk about Tallarico, claiming that he follows a purely vegetarian diet, an allegation that the Democratic candidate has repeatedly denied.

But the president quickly moved away from the main topic of his speech, to address the difference in the way he pronounced the word “Vegan” from the pronunciation preferred by his wife, Melania, recalling a situation in which she corrected his pronunciation of the word.

Trump said, quoting what he said was that his wife said to him: “Sir, you have to do me a favor; The correct pronunciation is not “vay-gan”, but “vee-gan”.

Tallarico, 37 years old, is a theology student, leading his rival Paxton in the latest opinion polls for the Texas Senate race, according to the report.

Tallarico has repeatedly denied following a vegan diet, or even a vegetarian diet that excludes meat, at a time when such a dietary choice could become a politically sensitive issue in a state known for raising cattle and producing meat, such as Texas.

Despite his denials, Paxton's campaign, along with Trump himself, continued to repeat the claim that the Democratic candidate abstains from eating animal products.

During the gathering, the US President questioned Talarico's statements about eating meat, considering them untrue.

Addressing the crowd, he said: “Now he claims that he loves meat, but in reality he is a vegan; See, Melania? “I was right about that.”

Not only did Trump question Paxton's rival's diet, but he went on to link his recent absence from some election rounds to an alleged health problem, as he indicated that Tallarico suffered from intestinal illness after eating meat for political purposes, in an attempt, according to his claim, to show that he does not follow a vegetarian diet.

The Trump administration is working on plans to allow the temporary sale of some previously restricted peptides, while federal health officials work on new regulations for these controversial products, two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post.

The move would allow some compounding pharmacies to provide certain types of peptides that are being marketed as new medical treatments and products to promote health and wellness, even while claims about the therapeutic uses of these products have not been fully safety tested.

The plan has not yet been announced, and the timing of its implementation is unclear, which means it is still subject to change.

Robert Kennedy Jr. supports expanding access to peptides

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admires peptides, which are seeing increasing popularity. He described himself as a "huge fan" of these products and said he wanted to make them more widely available.

But scientists at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with a number of medical experts, have raised concerns about the increased availability of some types of peptides, given that many of the claims related to the benefits of these products have not been subject to the rigorous clinical trials that FDA-approved drugs undergo to evaluate their safety and effectiveness.

The two people familiar with the matter said that federal officials are seeking to establish policy controls for dealing with peptides.

What are peptides and why are they controversial?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, and some types of them have been turned into approved medications to treat diabetes. GLP-1 drugs belong to peptides.

But untested and unapproved peptides that influencers and others say promote longevity or improve physical health are beginning to spread on the gray and black markets.

The Food and Drug Administration is having difficulty keeping up with the spread of these products, at a time when the Boards of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Nursing lack the powers and resources necessary to supervise this growing industry, according to the Washington Post.

These peptides are marketed online and in “wellness” and “longevity” circles as helping to lose weight, build muscle, speed up recovery and healing of injuries, improve sleep, combat aging, increase energy or improve skin, although many of these uses have not been subject to robust clinical trials.

This includes practices such as manufacturing peptides in people's homes and labeling them as coming from manufacturing facilities that turn out to be empty offices, leaving consumers vulnerable to potentially contaminated products.

7 types of peptides are under study

It was not immediately clear which types of peptides the agency aims to make temporarily available, but the FDA is considering whether to allow pharmacies that compound the drugs to produce seven peptide-based treatments for conditions including insomnia, obesity and wound healing.

In late June, scientists with the Food and Drug Administration said there was insufficient evidence of the effectiveness and safety of these peptides to allow compounding pharmacies, which are pharmacies that make specialized versions of drugs, to produce them.

But an FDA advisory committee, which included a number of people who promote peptides or work for companies that sell them, voted to recommend making six of these peptides available.

The committee voted against easing restrictions on the peptide emideltide, which has been proposed to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms and insomnia.

Celia Flores, the wife of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, is seeking to leave the prison where she is being held in New York and move to house arrest due to heart health problems. She is scheduled to appear in court again, today, Thursday, at a time when the couple faces criminal charges that could carry a penalty of up to life imprisonment, amid reports that American prosecutors are preparing to file new charges related to allegations of torture of American citizens in Venezuela.

Flores's lawyers are expected to ask the judge to release her from prison and place her under house arrest, based on her health condition and her suffering from heart problems, according to the German News Agency.

Maduro and his wife have been detained in a New York prison since early January, after they were arrested at their home in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, during a raid carried out in the middle of the night.

The couple pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in a criminal case that included them and a number of people accused of conspiring with them, which was first filed six years ago.

Maduro and Flores face the possibility of life imprisonment if convicted of participating in a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

On the other hand, their lawyers demanded that the case be dropped, based on their immunity given that Maduro is the head of a foreign country and Flores is the first lady.

Possible new accusations of torturing Americans

In conjunction with the judicial proceedings related to Flores's request for house arrest, New York prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against Maduro and his wife, against the backdrop of allegations of torture of American citizens detained by the Venezuelan government in recent years.

CNN quoted several people familiar with the investigation as saying that this step may be announced soon, perhaps as soon as Thursday.

The potential charges relate to what the US government describes as the arbitrary detention of more than a dozen American citizens in Venezuelan prisons during Maduro's rule, which, according to this account, was characterized by repression.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, the case is not limited to Maduro and his wife; Investigators also discussed the possibility of bringing charges against other people for their alleged roles in torturing American citizens.

Allegations of torture inside Venezuelan prisons

The Maduro government detained more than a dozen American citizens, while the US government and human rights activists accused it of using these detainees as political bargaining chips.

A number of Americans who were previously detained in Venezuela spoke publicly about, according to their accounts, being subjected to torture methods and harsh treatment during their periods of imprisonment.

In a lawsuit, Matthew Heath and Usman Khan, who were released as part of a prisoner exchange deal in October 2022, said that they were subjected to multiple torture methods, including waterboarding, a method that simulates execution by drowning, electrocution, and the threat of sexual assault.

The allegations also included forcing them to take drugs that affect their cognition, in addition to subjecting them to periods of solitary confinement.

According to the lawsuit, Heath, a former US Marine, attempted suicide during his detention.

These allegations were not limited to Heath and Khan; Members of the CITGO 6 group, which includes six American oil executives, spoke of the harsh conditions they suffered during their detention in Venezuela.

The six officials were lured to Venezuela in 2017, before being detained there for nearly five years.

In their lawsuits, three members of the group, Tomeu Fadel, Alirio José Zambrano and José Luis Zambrano, stated that they were tortured during their imprisonment.

All of these Americans were detained at the headquarters of the Directorate General for Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), an entity whose name has been linked to serious accusations of human rights violations.

According to a report issued by the United Nations, the directorate was described as “responsible for the arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture of political opponents and their families.”