By KELVIN CHAN

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s antitrust watchdog has proposed labeling Google’s and Apple’s mobile ecosystems with “strategic market status,” which would mandate changes at the Big Tech companies to improve competition.

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The Competition and Markets Authority’s announcement Wednesday follows separate investigations it opened at the start of the year into Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, using newly acquired digital market regulations designed to protect consumers and businesses from unfair practices by Big Tech companies.

The watchdog said Apple and Google hold an “effective duopoly,” with 90-100% of mobile devices in Britain running on either mobile platform. Its investigation found a range of concerns affecting businesses and consumers such as unpredictable app reviews, inconsistent app store search rankings and commissions on in-app purchases of as much as 30%.

The CMA also unveiled separate “roadmaps” for each company outlining possible measures to improve competition, including “fair and transparent” app reviews and app store rankings to give British app developers “certainty.”

The watchdog also recommends letting app developers “steer” users to channels outside of app stores where users can make purchases, mirroring similar efforts by the European Union.

Google called the watchdog’s decision “disappointing and unwarranted,” and said Android has saved app developers money because they didn’t have to adapt to different operating models for each smartphone.

It’s “crucial that any new regulation is evidence-based, proportionate and does not become a roadblock to growth in the U.K.,” the company’s senior director of competition, Oliver Bethell, said.

Apple said it was worried the CMA’s moves could pose increase risks for users and jeopardize the U.K.’s “developer economy.”

“We’re concerned the rules the U.K. is now considering would undermine the privacy and security protections that our users have come to expect, hamper our ability to innovate, and force us to give away our technology for free to foreign competitors,” Apple said in a statement. “We will continue to engage with the regulator to make sure they fully understand these risks.”

The regulator is seeking feedback on its proposal and has until Oct. 22 to make a final decision.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and JONEL ALECCIA

President Donald Trump teased the announcement last week, but the Coca-Cola Co. confirmed it Tuesday: a cane sugar-sweetened version of the beverage maker’s trademark soda will be released in the U.S. this fall.

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For decades, Coke and the makers of other soft drinks have generally used high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners in their products manufactured in the U.S. But American consumers are increasingly looking for food and drinks with fewer and more natural ingredients, and beverage companies are responding.

PepsiCo and Dr Pepper have sold versions of their flagship sodas sweetened with cane sugar since 2009. Coca-Cola has sold Mexican Coke — which uses cane sugar — in the U.S. since 2005, but it’s positioned a trendy alternative and sold in glass bottles. Coke with cane sugar will likely be more widely available.

Here are some frequently asked questions about the sweeteners in U.S. sodas:

What’s the difference between cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup?

Many consumers know that consuming too many sweets can negatively affect their health, but soda drinkers sometimes debate if either cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup is better (or worse) than the other.

The short answer is that it doesn’t make a difference, said Marion Nestle, one of the nation’s top nutrition experts and professor emeritus at New York University.

High fructose corn syrup is made of the simple sugars glucose and fructose in liquid form. Cane sugar, also known as sucrose, is made of glucose and fructose bonded, but quickly split, Nestle explained.

Both are still sugars, with about the same amount of calories.

Coca-Cola cans are displayed at a grocery store in Mount Prospect, Ill., Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Whether a can of Coca-Cola contains one or the other, it will still be a sugary drink with about the same amount of calories and the same potential to increase well-documented health problems from obesity and diabetes to tooth decay.

Why did soda companies switch from using sugar to high fructose corn syrup?

High fructose corn syrup costs less. According to price data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the wholesale price of HFCS-55, the type of corn syrup most commonly used in beverages, averaged 49.4 cents per pound last year. The average wholesale price of refined cane sugar was 60.1 cents per pound, while the average wholesale price of refined beet sugar was 51.7 cents per pound.

But high fructose corn syrup has advantages beyond price. According to a 2008 paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, high fructose corn syrup is more stable than sugar when added to acidic beverages, and it can be pumped directly from delivery trucks into storage and mixing tanks.

Why is high fructose corn syrup less expensive that sugar?

Tariffs are one reason. The U.S. has had barriers on sugar imports almost back to its founding; the first went into place in 1789, according to the Cato Institute, a think tank that advocates free markets.

Bottles of Coca-Cola are displayed at a grocery store in Mount Prospect, Ill., Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Since the passage of the Farm Bill in 1981, the U.S. has had a system in place that raises duties on sugar once a certain amount has been imported. The U.S. also has domestic production controls that limit supplies, keeping prices higher.

But high fructose corn syrup is also cheaper because of the federal government’s billions of dollars in subsidies for corn farmers. Loans, direct payments, insurance premium subsidies and surplus crop purchases all lower farmers’ costs – and the price of the corn they grow.

Are sugar replacements used in diet sodas safe?

While cutting back on added sugars has documented benefits, replacing them with artificial sweeteners is complicated, too.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, introduced in 2017, uses the artificial sweetener aspartame and the natural sweetener stevia in its recipe.

But research suggests that aspartame may be linked to cancer. In 2023, a committee for the World Health Organization determined that aspartame should be categorized “as possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

While that doesn’t mean that diet soda causes cancer, the scientific committee concluded that there may be a possible link between aspartame and liver cancer, and that the issue should be studied further.

The U.S. Food and Drug administration disagreed with the WHO panel, citing “significant shortcomings” in the research that backed the conclusion.

FDA officials noted that aspartame is one of the most studied food additives and said “FDA scientists do not have safety concerns” when it is used under approved conditions.

Stevia, a plant-based sweetener, appears to be “a safe choice,” according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group.

Durbin reported from Detroit. Aleccia reported from Los Angeles.

More than 100 specially designed picnic tables, four all-terrain wheelchairs and a detailed inventory of trails usable for visitors with disabilities are highlights of efforts this summer to make Rocky Mountain National Park more accessible.

The non-profit Rocky Mountain Conservancy has worked for decades with park officials to improve accessibility. Funding primarily comes from the conservancy, which is the park’s official non-profit partner, along with the National Park Foundation, other foundations and donors. Projects are chosen from a priority list generated by park officials.

This year’s improvements include the replacement of 135 aging and failing picnic tables with concrete tables designed to accommodate wheelchairs according to standards outlined by the federal Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), and the acquisition of an accessible shuttle bus for transporting visitors to the conservancy’s “field institute” educational events in the park. Four GRIT all-terrain wheelchairs, three of which are new this year, can be rented for free at a local mountain gear shop.

The non-profit Rocky Mountain Conservancy, the official support partner of Rocky Mountain National Park, expanded access this summer to its “field institute” educational programs for visitors with mobility challenges who previously were unable to take full advantage of them. A new accessible shuttle, provided by a private donor, has 12 standard seats, two wheelchair spaces and a hoist. The conservancy has been supporting accessibility projects in the park for decades. (Provided by Rocky Mountain Conservancy)

The conservancy also is supporting the compilation of a Rocky Mountain National Park Accessibility Guide, a comprehensive park inventory with descriptions of accessible trails, scenic overlooks, picnic areas and visitor centers detailing their features and level of accessibility. The guide will be published next spring.

While national parks are struggling with budget constraints that have worsened under the new administration in Washington, there is nothing new about the conservancy’s efforts to help the park. They have been part of its work for decades.

“The government funds a lot of this work, but where we can, we go above and beyond and help them to access additional funding sources — like individual donors or foundations — where we have mission alignment to further enhance the visitor experience or resource stewardship,” said Estee Rivera Murdock, the conservancy’s executive director.

Projects that expand opportunities in the park for those with disabilities date back to the creation of an accessible trail around Lily Lake in the late 1990s.

“These are all multi-year, long-term initiatives,” Murdock said. “We are in the business of stewarding the park, for everyone, forever. These calendar year 2025 projects, we set these priorities back in October of last year. It doesn’t stop at the end of this year, either. It continues to be a priority. There is a legal mandate for the park to have some accessibility, and for us there is a mission mandate. It’s fully aligned with our mission to help connect people to the park.”

Rocky Mountain National Park is replacing 135 aging picnic tables with reinforced concrete tables (shown) designed in accordance with the Architectural Barriers Act. The ABA is a federal law that requires federal facilities to be accessible for people with disabilities. The project has been funded through the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, the park’s non-profit support partner. (Provided by Rocky Mountain Conservancy)

This summer 120 reinforced concrete picnic tables were built in the Glacier Basin campground, and 15 more are being built in the Moraine Park campground, which just reopened this month after a more than two-year closure. With an installation cost of $500,000, according to a conservancy spokesperson, they were designed to specifications in the American Barriers Act that stipulate parameters for height, clearance, wheelchair space and other criteria. They were designed to look as though they weren’t specially designed as accessible.

The conservancy acquired an accessible shuttle bus this year for transporting individuals with disabilities to its field institute events, which help visitors learn about the park’s plant and animal life, geology and history. The $150,000 shuttle has 12 standard seats, two wheelchair spaces and a wheelchair hoist.

Working in partnership with the Estes Park Mountain Shop, the conservancy is promoting the availability of four all-terrain wheelchairs that users can take on trails that can’t accommodate standard wheelchairs. There is no charge to use the chairs.

The wheelchair program began four years ago with one chair donated by the family of a son who used an all-terrain chair before he passed away, according to Jenny Coriell, manager of the Estes Park Mountain Shop. The family offered his chair to the conservancy, and the conservancy worked out a partnership with the shop to be the outlet for making the chairs available. The three new chairs this year, each costing $7,000, were funded by donors through the conservancy.

Most days, all four chairs are in use. They can be reserved by calling the shop.

“It’s really neat,” Coriell said. “It’s pretty cool, watching families be able to get out and enjoy the park and have those opportunities.”

The Rocky Mountain National Park Accessibility Guide will be available via PDF, print (and large print), braille and audio with a written transcript when the conservancy publishes it next spring. The aim is to give visitors with disabilities all the information they need to decide which trails and attractions are suitable for their abilities and equipment. Trail information, for example, will include trail width, surface type and grade.

“The accessibility guide is really geared at helping folks understand what they can expect at different locations,” Murdock said. “The technology has just changed so much. What you think of as a wheelchair has shifted a lot. We’ve got off-road wheelchairs and users with various disabilities of varying abilities. Even folks who aren’t in a wheelchair (permanently), but maybe just recently had a knee surgery, might need to know the width of a trail based on what their device’s width might be. Or, what’s the grade? It’s also working with aging populations.”