内容摘要：Councillor Ewen Sinclair said the organisers would "tell people what to think", as he hit out at the event in a post on Facebook.

Councillor Ewen Sinclair said the organisers would "tell people what to think", as he hit out at the event in a post on Facebook.

Investigators in the case also arrested a woman on Friday, but prosecutors have declined to press charges against her.The alleged victim, who has not been named publicly, told police he came to New York from Italy on 6 May.

He alleged that upon arriving at the suspect's house, Mr Woeltz took his passport and held him captive for 17 days.Police say he had a gun pointed at his head, was struck with the gun, and had threats made against his family as his attackers demanded he reveal his password. He was also allegedly forced to smoke crack cocaine.The 28-year-old Italian national says he escaped on Friday morning, bloodied and barefoot, after agreeing to give the men his password.

When they went to get his laptop, the alleged victim says he fled the eight-bedroom townhouse.He reported the attack and was taken to hospital for treatment, say authorities.

A police search of the home found several Polaroid photos of the victim being tied up and tortured, as well as firearms and drugs, police say.

At a hearing before a judge on Tuesday, Mr Duplessie's lawyer argued that "his involvement is hotly disputed" and said he had shown good faith by turning himself in to authorities.Melanie Benesh is vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington-based activist organisation focused on chemicals that has raised concerns about titanium dioxide.

She credited state-level efforts, rather than federal action, with putting pressure on companies such as Mars to change their recipes.She pointed out that the EWG had yet to receive a response to the petition it filed in 2023 asking regulators at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban titanium dioxide.

"The FDA has said a lot of things about food additives but we have not seen them take any enforceable actions yet," she said. "What has unquestionably made a difference is all of the action at the state level."Skittles, which have ranked among the world's most popular chewy candies, were invented in the UK.