Ally of health secretary worked as speechwriter in George W Bush administration and has no training in medicineThe White House has chosen a top aide to health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to temporarily lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - an appointment that is expected to bolster Kennedy's goals of remaking federal vaccine policy.Jim O'Neill, a biotech investor and speechwriter for the health department during the George W Bush administration, was tapped as acting director of the agency that oversees vaccine recommendations, a White House official confirmed to the Guardian. Continue reading...

A deputy of Robert F Kennedy Jr will reportedly replace Susan Monarez as acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key US politics stories from Thursday 28 August at a glanceCDC director Susan Monarez was fired after resisting changes to vaccine policy that were advanced by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and that she believed contradicted scientific evidence, according to a former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Richard Besser said Monarez told him there were two things she would never do in the job. One was anything that was deemed illegal, and the second was anything that she felt flew in the face of science - and she said she was asked to do both of those". Continue reading...

Staffers gather in Atlanta to applaud senior leaders who resigned after CDC chief Susan Monarez was fired

Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner move into round three, likewise Naomi Osaka, Lorenzo Musetti and Andrey RublevGoffin has broken back against Musetti and they're now 4-4 in set one. On Grandstand, Rublev is giving Boyer all he can handle, forcing break points that he can't quite convert. Oh, and Swiatek survives break point to lead Lamens 3-0, I don't imagine this match will detain us all that long.Also a set up are Sakkari, 6-3 against Bondar; Alexandrova, 6-2 1-1 against Wang; and Kalinskaya, 6-1 1-1 against Putitnseva. Meanwhile, Swiatek breaks Lamens for 2-0, already looking monstrous; it'll take something significant to beat her here, but both Gauff, her potential semi-final opponent, and Sabalenka, the defending champ and no 1 seed, are capable of that. Continue reading...

British No 1 faces big-serving Elena Rybakina in US Open third round while Cameron Norrie takes on Novak DjokovicAt the start of a new season in January 2022, Emma Raducanu began her second full year on the WTA tour swimming in doubt. Not only was she trying to take steps forward after a life-changing summer, her off-season had been ravaged by contracting Covid-19, which forced her off the court for weeks in December. In her first match of the season, she found herself up against Elena Rybakina in Sydney. She left the court with just one game to her name, losing 6-0, 6-1.That first encounter between Raducanu and Rybakina was a good representation of the difficulties Raducanu has had to navigate over the past few years: the pressure from her sudden rise, her underpowered game against the best players in the world and the fact that there was always another physical issue around the corner. Continue reading...

The Kremlin sent a clear message with its lethal overnight raid on the Ukrainian capital. Will the US heed it?Wednesday night brought a grim return to Russia's form: one of the heaviest air raids on Kyiv since the full-scale invasion began. Moscow eased off its strikes on major cities in the run-up to the Alaska summit, and it held off its attack on the Ukrainian capital until Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy, had finished his visit there. But within hours of his departure, at least 18 people, including several children, were dead in an attack on a residential block, and the European Union mission had been severely damaged.Donald Trump periodically suggests that he is drawing a line for Vladimir Putin. Yet each time he appears toset a limit, the Russian president breezes through it. The Kyiv attack shows that it is MrPutin who is testing the US president. Mr Trump threatened severeconsequences" if Moscow did not immediately agree to a ceasefire - but in Anchorage was quickly persuaded by Mr Putin that there was no need for one prior to a peace deal. Continue reading...

Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz, 18, was initially held at a facility near LA and later transferred to an Arizona holding siteThe family of 18-year-old Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz was shocked when they found out that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had discreetly moved him out of California, according to California congresswoman Luz Rivas, who spoke with his relatives and reviewed federal detention records.Guerrero-Cruz, who was first detained in Van Nuys neighborhood while walking his dog, was transferred late Monday from the Adelanto detention facility in San Bernardino county to a remote holding site in Arizona without any notification given to his family. Continue reading...

The killing of Curtis Windom, 59, by lethal injection will be a record 11th execution in the state this yearA man convicted of killing his girlfriend, her mother and a man he claimed owed him $2,000 is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday in what would be a record 11th execution in the state of Florida this year.Curtis Windom, 59, would become the 30th person executed this year in the US, with Florida leading the way behind a flurry of death warrants signed by the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis. A 12th man, David Joseph Pittman, 63, is scheduled to be put to death in Florida on 17 September. Continue reading...

The restaurant chain reverted back to its old logo after Trump joined the backlash against its rebrand. Experts say it was an easy targetOn Tuesday, the United States commander-in-chief weighed in on one of the most pressing issues facing our nation: the rebranding of a restaurant chain.Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic - rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table" - announced it was updating its logo. Continue reading...

A fresh US assault is aimed at Europe's right to regulate tech. It's an outrage - and we must resist it

This year, I've lost my father, my job and what feels like my country. But my mother and I are finding genuine connectionSince my father's funeral six months ago, I still call my mother almost every day. We live worlds apart, geographically and ideologically, but despite me being in Europe and she in the US, and despite our religious and political differences, we still manage to keep talking. After all, she's my mom.This year has not been easy, having lost my job, my father and what continues to feel like my country. I worked for USAID and believed in America's capacity to help solve global problems while helping others in need, but the current administration ended such work, calling it wasteful. Two days after that, my father passed away, and as our family gathered to mourn, we received news that my mother's cancer had returned and spread to her bones. Such news was devastating, but doctors offered hope. Though there was no cure, there was a pill available to stem the spread, sometimes even for many years. Continue reading...

Susan Monarez's ousting and four top resignations follow vaccine confusion, leaving US health agencies in turmoilIt's been a tumultuous week for US health agencies, with the departure of several top officials, uncertainty around new Covid vaccine restrictions, and even more experts calling for the removal of top health official Robert F Kennedy Jr.The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, was fired by the Trump White House after some controversy, and four other top officials also resigned. Continue reading...

Subway rumble, rowdy crowds, celebrity cameos - and now pot smoke. Tennis's loudest major is rubbing up against New York's shifting culture around marijuanaThe US Open has always been the unruliest of tennis's four grand slam tournaments, a place where the soundtrack is as much screeching trains, the roar of air traffic overhead and well-lubricated crowds as it is the thwack of racket on ball. Frances Tiafoe likes to call it organized chaos", the sort of life-affirming atmosphere that he says teases out his best performances. For some, it's no stage at all but a blur of bass-heavy changeovers, revolving-door celebrity cameos and the ceaseless rattle of the nearby No 7 subway.In recent years, though, one distraction has cut through even the normalized bedlam that gives the tournament its character. Alongside the honey deuce cocktails and free-flowing Heineken, a different vice has threaded itself into the fortnight: the pungent and unmistakable odor of marijuana. It drifts across the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with enough frequency that players have begun treating it as not a bug but a feature of the event itself. Continue reading...

Four senior officials resign in protest at health secretary's handling of vaccine policy and agency's direction

Move to provide Ashli Babbitt with funeral honors marks another step in Trump's aggressive reframing of the attackThe US air force will provide military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the rioter fatally shot during the January 6 Capitol attack, marking another step in Donald Trump's aggressive rehabilitation of the attack.The under secretary of the air force, Matthew Lohmeier, confirmed the decision in an August letter to Babbitt's family. The Biden administration previously denied Babbitt the honors, but Lohmeier said he was persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect" after reviewing new information about her death. Continue reading...

A frat house rivalry escalated into a home invasion, a severe beating and nearly a dozen arrests - including that of Loyola University New Orleans' future star alum, who was said to be outside the invaded house. Llamas was never formally charged - while those close to the victims say there were no meaningful consequencesOn an episode of Kelly Clarkson's talkshow in June, Loyola University New Orleans received the kind of publicity many schools dream of.Clarkson's guest was Tom Llamas, newly minted anchor of the NBC Nightly News and a 2001 Loyola alumnus. And Llamas nodded when it was posed to him that he had gone to one of the best communications schools in the country". Continue reading...

The shooter fired through church windows during a service. Plus, Gavin Newsom warns that Trump is serious about pursuing a third term

Trump administration pushing controversial deal to send people to non-home countries including South Sudan and EswatiniSeven people have arrived in Rwanda as part of a deal to accept deportees from the US, the Rwandan government has said.The Trump administration has been negotiating arrangements to send people to third countries including South Sudan and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, as part of its wider deportation drive. Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom's counterpunching against Trump serves as a master class in flipping the script - and boosting his own profileJust when you thought Donald Trump was parody-proof, Gavin Newsom comes along to prove you wrong.Unhinged all-caps tweets with nonsensical punctuation? Insulting nicknames for political enemies? Self-promotional merchandise for sale?Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

The Rams linebacker spent the early part of his life in Zimbabwe. But he has kept his childhood memories alive as his football career has grownFor Nate Landman, surprise has become routine. The Los Angeles Rams linebacker has lost count of the raised eyebrows, smirks, and awkward pauses when people learn where his story begins.They don't believe me at first," Landman said. I'll show them I'm covered in African tattoos, and some will say I'm still lying until they look it up or someone will vouch for me." Continue reading...

Packed vigils listen to leaders call for need to put children before guns after deadly attackThe line wrapped around the brick building, people flowing into a high school gym already nearly full of a community in mourning.The vigil at Academy of Holy Angels, 2 miles from the site where two schoolchildren were killed by a gunman during morning mass at Annunciation church, drew people of all faiths from around the Minneapolis metro area. Continue reading...

Photographer Ray Giubilo's half terrifying, half sublime one-in-a-million image of Jasmine Paolini had more than an element of fortune to itOf the scores of photographers from across the globe snapping thousands upon thousands of photos at this year's US Open, one image has stood out above all the others so far at the tennis grand slam in New York.A slight imbalance from seventh-seed Jasmine Paolini and a relentlessly steady hand allowed photographer Ray Giubilo to nail a one-in-a-million shot at Flushing Meadows this week. Continue reading...

In an interview hosted by Politico, the California governor said the US must wake up' to the the threat posed by the president's disregard of democratic normsDonald Trump is gravely serious about running for a third term in violation of the US constitution, California governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, warning Americans to wake up" to what he described as the president's flagrant disregard for democratic norms.I don't think Donald Trump wants another election," Newsom, a Democrat, said during a live interview at a summit hosted by Politico in Sacramento. This guy doesn't believe in free, fair elections." Continue reading...

Two children were killed in aMinneapolis school shooting thatMinnesota governorTim Walz said was 'unthinkable but that's all too common, not just inMinnesotabut across this country'.Seventeen other people were injured - 14 of them children - but were expected to survive, police said.The attack at a Catholic school occurred duringa mass on Wednesday marking the first week of classes.Walz said:'We'll redouble ourselves to do the best we can to understand what we can do to prevent any parent from having to receive the calls they received today'

US defense officials first said there was not a meeting' between the Australian defence minister and US counterpart but later clarified a meeting had in fact taken place

Lawyers for Monarez say she was targeted' for protecting the public' by not endorsing unscientific' ordersThe US's top public health agency was plunged into chaos on Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to oust its leader Susan Monarez, sworn in less than a month ago, as her lawyers said she would not resign and that she was being targeted" for her pro-science stance.Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was ousted on Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that offered no explanation its decision. Continue reading...

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Suspect also dead, police confirm, and 14 of those hurt are children in shooting during mass in south Minneapolis

Top US public health agency loses number of key officials as director ousted weeks into the job. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 27 August at a glanceThe leading US public health agency faced a number of top-level resignations on Wednesday after its director was ousted from her job, with one departing official reportedly saying he was leaving because of the ongoing weaponization of public health".US officials announced CDC director Susan Monarez had left her role just weeks after being sworn in. This was followed by the resignations of three senior CDC officials - Dr Debra Houry, the chief medical officer, Dr Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and Dr Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Continue reading...

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James Gallagher put forth resolution to split state after Democratic bid to redraw in response to Texas gerrymanderRepublicans in California are proposing a two-state solution" for the Golden state, in a move that is unlikely to go anywhere, but is reflective of partisan divisions amid a nationwide battle over control of Congress.James Gallagher, the top Republican in the California assembly, on Wednesday unveiled a resolution that proposes to split the state vertically, carving the deep-blue coastal strip away from the more rural, red inland. Continue reading...

Cameron Norrie beat Francisco Comesana to set up a meeting with Novak Djokovic after Jack Draper withdrew and Emma Raducanu won in styleWell in Janie Tjen. She holds to avoid the bagel so, at 6-2 5-1,Raducanu will now serve for round three.Raducanu is serving like an absolute demon, another quick hold giving her 6-2 5-0. She's nearly there. Continue reading...

Tight-knit community rallies around church where assailant opened fire, killing two children and injuring 17

Two children killed and 17 people injured after shooter opens fire on Catholic church in Minnesota

Reported email by Florida official confirms state will shutter prison though governor Ron DeSantis has appealedFlorida's immigration jail known as Alligator Alcatraz" will probably be empty of detainees within days, a state official has said, indicating compliance with a judge's order last week that the facility must close.The Republican governor Ron DeSantis's administration appealed the order by federal court judge Kathleen Williams that the tented detention camp in the Florida Everglades, which attracted criticism for its harsh conditions, must be dismantled within 60 days. Continue reading...

The president's threat to deploy troops to Chicago is the latest example of a manipulation of the line between legal and illegalJanuary 6 demonstrated that longstanding democracies can readily resist a disorganized effort at a coup. They are less equipped to withstand the normalization of exceptional measures: the use of federal agents to quell domestic protest, the staging of police raids on the homes of leaders' political opponents, the pretextual invocations of emergency powers. Each of these steps may seem temporary and targeted; they may even enjoy a thin patina of legality. But over time, a democratic order turns into what Ernst Fraenkel, a German-Jewish lawyer whose book The Dual State stands as one of the first and most perceptive examinations of Hitler's regime, called a prerogative state" - a government in which the executive is released from all legal restraints and depends solely on the discretion of the persons wielding political power".So let us be clear: Trump's commandeering of control of the Washington DC police department was simply an opening salvo. While Americans were greeted with images of soldiers in combat gear, toting rifles and establishing roadblocks and checkpoints near the National Mall, Trump was already tasking his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, with creating specialized units" of the national guard to be specifically trained and equipped to deal with public order issues". Continue reading...

Catelin Drey beats extremist Christopher Prosch, flipping district so Democrats can block governor's appointmentsA Democratic candidate has defeated an extremist Republican in a state senate election in Iowa, claiming that voters are waking up" to realise Donald Trump's party sold the working class a bill of goods".Catelin Drey flipped Iowa state senate district 1, beating Christopher Prosch in a special election held on Tuesday to fill the seat of the late senator Rocky De Witt. Continue reading...

Organizers say it's likely they've retaliated against all public signers' of letter about capacity to respond to disastersTrump's Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has placed some agency staff on leave after their signing of a public letter of dissent this week.Among those facing potential retaliation are staff who were directly responsible for relief efforts in Kerr county, Texas, which is still reeling from the deadly floods it faced last month, according to Stand Up for Science, the advocacy group that published the Monday letter. Continue reading...

To refuse an invitation like this goes against all my instincts, but I want to send as strong a message as I can