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...
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...
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...
by Richard Luscombe in Miami and Associated Press on (#6ZKZD)
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...
Federal judge says man wrongfully deported to El Salvador cannot be expelled until October as asylum case proceedsA federal judge ruled on Wednesday morning that Kilmar Abrego Garcia cannot be deported until at least early October, according to CNN.The outlet also reported that US District Judge Paula Xinis, who is presiding over the case, scheduled an evidentiary hearing for 6 October, and said that she intends to have Trump administration officials testify about the government's efforts to re-deport Abrego. Continue reading...
Carroll had recently toured with standup Katt Williams when he was shot and killed in Southaven, MississippiThe suspect in the recent deadly shooting of US comedian Reggie Carroll reportedly had been working as security for fellow standup comic Katt Williams, with whom the slain entertainer had toured.Tranell Marquise Williams, the man suspected of murdering Carroll on 20 August in Southaven, Mississippi, had also been on the tour in question providing his services at the time of his arrest, according to the news outlet WHBQ. Continue reading...
The Trump administration sent a letter demanding states, territories and DC remove all references to gender ideology'The Trump administration has told US states and territories they will lose federal funding for their sex education programs if they do not remove references to transgender people.In letters sent to 46 states, territories and Washington DC on Tuesday, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) demanded they remove all references to gender ideology" within 60 days or risk losing funding from the Personal Responsibility Education Program, or Prep. Continue reading...
After a gunman reportedly deceived by anti-vaccine disinformation opened fire on the CDC and fatally shot David Rose, a community grieves as Trump officials remain silentA lie murdered David Rose.Five hundred cops packed the pews of an Atlanta megachurch on Friday to bear witness in person, to have a memory of the slain DeKalb county police officer that could not be sullied by lies or debased by silence. Continue reading...
US president cuts funding for victims as state faces more than a third of killings from partner or familial violenceDomestic violence is the leading cause of homicide in Utah, according to an analysis of FBI and state data by a local news station in Salt Lake City. The investigation is based on intimate partner homicide data recently released by the state.The station, Fox 13, found that 51 - more than a third - of the 137 homicides between July 2023 and January 2025 were the result of intimate partner or familial violence. The majority of the perpetrators were men, while the sexes of the victim were nearly evenly split, with 26 male and 25 female victims. This could be because in many cases, there were multiple victims, including a victim's children, parents or siblings. Continue reading...
Grrlspot, a monthly event in New Orleans, stemmed from a desire to create spaces for queer women to gather after the storm devastated the city in 2005A few months after Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in August 2005, Jenna Jordan went on a search for other queer women. She was looking for camaraderie with people like herself who had returned to New Orleans after the storm. Some neighborhoods with sizable gay populations such as the French Quarter were largely spared from flooding, but areas with queer people of color and lesbians, such as Mid-City, weren't as fortunate.On a Tuesday night in February 2006, Jordan and a few other graduate students from Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University hosted a meetup for queer women at a dive bar called St Joe's in the Uptown neighborhood. The gathering was spread via word of mouth and only about 20 people showed up the first time, but within five years it grew into a big dance party with hundreds of people. Grrlspot, a monthly pop-up event for queer women in New Orleans that still exists today, was born. Continue reading...
Human rights office says attack, which killed 20 people, raises questions about the targeting of journalists. Plus, painting looted by Nazis spotted in ArgentinaGood morning.The UN has demanded that Israel's investigations into unlawful killings in Gaza, including its double-tap" bombing of Nasser hospital, which killed 20 people including five journalists, yield results and ensure accountability.What does international law say about the attack? It may constitute a war crime on many fronts, writes the Guardian's Peter Beaumont. What is striking about this incident is that each individual element - the targeting of a working hospital, of journalists and rescue workers, of injured civilians already under treatment - would be expected to draw accusations of a war crime in its own right," he writes.Who were the five Palestinian journalists killed? Their names were Moaz Abu Taha, Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammad Salama, Ahmed Abu Aziz and Hussam al-Masri, and you can read their stories here. He loved his work deeply," said Abu Taha's brother Adly.Meanwhile, what is happening in Israel? Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations on Tuesday, blocking highways on a day of disruption" that aimed to push Benjamin Netanyahu into agreeing a deal to end the war and call off plans to attack Gaza City. Continue reading...
by Kimberlé Crenshaw and Jason Stanley on (#6ZKEE)
The president's assault on US museums, education and memory is a critical dimension of his fascist aimsIn a letter sent to Smithsonian secretary, Lonnie G Bunch III, on 12 August, the Trump administration announced its plan to replace all Smithsonian exhibits deemed as divisive" or ideological" with descriptions deemed as historical" and constructive". On 21 August, just nine days later, the White House published a list of said offending fixtures - the majority of which include exhibits, programming and artwork that highlight the Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ perspectives on the American project. Included in his bill of particulars was an exhibit that rightly depicts Benjamin Franklin as an enslaver, an art installation that acknowledges race as a social construct and a display that highlights racist voter suppression measures, among others.The assault on the Smithsonian comes wrapped, as it were, as part of a broader attack on democracy, scenes of which we see playing out every day. The federal occupation of Washington DC, the crackdown on free speech on campus, the targeting of Trump's political opponents, the gerrymandering of democracy - these are interwoven elements of the same structural assault. So with many fires burning across the nation, concerned citizens who are answering the call to fight the destruction of democracy may regard his attack on history and memory as a mere skirmish, a distraction from the herculean struggle against fascism unfolding in the US. But this is a mistake. Trump's attack on American museums, education and memory, along with his weaponization of racialized resentment to package his authoritarian sympathies as mere patriotism, is a critical dimension of his fascist aims. The fight for democracy cannot avoid it, nor its racial conditions of possibility. Continue reading...
Border patrol agents arrested Catalina Santiago, granted temporary protection as a Dreamer, on 3 AugustCatalina Xochitl" Santiago had already made it past the security line at the El Paso airport when two border patrol agents called her in for questioning and whisked her away to an immigration detention center.Nearly a month after her arrest, she and her family still aren't clear why she is detained. Santiago is a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program - which has allowed her to legally live and work in the US. Continue reading...
Mar-a-Lago face is suddenly everywhere - and there is a version for both men and womenA group of chimpanzees in Zambia have been very busy putting grass in their ears and sticks up their bum for fashion purposes. Scientists studying the behaviour think that one influential chimp started the trend and, instead of the rest of the gang going, mate, you look like an idiot", they all just followed suit.Clearly we haven't evolved from apes that much because a similar phenomenon is at play with the billionaire and Make America Great Again (Maga) set, who are spending enormous sums of money acquiring identical plastic faces. The trend is so widespread that it's even got a name: Mar-a-Lago face. Among women the look is characterised by huge lips that look as if they could suck up a small child whole, frozen facial expressions, and cheeks so bulbous you could hide a gerbil underneath them. Men also have the slick frozen faces, but instead of bigger lips they're pairing them with bigger jaws. In recent years, surgeons have reported a large increase of male clients demanding stronger jawlines. Continue reading...
A court sent the maps back to the legislature before the 2026 midterms, and new boundaries could favor DemocratsUtah is being thrust into a national battle over redistricting.A court ordered the state this week to redraw its congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, and the new district boundaries could make one of Utah's four congressional seats competitive for Democrats as the party fights to topple the Republican party's slim majority in the House. Continue reading...
Leisurewear firm cuts prices online amid tough market, especially in footwear for women and childrenJD Sports has revealed a slump in UK sales, amid mounting concern that brittle consumer confidence will damage retailers.Revenues in established UK shops fell 6.6% as the leisurewear company struggled to beat strong trading last year, when it received a boost from the men's Euro 2024 football tournament and women's growing taste for sports footwear such as Adidas's Samba and Gazelle. Continue reading...
by Jon Arnold, Leander Schaerlaeckens, and Megan Swan on (#6ZKEJ)
After an offseason full of transfer intrigue, Americans in Europe are looking to make their final push for a World Cup roster spot. Our experts have some predictions to share.Sergino Dest at PSV. The full-back has not only healed from the ACL injury that cut short his last campaign, but is off to a torrid start to the new Dutch season, with a pair of goals from the back-to-back champions' first three games. It's early, sure, but the 24-year-old is rested, confident and on a club where he doesn't have to do much defending during domestic games. Dest looks entirely capable of turning in another standout season like he did in 2019-20. That prompted Barcelona to buy him from Ajax to form their right flank with Lionel Messi. LS Continue reading...
Rob Manfred is taking aim at the old league structure, renewing the battle between the National Pastime's traditional and reform factionsIt's been more than a week since MLB commissioner Rob Manfred dropped his latest bomb. Manfred, as we've learned, enjoys throwing ideas out into the universe to get his sport some easy pop while seeing how the masses will react. Just a few months back, he scrambled the brains of baseball fans with his idea of a golden at bat", which would allow a chosen player to come to the plate, once a game, when it wasn't their turn to hit. Oh, he got his publicity alright: many of us took the bait. Was it a genuine, bona fide idea? Probably not. When MLB is serious about a rule change we tend to see it played out in the minor leagues, and last I heard, baseball lineups were still linear down on the farms.Now Manfred, who has brought unprecedented change to on-field rules - the pitch clock, the shift ban, three batter reliever minimums, the ghost runner, just to name just a few - is back playing with the heads of the public, this time, floating plans to realign baseball's 30 teams, who will be upped to 32 if the sport adds two more franchises through expansion, which the circuit is widely expected to do. Nashville, Salt Lake City, Raleigh and Portland are seen to be front runners, with Montreal looming as an outside shot. This could effectively end the league structure which has governed baseball since 1903, back when the upstart American League made peace with the senior National League and agreed to settle scores in a World Series rather than trying to run each other out of business. Continue reading...
Countries from Brazil to India are exploring collective resistance as Trump uses tariffs to assert political and economic powerAs nations in the global south intensify their discussions on how to respond to Donald Trump's trade war, the early 20th-century British advocate of tariffs Joseph Chamberlain may hold some lessons.Like Trump, Chamberlain viewed tariffs as a cure-all and believed Imperial Preference - the system of preferential rates with the British Empire - could not only advance national self-interest but act as glue binding the British colonial alliance together. Continue reading...
by Callum Jones in New York and Penelope MacRae in De on (#6ZKAB)
US president has argued New Delhi indirectly helping fund Ukraine war as experts say move is own goal' against allyDonald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most US imports from India, making good on a threat to punish one of the world's largest economies over its purchases of discounted Russian oil.The tariffs, which came into effect just after midnight on Wednesday in Washington, risk inflicting significant damage on the Indian economy and further disrupting global supply chains. Continue reading...
Can a European-led coalition really provide credible security guarantees? Past examples are not encouragingAfter an unusual August of geopolitical summitry, the reality is sinking in that Europe is on its own in defending Ukraine's sovereignty and hence its own security against Russian aggression and cannot count on much support from the United States.The sense of strategic loneliness in an increasingly brutal global power contest follows a summer of submission in which the EU accepted a manifestly unbalanced trade deal imposed by Donald Trump and pledged improbably large investments in the US while European Nato members promised to boost their defence spending to an aspirational 5% of gross domestic product - all to appease Trump in hopes of keeping the US engaged in European security.Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey (now); Shrai Popat Lucy Campbell and on (#6ZJHA)
This live coverage has ended. You can find all of the latest US politics stories hereLev Menand, a law professor at Columbia law school, said Donald Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve chief Lisa Cook is a procedurally invalid removal under the statute".Menand, who authored a book about the Fed's actions during the coronavirus pandemic, also said for-cause firings are typically related to misconduct while in office, rather than based on private misconduct from before an official's appointment. Continue reading...
Trump reportedly considering same aide he has nominated to serve out another Fed board member's term. Key US politics stories from Tuesday 26 AugustDonald Trump has suggested he already has a replacement in mind for the Federal Reserve governor he is trying to force, even as Lisa Cook said she would sue the administration over her removal.Speaking during a cabinet meeting lasting more than three hours on Tuesday, the US president said: We have some very good people for that position. I think, maybe in my own mind, I have somebody that I like." Continue reading...
Move follows cancellation earlier this summer of $4bn in federal grants for state's ambitious but long-overdue planThe Trump administration is cancelling another $175m in funding for California's high-speed rail, marking another setback for the state's much-delayed project.The US transportation department said on Tuesday it was withdrawing funding the $175m for grade separation, over-crossing and design work and to build a high-speed rail station in Madera. The move follows the cancellation earlier this summer of $4bn in federal grants for the state's ambitious but long-overdue plans. Continue reading...
Police placed protesters in harnesses and took them in after sit-in urging tech giant to cut ties with Israeli governmentAt least two current and three former Microsoft employees - as well as two other tech workers - were arrested at the company's headquarters after staging a sit-in demonstration at the company president's office urging that Microsoft cut ties with the Israeli government.Police placed the protesters in full-body harnesses and carried them out of the building, according to Abdo Mohamed, a former Microsoft worker and who helped organize the demonstration. No arrests, no violence, will deter us from continuing to speak up," he said. Continue reading...
Haboob swept through capital, rattling homes, terrifying drivers and leaving tens of thousands without powerA powerful storm kicked up a towering wall of dust that rolled through the city of Phoenix, Arizona, on Monday, darkening the sky, blinding drivers, knocking out power and damaging one of the nation's busiest airports.The dust storm, known as a haboob, is pushed by the wind and produced by a weather front or thunderstorm. It typically occurs in flat, arid areas. The storm came from the south-east, and was followed by heavy rain, wind and lightning. Continue reading...
The organization's suit also says that the redrawn Texas maps violate section 2 of the Voting Rights ActTexas's redrawn congressional maps have drawn a lawsuit from the NAACP, accusing the state of committing a racial gerrymander with its maps that strip Black voters of their political power.The lawsuit, joined by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, names Texas's Republican governor, Greg Abbott, and secretary of state, Jane Nelson, as defendants. It asks a federal judge for a preliminary injunction preventing the use of the redrawn maps, arguing that the redistricting violates the US constitution by improperly reducing the power of voters of color. It also argues that the maps violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Continue reading...
by Taha Hashim and Luke McLaughlin (for a bit) on (#6ZJT8)
Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek cruised to victory as Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal made early exitsSwiatek has two break points as Arango trails 1-2. The defending Wimbledon champion converts immediately after Arango slices a backhand into the net. Swiatek leads 3-1 in the first set, with no real signs yet of a potential upset.Kostyuk takes the first set against Boulter 6-4. A tough start for the Brits. Continue reading...
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, told reporters to 'act civilised' and not be 'animalistic' as they called out questions after the US delegation's meeting with the Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun. The union of journalists in Lebanon said Barrack's remarks were 'a reflection of an unacceptable arrogance in dealing with the media' and called for an official apology. In a statement on X, the Lebanese presidency expressed regret at 'remarks made inadvertently from its podium by one of its guests'
A condo is at the heart of extraordinary battle over the future of the Federal Reserve - and its independenceWhen Donald Trump stepped up his campaign to influence the US Federal Reserve, he traveled less than a mile from the White House, to tour the central bank's headquarters. But as the administration considers how to actually get what it wants, one of the US president's acolytes looked about 500 miles south.A condominium above the Four Seasons hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, is at the heart of an extraordinary battle over the future of the Fed, and the independence of its power of the world's largest economy. Continue reading...
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