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Challenging Client
Dr. Susan Monarez, former CDC director, accuses RFK of politicizing public health.
The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remains in a heated standoff with the Trump administration after the White House announced she had been fired.
Susan Monarez – who has only been in the job for a month – refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives” and accused Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr of “weaponising public health”, according to her lawyers.
Her lawyer insisted Dr Monarez’s sacking was not legal and only President Donald Trump – not White House officials – could remove her.
The reason for her removal was that she was “not aligned with the president’s agenda”, the White House said in a statement.
At least three senior CDC leaders resigned from the agency, some citing frustration over vaccine policy and the leadership of Kennedy, also known as RFK.
Among them was Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who warned about the “rise of misinformation” about vaccines in a letter seen by the BBC’s US partner CBS News. She also argued against planned cuts to the agency’s budget.
A long-time federal government scientist, Dr Monarez was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the CDC and was confirmed in a Senate vote along party lines in July.
Her nomination followed Trump withdrawing his first pick, former Republican Congressman Dave Weldon, who had come under fire for his views on vaccines and autism.
On Wednesday, Dr Monarez’s lawyers issued a statement saying that she had chosen “protecting the public over serving a political agenda”.
The White House statement announcing the termination of her post said: “As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the president’s agenda.”
On Thursday, Kennedy told Fox News that the CDC leadership “needs to execute Trump’s agenda”.
The CDC, he added, “in in trouble, needs to be fixed”.
The New York Times reports that she was at odds with Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, over vaccine policy.
The exodus at the top of one of the world’s most foremost public health bodies comes as health experts voice concern over the agency’s approach to immunisations since Kennedy took over.
Daniel Jernigan, who led the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, was one of those to quit citing “the current context in the department”.
Head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Demetre Daskalakis, also said he was no longer able to serve “because of the ongoing weaponising of public health”.
There are also reports, including by NBC News, that Dr Jennifer Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, has also resigned.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved new Covid vaccines while limiting who could receive them.
The vaccines will be available for all seniors, but younger adults and children without underlying health conditions will be excluded.
“The emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded,” Kennedy wrote on X.
Dr Monarez was the first CDC director in 50 years to not hold a medical degree. Her background is in infectious disease research.
In her month as the CDC leader, she helped comfort agency employees after the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta was attacked by a gunman who believed he had been harmed by Covid vaccines.
The attack, in which hundreds of bullets struck the building, killed one police officer.
Earlier this month, current and former employees of the agency wrote an open letter accusing Kennedy of fuelling violence towards healthcare workers with his anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Dr Monarez’s departure comes about a week after a union representing CDC employees announced that about 600 CDC employees had been fired.
The wide-ranging layoffs included employees working on the government’s response to infectious diseases, including bird flu, as well as those researching environmental hazards and handling public record requests.
Nuveen Churchill Private Capital Income Fund Form 8K for 28 August
Form 8K Nuveen Churchill Private Capital Income Fund For: 28 August
Rescuers Scour Debris Following Russian Attacks in Kyiv
new video loaded: Rescuers Search Through Rubble After Russian Strikes on Kyiv
By Finbarr O’Reilly and Monika Cvorak•
Emergency workers looked through the wreckage of a five-story apartment building early Thursday after a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, killed more than a dozen people.
Recent episodes in Ukraine Crisis
Florida is using expensive robot rabbit lures in a last-ditch effort to tackle the python issue in the Everglades.
They look, move and even smell like the kind of furry Everglades marsh rabbit a Burmese python would love to eat. But these bunnies are robots meant to lure the giant invasive snakes out of their hiding spots.
It’s the latest effort by the South Florida Water Management District to eliminate as many pythons as possible from the Everglades, where they are decimating native species with their voracious appetites. In Everglades National Park, officials say the snakes have eliminated 95% of small mammals as well as thousands of birds.
“Removing them is fairly simple. It’s detection. We’re having a really hard time finding them,” said Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the water district. “They’re so well camouflaged in the field.”
The water district and University of Florida researchers deployed 120 robot rabbits this summer as an experiment. Previously, there was an effort to use live rabbits as snake lures but that became too expensive and time-consuming, Kirkland said.
The robots are simple toy rabbits, but retrofitted to emit heat, a smell and to make natural movements to appear like any other regular rabbit. “They look like a real rabbit,” Kirkland said. They are solar powered and can be switched on and off remotely. They are placed in small pens monitored by a video camera that sends out a signal when a python is nearby.
“Then I can deploy one of our many contractors to go out and remove the python,” Kirkland said.
The total cost per robot rabbit is about $4,000, financed by the water district, he added.
Pythons are not native to Florida, but have become established in the swampy, subtropical Everglades by escaping from homes or by people releasing them when they become overgrown pets. A female python can lay between 50 and 100 eggs at a time with a gestation period of 60-90 days, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
It’s not easy to find definite estimates of the number of pythons in Florida. The U.S. Geological Survey recently reported a ballpark number of “tens of thousands,” while other official estimates run as high as 300,000 snakes. They have few natural enemies, although there are occasional confrontations with alligators, and other predators, such as bobcats and coyotes, will eat their eggs.
Since 2000, more than 23,000 of the snakes have been removed from the wild, the wildlife commission says. The robot rabbits are the latest attempt to tackle snakes that average between 10 and 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in length when fully grown.
“Every invasive python that is removed makes a difference for Florida’s environment and its native wildlife,” said Ron Bergeron, a member of the water district governing board.
Pythons can be humanely killed year-round on private lands and on lands managed by the wildlife commission across the state.
Each year the commission holds a “Florida Python Challenge” that carries cash prizes for most pythons caught, the longest snake and so forth. This year, 934 people from 30 states took part in the effort in July, capturing 294 pythons with a top prize of $10,000 to a participant who bagged 60 of the reptiles.
It’s too early to determine how successful the robot rabbit project will be, but officials say initial results are a cause for optimism.
“This part of the project is in its infancy,” Kirkland said. “We are confident, though, that this will work once we are given enough time to work out some of these details.”
_____
Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.
Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world. Explore this year’s list.
Uncovering the US Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket’: Donald Trump’s Impact
New York, United States – Behind the thick velvet drapes and marble columns of the United States Supreme Court, a creeping trend has emerged.
More and more, decisions are being made without full briefings or oral arguments. Time is tight, and judgements are often rendered in brief, unsigned orders that offer little to no explanation about how the nine justices arrived at their ruling.
These orders are the result of the “shadow docket”, and their numbers are growing.
Since taking office for a second term, President Donald Trump is on track to file a record number of emergency applications to the Supreme Court, demanding quick turnarounds on high-stakes issues ranging from immigration to mass layoffs.
Experts say this “shadow docket” of emergency petitions signals a shift in how the court operates.
Aaron Saiger, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law, explained that, unlike any other administration in recent history, Trump has relied heavily on emergency relief from the court.
“The government asked for it rarely, and the court granted it rarely. Now, the government is asking for it routinely, and the court is granting it routinely,” Saiger told Al Jazeera.
“That doesn’t show a change in the underlying rules of the system, but it is a definite change in the way that the system is behaving.”
As of August, in the first seven months of his second term, the Trump administration has sent at least 22 emergency applications to the Supreme Court.
This outstrips the 19 made during the full four-year term of Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama and George W Bush — both two-term presidents — only filed eight emergency petitions a piece.
The uptick under Trump symbolises a different approach to the Supreme Court, according to Saiger. “The government’s reluctance to ask for such relief has gone away,” he said.
And the court appears to be responsive to many of his requests. During Trump’s first term, his administration filed 41 emergency petitions, and received full or partial relief in 28 of the cases.
This time around, the Supreme Court has granted 16 of Trump’s requests, fully or in part.
Apple Music Radio partners with TuneIn to expand availability across platforms
Apple Music launched its six live radio stations on TuneIn’s platform on Wednesday (August 27), marking the first time that the company’s 24/7 radio programming has become available outside its own ecosystem.
Through the partnership, TuneIn‘s 75 million global monthly users will gain access to Apple Music‘s commercial-free radio stations through smart speakers, headphones, and automotive systems from more than 15 car brands.
Apple‘s radio offering includes Apple Music 1, hosted by Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden; Apple Music Hits, which covers hits from the 1980s through 2000s; Apple Music Country; Apple Música Uno; Apple Music Club; and Apple Music Chill.
Rachel Newman, co-head of Apple Music, said: “Apple Music Radio has always been about connection, artists sharing their music and their stories in real time and listeners discovering something new together.”
“Through our partnership with TuneIn, we’re able to bring that experience to even more people, extending beyond the Apple ecosystem and reaching music fans wherever they are.”
“Through our partnership with TuneIn, we’re able to bring that experience to even more people, extending beyond the Apple ecosystem and reaching music fans wherever they are.”
Rachel Newman, Apple Music
TuneIn CEO Rich Stern added: “Apple choosing TuneIn as the first platform to stream its radio stations reinforces our position as the go-to distribution partner for global audio.”
“With deep integrations across connected devices and cars, TuneIn is uniquely positioned to deliver premium content to listeners everywhere. Our mission is simple: to be the world’s leading live audio platform, bringing nonstop, audio experiences to audiences 24/7.”
Apple Music’s latest move comes as it struggles to maintain its position against streaming rival Spotify. Apple’s market share of US digital music subscribers dropped to 25% at the end of last year from 30% in 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing MIDiA Research. Meanwhile, Spotify expanded its domestic market share to 37% from 31% over the same period.
“Apple choosing TuneIn as the first platform to stream its radio stations reinforces our position as the go-to distribution partner for global audio.”
Rich Stern, TuneIn
Globally, Apple Music’s position has also weakened further. The company’s worldwide subscriber share shrank to 12% from 16% since 2020, the Journal said.
Price-wise, an Apple Music subscription still costs cheaper than a Spotify Premium subscription. Spotify raised its Premium price in the US to $11.99 in 2024 from $9.99 in 2022, while Apple Music, priced at $10.99 hasn’t seen a price hike in the US since 2022.
Earlier this month, Spotify announced that Premium subscribers will soon receive an email explaining the price change, which applies to “multiple markets across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.”
To attract more subscribers, Apple Music has rolled out a range of tools over the recent months. Yesterday (August 27), MBW reported that Apple has quietly rolled out its playlist transfer feature to seven new markets including the US, allowing users to switch from rival streaming services quickly.
For TuneIn, which aggregates live audio content from sports to news programming, the deal with Apple follows its partnerships with companies including Visteon, which makes cockpit electronics for vehicles, as well as internet radio platforms Audacy and iHeartMedia.
Music Business Worldwide
Lessons Learned: The Lasting Impact of Coaching in Competitive Swimming
Authors:
Mike Koleber, Owner/Coach: Nitro Swimming
Mike Murray, Athletic Director, The Albany Academy; Coach, Sharks Swim Club
In our sport, success is too often defined by medals, records, and championships. Those accomplishments matter, and we celebrate them. But if we are honest about the work we do as coaches, they are not what lasts. The most meaningful impact of coaching reveals itself years
later, in conversations with former swimmers who are now well into their adult lives. They rarely bring up a practice set, a stroke adjustment, or a race strategy. Instead, they talk about resilience, discipline, humility, or the lessons we spoke about when the stopwatch wasn’t running. This, we believe, is the real measure of coaching.
A coaches’ meeting at Nitro Swimming brought this truth into sharper focus. Mike Koleber asked his staff to write down on a post-it note the single most important lesson they had learned from one of their own coaches. Once written, the notes were sorted into two piles: technical lessons about the sport and broader lessons about life. The non-technical pile dwarfed the technical one.
That simple exercise carried a profound message. Even for people who have dedicated their lives to coaching, what stayed with them was not a drill, a set, or a correction about hand position. It was the way a coach made them feel, the standards they were held to, or the belief
instilled in them. The fact that the “life pile” far outnumbered the “swimming pile” should remind us all: our greatest contribution is not the technical knowledge we pass on, but the values and perspective we help athletes build.
This perspective reframes what it means to coach. Yes, we are responsible for designing training plans, teaching mechanics, and preparing athletes for competition. But at its core, coaching is mentorship. The pool is the classroom, and the lessons reach far beyond the sport.
Stroke mechanics may win a race, but character development prepares an athlete for life.
As coaches, we see it time and again: medals tarnish, records fall, and championships eventually blur into the past. What endures is how an athlete learned to show up consistently, to support teammates, to face setbacks, and to carry themselves with dignity. When former
swimmers call years later to tell us that lessons about perseverance or accountability helped them navigate a challenge at work or in their families, that is the true legacy of our profession.
Recognizing this truth requires us to expand how we define success. Technical mastery remains essential, athletes cannot thrive in sport without it. But it is not sufficient to measure a coach’s impact. True success comes when athletes leave our programs as resilient, thoughtful, and engaged human beings. It comes when they carry with them habits of discipline, empathy for
others, and confidence in themselves.
This does not diminish the pursuit of excellence in the pool. Rather, it situates athletic performance within a broader framework. Winning races and setting records are meaningful milestones, but they are part of a larger process. The real achievement is shaping people who
will contribute positively in whatever arenas they enter after their swimming careers have ended.
The Nitro exercise makes clear that athletes experience their coaches less as technicians and more as mentors. What they remember are the values modeled, the standards upheld, and the conversations that stretched beyond the sport. For us, this is both humbling and empowering. It means that every interaction, on deck, in the office, or after practice, has the potential to be remembered years later. That is the responsibility and privilege of coaching.
The legacy of coaching is not captured on a scoreboard or in a record book. It is written in the lives of the athletes who leave the pool better prepared for the challenges ahead. When coaches embrace this broader mission, they fulfill the deepest potential of their role. We believe
that is what makes coaching one of the most rewarding professions: the knowledge that our influence endures far beyond the water.
About the Authors:
Mike Koleber is the owner and founder of Nitro Swimming, one of the largest and most successful swim programs in the United States. His leadership has focused on creating sustainable environments where swimmers thrive athletically while developing life skills beyond
the pool. He has served USA Swimming and the American Swimming Coaches Association in multiple leadership roles.
Mike Murray serves as Athletic Director at The Albany Academy, is a Board Member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and Victor Swim Club, and also coaches with the Sharks Swim Club in New York’s Capital District. His career spans coaching, teaching, and
athletic administration, with an emphasis on using athletics as a vehicle for character development, resilience, and lifelong engagement.
“Great coaching isn’t defined by the X’s and O’s, but by uncovering the whys and teaching the hows, because that’s where growth, trust, and true understanding thrive.”
-Mike Koleber
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Beyond Performance: The Enduring Lessons of Coaching in Competitive Swimming
AI-Enhanced Earbuds Transform the Concept of Sustainability
A new innovation is aiming to redefine earbuds – not just in function but in form. Meet The PIN, a pair of wireless buds handcrafted from real wood and packed with AI-powered features including real-time translation, virtual assistants and a sleep aid. These sustainable buds are also affordable, starting at US$134.
And it’s no surprise they’ve been a hit with Kickstarter backers – the campaign was fully funded within two hours, and after a week had nearly 500 pledges.
The PIN
The PIN is the work of Sudeshna Naik, a UC Berkeley Development Engineering graduate who studied sustainable product development.
“At Berkeley, I learned a hard truth: Why so many sustainable products fail,” Naik said. “The lesson was clear: If people feel they’re compromising on performance, they won’t choose sustainability. The PIN was designed to change that.”
The earbuds are built with housings made from sustainably sourced walnut, cherry and bamboo materials and contain recycled materials. Each pair is slightly different thanks to the grain of the material and is finished with a water‑resistant sealant for all-weather durability.
When paired with a custom app, features include customizable EQ profiles, voice-activated AI assistance, location tracking for misplaced earbuds and real-time translation of more than 150 languages.
The PIN
The companion app also offers text translation, using the phone’s camera to capture signs or menus in more than 20 languages and then playing the results back through the earbuds.
While the package is stunning, the earbuds have also been engineered to offer crisp, immersive sound. They support AAC audio codec (like high-end JBL/Bose), and feature Dual-ENC (environmental noise cancellation) for clear calls even in noisy environments. A touch sensor on the back of the buds controls audio (play/pause, skip, volume), handles calls and activates features like translation mode.
The makers claim a battery life of up to eight hours per charge, and 32 for the case. A 15-minute charge, however, reportedly provides three additional hours of use. The charging case connects with the standard USB-C, and the app is compatible with both iOS and Android. It’s also worth noting that there are no subscription fees for the app. (If you’re app-averse, the core functions of the earbuds will still work fine without it.)
The buds weigh around 34 g, which makes them lighter than standard plastic models and are designed for all-day wear – whether you’re working out or reading in bed.
Putting their sustainability money where their mouth is, the makers have also pledged to plant a tree for every 10 units sold. As of writing, that’s 78 trees and counting …
The PIN
The PIN comes in three different models – lighter Bamboo, the richer Cherry and the dark Walnut – and are available from $134 (Labor Day sale price), a discount of $46.
Aside from the usual bundles and different tiers, the PIN also has a top-end pledge – for $399, you can get your name or initials, or anything really (up to six characters) engraved in gold on the case. Considering shipping is expected by October, this would make a pretty special Christmas gift.
The PIN will also be shipped worldwide. You can read more about the products on the company’s website.
Source: Kickstarter
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Baltasar Ebang Engonga of Equatorial Guinea Faces Legal Consequences for Embezzlement and Sex Tape Scandal
A nephew of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who was at the centre of a sex tape scandal last year, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement.
Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the former head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, diverted money for personal use, a court ruled.
Nicknamed “Bello” because of his good looks, the married Engonga gained notoriety last year, when he appeared in leaked videos having sex with different women – many of them wives and relatives of people close to the centre of power.
The leak occurred while he was in detention, accused of depositing a huge sum of embezzled money into secret accounts in the Cayman Islands.
He was found guilty along with five other officials who allegedly claimed the money as an allowance for travel – the amounts ranged from $9,000 (£6,600) to $220,000.
Engonga’s arrest last October and public humiliation was seen as an attempt to destroy any hope he had of becoming the next president of the oil-rich central African state.
His uncle is the world’s longest-serving president having been in power since 1979, and has appointed his son, Teodoro Obiang Mangue, as his vice-president.
Engonga used to investigate crimes such as money laundering, but found himself at the infamous Black Beach prison in the capital, Malabo, after being accused of corruption.
His phones and computers were seized and a few days later the intimate videos started appearing online in their dozens.
The authenticity of the videos was never verified, but as the computer equipment was in the hands of the security forces, suspicion fell on someone there leaking it, perhaps to trash Engonga’s reputation.
As well as imposing a jail sentence, the tribunal fined Engonga $220,000, supreme court press director Hilario Mitogo was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying in a WhatsApp message to journalists.