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BBC World News, I'm Tom Dewsbury. Hello.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department says the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Menares, is no longer with the agency. It's less than a month since the federal government scientist was confirmed in the post. Reports say several other CDC officers have resigned. Arunide Mukherjee has more. Ms. Menares, a long-time federal government scientist, was nominated by President Donald Trump after he withdrew his first pick, former Republican Congressman Dave Weldon, who had been criticized for his views on vaccines. Significantly, Ms. Menares' departure comes on the same day that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced changes to COVID vaccine eligibilities. Mr. Kennedy, a long-time vaccine sceptic, has targeted policies and in May withdrew a federal recommendation for COVID shots for pregnant women and healthy children. All members of the United Nations Security Council, except the United States, have said the famine in Gaza is man-made and urged Israel to immediately lift all restrictions on aid into the territory. In a joint statement, the 14 council members reiterated that the use of starvation as a weapon is banned under international law. Trishala Persaud, Guyana's deputy U.N. ambassador. "We note that at least 41,000 children are at heightened risk of death from malnutrition between now and June, 2026. This is a man-made crisis. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law." Speaking after talks with his American counterpart in Washington, the Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar said there were no plans for a Palestinian state. Reports from Syria say Israeli troops have carried out a raid on a former air defense base southwest of Damascus. The base, near Kiswa, had been used by Iranian forces and allied militias under the rule of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad, and sources suggest surveillance and eavesdropping devices had been found there. The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, says his agency is investigating the killing of two children during a school Mass as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Roman Catholics. Seventeen others, mainly pupils, were wounded in the attack on a service at a church in Minneapolis. The 23-year-old attacker, identified as Robin Westman, later shot himself. John Sudworth reports. Neighbors reported hearing the sound of gunfire from their homes, with video footage showing parents running towards the church. President Trump has ordered flags to be flown at half-mast, while the Pope has sent his condolences via a telegram to the archbishop of Saint Paul in Minneapolis. Court papers show that Westman legally changed name in 2020 and identified as female. This tragedy, for one American community, is once again prompting the same questions about how this country can protect children in the place where they should be the safest, in school. World News from the BBC. The U.S. State Department's responded to Danish concern about an American influence campaign in Greenland, saying it respects the rights of people there to determine their own future. But it said it couldn't comment on the actions of private U.S. citizens. On Wednesday, Denmark's foreign minister summoned the U.S. representative in Copenhagen. He said any attempt to interfere in the country's internal affairs was unacceptable. The computer chipmaker NVIDIA has announced strong second-quarter profits that surpassed market expectations, with record revenue of almost $47 billion. But NVIDIA's shares dropped on investors' fears of a bubble in AI chip spending. Our North America technology correspondent, Lily Jamali, has more. NVIDIA designs the sophisticated chips that have helped fuel the current AI boom. The company said on Wednesday its revenue grew 56 percent last quarter compared to a year earlier, but it remains caught up in what one executive called "geopolitical issues." The company hasn't shipped any of the special chips it designed specifically for the Chinese market even after President Trump lifted his ban on their export. The administration now wants a 15 percent cut of revenue from their sale, but hasn't codified that demand in any regulations, NVIDIA said. The German defense company Rheinmetall has opened Europe's largest munitions plant in Unterluess. It'll be able to produce 350,000 artillery shells a year. The NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the plant was critical for European security and for helping Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders. One of the world's most visited galleries, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, has warned it faces closure unless it receives state funding to finance a major renovation. The museum displays a collection donated by Vincent van Gogh's nephew on the understanding that the Dutch state would build and maintain the premises. The museum has begun legal action against the Dutch government after it refused to increase its subsidy. BBC World News. |