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Trump nominates former deputy surgeon general to lead embattled CDC – US politics live | Trump administration

Published

4 months ago

April 16, 2026

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Trump nominates former deputy surgeon general to lead embattled CDC

Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“She is a STAR!” the president wrote on Truth Social. Schwartz will need to be confirmed by the Senate before she can officially takeover the agency that has been without a permanent director for eight months and been beset by chaos.

The agency’s last Senate‑confirmed director, Susan Monarez, took over in July but was fired less than a month later after clashing with Kennedy over his vaccine agenda. Since then, the CDC has seen an exodus of senior public health officials, many of whom accused the health secretary of politicizing the agency and stripping leaders of their independence.

Jay Bhattacharya – who also runs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – has served as interim chief of the CDC since February.

Trump also announced that Sean Slovenski will become the CDC’s deputy director, while Jennifer Shuford will serve as the agency’s chief medical officer.

Key events

Here’s a recap of the day so far

Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the embattled Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “She is a STAR!” the president wrote on Truth Social. Schwartz will need to be confirmed by the Senate before she can officially takeover the agency that has been without a permanent director for eight months and been beset by chaos.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Robert F Kennedy Jr defended his healthcare agenda and plans to slash the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget by $15bn. At a committee hearing, Democratic lawmakers grilled the health secretary over his vaccine rollbacks in a hearing that quickly became heated. More here.
By a vote of 224-204, the House passed a bill to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants living in the US. Ten lower chamber Republicans joined all Democrats to advance the legislation. The Trump administration has sought to end most enrollment in the program – and tried to remove the status from a string of countries. However, a district court judge blocked the administration from stripping TPS from up to 350,000 Haitians earlier this year. The legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it would need the support 60 lawmakers in order to clear the filibuster.
The House of Representatives backed Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran on Thursday, narrowly voting to block a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the war until hostilities are authorized by Congress. The measure was defeated by 214 to 213 in the Republican-majority chamber, a day after a similar measure was blocked in the Senate for the fourth time.
Donald Trump’s design for a 250ft triumphal arch moved a step forward on Thursday after a key agency reviewed the proposal for the first time. The US Commission of Fine Arts voted to approve the concept design for the arch. The seven commissioners, all appointed by Trump, will review an updated version of the design before taking a final vote at a future meeting. The arch is part of the president’s legacy-building quest during his second administration, which includes a White House ballroom.

Trump nominates former deputy surgeon general to lead embattled CDC

Donald Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general during his first administration, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Jay Bhattacharya – who also runs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – has served as interim chief of the CDC since February.

Trump also announced that Sean Slovenski will become the CDC’s deputy director, while Jennifer Shuford will serve as the agency’s chief medical officer.

The president also insisted that he is “not fighting” with Pope Leo XIV.

Trump said it’s “very important” for the pope to understand that Iran is a threat to the world, before falsely claiming the pontiff said the Iranian regime “can have a nuclear weapon”.

Leo did not say that, in fact he initially said that the war was being fueled by a “delusion of omnipotence” without naming Trump. In response, the president launched a social media spat, calling the pope “weak on crime” and catering to “radical left lunatics”.

Trump also said he would be “OK” with public hearings for more Epstein survivors, as suggested by first lady Melania Trump last week.

“But I understand the women didn’t want to go under oath. That’s what I heard,” the president told reporters today. “So Melania felt strongly about it, because she was accused that I met her through Epstein. But it turned out to be totally false.”

Trump says first lady issued surprise statement about Epstein because of ‘fake news’

As the president left Washington, to travel to Las Vegas, he spoke to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.

When asked why first lady Melania Trump issued an apparently umprompted televised statement last week that she “never had a relationship” with Jeffrey Epstein or his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, Donald Trump said she made her remarks because “the fake news said she did, and she had none, and I think that’s been proven.”

The president said his wife was “bothered” by the “fake news being the fake news” and she “just wanted to clarify”

House passes bill to extend TPS for Haitian immigrants

By a vote of 224-204, the House passed a bill to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants living in the US. Ten lower chamber Republicans joined all Democrats to advance the legislation, which was brought to the floor via a discharge petition on Wednesday.

A reminder that TPS provides relief to people already in the US if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary events. The Trump administration has sought to end most enrollment in the program – and tried to strip the status from a string of countries, including Haiti, Somalia and Venezuela – saying it runs counter to US interests. However, many of these attempts have been challenged and blocked in federal court.

In February, a district court judge blocked the Trump administration from stripping TPS from up to 350,000 Haitians in the US.

The bill, however, faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it will need the support 60 lawmakers in order to clear the filibuster.

Fisa bill remains in limbo as Johnson tries to convince hardliners

A bill to extend section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) remains in limbo in the US House, as Republican speaker Mike Johnson tries to rally his fractured conference to pass the bill which authorizes intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign nationals outside the US, without the need for warrants or court orders.

Without an extension, the provision will expire next week. Johnson told Punchbowl News that the splintered GOP will have “a conclusion on that” shortly. “We’re working through a couple remaining issues,” he added. A number of hardline Republicans and many Democrats have pushed back against the Fisa bill, arguing that any extension must protect Americans’ privacy and are demanding reforms.

It’s unclear whether Johnson will tee-up a procedural vote on the bill today, or hold off as negotiations continue with members of this own party. Donald Trump, for his part, has weighed in, calling for Republicans to “unify” and pass a “clean” extension of section 702, despite lambasting the provision in the past.

Joseph Gedeon

The Trump administration has moved to formally enlist foreign governments in a sweeping reorientation of global development policy, directing American diplomats worldwide to seek official support for a “trade over aid” declaration before its introduction at the United Nations later this month.

This would mean a move away from direct aid to poor nations in favor of increased trade, led by private companies.

Principal deputy spokesperson at the state department Tommy Pigott confirmed the initiative on Wednesday, framing it as a rejection of what he called a failed aid model. “The idea that trade and free market capitalism is the surest path to prosperity has been proven by the facts and by history,” Pigott said, adding that those calling for “aid not trade” were “really arguing for lining the pockets of a corrupt NGO industrial complex”.

The new posturing was first reported by the development publication Devex on Tuesday, and the full internal US diplomatic cable was obtained by the Washington Post on Wednesday. The initiative described in the cable is an attack on the obligation of wealthy nations to provide tens of billions of dollars in annual foreign assistance, alongside what the Trump administration characterizes as an endorsement of free-market principles as the primary vehicle for global development.

Ambassador Mike Waltz also previewed the effort during testimony before the Senate foreign relations committee on Tuesday.

Suozzi pushes Kennedy on White House proposal to cut health department budget

Representative Tom Suozzi, the moderate Democrat from New York, grilled Kennedy about the White House budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which seeks to cut more than $15bn for the 2027 fiscal year, while asking for $441bn more in defense department funding.

“The president is making a lot of tough decisions, and he’s making tough decisions because of problems that he inherited,” Kennedy said, defending the blueprint that will kickstart appropriations talks on Capitol Hill.

“You say he’s not cutting Medicaid. Nobody buys that,” Suozzi replied. “I want to be bipartisan. I want to work together. I’ve applauded you on some of the things that you’re doing that are good, but how does it square that he’s increasing the defense budget by 500 billion and cutting money for NIH and CDC?”

The health secretary insisted that Donald Trump has done “more to protect public health any president” and blamed Democrats for what he describes as a “chronic disease epidemic”.

“All happened in the past four years of the Biden administration?” Suozzi snapped back

Melody Schreiber

Kennedy’s hearing before the House Ways and Means committee is back from recess. An explosive moment took place a short while ago. Representative Steven Horsford, a Democrat from Nevada, spoke about his constituents’ struggle to access health care. “Calm down, congressman,” Kennedy said.

“Don’t tell me to calm down. Health care is personal to me,” Horsford said. “If you can’t answer basic questions, then maybe come prepared next time.”

Kennedy responded that Horsford was getting upset because he didn’t “have much to say”.

RFK Jr’s hearing is now in recess so lawmakers can cast votes.

Earlier, the health and human services secretary had a heated exchange with Democratic representative Terri Sewell, of Alabama, who pressed Kennedy on his reported remarks that black children would benefit from “wellness farms” where they could be “re-parented” while weaning off psychiatric medications.

“Every black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, on SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence, and those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get re-parented, to live in a community where there’ll be no cellphones, no screens,” Kennedy reportedly said on the 19Keys podcast in June 2024. “You’ll actually have to talk to people.”

Today, Kennedy said he doubted he said that, adding that he didn’t know what “re-parent” means.

“Our nation has a long and painful history of separating Black children from their families,” Sewell said, referring to slavery, Jim Crow laws and systemic racial discrimination in policing and child welfare.

House Republicans narrowly block latest bid to rein in Trump Iran war powers

The House of Representatives backed Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran on Thursday, narrowly voting to block a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the war until hostilities are authorized by Congress.

The measure was defeated by 214 to 213 in the Republican-majority chamber, a day after a similar measure was blocked in the Senate for the fourth time. The vote was almost exclusively along party lines, with every Republican except one (Thomas Massie) opposing the resolution, and one (Warren Davidson) voting present. One Democrat (Jared Golden) voted against it.

Federal law requires congressional approval to continue military actions for more than 60 days. The US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February. Some Senate Republicans signaled yesterday that they may reassess their thinking on this issue if the war reaches 60 days.

Further to that, Trump has said he’s invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for the countries’ first high-level talks since 1983.

He wrote on Truth Social:

In addition to the statement just issued, I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago.

Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!

Trump announces Israel-Lebanon 10 day ceasefire

A short while ago, Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon will begin a ten-day ceasefire from 5pm EST.

In a post on Truth Social, he said he had spoken to the leaders of both countries today and claimed this would be the “tenth war” he has “solved”.

He wrote:

I just had excellent conversations with the Highly Respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel. These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST.

On Tuesday, the two Countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C., with our Great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. I have directed Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Razin’ Caine, to work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a Lasting PEACE.

It has been my Honor to solve 9 Wars across the World, and this will be my 10th, so let’s, GET IT DONE!

Israel, meanwhile, has no plans to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon during the ceasefire, an Israeli security official has told Reuters.

Israel’s punishing bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon has killed more than 2,100 people, injured over 7,100 and displaced over 1.2 million.

My colleague Tom Ambrose is blogging all the latest developments:

Melody Schreiber

Back at Robert F Kennedy Jr’s hearing, representative Blake Moore, a Republican from Utah, spoke of his 10-year-old, Winnie, who is neurodivergent.

When the Trump administration incorrectly said Tylenol use in pregnancy causes autism, he said, “My wife was hurt.” She felt responsible, though they don’t recall if she even took the pain reliever during pregnancy.

“That was a hurtful moment for her,” Moore said, before encouraging Kennedy to continue looking for the causes of autism, which research shows has a strong genetic component.

During his hearing before House lawmakers, Robert F Kennedy Jr faced questions about the decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to end the universal recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.

Congresswoman Judy Chu, a California Democrat, pushed the health secretary about the move, calling it “incredibly harmful”. Many doctors, including Republican senator Bill Cassidy, a liver specialist by training, have warned that universal innoculation is incredibly effective since hepatits B is very infectious for children and can lead to long-term complications.

Kennedy, however, maintained that babies “essentially have zero risk unless their mother is infected”.

The health secretary said that “parents can assess the risk themselves” and the “state should not make that choice for them”.

Medical experts warn that a negative test result during pregnancy does not guarantee the child will not be infected with the hepatitis B. They point to both false negative results, but also the posibilty that mothers could contract the virus after screening.

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Driver killed in Bedford train crash named

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

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The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.

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Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.

Oyarzabal profile

Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.

“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “

News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.

“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.

“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”

Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.

Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.

The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.

The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.

An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.

In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.

For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:

“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.

“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”

Saturday’s match reports here.

The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same ⁠team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.

“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are ⁠missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against ‌Cape Verde.

“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you ‌should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.

“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.

“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.

“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”

The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”

Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.

The teams – Lamine Yamal starts

Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.

Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.

Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?

Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.

Al-Aqidi profile

Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat

The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.

The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.

Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.

“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.

Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.

A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.

Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP

Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?

Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.

Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.

“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”

A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.

“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”

We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.

The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.

Lamine Yamal profile

Preamble

Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.

Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.

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