
Manila's Mayor Returns to Office to Face Mountains of Trash
Weeks before, piles of garbage had started taking over the city, the Philippine capital. In some areas, roads became impassable for cars. Mountains of refuse lined crowded commercial areas, as well as the wide avenues leading to City Hall and the country's Supreme Court. Trash bags and discarded crates floated down streets flooded by the monsoon rains.
Litter is a fact of life in Manila, where grand colonial buildings are cramped by modern high-rises and dense shanty towns. But for weeks, the smell of rot has grown inescapable for nearly two million residents as uncollected waste stewed in the humid Southeast Asian weather.
'It hurts the eyes, it hurts the nose, and it hurts public health,' Mr. Domagoso said, speaking on a livestream on Monday, where he asked residents to store garbage in their homes until collection returned to normal. He declared a state of emergency in the city the next day.
The mayor himself, a former actor known as Isko Moreno, worked as a garbage collector before beginning his acting career.
In a speech to the City Council on Tuesday, Mr. Domagoso blamed the government of the previous mayor, Honey Lacuna, for leaving the city in debt to the garbage collectors.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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RFK Jr. is quietly reshaping vaccine policy. This is the man helping him do it.
'Who is Stuart Burns?' a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention texted me from the organization's all-hands meeting in June, attaching a photo of a man seated in front of his name card. The 60-year-old conservative with a stout build and a boyish haircut was mostly unknown to the doctors, epidemiologists and officials who had gathered to ask questions about what many have described as the gutting of their agency and the threat many believe its new leaders pose to public health. When asked about the researchers and doctors reportedly aligned with the anti-vaccine movement who had replaced the qualified experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a federal vaccine advisory committee, deputy director of public affairs Nina Witkofsky opened the floor to Burns, who was seated at a long table with other agency leaders. 'I'll catch the football on that one,' said Burns, who had been recently appointed as senior adviser to the CDC director (a position that is still sitting vacant). 'We've been working really hard over the past few days — over the weekend in particular — to bring on the new ACIP members,' he said with a smile. Burns said he had been on calls with agency staff, working nights and weekends ahead of the July ACIP meeting, to ensure the replacements were in place — new panelists who, critics later said, would bring anti-vaccine views and conflicts of interest to a group once respected for its scientific rigor and independence. 'We're making good progress,' Burns said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by MSNBC. He added that several agenda items would be delayed while the new panel got up to speed. Though not everyone in the room recognized him, Burns had been named in an April memo from Matt Buzzelli, the CDC's newly politically appointed chief of staff, announcing interim leadership changes after mass terminations and resignations. But among the CDC's longest-serving employees, especially those in offices related to vaccines, Burns was a known entity. He had been a staffer for congressional Republicans since the early '90s — best known as a key operator for the anti-vaccine movement. Originally from Georgia, Burns spent the last three decades in Florida, Texas and Washington, D.C., with his longest tenure, from 1995 to 2008, as legislative director and deputy chief of staff to former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had wanted Weldon as CDC director, but that nomination was pulled over his anti-vaccine views. But because an adviser position doesn't require Senate confirmation, Kennedy got Weldon's number two. 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Burns facilitated dozens of meetings between anti-vaccine activists and government officials, and arranged access to CDC data for Mark and David Geier, father-son researchers who falsely linked autism to vaccines and served as experts in legal cases alleging vaccine injuries. He coordinated press and lobbying strategies with activists, pushed medical journals to publish anti-vaccine research that had been rejected, and asked anti-vaccine activists to advise on government-funded research. He also publicly discounted studies that debunked purported links between vaccines and autism, and was repeatedly described in books, news articles and autism forums as a tireless behind-the-scenes organizer. One source with knowledge of calls between Weldon's office, CDC staffers and anti-vaccine researchers described Burns as 'explosive.' 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The CDC has been without a director since March, when Trump withdrew Kennedy's pick, Weldon, and nominated Susan Monarez. Leadership roles have been left vacant or filled with political appointees who lack public health experience. Kennedy has also placed anti-vaccine allies in roles that are reshaping vaccine policy — some subtly, others more overtly — both domestically and abroad. And it is Burns who appears to be leading this network of ideologically aligned staff embedded across HHS agencies. According to meeting recordings, internal communications reviewed by MSNBC and three sources familiar with the situation, Burns has become a central figure in subverting vaccine policy under Kennedy. It's unclear from his job title of 'senior adviser' what Burns is officially tasked with, but officials with knowledge said Burns' duties were, in part, specifically targeting vaccines. In addition to organizing the destruction and rebirth of the ACIP panel, Burns personally ordered the removal of a webpage that hosted a scientific review on the safety of thimerosal, an ingredient falsely linked to autism by anti-vaccine activists. (The ACIP panel ultimately recommended removing the preservative from influenza vaccines.) The decision to remove the report from the website, made after communication with Kennedy's office, broke from standard practice, which allows such panels to act independently of the agency. An HHS spokesperson defended the removal to MSNBC, saying the report had been posted without permission, but did not address Burns' involvement. Kennedy's sweeping plans for vaccines include the re-examination of settled vaccine safety studies, particularly around autism. Kennedy has said that this fall he will announce preliminary findings from a reanalysis of health data — findings that critics, including those inside CDC, say are preordained and are likely to reignite disproven claims around autism and vaccines. Kennedy's overhaul of vaccine policy is also coming amid a growing number of public health emergencies. Measles outbreaks tore through the country this year, hospitalizing hundreds and killing two unvaccinated children. The country's elimination status is under threat while vaccine hesitancy grows: a recent study found that only 40% of pregnant Americans and parents of young children said they plan to follow the recommended vaccine schedule. Meanwhile, Burns appears to be benefitting from a power vacuum. Two Trump loyalists — Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy's chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, a senior policy adviser — were fired this week. Key positions, including CDC director and several division heads, remain unfilled. Nearly a third of top HHS leadership positions currently sit vacant, according to the agency's website. With few career leaders in place, political appointees have been operating with unusual authority. Burns has wielded his new power to realize an old dream. 'He's a senior adviser to the director, but there is no director,' said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to speak publicly about the agency. 'And all that he does, all day long, is work in this covert vaccine space.' Dr. Paul Offit, the inventor of a rotavirus vaccine and a longtime critic of Kennedy and the anti-vaccine movement, suggested that Kennedy's actions are like the dinosaur in 'Jurassic Park,' testing the fence before it breaks through. 'Activists have been shouting from the sidelines for decades,' Offit said. 'Now they are making policy.' This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword


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3 hours ago
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News24
5 hours ago
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Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte wins legal victory as Supreme Court throws out impeachment
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