Category World News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be headed by American President Donald Trump in his place, replacing a director who had a history of conflict with the White House over policies that defy scientific evidence.

O’Neill’s selection came after Trump officials claimed they fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, according to reports from The Washington Post and The Associated Press.

O’Neill serves in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

During discussions of misinformation and vaccine policy, Monarez and Kennedy had conversations, according to sources close to Monarez.

She stated that she would never do two things while working. She claimed that she was asked to do both of those things, according to Richard Besser, former CDC acting director, and that one was anything that she thought was unlawful. The other was what she thought she was supposed to be doing.

In protest of what they perceived as the undermining of scientific expertise as the foundation of public health policy, several senior CDC officials resigned from their positions.

Monarez alleged that she would not “rubber-stamp unreliable, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” She had only worked for a short while.

Before joining the Trump administration, Kennedy, a well-known anti-vaccination activist, has made a move to reform the organization and fire advisors who disagree with his positions.

In June, he removed the members of the vaccine advisory board and replaced them with those with views that are more similar to his own.

Kennedy described the CDC as a terribly flawed institution in a statement on Fox and Friends on Thursday.

According to Kennedy, “the CDC has problems,” and it has accused the centers of spreading “misinformation” about COVID-19 after it recommended wearing masks and engaging in social distancing.

He claimed that the CDC’s culture needed to change, even though he did not name Monarez.

The agency is in trouble, and we need to fix it, and we are fixing it, even though I can’t comment on personnel issues. And he speculated that some employees should stop working there.

We require strong leaders who can pursue President Trump’s broad goals.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared the impression that the CDC director had to adhere to Trump’s agenda at Thursday’s White House press briefing.

According to Leavitt, “Her lawyer’s statement made it abundantly clear that she was not in line with the president’s desire to restore health.”

Additionally, she provided a White House account of how Monarez allegedly got fired.

“Kennedy] asked her to resign,” she said. She said she would, but she later said she wouldn’t. Therefore, Leavitt claimed that the president should have fired her, which he has the right to do. “President Trump won a resounding majority of the way back on November 5th. This woman has never been able to vote in her entire life.

However, Monarez’s team of scientists and doctors claimed that the CDC’s recent changes had undermined its goal to protect the public from health risks.

Demetre Daskalakis, a senior CDC official who resigned this week, warned that the agency’s new direction, under Trump, would present real risks to public health.

“I’m a doctor,” I say. First, do no harm, according to the Hippocratic oath I took. Former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Daskalakis, said, “I don’t want to be a part of it because I think harm will happen.”

After a gunman attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, sparking heightened angst within the organization over the past few weeks as he blamed COVID-19 vaccines for his health issues.

One police officer was killed in that shooting, and the suspect committed suicide.

Kennedy has blatantly referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as the “deadliest vaccine ever created.”

The CDC’s employees’ representatives criticized Kennedy for causing the public to distrust the health agency following the shooting.

A union representing CDC employees, AFGE Local 2883, stated in a statement that “this tragedy was not random, and it compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured.”

Meanwhile, the organization Fired But Fighting, which is made up of fired employees, criticizes Kennedy for “his ongoing lies about science and vaccine safety, which have created a climate of hostility and mistrust.”

Thailand’s Constitutional Court will rule on whether to remove former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office in a decision that could endanger the ailing Shinawatra dynasty and cause political unrest in the Southeast Asian nation.

Paetongtarn would become the fifth prime minister to be removed from office by Thailand’s judges, who, according to critics, defend the country’s royalist-military establishment in an unfavorable verdict on Friday.

Additionally, the choice might lead to early elections.

The ruling on Friday is also the second in three high-stakes court cases involving her father, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Paetongtarn, 39.

The 76-year-old billionaire, who is a hero to the country’s rural poor and who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, was spared jail last week after being found not guilty of insulting the country’s powerful monarchy.

After 16 years of self-imposed exile, he is still facing a second case involving his return to Thailand in 2023, which could result in his being put back in jail.

Analysts believe the Shinawatra brand is in danger because of the saga and Paetongtarn’s failure to fulfill key economic promises, even if she survives.

Napon Jatusripitak, visiting fellow and acting coordinator of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Thailand Studies Program, said, “I believe the Shinawatra brand is done for.”

The Shinawatra legacy is very important to Phuket. According to him, Paetongtarn’s naivete, which has been used in public spectacle on a global scale, has squandered even the charismatic leadership Thaksin is frequently associated with, he said, referring to her leaked conversation with former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen.

A political argument in this context

Paetongtarn was reportedly heard kowtowing to Hun Sen, a long-time friend of her father, during the call, which occurred in May after deadly border clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces. He was also criticized for referring to him as an “opponent” and calling him an “opponent.”

Some Thais accused her of treason after hearing the comments in the media. The Constitutional Court apologised for her remarks, but the case was reopened pending a hearing into the complaint.

Meanwhile, the border conflict escalated, causing tens of thousands of people to flee along the border, killing dozens of people.

Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a constitutional law scholar at Chulalongkorn University, noted how the courts intervened to remove his sister, Yingluck, from power after a coup in 2014 and topple Thaksin-aligned prime ministers in 2008.

The outcome will depend on political instructions rather than legal arguments, Khemthong said. Never has this been a legal issue. It is a political case, as it has always been.

Paetongtarn’s fact that the controversy occurred at a time when Pheu Thai’s popularity has fallen has not helped him. The party has struggled to implement important policies, including legalizing casinos, reviving the economy, and completing a much-looted cash handout program, in its troubled two years in power.

Pheu Thai’s decision to strike a deal with royalist-backed, military-backed parties to take office in 2023 has caused a stir in the public.

Pheu Thai placed second behind the progressive youth movement Move Forward in the vote that year, but the conservative-controlled Senate prevented them from form a government.

Thaksin returned to Thailand after that same power-sharing arrangement.

The politician, who had been ordered to serve his eight-year sentence in absentia on corruption charges, was taken to jail after his arrival to begin serving. King Maha Vajiralongkorn reduced his sentence to a year, but he was taken to a hospital on medical grounds during his first night. He was kept in a hospital suite for six months before being granted parole.

The Supreme Court will now decide whether his hospital stay was appropriate in a situation where he might be sent back to prison to serve his sentence.

According to Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor and senior fellow at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science, “Thaksin had the moral high ground of being overthrown, from being democratically elected,” he conceded that position by striking a deal with the establishment.

He has given up, he has given in, and I believe the Shinawatra brand has now lost its political value.

The conservative forces are after more than just the Shinawatras, according to Thitinan.

They are looking out for any threat that they perceive that calls for reforms and Thailand’s modernization. Thailand has endured this for the past 20 years because of this. Thailand will remain in this shackle until it can be removed from the system, where elected governments are overthrown through subversion and manipulation, and the autocratic forces that overthrow are unable to do so,” he continued.

A “real-life Squid Game”

In fact, Thailand might experience a period of unpredictability again if Paetongtarn is removed. Because the current constitution, which was drafted under the supervision of the military, only allows politicians whose parties had nominated them for prime minister before the 2023 elections.

Chaikasem Nitisiri, a former justice minister and Thaksin loyalist, may be the country’s final eligible candidate for prime minister.

Other candidates are members of the conservative parties, including former United Thai Nation (UTN) Party leader Prayuth Chan-ocha and Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul. Since Prayuth is currently a Privy Council member, he would need to step down.

After removing Paetongtarn, Napon of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute said he thinks the royalist-military establishment will be able to form a new coalition with Pheu Thai but with the party “relegated to a kind of junior partner in the coalition” under a conservative leadership despite them having the most seats.

Given that Thaksin still has a case pending regarding his hospital stay, “Pheu Thai could accept that kind of arrangement,” Napon said. He might be sent back to prison in the worst case scenario. That might be used as leverage to re-enter Pheu Thai’s power-sharing arrangement with the conservatives.

Millions of voters have been let down by the continued conservative stranglehold on power, especially young Thai voters, who claim their votes and hopes for a bigger stake in their nation’s future have been ignored.

Former Move Forward legislator Pannika Wanich, who has received a lifetime ban from politics, told Al Jazeera, “Thai democracy is largely on paper.”

Thai politics resemble a Squid Game in reality. Before the game master selects the player they want, prime ministers are eliminated one by one. The laws are rigged, and they violate democratic principles.

A resident of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City-Mai, frequently awakens to thick fog covering the capital of Vietnam.

Mai, who requested a first name for her, called the “pollution in Hanoi alarming” according to Mai.

According to Mai, “exhaust fumes from motorbikes and buildings under construction” are the main culprits.

Petrol two-wheelers account for a significant portion of the reason Hanoi consistently has the worst air quality in the world with about seven million motorcycles crowded through the city’s streets.

Authorities intend to eject the vehicles from the city center right away.

By July 1st, 2026, Hanoi’s Ring Road 1, which circles the city, would be prohibited for all gasoline motorbikes from traveling within the city.

Mai, who already owns an electric motorcycle, said Hanoi residents are opposed to the ban.

She said, “People have two opposing viewpoints.” “Half consent to change, and half do not.”

Observers have questioned whether it would be possible to implement the ban within such a short amount of time, citing both the city’s limited public transportation options, a patchy electricity grid, and the city’s lack of charging infrastructure, as well as the logistical difficulties of blocking millions of drivers.

Some residents in Hanoi are concerned that the initiative will hurt the country’s poorest residents, and that it serves as a pretext to support Vingroup, the country’s largest conglomerate, and VinFast, its offshoot.

Hanh Nguyen, a PhD candidate from Vietnam and a native of Vietnam, told Al Jazeera that “many people believe this is an industry and development policy masquerading as an environmental protection policy.”

Nguyen continued, “it is quite concerning to consider that six million vehicles charge every day.”

“Our supplies are not really consistent, especially during the hot summer months, and it can put a lot of pressure on the electricity supply in Vietnam.”

In a wider effort to eliminate fossil fuel transportation, there is a July deadline to ban gasoline-powered motorcycles in central Hanoi.

According to Directive 20, the ban will include tighter gasoline vehicle controls, a new Ring Road 3 by 2030, and an expansion to Hanoi’s Ring Road 2 by January 2028.

Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic powerhouse, is the subject of a similar ban, and the Vietnamese government’s Ministry of Transport has set a 2030 goal for electric vehicles and motorcycles.

Although experts and locals are both concerned about air pollution, many observers have been shocked by the ban’s shortcoming.

Nguyen said, “My first impression was that this was very rushed.”

“I’ve seen a lot of reactions, and generally speaking, I don’t think they’re very positive because that announcement came so suddenly.”

Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow from Vietnam at the Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, cited concerns about the inconvenient electricity supply in northern Vietnam, as well as the lack of charging infrastructure for EVs, and the lack of public transportation.

According to Giang, “It’s just a mess if you look at the picture all the way.”

It’s really challenging to make it happen in a very short amount of time.

Giang cited the 2023 summer, when factories were forced to shut down and “caused a lot of turbulence for the population” in Hanoi and the surrounding northern provinces.

Without proper preparation, I believe the Vietnamese electricity system would suffer as a result of this very quick green transformation.

While Vietnam’s air pollution is a significant issue and causes 70, 000 deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization, some experts believe that taking the issue seriously requires a more holistic approach than the government’s.

Only half of Hanoi’s deadly fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, comes from inside the city itself, according to Ngo Tho Hung, an expert on urban air quality and a long-time resident of Hanoi.

According to Ngo, “Fifty percent of those hazardous particulates come from outside the urban core, with emissions from informal recycling villages and field burns during crop rotations being the main sources,” she told Al Jazeera.

To achieve significant and lasting results, the motorbike ban must be combined with regional and national air quality management plans.

The cost of electric bicycles for low-income residents of the city is another major issue.

The Hanoi Department of Construction proposed financial assistance packages for residents switching to electric bikes following the July 12 directive.

In addition to financial assistance ranging from 3 to 5 million Vietnamese wong ($114-$119), the city would pay 100% of the registration and license issuance fees for new electric motorcycles.

The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Giang said, “It’s only $200, but an electric bike typically costs around $1,000.

It’s more than just a vehicle, it says. It is a benefit for some people. Not everyone will have enough money.

In Hanoi, where tens of thousands of people work for ride-hailing and delivery services, are especially dependent on their motorcycles to make a living.

It was already difficult to make ends meet, according to a driver for the taxi and delivery company Grab in Hanoi.

The driver, who declined to be identified, told Al Jazeera, “Some drivers can’t even earn enough to pay for basic meals or support their families.”

The change would burden the poor, according to Wendy, a manager of apartment rentals in Ho Chi Minh City who requested anonymity.

She told Al Jazeera, “I have money, so I can be flexible.” However, “Many poor people don’t know how to live if this policy is implemented.”

Enforcement will also present challenges, despite the obstacles that will be overcome by authorities to implementing the ban next year.

A doctor in Hanoi remarked that he was “completely opposed to giving up gasoline motorbikes.”

He demanded anonymity from Al Jazeera and said it will lead to “social chaos.”

Nguyen of ANU said it’s difficult to imagine how smoothly the ban would be enforced.

How will a city with ten million people implement such a significant ban? She questioned how the authorities would determine which motorcycles are electric and which are gasoline.

“I have no idea how to put it into practice effectively,” he said.

Vingroup has also received criticism for the motorcycle ban.

Vingroup, which was founded by Pham Nhat Vuong, the richest man in the nation, owns several EV offshoots, including the electric taxi and ride-hailing service Xanh SM and the electric charging infrastructure company V-Green.

In the coming months, V-Green announced that it would expand to Indonesia and the Philippines, with the intention of doubling the number of charging stations to one million over the next three years.

Netizens have voiced criticism of Vingroup since the ban’s announcement, implying without any proof that the conglomerate is responsible for it.

According to ANU’s Nguyen, “It’s a major concern that I have seen on social media in Vietnam.”

There is a “certain risk of cronyism” among the “no concrete evidence that VinFast was behind this policy initiative,” according to Giang.

He continued, “It will require a lot of capital from the people themselves.”