Fauci to step down after decades as top US infection expert
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is leaving the federal government in December. Fauci became a household name — and the subject of partisan attacks — during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s served the government for more than five decades. The 81-year-old Fauci is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser as well as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He was a leader in the federal response to AIDS and other infectious diseases well before the coronavirus pandemic. Fauci told The Associated Press on Monday that walking away after 54 years was bittersweet.
Stocks fall broadly on Wall Street
Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street, extending the market’s losses amid worries about inflation and the path ahead for the economy. The S&P 500 shed 2.1% Monday, its biggest drop since mid-June. Some 95% of stocks in the benchmark index lost ground. It finished in the red last week, breaking a four-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also fell. Technology companies and retailers had some of the heaviest losses. Signify Health soared after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon would bid for the company. Investors are looking ahead to this week’s Federal Reserve conference.
Newsom vetoes bill for drug-injection sites in California
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation Monday that would have allowed some California cities to open supervised drug-injection sites as part of a pilot program meant to stem a rushing tide of fatal overdoses. Newsom said he was worried about “a world of unintended consequences” that could result from authorizing an unlimited number of sites. He directed the state’s secretary of health and human services to work with local leaders to set statewide operating standards for such facilities. The proposal would have made the nation’s most populous state home to its broadest experiment with supervised injection sites.
Arizona levee breached, hiker missing after floods hit West
A levee was breached Monday in a small town near the Arizona-New Mexico state line, forcing the evacuations of 60 people after a weekend of flash floods across the American Southwest that also swept away one woman who is still missing in Utah’s Zion National Park. The incidents were among many sweeping the southwestern United States and imperiling tourists and residents. Heavy rains in the Dallas-Fort Worth area also caused streets to flood, submerging vehicles as officials warned motorists to stay off the roads. Flooding also hit Moab, Utah, and Carlsbad, New Mexico. Zion National Park rangers also expanded their search for 29-year-old Jetal Agnihotri of Tucson, Arizona, on Monday, three days after she was lost amid floods.
Russia accuses Ukraine of a murder, and hawks demand vengeance
Russian authorities accused Ukraine on Monday of assassinating an ultranationalist commentator as figures in Russia’s pro-war camp clamored for retaliation, highlighting the growing domestic political pressure that Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing six months after he ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine denied any connection to the car bombing near Moscow on Saturday that killed Darya Dugina, 29, daughter of Alexander Dugin, a political theorist who has long called for the reconquest of Ukraine and whose hawkish visions of a resurgent, imperial and anti-liberal Russia provided an intellectual framework for Putin’s aggressive foreign policy.
Philippines returns to school, ending one of world’s longest shutdowns
Millions of students throughout the Philippines headed to school Monday as in-person classes began to fully restart for the first time in more than two years, ending one of the world’s longest pandemic-related shutdowns in a system already plagued by severe underinvestment. Even before the pandemic, the Philippines had among the world’s largest education gaps, with more than 90% of students unable to read and comprehend simple texts by age 10, according to the World Bank. After losing more than two years of in-person instruction, schools face the monumental challenge of educating many students who have fallen even further behind.
UN faces record humanitarian aid shortfall — but not for Ukrainians
Funding to ease the world’s humanitarian crises is falling further than ever behind what is needed for critical requirements like shelter, food, water, power and education, the United Nations reports. Demand, already inflated by scourges like the pandemic and drought, has soared this year, driven in part by the war in Ukraine. Donations from wealthy countries have grown, but not nearly as fast. And there’s a stark contrast when it comes to support: Money for programs to help Ukrainians has been relatively plentiful. Money for people in most other parts of the world has not.
By wire sources