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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday it was aware of more than 700 global cases of monkeypox, including 21 in the United States, with investigations now suggesting spread inside the country.

Sixteen of the first 17 cases were among people who identify as men who have sex with men, according to a new CDC report, and 14 were thought to be travel associated.

All patients are in recovery or have recovered, and no cases have been fatal.

“There have also been some cases in the United States that we know are linked to known cases,” Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, told reporters on a call. “We also have at least one case in the United States that does not have a travel link or know how they acquired their infection.”

Monkeypox is a rare disease that is related to but less severe than smallpox, causing a rash that spreads, fever, chills, and aches, among other symptoms. 

Generally confined to western and central Africa, cases have been reported in Europe since May and the number of countries affected has grown since.

Though its new spread may be linked to particular gay festivals in Europe, it is not thought to be a sexually transmitted disease, with the main risk factor being close skin-to-skin contact with someone who has monkey pox sores. 

A person is contagious until all the sores have scabbed and new skin is formed. 

Raj Panjabi, senior director for the White House’s global health security and biodefense division, added that 1,200 vaccines and 100 treatment courses had been delivered to US states, where they were offered to close contacts of those infected.

There are currently two authorized vaccines: ACAM2000 and JYNNEOS, which were originally developed against smallpox. Though smallpox has been eliminated, the United States retains the vaccines in a strategic national reserve in case it is deployed as a biological weapon. 

JYNNEOS is the more modern of the two, with fewer side effects.

“We continue to have more than enough vaccine available,” Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response in the Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters. 

In late May, the CDC said it had 100 million doses of ACAM200 and 1,000 doses of JYNNEOS available, but O’Connell said Friday the figures had shifted, though she could not divulge precise numbers for strategic reasons.

The CDC has also authorized two antivirals used to treat smallpox, TPOXX and Cidofovir, to be repurposed to treat monkeypox.

“Anyone can get monkeypox and we are carefully monitoring for monkey pox that may be spreading in any population, including those who are not identifying as men who have sex with men,” said McQuiston. 

That being said, the CDC is undertaking special outreach in the LGBT community, she added.

A suspected case “should be anyone with a new characteristic rash,” or who meet the criteria for high suspicion such as relevant travel, close contact, or being a man who has sex with men. 

Texans were breathing a sigh of relief on Friday after an escaped murderer suspected of killing five people while on the run was gunned down by police.

Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, 46, who was serving a life sentence for murder, staged a spectacular escape from a prison bus on May 12 and had been the subject of a massive manhunt ever since.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) spokesman Jason Clark said Lopez had escaped his restraints and sawed through a metal cage in which he was being held on the bus before assaulting the driver and fleeing.

He became the target of one of the largest manhunts in Texas history, involving local, state and federal officers, and a $50,000 reward was offered for his capture.

The authorities became aware of his whereabouts after police were contacted on Thursday by someone who had not heard from relatives who were visiting a vacation home in Centerville.

When police went to the home they discovered the bodies of an adult and four children and put out an alert for a Chevy Silverado pickup truck that was missing from the residence.

The stolen truck was located later that evening in Jourdanton, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from where Lopez escaped, the authorities said, and disabled with “spike strips.”

Lopez, who was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, was shot and killed during a gun battle with law enforcement, TDCJ spokesman Clark said.

“Those officers very swiftly shot and killed Lopez, bringing this whole ordeal to an end,” Clark said.

“We are very saddened that the murders happened but we are breathing a sigh of relief that Lopez will not be able to hurt anyone else,” he said.

– Massive manhunt –

The shaven-headed and heavily-tattoed Lopez, a Mexican mafia gang member, was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for a murder committed with a pickaxe and kidnapping.

Lopez was being transported some 160 miles by bus from one prison facility to another in Leon County for a medical appointment when he escaped.

There were 15 other prisoners on the bus at the time, according to the authorities, and Lopez was being held in a special metal cage for “high-risk” inmates.

He somehow managed to free himself from restraints, escape from the cage and cut open a gate to attack the bus driver.

Lopez stabbed the driver in the hand and chest in a fight and took the wheel of the bus, the authorities said.

Another prison guard shot out the back tires of the bus.

Lopez lost control of the bus less than a mile away and  crashed it into a cow pasture. He fled into nearby woods.

Lopez managed to escape detection until late Thursday despite a manhunt that involved hundreds of officers, helicopters, dogs, house-to-house searches and even agents on horseback.

The acrid US defamation trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard — and the decision to televise it — will have a “potentially catastrophic” impact on abuse survivors, advocates say.

Jurors in the six-week trial, in which the former husband and wife traded claims and counterclaims of violent domestic abuse, sided largely with Depp this week, ordering Heard to pay him $10.35 million for defaming him in a 2018 Washington Post editorial in which she never mentioned his name.

Judge Penney Azcarate decided weeks before the trial began to allow cameras in the state court, fearing that if she did not, too many reporters would show up for the high-profile case.

“I don’t see any good cause not to do it,” Azcarate said, according to Variety — a decision that Depp’s lawyers welcomed and Heard’s lawyers fought. 

Michele Dauber, a law professor at Stanford University and advocate against campus sexual assault, branded it “the single worst decision for survivors by a court in decades” that showed “a profound lack of understanding by the judge of sexual violence.”

Heard was forced “to describe her alleged rape in graphic detail on television. That shocks the conscience and should offend every woman and survivor regardless of whether they agree with the verdict or not,” she said.

The last time she could recall a rape survivor being forced to testify publicly was in 1983, she said.

“There is no way to justify the judge’s decision to allow cameras in this case… There is no public interest in this case that could possibly outweigh the harm done.”

Instead, she argued, “every victim is going to think twice before coming forward and seeking a restraining order or telling anyone about any abuse they are experiencing after this. 

“Women may be injured or even killed as a result of not seeking help. This case has been a complete disaster. It is potentially catastrophic.”

The trial riveted a global audience not used to watching sexual assault and intimate partner allegations play out in court and that — regardless of opinions on the verdict — is a problem, warned Ruth Glenn, president of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

“I don’t think we have a society yet that understands the dynamics of domestic violence,” Glenn told AFP in an interview. 

That crucial context was not discussed enough during the court proceedings in Fairfax, Virginia, she argued, saying that for her and her colleagues there was “no doubt” about the patterns of abuse that were displayed. 

“You make sure that there are people present that understand that. And until you do that, let’s not televise this,” she said. 

– ‘Open misogyny’ –

Dauber, who has received online abuse for tweeting about the case, said it also underscores the growing backlash against women’s rights in the United States.

Public opinion came down solidly on Depp’s side, with Heard targeted by countless online posts and memes, some of which Dauber described as “open misogyny.”

The verdict was greeted with celebration by many on the political right, she noted — including in tweets by Donald Trump Jr, son of the former president, and the powerful Republican House Judiciary Committee.

Heard was “metaphorically tarred and feathered,” and the verdict “makes it clear that for now the backlash against women’s rights is taking control,” she wrote, also citing fears that the US Supreme Court is set to overturn the right to abortion.

For many the case has raised questions about the future of #MeToo, the movement created out of the 2017 hashtag that encouraged women to speak out about the men who had abused them. 

“It’s impossible not to see this as a backlash to #MeToo — like women have gone too far. Okay, ladies, we listened to you and locked a couple of men up. Don’t get too greedy, now,” wrote one Reddit user in a blog post for the Embedded Substack newsletter.

Tarana Burke, who founded the #MeToo movement, tweeted a defiant post listing its achievements, calling on followers to focus on the millions now speaking out without shame instead of ping-ponging between legal victories and losses.

“This movement is very much ALIVE,” she wrote. 

But Glenn was more philosophical. 

“I would say that, I don’t know how much traction we had gained anyway. So let us use this as a reminder of the work that we still have to do,” she told AFP.

For her, the future remains uncertain.

“This is a perfect example of a case influencing a culture,” she said.

“And I don’t know that we’ll know tomorrow what that influence will have been and how much impact it’s had, either positively or negatively.”

If kissing babies has long been the politician’s dream photo-op, then Joe Biden’s clumsy response to a national baby food shortage is quickly turning into a political nightmare — and the symbol of a presidency struggling to stem discontent.

With his old school Washington ways, decades of political and diplomatic experience, and obvious decency, Biden won election in 2020 on a promise to “heal” the nation after four years of Donald Trump.

But this week made clear again that the healing is not happening and that Biden — fairly or not — is being blamed.

Courtroom exhibit A is the ramshackle response to a hole in supplies of baby formula, with supermarket shelves emptying and parents worrying about how to feed their newborns.

The Biden administration had already been battered by anger over inflation and supply chain breakdowns for things like cars and building materials.

There’s also grumbling over the unusually last-minute organization of what’s meant to be a major regional forum in Los Angeles next week, the Summit of the Americas. It’s not even clear which heads of state are coming.

And now, the nation’s babies, or at least their parents, are joining the ranks of the upset.

– Competency? –

The baby formula problem didn’t begin with Biden. 

It began in February when Abbott, which controls about 40 percent of the US market, shut a plant and issued a product recall.

As supply shocks rippled through retailers, parents were presented with the seemingly unlikely scenario in the world’s wealthiest nation of not being sure how to feed their infants.

To reassure Americans, the White House organized a slickly produced baby formula summit Wednesday featuring the president, top officials and executives from major producers.

The discussion was meant to highlight the administration’s scramble to procure more formula, including by easing importation rules and providing military transport for shipping.

But the glossy messaging fell apart right in front of the television cameras when Biden tried to get the executives to agree that no one could have foreseen Abbott’s recall leading swiftly to a nationwide crisis.

They contradicted him, saying they could.

“From the very beginning,” as one said.

– Messaging muddle –

The White House’s ability to get out from under piles of bad news has been complicated by a reshuffle in the communications department.

Gone is the widely admired press secretary Jen Psaki. Her successor and previous deputy, Karine Jean-Pierre, is having a baptism of fire — while simultaneously bringing in replacements for a slew of departing assistants.

And this week’s daily press briefings brought intense questioning.

Why didn’t the president understand the severity of the baby formula issue earlier?

Does the president admit he was wrong to say inflation would be temporary? 

Why, in the wake of the Texas school mass shooting and other slaughters, isn’t he personally pushing senators to enact gun ownership reforms?

Jean-Pierre found herself on the defensive.

Pressed over the 11th hour lack of a guest list for the Summit of the Americas, less than a week before the event, Jean-Pierre responded Wednesday with a frank admission.

“If you’ve been following this administration for the past year and a half, one week is not the eleventh hour when it comes to … how things move,” she said. “That is a lifetime away for us.”

– Beach time –

Biden’s approval ratings have been below 50 percent since last year, and his Democrats are forecast to lose their slender control of Congress to the Republicans in the November midterm elections.

Things are so bad that even a six-point spike in his latest rating, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week, still only brought him to a measly 42 percent.

The cause of many of the president’s woes would be familiar to previous Oval Office occupants: without a workable majority in Congress, he simply doesn’t have as much power as people think.

In a speech about gun reforms — hastily scheduled with a few hours’ notice on Thursday — Biden made an emotional appeal for Congress to outlaw assault rifles. But analysts said there is little chance of him changing the minds of his Republican opponents.

Biden left for a weekend at the beach as soon as he finished his address.

On Friday, far from the Washington storm, he could celebrate his wife Jill’s 71st birthday at their vacation home in Delaware.

Washington — and that Americas summit — wait for him next week.

US President Joe Biden confirmed Friday he was considering a trip to Saudi Arabia, which would be a stark reversal after he called for the kingdom to be made a pariah state.

The New York Times and other US media, quoting anonymous sources, have reported that Biden would go ahead with the long-rumored Saudi stop during an upcoming overseas tour.

The reported decision came shortly after Saudi Arabia addressed two of Biden’s priorities by agreeing to a production hike in oil — which could help tame rocketing US inflation — and helping extend a truce in war-battered Yemen.

“I’m not sure whether I’m going,” Biden said when asked about reports of an imminent visit. “There is a possibility that I would be going to meet with both the Israelis and some Arab countries at the time.”

“Saudi Arabia would be included in that if I did go, but I have no direct plans at the moment,” Biden told reporters.

CNN said that Biden would meet Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, 36-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was accused by US intelligence of ordering the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The trip would reportedly happen around the time Biden travels to a NATO summit in Spain and Group of Seven summit in Germany later this month.

He is also widely expected to travel to Israel where, as in Saudi Arabia, he is sure to face pointed questions about slow-moving US diplomacy with the two countries’ rival, Iran.

While running for president, Biden called for Saudi leaders to be treated as “the pariah that they are” after the ultraconservative kingdom’s chummy relationship with his predecessor Donald Trump.

Trump had largely shielded Saudi Arabia from consequences after Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote critically about Crown Prince Mohammed in The Washington Post, was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he was strangled and dismembered.

Trump’s son-in-law and top aide, Jared Kushner, had developed a close bond with the prince known by his initials “MBS,” reportedly conversing with him over WhatsApp chats.

Former White House trade director and close Donald Trump ally Peter Navarro was indicted Friday for contempt of Congress after rejecting subpoenas by the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress.

Navarro, 72, was charged with refusing to appear for a deposition and for refusing to supply documents to the House Select Committee investigating the attack by hundreds of Trump supporters seeking to block congressional certification of Joe Biden as the 2020 presidential election winner.

Navarro was taken into custody and was to appear in court Friday afternoon, according to the Washington federal district court.

The committee, which is examining whether Trump, top aides and other senior Republicans instigated or directed the attack, believes Navarro could have information pertinent to the probe, the Justice Department said.

The committee said it had information showing that Navarro worked with former Trump political advisor Steve Bannon “to delay Congress’s certification of, an ultimately change the outcome of, the November 2020 presidential election.”

After collecting documents and interviewing hundreds of witnesses in private, the committee plans to hold public hearings on its findings beginning June 9.

In a book Navarro published in November, he described creating a plan after the election, called the “Green Bay sweep” in a reference to American football, to reverse Biden’s victory by blocking confirmation in the House.

He wrote that Trump was “on board with the strategy.”

Navarro, an economist, was subpoenaed in early February but did not supply documents requested or appear for questioning scheduled for March 2.

On Tuesday he sued the committee in Washington federal court alleging its investigation is illegal and it has no power to subpoena him.

But on Thursday a judge found procedural problems with the suit and ordered Navarro to refile it.

In convicted, Navarro faces 30 days to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 on each contempt charge.

He was the second Trump aide after Bannon to be charged with contempt for rejecting committee subpoenas.

However, the Justice Department has not charged former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, even though he was found in contempt by the House of Representatives in December for refusing committee subpoenas.

Meadows has claimed that as a former top advisor of the president he has immunity from being compelled to testify to the committee.

But some believe Meadows, whose emails and text messages show he had numerous contacts and discussions with people linked to the January 6 violence, could be cooperating with the Justice Department’s own investigation.

Another Trump aide, former social media manager Dan Scavino, was found in contempt by the House in April but has not been charged, either.