U.S. and world news for August 29

Missile deal approved for Ukraine

The Trump administration has approved the sale of more than 3,000 Extended Range Attack Munition missiles to Ukraine. If the $825 million deal is concluded as expected, the ERAM missiles, which have a range of 150 to 280 miles could be delivered later this year. “Ukraine will use funding from Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway and Foreign Military Financing from the United States for this purchase,” a notice from the State Department said. While the Trump administration has approved several sales of equipment to sustain existing weapons, this appears to be the first major arms sale of new weapons to Ukraine announced by the administration. This week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow is still interested in peace talks. However, he emphasized that the “special military operation,” Russia’s way of describing the war, “continues.”

Portugal’s president says Trump is a Russian asset

The president of Portugal in a speech to university students says that President Trump is a Russian asset and the U.S. under his presidency has favored Russia in its war with Ukraine. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that Trump’s supposed efforts to settle the Russia-Ukraine conflict have done nothing to help Ukraine. He also noted that despite making threats, Trump has done nothing to impose the new sanctions he has threatened to impose against Russia. He said that European countries have had to put pressure on Trump to stop negotiating with only Ukraine and to try to win concessions from Russian President Vladimir Putin as well.

New deportation statistics

Seven months into Donald Trump’s second term, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported nearly 200,000 people. Another 150,000 immigrants were either self-deported or repatriated by ICE and the Coast Guard. According to government records, more than 75% of people booked into ICE custody in fiscal year 2025 had no criminal conviction other than an immigration or traffic-related offense. Trump has regularly said that they were targeting only criminals. Fewer than 10% were convicted of serious crimes like murder, assault, robbery or rape. Among those arrested this week: two firefighters who were detained by Border Patrol while they were battling Washington state’s biggest wildfire.

CDC staffers protest changes

A crowd of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staffers rallied outside the agency’s Atlanta headquarters on Thursday to salute several top officials who resigned over the removal of the agency’s director. The CDC was left leaderless this week when the White House ousted Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Wednesday. According to people familiar with the situation, Monarez recently clashed with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team over Kennedy’s vaccine policies that ignore science and personnel matters. Soon after her ouster, Dr. Deb Houry, the chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, chief of vaccines and respiratory diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and data chief Dr. Jennifer Layden quit the CDC in protest.

Military honors for Jan. 6 capitol rioter

Ashli Babbitt, the pro-Trump rioter who was shot and killed on Jan. 6, 2021, by a Capitol Police officer after she started to climb through broken glass in a door and go into the Speaker of the House’s area that was being protected by police, is receiving military honors from the Trump administration. Matthew Lohmeier, undersecretary of the Air Force, also invited Babbitt’s family to come to the Pentagon so he could personally offer his condolences. Military honors typically include a uniformed detail at the funeral, the playing of “Taps” and the folding and presentation of a U.S. flag. These honors had been previously denied under the Biden administration. In May, the Trump administration also agreed to pay her family nearly $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. The officer involved in Babbitt’s shooting death during the assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

Minneapolis school shooting

Authorities have released the identities of the victims from Wednesday’s mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. They have identified the two children killed as 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. Fletcher’s father asked people to “remember Fletcher for the person he was, and not the act that ended his life.” Harper’s family expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support and called for change. “No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain,” her parents said in a statement. “We urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country.” Three elderly parishioners and 15 other children were wounded. Investigators continue to look into the background of the shooter.