Internal email says agency is ‘reviewing’ programs and contracts that ‘promote or incubate gender ideology’

US state department employees must scrub gender pronouns from their email signatures by Friday evening, according to an internal email obtained by the Guardian, joining the list of other agencies reportedly sent a similar memo.

The directive came from former ambassador Tibor P Nagy, now the acting under-secretary for management, writing to staff that the department was also launching a comprehensive review to eliminate what he called “gender ideology” from government communications and programs.

Recorders from plane are currently at National Transportation Safety Board labs for analysis, agency says

• Washington DC plane crash – latest updates
• First confirmed victims include figure-skating champions

Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the plane involved in Wednesday night’s mid-air collision with a US military helicopter that killed all 67 people onboard both aircraft.

The recorders are currently at the National Transportation Safety Board labs for analysis, the agency said on Thursday evening, and are expected to shed light on exactly what went wrong. Preliminary reports raised questions over whether understaffing in an air traffic control tower at the Washington DC airport played a role in the United States’ worst aviation disaster in years.

Trump’s pick for health secretary says ‘I don’t think anybody can say’ Covid vaccines saved millions of lives

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination to lead America’s top health agency faced strong headwinds as he struggled to provide clear answers on his past vaccine statements for a second straight day of bruising hearings on Capitol Hill.

In a tense back-and-forth before the Senate health committee on Thursday morning, Kennedy dodged direct questions about whether he still believes vaccines cause autism, despite extensive scientific evidence to the contrary. When pressed by Senator Bernie Sanders about studies showing Covid-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, Kennedy claimed “we don’t have a good surveillance system” and said “I don’t think anybody can say that.”

Democrats confront Trump’s pick for health secretary over his seemingly contradictory statements

• RFK Jr faces questions about U-turn on abortion in US Senate hearing

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s combative Senate confirmation hearing for health secretary erupted into fierce exchanges on Wednesday morning, as Democrats confronted one of the US’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, who will possibly be handed the reins of America’s public health system.

The Senate finance committee ranking member, Ron Wyden, challenged the 71-year-old Kennedy over seemingly contradictory statements, reading quotes from podcasts in which Kennedy had claimed “no vaccine is safe and effective” while testifying under oath that he supports vaccines. He read another quote from 2020 how Kennedy claimed he regretted vaccinating his children.