Fired 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley says CBS ordered ‘falsehoods and bias’

• International NGOs are warning of a collapsing humanitarian situation in Yemen four years after the United Nations truce. • Geopolitical friction and tactical exploitation by disruptive actors are currently hindering regional stability and economic growth initiatives.

Bank apologises after IT update caused problems with Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland appsLloyds Banking Group has apologised after thousands of its customers were unable to make payments or send money due to another IT glitch.According to Downdetector, a website that lets people track real-time service issues and outages, customers started noticing problems shortly after 11am on Wednesday, with issues affecting many of the group’s brands: Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows and MBNA. Continue reading...

Democrats say appointment of Bill Pulte could doom bipartisan agreement to renew section 702 of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ActSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailDonald Trump’s appointment of a close political ally with no intelligence experience to lead the nation’s spy agencies has thrown last-ditch efforts to renew a critical surveillance program into doubt.Bill Pulte, currently head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), major Republican donor and heir to a home construction fortune, was tapped by Trump to serve as acting director of national intelligence days after Tulsi Gabbard departed the role. Continue reading...

​The first heatwaves of the season reveal how ​ill-prepared governments across the continent are to protect people from increasingly dangerous temperatures• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereMeteorological summer has begun, ushered in with scorching heat that struck before spring was up. Although western Europe is now mostly free from last week’s heat dome – which shattered temperature records for May in the UK and Ireland – it is already bracing for yet another sweltering summer. Oppressive days, restless nights and furious fires are brewing. On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation warned us all to prepare for the imminent return of the warming weather pattern El Niño.Scientists have not worked out how many people died during this latest bout of hot weather, but one environmental epidemiologist’s early modelling pegged it at 250 extra deaths in the UK alone on the weekend before temperatures peaked. The full death toll is likely to be particularly high because the heat struck before people had properly adjusted their behaviour to stay safe in the heat. Continue reading...

Fewer than one in 10 SEW customers satisfied with firm’s handling of supply crisis, which left tens of thousands without waterSouth East Water failed to adequately communicate with customers during outages last winter that left tens of thousands of people without water, a report has concluded.Fewer than one in 10 SEW customers were satisfied with how the company handled the water supply crisis that stretched across parts of Kent and Sussex last winter, the consumer council for water said. The report found communication was the company’s greatest failing. Continue reading...

DfE plans to withdraw funding for assistive software, saying it is now rarely needed due to ‘widely available free tools’Disability campaigners have called on the government to halt plans to cut funding for specialist tech support for tens of thousands of disabled students in England.Almost 10,000 people have signed a petition opposing Department for Education (DfE) proposals to withdraw funding for specialist assistive software available as part of the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Continue reading...

Chancellor hails deal saying it will create tens of thousands of jobs in the construction, hospitality, creative and technology sectorsBusiness live – latest updateBritish taxpayers will provide £1.3bn in funding to help Hollywood studio giant Universal build its first theme park in Europe.Comcast, the US media company that owns NBC Universal and Sky, had been considering a number of countries in which to build its first European theme park. Continue reading...

Prosecutors seek to try 17-year-old as adult after animals injured at major barrel racing eventA teenage girl who allegedly stabbed three show horses at a weekend rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a “crazy, obsessed stalker” who waited in a darkened barn to commit the attacks, the owner of one of the animals has said.The Nevada city’s police department arrested a 17-year-old female on Saturday for the incidents at the National Barrel Horse Association’s supershow, a competition for the sport’s top riders at the South Point equestrian arena on the Las Vegas strip. Continue reading...

New Gallup poll finds support for same-sex marriage and relationships in the US has stopped rising after two decadesAcceptance of same-sex marriage and relationships in the US has flattened after more than two decades of steadily increasing support, with an ongoing decline among Republicans, according to a new Gallup poll.About 65% of US adults believe same-sex marriage should be legal, down slightly from 71% in 2022 and 2023. Continue reading...

Stephen McCullagh planned ‘cold-blooded and calculated’ killing of Natalie McNally in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, in great detailA YouTuber who set up a false alibi by livestreaming a video-gaming session online has been sentenced to 31 years in prison for the “cold-blooded and calculated” murder of his pregnant partner.Stephen McCullagh, 36, of Lisburn, County Antrim, showed no emotion on Wednesday as he was sentenced at Belfast crown court for the murder of Natalie McNally, a crime that chilled Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

New issue of the American Journal of Public Health focuses on parallels between marketing for cigarettes and UPFsThe new issue of the American Journal of Public Health focuses on ultra-processed foods, and reveals that big tobacco companies used strategies that helped them sell cigarettes to sell ultra-processed food products, including Lunchables, geared toward children.The parallels between ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and cigarettes include not only how UPF products were formulated and marketed to drive excess consumption, but also the growing body of evidence linking UPFs to a variety of health risks. For UPFs, these include cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and cognitive health decline. Continue reading...