Combat

Tenants push for tougher rules against unfair add-on charges. Industry players argue against policies that they say could limit the ‘effective use of fees’‘Extremely overwhelmed’: apartment renters face rising tide of feesAcross the US, many renters are calling for national action to stem add-on charges that spike their housing costs and increase their risk of eviction.“The rental housing market is one where consumers have little power,” Farah Momin, a renter in Seattle, told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in April. “Landlords can impose fees through take-it-or-leave-it lease terms, and the cost/disruption of moving means that tenants may absorb unfair charges rather than leave. Federal baseline protections are needed to level this playing field.” Continue reading...

• U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced over $700 million in new funding opportunities on Wednesday to address mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. • The financial package includes $238.6 million for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and $223.1 million for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. • Additional allocations consist of $80 million for substance use prevention and recovery programs, alongside more than $70 million for general mental health services.

Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket operating in areas with limited resources for people with gambling problemsPublic health resources across the US are failing to keep pace with the rapid growth of online gambling, problem health advocates warned, after Donald Trump endorsed the controversial nationwide surge of prediction markets.Prediction market platforms, where users can wager on everything from Tony Award winners to World Cup goals, have pushed betting even further into American life. Continue reading...

Marine veteran James Brown rescued a driver with a piece of metal lodged in his legA US military veteran and trucker recently used his battlefield medical training to save the life of a fellow truck driver whose leg was impaled by a piece of metal after a crash, earning him official recognition as an “angel” of the nation’s highways.As the organization honoring him tells it, James Brown was driving for Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Melton Truck Lines through torrential rain – as well as low visibility – on 22 May when he saw another trucker lose control, leave the roadway and overturn about 40 miles east of Little Rock, Arkansas. Continue reading...

US defence secretary addresses allies in latest attempt to get Europe to raise military budgetsPete Hegseth has announced a review of US military presence across Europe, in a combative address to Nato allies where he threatened to cut force numbers in countries spending the least on defence.The US defence secretary, speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, accused some countries of “free riding” and others of being shameful for not allowing their airbases to be used by US jets bombing Iran in the spring. Continue reading...

• French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a cross-party meeting of political leaders on June 11 to address the growing threat of foreign digital interference. • The discussions focused on safeguarding electoral integrity, with officials noting that France is currently among the top three most targeted countries in Europe. • This initiative is critical as France prepares for the 2027 presidential election, which experts warn will be a primary target for cyber threats and disinformation.

• Microsoft is integrating artificial intelligence into its security operations to better combat evolving cyber threats and hacker activity. • The strategy utilizes an AI model revealed by Anthropic in April, which has demonstrated a high proficiency in identifying vulnerabilities within major operating systems and web browsers. • This development is significant because the AI was not originally designed for cybersecurity, yet it can uncover critical software flaws that traditional methods might miss.