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Head of CBS News is forced out amid tensions with Trump

(NYT) — The president of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, was forced out of her post Monday, the latest shock wave to hit the news division amid an ongoing showdown involving President Donald Trump, “60 Minutes,” and CBS’ parent company, Paramount.

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McMahon told her staff in a memo that “it’s become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward.” Executives at Paramount informed McMahon on Saturday that they wanted her to step down, according to several people with direct knowledge who requested anonymity to share private discussions.

Paramount is in talks to settle a $20 billion lawsuit brought by Trump that accused “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris. Many legal experts have called the suit baseless, but Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has said she favors settling the case. She is seeking federal approval for a multibillion-dollar sale of her company to a Hollywood studio, Skydance.

The situation prompted the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, to resign last month. He has told confidants that Paramount executives, cognizant of the settlement talks with Trump, had pressured him over the program’s coverage of the Trump administration.

Within CBS News, it was widely expected that McMahon, who took over the news division in August 2023, would not be at the company much longer.

WHO members vote in favor of global pandemic agreement

GENEVA (Reuters) — Members of the World Health Organization voted emphatically in favor of a potentially groundbreaking global treaty on improving pandemic preparedness at the World Health Assembly on Monday.

One hundred twenty-four countries voted in favour, after Slovakia called for a vote on Monday, as its COVID-19 vaccine skeptic prime minister demanded that his country challenge the adoption of the agreement. No countries voted against, while 11 countries, including Poland, Israel, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Iran abstained.

“Governments from all over the world are making their countries, and our interconnected global community, more equitable, healthier and safer from the threats posed by pathogens and viruses of pandemic potential,” said Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The draft accord, which addresses structural inequities about how drugs or vaccines and health tools are developed, following lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic which killed millions of people in 2020-2022, will be formally adopted on Tuesday in a plenary session at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

Chuck Schumer proposes ban on foreign Air Force One planes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Monday introduced a bill that would prevent any foreign aircraft from being used as Air Force One, the aircraft that transports the U.S. president.

Schumer introduced the “Presidential Airlift Security Act” after news last week that President Donald Trump planned to accept a $400 million airplane from Qatar, which legal experts said raised a raft of questions about the scope of laws that relate to gifts from foreign governments and are intended to thwart corruption and improper influence.

Retrofitting the luxury plane offered by Qatar’s royal family would require security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent spies from listening in and equipment to fend off incoming missiles, experts said.

The costs were not known, but could be significant given that Boeing Co’s current effort to build two new Air Force One planes exceeds $5 billion.

Indonesia raises alert for Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano

JAKARTA (Reuters) — Indonesia raised the alert level of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki to the highest after it erupted eight times over the weekend, its volcanology agency has said.

Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores island in eastern Indonesia, spewed volcanic ash between 3 km (1.86 miles) to 5.5 km high on Sunday, Muhammad Wafid, the agency’s head said in a statement late on Sunday.

“Our analysis showed that the activities of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki are still high so we raised the status level starting on Sunday at 08:00 p.m. (1200 GMT),” he said.

Images shared by the agency showed clouds of thick grey ash billowing from the crater. Rumbling noises with low to high intensity were heard from the nearest monitoring post during the eruption, Wafid added.

On Monday morning, the volcano erupted again, belching 1.2 km high ash clouds.

The agency said a six-kilometre radius from the crater must be cleared and warned the residents of the risk of cold lava flow from the crater once heavy rains took place.

There has not been any evacuation of residents or flight cancellations due to the eruptions so far, said Heronimus Lamawuran, a local government official.

In March, an eruption at Lewotobi Laki-laki forced some airlines to cancel and delay flights into Bali, including Australia’s Jetstar and Qantas Airways.

At least nine people were killed and thousands were evacuated when the volcano erupted in November last year.