“A federal judge on Monday scrapped a set of state pilot programs intended to restrict the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program money to purchase unhealthy foods. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, wrote in her decision that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who oversees the SNAP program, misapplied federal law in approving requests from states to allow them to impose limits on what participants can buy with funds from the nation’s largest food aid program. Her ruling applies to Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia. ‘With her solicitation and approval of the pilot projects in this case, the Secretary purports to waive not just a mere administrative or technical obstacle, but the very definition of ‘food’ as it was laid down by Congress,’ Berman wrote.” (06/22/26)
“Oracle shed about 21,000 roles globally in the last year as the US technology giant reshapes its business around artificial intelligence (AI), the firm’s latest annual report shows. The software and cloud computing firm says it had around 141,000 full-time employees as of 31 May 2026, down from about 162,000 workers at the same time last year. The ‘deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce’, the report says. The cuts, which amount to about 13% of Oracle’s workforce, are part of a wider trend among tech firms as they spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building AI infrastructure like data centres. Amazon and Facebook-owner Meta have cut thousands of job in recent months as they invest heavily in AI.” (06/23/26)
“French authorities say about 20 people have drowned over the weekend while swimming in unsupervised areas to seek relief from a heatwave gripping France and other parts of Europe. … Separately, local authorities said the heatwave was the most likely reason for the deaths of two children aged two and four who were found unconscious in a car outside their home in Carpentras in southeastern France. Three more people aged 80 to 95 died in the Bordeaux region from heat-related health issues, local official Sophie Brocas told France TV.” (06/23/26)
“Newly elected British lawmaker Andy Burnham met the man he hopes to replace, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on Tuesday as he prepares for a leadership contest in which he may be the only contender. Burnham is the strong front-runner to succeed Starmer, who announced Monday that he would step down within weeks after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public. Burnham, a former Cabinet minister who served since 2017 as mayor of Greater Manchester, won a special election last week for a seat in Parliament with the express aim of challenging Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party and the country. Burnham’s chances got a big boost on Monday when former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was considered his main rival, announced his support.” (06/23/26)
“A federal judge on Monday threw out multiple Justice Department subpoenas issued to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other officials, saying they are unconstitutional and part of attempts to harass President Donald Trump’s political opponents. The subpoenas sought to force Walz and others to turn over records and information as part of a federal investigation into whether Democratic officials obstructed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown through public resistance. … District Judge Patrick Schiltz said the subpoenas were ‘part of an unconstitutional effort to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration laws and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so,’ CNN reported.” (06/22/26)
“Six people were wounded in Russian air strikes on Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, local authorities said, while Russia’s ongoing fuel crisis deepened into parts of Siberia. The strikes came in the wake of a Ukrainian attack on a plant producing electronics for missiles in Russia’s border Voronezh region on Monday that killed five people and injured dozens, according to the local governor. … Ukrainian attacks on maritime logistics and supply roads have sparked a fuel crisis in Russia and areas of Ukraine it controls. … The Omsk region, about 2,500 kilometres southeast of Moscow, is limiting fuel sales and the nearby Novosibirsk region is preparing to do the same, local governors said on Telegram. … From Tuesday, Lukoil, Russia’s second biggest oil producer, was limiting gasoline and diesel sales in Voronezh region, the regional government said on Telegram.” (06/23/26)
“Iran has denied a claim by Vice-President JD Vance that it will allow nuclear inspectors back into the country, after the first round of talks between Washington and Tehran to reach a final deal to end the war. Following negotiations in Switzerland, Vance said discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could be happening ‘as soon as today.’ But Iran’s foreign ministry told state media that Tehran had made ‘no new commitments’ on nuclear inspections. It came as the US temporarily waived sanctions, allowing Iran to sell oil in US dollars for the first time in decades.” (06/23/26)
“A federal judge on Monday ruled the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it created a centralized database that contains Americans’ private information, which she said has since been used by some states to incorrectly remove U.S. citizens from their voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, D.C., sided with a voting rights group and nonprofit that works to protect privacy in finding that the administration violated three different laws with its new system that includes Americans’ citizenship data. … The judge set aside the administration’s overhaul of a database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security to verify citizenship and immigration status, called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system.” (06/22/26)
“Alan Greenspan, who served five terms as chair of the Federal Reserve, died on Monday at the age of 100. Greenspan’s wife, longtime NBC News journalist Andrea Mitchell, said in a statement to the network that her husband died from complications of Parkinson’s disease. … Greenspan served as the 13th chair of the central bank from 1987 to 2006, a tenure spanning four presidents — Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.” (06/22/26)
