5 Big News Stories Overnight - Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Trump administration retreats on 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'

Politico reports:

President Donald Trump is retreating from plans for a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” after a fierce backlash from congressional Republicans, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the decision.

White House officials communicated the move Monday to top Republicans on Capitol Hill, the people said.

The Justice Department, which was set to administer the fund, also indicated Monday it would “abide by the Court’s ruling” to halt progress after a federal judge in Virginia on Friday temporarily halted any payouts or other work to establish the fund. But the White House has not stated publicly yet whether it would move to make changes to the fund or kill it altogether — or seek to revive it later should Trump change his mind.

Anthropic Files to Go Public in Blockbuster Year for IPOs

WSJ reports:

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence lab recently valued at nearly $1 trillion, said Monday it has filed confidentially for an initial public offering, setting up a blockbuster year for IPOs.

The filing could put the company behind the Claude AI model on a path to go public this fall.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to stage what is likely to be the largest IPO ever next week. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Anthropic’s chief rival, OpenAI, was preparing to submit its own IPO filing imminently.

Banks have told both Anthropic and OpenAI that whoever makes it to market first will get to define the new industry and have first dibs on the large pools of cash eager to back new AI companies. If both file initial paperwork with regulators around the same time, either would still have a chance to stage an offering before the other.

Scott Pelley Accuses CBS News Boss of ‘Murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’

New York Times reports:

CBS News faced a fresh wave of turmoil on Monday after Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, laced into the show’s newly hired executive producer during a staff meeting and accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the longstanding Sunday news program.

In an extraordinary exchange, Mr. Pelley, his newscaster’s baritone sometimes shaking in anger, told Nick Bilton, the new executive producer, that he had “slender” qualifications for his new job and questioned the network’s commitment to the future of the program, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.

The 10 a.m. gathering, held at the program’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, was intended as a formal introduction to Mr. Bilton, a tech journalist and filmmaker who was appointed last week as part of a major shake-up at “60 Minutes.” CBS fired Tanya Simon, the previous executive producer, and her deputy, along with Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, two of the show’s correspondents — an event that Mr. Pelley referred to as “Black Thursday.”

Six people stabbed in London after Arsenal’s victory parade

The Guardian reports:

Six people were stabbed after Arsenal’s Premier League victory parade in north London on Sunday, police have said.

The Metropolitan police said the stabbings took place in the evening after most of the crowds had dispersed. Twenty-four people were arrested.

One man in his 20s was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition but has since been stabilised. The force said most of the victims did not suffer serious injuries.

Hundreds of thousands of supporters lined streets around the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal celebrated winning the league title for the first time in 22 years. More than 500 officers were deployed to police the event. Ten of the arrests were on suspicion of assaulting police officers.

U.S.: Gas Prices Dip

AAA reports:

Gasoline prices across the Northeast are falling sharply on increasing optimism that the United States and Iran are edging closer to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Hopes for an end to the 14-week conflict have been building over the past two weeks, leading to solid price declines across oil and gas markets. Last week, crude prices settled about 10% lower for the week and about 18% lower to close out the month of May, spurring the largest weekly drop in gasoline prices since the war began. Retail pump prices have now fallen for 11 straight days — but remain about 45% higher than when the war started.

As cheaper oil eases pressure on gasoline prices, narrowing supplies and solid demand over the Memorial Day holiday are tempering the pace of recent price declines. Demand last week jumped by 489,000 barrels a day to reach 9.25 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). That number is 196,000 barrels a day lower than the comparable week last year as cool and rainy weather may have dampened fuel sales, particularly in the Northeast.

Demand remains strong, though, and coupled with high exports, led to a 15th straight week of shrinking inventories, which fell by 2.6 million barrels last week according to the EIA. Stockpiles are now 6% below the five-year average and are beginning to raise concerns about supply tightness as the summer approaches. Even with U.S. gasoline production ramping up to 9.93 million barrels a day — the highest level in five weeks — supplies are steadily decreasing as both foreign and domestic demand for U.S. gasoline is outpacing production.

“Northeast drivers are seeing signs of relief at the pump, but gas prices are still higher than they were a month ago and significantly higher than this time last year,” said Jillian Young, director of public relations for AAA Northeast. “Prices are likely to remain elevated until a long-term peace deal is reached and the Strait of Hormuz fully opens.”

The average gas price in Rhode Island is down 15 cents from last week ($4.45), averaging $4.30 per gallon. Today’s price is 3 cents higher than a month ago ($4.27) and $1.31 higher than this day last year ($2.99). Rhode Island’s average gas price is 2 cents lower than the national average.