Cindy McCain to step down as head of the World Food Programme
Cindy McCain during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Cindy McCain will be stepping down as head of the United Nations World Food Programme to focus on her health, the humanitarian organization announced on Thursday.
McCain, 71, suffered a mild stroke in October 2025, according to the organization. She plans to step down as the group’s executive director in three months, it said.
“With a heavy heart, I am announcing my intention to step down as the Executive Director of the World Food Programme,” McCain said in a statement released through the organization. “Serving this incredible organization has been the honor of a lifetime.”
McCain, who is the widow of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, stepped away for several months following her stroke before returning in early January to the organization’s headquarters in Rome. She said she hoped to complete her five-year term “but my health has not recovered to a level that allows me to fully serve the enormous demands of this job.”
“This is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make,” McCain said. “Over the past three years, we have delivered life-saving and life-changing assistance for millions of the world’s most vulnerable people — and this unwavering commitment will be more important than ever in the years to come.”
McCain has been serving since April 2023 as the executive director of the World Food Programme, which has a presence in more than 120 countries and over 20,000 staff worldwide.
“During her tenure she has driven several unprecedented changes to reform and scale the organization’s abilities including overhauling its global structure, streamlining its operations and processes, scaling innovative digital technologies, and diversifying its public and private partnership efforts,” the World Food Programme said in a press release.
McCain previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture for two years.
Vice President JD Vance appears on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Monday, June 15, 2026. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance on Monday spoke about the settlement that would extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and pave the way for 60 days of technical negotiations to end the war, saying it has been signed “digitally.”
Vance said the agreement marked a moment in which Iran has a “two-path” option.
“On the one hand, if they continue to try to rebuild their nuclear program, this deal ensures they will never have the resources to do that,” Vance told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” in an interview on Monday. “On the other hand, if the Iranians are willing to give a long-term commitment — along with proper verification — to giving up that nuclear weapon, we’re willing to welcome them into the world economy, to lift some sanctions and to turn over a new leaf in that relationship.”
Iranian officials have long publicly maintained that the country’s nuclear program operates only for civilian purposes, although Western officials have said their uranium enrichment has gone beyond what would be needed for civilian use. Iran has also said it does not have ambitions to create nuclear weapons, a claim that American officials have disputed.
Vance’s interview followed a Sunday social media post from President Donald Trump, who said the United States and Iran reached an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire in the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Vance said that the deal had already been digitally signed by parties, but also maintained that there would be a signing ceremony on Friday — though it’s unclear exactly what the Friday signing will mean if the deal has already been signed digitally. The vice president did say that the full text of the agreement would be released at some point this week and that negotiations were expected to continue.
The exact contents of the agreement is still unclear, and he remained vague about what specifics were in the the text of the already-signed agreement.
When pressed by “Good Morning America” Anchor George Stephanopoulos about whether this deal was the president going back on promises that Iran would need to provide “unconditional surrender,” Vance responded that “what this deal fundamentally does is it reopens the Straits of Hormuz.”
“You see, oil prices have already come down substantially just in the last 24 hours,” Vance added.
Vance also said that the deal includes provisions that Iran will stop funding terror groups, though he did not expand on what exactly that means.
As a potential deal was reportedly coming together on Friday, Vance took to social media to push back on what he described as “fake information” about the potential terms, which he said were expected to include financial incentives for Iran. Vance said funds would not be released to Iran “for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting.”
Vance also said that since the deal was digitally signed on Sunday, no money for Iran has been released, “and that won’t change, George,” Vance said.
Vance on Monday said forward momentum for the deal would hinge on Iranian officials “doing the right thing,” including allowing for some form of verification to show that Iran is not working toward building a nuclear weapon.
“This is fundamentally a win-win for the American people,” Vance said. “What the president has said is he wants it to be a win for the Iranian people as well. But that requires some real trust building and some real positive conduct from the Iranian political system.”
“We’re going to see if that happens,” he added. “If it does, they’re absolutely going to find the president of United States and the entire team a willing partner, to make their country more prosperous.”
Stephanopoulos pressed Vance about whether Israel’s comments that they are not party to the agreement amid their continued hostilities in Lebanon, asking Vance whether that might complicate the peace settlement.
“Well, George, everything’s going to complicate the deal, as you know, in this region of the world, even a ceasefire, sometimes they’re a little bit dirty,” Vance said. “It goes from shooting a lot to shooting a little to shooting not at all. But what we fundamentally believe is that this is going to be a good deal for the people of Israel, for the people of the Gulf, the people of America, and again, potentially for the people of Iran as well.”
A landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, followed two years of negotiations. It imposed restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran, in that 2015 deal, agreed to international monitoring and to keeping its nuclear program “solely for peaceful purposes,” according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
Trump withdrew the U.S. that deal in 2018, during his first term.
“There are all of these ways I could explain the ways this deal is fundamentally better for the American people than the JCPOA,” Vance said on Monday. “But the fundamental difference is that the Gulf Coast coalition, our Arab partners in the region, they hated the JCPOA, because they felt that it emboldened Iran to be a bad actor. They love this deal because they feel that it’s going to create a totally new dynamic in the Middle East.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
The seal of the Department of Homeland Security (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — A Department of Homeland Security employee was “brutally shot and stabbed to death,” Monday, according to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a shooting spree across the Atlanta area, in which one other person was killed and a third is in critical condition.
Lauren Bullis was walking her dog on Monday, when she was randomly attacked, allegedly stabbed and shot by Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old born in the United Kingdom who was naturalized in 2022, Mullin said.
“He possesses a prior criminal record that includes convictions for sexual battery, battery against a police officer, obstruction, and assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and now stands accused of murdering @DHSgov employee Lauren Bullis by shooting and stabbing her while she walked her dog,” Mullin wrote on X.
Mullin said Abel was arrested for reportedly shooting a woman to death outside a restaurant before “randomly shooting a homeless man multiple times” outside a supermarket. ABC affiliate WSB reported that man is in critical condition.
Police said Abel, 26, shot and stabbed Burris about four hours later, according to WSB.
Police raided a home that the suspect rented near where Burris was attacked and arrested Abel, WSB reported, who faces at least six charges, including murder, aggravated assault and possession of a gun as a convicted felon.
TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen for illustration photo. Krakow, Poland. On April, 20th, 2026. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An alleged TikTok antagonist is accused of stabbing a 17-year-old to death outside his New York City apartment building, authorities said.
Andrew Tollinche, 22, has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the killing outside his Bronx home on Wednesday, according to New York City police.
Detectives had been looking for Tollinche after determining the stabbing stemmed from his posts on TikTok. Tollinche allegedly antagonizes people on the social media platform, and neighborhood teens have recently been gathering outside his home, knocking on his door and calling him out, according to police.
The victim, Jonathan Melo, who has no criminal record, was part of a group that went to the suspect’s apartment building, according to police. The interaction turned sour, and Tollinche went inside to grab a knife, came outside and allegedly stabbed the 17-year-old in the back, police said.
Melo was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
Tollinche has a prior unsealed arrest for allegedly raping a minor in 2025, according to records. He has other prior interactions with police, some of them stemming from social media posts.
Tollinche is due in court on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.
