Anderson Cooper is preparing to step away from 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years as a correspondent, marking a significant moment for the long-running CBS News broadcast amid ongoing turmoil within the company.

The veteran journalist, who has balanced his role on the Sunday night news magazine alongside his full-time work at CNN, has chosen not to renew his agreement with CBS News, according to people familiar with the decision. 

His final segment, a profile of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, aired on Sunday.

In a statement, Anderson Cooper said the decision was deeply personal.

“Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honours of my career. I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business. 

For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time with me.”

Cooper joined 60 Minutes during the 2006–2007 season, becoming one of the few journalists to hold prominent roles on both network and cable television. 

Over the years, his reporting for the programme earned multiple Emmy Awards, including stories on jazz prodigy Joey Alexander and African prison inmates whose music went on to win a Grammy.

While Cooper recently signed a new deal to remain at CNN, where his work includes Anderson Cooper 360°, the long-form series The Whole Story and the podcast All There Is, his departure from 60 Minutes comes at a difficult time for CBS News. 

The programme has been caught up in wider corporate and editorial disputes linked to Paramount Global’s sale to Skydance.

Last year, 60 Minutes became central to a legal fight after Donald Trump sued the show over edits made to an interview with Kamala Harris.

Although CBS News lawyers viewed the case as without merit, Paramount ultimately agreed to a $16 million settlement, which was seen internally as necessary to avoid regulatory hurdles. 

During this period, executive producer Bill Owens resigned, followed later by Wendy McMahon, the head of the news division.

Editorial tensions continued more recently when a report on deportations to El Salvador was pulled after being promoted. 

The correspondent involved criticised the move as political rather than editorial. The segment eventually aired weeks later with added context, but without comment from a Trump administration official.

The changes have unfolded under the leadership of Bari Weiss, the current editor-in-chief of CBS News, whose efforts to reshape the division have drawn criticism from some staff and contributed to unease within the newsroom.

In a statement acknowledging Cooper’s exit, CBS News said: “For more than two decades, Anderson Cooper has taken 60 Minutes viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations and interviewed many prominent figures.

We’re grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family. 60 Minutes will be here if he ever wants to return.”

Cooper appeared briefly on the programme during its Last Minute segment on Sunday, and while it is unclear whether that will be his final on-air moment this season, his departure removes one of the show’s most recognisable faces. 

For now, Cooper remains firmly anchored at CNN, while 60 Minutes continues to navigate a period of uncertainty behind the scenes.

• Tensions rise as second US aircraft carrier heads to Mideast.
• Iran holds military drill in Strait of Hormuz amid tensions.
• IAEA urges Iran to account for missing uranium stockpile.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would be involved “indirectly” in high-stakes talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme set for Tuesday in Geneva, adding he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.

“I’ll be involved in those talks, indirectly. And they’ll be very important,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Tensions are soaring ahead of the talks, with the US deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The US military is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, US officials have told Reuters.

Asked about the prospects for a deal, Trump said Iran has long sought a tough posture in negotiations but learned the consequences of that approach last summer when the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump suggested Tehran was motivated this time to negotiate.

“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump said.

Washington pushes Tehran to forgo enrichment

Prior to the US strikes in June, US-Iran nuclear talks had stalled over Washington’s demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the US views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.

“We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s,” Trump said, referring to the bat-winged US stealth bombers that carried out the bombings.

“I hope they’re going to be more reasonable.”

The remarks contrast with those by the US president on Friday, when he embraced potential regime change in Iran and lamented decades of failed talks.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with the UN nuclear watchdog chief on Monday, saying in a post on X that he was in Geneva to “achieve a fair and equitable deal.”

“What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said.

Questions about uranium stockpile

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to its stockpile of 440 kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium following Israeli-US strikes and let inspections fully resume, including in three key sites that were bombed in June last year: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against any attack, which would choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.

Iran held a military drill on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international waterway and oil export route from Gulf Arab states, which have been appealing for diplomacy to end the dispute.

Despite Trump’s comments about Iran seeking a deal, the talks face major potential stumbling blocks. 

Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. 

Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and won’t accept zero uranium enrichment. It says its missile capabilities are off the table.

Speaking during a visit to Hungary on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said reaching a deal with Tehran would be hard.

“I think that there’s an opportunity here to diplomatically reach an agreement … but I don’t want to overstate it either,” Rubio said.

“It’s going to be hard. It’s been very difficult for anyone to do real deals with Iran, because we’re dealing with radical Shia clerics who are making theological decisions, not geopolitical ones.”

Sir Ian McKellen has shared a candid and gently humorous reflection on ageing, mortality and continuing to work at 86, admitting that recent health scares have changed how he views life, though not his desire to keep going.

In an interview with The Times, the veteran actor spoke openly about his outlook following a serious fall in June 2024, when he tumbled off the stage during a London theatre performance and was hospitalised with a fractured wrist and a chipped vertebra. 

Looking back on the experience, McKellen said: “I have accepted that I’m not immortal. Yet I still function.”

The The Lord of the Rings star explained that his thoughts about mortality now come as much from watching others as from his own physical changes. 

“Really the inevitability of mortality comes not just from what you are feeling about yourself, but the simple fact that your friends die — all the time,” he said. 

“When you are young, death is astonishing, a fascinating thing, but it’s a feature of getting older. Death becomes ever present.”

After spending three days in hospital, McKellen did not return to his role in the stage production Player Kings and later revealed he had been dealing with what he described as “agonising pain”. 

On medical advice, he also skipped the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of his upcoming film The Christophers, explaining in a pre-recorded message that it was “better safe than sorry”.

Now, however, McKellen is back at work in a different way. 

He is currently appearing in An Ark at New York City’s The Shed, an experimental production that uses virtual reality technology. 

Although he and his fellow actors are not physically present in the room, audiences see them through VR headsets. 

McKellen said the format felt like a sensible step after his accident. 

“I thought that was the safest way of getting back to work,” he told The Times, joking that filming allows for pauses that live theatre does not. “You can’t stop live theatre.”

Even so, he has since returned to the stage on a limited basis and said the experience reassured him. 

He noted with relief that he still enjoys performing, does not find it unsettling, and can remember his lines. “Considering my age, all is well,” he said.

Reflecting on the deaths of close friends, McKellen said he has found some comfort in how people approach the end of life. 

“Regrets? I’ve had a few,” he admitted. 

“It’s never satisfactory when someone dies, but I take comfort that when the people I’ve been close to are dying, they seem ready, even welcoming of it.”

Despite his reflections, McKellen made it clear he is not slowing down. “I feel that I’ve still got more to do,” he said.

His upcoming projects include The Christophers, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon, which arrives in cinemas on 10 April, as well as Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, where he stars opposite Johnny Depp, due in November. 

He is also set to reprise his role as Magneto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for release in December.

For McKellen, acknowledging mortality has not dimmed his enthusiasm, if anything, it seems to have sharpened his appreciation for still being able to do what he loves.