PARIS — Eleven people, including two aides to a French far-left lawmaker, were arrested in France overnight and early on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a far-right activist last weekend in Lyon, according to the Lyon prosecutor’s office, which has opened a murder investigation. Among those arrested were at least one aide and two other people connected to Raphael Arnault, a lawmaker from far-left party France Unbowed (LFI), who said on Tuesday...
: This was the kind of prison break officials say could have changed the region, and perhaps even the world, overnight. Nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees, described by a senior U.S. intelligence official as ‘the worst of the worst,’ were being held in northern Syria as clashes and instability threatened the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the guards responsible for keeping the militants locked away and preventing a feared ISIS resurgence. U.S. officials believed that if the...
Small businesses are bracing for what they describe as an “unprecedented cost crunch” in April, with more than a third warning they may shut down or scale back operations as a raft of higher expenses take effect. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has written to Rachel Reeves warning that the cumulative impact of rising energy bills, business rates, higher employment costs and changes to statutory sick pay risks undermining economic growth. A survey by...
The owners of Virgin Media O2 have agreed a £2bn takeover of challenger fibre network Netomnia, marking a significant step towards consolidation in Britain’s crowded broadband market. Liberty Global and Telefónica, alongside InfraVia Capital through their Nexfibre joint venture, will acquire Netomnia, currently the UK’s second-largest alternative network provider. The deal will expand Nexfibre’s footprint to around 8 million households by the end of next year. Combined with Virgin Media O2’s existing infrastructure, the enlarged...
President Donald Trump’s newly created Board of Peace is set to hold its first meeting Thursday, with administration officials and participating countries framing the gathering as a step toward implementing the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire and reconstruction effort rather than a moment likely to deliver an immediate breakthrough. At least 20 countries are expected to attend the inaugural session in Washington, where Trump is slated to chair discussions on a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction framework,...
President Donald Trump announced that former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a White House event marking the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, as attendees at one point broke into chants of ‘four more years.’ ‘Ben’s getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom,’ Trump said. ‘It’s the highest award you can have outside of the Congressional Medal of Honor.’ Trump said Carson would receive the...
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly been holding secret talks with the grandson of Raul Castro, the former President of Cuba. The talks between Rubio and Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro are bypassing official Cuban government channels, Axios reported. ‘Our position — the U.S. government’s position — is the regime has to go,’ a senior official told the news outlet. ‘But what exactly that looks like is up to [President Trump] and he has yet...
President Donald Trump praised civil rights activist Jesse Jackson as a ‘real hero’ during a White House Black History Month event Wednesday, just a day after Jackson’s death. ‘I wanted to begin by expressing a sadness that the passing of a person who was. I knew very well Jesse was a piece of work. He was a piece of work. But he was a good man. He was a real hero,’ Trump said on Wednesday,...
The president of a Florida insurance brokerage firm and the CEO of a marketing company were sentenced Wednesday to 20 years each in prison for leading a sprawling, $233 million Affordable Care Act fraud scheme that preyed on Florida’s most vulnerable residents — including homeless and jobless individuals and newly displaced hurricane victims — to pocket millions in unearned commissions. Cory Lloyd, 46, of Stuart, Florida, and Steven Strong, 42, of Mansfield, Texas, were convicted...
The debate over U.S. missile defense is increasingly focused on space, and defense experts argue that stopping threats in the earliest moments after launch could determine whether the homeland remains protected against Russia and China’s expanding arsenals. At a policy discussion marking roughly a year since the rollout of the ‘Golden Dome’ homeland defense initiative, former senior defense officials said the United States can no longer rely primarily on deterrence and retaliation to shield the...
