Connect with us

CBS News

Olympic flame arrives in Paris ahead of 2024 Summer Games

Avatar

Published

on


Paris — The torch relay ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics reached the French capital for the first time on Sunday, with organizers hoping to build enthusiasm for the Games among the city’s skeptical residents. The flame was first glimpsed during the traditional military parade held every year on the July 14 national holiday, largely known outside the country as Bastille Day, and then began its tour around the city from the Champs-Elysees.

World Cup-winning soccer great Thierry Henry was given the honor of the first leg on the capital’s most famous avenue, with the torch then heading for landmarks including the parliament and Notre-Dame cathedral

“It’s not something you turn down, on our national day, on the Champs-Elysees, the Olympics in Paris,” Henry told reporters of his star turn. “Just extraordinary.”

Paris Celebrates Bastille Day 2024 With Olympic Spirit
French soccer star Thierry Henry, the first bearer of the Olympic Torch in Paris ahead of the Paris 2024 Summer Games, carries the torch as it is lit, July 14, 2024 on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France.

Maja Hitij/Getty


The flame remained in the capital Monday for a second day, making a stop with some can-can dancers outside the famed Moulin Rouge cabaret show before traveling up to the hill-top Montmartre cathedral.

The build up to the Paris Games has been marked by what chief organiser Tony Estanguet has called “Olympics-bashing,” with many Parisians the sternest critics of the event and the disruption in the city.

Many Parisians and visitors frustrated by Olympic disruption

In the wealthy districts, many families have already left for extended summer holidays, deliberately missing the July 26-August 11 extravaganza.

“I’m following them putting up the equipment, the stadiums, the impact that it will have on us, not really the torch,” 22-year-old student Manon Skura told AFP at the Champs-Elysees.

The Games have been designed to take place at locations in the heart of the City of Light, with temporary stadiums built at tourist hotspots such as the Eiffel Tower, Invalides and Place de la Concorde.

Using the capital’s fabled streets and the river Seine as a backdrop will ensure “iconic” Olympics, organizers say, but it has also led to large parts of central Paris being closed off and left traffic in gridlock.

First-time visitors to Paris Ian and Belinda Caulfield, from Wales, told CBS News correspondent Elaine Cobbe they were surprised at how much construction there was and how difficult it was to get around.

“I know it’s within a certain amount of the city, but if you just want to walk down the Seine, there’s a lot of obstructions,” said Ian.

Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Previews
Stands for the opening ceremony are seen near river Seine ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 13, 2024 in Paris, France.

Getty


The latest change to the capital’s streets has been the appearance of around 44,000 metal barriers around the Seine river, where a spectacular opening ceremony is being planned on July 26.

“Some residents have shared with us their amazement, as well the physical impossibility of leaving their homes,” the mayor of the upmarket river-side 7th district of Paris, Jean-Pierre Lecoq, said last week.

Chief organizer Tony Estanguet told AFP that pushing back the pessimists had been one of his most difficult tasks.

“My role has been to protect our vision against everyone who criticizes, those who don’t believe in it, those who would take pleasure in seeing it not go well,” he said during an interview on Thursday.

The torch relay had been a huge success nationally, he said, with around five million people turning out to see it since May 8.

“We’re delighted with how it has gone so far,” he explained. “It has completely met the targets we gave ourselves.”

Paris 2024 Olympic Games - Torch Relay
Can-can dancers perform as Julien Segui and a fellow torch bearer carry the Olympic Torch at Moulin Rouge during the second day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay, July 15, 2024 in Paris, France.

Maja Hitij/Getty


Most importantly, the relay through 450 French towns and cities has taken place without any major security problems — testimony to the huge numbers of police officers deployed and careful planning.

Around 200 members of the security forces are positioned permanently around the torch, including an anti-terror SWAT team and anti-drone operatives.

A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged in Bordeaux in May over suspected threats to the procession as it travelled through the southwestern city.

Although polls generally find a slim majority of French people support the Olympics, a survey on March 25 by the Viavoice group found that 57% of respondents felt “little” or “no” enthusiasm about them in Paris.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

CBS News

Trump taps Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff

Avatar

Published

on


Trump taps Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff – CBS News


Watch CBS News



The Trump campaign has announced Susie Wiles as President-elect Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff. “It is a well-deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history,” Trump said in a news release.

Be the first to know

Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.




Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

Canada shuts down TikTok’s Canadian offices, but allows app to remain

Avatar

Published

on


Canada announced Wednesday it won’t block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but is ordering the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it is meant to address risks related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content. The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice,” Champagne said.

Champagne said it is important for Canadians to adopt good cybersecurity practices, including protecting their personal information.

He said the dissolution order was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada’s national security. He said the decision was based on information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners.


Australian prime minster proposed nationwide ban on social media

00:20

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said. “The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.

TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny from Europe and America over security and data privacy. It comes as China and the West are locked in a wider tug of war over technology ranging from spy balloons to computer chips.

Canada previously banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices. TikTok has two offices in Canada, one in Toronto and one in Vancouver.

Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said in a blog post that “banning the company rather than the app may actually make matters worse since the risks associated with the app will remain but the ability to hold the company accountable will be weakened.”

Canada’s move comes a day after the election in the United States of Donald Trump. In June, Trump joined TikTok, a platform he once tried to ban while in the White House. It has about 170 million users in the U.S.

Trump tried to ban TikTok through an executive order that said “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned” by Chinese companies was a national security threat. The courts blocked the action after TikTok sued.

Both the U.S. FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share user data such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers with China’s government. TikTok said it has never done that and would not, if asked.

Trump said earlier this year that he still believes TikTok posed a national security risk, but was opposed to banning it.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that would force ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company within a year or face a national ban. It’s not clear whether that law will survive a legal challenge filed by TikTok or that ByteDance would agree to sell.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

Could prison companies get a boost from Trump’s immigration policies?

Avatar

Published

on


The Trump administration could be a boon for business for private prison companies in the U.S. if the president-elect delivers on his promise to crack down on illegal immigration. 

CoreCivic and Geo Group, the two biggest private prison operators in the U.S., both contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house detained, undocumented migrants. Their stocks soared Wednesday following Trump’s election win, with investors betting the companies will see increased profits from a tough-on-immigration administration. 

CoreCivic, which closed at $13.50 a share on November 5, is trading at $22 a share, while Geo Group, which closed at $15 a share Tuesday, is currently trading at $23.75. 

“Obviously, investors believe there is going to be a significant increase in opportunity for both of these firms under the Trump administration,” Noble Capital Markets analyst Joe Gomes told CBS MoneyWatch. 

Geo Group executives acknowledged on the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday that it expects the incoming administration to enact stricter border security policies and that the company stands “ready to provide additional resources to help ICE meet future needs.”


Potential Trump Cabinet members, policies

03:16

CoreCivic executives also said they believe the election result will drive demand for its services. 

ICE is biggest customer

During Trump’s first term in office, from 2017-2021, immigration detention expanded at record levels, according to an ACLU report. In 2019, ICE detained an average of over 50,000 people each day. At times, that number exceeded 56,000 — about 50% more than peak levels during the Obama administration, according to the report. During his first term in office, Trump expanded the federal government’s use of private prison companies to detain immigrants. 

As of January 2020, 81% of people detained in ICE custody across the U.S. were held in facilities owned or managed by private prison corporations, according to the ACLU report. 

In his second term, President-elect Trump promises a radical shift in policy at the U.S.-Mexico border from his predecessor. That includes a pledge to oversee the largest deportation operation in American history, which could bring significantly more business to CoreCivic and Geo Group. 

For the first nine months of 2024, ICE accounted for 30% of each company’s revenue. 

Both Geo Group and CoreCivic said they currently have excess capacity to accommodate a larger population of detainees. CoreCivic executives noted that they’re taking steps to prepare to activate additional capacity to meet ICE’s needs. That could include reconfiguring facilities to accommodate a bigger intake area, they noted. 

“There is room for an uptick in occupancy from a capacity standpoint and both companies expect an ask from the Trump administration for more beds. The question is how much, and we just don’t know right now,” Wedbush Securities analyst Brian Violino told CBS MoneyWatch. 


Latest news on fate of Congress as GOP search for Senate leader begins

04:00

Monitoring

Geo Group also provides monitoring services for ICE under its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), a monitoring program using wearable technology that serves as an alternative to detention.

“If there is a finite number of beds and a significant number of people are detained, which Trump is discussing in his plans, there could be an increased usage in this alternative to detention,” Violino said.

Geo Group executives said they have the necessary technology and staffing resources to scale up the contract to more than several million participants, if necessary. 

Funding from Congress

The degree to which ICE expands its contracts with the two largest private prison companies depends on how big of an increase in funding Congress authorizes. While Republicans won the Senate majority in Tuesday’s election, it remains to be seen which party will obtain control of the U.S. House of Representatives

“That’s a big part of the story, and if it’s a Republican sweep, it will be easier for Trump to get funding from Congress to support this operation he’s looking to do,” Violino said. 



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024 Breaking MN

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.