US charges Swiss 'hacktivist' for data theft and leaks
An indictment against 21-year-old Tillie Kottmann was brought Thursday by a grand jury in the Seattle-based Western District of Washington. Prosecutors said the FBI recently seized a website domain that Kottmann used to publish hacked data online. Itโs not clear if U.S. prosecutors will to try to extradite Kottmann, who remains in Lucerne and was notified of the pending charges. Swiss law limits certain forms of extradition, especially when the charges could be prosecuted in local courts. The indictment says Kottmann also hacked the Washington state Department of Transportation, an automobile manufacturer and a financial investment company.
UK police officer suspected of murder in missing woman case
A forensic officer outside a house where detectives are investigating the case of missing woman Sarah Everard, in Deal, southern England, Wednesday March 10, 2021. Police have arrested a serving police officer in connection with the missing woman, Everard who went missing last Wednesday while walking home in south London. (Steve Parsons/PA via AP)LONDON โ Britain's Metropolitan Police said they arrested a police officer on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in connection with a woman who went missing in London last week. The force said Wednesday the fact that the man was a serving officer was โshocking and deeply disturbing,โ but sought to reassure Londoners that abductions from the city's streets remain rare. The force said he was arrested along with a woman in her 30s, who was held on suspicion of assisting an offender.
UK police arrest another 9 people at asylum seekers' camp
A view of a burnt out accommodation block at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, England following a fire at the site, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. Police in southeast England have arrested five men following a disturbance at a former army barracks that has been housing around 400 asylum-seekers and where a fire broke out. Kent Police said a 31-year-old man was arrested on Friday on suspicion of assaulting a security guard in the wake of the fire at Napier Barracks on Friday afternoon. The barracks has been dogged by accusations of poor conditions, and at least 120 residents reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 recently. The Home Office said the department is following all guidelines and that the barracks are โsafe and secure."
British army helps clear backlog of virus-stranded drivers
Trucks inched slowly past checkpoints in Dover and headed across the Channel to Calais on Thursday after France partially reopened its borders following a scare over a rapidly spreading new virus variant. The military personnel were directing traffic and helping a mass testing program for the drivers, who must test negative to enter France. French firefighters have also been drafted to help the military test drivers for coronavirus. Most of the testing is being conducted at a disused airfield at Manston Airport, 20 miles (33 kilometers) from Dover. Free food and drink was being sent to the stranded truck drivers and more than 250 portable toilets were put in at Manston, with 32 others placed along the gridlocked M20 highway.
Truckers finally leave UK after days of virus gridlock
Officials warned the backlog could take days to clear, and many truckers will likely spend Christmas waiting in their cabs. China on Thursday became the latest nation to suspend flights to and from the U.K., further isolating the country. The majority of new positive cases confirmed in London were believed to be the coronavirus variant, the statistics office said. But some 5,000 drivers remained stranded at the Dover ferry crossing, and a Dover port spokeswoman said just about 700 trucks have departed. The announcement of the coronavirus variant came as Europe has been walloped by soaring new virus infections and deaths.
France relaxes its ban on trucks entering from Britain
Quick tests will be accepted if they are able to detect the new virus variant, Djebbari said. The problem, he explained, is that the empty trucks sitting in England canโt reach the continent to pick up deliveries for Britain. The virus is blamed for 1.7 million deaths worldwide, including more than 68,000 in Britain, the second-highest death toll in Europe, behind Italyโs 69,000. Switzerland was one of the 40-odd countries to ban flights from Britain over the new variant. ___Angela Charlton in Paris, Jo Kearney in Dover, England, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
Cut off: Britain hit with travel bans over new virus strain
From Canada to India, one nation after another banned flights from Britain, while France barred the entry of trucks from Britain for 48 hours while the strain is assessed. Macron said earlier that France was looking at establishing systematic testing of people for the virus on arrival. Around 10,000 trucks pass through the port of Dover every day, accounting for about 20% of the countryโs trade in goods. The virus is blamed for 1.7 million deaths worldwide, including about 68,000 in Britain, the second-highest death toll in Europe, behind Italy's 69,000. Also, some drivers or their employers might decide against entering Britain for fear they won't be able to get back home.
Probe: CDC official says she was ordered to delete emails
At issue is what happened last summer to an email sent to the CDC from a now-departed HHS adviser, Dr. Paul Alexander. She said she was ordered to delete it the following day, a Sunday. Kent testified that she believed the order to delete the email came from Redfield. Redfield said Thursday in a statement that โregarding the email in question, I instructed CDC staff to ignore Dr. Alexanderโs comments. โI considered this to be very unusual,โ she said, according to the partial transcript released by Clyburn.
English villages wake up to find they're Brexit's new border
It's part of Britain's new border with the European Union, and no one asked the locals for their permission. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)SEVINGTON โ Four years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Brexit can still seem abstract. They are chewing up land to create part of Britainโs new border with the European Union โ a customs clearance depot with room for up to 2,000 trucks. That means Britain must erect a customs border with the 27-nation EU, its biggest trading partner. But as a staunch supporter of Brexit, he is determined to see the positive side of the new customs site.