Author: Press Room

PARIS (AP) – France’s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation. He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President François Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s. Lang, 86, was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his…

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) stated that the Biden administration’s “biggest policy failure was an ‘open border’, which means respecting treaties that we signed decades ago about letting people claim asylum in this country.” And that we should follow the border policy negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and then-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) towards the end of the administration. Coons said, “I disagree that they let in 20 million. I think they’re double-counting quite a few people.” He added, “Our biggest policy failure was an ‘open border’, which means respecting treaties that we signed…

Lasting stability in Europe will depend on a “strong partnership” between Brussels and Ankara, Marta Kos has said The EU is looking to rekindle its contentious relationship with Türkiye, Politico reported on Friday, citing EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos.Kos said Brussels will need a “strong partnership” with Ankara once the Ukraine conflict is settled.Relations between Ankara and Brussels have worsened in recent years amid stalled EU accession talks, disputes over the Customs Union, migration tensions, and Türkiye’s foreign policy. The EU also accused Türkiye of democratic backsliding over what it calls repression of opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan –…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian airstrike on a residential area in eastern Ukraine killed one person and wounded two, officials said Sunday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the U.S. has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a peace deal. The attack on the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region caused a fire in a nine-story apartment block, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Russia also struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight into Sunday, Serhii Koretskyi, chief executive of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz said. Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid, especially in…

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said that while he wouldn’t eliminate the filibuster to grant statehood to Puerto Rico or Washington D.C. or expand the Supreme Court, he might do so when Democrats have the majority in the Senate in the future, but “Right now, it is an absolutely critical protection.” Coons stated, “I would not vote to nuke the filibuster to recognize Puerto Rico and [D.C.]. I don’t think we should expand the Supreme Court.” Co-host Joe Kernen then said, “But that leaves open that you could nuke the filibuster for other reasons,…

Cheers for Team USA were drowned out by jeers when the screens in San Siro Stadium showed the vice president and his wife US President Donald Trump expressed surprise after hearing that Vice President J.D. Vance was booed at the Olympics opening ceremony in Italy.The Winter Olympics officially opened on Friday, with the traditional Parade of Nations at Milan’s iconic San Siro Stadium.Team USA entered the stadium to applause, though when the cameras briefly showed Vance and his wife Usha waving American flags from the stands, the booing began.“Oops… those are a lot of boos for him… whistling, jeering, some…

U.S. ski star Lindsey Vonn’s hopes of an Olympic comeback ended in brutal fashion Sunday when she crashed out of the women’s downhill event after seeking to compete in Italy with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. As AFP reports, Vonn was barely 13 seconds into her run in bright sunshine in Cortina d’Ampezzo when she lost control, twisted in the air and smashed into the snow. The 41-year-old’s cries of pain were relayed to the waiting crowds as medical staff attended to the stricken skier on the piste while Vonn’s watching sister was ashen-faced. Vonn was eventually strapped into a stretcher…

Former The Hills star Spencer Pratt, who is now running for Los Angeles mayor, is calling for several L.A. Fire Department officials to be fired after news broke that Mayor Karen Bass ordered the watering down of the after-action report following the crippling wildfires of January 2025. In a video posted by a FOXLA reporter, Pratt pledged to root out and publicize all the failures that led to the disastrous fire. “We’re going to find out what failures the mayor and LAFD and the state parks and everyone involved to those 12 people burning alive, 7,000 structures [destroyed],” he says…

Brussels believes that choosing welfare over propping up Kiev is “heresy,” the Hungarian prime minister has said Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused the EU of seeking to strip Hungarian families of additional funding to finance Ukraine’s fight with Russia. In a post on X on Friday, Orban said that “Brusselian bureaucrats have their hands out, trying to take money from our families so they can shovel it over to Kiev. Brussels calls putting families first heresy. We call it common sense.” Orban tied the dispute to his domestic policy of redistributing tax revenue and expanding benefits, including the existing 13th-month…

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s most senior aide, Morgan McSweeney, has announced his resignation as chief of staff over the appointment of Jeffrey Epstein-linked Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States. Falling on his sword in an apparent attempt to save the skin of his erstwhile boss, McSweeney said on Sunday that he takes “full responsibility” for advising the Prime Minister to appoint Lord Mandelson to the top diplomatic posting last year, despite Downing Street and Starmer hismelf being aware that the veteran political operative had continued his close relationship with the pedophile financier even after Epstein…