US-China Trade Talks to Boost Sentiment in Asia, Strategists Say
'Substantial progress' made in US-China trade relations after two days of talks in Switzerland is likely to boost sentiment in Asia, according to some strategists, while others were awaiting further details.
While neither side immediately announced specific measures on Sunday, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said the world's two biggest economies agreed to create a mechanism for further discussions. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would share details on Monday.
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Vodafone and Three merge to become Britain's biggest mobile network
Vodafone and Three have vowed to improve Britain's patchy 5G coverage after completing their long-awaited £15bn mega-merger. The two companies said they have closed the deal to create VodafoneThree, which is now the UK's largest mobile network operator with around 27m customers. Bosses said VodafoneThree will invest £11bn over the next decade to create one of Europe's most advanced 5G networks. This includes a £1.3bn capital expenditure pledge in the first year. Margherita Della Valle, chief executive of Vodafone Group, said: 'The merger will create a new force in UK mobile, transform the country's digital infrastructure and propel the UK to the forefront of European connectivity. 'We are now eager to kick off our network build and rapidly bring customers greater coverage and superior network quality. The transaction completes the reshaping of Vodafone in Europe, and following this period of transition we are now well-positioned for growth ahead.' It comes two years after Vodafone and Three owner CK Hutchison, which is owned by the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, first announced plans to merge their UK operations. The deal has been held up by a lengthy regulatory process amid concerns reducing the number of UK mobile network operators from four to three would push up prices for consumers. Unions and China-sceptic MPs also raised concerns about granting Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison access to critical national infrastructure and sensitive government contracts. However, the deal passed a national security review and in December the Competition and Markets Authority gave the green light to the merger. Vodafone and Three have made a number of legally binding commitments, including the £11bn investment pledge and guarantees around some consumer tariffs. More recently, the launch has been delayed by negotiations between Vodafone and CK Hutchison over the terms of the deal. The newly merged company will be 51pc owned by Vodafone, while Three will hold the remaining 49pc. Vodafone has an option to buy out Three's stake after three years. It will be led by Max Taylor, current chief executive of Vodafone UK, while Three's Darren Purkis has been appointed chief financial officer. Bosses said the combined company was expected to deliver cost savings of around £700m per year, unlocking more money for network investment. VodafoneThree's net debt is expected to be £6bn. The parent companies have agreed to contribute £800m of equity to support working capital requirements. Canning Fok, deputy chairman of CK Hutchison, said: 'As we have demonstrated in other European markets, scale enables the significant investment needed to deliver the world-beating mobile networks our customers expect, and the Vodafone and Three merger provides that scale. 'In addition, this transaction unlocks significant shareholder value, returning approximately £1.3bn in net cash to the group.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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40 minutes ago
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Palm Beach Police: 'SIM swap' scam tried to steal more than $200,000 from Palm Beacher
Two Westlake residents have been arrested by Palm Beach Police, who say the pair executed an elaborate financial fraud known as "SIM swapping" that attempted to steal more than $200,000 from a Palm Beach resident. And the scheme could extend far beyond the island, police said. The pair were taken into custody May 28, Palm Beach Police spokesman Capt. Will Rothrock said. A 29-year-old woman faces charges of organized fraud and fraudulent use of personal information of a person age 60 or older, and a 31-year-old man was arrested on a charge of fraudulent use of personal information, according to arrest reports. Both remained at the Palm Beach County Jail on May 29. The woman was held without bond, and a Palm Beach County judge ordered that she have no contact with the Palm Beach resident or the man arrested in the case, according to court records. She also cannot have any devices that can access the internet, and she is not allowed to use the phone except to contact her attorney, court records show. The man's bond amount was set at $350,000, and he also cannot use or have any devices that connect to the internet, court records show. He was directed not to contact the Palm Beach resident or the woman, and while in jail, he cannot use the phone except to contact an attorney, according to court records. If he makes bond, he will be on in-home arrest with a GPS monitor, records show. On April 10, a Palm Beach resident called police to say someone had fraudulently accessed his AT&T and bank accounts, and had tried to transfer money and login to several websites, according to an arrest report. The Palm Beach resident said he received a call on April 8 from someone who said they were with AT&T, and that he needed to validate his phone numbers using a code sent to him via text message, an arrest report said. About 20 minutes after that phone call, phone numbers connected to the resident's AT&T account stopped working, police said. The scam is known as "SIM swapping" or "SIM hijacking," according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Center, also called the IC3. Fraudsters will gain control of a person's phone number and then use it to access their banking and other financial and personal accounts, the agency said. The resident provided the code that he received to the person, but later discovered that the code was used to forward his phone number to a different provider, Verizon, police said. By giving that code to the person who said they were from AT&T, he allowed them to complete the final step to move all three of the phone numbers on his account to the other carrier, police wrote in the arrest report. In 2024, there were 982 complaints of SIM swapping with a total reported loss of $25,983,946, the IC3 said in its annual report. The previous year, 1,075 SIM swapping complaints were made with a reported loss of $48,798,103, according to the IC3. Once the phone numbers were transferred, someone tried to withdraw money and make a wire transfer from the Palm Beach resident's bank account, police said. Someone also successfully took over one of the man's email accounts. Transactions made through the resident's accounts included $2,300 sent via Zelle to a St. Petersburg resident, $77.97 spent at a Circle K in The Acreage, $1,500 in ATM withdrawals, and a $215 Venmo payment, an arrest report said. There was also a $4,006.08 payment made to designer clothing retailer Farfetch U.K., along with Airbnb charges of $2,341.79 and $660, an arrest report said. Because the resident was concerned that his Apple account had been compromised, he used the "Find My" feature on his iPhone, which can be used to locate devices connected to an Apple account, police said. The resident saw an unknown iPhone on Liberty Lane in Westlake and told police that he has never been to that address and has no connections there. A Palm Beach Police detective later drove by that address several times and saw two vehicles, a 2022 black Cadillac Escalade and 2024 gray BMW SUV, parked there. Both vehicles were registered to the 31-year-old man, whose driver's license lists an address in North Lauderdale but who police learned was staying at the house in Westlake with the 29-year-old woman, who shares registration on the BMW SUV. Palm Beach Police detectives discovered that the ATM withdrawals from the resident's account were made at a bank in The Acreage, about 2 miles from the house in Westlake, an arrest report said. On April 9, the Palm Beach resident received a request to wire transfer $138,237, which was unsuccessful, police said. That same day, there was another request for a wire transfer for $82,469. The banker in that case confirmed the wire with who he believed to be the account holder, and the transfer was initiated, police said. However, once the resident received an email to confirm the transfer, he called the bank's fraud team and was able to secure the money, but it could take up to three months to get that money back, the arrest report said. Both wire transfer requests were made to a Pompano Beach resident, police said. The resident hired a private investigator who recovered photos taken by the Liberty Lane-located iPhone after someone took over the resident's Apple account, police said. Data for seven photos show all were taken at that home in Westlake, according to the arrest report. On May 7, a Palm Beach Police detective talked with a person in Las Vegas, Nevada, who had been the victim of a similar scheme and had reported the crime to the FBI. That person gave police about 50 images someone took after gaining control of his Apple account, and officers found data that connected the photos back to the Westlake address. The images provided by the person in Nevada also included photos of driver's licenses, passports, bank account numbers, emails and more, an arrest report said. When Palm Beach Police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office searched the Westlake home on a warrant on May 5, they found the 29-year-old woman and 31-year-old man, along with a Louis Vuitton backpack, three iPhones, two pairs of sunglasses and a yellow notebook with "Work $" written on it, the arrest report said. Inside the notebook, officers said they found bank account details, Social Security numbers, addresses, names and more personal details about more than 50 people in Florida and across the United States. Officers also said they found electronic devices and a ledger that contained the Palm Beach resident's personal information. They also took $15,243 in cash from the woman's bedroom, the arrest report said. Detectives determined that once the couple gained access to a person's phone line, they could "circumvent two-factor authentication and gain access to victims' financial accounts, resulting in substantial unauthorized wire transfers and fraudulent transactions," the arrest report said. Palm Beach has cautioned residents to be wary of potential scams. "Most of these cases nationally go unsolved," Rothrock said. "The work and tenacity that our detectives put into this to follow the leads to the end and bring a successful conclusion are noteworthy." He added that the department is grateful for PBSO's help in the investigation, including to serve the search warrant. "Finding local perpetrators was a rarity and did make the investigation coordination smoother," Rothrock said. Those who believe they may have been victims of the scam should call the Palm Beach Police Department's non-emergency number at 561-838-5454, he said. This story was updated to add new information. Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@ Subscribe today to support our journalism. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach 'SIM swap' scam could extend across U.S., police say
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BarEhud Barak: Israel Must Back Trump's Gaza Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the White House on April 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Credit - Alex Wong—Getty Images In the coming few days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will face a defining choice between a politically motivated "war of deception" in Gaza and a deal to release all hostages while ending the war. He must choose between his extreme-right ministers—Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich—or aligning with Donald Trump. There is no symmetry here. Accepting a hostage deal, ending the war, and working with Trump and free world leaders, won't be effortless. Any choice requires detailed negotiations and compromises. But this path is far superior to any realistic alternative. Based on the achievements of the Israel Defense Forces—including damage to Hamas, weakening Hezbollah, destroying Syria's military arsenal during Assad's collapse, and demonstrating Israel's capability to strike deep into Iran—Israeli leadership could, from a position of strength, pursue releasing all hostages simultaneously, halt this senseless war, end the humanitarian crisis, and uproot Hamas from power. This would enable Israel, though belatedly, to join Trump's vision of a New Middle East, including normalization with Saudi Arabia, regional deployment to tackle the Iranian challenge, and participation in the trade corridor project from India through the Gulf to Europe. Choosing a "war of deception" instead—where misleading propaganda presents political warfare as serving Israel's security—would be a grave mistake. It's highly doubtful that continuing the war could produce results different from previous Gaza rounds over the past 20 months. But it would certainly constitute a death sentence for some or most living hostages and deepen the diplomatic tsunami and International Criminal Court claims Israel already faces. This approach might make sense if it could achieve "total victory" over Hamas, but that won't happen. When this new war inevitably halts—under diplomatic pressure, humanitarian crisis, battlefield events, or domestic political developments—we would find ourselves in precisely the same situation as today. To understand, examine recent history. The October 7th barbaric attack created a compelling imperative for Israel to ensure Hamas could never again reign over Gaza or threaten Israel from there. The question was how to achieve this goal. Since Ben-Gurion, Israel has followed four strategic maxims: wars should be aggressive, fought on enemy territory, ended quickly to translate battlefield results into diplomatic and political realities while maintaining international legitimacy, and—extremely important—never lose the moral high ground. That's how we won in 1967 in six days and 1973 in three weeks. Netanyahu has betrayed almost all these principles. Read More: The Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Was Never Going to Last Another strategic maxim, from Clausewitz to Kissinger, holds that war must have a clearly defined, operationally feasible political purpose. As the Roman saying goes: "If you don't know which port you want to reach, no wind will take you there." This maxim was deliberately ignored. Netanyahu has blocked any discussion of this issue since October 7th, 2023. It was clear to any serious observer that Hamas suffered major military blows daily, losing most weapons systems and leadership figures since October 7th. However, since any Hamas group or individual can easily "disappear" within minutes, hiding among the Strip's 2 million civilians and emerging from tunnels or building windows to attack Israelis, their absolute elimination remains a Sisyphean task. Even after 58 years in the West Bank, we never fully eliminated Hamas' presence in Jenin or Tulkarm. The only way to ensure Hamas cannot reign over Gaza and threaten Israel is by replacing it with another governing entity legitimate to the international community, Arab neighbors like Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, and Palestinians themselves. Practically, this means a temporary inter-Arab force backed by the Arab League, potentially supported by UN Security Council resolution, funded by Saudi Arabia and UAE, with a technocratic government overseeing Palestinian bureaucracy and a new, non-Hamas security body trained by the inter-Arab force under U.S. supervision. Israel would present only two conditions: no Hamas military branch member could participate in the new entity's organs, and the IDF, initially deployed to the Strip's perimeter, would withdraw to the border only after all pre-agreed security benchmarks are met. This plan, easily implementable a year ago, and appearing to save Gaza and Gazans from further destruction, is harder now, because it could be interpreted as saving Israel from sinking into Gazan mud. But the plan remains viable despite the Israeli government's refusal to consider it. Since this is the only practical "day after" plan, there's no sense sacrificing hostages' lives or endangering Israeli troops in pointless warfare. Who can look into the eyes of future bereaved parents, newly widowed spouses, new orphans, disabled and traumatized soldiers, and claim with clear conscience that everything was done to prevent loss, or that it had justification? As long as Israel rejects hostage release and war's end, the risk increases of international initiatives, including Arab neighbors calling for Israel boycotts and steps toward recognition of a Palestinian state by European countries—many of them stable friends of Israel. Read More: I Am a Former Hamas Hostage. Here's My Message to Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu Permanent occupation of the Gaza Strip, population transfer of 2 million Palestinians, and Israeli resettlement on the that land are base and delusional visions that would backfire and accelerate confrontation with the world. Why is Netanyahu, an intelligent, experienced, savvy politician, failing? The answer isn't simple. Netanyahu has ruled since 2015 through an alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties who don't serve in the army and care only about sectoral needs, and since January 2023 added ultra-right zealots believing Gaza resettlement and Palestinian transfer are heavenly orders. He's caught in a dilemma: 80% of the public sees him as primarily responsible for the country's worst day, 60% believe he should resign. A heavy majority perceives his judicial reform, initiated immediately after January 2023 elections, as a "judicial coup d'état"—an attempt to castrate the legislative branch and demolish Supreme Court independence. Many believe the aim of his blatant attack on democracy is to escape his bribery, fraud, and breach of trust court case. For him, any pause in the war—even 60 days, certainly longer—would immediately bring reckoning and accountability: accelerated court proceedings; demands for national inquiry committee investigating October 7th, and events before, during and after; coalition meltdown; and probable disgraced ejection from public life. I believe Netanyahu genuinely wants all hostages home. But when this clashes with immediate threats to his political survival, he prefers leaving them in Gaza. He has already torpedoed several hostage deal opportunities, and seems to be doing it once again over the weekend, by resisting U.S. guarantee to Hamas for an end to the war in exchange for release of all hostages and entering, together with the Trump Administration, into Trump's New Middle East Order (to include the replacement of Hamas, described above). Netanyahu sticks to his eternal war in order to avoid a pause in fighting, which might lead to the end of his political career. This behavior is unacceptable to Israel and Israelis. We are, as former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak wrote years ago, 'defending democracy' that "should be capable of defending itself against those who try to use the very freedoms and tools it provides to destroy it from within." We're led by someone who lost his strategic and moral compass, dragging the nation into war motivated by personal political interests against our security and common future. Israel urgently needs new, sober leadership with clear realistic vision and self-confidence—leadership capable of reading our people's soul, understanding partners' and rivals' minds, and above all, having courage to make decisions and power to implement them. The world will pass judgment. But the burden of bringing Israel back on track is ours—Israeli citizens. I believe we will overcome. This war will end soon, and Israel's worst ever government will be replaced by a responsible, effective one. A long path of repair must follow. Contact us at letters@
