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Toronto Sun
5 days ago
- Toronto Sun
French drug baron 'The Fly' transferred to new supermax prison
Amra made headlines when he escaped in May 2024 at a road toll from a prison van following an attack by suspected accomplices Octav Ganea/AFP Photo by Octav Ganea / AFP PARIS — Notorious French drug baron Mohamed Amra, known as 'The Fly', was on Thursday transferred to a new supermax prison, built to stop narcotics criminals from plying their trade from behind bars. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Amra made headlines when he escaped in May 2024 at a road toll from a prison van following an attack by suspected accomplices in which two prison guards were killed. After a months-long manhunt he was caught in Romania and extradited to France. He is among the first convicted drugs criminals to be taken to Vendin-le-Vieil, in northern France, as part of a government campaign against the drugs trade. It is one of two brand new high-security prisons. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who announced the transfer on X, has said he wants to lock up 200 of France's biggest drug traffickers in the two top-security prisons in a bid to crack down on networks that operate from within jails. The main purpose of the supermax prisons is to prevent drug barons from continuing operationsMichel Euler/POOL/AFP Photo by Michel Euler / POOL/AFP In October, a high-security prison wing is to open in the northwestern town of Conde-sur-Sarthe. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As part of the new regime, mobile phone signals will be jammed and prisoners will undergo mandatory searches after every contact with the outside world. At the Vendin-le-Vieil jail, the exercise yard has been concreted over to prevent objects from being hidden and an airport-style body scanner installed. Grating has been added to the bars on the cells and hatches installed on all doors so prisoners can be handcuffed before they leave their cells. A glass screen now prevents physical contact between inmates and visitors. At the time of the deadly ambush, Amra already had a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was 15. Amra was suspected of ordering hits from prison, including in the months leading up to his breakout. Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Columnists Toronto & GTA World
Straits Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
US revokes admittance of Romania to visa waiver travel program
Romanian and EU flags are pictured in front of the headquarters of the Romanian Government, Bucharest, Romania, January 2, 2019. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERS/File Photo WASHINGTON - The Trump administration said on Friday it was revoking the admittance of Romania to the U.S. visa waiver program that allows visa-free travel to the United States, less than four months after the announcement that it would be added. The outgoing administration of then President Joe Biden said on January 9 it was admitting Romania to the program, saying it had met stringent security requirements, including entering into partnerships with U.S. law enforcement to share information on terrorism and serious crimes. The new rules were to take effect around March 31. The Department of Homeland Security in late March paused implementation to conduct a review, which concluded that the designation should be rescinded in order to protect the integrity of the program and ensure border and immigration security. "We are grateful for Romania's close partnership over the years to enhance security cooperation. Romania may be reconsidered for (visa waiver program) admission in the future," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Romania was the 43rd country admitted to the program -- and the fourth added under Biden after Croatia, Israel and Qatar. The program has led to a boost in tourists from the countries that are added because it makes it easier to come to the United States. The Romanian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In March, foreign tourists arriving in the United States by air fell by about 10% worldwide according to government data. U.S. citizens can visit Romania for up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes without a visa. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Romanian voters again turn to TikTok for guidance in rerun of annulled election
By Elizaveta Gladun and Octav Ganea BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Many young Romanians are again scrolling through video-sharing platform TikTok for guidance on how to vote in Sunday's rerun of a presidential election annulled over allegations of Russian meddling via suspicious TikTok accounts. With around 9 million TikTok users, the nation of 19 million people experienced a surge in such accounts last year during a campaign that eventually led to the annulment of the Nov. 24 election. Moscow has denied the allegations of manipulation. In the first round of that cancelled election on Nov. 24, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, who had been polling in single digits before the ballot, rose into first place amid an explosion of content on TikTok that favoured him. Now, George Simion, leader of the radical right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), tops the presidential candidate list with 1.3 million followers on TikTok. Lagging far behind with about 233,600 followers is Victor Ponta, a former leftist prime minister whose politics have turned ultranationalist. The remaining, centrist candidates have even fewer followers. The 38-year-old Simion's TikTok films combine nationalist rhetoric with an emotionally charged delivery and often use direct-to-camera speeches, footage from political gatherings and behind-the-scenes clips to hone a sense of personal connection. "The time for rebirth has come," he told followers in a video posted on Tuesday. "Our nation will find its way again ... We have within us the power to be reborn and to move forward, more united and stronger." Remus Stefureac, chief executive of INSCOP Research, said all the presidential candidates now appreciated the pivotal role of social media in campaigning. "If we analyse our presidential campaign..., we can say that each and every one of the relevant candidates tried to build strong operations online and on social media, so they invested a lot of their resources in this type of campaign," he said. YOUNG AUDIENCE TikTok's Romanian audience is predominantly young: 64.6% are aged 18–24 and 33.7% are aged 25–34, according to a mobile advertising platform that analyses app-based user data. Young people interviewed by Reuters in downtown Bucharest this week said they obtained information from various online sources, among them TikTok. Andrei, an engineer who declined to give his full name, said he trusted what he saw on TikTok to a limited extent, though news media sites seemed more credible. He said around a third of people he knew based their political decisions on TikTok material. Andreea, a student who also withheld her full name, said she was influenced politically largely by TikTok videos. She had watched many TikTok political videos and they had helped her feel closer to the lives of candidates. TikTok says it has formed a task force to ensure effective moderation of content and has launched a media literacy campaign to help users spot disinformation. In January, the company said it had blocked more than 116,000 spam accounts from being created in Romania during the second half of December. It also said in a recent report that during the second half of 2024 it had removed over 27,000 accounts operated via a "fake engagement vendor" that had promoted the AUR and Georgescu. Romania's government has ordered that campaign materials on social media be clearly labelled as such, while local media said the Central Electoral Bureau had ordered the removal of over 500 unverified or mislabelled posts. In the wake of the annulled election, the European Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok over its suspected failure to limit interference in the vote. Stefureac said Romania's experience from 2024 should serve as a lesson for the future of democracy worldwide - "that we cannot take our democracies for granted and we need to find ways to better control and moderate how political and electoral communication is managed through social media".
