Latest from CBS News
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Man escapes prison by hiding in luggage of fellow cellmate as he's released in France
France's prison service said Saturday it had launched an investigation after a man escaped by smuggling himself into his cellmate's bag as he left jail, having served his sentence. The 20-year-old prisoner escaped from Lyon-Corbas prison, near Lyon, southeast France, on Friday, broadcaster BFMTV reported. His cellmate had completed his sentence and the escaped prisoner managed to hide in his laundry bag as he left prison, the outlet reported. The inmate was serving several sentences, the prison service said in a statement to AFP. He "took advantage of the liberation of his fellow inmate to hide himself in his luggage and get out," the statement said. The escaped prisoner was also under investigation in a case linked to organized crime, a source close to the affair told AFP. An internal investigation is underway and Lyon prosecutors had opened their own investigations, the prison service added. Sébastien Cauwel, the director of the prison administration, told BFMTV on Sunday that an "accumulation of errors" and "a series of serious malfunctions" led to the escape. "This is an extremely rare event that we have never experienced in this administration," he said. The prison of Lyon-Corbas is seen on February 20, 2019, in Corbas, France. JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images Last month, the Lyon Bar Association raised concerns about overcrowding at the Lyon-Corbas prison, the BBC reported. As of May 1, 2025, about 1,200 people were detained in the prison, which has capacity for 678 inmates, BFMTV had reported.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Before Butler shooting, Secret Service denied multiple requests to bolster Trump's security detail during his 2024 campaign, report finds
Ahead of the assassination attempt one year ago on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Secret Service denied multiple requests from Mr. Trump's Secret Service detail to bolster his security apparatus during his 2024 presidential campaign, according to a Senate report released Sunday. The report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs found that the Secret Service "denied or left unfulfilled at least 10 requests" from Mr. Trump's detail for "additional resources," including an enhanced counter drone system, counter assault team personnel and counter snipers. On July 13, 2024, a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Mr. Trump from the rooftop of a nearby building during a campaign rally in Butler. The president was grazed in the ear by one of the bullets, while one rallygoer was killed and two others were critically wounded in the shooting. The gunman, Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by Secret Service snipers. The incident prompted several investigations into the Secret Service's practices and protocols. "This report reveals a disturbing pattern of communication failures and negligence that culminated in a preventable tragedy," wrote Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, in the report. "What happened was inexcusable and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation." The report accuses then-Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle of "falsely" testifying to Congress that "no USSS asset requests were denied for the Butler rally." Cheatle resigned nearly a year ago after testifying before Congress. Richard Giuditta Jr., chief counsel to the Secret Service, told the committee that there was no evidence that "political animus" was behind the denials, the report reads. Specifically concerning the Butler rally, the committee did not find that there was an "explicit denial" for enhanced counter drone systems. However, in a transcribed interview to the committee, a Secret Service counter-unmanned aircraft systems agent alleged that such a request was denied via phone by a Secret Service technical security division advance agent, the report states. That denial was corroborated by Secret Service documents, the report found. This would appear to contradict previous testimony from then-Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, who had replaced Cheatle in the post. During a contentious July 30, 2024, hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary committees, Rowe testified that "all assets requested were approved" for the Butler rally. Rowe, however, also testified regarding requests for assets other than Butler: "There are times when assets were unavailable and not able to be filled, and those gaps were staffed with state and local law enforcement tactical assets." Furthermore, the new report found that, prior to the Butler shooting, the Secret Service had no formal process for submitting resource requests, and "therefore there was no standard response concerning approvals or denials of such requests from USSS Headquarters." Documents obtained by the committee "revealed a pattern of certain categories of requests being either blatantly denied, unfulfilled, or required to be supplemented by local law enforcement or other federal agencies," the report said. In a statement, Secret Service director Sean Curran said the agency "took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day." A "lack of structured communication was likely the greatest contributor to the failures" of the Secret Service at Butler, the report stated, echoing a previous 180-page House report released last December on the assassination attempt which found that there was "fragmented communications" at Butler because local law enforcement and the Secret Service had separate command posts. According to the Senate committee's findings, the Secret Service agent tasked with leading communications at Butler — a role known as the "security room agent" — was the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Buffalo, New York, field office, and was assigned the Butler role on July 11, 2024, only two days before the rally. That agent "only discovered the existence of the second command post" after he overheard conversations between a Pennsylvania State Police officer who was stationed in the Secret Service's command post, and other law enforcement. "By his own admission, he never had direct contact with local law enforcement throughout the day, and that his only method of communication with them was through the PSP officer in the USSS Security Room," the report said of the security room agent. The report also addressed the announcement this week that six Secret Service personnel were suspended following an internal investigation into the Butler shooting response. The six personnel were issued suspensions without pay or benefits ranging from 10 to 42 days. However, the Senate committee's investigation found that the security room agent at Butler was not among those disciplined, even though, the report writes, "according to testimony and documents received by the committee," he "failed to relay critical information he obtained from" the Pennsylvania State Police officer stationed in the Secret Service's command post "regarding a suspicious individual with a range finder" to the Secret Service agents "who could have removed or prevented President Trump from taking the stage." In a statement provided to CBS News, U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said that his agency had received the report "and will continue to work cooperatively with the committee as we move forward in our mission." "Following the events of July 13, the Secret Service took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day," Curran said. "The Secret Service appreciates the continued support of President Trump, Congress, and our federal and local partners who have been instrumental in providing crucial resources needed to support the agency's efforts." Earlier this week, meanwhile, CBS News was taken inside the Secret Service's James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland, to see the agency's security improvements in response to Butler, which include a fleet of military-grade drones and a system of mobile command posts. , and contributed to this report.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Funeral held for Palestinian-American killed in West Bank as Gaza ceasefire talks drag on
A funeral was held Sunday for a Palestinian-American and his friend who were killed in the Israel-occupied West Bank. Saifullah Kamel Musallet, 20, a Tampa, Florida native, was killed in a confrontation with settlers while protecting his family's land in the town of Singjil, north of Ramallah, according to his family and the Palestinian Health Ministry. His family told CBS News he was meant to be headed back to Florida this week after visiting family. Musallet's friend, Mohammed al-Shalabi, was shot in the chest, according to the health ministry. On Sunday, their bodies were carried through the streets of Al-Mazraa a- Sharqiya, a town south of where they were killed. Mourners, waving Palestinian flags, chanted "God is great." People carry the bodies of Sayfollah Kamel Musallet and Mohammad Al-Shalabi. Ammar Awad / REUTERS "He worked at his family's ice cream shop in Tampa and was loved by so many people there. He was always kind and compassionate," Musallet's cousin Fatmah Muhammad, who is a business owner in Southern California, told CBS News on Saturday. The U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed Saturday to CBS News that a U.S. citizen died in the West Bank on Friday but referred questions about any investigation into the incident to Israel's government. Musallet's family, meanwhile, said it wants the U.S. to investigate. "We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes," the family's statement read. Saifullah Kamel Musallet, a Palestinian-American from Tampa, was killed in a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Courtesy from the Musallet Family Israel's military has said Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis in the area on Friday, lightly wounding two people and setting off a larger confrontation. Violence in the West Bank is on the rise, with Israeli settlers expanding their efforts to occupy land in the contested region. Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence. Musallet is the fifth American to be killed in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. Gaza ceasefire talks drag on Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in talks meant to pause the 21-month war and free some Israeli hostages. The indirect talks over a U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire began a week ago in Doha, Qatar. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington last week to discuss the deal with the Trump administration but a new sticking point has emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce, raising questions over the feasibility of a new deal, the Associated Press reported. Israel wants to keep forces in what it says is an important land corridor in southern Gaza. Hamas views the insistence on troops in that strip of land as an indication that Israel intends to continue the war once a temporary ceasefire expires. In a statement Sunday, Netanyahu's office slammed Hamas for refusing to accept the framework of the most recent proposal, saying the terrorist group is "making unreasonable demands." Israeli troops deploy by Israel's border fence with the Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025, amid the ongoing war with the Palestinian militant movement Hamas. JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images Israel says it will only end the war once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something it refuses to do. Hamas says it is willing to free all the remaining 50 hostages, less than half said to be alive, in exchange for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. The 21-month war was sparked when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251. Many of those hostages have since either been released or their bodies have been recovered in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The United Nations and other international organizations see the Health Ministry's figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. contributed to this report.
CBS News
10 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
San Francisco chef faces tariffs, fears of ICE raids while fighting to preserve Oaxacan culture
Isai Cuevas has come a long way from his days as a dishwasher. Now the proud chef and owner of Donaji, a Oaxacan restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District, Cuevas said quality has always been a priority. But between the struggles brought on by COVID-19 and now rising tariffs, he's growing increasingly concerned. "To-go stuff comes from overseas, most of them, and we got hit — that, the tariffs. We are a Mexican restaurant — avocados, limes — that's another thing that could affect us," Cuevas said. He's referring to a 30% tariff on Mexican imports set to go into effect on Aug. 1. Even as he braces for the economic hit, Cuevas said he's doing everything possible to keep prices reasonable for his guests. "We are just trying to balance it out. We are in a neighborhood, the Mission, which is Latino. We just don't want to be expensive for people. We are just trying to manage the prices as best as we can," he said. Cuevas believes the only way to make that happen is to bring more people into the restaurant. Despite Donaji being featured in the Michelin Guide, he's noticed fewer guests — a drop he attributes to fear following recent ICE raids across California. "I can see it because there are not much Latinos getting out, eating. We are just like, not comfortable. We are not comfortable going out. We are not comfortable right now with the scenario that is happening," Cuevas said. But no matter the mounting pressures, he refuses to compromise the quality of his dishes. From fresh Oaxacan cheese to flavorful moles, Cuevas said he's proud to share his heritage. "Great food, great environment, and I think that's one more thing that I want to keep alive, is our culture, our traditions. And the only way to do it is just doing it and sharing it with people — to keep it alive," he said. For Isai Cuevas, this isn't just about keeping a restaurant open, it's about keeping a culture and a community thriving.
CBS News
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Scavenger hunt that began as side project now has thousands exploring San Francisco
What started as a side project between a few friends looking for a break from their tech jobs has grown into a citywide scavenger hunt drawing thousands across San Francisco. The event, called "Pursuit," began last year when Athena Leong and her friend Danielle Egan decided they wanted to create something that encouraged people to explore the city more intentionally. "We really wanted a project that helps people get out and go explore the city," said Leong, one of the co-creators of the event. Launched with flyers in neighborhoods like South Park, the scavenger hunt began as a small experiment among 15 friends. But interest quickly spread. Now, the pair expects thousands to participate in this year's edition, which follows a scout-inspired theme. Participants earn digital "badges" by completing challenges that unfold over the course of a month. "I think it's so common for us to go from point A to point B between work and home," Leong said. "But, you know, there's so much out there. Everyone should go explore." Participants sign up by texting a number provided by the organizers. After a confirmation message, they receive a link to a digital portal on the day the hunt begins. From there, players can track their progress and earn patches by completing various missions around the city. "This year's theme is scout-themed," Leong explained. "So you win different patches for completing different missions, and they drop over the course of the month." Despite holding onto their full-time jobs in tech, Leong and Egan have poured hours of their free time into planning the event, something they say is well worth it. "There's a lot of beauty, a lot of history, that's embedded in our surroundings," Leong said. "Like in the buildings that we see. In little things that we don't realize, and I think it just makes life so much more wonderful when we are connected to our surroundings." For the duo, the project is more than just a scavenger hunt, it's a reminder that a little curiosity and a little connection can go a long way. Those interested in participating can join anytime between now and early August by simply texting 415-888-9518.
