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France opens investigation after female Eiffel Tower staff removed for Hindu group’s visit

September 8, 2026 / 8:13 AM EDT / CBS News

French authorities have launched an investigation after female employees at Paris’s Eiffel Tower were taken off duty for a private visit by a Hindu religious group, leading to a staff strike and Monday closure at the iconic landmark.

Eiffel Tower staff union representative Diane Davoine told Reuters a group of 100 or so people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha Hindu group, also known as BAPS, visited the site on Saturday, and “women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there.”

“That absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated,” Davoine said, adding management had repeatedly apologized for what happened.

Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu monks take part in a religious ceremony in front of the Eiffel Tower before a ceremonial river parade on the river Seine in Paris on September 3, 2026. Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD /AFP via Getty Images

Speaking Monday, with the monument closed, she said: “Tensions mounted over the weekend, so this morning, the employees decided to meet: first, to open a dialogue with management, and second, to ensure that women are never treated this way at the company again.”

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said Monday the employees’ “dissatisfaction is legitimate,” adding an investigation would be launched “as quickly as possible.”

“It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated,” he said in a post on X. “Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city. It must be applied everywhere, for everyone.”

The Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, which runs the tower, told the AFP news agency that the BAPS delegation had asked for their visit to have limited “interactions with women,” adding, “These conditions should not have been accepted.”

BAPS sadhus, or monks, are not only sworn to celibacy but also prohibited from having contact with women. Though, this only applies to sadhus, not all followers of the religion.

Ties to India’s ruling party

BAPS is a Hindu denomination seen as having a close relationship with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling BJP party.

A 2021 lawsuit accused the group of trafficking low-caste workers from India to work in dire conditions and for paltry pay on temples in the U.S., including in New Jersey, California, Texas, Georgia and Illinois. Workers believe two of their colleagues died from a preventable lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust while working on the New Jersey temple, the largest such building outside of India.

On Sunday, a day after the Eiffel Tower visit, Modi appeared via video link during the inauguration of a new BAPS Hindu temple in Paris, hailing it as a “new milestone in the cultural relations between India and France.”

In a statement on X, the BAPS Paris temple wrote, “We wish to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or inconvenienced by this situation.”

They did not address whether they had asked for female staff to be taken off duty. BAPS did not immediately respond to a CBS News request for clarification.

France’s centre-right prime minister, Gabriel Attal, said in a post on X Monday that “in France, no culture, no belief, no worship, nothing nor anyone can come dictate to women their place.”

效法新加坡 马国部长赞成对网络诈骗犯施鞭刑

2026-09-08 23:32 / 联合早报

马国负责负责法律及体制改革的首相署部长阿莎丽娜星期二（9月8日）告诉记者，她赞成警方主张效法新加坡，对网络诈骗罪犯施加鞭刑或更严厉刑罚。 （马新社）

马来西亚负责法律及体制改革的首相署部长阿莎丽娜说，马国网络诈骗案日益猖獗且屡禁不止，她因此赞成警方主张效法新加坡，对这类罪犯施加鞭刑或更严厉刑罚，以儆效尤。

阿莎丽娜星期二（9月8日）出席2026年政治献金大会后告诉记者，诈骗分子转移资金和行骗手法非常迅速，对社会经济造成严重破坏。她不只支持警方建议，也赞成落实比鞭刑更重的刑罚，以加强对网络犯罪分子的阻吓。

她说：“我赞成施加鞭刑或更重的刑罚，因为这些诈骗分子行骗的速度很快。”

马国警察总长莫哈末卡立星期一（7日）建议政府参考新加坡的做法而修法，以鞭刑对付网络诈骗罪犯。

新加坡国会2025年11月4日三读通过《刑事法（杂项修正）法案》，加强对诈骗及相关罪行的刑罚。从2025年12月30日起，诈骗犯、诈骗团伙成员或招募者可被判六下至24下鞭刑；协助诈骗犯洗钱或处理诈骗所得的钱骡，也可能面对最高12下酌情鞭刑。

延伸阅读

泰国逮捕12名韩国人 涉嫌运营电诈中心
柬埔寨首相洪马内实地视察打击电诈行动

此外，阿莎丽娜强烈要求负责接收诈骗赃款的银行必须承担连带责任，绝不能将风险全数推卸给客户。她说，银行不能以“诈骗交易仅使用银行户头进行”为由，理所当然要求客户自行承担所有风险。

阿莎丽娜说：“我在国会内外已多次主张，接收诈骗所得款项的银行也必须承担责任。若银行可轻易推卸疏于防范的责任，民众还不如把钱藏在家里就好。”

她认为，尽管国家银行与警方已竭尽所能展开各种防诈骗宣导工作，但受害者人数依然节节攀升，证明现有法律与措施已不足以遏制诈骗活动。

她说，受害者一般极难追回已转入诈骗团伙户头的款项，银行也不会主动退还损失，因此政府除了研究加重刑罚，更应从资金流动的源头着手。

阿莎丽娜认为，若强制银行共同承担受害者的损失责任，将让金融机构建立更严密的安保与预警系统，更有效拦截可疑交易。

新航：投资印航向来也持续只动用内部资金

2026年9月8日 23:44 / 联合早报

新航发言人星期二（9月8日）在声明中指出，集团在印度航空公司的投资是长期的战略承诺，与集团的多元枢纽策略一致，有助集团直接参与关键市场的发展。 （档案照片）

新加坡航空公司集团重申，在印度的投资向来是通过内部资源进行，未来也将是如此。

新航发言人星期二（9月8日）在声明中指出，集团在印度航空公司的投资是长期的战略承诺，与集团的多元枢纽策略一致，有助集团直接参与关键市场的发展。

发言人强调，在印度的投资一直都是利用新航的内部资源进行，且须获得董事会的批准，也要遵循集团严格的资本配置框架，未来也是如此。

截至今年6月30日，新航集团持有104.8亿元的现金储备，以及32.4亿元未动用的信贷额度，是航空业财务状况最强的公司之一。

发言人说，董事会高度重视对印航的投资。任何注资申请会根据集团严格的资本配置框架进行评估，也会考虑到印航的商业策略、新航集团的资金流动，以及新客机和产品的投资需求。

“这种严谨的做法有助实现可持续的长期增长和股东回报。”

新航于2013年与印度塔塔集团控股公司（Tata Sons）合资成立塔新航空（Vistara）。塔新航空2024年并入印度航空后，新航取得印航25.1％股权。

克服地缘与运营挑战 印航转型计划极其复杂耗时

新航发言人说，过去一年，印航面对不少挑战。这包括巴基斯坦领空长期对印航关闭、 AI171航班事故、印度卢比对美元贬值、供应链中断、中东局势导致印航失去重要市场，以及燃料价格居高不下。

发言人坦言，印航的转型是个复杂，并将耗时多年的计划，预计不是那么容易。但同时，印航无论在乘客体验或运作表现都取得实质进展。

印航的净推荐值自2022年11月以来已提高超过70点；今年5月，印航取得Skytrax四星航空公司评级，旗下廉航印度快运航空（Air India Express）也获评四星低成本航空公司，与领先的国际航空公司不相上下。

发言人补充，新航和塔塔集团已公开表示，针对印航，要做的东西还有很多。双方也致力支持印航的长期转型计划。

萧振祥：海外投资回报未必立竿见影

交通部长兼财政部第二部长萧振祥星期二在国会回答议员有关新航投资印航的询问时说，航空业是受到高度监管且涉及国家利益的敏感行业。航权和机场起降时刻有赖与当地获颁强大的合作关系。印度是个复杂的市场，根据法律，外国航空公司不能在印度持有多数股权。

他指出，通过印航，新航能更深入走进全球最大的航空市场之一。“很多海外投资的回报不一定立即出现。至于在印航的具体投资是否存在价值，应由新航和它的股东去回答。”

Amid fear of Russia’s war on Ukraine spreading, Lithuania trains civilians, tells Putin: “We don’t fear you”

2026-09-08T08:33:00-0400 / CBS News

By Aaron MacLean, Erin Lyall

Updated on: September 8, 2026 / 9:06 AM EDT / CBS News

Vilnius, Lithuania — Russia struck Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight, bringing an end to a three-day pause in attacks by the two countries on each other’s capital cities as President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the region to try and broker a peace deal.

At least two people were killed in the Russian strikes on Kyiv.

The neighboring Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — all NATO members — were watching carefully as the U.S. envoys continued their efforts to resolve the four-and-a-half-year war.

But as they watch and hope for peace, Lithuania and its neighbors have also long been preparing for the possibility that continental Europe’s first land war in three generations could spread to their doorsteps.

CBS News visited an ordinary high school in Vilnius where, in addition to math class, students were learning military-style survival skills. Along with the rest of their country, they’re preparing for the possibility of Russia launching an invasion.

“Today we’re working on survival training, and we’re going to learn about weapons later,” said Neda, a 15-year-old ninth grader.

If there is a crisis, Neda said she would likely put her first-aid knowledge to use and try to become a medic.

Lithuania, which has a population of less than 3 million, slightly smaller than greater Minneapolis, is also training up adult civilians.

Lithuanian civilians take part in military preparedness and weapons training. CBS News

History professor Mindaugas Nefas has been learning weapons skills. He told CBS News the whole-of-society approach to national readiness sends an important message.

“I think it’s a good example, for Russia not to do anything against Lithuania,” because it shows not just the military, but all Lithuanians are “preparing to defend our country,” he said.

Taking on board lessons learned in Ukraine, Lithuania’s preparations include teaching ordinary people how to use drones — and how to shoot them down.

The nation’s small professional military is also embracing the new high-tech tools of war pioneered in Ukraine, including networks of sensors and drones known as the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative that, paired together, are intended to slow any theoretical Russian invasion to a crawl.

But old-school defenses still matter, too, including obstacles meant to stop tanks and command posts buried underground across the tiny nation.

Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital city, is less than 20 miles from the border with close Russian ally Belarus, which Vladimir Putin’s forces used as a launchpad for their ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But despite that proximity, and Russia’s belligerence toward Ukraine’s NATO neighbors, Lithuania’s Minister of Defense Robertas Kaunas told CBS News he was confident.

He said his nation’s message to Russia was clear: “We don’t fear you. We understand who are you, and we don’t fear you.”

The former Soviet Union’s occupation of Lithuania only ended when the communist bloc collapsed in 1991, so it is still fresh in the nation’s collective memory.

“We are not afraid, because we remember our history,” said Kaunas. “We are in our home and we will protect our home.”

Until very recently, NATO planners were doubtful that Lithuania could be defended at all against a full Russian assault, given its size and location sandwiched between Russian and Russian-allied territory.

But the technological innovations of the war in Ukraine — and the resilience of the Ukrainian people — have inspired new hope in the Baltic state.

Tucker Reals contributed to this report.

Millennial woman designing Ukraine’s own ballistic missile says it will soon put Moscow in reach

September 8, 2026 / 9:13 AM EDT / CBS News

Kyiv — Ukraine’s most important weapons manufacturer wears mismatched earrings and a black knit dress.

“The good thing about being the boss is that you get to set the dress code,” Iryna Terekh, the 34-year-old CEO of Fire Point, one of Ukraine’s largest drone makers, told CBS News, grinning as she took a seat next to a model of one of the company’s latest designs.

With her high heels, bright smile, and entourage of millennial assistants and executives, Terekh stands out in her factory, where throngs of middle-aged men lug drone parts, wield power tools and chain-smoke cigarettes. But she is hardly an exception in a country forced to reinvent itself since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

“When the full-scale invasion started, a lot of people had to review what could be their personal impact,” she said. “You never really know what kind of knowledge and what kind of experience could be transformed and pivoted into something new.”

Iryna Terekh, the 34-year-old CEO of Fire Point Fire Point

Terekh’s experience was in design and management.

Trained as an architect in the northern Ukrainian city of Irpin, she started building patios and outdoor furniture while also developing a successful high-performance concrete company.

In the early months of 2022, Russian forces occupied Irpin, destroying roughly 70% of the city.

Buildings destroyed or damaged by Russian strikes are seen in Irpin, on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, May 26, 2022. Natacha Pisarenko/AP

“I understood how vulnerable we are to the complete barbarian behavior of our enemy,” Terekh told CBS News. “And if there are any competences that I could put on the table for the sake of fighting this war, then I have to do this.”

After escaping Russian occupation, Terekh began looking for a way to help. In the fall of 2022, Russia started attacking Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made, long-range Shahed exploding drones. It also started manufacturing its own versions, known as Gerans.

Terekh and Ukrainian businessman Denys Shtilerman, whom she had worked with designing outdoor urban spaces before the war, decided to build their own long-range attack drones to help Ukraine strike back.

Shtilerman had a background in defense engineering, but most other initial members of the team, including Terekh, came from civilian backgrounds. Yehor Skalyha, their third co-founder, was a film producer.

At first, the company aimed to build 20 of its FP-1 drones per month. By 2024, they were regularly being used to strike Russian airfields, ammunition depots and oil refineries. But over the last two years, the company’s ambitions, and its arsenal, have grown.

Fire Point now makes 300 to 400 long-range attack drones per day, and it has added more advanced weapons to its production lines.

In June, a Fire Point cruise missile completed a mission of over 1,000 miles, which she claimed as the longest-range strike ever carried out by a cruise missile in combat history.

Terekh also made the bold claim that Ukraine has launched twice as many deep strikes into Russia as Russia has into Ukraine in 2026 — with 60% of the Ukrainian attacks using Fire Point weapons.

People walk in front of a burning Wildberries warehouse following a Ukrainian drone attack in Koledino, in the Moscow Region of Russia, Aug. 16, 2026. Stringer/REUTERS

She said her company is now just months away from deploying Ukraine’s first domestically designed and manufactured ballistic missile. Unlike cruise missiles, which stay lower to the ground, ballistic missiles follow an arc trajectory that takes them much higher, making them harder to intercept.

Fire Point is among many Ukrainian startups that have helped to shift the country from being solely a recipient of military aid to an engine of defense technology innovation.

Many other companies have similar, unlikely stories of their beginnings. The founder of Sine Engineering, which has attracted American investment in its communications and navigation technology, ran a business making standing desks before the war. Yaroslav Azhnyuk, founder of the Fourth Law, which makes autonomous guidance systems for drones, previously founded Petcube, a pet tech startup backed by the American business accelerator Y Combinator.

Terekh believes these companies, with their founders’ diverse backgrounds outside the defense sector and their shared ability to pivot to new endeavors, have been key to their successes.

“This works in Ukraine because we have very low bureaucracy, because we have direct communication with the army, and because we have companies that react,” she said.

The country’s innovative approach to defense manufacturing and procurement has also attracted the attention of its allies.

In 2025, the U.S. military announced its own program to copy Iran’s Shahed drones, known as “LUCAS,” which deployed its first relatively cheap long-range drones in the Middle East in February.

The U.S. and Ukrainian governments are expected to sign a new defense agreement soon that would expand Ukrainian military technology exports to the U.S. and joint ventures with American companies.

Terekh said Fire Point’s primary focus remains on Ukraine’s defense, but she welcomed the idea of one day playing a role in a new, wider Western security architecture.

“We need to ensure that Ukraine will stop just being a breadbasket for the world,” she said, referring to the country’s longtime primary export of grains. “Now we have something to offer which is much more valuable, and the defense industry is a huge driver for this.”

马国数据中心扩张 今年全国用电量料增5%

2026-09-08 23:47 / 联合早报

马国政府指炎热天气增加数据中心及其他领域冷却系统的负荷，将推高今年的用电总量。 （路透社档案照片）

马来西亚政府说，当地数据中心迅猛发展和投运，以及今年炎热天气增加数据中心及其他领域冷却系统的负荷，将推高今年全国用电总量约5%。

据《星洲日报》报道，能源委员会首席执行员茜蒂莎菲娜星期二（9月8日）出席“2026能源监管大会”后告诉记者，马国数据中心的用电量占比正迅速攀升，从年中的7%上扬至目前9.28%，逼近全国总用电量一成。

她透露，目前全国的电力需求超过21吉瓦。多座新建数据中心预计今年11月正式上线运营后，整体电力消耗势必进一步增加。

她说：“上述5%增幅是基于今年与去年的总用电量初步估算。但用电量走高并非只因为数据中心，极端炎热的天气导致各领域冷却系统耗能大增也是关键因素。”

她强调，新数据中心启用不会导致峰值电力容量大幅飙升，但整体用电量稳步上扬已成定局，当局将持续核实实际数据。

经济部长阿克马纳斯鲁拉则说，马国预计在2032年需要增加约9吉瓦的天然气发电容量，以应对能源需求和配合政府逐步淘汰燃煤发电的施政方向。

他说，政府放眼在2044年全面淘汰燃煤发电厂，最后一家燃煤发电厂在那之前必须关闭，全面实现零燃煤发电的目标。

他强调，能源及水务转型部联同能源委员会正严格把控这项计划，确保在保障国家电力供应充足时，切实降低能源领域的碳足迹。

As U.K., 11 other nations say they’ll sanction Israeli settlements, U.S. envoy warns of repercussions

2026-09-08 11:08:00-0400 / CBS News

By Dov Lieber

Updated on: September 8, 2026 / 11:11 AM EDT / CBS News

London— The U.K. government announced Tuesday that it was joining 11 other nations with plans to sanction trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The move quickly drew a warning of repercussions from the U.S. ambassador in Israel, and Israel’s own president called it “gross interference.”

In a joint statement, the U.K., Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden said they would “introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures.”

The countries said they were acting to safeguard the possibility of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel — the long-discussed two-state solution— which they said was being undermined by an “unprecedented level of settler violence and settlement expansion” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

U.K. Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said the British sanctions would target specific companies and individuals who provide services including construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion, as well as sanctions against individual settlers accused of violence against Palestinians.

“The set of measures I have announced represents a clear message to the government of Israel, to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and to the world that we will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution,” Miliband said.

The measures would be passed within six to nine months, Miliband added

Jewish settlers work at a winery at in the settlement of Yitzhar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, south of the Palestinian city of Nablus, Sept. 8, 2026. Amir Levy/Getty

Following Miliband’s speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced several Israeli countermeasures, including the closing of the British consulate in Jerusalem, halting British training for Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank and barring 12 unnamed elected British officials, whom he accused of being “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity,” from entering Israel.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned Tuesday that the U.K. could face a backlash from the U.S. if it follows through on the plan to sanction Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

“I don’t know if they’re really aware of the implications and how it’s going to affect Brits,” Huckabee told CBS News’ partner network BBC.

He noted that some U.S. states, including Florida, have laws mandating reciprocal measures against companies and businesses that comply with sanctions against Israel.

“That’s gonna have a big impact,” Huckabee said.

Goods from Israeli settlements, which are largely agricultural, represent a small percentage of overall Israeli trade with the U.K.

Florida Republican Congressman Randy Fine said Tuesday in a social media post that U.K. sanctions on Israel would effectively “ban any British company forced to comply from doing business with any state or local government in Florida” under state law.

Florida’s trade with the U.K. is significant, worth around $4 billion last year according to state data. That figure pales in comparison to British trade with its European neighbors, however, and it represents a relatively small portion of the overall U.S.-U.K. trade figure, which is over $400 billion.

Palestinians clear the remains of their demolished shops after carrying out the demolitions themselves ahead of the arrival of an Israeli army demolition team in the West Bank town of al-Eizariya, where Israeli authorities had issued demolition notices in an area Palestinians say is being targeted for the planned E1 settlement to link Jerusalem and the nearby Maale Adumim settlement, May 12, 2026. Jamal Awad/picture alliance/Getty

The planned U.K. sanctions targeting Israeli settlements come as Israel pushes forward plans to build in the E1 project, an area of the West Bank seen as crucial to establishing a contiguous Palestinian state in the future.

Israeli President Issac Herzog said sanctions against the settlements, by any nation, would be a “grave miscalculation” and a “gross interference” in Israeli politics, adding a claim that it would end up harming Palestinian laborers who work in the settlements.

“It will directly harm — unfortunately — Palestinians, robbing them of business and employment. And, ultimately, it will undermine the interests and national security of freedom-loving nations,” Herzog said.

俄罗斯恢复空袭基辅 泽连斯基盼本月举行三方会谈

2026年9月8日 20:03 / 联合早报

俄罗斯周二空袭乌克兰首都基辅，导致基辅市内多处起火，图为消防人员在其中一处火灾现场展开灭火工作。 （法新社）

（基辅/莫斯科综合电）美国代表团结束对俄罗斯和乌克兰的访问离开后，俄乌随即结束为期三天的局部停火。俄罗斯周二恢复对乌克兰首都基辅的空袭，造成至少三人死亡。此前一天，乌克兰也恢复了对俄石油设施的打击行动。

乌克兰官员说，俄罗斯周二（9月8日）凌晨对基辅发动导弹袭击，导致至少三人死亡、16人受伤。此次袭击引发多处火灾，造成至少14栋高层建筑以及宿舍、学校、诊所等设施受损。

乌克兰外长瑟比加在社媒平台上写道：“美国总统的特使一离开，（俄罗斯总统）普京就对基辅发动又一场大规模的可怕袭击。”

俄罗斯官员说，乌克兰周二也对俄库尔斯克州与布良斯克州实施无人机袭击，造成两名平民遇难。

美国特使威特科夫与美国总统特朗普的女婿库什纳在周末先后访问莫斯科与基辅，试图重启俄乌和平谈判。为保障两人安全，俄乌同意在这期间暂停袭击对方的首都。

威特科夫与库什纳周天（6日）离开基辅后，乌克兰随即恢复对俄罗斯炼油厂的空袭。乌克兰星期天打击俄中部城市梁赞的炼油厂，周一又空袭了彼尔姆和鞑靼斯坦地区的炼油厂。

在战事持续之际，外交斡旋并未停下。泽连斯基周二说，美方就如何结束战争提出了几个“不错的想法”，美俄乌谈判人员最快或于本月举行三方会谈。

他说：“如果各方同意，我们希望在秋季举行会谈。如果能在9月份，那就太好了。越早越好。”

泽连斯基说，会谈地点可能在土耳其、阿联酋、瑞士或其他国家。他预计，会谈将涉及谷物运输和能源基础设施等议题，并指乌克兰已准备做出让步。

泽连斯基还说，他希望能在本月晚些时候会见特朗普，以争取更多防空资源，用于抵御俄罗斯的弹道导弹袭击。

此前一天，泽连斯基接受美国新闻网站Axios采访时透露，美国正探讨俄乌能否在来临冬季采取措施缓和战争局势，同时重启谈判，以期达成更广泛的和平协议。

他认为，冬季前几周是外交斡旋的良机，尽管普京希望再次利用寒冬削弱乌克兰，但他不会想在美国中期选举前激怒特朗普。

London police use tech to tackle masked phone snatchers

2026-09-08 11:48 AM EDT / CBS News

By Emmet Lyons

London — Images of masked men riding along London’s streets on mopeds or electric bikes and snatching phones straight out of the hand of unsuspecting tourists and locals have gone viral in recent years. The criminals have essentially taken advantage of new, quick but quiet transport technology to get a leg up on police.

The brazen robberies became such a problem in the U.K. capital that London’s Metropolitan Police (the Met) developed a special task force — the Interceptors — specifically to combat the two-wheeled bandits. Nearly three years after the unit was established, police data indicate a positive downward trend.

During 2024, at the height of the phone snatching trend, there were 80,000 such offenses across London. As of July this year, 35,000 phones had been snatched, according to official statistics from the Met.

Police officials attribute that downward trend to the Interceptors. The specialist officers are trained in tactical pursuit and they operate across central London, specifically targeting phone thieves.

Cops and robbers, and drones and e-bikes

Taking a cue from their targets, the Interceptors use a combination of assertive on-the-ground policing and technology, including sophisticated cameras, drones and even officers on their own e-bikes, to track down and stop the thieves in their tracks.

They have focused on the central parts of London where tourists are ever-present, and where phone theft has been most frequent.

A phone user walks past a message on a sidewalk on Oxford Street in central London warning people of phone snatching crime, as part of a “Mind the Grab” initiative by local government, police and a technology retailer, Aug. 7, 2025, in London, England. Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty

Dramatic police vehicle dash camera video shared with CBS News by the Met shows one of the techniques used by the Interceptors: crashing their own cars or e-bikes right into the suspected thieves to knock them off their wheels.

“We brought in new technology such as e-bikes … we brought in drones, we brought in Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras. We’ve brought in all different levels of technology to hone down on how these criminals are operating,” Commander Andy Featherstone, the Met’s lead officer on phone theft, told CBS News.

He said when a report comes in that a phone has been stolen, “the drone can access the location in a matter of seconds,” and then “you’ve got the eye in the sky, as it were.”

“You’ve then got our Interceptors who are on the ground, and they can pursue and intercept the criminal in a much more safe way than perhaps before, where they would need to be in line of sight to do it and to be able to keep up with them to know where they’re going,” Featherstone said.

CBS News went along for a ride with the Interceptors and saw officers make two arrests after license plate recognition technology flagged a couple of mopeds with links to suspected crimes.

One of the arrests came after a minor driving a moped failed to stop when officers turned their lights on. A check by officers revealed that the young man had been suspected of phone snatching in London’s Ladbroke Grove area just days earlier.

The bigger picture, and a bigger solution

Commander Featherstone told CBS News there are criminal networks behind some of the phone snatching gangs, and that London’s police are becoming more effective at tracing the crimes to their roots.

City of London Police officers are seen during a raid of a property in London used by a suspected member of a phone snatching gang, Feb. 26, 2026. PA Wire/PA Images/Getty

“We discovered that there was an export market here,” he said, adding that many of the stolen devices end up in North Africa or Asia, and China in particular, “where huge amounts of these phones are going there to be broken down as parts.”

British police are now working with American tech giants including Apple and Alphabet to crack down on phone “jailbreaking” — hacking into the operating system to make a device usable by a new, unauthorized owner — to develop technology that ensures stolen devices are useless to anyone but their owner.

“When you remove the value of a stolen phone in the secondhand market, that is when we’ll really break the back of this problem,” Featherstone said.

US rebuilding weapons stockpile could delay orders from allies

2026-09-08T08:04:46-04:00 / Fox News

Analysis finds 36% of Patriot interceptors remain from pre-Iran war inventory as allied deliveries face delays

By Bret Baier, Amy MunnekeFox News

Published September 8, 2026 8:04am EDT

US weapons stockpile shrinks as global conflicts deplete Patriot missile supplies

Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier examines the state of U.S. weapons stockpiles as global conflicts put pressure on supplies of Patriot missiles and other critical defense systems on ‘Special Report.’

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The U.S. has for years been the top weapons supplier in the world. Over the past five years, arms exports have gone to nearly 100 countries.

“These weapons are sought after around the world because we have the best weapons,” said War Department Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey.

The Trump administration says some of the U.S. stockpile depletion is because of the weapons given to Ukraine. The Center for Strategic and International Studies assesses those transfers have been a minor factor in the shrinking U.S. inventories except for one important tool – the Patriot Missile Defense System.

WEAPONS STOCKPILE SHORTAGES IMPACTING MILITARY STRATEGY IN THE MIDEAST

A U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile is launched during a live-fire exercise at the Chiupeng missile base in Pingtung County on Aug. 20, 2024.(Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

“We’ve maxed out the production lines now, and that process began during the Ukraine War when it was clear that modern conflict was going to require a lot more munitions than we had been planning on,” said Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and senior advisor with the CSIS Defense and Security Department.

Between 2021 and 2025, Ukraine was the largest recipient of major arms around the world, with at least 36 countries supplying weapons. The U.S. was the top supplier over the five-year time period, accounting for 41% of Ukrainian arms imports.

AS CHINA TENSIONS LOOM, US TEMPORARILY PAUSES TAIWAN WEAPONS SALES DUE TO IRAN WAR, ACTING NAVY SECRETARY SAYS

Before Russia’s war in Ukraine began in 2022, CSIS estimates the U.S. had around 2,200 Patriot missiles in its inventory. Estimates show around 600 missiles were given to Ukraine, with a few of those possibly coming from U.S. allies. Deliveries of new production outpaced the number given to Ukraine, with an estimated 2,300 missiles in the U.S. Patriot inventory before the Iran conflict began. It’s estimated that around 36% of Patriot Interceptors remain from the pre-Iran war inventory.

“As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, my job is to sign off on all foreign military weapons and sales to countries like Israel, to countries, like Taiwan and Ukraine, for that matter. And when we can’t deliver on that promise because we can’t make those weapons fast enough, it hurts our alliances, it hurts allies’ ability to protect themselves,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

Publicly available government reports show at least four countries, including the U.S., have provided full Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. The U.S. is the only country that manufactures the Patriot battery, and one of two countries, along with Japan, to publicly show it produces Patriot missiles.

“If we take all of the Patriots for ourselves, and of course, that’s 600 a year, we can refill the inventory much more quickly, but we have frozen out our allies and partners,” Cancian said.

UKRAINE SEEKS MORE US PATRIOT INTERCEPTORS AS BOMB SHELTER PROBE DEEPENS

A U.S. Navy ship launches Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles in support of Operation Epic Fury.(U.S. Central Command Public Affairs)

Patriot producer Raytheon says, “Patriot is the foundation of integrated air and missile defense for 19 nations.” But as the U.S. prioritizes rebuilding its weapons inventory, deliveries for some countries are already delayed.

“Unfortunately, the world we live in is an increasing threat, and that means that we need a bigger military force, and we need a stronger defense industrial base to be able to equip the warfighter and supply all that we need to win the fight,” Duffey said.

Patriot batteries and Tomahawk missiles were first used in Operation Desert Storm. At least two other countries have Tomahawks and while the stockpile remains large compared to other systems, at around two-thirds of its prewar inventory, new orders from Japan and the Netherlands could face delays.

“With Tomahawk, we have the same situation with the Japanese. They bought 400. They’re told they’re being pushed back in the queue. On the other hand, they’re facing China. They’ve reconfigured one of their ships to take the Tomahawks. So, there’s again going to be a diplomatic discussion there,” Cancian said.

MORE THAN HALF OF SOME US WEAPONS STOCKPILES USED IN IRAN WAR, RAISING CONCERNS ABOUT CHINA THREAT

Just the U.S., the UAE and Saudi Arabia have THAAD systems. Their first confirmed use was in 2022 after a UAE system intercepted missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. No official delays have been reported for THAAD orders, but the U.S. has 52%-62% of its inventory remaining and outstanding deliveries for Saudi Arabia, expected to be completed by April 2028.

A U.S. Army Patriot launcher from the 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is deployed in Poland on Sept. 4, 2024.(Capt. Leara Shumate/U.S. Army)

“This military competition we’re in with China and Russia and Iran is real. And we have to win that competition,” McCaul said.

OPINION: AMERICA FACES A CRISIS IN OUR MILITARY ARSENAL THAT TRUMP IS RACING TO FIX

The ground-launched Precision Strike Missile (PrSm), developed by Lockheed Martin, was first used in Operation Epic Fury. CSIS says just 10-22% of those weapons remain from pre-Iran conflict levels, following the ceasefire expenditures and revised estimates from the beginning of the conflict in late February.

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“It’s important to keep in mind that the level of intensity in those 14 days of renewed conflict were not as high as they were during the first 39 days of the air war,” Cancian said about the July strikes after the ceasefire ended. “During the 14 days, the U.S. was launching maybe 80 to 100 strikes according to the Pentagon per day. During the 39 days of the major air war, we were launching about 350 strikes a day, plus Israel was launching another 200 to 250. So, the intensity wasn’t quite as high, but we were still going through these munitions.”

Bret Baier currently serves as FOX News Channel’s (FNC) anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier(weeknights at 6-7PM/ET), chief political anchor of the network and co-anchor of the network’s election coverage. Baier is also host of FOX News Audio’s “The Bret Baier Podcast” which includes Common Ground and The All-Star Panel. He joined FNC in 1998 as the first reporter in the Atlanta bureau and is now based in Washington, D.C. where he was recently described as “the most influential news anchor in America right now” at the 2025 Semafor Trust in News summit.