Headline

Man Arrested For Killing Health Insurance Executive In New York

Published

9 months ago

December 9, 2024

A 26-year-old man was arrested on Monday after the targeted killing of a top health insurance executive on the streets of New York, police said, crediting a McDonald’s employee in Pennsylvania who spotted a suspicious-looking customer.

Investigators were interrogating the man, Luigi Mangione, in connection with last week’s killing of a senior figure at UnitedHealthcare, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

He is being held by officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being found with a weapon that New York Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny described as a “ghost gun” capable of firing 9MM rounds and equipped with a suppressor.

The man was spotted in a McDonald’s in the town some 300 miles (500 kilometres) west of New York by someone who tipped off the authorities, Tisch added.

He also had fake IDs similar to those used by the killer ahead of the slaying as well as a handwritten manifesto about the ills of the insurance industry, The New York Times said, citing a law enforcement source.

New York detectives were headed to Altoona, Tisch said, while Chief of Detectives Kenny said that Mangione possessed material that suggested he had “ill will towards corporate America.”

Police had been looking into the possibility that the shooter used a long-barrel veterinary gun — normally used to euthanize animals — to commit the murder.

The gunman walked up behind Brian Thompson, the senior executive at UnitedHealthcare — one of the country’s largest medical insurers — and shot him dead last Wednesday in front of bystanders, in an attack captured by a surveillance camera and since seen by millions.

Thompson was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.

Detectives said the suspect fled the crime scene on foot, before riding a bike to Central Park, and later boarding a bus from a terminal in the north of the city connecting New York to surrounding states and beyond.

Police would not confirm media reports that the words “delay” and “deny” — language often used by insurance companies to reject claims — were written on shell casings found at the scene.

Video footage shows Thompson on the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown when a man in a hooded top, his lower face covered, approaches from behind, then fires several shots at his 50-year-old victim, who crumples to the ground.

An image released of the smiling suspect was obtained from a youth hostel where the gunman apparently stayed before the hit, with media reporting he had lowered his mask to flirt with a receptionist.

Authorities subsequently located a gray backpack in Central Park thought to belong to the killer containing a jacket and Monopoly money, US media reported.

AFP

Headline

US Suspends Work Visas For Nigerian, Foreign Truck Drivers

Published

11 hours ago

August 23, 2025

Editor

The United States government has suspended the issuance of work visas for Nigerian and other foreign truck drivers, citing job security concerns and safety risks for American citizens.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision on Thursday, saying it takes immediate effect.

According to him, the rising number of foreign truck drivers on U.S. highways is both threatening lives and reducing opportunities for American truckers.

“Effective immediately, we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.

“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Rubio said.

The move comes under President Donald Trump’s renewed clampdown on immigration since returning to office in January 2025.

As part of new measures, travellers from countries with high visa overstay rates or weak travel databases will be required to pay a bond of $5,000 to $15,000 before obtaining certain categories of visas.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria also directed all visa applicants to disclose their social media handles from the past five years, warning that failure to comply could result in denial of applications and possible ineligibility for future visas.

Headline

Judge Orders Closure Of Trump’s Controversial ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Migrant Camp

Published

24 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Editor

A US federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration and Florida state government from bringing any new migrants to the detention centre known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and ordered much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shuttering the facility.

Florida’s government swiftly announced it would appeal the decision.

The detention centre was hastily assembled in just eight days in June with bunk beds, wire cages and large white tents at an abandoned airfield in Florida’s Everglades wetlands, home to a large population of alligators.

President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the centre last month, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards.

Headline

Japan City Mulls Two-hour Daily Smartphone Limit

Published

1 day ago

August 22, 2025

Editor

A Japanese city will urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties.

The limit, which will be recommended for all residents in central Japan’s Toyoake City, will not be binding, and there will be no penalties incurred for higher usage, according to the draft ordinance.

The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues… including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said in a statement on Friday.

The draft urges elementary school students to avoid smartphones after 9:00 pm, and junior high students and older are advised not to use them after 10:00 pm.

The move prompted an online backlash, with many calling the plan unrealistic.

“I understand their intention, but the two-hour limit is impossible,” one user wrote on social media platform X.

“In two hours, I cannot even read a book or watch a movie (on my smartphone),” wrote another.

Others said smartphone use should be a decision for families to make for themselves.

The angry response prompted the mayor to clarify that the two-hour limit was not mandatory, emphasising that the guidelines “acknowledge smartphones are useful and indispensable in daily life”.

The ordinance will be considered next week, and if passed, it will come into effect in October.

In 2020, the western Kagawa region issued a first-of-its-kind ordinance calling for children to be limited to an hour a day of gaming during the week, and 90 minutes during school holidays.

It also suggested children aged 12 to 15 should not be allowed to use smartphones later than 9:00 pm, with the limit rising to 10:00 pm for children between 15 and 18.

Japanese youth spend slightly over five hours on average a day online on weekdays, according to a survey published in March by the Children and Families Agency.