https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lafarge-syria-idUSKCN1MP1JM
OCTOBER 15, 2018 / 8:59 AM / 4 MONTHS AGO
France seizes payment to former LafargeHolcim executive in Syria probe
PARIS (Reuters) - France seized part of a severance payment to the former co-chairman of LafargeHolcim as part of an investigation into whether the cement maker paid off Islamic State and other militants in Syria, said a source close to the case.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/nonfarm-payrolls-january-2019.html
Payrolls surge by 304,000, smashing estimates despite government shutdown
Job growth in January shattered expectations, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 304,000, the Labor Department says.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected payrolls to rise by 170,000.
There were revisions. December's big initially reported gain of 312,000 was knocked all the way down to 222,000, while November's rose from 176,000 to 196,000.
The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4 percent, a level where it had last been in June, a likely effect of the shutdown, according to the department.
Firas Tlass is a name that could use more digging
In 2012-2014 LafargeHolcim's factory in Jalabiya, northern Syria, continued to operate as the Syrian war raged around it. Factory chief Bruno Pescheux has admitted Lafarge paid up to $100,000 a month to Syrian tycoon Firas Tlass, a former minority shareholder who gave cash to armed factions in order to keep the factory open.
The YPG has been the key U.S. ally in its fight against Islamic State, support that has long caused tension between Washington and Ankara. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south east.
"Give them or destroy them," a Hurriyet newspaper headline said, referring to what it said were 22 U.S. military bases in Syria. It cited unspecified sources as saying Turkey would not accept Washington handing them over to the YPG.
A senior Turkish security official told Reuters last week Washington needed to allow Turkey to use its bases in Syria.
With tensions simmering over Trump's Syria strategy, it was unclear if Bolton would meet with President Tayyip Erdogan.