Sprint and T-Mobile agree to combine in $26.5B deal
NEW YORK (AP) — T-Mobile and Sprint reached a $26.5 billion merger agreement Sunday that would reduce the U.S. wireless industry to three major players — that is, if the Trump administration’s antitrust regulators let the deal go through.
The nation’s third- and fourth-largest wireless companies have been considering a combination for years, one that would bulk them up to a similar size as industry giants Verizon and AT&T. But a 2014 attempt fell apart amid resistance from the Obama administration.
The combined company, to be called T-Mobile, would have about 127 million customers. Consumers worry a less crowded telecom field could result in higher prices, while unions are concerned about potential job losses.
In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure acknowledged that getting regulatory approval is “the elephant in the room,” and one of the first things the companies did after sending out the deal’s news release was to call Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
The companies stressed that they plan to have more employees following the combination, particularly in rural areas, than they do as stand-alone companies now.
Pompeo says US stands with Israelis, Saudis against Iran
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday ratcheted up the Trump administration’s rhetoric against Iran and gave warm boosts of support to Israel and Saudi Arabia in their standoffs with Tehran.
Pompeo’s comments in Riyadh and then Tel Aviv came as he neared the end of the Middle East leg of his first trip abroad as America’s top diplomat. He has called for concerted international action to punish Iran for its missile programs and other actions that he said destabilize the region.
The tough line was welcomed by his hosts, particularly in Israel, which considers Iran its greatest threat and has led calls for the West to revise or reject the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
“We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East remains,” Pompeo said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The United States is with Israel in this fight.”
Israel has cited Iran’s hostile rhetoric, support for anti-Israel militant groups and development of long-range missiles.
UK interior minister quits over scandal
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s interior minister resigned Sunday amid a scandal over authorities’ mistreatment of long-term U.K. residents wrongly caught up in a government drive to reduce illegal immigration. Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said late Sunday that May had accepted the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
Rudd had been due to make a statement to Parliament on Monday over the “Windrush scandal,” which has dominated headlines in Britain for days and has sparked intense criticism of the Conservative government’s tough immigration policies.
The furor has grown since the Guardian newspaper reported that some people who came to the U.K. from the Caribbean in the decades after World War II had recently been refused medical care in Britain or threatened with deportation because they could not produce paperwork proving their right to reside in the country.
Those affected belong to the “Windrush generation,” named for the ship Empire Windrush, which in 1948 brought hundreds of Caribbean immigrants to Britain, which was seeking nurses, railway workers and others to help it rebuild after World War II.
Comey dismisses report that found no Russia collusion
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey is dismissing a House Intelligence Committee report that found no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Comey said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he considers the report, issued Friday by Republicans, to be a “political document.” He says the most important investigation is being done by special counsel Robert Mueller.
He says his understanding of the facts at the time of his firing last May don’t support President Donald Trump’s assertion that there’s zero evidence of collusion and that the Russia investigation is a hoax. Comey says that though he had a “fine and professional” relationship with the committee’s chairman, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, the panel’s work had become too politicized. Nunes was criticized for being too close to the White House.