内容摘要：John (not his real name) and a close friend were taken into custody by Cameroonian military forces, accused of buying weapons for a separatist group.

John (not his real name) and a close friend were taken into custody by Cameroonian military forces, accused of buying weapons for a separatist group.

Top of many of her colleagues' lists is Suella Braverman, the former home secretary.Asked earlier this month whether she would join Reform, Braverman spoke of her "many decades" of commitment to the Conservative Party but warned her colleagues that "Reform is here to stay".

What worries some Conservatives more is not defections of current MPs but a brain drain of future MPs and advisers – the kinds of people who keep the ecosystem of a political party healthy.They warn of a "crossover point" where ambitious young people on the right entering politics might decide it makes more sense to sign up to Reform than to join the Conservatives.For all their frustration, many Conservative MPs are still sticking to the view that Badenoch ought to be given longer to prove her worth. For them, the next set of local elections just under a year from now will be the pivotal moment – not least because they coincide with elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments too.

A shadow cabinet minister says: "Realistically you need to give any leader, including this one, at least two years to show their worth."Others disagree. "People say 'you can't change leader again, you'll look mad'," says one senior Conservative. "Well I remember all that with Liz [Truss]. People said the country wouldn't allow it. Actually the country was just relieved."

One crucial factor in Badenoch's favour is that, beneath the loud despair, there are still plenty of Conservatives who believe Reform's surge will fizzle out. One shadow cabinet minister says that just as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was the beneficiary of a "speeding up" of politics, he will soon become a victim and be seen by the public as "old news".

Others believe that Farage's prominence masks how thin Reform's bench is. "You can't win a general election or be the largest party as a one-man band. Farage will have to find a way of sharing the limelight."Earlier this month French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau vowed to bolster security around the country's crypto executives and their families.

A total of 24 people have been taken into custody, French media report.The arrests were connected to an unsuccessful attempt by

The pair were described by French media as relatives of Pierre Noizat, the co-founder of French Bitcoin exchange platform Paymium.Arrests were also made over a kidnapping attempt against a person with ties to the crypto sector which was foiled by police in the Nantes region of western France on Monday, local media outlets reported.