BRUSSELS: Police searched the offices and residence of an employee of the European Parliament on Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether EU lawmakers were bribed to promote Russian propaganda to undermine support for Ukraine, prosecutors said.
Just days before European elections, the Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said searches took place at the employee’s apartment in Brussels. His parliamentary offices in the EU capital city and Strasbourg, where the EU Parliament’s headquarters are located in France, were also checked.
Belgian and French authorities, in partnership with the EU’s judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, carried out the operation.
Europe-wide polls to elect a new EU parliament are set for June 6-9.
An investigation was announced last month by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who said his country’s intelligence service has confirmed the existence of a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine.
“The searches are part of a case of interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organization and relates to indications of Russian interference, whereby Members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda via the Voice of Europe news website,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they believe the employee played “a significant role in this.”
Several news outlets identified the suspect as Guillaume Pradoura, a staffer for EU lawmaker Marcel de Graaff of the far-right Dutch party Forum for Democracy. A person with knowledge of the investigation confirmed that the reports were accurate. The official was not allowed to speak publicly because the probe is ongoing.
De Graaff said on the social media platform X that he and Pradoura were not contacted by authorities.
“For me, all this comes as a complete surprise,” he said. “By the way, I have no involvement in any so-called Russian disinformation operation whatsoever. I have my own political beliefs and I proclaim them. That is my job as an MEP.”
Pradoura previously worked for Maximilian Krah, the top candidate of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany in next month’s European election, who was recently banned from campaigning by his party.
Krah had already been under scrutiny after authorities in Brussels searched his offices at the European Parliament in connection with one of his assistants who was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China.
Krah said in a message posted on X that none of his offices had been searched on Wednesday.
“The ex-employee in question has long been working for another MP,” he said.
The EU this month banned Voice of Europe and three other Russian media from broadcasting in the 27-nation bloc. The EU said they were all under control of the Kremlin and were targeting “European political parties, especially during election periods.” Since the war started in February 2022, the EU had already suspended Russia Today and Sputnik, among several other outlets.
De Croo said last month that the probe showed that members of the European Parliament were approached and offered money to promote Russian propaganda.
“According to our intelligence service, the objectives of Moscow are very clear. The objective is to help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament and to reinforce a certain pro-Russian narrative in that institution,” he said.
“The goal is very clear: A weakened European support for Ukraine serves Russia on the battlefield and that is the real aim of what has been uncovered in the last weeks,” he added.
EU nations have poured billions of euros into Ukraine, along with significant amounts of weaponry and ammunition. They’ve also slapped sanctions on top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, banks, companies and the energy sector since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Police search the European Parliament over suspected Russian interference, prosecutors say
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Police search the European Parliament over suspected Russian interference, prosecutors say
- Just days before European elections, the Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said searches took place at the employee’s apartment in Brussels
- Belgian and French authorities, in partnership with the EU’s judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, carried out the operation
‘Silent killer’: the science of tracing climate deaths in heatwaves
- Science can show that human-caused climate change is making heatwaves hotter and more frequent
- Unlike floods and fires, heat kills quietly, with prolonged exposure causing heat stroke, organ failure, and death
PARIS: A heatwave scorching Europe had barely subsided in early July when scientists published estimates that 2,300 people may have died across a dozen major cities during the extreme, climate-fueled episode.
The figure was supposed to “grab some attention” and sound a timely warning in the hope of avoiding more needless deaths, said Friederike Otto, one of the scientists involved in the research.
“We are still relatively early in the summer, so this will not have been the last heatwave. There is a lot that people and communities can do to save lives,” Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, told AFP.
Heat can claim tens of thousands of lives during European summers but it usually takes months, even years, to count the cost of this “silent killer.”
Otto and colleagues published their partial estimate just a week after temperatures peaked in western Europe.
While the underlying methods were not new, the scientists said it was the first study to link heatwave deaths to climate change so soon after the event in question.
Early mortality estimates could be misunderstood as official statistics but “from a public health perspective the benefits of providing timely evidence outweigh these risks,” Raquel Nunes from the University of Warwick told AFP.
“This approach could have transformative potential for both public understanding and policy prioritization” of heatwaves, said Nunes, an expert on global warming and health who was not involved in the study.
Science can show, with increasing speed and confidence, that human-caused climate change is making heatwaves hotter and more frequent.
Unlike floods and fires, heat kills quietly, with prolonged exposure causing heat stroke, organ failure, and death.
The sick and elderly are particularly vulnerable, but so are younger people exercising or toiling outdoors.
But every summer, heat kills and Otto — a pioneer in the field of attribution science — started wondering if the message was getting through.
“We have done attribution studies of extreme weather events and attribution studies of heatwaves for a decade... but as a society we are not prepared for these heatwaves,” she said.
“People think it’s 30 (degrees Celsius) instead of 27, what’s the big deal? And we know it’s a big deal.”
When the mercury started climbing in Europe earlier this summer, scientists tweaked their approach.
Joining forces, Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine chose to spotlight the lethality — not just the intensity — of the heat between June 23 and July 2.
Combining historic weather and published mortality data, they assessed that climate change made the heatwave between 1C and 4C hotter across 12 cities, depending on location, and that 2,300 people had likely perished.
But in a notable first, they estimated that 65 percent of these deaths — around 1,500 people across cities including London, Paris, and Athens — would not have occurred in a world without global warming.
“That’s a much stronger message,” said Otto.
“It brings it much closer to home what climate change actually means and makes it much more real and human than when you say this heatwave would have been two degrees colder.”
The study was just a snapshot of the wider heatwave that hit during western Europe’s hottest June on record and sent temperatures soaring to 46C in Spain and Portugal.
The true toll was likely much higher, the authors said, noting that heat deaths are widely undercounted.
Since then Turkiye, Greece and Bulgaria have suffered fresh heatwaves and deadly wildfires.
Though breaking new ground, the study has not been subject to peer review, a rigorous assessment process that can take more than a year.
Otto said waiting until after summer to publish — when “no one’s talking about heatwaves, no one is thinking about keeping people safe” — would defeat the purpose.
“I think it’s especially important, in this context, to get the message out there very quickly.”
The study had limitations but relied on robust and well-established scientific methodology, several independent experts told AFP.
Tailoring this approach to local conditions could help cities better prepare when heatwaves loom, Abhiyant Tiwari, a health and climate expert who worked on India’s first-ever heat action plan, told AFP.
“I definitely see more such studies coming out in the future,” said Tiwari from NRDC India.
Otto said India, which experiences tremendously hot summers, was a “prime candidate” and with a template in place it was likely more studies would soon follow.
Clock ticks on US tariff hikes as Trump expands trade wars
- Trump slapped 50 percent duties on imports from Brazil, saying its government’s policies and actions threaten US national security
- After twice postponing implementation of his threatened tariffs, he said the August 1 deadline “will not be extended” any further
WASHINGTON: Time is running short for governments to strike deals with Washington to avert tariff hikes that Donald Trump has vowed against dozens of economies — and the US president continues to expand his trade wars.
As the clock ticked down on a Friday deadline for higher levies to take effect on goods from various trading partners, Trump announced a trade deal with South Korea and separate duties on Brazilian and Indian imports.
He also signed an order Wednesday to impose previously-threatened 50 percent tariffs on certain copper products and end a tariff exemption for low-value shipments from abroad.
The tariff hikes due Friday were initially announced in April as part of a package where Trump slapped a 10 percent levy on goods from almost all trading partners — citing unfair trade practices.
This rate was set to rise to varying levels for dozens of economies like the European Union, Japan and others, but Washington twice postponed their implementation as financial markets gyrated.
So far, Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, the EU and South Korea have reached initial deals with Washington to secure less punishing conditions.
While the United States and China earlier slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s products, both sides are working to further a truce maintaining duties at lower levels.
But Trump has been pushing ahead in his efforts to reshape global trade.
The US leader insisted Wednesday that the August 1 deadline “will not be extended” any further.
In a Truth Social post, he vowed that this would be “a big day for America.”
Although Trump has promised a surge in government revenues from his duties, economists warn that higher tariffs can fuel an uptick in inflation and weigh on economic growth. This could change consumption patterns.
Already, consumers face an overall average effective tariff rate that is the highest since the 1930s, according to a recent analysis by The Budget Lab at Yale University.
The effect on consumer prices has been limited so far. But analysts cautioned this could become more pronounced as businesses run down on existing inventory and pass on more costs to buyers.
Among Trump’s latest announcements were a 25 percent duty on Indian goods to begin Friday — slightly lower than previously threatened — after talks between Washington and New Delhi failed to bring about a trade pact.
India would face an unspecified “penalty” over purchases of Russian weapons and energy as well, Trump said.
He also unveiled a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods, saying its government’s policies and actions threaten US national security.
But he delayed its implementation from Friday to August 6 and crucially exempted many products from the prohibitive levy, including orange juice, civil aircraft, iron ore and some energy products.
Trump inked an order too for a 50 percent tariff to kick in Friday on goods like copper pipes and wiring, making good on an earlier vow to impose these duties.
But the levy, which came after a Commerce Department probe on national security grounds, was less sweeping than anticipated.
It left out products like copper ores, concentrates and cathodes, bringing some relief to industry.
Meanwhile, Seoul landed a deal with Trump in which South Korean products would face a 15 percent tariff when entering the United States — significantly below a 25 percent level threatened.
Millions return home as Pacific tsunami warnings lifted
- In Japan, almost two million people had been ordered to higher ground, before the warnings were downgraded or rescinded
- Peru closed 65 of its 121 Pacific ports and authorities on Maui canceled flights to and from the Hawaiian island
PUERTO AYORA, Ecuador: Tsunami warnings were lifted across the Pacific rim Wednesday, allowing millions of temporary evacuees to return home.
After one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded rattled Russia’s sparsely populated Far East, more than a dozen nations — from Japan to the United States to Ecuador — warned citizens to stay away from coastal regions.
Storm surges of up to four meters (12 feet) were predicted for some parts of the Pacific, after the 8.8 quake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula.
The tsunamis caused widespread disruption. Peru closed 65 of its 121 Pacific ports and authorities on Maui canceled flights to and from the Hawaiian island.
But fears of a catastrophe were not realized, with country after country lifting or downgrading warnings and telling coastal residents they could return.
In Japan, almost two million people had been ordered to higher ground, before the warnings were downgraded or rescinded.
The Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan — destroyed by a huge quake and tsunami in 2011 — was temporarily evacuated.
The only reported fatality was a woman killed while driving her car off a cliff in Japan as she tried to escape, local media reported.
In Chile, authorities conducted what the Interior Ministry said was “perhaps the most massive evacuation ever carried out in our country” — with 1.4 million people ordered to high ground.
Chilean authorities reported no damage or victims and registered waves of just 60 centimeters (two feet) on the country’s north coast.
In the Galapagos Islands, where waves of up to three meters were expected, there was relief as the Ecuadoran navy’s oceanographic institute said the danger had passed.
Locals reported the sea level falling and then rising suddenly, a phenomenon which is commonly seen with the arrival of a tsunami.
But only a surge of just over a meter was reported, causing no damage.
“Everything is calm, I’m going back to work. The restaurants are reopening and the places tourists visit are also open again,” said 38-year-old Santa Cruz resident Isabel Grijalva.
Earlier national parks were closed, schools were shuttered, loudspeakers blared warnings and tourists were spirited off sightseeing boats and onto the safety of land.
The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged the local fishing plant, officials said.
Russian state television footage showed buildings and debris swept into the sea.
The surge of water reached as far as the town’s World War II monument about 400 meters from the shoreline, said Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov.
The initial quake also caused limited damage and only light injuries, despite being the strongest since 2011, when 15,000 people were killed in Japan.
Russian scientists reported that the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted shortly after the earthquake.
“Red-hot lava is observed flowing down the western slope. There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions,” said Russia’s Geophysical Survey.
Wednesday’s quake was the strongest in the Kamchatka region since 1952, the regional seismic monitoring service said, warning of aftershocks of up to 7.5 magnitude.
The US Geological Survey said the quake was one of the 10 strongest tremors recorded since 1900.
It was followed by dozens of aftershocks that further shook the Russian Far East, including one of 6.9 magnitude.
The USGS said there was a 59 percent chance of an aftershock of more than 7.0 magnitude in the next week.
Starmer’s pledge on Palestinian state ‘grotesque,’ says campaign group
- Palestine Solidarity Campaign condemns UK PM’s conditional framing of ‘inalienable right’
- He is ‘ensuring that Israel has all the means it needs to eradicate the Palestinian people and annex their land’
LONDON: The Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Wednesday condemned the UK prime minister’s framing of Palestinian statehood.
Keir Starmer pledged to recognize a Palestinian state in September if Israel fails to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, among other conditions.
Placing the Palestinian right to self-determination “within the context of Israel’s actions” is “shameful,” the PSC said in a statement, adding that it is an “inalienable right” that should be recognized regardless of Israel’s conduct.
Starmer’s apparent shift, which followed in French President Emmanuel Macron’s footsteps, “came in part because of intense pressure from the British public, expressed in the huge protest movement that has persevered over many months,” the PSC said.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, the PSC and a host of other campaign groups have led regular protest marches through British cities.
The protests have swelled in size amid mounting public anger over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, as well as the UK government’s perceived reluctance to take action against it.
Protesters have focused on British ties to Israel and its military, waging boycott campaigns against companies with ties to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Every British MP and government official is also aware of the fact that British-exported weapons are being used by the Israeli military in its brutality against Palestinian civilians and complete devastation of the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure,” the PSC said.
“British politicians are now bemoaning the images of horror, but continuing to act as partners in Israel’s genocide by maintaining trade with Israel, including in weapons and other military items, and by implementing limited sanctions on a few individual ministers, as though Israel’s genocide is being engineered and carried out by a ‘few bad apples.’”
The PSC condemned Starmer’s move this week as “grotesque,” and one that tells Palestinians: “State recognition may come, but only if and when many, many more of you are dead.”
Rather than representing a turning point, his decision is “simply more of the same,” the PSC said, describing the pledge as having been “added to the package of collusion and complicity with genocide.”
It called on the government to take immediate steps and “everything in their power” to secure an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. The UK must also place a comprehensive weapons embargo on Israel, the PSC demanded.
“Keir Starmer claims support for the Palestinian right to self-determination while ensuring that Israel has all the means it needs to eradicate the Palestinian people and annex their land,” it said.
“The British public will not be fooled into holding out hope for the possibility of a symbolic gesture granted by the British government in September.”
Canada intends to recognize Palestinian state at UN General Assembly: Carney
- Carney positioned Canada alongside France, UK
OTTAWA: Canada plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday, a dramatic policy shift he said was necessary to preserve hopes of a two-state solution.
“Canada intends to recognize the State of Palestine at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025,” Carney said.
With Wednesday’s announcement, Carney positioned Canada alongside France, after President Emmanuel Macron said his country would formally recognize a Palestinian state during the UN meeting, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move.
Macron’s announcement drew condemnation from Israel, which said the move “rewards terror,” while US President Donald Trump dismissed the decision as pointless.
Carney said his decision was informed by Canada’s “long-standing” belief in a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“That possibility of a two-state solution is being eroded before our eyes,” the prime minister told reporters in Ottawa.
He referenced Israel’s “ongoing failure” to prevent humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza amid its war against Hamas, as well the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
“For decades, it was hoped that would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
“Regrettably, this approach is no longer tenable.”
