World
Greek spyware scandal pits Brussels against Athens
The spyware and adware scandal rocking Greece has unfold past nationwide borders.
Each the European Parliament and the European Fee develop into actively concerned within the seek for solutions.
A rising variety of MEPs is asking for an investigation and a plenary debate dedicated to the difficulty, whereas the chief asks the Greek authorities for clarifications.
On the core of the rising dispute between Brussels and Athens is the perennial query of competencies.
The EU establishments are attempting to find out whether or not the mounting spying accusations infringe upon the bloc’s information guidelines and elementary rights, and represent a European case.
The scandal erupted in late July when MEP Nikos Androulakis revealed an try to hack his cell phone by Predator, a system that permits the extraction of recordsdata and the surveillance of conversations.
Androulakis has served within the European Parliament since 2014 and acts because the vice-chair of the subcommittee on safety and defence. Final 12 months, he additionally grew to become the president of the Panhellenic Socialist Motion (PASOK), the third largest social gathering within the Greek parliament.
The tried Predator assault was detected when Androulakis submitted his private system to the European Parliament’s providers, which now characteristic spyware-detecting know-how. The check-up confirmed the MEP had acquired a suspicious textual content message with a hyperlink, which was meant to put in Predator on his telephone.
Not like Pegasus, the programme used towards high-profile politicians equivalent to French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Predator requires its targets to open a hyperlink to be able to infiltrate their units.
Androulakis didn’t click on on the hyperlink, averting the cyberattack.
‘Authorized however politically unacceptable’
Following the affirmation from the Brussels lab, the MEP filed a grievance with Greece’s supreme court docket and accused the federal government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of downplaying the severity of the case.
“Revealing who’s behind such sick practices and for whom they’re appearing just isn’t a private matter. It’s my democratic responsibility,” Androulakis stated on the time.
The federal government insists it has by no means bought or used the Predator spyware and adware, which was developed by a little bit start-up known as Cytrox and based mostly in North Macedonia.
Analysis by Citizen Lab, a famend group that’s a part of the College of Toronto and specialises within the spyware and adware business, confirmed that Greece was among the many “seemingly” clients of Cytrox, along with Armenia, Egypt, Indonesia, Madagascar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Serbia.
What the federal government did acknowledge, nevertheless, was a extra conventional surveillance operation on Androulakis’s telephone, which started in September 2021, across the identical time the tried assault with Predator passed off.
The bugging, launched by the Nationwide Intelligence Service (generally known as EYP, in its Greek acronym), ended three months later when the MEP grew to become chief of PASOK.
Because the scandal deepened, opposition events started looking for culprits: Panagiotis Kontoleon, the EYP’s director, and Grigoris Dimitriadis, normal secretary of the prime minister’s workplace (and in addition his nephew), submitted their resignations in early August
“It was a mistake,” Mitsotakis stated in a speech broadcast days after the resignations.
The EYP is immediately hooked up to the prime minister’s workplace, a controversial resolution made by Mitsotakis himself when he got here to energy and that now attracts higher scrutiny over his authority.
“I didn’t find out about [the bugging] and clearly, I’d by no means have allowed it,” the PM stated, promising to hold out a collection of reforms to the company.
Mitsotakis, nevertheless, argued the three-month wiretapping was carried out in accordance “with the letter of the regulation,” though neither he nor any member from his workforce has defined the explanations behind the operation towards the MEP and future electoral rival.
Talking earlier than the nationwide parliament in a session known as by SYRIZA, the principle opposition social gathering, the prime minister described the EYP’s operation as “authorized however politically unacceptable” and invited Androulakis to enchantment to Greek and European courts to be able to settle the dispute.
A ‘extremely debatable’ connection
The spyware and adware revelations shortly reverberated throughout Brussels, the place points equivalent to cyberattacks, espionage and electoral interference have develop into a high precedence.
Ana Gallego Torres, head of the European Fee’s justice and shoppers division, despatched a letter in late July to Ioannis Vrailas, Greece’s everlasting consultant to the EU, with questions associated to the Predator hacking try and the bugging operation.
Gallego’s letter has not been made public however touched upon “the potential interaction between the EU’s information safety guidelines and the nationwide safety framework”, a spokesperson stated.
In his reply, seen by Euronews, Vrailas tried to assuage the chief’s issues and dispute the notion that Brussels ought to have a say within the matter.
“Neither EYP not the police have embraced Predator. Thus, there isn’t any subject of violation of the EU information safety acquis,” the ambassador wrote, noting a probe into the incident was ongoing.
“The difficulty of whether or not the questions raised in your letter fall throughout the scope of competence of the [European] Union can be extremely debatable in any case.”
Relating to the three-month surveillance, Vrailas defined that, in accordance with Greek regulation, all topics are knowledgeable when they’re monitored and their information is processed by the federal government. However, he pointedly famous, a current legislative modification launched an exception to this obligation when the operation “happens solely on grounds of nationwide safety.”
The regulation was amended whereas Thanasis Koukakis, a journalist who investigates Greek banks and businessmen, was attempting to acquire an official affirmation that his telephone had been underneath the EYP’s surveillance in 2020. Koukakis was additionally affected by Predator, in accordance with data offered to him by Citizen Lab.
The intelligence service later confirmed the operation towards Koukakis, along with the case involving Androulakis, sources advised Reuters.
The Fee continues to be assessing the official response from the Greek consultant and gathering details about the potential use of Predator.
Officers preserve Brussels’s competence can’t be so simply dismissed as a result of the bloc has already handed EU-wide legal guidelines concerning information privateness and has due to this fact gained a shared oversight with member states.
“Sure, nationwide safety is a member state’s competence,” stated a Fee spokesperson. “Nonetheless, when guaranteeing nationwide safety, member states should apply related EU regulation, together with the case regulation of the European Court docket of Justice when doing so.”
This isn’t the primary time that wiretapping in Greece is delivered to the chief’s consideration.
Within the newest version of its annual rule of regulation report, which tracks developments nation by nation, the Fee highlighted circumstances of alleged surveillance within the nation, however solely associated to journalists – not lawmakers.
“Assaults and threats towards journalists persist and journalists’ skilled setting has deteriorated additional,” the report famous, citing bodily assaults, arbitrate detainment and unfounded legal lawsuits.
‘Very a lot a European competence’
In the meantime, within the European Parliament, Androulakis’s office, some his colleagues are placing a combative tone towards the Greek authorities.
Sophie in ‘t Veld, a senior Dutch liberal MEP, is pushing for the parliament’s Pegasus committee (PEGA), the place she sits as a member, to launch an investigation into the scandal. The committee has prior to now seemed into spyware and adware circumstances in Poland, Spain and Hungary.
In ‘t Veld disagreed with the Greek ambassador’s clarifications and stated the current case was “very a lot [a] European competence” as a result of focusing on of a directly-elected European legislator and the potential violations of the GDPR, the bloc’s ground-breaking information safety regulation.
“[Mitsotakis] blamed the shortage of political judgement of the EYP chief, however because the EYP falls underneath the direct duty of the PM, why was he not made conscious of such a extremely political wire-tap?” she wrote on her Twitter account.
PEGA is at present chaired by Jeroen Lenaers, an MEP from the centre-right European Individuals’s Social gathering (EPP), the identical political household as Prime Minister Mitsotakis.
The committee is scheduled to carry two hearings subsequent week centred on “spyware and adware towards residents.” Greece just isn’t featured within the draft agenda, though lawmakers can be free to deliver up the difficulty in the course of the discussions.
Requested if a session centred on the Androulakis case may very well be held a later date, the Lenaers workforce didn’t have any remark or replace to share.
An EPP spokesperson advised Euronews it was as much as the PEGA committee to resolve whether or not to research the “potential use of spyware and adware by the Greek authorities.” The social gathering has not issued any assertion weighing in on the substance of the allegations.
Additional outrage is brewing in Androulakis’s socialist camp.
Gabriele Bischoff, vice-chair of the Socialists and Democrats group (S&D), stated that, along with opening an inquiry, the PEGA committee ought to organise a fact-finding mission to Greece.
“It’s unbelievable that the EPP is attempting to place this underneath the carpet and never seeing the potential this has,” Bischoff advised Euronews in an interview.
“It’s completely important that after we are all again subsequent week [from the summer recess], that we put it excessive on the agenda, and in addition that the EPP doesn’t play video games right here like they all the time do when governments of their political social gathering are concerned.”
The S&D management has called immediately on Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, to interrupt her weekslong silence across the wiretapping scandal and convene a particular plenary debate. (Metsola additionally belongs to the EPP group.)
The socialists are significantly involved in regards to the potential violation of Androulakis’s parliamentary immunity. Below EU regulation, MEPs can’t be topic to any type of inquiry, detention or authorized proceedings as a result of opinions expressed of their legislative capability.
A spokesperson for Metsola stated the president takes the allegations “very severely” and that her workforce is “cooperating” with Greek authorities.
“It was Metsola who initiated the service to evaluate the MEPs mobiles, again in spring,” the official famous, referring to the check-up that recognized the tried Predator assault.
This text has been up to date to incorporate new developments and reactions.
World
New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns
Artificial intelligence. Abortion. Guns. Marijuana. Minimum wages.
Name a hot topic, and chances are good there’s a new law about it taking effect in 2025 in one state or another.
Many of the laws launching in January are a result of legislation passed this year. Others stem from ballot measures approved by voters. Some face legal challenges.
Here’s a look at some of the most notable state laws taking effect:
Hollywood stars and child influencers
California, home to Hollywood and some of the largest technology companies, is seeking to rein in the artificial intelligence industry and put some parameters around social media stars. New laws seek to prevent the use of digital replicas of Hollywood actors and performers without permission and allow the estates of dead performers to sue over unauthorized AI use.
Parents who profit from social media posts featuring their children will be required to set aside some earnings for their young influencers. A new law also allows children to sue their parents for failing to do so.
Social media limits
New social media restrictions in several states face court challenges.
A Florida law bans children under 14 from having social media accounts and requires parental consent for ages 14 and 15. But enforcement is being delayed because of a lawsuit filed by two associations for online companies, with a hearing scheduled for late February.
A new Tennessee law also requires parental consent for minors to open accounts on social media. NetChoice, an industry group for online businesses, is challenging the law. Another new state law requires porn websites to verify that visitors are at least 18 years old. But the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry, has filed a challenge.
Several new California measures aimed at combating political deepfakes are also being challenged, including one requiring large social media platforms to remove deceptive content related to elections and another allowing any individual to sue for damages over the use of AI to create fabricated images or videos in political ads.
School rules on gender
In a first nationally, California will start enforcing a law prohibiting school districts from adopting policies that require staff to notify parents if their children change their gender identification. The law was a priority for Democratic lawmakers who wanted to halt such policies passed by several districts.
Abortion coverage
Many states have passed laws limiting or protecting abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nationwide right to the procedure in 2022. One of the latest is the Democratic-led state of Delaware. A law there will require the state employee health plan and Medicaid plans for lower-income residents to cover abortions with no deductible, copayments or other cost-sharing requirements.
Gun control
A new Minnesota law prohibits guns with “binary triggers” that allow for more rapid fire, causing a weapon to fire one round when the trigger is pulled and another when it is released.
In Delaware, a law adds colleges and universities to a list of school zones where guns are prohibited, with exceptions for those working in their official capacity such as law officers and commissioned security guards.
Medical marijuana
Kentucky is becoming the latest state to let people use marijuana for medical purposes. To apply for a state medical cannabis card, people must get written certification from a medical provider of a qualifying condition, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea or post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly four-fifths of U.S. states have now legalized medical marijuana.
Minimum wages
Minimum wage workers in more than 20 states are due to receive raises in January. The highest minimum wages will be in Washington, California and Connecticut, all of which will top $16 an hour after modest increases.
The largest increases are scheduled in Delaware, where the minimum wage will rise by $1.75 to $15 an hour, and in Nebraska, where a ballot measure approved by voters in 2022 will add $1.50 to the current minimum of $12 an hour.
Twenty other states still follow the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Safer traveling
In Oregon, using drugs on public transit will be considered a misdemeanor crime of interfering with public transportation. While the measure worked its way through the legislature, multiple transportation officials said drug use on buses and trains, and at transit stops and stations, was making passengers and drivers feel less safe.
In Missouri, law enforcement officers have spent the past 16 months issuing warnings to motorists that handheld cellphone use is illegal. Starting with the new year, penalties will kick in: a $150 fine for the first violation, progressing to $500 for third and subsequent offenses and up to 15 years imprisonment if a driver using a cellphone cause an injury or death. But police must notice a primary violation, such as speeding or weaving across lanes, to cite motorists for violating the cellphone law.
Montana is the only state that hasn’t banned texting while driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Tax breaks
Tenants in Arizona will no longer have to pay tax on their monthly rent, thanks to the repeal of a law that had allowed cities and towns to impose such taxes. While a victory for renters, the new law is a financial loss for governments. An analysis by Arizona’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimated that $230 million would be lost in municipal tax revenue during the first full fiscal year of implementation.
Meanwhile Alabama will offer tax credits to businesses that help employees with child care costs.
Kansas is eliminating its 2% sales tax on groceries. It also is cutting individual income taxes by dropping the top tax rate, increasing a credit for child care expenses and exempting all Social Security income from taxes, among other things. Taxpayers are expected to save about $320 million a year going forward.
Voting rights
An Oklahoma law expands voting privileges to people who have been convicted of felonies but had their sentences discharged or commuted, including commutations for crimes that have been reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. Former state Sen. George Young, an Oklahoma City Democrat, carried the bill in the Senate.
“I think it’s very important that people who have gone through trials and tribulations in their life, that we have a system that brings them back and allows them to participate as contributing citizens,” Young said.
___
Associated Press writers Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed.
World
Russia downplays speculation over deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash as report lays blame for downed plane
An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, was shot down by a Russian air defense system, Reuters reported Thursday.
The report cited four sources in Azerbaijan familiar with the investigation into the crash. One of the sources said preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system, and its communications were paralyzed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, Reuters reported.
“No one claims that it was done on purpose,” the source told Reuters. “However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft.”
Officials in Russia and Kazakhstan have remained tight-lipped after the Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau with dozens of souls aboard.
RUSSIA BEING BLAMED FOR AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES PLANE THAT CRASHED HUNDREDS OF MILES OFF COURSE, KILLING DOZENS
A Ukrainian national security official has blamed Russian air defense fire for the deadly crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day.
The Embraer 190 passenger jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia had 62 passengers and five crew on board, according to Kazakh authorities. It had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea. Twenty-nine people survived.
Video of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames as it hit the seashore, and thick black smoke then rising, Reuters reported.
Officials did not immediately explain why the plane had crossed the sea, but the crash came shortly after drone strikes hit southern Russia. Drone activity has shut down airports in the area in the past and the nearest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the cause of the crash is under investigation. He told reporters that “it would be wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict,” the Associated Press reported.
Kazakhstan’s parliamentary Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev also warned against rushing to conclusions based on pictures of the plane’s fragments, describing the allegations of air defense fire as unfounded and “unethical.”
Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have likewise declined to comment on the cause of the crash and pointed to the ongoing investigations for answers, according to the AP.
MORE THAN 30 DEAD IN BRAZIL BUS AND TRUCK COLLISION
Earlier, Ukrainian national security official Andriy Kovalenko blamed a “Russian air-defense system” for the crash in an X post on Wednesday.
“However, admitting this is inconvenient for everyone, so efforts will be made to cover it up, even the holes in the remaining parts of the aircraft,” Kovalenko claimed.
Aviation-security firm Osprey Flight Solutions also said the flight was “likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense sytem,” the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.
“Video of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace security environment in southwest Russia indicates the possibility the aircraft was hit by some form of antiaircraft fire,” Matt Borie, Osprey’s chief intelligence officer, said in an interview.
MALAYSIA AGREES TO RESUME ‘NO FIND, NO FEE’ HUNT FOR FLIGHT MH370, 10 YEARS AFTER PLANE DISAPPEARED
Russia’s aviation watchdog, meanwhile, said it was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Azerbaijan observed a national day of mourning on Thursday for the 38 victims of the plane crash. National flags were lowered across the country, traffic stopped at noon and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the people observed a nationwide moment of silence, the AP reported.
“We will never forget the beloved people we lost in the crash of the ‘Embraer-190’ aircraft,” Azerbaijan Airlines said in a statement Thursday. “This loss left a deep wound in the heart of an entire community. It reminds us to be more compassionate and connected to one another.”
“May the souls of those who tragically lost their lives rest in peace, and may their memory live on forever.”
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Elizabeth Pritchett, along with Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
EU preparing sanctions on Russia's 'shadow fleet' after cable damage
Countries in the region have been on alert following a string of incidents involving undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea since 2022.
The EU Foreign Policy chief has said the bloc is preparing sanctions on what it calls Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ after an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia was damaged in the Baltic Sea.
Kaja Kallas posted the joint statement from the EU Commission and the High Representative leading the investigation on X, saying the “suspected vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget.”
Kallas also said the EU was strengthening efforts to protect undersea cables, adding that there was no risk to regional electricity supplies.
That comes after Finnish authorities detained a Russian ship as part of an investigation into damage to the Estlink-2 power cable.
It carries electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea and went down on Wednesday.
Finnish police and border guards boarded the Eagle S vessel on Thursday and took over the command bridge, Helsinki Police Chief Jari Liukku said at a press conference.
The vessel was being held in Finnish territorial waters, police said.
The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands but was described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers.
Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to skirt Western sanctions and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
Russia’s use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage.
The Eagle S’ anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Yle television reported, citing police statements.
The Estonian government met in emergency session over the incident.
The shadow tankers “are helping Russia to earn funds that will aid Russian hybrid attacks,” Prime Minister Kristen Michal said at a news conference.
“We need to improve the monitoring and protection of critical infrastructure both on land and on sea.”
He said repairs to the cable could take as long as seven months.
“Repeated damage to Baltic Sea infrastructure signals a systemic threat, not mere accidents,” Estonia’s President Alar Karis said on X.
“Estonia will take action to counter this threat, together with Finland and other NATO allies.”
On high alert
Countries in the region have been on alert following a string of incidents involving undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea since 2022.
Two data cables — one running between Finland and Germany and the other between Lithuania and Sweden — were severed in November.
Germany’s defence minister said officials had to assume the incident was “sabotage,” but he didn’t provide evidence or say who might have been responsible.
And the Nord Stream pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022.
Authorities have said the cause was sabotage and launched criminal investigations.
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