World
MEP Eva Kaili’s pre-trial hearing in corruption scandal postponed
Eva Kaili, the MEP suspected of accepting giant sums of cash to foyer in favour of Qatar, didn’t seem as anticipated at a pre-trial listening to on Wednesday in Brussels.
The Greek MEP is amongst 4 individuals charged with taking part in a felony organisation, corruption and cash laundering that had been as a consequence of seem in entrance of a choose.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Workplace confirmed that Kaili requested a postponement and that she’s going to as a substitute be heard on 22 December.
It additionally introduced that “the pre-council chamber confirmed the pre-trial detention” of Kaili’s accomplice, Francesco Giorgi, and former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri.
Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, secretary-general of No Peace With out Justice, in the meantime “stays in custody however underneath the phrases of the digital bracelet.”
The press was not allowed contained in the listening to on the Palais de Justice, leaving reporters to assemble exterior the courtroom.
Kaili and the three different suspects had been arrested as a part of a “main investigation” launched by Belgian police right into a suspected operation to affect the European Parliament’s decision-making that concerned “giant sums of cash” and “substantial presents.”
Two different suspects detained over the weekend by Belgian police have been launched.
Considered one of them, the prosecutor’s workplace confirmed, was Luca Visentini, normal secretary of the Worldwide Commerce Union Confederation (ITUC).
Kaili’s title as European Parliament vice chairman was revoked on Tuesday by her personal colleagues, in an awesome present of repudiation with 625 votes in favour and only one towards.
Her belongings have been frozen by Greek authorities.
The MEP’s lawyer in Greece, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, has mentioned his consumer is harmless and has “nothing to do with bribery from Qatar.”
Since Kaili’s surprising arrest on Friday, during which she was reportedly caught within the act, Belgian police have performed over 20 searches and seized greater than €1.5 million in money.
Police have additionally “frozen” the IT sources of ten members of the European Parliament workers in an effort to stop the disappearance of key knowledge that could be helpful for the investigation.
A number of parliamentary workplaces in each Brussels and Strasbourg, together with Kaili’s, stay sealed.
Searches have additionally been performed in Italy, the place Panzeri’s spouse, Maria Dolores Colleoni, and his daughter, Silvia Panzeri, reside.
Belgium is looking for the extradition of each ladies, Italian information company ANSA has reported.
Because the corruption scandal continues to ship shockwaves, scrutiny has elevated on the S&D group, the political household during which Kaili sat as a socialist MEP.
The S&D management has ordered a number of of its members to step down from key legislative recordsdata whereas the investigation is ongoing.
Though Kaili was ousted from the S&D and her position as vice-president, she’s going to in the interim preserve her title of Member of the European Parliament.
Revoking the standing of a democratically-elected consultant can solely be performed via nationwide laws – on this case, Greek legislation.
In the meantime, the Qatari authorities has distanced itself from Kaili and the following political storm.
“Any affiliation of the Qatari authorities with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed,” the Qatari Mission to the European Union mentioned in an announcement.
This text has been up to date to incorporate new developments.
World
Taylor Swift drops 15 new songs on double album, 'The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology'
NEW YORK (AP) — Could there be a Taylor Swift new album rollout without a few additional surprises?
No.
On Friday, the pop star released her 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” an amalgamation of her previous work and reflecting the artist who — at the peak of her powers — has spent the last few years re-recording her life’s work and touring its material, filtered through synth-pop anthems, breakup ballads, provocative and matured considerations.
But that was midnight. At 2 a.m. Eastern, she released “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” featuring 15 additional songs.
“I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment,” Swift wrote in an Instagram caption. “And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.”
The songs are a natural continuation of the first half of the album; many return to her “evermore” and “folklore” sound, with an assist from her collaborator Aaron Dessner.
This is not Swift’s first time surprising her fans, and certainly not her first time doing so with a surprise album release. A few months after “folklore” was released in 2020, she announced “evermore” would arrive at the midnight the same day. And speaking of midnight, she dropped a “3am” edition of “Midnights” featuring seven new tracks in 2022 a handful of hours after the original release.
World
Iranian 'nuclear energy mountain' is 'fully safe' after Israeli strike: state media
Iranian nuclear sites are “fully safe” and have not been impacted by Israeli strikes, the country’s regime says.
Israel carried out limited strikes on areas of Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.
The region surrounding the city of Isfahan — home to the country’s “nuclear energy mountain” — was among the areas targeted in the strike.
ISRAEL STRIKES SITE IN IRAN IN RETALIATION FOR WEEKEND ASSAULT: SOURCE
Isfahan is home to Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility and three research reactors. The country’s underground Natanz enrichment site is also in the region.
Iranian state media stated following the attack that the nation’s atomic sites were “fully safe” and not struck by the missiles.
“The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage,” Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi said.
REPORTS OF ISRAEL’S RETALIATORY STRIKES AGAINST IRAN PROMPT REACTIONS FROM LAWMAKERS: ‘RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF’
The International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations affiliate watchdog organization, later confirmed “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites.”
The agency said it “continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts.”
Details surrounding the intended target of the strike – if there was one – were not immediately available, but Fox News was previously able to confirm the target was “not nuclear or civilian.”
A senior Iranian official allegedly told Reuters that Iran has no plans to immediately respond to the Israeli strike, which was described differently in Iranian state media. The explosions heard in Isfahan were allegedly a result of the country’s air defense systems activating and not a missile attack, the official told Reuters.
Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus wrote on X that while Iran appears to downplay the strike, he “think[s] they’ve gotten the message.”
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Jennifer Griffin and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
World
No, the head of the World Economic Forum is not dead
Rumours have emerged online that the WEF’s executive chairman and founder, Klaus Schwab, has been hospitalised, arrested, and may even be dead. The Cube takes a look at where the false claims have come from.
Social media users have been claiming that the World Economic Forum (WEF) executive chairman and founder, Klaus Schwab, was recently admitted to hospital in a serious condition.
A large number of posts on X spreading the rumours have been seen and shared thousands of times. Some of them link his supposed condition to a cardiac incident after running, while others even go as far as claiming he may be dead.
None of these claims is true.
It seems like the allegations stemmed from satirical articles, such as this one from the website Weekly Crier.
It doesn’t provide any details about Schwab’s supposed hospitalisation, nor does it cite any sources.
The website’s own “About Us” page says that it posts “satire and comedic opinion pieces and editorials”, alongside supposedly “reliable and unbiased news and information”.
Not only that, the WEF has confirmed that Schwab is in perfectly good health.
The organisation has said that the claims are “entirely baseless and unfounded” and that Schwab’s health is “excellent”.
It added that, like many high-profile individuals and organisations, he has routinely been the target of conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns.
They’re not wrong: the claims about Schwab’s health came in lockstep with other misleading allegations that the US Delta Force arrested Schwab at his home in Switzerland.
An article by website Real Raw News said that a Delta Force strike team apprehended Schwab after a “deadly firefight” in his house, and that he was found in bed connected to an adrenochrome infusion machine.
Once again, this appears to be an attempt at satire.
Real Raw News’s “About Us” page also says that the website contains “humour, parody and satire”, but that hasn’t stopped the claims from also doing the rounds on social media.
Various posts on X, Reddit and Facebook have all shared the allegations out of context, although some of them at least with a dose of scepticism.
The WEF hasn’t made any reference to an arrest, and a quick Google search for the story from more reliable news outlets doesn’t yield any results.
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