Hunting Down Russian Spies With Norway's Intelligence Service
The Journal's video shows us accompanying Norway's domestic intelligence agency, the PST, on patrol for Russian spies. We meet residents convinced they are under Russian surveillance and we find out firsthand what it feels like to be trailed.
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Zelenskyy faces major anti-corruption protests as Ukraine prepares for Russia talks
LONDON -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing protests across the country after signing a controversial bill on Tuesday that critics say will neuter the independence of two prominent anti-corruption bodies. As Ukrainian and Russian delegations prepare to meet in Istanbul, Turkey, for a new round of ceasefire talks, Zelenskyy and his allies are facing a groundswell of opposition at home. On Tuesday, Zelenskyy signed a controversial law passed by parliament that will bring the Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and its partner organization, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), under the direct control of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO). Both bodies were set up in the aftermath of Ukraine's pro-Western Maidan Revolution in 2014, with the intention of rooting out systemic corruption and helping Kyiv reform its democratic system with an eye on European Union accession. The passing of the new legislation this week prompted protests in Kyiv and other major cities across Ukraine, with demonstrators even violating the nighttime curfew imposed as a guard against nightly Russian drone and missile strikes. A spokesperson for the European Commission warned the move could undermine Ukraine's potential bid to join the EU. Kyiv's European funding, they added, is "conditional on progress on transparency, judicial reform and democratic government." Transparency International's Ukraine branch, meanwhile, said the move represented a "massive setback in anti-corruption reform" and a "direct threat to Ukraine's path to the EU." The passage of the bill followed dozens of raids on NABU employees by officers from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the PGO on Monday. Officers also began inspecting the handling of state secrets at SAPO. Zelenskyy and his supporters have framed the measures as necessary to root out Russian infiltration and influence within Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies. "The anti-corruption infrastructure will work," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram late on Tuesday. "Only without Russian influences -- everything needs to be cleansed of this. And there should be more justice." "Of course, NABU and SAPO will work. And it is important that the Prosecutor General is determined to ensure that in Ukraine the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law is really ensured," he added. "And this is what is really needed for Ukraine. The cases that were pending must be investigated." "For years, officials who fled Ukraine have been living peacefully abroad for some reason -- in very nice countries and without legal consequences," Zelenskyy continued. "This is abnormal. There is no rational explanation why criminal proceedings worth billions have been 'hanging' for years. And there is no explanation why the Russians can still get the information they need." "It is important that there is an inevitability of punishment and that society really sees this," the president wrote. The bill was passed by the Ukrainian parliament -- the Rada -- by 263 representatives, having quickly moved through committee. Thirteen MPs voted against, 13 abstained and 35 did not vote. It was supported in parliament by members of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, as well as former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party. The Opposition Platform – For Life party, which is widely considered pro-Russian and has had several representatives accused of treason during the war, also backed the measure. Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of Zelenskyy's party and the chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, told ABC News he backed the legislation though admitted he had "some doubts" about its content. "I trust the president," Merezkho said. "In such cases I normally also trust the decision of the committee." Merezhko said his concerns were over "what consequences it might have from the perspective of the negotiations with the EU on our membership." European counterparts, Merezhko continued, "are worried and they are asking questions. I think that we need better communication with our European partners on that issue." "There might be some sensitive aspects which need clear explanation to our partners by the president," he added. "I'm personally in favor of the independence of the anti-corruption bodies. But I'm also in favor of the true rule of law of the state in Ukraine." Zelenskyy's decision to sign the divisive bill has piqued concern of an anti-democratic power grab by the president and his inner circle -- chief among them Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential office. A former Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, told ABC News, "We are not losing the war because the West did not give us enough weapons. We are losing the war because of corruption, lack of professional management and because many do not see why they should fight for Zelenskyy's autocracy." "Yermak is just a good implementor of Zelenskyy's will," the former official added. Vitaliy Shabunin, a prominent Ukrainian anti-corruption activist who previously headed the first Public Oversight Council at NABU, said the bill will allow the prosecutor general -- who is appointed by the president -- to "shut down all investigations involving the president's friends." Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko -- who has repeatedly clashed with Zelenskyy's administration during Russia's full-scale war -- joined protesters in the capital on Tuesday. The new measure, he wrote on Telegram, "definitely does not bring Ukraine closer to the European Union. It certainly does not bring it closer to democracy, the rule of law, and legality -- to those values for which our soldiers are dying today in a bloody struggle against the aggressor." Proponents of the bill "are dragging Ukraine faster and faster into authoritarianism," the mayor added, "hiding behind the war, destroying anti-corruption bodies, local self-government, silencing activists and journalists." "Yes, there are many questions about the independence, impartiality, and adherence to legal procedures by all law enforcement agencies," Klitschko continued. "But the system needs to be changed, not turned into a bulldog of the authorities." "And we must not forget that sooner or later, all actions will have to be accounted for -- both politically and legally," the mayor wrote.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Equinor makes $955 million US offshore wind writedown
By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's Equinor said on Wednesday it booked a $955 million impairment on an offshore wind project in the United States, despite the lifting of an earlier ban on its construction by President Donald Trump's administration. In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration of former President Joe Biden had failed to conduct enough environmental analysis ahead of approving the Empire Wind development in New York state. He shut down the project, dealing a blow to the U.S. offshore wind industry. But a month later, Burgum lifted the stop-work order on the project, in a compromise with the state that could also see cancelled plans for a gas pipeline revived. On Wednesday, Equinor's reported net operating income for the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects. "This is impacted by an impairment of $955 million due to regulatory changes causing loss of synergies from future offshore wind projects and increased exposure to tariffs," Equinor said in a statement on Wednesday. "Of this, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1/South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project and the remainder is related to the Empire Wind 2 lease." Equinor, majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first administration and secured approval for its investment plans during Biden's time in the White House in 2023. But on the first day of his second term in January this year, Trump ordered a review of offshore wind permitting and leasing, although many analysts had still believed fully-permitted projects to ultimately be safe. The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3 billion, it said on Wednesday. With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, the project could generate enough electricity to power half a million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in 2027. Equinor on Wednesday reported declining core second-quarter results, as expected, due to lower oil prices. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
Every Time Trump Was Connected To Epstein Over Several Decades (Updated)
Newly discovered photos released by CNN on Tuesday showed Jeffrey Epstein attending President Donald Trump's second wedding in 1993, at a time when the president's lengthy association with the convicted sex offender is facing renewed scrutiny following a Wall Street Journal report last week that Trump's name and signature appeared on a sexually suggestive birthday card presented to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003. American businessman and now President Donald Trump, Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve, and American ... More businessman Jeffrey Epstein attend the Victoria's Secret 'Angels' party on April 28, 1997 in New York City. (). Getty Images 1980s Trump and Epstein met around the time Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985, when Epstein was also living in Palm Beach, according to Trump, who told New York magazine in 2002 he had known Epstein for '15 years,' calling him a 'terrific guy,' and adding 'it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' 1992 Trump and Epstein were spotted laughing together at a party Trump threw at Mar-a-Lago, according to NBC footage of the event unearthed in 2019. 1992 At a 'calendar girl' party at Mar-a-Lago where Trump invited just two other guests, Florida businessman George Houraney and Epstein, Houraney's girlfriend at the time, Jill Harth, said Trump forcibly kissed and fondled her, restrained her from leaving a bedroom and alleged Trump crawled into bed with another 22-year-old woman at the party in a 1997 lawsuit Trump settled the lawsuit with Harth (he has denied her allegations), The New York Times reported. 1993 Trump flew on Epstein's private jets four times in 1993, according to flight logs made public during Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell's trial, The New York Times reported. 1993 Photos released by CNN showed that Epstein attended Trump's 1993 wedding to Marla Maples—his second wife—at the Plaza Hotel in New York. A few months before the wedding another photo published by CNN showed Epstein and Trump together at the opening of the Harley Davidson Cafe in New York. 1994 Trump flew on one of Epstein's private jets, according to the flight logs. 1995 Epstein reportedly called Maria Farmer—who has accused Epstein and Maxwell of sexual assault—to his New York office late at night, where Trump then arrived and 'started to hover over' Farmer, who was in her mid-20s at the time, and 'stared at her bare legs' before Epstein said, 'No, no. She's not here for you,' Farmer reportedly told the FBI, according to The New York Times. 1995 Trump took another flight on an Epstein jet, the flight logs say. 1997 Trump took a seventh flight on one of Epstein's jets. 1997 Trump and Epstein were photographed standing near each other at a Victoria's Secret 'Angels' party, according to a Getty image of Trump posing with model Ingrid Seynhaeve that shows Epstein in the background. 1999 A video released by CNN showed Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting with each other at another Victoria's Secret event. 2000 Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre was working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort when she was recruited by Maxwell to work as Epstein's personal masseuse and was groomed by the two to provide sexual services for Epstein and his wealthy circle, according to a deposition Giuffre gave that was made public in 2019. 2003 Trump allegedly gave Epstein the birthday card that said 'may every day be another wonderful secret,' according to the Thursday report in the Wall Street Journal, which the president denies. 2004 Trump and Epstein had a falling out when Trump outbid him for a Palm Beach mansion, according to a Washington Post report. 2015 Trump's name appeared circled in Epstein's 'little black book' of 1,571 personal contacts, which spanned 97 pages of names, numbers and addresses of Epstein's associates, including high-powered figures such as Prince Andrew and Ehud Barak, whose names were among about 38 also circled, according to a copy of the document published by Gawker in 2015. 'I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,' Trump told reporters from the Oval Office in 2019 when Epstein was arrested. 'I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.' What Does Trump's Alleged Birthday Message To Trump Say? Trump wrote Epstein a typewritten letter that also included a drawing of a naked woman and referenced a 'wonderful secret' between the two for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003, according to a Thursday report in the Wall Street Journal, which reported that it reviewed the note. The report comes as Trump has faced backlash from his base over the past two weeks after the Justice Department announced it wouldn't release any additional information on its Epstein probe, despite some previous suggestions from top law enforcement officials that it would. The text of the note allegedly reads: tk Trump's allies rallied behind him in the wake of the Journal report, with some claiming the alleged text doesn't sound like the president and others alleging the story was a coordinated attack by Democrats. Tangent Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to release 'pertinent' records from grand jury testimony in Epstein's case amid criticism of the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein probe. Key Background Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking minors to his wealthy friends and associates. Trump is among a long list of Epstein's high-profile associates, including billionaire Les Wexner, Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton. Many of Trump's MAGA allies have pushed conspiracies about Epstein through the years, including that he was killed, rather than died by suicide, and kept an alleged list of high-profile clients. The Justice Department said last week that no such list exists and reiterated that Epstein died by suicide. Further Reading MAGA World Rallies To Defend Trump: Don Jr. Calls Epstein Birthday Card Allegations 'Insanity' (Forbes) Trump Directs Bondi To Release Some Epstein Documents, Threatens To Sue Wall Street Journal And Murdoch (Forbes) Just 17% Approve Of Trump's Handling Of Epstein Files: Poll (Forbes)
