BRUSSELS, Belgium: Russian and Chinese media are systematically seeking to sow mistrust in Western COVID-19 vaccines in their latest disinformation campaigns aimed at dividing the West, a European report said on Wednesday.
From December to April, the two countries’ state media outlets pushed fake news online in multiple languages sensationalizing vaccine safety concerns, making unfounded links between jabs and deaths in Europe and promoting Russian and Chinese vaccines as superior, the EU study said.
The Kremlin and Beijing deny all disinformation allegations by the EU, which produces regular reports and seeks to work with Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft to limit the spread of fake news.
Russian and Chinese vaccine diplomacy “follows a zero-sum game logic and is combined with disinformation and manipulation efforts to undermine trust in Western-made vaccines,” said the EU study released by the bloc’s disinformation unit, part of its EEAS foreign policy arm.
“Both Russia and China are using state-controlled media, networks of proxy media outlets and social media, including official diplomatic social media accounts, to achieve these goals,” the report said, citing 100 Russian examples this year.
The EU and NATO regularly accuse Russia of covert action, including disinformation, to try to destabilize the West by exploiting divisions in society.
“A disinformation report that has no factual basis is in itself an example of disinformation,” the Chinese mission to the EU said in a statement dated Thursday in response to the report.
Russia denies any such tactics and President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign foes of targeting Russia by spreading fake news about the coronavirus.
Vaccine supply issues with AstraZeneca, as well as very rare side effects with AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been seized upon, the report said.
“Both Chinese official channels and pro-Kremlin media have amplified content on alleged side-effects of the Western vaccines, misrepresenting and sensationalizing international media reports and associating deaths to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Norway, Spain and elsewhere,” the report said.
Last year, China sought to block an EU report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Reuters investigation.
While the EU has not vaccinated its 450 million citizens as fast as Britain, which is no longer a member of the bloc, shots are now gaining speed, led by US drugmaker Pfizer’s shots and its German partner BioNTech.
Russian media reported that “Brexit saved the UK from the ‘vaccine chaos’ engulfing the EU,” the EU said. “Such narratives indicate an effort to sow division within the EU,” it added.
In the report, released online at https://euvsdisinfo.eu/, the EU said Russia’s official Sputnik V Twitter account sought to undermine public trust in the European Medicines Agency.
Sputnik V responded that the disinformation campaign is against Russia and its vaccine, not the other way around.
“We will continue to fight disinformation campaign against Sputnik V in the interests of protecting lives around the world and avoiding vaccine monopoly that some vaccine producers may strive for,” it said on Twitter.
The Twitter account is managed by the Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is responsible for marketing and promoting the Sputnik V vaccine.
China meanwhile promoted its vaccines as a “global public good” and “presenting them as more suitable for developing countries and also the Western Balkans,” the report found. Western Balkan countries are seen as future EU members.
EU report accuses Russia, China of sowing mistrust in Western vaccines
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EU report accuses Russia, China of sowing mistrust in Western vaccines
- Study documented instances of fake news promoted online by the two countries' state media from December to April
- The EU and NATO regularly accuse Russia of covert action, including disinformation, to try to destabilize the West by exploiting divisions in society
Sweden says to pay immigrants up to $34,000 to leave
- Immigrants who voluntarily return to their countries of origin from 2026 would be eligible to receive up to 350,000 Swedish kronor
The Scandinavian country was for decades seen as a “humanitarian superpower,” but over the years has struggled to integrate many of its newcomers.
Immigrants who voluntarily return to their countries of origin from 2026 would be eligible to receive up to 350,000 Swedish kronor ($34,000), the government, which is propped up by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, told a press conference.
“We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in our migration policy,” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters, as the government presented its latest move to crack down on migration.
Currently immigrants can receive up to 10,000 kronor per adult and 5,000 kronor per child, with a cap of 40,000 kronor per family.
Immigrants groups could not immediately be reached for comment on the change.
“The grant has been around since 1984, but it is relatively unknown, it is small and relatively few people use it,” Ludvig Aspling of the Sweden Democrats told reporters.
Forssell said only one person had accepted the offer last year.
Aspling added that if more people were aware of the grant and its size was increased, more would likely take the money and leave.
He said the incentive would most likely appeal to the several hundred thousand migrants who were either long-term unemployed, jobless or whose incomes were so low they needed state benefits to make ends meet.
“That’s the group we think would be interested,” Aspling said.
A government-appointed probe last month advised the government against significantly hiking the amount of the grant, saying the expected effectiveness did not justify the potential costs.
The Nordic nation has struggled for years to integrate immigrants, and the head of the inquiry, Joakim Ruist, said that a sizeable financial increase would send a signal that migrants were undesirable, further hampering integration efforts.
Other European countries also offer grants as an incentive for migrants to return home.
Denmark pays more than $15,000 per person, compared to around $1,400 in Norway, $2,800 in France and $2,000 in Germany.
Sweden’s conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson came to power in 2022 with a minority coalition government propped up by the Sweden Democrats, vowing to get tough on immigration and crime.
The Sweden Democrats emerged as the country’s second-largest party with 20.5 percent support in that election.
Sweden has offered generous foreign development aid since the 1970s and has taken in large numbers of migrants since the 1990s.
Most of Sweden’s immigrants have come from conflict-ridden countries such as the former Yugoslavia, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.
In 2015 alone, at the height of the migration crisis in Europe, Sweden took in 160,000 asylum seekers, the highest per capita in the EU.
With much higher rates of unemployment among those born abroad, the situation had widened Sweden’s wealth inequalities and straining its generous cradle-to-grave welfare system.
The 2015 migration crisis proved a turning point, with the then-Social Democratic government announcing soon afterwards that it was no longer able to continue its open door policies.
A slew of measures have been taken by both left and right-wing governments since then to curb migration, including issuing only temporary residence permits to asylum seekers, tightening family reunifications requirements, and hiking income requirements for work visas for non-EU citizens.
Kristersson’s government also plans to make it easier to expel migrants for substance abuse, association with criminal groups or statements threatening Swedish values.
Putin ally accuses NATO of already being party to Ukraine war
- Vyacheslav Volodin: ‘They are waging war with our country’
MOSCOW: The chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Friday accused NATO of being a party to military action in Ukraine, suggesting it was already heavily involved in military decision-making.
Vyacheslav Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, accused the US-led military alliance of helping Ukraine choose which Russian cities to target, of agreeing specific military action, and of giving Kyiv orders.
“They are waging war with our country,” Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.
Animal rights groups object to Buckingham Palace guard’s distinctive bearskin caps
- Price of caps soared 30% in a year to more than 2,000 pounds apiece for the hats made of black bear fur
- “Stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today,” PETA said
LONDON: An animal rights group trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards at Buckingham Palace took aim Thursday at the cost of the ceremonial garb.
The price of the caps soared 30 percent in a year to more than 2,000 pounds ($2,600) apiece for the hats made of black bear fur, the Ministry of Defense said in response to a freedom of information request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“Stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today,” the group said in a statement.
A luxury fake fur maker has offered to supply the army with free faux bear fur for 10 years, PETA said.
The military said it was open to exploring alternatives if they pass muster in durability, water protection and appearance. But “no alternative has met all those criteria to date,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The distinctive tall black hats, worn by guards in bright scarlet tunics, are seen by millions who watch the regular changing of the guard ceremony at the palace. They also appear at other royal events including the annual Trooping the Color ceremony honoring the monarch’s birthday in June.
The cost of the caps rose from 1,560 pounds ($2,035) each in 2022 to 2,040 pounds ($2,660) in 2023, the ministry said. More than 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) was spent on them in the past decade.
The price went up because of a contract change for fur that comes from bears killed in licensed hunts in Canada, the military said. Each cap requires one bear pelt, PETA said.
PETA, hich has been pushing for more than two decades to scrap the fur hats, said each cap requires one bear pelt. The group claimed that the defense department is propping up the “cruel” Canadian bear-hunting industry.
The ministry denied that charge and said if it stopped buying the pelts, it would not reduce the numbers of bears being killed.
Parliament debated the issue in July 2022 after an online petition with more than 100,000 signatures called for using fake fur in the caps.
“This hunting involves the violent killing of bears, with many bears being shot several times,” Martyn Day, then a Scottish National Party member of Parliament, said at the time. “It seems undeniable, therefore, that by continuing to purchase hats made from the fur of black bears the MOD is funding the suffering of bears in Canada by making the baiting and killing of those animals and the sale of their pelts a profitable pursuit for the hunters.”
Day said a poll at the time found 75 percent of the UK population found real bearskins were a bad use of taxpayer money and supported replacing the hats.
He noted that the late Queen Elizabeth II had ceased buying fur for her wardrobe.
Earlier this year, Queen Camilla, wife of King Charles III, pledged to buy no more fur products.
Pravin Gordhan, a South African government minister who was activist against apartheid, dies at 75
- President Cyril Ramaphosa remembered him as “an outstanding leader whose unassuming persona belied the depth of intellect, integrity and energy” with which he acted
JOHANNESBURG: Pravin Gordhan, who was a South African government minister for many years after beginning his political career opposing apartheid, died Friday. He was 75 and had cancer.
Gordhan, a long-time member of the African National Congress party, retired from active politics after the May elections when the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first since it came into power in 1994.
“Mr. Gordhan passed away peacefully in hospital surrounded by his family, closest friends and his long-time comrades in the liberation struggle in the early hours of this morning,” his family said in a statement early Friday following his death after being hospitalized this week.
“We have lost an outstanding leader whose unassuming persona belied the depth of intellect, integrity and energy with which he undertook his activism, his duty as a parliamentarian and his roles as a member of Cabinet,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.
A political activist from his teenage years, Gordhan joined the struggle against the racist and oppressive system of apartheid and joined the ANC’s underground structures in the 1980s.
He was one of the negotiators for the country’s peaceful transition to a constitutional democracy and became a member of parliament in 1994 after Nelson Mandela became the country’s first democratically elected president.
His last position in government was as the minister of public enterprises from 2018 to 2024 in charge of state-owned enterprises. He served two terms as finance minister from 2009 to 2014 and again from 2015 to 2017.
From 1999 to 2009, Gordhan was the head of the South Africa Revenue Services, which he was credited with transforming into a world-class tax and customs service.
Gordhan was an outspoken critic of corruption in government and state-owned enterprises, and was one of the ministers who criticized the leadership of former President Jacob Zuma while he was still serving in his Cabinet.
India’s top court grants bail to opposition leader Kejriwal in graft case
- Arvind Kejriwal was first taken into custody in March by India’s financial crime-fighting agency
- Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention
NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court granted bail on Friday to opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case, paving the way for his release almost six months after he was arrested.
Kejriwal was first taken into custody in March by India’s financial crime-fighting agency, weeks before the country’s national elections, in relation to alleged irregularities in the capital city’s liquor policy.
Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention due to his arrest a month previously by the federal police in a graft case related to the same policy.
Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) deny the allegations and say the cases are “politically motivated.”
