WASHINGTON: The Biden administration announced wide-ranging actions Wednesday meant to call out Russian influence in the upcoming US presidential election, unsealing criminal charges against two employees of a Russian state-run media company and seizing Internet domains used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation.
The measures represented a US government effort at disrupting a persistent threat from Russia that American officials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters. Washington has said that Russia remains the primary threat to elections even as the FBI investigates a hack by Iran of Donald Trump’s campaign and an attempt breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign.
One criminal case accuses two employees of RT, a Russian-state-funded media organization that was forced by the Justice Department to register as a foreign agent, of covertly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish nearly 2,000 videos containing Russian propaganda. The defendants, who remain at large, used fake identities and the company was unaware it was being used by Russia.
In the other action, officials announced the seizure of 32 Internet domains that were used by the Kremlin to spread Russian propaganda and weaken global support for Ukraine.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the actions relate to Russia’s use of state media to enlist unwitting American influencers to spread propaganda and disinformation.
Intelligence agencies have previously charged that Russia was using disinformation to try to interfere in the election. The new steps show the depth of US concerns and signal legal actions against those suspected of being involved.
“Today’s announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said. “But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors intentionally interfering and undermining free and fair elections.”
In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia remained the biggest threat to election integrity, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin and “his proxies are using increasingly sophisticated techniques in their interference operations. They’re targeting specific voter demographics and swing-state voters to in an effort to manipulate presidential and congressional election outcomes. They’re intent on co-opting unwitting Americans on social media to push narratives advancing Russian interests.”
Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote. The tactics include using state media like RT to advance anti-US messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and inject them into American’s online conversations. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza.
In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either originated or was amplified by the Kremlin.
“Russia is taking a whole of government approach to influence the election including the presidential race,” an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this summer during a briefing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules worked out with that office.
Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters.
Two such firms were the subject of new US sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation.
The ultimate goal, however, is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origin. People are far more likely to trust and repost information that they believe is coming from a domestic source, officials said. Fake websites designed to mimic US news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods.
Messages left with the Russian Embassy were not immediately returned.
US accuses Russia of using state media to spread disinformation before the November election
https://arab.news/6g83w
US accuses Russia of using state media to spread disinformation before the November election
- Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote
Britain's PM urges nations to smash migrant smuggling gangs ‘once and for all’
- The UK government is struggling to stop undocumented migrants embarking on dangerous boat journeys across the Channel from France
- Delegates from more than 40 nations for the two-day London meeting, including countries from where would-be asylum seekers set out
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged dozens of countries to collaborate to dismantle migrant smuggling gangs “once and for all” when he opened an immigration crime summit on Monday.
Starmer is seeking to crack down on would-be asylum seekers arriving in England on flimsy small boats and has brought together delegates from more than 40 nations for the two-day London meeting.
The interior ministers of France and Germany were among those attending the Organized Immigration Crime Summit. China and the United States also sent representatives.
The UK government is struggling to stop undocumented migrants embarking on dangerous boat journeys across the Channel from France.
“This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions... and profits from our inability at the political level to come together,” Starmer said.
He argued that resources and intelligence must be shared and that governments need to “tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people-smuggling routes.”
“There’s nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to this,” Starmer added.
Britain’s Home Office (interior ministry) billed the gathering as “the first major international summit in the UK to tackle the global emergency of illegal migration.”
Representatives from across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, as well as North America were due to attend.
In a video message played to delegates, Italy’s far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni hailed her country’s agreement with Albania to process asylum claims at detention centers in the non-European Union country.
She claimed that countries “criticized (it) at first but that then has gained increasing consensus.”
Italian judges have repeatedly refused to sign off on the detention in Albania of migrants intercepted by Italian authorities at sea, ordering them to be transferred to Italy instead, and the European Court of Justice is reviewing Rome’s policy.
Joint action plan
The summit is designed to build on talks interior minister Yvette Cooper held in December with her counterparts from Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The five countries signed a joint action plan designed to boost cooperation to dismantle migrant smuggling gangs.
Also attending were delegates from countries from where would-be asylum seekers set out, such as Vietnam and Iraq, and countries they transit, such as those in the Balkans.
It also brings together the heads of UK law enforcement agencies and their counterparts from Interpol, Europol and Afripol.
The Home Office said the summit would discuss the equipment, infrastructure and fraudulent documents that organized criminal gangs use to smuggle people.
They would also look at how supply routes work and discuss how to tackle the online recruitment of migrants, including with representatives from social media platforms Meta, X and TikTok.
The UK announced on Sunday it was launching adverts on Zalo, the Vietnamese instant messaging system, to warn people of the dangers of people smugglers.
Vietnamese nationals are among the top nationalities making the perilous sea voyage across the Channel to Britain.
Similar UK campaigns have already been launched in Albania and Iraqi Kurdistan.
UK officials are also keen to speak to China about how it can stop exporting engines and other small boats parts used in crossings.
According to the Home Office, the UK’s National Crime Agency and global law enforcement partners have seized 600 boats and engines since July.
‘No right to be here’
Starmer told the meeting that since his Labour government took power in July, more than 24,000 people with “no right to be here” had been returned.
But the number of would-be asylum seekers arriving across the Channel set a new record last week for the first three months of the year — at more than 6,600.
At least 10 people are dead or missing after attempting the treacherous crossing so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
More than 157,770 people have been detected trying to enter Britain in dinghies since successive governments began collecting data in 2018.
In February, Starmer’s government announced it was toughening immigration rules to make it almost impossible for undocumented migrants who arrive on small boats to later receive citizenship.
On Sunday, it said it would tighten rules to legally require UK gig economy employers to carry out right-to-work checks.
Starmer is under pressure, in part from rising support for Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which won roughly four million votes at July’s general election — an unprecedented haul for a hard-right party.
Rights group Amnesty International stresses: “Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.”
“The people are not the problem,” it says on its website. “Rather, the causes that drive families and individuals to cross borders and the short-sighted and unrealistic ways that politicians respond to them are the problem.”
Netanyahu arrives in Hungary in defiance of ICC arrest warrant: minister
BUDAPEST: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary on Thursday in defiance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Gaza, the Hungarian defense minister said.
“Welcome to Budapest, Benjamin Netanyahu!” wrote Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky on Facebook as Netanyahu began a visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The world reacts with caution to US ‘reciprocal’ tariffs against dozens of nations
- Italian PM says US tariffs are “wrong,” but wants to avoid trade war
- British officials have said they will not immediately retaliate
- Mexico's president said she would wait to take action
ROME/MEXICO CITY: The sweeping new tariffs announced Wednesday by US President Donald Trump were met initially with measured reactions from key trading partners, highlighting the lack of appetite for a full-fledged trade war.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, seen as close to Trump, described the new 20 percent tariffs against the European Union as “wrong,” saying they benefit neither side, but suggested finding a way to avoid a trade war.
“We will do everything we can to work toward an agreement with the United States, with the goal of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” she said in a statement on Facebook.
“In any case, as always, we will act in the interest of Italy and its economy, also engaging with other European partners,” she added.
The fact that the tariffs fell most heavily on parts of the world sleeping through the night appeared to at least temporarily delay some of the potential outrage.
Trump presented the import taxes, which he calls “reciprocal tariffs” and range from 10 percent to 49 percent, in the simplest terms: the US would do to its trading partners what he said they had been doing to the US for decades.
“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
The president promised that “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.” He framed it not just as an economic issue, but a question of national security that threatens “our very way of life.”
‘Nobody wants a trade war’
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the British government said the United States remains the UK’s “closest ally.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the UK hoped to strike a trade deal to “mitigate the impact” of the 10 percent tariffs on British goods announced by Trump.
“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal,” said Reynolds. “But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”
British officials have said they will not immediately retaliate, an approach backed by the Confederation of British Industry, a major business group.
Little to gain
Spared for the moment from the latest round of tariffs were Mexico and Canada, so far as goods that already qualified under their free trade agreement with the United States. Yet, the previously announced 25 percent tariffs on auto imports were scheduled to take effect at midnight.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she would wait to take action on Thursday when it was clear how Trump’s announcement would affect Mexico.
“It’s not a question of if you impose tariffs on me, I’m going to impose tariffs on you,” she said in a news briefing Wednesday morning. “Our interest is in strengthening the Mexican economy.”
Canada had imposed retaliatory tariffs in response to the 25 percent tariffs that Trump tied to the trafficking of fentanyl. The European Union, in response to the steel and aluminum tariffs, imposed taxes on 26 billion euros’ worth ($28 billion) of US goods, including bourbon, prompting Trump to threaten a 200 percent tariff on European alcohol.
As Trump read down the list of countries that would be targeted Wednesday, he repeatedly said he didn’t blame them for the tariffs and non-tariff barriers they imposed to protect their own nations’ businesses. “But we’re doing the same thing right now,” he said.
“In the face of unrelenting economic warfare, the United States can no longer continue with a policy of unilateral economic surrender,” Trump said.
Speaking from a business forum in India, Chilean President Gabriel Boric warned that such measures, in addition to causing uncertainty, challenge the “mutually agreed rules” and the “principles that govern international trade.”
Ultimately, Trump announced Chile would face the baseline reciprocal tariff of 10 percent. The US is Chile’s second most important trading partner after China.
Analysts say there’s little to be gained from an all-out trade war, neither in the United States or in other countries.
“Once again, Trump has put Europe at a crossroads,” said Matteo Villa, senior analyst at Italy’s Institute for International Political Studies.
“If Trump really imposes high tariffs, Europe will have to respond, but the paradox is that the EU would be better off doing nothing,” he added.
Villa also noted that retaliation would certainly be a further “blow” to the United States, but it would hurt Europe even more, as the EU bloc depends more on exports to the US than vice versa.
“On the other hand, Trump seems to understand only the language of force, and this indicates the need for a strong and immediate response,” Villa said. “Probably the hope, in Brussels, is that the response will be strong enough to induce Trump to negotiate and, soon, to backtrack.”
Arab and Muslim candidates win 18 of 36 elections in Chicago suburbs
- They were running for municipal and school board seats in areas with fast-growing Arab and Muslim populations
- Keith Pekau, a mayor who last year told residents who asked local authorities to support a ceasefire in Gaza to ‘go to another country,’ loses his bid for reelection
CHICAGO: Arab and Muslim candidates won 18 of 36 seats they contested in suburban Chicago elections on April 1, a result participants and observers said reflected the growing influence of the community on the city’s politics.
The 35 hopefuls were running for municipal and school board seats in areas with fast-growing Arab and Muslim populations. Of the 18 who won, 12 of the races were uncontested. Of the 24 candidates who faced challengers, 18 lost but said they were not discouraged.
Two key races took place in Orland Township and the village of Orland Park, which has a population of 60,000 and is a part of the township.
First-time candidate Lena Matariyeh, a local real estate agent, received the most votes in a crowded field of 12 candidates to win a trustee seat on the board of Orland Township, a governing body that provides services for about 98,000 residents.
“When I came out on top, it was definitely something. It was amazing,” she told Arab News. “I always dreamed of doing something like this for myself to serve the community.
“For me, running for office was for personal and professional reasons. I’m always helping people move and relocate to our area, and to understand why people are leaving and why people want to move here.
“Orland has so much to offer and there’s always room for growth. So just to be involved on a first-hand basis with how we could improve and make this community work for all walks of life is what I dream for it to be.”
Matariyeh, a mother-of-four whose family has lived in Orland Park for 15 years, said she was motivated to run, in part, after the local mayor, Keith Pekau, told residents during a meeting in February 2024 they should “go to another country” when they asked the board to adopt a resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I would say that is what encouraged a lot of Arab Americans to run for office,” she added. “It might be something that encouraged me without me realizing it. I ran for many reasons but if people are telling us that we’re not part of the process, or we’re not following things a certain way, we have to show up and prove to ourselves that we do belong.
“This is everyone’s home. My family is the same as others whose ancestors came to this country. We all immigrated to his country. My background being Palestinian American, being born and raised here, I don’t think anyone should have to fight to be recognized or to receive the same rights as someone else who looks a certain way. My goal is for this to be a world of inclusion. We all should be respected.”
After the meeting last year during which Pekau made his comment, local Arab Americans rallied and registered to vote in large numbers. On Tuesday, the mayor lost his reelection bid to challenger Jim Dodge, who during his campaign promised to be more inclusive of the Arab and Muslim communities and “all residents regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity.”
Dodge did not, however, include any Arabs or Muslims on his ticket as his choices for the post of clerk and three available trustee spots. Mohammed Jaber, who in April 2023 became the first Arab American elected to serve on the High School District 230 Board of Education, which encompasses the bulk of Arab American families living in Chicago’s southwestern suburbs, told Arab News that Dodge had declined requests to include an Arab on his ticket, possibly because he was not sure how this might affect the outcome of the election.
However, the effect of the Arab Americans on this week’s elections was clear, Jaber said, noting that voter turnout among the community had doubled following Pekau’s disrespectful comments.
“The huge surge in Arab and Muslim candidates in this past election shows that there is growing community awareness that they need to be involved,” he added,
“Although only half of the 35 candidates were able to win office, it is a huge achievement. It also reflects on the hesitancy of some mainstream politicians to run with Arab running mates.
“The success of the Arab candidates shows that Jim Dodge, who won the race for Orland Park mayor, should have slated an Arab American candidate on his ticket. He did not, as many non-Arab activists and candidates didn’t have faith in the strength and dedication of the Arab and Muslim community to engage in the election process as we did on Tuesday, energetically and with pride.”
Egyptian American Mary Alexander Basta was reelected on Tuesday for a second term as mayor of Bolingbrook, a village in the western suburbs of DuPage County with a population of 74,000.
“I extend my deepest gratitude to the Arab community that has supported me throughout my journey,” Basta told Arab News. “Your dedication to uplifting our communities, fostering unity and advocating for meaningful representation has been truly invaluable.
“The Arab community plays a vital role in the fabric of our society, and it is essential that we remain engaged, active and involved in shaping our collective future. Our voices matter and our contributions enrich every aspect of civic life.
“I encourage more Arab Americans to step forward, whether by voting, serving in leadership roles or running for office. Representation is not just about presence, it’s about influence, advocacy and ensuring that our diverse perspectives are heard at every level of government.”
Basta, who studied communications at the American University in Cairo, added: “Together, we can continue to build a stronger, more inclusive community where everyone has a seat at the table. Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment to making a difference.”
Basta and her family moved to Bolingbrook in 2003 and she became involved in local education, serving as president of the Parent Teachers Association for schools her children attended.
She was named “Citizen of the Year” in 2018 for her community activism, and two years later was elected to the post of village trustee. In Dec. 2020, she was appointed acting mayor and won the election to the office in April 2021.
The other successful Arab American and Muslim American candidates in suburban Cook, DuPage and Will counties were: Rasha Atallah, elected trustee in North Palos School District 117; Nour Akhras, in Niles Township High School District 2189; Aisha Zayyad, in Orland School District 135; Fida Khalil, in Ridgeland School District 122; Sakina Kadakia, in West Northfield 31 School District; and Diane Shaar, elected trustee of Moraine Valley Community College.
Jackie Haddad Tamer was elected clerk of the city in Elmhurst; Mohammed Siddiqi as a trustee in Glendale Heights; Tasneem Abuzir as a trustee in Palos Township; Ranya El-Khatib as clerk of the village of Lombard; Ashfaq Syed as a council member in the village of Naperville; and Samia Wahab as a member of the West Chicago Library Board.
Zahawa Saleh was elected trustee in Marquardt School District in Addison; Nagla Fetouh in Willowbrook School District 62; Nader Najjar in Burr Ridge School District 180; and Denyana Masood in Rockdale School District 84.
In a symbolic rebuke, US Senate votes to block Trump tariffs on Canada
- The Senate voted 51-48 to overturn the national emergency at the border, with 4 Republicans joining all of the chamber’s Democrats
- But it was a purely symbolic dissent, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, is expected to block any vote on the resolution
WASHINGTON: A handful of Senate Republicans broke ranks with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, joining Democrats to pass a measure that would block his tariffs on Canadian imports.
The resolution, supported by four Republicans and all of the chamber’s Democrats, has virtually no chance of becoming law.
But it marks a rare, albeit symbolic defeat for Trump on Capitol Hill, where his Republican Party controls both chambers and he has seen little pushback to his rampaging first months in office.
The Senate voted 51-48 to overturn the national emergency at the border which Trump declared earlier this year, which he has used to justify saddling Canadian imports with 25 percent tariffs.
But it was a purely symbolic dissent, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, is expected to block any vote on the resolution.
Trump took to his Truth Social media platform to slam the legislation as a Democratic “ploy” and make clear it is dead on arrival in the House.
“The House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it,” he posted.
The four Republican senators who voted to pass the measure were Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — viewed as the two most-centrist party members — as well as Kentucky’s two senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
The Senate vote occurred shortly after Trump rolled out his plans to slap fresh import tariffs on products from countries around the globe, an announcement that sent stock markets tumbling.
