Tag: france

Biden-Harris Administration is Probed for Potential Role in Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s Arrest

America First Legal (AFL) is attempting to shed light on the role that the Biden-Harris administration may have played in the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.

The French-Emirati citizen was arrested in France and charged with a large number of alleged crimes – in effect, failure to censor third-party content that can be qualified as criminal behavior. However, there is suspicion that the real reason is to force Telegram to censor all content, in the style of Google or Meta. The charges also attack encryption.

Announcing its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding the US State Department’s possible involvement in the arrest, AFL noted that the encrypted app is one of the world’s largest, based on the premise of protecting its users’ free speech from what the non-profit dedicated to promoting the rule of law calls “government-sponsored” censorship.

We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.

AFL cites statements made by Mike Benz, founder of the Foundation for Freedom Online and former State Department official, as the reason to suspect the current White House either had advance knowledge or has had its hand in the highly controversial arrest.

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French Newspaper Claims Macron Tricked Durov With Dinner Invite to Facilitate His Arrest

French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine published a report claiming that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was invited for a dinner by President Emmanuel Macron in order to trick him into being arrested.

Durov was arrested on Saturday at Le Bourget airport near Paris and faces up to 20 years in prison for his alleged complicity in the sale of child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, fraud, and involvement in organized crime.

Durov is essentially being charged with these crimes because criminals used his platform to facilitate them, which would set a ludicrous legal precedent making social media owners personally responsible for literally everything anyone posts on their platforms.

Macron gave a speech on Monday insisting that the arrest was not politically motivated and, laughably, that France supports freedom of speech.

However, according to French investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine, Durov told Paris police that he was scheduled to meet Macron for a dinner on the day of his arrest.

This has prompted allegations that the French government tricked Durov into flying in to France merely as a pretext to arrest him.

Florian Philippot, leader of the Les Patriots Party, suggested that the dinner invite was a deliberate act of deception.

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Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Arrested in France, Reportedly For Refusing to Censor Content

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging app Telegram, was arrested this Saturday evening, according to French media.

The incident occurred at Le Bourget Airport just as Durov, accompanied by a bodyguard and a woman, disembarked from his private jet. Durov, who holds dual Franco-Russian citizenship and is 39 years old, had just arrived from Azerbaijan.

The arrest was executed by members of the GTA (Gendarmerie of Air Transport), acting on a French search warrant. This warrant, issued by the OFMIN of the national directorate of the French judicial police, was based on allegations that Telegram’s operational policies — specifically its lack of censorship and lack of cooperation with law enforcement’s censorship demands, along with features such as disposable phone numbers and cryptocurrency transactions — indirectly support illicit activities.

Following his arrest, Durov was notified by ONAF (National Anti-Fraud Office) investigators and placed in police custody. He was scheduled to appear before an investigating judge on Saturday evening with the potential for multiple charges to be brought against him on Sunday, including those related to terrorism, narcotics, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, and more.

An investigator confidently told TF1/LCI, “Pavel Durov will end up in pre-trial detention, that’s for sure.” They added, “On his platform, he allowed countless crimes and crimes to be committed for which he does nothing to moderate or cooperate.”

The recent arrest of Pavel Durov is just the latest in a series of challenges facing Telegram, an encrypted messaging service known for its stringent privacy policies. In recent weeks, the platform has come under intensified scrutiny and attacks from various governments and regulatory bodies, alleging that its free speech policies facilitate illegal activities.

The core of the controversy surrounds Telegram’s encryption protocols and privacy features, which authorities claim obstruct criminal investigations and enable the spread of illicit content.

Telegram’s user base has surged, particularly in regions with contentious political climates, due to its promise of secure communication.

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69 Biomarkers of Pesticides, Pollutants Found in Hair Analyses of French Children

Using mass spectrometry techniques, researchers in Luxembourg and France detected 69 biomarkers of pollutants and pesticides — 12 of which are banned — in hair samples from over 200 French children.

This study, published in Environment International, is the first to target over 150 biomarkers in a single hair sample, which “represents the most comprehensive assessment of chemical exposome in humans,” the authors say.

All children in the study were 3.5 years old and recruited from the Étude Longitudinale Française depuis l’Enfance (ELFE), French Longitudinal Study since Childhood, cohort in the country of France, a major pesticide consumer in Europe.

The ELFE survey is a joint project between the French Institute for Demographic Studies and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, which provides the first comprehensive national scientific investigation of children in France by following them from birth to adulthood.

Through analysis of hair samples from children in the ELFE cohort, this study evaluates pesticide exposure and compares it with prenatal exposure data from their mothers while also, according to the scientists, “investigat[ing] the roles of children’s biological sex and geographical differences as possible determinants of exposure.”

Exposure to pesticides during early childhood poses significant health risks. In assessing 32 chemical families through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in 222 hair samples, exposure markers can be identified in children from the ELFE cohort.

Biomarkers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are “measurable substances or characteristics in the human body that can be used to monitor the presence of a chemical in the body, biological responses or adverse health effects.”

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Paris Olympics Shut Down By Sabotage Attacks On High-Speed Train System

Transportation to the French capital has been seriously disrupted at the start of the Paris Olympics by sabotage attacks on the high-speed rail system in France.

A series of fires caused the disruptions early in the morning local time, hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Several high-speed TGV lines have been hit to the west, north and east of the capital and Eurostar has also warned customers of longer journey times and cancellations, wrote BBC.

Nobody has claimed responsibility and Mr Attal said that security forces were searching for those responsible. The public prosecutor’s office is also investigating.

“Early this morning, acts of sabotage were carried out in a prepared and coordinated manner on SNCF installations,” Mr Attal wrote on social media.

SNCF earlier described the fires as a “massive attack” involving “malicious acts”. It said it was fixing the cables damaged in the attacks manually “one by one”.

“A French source told CDM, the SNCF is putting a monster IRON DOME on the story, impossible to get info, they are kicking out the journalists of the gares station, this is a monster brothel, it will take 48 h before everything will be repiared. The lags are massive, the amount of people blocked in the gares is just out of control.

“2h delay minimum, with redirection to regional train. 800 000 people blocked in the gare stations.”

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AI Mass Surveillance at Paris Olympics Will Continue Even After Games End

The 2024 Paris Olympics is drawing the eyes of the world as thousands of athletes and support personnel and hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe converge in France.

It’s not just the eyes of the world that will be watching. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems will be watching, too.

Government and private companies will be using advanced AI tools and other surveillance tech to conduct pervasive and persistent surveillance before, during and after the Games.

The Olympic world stage and international crowds pose increased security risks so significant that in recent years authorities and critics have described the Olympics as the “world’s largest security operations outside of war.”

The French government, hand in hand with the private tech sector, has harnessed that legitimate need for increased security as grounds to deploy technologically advanced surveillance and data-gathering tools.

Its surveillance plans to meet those risks, including the controversial use of experimental AI video surveillance, are so extensive that the country had to change its laws to make the planned surveillance legal.

The plan goes beyond new AI video surveillance systems. According to news reports, the prime minister’s office has negotiated a provisional decree that is classified to permit the government to significantly ramp up traditional, surreptitious surveillance and information-gathering tools for the duration of the Games.

These include wiretapping; collecting geolocation, communications and computer data; and capturing greater amounts of visual and audio data.

I am a law professor and attorney, and I research, teach and write about privacy, artificial intelligence and surveillance. I also provide legal and policy guidance on these subjects to legislators and others.

Increased security risks can and do require increased surveillance. This year, France has faced concerns about its Olympic security capabilities and credible threats around public sporting events.

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1000-Year-Old Notre Dame Cathedral in Normandy Has ‘Caught Fire’ – Authorities Say Possible ‘Religious Attack’

A 1000-year-old cathedral in the French city of Rouen has caught fire in what authorities say could be a religiously motivated attack.

While details about the blaze are currently scarce, firefighters are currently working to extinguish the fire and reduce the level of damage.

Local television footage initially showed a dark plume of smoke rising from the spire, with onlookers in the streets below watching in horror.

Other images revealed smoke seeping through a gap in the white cover surrounding the scaffolding.

A masterpiece of French medieval Gothic architecture, the cathedral dates back to the 12th century and gained international fame after being repeatedly painted by the Impressionist artist Claude Monet in the 19th century. Between the years of 1876 and 1880 it was the tallest building in the world.

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Lavrov Says West Does Not Have ‘Democracy’ – Everything Is Pre-Arranged

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answered a question at the Kremlin yesterday regarding the French elections.

Question: You said that Joe Biden was a more preferable president for Russia. But we see what is happening now. How would you comment on that?

Sergey Lavrov: It was President Vladimir Putin who said this in reply to a question about which candidate we “favour.”  

Frankly, it is a pathetic sight. When the system of “American democracy” produces such results and this course of the presidential race, anyone can make their own independent conclusions about the way things are orchestrated and arranged.

Take another “democracy,” France. The first round of the presidential election is over there. There can be two rounds, and it appears that the second round was designed to manipulate voters’ will that was expressed during the first round. When candidates can withdraw from the race, and they are convinced to do that to smooth things down for the “victory” of the conservatives or populists, it does not look like democracy.

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Macron Says France Working To ‘Finalize’ Plan To Send Troops to Ukraine

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France was working to “finalize a coalition” of NATO countries that are willing to send troops to Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces, a step that would mark a huge escalation in the proxy war.

During a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris, Macron said Ukraine’s request for NATO trainers was “legitimate” and downplayed the risk of escalation.

“It’s much more efficient and practical for certain capacities in certain conditions to train on Ukrainian soil, it’s a legitimate request,” Macron said. “We’re going to use the coming days to finalize the broadest possible coalition.” He added that several NATO countries have already agreed to the plan.

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Sperm Samples in French Infertility Clinic Have High Levels of Glyphosate

A recent study published in The Journal of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety last month revealed that more than half of the sperm samples collected from the Pole Santé Leonard de Vinci infertility clinic near Tours, France contained high levels of glyphosate—the primary ingredient in Bayer AG’s Roundup weed killer, which was developed and formerly marketed by Monsanto starting in the 1970s. This discovery raises concerns about the potential negative health impact of glyphosate in reproduction, particularly in light of a growing body of research indicating historically low birth rates globally. Glyphosate is commonly used on various food crops and in residential settings across the United States.1 2

The study established a significant correlation between glyphosate exposure and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can cause DNA damage and diminished cellular performance, as well as   compromise sperm vitality and function, which contributes to significant fertility impairment. Additionally, the research suggests that agricultural workers, smokers, and consumers of conventionally grown (non-organic) produce may be particularly vulnerable to these damaging effects. The authors wrote:

Taken together, our results suggest a negative impact of glyphosate on human reproductive health and possibly on progeny.3

Glyphosate’s Toxic Past Highlights Increased Need for Awareness and Regulation

In addition to potentially detrimental impacts on reproductive health, the manufacturers of the widely used glyphosate-based product Roundup has faced numerous lawsuits alleging that glyphosate also causes cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin lymphoma. After Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018, it inherited these legal battles. In 2020, Bayer agreed to a $10 billion settlement to resolve approximately 100,000 lawsuits, marking a significant milestone in product liability and environmental health litigation. Despite this substantial settlement, Monsanto has continued to deny that Roundup causes cancer.4

Prior to Bayer’s $10 billion settlement, a California jury concluded that glyphosate-based Roundup developed and marketed by Monsanto caused former groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma and, in 2019, awarded him $289 million in damages. This was the first prominent case to draw widespread attention to the health risks associated with glyphosate. The award amount was later reduced to $78 million following an appeal5

In 2023, U.S. government research published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives revealed genotoxicity in farmers with elevated glyphosate levels in their bloodstreams, suggesting a potential link between the herbicide and cancer. Shortly after the study’s publication, a coalition of farmworker, public health, and environmental advocates petitioned U.S. regulators to immediately suspend the use of the hazardous weed killer. The petition, filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), argued that the toxic chemical fails to meet federal safety standard laws, and the EPA lacks valid assessments demonstrating otherwise.6

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