Your Friday Briefing – The New York Instances

A bribery case rocks the European Parliament

A high-profile bribery case, constructed by the Belgian authorities over greater than a 12 months with the assistance of their secret providers, has uncovered what prosecutors say was a cash-for-favors scheme on the coronary heart of the E.U. It has highlighted the vulnerabilities in an opaque, notoriously bureaucratic system that decides insurance policies for 450 million folks on the earth’s richest membership of countries.

Now, Eva Kaili, a Greek politician and a vp of the European Parliament, is in jail, accused of buying and selling political selections for money. The Belgian authorities charged her final weekend alongside her accomplice, Francesco Giorgi, and two others in an investigation into Qatari affect. Police raids uncovered €1.5 million in money.

Weeks earlier, she had been noticed within the ultra-selective V.V.I.P. field on the World Cup in Qatar. That very same week, in Brussels, she delivered an impassioned protection of the Center Japanese nation towards criticism of its exploitation of migrant staff who had constructed the event’s stadiums, chastising Qatar’s critics as bullies.

Response: Kalli’s lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, mentioned she was harmless. “She merely had no information of the money,” he mentioned. “She did Qatar no favors in any respect, as a result of all her positions have been, in truth, according to E.U. coverage on Qatar.”

Go deeper: The Instances spoke to 2 dozen lawmakers, E.U. and Belgian authorities officers, and aides instantly aware of the case and the folks concerned, and examined non-public correspondence, years of social media posts, coverage drafts and voting information.

The U.S. will prepare Ukrainian troops

The Pentagon plans to coach 600 to 800 Ukrainian troops — one battalion — every month in superior battlefield ways at a base in Germany, beginning subsequent 12 months. The expanded effort would concentrate on superior ways and would search to bolster the offensive expertise of a army that has largely adopted defensive positions.

The Pentagon has already skilled 610 Ukrainians to function a sophisticated rocket launcher. The troops have used the system to devastating impact, hitting targets far behind Russian strains. The brand new initiative will contain coaching larger teams of Ukrainians on varied methods, equivalent to coordinating floor infantry troops with artillery assist.

The choice to step up coaching comes because the administration is poised to ship a Patriot antimissile battery, America’s most superior ground-based air protection system, in response to pressing calls for from Kyiv.

In different information from the warfare:

• Reporters for The Instances accompanied a surveillance staff for the Ukrainian Military as they used a thermal sight to search out enemy positions miles away.

• A Russian broadcaster plucked clips from U.S. cable information, right-wing social media and Chinese language officers to spin a counternarrative that Russia is profitable in Ukraine, leaked emails revealed.

• The U.S. introduced new sanctions on outstanding Russians.

Rates of interest rise in Europe

The European Central Financial institution, the Swiss Central Financial institution and the Financial institution of England all raised rates of interest by half a share level, after three-quarters-of-a-point will increase at earlier conferences, in an effort to tame inflation. Every central financial institution harassed that it was in a steady battle towards stubbornly excessive inflation.

Within the eurozone, “rates of interest will nonetheless need to rise considerably at a gradual tempo” to verify they’re restrictive sufficient to return inflation to the central financial institution’s 2 % goal in a “well timed” method, the E.C.B. mentioned in an announcement yesterday. Most members of the Financial institution of England’s rate-setting committee mentioned they anticipated that extra will increase can be wanted to curb inflation.

The longer-term image is extra sophisticated: Europe’s economies are decelerating due to excessive vitality prices and the consequences of months of fee will increase, which have made mortgages and different loans dearer. Policymakers have been attempting to calibrate the correct amount of financial tightening wanted to convey down inflation regardless of the financial slowdown.

By the numbers: The Financial institution of England began elevating charges a 12 months in the past and, over the course of 9 consecutive coverage conferences, has lifted charges from 0.1 % to three.5 %, the very best since 2008. Client costs in Britain rose 10.7 % in November from a 12 months earlier, down barely from 11.1 % in October, the very best annual fee since 1981.

Associated: British nurses went on strike yesterday for the primary time within the 74-year historical past of the nation’s well being service.

THE LATEST NEWS

Across the World

Falconry — one in every of Qatar’s oldest traditions — now entails fashionable coaching strategies. Drones drag pigeons excessive into the sky to show the falcons to hunt.

GPS monitoring gadgets additionally assist falconers keep away from shedding their birds: The very best racing falcons are value tens of millions of {dollars}. Even these stored as pets usually run into the tens of hundreds.

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

Lionel Messi’s pursuit of sports activities immortality: As soon as haunted and pale, Messi seems to be comfy, unburdened and pleased as he stands on the verge of … what, precisely?

France, the imperfect back-to-back World Cup finalist: France’s coach admits his staff hasn’t been good in current matches, however it’s digging deep in Qatar to beat opponents and adversity.

May Karim Benzema play within the closing?: The Ballon d’Or winner was pressured out of the World Cup from accidents, however France didn’t change him. Does that imply he can play in Sunday’s showdown?

Logging off

The Luddite Membership, a highschool group in Brooklyn, promotes a way of life of self-liberation from the evils of know-how — no iPhones or different smartphones, and definitely no social media.

Every week, they meet in Prospect Park for time away from their screens and even their flip telephones: drawing and portray; listening to the wind; studying bodily books, pulled from satchels. (They’ve a keenness for works condemning know-how, like “Participant Piano” by Kurt Vonnegut.)

The membership is called after Ned Ludd, the folkloric 18th-century English textile employee who supposedly smashed up a mechanized loom, inspiring others to take up his title and riot towards industrialization.

“It’s a bit frowned on if somebody doesn’t present up,” one member mentioned. “We’re right here each Sunday, rain or shine, even snow. We don’t keep up a correspondence with one another, so you must present up.”

For extra: Emma Lembke, a scholar at Washington College in St. Louis, began the Log Off Motion in June 2020, which goals to spur dialogue amongst younger people who find themselves feeling the adversarial results of social media and need to modify their relationship to it.