Brussel Police attempts to shut down conservative conference ‘extremely disturbing’, says No 10

Ben Riley-Smith

(TORY) TELEGRAPH
Tue, 16 April 2024 

Nigel Farage said there had been 'no public order threat whatsoever'

 - Yves Herman/Reuters

Downing Street has said attempts by police in Belgium to shut down a conservative conference featuring Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman on Tuesday were “extremely disturbing”.

Mr Farage was on stage at the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels when officers entered the venue to serve a court order demanding its closure with “immediate effect”.

Legal papers, seen by The Telegraph, suggested speeches at the event could cause public disorder, be homophobic or offend minorities.

The conference organisers had been forced to relocate to the venue on Monday night after a conference hall and a hotel cancelled their bookings following claims of “political pressure” from the local Left-wing mayor.

A No 10 spokesman said: “Clearly, these reports are extremely disturbing. The Prime Minister is a strong supporter and advocator for free speech, and he believes that should be fundamental to any democracy.

“Speaking more broadly to the principle of such events, he is very clear that cancelling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result. He is very clear that free debate and the exchange of views is vital, even where you disagree.”

Mrs Braverman, the former home secretary, who also spoke at the gathering, criticised what she called the “Brussels thought police” for undermining free speech.

After her speech, she told reporters: “The thought police instructed by the mayor of Brussels are so fit to try and undermine and denigrate what is free speech and free debate.

“I remember the words of Mrs Thatcher, and I’m going to misquote her, but the more ridiculous and far-fetched and extremist their attempts are to silence us, the more cheered on I am. Because it just shows that they’ve lost their political argument.”

Suella Braverman said opponents had 'lost their political argument' - Omar Havana/Getty Images

Miriam Cates, the Tory MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, had to be smuggled into the venue to deliver her speech on protecting children. She was disguised in a tartan headscarf and taken in through a service entrance.

She said: “It’s just incredible. Many of the speakers are elected politicians in their own countries, and people can disagree with them, but they’re legally elected. It’s just extraordinary that there’s been an attempt to shut them down like this. It’s the opposite of liberalism.”

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Farage said: “The monstrous reaction in Brussels to this conference comes as no surprise to me. I was personally banned from restaurants, pubs and coffee bars in my last few years in this city.

“But today, the Brussels elite have exhibited their culture on a global stage. In fact, it’s far more serious than that.

“Cancel culture is saying: ‘I do not want to hear your opinion.’ What happened today is an updated form of Soviet communism. It says that no other view is allowed, that anybody that holds it is, by definition, mad, bad, and dangerous. It’s an approach that has, and will always, fail in the end.”

Mr Farage, the honorary president of Reform UK, told the audience that police would have to drag him from the stage if they wanted to silence him.

A police cordon was erected to prevent people from entering the venue, but officers did not go into the conference room to remove speakers or delegates as a court battle ensued.

The event was allowed to continue while organisers mounted a legal challenge against the order to shut it down from Emir Kir, a local Brussels mayor. “This event could undeniably lead to violent reactions [and] considerable disturbances of public order,” the order said.

Mr Kir, the long-serving mayor of the city’s Saint-Josse district, was kicked out of the Socialist Party in Brussels in 2020 after he met politicians from Turkey’s far-Right.

The event had originally been due to be held at the Concert Noble ballroom, but on Friday Yoram Hazony, the conference chairman, said his team had been told by the venue that it had to pull the event amid “political pressure” from Philippe Close, the Socialist Party mayor of Brussels.

Belgian police enter the conference venue on Tuesday - Omar Havana/Getty Images

The Claridge club, owned by Lassaad Ben Yaghlane, a Belgian-Tunisian businessman, stepped in to host it. As he defied orders to shut it down, officials ordered his car to be towed away and catering firms were blocked from delivering supplies.

“These are not the people I normally share the same values with,” Mr Ben Yaghlane said of the conference attendees. “The difference is that I understand they want stability and maintaining [of] traditional values, but we live in a world that evolves a lot at the moment and needs more openness and acceptance for the values of others.”

Mr Ben Yaghlane has owned the venue, which is more used to hosting weddings, bar mitzvahs and parties, since 2013. Mr Farage said: “He is hugely brave.”

Nigel Farage

Nasty Brussels police have just proven Brexit right

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Mr Farage, who delivered a speech on his history of clashing with the ruling class in Brussels, said there was “no public order threat”. Eric Zemmour, the French firebrand, delivered his speech on the pavement outside after he was refused entry by police.

Mr Hazony, the conference chairman, said: “We work very hard to make sure that fringe elements, political extremists don’t catch a ride on our conferences.” A spokesman also insisted the event was “extremely peaceful”.

Frank Furedi, of the MCC Brussels think tank, said the attempt to shut down the event was “an entirely political act ... political decisions are masqueraded as technical ones.”

On Tuesday, organisers were working to secure a new venue for the second day of the conference, when Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, is due to speak. There were doubts the legal challenge to overturn the court order would succeed in time to hold the event.

In her speech, Mrs Braverman claimed Rishi Sunak lacked the “political will” to take Britain out of the European Convention of Human Rights.

She said the Prime Minister’s promise to prevent “foreign courts” from stopping Britain from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was “inauthentic”, calling leaving “right and necessary” and also the “politically expedient” option for the Government.

UK Government ‘scores three out of 10’ on energy security commitments – analysis

Emily Beament, PA Environment Correspondent
8 April 2024·



The Government has only achieved three out of 10 commitments it made to boost the UK’s energy security two years ago, analysis has suggested.

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) examined the plans laid out in the British Energy Security Strategy in April 2022, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to boost security of supplies and keep bills low.

It accused the Government of “going backwards” on reducing the country’s reliance on expensive foreign fossil fuel imports.

The think tank’s assessment highlighted 10 key areas for action in the Government’s 2022 strategy, from energy efficiency and grid operations to offshore wind and nuclear power, and warned only three of them had been achieved.

The areas where the Government has made progress in boosting energy security are on hydrogen, including awarding the first contracts for hydrogen projects, work to improve the network and grid operations, and boosting oil and gas production.

But the ECIU warned that issuing more oil and gas licences would not help with bills as international markets set the price of fossil fuel energy, and as oil and gas drilled here does not necessarily stay in the UK it would not improve security.

Elsewhere, the Government was off track to retrofit 450,000 homes with insulation and energy saving measures by 2026 to cut gas demand and bills, according to the ECIU, and likely only to manage half the target level.

The last offshore wind energy auction delivered no new projects, targets to develop new nuclear power had not been met and green levies had not been moved off electricity to support clean tech such as heat pumps, the analysis said.

The analysis also found that while there had been some progress on shifting heating away from gas and oil to clean heat pumps, with a £7,500 grant now in place for households making the switch, other targets and measures had been delayed or scrapped.

New onshore wind developments are still not progressing in England, while there is some progress on delivering more solar power and reducing wait times for energy projects to connect to the grid, the analysis said.

Jess Ralston, energy analyst at the ECIU, said: “The UK has had two energy security strategies within two years and we’re still going backwards, becoming more dependent on foreign imports.”

She said the Government’s Bill requiring annual auctions for North Sea licences for oil and gas drilling had been described as “unnecessary” by the regulator, and would generate minimal more output.

North Sea production was in decline and without a shift away from gas, the UK would be increasingly reliant on foreign fossil fuels, she warned.

“The PM’s U-turning on insulation standards and heat pumps is leaving the UK less energy independent.

“And his Government’s policy failures in securing new offshore wind farms mean the UK could miss out on 22 times more homegrown electricity than could be generated by gas from new North Sea licences.

“If it genuinely wants greater energy security it’s prioritising the wrong things,” she said.

She acknowledged that the Government had increased the heat pump grant and sales were picking up, but delaying other policies meant the UK was lagging far behind other countries including the US and many in Europe.

“Heat pumps are one of the UK’s best weapons in the fight for energy independence,” she said.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) spokesperson said the Government did not accept the claims.

“Since we published the British Energy Security Strategy we have allocated billions to improve energy efficiency, announced a dedicated record pot of £800 million to back offshore wind projects and increased our heat pump grant to £7,500 – making it one of the most generous schemes in Europe and helping families with costs.

“We have achieved all this while maintaining one of the most secure and diverse energy systems in the world, with renewables now accounting for nearly half of our electricity – up from 7% in 2010 – while backing a domestic oil and gas supply and ending the stop-start approach to nuclear,” they said.

Grant Thornton fined £40,000 for failings at council pension fund

Adam Mawardi
8 April 2024·

grant thornton

Grant Thornton has been fined £40,000 over failures of its audit of a council’s pension fund.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) found the UK’s sixth largest accounting firm made “material errors” during a major local authority audit for the year ending March 2021.

The accounting watchdog’s enforcement committee said these failures represented a “significant departure” from the standards expected of a registered auditor and had the potential to affect the public, employees, pensioners or creditors.

These included “two uncorrected material errors” in the pension fund’s audited financial statements that were included in the local authority’s annual report, which did not feature in the pension fund’s own financial statements.

They also found that Grant Thornton failed to obtain sufficient evidence that the value of the pension fund’s investments was “materially accurate”.

The FRC said that a sanction was necessary to ensure Grant Thornton’s local audit functions are undertaken, supervised and managed effectively.

The regulator initially proposed a £50,000 sanction against the firm, but discounted the penalty by 20pc to £40,000 to reflect the company’s cooperation and other mitigating factors.

The FRC said: “The committee acknowledges that Grant Thornton UK LLP provided cooperation, including at an early stage, took appropriate remedial steps promptly once the failing was identified and demonstrated contrition.

“There was also no evidence to support financial gain or benefit from the failure.”

Grant Thornton has accepted the sanction and has issued written undertakings in response to the penalty.

The FRC’s sanctions over local audits principally refer to local authorities and health bodies other than NHS Foundation Trusts, which are separately handled by NHS England.

Major local audits include those where council pension schemes have at least 20,000 members or manage more than £1bn in assets, according to accounting rules.

A Grant Thornton spokesman said: “We note the findings of the regulator’s investigation, with which we have cooperated throughout, and regret the errors identified.

“As a leading provider of audit and related assurance services to the public sector, we remain committed to high-quality work and have taken steps to further improve this.”

‘Shadow bank’ lending risks triggering new financial crisis, warns IMF


Szu Ping Chan
8 April 2024·

City of London

Risky lending by “shadow banks” threatens to trigger a new financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

The Washington-based organisation said there were “systemic risks” posed by the $2.1 trillion “opaque world of private credit”, which has boomed in recent years against a backdrop of record low interest rates.

Companies deemed too large or risky for commercial banks and too small to float their shares on the stock market have increasingly turned to non-bank funds to borrow money quickly, flexibly and confidentially.

However, regulation in this corner of financial markets is relatively lax and the IMF said a severe economic downturn could quickly expose vulnerabilities.

“In a severe downturn, credit quality could deteriorate sharply, spurring defaults and significant losses,” the IMF said in its latest Financial Stability Report.

The impact would be felt beyond just private lenders as a growing share of public and private pension funds are pouring money into these private funds.

The IMF’s warning comes just weeks after the Bank of England launched a review into financial stability risks posed by private equity.

Threadneedle Street is concerned about the value of assets controlled by private equity companies, how much money has been lent against them and how these loans are linked back to commercial banks and investors.

Some of Britain’s biggest companies are now backed by the private equity industry, including the supermarkets Asda and Morrisons.

While private credit differs from private equity, the IMF noted that “growth in private credit has followed the rise in private equity”.

It said private equity firms were involved in around 70pc of private credit deals. Some of the biggest “shadow bank” lenders include funds run by Apollo, Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle Group, which have driven some of the biggest private equity deals over the past decade.

The IMF said the immediate financial stability risks from private credit appeared to be “limited”. However, the nature of these risks is unclear.

It said: “Given that this ecosystem is opaque and highly interconnected, and if fast growth continues with limited oversight, existing vulnerabilities could become a systemic risk for the broader financial system.”

It added that the opaque nature of deals made losses hard to assess, which could trigger a new crisis.

“Significant interconnectedness could affect public markets, as insurance companies and pension funds may be forced to sell more liquid assets,” it said.

The IMF urged regulators to take a more “proactive supervisory and regulatory approach” to the sector, adding: “Regulation and supervision of private funds was strengthened significantly after the global financial crisis.

“Yet, the rapid growth and structural shift of borrowing to private credit requires that countries undertake a further comprehensive review.”

A separate IMF report warned that the Bank of England risked leaving interest rates too high for too long, inflicting unnecessary damage on the economy.

It noted that the high share of UK homeowners who have borrowed at fixed rates left many exposed to a mortgage shock when their deals run out. This could trigger a sudden drop in consumer spending, which would be damaging for the economy.

The IMF said: “Most central banks have made significant progress toward their inflation targets. It could follow from the discussion that if transmission is weak, erring on the side of too much tightening is always less costly.

“However, overtightening, or leaving rates higher for longer, could nevertheless be a greater risk now.”

The UK now has one of the highest shares of people on fixed-rate mortgages in the world, which has helped to delay the pain of higher rates for millions of borrowers.

The share of British households who have opted to fix their borrowing costs – usually for two or five years – has climbed from around a third in 2011 to almost 90pc at the end of 2022, according to the IMF.

Around 1.6 million mortgage holders are scheduled to come off cheap fixed rate deals over the next 12 months and roll on to higher rates. The Bank has raised interest rates from 0.1pc at the end of 2021 to 5.25pc last year.

The IMF said policymakers around the world could be underestimating the impact of this wave of higher mortgage rates on the economy.

It said: “Over time, and as rates on these mortgages reset, monetary policy transmission could suddenly turn more effective and thereby depress consumption. Although central banks already incorporate this possibility in their decisions, the effects on consumption could still be larger than expected.

“Financial instability could also follow if defaults rise abruptly.”

IMF warns of ‘fragilities’ in booming £1.7 trillion private credit market


Elliot Gulliver-Needham
8 April 2024·

The private credit market has swelled to £1.7 trillion. (Photo credit: Flickr, Bank of England)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of a “number of fragilities” in the global private credit market, even as the sector continues to soar in popularity.

In the IMF’s annual Global Financial Stability Report, published today, it stated that the $2.1 trillion (£1.7 trillion) market, which has been pursued for investors for its high returns and flexibility, may soon pose a “systemic risk” for the financial system.

“This market emerged about three decades ago as a financing source for companies too large or risky for commercial banks and too small to raise debt in public markets,” explained the Washington-based institution.


Now, private credit has swelled to an unparalleled size, as retail investors have poured into the market and banks have been eager to capitalise off the high returns offered by the sector.

Around three quarters of the private credit market is in the United States, where its market share is coming close to that of high-yield bonds and syndicated loans.

This increased popularity has pushed increased competition from banks for large transactions, putting pressure on private credit recipients to deploy capital, which the IMF warned were “leading to weaker underwriting standards and looser loan covenants”.

These companies relying on private credit tend to be smaller and carry more debt, making them more vulnerable to rising interest rates and economic downturns

“With the recent rise in benchmark interest rates, our analysis indicates that more than one-third of borrowers now have interest costs exceeding their current earnings,” the report warned.

Meanwhile, the pricing of private loans is a key risk in the IMF’s eyes, as since the loans rarely trade, they can’t be valued using market prices, and must instead use shaky risk models that probably aren’t accurate.

An analysis of private credit found that despite having lower credit quality, private credit assets tend to have smaller markdowns than normal leveraged loans during times of stress.

A downturn could also affect banks and pension funds could have concentrated exposures to private credit, which could be a problem due to the “significant degree of interconnectedness in the private credit ecosystem”, the IMF said.

“Severe data gaps make monitoring these vulnerabilities across financial markets and institutions more difficult and may delay proper risk assessment by policymakers and investors,” it added.

If the sector’s fast growth continues, and regulators don’t start taking a more active role in supervising it, it could soon become a “systemic risk for the broader financial system”, the IMF concluded.

‘Hallucinating’ AI could cause social order collapse, warns tech giant


Matthew Field
8 April 2024

A ChatGPT prompt is shown on a device near a public school in Brooklyn, New York

Artificial intelligence (AI) could lead to the collapse of the social order and trigger wars, two of Japan’s biggest companies have claimed.

In a warning, Japanese technology giant NTT and Yomiuri Shimbun, the publisher of one of the country’s leading newspapers, said “trust in society as a whole may be damaged” by AI tools which are inaccurate or biased.

The companies said: “There is a concern that, in the worst-case scenario, democracy and social order could collapse, resulting in wars.”

They said current AI chatbots suffered from an issue known as “hallucination”, where the bots make up facts, adding that they often “lie with confidence”. AI bots could be used to spread “malicious information” that could “cause social unrest”.

They called for “rigid restrictions by law” on AI programmes and companies, including legislation for areas of the highest risk, such as around elections and protecting Japan’s national security.

NTT is Japan’s biggest telecoms company, formerly the state monopoly, while Yomiuri Shimbun is the country’s most widely circulated newspaper with six million daily readers.

The warning follows a crackdown by the European Union on AI companies, while the US, UK and Japan have all set up research institutes aimed at monitoring AI for potential risks.

A new wave of AI tools have been developed by US labs, including OpenAI, Google Deepmind and Anthropic. Some experts have raised warnings over the risks posed by AI, including potential existential risk to humanity.

Last year, thousands of entrepreneurs and scientists called for a six-month moratorium on the development of more powerful AI machines over fears they posed a “profound risk to society and humanity”.

However, these claims have divided researchers, with others insisting that the threat is being overblown. So far, the AI bots have largely been used for writing emails, summarising reports or creating pictures, but they are often prone to errors.

Impax reports ‘improved’ sentiment on ESG-focused investment despite heavy outflows

Lars Mucklejohn
9 April 2024

Data published by Morningstar in January found that sustainable funds saw their first net redemptions ever in the last quarter of 2023.

ESG-focused Impax Asset Management has noted “improved” investor sentiment in recent months, despite the sector grappling with heavy outflows from sustainable funds.

The company reported in a stock market update on Tuesday that its assets under management (AUM) totalled £39.6bn on 31 March 2024, up 1.3 per cent from the end of the previous quarter.

However, Impax’s net flows came in at negative £1.71bn during the first quarter of 2024, from negative £988m in the final three months of last year.

Impax has been affected by the shift away from ESG over the past couple of years, with its share price down 70 per cent since its peak at the end of December 2021.

Its most recent annual results reported a 28 per cent drop in pretax profit to £52.1m, also driven by rising costs.

The strong performance of oil and gas firms after the war in Ukraine and regulatory issues have made investors question the ‘environmental, social and governance’ label.

Analysts say the sector has likely reached a “saturation point” after years of investors scrambling to pump cash into responsible investment strategies.

Impax’s chief executive Ian Simm said on Tuesday: “I am pleased to be able to report another quarter of rising AUM in the context of sustained positive market sentiment.

“Although our net flows were moderately negative, the outflows were overwhelmingly from a small number of intermediary clients largely representing European private wealth, and we again recorded an increase in the number of institutional clients, and no segregated mandate terminations.

“Following nearly two years of relative headwinds, asset owner sentiment around the transition to a more sustainable economy and associated areas of Impax expertise has improved in recent months. Looking ahead, we continue to develop a healthy pipeline of potential new business and to expand our distribution capabilities around the world.”

Australia’s Macquarie among lenders to Thames Water’s parent company


Julia Kollewe

THE GUARDIAN
9 April 2024·

Thames Water’s shareholders refused to stump up £500m as promised at the end of March.

Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

The Australian investment bank Macquarie, which has been criticised for its role in the privatisation of England’s water industry, is understood be among lenders to Thames Water’s troubled parent company.

The former Thames Water shareholder could, along with other lenders, play an important role in determining the fate of Britain’s biggest water company, after its parent company Kemble Water Finance defaulted on its debt.

Kemble said on Friday it had requested that its lenders and bondholders take no creditor action, but the development raised the prospect that the utility could face a significant restructure or even ultimately collapse.

Related: Thames Water funding crisis: the key players in the row over its future

Macquarie’s fresh involvement, first reported by the Times, is likely to spark further controversy, after the Australian group came under fire for loading Thames Water with debt and inadequate investment while receiving big dividends during its part-ownership between 2006 and 2017.

Macquarie has defended its stewardship of the utility, arguing that it invested more than £11bn in Thames Water’s network during the period, the highest per customer level of all water companies in England and Wales.

It emerged last week that the group of lenders to Kemble also include the Dutch bank ING, Allied Irish Banks (AIB) and the Chinese state-owned Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Kemble has a £190m loan that is due to be repaid at the end of this month, but the banks are expected to agree an extension. Late last month Thames Water’s shareholders refused to stump up £500m needed by the end of March, some of which was earmarked to pay the Kemble loan.

Macquarie is thought to have invested £130m in Kemble’s debt in 2018 and 2020, equivalent to about 9% of the company’s debt instruments. This is not part of the £190m due later this month.

A spokesperson for Macquarie said: “We manage debt investments on behalf of long-term institutional investors in a range of infrastructure companies, providing long-term financing for essential infrastructure. Macquarie has not had any control or influence over Thames Water’s operating company since 2017.”

Macquarie sold its remaining stake in Thames Water seven years ago. The utility’s debt jumped from £3.4bn to £10.8bn during the Macquarie consortium-led ownership.

The Australian group is known for buying public infrastructure. It can then charge fees, and receive dividends for its part-ownership, as well as enjoy any increase in the asset price. Estimates have put dividends paid for Thames Water during the Australian bank’s 11-year stewardship at £2.7bn.

Days after Macquarie’s sale of its stake was announced in March 2017, Thames Water was hit with a then record fine of £20.3m linked to huge leaks of untreated sewage for offences in 2013 and 2014.

HSBC pulls out of Argentina as ‘anarcho-capitalist’ president battles hyperinflation


Michael Bow
9 April 2024

Argentine president Javier Milei is battling to get inflation under control after it rocketed to 140pc last year - Agustin Marcarian

HSBC is offloading its business in Argentina at a $1bn (£790m) loss amid a battle to calm hyperinflation by Javier Milei, the country’s new “anarcho-capitalist” president.

The bank will sell HSBC Argentina to Grupo Financiero Galicia, the largest private lender in the country.

HSBC, which is selling the operation for $550m, will take a $1bn loss on the sale and book about $5bn of historical losses once the deal closes, which is expected within the next 12 months.

HSBC Argentina comprises 100 branches and 3,100 employees.

The bank said that its Argentine arm has started to create volatility in its financial results.

It booked a $500m charge for hyperinflation in Argentina in February after translating HSBC Argentina’s earnings in pesos into US dollars.

Since taking office in December, President Milei has devalued the peso by 54pc amid an economic crisis in the country.

The president has also been battling to get inflation under control after it rocketed to 140pc last year.

Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, said the bank's Argentine arm was generating 'substantial earnings volatility' for the group - Lam Yik

President Milei is a libertarian and self-described anarcho-capitalist who has praised Donald Trump.

During his election campaign, the former TV pundit campaigned wielding a chainsaw above his head as a symbol for his plans to slash state-spending.

Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, said exiting Argentina would allow the bank to focus on better opportunities across its empire.

He said: “HSBC Argentina is largely a domestically focused business, with limited connectivity to the rest of our international network.

“Furthermore, given its size, it also generates substantial earnings volatility for the Group when its results are translated into US dollars. Galicia is better placed to invest in and grow the business.

“We remain committed to Mexico and the US, and to serving our international clients throughout our global network with our leading transaction banking capabilities.”

Gary Greenwood, an analyst at Shore Capital, said: “Argentina has been a problematic market for HSBC in recent years given hyperinflation in the region and a sharp currency devaluation, which has resulted in significant earnings volatility for the business.

“While there is significant accounting ‘noise’ associated with this disposal, we do not expect it to have a material impact on the valuation of the stock or the investment case.”

HSBC has cut back in several countries this year, selling both its Canadian business and its French retail business.

Klarna: 75 per cent of staff now use AI tools like ChatGPT as it looks to reduce hiring

Lars Mucklejohn
9 April 2024·

City A.M., 

Martin Elwin, head of AI at Klarna

Around three quarters of employees at Klarna regularly use tools like ChatGPT, its head of AI has told City A.M., as the buy-now pay-later (BNPL) giant leverages the technology to reduce hiring costs.

Senior engineering director Martin Elwin said the Swedish bank, which is the UK’s largest BNPL provider, had “something like 100-plus initiatives in development” as it pushes towards so-called superapp status and aims to get all of its more than 5,000 employees regularly using AI tools.

“Many other companies I’ve talked to have said they’re investing in this new AI department or something like that,” he added.

“We can’t figure out how to really transform our business into an AI-powered business and improve efficiencies across the board if we just drive this centrally. So we wanted to make sure that we put these tools and these new capabilities into the hands of everyone in the organisation.”

Klarna made headlines in February after saying its AI assistant, powered by San Francisco start-up OpenAI, was handling a workload equivalent to 700 full-time customer service agents and that it was on par with humans on satisfaction ratings.

The firm’s embrace of the technology comes as it looks to cut costs and return to annual profitability for the first time since 2018 after it began expanding aggressively.

While not currently planning layoffs, Klarna’s chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in December that the firm was no longer bringing on new employees other than engineers due to its progress on AI.

“It’s not about replacing people, but giving the people you have more, making them more efficient and giving them new skills,” Elwin told City A.M.

“And I think if we look ahead with these new capabilities, with these new tools, as we are expanding, we might not need to hire at the same rate as we did without them.”

Banks and other financial services firms across the world are moving quickly to expand their use of AI to boost productivity. Klarna expects its AI assistant alone to drive $40m in profit improvement this year.

Elwin added: “Even if you’re not necessarily an engineer there are values to get out of the services as well, and it might be something as simple as best practices for how to use ChatGPT Enterprise.

“Everyone not only can learn how to use these tools in the roles they sit in, but they can also contribute to identifying even more important use cases that we might want to invest more in.”

Klarna is gearing up for a blockbuster public listing, reportedly seeking a valuation of $20bn. It is expected to float in New York, but Siemiatkowski has yet to formally announce a location.

M&S invests £1m in tackling methane from burping and farting cows


Sarah Butler
9 April 2024

Cows and other farm animals are responsible for about 14% of human-induced climate emissions.

Photograph: Tony C French/Getty Images

Marks & Spencer is investing £1m in tackling cows’ carbon footprint by changing the diet of the herds that provide its milk.

The retailer is working with all 40 of the pasture-grazed dairy farmers in its supply base with the aim of cutting 11,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually produced by cattle burps and manure.

It said giving the cows a feed supplement derived from mineral salts and a byproduct of fermented corn would help prevent the animals’ digestive enzymes from forming methane and reduce the carbon footprint of its main fresh milk by 8.4%.

M&S said it was setting up a £1m accelerator fund for its ethical project Plan A, working in partnership with longstanding and new suppliers to find novel ways of achieving net zero carbon emissions.

One of the first projects supported by the fund will involve asking customers to donate unwearable clothes to Oxfam, alongside reusable clothing. These unwearable items will be cleaned and used to support fabric recycling, where fibres are reused and turned into new material, preventing them going to landfill.

Another test project will use AI data to predict six stores’ optimal heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls to reduce energy consumption.

Methane from cattle burps and manure is a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions; globally, cows and other farm animals are responsible for about 14% of human-induced climate emissions.

The government said last year in its net zero growth strategy that it expected “high-efficacy methane-suppressing products” to enter the market from 2025 and could force farmers to use them if they prove effective.

More than three-quarters of M&S’s carbon emissions come from its supply chain. The business is aiming to reach net zero across the entire value chain by 2040 and within its own business by 2035.

Targets include doubling sales of vegan and vegetarian products by next year using 100% recycled polyester and 100% responsibly sourced palm oil by 2026.

M&S’s latest Plan A report reveals it is on target for most of its goals apart from plastic packaging, where it is yet to achieve its aim of 100% widely recycled packaging on food by 2022. Last year it reached 93%.

The M&S chief executive, Stuart Machin, said: “I talk a lot about the ‘magic of M&S’ – and a key part of this is our commitment to innovation. It’s in our DNA and, along with our unique model of own brand, long term supplier partnerships, it’s how we deliver the quality and trust our customers expect from us.

“By turning our obsession with innovation towards climate change and tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of our suppliers we can turbo charge our drive to be a net zero business across all our operations and entire supply chain by 2040. I’m excited by the big difference these small changes could make to some of the toughest climate challenges we face.”

UK
Farmers warn of first year without harvest since Second World War

Emma Gatten
9 April 2024·

Record rainfall has meant that a lot of farmland is still under water, as on this farm near Bangor-on-Dee, Wales - Andrew McCoy /Getty Images

Farmers are warning of food shortages as record rainfall threatens to bring the first season without a harvest on some farms since the end of the Second World War.

Vast swathes of farmland are still under water following an unprecedented period of flooding, with 11 named storms since September and the wettest 18 months on record.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has predicted that wheat yields will be down 15 per cent, winter barley down 22 per cent and oilseed rape down 28 per cent – the biggest drop since the 1980s.

Joe Stanley, an arable and livestock farmer at a research farm in Leicestershire, said he and his colleagues were facing the first year without a harvest since the land was first farmed after the war.

“Unless it basically stops raining today and then it becomes nice and sunny and windy, we’re not going to get any crops in this year. That’s a real danger,” he said. “Many farmers will be in the same situation.”

Waterlogged fields at a farm near Outwell, in Norfolk, earlier this month - Getty Images/Martin Pope

Farmers are also facing the prospect that crops planted during the autumn will not have survived the flooding brought by repeated storms, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said.

It warned that households could feel the effects of low crop yields and reduced lamb numbers, because many lambs have not survived the unseasonably cold temperatures and heavy rainfall.

“It’s no exaggeration to say a crisis is building,” said Rachel Hallos, the NFU vice president. “While farmers are bearing the brunt of it now, consumers may well see the effects through the year as produce simply doesn’t leave the farm gate.”

She added that the situation was a “growing issue for UK food security”, and welcomed a new fund for farmers affected by flooding.

Mr Stanley said farms were facing “an existential moment” because of the changing climate, which could put many out of business, reducing UK food security.

“The problem that we’re facing is that weather is becoming so extreme that it is overwhelming our ability as farmers to continue to grow crops at all in some places,” he said.

Mark Chatterton, a director at business advisers Duncan & Toplis, has estimated that the impact on farm businesses could be significantly worse than the 2019 floods, which led to an 18 per cent reduction in profits.

Farms in areas around the Midlands and the South West hit by Storm Henk in January will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £25,000 under the new fund, three months after it was first announced.

Mark Spencer, the farming minister, said: “I know how difficult this winter has been for farmers, with extreme weather such as Storm Henk having a devastating impact on both cropping and grazing, as well as damaging property and equipment.

“The Farming Recovery Fund will support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage with grants of up to £25,000, and sits alongside broader support in our farming schemes to improve flood resilience.”

The unsolved mystery of Edinburgh's hidden underground network of tunnels


Lee Dalgetty & Lee Dalgetty
9 April 2024·

The 'punch bowl' sits amongst the dimly lit passageways 

(Image: Flickr Creative Commons - Angus McDiarmid) 



We all know about Edinburgh's landmark attractions; we've got the castle, we've got Arthurs Seat, we've got Holyrood House.

What a lot of tourists, and locals, don't know about - is what's lurking underneath our streets.

In Gilmerton, an underground set of hand carved tunnels lay under the suburb, thought to date back to the 18th century.

While the origins remain a mystery, there are rumours the caves were used as a drinking den.

An ex-mining village, Gilmerton now sits right on the edge of the city four miles from the centre.

While the Gilmerton Cove is thought to have been there for centuries, it wasn't until 2003 that the newly restored cave was opened to the public.

The City of Edinburgh Council collaborated with Gilmerton Heritage Trust to open the cove as an educational resource for the community, as well as a visitors attraction.

Despite this renovation, little is known about the roots of Gilmerton Cave after extensive archaeological and historical research.

Scientists from the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh did discover in 2017 that the network of passageways may in fact be far more extensive than currently exposed.

When excavators initially discovered the underground rooms in 2002, they found seven subterranean rooms that were thought to be untouched for over 200 years.

Whoever was behind the cove carved out tables, separate rooms and doorways - making an almost liveable space.

In one section, a circular hole in one of the 'tables' is thought to have been a punch bowl, which alludes to the theory that Gilmerton Cove was a drinking den.

The cove, which is built around a main corridor that stretches over forty feet, has two separate entrances carved from natural sandstone.

Also connected via a secret passage, was the nearby Hellfire Club.

The Hellfire Clubs were a nationwide association of high society members who engaged in 'immoral activities' and mocked religion, dining on 'Holy Ghost Pie' and 'Devil's Loin.'

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HELLFIRE CLUB 

Another contributing factor to the theory that Gilmerton Cove was an underground boozer comes from George Paterson.

George was an 18th century local blacksmith, who is thought to have lived in the cove between 1719 and 1724.

Parish records from the time show he was reprimanded for allowing alcohol to be consumed in the cove on the Sabbath, though it is not known if George carved the cove himself.

In 1897, an Assistant Keeper at the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh made a detailed study of the caves.

He reported that it was unlikely that one man could have carried out the work in only a few years, and concluded that the Gilmerton Cove went back much further than the 18th century.

Aside from being the Gilmerton local drinking hole, another popular theory argues that it could have been used to house Covenanters in the 17th century.

Covenanters were those who supported the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and were part of a religious movement following disputes with King James I.

The Covenanters took control of Scotland after the Bishop Wars, pushing against changes imposed on the kirk.

They became a persecuted minority after the 1660 Restoration, with death penalties and torture imposed for any Covenanters preaching in public - and many held services in hidden places to avoid persecution.

The cove's use as a hiding place also comes into play in another theory, which argues the tunnels were made in the 16th century at the time of the Battle of Flodden.

After King James VI and his army were destroyed by the English at the Battle of Flodden, many felt another invasion was imminent.

It's possible that locals created a hideaway to stay safe from invasion.

Other theories behind the the passageways include it being a Witches Coven and a Knights Templar Retreat.

Any and all of the speculations surrounding Gilmerton Cove's past could be true, though it's likely we'll never know for sure.

Guyana gas-to-power project to shave weeks off oil output, hit revenue

Fruit vendor organizes produce at a stand in Georgetown

Mon, Apr 8, 2024
By Sabrina Valle

GEORGETOWN (Reuters) - Guyana’s efforts to use its natural gas resources to fuel a power plant that would slash the South American nation's energy costs have snagged on construction delays and threaten to curtail the rising oil hotspot's revenue this year by about $1 billion.

The $1.9 billion gas-to-power project, Guyana's biggest effort to capitalize on its energy bounty, is embroiled in legal fights and risks cost overruns. The first phase of a 300-megawatt (MW) power plant is running six months behind schedule and full operation is not expected until the fourth quarter of 2025, officials have said.


Exxon Mobil, which operates all the oil and gas production in Guyana, is building a 140-mile (225-km) gas pipeline from its offshore Stabroek block to supply the government's project onshore: a power plant, a related natural gas processing facility and transmission lines.

The U.S. oil major's part of the project, the about $1 billion pipeline, will be ready by year-end as promised to Guyana, said Exxon Guyana country manager Alistair Routledge. That is despite having nothing to connect it to onshore because of delays on the works managed by the government.

The Stabroek block, site of the country's first commercial oil and gas discovery in 2015, currently produces crude - about 645,000 barrels per day (bpd). The new power plant will be the first to use the associated gas produced from the oil field that to date has been re-injected underground.

The gas pipeline completion will require Exxon to pause production in the third quarter at two oil production vessels to connect them to the undersea pipeline, Routledge said.

If the tie-in lasts four weeks, Exxon and its consortium partners Hess and China's CNOOC would have to halt up to 12 million barrels of oil output from two platforms that produce 400,000 bpd at peak levels.

Based on Guyana's recent sale at $85 per barrel, that could mean over $1 billion in deferred oil revenue.

An Exxon spokesperson last week declined to specify how long the production halt will last. Routledge had said the pipeline connection and maintenance works would take "weeks, not months."

The executive said Exxon is not worried about having to shut production this year for a project that will not be ready to accept the gas at least until sometime in 2025.

When the gas-fired power plant is ready is "a question of timing," said Routledge.

"It's hard to have all the facilities ready at the same time." As soon as the onshore facilities are ready, "the whole thing will start up and all those benefits will flow to the country," he said.

Guyana will miss the chance to slash its power costs this year because of the project delay. It imports expensive fuel oil for an aged and often faulty power facility. When fully running on natural gas, the new plant will reduce the nation's power costs by 50%, officials have said.

"Of course we are doing the best we can, but we have to be realistic," Winston Brassington, who coordinates the power project as a consultant for Guyana's Ministry of Natural Resources, said in an interview in February.

While it is not uncommon for major projects to run behind schedule, Guyana's government faces a presidential and parliamentary election next year and is keen to deliver tangible benefits to the nation's 750,000 residents.

"There is more pavement in the city," says fruit vendor Michael Bharrat, 23, when asked about the most visible signs of development brought by the nation's oil boom. "The government could be doing more to help poor people," he said.

Government officials are anxious to fulfill a 2020 election promise to cut residents' energy costs and want to use the gas for industries that can create jobs or for exports as liquefied natural gas.

The government has been pressing Exxon and its partners, which prior to this project have focused on oil, to develop the country's gas resources.

"There is a window of opportunity between now and the end of the decade to monetize and maximize the value of Guyana's natural gas resources," President Mohamed Irfaan Ali told oil executives during a conference in Georgetown in February. "We need to develop our gas now."

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Critics of the project say there are a lot of decisions yet to be made and little clarity over the next steps, including who will operate the power plant and market the gas-liquids such as propane produced by the related gas-processing facility.

Meanwhile, two contractors hired by the government for the project have filed for arbitration over costs overruns of $90 million and residents have filed lawsuits claiming unfair compensation for land taken to build the project.

“What rate will Guyana be paying for the unusable or unused gas? Is the gas sales agreement completed?" asked Elizabeth Hughes, a land owner whose family land was expropriated for the project. "There are so many questions unanswered, there is no transparency at all.”

Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana's vice president, told Reuters in February the project is following its new schedule and will stay within its original budget.

"We believe this is nothing to worry about," Jagdeo said. "It is a two-year project, will take a few more months, but not a year" to complete.

Wally David, 66, a retired trolling boat mechanic, smiles when asked if the government he voted for in 2020 will deliver on its promise to build the gas-to-power project as promised.

"I think it will get done someday," he says from his home in Georgetown, where he complains a road construction project outside his house run by the government is behind schedule.

"Maybe in three, four years, just not now."

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Denmark’s ‘Cultural Heritage in Flames’ After Huge Fire Rips Through Copenhagen's 400-Year-Old Stock Exchange

Gabrielle Rockson
Tue, April 16, 2024

Everyone inside was reportedly evacuated and some of the historic paintings were rescued



IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty ImagesCopenhagen's Stock Exchange building, in Copenhagen, on April 16, 2024

Denmark’s 400-year-old stock exchange has been engulfed by fire.

In a statement on the tourism website, Visit Copenhagen, Danish Tourist Offices confirmed on April 16 that the cause of the fire is currently unknown.

“Update 16th of April, 2024: This page will not be updated with news in regard to the devastating fire. The page will be changed when the full extent of the fire is known,” the statement read of the historic building, which was built in 1625 and is one of Copenhagen’s oldest structures.

According to the BBC, Culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said that 400 years of Danish cultural heritage had gone up in flames.

Meanwhile, the outlet reports that everyone inside was evacuated and some of the historic paintings were rescued.



IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty ImagesCopenhagen's Stock Exchange building, in Copenhagen, on April 16, 2024

Related: Plane Passenger Outs Woman for Cheating at Wordle on a Flight — but Fans of the Game Are Divided on the Rules

Videos shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), featured the building going up in flames before clouds of smoke entered the atmosphere.



Ida Marie Odgaard/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockDenmark's 400-year-old stock exchange on fire

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Per the BBC, emergency services revealed that the majority of the building has been damaged, with most damage taking place around the tower.



IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty ImagesPolice cars park as flames engulf the Copenhagen's Stock Exchange building on April 16, 2024

It’s reported that emergency services, as well as chamber of commerce director Brian Mikkelsen, were helped by members of the public in saving some of the building’s art.

Related: Couple Accidentally Gets Divorced After Lawyer ‘Clicks Wrong Button’ Using Online Portal

Per the BBC, Local craftsman Henrik Grage told Danish TV that Copenhagen’s fire was "our Notre-Dame," in reference to the fire that burnt the cathedral in Paris in 2019.



IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty ImagesFormer Danish Minister of Culture and current CEO of Danish Business (Dansk Erhverv), Brian Mikkelsen (Left) assists with the evacuation of paintings from Denmark's stock exchange

The outlet adds that fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen said responders dealt with an almost impossible task in trying to access the area under the old copper roof. A witness also reportedly told Danish media, "I'm completely speechless — this is an unparalleled tragedy.”

"This morning, we woke up to a sad sight, as smoke over the roofs of Copenhagen gave evidence of the destructive fire at Børsen," Frederik X, the king of Denmark, said in a statement per CBS News. "An important part of our architectural cultural heritage was and continues to be in flames."

"Until today, we have considered the historic building as a beautiful symbol of our capital and a structure that we, as a nation, have been proud of,” he added.


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Protesters in southern Mexico set state government building afire and torch a dozen vehicles

Associated Press
April 8, 2024·



Firefighters put out a fire where a truck was set fire by rural teachers' college students protesting the previous month's shooting of one of their classmates during a confrontation with police, outside the municipal government palace in Chilpancingo, Mexico, Monday, April 8, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Alejandrino Gonzalez)

CHILPANCINGO, Mexico (AP) — Protesters in southern Mexico set the state government building afire Monday and torched at least a dozen cars in the parking lot.

The protests occurred in the violence-wracked city of Chilpancingo, the capital of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.

The protesters are demanding answers in the case of 43 students at a rural teachers college who disappeared in 2014. Another student from that college was killed in a confrontation with police in March.

The Guerrero state government said in a statement that it “regrets and condemns the violent acts.” The government noted the state interior secretary had resigned following the March confrontation with students. The police officers involved are under investigation in the death.

Images of the protests showed at least a dozen vehicles engulfed in fire and flames shooting out of the windows of the state office building, which is near the main highway leading from Mexico City to Acapulco. The building, which houses the governor's office, was ransacked.

Students at the radical Ayotzinapa teachers’ college, located on the outskirts of Chilpancingo, are known for their violent protests, which often involve hijacking buses and delivery trucks.

In March, protesters allied with the college commandeered a pickup truck and used it to ram down the wooden doors of Mexico City’s National Palace.

They battered down the doors and entered the colonial-era palace, where the president lives and hold his daily press briefings, before they were driven off by security agents. The palace is a historic structure dating back to the 1700s, and was built on the site of the Aztec emperors’ palace.

The demonstration, like many others over the years, was called to protest the abduction and murder of 43 students a decade ago. The mass disappearance remains one of Mexico’s most infamous human rights cases.

In 2014, a group of students were attacked by municipal police in the southern city of Iguala, Guerrero, who handed them over to a local drug gang that apparently killed them and burned their bodies. Since the Sept. 26 attack, only three of their remains have been identified.

After an initial cover up, last year a government truth commission concluded that local, state and federal authorities colluded with the gang to murder the students in what it called a “state crime.”

The under-funded radical rural teachers’ colleges in Mexico have a decades-long tradition of violent protests. In fact, when they were abducted, the students themselves had been hijacking passenger buses which they were going to use to travel to another protest.

An espionage scandal rocks Austria, laying bare alleged Russian spying operations across Europe

STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN
April 8, 2024


LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for WIRECARD 






 Austrian Justice Minister Alma Zadic of the Austrian Green party attends the first parliament session in Vienna, Austria, on Jan. 10, 2020, after the new government was inaugurated. Austria faces its biggest espionage scandal in decades as the arrest of a former intelligence officer brings to light evidence of extensive Russian infiltration, lax official oversight and behavior worthy of a spy novel. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)

VIENNA (AP) — Austria faces its biggest espionage scandal in decades as the arrest of a former intelligence officer brings to light evidence of extensive Russian infiltration, lax official oversight and behavior worthy of a spy novel.

Egisto Ott was arrested March 29. The 86-page arrest warrant, obtained by The Associated Press, alleges among other things that he handed over cellphone data of former high-ranking Austrian officials to Russian intelligence, helped plot a burglary at a prominent journalist's apartment, and wrote up “suggestions for improvement” after a Russian-ordered killing in Germany.

Ott is suspected of having provided sensitive information to Jan Marsalek, a fugitive fellow Austrian wanted on suspicion of fraud since the collapse in 2020 of German payment company Wirecard, where he was the chief operating officer. The warrant says chat messages provided by British authorities link Marsalek directly to the Russian intelligence agency FSB.

German and Austrian media have reported that Marsalek is believed to have had connections to Russian intelligence since at least 2014. He is now thought to be in Russia.

Thomas Riegler, a historian and espionage expert affiliated with the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies, said the case has “the potential for one of the biggest espionage stories in recent Austrian history.”

“The case is special given its international dimension and the fact that it is not only about espionage but also about the infiltration of the Austrian political system and the weakening of the country’s internal security,” he said.

Austria, which was located next to the Iron Curtain during the Cold War and long had good connections with Moscow, is a European Union member with a policy of military neutrality — and a longstanding reputation as a spying center.

UNRAVELING THE SPIDER'S WEB

Ott, a former police officer, was an intelligence officer in Turkey and Italy from 2001 to 2012 before moving on to manage undercover agents at Austria's now-defunct domestic intelligence agency, the BVT.

He was suspended from the BVT in 2017 when allegations emerged for the first time that he could be spying for Russia, but reassigned the following year to work for the Austrian police academy. In 2021, he was suspended pending further investigation into his alleged ties to Russia and taken into custody. Authorities concluded the evidence was too thin and released him about four weeks later.

At the BVT, Ott served under Martin Weiss, the former chief of Austrian intelligence operations. Prosecutors alleged that Ott and Weiss have a “close friendship.” In the arrest warrant, they say that Weiss began to work for Marsalek and Wirecard after leaving the intelligence agency in 2018, and that he passed orders from Marsalek and Russian operatives to Ott. According to the arrest warrant, Marsalek said in a text message that he helped "evacuate" Weiss to Dubai.

Ott’s lawyer declined to comment, saying he had only recently taken over Ott’s defense. Ott has previously denied the espionage allegations and any wrongdoing.

Marsalek, 44, appears to be “the spider in the web” who is “pulling the strings,” Riegler said. There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from Marsalek's lawyer.

DISSIDENTS, SPIES AND DATABASES

Between 2017 and 2021, the Austrian warrant says, Ott collected sensitive information on people of interest to Russia “for the purpose of transmission to Jan Marsalek and to unknown representatives of Russian authorities" by conducting numerous searches in national police databases and making requests to other European police officers, including in Italy and Britain.

Ott also allegedly requested data from the information system of Europe's border-free travel area to ascertain whether suspected Russian operatives and former Wirecard employees were wanted or subject to travel restrictions.

The warrant contains a long list of people who were spied on, including Russian dissidents, businesspeople and a former officer who had quit the FSB.

A BURGLARY, SOAKED CELLPHONES AND LESSONS LEARNED

While allegations that Ott sought information for Russia first surfaced in 2017, British intelligence recently provided Austria with significant new information.

Five Bulgarian citizens who allegedly worked as part of a network with Marsalek were arrested last year in Britain and another in February. According to the Ott arrest warrant, chat messages between Marsalek and one of the suspects in that case, Orlin Roussev, that were seized by Britain's MI5 intelligence agency point to further operations by Marsalek and his Austrian helpers.

Just five weeks after Ott was released from custody in 2021, prosecutors say he requested the address of Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev in Vienna and supplied it to Marsalek. They say Marsalek later commissioned a team to break into Grozev’s apartment and steal a laptop and USB stick.

Grozev, who tracked down Russian officers allegedly involved in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in 2018 and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020, relocated from Vienna last year after Austrian authorities told him they could no longer guarantee his security.

Ott also allegedly got hold of the cellphones of three former high-ranking Austrian Interior Ministry officials, including a former minister's chief of staff, when they were supposed to be repaired by BVT IT specialists after falling into the water during a boat excursion on the Danube in 2017.

Prosecutors say the phones were given to an unknown agent working for Marsalek at the Vienna apartment of Ott's former son-in-law and “transferred to Moscow for further analysis.” They say the phones contained “sensitive official and private data.”

Ott also allegedly helped Marsalek smuggle a stolen SINA computer, a device used by many European governments for transmitting classified information, to Moscow. After a handover at the same Vienna apartment, Marsalek wrote in a message that the device was successfully transported to the Lubyanka — where the FSB has its headquarters in Moscow — according to prosecutors.

Investigators also found a lessons-learned analysis on Ott’s mobile phone that contained “suggestions for improvement” for Russian intelligence operations in Europe following the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity. A Russian man was caught and convicted in that case; German judges said he acted on the orders of Russian authorities.

WHAT IS AUSTRIA DOING NOW?

Ott remains in custody awaiting a decision on whether he will be officially charged, a process that will likely take a while.

However, the case has dominated the news headlines, with the various political parties blaming each other for the failure to stop Ott earlier.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has convened a meeting of the National Security Council for Tuesday and said the country needs to boost its security to thwart Russian infiltration.

His justice minister said she plans to tighten the country's laws on espionage, which currently is explicitly banned if directed against Austria itself but not if it targets other countries or the many international organizations Vienna hosts.