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Von der Leyen face aux eurodéputés: motion de censure sans risque mais secousses en vue

Trois jours avant un vote de censure sans danger pour la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen doit répondre dès lundi soir aux interpellations des eurodéputés qui critiquent sa gestion très centralisée et le manque de transparence de l’exécutif. Pas de suspense. La motion de censure initiée par une partie de l’extrême droite n’a quasiment aucune chance de renverser la dirigeante allemande lors du vote prévu jeudi midi. Mais un an après les élections européennes, le débat va permettre aux opposants d’Ursula von der Leyen de se compter dans l’hémicycle de Strasbourg. Et il pourrait aussi servir à régler quelques comptes au sein de la majorité “pro-européenne”, où les sociaux-démocrates et les centristes critiquent régulièrement la toute puissance de la droite et le pouvoir de plus en plus vertical de la présidente de la Commission.Attendue dans l’hémicycle, la dirigeante aura l’occasion de répondre à ses détracteurs.La motion de censure a été initiée par l’eurodéputé roumain d’extrême droite Gheorghe Piperea, qui fustige le manque de transparence de la cheffe de la Commission dans le “Pfizergate”.Mme von der Leyen n’a jamais rendu public un échange de SMS avec le PDG de Pfizer Albert Bourla pendant la pandémie de Covid, quand l’Union européenne négociait l’achat de vaccins auprès du laboratoire américain.L’affaire a valu à la Commission des plaintes de diverses associations et personnalités opposées aux vaccins, ainsi que du New York Times qui a cherché en vain à accéder aux messages en question.- “Marionnettes de Poutine” -Gheorghe Piperea accuse aussi la Commission européenne “d’ingérences” dans l’élection présidentielle en Roumanie, remportée par le pro-européen Nicusor Dan en mai.Le nationaliste Calin Georgescu était arrivé en tête d’un précédent scrutin en novembre, mais l’élection avait été annulée par la Cour constitutionnelle roumaine en raison d’irrégularités et de soupçons d’ingérences de la Russie. Entretemps, la Commission européenne avait haussé le ton contre le réseau social TikTok, soupçonné d’avoir manqué à ses obligations et d’avoir ouvert la porte aux possibles manipulations russes.Même si Gheorghe Piperea devrait recevoir le soutien d’une partie de l’extrême droite, dont le Français Jordan Bardella, sa tentative de renverser l’équipe von der Leyen paraît vouée à l’échec.Le groupe politique ECR, auquel appartient l’élu roumain, a déjà pris ses distances. Car y siègent les eurodéputés italiens du parti de Giorgia Meloni, plus conciliants avec Mme von der Leyen.De son côté, le PPE, premier groupe de l’hémicycle, fait bloc autour de la présidente de la Commission, issue de ses rangs.Le chef du groupe, l’Allemand Manfred Weber, a ainsi brocardé “les marionnettes de Poutine au Parlement européen” qui “tentent de saper l’unité de l’Europe et de faire tomber la Commission en cette période de turbulences mondiales et de crise économique”. “C’est une honte pour les citoyens européens”, a-t-il lancé.Sans voter la censure, les alliés sociaux-démocrates et centristes pourraient réclamer des gages à Mme von der Leyen.Dans une Europe de plus en plus à droite, la majorité “pro-européenne” a été mise à rude épreuve pendant l’année. Gauche et centristes ont régulièrement reproché au PPE ses ambigüités vis-à-vis de l’extrême droite, notamment pour remettre en cause des lois environnementales.Pour la cheffe du groupe centriste, la Française Valérie Hayer, qui ne votera “évidemment pas” la censure, ce débat peut être un “vrai moment de clarification politique”: “on va demander au PPE clairement avec qui il veut travailler”.Autre grief: la gestion de plus en plus centralisée d’Ursula von der Leyen au sein d’une Commission à sa main pour ce second mandat. La présidente de l’exécutif “pilote tout”, glissait Valérie Hayer il y a quelques semaines à l’AFP. Et un épisode récent a provoqué la colère de cette macroniste.Sans prévenir, la Commission a menacé de retirer une loi contre le greenwashing (écoblanchiment) des entreprises, pourtant en cours de négociation au Parlement européen.Une sortie ressentie comme un affront par les eurodéputés, nombreux à dénoncer une remise en cause de leurs prérogatives.Jamais une Commission n’a été censurée à Strasbourg, malgré un cas particulier en mars 1999. Avant un vote perdu d’avance, le collège présidé par le Luxembourgeois Jacques Santer avait pris les devants en démissionnant à la suite d’un rapport accablant sur sa “lourde responsabilité” dans des affaires de fraude.

Egyptian conservators give King Tut’s treasures new glow

As a teenager, Eid Mertah would pore over books about King Tutankhamun, tracing hieroglyphs and dreaming of holding the boy pharaoh’s golden mask in his hands.Years later, the Egyptian conservator found himself gently brushing centuries-old dust off one of Tut’s gilded ceremonial shrines — a piece he had only seen in textbooks.”I studied archaeology because of Tut,” Mertah, 36, told AFP. “It was my dream to work on his treasures — and that dream came true.”Mertah is one of more than 150 conservators and 100 archaeologists who have laboured quietly for over a decade to restore thousands of artefacts ahead of the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) — a $1 billion project on the edge of the Giza Plateau.Originally slated for July 3, the launch has once again been postponed — now expected in the final months of the year — due to regional security concerns.The museum’s opening has faced delays over the years for various reasons, ranging from political upheaval to the Covid-19 pandemic.But when it finally opens, the GEM will be the world’s largest archaeological museum devoted to a single civilisation.It will house more than 100,000 artefacts, with over half on public display, and will include a unique feature: a live conservation lab.From behind glass walls, visitors will be able to watch in real time as experts work over the next three years to restore a 4,500-year-old boat buried near the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu and intended to ferry his soul across the sky with the sun god Ra.But the star of the museum remains King Tut’s collection of more than 5,000 objects — many to be displayed together for the first time.Among them are his golden funeral mask, gilded coffins, golden amulets, beaded collars, ceremonial chariots and two mummified foetuses believed to be his stillborn daughters.- ‘Puzzle of gold’ -Many of these treasures have not undergone restoration since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered them in 1922.The conservation methods used by Carter’s team were intended to protect the objects, but over a century later, they have posed challenges for their modern-day successors.Coating gold surfaces in wax, for instance, “preserved the objects at the time”, said conservator Hind Bayoumi, “but it then hid the very details we want the world to see”.For months, Bayoumi, 39, and her colleagues painstakingly removed the wax applied by British chemist Alfred Lucas, which had over decades trapped dirt and dulled the shine of the gold.Restoration has been a joint effort between Egypt and Japan, which contributed $800 million in loans and provided technical support.Egyptian conservators — many trained by Japanese experts — have led cutting-edge work across 19 laboratories covering wood, metal, papyrus, textiles and more.Tut’s gilded coffin — brought from his tomb in Luxor — proved one of the most intricate jobs.At the GEM’s wood lab, conservator Fatma Magdy, 34, used magnifying lenses and archival photos to reassemble its delicate gold sheets.”It was like solving a giant puzzle,” she said. “The shape of the break, the flow of the hieroglyphs — every detail mattered.”- Touching history -Before restoration, the Tutankhamun collection was retrieved from several museums and storage sites, including the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Luxor Museum and the tomb itself.Some items were given light restoration before their relocation to ensure they could be safely moved.Teams first conducted photographic documentation, X-ray analysis and material testing to understand each item’s condition before touching it.”We had to understand the condition of each piece — the gold layers, the adhesives, wood structure — everything,” said Mertah, who worked on King Tut’s ceremonial shrines at the Egyptian Museum.Fragile pieces were stabilised with Japanese tissue paper — thin but strong — and adhesives like Paraloid B-72 and Klucel G, both reversible and minimally invasive.The team’s guiding philosophy throughout has been one of restraint.”The goal is always to do the least amount necessary — and to respect the object’s history,” said Mohamed Moustafa, 36, another senior restorer.Beyond the restoration work, the process has been an emotional journey for many of those involved.”I think we’re more excited to see the museum than tourists are,” Moustafa said.”When visitors walk through the museum, they’ll see the beauty of these artefacts. But for us, every piece is a reminder of the endless working hours, the debates, the trainings.” “Every piece tells a story.”

Egyptian conservators give King Tut’s treasures new glowMon, 07 Jul 2025 01:27:08 GMT

Egyptian conservators give King Tut’s treasures new glowMon, 07 Jul 2025 01:27:08 GMT Read More »

Where do trade talks stand in the rush to avert higher US tariffs?

US President Donald Trump has said he will send letters to select trade partners facing tariff hikes as early as Monday, piling pressure on countries to strike a deal with Washington before a new August 1 deadline.The White House announced sharp levies on dozens of economies in April, citing a lack of “reciprocity” in trade relations, which were set to kick in on Wednesday, July 9.Trump announced on Friday the levies’ imposition would be pushed to August 1 to allow time for talks to wrap up, but said he signed 12 letters to inform some countries of rate hikes, which will likely be sent on Monday.With Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the administration was “close to several deals,” where do things stand for economies from Taiwan to the European Union?- EU: ‘Ready’ for deal -The European Union said it is “ready for a deal” with Washington, with the bloc’s trade chief meeting his US counterparts Thursday.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was targeting an “agreement in principle” when it came to the initial July 9 cutoff.Bessent said the European Union is “making very good progress” after a slow start.With no deal, the US tariff on EU goods doubles from the “baseline” of 10 percent to 20 percent — with Trump previously threatening a 50 percent level.- Vietnam: A pact with uncertainties -Washington and Hanoi unveiled a trade pact Wednesday with much fanfare and few details, but it allowed Vietnam to avoid Trump’s initial 46 percent tariff.Under the agreement, Vietnamese goods face a minimum 20 percent tariff while products made elsewhere face a 40 percent levy — a clause to restrict “transshipping” by Chinese groups.But there remain questions on how the higher levy would apply to products using foreign parts.There is also a risk that Beijing will adopt retaliatory measures, analysts warned.- Japan: Rice, autos at stake -Despite being a close US ally and major source of foreign investment, Japan might not escape Trump’s tariff hike.Tokyo’s trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa has made numerous trips to Washington through the end of June.But Trump recently criticized what he described as Japan’s reluctance to open up further to US rice and auto exports.”I’m not sure we’re going to make a deal,” Trump said, adding that the country could pay a tariff of “30 percent, 35 percent, or whatever the number is that we determine.”- India: A good position -Indian manufacturers and exporters want to believe they can avoid a 26 percent tariff.Negotiations between both countries have been going well for weeks, and Trump himself suggested at the end of June that a “very big” agreement was imminent.Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said the feedback he received “suggests positive developments.” But he maintained that the situation was fluid. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stressed that agriculture and dairy products remain “very big red lines.”- South Korea: Muted optimism -Seoul, which is already reeling from US tariffs on steel and autos, wants to avert a sweeping 25 percent levy on its other exports.Cooperation in shipbuilding could be a bargaining chip, but “at this stage, both sides still haven’t clearly defined what exactly they want,” said new President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday.”I can’t say with confidence that we’ll be able to wrap everything up by July 8,” he added.- Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan in the wings -Other Asian economies including Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, which faces a 49 percent tariff, wait with bated breath.Indonesia has indicated willingness to boost energy, agriculture and merchandise imports from the United States. Bangladesh is proposing to buy Boeing planes and step up imports of US agriculture products.Taiwan, for whom Washington is a vital security partner, faces a 32 percent duty without a pact.Although both sides have faced bumps along the way, Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim said “negotiators from both sides are working diligently” to find a path forward.- Switzerland: Hope for delay -Switzerland’s government said Washington has acknowledged it was acting in good faith, and assumes its tariff level will remain at 10 percent on July 9 while negotiations continue.But without a decision by the president as of the end of June, Switzerland did not rule out that levies could still rise to a promised 31 percent.burs-jug-bys/jgc/aks/aha

Where do trade talks stand in the rush to avert higher US tariffs?

Visa’s 24/7 war room takes on global cybercriminals

In the heart of Data Center Alley — a patch of suburban Washington where much of the world’s internet traffic flows — Visa operates its global fraud command center.The numbers that the payments giant grapples with are enormous. Every year, $15 trillion flows through Visa’s networks, representing roughly 15 percent of the world’s economy. And bad actors constantly try to syphon off some of that money.Modern fraudsters vary dramatically in sophistication.To stay ahead, Visa has invested $12 billion over the past five years building AI-powered cyber fraud detection capabilities, knowing that criminals are also spending big.”You have everybody from a single individual threat actor looking to make a quick buck all the way to really corporatized criminal organizations that generate tens or hundreds of millions of dollars annually from fraud and scam activities,” Michael Jabbara, Visa’s global head of fraud solutions, told AFP during a tour of the company’s security campus.”These organizations are very structured in how they operate.”The best-resourced criminal syndicates now focus on scams that directly target consumers, enticing them into purchases or transactions by manipulating their emotions.”Consumers are continuously vulnerable. They can be exploited, and that’s where we’ve seen a much higher incidence of attacks recently,” Jabbara said.- Scam centers -The warning signs are clear: anything that seems too good to be true online is suspicious, and romance opportunities with strangers from distant countries are especially dangerous.”What you don’t realize is that the person you’re chatting with is more likely than not in a place like Myanmar,” Jabbara warned.He said human-trafficking victims are forced to work in multi-billion-dollar cyber scam centers built by Asian crime networks in Myanmar’s lawless border regions. The most up-to-date fraud techniques are systematic and quietly devastating. Once criminals obtain your card information, they automatically distribute it across numerous merchant websites that generate small recurring charges — amounts low enough that victims may not notice for months.Some of these operations increasingly resemble legitimate tech companies, offering services and digital products to fraudsters much like Google or Microsoft cater to businesses.On the dark web, criminals can purchase comprehensive fraud toolkits. “You can buy the software. You can buy a tutorial on how to use the software. You can get access to a mule network on the ground or you can get access to a bot network” to carry out denial-of-service attacks that overwhelm servers with traffic, effectively shutting them down.Just as cloud computing lowered barriers for startups by eliminating the need to build servers, “the same type of trend has happened in the cyber crime and fraud space,” Jabbara explained.These off-the-shelf services can also enable bad actors to launch brute force attacks on an industrial scale — using repeated payment attempts to crack a card’s number, expiry date, and security code.The sophistication extends to corporate-style management, Jabbara said.Some criminal organizations now employ chief risk officers who determine operational risk appetite. They might decide that targeting government infrastructure and hospitals generates an excessive amount of attention from law enforcement and is too risky to pursue. – ‘Millions of attacks’ -To combat these unprecedented threats, Jabbara leads a payment scam disruption team focused on understanding criminal methodologies.From a small room called the Risk Operations Center in Virginia, employees analyze data streams on multiple screens, searching for patterns that distinguish fraudulent activity from legitimate credit card use.In the larger Cyber Fusion Center, staff monitor potential cyberattacks targeting Visa’s own infrastructure around the clock.”We deal with millions of attacks across different parts of our network,” Jabbara noted, emphasizing that most are handled automatically without human intervention.Visa maintains identical facilities in London and Singapore, ensuring 24-hour global vigilance.

Visa’s 24/7 war room takes on global cybercriminals

Trump slams Musk’s political party as ‘ridiculous’

US President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed former ally Elon Musk’s launching of a new political party as “ridiculous,” deepening the Republican’s feud with the man who was once his biggest backer.Trump also branded the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon a “TRAIN WRECK” who had gone “off the rails” after Musk said he wanted to challenge the current US political system.The world’s richest man was almost inseparable from Trump as he headed the cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency,” but they fell out hard over the president’s “big beautiful” tax and spending mega-bill.”I think it’s ridiculous to start a third party,” Trump told reporters before he boarded Air Force One on his way back to Washington from his New Jersey golf club.”It’s always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. Third parties have never worked. So he can have fun with it, but I think it’s ridiculous,” he said.South African-born Musk announced on Saturday that he would create the so-called “America Party” to challenge what he called the United States’ “one-party system.”Musk says the president’s massive domestic spending plan would explode the US debt, and has vowed to do everything in his power to defeat lawmakers who voted for it. The former DOGE boss, who led a huge drive to slash federal spending and cut jobs, equated Trump’s Republicans with rival Democrats when it came to domestic spending. “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform that he owns.Musk gave few details of his plan and it was not clear whether he had registered the party with US electoral authorities, but it could cause Republicans headaches in the 2026 midterm elections — and beyond.- ‘Saddened’ -In a sign of how sensitive the issue could be for Trump, he took to his Truth Social network while still on Air Force One to double down on his assault on Musk.”I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Trump posted.”The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats.”In a lengthy diatribe, Trump repeated his earlier assertion that Musk’s ownership of electric vehicle company Tesla had made him turn on the president due to the spending bill cutting subsidies for such automobiles.Musk has insisted that his opposition is primarily due to the bill increasing the US fiscal deficit and sovereign debt.Earlier on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also threw shade at Musk’s attempts to enter the political fray, telling him to stick to running his companies.When asked by CNN if Musk’s plan bothered the Trump administration, Bessent offered thinly veiled criticism.”I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone,” Bessent said.”So I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities.”Musk left DOGE in May to focus full-time on his corporate responsibilities, with Tesla’s sales and image especially suffering from his brief venture into Trump’s inner circle.Trump gave him a grand send-off in the Oval Office, during a bizarre ceremony during which Musk appeared with a black eye and received a golden key to the White House from the president.But just days later the two were exchanging bitter insults on social media after Musk criticized Trump’s flagship spending bill.Trump would not comment on Sunday when asked if he would be asking Musk to return the golden key.

Trump raille le troisième parti annoncé par Musk, le duel des anciens alliés continue

Donald Trump et son ancien allié Elon Musk ont repris leur duel de plus belle ce weekend, le président américain raillant le projet de création d’un troisième parti politique aux Etats-Unis annoncé par l’homme le plus riche du monde.”Je pense que c’est ridicule de lancer un troisième parti. Nous connaissons un formidable succès avec le Parti républicain”, a déclaré M. Trump à des journalistes depuis le New Jersey, avant d’embarquer dans son avion pour rentrer à Washington.”Les démocrates sont perdus, mais il y a toujours eu un système bipartite et je pense que lancer un troisième parti ajoute simplement de la confusion”, a poursuivi le chef de l’Etat. “Les troisièmes partis n’ont jamais fonctionné”, a-t-il asséné.”Il peut s’amuser autant qu’il veut avec ça, mais je pense que c’est ridicule”, a conclu M. Trump.Peu après, le président américain publiait sur son réseau Truth Social une logorrhée contre son ancien partenaire, se disant “peiné de voir Elon Musk +dérailler+ complètement” et “devenir tout simplement une CATASTROPHE ces cinq dernières semaines”.MM. Musk et Trump ont pourtant été très proches.Elon Musk – propriétaire de Tesla, SpaceX et du réseau social X, entre autres – a contribué à hauteur de plus de 270 millions de dollars à la campagne du républicain pour la Maison Blanche.Il a aussi piloté la Commission pour l’efficacité gouvernementale (Doge) destinée à réduire drastiquement les dépenses fédérales. Il était un habitué du Bureau ovale.Il a quitté Doge en mai pour reprendre en main ses entreprises et, en particulier, Tesla dont l’image et les ventes ont souffert dans le monde du fait de cette collaboration.Peu après, les deux hommes ont durement et publiquement commencé à ferrailler au sujet du projet de loi budgétaire de Donald Trump.Fermement opposé à ce texte, dont il dénonce l’impact sur les finances publiques, Elon Musk avait promis de lancer son propre parti politique si le texte était adopté.- “Parti de l’Amérique” -Il a mis sa menace à exécution samedi, au lendemain de la promulgation en grande pompe de la “grande et belle loi” de Donald Trump, en annonçant la création de sa formation, le “Parti de l’Amérique” (America Party).Il a expliqué qu’il comptait concentrer ses efforts sur “deux ou trois sièges du Sénat et huit à dix” de la Chambre des Représentants pour les élections de mi-mandat en 2026.”Etant données les faibles marges aux législatives, cela serait suffisant pour faire pencher la balance pour les lois contestées”, a-t-il souligné.”Il veut lancer un troisième parti politique, alors même que ce type de parti n’a jamais prospéré aux Etats-Unis. Le système ne semble pas conçu” pour ça, a estimé le président sur Truth Social.”La seule chose à laquelle les Troisièmes Partis sont bons, c’est à créer une Perturbation Complète et Totale, et le Chaos, et cela suffit avec les Démocrates d’extrême gauche”, a-t-il lancé.Donald Trump a rappelé ensuite que sa loi budgétaire prévoyait la suppression des aides à l’achat des véhicules électriques.”En plongeant encore plus avant dans la politique (…) Musk part exactement dans la direction opposée de ce que les actionnaires/investisseurs de Tesla veulent qu’il fasse pendant cette période cruciale” pour l’entreprise, a estimé dimanche Dan Ives, analyste de Wedbush.”Si les plus fervents supporteurs de Musk le soutiendront coûte que coûte (…) il y a un sentiment général d’épuisement de la part de nombreux investisseurs de Tesla” concernant ses ambitions politiques, ajoute l’expert, pour qui le “soulagement initial” de son départ de Doge a été “de courte durée”.Pour le ministre américain des Finances, Scott Bessent, Elon Musk doit se consacrer à ses entreprises plutôt qu’à faire de la politique.”Je pense que les conseils d’administration de ses différentes entreprises voulaient qu’il revienne diriger ces entreprises, ce à quoi il est meilleur que quiconque”, a réagi M. Bessent, interrogé sur CNN pour savoir si l’annonce de M. Musk inquiétait l’administration Trump.Et de conclure: “les principes” défendus par la commission dirigée par M. Musk ont “été très populaires” mais, “lorsque l’on regarde les sondages, Elon ne l’était pas”.