Shrivelled sunflowers near the village of Kovilj, Serbia. Photograph: Andrej Isaković/AFP/Getty Image.
Slovakia reaches new high of 42C as authorities in Poland forced to shut down Kozienice and Połaniec power plants
Temperature records have been broken in several countries across central and eastern Europe as the extreme weather that has caused wildfires and droughts across the continent continues.
Countries including Slovakia, Austria and Hungary registered record temperatures. On Thursday, the Slovakian hydrometeorological agency said a new high of 42C (108F) had been reached in Dolné Plachtince.
Authorities in Poland were forced to shut down the Kozienice and Połaniec coal-fired power plants after critically low water levels in the Vistula River limited cooling water supplies. The disruption removed about 1.3GW of capacity from Poland’s power system.
In Germany, climate activists demanding an end to the use of fossil fuels demonstrated outside the chancellery against the lack of government action to keep people safe from extreme heat. An estimated 11,900 people across the country have died from heat this summer, according to new estimates from the Robert Koch Institute.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Power-mad orange gasbag Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Heartland UK-Europe executive director Lois Perry speaking to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on his GB News show. Credit: GB News / YouTube
Lois Perry, who helps to run Reform Friends of Israel, is one of the figures behind a new Heartland Institute branch in central Europe.
A close ally of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has helped to launch the central European offshoot of a U.S. climate denial group alongside far-right figures.
Lois Perry – executive director of Heartland UK-Europe – claimed on social media last week that she was “In Poland to launch [the] Heartland Institute Central Europe”.
The U.S.-based Heartland Institute has described itself as “the world’s most prominent think tank supporting scepticism about man-made climate change”, and has strong ties to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
At the launch of the new branch in Warsaw on 13 May, Perry appeared alongside Mariusz Zagórski, a speechwriter for Poland’s former president Andrzej Duda of the national conservative Law and Justice Party. Zagórski, who will be the branch’s official representative, told DeSmog it would “propose solutions” on energy costs and “evaluate climate policy”.
The Heartland Institute’s U.S. president James Taylor was also in attendance. Taylor is a Trump ally who has dismissed what he calls the “mythical global warming crisis”.
They were joined by representatives from Law and Justice, the far-right Confederation Party, and unnamed “guests from the U.S., Great Britain, and Austria”. The event was hosted by the Stanczyk Club, a space co-owned by the influential conservative legal advocacy group Ordo Iuris, which campaigns to restrict LGBT and abortion rights, and has co-authored a plan to dismantle the EU.
As revealed by DeSmog, the Heartland Institute has been working with far-right parties in recent years to oppose EU climate legislation, while Farage helped to launch Heartland UK-Europe in December 2024. The group didn’t respond to DeSmog’s requests for comment but previously said that it “stands resolute in its mission to advance sound science, economic prosperity, and individual liberty”.
Perry – a former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader who ran the anti-net zero lobby group CAR26 – is the strategy director of Reform Friends of Israel, a group affiliated with the party that officially launched in February.
Perry has repeatedly claimed to be advising Reform on its climate and energy policy, and told a conservative Polish TV channel this week that she has an “unofficial but very close role” in the party. Perry has said it’s her “personal belief” that climate change “is happening” but “is not man made”. In reality, the world’s foremost climate science body, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has said that “it is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet”.
Raphaël Kergueno of Transparency International EU told DeSmog that the Heartland Institute’s growing presence in Europe was “emblematic” of “lobbying efforts in Brussels” from pro-Trump groups.
“This European Parliament mandate has seen a notable uptick in lobbying by MAGA-affiliated organisations, including by the Heartland Institute,” he said.
Kenneth Haar, a researcher and campaigner at the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory, added: “All over Europe we see climate policies under pressure from corporate interests, and from the political right. Views that were regarded as absurd and fringe only a few years ago are now part of the debate.”
Poland Plans
According to Zagórski, the keynote address at the Warsaw event was delivered by Szymon Sikorski of Kraków Agricultural University, who said that climate change is “not necessarily caused by humans”, but is the result of “more complex and long-term effects.”
Zagórski told DeSmog after the event that Heartland wants to do for Poland and central Europe what it does in the U.S. — draft energy policy for politicians.
“The Heartland Institute has been evaluating the availability of various energy sources in different U.S. states,” he said, pointing to a report adopted by lawmakers in Louisiana. Zagórski added: “We want to prepare similar reports for countries in our region, to propose such solutions to our decision-makers.”
Zagórski, who sits on the advisory board of Poland’s farmers’ union Solidarity, told DeSmog he would work closely with Perry in London and Heartland’s base in Chicago to create a political nucleus in Poland.
“Warsaw is a hub for many strong conservative groups, farmers’ unions, and organisations that criticise or perhaps evaluate climate policy,” he said – adding that the launch event proved that “Warsaw can be a hub from which these activities can be organised.”
Speaking at the launch, Tomasz Sakiewicz, the head of right-wing Polish broadcaster TV Republika said: “For years, I’ve been advocating for the creation of think tanks, as they have them in the U.S.” – adding that the Heartland Institute could “inspire” Poland with “certain blueprints” modelled on America.
Farage, Perry, and Heartland
In September 2024, Farage spoke at a fundraiser for the Heartland Institute in Chicago, where he called for the group to set up a branch “across the Pond”.
Three months later, the Reform leader was the star speaker at the launch of Heartland UK-Europe in London. Perry, who reportedly first met Farage on his GB News show, was appointed its executive director.
At Reform’s annual conference in September 2025, at which Heartland hosted an event on energy policy, Perry told Politico that she had “held conversations with policymakers within Reform” and was advising the party.
Farage also joined Heartland at a gathering in January this year at a Mayfair club, with attendees including former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Reform, which is leading UK-wide polls and won 14 councils in this month’s local elections, campaigns to scrap climate policies and dramatically increase the UK’s fossil fuel production.
The Heartland Institute, which was founded in 1984 and originally worked with tobacco giant Philip Morris to deny the harms caused by smoking, received at least $676,000 (around £500,800) between 1998 and 2007 from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil.
Heartland previously told DeSmog that its “support comes from a diverse array of individuals and organisations who share our vision for a freer, more prosperous world.”
Heartland UK-Europe executive director Lois Perry speaking on Polish podcast 13 Piętro in May 2026.
Credit: 13 Piętro / YouTube
As DeSmog revealed, Reform has received £24 million from donors with fossil fuel interests – more than two thirds of its total income since being founded in 2019.
A number of senior Reform figures deny the scientifically established contribution of carbon dioxide to climate change. Farage himself has claimed it’s “absolutely nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant.
On her recent trip to Poland, Perry promoted Reform’s political agenda. In an interview with 13 Piętro, a podcast on TV Republika – an outlet close to the Law and Justice Party – Perry described net zero as “the deliberate de-industrialisation of the United Kingdom”, adding: “We’re going to abolish it on day one. No more subsidies, no more net zero.”
Perry added: “I did a conference recently with a bunch of woke net zero fanatics. And I stood up and said, ‘I advise Nigel Farage on all net zero policy, and I advise all of you guys to go think about getting another job, because the money is being switched off.’”
Reform was contacted for comment.
MAGA World
Perry has also claimed that the Heartland Institute “has been extremely influential in helping to shape policy at the highest level” in the Trump administration.
In May, she and Taylor attended CPAC events in Hungary and Poland alongside key Trump supporters – including Kristi Noem, the U.S. government’s then head of Homeland Security.
Taylor claimed that he “met with some very influential people at the top of the Law and Justice party” during CPAC Poland, while Perry said they “made some extraordinary progress in Poland and Hungary and some massive connections”.
Poland’s current President Karol Nawrocki, a Law and Justice Party ally who was elected last May, is a Trump supporter and earlier this month floated the idea of a national referendum on the EU’s climate policies.
In May 2025, days before Poland’s presidential election, Trump’s allies gathered at CPAC Poland to rally support for Nawrocki. Noem used the event to promise U.S. military assistance if Nawrocki won the vote.
However, last week, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth unexpectedly cancelled a planned deployment of 4,000 troops to the country.
The U.S. State Department is reportedly seeking to fund ideological allies in Europe, while Trump acolytes have campaigned across the continent in support of far-right parties.
However, they lost an ally with the defeat of Viktor Orbán in last month’s Hungarian elections, despite U.S. Vice President JD Vance campaigning for the now former Hungarian prime minister ahead of the vote.
Orbán’s government had significant ties to Reform, with senior figure Matthew Goodwin receiving direct funds from the Hungarian state, and Reform politicians including Farage publicly praising Orbán’s regime as a model for the UK.
“The recent change in government in Hungary has made it much more difficult to launch alt-right initiatives in that country today,” said political and disinformation analyst Anna Mierzynska. “That is why they are trying in Poland.”
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
In what can only be described as an acceleration and expansion of the bellicose and dangerous far-right populist movement around the globe, the U.S. government of Donald Trump is reportedly seeking to build an international coalition to oppose the anti-fascist left.
Washington says U.S. counterterrorism officials are organizing a summit in the summer to discuss and develop “strategies to counter the anti-fascist movement.”
White House and State Department officials have described such groups as a “serious threat to national security,” lumping together “anarchists, Marxists, and violent extremists.” The State Department claimed these organizations have waged “a terrorist campaign in the United States and across the Western world for decades, involving bombings, beatings, shootings, and riots in the service of their extreme agenda.”
The move comes as Trump has faced significant domestic opposition to many of his policies. This includes a sustained two-month popular uprising in Minnesota against violent anti-migrant sweeps by ICE, which ultimately forced the president to back down and withdraw the federal agents.
Labelling virtually all opposition as “terrorist” is an alarming escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, and it suggests a significant shift in counterterrorism priorities. The fact that the U.S. is trying to internationalize this effort—invitees to the summit include Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India, and Indonesia—suggests that such a shift may be underway in other countries as well.
Reuters reported that sources within U.S. counterterrorism say the summit will encourage intelligence sharing and common strategies. Other reports suggest that Washington is considering multiple international conferences, beginning in May with a workshop with foreign law enforcement officials in The Hague to “teach them about the dangers of far-left groups and how to counter them.”
The U.S. push comes as right-wing political forces in Canada are also agitating to label dissent as “terrorist.” In a move eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy era, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis has reportedly asked federal departments and agencies to determine whether any of their employees or members have current or prior association with anti-fascist and anti-racist left movements.
Right-wing politicians and media typically use the term “antifa” to refer to a sweeping range of organizations and movements that oppose fascist, racist, and far-right groups. With such a broad interpretation, virtually any political grouping, however large or small, can be described as “terrorist” or “a threat to national security” and subject to state repression.
In no small part, this is the desperate response of a system that is in crisis and decay. As capitalism’s social contradictions sharpen—evidenced by recurring and deepening social and economic crises, increased inter-imperialist rivalry and competition, and the accelerating drive to militarism and war—an increasingly broad section of the population becomes drawn into opposition and resistance.
Cutting off the organizational and political leadership of this growing movement against capitalism, even if it is nascent, is of utmost importance to the ruling class. If the commanders of capitalism, at least those in the U.S., are indeed planning ahead through their “anti-anti-fascist summit,” then working people had better start doing the same.
The working-class movement needs to get to work on developing its own independent political action plan and building up organizations and alliances that can carry it out. This includes working to win more people over to political positions like opposing NATO and other imperialist military alliances, rejecting corporate trade deals and tripartite “social dialogue” with the bosses and their governments, and insisting on the necessity of class struggle.
It also means combatting anti-socialist and anti-communist propaganda, including within labor and “left” movements. Narratives that deny the achievements of the Soviet people, or which draw false distinctions between the Cuban people and the Cuban government, or which equate communism with fascism and terror—these kinds of lies are all designed to divide and weaken the working-class movement, and to reinforce the dictatorship of capital over working people.
It’s true that capitalism is not always fascist. But it’s also true that fascism is always capitalist, and when capitalism is in crisis, it is anti-anti-fascist. This is what we are seeing now, and this is why the working class, which alone has the power to transform society, must get organized.
People’s Voice
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
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Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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A screen grab captured from CCTV video show crew of the Spring 2026 mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, Palestine, as the flotilla is blockaded by Israeli warships and drones at Mediterranean Sea on April 30, 2026. [Global Sumud Flotilla – Anadolu Agency]
At least 31 activists were injured during Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, according to statements from the group, Anadolu Agency reports.
The Global Sumud Flotilla committee said those injured included activists from multiple countries, among them four each from New Zealand and Australia; three each from Italy and the US; two each from Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Colombia and Germany; and one each from Hungary, Ukraine, France, Poland and Portugal.
One of the injured holds dual Turkish-German citizenship, while efforts are ongoing to determine the identities of three other passengers, it added.
In a separate statement, it said activists detained during the interception were subjected to ill-treatment aboard an Israeli naval vessel for nearly 40 hours.
The group said that detainees were deliberately denied sufficient water and food and forced to sleep on wet floors.
It also said participants who resisted the detention of Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian citizen Thiago Avila were met with force by Israeli soldiers.
One activist described the incident, saying, “As you can see, my nose is probably broken. My ribs hurt; maybe they are broken, too. I’m not sure. My neck as well. They kicked us, punched us, and dragged us on the ground, and we even heard shots being fired at people,” according to the statement.
The Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla was attacked Thursday near the Greek island of Crete, 600 nautical miles from its destination, the blockade-ravaged enclave of Gaza.
The flotilla’s first ships, carrying humanitarian aid, left Barcelona on April 12, while the main fleet set sail from the Italian island of Sicily on April 26, aiming to break Israel’s years-long blockade of Gaza.
Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, leaving the territory’s 2.4 million people on the verge of starvation.
Israel launched a brutal two-year offensive on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 people, injuring over 172,000, and causing massive destruction across the besieged territory.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
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Israeli settlers launch an attack on Deir al-Hatab town setting fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles causing material damage in Nablus, West Bank, Palestine on March 23, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
Germany on Monday reaffirmed support for EU sanctions against violent Israeli settlers amid the ongoing pogroms on Palestinians in the West Bank, Anadolu reports.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Giese told journalists in Berlin that his country would “support” EU sanctions against violent Israeli settlers but also made it clear that the decision would be “made in Brussels.”
He pointed out that there was one EU member state, alluding to Hungary, that was “blocking” such sanctions.
Giese stressed again that it is “clearly the wish of the federal government” to proceed with such sanctions.
In other related news, Giese defended German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert, who was lambasted by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar for criticizing the anti-settler violence in the West Bank.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stressed in his phone call with his Israeli counterpart on Sunday evening “on the need for a more decisive approach to combat settler violence,” said Giese.
The spokesperson reiterated his ministry’s “full” support for Seibert on this issue.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius voiced his country’s “concern” over the situation in the West Bank and “called on the parties to exercise restraint.”
Since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 8, 2023, attacks by Israeli forces and illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank have killed 1,133 Palestinians, injured about 11,700 others, and led to the arrest of roughly 22,000 people.
In February alone, illegal settlers carried out 511 attacks across the West Bank, killing seven Palestinians by gunfire, according to official Palestinian figures.
Earlier, in a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”.Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
