Government & Politics

Minister in Brussels region government resigns over Tehran mayor invite Pascal Smet was criticized for inviting the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran to the Brussels Urban Summit.

(Politico) Pascal Smet, foreign affairs minister of the region of Brussels, resigned on Sunday after coming under fire last week for inviting the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran to the Brussels Urban Summit. “I have decided to resign,” Smet, who is also urban […]

Government & Politics

ISIS risk in Europe ‘significantly’ reduced, says EU counter-terrorism coordinator De Kerchove: Cooperation has reduced vulnerabilities

(Politico) Islamic State “no longer has the capacity to send terrorists onto European soil” thanks to “action taken by the international coalition,” the EU’s counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told Le Monde in an interview published Saturday. However, he warned “the threat […]

Academics & Education

French minister defends ‘Islamo-leftism’ inquiry Frédérique Vidal says the term didn’t have a ‘scientific definition, but it corresponds to a feeling.’

(Politico) French Minister for Higher Education and Research Frédérique Vidal today defended her probe into the influence of postcolonial studies and “Islamo-leftism” in the country’s universities. Vidal received plenty of criticism from universities and left-wing parties after she first announced the inquiry […]