(Al-Jazeera) On Friday after midday, on a tree-lined residential street in southeastern Rome, people speak an assortment of languages and dialects, from north African Arabic to the local Roman slang. The bottom floor of a peeling post-war building hosts a “prayer home.” […]
(AFP) When the quiet French town of Forges-les-Bains was chosen to host a centre for young male asylum seekers in 2016, there was uproar. The disused hospital earmarked for the project was firebombed, some 250 residents staged a protest and NGO workers […]
(AFP) The Italian government on Monday adopted a heavily-criticised security decree which will make it easier to expel migrants and strip them of Italian citizenship. The new bill is “a step forward to make Italy safer,” far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said […]
(AFP) Germany wants a stronger EU border agency to handle migration to Europe, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Thursday while judging “unsatisfactory” the squalid living conditions for thousands of migrants in Greece. Maas said he was favourable “to proposals on strengthening Frontex” […]
(AFP) EU leaders vowed Thursday to intensify talks with Egypt and other North African countries on how to curb flows of illegal migrants to Europe and to fight those who traffic them. European Council President Donald Tusk said the leaders meeting in […]
(Pew) Three years after a record 1.3 million migrants sought asylum in Europe, a majority of people in several European countries say they support taking in refugees who are fleeing violence and war, according to a Pew Research Center survey. However, most […]
(NL Times) PVV leader Geert Wilders put forward a proposal to ban all forms of Islamic expressions in the Netherlands during the first day of the general considerations, the parliamentary debate on the government’s plans and budget for the next year, on Wednesday. […]
(AFP) The EU must convince Italy, Spain and Greece to back a plan to bolster the bloc’s external borders, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Wednesday as bloc leaders met in Salzburg to discuss the controversial issue of migration. EU Commission chief Jean-Claude […]
(Reuters) Chancellor Angela Merkel hopes a new immigration law will make it easier for foreign workers to find jobs in Germany, but her push to fill a record number of vacancies risks angering voters who still resent her open-door refugee policy. With […]
(Gatestone) A strong showing by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in the Swedish elections on September 9 drained away so many votes from the establishment parties that the two main parliamentary blocs were left virtually tied and far short of a governing majority. […]
(Hill) Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday went after the Trump administration for its failure to consult with Congress before proposing to slash the number of refugees the U.S. will accept next year. Grassley, who’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the […]
(Politico) The Trump administration will admit no more than 30,000 refugees to the U.S. in the coming year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, down from the current cap of 45,000. Pompeo announced the lowered ceiling during a press conference Monday at […]
(Reuters) Germany and Algeria want to find ways to speed up the repatriation of Algerians living illegally in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday during a visit to Algeria. Since around a million asylum seekers reached Germany in 2015, Merkel’s government […]
(Reuters) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Saturday said he remained optimistic about completing a deal on migrants with Italy despite pushback from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. Salvini on Friday denied having reached a deal to take back migrants who […]
(Local) Danish police are uncertain as to the whereabouts of [as] many as 2,835 rejected asylum seekers, some of whom may still be in the country, according to a report. A National Police document detailing the figure was seen and reported by […]
(AFP) Austria’s far-right Interior Minister Herbert Kickl used a meeting of his EU counterparts in Vienna Friday to suggest processing migrants on board rescue ships in the Mediterranean, rather than on land. During a press conference with his far-right Italian counterpart Matteo […]
(Washington Post) Eighteen former counterterrorism officials are urging the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to retract or correct a report that implies a link between terrorism and immigration, calling its findings “misleading” and counterproductive. Released in January, the report says that […]
(Reuters) The European Parliament’s vote to punish Hungary for flouting democratic standards works in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s favor by letting him pose as a champion of national sovereignty against a remote Brussels elite as EU elections loom next year. His typically […]
(Gatestone) In Communist East Germany, truth-telling involved risks. The penalty for it was often loss of one’s professional career and social status, if not more. Today, challenging the state-approved narrative in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Germany can sometimes have similar consequences. Germany’s intelligence […]
(Gatestone) The European Parliament has voted to pursue unprecedented disciplinary action against Hungary over alleged breaches of the European Union’s “fundamental values.” The EU has accused the Hungarian government of attacks against the media, minorities and the rule of law. Hungarian Prime […]
(Politico) Berlin has struck a bilateral deal with Italy on migration that it will sign in the coming days, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Thursday. The agreement follows two similar deals Germany struck with Spain and Greece earlier this summer, as […]
(Anadolu) A political campaign video by a far-right Dutch party that was broadcast on state-run television has sparked outrage over its racist and Islamophobic content. The Netherlands’ state-television NPO aired the campaign video of the country’s Party for [Freedom (PVV) which calls […]
(AFP) The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said Wednesday that “Europe belongs to the Europeans” and that refugees should return to their native countries to rebuild them. Speaking at a conference in Sweden’s third-largest city of Malmo, home to a large […]
(JTA) An appeals court in Sweden overturned a deportation order against a Palestinian man who firebombed a synagogue, saying he’d be in danger from Israel because of his crime if sent to the Palestinian Authority. The ruling Wednesday by the Court of […]
(AFP) Hungary and Austria on Tuesday rejected criticism from the UN’s new human rights chief over their migration policies, accusing her of spreading “half-truths” and “baseless suspicions.” In her maiden speech as UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet on Monday […]
(CBC) Members of B.C.’s Syrian community say they are concerned the announcement of Ibrahim Ali’s murder charge for the death of Marrisa Shen — and Ali’s status as a former refugee — could lead to unwarranted backlash. Police on Monday announced that […]
(AFP) “I’m not afraid, but I am worried,” Hassan Abdullahi said while distributing voting papers at a polling station in a disadvantaged Stockholm suburb, as the far-right was set to win record support in Swedish elections Sunday. With roots in the neo-Nazi […]
(Gatestone) The murder of a German citizen by two failed asylum seekers in Chemnitz, and the attempted cover-up by German police, has contributed to a surge in support for the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which, according to a new poll, […]
(AFP) Sweden’s “naive” approach to integrating asylum seekers has opened the door to the far-right, an outspoken lawmaker told AFP ahead of elections expected to see the country’s once-marginal anti-immigration party make gains. Amineh Kakabaveh is an Iranian Kurdish ex-peshmerga fighter who […]
(AFP) Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Friday launched a blistering attack on prosecutors in Sicily after they confirmed a probe into his refusal to allow more than 100 rescued migrants off a coastguard ship last month. Prosecutors in Palermo on […]
(AFP) Police moved in to clear 500 migrants from a camp near the French port city of Dunkirk, along the English Channel where many gather hoping to stow away on trucks or ferries heading to Britain, officials said Thursday. Around 200 officers […]
(Politico) Denmark’s right-wing government might once have expected pushback from the left-wing opposition when it introduced a controversial new integration policy. No longer. A recent government proposal, to be finalized by parliament in the fall, would target the country’s so-called ghetto neighborhoods […]
(Reuters) Germany’s conservative interior minister said on Thursday he would have joined protests over the fatal stabbing of a German man, allegedly by two migrants, in comments likely to deepen divisions in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition. Far-right groups clashed with police and […]
(Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed comments from a conservative ally on Wednesday who had played down violence at far-right protests last week and said images of the event showed innocent people being persecuted. Germany has been shaken by the most violent […]
(AFP) Madrid estimates that 10,000 minor migrants are on Spanish soil alone without their parents and has unblocked 40 million euros ($46.5 million) for regions willing to welcome them, the health ministry said Wednesday. The new Socialist government, in power for three […]
(Reuters) Those wondering why Swedish politics are set to lurch to the right in Sunday’s election need look no further than Ljusnarsberg, a tiny central county of dense pine forests and glistening lakes. Many inhabitants of this once-booming region are uneasy about […]
(Reuters) Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has overtaken the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), a poll showed on Tuesday, days after some of the most violent protests by radical right-wingers the country has seen in decades. Some 6,000 supporters of the AfD […]
(AP) For Monica and Bengt Borg, a retired Swedish couple, Flen doesn’t feel like Sweden anymore. As they sit on a bench on the town’s main street, an Iraqi man nearby watches a Kurdish television program on his phone. Arabic pop music […]
(AFP) Jimmie Akesson, the head of the far-right Sweden Democrats, is a charismatic speaker who has succeeded in attracting mainstream voters with his efforts to cleanse the party of its neo-Nazi roots. With his Sweden Democrats tipped to get around 20 percent […]
(Politico) Can Germany survive Islam? That question is once again at the center of the country’s public discourse amid the violent protests that followed last week’s brutal killing of a German man, allegedly at the hands of two Muslim refugees, and the […]
(AFP) Emmanuel Macron will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille on Friday, a French official said, seeking support as he takes on nationalist EU leaders over immigration and institutional reforms. The meeting will focus on “European […]
(Gatestone) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini have pledged to create an “anti-immigration axis” aimed at countering the pro-migration policies of the European Union. Meeting in Milan on August 28, Orbán and Salvini, vowed to work together […]
(AFP) Thousands of opponents and supporters of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policy marched Saturday through the eastern city of Chemnitz after a wave of racist violence that followed a knife killing. The rallies, which drew 8,000 people according to police, ended […]
(Gatestone) Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is under formal investigation for “kidnapping” after he refused to allow illegal migrants to disembark from a ship at a Sicilian port. The investigation, a political move aimed at blunting the government’s hardline stance on illegal […]
(Deutsche Welle) The German government will no longer be funding projects run with the country’s largest Islamic umbrella group, the Interior Ministry in Berlin said on Thursday. Since the start of the year, the federal government has not approved any funding for […]
(Dutch News) Some of the most vulnerable refugees living in camps in Turkey have been rejected by the Netherlands because they have extremist sympathies or are too conservative, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday. The Netherlands has agreed to take its “fair share” […]
(AFP) French President Emmanuel Macron upped his war of words with the nationalist leaders of Italy and Hungary on Wednesday, saying they were right to see him as their “main opponent” on migration. His comment came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban […]
(AFP) Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy’s hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini launched Tuesday an anti-migration manifesto aiming at next year’s European parliament elections, and countering their opposing camp led by the French president. “There are currently two camps in […]
(Local) Billionaire Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Monday August 27th that a comprehensive action plan is necessary to stop illegal migration, which he will address on a visit to Italy and Malta this week. “If Italy and Malta won’t welcome […]
(Local) Refugees who seek to live in Germany will not be required to perform compulsory military or community service — at least not yet. While the debate around the re-introduction of compulsory service in Germany has again simmered to the surface in recent […]
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