(AFP) Sweden’s government said Tuesday it intended to “intensify” border controls due to a worsened security situation in the wake of several protests involving desecrations of the Koran. Tensions have flared between Sweden and Muslim countries following several protests involving public desecrations […]
(Balkan Insight) Serbian police deployed 820 officers on Tuesday in a large-scale operation targeting people-smugglers in the area near the border with EU member state Hungary. Police detained 13 people suspected of criminal activities, while 27 will be charged with misdemeanours. Officers […]
(Reuters) Irregular immigration into the European Union rose a tenth in the first half of 2023 compared to a year ago, the bloc’s border agency said on Monday, with Mediterranean routes accounting for most of the arrivals. Frontex reported 132,370 attempts to […]
(Politico) Bitter infighting on Wednesday derailed EU ambassadors’ attempts to finish off the last plank of the EU’s flagship migration reform. As a result, officials will have to break for the summer without completing work on the overall package, which would reshape […]
(AP) Sweden’s security situation has deteriorated after recent Quran burnings in the country and protests in the Muslim world, both of which have negatively impacted the Nordic nation’s image, its domestic security service said Wednesday. The Swedish Security Service said the burning […]
(Euronews) Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, has spoken up against “any form of incitement to religious hatred and intolerance.” In a short statement released on Wednesday morning, Borrell expressed his unambiguous condemnation of the recent incidents in Sweden and Denmark […]
(AFP) A Brussels court on Tuesday convicted French citizen Salah Abdeslam and Belgian-Moroccan Mohamed Abrini for 2016 jihadist bombings in the Belgian capital that killed 32 people, after the country’s largest-ever criminal trial. The high-profile pair — already sentenced to life in […]
(European Conservative) Approximately 200 Muslim protestors gathered outside the European Parliament Wednesday, July 19th, as Islamic groups in Brussels rallied against the controversial burning of the Quran in Sweden. Shouts of “Allahu Akbar” were heard right outside the Parliament as an almost […]
(AP) Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Sunday called for new, more equal relationships between Europe and migrants’ countries of origin and transit as she convened a summit of some 20 nations, EU officials and international organizations aimed at stanching flows of illegal […]
(AFP) Italy has invited Mediterranean countries to Rome on Sunday for an “international conference” aimed at extending an EU-backed deal with Tunisia to curb the arrival of migrants to European shores. Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expecting leaders from the […]
(AFP) As riots raged around France earlier this month, infrastructure for next year’s Paris Olympics risked becoming engulfed in the violence, adding a fresh worry for organisers who face a head-spinning list of security challenges one year before the Games start. Surveillance […]
(AP) Croatian police have detained nine people suspected of smuggling migrants into the European Union country from neighboring Serbia, a police statement said on Friday. The suspects joined forces with unidentified persons in Serbia to organize illegal entry over the Danube River […]
(Politico) Cash is king in the EU’s plan to stop migrants from coming to Europe. On Sunday, the EU finalized a deal with Tunisia — a common departure point for people seeking asylum in Europe — that essentially offers the country millions in exchange […]
(Politico) Greece wants the EU to stop migrant boats before they even get to Europe. In an interview with POLITICO, newly appointed Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis called on the EU to resume an operation that aims to halt migrants before leaving […]
(AFP) The European Union and Tunisia on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding for a “strategic and comprehensive partnership” on irregular migration, economic development and renewable energy. The deal, which includes financial assistance, came as Tunisia has been under fire over its […]
(Washington Post) The British man who tried to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami over 20 years ago spoke publicly last month for the first time, testifying under oath in federal court. His arms and legs were shackled as he […]
(Anadolu) The European Union has concrete plans to combat Islamophobia, Marion Lalisse, the new EU coordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred, said Thursday. Lalisse, who was appointed to the position on Feb. 2, held a press conference in Brussels and answered questions from […]
(National-UAE) The EU’s co-ordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred told the National on Thursday that the bloc sees Quran-burning protests as having “no place in Europe” but said it was up to individual countries whether to ban them. Marion Lalisse said EU states […]
(Reuters) Just as King Canute failed to hold back the seas, so Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has floundered in her efforts to stop the flow of migrants to Italy since she took office last October. Despite pledges before last year’s national election […]
(Reuters) The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday approved a disputed resolution on religious hatred in the wake of the burning of a Koran in Sweden, prompting concern by Western states who say it challenges long-held practices in rights protection. The […]
(Reuters) Greece should not be burdened with the task of managing migration for the European Union, or be accused of not saving people at sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday, a month after a deadly shipwreck. The Greek coast guard […]
(AFP) In her first speech in parliament as France’s riots ebbed this week, far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the government of turning the country into a “hell” that she had foreseen. “The reality is that you didn’t want to hear any […]
(AFP) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government collapsed Friday over “insurmountable” differences on how to tackle migration, with elections expected in November. Rutte, 56, the Netherlands’ longest-serving leader and one of Europe’s most experienced politicians, said days of crisis talks between […]
(AP) Poland’s lawmakers on Friday approved law amendments that open the way for a national referendum on accepting migrants to be held in conjunction with the country’s general election, which is expected this fall. Poland’s conservative government has vetoed the European Union’s […]
(AP) A Turkish man was found guilty Thursday of attempted aggravated extortion, weapons possession and attempted terrorist financing, saying he was acting on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The Stockholm District Court sentenced Yahya Güngör to a total of 4.5 […]
(AP) The European Union should put a priority on stopping illegal migration instead of trying to persuade the 27 member nations to share responsibility for people who arrive without authorization, the prime ministers of Italy and Poland said Wednesday. Italy’s right-wing leader, […]
(AP) Turkey’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Swedish authorities’ failure to prevent Quran-burning protests in their country is raising security concerns and questions about Sweden’s credentials for possible NATO membership. But Hakan Fidan said Turkey would still approve Sweden’s membership in the […]
(Euractiv) The leader of the far-right party VOX, Santiago Abascal, indirectly accused radical Muslims living in the European Union of fuelling and masterminding recent rioting and looting in France. The French authorities are still on alert in Paris, although the sixth night […]
(Reuters) Poland and Hungary refused on Friday to sign up to conclusions of a European Union summit over two paragraphs on migration, a move diplomat[s] said aimed to demonstrate their anger over being outvoted earlier this month on new migration rules. The […]
(Reuters) Poland will demand the reform of the European Union’s border agency Frontex and more funds for dealing with migrants, the prime minister said on Thursday, as he prepared to oppose a migration deal at an EU summit in Brussels. Under the […]
(BBC) Seven people have pleaded not guilty to being part of an alleged conspiracy linked to the smuggling of Iraqi migrants across the English Channel. Three women and four men from the Midlands and West Yorkshire denied conspiring to facilitate a breach […]
(NL Times) Authorities in the Netherlands took a man and his daughter into custody last week on allegations that they sent approximately 5.5 million euros to organizations linked to the militant Palestinian organization, Hamas. They were apprehended on Thursday, and they remained […]
(AP) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday defended a deal to stop migrants from entering the European Union until their chances of getting asylum have been reviewed, arguing that the bloc’s existing arrangement is “completely dysfunctional.” Speaking to lawmakers in Berlin, he […]
(Turkish Minute) The Republic of Turkey was one of five main countries actively engaged in espionage activities in Germany in 2022, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported on Tuesday, citing a report by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). […]
(AP) Nine men suspected of crewing a migrant smuggling ship that sank off Greece leaving more than 500 missing were ordered held in pretrial custody Tuesday, as new accounts emerged on the sinking and the appalling conditions on the trip from Libya […]
(AFP) A Turkish citizen appeared in a Swedish court on Tuesday accused of “attempted terrorist financing” of the pro-Kurdish PKK, a first in the Scandinavian country seeking Ankara’s approval to join NATO. Turkey has accused Sweden of being a haven for “terrorists,” […]
(Reuters) Belgian foreign affairs minister Hadja Lahbib is facing calls for resignation after granting visas to delegations from Iranian and Russian cities to attend a mayors convention in Brussels last week. Lahbib is under scrutiny for having approved [visa] requests for citizens […]
(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 […]
(European Conservative) In its annual report on terrorism, Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, has revealed that radical Islamist terrorism for the third consecutive year remained the top security threat across the bloc in 2022, as the vast majority of individuals […]
(Brussels Times) Around 2,000 representatives from 600 cities around the world flocked to Brussels today to attend the Brussels Urban Summit 2023. But one participant garnered particular attention. Alireza Zakani, the ultra-conservative mayor of the Iranian capital of Tehran, was spotted among […]
(Reuters) The knife attack on toddlers in a French Alpine town, suspected to have been carried out by a Syrian refugee, has thrown a spotlight on President Emmanuel Macron’s struggles to find support for a new immigration bill in a fragmented parliament. […]
(Anadolu) A key EU body on Thursday urged Athens to respect European court human rights rulings meant to protect Greece’s ethnic Turkish minority, including the 150,000-strong Turkish community in the northeast. Meeting in Strasbourg, France, the European Council Ministerial Committee expressed deep […]
(Politico) Italy finally gave its blessing. Rome’s green light on Thursday evening unlocked a major deal to overhaul the EU’s asylum procedures for the first time in years after a grueling gathering of home affairs ministers in Luxembourg. “I wasn’t sure this […]
(AFP) A Syrian refugee armed with a knife stabbed four preschool children and injured two adults by a lake in the French Alps on Thursday in an attack whose motive remains unclear. The youngest victim in the quiet town of Annecy was […]
(AP) Greek officials have launched a series of high-level contacts with the newly elected government in Turkey in an effort to counter a surge in attempted crossings by migrants over a river that divides the two countries. Defense Minister Alkiviades Stephanis spoke […]
(Reuters) European Union countries are expected this week to agree on how to share out the responsibility of hosting refugees and migrants, a top EU official said on Tuesday of what would mark a breakthrough after years of bitter feuds within the […]
(Turkish Minute) Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, a dual Turkish-Belgian citizen who in 2009 became the first headscarf-wearing lawmaker in a Belgian parliamentary assembly, was appointed a minister in a new cabinet announced by the Turkish president over the weekend. Özdemir is the only […]
(AFP) Hundreds of people protested in Stockholm on Sunday against new anti-terror legislation that was passed to address Turkey’s opposition to Sweden joining NATO. The demonstration was organised by groups close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), outlawed by Turkey, which this […]
(AP) Five police officers accused of cooperating with human traffickers to facilitate the entry of at least 100 migrants into Greece are being held in custody pending trial. The five officers had been testifying before an examining magistrate since Saturday morning at […]
(AP) Belarus is introducing a visa-free travel arrangement with dozens of countries for a month, raising fears that neighboring Poland and Lithuania might see a sudden increase in unauthorized migration. The authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, signed a decree allowing citizens […]
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