(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 […]
(AFP) A Stockholm demonstration against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Sweden’s planned NATO membership has been given the go-ahead for this weekend despite Ankara’s objections, Swedish police told AFP on Friday. “We are going to ensure that all those present on […]
(Local) Turkish officials are demanding that Sweden’s new terror law be applied to an anti-Nato demonstration this coming weekend. What does the law cover, and can it be used to stop a protest? Turkey wants Sweden to stop the demonstration on June […]
(AP) Germany saw a 28% increase in the number of people gaining its citizenship last year, with people from Syria accounting for more than a quarter of those who were naturalized, official data showed Tuesday. Preliminary figures show that about 168,500 people […]
(Breitbart) German politicians have been left fearing the consequences of diversity after migrant parades [celebrating] the re-election of Turkey’s Islamist president took place in the country. Numerous elected officials within Germany have expressed concern at the parades, which celebrated the victory of […]
(Daily Sabah) Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, known for his anti-migrant and Islamophobic stance, urged Turks living in the Netherlands who voted for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to leave the country after Sunday’s elections. “I hope that all Turks in the Netherlands […]
(AP) Greek authorities said Monday they had arrested five police officers from a special border guard force on suspicion of working with smugglers to help migrants cross into the country from neighboring Turkey. A police statement said the five suspects are believed […]
(Politico) EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson criticized Greece for reportedly forcing migrants onto an emergency raft and abandoning them in the Aegean Sea. In an interview with POLITICO, Johansson said the episode was more than a pushback — when migrants are […]
(Politico) The EU called Monday on Greece to investigate allegations that it is abandoning migrants at sea amid concerns that the center-right government in Athens is violating EU law. The EU’s executive urged Greece to launch a probe into alleged illegal migrant […]
(NL Times) The police received a record number of reports from politicians being threatened in 2022. The Team Threatened Politicians (TBP) of the police in The [Hague] received 1,125 reports of threats and incitement addressed to parliamentarians and government officials, almost two […]
(Politico) Greek voters will decide Sunday whether to harden the country’s line on migration by extending a border wall with Turkey, or elect the left-wing opposition Syriza party which has adopted a softer stance on the issue. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has […]
(Times of Malta) Investigators found bomb-making instructions on the phones of five men who were among seven arrested last month over suspicious jihadist social media activity, a court heard on Thursday. They included pictures and diagrams explaining how a variety of bombs […]
(National-UAE) The Turkish diaspora in Europe gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a boost in his tight re-election race, preliminary results showed on Monday. In Germany, where the Turkish community of three million is the largest abroad, Mr Erdogan was ahead with 65 […]
(European Conservative) After years of campaigning from the right, the European Parliament finally approved a resolution to call on the Commission to end funding for Islamist organizations and campaigns that glorify the hijab, the Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers (ECR) tweeted on Wednesday, […]
(AFP) Migrant crossings through the Mediterranean have reached unprecedented levels as increasingly organised smuggling gangs are producing makeshift boats much more easily, the head of the European Union’s border agency told AFP. In the first four months of 2023, the numbers of […]
(Iran International) A Muslim group in Germany, Secular Islam Association, has urged authorities to immediately ban Iran’s Islamic Center of Hamburg and shut down its Imam Ali Mosque. In a letter to Germany’s Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser last week seen by […]
(NL Times) The brawl that took place at the RAI convention center in Amsterdam on Sunday evening involved hundreds of people arguing over the counting of votes for the Turkish election. Two people were left injured as a result of the fighting. […]
(Jerusalem Post) Activists of the Israeli government-designated terrorist NGO Samidoun chanted antisemitic and anti-Israeli slogans at the far-left “revolutionary May 1st demonstration,” according to a video taken at the rally published on Twitter by the German Jewish organization Jüdisches Forum (JFDA). This […]
(Local) Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has spoken positively about Denmark’s hopes of setting up an offshore facility, outside of the EU, for processing people who are seeking asylum in the block. Denmark has held talks with Rwanda over a number of years […]
(Malta Independent) Seven young Syrian men were arraigned in court on Sunday evening on charges related to terrorism. The young men are aged between 21 and 27. They are Ajil Al Muhsen, Adnan Maashi, Yazan Abduklaziz, Ahmed Kadas, Khalil Al Mahmoud, Ahmed […]
(Reuters) Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday Britain’s plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda was a deal between two free nations which are safeguarding the safety of the people, adding it was wrong to call it a deportation. Meloni, […]
(Reuters) Lithuania’s parliament passed legislation on Tuesday allowing border guards to turn back migrants who cross its frontier illegally, brushing away concerns from human rights organizations. Lithuania, Poland and Latvia have reported a sharp increase since 2021 in migrants from countries such […]
(Euractiv) The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) leader in the Swedish Parliament declared that the party could withdraw its support for the ruling centre-right coalition, which would risk a political crisis when the country is heading the Council of the European Union. Mattias […]
(Politico) EU lawmakers on Thursday gave the green light to a central plank of the EU’s flagship migration package, the latest sign of progress on long-stalled reforms. The European Parliament measure endorses new rules seeking to speed up the return of migrants […]
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