(AFP) Italian police said Wednesday they had seized a 14-tonne haul of amphetamines allegedly made by the Islamic State group in Syria, calling it the biggest seizure of such drugs in the world. The drug, in the form of around 84 million […]
(AFP) Italian police said Wednesday they had retrieved a work by famed street artist Banksy commemorating the victims of the November 2015 Paris terror attacks stolen from the Bataclan concert hall. The work was an image of a girl in mourning painted […]
(AFP) Italy’s interior ministry said on Saturday it had expelled a Tunisian national linked to the man who carried out a deadly 2016 attack on a Berlin Christmas market. Montassar Yaakoubi, described by the ministry as “an associate of the Tunisian terrorist […]
(National-UAE) Italy has ratified an agreement with Qatar that will give the Gulf country an official platform to fund organisations and build mosques, a move that has bitterly divided politicians in Rome. Warnings that ratification of the accord would let Doha use […]
(Reuters) An Italian Senate committee on Tuesday rejected a request by magistrates to investigate Matteo Salvini, head of the rightwing League party, for refusing a migrant rescue boat permission to land last year when he was interior minister. Salvini refused to allow […]
(AFP) Italian police on Sunday corrected a report that a record 400 migrants had landed on a beach in Sicily, saying the number was only around 70, the ANSA news agency reported. A single wooden fishing boat some 10 metres (35 feet) […]
(ANSA) A 22-year-old Somali man was convicted Tuesday of having links with Al-Shabaab, the Somali militant group which held Italian aid worker Silvia Romano captive for 18 months. Mohsin Ibrahim Omar, 22, alias Anas Khalil, AKA Yusuf, the name of the Nairobi […]
(AFP) The UN voiced alarm Friday at reports that countries are failing to help migrants in distress on the Mediterranean Sea, blocking assistance by NGOs and coordinating pushbacks of their boats. UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville warned during a virtual press […]
(Reuters) Italian coastguards have impounded two charity rescue boats at the port of Palermo citing “technical and operational” irregularities, which the owners denounced as an excuse to block life-saving missions at sea. The seizure of the German-flagged Alan Kurdi and Spanish-flagged Aita […]
(AP) Aid group Doctors without Borders said Friday it is ending its cooperation with partner SOS Mediterranee amid disagreement over the continued rescue of migrants. Doctors without Borders, which is also known by its French acronym MSF, said it wants to continue […]
(Reuters) Italy on Sunday ordered migrants aboard a rescue ship off its coast to be quarantined on another vessel to test them for the coronavirus instead of allowing them to disembark. The Alan Kurdi, run by the German non-governmental group Sea-Eye, is […]
(Reuters) Italian ports cannot be considered safe because of the coronavirus epidemic and will not let migrant boats operated by charities dock, the government has ruled. The decision was taken late on Tuesday after a ship operated by the German non-governmental group […]
(AFP) Norway announced Thursday that it had extradited a fundamentalist Islamic preacher to Italy, despite the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, where he has been sentenced to jail for leading a jihadist network. “Krekar is no longer in Norway. Krekar has today been extradited […]
(AFP) After rising to and falling from government with his “Italians first” rallying cry and anti-migrant diatribes, far-right leader Matteo Salvini remains hugely popular and has set his sights on a return to power despite an impending trial. The 46-year-old from Milan, […]
(AFP) Norway’s government on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to extradite a fundamentalist Islamic preacher to Italy, where he has been sentenced to prison for leading a jihadist network. The 63-year-old Iraqi Kurdish man — known as Mullah Krekar, but named Najumuddin Faraj […]
(AP) Italy on Saturday expelled a Moroccan imam back to his home country because of what it said was his support for the Islamic State group. Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese cited reasons of state security in sending the 41-year-old imam, identified only […]
(Breitbart) According to new figures, Italy has seen a historically low birthrate in 2018, as the number of foreigners in the country has increased to nearly 9 per cent of the total population. The new statistics, released by the Italian statistics agency Istat, […]
(AFP) Half as many migrants landed on Italian shores in 2019 compared with the year before, the latest interior ministry figures show. Italy has struggled to cope with a flood of immigrants in recent years and has called on other European Union […]
(Breitbart) A 23-year-old Bangladeshi imam faces deportation from Italy after investigators confirmed he had physically assaulted young children at a religious school. The migrant, who lived in Italy on a work visa, is said to have created what investigators described as a […]
(AFP) Italy’s new Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said in an interview published Friday that there was no migrant “invasion,” countering statements by her hardline anti-immigration predecessor Matteo Salvini. Lamorgese told the Repubblica newspaper that this year 9,600 migrants and asylum-seekers had arrived […]
(AFP) Italy has renewed a controversial agreement signed in 2017 with [the] Libyan coastguard to block illegal migrants trying to leave from the North African country’s coast, the government has said. Libya, wracked by conflict since the 2011 uprising that killed dictator […]
(AP) A large majority of European Union member countries have refused to back a plan to quickly get migrants off boats in the Mediterranean Sea and distribute them among willing EU partners. At a meeting of EU interior ministers, only Ireland, Luxembourg […]
(ANSA) The diocese of Bologna, which has ordered Muslim-friendly pork-free tortellini for Friday’s feast of patron saint Petronius, on Tuesday said the row over the case was “unacceptable.” The diocese has replaced pork, which Muslims do not eat for religious reasons, with […]
(Reuters) Interior ministers from five European Union countries said on Monday they had agreed a new scheme to distribute migrants saved from the Mediterranean in a deal aimed at relieving the pressure on southern EU states. The plan will be presented to […]
(AFP) Italy has seen a rise in so-called “phantom” boat arrivals as traffickers ferry migrants across the Mediterranean from Tunisia rather than Libya without being spotted, a prosecutor warned Saturday. The closing window of opportunity to reach Europe before the onset of […]
(Reuters) The European Union must introduce a new, automatic system of taking in migrants saved from the Mediterranean, the leaders of Italy and France said on Wednesday, as they sought to patch up bruised bilateral relations. Italy has long complained that it […]
(Deutsche Welle) Italian anti-terrorism officials are investigating a 23-year-old man suspected of stabbing an army corporal outside Milan’s main train station, Italian media reported on Tuesday. The suspect attacked the patrolling soldier from the back with a letter opener, causing the victim […]
(Deutsche Welle) Although the site is remote, it has plenty of symbolism: Beginning this Sunday, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders from some 15 countries will meet in the southern Italian city of Matera, one of Europe’s 2019 cultural capitals, to take part […]
(AFP) Italy on Saturday allowed rescue ship Ocean Viking to disembark 82 migrants on Lampedusa, in a reversal of the hardline policy under the country’s ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini. Far-right leader Salvini was forced out of office last month after bringing the […]
(Breitbart) An Italian think-tank has predicted that due to mass migration and differing birthrates, half of all Italians could be Muslims by the end of the century. The FareFuturo foundation released its findings this week as part of their “First report on […]
(AFP) The German captain of rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3, Carola Rackete, who was temporarily arrested in Italy for docking without permission so she could let rescued migrants land, said Tuesday her “actions were justified.” Rackete, 31, was arrested on June 29 and […]
(AFP) Far-right Dutch MEP Geert Wilders on Saturday said nationalist parties were experiencing “tough” times but predicted that they would make a come-back. “It’s a tough time. We will come back,” Wilders said, speaking at an event in northern Italy. “I believe […]
(AP) Italian police have detained 10 people in the central Abruzzo region for alleged tax crimes and money laundering aimed at financing Islamic extremist groups. Investigators said at a news conference Saturday that the eight Tunisians and two Italians are suspected of […]
(AFP) Talks between Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party resumed on Saturday after a quarrel that had threatened to stop the nascent coalition in its tracks. Tensions remained however on the hot-button issue of migration, a highly emotive subject […]
(AFP) A French court handed six-month jail terms to three members of a far-right group for erecting a blockade on an Alps mountain pass to try [to] keep migrants out. On April 21, 2018, several dozen members of the Generation Identitaire (Generation […]
(AFP) Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Tuesday refused to allow a ship carrying dozens of migrants to enter Italian waters, the latest in a string of standoffs over migrant rescues. The Eleonore, run by German charity Mission Lifeline, is seeking a […]
(AP) French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed to push for more solidarity in the European Union over the migrant crisis. Mitsotakis, who took office [in] July, met with Macron in Paris on Thursday. He said the migrant […]
(ANSA) The wife of Abderrahim Moutaharrik, a Moroccan competitive kickboxer who was jailed in 2017 over alleged links to the Islamic State (ISIS), has been deported from Italy to Morocco. A court had in 2017 sentenced him to six years in jail […]
(AFP) A Spanish charity which operates a migrant rescue boat in the Mediterranean said Wednesday that a court in Italy has suspended a government decree banning its vessel from entering Italian territorial waters. The Open Arms boat is currently sailing off the […]
(Breitbart) A pair of Tunisian migrants are under investigation by Italian authorities for animal cruelty after allegedly slaughtering sheep in a parking lot. The pair slaughtered two sheep in the village of Bentivoglio in Bologna as part of the annual Islamic festival […]
(AP) The United Nations refugee agency expressed concern Tuesday that a new Italian law authorizing massive fines against the owners of private rescue ships could endanger the lives of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. A so-called “security decree” drafted by […]
(Reuters) The Italian government on Monday won a confidence vote in the Senate on a decree targeting charities operating migrant rescue ships, in a victory for Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and his far-right League party. The government of the League and the […]
(AFP) The incoming head of the European Commission called Friday for a “new pact” on migration during a trip to Italy, which insists Europe must take a fairer share of asylum seekers. “I want to propose a new pact for migration and […]
(AFP) Italy allowed 116 rescued migrants to disembark from a coastguard ship Wednesday with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s backing after five EU countries and the Church agreed to share responsibility for looking after them. The far-right minister used Facebook to announce his […]
(AFP) Far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Friday ordered 135 migrants and refugees rescued in the Mediterranean to remain aboard an Italian coastguard vessel until other European countries agree to take them in. Salvini, also deputy prime minister, has been trying to […]
(AFP) Norway on Wednesday provisionally jailed controversial Iraqi Kurdish fundamentalist preacher Mullah Krekar, following a conviction in Italy for “terrorist conspiracy,” his lawyer told AFP. Norwegian intelligence (PST) had arrested Krekar, 63, on Monday in Oslo under an international search warrant as […]
(AFP) Norway has arrested controversial Iraqi Kurdish fundamentalist preacher Mullah Krekar after he was convicted in Italy of “terrorist” conspiracy, the PST intelligence service said Tuesday. A refugee in Norway since 1991, 63-year-old Krekar — whose real name is Najumuddin Ahmad Faraj […]
(AFP) What was once Europe’s biggest migrant reception centre, in Mineo in Sicily, officially closed on Tuesday in the presence of its biggest critic, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. “We’re saving quite a bit of money, we’re working to find new jobs […]
(AFP) A charity rescue vessel on Saturday brought 41 shipwrecked migrants into port in Lampedusa, the second boat to defy far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s bid to close Italian ports to them. Mediterranea’s Italian-flagged Alex was met by a strong police presence […]
(AFP) The captain of detained migrant rescue ship Sea-Watch 3, Carola Rackete, will sue Matteo Salvini for defamation after a tirade of insults from Italy’s far-right interior minister, her lawyer said Friday. “We have prepared the legal complaint against minister Salvini,” Alessandro […]
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