(AFP) France’s right-dominated Senate has backed a bill to ban religious symbols including the Muslim headscarf in all sport competitions, professional and amateur, sparking accusations of discrimination from the left and rights advocates. The bill still needs a majority of votes from […]
(AFP) Five men went on trial in France on Monday charged with holding four French journalists hostage for the Islamic State jihadist group in war-torn Syria more than a decade ago. IS emerged in 2013 in the chaos that followed the outbreak […]
(AFP) A Syrian asylum seeker was arrested after a teenager was stabbed to death and five other people were wounded in southern Austria Saturday, police said, sending shock waves through the Alpine nation. The attack comes just two days after a suspected […]
(AFP) A Swedish court on Friday sentenced a man to three years in jail for joining the Islamic State (IS) group, the country’s first conviction since new legislation was introduced banning participation in a terrorist group. The 22-year-old man was convicted of […]
(AFP) Police arrested an Afghan asylum seeker at the scene of what German leaders labelled a car ramming “attack” Thursday that wounded 30 people, some seriously, in the southern city of Munich. The carnage came on the eve of an international security […]
(AFP) An Afghan man with suspected jihadist motives goes on trial in Germany on Thursday over a knife attack that killed a policeman and wounded five others at an anti-Islam rally last year. The hearings will start less than two weeks before […]
(AFP) A Swedish court on Tuesday sentenced a 52-year-old woman to 12 years in prison on genocide charges, in the country’s first court case over crimes by the Islamic State group against the Yazidi minority. Accused of keeping Yazidi women and children […]
(AFP) Far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders threatened on Monday to force early elections if a landmark immigration bill did not pass quickly despite the country’s top advisory body calling for an overhaul. For months the shaky coalition governing the Netherlands has been […]
(AFP) A Tunisian man went on trial Monday accused of stabbing to death three people in a church in the southern French city of Nice in 2020, but his insistence that he had no recollection of the events provoked anger among relatives […]
(AFP) Denmark’s strict immigration policies resulted in the granting of just 860 asylum requests last year, the lowest number with the exception of 2020, when Covid-19 lockdowns halted new arrivals. Denmark’s immigration approach has been influenced by the far-right parties for over […]
(AFP) A Stockholm court on Monday convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred during four Koran burnings in 2023 that sparked outrage in Muslim countries, a verdict that reignited debate about the limits of freedom of expression. The verdict came just days […]
(AFP) Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, who was shot dead late Wednesday in Sweden, stoked international controversy with his Koran burnings. In June 2023, the 38-year-old with a chequered past sparked outrage when he stomped on the Islamic holy book and wrapped it […]
(AFP) Germany’s ex-chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in Thursday on a controversy flaring ahead of February elections, slamming her party successor for relying on far-right support on the flashpoint issue of immigration. Conservative CDU leader Friedrich Merz sparked outrage Wednesday when he pushed […]
(AFP) An Iraqi refugee in Sweden who repeatedly burned the Koran in 2023, sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, investigators said Thursday, with Sweden’s prime minister suggesting a “foreign power” might have been involved. Prosecutor Rasmus Oman confirmed to […]
(AFP) Prime Minister Francois Bayrou felt compelled on Tuesday to defend remarks about immigrants “flooding” France after drawing sharp rebukes, including from his allies, but winning applause from the anti-immigration right. The leftist opposition accused Bayrou of spreading far-right ideas and centrist […]
(AFP) With Germany reeling from another deadly knife attack by a migrant suspect, experts warned that the inability of asylum seekers to access mental health services has added to their existing vulnerabilities. Wednesday’s stabbing in Aschaffenburg, which claimed the lives of a […]
(AFP) Denmark charged two people on Friday under its law banning desecration of the Koran, a first for legislation adopted after a series of holy book burnings that sparked outrage among Muslims, authorities said. The pair, whose identities were not disclosed, are […]
(AFP) A court in Norway on Friday jailed two sisters for being members of the Islamic State (IS) group, after they secretly travelled to Syria as teens in 2013. Now aged 27 and 31, the pair were convicted of being members of […]
(AFP) A Paris court on Thursday sentenced a Pakistani man to 30 years in jail for attempting to murder two people outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in 2020 with a meat cleaver. When he carried out the attack, 29-year-old Zaheer […]
(AFP) A deadly knife attack on a play school group in Germany, where an Afghan man was arrested at the scene, reignited a bitter immigration debate on Thursday, a month before elections. Germany was stunned by the latest in a series of […]
(AFP) A knife attacker killed a two-year-old child and a man on Wednesday in a public park in Germany, where police arrested an Afghan man as the main suspect. Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “unbelievable act of terror” on a play school […]
(AFP) French authorities Wednesday arrested another Algerian social media influencer as tensions soar between Paris and its North African former colony, the interior minister announced, in a statement that earned him a rare rebuke from Paris prosecutors. Rafik M. had “called on […]
(AFP) The suspect in a deadly car ramming attack on a German Christmas market was mentally unwell, “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Thursday. His erratic behaviour over the years had come to the attention […]
(AFP) A Franco-Algerian influencer, arrested as part of an investigation into online hate videos, appeared before French prosecutors on Saturday and will stand trial in March, authorities said. A diplomatic row between France and Algeria has flared up over the arrests of […]
(AFP) France threatened on Friday to “retaliate” if Algeria escalates a diplomatic row that has flared up over the arrests of Algerian social media influencers accused of inciting violence. Tensions between France and its former colony mounted after Algeria on Thursday sent […]
(AFP) A French city on Thursday removed posters depicting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after Tehran called the images “insulting,” in the latest incident in a period of strained relations between the two countries. The southern city of Beziers ran a […]
(AFP) French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Monday ordered increased security at major gatherings following vehicle ramming attacks in Germany and the United States. Retailleau sought “optimal security conditions” in a memo to officials seen by AFP. “Given the high level of […]
(AFP) French authorities on Sunday held three Algerians suspected of inciting violence in TikTok videos, with at least two of them facing terror-related charges. The arrests come amid growing political tensions between Paris and its former North African colony. A video blogger […]
(AFP) An Algerian online influencer will stand trial in France next month, accused of inciting terrorism on TikTok, prosecutors said Saturday. The 25-year-old suspect was remanded in custody on Friday in the western city of Brest, prosecutor Camille Miansoni said in a […]
(AFP) French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is set to publish a special God-mocking edition next week to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by jihadist gunmen that left eight staff members dead. The anniversary of the shocking attack on […]
(AFP) A record 46,843 migrants reached Spain’s Canary Islands illegally in 2024 via the increasingly deadly Atlantic route, the second consecutive year of unprecedented arrival numbers, official data showed on Thursday. The landmark came as the European country received 63,970 irregular migrants […]
(AFP) The German government, under fire for failing to prevent a deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market, argued on Monday that the tragedy would have been hard to prevent and said that the suspect appeared to be mentally disturbed. Interior Minister […]
(AFP) Spanish police said on Sunday they had arrested seven people smugglers accused of murdering four migrant[s] during a sea crossing in November from the African mainland to the Canary Islands. The seven were detained at an emergency accommodation centre on the […]
(AFP) Italian police said Tuesday they had dismantled a cell which promoted jihadist propaganda online, with five suspects of foreign origin targeted including their alleged leader, a Pakistani woman. Four of the suspects are accused of having “formed a terrorist association of […]
(AFP) Germany’s far-right AfD party on Monday held what it called a “memorial” rally for victims of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market that has newly inflamed debate on migrant and security policy. Meanwhile, an anti-extremist initiative called “Don’t Give Hate […]
(AFP) The German city of Magdeburg was in mourning Saturday over a car-ramming attack that brought death and carnage to its Christmas market, but the sorrow gave way to anger when the politicians showed up. Chancellor Olaf Scholz led a group of […]
(AFP) The Saudi suspect in Germany’s deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany’s migrant and asylum policy, officials said Saturday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “terrible, insane” attack that killed five people and […]
(AFP) A French court on Friday handed heavy sentences to several men convicted of having played a role in the jihadist beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in 2020 — a murder that horrified France. Paty, 47, was murdered in October 2020 by […]
(AFP) A German court handed a 10-year jail term to a Syrian former militia leader on Wednesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed under former president Bashar al-Assad. The man, named only as Ahmad H., 47, had come to Germany […]
(AFP) French prosecutors on Monday sought jail terms of between one and 16 years for eight people on trial over the 2020 beheading of a school teacher by an Islamist radical that shocked France. The harshest sentence was reserved for a defendant […]
(AFP) Four people arrested over the weekend had been inspired by the Islamic State and were planning to carry out a “terrorist attack” targeting civilians, North Macedonia prosecutors said Monday. The four were detained in separate raids across the country on Sunday […]
(AFP) Ten years after a deadly attack on its office that shocked France, Charlie Hebdo magazine is marking the anniversary with a cartoon contest mocking God, with Sunday the deadline for submissions. The satirical weekly was targeted by two Islamic extremists on […]
(AFP) Britain, Germany, France, Italy and several other European countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad. While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments […]
(AFP) Three young suspected Islamic extremists have been charged with terror offences in France over an alleged bomb plot, prosecutors said on Sunday. The three men aged between 19 and 20 are thought to have become radicalised while watching extremist videos online […]
(AFP) Muhammad was the most popular name for baby boys in England and Wales last year, topping the annual rankings for the first time, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Thursday. The name, which has been in the top 10 […]
(AFP) German police carried out sweeping pre-dawn raids Wednesday targeting an alleged Iraqi-Kurdish criminal network accused of smuggling migrants by boat from France to Britain. More than 500 officers searched locations in multiple western German cities in an operation coordinated with Europol […]
(AFP) Swedish prosecutors said Monday they had charged three people with alleged ties to the Islamic State (IS) of plotting terrorist acts, including against Jewish interests, and seeking minors to carry them out. The trio, as well as a fourth suspect, were […]
(AFP) France’s hardline interior minister on Friday said Britain could no longer “sub-contract” Channel border security out to Paris, with no end in sight to the flows of migrants heading across the waterway. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is set to meet with […]
(AFP) A teenager whose lies about her teacher are accused of contributing to the educator’s murder by an Islamist radical apologised to his family in a French court on Tuesday. Eight people have been on trial since early November, charged with contributing […]
(AFP) France’s justice minister said on Monday that he was “resolutely opposed” to a bill aimed at removing “apology for terrorism” from the criminal code, a move that has attracted condemnation across the political spectrum. The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) proposal aims […]
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