(AFP) The French government’s decision to ban schoolgirls wearing abayas — long, flowing dresses of Middle Eastern origin — has opened a fresh debate about the country’s secular laws and the treatment of Muslim minorities. Education Minister Gabriel Attal said Sunday that […]
(AFP) French authorities are to ban the wearing in school of abaya dresses worn by some Muslim women, the education minister said Sunday, arguing the garment violated France’s strict secular laws in education. “It will no longer be possible to wear an […]
(AFP) Denmark’s spy agencies went on trial on Thursday in a unique lawsuit brought by a Dane who claims he was an undercover informant for Denmark in Syria but wound up in prison over alleged IS group ties. In a case that […]
(AFP) A Dutch far-right activist trampled on and tore up a copy of the Koran at a demonstration outside the Turkish embassy in The Hague on Friday, infuriating dozens of counter-protesters. The Dutch government had already condemned the holding of the demonstration […]
(AFP) Psychiatric experts in Norway are at odds over the mental health, and associated legal responsibility, of a shooter who killed two people on the sidelines of Oslo’s 2022 Pride festival, police said Thursday. On the night of June 25, 2022, a […]
(AFP) French prosecutors on Wednesday charged four people with involuntary manslaughter over the deaths of at least six migrants whose boat sank in the English Channel on the weekend, a judicial source told AFP. The suspects, two Iraqis and two Sudanese, were […]
(AFP) Denmark will extend the tighter border controls introduced following protests involving Koran burnings in recent months in the country and in neighbouring Sweden, the justice ministry said Wednesday. The ministry said in a statement that police “found it necessary to maintain […]
(AFP) Poland’s government on Monday accused Belarus and Russia of orchestrating another migration influx into the European Union via the Polish border in order to destabilise the region. “We’re talking about an operation organised by the Russian and Belarusian secret services that […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Sweden’s government on Thursday ordered 15 government agencies to strengthen the country’s ability to prevent terrorism, in response to a worsened security situation following protests involving desecration of the Koran. Tensions have flared between Sweden and several Middle Eastern nations after […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(AFP) In less than a month, Sweden-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika has twice stoked international outrage by desecrating the Koran at Stockholm protests. Despite his previous low profile, his past has been far from a quiet affair. In late June, the 37-year-old […]
(AFP) Swedish police said Wednesday they had granted a permit for a protest outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, with media reporting the organisers planned to burn the Muslim holy book. The protest, scheduled for Thursday, comes just weeks after a man […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Swedish police on Friday said they had granted a permit for a protest which would include burning holy texts outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, sparking condemnation from Israel and Jewish organisations. The controversial protest, scheduled for Saturday, comes weeks after […]
(AFP) Former British rapper and notorious Islamic State suspect Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, who was arrested in Spain in 2020, went on trial in Madrid on Wednesday. The 32-year-old former rapper from west London, who allegedly posted an image of himself holding a […]
(AFP) A Vienna court on Monday acquitted four ex-officials of allegedly granting asylum to a Syrian former general suspected of crimes against humanity in the latest case to throw the spotlight on Austria’s spy service. The three former intelligence agency officials and […]
(AFP) A key suspect in the 2021 drowning deaths of at least 27 people trying [to] cross the Channel in a dinghy has been charged in France, a judiciary source said Monday. He was extradited on Friday by Britain, where he had […]
(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 […]
(AFP) France has repatriated all of the French women and children who want to return home from Kurdish-run jihadist prison camps in Syria and will not be organising any more flights, a diplomatic source said on Friday. Another 10 women and 25 […]
(AFP) One of the most senior figures in France’s mainstream right-wing party was accused of “crass racism” on Wednesday after claiming that immigrant-origin people who took part in riots over the past week had undergone “a regression to their ethnic roots.” Bruno […]
(AFP) A Dutch man will appear in court on insult charges after tearing up a Koran outside parliament and likening Islam’s holy book to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” prosecutors said Tuesday. Edwin Wagensveld, 54, who heads the Netherlands’s chapter of the German anti-Islam […]
(AFP) France on Tuesday repatriated 10 women and 25 children being held in prison camps for suspected jihadists in northeast Syria, the latest return of citizens amid international pressure to bring back all detained nationals. It was the fourth repatriation operation over […]
(AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday blamed France’s nationwide riots on “institutional racism” and the country’s colonial past. The French government has been battling riots and looting in Paris and across the country since 17-year-old Nahel M. — a French […]
(AFP) Sweden’s government on Sunday condemned this week’s burning of a Koran outside Stockholm’s main mosque, calling it an “Islamophobic” act, after an international Islamic body called for measures to avoid future burnings. “The Swedish government fully understands that the Islamophobic acts […]
(AFP) Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday distanced himself from this week’s protest at which a Koran was burned outside a Stockholm mosque, which sparked outrage in parts of the Muslim world. “It is difficult to say what the consequences will […]
(AFP) An exiled Iranian opposition group said Friday that it would hold a demonstration in central Paris at the weekend after a French court overturned a police ban on the event. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the de facto […]
(AFP) France’s top administrative court on Thursday upheld a ban on women football players wearing Islamic hijab headscarves, after the issue was seized on by politicians claiming secularism was at risk. “Sporting federations whose task is to ensure the good functioning of […]
(AFP) The man who burned pages of the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque, sparking protests and a wave of condemnations, told Swedish media Thursday that he intended to burn another Koran within 10 days. After being granted a permit to protest by […]
(AFP) A man set fire to pages of the Koran outside Stockholm’s main mosque Wednesday, drawing a swift condemnation from Turkey which is holding up Sweden’s bid to join NATO days ahead of a summit. Swedish police had granted a permit for […]
(AFP) After spending past summers debating burkinis, France looks set for a new bout of arguing over Islamic clothing, this time over whether women’s football players should be allowed to wear headscarves during matches. At the centre of the latest soul-searching is […]
(AFP) A French women’s football collective seeking to overthrow a ban on players wearing the Islamic veil during [matches] scored a crucial legal goal on Monday in their judicial fight to force a rule change. Under its current rules, the French Football […]
(AFP) A reported increase in Muslim girls wearing the abaya dress at French schools has triggered a debate about their violation of the country’s sacrosanct commitment to secularism in education. France’s identity has long been wedded to its conception of secularism in […]
(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,” […]
(AFP) When an Algerian woman with mental health problems killed a 12-year-old child in Paris last year, far-right idealogue Eric Zemmour wasted no time in labelling the crime a “francocide.” After a Syrian refugee stabbed four children and two adults at a […]
(AFP) The man accused of stabbing four toddlers and two adults at a playground in a French town last week has been moved to a psychiatric hospital, sources said on Wednesday. The suspect, named as Abdalmasih H, was charged with attempted murder […]
(AFP) Some 200 migrants cast shadows in the faint early sunshine across the dunes of Gravelines beach in northern France, anticipating a police chase as they attempt to cross the waters before them to England. At least 7,610 people have been detected […]
(AFP) French investigators on Tuesday searched the homes of a journalist and a former senior official over allegations of embezzlement from a fund set up in memory of a teacher beheaded by an Islamist radical. The controversy is casting a shadow over […]
(AFP) A Swedish appeals court on Monday said police had no legal grounds to block two gatherings where protesters had planned to burn the Koran earlier this year. The burning of Islam’s holy book outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm in January sparked […]
(AFP) The Syrian refugee detained in the stabbing of six people, including four young children, in the French Alpine town of Annecy has been charged with “attempted murder,” a prosecutor said Saturday. The suspect, named as Abdalmasih H., was taken into custody […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Belgium’s prosecutor’s office on Thursday said Salah Abdeslam, a Frenchman convicted of a 2015 jihadist massacre in Paris, should be found guilty as “co-perpetrator” of the 2016 bomb attacks in Brussels. “He knowingly helped the cell” that carried out the attacks […]
(AFP) Strong backing for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among Turks in Germany in last weekend’s historic election has sparked renewed soul-searching about whether Berlin’s attempts to integrate the minority are failing. There were scenes of jubilation in some German cities after Erdogan […]
(AFP) A Paris appeals court on Friday handed a 14-year jail term to a high-profile French jihadist convicted of terrorist offences linked to Syria. The court upheld the sentence against Kevin Guiavarch handed down by a lower court but was more lenient […]
(AFP) French security forces have detained 38 migrants seeking to cross the Channel on a small boat to Britain after they clashed with police, prosecutors said. Three members of the gendarmerie were injured in Oye-Plage outside Calais on France’s northern coast, prosecutors […]
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