Hungarian opposition leader, Péter Magyar, is once again working against Hungarian interests in Brussels with his backing of the catastrophic Mercosur free trade deal, according to Fidesz MEP Csaba Dömötör, who is part of the conservative Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
“What is happening in Brussels now poses a serious threat to the future of Hungarian farmers,” said Dömötör, reports Mandiner.
According to him, this is why European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is facing a motion of no confidence.
The Mercosur trade agreement would allow a huge amount of agricultural products from South American countries to enter the European Union duty-free, while at the same time opening up markets for Ukraine.
According to Dömötör, this would be a serious blow to Hungarian and European farmers, especially in light of the fact that agricultural subsidies would be reduced by 20 percent in the EU budget, which, together with inflation, could mean a real value decrease of up to 50 percent.
Moreover, incoming products from Mercosur countries do not comply with the strict environmental and animal welfare rules that European farmers are obliged to adhere to – and there is practically no possibility of control.
The report also mentioned the no-confidence motion against von der Leyen, which is closely related to the imposition of the Mercosur agreement. According to the Fidesz faction, it is no coincidence that the agreement has become the focus of the confidence debate: the grand coalition in Brussels wants to pass the agreement at all costs.
According to Dömötör, while Péter Magyar is also at fault, as he pretends to be defending farmers, while his own political grouping in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP), is fully supporting the Mercosur agreement and the cutting of agricultural resources. Dömötör said this a hypocritical political farce.
Germany stores nearly €200 billion in gold reserves in the United States, but now there are renewed calls to send this gold back to Germany. Free Democrats (FDP) politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has ignited a debate over Germany’s economic sovereignty, calling for the immediate repatriation of German gold reserves currently held in the United States.
She argues that the present geopolitical climate makes foreign storage a liability.
Germany’s gold reserves in the United States, valued at approximately €194 billion, are partially held abroad for historical reasons. However, Strack-Zimmermann believes that relying on American custody is no longer a safe strategy.
“At a time of growing global uncertainty and under President Trump’s unpredictable US policies, it is no longer justifiable that around 37 percent of Germany’s gold reserves, more than 1,230 tons, are stored in Federal Reserve vaults in New York,” the chair of the Defense Committee in the European Parliament told Spiegel magazine.
The central concern raised is the distinction between legal ownership and physical access. Strack-Zimmermann contends that the inability to exercise direct control over these assets during international crises is a “growing risk.”
“Against this background, I call on the German government to present a clear timetable for the complete return of German gold reserves to Germany as soon as possible,“ she stated.
Beyond the physical transfer of the gold, the FDP politician is calling for a rigorous investigation into the risks of offshore storage. She insists that the Bundesbank and the Ministry of Finance are “obliged to present a transparent risk assessment that presents political and legal risks of foreign storage in a differentiated manner.”
Furthermore, she is pushing for the issue to be elevated to the highest level of domestic politics.
“The Bundestag must discuss the future of our reserves and ensuring our economic independence in a special session,” Strack-Zimmermann stated.
Other countries, such as Italy, also have activist politicians and organizations demanding that their countries repatriate their gold from the U.S.
The economic commentator Enrico Grazzini recently told the Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper that “leaving 43% of Italy’s gold reserves in America under the unreliable Trump administration is very dangerous for the national interest.”
Despite the European Parliament’s rejection of the Mercosur trade agreement with South American countries, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believes the European Union should implement it as soon as possible.
The CDU prime minister called the EP’s decision “regrettable,” as a narrow European Parliament majority (334 vs. 324) has sent the agreement to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
On his social media page, Merz wrote: “I regret that the European Parliament has put another obstacle in the way of Mercosur. But rest assured: We won’t be stopped. The Mercosur-deal is fair and balanced. There is no alternative if we want to have higher growth in Europe.”
I regret that the European Parliament has put another obstacle in the way of Mercosur. But rest assured: We won't be stopped. The Mercosur-deal is fair and balanced. There is no alternative if we want to have higher growth in Europe. pic.twitter.com/xtlfeXd93R
— Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (@bundeskanzler) January 22, 2026
In another post, the German chancellor noted that the EU parliament vote “misjudges the geopolitical situation. We are convinced of the agreement’s legality. No more delays. The agreement must now be applied provisionally.”
The decision has also sparked a major political debate in Germany. CDU MEP Dennis Radtke called the vote a “disaster” and said it was a shame that some European People’s Party politicians, fearing right-wing forces, supported the legal investigation.
Social Democrat (SPD) Bernd Lange also expressed sharp criticism, calling the EU parliament’s move an “own goal.”
The majority of German parties were divided: the CDU/CSU, SPD, and FDP members largely voted against the investigation, while the AfD – with one exception – supported it. Left-wing parties, including Die Linke and BSW, also voted in favor. The Greens faction was divided, as was the Free Voters.
According to AfD’s Peter Felser, the party’s Bundestag faction’s forest policy spokesman, the agreement not only threatens the livelihood of European farmers but could also cause serious environmental damage, reports Magyar Nemzet.
He said that due to the lower production and food safety standards of South American countries, Europe could be flooded with “genetically modified and hormone-treated imported foods.”
Several European farmers’ organizations and farmers’ demonstrations took place in front of the parliament building in Strasbourg. Some 5,000 demonstrators and hundreds of tractors paralyzed traffic in the city. The protesters held banners criticizing Ursula von der Leyen’s policies, expressing their dissatisfaction with the policies of the European Commission.
Brussels has been negotiating a free trade agreement with Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — since 1999. Critics, including German and other European farmers’ organizations, have long warned that the agreement in its current form would seriously damage the competitiveness of European agriculture, while also fueling political and economic tensions within the union.
Six people were injured, two of them seriously, in a knife attack during a Kurdish demonstration in Antwerp on Thursday evening, Belgian police said.
Four suspects have been arrested, and an investigation into attempted murder has been opened. A second demonstration planned for Friday has been cancelled out of respect for the victims.
The attack took place shortly after 7 p.m. on Operaplein, outside the Antwerp Opera House, where around 300 people had gathered for a demonstration in support of Kurds in northeastern Syria. According to police cited by De Standaard, the protest had been peaceful and was already dispersing when the violence broke out.
“All six victims suffered stab wounds,” Antwerp police spokesman Wouter Bruyns said, as reported by RTL. Four of the injured were found on Operaplein, while two others were located near Rooseveltplaats and Sint-Elisabethstraat. “Two of them are in critical condition,” he added. All victims were taken to the hospital.
🇧🇪🚨 Six people have been stabbed at a Kurdish rally in Antwerp, two of whom are in a serious condition in hospital.
Four suspects have been arrested, and an investigation into attempted murder has been opened.
Emergency services arrived with several medical teams, and police officers who were already present at the demonstration were able to intervene quickly and provide first aid. Four suspects were arrested at the scene. Bruyns said investigators were still working to determine the exact number of attackers and their motives and were reviewing CCTV footage.
NavBel, the council of Kurdish communities in Belgium, said in a statement that the demonstration had taken place “peacefully and without incident,” with families, women, young people, and children present. “As the gathering was dispersing, the Kurdish demonstrators were attacked by a group of men,” the organization said. “These men had infiltrated the demonstration and suddenly pulled out knives,” stabbing protesters “indiscriminately.”
“People were running in every direction; it was pure chaos,” one eyewitness told Gazet van Antwerpen. Another witness said a group passing by suddenly pulled out knives and began stabbing people who were sitting on the steps of the opera house.
NavBel said that three of the injured were Kurds and announced that a further demonstration scheduled for Friday in Antwerp had been cancelled “out of respect for the victims and in order to preserve serenity.”
The demonstration had been organized to draw attention to the situation in northeastern Syria, where the Islamist government army has moved against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the autonomous region of Rojava. Orhan Kilic, a spokesperson for NavBel, said fears of new human rights violations against Kurds were high, citing the background of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Kilic described the Antwerp stabbing as a “terrorist attack” and urged police to treat it as such. “There were flags, emblems, and so on,” he said. “It clearly involved Kurds who support the SDF.”
Current Syrian President Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani (al-Julani), was the former leader of the Sunni Islamist militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. Protesters say he is responsible for massacres and the displacement of civilians during the civil war
Protesters have also stated that minorities, including Kurds, Alevis, Alawites, and Christians, remain under acute threat in Syria.
While the German Green Party frequently parade themselves as climate protectors who support organic food and eating local, their recent maneuvering over the Mercosur trade agreement has exposed a staggering level of environmental hypocrisy. Despite a platform built on reducing carbon footprints and protecting biodiversity, the party is fracturing over a deal that would facilitate shipping food halfway across the globe, flood European markets with products grown with high pesticide loads, and further incentivize the destruction of the South American rainforest.
The Green delegation in the European Parliament recently voted to delay the agreement by referring it to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). While they frame this as a “legal review,” critics see a party that is happy to champion environmental standards at home while entertaining a trade deal that lacks binding controls for violations in the Amazon rain forest, along with plenty of other vulnerable environments in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
🇫🇷🇪🇺 26-year-old French organic farmer, Anaïs Foulquier, says that the EU's new Mercosur free trade deal with South America will destroy her farm.
"We are young organic farmers. We rear our own goats, dairy cows and laying hens. We respect everything, the standards, the… pic.twitter.com/UyJjN0cWY8
This internal rift in the Greens has sparked public infighting. German Green Party leader Felix Banaszak is attempting to balance the party’s “firewall against the right” with the reality that his own MEPs effectively voted with many right-wing parties in the EU parliament. The vote means that the Mercosur agreement could be delayed by up to 18 months.
The Greens are notorious for betraying their party roots, including their previous anti-war stance that the party was founded on. However, their latest positioning on the Mercosur agreement is truly astounding, as nearly every aspect of the free trade agreement violates their core tenets.
Studies and government analyses cited by critics estimate that the agreement could increase deforestation in the Mercosur region by at least 5 percent per year over a period of six years. One study suggested up to 700,000 hectares of forests could be destroyed in the first year alone due to increased beef exports, according to a Veblen Institutestudy.
According to Earth.org. “Globally, 80 percent of the land cleared for cattle grazing and animal feed monocultures is used for meat production. In Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter, cattle farming is the single largest driver of Amazonian deforestation and conversion of native vegetation to areas of pasture. Here, the rate of deforestation increased by 60 percent between 2016 and 2020, with approximately 580,000 hectares (5,800 square kilometers) of forest cut down in one year to create pastures.”
Pesticides
Any Green Party voters are notorious for being opposed to pesticides, which have been linked to a threat to human health, environmental destruction, and the ongoing eradication of insect populations.
In fact, former German Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir, who is now locked in an election battle to lead Baden-Württemberg, has now turned on his own colleagues for their “lack of pragmatism.”
“Apparently, too many still don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. European sovereignty must prove itself in concrete action, the time for cheap lip service is over,” Özdemir posted on X.
Incredibly, he wants to bypass the EU parliament, the only real democrtically elected body in Brussels, and explicitly encourage EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to bring the agreement into force provisionally. In other words, he wants no delay to Mercosur and believes von der Leyen should bypass the parliament’s vote.
There is big business at stake for Europe, after all. Germany accounts for 16 percent of the sales of pesticides to Mercosur, while France accounts for 37 percent, according to Greenpeace. Brazil is the largest consumer of pesticides in the entire world, and much of that pesticide use is being deployed on former rainforest, which has been burned and clear-cut to make room for massive monoculture crops and cattle farming. Greenpeace further writes:
“Brazil‘s agriculture model is based mainly on large-scale monoculture systems producing agriculture commodities. This agriculture business model is dominated by large corporations and is closely linked to the destruction of natural ecosystems such as forests. It requires large amounts of natural resources, emits greenhouse gases and is especially dependent on the use of pesticides that pose great risks to humans and the nature.According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 20, around 380,000 tonnes of toxic substances ended up on Brazil‘s farmland in 2017 (around 634,000 square kilometers at that time 21). To meet the high demand for pesticides, Brazil imports large quantities of pesticide active ingredients, which are subsequently further processed in the country.”
Remarkably, Özdemir has previously been a central figure in efforts to restrict and ban various pesticides, both within Germany and at the European Union level. As the former federal minister of food and agriculture, he has championed several key initiatives aimed at reducing chemical pesticide use.
Özdemir was a vocal supporter of the EU’s Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), which aimed to cut chemical pesticide use by 50 percent across the EU by 2030.
Now, his promotion of Mercosur would flood Europe with the same chemicals he was previously trying to ban or greatly reduce. Özdemir is, in short, a remarkable hypocrite.
The deal would create one of the world’s largest free trade zones, yet it offers little to address the “boomerang pesticides” that are banned in the EU but used in Mercosur states. The lack of enforceable safeguards means that while the Greens talk about “EU standards,” they are implicitly backing a system where environmental protections are compromised for market access.
After all, the deal is labeled the “cows-for-cars” trade deal for a reason. German companies, including automobile manufacturers and chemical companies, want access to South America, and for the Greens in Germany, business interests, lobbyists, and mega agricultural corporations now come first. The Mercosur agreement will tighten the screws on organic farmers, who will find it even harder to compete against cheap and substandard South American food.
The left turns its back on climate change
Özdemir is far from the only high-ranking German Green Party official slamming the Greens who voted against the deal. Current MP and former Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Jürgen Trittin criticized the EU parliament voting bloc as being “without a compass.” He even went so far as to say that the Green MEPs contributed “to the right-wing farmers’ lobby and anti-Europeans blocking a step towards greater EU sovereignty by a 10-vote majority.”
Ohne Kompass: 8 deutsche #Grüne und 3 deutsche #Linke haben dazu beigetragen, dass rechte Bauernlobby und Anti-Europäer mit 10 Stimmen Mehrheit einen Schritt zu mehr Souveränität der #EU blockieren konnten #Mercosurhttps://t.co/hRH5k6QeSB
While the Greens often attack Chancellor Friedrich Merz for accepting AfD votes in the Bundestag, Banaszak found himself making excuses for the same behavior in Brussels. He argued that „The situation is complex,“ and tried to distance the Greens’ coordination from Merz’s past actions: „What Friedrich Merz did in the German Bundestag last year: He knew he would ultimately have a majority with the AfD. And he accepted that.“
Banaszak admitted he was “not happy“ with the optics, stating: „I deeply regret that such a vote has now been held and that this result has been achieved. But one must acknowledge that the situation in the European Parliament is different.“
It is not just the Greens either. Other left-wing parties that claim that climate change is at the top of their agenda, such as the Social Democrats (SPD), are slamming the move to temporarily block the Mercosur deal.
“The fact that some Greens, together with AfD and Left Party, are delaying the entry into force of the Mercosur agreement in the current political situation is politically stupid and instinctless,” stated Dirk Wiese, the first parliamentary secretary of the SPD.
On a broader scale, the fact that much of the left in Europe voted for Mercosur should bury the idea once and for all that any of these people care about the rainforest, local food production, the environment, or climate change.
Remarkably, it is now the European right that played the decisive role in stopping the Mercosur agreement.
Do we now live in a world where the right cares more about climate change and farmers’ rights than the Greens? Looking at this monumental vote against Mercosur, it certainly looks like it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky escalated his rhetoric against Hungary and parts of the European Union on Thursday, prompting a sharp personal response from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as relations between Kyiv and Budapest remain strained.
In remarks that appeared to directly target Orbán, Zelensky warned that hostile forces were exploiting divisions within Europe itself.
“We see that the forces that aim to destroy Europe are not wasting a single day. They can operate freely, even within the European Union,” Zelensky said during his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Every Viktor who lives on European money while selling out European interests deserves a tassel on his hat,” he added in a thinly-veiled attack on the Hungarian prime minister. “And even if he feels comfortable in Moscow, we should not let European capitals become little Moscows.”
The Ukrainian president’s comments were widely interpreted as an attempt to insert himself into Hungary’s domestic political debate ahead of April’s crucial parliamentary elections, echoing accusations from Hungary’s opposition that Orbán’s government is overly accommodating toward Russia.
It seems to me that we will not be able to come to an understanding. I am a free man who serves the Hungarian people. You are a man in a desperate position who, for the fourth year now, has been unable or unwilling to bring a war to an end—despite…
Orbán responded directly on social media, rejecting Zelensky’s remarks and pushing back against criticism of Hungary’s position on the war. “I think we will not understand each other. I am a free man who serves the Hungarians,” Orbán wrote. “You are a man in a difficult situation who has been unable or unwilling to end a war for four years, despite the fact that the President of the United States is providing all the help he can.”
He added that Hungary would not continue military support for Ukraine, while stressing that humanitarian assistance would continue.
“Therefore, despite your flattery, we cannot continue to support your war effort,” Orbán said tongue-in-cheek. “Of course, the Ukrainian people, despite your selective insults, can count on us to continue supplying your country with electricity and fuel, as well as helping refugees from Ukraine. Life will take care of the rest, and everyone will get what they deserve.”
Orbán also took aim at Brussels for sending billions more to Ukraine.
Yesterday in Davos, President @ZelenskyyUa crossed a line.
There is nothing new in the fact that, as elections approach in Hungary, he once again placed the Hungarian government, and me personally, in his sights. What was surprising, however, was that in his speech he also…
Zelensky’s criticism of Hungary formed part of a broader attack on Europe’s foreign policy response. Opening with a reference to the film Groundhog Day, he said repeated diplomatic efforts had failed to end the war. “That is how we live now,” Zelensky said, describing a cycle of stalled negotiations.
He argued that Europe must do more to defend itself and questioned the bloc’s strategy. Sending 40 soldiers to Greenland, he said, would not change Europe’s security position, asking what message such moves send “to Putin, to China.”
However, Zelensky also accused European allies and the United States of failing to prevent companies from selling missile components to Russia and criticized the EU for not acting decisively on frozen Russian assets. While thanking leaders for freezing those assets, he said that “when the time came to use those assets to defend against Russian aggression, the decision was blocked. Putin managed to stop Europe. Unfortunately.”
On security guarantees, Zelensky said “the backstop of President Trump is needed,” and claimed that documents aimed at ending the war were “nearly ready” following his meeting with the U.S. president. He also said Ukraine’s team would hold a trilateral meeting with the United States and Russia in the United Arab Emirates starting Friday, adding that Russia must be prepared to make compromises.
The exchange comes as Hungary prepares for parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12, while Ukraine remains under martial law. Zelensky is expected to remain in office for the foreseeable future, despite elections previously being due no later than March 2024.
Ukraine has argued that holding elections during wartime would be extremely difficult. On Monday, Reuters reported that Ukraine will face enormous challenges in organizing its first elections since Russia’s 2022 invasion, citing the head of the country’s Central Election Commission.
“Bringing Ukraine’s voter registry up to date and making the proper preparations for a vote will take significant time,” Oleh Didenko told Reuters, pointing to destroyed infrastructure and millions displaced by the war.
An English football coach has revealed how he was kidnapped in Morocco and threatened with death as part of an alleged extortion attempt linked to a bogus coaching job offer in Saudi Arabia.
Adrian Heath, the 65-year-old former Everton striker and long-serving Major League Soccer coach, told The Athletic that he was abducted in Tangier in late 2024 after traveling to Morocco to discuss what he believed was a senior coaching role opportunity.
He said he decided to speak publicly after being informed by the FBI that another football manager had reportedly been targeted in a similar way.
According to Heath, the trip was arranged following extensive phone conversations with an English real estate agent who claimed to be acting on behalf of Saudi interests. A meeting in Tangier was proposed on the grounds that the purported backer owned multiple hotels and businesses in the city. Flights and accommodation were booked for Heath in advance.
Upon arrival, Heath said he was met at the airport by two men carrying flowers and driven away in a standard passenger car. He became alarmed when the vehicle failed to head toward the agreed five-star hotel and instead entered a run-down neighborhood. He was taken into a small apartment, where a third man was waiting.
“You’re going to transfer our money. If you don’t, you’ll never see your wife, your two children, and your grandchildren again,” one of the men told him. The captors demanded hundreds of thousands of euros and demonstrated detailed knowledge of his family. His wallet and mobile phone were also stolen.
Heath said he told the men that an immediate transfer was not possible, as his funds were located back in the United States and the banks would be shut due to the time difference. He spent the night on a couch in the apartment while being guarded. The following morning, he said, the men held an 18-inch knife to his throat and forced him to make a video call to his wife, Jane.
“Listen to what I’m saying. I need you to transfer some money,” Heath told her during the call.
Jane responded, “Adrian, we changed bank accounts less than 12 months ago. You’re the head name on it. I can’t transfer any money without you there.” The call was then cut off.
Heath’s family used the “Find My Friends” application on his iPhone to track his location, as his cell phone’s location services had not been disabled. A screenshot showing his precise position in Tangier was sent to his phone, which Heath said spooked the kidnappers.
He said he was determined not to pay, believing that compliance would only escalate the demands. “Listen, I don’t know how this is going to end up, but bottom line, you’re not getting any money,” Heath told his captors. “You can see that the only chance you’ve got in getting any money is me going home and me wiring it to you.”
Shortly afterward, the men decided to abandon the extortion attempt. Heath said he was driven to the airport and pushed out of a slowly moving car at the entrance before the vehicle sped away. His suitcase and approximately €600 in cash were taken.
Heath booked the first available flight back to Europe. By the time he returned to the United States, where he lives, FBI agents were waiting for him. He said federal authorities guarded his home and family for a month following his return.
The case is now under investigation by the FBI in the United States and by the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom. Heath said he kept the incident private for more than a year, with knowledge limited to close family, associates, and the League Managers Association (LMA).
“I started thinking about all the good stuff about my life. My wife. My children. My grandkids,” Heath said, reflecting on the kidnapping.
The Englishman said the decision to go public followed confirmation from the FBI that another football manager had allegedly been subjected to a similar scheme. No further details about that case have been disclosed.
Polish police have confirmed the capture of a 29-year-old Turkish national wanted in connection with a violent 2024 homicide of a bus driver during a robbery in the French city of Metz. The suspect, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, was apprehended in the city of Lodz after more than a year on the run.
The charges against the man stem from a fatal robbery that took place on September 5, 2024. The incident occurred in the parking lot of a Cora supermarket in the Borny district of Metz, where a Bulgarian-registered tourist bus had stopped to allow passengers to dine, according to Polish news outlet RMF24.
Polish police also released a video of the man being taken into custody.
🇵🇱🇫🇷A Turkish national has been arrested in Poland for the murder of a bus driver in the French city of Metz during a robbery attempt in 2024.
The case raises questions about how foreign criminals move freely across Europe.
According to a press release from the Bydgoszcz police, the suspect, “on September 5, 2024, in the company of four other people and in a car with stolen license plates, took part in a robbery targeting a tourist bus.” Tragically, the confrontation turned deadly, as “the coach driver died” during the assault.
The suspect is facing charges for murder in France for his alleged role in the heist, among other crimes.
The Bydgoszcz police stated that he is being investigated for “a case of murder, armed robbery and participation in a criminal organization on French territory.”
The “end of run” for the suspect came this past Monday. Polish authorities reported that the man was “surprised” when officers moved in to take him into custody.
With the suspect now in Polish hands, the legal process to return him to the scene of the crime is underway. “The procedures for its handover to the French authorities… have been launched,” the official statement concluded.
China’s ascent to global industrial dominance is being solidified through long-term strategic planning and domestic mobilization, rather than a reliance on external migration. By focusing on homegrown technical expertise and the execution of decades-long industrial policies, China has officially ended Germany’s era of dominance in the machine tool sector—the “equipment industry” that serves as the backbone for all industrial production in Germany.
This new reality undermines decades of propaganda issued by Western elites, which posits that mass immigration is essential for economic growth and industrial success. China is essentially blowing up this myth.
In 2025, China surpassed Germany to become the world’s premier export champion in machine tools. According to the Association of German Machine Tool Factories (VDW), China now commands a 21.6 percent share of global exports, while Germany has slipped to 16.7 percent.
While German exports plummeted by 10 percent last year, Chinese manufacturers achieved an 18 percent increase, driven by domestic self-reliance.
As the Welt newspaper writes, it is not just machine tools, but China is instead “ending another key export branch” for Germany and ending the country’s former global dominance.
Notably, Germany and other European countries were promised an economic boon, driven by migrants who would become doctors, engineers, tech specialists, and lawyers. However, that reality has not played out. Instead, anti-immigration China, which has fewer migrants in its entire country than just one German city, Berlin, is pulling ahead in nearly every industrial category.
This shift was not accidental but the result of deliberate internal development. VDW chairman Franz-Xaver Bernhard noted that the transition was inevitable: “We all read the Chinese five-year plans. And the machine tool has been one of the most important topics in there for 20 years,” says Bernhard. “In this respect, we were already warned and prepared that Chinese industry wants, perhaps even needs, to push this issue forward so that it itself becomes more independent from imports.”
China’s dominance is no longer restricted to low-end production. Through a strategy of integrating high-quality components into their own systems, Chinese manufacturers are climbing the value chain. As Bernhard explains, “Most Chinese manufacturers now use European-style components: controls, for example, drive systems or measuring instruments. All that we don’t build ourselves, but buy from specialized manufacturers.”
The significance of this sector to China’s broader economic sovereignty is immense. Machine tools are essential for automotive manufacturing, the production of wind turbines, aviation and weapons, and high-tech and complex consumer electronics.
In that piece from last year, Remix News reported on a Bloomberg article detailing how Western venture capitalists traveled to China to determine firsthand what threat — or opportunity — Chinese companies pose to the renewable and clean tech sectors.
This group of Western investors visited Chinese factories and told Bloomberg the shocking verdict, which is that Europeans and Americans are remarkably behind China in terms of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, battery technology, and hydrogen. In fact, so much so that it is no longer even worth investing in Western startups focused on these areas.
Instead, these Western investors are choosing to work with and invest in Chinese firms. These same Chinese firms are entirely reliant on homegrown talent, and certainly are not importing millions of Indians, North Africans, and Middle Easterners to drive the amazing success they are seeing across nearly all industries.
One of the venture capitalists told Bloomberg: “It’s very clear that Western investors live in a bubble in their misconceptions about China.”
Bloomberg news further wrote that these venture capitalists “knew China had raced ahead in sectors like batteries and ‘everything around energy,’ but seeing how big the gap was firsthand left them wondering how European and North American competitors can even survive, says Talia Rafaeli, a former investment banker at both Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc who’s now a partner at Kompas VC.”
Germany’s growing contraction
While China leverages its massive domestic population and educational system to fill its factories, Germany is facing a contraction. German machine tool production fell by 8 percent to €13.6 billion in 2025, leading to significant workforce reductions. The German workforce in this sector was reduced by 4 percent, and “one in three companies is planning further reductions in their permanent workforce.”
The VDW indicates that German stagnation is rooted in domestic policy failures rather than a lack of labor influx. Bernhard argues that “the market won’t start if everyone is unsettled,” insisting that “decisions are needed now, a clear stance is needed.”
China is also successfully expanding its market share across Asia, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe by offering competitive pricing that traditional powers struggle to match. However, it is not just cheaper prices, but also innovative products. In areas such as electric vehicles, China features more advanced batteries,
Even within Germany, Chinese imports are rising disproportionately.
Looking toward 2026, German experts admit their own forecasts are on “shaky ground.” VDW economist Sonna Pelz points out that “the critical point is primarily domestic developments.” Meanwhile, China continues to execute its internal roadmap, proving that industrial dominance can be achieved through disciplined national planning, immigration restriction, and the modernization of its own industrial base.
The majority of Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan and awaiting relocation to Germany have rejected an offer from the federal government to relinquish their resettlement pledges in exchange for financial compensation, according to a report cited by Zeit.
Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the Federal Ministry of the Interior contacted around 700 affected individuals, offering them several thousand euros to voluntarily withdraw from German admission programs. By the end of last year, only 167 had accepted the offer, while 357 rejected it outright. The remaining individuals were still undecided, according to the ministry’s response to a parliamentary inquiry from Green Party MP Schahina Gambir.
The acceptance rate is currently 23.85 percent.
The Interior Ministry made the offer in November, stating in a letter that anyone who accepted the payment would be permanently removed from the asylum and resettlement programs. The initiative was intended to ease pressure on admission procedures that had stalled for months. Depending on individual circumstances, the compensation reportedly amounted to several thousand euros.
Hundreds of Afghans earmarked for relocation to Germany remain in Pakistan. Following the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Berlin pledged to resettle Afghans who had worked for the German Armed Forces or other German institutions, as well as people deemed particularly vulnerable, including women’s rights activists and human rights defenders.
After taking office in May, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered a review of all asylum admission procedures. Under the new approach, only individuals with commitments under the Federal Asylum Program for Afghanistan or the local employment program are eligible to enter Germany, with pledges from other programs no longer considered legally binding. Many Afghans had already fled to Pakistan by that point and are now stranded there, unwanted by the Pakistani authorities, who are pressuring Berlin to sort out the issue.
According to the federal government, a total of 37,652 Afghan nationals had entered Germany through admission programs between May 2021 and Dec. 31, 2025.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel ridiculed the results of the cash incentive scheme, writing on X, “The majority of Afghans in Pakistan are apparently rejecting the money offered by Berlin in exchange for ‘foregoing’ accepting refugees. This is the CDU’s ‘migration turnaround.’ We demand: an immediate halt to all Afghanistan resettlement programs and the revocation of all outstanding commitments!”
During the election campaign, the CDU vowed to stop flights from Islamabad bringing Afghan migrants to Germany. However, several flights have still landed since Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office. The party says this is largely due to prior commitments made to Afghans housed in reception centers in Pakistan and court rulings requiring those promises to be honored.
In a landmark ruling last July, the Berlin Administrative Court found that an admission granted to an Afghan woman and her 13 family members was legally binding and could not be revoked, ordering the Foreign Ministry to act immediately. The government later withdrew its appeal, making the judgment final.
Details of the cash-for-withdrawal scheme first emerged in November. According to the German Press Agency, letters sent via the German Society for International Cooperation offered Afghan nationals financial compensation, logistical support, transport assistance, medical care, and three months of psychosocial support if they agreed to abandon resettlement to Germany and either return to Afghanistan or move to a third country.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior, cited by Welt, said the voluntary offer was intended to “give those who cannot expect to be accepted in Germany a future.”
A Gothenburg district court has sentenced a 42-year-old Arab man to five years in prison for aggravated rape after finding that he and another man abducted and gang-raped a woman who believed she was being driven home by a taxi.
A second perpetrator has not yet been sentenced and will instead undergo a forensic psychiatric examination, despite the court concluding there is convincing evidence of his guilt.
The attack took place on June 8 last year after the woman, a young mother, left a party in Gothenburg and attempted to get home. While she was waiting at a ride-hailing pickup point sign, two men pulled up alongside her in a black Mercedes with tinted windows and claimed they were taxi drivers. Trusting them, and heavily intoxicated, she got into the vehicle.
In testimony cited in court reporting by Samnytt, the woman said she repeatedly asked the men to confirm they were taking her home. “I was really tired and really drunk. I asked if they were really going to drive me home, and they said yes,” she told investigators. She said she initially believed the ride was legitimate until the car passed the exit to her home.
“At first, it wasn’t a bad atmosphere. I thought I was going home. It wasn’t until they turned off my exit that I started to wonder what we were going to do,” she said.
Instead of taking her home, the men drove via a McDonald’s in Mölndal before continuing toward Näset, south of Gothenburg. During the journey, they exchanged text messages with each other, including the word “Näset,” which the district court later cited as evidence that the route and destination were planned in advance. The men also spoke frequently to each other in a language the woman did not understand.
“The short guy was on me a little, and they were talking to each other in a different language. I think it was Arabic,” the woman said. “They talked to each other a lot that I didn’t understand what they were saying. I interpreted it as them talking about what they were going to do with me. What they were going to use me for.”
The car eventually stopped in a secluded forested area in Askim. According to reporting by Göteborgs-Posten, the woman was confronted with a choice: “Which do you choose, one at a time or both at the same time?”
Unable to escape and fearing for her life, the woman complied. “I agreed to take one at a time,” she later told police.
She told the court that, during the ordeal, she believed there were only three possible outcomes: that she would be killed, that she would be taken to an apartment where more men were waiting, or that she would be raped. She described the assault as “very rough” and said she felt as though the men were filming her, prompting her to turn her face away.
The district court found that the woman was drunk, frightened, and in a particularly vulnerable position, and that the circumstances were both threatening and deeply humiliating. In its judgment, cited by Riks, the court stated: “Because the rape was carried out by two people together and in agreement, in a secluded place after the victim had been under their control for a long time and under circumstances that the victim must have perceived as very threatening and degrading, the rape should be classified as aggravated.”
The 42-year-old man, named by Samnytt as Kuwaiti-born Mohammad Deeb, was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay 370,000 kronor in damages to the victim. He arrived in Sweden back in 2010 and has a prior criminal record that includes convictions for unlawful threats, assault against his ex-wife, and child endangerment, a sentence that was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2024. He has appealed the rape conviction, and prosecutors have filed a cross-appeal.
The second perpetrator is 28-year-old Walid Zeidan, who is Swedish-born, but his parents came from Lebanon.
Zeidan has not yet been sentenced. The court said there is convincing evidence that he participated in the rape, but ordered a forensic psychiatric examination due to suspicions of a serious mental disorder that could prevent the court from sentencing him to a custodial sentence.
Police linked the 28-year-old to the crime through mobile phone data, forensic evidence, and the vehicle used in the attack. His semen was found on the woman’s clothing. The car was registered to his mother, and a search of the vehicle uncovered condoms, lubricant, wet wipes, vodka, and a handwritten note containing instructions, including phrases such as “Be a person who cannot be owned by a woman.”
When questioned by police, the 28-year-old admitted to having sex with the woman but claimed it was consensual and denied raping her.
The court is expected to decide on his sentence after the psychiatric assessment is completed.
In France, a 24-year-old man, Mohammed D., has now been sentenced to nine years in prison after he snuck through a window and raped a building caretaker at knifepoint in a case that dates back to the summer of 2023.
The Paris Assize Court sentenced the man to nine years in prison on Jan. 16, 2026, for an incident that dates back to Aug. 7 to Aug. 8, 2023, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.
The victim, a woman in her sixties who served as the caretaker of the building on Boulevard de Charonne, had left her apartment window open due to the summer heat.
Mohammed D., who was 22 at the time, entered the residence illegally. The victim discovered him as he was “rummaging in his living room.” Following this confrontation, the accused raped the woman at knifepoint. The victim eventually managed to escape the apartment and alert authorities.
The perpetrator was apprehended four days after the attack by municipal police near the station “from Argenteuil” in Val-d’Oise. Upon his arrest, he admitted to the crimes and provided a full confession.
A judicial source confirmed the man received nine years in prison, a ban on French territory, a 15-year ban on carrying a weapon, and registration a sex offender.
Following the verdict, French newspaper Actu Paris reported that it offered closure in a case that has “frozen” the local community due to the horrific nature of the rape.
Remarkably, the case is very similar to a more recent case from just last month, which involved an unknown man raping a 72-year-old woman. The elderly French woman was simply trying to close the window to her apartment when an unidentified individual slipped into her home to rape and rob her in the “sensitive” Mureaux district in Yvelines, outside Paris. The neighborhood is known for its extremely high number of North African residents.
The incident, which happened on Dec. 15, involved an unidentified suspect who, according to police, “hit her and then dragged her to her room before tying her up. He pinned her to the ground, took off her clothes and penetrated her vaginally. The attacker then stole several objects from the victim’s home before leaving the scene.”
DNA in the case was retrieved by police and an investigation is ongoing.
Other cases involving men crawling in through victim’s windows and often sexually assaulting a victim, have been widespread, including in Switzerland.
Pro-Kurdish demonstrations in Germany turned violent in Dortmund and Stuttgart, after throngs of protesters took to the streets.
Protesters smashed windows, attacked police with stones and fireworks, and attempted to break through police lines, injuring several officers and leading to numerous detentions. Large police deployments were required, and investigations are ongoing, reports Junge Freiheit.
🇩🇪 Kurds in Germany attacked a Syrian restaurant!
During the assault, the establishment was vandalized, and the workers were assaulted, with one of them being stabbed in the hand with a knife. pic.twitter.com/QM7RrGrKv4
Videos of the violence have spread on social media, including a clip that shows Kurdish groups allegedly attacking a Turkish restaurant and stabbing a victim.
The unrest is linked to tensions over the conflict in Syria, especially in Kurdish regions such as Rojava. Amid a ceasefire between Syrian forces and Kurdish militias, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa canceled a planned visit to Berlin following protests announced by Kurdish and Alevi groups, who accuse him of crimes against civilians and minorities.
Germany hosts up to one million Kurds, and events in Rojava resonate strongly among Kurdish communities and left-wing groups, with recent related incidents including vandalism of the Turkish embassy in Berlin.
In Dortmund, 1,400 demonstrators showed up, despite only 400 registering.
During the “Solidarity with Rojava” protest in Stuttgart, police used pepper spray and detained 75 people. Some 2,000 protesters had taken to the streets despite far fewer registering there as well.
The Kurdish regions in Syria, especially Rojava, are also considered a model for leftists worldwide due to their grassroots democratic system, notes JF.
The German news portal additionally reported on suspected left-wing extremists vandalizing the Turkish embassy in Berlin this past weekend. In their letter claiming responsibility, they described the Syrian government as a “jihadist gang” who “murder with international backing and attack the revolution in Rojava.”
Despite a current ceasefire between the Syrian army and Kurdish militias, fighting continues and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa even canceled his visit to Berlin after a demonstration against him, accusing him of being responsible for massacres and the displacement of civilians during the civil war.
Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani (al-Julani), was the former leader of the Sunni Islamist militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
Protesters have also stated that minorities, including Kurds, Alevis, Alawites, and Christians, remain under acute threat in Syria.
Russia, the world’s second-largest gold producer, has decided to aggressively sell gold and foreign currencies from its reserves accumulated in its National Welfare Fund.
According to a report from Do Rzeczy, the move comes in response to deep fiscal problems caused by falling oil revenues from oil and gas exports, as well as a growing budget deficit, which Gazprombank estimates place as high as 6 trillion rubles (€67 billion).
Russian media estimates that the pace of gold sales is currently twice as high as in December 2025. In total, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russian authorities have sold about three-quarters of their gold held in the NWF, reducing the fund’s gold holdings from over 400 tons to around 160-173 tons by early December 2025, a drop of more than half.
According to media reports, last year alone, gas and oil generated significantly less revenue than the previous year, and revenues from commodity sales were the lowest since the pandemic. The Moscow Times explains that the Russian authorities intend to liquidate gold reserves at an unprecedented pace.
From Jan. 16 to Feb. 5, the Ministry of Finance will sell 12.8 billion rubles worth of Chinese yuan and gold from the fund daily (a total of 192.1 billion rubles). These operations are expected to become the largest daily sales since the mechanism’s inception. Interfax reports that this scale even exceeds the record pace from the COVID-19 crisis, when assets were sold for approximately 11.4 billion rubles per day.
Official data indicates that the NWF’s gold holdings have fallen by approximately 60 to 71 percent since 2022, from over 405 tons to less than 180 tons. Significantly, much of the sell-off so far has been for accounting purposes, involving transfers of gold between the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank. Recently, however, the Russian Central Bank has begun selling physical gold, effectively leaving its reserve holdings, a historical exception and a sign of deepening budgetary difficulties.
The Kremlin estimates that the budget deficit could reach 5.7 trillion rubles this year, which casts doubt on further economic development and the financing of public liabilities. Gazprombank’s budget deficit forecasts indicate it could reach as much as 6 trillion rubles.
The Moscow Times notes that the government initially planned to reduce the deficit to 3.8 trillion rubles, or 1.6 percent of GDP.
Russia mines more than 300 tons of the metal a year, making it a gold powerhouse. Since 2022, however, Western markets refuse to accept Russian gold bullion, including by the London Bullion Market Association, effectively banning Russian gold from world’s biggest over-the-counter gold-trading hub.
However, gold’s price rally has been a major boon for Russia, generating an estimated €260 billion gain since February 2022.
A young woman was shot and killed in Nice on Wednesday evening after her car was fired upon by a man riding a scooter, while her baby, who was in the vehicle with her, escaped unharmed, authorities said.
According to Le Parisien, the shooting occurred shortly before 6 p.m. at the junction of Avenue Henri-Matisse and Boulevard Napoléon III, in the west of the city. The victim, aged 25, was driving when the attacker pulled alongside her vehicle and opened fire with a handgun.
Local prosecutor Damien Martinelli said the woman was already in cardiac arrest when emergency services arrived. “Their efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful,” he told French media. A murder investigation has been opened.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene following the shooting. One resident said the sound of gunfire prompted them to rush to their balcony, where they saw the woman’s BMW roll downhill along Avenue Henri-Matisse before crashing into a pole. “It was exactly 6 p.m. when we heard gunshots,” the witness said. “We went straight outside, called the fire department, and tried to provide first aid for 20 minutes, then we waited for the police to arrive.”
NEW: 🇫🇷🚨 A young woman was shot dead in her car this evening in Nice while travelling with her young child.
The attack occurred around 6 p.m. while the vehicle was on Avenue Matisse.
This footage shows multiple bullet entries into the driver's side of the vehicle.
Several witnesses said the woman appeared to have shielded her baby during the attack. “From what I understand, the woman dove on top of her baby, who was in the passenger seat, to protect him; that’s why she seems to have been shot in the torso,” one witness told Le Parisien. “We immediately got the baby out of the car.”
Some witnesses reported hearing up to 10 gunshots and said two men were involved, while others said only one shooter was seen on the scooter. “As soon as he fired, the scooter driver drove off immediately,” another witness said. “It’s a very quiet neighborhood; I’ve lived here all my life. It’s shocking to shoot a woman and a baby.”
Emergency services deployed around 20 firefighters and multiple vehicles to the scene.
A scooter believed to have been used in the attack was found abandoned without license plates near the Nice-Ville train station shortly after the shooting.
Immense émotion et profonde colère après la mort d’une jeune femme, visée par des tirs alors qu’elle était avec son bébé, heureusement sain et sauf. Je me suis immédiatement rendu sur place, avenue Henri Matisse, aux côtés des forces de l’ordre et de secours. Toute la lumière… pic.twitter.com/pnpRxRar8C
ActuNice reported that the city’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, visited the scene and condemned the killing. “Immense emotion and profound anger after the death of a young woman, targeted by gunfire while she was with her baby, who thankfully is safe and sound,” he said. “The full truth must come out about this despicable act, and the perpetrators must be found as quickly as possible. The City of Nice will put all its resources at the service of the investigators.”
Éric Ciotti, the center-right member of parliament for Alpes-Maritimes, also reacted. “Absolute tragedy on Avenue Henri Matisse in Nice: a woman was shot dead in her car,” he said. “A baby, present in the vehicle despite it being riddled with bullet holes, miraculously escaped unharmed.”
Later reporting by Le Figaro noted the victim was of Cape Verdean nationality, while police confirmed that a suspect believed to be the owner of the scooter has been arrested, though it remains unclear whether he is the person who fired the shots.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would not proceed with 10 percent tariffs previously threatened against eight European countries, asserting that he had secured what he wanted through negotiations with NATO over Greenland and wider Arctic security arrangements.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the tariffs, which had been due to take effect on Feb. 1, would be shelved following what he described as an agreement with the alliance following talks with Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“Based on this agreement, I will not impose the tariffs that were scheduled to take effect on Feb. 1,” Trump wrote, adding that the deal concerned “a future agreement concerning Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic region.”
He said further talks were continuing on what he called the “Golden Dome” project related to Greenland, promising that “more information will be shared as the discussions progress.” Trump described the arrangement as “long-term” and said it “gives us everything we wanted,” adding that it would last “forever.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told public broadcaster DR, “Trump says he is putting the trade war on hold, says ‘I’m not going to attack Greenland.’ These are positive messages.”
Rutte’s spokeswoman said the NATO boss and Trump had a “very productive discussion,” and confirmed that negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States would continue. The aim of the talks, she said, was to ensure that Russia and China are never able to establish an economic or military presence on the island.
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 21: U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks Marine One as he arrives in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF), on January 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump had earlier addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, where he again raised the issue of Greenland and dismissed speculation that the United States would use military force to secure its objectives. “We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that. Okay?” he said. “Now everyone is saying, ‘Oh good.’ That’s probably the biggest statement I’ve made because people thought I would use force, but I don’t have to use force, I don’t want to use force, I won’t use force.”
Following the speech, Trump said he had reached a deal in principle with Rutte that he considered acceptable, and later told reporters that his remarks had been well received.
“It was a good speech. We got great reviews. I can’t believe it. We got good reviews, and usually when you give a speech like that, they say, ‘He’s a terrible dictator.’ I’m a dictator. But sometimes you need a dictator. But in this case, they didn’t say that. And now it’s common sense. It’s all common sense,” he told journalists.
The White House subsequently confirmed that the administration would not impose tariffs on several European nations that had opposed Trump’s claims to Greenland.
At Davos, Trump framed U.S. demands as a matter of historical obligation, telling delegates: “We paid for NATO for many years, defended Europe from the USSR, from Russia. The only thing I ask for now is Greenland. Give us property rights. It cannot be protected by a lease. It is a small request, considering what we have given Europe for decades. You can say yes, and we will be grateful. You can say no, and we will remember it.”
Trump said discussions on a missile defense system linked to Greenland were part of the ongoing negotiations, which he said would be led by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
JUST IN: Trump speaks at the WEF:
"Certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore…. We can argue about it, but there's no argument,"
"I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good, but it's not heading in the right direction." pic.twitter.com/kBgLKwZPOc
He also used his Davos appearance to criticize the direction of Europe, saying, “Certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore…. We can argue about it, but there’s no argument.”
“I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good, but it’s not heading in the right direction,” he added.
After a second fatal train crash in Spain in just two days, the leader of Spain’s right-wing Vox party posted to X, with the message that “Corruption kills.”
Nearly 200 people were on board the train that crashed near Adamuz, 230 miles outside Madrid, sending the first two carriages off a slope. One person died, and another 37 ended up in the hospital, some seriously injured.
Just two days before this incident, Spain suffered its worst high-speed train derailment that left nearly 40 dead and scores more injured.
Many are laying the blame on Spain’s Socialist government, led by PSOE’s Pedro Sánchez, for not investing enough in infrastructure. The opposition party Vox has called for action to oppose what it believes are corrupt practices that have left the country without proper infrastructure spending.
Santiago Abascal vowed not to remain silent about the issue: “For the victims. For the injured. For the missing. For their families. For all Spaniards… …for the truth. I will not be silent!”
Por las víctimas. Por los heridos. Por los desaparecidos. Por sus familias. Por todos los españoles…
Vox’s Ignacio Garriga also posted to X to call out the government: “When are they going to stop blaming bad luck and the weather conditions and finally take responsibility once and for all? Not only are they a mafia that is putting the lives of Spaniards at risk with their disastrous management, they are also miserable and despicable.”
The European Parliament has voted to ask the Court of Justice of the European Union to rule on the legality of the EU–Mercosur trade agreement, a move that delays ratification of the deal, but the European Commission could still apply the agreement “provisionally” if Germany has its way.
MEPs meeting in Strasbourg approved the referral by 334 votes to 324, following intense lobbying from farming groups and several member states opposed to the agreement. The vote took place against a backdrop of farmers’ protests outside the chamber.
The pact, signed on Saturday with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, aims to establish one of the world’s largest free trade areas by eliminating tariffs on more than 90 percent of bilateral trade, but those opposed have expressed concerns over the importation of cheaper products that need not adhere to the quality control standards European farmers must adhere to.
The vote was immediately criticized by Germany and the European Commission, both of which support the agreement and argue that it is legally sound. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the decision as “regrettable” and warned that it failed to account for Europe’s strategic interests.
“We are convinced of the agreement’s legality. No more delays. The agreement must now be applied provisionally,” Merz said on X.
Die Entscheidung des Europäischen Parlaments zum Mercosur-Abkommen ist bedauerlich. Sie verkennt die geopolitische Lage. Von der Rechtmäßigkeit des Abkommens sind wir überzeugt. Keine weiteren Verzögerungen mehr. Das Abkommen muss jetzt vorläufig angewandt werden.
— Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (@bundeskanzler) January 21, 2026
The European Commission said it “strongly regretted” the outcome, insisting that the legal concerns raised by parliament had already been addressed during negotiations. “According to our analysis, the questions raised in the motion by the parliament are not justified because the commission has already addressed those questions and issues in a very detailed way,” said Olof Gill, the Commission’s trade spokesman. He confirmed that EU treaties allow for provisional application while the court review is underway.
Outside the parliament building, the reaction was markedly different. Hundreds of farmers, many arriving on tractors, gathered in Strasbourg to protest the deal, which they say would expose European agriculture to unfair competition. When the result was announced, crowds cheered and celebrated.
🟢 VICTOIRE !
Rien n’est jamais joué d’avance ! Après des mois de mobilisation agricole et plus de 7 000 agriculteurs hier à Strasbourg : le Parlement européen vient de voté la saisine de la Cour de Justice de l’UE sur l’accord #MERCOSUR.
“We’ve been on this for months and months, for years,” said Quentin Le Guillous, head of a French young farmers group. “Tonight, I’m going home, I’m going to kiss everyone, and I’m going to tell my kids, ‘I got it, we got it, we can be proud.’”
France, Poland, Austria, Ireland, and Hungary have all voiced opposition to the agreement, citing risks to domestic agriculture and food standards. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the parliamentary vote strengthened that position. “The fight continues to protect our agriculture and guarantee our food sovereignty,” he said.
Several Polish politicians also welcomed the decision. “A major defeat for von der Leyen and her strategy of disregarding the European Treaties!” wrote MEP Beata Szydło, a former Polish prime minister, on X. Law and Justice MEP Maciej Wąsik said, “The farmers’ protests have brought results!” while Confederation MEP Anna Bryłka added, “Big applause for the farmers.”
Umowa UE z Mercosur wstrzymana! Zdecydowaliśmy w PE o skierowaniu skargi do TSUE. Wielka klęska von der Leyen i jej strategii lekceważenia Traktatów Europejskich! Dziś mówiłam o tym, jakim błędem i łamaniem zasad jest umowa z Mercosur: pic.twitter.com/KZzpdSe2EG
Szydło also criticized Chancellor Merz’s call to apply the deal pending the judicial review, writing, “The German Chancellor’s incredible audacity in demanding that the Mercosur agreement enter into force despite the European Parliament’s decision! Does democracy mean nothing if Germans don’t like something?”
Irish MEP Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fáil said the Commission had ignored warnings about agricultural imports and environmental harm. “The European Commission must reflect on its own actions, respect the democratic will of the parliament and await the outcome from the European Court of Justice deliberations,” he said.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan said the vote should energize opposition to the deal. “Today is a good day, and hopefully will give momentum to the campaign to stop this rotten trade deal,” she said.
Supporters of the agreement argued that parliament had chosen delay over substance. Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, said lawmakers had not actually voted on the merits of the deal. “The European Parliament did not take a substantive position on Mercosur today; it voted on a procedural motion instead,” he said. “This is an attempt to delay a much-needed agreement for ideological reasons.”
He, too, called for the provisional application of the trade agreement.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee, was even more critical, calling the vote “absolutely irresponsible” and “an own goal” in a post on X. “Very harmful for our economic interests and standing,” he wrote.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had made a final appeal to lawmakers before the vote, warning against strategic paralysis. “The more trading partners we have worldwide, the more independent we are. And that is exactly what we need now,” she said.
The European Court of Justice is now expected to examine whether the agreement complies with EU treaties, a process that could take several months, but should the agreement be applied provisionally, celebrations among its critics and Europe’s agricultural sector could be short-lived.
Migrants are disproportionately represented among suspects of aggression and violence against care providers in the Netherlands, according to an analysis by economist Dr Jan van de Beek using official police and population data.
Van de Beek’s calculations are based on a report commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security and the Scientific Research and Data Center (WODC) and published in November 2025. The study was carried out by policy research firm DSP-groep in cooperation with Ipsos I&O and links police records on violence against frontline workers to anonymized microdata from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
Using the report’s underlying tables, Van de Beek measured how often suspects from different countries of origin are registered for aggression and violence against police officers, municipal enforcement officers, firefighters, and ambulance staff, compared with people of Dutch origin.
Data (2020-2024) is afkomstig uit Tabel 3.5 van dit rapport: https://t.co/JYFC6sR3eq Verdeling over leeftijdsgroepen en geslacht per herkomstgroep zie ik niet in het rapport staan, dus corrigeren voor leeftijd/geslacht kan ik niet doen. pic.twitter.com/b1zGa5Ongx
The analysis shows extreme overrepresentation in some groups. Suspects of Somali and Eritrean origin were registered around 15 times more often than people of Dutch origin, after correcting for population size. High levels of overrepresentation were also found among suspects of Moroccan origin, and people from the former Dutch Antilles and Suriname. Several other non-European groups were also above average, while suspects of German and Belgian origin were at or below the Dutch baseline.
The dataset covers 24,488 unique suspects. According to the report, people of Dutch origin account for 47 percent of all suspects overall, while several migrant groups make up a far larger share of suspects than their share of the population.
The authors of the report caution that the figures do not point to a single cause, emphasizing that factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic vulnerability, and alcohol and drug use must be considered. However, Van de Beek suggests there is irrefutable proof that migrants from certain countries of origin are more prone to violence than the indigenous population.
Van de Beek’s work has long sparked criticism from the Dutch establishment. In 2021, he co-authored ‘Borderless Welfare State: The Consequences of Immigration for Public Finances,’ which concluded that immigration as a whole has had a negative net fiscal impact on the Netherlands.
That study estimated the total net cost of immigration between 1995 and 2019 at around €400 billion, or roughly €17 billion per year. It found that migrants arriving for work or study, particularly from Western countries and East Asia, were more likely to make a positive contribution, while asylum and family reunification migrants were more likely, on average, to make a negative one, largely due to lower educational attainment.
The Dutch economist, however, appears rather dismissive of criticism from the mainstream media, recently posting on X, “You’re in trouble with some Dutch journalists if you don’t quite operate within the ‘correct migration narrative.’”
The criminal consequences of integration in the Netherlands came to the fore last week after the exposure of a multiculturalism experiment in Amsterdam that went wrong.
🇳🇱🔴Nightmare multiculturalism experiment was supposed to be a uptopia.
In Amsterdam, 125 young students were placed with 125 refugees to live together. This video details how sexual assaults, rapes, knife threats, and harassment ensued.
The Stek Oost integration programme in the Watergraafsmeer district, launched in 2018, saw 125 refugees live together with 125 young students, but soon turned into a nightmare. Young men, predominantly from Syria, Eritrea, and Somalia, were housed at the facility that was soon plagued by reports of sexual assaults and physical violence.
In 2019, a Syrian was accused of raping a student in his room. In 2023, there was a gang rape investigation. Between 2018 and 2021, one refugee was accused of six sexual assaults. Another refugee threatened students with a kitchen knife.
The housing association warned authorities on multiple occasions, but the authorities ignored the complaints, citing difficulties with eviction.
Despite sparking global news coverage documenting violence, sexual assaults, and drug-related crimes in the shared living integration project, the city of Amsterdam refuses to shut the project down.
According to public broadcaster BNNVARA, the municipality has rejected calls to shutter the facility early and plans to run the project until its scheduled end in April 2028.
Despite a long list of global wars and threats, as well as a domestic economy dealing with a slew of bankruptcies, data from a new Insa poll shows that half of Germans believe migration is “Germany’s biggest problem.”
Overall, the Insa poll shows 50 percent of respondents agree that migration is Germany’s biggest problem, while 38 percent reject this position.
Broken down by party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) clearly sees migration as the biggest problem, with 83 percent naming it as the biggest issue. However, other parties also recognize it as the nation’s biggest problem, including the left-wing BSW, with 58 percent of the party’s voters naming it the number one issue.
For the Christian Democrats (CDU), 50 percent of voters named it the biggest problem, while 38 percent said it was not the biggest problem.
On the left, only 23 percent of Greens and 24 percent of Left Party voters named it the biggest problem, while only 36 percent of SPD voters ranked it as the top priority.
However, these results are still notable, with sizable shares of left-wing voters still seeing migration as the biggest issue. Similar polls have shown that many left-wing voters are gravely concerned with immigration, even as they continue to vote for parties that support open borders.
They also come after a major poll from YouGov showed that the majority of Germans support an immigration moratorium and mass deportations. The poll also found that a majority of Germans believed that too many legal migrants had arrived.
Beyond migration, Germans are increasingly wary of the country’s economic health. A substantial 65 percent of respondents to a new Insa survey agree with the statement that the German economy is currently experiencing a significant decline. Only 21 percent disagree. This economic anxiety crosses party lines, with even half of Green and SPD voters acknowledging a downturn.
The Insa poll also shows that a majority of Germans believe freedom of opinion is threatened. The survey found that 56 percent express great concerns about freedom of expression in Germany, while 33 percent disagree. This sentiment is particularly strong in the eastern part of the country (63 percent) compared to the west (54 percent).
While AfD and BSW voters are highly concerned about their ability to speak freely, supporters of the Greens and FDP generally do not share these fears at the same rate.
The poll also showed that the AfD leads with 26 percent, followed closely by the CDU/CSU at 25 percent. The governing parties continue to struggle. The SPD is at 14 percent, the Greens at 12, and the Left Party at 10.5 percent.
While the Union (CDU/CSU) holds the highest theoretical “potential” at 41 percent, the AfD maintains the most loyal base. Insa notes that the AfD has the “highest proportion of so-called secure votes” at 20 percent, compared to 18 percent for the CDU/CSU.
A court in Utrecht has heard that the man accused of stabbing 11-year-old Sohani to death in Nieuwegein was a “ticking time bomb,” despite appearing to those around him to be functioning normally in the weeks before the killing, according to reporting by RTL.
Sohani was killed last year while walking on the street with her brother and other children. The suspect, 30-year-old Hamza L., stabbed her to death on the day of her birthday party. The court heard that the defendant had recently begun tapering off medication he was taking for psychosis.
Although the risks were known, his psychiatrist agreed to reduce the dosage. At the time, the suspected killer appeared to be doing reasonably well and was working at a Lidl supermarket, where colleagues were unaware of his mental deterioration.
“His family also thought he was doing reasonably well,” the judge noted during the hearing.
The court heard that Hamza L.’s condition rapidly worsened in the days before the killing. Neighbors raised the alarm several times, and he narrowly avoided arrest shortly before Sohani’s death. On the morning before the murder, he struck a woman in the face with a stroller near a shopping mall. He was stopped by police based on a description, but because the victim was unsure of his identity, he was not detained.
Police also received multiple reports from residents in his neighborhood alleging aggressive and disruptive behavior. A concerned neighbor called officers a few nights before the killing after seeing the man standing in the street in the middle of the night, shouting threatening and incoherent messages. Officers who responded were reportedly worried by the situation, but, after deliberation, decided not to arrest him.
The court heard how Hamza L. had no fewer than 75 encounters with police, with his mother, therapists, and officers themselves among those targeted during psychotic episodes. At the same time, testimony also portrayed him as a man who could be kind and caring, with a love of family and nature.
The defendant told the court he remembers almost nothing of the period when his condition deteriorated. “I saw demons and hallucinated,” he said when repeatedly questioned about his memories. He explained that recollections he still had during earlier police interviews had faded over the past year because he had since suffered several further psychotic episodes.
Psychiatrists and psychologists at the Pieter Baan Center examined Hamza L. over the past year and concluded that he suffers from severe psychosis. They also stated that he had used drugs. Medical experts concluded that he should be declared fully criminally irresponsible, thus avoiding prison.
RTL noted that this conclusion has been contested by the victim’s lawyer, who has demanded a custodial sentence in addition to compulsory psychiatric treatment. He noted that Hamza L.’s decision to use drugs despite his diagnosis was a choice that exacerbated his condition.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service is also only requesting psychiatric treatment for the defendant.
“Hamza saw a demon, but she was an angel,” Sohani’s parents said of their daughter. They also described the lifelong trauma suffered by Sohani’s younger brother, who witnessed the attack. “He is, as we describe, alive, but at the same time dead. One child was stabbed to death and buried, and one child is dead in his thoughts.”
Earlier reporting has detailed the defendant’s long history of violence and threats. According to NOS, in 2016, he allegedly threatened his mother, saying, “Take off your pants. I want to kiss, touch, and caress your vagina,” and adding, “I’m going to kill you all.” In August 2022, he was convicted of attempted aggravated assault and threats to life. In that case, he kicked a dog multiple times, stabbed one victim with a knife, and punched another so hard that he broke his own hand. He was sentenced to 120 days in prison, 66 of them suspended, and placed on probation for three years.
In February 2025, deputy chief of the Midden-Nederland police Michel de Roos said the case reflected systemic failure. “We lost an 11-year-old girl who will never come back. A devastated family. A neighborhood in turmoil. And a psychiatric patient now sitting in a cell,” he told de Volkskrant. “This is not an isolated incident. It is the result of a failing system. If politicians do not make fundamental choices to improve psychiatric care, this will happen again.”
Hundreds of asylum seekers have disappeared from state-run reception centers in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate within a year and a half, with authorities unable to account for their whereabouts, regional broadcaster SWR reported on Monday.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Integration in Mainz, a total of 923 people were registered as missing between July 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2025. During the same period, Rhineland-Palatinate admitted 10,120 asylum seekers to its reception centers, meaning approximately 9.1 percent were later classified as missing, some of whom reportedly have criminal backgrounds and are subject to deportation orders.
The data, compiled by the Supervisory and Service Directorate (ADD), cover all six of the state’s reception centers for asylum seekers. The highest number of missing residents was recorded in Trier, with 245 cases, followed by Speyer with 180, Hermeskeil with 173, Kusel with 150, Bitburg with 94, and the facility at Hahn Airport with 81.
The figures were made public after a political debate was triggered by disclosures relating to the reception center in Bitburg, where 31 residents were reported missing since August 2025. An employee of a private security firm sent emails containing this information to the ADD and all members of the state parliament. The ADD subsequently filed a criminal complaint against the employee, who has been suspended.
Residents of reception centers are officially classified as missing if they have not been present at the facility for more than three days, the broadcaster noted. According to the Ministry of Integration, asylum seekers may move freely only within a limited geographic area but are required to reside in the reception center while their asylum procedure is ongoing, a period that can last up to 18 months.
Thomas Linnertz, president of the ADD, told the state parliament’s integration committee that all 923 missing individuals no longer receive state benefits. Janosch Littig, State Secretary for Integration from the Greens, said daily presence checks are carried out in the facilities and that residents who cannot be located after three days are reported to the authorities and the police, as cited by Welt. He added that asylum procedures are halted or applications rejected once individuals are registered as missing.
Littig said the ministry would review procedures in the reception centers and consider possible improvements. He also suggested that the issue was likely not limited to Rhineland-Palatinate and that other federal states would be examined for similar cases.
The state in question receives around 4.8 percent of the internal redistribution quota imposed at the federal level, and thus, should the issue not be limited to Rhineland-Palatinate, far larger numbers of absconders could be likely in larger states such as North Rhine-Westphalia, which is allocated 21 percent of asylum seekers, Bavaria (15.7 percent), and Baden-Württemberg (13.1 percent).
Commenting on the scandal, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel wrote on X, “Around 1000 asylum seekers have ‘disappeared’ in Rhineland-Palatinate, including some with criminal records and those required to leave the country. Eleven years after the CDU opened the borders, chaotic conditions still prevail — to the detriment of the social system and public safety. Real migration turnaround now!”
The matter was discussed in the state parliament’s integration committee at the request of the CDU. CDU lawmaker Dirk Herber called for more effective control mechanisms to ensure authorities know where asylum seekers are when they leave reception facilities.
Under German law, asylum seekers are generally restricted to the district of their local immigration office, while those with tolerated stay status are typically limited to the federal state responsible for their case. As long as they are required to live in a reception center, they are not permitted to stay with family or friends elsewhere.
Let’s start from the beginning. At the Einaudi-Chiodo vocational institute in La Spezia, last Friday, the 19-year-old Egyptian Abanoub Youssef, a Coptic Christian with Italian citizenship, was stabbed to death in class by the 18-year-old Moroccan Zouhair Atif, who arrived in Italy in 2017 thanks to a family reunion. The murderous rampage was apparently triggered by childhood photographs exchanged by the victim with a girl of Indian origin whom Atif was dating.
One professor described Atif as a student who “loved poetry and study, could be generous but had the abyss inside”. According to schoolmates, it was a tragedy foretold. The Moroccan man used to walk around armed with a knife and had already threatened another student outside the institute. A schoolmate said the Moroccan “he went around asking what happens in Italy to someone who kills a person.” “During a meeting with a teacher, everyone had to express a dream. When it was Atif’s turn, he came out saying ‘I’d like to see what a thrill it feels like to kill someone’ but she didn’t do anything,” another student said.
50 per cent of juvenile detainees are foreigners
All this should have led to a profound reflection on what has now become a real emergency: the violence of the so-called “maranza”. In juvenile prisons, almost 50 percent of detainees are foreigners, despite the fact that foreigners represent 12 percent of residents in Italy for that age group. Moreover, the “new Italians”, approximately 1 million minors of foreign origin who have acquired Italian citizenship, are counted as Italians.
Furthermore, according to the report of the Ministry of the Interior’s Department of Public Security, in 2023, out of 315 minors reported for the crime of sexual violence, 177 were foreigners, a full 56 percent.
The French “model”
Italy is following exactly and at great speed the same path as France where, as well explained in the investigative book “Racism against whites” Of François Bousquet (published in Italy by Passaggio al Bosco), native students have been subjected to violence by their classmates of foreign origin for decades, in complete institutional silence. Indeed, a sort of assimilation is taking place in reverse: to save themselves from attacks by allogeneic animals, young French people are becoming Africanized, becoming gods “maranza” themselves.
Besides, a few years ago, Rokhaya Diallo, a French journalist of African origins, stated: “White France no longer exists and those who do not appreciate it must leave.”
Meanwhile, French children and young people are beaten, robbed, bullied and humiliated at school by peers with a migration background. They are often not even protected by families because they are too clouded by progressive ideology.
“If by adventure the children of non-European immigrants indulge in racist insults or attacks, it will never be their fault, but ours, because their misdirected youth is the product of our systemic oppression,” writes Bousquet.
In fact, Italian progressives justified Abanoub’s murder, speaking of a lack of inclusion and accusing the language of hatred against immigrants.
The “knife culture”
It’s obvious now. Left and progressive media will never do serious mea culpa on the imported crime emergency. This is because, with the open ports policy and the apologetic propaganda of multicultural society, they have changed the Face of our Nation in a decade or so. Thus, for every bloody event, every rape, every violent robbery, they censor the news and, when that is not possible, justify those brutalities perpetrated by immigrants through ridiculous accusations of the absence of inclusion policies.
What made the progressive world jump out of its seat, was Pierluigi Peracchini, mayor of La Spezia, who declared that “the use of the knife is only of certain ethnic groups”. In August 2024, after multiple stabbings perpetrated by immigrants in Trieste, the chief prosecutor Federico Frezza he had talked about “knife culture,” stating: “It’s a never-ending phenomenon that we’re struggling to respond to, I’m starting to get worried”.
For progressives, the problem is the lack of emotional education in school
After Abanoub’s murder, on Republic, Concita De Gregorio he wrote that it is indispensable “to disarm words.” The journalist made a specific reference to center-right newspaper headlines about the violence of young immigrants: “Knives arm the boys’ hands after other blades have armed their way of thinking and acting.” Moreover, at least for the moment, Zouhair Atif cannot be acquitted in the media under the pretext of mental illness or a life on the margins of society.
To throw the ball into the stands, the director of Fanpage, Francis Cancelled, wrote about the sabotage of affective education in schools: “Kids of foreign origin are the perfect scapegoat for 2026.” That these subjects live in their bubble is obvious but they have never been in front of a station or in a park? The progressive spin has left, too Saverio Tommasi attacked the government, writing: “The fact that this government doesn’t even have the manners to consider the need for courses on affectivity and sexuality will remain one of the indelible stains on the reputation of every single person in this government who is part of or supports it.”
From La7 to Silvia Salis
During a broadcast of La7, John Floris he said that in school, one should study effective education to relate to others but, without parental consent, it cannot be done. Then, turn your attention to the racism of Italian families who would warn their children like this: “Be careful, those are the children of Africans who have blades.” So, North Africans stab you because you think they stab you? Then, Floris has a brilliant solution: “If people come from other nations, we welcome them and tell them: violence is not used here.” Guest of the same show, Massimo Gianninidismissed the Abanoub murder with the need to use “language that includes and respects.”
Second Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa, to stop the violence of the “maranza,” we should listen to the discomfort of the children, also by strengthening sexual-effective education in schools. To answer her on La Verità, he thought about it Francesco Borgonovo: “The most educational measure is to repatriate the foreigner who does not respect the law.” On To come, Maurizio Ambrosini He wrote that the answer is the integration of foreign boys, not “deleterious remigration.”
Sara Funaro, the Democratic mayor of Florence, stated: “We have a security problem in our country and we have a security problem in our cities.” But, until three years ago, wasn’t the lack of security just a misperception of citizens?
While immigrants and second generations continue to be held accountable, justifying their every wickedness by the lack of measures aimed at inclusion, the native white male is being exposed and efforts are being made to re-educate him. And that’s precisely what the sex-effective education so much called for by progressives is for.
Francesca Totolo is an Italian independent researcher, reporter, and writer. Its investigations, reported by several international media. She has written on topics such as globalism, non-governmental organizations, political movements, and government false flags against so-called rogue states. With Altaforte Edizioni she has published five books: “Inferno Spa”, “Coronavirus: everything that doesn’t add up to the epidemic that has shaken the world”, “Left Morality”, “Anti-Fascist Emergency” and “Women’s Lives Matter”.
Ukraine’s new defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, is dedicated to the war, more so than ever, posting last week on X about the country’s “clear vision and clear objectives,” which includes the goal of killing 50,000 Russians per month.
“Ukrainians are the bravest nation, and I am confident we will succeed. Glory to the defenders of Ukraine!”
Outlining Ukraine’s plans for the future, Fedorov has also highlighted achieving “measurable results” and killing Russians in a recent interview.
“Management must be built around those capable of achieving defined goals. If people don’t demonstrate measurable results, they can’t remain in the system,” he said, according to Kyiv Independent.
His second objective was more aggressive and specific. “The second strategic objective is to kill 50,000 Russians per month,” Fedorov told press.
Touting conversations with his counterparts in the U.K. and Germany, Fedorov also posted about a new drone program, joint programs, strengthening air defense, and data sharing.
“I spoke with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Strengthening air defense is our top priority. We discussed drones, long-range artillery, and further cooperation. I thank Germany, and personally Boris Pistorius, for the consistent support of Ukraine,” he posted regarding his call with Pistorius.
In yet another announcement, Fedorov announced a new cooperation with the launch of Brave1 Dataroom with Palantir Technologies.
“AI based on real war data will help intercept enemy drones and protect Ukrainian airspace. Ukraine is developing autonomous air defense solutions that are already delivering results,” he wrote.
Despite sparking global news coverage documenting violence, sexual assaults, and drug-related crimes in the shared living integration project “Stek Oost,” the city of Amsterdam refuses to shut the project down. According to public broadcaster BNNVARA, the municipality has rejected calls to shutter the facility early and plans to run the project until its scheduled end in April 2028.
The project, which launched in 2018, was the subject of a recent NPO 2 report where residents detailed an environment of frequent violence. Records indicate that the housing association responsible for the site, Stadgenoot, had requested an intervention plan from police and city officials as early as 2019 to address sexual abuse.
The news report highlighted serious cases and interviewed the victims in some instances, which has been translated by Remix News.
🇳🇱🔴Nightmare multiculturalism experiment was supposed to be a uptopia.
In Amsterdam, 125 young students were placed with 125 refugees to live together. This video details how sexual assaults, rapes, knife threats, and harassment ensued.
A Syrian resident was linked to a rape in 2019, but the case was initially closed due to insufficient evidence. However, the individual remained at the dormitory until March 2022, when a second sexual offense led to his expulsion and a subsequent prison sentence.
The former resident said that a Syrian raped her after she went to his room to watch a film and he would not let her leave. He then raped her. The woman, Amanda, said: “He wanted to learn Dutch, to get an education. I wanted to help him.”
In addition, students living in the shared spaces reported being threatened with kitchen knives. One student described a 20-centimeter-long blade.
Stadgenoot reportedly considered pulling out of the project in 2023 after its own employees faced threats.
“Stek Oost” was designed to foster social cohesion by housing asylum seekers and Dutch students together. Initially, the 250 apartments were split in half between the two groups, so 125 places for each group. However, the ratio of asylum seekers was later reduced to 30 percent. A “buddy system” was implemented to connect the groups and promote integration.
Despite the controversies, the City of Amsterdam has blocked attempts to close the project. District President Carolien de Heer (PvdA) defended the decision to the broadcaster, stating that “250 people could not be put on the streets at once.”
However, what he does not note is that the refugees could simply be removed to another facility, which would not total 250 people.
The project has long been a source of political friction. In 2022, Green Mayor Femke Halsema acknowledged she was aware of the ongoing problems. By 2024, parties including the VVD and JA21 called for the project’s termination.
A scheduled debate on the facility was recently removed from the Municipal Council’s agenda, despite a request for discussion from Anton van Schijndel of the nationalist FvD party (Forum for Democracy).
Now, there are potential political implications to closing the project early, which could be seen as a failure of integration, even when forced and facilitated by the state in a controlled environment.
The Alliance Police Nationale union has launched what it describes as an unprecedented appeal to citizens to mobilize against what it considers an out-of-control level of insecurity across France due to rising migrant crime, with coordinated marches planned in 24 major cities on Saturday, Jan. 31.
In a national statement, the union warned that “France is sinking into insecurity,” arguing that crime is “organizing, structuring itself and becoming radicalized,” while “the State is retreating.” Alliance said police officers were continuing to protect the public “at the risk of their lives,” but without sufficient staff, adequate resources, or “real legal protection.”
“The National Police is at its breaking point, and officers are exhausted,” the union said, adding that “citizens suffer from insecurity and victims are forgotten.”
The call to action is being framed as a civic mobilization, with Alliance and other member organizations of the CFE-CGC urging the participation of citizens, internal security forces, elected officials, and victims’ associations. Together, they want to send a clear message: “STOP to promises without actions, STOP to the collapse of authority, STOP to insecurity, and STOP to impunity.”
In Lyon, expected to be the focal point of the mobilization, the union’s local leadership has painted an especially stark picture of the situation in the metropolitan area, as reported by LyonMag. According to the union, violent crimes such as homicides and attempted homicides rose by 15 percent in the Lyon area in 2025 compared with Marseille.
“Lyon and its metropolitan area have crossed a line; we’re no longer dealing with drug trafficking, but with narco-terrorism,” said Alain Barberis, departmental secretary of Alliance Police Nationale in the Rhône, in comments to LyonMag. He referred to “acts of mutilation and torture” and said, “We have truly crossed a threshold in terrorization, in the radicalization of criminal networks linked to turf wars fueled by drug trafficking.”
Barberis also pointed to what he described as extreme “everyday violence,” citing a surge in snatch thefts and aggravated robberies. He said, “60 percent of these are committed by undocumented immigrants,” he said. “We can see, therefore, that more than half of these crimes are committed by undocumented immigrants, some of whom are already subject to deportation orders, and this demonstrates a real problem with the system today.”
He argued that Lyon is suffering from a severe imbalance in policing resources. “Lyon has surpassed Marseille in terms of crime, and yet the police force is much smaller in Lyon than in Marseille,” Barberis said, adding, “We no longer have the capacity to ensure the safety of Lyon’s residents.”
Despite what he described as the “good intentions” of local government services, Barberis said authorities were “trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.” He highlighted “serious shortages of personnel” not only within the police but also in the justice system, saying that “the Lyon public prosecutor’s office has the same problems in terms of staffing as the Rhône police.”
“These shortcomings lead to tragedies; there are some, and there will be even more if nothing is done,” he warned.
The union’s warning comes against a broader backdrop of concern about the strain on France’s security forces. Figures published in December 2025 showed that the number of gendarmes who took their own lives rose by 24 percent in 2024, to 26 cases. David Ramos, president of GendXXI, the first professional association for military personnel in the gendarmerie, said there had been “no recent improvement in suicide management and prevention policies” and spoke of persistent “institutional inaction.”
Ramos cited increasing workloads, staff who are not replaced when they leave, poor equipment, and a growing sense of abandonment. “The more tensions rise in society, the more we are called upon, often in violent contexts,” he said, noting that gendarmes are increasingly confronted with child abuse, pornography, and terrorism, while also feeling resentment from parts of the public. “The gendarmerie increasingly feels it is losing its soul and the meaning of its mission,” he said.
Concerns about public safety have also been raised in relation to women’s security, particularly on public transport. Data released in March 2025 by the National Observatory on Violence against Women showed an 86 percent increase in victims on buses and trains over the past ten years. In 2024, there were 3,374 victims of sexual violence on public transport, with women accounting for 91 percent of victims, 75 percent of whom were under 30, and 36 percent were minors.
Recent high-profile incidents have added to public unease. In November 2025, a 56-year-old man died two weeks after being stabbed at the Perrache tram station in Lyon. The victim was attacked in front of multiple witnesses and later died in the hospital. The suspect, a 32-year-old homeless man originally from Guadeloupe, was transferred to a psychiatric unit before being re-arrested after the investigation was reclassified as a homicide.
Alliance Police Nationale said it hopes the Jan. 31 mobilization will send “a strong and clear message to the government and all political leaders.”
“We can’t say we’re at war if there isn’t an army behind it,” Barberis said. “There’s a huge gap between words and actions.”
The European People’s Party (EPP) has published a position on its website opposing the referral of the EU-Mercosur agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
“The EPP Group believes that suspending the agreement would undermine Europe’s credibility as a global player,” said the political group, as cited by wPolityce. Notably, the EPP, which pushed out Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party in 2021, includes Civic Coalition (KO), led by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and the Polish People’s Party (PSL).
“Delaying Mercosur deal weakens Europe,” the EPP statement was titled, as the group made it clear that it unequivocally opposes referring the Mercosur agreement to the European Court of Justice.
JUST IN: Battles between farmers and police break out in Strasbourg.
Thousands of farmers are protesting the EU's disastrous Mercosur free trade deal.
However, the deal is seen as a major disaster for Polish and European farmers. Despite Tusk throwing up some signs that he would not back the deal, now that his party could have the opportunity to help do so, he is taking marching orders from the EPP, which critics have long argued was dominated by Germany.
“Tusk pretends to oppose the agreement at home, but in Brussels… he just nods, watching Poles pay the price for his passive stance,” wrote PiS MEP Maciej Wąsik on X.
The EPP parliamentary group, once led by Donald Tusk and now led by Germany’s Manfred Weber, is pushing for the swift approval of the Mercosur agreement, which is harmful to Poland, while simultaneously criticizing the request to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.
Just last week, PSL Minister of Agriculture Stefan Krajewski promised to challenge the agreement before the ECJ, posting on X: “As the Polish Government, we will do everything to protect Polish farmers.” The minister underlined the importance of the Polish cause while also asking “unions” and the opposition to stop interfering. Now, that stance appears to be crumbling.
“I also have an appeal to the opposition and some ‘unions’: stop getting in the way. Put aside the principle of ‘the worse, the better’. Today, the Polish countryside is more important than your poll numbers and private interests,” he wrote last week.
“Referring the EU-Mercosur agreement to the Court of Justice of the EU would halt the ratification process, forcing parliament to halt its work and triggering a lengthy legal review. This would effectively block any parliamentary decisions on the agreement for months. The EPP Group believes that suspending the agreement would undermine Europe’s credibility as a global player. Delays risk allowing China to seize the initiative, while the agreement represents a key opportunity to strengthen Europe’s partnership with Latin America,” it adds.
🇫🇷🇪🇺 26-year-old French organic farmer, Anaïs Foulquier, says that the EU's new Mercosur free trade deal with South America will destroy her farm.
"We are young organic farmers. We rear our own goats, dairy cows and laying hens. We respect everything, the standards, the… pic.twitter.com/UyJjN0cWY8
Before the deal was signed, “It’s worth emphasizing that the European Commission itself admits that the agreement will harm agriculture, since it proposes a billion euros in compensation, even though this is a mere drop in the ocean of needs. For Poland, this means a real risk of a decline in domestic production and increased dependence on imports. The mechanism does not rule out a massive influx of cheaper products from Mercosur countries, manufactured to lower standards,” said Jadwiga Wiśniewska, a PiS MEP.
The deal could serve as a major blow to food quality, resulting in cheap meat and produce imports from South America, where standards are notably lax when it comes to pesticide and GMO use. Over the coming years, these products would find their way more and more often onto European shelves.
While the EU insists on the issue of climate protection and the Green Deal, this free trade deal will also turbocharge destructive agricultural practices in South America, where enforcement of environmental protection remains weak. Tens of millions of acres of rainforest have been destroyed to make way for cattle grazing and monocrop cultivation of soybeans and other cash crops, but with the lucrative EU market opened up, it could create a frenzy to destroy even more rainforest and convert it to agricultural use.
Nevertheless, EU lawmakers are issuing numerous talking points in support of the deal.
“Unlocking a free trade area for 700 million consumers is exactly what Europe needs to increase its competitiveness in today’s increasingly uncertain global economy. By reducing tariffs and simplifying customs procedures, we will increase trade in goods and services, stimulate investment, and strengthen the diversification of supply chains,” says Jörgen Warborn, MEP and EPP Group spokesperson on international trade.
During the farmers’ protest in Strasbourg, ahead of the European Parliament’s vote on the Mercosur trade deal, police used tear gas against demonstrators seeking an appeal to block the agreement. Officers reportedly were forced to throw stun grenades at the protesters as they tried to enter the parliament building.
“Farmers are trying to get into the European Parliament. The police used tear gas,” wrote MEP Maciej Wąsik of the Law and Justice party (PiS) on social media.
Remix News reported yesterday that around 4,000 farmers from across the European Union, including Italy, Belgium, and Germany, were expected to descend on Strasbourg, with French farmers forming the majority.
JUST IN: Battles between farmers and police break out in Strasbourg.
Thousands of farmers are protesting the EU's disastrous Mercosur free trade deal.
Actual numbers were cited as high as 4,500, with the protesters are demanding that the Mercosur trade agreement signed by Ursula von der Leyen be blocked.
“Even if some countries support Mercosur, within those countries there are MEPs who have serious doubts, and it could come down to just a few votes, so we need to keep up the pressure,” said Hervé Lapie, secretary general of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA).
The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on a possible appeal to the European Court of Justice, but this seems unlikely. The parliament’s main political group, the EPP (which includes the Civic Coalition and the Polish People’s Party), has announced that it will not support such a motion, paving the way for an easy ratification vote today.
🇫🇷🇪🇺 26-year-old French organic farmer, Anaïs Foulquier, says that the EU's new Mercosur free trade deal with South America will destroy her farm.
"We are young organic farmers. We rear our own goats, dairy cows and laying hens. We respect everything, the standards, the… pic.twitter.com/UyJjN0cWY8
The Mercosur agreement is intended to boost EU exports of cars, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America, while facilitating imports into Europe of South American beef, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans. Farmers’ organizations, however, warn that the deal will destabilize European agriculture by exposing it to cheaper imports that do not necessarily comply with EU production standards, citing what they describe as insufficient controls.
The Mercosur deal has also revealed that the EU’s concerns about climate change are flimsy at best. The deal will see cheap and dangerous agricultural goods pour into Europe from halfway across the world. The EU’s “farm-to-table” programs also appear to have been blown up by the new deal. Of course, there is nothing about “eat local” when food is being shipped from the other side of the world.
Brazil alone allows the use of as many as 3,669 pesticides and has cleared away millions of acres of rainforest to create monoculture mega farms. The destruction of the rain forest will only accelerate with this new deal.
One Brazilian state, Mato Grosso, eatures the most “agrotoxicity” in the world. Soon, Europeans will be eating this food.
“This Brazilian state is the kingdom of the agricultural industry. Cotton, rice, sugarcane, corn, massive production of transgenic soybeans, and record pesticide use. Mato Grosso wins every global competition in the field of agrotoxicity. That’s the term used by those who condemn the chemical empire. Brazil allows the use of 3,669 pesticides. It’s a veritable El Dorado for corporations, primarily European ones. Products banned on the Old Continent are sold here,” stated the French-German documentary “Pesticides: Europe’s Hypocrisy.”
The World Economic Forum opened in Davos in a turbulent geopolitical environment, where EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke simultaneously about massive financial and military support for Ukraine as well as tensions around Greenland.
“We all want peace for Ukraine. We recognize President Trump’s role in pushing the peace process forward, and we will work closely with the United States. We all agree that Ukraine must therefore be in a position of strength to go to the negotiation table. This is why we Europeans have decided to provide Ukraine with a loan of €90 billion for 2026 and 2027,” she said.
The EU and its member states have given approximately €197 billion to Ukraine in total, all at a time when the Zelensky government has faced a massive corruption scandal, which led to multiple top ministers resigning and being arrested. In the case of Ukrainian oligarch and close Zelensky associate, Timur Mindich, he fled the country to Israel hours before his apartment was raided by anti-corruption NABU police, where they discovered his golden toilet and bundles of cash.
“With this support, we make sure that Ukraine can: bolster its defence on the battlefield; strengthen its defence capabilities for a peace agreement; and keep basic services running,” she said. “Above all, it reaffirms Europe’s unwavering commitment to the security, defence, and European future of Ukraine.”
Von der Leyen emphasized that the European Union must adapt to a rapidly changing world, especially in the field of security policy.
One of the central elements of his speech was Ukraine: he reminded that the war is now entering its fourth year and that it must end.
She added that the EU may still come after Russia’s frozen assets.
“In parallel, we decided to permanently immobilize the Russian assets and that we reserve the right to make use of them,” she said.
Von der Leyen also talked of defending the Arctic and said the EU shares American concerns about security, but that security can only be achieved together.
She also criticized the new tariffs proposed by the United States, especially among what she said were allies.
According to the chairman of the committee, Europe must develop its own security strategy, which will include an updated approach to the Arctic. At the heart of this is the basic principle that sovereign peoples can decide for themselves about their own future – be it Ukraine or Greenland.
Seven MPs from the Dutch right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) have broken away from the party following a dispute over strategy and leadership with its founder and leader, Geert Wilders.
At crisis talks held on Tuesday, the dissenting lawmakers demanded an immediate change of course, in particular a more constructive approach towards the incoming minority coalition. They argue that the parliamentary party has delivered too little for its voters and warn that Wilders’ dominance over the party structure threatens its long-term survival.
“Spreading insulting images on X about Islam is okay, but ultimately does not solve any of the electorate’s problems,” the document said. The dissidents argue that this approach is damaging the party’s continuity.
The fallout comes after the PVV lost 11 of its seats at the general election in October, only held after Wilders withdrew his party from the center-right coalition government at the time in protest over other parties’ refusal to adhere to his demands on asylum reform. Several lawmakers blame Wilders for the party’s underwhelming election performance, saying the “campaign came to a halt because the leader could not be bothered anymore.”
The party’s demise appears to have continued beyond the election, with recent opinion polls suggesting it would win just 17 seats if an election were held today, down from the 26 seats it achieved last fall.
Wilders described the split as a “dark day” for the PVV. “I am going to be the leader for a long time to come,” he told reporters after the news broke on Tuesday afternoon. “This is a setback, but I have every confidence that we will rise above it.”
He said the party would remain committed to being a forceful opposition voice rather than cooperating with the new government.
He also confirmed to press that he was blindsided by the move. “We have lost seats, and I am also partly responsible for that, it is true. But the PVV always fights back. This will happen again. I didn’t see this coming at all, no. I knew nothing about this at all.”
The seven MPs will continue as a separate parliamentary group under the leadership of Gidi Markuszower, an MP since 2017 and a former close ally of Wilders. Markuszower said the new group would be prepared to work with the minority cabinet. The breakaway includes four of the top seven candidates on the PVV’s October list, among them several newly elected MPs.
The split comes as the liberal democratic party Democrats 66 (D66), the largest party in the incoming coalition, works on draft legislation that would require all political parties to operate formal membership systems. Since its founding, the PVV has had no members other than Wilders, giving him full control over the party.
Wilders said the MPs who left had pushed for cooperation with the minority coalition, something he had repeatedly rejected. He said the parliamentary group had twice unanimously agreed to pursue a hard opposition line. “And to start doing that differently now, that doesn’t seem right to me,” he said.
He also confirmed that the issue of turning the PVV into a membership party had been raised, but said such demands were made “with the knife to the throat.” He rejected suggestions of a leadership challenge, saying the majority of the group continued to back him.
PVV MP Dion Graus welcomed the split in comments to De Telegraaf, describing the departing MPs as “mutineers and rats.”
De Telegraaf reported that the dissidents had raised four demands during the tense parliamentary group meeting: greater cooperation in parliament to deliver “concrete results for our voters,” democratization of the party through memberships, a broader political profile, and an evaluation of the election defeat. On the campaign, they accused Wilders of being largely absent, canceling interviews and debates, partly because of security concerns.
Wilders has required 24/7 private security for decades for his longstanding criticism of Islam and the mass immigration policies of previous Dutch governments. This has led to several credible death threats, the issuing of fatwas, and a need for him and his family to live in a safehouse.
The dissidents also warned that without reform, the PVV risked being forced into change by legislation. “We must not allow ourselves to be defined by coercion,” the letter said, adding that failure to adapt could ultimately see the party barred from future elections.
They further criticized what they described as the PVV’s self-imposed isolation in parliament. With a minority government in place, they argued, cooperation on the right could yield tangible results. “The country needs solutions, not just criticism,” the document said.
Thousands of farmers gathered in Strasbourg on Tuesday to protest against the European Union’s trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc and to lobby members of the European Parliament on the eve of a vote to ratify the deal.
The demonstration comes after the signing of the trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American Mercosur countries in Paraguay.
The move has led to the right-wing Patriots for Europe parliamentary group proposing yet another motion of no-confidence in Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for what it called her “blatant disregard for the European Parliament, national parliaments, and millions of European farmers.”
🇫🇷🇪🇺 26-year-old French organic farmer, Anaïs Foulquier, says that the EU's new Mercosur free trade deal with South America will destroy her farm.
"We are young organic farmers. We rear our own goats, dairy cows and laying hens. We respect everything, the standards, the… pic.twitter.com/UyJjN0cWY8
Farmers “do not intend to give up,” Hervé Lapie, secretary general of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), told Agence France-Presse, as cited by Le Monde.
Social media footage posted on Tuesday morning showed hundreds of tractors arriving in the Alsatian capital to participate in the demonstration, resulting in a large police presence being deployed outside the European Parliament, which is currently in session.
In total, around 4,000 farmers from across the European Union, including Italy, Belgium, and Germany, were expected, with French farmers forming the majority.
“Even if some countries support Mercosur, within those countries there are MEPs who have serious doubts, and it could come down to just a few votes, so we need to keep up the pressure,” Lapie said. The farmers plan to remain in Strasbourg until Wednesday, when the parliamentary vote is expected to take place.
The Mercosur agreement is intended to boost EU exports of cars, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America, while facilitating imports into Europe of South American beef, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans. Farmers’ organizations, however, warn that the deal will destabilize European agriculture by exposing it to cheaper imports that do not necessarily comply with EU production standards, citing what they describe as insufficient controls.
“We’re afraid for ourselves, for our income, but also for our fellow citizens, who will see food products arriving that we’re not allowed to produce here,” Lapie said. “To impose so many standards and regulations on French and European farmers that undermine our competitiveness, and then import food products that don’t even comply with what’s required of us… It’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
The decision now lies with MEPs, who must determine whether to refer the agreement to Europe’s top court for judicial review. “It is up to the European Parliament to decide now whether to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. I understand this, and I hope that this process will be completed,” French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on TF1 on Tuesday morning.
À la veille du vote du Parlement européen pour saisir la CJUE contre le Mercosur, nous sommes des milliers à manifester à Strasbourg contre ce traité mortel pour nos agriculteurs.
French nationalist MEP Marion Maréchal joined the farmers in Strasbourg, writing on X: “On the eve of the European Parliament’s vote to refer Mercosur to the CJEU, thousands of us are demonstrating in Strasbourg against this treaty that is deadly for our farmers. We don’t give up.”
A petition circulated alongside the protest calls for the agreement to be scrapped. “France is the leading agricultural power in Europe and the second largest contributor to the EU budget: we cannot allow this agreement to be imposed upon us,” it reads.
Accord Mercosur signé : un coup de poignard dans le dos de nos agriculteurs et un scandale démocratique. Jeudi sera mis au vote notre motion de censure : que chacun prenne ses responsabilités ! pic.twitter.com/nqvDFIkuFC
In a statement, the FNSEA said, “Today, more than 5,000 farmers from all over Europe are mobilizing in Strasbourg to say no to Mercosur. We will walk to the European Parliament to ask European MPs to support a strong CAP [Common Agricultural Policy], a decent income, and a real vision for the future of our agriculture.”
Addressing the European Parliament, Jean-Paul Garraud, president of the National Rally parliamentary group, described the Mercosur agreement as “a stab in the back for our farmers and a democratic scandal.” He said a motion of censure would be put to a vote on Thursday, adding, “Let everyone take responsibility.”
🗣️ | @_KingaGal 🇭🇺: For Europe’s agricultural sector, the Mercosur agreement is the last straw. The Patriots for Europe, with thousands of farmers and millions of voters behind us, say clearly: enough.
Patriots for Europe vice-president Kinga Gál also told the chamber on Tuesday, “We say enough. Enough with the betrayal of Europe’s farmers. Enough with policies that go against Europe’s own interests. We demand new leadership that serves the European people, rather than Brussels. Ursula von der Leyen and her commission have to go.”
Poland is facing a deepening demographic crisis, marked by a historically low fertility rate and a steadily declining population. Polish news portal Do Rzezcy interviews Dr. Szymon Grzelak, president of the Instytut Profilaktyki Zintegrowanej (IPZIN) and member of the Presidential Family and Demography Council, to discuss why young Poles increasingly do not want children and what factors contribute to this trend.
According to recent data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), Poland’s fertility rate in 2024 was only 1.099 children per woman, far below the replacement level of about 2.1 needed to maintain the population. In the same year, Poland recorded a negative natural increase of -4.17, meaning that deaths exceeded births by a wide margin. These figures have alarmed demographers and policymakers alike.
Dr. Grzelak points to long-term research showing that young people’s ideal number of children has been declining for over a decade. Ten years ago, teenagers already envisioned fewer than 2.1 children per family — beneath the replacement threshold. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this ideal has fallen even further: today’s adolescents, if their aspirations were realized, would average only about 1.4–1.5 children per couple. This suggests the actual fertility rate of future generations will be even lower — likely less than one child per couple, he believes.
Interestingly, Grzelak notes a gender difference: young men are slightly more willing than young women to want children, an issue, as both partners must be willing to have kids.
A major part of Grzelak’s explanation centers on how young people are socialized, distinguishing between primary socialization, values and beliefs learned in the family and immediate community, and secondary socialization, influences from peers, media, and broader cultural environments.
Grzelak argues that secondary socialization now begins prematurely because young people are exposed to global influences (especially through social media and the internet) before their core values are fully formed. These influences often undermine traditional family values by promoting individualism, self-fulfillment, and the idea that children are burdens or obstacles to personal freedom and ambitions.
As a result, children in their teens absorb messages that family and parenthood are not meaningful or desirable goals, and many never receive strong positive examples of long-term relationships or committed parenting.
He warns that this “internet value mix” often drowns out messages about the importance of loving, stable family life, sacrifice for others, and lasting relationships. In many adolescents’ lives, media portrayals of independence and self-realization are far more salient than any realistic depiction of family life.
Grzelak identifies several factors that correlate with higher or lower desires to have children, including religious or spiritual engagement, exposure to positive family models (stable, loving families), psychological well-being, and age and maturity. Younger children (around age 11), Grzelak notes, still show higher interest in future families than older teens.
Grzelak believes that to reverse these demographic trends, society must do more to encourage youth to think about long-term life goals, promote positive role models of marriage and parenthood (including both the joys and challenges), and prioritize a greater sense of community over individualism.
He also calls out the current Tusk-led government for replacing the former “Family Life Education” curriculum with a generic “Health Education” program that does not openly address marriage, parenthood, or raising children.
This, Grzelak believes, was a missed opportunity to reinforce family values in schools and help encourage kids to want to have children in the future.
The Austrian city of St. Pölten illustrates how, in even smaller European cities, the social and financial burden of foreigners is incredible, the latest sign that foreigners on welfare is not just a problem for major cities, but also in smaller cities, towns, and even rural areas.
The data shows that 49 percent of all social assistance paid out in the small city of approximately 56,000 people is going to just two groups of origin: Syrians and Afghans, according to the Austria Press Agency (APA).
The data shows that a total of 1,278 people in the Lower Austrian capital receive social benefits, as of January 2026. Nearly half of these recipients, 528 people, are from Syria, which amounts to 41 percent of recipients. In addition, Afghans receive another 8 percent, which amounts to 99 recipients.
In total, 72 percent of all recipients are foreigners, when factoring in all recipients, which includes other foreign countries besides Afghanistan and Syria.
Of those with Austrian citizenship, there are 359 beneficiaries, amounting to just 28 percent of the fund, despite this group making up the vast majority of people in the small city.
The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), known for its opposition to mass immigration and a proponent of remigration, has reacted negatively to the welfare data.
State Councillor and top candidate Martin Antauer stated in a press release: “Social assistance is there to help Austrians in need through no fault of their own so that they can get back on their feet and not for Syrians and Afghans who have never paid a cent into the system and are making themselves comfortable in the social hammock.“
Antauer says that social assistance must be linked to Austrian citizenship.
Austria, like many other European countries, is facing billions in costs linked to mass immigration, including social benefits, housing, and education costs. Notably, nearly all cases of welfare fraud are linked to foreigners.
“More than 70 percent of the suspects are not Austrian citizens,” said Gerald Tatzgern, head of the department for combating welfare fraud. One common form of fraud is couples registering at different apartments to receive higher benefits, while still living in the same house or apartment.
At the same time, these same foreign groups are committing an extremely disproportionate amount of crime in the country, committing nearly half of all crimes.
🇦🇹‼️ 534,193 criminal cases were reported in Austria last year.
The tremendous costs of migrants are being felt across Europe, including one landmark study from the University of Amsterdam, which showed that migrants had cost the Netherlands an incredible €400 billion between 1995 and 2019.
Meanwhile, researchers in France estimate that migrants cost the French state €25 billion a year.
The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia has dropped the promise made in its coalition agreement to introduce free meals for all children in daycare centers for the time being, but still has the highest net expenditure of any state on asylum seeker benefits.
“The state government currently sees no possibility of introducing a free lunch for all pupils beyond the existing support measures of the education and participation package and the hardship fund, ‘All children eat together,’” the government said in its formal reply to a parliamentary inquiry by the SPD parliamentary group.
In their coalition agreement, the CDU and the Greens committed to working toward free meals in daycare centers, TAG24 reported. “We aim for free meals in daycare centers and will gradually relieve parents of meal fees depending on their income,” the agreement stated. It also promised to make the third year of kindergarten before starting school free of charge throughout North Rhine-Westphalia.
The state government now says budget constraints and numerous construction projects in daycare facilities mean the plans are unlikely to be implemented during the current legislative period.
Instead, the government said it allocates around €1 million annually through the hardship fund “All children eat together.” The fund is aimed at children and young people who require communal meals in daycare centers, schools, or after-school care facilities, but who do not qualify for support under the Education and Participation Package despite being in need.
“All existing needs have been met,” the government said. “Should the number of applications increase, additional needs can be met within the framework of available budgetary resources.”
The decision comes against the backdrop of North Rhine-Westphalia’s long-established position as Germany’s largest net spender on asylum seekers. Data from Destatis, cited by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, show that in 2024, the most recent annual figures available, the state spent €1.12 billion net on asylum seeker benefits. North Rhine-Westphalia has been the biggest spending state in this category every year since 2014, with the exception of 2018.
At the national level, Destatis data show that the largest component of asylum seeker benefits in 2024 was basic benefits that primarily cover accommodation, food, heating, and clothing, as well as consumer goods, which are generally provided in kind.
These figures relate only to benefits issued from the state budget, not the federal one. At a federal level, Germany spent €47 billion on social welfare benefits in 2024 — not including accommodation and healthcare expenses — and 63.5 percent of recipients were non-citizens.
A Dutch volunteer who fought in the war in Ukraine is sharing his experience with Dutch media and is sharply critical of the ruling Zelensky government.
“Ukraine is ruled by a corrupt gang. I was there for the citizens. They can do nothing about these abuses,” said Dutch war volunteer Hendrik.
For several months now, the volunteer has been back in the Netherlands, where he has returned to work and is rebuilding his life. He claims there is no point in being in Ukraine anymore. After his participation in the fight and his relationships with his colleagues, only memories remain.
Although he says returning to Ukraine is not an option at this time, he cautions, “Never say never.” He emphasizes that the most important thing is that the war does not spill over into Europe.
As he points out, if he returned, he would not do so out of sympathy for the Ukrainian government, which has been enveloped in corruption scandal after corruption scandal, including the “golden toilet” scandal, which continues to rock the nation.
During his time in Ukraine, he came into contact with Bandera supporters, Colombians, a commander who threatened him with a gun and wanted to send him to a trench despite suffering a serious wound, as well as with other foreigners and Ukrainians who became his dear friends.
In the Netherlands, Hendrik worked as a ship mechanic, and he says he enjoyed the job. As he reports, it was for his colleagues from the units in which he fought that he decided to return to Ukraine twice.
“When you are so deeply involved in this war, normal life is difficult. It’s a topic I’ve often talked about with other boys who have been through the same thing,” Hendrik said. “When you enter this machine, the rest of the world ceases to exist. Just this moment. And what happens when you come home: it’s nice to see your family again. Your body is here, but your mind is there,” he told De Telegraaf.
The Patriots for Europe faction in the European Parliament has initiated a motion of no confidence against Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, over the EU-Mercosur agreement.
Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál called the president’s failure to appear in the parliamentary debate “unacceptable,” reports Magyar Nemzet, saying von der Leyen had disregarded the thousands of farmers protesting in the streets, as well as the European citizens represented by the Patriots.
According to Gál, Mercosur could result in cheap and loosely regulated products flooding European markets, creating an unfair competitive situation for EU farmers.
“The safeguard clauses voiced by the Commission are merely empty promises that do not provide real protection for European farmers,” she said.
The MEP went on to tell the European Parliament that the Commission’s “erroneous decisions” are piling up, pushing European agriculture into a “serious crisis.” She then listed off the Green Deal, bureaucratic burdens imposed on farmers, the Ukrainian free trade agreement, the Mercosur agreement, and the new EU budget draft, which she said would drastically reduce agricultural subsidies.
Gál said the moves are an attack on European agriculture and a betrayal of those who provide the daily bread of the European people.
She also criticized the way the agreement was adopted, emphasizing that it was forced through with a complete lack of transparency and legal tricks. According to her, the splitting of the agreement aims to bypass national parliaments, while the possibility of provisional application empties the European Parliament’s right of consent.
Stating that Mercosur was forced through with a complete lack of transparency and legal tricks, the MEP called it the last straw for European agriculture and announced that the Patriots for Europe group, with thousands of farmers and millions of voters behind it, is demanding a change of direction.
Gál said that European leadership is needed that serves the people of Europe, not Brussels, and that Ursula von der Leyen and the European Commission should leave.
Both Hungary and the UAE may end up buying Russia’s stake in Serbian oil company NIS, which operates Serbia’s only refinery, Pancevo.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjárto announced last Thursday that Hungary’s MOL Group has the support of the Hungarian government to buy the Russian stake in NIS. The foreign minister also indicated that the first agreement to do so has already been signed. However, other players are now also interested, with no final buyer decided upon.
According to the Serbian newspaper Direktno, the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, ADNOC, also wants to acquire the Russian stake in NIS, and the UAE and Hungary are now in negotiations.
Direktno reports that the Pancevo Refinery is planned to resume work at the end of the week, after being shut down for nearly two months. However, at stake is the refinery’s U.S. OFAC license, which allowed the refinery to import crude through Croatia’s JANAF and expires on Jan. 23.
Last October, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had imposed sanctions on NIS due to its being majority owned by Russian companies, giving it until late March to sell these shares.
“If OFAC extends the operating license, it will be a signal that the negotiations are moving in the right direction, and if that does not happen, then I am afraid that we will have a situation like with Lukoil, when America did not agree to the sale,” Pavlović points out.
Szijjártó called the potential deal “a huge step forward in terms of security of supply to Central Europe,” adding that there is a real chance that MOL will reach a key agreement with Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft on the purchase of their majority stake in NIS within one to three days.
According to Reuters, “Gazprom and Gazprom Neft own 11.3 percent and 44.9 percent of NIS, respectively. The Serbian government has a 29.9 percent stake.”
“The critical point is that we do not know what is being negotiated between MOL and Gazpromneft, that is, whether the Russian side is trying to find a way to keep its share in ownership,” said Vladan Pavlović, an analyst at Ipopema Securities.
As to the interest by ADNOC, the analyst says, “If both companies are really interested, maybe the idea is for MOL Group to run the retail network, and for ADNOC to own the Pančevo Refinery.”
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić visited the UAE recently, where he discussed with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, among other things, the purchase and sale of NIS.
Currently, the EU has directed all member states to stop all imports of Russian oil by 2027, a plan opposed by Hungary and Slovakia. At the end of last year, Belgrade and Budapest announced the construction of an oil pipeline, at a cost of around €500 million, which should be completed by 2027. The pipeline would pass through Serbia for 113 kilometers and through Hungary for 190 kilometers, and then connect with the Russian “Friendship” oil pipeline on the border of Hungary and Ukraine.
“If Hungary will not be able to buy Russian oil, then the construction of an oil pipeline makes no sense, and not for NIS, either,” says Pavlović. As he adds, there is a risk that the investment will be “in vain” if Hungary fails to fight for a position where it can continue buying Russian oil.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the European Union is “not taken completely seriously” by world leaders because of its “suicidal migration policy” and “nonsense climate goals,” after a phone call on Monday with German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
According to the government’s press office, cited by the TASR news agency, Fico told Merz that he would send an open letter on Tuesday to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and circulate it to all EU prime ministers and heads of state, in which he would express concerns relayed to him following a meeting with U.S. President Trump at the weekend and offer solutions.
“I have proposed several solutions to the Federal Chancellor, and I hope that he will visit Slovakia soon, as he promised. We have something to talk about,” Fico said. He added that several hundred German companies operate in Slovakia and that the Slovak economy is particularly dependent on German economic development because of the high concentration of car production.
Fico said he and Merz discussed the current “serious international situation,” including the escalating transatlantic tensions over the future of Greenland, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He told the German chancellor about his conversation over the weekend with U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
“The U.S. president is clearly pursuing the nation-state interests of the U.S. If the EU had acted this way, we would be in a completely different place than we are now,” Fico said, again arguing that the European Union is not taken seriously on the world stage.
🇺🇸🇪🇺 EPIC phone call between Slovakia's PM Fico with Germany's Merz, after Fico met Trump.
PERFECTLY sums up the situation between the U.S. and the EU regarding Greendland
Prime Minister Fico:
– "The President of the United States is clearly pursuing the nation state interests… pic.twitter.com/aXFOa6wcXL
The Slovak government described the Fico-Trump meeting as informal and a sign of respect and trust. The talks covered the war in Ukraine, the European Union, and bilateral relations, and were attended by U.S. and Slovak foreign ministers Marco Rubio and Juraj Blanár.
On Ukraine, Fico said he reiterated his long-held positions to the American president. “All my positions are well-known, and I repeat them in the same wording at every meeting,” he said, declaring “Slovakia’s peaceful position and the opinion that diplomacy and mutual listening must take precedence over military solutions.”
According to Fico, he and Trump shared the view of the European Union as “an institution in deep crisis” in relation to its competitiveness as well as its energy and migration policies. They also discussed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy, ceremonially signed in Washington before the Florida meeting. “Both countries are fully aware that solving serious energy challenges is not possible through wind turbines or photovoltaics, but that the basis for the future is the rapid development of nuclear energy,” Fico said.
THE TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES AND TALKS WITH PRESIDENT D. TRUMP WERE SOVEREIGN, CONFIDENT, AND EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT FOR SLOVAKIA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ENERGY SECURITY.
I understand that anti-Slovak media and the opposition are being torn apart by envy and hatred. I have… pic.twitter.com/7rjoxPWLIR
Fico also said he presented Trump with a Slovak postage stamp depicting a U.S. Marine Corps soldier of Slovak origin, Michal Strank, noting that a photograph of Strank raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in February 1945 later became the model for a major military monument at Arlington National Cemetery.
“The trip to the USA was our next success, as was the case with visits to Russia, China, and many other countries. We make many decisions prematurely… Luck favors the brave, sovereign, and proud. The trip to the USA, from which we are now returning, was a sovereign, self-confident, and useful representation of our homeland,” the prime minister concluded.
A group of thugs severely beat an aspiring medical student, 23-year-old Paul S, fracturing his knee in seven different places and severely damaging his leg to the point that he needs a new knee. Now, after weeks of police failures, four suspects have finally been arrested.
Notably, three have German citizenship, but all come from foreign countries, namely Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Paul S. had left a bar with friends in Essen’s Rüttenscheid district when he and his friends were attacked by a mob of “Southern-looking men.” For the full details of the story, read this Remix News report here.
The beating was so severe that Paul now has his leg held together by screws and plates. It remains uncertain whetherhe will ever walk again, and doctors say it is likely he will need a new knee. His mother details how his dream job of being a surgeon now appears to be gone forever.
However, after the attack, just about every institution failed Paul. An emergency room doctor told him that there was nothing wrong, and she even denied him painkillers before another hospital took him in and revealed that he had one of the worst cases of damage to the knee they had ever seen.
Her decision to send him away without painkillers had a cascading effect on his case, as police were told there were light injuries. As a result, they did not search for witnesses or acquire surveillance footage. However, the police were reportedly quickly made aware of how serious the injuries were, but still did not seek out witnesses or other evidence.
Paul’s mother offered a €10,000 reward for information about the perpetrators, and it was only thanks to her efforts that the case is being cracked open.
“My son wants to become a surgeon,” said 46-year-old Jeanine S. when speaking with Bild.
She notes that doctors have to stand for long hours at an operating table, and now it is unclear if he will ever be able to do that.
“With these lifelong consequences, nobody knows,” she said.
On Jan. 10, around 12:15 a.m., two witnesses called the police and said they knew several of the thugs int the case. The suspects were tracked down in Christinenpark, where police pursued them while they tried to hide in a bush, according to Bild.
One suspect was a 17-year-old German citizen with Iraqi nationality, another was an 18-year-old German citizen with Afghan nationality, and another was a 19-year-old with German citizenship and Syrian nationality.
However, the fourth suspect is a 19-year-old German known as a serious and intensive offender. However, just the fact that he is German says nothing about his nationality background. While the other suspects are dual citizens, the fourth one may have a migration background, but that data is not made available to the public.
A shooting at the municipal office in the Czech village of Chřibská, in the Děčín region, left two people dead and six injured on Monday morning, Czech police and health authorities said.
Police responded to the incident at around 10 a.m. amid reports that an armed attacker had opened fire inside the municipal office, killing one employee and injuring six people, including three civilians and three police officers.
Among the injured was the village mayor, Jan Machač. Police later confirmed that the attacker also died, reportedly by suicide.
“The police did not wait for anything, they went to the building with the aim of eliminating the perpetrator, they returned fire… but the attacker died from his own weapon,” Police President Martin Vondrášek said.
In an initial message posted on X, police said, “The shooter has been eliminated. The building is safe! At this time, we can confirm that one woman and the shooter have died. We will update the number of injured.” Authorities later clarified that the second fatality was a man, not a woman, and confirmed that six people had been injured, at least one of them seriously.
Regional Police Director Zbyněk Dvořák said the motive was likely personal. “The motive of the shooter was probably relationship problems,” he said, as cited by Echo24, adding that terrorism had been ruled out.
iDNES later reported that the attacker was a local drug addict and the son of one of the city hall officials. Police confirmed he did not hold a firearms license and was carrying several illegally owned weapons, including two pistols and a rifle.
Two people with gunshot wounds to the chest were admitted to Masaryk Hospital in Ústí nad Labem, one of whom was transported by helicopter. Four other injured people were taken to the hospital in Děčín. All of those injured in the attack are reportedly out of danger.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš expressed condolences after a government meeting, saying, “I would like to express my regret and condolences to all the bereaved.” President Petr Pavel also conveyed his condolences to the families and loved ones of those affected by the shooting.
A homeless Algerian man has been jailed for a violent assault of a woman with whom he had a brief relationship. During the attack, the man struck her multiple times with brass knuckles on her belly, all while a passerby filmed the scene.
The 29-year-old man, Ihabd M., already had a deportation order when he began assaulting the woman in the city of Montauban on Jan. 9, 2026. He has now been sentenced to six months in prison for the vicious assault, along with numerous break-ins to houses in the area.
The most serious crime, the assault on the pregnant woman, occurred near the Ingres Museum, where police discovered a pregnant woman in shock on the sidewalk. She reported being struck in the abdomen. A neighbor captured the assault on video and alerted authorities, leading to the discovery of brass knuckles nearby.
The defendant was found in the vicinity with an extremely high blood alcohol level of 1.16 grams. While he first attempted to provide police with a false identity, DNA testing on the suspect linked him to a previous aggravated robbery in Bordeaux.
During the trial, the suspect’s story shifted as evidence mounted. “I didn’t hit her. I didn’t have brass knuckles,” he first claimed. However, after the court reviewed the footage, his denials transitioned into partial confessions, according to French news outlet La Depeche.
The victim, a mother of four from Villeneuve-sur-Lot, testified about a brief relationship with the defendant that turned violent during a night of drinking. She suggested her drink may have been tampered with, stating, “I know they put something in my vodka,” before the judge steered the testimony back to the physical assault. The woman detailed being slapped and kicked, resulting in a nosebleed and three days of total incapacity for work.
The court also addressed two incidents from late December, one where a homeowner caught the suspect and a female companion breaking into his residence. After a brief confrontation where the owner was struck, the pair fled.
In another case, police found individuals had broken into a property, which contained a mattress and traces of blood, linking the defendant to the site.
Despite his lawyer’s plea for a suspended sentence based on “precarious circumstances,” the court sided with the prosecution. He was sentenced to six months in prison, a five-year ban on entering French territory, and financial compensation to the homeowner and assault victim.
An Italian woman whose parents were murdered in a brutal attack by an Ivorian asylum seeker a decade ago has accused the state of abandoning victims while prioritizing the rights and welfare of offenders, in an interview with Il Primato Nazionale.
Rosita Solano, whose parents Vincenzo, 68, and Mercedes, 70, were killed in their home in Palagonia, Sicily, in August 2015, said she no longer feels like an Italian citizen because of what she described as a complete lack of protection and support for victims of violent crime.
In the attack, Mamadou Kamara, an 18-year-old Ivorian asylum seeker housed at the Mineo reception center, broke into the couple’s home, beat Vincenzo Solano to death, raped Mercedes Solano, and threw her from a balcony while she was still alive. He had only been in Italy since for around two months, having arrived illegally on June 8.
Kamara later returned to the reception center, where investigators found stolen belongings from the victims’ home. His life sentence became final in July 2022.
The horrific double murder made national headlines at the time, and fuelled anti-mass immigration sentiment at the peak of the migrant crisis. Matteo Salvini, who is now Italy’s deputy prime minister, said at the time, “From what war was this guy escaping??? If he’s guilty, jail for life, with HARD LABOR!”
Speaking recently to journalist Francesca Totolo, Solano said the crime had permanently destroyed her family’s life. “After that night, our lives changed forever. We no longer live. Nothing is the same as before. We live in fear,” she said.
⚠️ Nell’agosto del 2015, il 18enne richiedente asilo ivoriano Mamadou Kamara si introdusse nella casa dei coniugi Solano: uccise di botte Vincenzo e poi violentò Mercedes, gettandola dal balcone quando era ancora in vita.
She described her parents as quiet, hardworking people who had integrated fully into the communities where they lived, including during periods when they themselves had emigrated abroad for work. “They always respected the laws and the environment in which they lived,” she said.
Solano argued that the crime exposed systemic failures in security and oversight, particularly at the Mineo reception center, which she described as “a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.” She said authorities were aware of serious problems at the facility, including criminal activity, long before it was eventually closed in 2019. She recalled that then-opposition politician Matteo Salvini, who is now Italy’s deputy prime minister, visited her family after the murders and promised the center would be shut down.
Asked what had gone wrong more broadly, Solano blamed weak controls, a lack of citizen protection, and what she called the absence of “certain and exemplary sentences.” She argued that offenders often believe they will not face serious consequences and are therefore likely to reoffend once released.
“In Italy, those who commit crimes are protected, legally assisted with free legal aid, food, and lodging, while those who suffer a crime count for nothing,” she said. “Victims are abandoned and invisible.”
“No immediate medical or psychological support, no help, no protection,” she said when asked what services had been made available to her in the aftermath of the gruesome double homicide, further revealing that families were left to cover legal and therapeutic costs themselves.
She questioned why Italy has an ombudsman for prisoners but not for victims of violent crime, and said she wanted answers from those in power.
Solano now sits on the board of the National Union of Victims (Unavi), an organization that supports victims of violent crime and their families. She said her involvement was driven by a desire to ensure that others do not endure the same experience. “I’ll never get my parents back, but I can be useful to someone else,” she said.
“I’ve been repeating the same things for 10 years, and I won’t stop repeating them,” she added.
The European Union is heading toward a new and potentially dangerous form of energy dependence as it replaces Russian gas with supplies from an increasingly unpredictable United States, and the latest move by the Trump administration, in an attempt to force the acquisition of Greenland from Denmark, shows the grass may not always be greener.
Data compiled by Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank, shows the United States now supplies roughly a quarter of the EU’s gas imports, while Russia’s share has fallen to about 12 percent after the bloc’s rapid pivot away from Moscow following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The share is expected to rise sharply, potentially reaching about 40 percent of total gas consumption by 2030.
This would see the United States replace Norway as the European Union’s largest supplier of gas, as long-term Russian LNG contracts are phased out next year.
This shift is unfolding at a time of growing political tension with Washington, driven by an increasingly belligerent U.S. president who has imposed tariffs on European countries in an attempt to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
Against that backdrop, Politico reported this week that analysts and EU diplomats are warning that an overreliance on American liquefied natural gas could leave the bloc exposed to U.S. political pressure or supply disruption.
Less than six months after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump cleared up their last trade spat, with Europe committing to importing €640 billion worth of American energy over the next three years, the U.S. president has threatened action once more with tariffs on several EU member states and NATO members. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said that tariffs would be levied “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
The leaders of the affected countries, namely Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland, hit back in a joint statement that warned: “Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. We are committed to upholding our sovereignty.”
Reuters reported on Monday that the EU is weighing retaliation, including the implementation of its anti-coercion instrument, “which could limit access to public tenders, investments, or banking activity or restrict trade in services, in which the U.S. has a surplus with the bloc, including in digital services.”
The fundamental problem for Europe now, however, is that retaliation only angers the hand that feeds it. In the same way as Brussels cut off its nose to spite its face with Russian energy imports, a similar issue could arise with Washington should Trump not get his way, and pretty soon, Europe could start running out of suppliers.
“There are other sources of gas in the world,” but the risk of Trump turning off the taps “should be taken into account,” Politico quoted a senior EU diplomat, and with certain countries already low on gas reserves — German storage facilities, for example, remained under 50 percent full last year — such a move could be catastrophic.
The problem is not only the price and availability of LNG, but the geopolitical leverage that can come with concentrated supply. The latest clash over Greenland once again raises concerns over Europe’s energy security strategy, and whether a desire to swap suppliers should be replaced by a focus on reducing gas use in order to avoid new vulnerabilities.
Following a series of sexual assaults, groping incidents, and knife attacks in the Havel Thermal Baths in the city of Werder, it has now become clearer who was actuallly behind these after initial reports of “male groups” of suspects.
Like many other such incidents in Germany, in particular at swimming pools, foreign males are once again the suspects again be fingered as the main suspects.
In a segment from Welt news, Andreas Schauer, the managing director of Havel Thermal Baths in Werder, said, regarding the need for new gender quotas and increased security: “Of course, this is extremely regrettable. Of course, it also costs a lot of money, but on the other hand, it is simply necessary. They may also be groups of men from a culture or country where there may not be baths or saunas where people are naked.”
🇩🇪After a series of sexual assaults and knife attacks at a thermal bath spa in Germany, a director of the spa is now being clear that foreign men were behind the attacks and sexual violence.
“Of course, this is extremely regrettable. Of course, it also costs a lot of money, but… pic.twitter.com/97JtBlxXyA
The Havel Thermal Baths in Werder, located close to the city of Potsdam, made national news after putting in place stricter controls and gender-based restrictions after a series of incidents involving groups of men committing sexual harassment, violence, and stabbings. Remix News originally reported that “groups of men” were involved in these various criminal incidents, but their identities and nationalities were not disclosed initially.
“We had big problems, especially with groups of men, some of whom were also drunk,” Schauer told Berliner Zeitung after the attacks.
“Even groping guests and staff and even stabbings in the parking lot,” said the managing director.
As a result of these incidents, external security services were hired at the location. In addition, in order to limit gender imbalances, no gender may outnumber the other gender by more than 20 percent. If this limit is reached, entry may be temporarily restricted even if the thermal bath is not at full capacity.
🇩🇪 "I was at the outdoor pool in Zeitz (Germany) yesterday. What can I say?"
"The obvious migrant guests there, who are perhaps from Syria, Afghanistan or whatever, were always romping around in the children’s pools. The men were lying around in the children’s pools, sitting on… pic.twitter.com/Muih5UqhQv
The fact that once again foreign men are involved raises serious questions within Germany about societal and security adaptations that were never necessary before the advent of mass immigration. Whether it’s mass surveillance, riot police at swimming pools, or concrete barriers at Christmas markets, European society has to introduce an entirely different security environment due to mass immigration.
The incidents at the Havel Thermal Baths have echoes of the various incidents at German and Austrian pools in recent years involving sexual assault, mass brawls, acts of disrespect towards pool staff, and groping attacks, which led to a massive increase in police presence and increased security. However, this time, the attacks are taking place in the mostly indoor and upscale Havel Thermal Baths, according to Berliner Zeitung.
Last year, crime statistics showcased just how prevalent foreigners are in crimes against sexual determination in German swimming pools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s largest state by population.
Crime also soared 65 percent in Lower Saxony’s swimming pools, and foreigners account for a huge share of these crimes, according to German government data released in response to a parliamentary inquiry from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The data shows that crime at swimming pools in the German state went from 780 cases in 2023 to 1,286 in 2024.
For sexual crimes, foreigners made up 41.67 percent of perpetrators in 2024, with 13 Syrian suspects and seven Afghan suspects among the foreigners arrested. In total, there were 116 sexual crime cases in 2024 in Lower Saxony swimming pools.
On Sunday evening, two high-speed trains derailed in Adamuz, in the southern Spanish province of Córdoba. Spanish media reported that an Iryo train traveling from Malaga to Madrid collided with an AVE train traveling in the opposite direction.
Emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene, and rail traffic on the Madrid-Andalusia line was suspended.
The death toll has risen to 39, and more than 70 people were injured, 24 of whom are in serious condition, reports Do Rzeczy. Other reports have suggested closer to 100 are injured.
Words of support for the families of the victims of the tragedy and the Spanish nation are pouring in from almost all over Europe.
“I am receiving terrible news from Cordoba. I offer my sincerest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the train accident, as well as to the Spanish nation. I wish a speedy and full recovery to all those injured. I am thinking of you,” wrote European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on X.
“My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives this evening in Córdoba. I offer my sincerest condolences to their families and loved ones. I wish you strength and encouragement in these difficult times and a speedy recovery for the injured. I thank the rescue teams for the excellent work they have done in responding to this tragedy. Europe stands with the Spanish people in these difficult times,” said Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament.
“A train tragedy has struck Andalusia. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and the entire Spanish nation. France is with you,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I offer my sincerest condolences to the families of the victims. Poland supports the Spanish nation in these difficult times,” assured Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“I express my deepest solidarity with the victims, their loved ones and the Spanish people. I offer my sincerest condolences to the bereaved families and express my full support to the injured and the rescue teams mobilized,” said European Council President Antonio Costa.
Meanwhile, some social media accounts are also calling out Spain’s Socialist government, led by PSOE’s Pedro Sánchez, for not investing enough in infrastructure. The prime minister himself posted his condolences on X.
“Tonight is a night of deep pain for our country due to the tragic railway accident in Adamuz. I want to express my most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. No words can alleviate such immense suffering, but I want them to know that the entire country stands with them in this extremely difficult moment. All emergency services are working in a coordinated manner without rest,” he wrote.
President Donald Trump’s push to annex Greenland is sparking backlash from a European right that is usually rooting for the U.S. president. Parties such as France’s National Rally and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) are coming out in opposition to not only Trump’s plan to acquire Greenland, but there is also calls to scrap the tariff deal that was signed between the European Union and the United States.
Following Trump’s calls to place a 10 percent tariff on European nations he argued are hostile to his plans to acquire Greenland — which incldudes nations like Germany, Norway, and France — these nations released a statement. They argue that this tariff, which will jump to 25 percent in June, can “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
In France, MEP Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, posted that the EU should suspend last year’s tariff deal with the U.S.. He said Trump’s threats amount to “commercial blackmail.”
“The threats issued by Donald Trump against the sovereignty of a state, all the more so a European one, are unacceptable. Commercial blackmail is no more tolerable. We call on the European Union to suspend the agreement concluded last July, which we had denounced at the time, that commits our interests without sufficient counter-parties,” wrote Bardella on X.
Les menaces proférées par Donald Trump à l’encontre de la souveraineté d’un État, a fortiori européen, ne sont pas acceptables.
Le chantage commercial n’est pas davantage tolérable. Nous appelons l’Union européenne à suspendre l’accord conclu en juillet dernier, que nous avions…
His comments were not so far off his rival, French President Emmanuel Macron, who wrote on social media that “no intimidation or threats will influence us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere else in the world when we are faced with such situations.” He added that “tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.”
In Germany, the AfD co-leader Alice Weidel was sharply critical of Trump’s foreign policy interventions, including Venezuela and now Greenland.
“Those who for years criticized and protested against Putin for violating international law are now silent when Trump does the same thing in Venezuela and Greenland. This hypocritical silence in the face of sovereignty violations is striking,” she said.
🚨BREAKING NEWS
Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD party in Germany:
“Those who for years criticized and protested against Putin for violating international law are now silent when Trump does the same thing in Venezuela and Greenland.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday said she had spoken to him about his proposed tariffs, which she said were “a mistake.”
She told reporters that the deployment to Greenland of dozens of troops from eight nations was misunderstood by Washington. She claimed the deployment was not aimed at the U.S. but instead directed at other “actors” who she did not name.
Trump appears to be primarily targeting nations that sent troops to Greenland, albeit in very small numbers. These nations include NATO allies, Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Finland, and the Netherlands, which joined the Danish military training exercise “Arctic Endurance.”
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark that Trump says is critical to U.S. national security and which he argues is unable to be defended by Denmark from Russia and China.
“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland,” the group of eight nations said. “Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
Antonio Jose Seguro of the center-left Socialist Party (PS) won the first round of Portugal’s presidential elections on Sunday. With more than 99 percent of votes counted, Seguro received 31.1 percent, beating Andre Ventura, the leader of the right-wing populist Chega party, who took 23.5 percent, reports Politico, citing data from the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The candidate of the Liberal Initiative party, Joao Cotrim de Figueiredo, came in third with 16 percent, followed by former Naval Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, with 12.4 percent and Luís Marques Mendes, former president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), with 11.4 percent.
If the poll results are confirmed, the second round of the presidential elections will be held on Feb. 8, in which Seguro and Ventura will face off.
Researcher Harb Jad Marcell says the election reflects voters’ disillusionment with the traditional two-party system of PS and the center-right PSD, according to Harb Jad Marcell.
This year’s elections in Portugal are the first in 40 years in which a second round of voting will likely be necessary to elect a president.
Right-wing leaders and politicians raced to congratulate Ventura, with Jordan Bardella, the president of France’s National Rally, writing: Enough! That’s enough! A hope is rising for Portugal: congratulations to @AndreCVentura, who qualifies tonight for the second round of the presidential election!”
🇵🇹 Chega ! Ça suffit ! Un espoir se lève pour le Portugal : félicitations à @AndreCVentura, qui se qualifie ce soir au second tour de l’élection présidentielle ! pic.twitter.com/OYR3dw8AYM
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also celebrated the news.
“Congratulations,@AndreCVentura, on reaching the second round in the presidential election. The Portuguese people have sent a clear message: patriots across Europe are on the rise. Força na segunda volta!” he we wrote on X.
🇭🇺🇵🇹 Congratulations, @AndreCVentura, on reaching the second round in the presidential election. The Portuguese people have sent a clear message: patriots across Europe are on the rise. Força na segunda volta!
Recently, Remix News has experienced increasing censorship on the X social media platform. This is nothing new for Remix News, as we have a long history of being censored, whether it is Facebook, TikTok, or even old Twitter, where our account was banned for two years for a completely contrived reason. However, this latest bout of censoring comes after a recent speech delivered by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
In the speech, she compared free speech to a “virus” that needs to be inoculated — all through the use of so-called “prebunking.”
”If you think of information manipulation as a virus. Instead of treating an infection once it has taken hold—that is debunking—it is much better to vaccinate so that the body is inoculated. Prebunking is the same approach. Because disinformation relies on people passing it on to others,” she stated.
So here we have Ursula von der Leyen describing free speech as a virus and censorship as its vaccine……. pic.twitter.com/ApIUT4UMPq
Essentially, under Orwellian terms like “disinformation,” the EU is now supposedly throttling reach on content that does not fit its narrative. This new term for censorship is “prebunking.”
It cannot be proven who is censoring Remix News, as both the EU and X itself are not transparent about how censorship takes place or how it is enacted. However, through the Digital Services Act (DSA), there is no doubt that censorship is taking place.
None of the Remix News posts being censored are factually incorrect and none of them are “fake news” or “disinformation.” However, they do showcase the incredible crime problem brought on by mass immigration, and that is exactly the kind of topic that the EU is desperate to stamp out. This is especially true at a time when the EU’s establishment parties are increasingly threatened due to their own disastrous policies, with immigration only one of many, but perhaps the topic most likely to be censored.
How is Remix News being censored?
Before noting some of these recent posts that are being censored, it must first be established how Remix News is aware that posts are being censored. It is actually quite straightforward. When a post has been censored on X, it is not just a matter of reduced reach, but there are also a number of other tell-tale signs. This includes the inability to link posts outside of X or embed them into third-party apps or websites, including this one.
Most posts facing censorship on X are related to crimes involving foreigners, and this is just a small sampling of the posts that have been censored over the last two months.
The first one involves a 5-year-old girl being the victim in a heinous sexual assault inside a toilet at an Austrian playground, which also showcased the suspect’s description while he was still on the run. The man also beat the young girl’s elderly caregiver. In the post, Remix News shared a composite sketch and description of the man, who still has not been apprehended.
In other words, censoring this X post not only had nothing to do with the facts of the case, which are not disputed, but also occurred as an act of censorship pertinent to public safety information.
Algerian arrested for rape of 15-year-old Frenchgirl
Just days ago, a Remix News post was censored involving an Algerian migrant who raped a 15-year-old girl in France, despite the man having an open deportation order and multiple crimes on his record. Remix News simply provided a translation of the news report, which was then censored on X.
French youth has his faced carved into the Joker’s smile by African migrant
In another post, a video report showcases how a young Frenchman who had his faced carved up into a “Joker’s smile” in Paris by a rampaging African illegal migrant with a long criminal record, who should have already been deported.
While running from police, the suspect also seriously injured another tourist in their face in a stabbing attack. Here is the link to the X post, which cannot be embedded into the website because it is censored.
This was just one of many posts that were censored on this specific attack that were published on X.
African man’s lawyer argues in court that he raped and beat his wife because of his ‘culture’
In another incident in Belgium, an African man placed a trash bag over his wife’s head before raping and strangling her, but his lawyer argues in court that he “comes from a culture where a woman has to satisfy her husband.” Again, this post was censored on X.
Convicted Afghan child rapist avoids jail
Another post described how a convicted Afghan child rapist, Irshad Ahmad, avoided prison in Sweden due to his age but was then charged again with raping a child, this time at gunpoint. He was convicted in July 2024 for the aggravated rape of a 13-year-old girl in Malmö. He and a friend held a knife to the girl and forced her to perform oral sex on them, threatening to kill her if she refused.
They filmed the attack. As Ahmad was 15 at the time, he was sentenced to just 10 months of youth supervision. The second attack took place in November last year, with prosecutors believing some form of firearm was used to coerce another minor into performing sex acts. As Ahmad, who arrived with his family from Afghanistan, is now a Swedish citizen as of 2022, he cannot be deported. Again, the post was censored, despite all this information being factual.
Brutal rape of German elderly woman
This post was also censored. A 24-year-old Algerian migrant is on trial in Germany for breaking into a disabled 66-year-old woman’s apartment in Stendal and brutally raping her — all while filming. The case, dating back to February 2025, involves the Algerian man threatening the woman with a knife. He then began raping the woman while filming much of the rape on his smartphone. The rape reportedly lasted for hours.
Eventually, the woman was able to call for help, at which time the perpetrator fled before being arrested. The Algerian migrant has no fixed address and has a long criminal record. He was also facing charges in Bielefeld for another crime.
No appeal process, no transparency, and no recourse. The EU’s pre-bunking protocol could be responsible, but it would also be appropriate if X was more transparent with how and why these posts are being censored, which could also shed more light on the issue.
In general, most posts being censored tend to be about serious crimes involving migrants, many who were often already ordered to be deported for various past crimes but never were. These are the same type of crimes and incidents that are fueling support for right-wing parties across Europe, the same parties the EU is determined to keep from power. They will use censorship, lawfare, and of course, the DSA, to ensure this happens.
If these were “one-off” incidents and did not point to a broader trend seen across Europe, which is showcased by countless crime statistics, and even pointed out by police unions as the driving factor behind Europe’s soaring crime problem, then of course Remix News could be accused of some form of “promoting a fake agenda.” However, this is a broad and daily societal problem that is wreaking havoc across Europe, and these stories deserve to be heard and seen — no matter what the power structure in the EU, along with their various NGOs and activists, desire.
AI systems play an increasing role in censorship
To be clear, not every post is being censored on X, but whoever is behind these censorship efforts appears to be targeting certain posts, many of which are likely to spread to a larger audience. These posts are also censored incredibly quickly, which assumes either someone is assigned to watch Remix News, or AI systems are at work, or a combination of both.
Presumably, the EU’s Digital Service Act (DSA) and its enforcers are employing AI systems across the EU to target accounts like @RMXnews. There could even be a situation where “trusted flaggers” are watching the news flow across Europe, identifying which stories could attract the public’s attention, and then run keywords into their trackers that flag any account posting about them.
However, due to how opaque this process is, which organizations or individuals are behind these censorship efforts remains entirely hidden behind the curtain. How much X itself is involved in this censorship directly can only be speculated on as well.
Regardless, von der Leyen’s claim that “free speech” is alive and well in the EU is a flat-out lie and a perhaps a form of “disinformation” all in itself. It is only alive and well for pre-approved narratives that benefit the class that currently controls the political levers. For those who speak out of line, their houses can be raided and they can face prosecution. German law is even preparing for the ability for authorities to raid editorial offices without a warrant.
Freedom of speech is the foundation of our strong and vibrant European democracy.
Remix News may be yet again facing censorship, but it is important to continue reporting on the reality facing Europeans and the global West. The victims deserve to have their stories told after their lives were shattered and their security stolen. Only a very few ever come forward, likely terrified at being called racist, but some, after paying the ultimate cost, find their voice. They also deserve to have their story told.
His daughter was murdered by an illegal Palestinian migrant, stabbed 38 times, along with her boyfriend.
17-year-old Ann-Marie is gone, but her father won't let her memory die. He delivered a message to Olaf Scholz's face:
The left will likely never be held accountable for the disaster that has been open borders, but even some on the leftists voicing opinions that would be commonplace on Remix News. It is important to remember this is not just a “right-wing” talking point, but a grave concern, even among those on the left, and certainly among the general population, as polling has shown.
🇩🇰🚨 Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen used her New Year's address to promise ramped-up deportations for foreign criminals.
"We do not want your culture of dominance. You are destroying the most beautiful country in the world." pic.twitter.com/XKdbTmNXRn
Remix News, despite its incredibly small size, has caught the attention of larger influencers, including the likes of Elon Musk, who has shared or commented on our content on more than one occasion. This makes us targets, along with journalists and other outlets that publish content the EU elite do not approve of.
While Musk does not desire to have mass censorship on his platform, the EU is turning the screws and Western countries are increasingly threatening to ban the platform entirely. There appears to be no easy solution going ahead for free speech and the free flow of information, especially when the elite are in a desperate struggle to maintain their power.
European Council President Antonio Costa announced that he plans to convene an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders on Greenland in the coming days due to the gravity of the recent events in Greenland and to further coordinate EU actions.
According to EU sources, the meeting would take place in Brussels this Thursday, Jan. 22, and the leaders would participate in person, writes wPolityce.
In a statement today, Costa acknowledged that he has consulted with member states on the recent tensions over Greenland. He emphasized that the discussions showed that the EU is aligned on the principles of international law, territorial integrity, and national sovereignty, as well as on support and solidarity with Denmark and Greenland.
U.S. President Trump announced that he will impose 10 percent tariffs on eight European countries for their stance on his claim to Greenland. The tariffs are set to rise to 25 percent in June and remain in effect until the U.S. reaches an agreement to purchase the island, which is a Danish autonomous territory.
Costa said EU countries agree that the tariffs threatened by Trump would weaken transatlantic relations and are inconsistent with the EU-US. trade agreement. They also recognize the shared transatlantic interest in maintaining peace and security in the Arctic, particularly through NATO action.
He also stressed that the EU is ready to defend itself against all forms of coercion and expresses its readiness to continue constructive cooperation with the United States “on all issues of common interest.”
Several countries have sent troops to the island this past week, including a 15-member reconnaissance team from Germany, although this group has reportedly gone home after just two days due to adverse weather conditions.
Yesterday afternoon, an emergency meeting of EU ambassadors was held in Brussels to discuss EU-U.S. relations and efforts taken to date to coordinate their approach.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that she discussed Greenland with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“Together we stand firm in our commitment to uphold the sovereignty of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark. We will always protect our strategic economic and security interests. We will face these challenges to our European solidarity with steadiness and resolve,” she wrote Sunday evening.
Trump is now saying the U.S. needs Greenland to protect against Russia, however, Denmark is also a NATO country.
“NATO has been telling Denmark for 20 years that ‘you must remove the Russian threat from Greenland.’ Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now the time has come, and it will happen!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued a statement that “Europe will not allow itself to be blackmailed by US President Donald Trump.”
“At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Greenland issue extends beyond Denmark. It is all the more important that we uphold the fundamental values that created the European community. We want to cooperate, and we are not the ones seeking conflict,” she emphasized.
NATO head Mark Rutte has also reportedly spoken with Trump by phone, posting on X that they will “continue working on this, and I look forward to seeing him in Davos later this week.” Given his position as head of NATO and Trump’s insistence on aggressively taking over a self-governing territory belonging to another NATO member, many have been confused by Rutte’s weak and quiet stance thus far.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš praised his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán in a wide-ranging interview with the Hungarian newspaper Mandiner, speaking favorably about Orbán’s leadership and political instincts as Hungary heads toward a hotly contested general election on April 12.
The interview, part of Mandiner’s Maximo program and conducted by the paper’s editor Zoltán Szalai, covered energy prices, inflation, EU policy, migration, Ukraine, and the future of the Visegrád alliance.
Throughout the conversation, Babiš repeatedly returned to Orbán as an example of a leader whose positions were initially attacked but later vindicated.
Referring directly to Hungary’s response to the 2015 migration crisis, Babiš said, “When Viktor Orbán took the first steps on migration in 2015, everyone criticized him.” He added that Europe later moved toward the same conclusions, arguing that Orbán had been proven right over time. “We lost a lot of time,” Babiš said, drawing a parallel between the migration crisis then and the current debates on energy security and wider economic policy regarding Ukraine.
Warning about the direction of the European Union, Babiš said, “If we do nothing, it will be a catastrophe… If we look at Germany, the previous German government damaged German industry. What has happened to European business is completely disconnected from reality. It is a huge problem not just for industry, but also for science and innovation.” He linked high energy prices to inflation, saying they were “the biggest problem,” and argued that EU policy had failed to protect industry and living standards.
Babiš embraced the populist label often used against leaders like himself and Orbán. “Populism is about people. I went into politics to make people’s lives better.” He presented this approach as legitimate and necessary, rejecting the idea that such politics should be dismissed as ideological.
The Czech prime minister also spoke positively about closer regional cooperation, calling for a renewed and stronger Visegrád-style alliance. “I think it should be strong again,” he said, adding that Hungary and Slovakia were natural partners for the Czech Republic in pushing back against policies decided in Brussels. “Hungary and Slovakia are very closely connected to us. When we are in Brussels, we must talk about Europe’s energy policies together.”
“We’ve cooperated excellently,” he added. “We fought together for the interests of our countries, with excellent results. I learned a lot from [Orbán] regarding European politics, and he probably learned a lot from me regarding financial matters. So, we complemented each other well, and that is why I wish him much success in the future, because Hungary is extremely important for the Czech Republic.”
On Ukraine and foreign policy, Babiš argued that Europe has largely sidelined itself. He suggested that the EU is unable to speak directly with Moscow, contrasting this with the role of the United States. He described Ukraine’s EU accession as “a political issue, not an objective one,” and warned about the scale of the financial burden involved in its reconstruction following any future peace deal.
“Europe cannot talk to Putin. The United States can. Trump talks to Putin, Europe talks to Zelensky, Zelensky talks to Trump. That is the reality. When Viktor Orbán spoke with Zelensky and then with Putin, he was heavily criticized. Now more and more people are saying that maybe it is necessary to talk,” Babiš said, warning that “without the United States, Europe will not be a player.”
The Czech prime minister warned that it would “not be possible to guarantee further loans to Ukraine,” warning that Brussels’ decision to further finance the war effort in Kyiv will result in “multi-billion euro damage” that will never fully be repaid.
The Polish government is removing the words “man” and “woman” from marriage certificate templates as it moves to implement a binding European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling, despite previously insisting that claims Brussels was overruling Polish sovereignty were an “untruth” and that the judgment “cannot force a change in Polish law.”
A draft regulation submitted to the government replaces sex-specific fields in civil status documents with gender-neutral terms such as “first spouse” and “second spouse,” clearing the way for the transcription of same-sex marriages legally concluded in other EU member states.
The changes are presented as the practical implementation of a November 2025 judgment of the EU’s top court, which obliges member states to recognize such marriages for the purposes of EU law.
In a press release sent to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) and cited by Onet Wiadomości, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said the amendments are necessary to adapt Polish civil registers and administrative systems to EU requirements. The ministry stressed that the changes are technical in nature and do not alter the definition of marriage under Polish law.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski said the government was acting on a legal obligation arising from EU membership. “Poland has an obligation to recognize same-sex marriages legally concluded in other EU countries. This is a law that we must and want to apply – the CJEU ruling is clear,” he wrote on X. He added that updating civil status records would allow the state to operate “efficiently and equally towards all citizens,” calling equal treatment “a matter of dignity, but also the stability of existing families.”
According to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, refusing to enter such marriages in the Polish civil status register breaches EU law, including the principles of equal treatment and freedom of movement and residence. The ministry reiterated that the EU court made clear that member states are not required to introduce same-sex marriage into their national law, but cannot refuse to recognize marriages lawfully concluded in another EU country.
The November judgment stemmed from the case of two Polish men who married in Berlin in 2018 and sought transcription of their German marriage certificate after returning to Poland. Polish authorities rejected the request on the grounds that domestic law does not allow same-sex marriage, prompting the Supreme Administrative Court to seek guidance from the EU court.
European judges ruled that such refusals are incompatible with EU law, warning that they may cause “serious inconvenience at administrative, professional and private levels” and infringe EU citizens’ rights to free movement and family life.
Following the ruling, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said interpretations claiming the EU was imposing its legislation on Poland were false, arguing that the judgment alone “cannot force a change in Polish law.”
He said at the time that the government would determine how to handle the decision only after further analysis by relevant ministries. The draft regulation now before the government marks the first concrete step in applying the ruling in practice.
Growing violence in German schools is an issue facing the entire country, in large part due to mass immigration. Now, after the Cottbus public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into 18 specific cases of serious violence in the migrant-dominated Regine Hildebrandt Primary School in the south of Cottbus, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is speaking out against the violence.
The revelation that so many criminal investigations are ongoing at just one school was shared by Brandenburg’s Interior Minister René Wilke on Wednesday during the Interior Committee of the Brandenburg State Parliament. There are also seven additional investigations pending before the police.
The school has drawn national attention due to the levels of violence being seen inside, with parents writing an open letter seeking help from authorities as their children become targets. In the letter, which was first reported on by German news outlet Junge Freiheit, the parents reported physical attacks with serious injuries, including one student who suffered a concussion. In addition, students were using pepper spray, as well as fighting with kicks and punches.
A father at the Regine Hildebrandt Primary School told Junge Freiheit that there were “at least two to three attacks” a week before he took his children out of school. He said that the names of the perpetrators were “for example, Ali, Mohammed, and Ahmed.”
The data show that 43 percent of students at Regine Hildebrandt Elementary School have a migration background.
Dennis Hohloch, an Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician, said in response: “Immigration is the biggest problem, the biggest safety risk for our children in our schools. We had 3,209 violent offenses at our schools in 2024. If you take the 190 school days a year, that’s 17 violent offenses a day. This figure is 20% higher than 4 years ago. Violence in schools, especially here in Brandenburg, can no longer be minimized or glossed over, even if the SPD and the Ministry of Education keep trying.”
🇩🇪🔴German schools face increasing violence due to mass immigration.
In the city of Cottbus, the public prosecutor has launched 18 criminal investigations into cases of serious violence in the migrant-dominated Regine Hildebrandt Primary School.
He added that his party’s solutions include: “First and foremost, we would like to lower the age of criminal liability to 12 years. We will enforce the principle of German before regular schooling. We will implement migration caps at our schools. We will ban indoctrination by law. We will return to the principle of performance in accordance with the principle of encouraging rather than demanding and will once again focus on teaching basic cultural skills.”
🇩🇪🔴 A young German girl spoke of the nightmare she experiences from her Muslim classmates.
"Sometimes they say to me that I’m German. And yeah, then they laugh at me, curse at me and tease me. Others are always Muslim, and they ask me why I am not a Muslim. I said I am a… pic.twitter.com/gggVOm9IPs
While the AfD is the top polling party in Brandenburg by a large margin, the party is still far from power. Meanwhile, the chaos is only growing in the school system.
The interior minister described a serious crisis in the school and announced that “these acts would also have consequences very quickly.” However, what consequences remain to be seen, as under current laws, minors cannot be charged as adults, and in many cases, very little can be done criminally. While transferring them to other schools is possible, those schools will then face the same problems.
The minister affirmed that the list of criminal offenses is “very, very long and varied.” He described dangerous bodily harm, threats, insults, and coercion. Wilke described “aggressiveness and willingness to use violence as a prominent dimension.”
Now, in response to the violence, a security team has begun patrolling the school at a cost to taxpayers. In addition, police are conducting “threat” interviews with known perpetrators. Authorities are also meeting with Cottbus Mayor Tobias Schick (SPD).
The mayor, who belongs to the far-left SPD, which has been a prominent proponent of mass immigration, said during a press conference in August 2025 that the problem is a consequence “of partly unregulated, partly uncontrolled immigration in recent years.”
This situation is also hardly unique to Cottbus, as the issue is hitting German schools across the country, including major cities like Berlin. Approximately 40 percent of all violence in German schools is committed by foreigners; however, how much of the remaining 60 percent is committed by Germans with a migration background is not reported.
Géza Nagy Kemény, grandson of Baron János Kemény, gave the Hungarian government’s foreign policy a score of six out of five and considers Hungarian-Romanian relations to be of historic proportions in an interview with Mandiner.
Nagy Kemény sharply criticized the opposition Tisza Party, spoke about its leader, Péter Magyar’s failure in Transylvania, and why he considers the April election to be crucial.
As a Transylvanian, how would you classify the current Hungarian government’s foreign policy?
Five out of six. I am satisfied as a Transylvanian Hungarian. Some people accuse Hungarians abroad of receiving money from the mother country. To this, I usually say that Transylvania gets a handful from the budget sandbox, and that is enough for us. And it is a fantastic thing that Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regularly visits Bucharest and invites Romanians from Bucharest to Budapest.
There has never been such a good relationship between Romania and Hungary since these two nations existed.
This is true; whoever denies this, I will defend it.
You are known as a critical person, obviously there is something you don’t fully agree with.
Regarding the Borderless! program, I think that children from the mother country arriving in Transylvania should be better prepared for where they are arriving, many of them do not even understand why they speak Hungarian in Romania. There is plenty of time for this from Budapest to Marosvásárhely, even on the bus. Regarding the program, I criticize not only the Hungarian government, but also the Hungarians in Transylvania, who are capable of doing anything for accommodation, but the main message, the content, is lost in the process. This is not worthy of the Hungarian nation. The goal would be for children returning from Transylvania to say at home that “I was actually in the old Hungary.”
The other is that we do not have a representative living in Hungary who deals only with Transylvanian Hungarians. Furthermore, there would be a need for an office that anyone from Transylvania could call and tell about the problems of Transylvanian Hungarians. Also, the election law should be changed so that those living in the diaspora can send one representative to the Hungarian parliament.
Speaking of electoral law: “If you don’t pay taxes, why do you vote? What does it have to do with you?” – these are the words used by Péter Magyar’s Transylvanian ally, Attila Gáspárik, regarding the voting rights of Hungarians abroad. What is your opinion on this?
Let’s stop for a moment: We didn’t migrate to Transylvania, but they pulled the ground out from under our feet, packed us into a big box, tied with a blue-yellow-red ribbon. We have to live here.
And let me not disparage Attila Gáspárik, who claimed that my grandfather, Baron János Kemény, the founder of Erdélyi Helikon, which kept the entire Transylvanian literary world alive after Trianon, was an informer. I can go even further: Gáspárik was the director of the theater that my grandfather founded with his wealth. Regarding the right to vote, I would like to say that not only Fidesz and Tisza could benefit from the votes of those from across the border, since you can also vote for them. Come here and convince us why it would be a good idea to vote for them.
But then, Péter Magyar visited Transylvania and the Partium in the summer.
Yes, and it really stuck: in Oradea, only cars with Hungarian license plates could be seen when he was there, and they brought the “crowd” with them. He also discredited himself in Praid, not daring to take a photo at the salt mine, because the Székely patriots were waiting for him there. He was escorted through the forest on a side road so that he wouldn’t have to meet foreigners who thought differently from him. He was afraid; he knew that they wouldn’t welcome him here.
Do you know any Hungarians from Transylvania who would vote for Tisza?
I have never heard of a Transylvanian Hungarian voting for Tisza.
Is there anything at all that you think the Tiszas are right about regarding Transylvanian issues?
Let me think, it’s not that easy to find one… Yes, I can’t criticize them for one thing, which many people did anyway: When (Tisza MEP) Kinga Kollár said that the Hungarians in Transylvania should speak Romanian better. But this is also the invention of the Spanish wax, something that we have already done ourselves – by the way, I have to praise the RMDSZ at this point, since Béla Markó is gone, they have finally managed to teach Romanian as a foreign language to the Hungarian children in Transylvania. The problem is that there are no Romanian teachers, but how would a Romanian teacher be found in a Hungarian village? Who should teach the child Romanian? But that’s another question.
We know that not all Hungarians in Romania are RMDSZ (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania) supporters. They face a lot of criticism. Do you think that the alliance of RMDSZ and the Hungarian government parties can decide who – from Transylvania – someone will vote for in the Hungarian elections in April?
I think there are few people who would connect this so much. I myself hated the RMDSZ for a long time, but since Béla Markó has been gone, it has been able to achieve changes in the country that I previously thought were unimaginable in Romania, for example, Hungarian history is taught in Hungarian schools, officially. In fact, they give you a printed history textbook in Transylvania, which I also think is better than the Hungarian one. And now you can get a driver’s license in Hungarian. What the Hunors have done recently is very good, and I can highly praise Barna Tánczos. And in national politics, they have made strategic decisions that are favorable to Hungarians, such as the pension adjustment. As a pensioner here, nothing is free; you have to pay half of the train ticket, and that little extra money is very useful. All of this together can help the RMDSZ, and it can also help the Hungarian governing parties in April.
Tisza would like to position itself as a party that would continue Fidesz’s policies even after the hoped-for change of government, wherever it sees fit. What do you think would be the fate of the subsidies from the mother country in this case?
This is clear: They will be reduced to a minimum. The Hungarians of Transylvania could lose everything, especially spiritually, but also institutionally.
The biggest such loss would be the Bethlen Gábor Foundation, but the Határtalan! program, Sapientia, and other universities that have been maintained or supported by the Hungarian government so far could be in danger. But I also have concerns about Péter Magyar as a person.
For example?
The lack of credibility. I was at least as outraged by the “ Romanian grounding” as its opposite, the demonstratively carrying around the Székely flag in Szeged, with which the leader of the Tisza marched, as if this could erase the mistakes made, even though we know that for him the flag is also a stage prop, which is distributed at the meetings and then collected afterwards. By the way
Péter Magyar did all this after a few years earlier, two rows ahead of me, he had shouted “Viktor, Viktor!” in Tusványos.
It was impossible to take a photo with his ex-wife without Péter Magyar, who was always bustling around Judit Varga, being in the picture. He has a very strong desire for power, which makes him artificially create hatred.
I have never received so many attacks from Hungary in my life as I have this year. They often threaten me with death, hanging, and if I wanted to, I could even go and file a complaint after some of the comments.
Speaking of denunciations: What do you think of the opposition’s “road to prison” program?
As a scion of a judicial family, Péter Magyar knows very well that you can’t put people in prison the way he advocates. Even Ferenc Gyurcsány wasn’t put in prison. That’s not how it works.
You can’t put people in prison for thinking differently; this is not the Ceaușescu era, where they were put in prison or even murdered, as happened to my family members.
If someone says in their main message, “To jail with Orbán and his team!” when that’s impossible, then why should I believe their other messages?
The adaptability of the Transylvanian Hungarians is legendary. I think they are prepared for every eventuality.
If the government wins, then we will continue with it on the steep mountain that it has been carrying us up until now, and sooner or later, we will approach the summit. If the Tisza wins, then we will have to come up with a new strategy. We will get there, just like in the time of Béla Markólo – please describe it this way – who was the first to congratulate Ferenc Gyurcsány. If the Tisza wins, then the Hungarians of Transylvania really need to pull up their pants: They will trample us into the swamp.
It’s not necessarily Péter Magyar, but those who don’t care that there are Hungarians elsewhere in the world, because they don’t care about Hungarians in Hungary either, such as the Kinga Kollárs, Zoltán Tarr, Ervin Nagys and I could list more. The current Hungarian government has symbolically restored Greater Hungary, since it stated that the nation has no borders. If the Tisza wins, it will be the second Trianon for Hungary. And Hungary doesn’t want another Trianon. The country cannot be divided any smaller than this.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki unleashed on Germany over unpaid war reparations, but has come up with a solution that would help Poland defend against Russia.
During his New Year’s meeting with the Diplomatic Corps, Polish President Karol Nawrocki addressed the issue of war reparations, expressing hope that “a solution to unresolved issues relating to the past will be found.”
“Beyond legal responsibility, there are moral, political, and financial responsibilities, which are not subject to a statute of limitations. More than 80 years after the end of World War II, the German reparations debt to Poland has not been repaid. I extend my hand of cooperation,” he told those gathered, according to wPolityce, adding that he is “hoping for a reciprocal approach.”
Nawrocki recalled that during his visit to Berlin last year, he presented specific proposals regarding reparations, focused on Germany making military contributions to Poland to help it defend NATO’s eastern flank.
“Germany’s growing defense spending could be used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment, including American equipment, which would then be transferred to Poland. As a key country on NATO’s eastern flank, my country stabilizes the region’s security, including Germany’s security,” he said.
Security was front and center during his speech at the event. “War, or at least a constant sense of threat, is brutally invading our daily lives,” he said.
“We find ourselves at a moment in world history where security is constantly being tested, and peace is not guaranteed once and for all,” he continued, shifting to directly calling out Russia as the constant aggressor.
“In 2008, Russia attacked Georgia, in 2014 annexed Crimea, and began hostilities in the Donbas. Next month will mark four years since Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine,” he said.
Nawrocki was clear regarding the continuous threat posed by Russia and underlined that this is why he will support all actions that can ensure a “lasting and just peace.”
“Our historical experience confirms the truth that whether Russia is tsarist, white, or red, its goal is always the desire for conquest. This has remained unchanged for centuries, which is why I have supported and will continue to support efforts that can lead to a lasting and just peace and ensure Europe’s security.”
The Polish president assured that as the Supreme Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, he will continue to support activities aimed at the effective modernization of the Polish army and the development of its defense potential, adding that any peace agreement must be made cautiously and that the country, and all of Europe, must not underestimate Putin’s ambitions.
“We should not succumb to the arguments that if some form of agreement is signed to end the current phase of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Russia will abandon its expansionist policy. No, it will not. On the contrary, from the first day of peace, it will begin preparing for a new aggression, this time under more favorable political and economic circumstances. Only force, understood as increased defense capabilities of all allies, and our unity can contain and deter Russia.”
“I will mobilize the countries of the region, as well as our more distant allies, to make joint decisions that will effectively deter and discourage Russia from continuing its aggressive, neo-imperial policies. Peace in Europe and the secure development of our countries are at stake,” Nawrocki concluded.
Foreign nationals accounted for 79 percent of all arrests for theft on trains in Britain last year, and 40 percent of all railway arrests, new data from British Transport Police has revealed.
The figures were published as part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) think tank.
They showed that, despite comprising a minority of the overall population, foreign nationals were disproportionately responsible for several categories of offenses, including theft, drug violations, sexual offenses, and violent crime.
“Of the 9,771 arrests in England, Wales, and Scotland, nearly 3,700 were foreign nationals. We have imported a huge problem,” the organization wrote in an X post on Thursday.
EXC: Data from the BTP shows that foreign nationals accounted for 40% of all railway arrests last year.
This includes: 79% of arrests for theft 40% of arrests for drug offences 37% of arrests for sexual offences 36% of arrests for violent crime
— Centre for Migration Control (@migrationCtrl) January 15, 2026
It noted that 79 percent of those arrested in 2025 for theft on British trains were foreigners, while migrants arrested for drug offenses, sexual offenses, and violent crime comprised 40 percent, 37 percent, and 36 percent of all detentions, respectively.
For all offenses, foreign nationals were involved in 37.7 percent of arrests.
Speaking to GB News, CMC’s research director Robert Bates said of the British government, “They have made our trains unsafe. It is the responsibility of any sane government to end immigration and begin a programme of mass deportations to protect the British people.”
Last week, the CMC published its findings from multiple other FOI requests to police forces across England and Wales, and found that 172,889 foreign national arrests had been made for the year ending March 31, 2025.
This, it noted, equated to 474 arrests every day, or an arrest every 183 seconds.
Of those arrests, 51,212 were for violent offenses, while 11,264 were in connection with a sexual offense.
🚨 Julia Hartley-Brewer BANGS her head on the table in disbelief over the "incompetence" of Britain's detention facilities.
Migration expert Robert Bates explains that, after a certain period of time, illegal migrants are let out if they can't be deported.@JuliaHB1pic.twitter.com/TijZQ88HuD
In several recommendations the think tank made to the government following its findings, the CMC called for Britain to “follow the example set by [U.S. President] Donald Trump and introduce a ‘red list’ of countries that are unable to obtain visas.”
It also called for the government to “amend legislation so that any foreign national convicted of a crime immediately becomes liable for deportation and, crucially, actually begin deporting them.”
This reality is not just seen in Britain but across wider Western Europe.
In September last year, the French statistics agency INSEE revealed that 64 percent of violent robberies, physical and sexual violence on public transport in Paris are committed by foreigners, with 43 percent of this number being North African, who represent only 3.4 percent of the population.
Similarly, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, foreigners are responsible for 62 percent of all crimes in the German state on public transport, despite being only 16 percent of the population, according to data published following an inquiry for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) state lawmakers in June last year.
In recent weeks, railway employees and their unions in Italy have expressed concerns about welfare following several high-profile attacks against staff, including the fatal stabbing of a 34-year-old train conductor on Jan. 5 outside Bologna’s main railway station by a migrant.
“The workers are terrified,” said Manola Cavallaro, regional secretary of FIT CISL Emilia-Romagna. “The fear isn’t just physical, it’s psychological. You go to work knowing there’s this person wandering around, watching you, approaching you. And you don’t know how far he will go.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has praised Polish President Karol Nawrocki for his stance on Greenland, where tensions are brewing over escalating rhetoric from U.S. President Trump that the island must become part of the United States.
“Well said. Good point!” Orbán posted along with Nawrocki’s comments on the matter. “I think that the discussion about Greenland should first of all remain the matter between the PM of Denmark and president Donald Trump,” the Polish president wrote.
The “Realm of Greenland” includes Greenland’s status as a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, alongside Denmark proper and the Faroe Islands. But as a NATO country, any attack or forced takeover of Greenland would thus be an attack on NATO, which should concern, and via Article 1 does concern, all NATO members.
Full-scale war between two or more NATO members has never occurred, nor has one member ever attacked another.
Remix News reported yesterday on four NATO members sending troops for reconnaissance and to prep additional defenses for the island. Now, more countries have joined, with Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and the U.K. all committing troops, according to the BBC.
Macron says “the initial contingent would be reinforced soon with ‘land, air, and sea assets.’”
As for NATO head Mark Rutte, he has remained strategically silent, although not all have seen it that way. Pressed for his stance on the matter by Danish lawmaker Stine Bosse at an EP meeting, Rutte again dodged the issue, stating simply: “My role as secretary general, I’m very clear — I never ever comment when there are discussions within the alliance. You work behind the scenes,” aaccording to France24.
Furthermore, there are the people of Greenland to consider. In a 2025 poll, a nearly total majority, 85 percent, stated they do not want to leave the Realm.
Following talks on Wednesday between Denmark, Greenland, and the U.S., Danish diplomacy said that the discussion was “frank but also constructive.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, however, stated that the United States’ position had not been influenced. “We have not been able to change the U.S. position. We still have a fundamental disagreement, so we will continue the talks,” Rasmussen said.
Referring to Trump’s arguments that Greenland under Danish rule could become a target of China or Russia, Rasmussen said: “There is no immediate threat from China or Russia,” emphasizing that “there is no need for the U.S. to take over Greenland,” notes Do Rzeczy.
A Somali man is now on trial for rape and attempted murder of a 20-year-old Dutch woman in a case that was not previously reported, despite the case occuring in May 2024 in the Westerpark neighborhood of Amsterdam.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has demanded a five-year prison sentence combined with TBS (mandatory treatment) for of the suspect, Mohammed H., who was brought to the Netherlands when he was seven.
Mohammed H., who was apprehended at the scene by police, appeared in court yesterday for the substantive hearing. The Somali previously told police he would never want to commit a sex crime, but has a long criminal record consisting of eight pages, primarily for theft. He is a frequent cannabis user and continued to use drugs even while detained for the latest rape case.
The incident began late one night in May 2024, following a café visit, according to AT5.nl.
🇳🇱First, a Dutch woman was raped and beaten. It was all caught on surveillance camera, but police never released the footage or an image of the suspect.
A few days later, the African migrant Chris Jude raped and murdered 17-year-old Lisa.
As the victim walked along the Spaarndammerstraat, she realized a man was following her. The assailant grabbed her by the neck, dragged her into the park, and physically abused her. According to the OM, he also choked her during the assault.
“The worst nightmare has been experienced by the complainant,” the Public Prosecutor stated.
Despite being unable to breathe properly, the woman attempted to fight back and scream for help. She testified to the police that the suspect repeatedly threatened to kill her. The district attorney emphasized the trauma of the event.
The attack was interrupted only thanks to two local residents who heard the woman screaming. One of them immediately dialed 911, reporting that it sounded as though the victim was fighting for her life. After placing the call, the witness heard nothing for several minutes.
The victim’s lawyer, Chris Sent, emphasized that while these locals acted, others did not.
“She is very grateful to the witnesses,” says Chris Sent. “She lay there at some point. She saw cyclists passing by there, who stopped. Then she screamed too. But they continued driving. And it was a few minutes later that these witnesses, these two people who woke up, had the presence of mind to call 911. And that is also her message: ‘Don’t look away, call 911.’”
“It’s just because of the declarant’s incredible fighting spirit, the adrenaline that apparently came loose on her, and the police’s intervention that she’s still alive,” the prosecutor said. “All of the defendant’s actions were focused on death, and there was a significant chance of that consequence.”
Mohammed H. has been in pre-trial detention since his arrest. Throughout the hearing, he remained largely unresponsive. Aside from confirming his date of birth, he refused to speak, only occasionally nodding or shaking his head.
🇳🇱🇩🇪 Women in the Netherlands and Germany are now trying to defend themselves with "Smurf spray" after an asylum seeker raped and murdered 17-year-old Lisa.
"Since Lisa’s death, many of (self-defense) products have been sold out, including the Smurf spray."
According to the lawyer, this behavior was particularly distressing for the victim. “That’s really, really tricky for her. She is still looking for explanations. And he doesn’t give anything at all. He doesn’t even say, ‘I invoke my right to remain silent.’ Apparently, he’s there with his eyes closed. With a hoodie on.”
Judges and prosecutors made several attempts to engage him, but were unsuccessful. H. had also been uncooperative with the Probation Service and the Pieter Baan Center (psychiatric observation clinic) prior to the trial.
🇳🇱🔥 A Dutch woman being harassed on the streets of Amsterdam by a Black male films herself for safety.
Then, her hero shows up. He pulls up his bike and holds her hand.
She's now asking TikTok to help her find the unknown man who came to her aid. pic.twitter.com/ljFnjDI1Yi
The defense argued that alcohol and drugs played a role in the events of that night. However, the judge and the public prosecutor expressed a lack of confidence that H. would not re-offend in the future.
The Amsterdam-Amstelland Sexual Violence Center was also present during the hearing, with coordinator Aukje Bosman praising the courage of the victim.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has denounced as a “scandal” the decision to pursue psychiatric treatment rather than prison for an Iraqi migrant who pushed a 16-year-old girl to her death in front of a freight train in northern Germany last August.
“The Iraqi who was subject to deportation at the time of the crime and who killed Liana by pushing her in front of a freight train will go unpunished: The public prosecutor’s office certifies him as ‘guilty but insane.’ No deterrent judgment, no imprisonment followed by deportation — instead, the taxpayer has to foot the bill for the perpetrator’s accommodation in a psychiatric hospital. This is a scandal!” Weidel wrote on X.
Der zum Zeitpunkt der Tat vollziehbar ausreisepflichtige Iraker, der Liana (16) tötete, indem er sie vor einen Güterzug stieß, geht straffrei aus: Die Staatsanwaltschaft attestiert ihm "Schuldunfähigkeit". Kein abschreckendes Urteil, keine Haft mit anschließender Abschiebung -…
The Göttingen public prosecutor’s office said it has filed a manslaughter case with the Göttingen Regional Court while seeking the suspect’s permanent placement in a secure psychiatric hospital.
As reported by NTV, prosecutors allege the 31-year-old Iraqi pushed the victim into the path of a freight train traveling at 100 km/h at the Friedland station on Aug. 11, 2025, while she waited on the platform and spoke on the phone to her grandfather in Ukraine. The teenager suffered fatal injuries, which prosecutors said the suspect “at least tacitly accepted.”
However, prosecutors said the man was deemed not criminally responsible at the time of the alleged killing because of a diagnosis of schizophrenia. As a result, the prosecutor’s office said it did not bring charges aimed at imprisonment, but instead applied for placement in a secure psychiatric facility. The man was provisionally arrested at the end of August and has been held since then in the Moringen secure psychiatric facility.
🇩🇪🚨 BREAKING: The Iraqi migrant who pushed 16-year-old Liana to her death in front of a freight train in Freidland will serve no prison time after he was determined to be suffering from ill mental health.
As Remix News reported at the time, the suspect was subject to an unenforced deportation order. The suspect had first entered the European Union through Lithuania on Aug. 25, 2021, and applied for asylum there, claiming he was homosexual and would face execution in Iraq. This has been a common method used by migrants from Middle Eastern countries to stay in Europe and thwart any deportation proceedings.
His asylum request was rejected twice, but he was not removed from Germany.
German authorities later submitted a Dublin request to return him to Lithuania in October 2022, but legal challenges delayed the transfer. The suspect claimed he had been raped at an asylum center in Kybartai, Lithuania, and warned of a “significant risk of retraumatization” if returned. However, no evidence of this event, including any formal accusations at the time or charges, was reported.
The Iraqi migrant had a prior conviction in November 2024 for approaching a woman, putting his arm around her, unzipping his pants, and exposing himself. He was fined 40 daily rates of €15 each, a fine that was below 90 daily rates, so it did not trigger a criminal record that might have affected his immigration status.
By March last year, an enforceable order to deport him to Lithuania was in place, and while he was serving a 20-day substitute prison sentence in Hanover for failing to pay a fine, immigration authorities applied for deportation detention. Hanover District Court rejected the request, however, ruling that the risk of absconding was not sufficiently justified.
After the teenager’s death, the case drew condemnation from senior politicians. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called the killing a tragedy that exposed “the dysfunctionality of this system.”
“I don’t understand it either. And I’m angry, too,” Dobrindt told Welt newspaper. “These are precisely the points that, unfortunately, demonstrate the dysfunctionality of this system in such an incredibly tragic way.”
Dobrindt argued that Germany’s capacity is strained by high migration numbers, saying, “A country that is overwhelmed by an excessive number of refugees will simply no longer be able to demonstrate systems that function.” He added, “We have to establish functionality. And the excessive demands must be overcome. But unfortunately, that is still not the case at the moment.”
A Muslim teacher in Sweden has been fired after an internal investigation concluded that she abused and intimidated disabled pupils, vowing to “cure” them by citing verses from the Quran in exorcisms she filmed and posted on social media.
The decision followed a months-long inquiry triggered by video material sent anonymously to senior education officials in Malmö City back in September last year. The footage, later authenticated by municipal investigators, showed a teacher wearing a Malmö City badge filming pupils inside a municipal primary school and speaking to them in Arabic.
According to the investigation cited by Sydsvenskan, the teacher repeatedly claimed that pupils were possessed by demons or the devil and attempted to “cure” them by reciting verses from the Quran. In several recordings, she is heard threatening students and describing fear as an acceptable disciplinary tool. The videos were circulated online and forwarded to others without parental knowledge or consent.
One clip shows the teacher saying that a child was “possessed by a devil” and explaining that Quran verses were read so that he would “get better.” In another, she describes threatening a pupil who had been acting out, saying: “I told him if you do that again I will break your head. […] Now he’s scared of me and that’s fine.”
After senior officials viewed the material, Malmö City launched a confidential investigation without initially informing the school’s principal. An authorized interpreter translated the recordings, and the findings were described by investigators as more serious than first anticipated.
The teacher, a woman in her 50s who qualified in 2010 and had worked in Malmö’s school system for about 15 years, was confronted on Oct. 8, 2025. She initially denied wrongdoing, saying she did not understand the accusations. She later acknowledged parts of her behavior, arguing that reading the Quran had calmed pupils and claiming that she never physically harmed anyone, though she admitted making threatening remarks when angry.
As the Swedish newspaper reported, she also claimed that someone was trying to frame her, and later that the recordings might be fabricated or AI-generated. Those claims were rejected after Malmö City commissioned an internal IT specialist to analyze the footage.
During questioning, the teacher told investigators that pupils were “suffering from something” and that reciting Quran verses was, in her view, a way to calm them. She described violent language as common Arabic “jargon,” citing phrases such as “I’m going to kill you,” while insisting she did not intend to harm anyone.
The investigation concluded that the teacher had violated Swedish law, professional duties, and the municipality’s core values, particularly in relation to the safety and dignity of children with disabilities.
Her employment was formally terminated last month, and parents were informed of the city’s findings.
“This is not how we want it to be in our schools in Malmö,” said Peter Lindberg, the city’s director of primary education, confirming the dismissal and referring further questions to the municipal administration.
The matter will also now be investigated by the city’s police, with a spokesperson confirming to Omni that further evidence can be submitted to them directly. “Information can come to us in many different ways, through tips, through interrogations, and from the media.”
Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has conducted searches at the home of the driver of Andriy Yermak, the notorious figure in the Ukrainian corruption scandal known as Ali Baba, reports Magyar Nemzet.
According to information from Ukrainian portal ZN, Zelensky was warned that both Yermak and Rustem Uterov were involved in the corruption scandal, famously known for the golden toilet found during a raid on properties owned by Timur Mindich, aka Zelensky’s “cash wallet.”
The Mindich case, based on a 15-month investigation by NABU and over 1,000 hours of audio recordings, is one of, if not the, biggest corruption scandals in Ukrainian history. The threads reach into Zelensky’s inner circle, with the central figure, Mindich, a friend and former business partner of the president.
Mindich fled the country to Israel, while another friend of Zelensky’s, former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, was remanded into custody.
Despite the involvement of the presidential confidants in the Mindich case, the Zelensky government sent Yermak, and then after his fall, sent Umerov to peace talks.
NABU has now conducted searches at the home of the driver of Andriy Yermak, the former head of the presidential administration, sources in law enforcement agencies told ZN. During the investigative measures, phones and other electronic media were seized.
The portal wrote that a few days before the searches, the leadership of NABU and SAP warned President Volodymyr Zelensky about the suspicions against Andriy Yermak and Rustem Umerov. Despite this, the president appointed them as the heads of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation at the Swiss and then American peace talks.
ZN also noted that on the morning of Nov. 28, searches were conducted in the presidential office, and some sources even then specified that suspicions had arisen against Yermak, which was related to one of the corruption cases. On the same day, Zelensky accepted Andriy Yermak’s resignation.
Zelensky’s man has not yet been officially charged, but it is only a matter of time.
“Although NABU usually tries to report the suspicion on the day of the house searches, this rule is not mandatory. The president’s godfather, Oleksiy Chernyshov, found out what the anti-corruption agencies are accusing him of only four months after the house searches,” the source informed the Ukrainian newspaper.
The law enforcement source also stressed that the investigation is in an active phase and that NABU is aware of both the importance of the actor and the public’s demand for quick results. However, the agency does not intend to act under pressure for the sake of a “same-day effect.”
“Reason for delay: Evidence needs to be collected to stand trial,” the informant explained.
Ukraine has been forced to declare a state of emergency, as hundreds of thousands were left without electricity, heating, and water in Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky took to social media, announcing the creation of a 24-hour working group in the capital to coordinate crisis management. The initiative will be led by the recently appointed Minister of Energy, Denis Shmyhal.
“Repair crews, energy companies, municipal services, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine continue to work around the clock to restore electricity and heating,” his X post announced.
“The consequences of Russian strikes and deteriorating weather conditions are severe,” he wrote, adding that all teams are working around the clock.
A meeting on emergency situation in Ukraine’s energy sector, with special attention to Kyiv.
The consequences of Russian strikes and deteriorating weather conditions are severe. Repair crews, energy companies, municipal services, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/l85R3I6c6A
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 14, 2026
He said the Kyiv government is stepping up cooperation with partners to procure critical energy equipment, increase electricity imports, and provide additional support. The regulation of connecting backup generators to the grid will also be simplified for the duration of the state of emergency.
Zelensky additionally ordered a review of the midnight curfew, which has been in place since the start of the war. The aim is to allow residents to reach so-called “Points of Invincibility” set up across Kyiv at any time of day, providing electricity and heating. He also said he would open more points in the capital.
“People must have the greatest possible access to assistance points, and businesses – every opportunity to plan their operations according to the situation in the energy system. In Kyiv, the number of Points of Invincibility must be increased, and existing ones inspected,” his post reads.
Russia has been relentlessly attacking Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine in recent days. Yesterday, about 70 percent of the Ukrainian capital was left without electricity. Repair work is being hampered by the freezing cold, and backup equipment is running low.
“It is crucial that state institutions, businesses, and all levels of local government now work coherently and in coordination. The outcome of each contributes to the collective result for the entire country. Glory to Ukraine!” Zelensky concluded his post.
Portugal will pay more than €8 million to avoid accepting hundreds of asylum seekers under the European Union’s new migration pact, opting to make what are described as solidarity payments rather than relocate migrants from other member states.
The decision, first reported by Portuguese news outlet Expresso on Monday, commits Portugal to paying €8.44 million as part of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum. The contribution covers the year 2026 and replaces the relocation of approximately 420 asylum seekers from countries facing higher migratory pressure, including Italy, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus.
Under the EU Council’s decision, Portugal was allocated around 2 percent of the annual solidarity reserve, which is set at 21,000 people. This would have required the country to accept about 420 asylum seekers. Instead, the government chose to pay a fixed amount of €20,000 per person it declined to receive.
Portugal initially voted against the proposal for the redistribution of asylum seekers, arguing that the criteria used by the European Commission did not reflect national realities. In the final vote on the pact, Portugal abstained but remained bound by the obligation to contribute under the mandatory solidarity mechanism.
Portugal’s decision to pay up deviates from countries such as Hungary and Slovakia, which remain fully opposed to acknowledging the pact and now risk infringement proceedings by the European Commission.
Last month, Slovak Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok travelled to Brussels, telling press he had a firm mandate to reject the pact.
“We reject illegal migration, we reject mandatory relocations, we promote border protection, and we insist on the sovereign right to decide who will live on our territory. I reject accepting people we know nothing about, who do not recognize our traditions or values, and who may pose a security risk to Slovakia,” Eštok said at the time.
The new government in Czechia, led by Andrej Babiš, has also vowed to reject the pact.
Portugal’s Minister for the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said in December that the country had explained its position to Brussels. “We explained to the Commission that we couldn’t, but we weren’t the only ones; many countries also opted for the financial compensation method,” he said at a press conference in Lisbon on Dec. 19.
Leitão Amaro also argued that Portugal is itself under migratory pressure and that the European Commission relied on outdated data that did not reflect what he described as the country’s “new migratory reality.” While the Commission has agreed to reassess Portugal’s situation, the financial commitment remains in place until any revision is made.
The Migration and Asylum Pact is due to enter into force on June 12, 2026.
In November, the European Commission announced that several EU countries would be eligible to reduce their financial or relocation contributions under the bloc’s new Migration and Asylum Pact.
In its first Annual Migration Management Cycle report, Brussels said Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria, and Poland could apply for full or partial deductions from their required solidarity contributions in 2026, citing “cumulative migratory pressures over the last five years.”
Greece, Cyprus, Spain, and Italy were formally identified as being under “migratory pressure” due to high numbers of irregular arrivals, while Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and several others were listed as “at risk.”
Nigerians have a reputation for committing massive internet scams from Nigeria, but as they move into Western countries through mass immigration, these scams are also being direclty commited in their new home nations. This time, a high-profile trial at the Dresden Regional Court has concluded with the sentencing of a Nigerian fraud network that specialized in laundering money stolen from lonely women.
The group, consisting of three men and one woman, who all operated as the financial backbone for a notorious “Lovescamming” mafia.
Throughout the proceedings, the defendants—Hamsik E. (24), Sylvester E. (27), Ayomide N. (25), and Precious O. (25)—maintained a defiant display of wealth. Even while arriving from prison, they wore luxury labels such as Louis Vuitton. On paper, three were employed in vague professions, such as “designer,” while one was officially unemployed and collecting social benefits. Precious, the woman, was allegedly a “part-time waitress.”
The Presiding Judge Karl-Dietmar Elser did not seem to be impressed with their luxury clothing or accessories and handed down sentences of nearly four years each for aiding and abetting commercial and gang-related fraud. The judge noted that Precious O., specifically, earned the nickname “Gangster-Doll“ for her “behavior,” which included laughing at her victims in chats and conversations.
“In sentencing, it was taken into account that Precious O. laughed at the victims’ statements. Her nickname ‘Gangster Doll‘ is no coincidence,” said the presiding judge.
Defrauding lonely women
The court highlighted the case of a blind woman from Dresden who was defrauded of €30,000. She believed she was in a relationship with “Dr. Daniel Steven,” a 47-year-old widowed American doctor allegedly stationed in Syria.
Bild newspaper highlights that the scam had many layers of sophistication, and in fact, the woman appears to still have trouble believing it is a scam. During the trial, Bild stated that she was still in contact with the fake doctor and continued to value his “attention and kind words.” During the scam, various problems were presented with the alleged doctor’s efforts to reach Germany, which left the woman paying to help him, which led to her financial losses.
However, it appears that there are more people involved in the scam who were not in the trial, including suspects who may still be in Nigeria.
The four defendants managed accounts across Italy, Lithuania, and Germany, processing a total of €140,000. To evade investigators, they withdrew roughly €600 in cash daily or transferred funds using deceptive labels like “Gift” or “Family Support.”
The court revealed that the defendants were allowed to “keep 10 percent” of the stolen funds as their commission for handling these European accounts.
Nigerian scammers in Germany
This is not the only case of Nigerian scammers operating in Germany, even though Germany’s Nigerian population remains extremely low.
In 2024, German police arrested 11 suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group behind a large-scale marriage and dating scam network, known as the Black Axe gang. They were especially focused on romance scams targeting German women
“Using false identities, the fraudsters, for example, signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demanded money under various pretexts,” police said.
The money was sent back to the Black Axe gang in Nigeria “via financial agents,” according to the report.
As noted by The Local, “Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to €5.3 million ($5.7 million).” However, that is just one German state, and as has been reported consistently, many victims of such romance scams never go to the police out of embarrassment.
Nigerians known for “409” scams
Nigerians are notorious for their web scamming, to the point that an entire musical genre has sprouted up around it, celebrating successful scams and the culture behind this practice.
The country also happens to be a country with one of the world’s fastest-growing populations. A lack of infrastructure, security, and widespread corruption means the country will likely continue to pose a serious global threat in the future.
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Germany will all be sending troops to Greenland this week after U.S. President Trump has escalated his demands that Greenland cede control to the United States.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Wednesday to discuss the situation, but the U.S. would not back down.
“We have not been able to change the US position. We still have a fundamental disagreement, so we will continue the talks,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen stated after the talks, reported Do Rzeczy.
Greenland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt highlighted that Greenland wants to strengthen cooperation with Washington on security matters, but it has no intention of being incorporated into the United States.
In a post on X, Greenland Representation to the U.S. & Canada slammed Trump’s statement that anything less than full incorporation was “unacceptable,” stating that in a 2025 poll, “only 6% of Greenlanders/kalaallit were in favour of becoming a part of the US.”
The same poll shows that a nearly total majority, 85 percent, do not want to leave the Realm of Greenland. The Realm refers to Greenland’s status as a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, alongside Denmark proper and the Faroe Islands.
The post was shared by Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Denmark has now begun deploying military equipment and units to Greenland. A so-called forward command has been dispatched to the island to prepare the area for the arrival of larger friendly and allied forces. The unit’s mission is to ensure that facilities and supply lines are ready to receive the main force at a later date.
The Danish Ambassador to the U.S., Jesper Møller Sørensen, also posted that Denmark and Greenland are committed to Arctic security.
“Several Swedish Armed Forces officers are arriving in Greenland today, part of a group from several allied countries,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said. Norwegian authorities also announced Wednesday evening that they had sent two soldiers to Greenland.
“Germany will send a dozen or so Bundeswehr soldiers to Greenland on Thursday,” German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius announced. He emphasized that it would be a reconnaissance mission, confirming reports from Bild.
The operation to send European troops to Greenland is being coordinated from Copenhagen, not through NATO structures. The reason is the desire to organize this mission without involving the United States.
In Bremen’s Überseestadt district, a Moroccan man allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy after the teen visited a gym on Baumstrasse.
The man, who later identified himself as Moroccan, reportedly approached the 17-year-old boy after he left a gym in Bremen’s Überseestadt district on Monday evening.
After a brief conversation, the suspect suddenly kissed the boy. The police report notes that he then committed “sexual acts” on the youth; however, the Bremen police have not specified the exact nature of these acts. The suspect eventually stopped and fled.
An investigation into the sexual assault has been launched.
During the incident, the man told the boy that he was from Morocco and spoke English. The suspect is described as between 30 and 40 years old, 175 centimeters tall, and with a slight paunch. He had black hair, a black-gray beard, and was wearing dark clothing, according to the police report.
Police are currently conducting a manhunt for the suspect, but so far, no arrest has been made.
Bremen has a major crime and immigration problem
Bremen, a notoriously left-wing city, has had serious problems due to the influx of newcomers. In fact, an incredible 73 percent of all crime suspects are foreigners, and by some metrics, it was labeled the “most dangerous city in Germany” in 2023.
Bremen’s Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer of the far-left Social Democrats (SPD) even stated that the city’s immigration policy has been a disaster and is contributing to housing and social problems, including an exploding crime rate.
The city is “completely overwhelmed with taking in so many people,” said Mäurer while speaking with German newspaper Weser-Kurier, adding that the problems have “worsened.”
Mäurer has been there since the start, helping guide the city’s radical policy towards immigration. The 73-year-old has been in office for 16 years. It is only now that he blames “massive immigration” for the housing shortage and “enormous difficulties” in daycares, schools, and at job sites.
Bremen has been one of the most open cities to mass immigration over the last decade. In 2018, the city declared itself a “safe haven,” and that designation is still in place. The declaration signed at the time states: “We welcome refugees – and are ready to take more people.”
“If the problems are not solved,” said Mäurer, “it is no wonder that more and more people are turning away from our democratic community.”
Mäurer also spoke of a spiraling crime crisis in his liberal bastion of a city.
“We have seen a massive increase in robberies since the summer of 2023, which we can clearly attribute to migration,” said Mäurer: “The majority of these crimes are committed by young men from North Africa.”
In fact, the problem had grown so serious by the end of 2024 that Bremen’s police initiated a special force called “Young Robbers” to target these foreigners. The new force has opened 1,000 investigations and identified 350 suspects.
A 29-year-old Eritrean man carried out a knife attack inside an electronics store at a retail park in Ulm on Wednesday afternoon, seriously injuring two young employees before being shot by police during his arrest.
According to police and prosecutors, the attack occurred around 12:30 p.m. when the suspect entered the MediaMarkt store on Blaubeurer Straße, pulled out a knife, and stabbed two employees, aged 22 and 25.
According to Bild, the older victim suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition in intensive care. The 22-year-old sustained minor injuries.
Employees reportedly shouted, “Close the doors! Close the doors!” when they realized what was unfolding.
JUST IN: 🇩🇪 A suspected knife attacker at the German electronic chain "MediaMarkt" in the city of Ulm has been identified as a 29-year-old Eritrean migrant.
He is accused of stabbing a 25-year-old employee, who is facing life-threatening injuries in the ICU, while a 22-year-old… pic.twitter.com/wI0xKLsVda
After the stabbing, the attacker fled the store in the direction of a nearby fast-food restaurant. Police officers located him a short time later in the immediate vicinity. In a joint statement, the Ulm Public Prosecutor’s Office, police, and the State Criminal Police Office said, “When the 29-year-old threatened the police officers with the knife and refused to drop the weapon, despite being asked to do so, the officers fired several shots at him.”
The suspect was seriously injured by police gunfire and taken to the hospital under police escort, where he is also being treated in intensive care. His condition is described as critical.
Investigators said the man is an Eritrean national with a history of criminal offenses, including violent crimes. He had been serving a prison sentence until December and was known to authorities.
Neu-Ulmer Zeitung later cited a police statement that read, “Two people were injured with a knife by a man in a shop at the retail park on Blaubeurer Straße. The perpetrator then left the shop and was arrested a short time later by arriving police officers. Firearms were discharged during the arrest. The two injured people in the shop and the perpetrator were all taken to the hospital for further treatment. The motive is still unknown.”
Eight members of the emergency chaplaincy team were deployed to support customers and staff while police officers secured evidence and conducted interviews in neighboring stores.
The State Criminal Police Office of Baden-Württemberg will lead the investigation into the police use of firearms in coordination with the Ulm Public Prosecutor’s Office, while Ulm Police Headquarters is handling the investigation into the knife attack itself.
More than €100,000 intended to improve the final weeks of life for terminally ill hospice patients was stolen and spent on luxury watches, designer goods, and cash withdrawals by two cousins from Zaandam, a Dutch court has ruled.
The money was taken from the support fund of the Willem Holtrop Hospice in Ermelo, which exists to pay for basic comforts for dying patients, including music therapy, flowers, and furnishings for patient rooms. Instead, the fund was emptied in little more than a week.
The theft was discovered in May last year when treasurer Marcel Celie noticed that the hospice account had been drained. Transactions showed spending at luxury department stores and repeated large cash withdrawals. Celie immediately blocked the debit cards and alerted the authorities.
“I saw that payments had been made with our debit card for very large sums at luxury stores in Amsterdam and Zaandam,” Celie said at the time, as cited by NOS.
As reported by Gelderlander, investigators established that the suspects, identified as JG and MG, had obtained the hospice’s debit card and PIN through a phishing scam. Using stolen credentials, they retrieved the card from Celie’s mailbox in Harderwijk, raised the spending limit via the Rabobank app, and blew the lot.
Over roughly 10 days, the men burned through hospice funds in Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Zaandam, purchasing luxury items from brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Dior, alongside large ATM withdrawals. The spending only stopped once the account was blocked.
Police traced the suspects using CCTV footage from luxury stores. Both cousins were arrested in Zaandam at the end of September. A third suspect, a 23-year-old man from the same city, was arrested two weeks later.
In court, the cousins claimed they did not know the money belonged to a hospice. Judges rejected that claim, stating that the men’s actions were “very abusive” and amounted to a serious violation not only of property rights but of the hospice’s sense of security.
The court sentenced both men to just 1 year in prison, 251 days of which were suspended. They were also ordered to complete 80 and 120 hours of community service, respectively.
Although Rabobank reimbursed the hospice several months after the theft, the court ruled that the cousins must repay the full stolen amount of €109,375.
A report from the Serbian website Vaseljenska has published two leaked documents, purportedly from the Security Service of Ukraine (SZBU), detailing a high-stakes plan to manipulate the upcoming Hungarian elections in favor of the Tisza Party.
According to the report, the Zelensky government established a “Special Working Group for Hungarian parliamentary elections” as early as September 2025 to ensure a victory for the opposition at any cost.
Notably, Hungarians living abroad can vote in Hungary’s national elections, and among those voters are ethnic Hungarians who live in Western Ukraine. This group may play a key role in the upcoming national elections.
The leaked strategy, which cannot be confirmed in regard to its authenticity, allegedly involves aggressive measures against Transcarpathian Hungarians, ranging from alleged electoral fraud to even a “false flag” operation.
The documents suggest that Kyiv views a shift in Hungarian leadership as vital for Ukraine’s strategic interests. Certainly, this is a reality for the Zelensky government.
For one, Hungary currently refuses to ship weapons to Ukraine. Second, Budapest has been instrumental in holding up weapons packages from the EU, while also criticizing the amount of taxpayer money being sent to Kyiv, which has often ended up being used for corrupt purposes. Third, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also blocked Ukraine’s EU membership accession process.
While countries often have a strategic interest in the election outcomes in other countries, Ukraine’s current state of war means the country may pursue its interests more aggressively than a country at peace. In short, even if these leaked documents cannot be authenticated or even if they are outright fabricated, it is clear that Zelensky has a vested interest in seeing Orbán out of power.
One document, reportedly sent to Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, notes that the Tisza Party “supports Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO.” The Ukrainians allegedly believe that “if the [Hungarian] opposition gains 3-4 more seats in the new parliament, it could be a decisive factor and ensure that the forces supporting Ukraine come to power in Hungary.”
To achieve this, the SZBU reportedly recommended conducting three key actions.
The first is voter surveillance, which means identifying Ukrainian citizens of Hungarian descent who cast mail-in ballots in 2022 to “define and control” them.
The second alleged method would involve postal fraud, which means intercepting the mail sent to the Hungarian Central Election Commission, with the intent “to destroy 40% of the letters containing the ballots cast in favour of Fidesz.”
The third method would involve targeted mobilization efforts, which would place political pressure on ethnic Hungarians.
It is also worth noting that support for Orbán has been extremely high in past elections from this population.
The alleged report further details a campaign of intimidation targeting Transcarpathian Hungarians, whose support for Viktor Orbán was assessed by Ukrainian intelligence as “alarmingly high.” Proposed measures for activists in cities like Beregsász and Ungvár include wiretapping, surveillance, and “further mobilization measures” — often interpreted as a euphemism for sending political opponents to the front lines.
The most shocking revelation involves a potential terrorist act intended to intimidate the population and disrupt the election.
The alleged attack would utilize drones assembled from captured Russian parts to ensure they are identified “as aircraft of the aggressor state.”
The goal would be a strike on a civilian facility near the border to provide a pretext for a stricter state of war in Transcarpathia. This would allow for the closing of borders and the suspension of postal services, effectively blocking the electoral process.
The Serbian report frames these leaks against a backdrop of increasing tension between Kyiv and Budapest. It notes that the Ukrainian security forces have shifted their focus toward ethnic Hungarians because “Kyiv has long distrusted this community because of its proximity to Budapest,” following Viktor Orbán’s refusal to support Ukrainian war efforts at the expense of Hungarian citizens.
Again, this document cannot be verified. However, given that the country is at war and given their willingness to conduct assassinations and other covert operations, Hungarian authorities may be worried about the electoral integrity of the election in Transcarpathia.
Regardless of any potential Ukrainian actions, the role of this ethnic Hungarian population may be significantly diminished in the upcoming election. Before the war, the population numbered approximately 150,000. However, since the war broke out, some estimates indicate the population may have been cut in half, with some dying at the front but many fleeing to other countries, including neighboring Hungary.
A 40-year-old Tunisian man has been convicted and sentenced after a massive theft spree which targeted over 100 vehicles in the matter of just one week.
The events date back to Jan. 3 to Jan. 8, 2024, in the city of Angers and then from Jan. 8 to 10 to Cholet, where Tunisian man Wajdi Bokadi smashed parked cars near the city train stations to steal personal belongings.
Although there were a total of 103 victims, but only 15 civil parties participated in the criminal court case.
🇫🇷🚨Thank God they're locking up Marine Le Pen.
We wouldn't want Le Pen to stop moms from being robbed outside their own kids' schools or other such crimes.
"I can’t stand this bum France anymore… It’s a really just a mom’s car, like I’ve only got children’s things," pic.twitter.com/AsAZXw0WqB
The Tunisian man, Wajdi Bokadi, did not appear for his hearing on Jan. 12, but he was still sentenced to 12 months in prison for the thefts. In addition, he received a six month suspended sentence for committing similar acts related to the case, according to French news outlet Ouest France.
Although the man committed significant damage to numerous victims, France features well-organized car theft rings with ties to North African criminals.
Last year, five individuals were imprisoned for their roles in the criminal enterprise, which has raised concerns about security measures in vehicle storage, French news outlet L’est Républicains reported.
In 2023, an Algerian national, already the subject of a deportation order, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of committing approximately 80 thefts and burglaries across France in the space of just three months.
A homeless foreigner accused of sexually harassing female railway workers on three separate occasions at Ravenna train station has been issued with a one-year banishment order after union complaints and police intervention, but female workers are raising the alarm on insecurity while carrying out their duties.
According to the transport workers’ union FIT CISL, the incidents involved a migrant who regularly frequents and sleeps at the station. Two female contractors employed by Mast, a cleaning company working for the railways, were targeted during early-morning shifts on Dec. 29, Jan. 4, and again at dawn on Jan. 13.
As reported by Il Resto del Carlino, the women begin work at around 5 a.m., when the station has just opened, and passenger numbers are low. Manola Cavallaro, regional secretary of FIT CISL Emilia-Romagna, said the man followed a repeated pattern. “First he jokes to get close, then, when they try to move away, he gropes them,” she said.
In the most recent incident, union officials said one of the women was able to avoid further assault only because a colleague intervened. Cavallaro added that a female passenger was also reportedly harassed by the same individual.
“The workers are terrified,” she said. “The fear isn’t just physical, it’s psychological. You go to work knowing there’s this person wandering around, watching you, approaching you. And you don’t know how far he will go.”
The victims filed formal complaints with the railway police, which were combined into a single case file. Despite the complaints, the man continued to move between the station and the city center for several days.
“This is what’s wrong,” Cavallaro said. “Three complaints, and this person was still there. After what happened in Bologna, it’s no longer clear where the line lies.”
She was referring to the killing of Alessandro Ambrosio, a 34-year-old Trenitalia conductor who was fatally stabbed near the staff parking area at Bologna’s main railway station on Jan. 5. Ambrosio was found shortly after 6 p.m. local time and later pronounced dead. Police said he was not on duty at the time of the attack.
“In Bologna, the murderer had already had problems with the law and was still in Italy. Here in Ravenna, there’s a person with three complaints for harassment who continues to hang around the station,” Cavallaro said. “Today he’s harassing, tomorrow he could have a knife. That’s what’s scary.”
The measure imposed by the authorities bans the 27-year-old foreign national identified as the suspect from Ravenna train station and the nearby Speyer Gardens for one year, after he was assessed as a threat to public safety.
Transport unions said the response came only after repeated warnings. For more than a year, Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl, and Uiltrasporti have raised concerns with local authorities and the Prefecture about security conditions at the station. In a memo dated Dec. 1, 2025, the unions cited “persistent security issues,” a lack of protective measures, and specific concerns, including sexual misconduct.
The Ravenna case is part of a broader pattern of violence against rail staff in Italy and wider Western Europe. In November 2024, a train conductor on a regional service in Genoa Rivarolo was stabbed twice during a ticket inspection by two young men of North African origin. One attacker, a 21-year-old Egyptian, allegedly used a knife, while the second suspect was a 17-year-old minor with Italian citizenship. The conductor was left in serious condition, prompting a nationwide eight-hour strike by six railway unions.
That same month, another conductor on the Porretta-Pianoro regional line near Bologna was severely beaten after asking a passenger of North African origin to present a ticket. The worker suffered serious injuries, including the loss of two teeth. It was the third violent attack on railway staff reported that month.
Similar incidents have been recorded in Germany. In February 2024, a 57-year-old railway employee in Karlsruhe was assaulted by a migrant male during a ticket inspection. Police said the attacker punched, kicked, and choked the worker, then urinated on her in front of witnesses before fleeing. The suspect later assaulted people at a nearby supermarket.
In France, official data has also highlighted the scale of violence on public transport. According to figures from the Interior Ministry, 69 percent of violent crimes on public transport in the Île-de-France region are committed by foreign nationals, with Africans responsible for 52 percent, despite representing just over 3 percent of the population.
Data published in September 2025 showed that 64 percent of violent robberies and physical and sexual assaults on public transport in Paris were committed by foreigners, with 43 percent attributed to North Africans.
The Dutch social housing market shows that refugees are gaining access to certain key areas of this market, including refugees receiving 78 percent of all “starter homes” allocated to families with children in 2023.
The data, from the CBS, shows that refugees receive roughly 8 percent of all vacant social rentals in 2023. However, this figure jumps to 20 percent for those seeking social homes for first-time buyers.
While more and more social homes to buy and rent are going to refugees every year in the Netherlands, in certain specific narrow segments, the figures really stand out. With refugees receiving 78 percent of starter homes for families with children, this amounts to 1,450 houses out of the 1,860 designated for this purpose, according to Dutch news outlet de Volkskrant.
“The unfairness in the allocation of social housing appears to be even greater than previously thought. New figures from de Volkskrant show that nationally, not 8% but 20% of starter homes go to status holders. As many as 78% of single-family homes are sold (!) to status holders with children,” the party wrote in a press release.
Councilor Michaël van Soest stated that “the council and all other parties in the municipal council look away from this problem and hide behind the government’s task of housing asylum status holders. But nowhere is it laid down that scarce social housing must be used for this. Status holders can also easily be accommodated in flexible homes or other facilities, so that they do not impinge on residents who have been registered for a new home for 10 years or more. That is unfair and completely inexplicable.”
His comments about refugees receiving expedited social housing are a hot topic in the Netherlands. Despite the ongoing housing crisis, refugees can gain access to social housing in a mere 14 weeks, while the average Dutch citizen must wait up to 12 years. Last year, efforts were being made to right this injustice for Dutch citizens with a new bill, but the Council of State, the country’s highest legal advisory body, criticized any attempt to block housing access to refugees. The authority claims refugees should receive equal treatment, as required by the Dutch constitution.
Of course, the fact that there is no equal treatment currently, and that refugees are gaining access to social housing years before Dutch on waiting lists, did not appear to factor into the Council of State’s concerns, according to Dutch news outlet NOS.nl.
The minister behind the proposal, Mona Keijzer of the BBB party, said she is not backing down. Keijzer’s plan aims to create more affordable housing by ensuring that refugees, or “status holders,” no longer receive priority for housing solely because of their status.
The CBS data clarifies that for this specific segment, “the clearer the demarcation of the group of homes, the higher the share of a specific group, such as status holders, can be.”
While the total number of homes involved decreases as definitions narrow, the impact on local starters remains a central point of the housing debate.
When this is broken down, the specific figures look like this:
Total Social Housing: 12,730 units (7.9% of total vacancies).
General Starters: 8,190 units (20% of the starter segment).
Starter Families with Children: 1,450 units (78% of this specific segment).
The total number of homes allocated to refugees reached nearly 13,000 in 2023, an increase from the approximately 11,000 per year seen in 2021 and 2022. This rise follows the post-pandemic increase in asylum applications with a slight delay.
Distribution also varies wildly by geography. In the Alkmaar region, refugees received 13 percent of available social housing, whereas in the Delfzijl region, that figure dropped to just 2 percent.
The debate over these figures was a focal point during the House of Representatives election campaigns, where different definitions were used to quantify the pressure on the housing market.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a major bill that could have resulted in mass censorship in Poland, with U.S. billionaire Elon Musk congratulating the move.
“As president, I cannot sign a bill that effectively amounts to administrative censorship,” Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki announced after vetoing an amendment to the Act on the Provision of Electronic Services, related to the implementation of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
The Polish president’s decision was welcomed by Musk, owner of the social media giant, X, which has been under pressure from Brussels and Westminster. The entrepreneur commented on the veto with the word, “Bravo.”
The Polish president stated that the bill contained what he called “absurd solutions” that were intended to give control over content published online to “officials subordinate to the government.” In his statement, he compared the proposed mechanisms to the censorship known from George Orwell’s novel “1984.”
He added that the bill includes the possibility of funding so-called “trusted whistleblowers” who, using public funds, would identify “dissident” content and the citizens who publish it. According to the president, as cited by Do Rzeczy, the line that the amendment sought to protect children online was a “cynical screen” behind which the government would, in fact, seek to control freedom of expression.
“Restricting freedom of speech is unconstitutional. Exploiting the interests of children for this purpose is immoral,” Nawrocki added. The president invited the Ministry of Digital Affairs and non-governmental organizations to work together to improve the vetoed bill.
In response, Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski (The Left) told Musk that the veto was “not a victory, but a disgrace.”
“We should protect our citizens from digital sewage, not defend the interests of those who pump it out on an industrial scale. Congratulations to all those who value the toxic ‘freedom’ of platforms more than the security of their own society,” Gawkowski added.
A 28-year-old Eritrean man who indiscriminately targeted three people in the street, including an elderly woman, told Swedish police that he attacked his victims because he sometimes had uncontrollable thoughts and urges to hurt others, a court in Eskilstuna has heard.
The migrant, Ahmed Mohammed Omar Salim, is on trial for a series of assaults in the Skiftinge district of Eskilstuna. He has confessed to the attacks, which prosecutors say were carried out without provocation, and a verdict is expected next month following a trial held at Eskilstuna District Court.
According to court documents and testimony cited by Samnytt, the first incident took place on June 19 last year, when Salim kicked a man who was cycling with his children. Police were called, questioned Salim at the scene, and released him. In a later interview conducted with an interpreter, Salim admitted that he “was out for a walk to get some fresh air and wasn’t feeling well mentally, and that’s when it happened.”
The second attack occurred on Dec. 7 and targeted a 75-year-old woman who was waiting for a bus. Salim kicked her on the knee, causing her to fall forward and sustain a head injury that left a hole in her forehead and substantial blood spatter on the sidewalk. She was taken to hospital by ambulance and required several stitches. Since the assault, the woman has reportedly become anxious and constantly looks around when she is outside.
Just one day later, despite increased police presence in the area, officers witnessed Salim pass a woman in the street moments before hearing her cry out. When they looked back, the 42-year-old victim was on the ground. Salim attempted to flee but was arrested shortly afterward. Police established that he had kicked the woman in the stomach.
During questioning after his arrest, Salim told police, “I don’t want to say anything. Sometimes I get sick when I walk next to people, and something comes to my head and I can’t control myself.”
Salim admits carrying out all three attacks but denies intent. The charges include two counts of assault and one count of minor assault. All three victims are plaintiffs in the case.
While in custody, Salim underwent an initial psychiatric assessment and will now be subjected to a full forensic psychiatric examination. Under Swedish law, a finding that he suffered from a serious mental disorder at the time of the offenses would preclude a prison sentence.
The defendant reportedly arrived in Sweden back in 2018 — it is unclear whether he claimed asylum, but he told the court he had come to work. He has, however, been receiving sick pay most recently for stress and insomnia.
An activist working for an organization that helps migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border has been charged with smuggling 15 foreigners to Germany. Her case comes as the result of a multi-layered investigation by the Podlasie Border Guard and the Military Department of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw.
According to RMF FM, cited by Do Rzeczy news portal, a Polish suspect was found in possession of numerous documents belonging to migrants.
“Officers searching the activist’s apartment found 62 Temporary Foreigner Identity Certificates. These are issued to migrants who apply for international protection in Poland,” RMF reported.
🇵🇱🇩🇪"That’s how the f**king German police work."
Tensions are rising at German-Polish border crossings as German police are accused of dumping migrants on Polish territory.
The above-mentioned certificate is the equivalent of an identity card, which entitles the holder and his or her children to stay in Poland for the duration of the proceedings.
However, officers also found guard documents issued to foreigners.
The evidence gathered allowed the activist to be charged with organizing the smuggling of 15 foreigners to Germany in 2022. The woman has pleaded not guilty and faces up to eight years in prison.
Belarus has been directly helping migrants cross into neighboring countries as a form of hybrid warfare for years now. In 2024, the Podlaskie Border Guard recorded nearly 30,000 illegal border crossing attempts from Belarus, detaining 346 organizers and smugglers.
Just this last December, Polish authorities found that nearly 180 illegal migrants had crossed from Belarus into Poland through a tunnel discovered by the Border Guard.
In September of last year, The Insider published an interview with a former member of the Belarusian Border Guard, who provided a behind-the-scenes look at the operation to drop off migrants at the border. According to him, the guards received direct orders from Lukashenko.
“One of the regulations stated that if we spotted a suspicious person in the border zone, we were to fire two warning shots into the air and a third directly at the person. There were severe penalties for breaking any of these rules,” the former officer recalled.
He explained that initially, he transported 20-25 migrants to the border at night, but over time, the number of people increased so much that transports also took place during the day. “The most important thing was to prevent the Lithuanian services from discovering where the migrants were coming from. Transporting migrants became a state priority,” he explained.
“We put them in our vehicles, drove them to the border crossing, and showed them the way with gestures, saying a few words like ‘Europe,’ ‘Germany,’ or ‘Merkel.’ None of us spoke English, and neither did most of them,” he continued.
Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania have all sounded the alarm over the spike in migrants crossing over from Belarus. In 2023, the Lithuanian parliament approved a new law on Tuesday that gives authorities the power to push illegal migrants back across the border during a state of emergency. This was in direct violation of an EU court ruling from 2022 that found detention of such migrants unlawful. At the time, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė stated, “We repelled an attack organized by the Lukashenko regime, the likes of which Europe has never experienced before.”
After a completely random attack in the German city of Dresden, a 37-year-old Tunisian man is now standing trial for physically assaulting an entire family, which included the father, mother, and two children, who were two and seven weeks old. The family is traumatized, and both parents are undergoing therapy after the heinous attack from the man, who has a massive criminal record.
On June 4, 20025, at around 11:30 a.m., in Dresden’s Friedrichstadt, the Tunisian man, Stili M., began raining countless blows on a 37-year-old father before turning to the 38-year-old mother and striking her numerous times. Then, Stili M. knocked the 2-year-old son off her arm and knocked over the stroller, which contained a baby that was only 7 months old, according to Bild newspaper.
The incident began with the father trying to pull the Tunisian man from his wife and children during the brawl. Several witnesses ran to aid the victims and overpowered the Tunisian.
All four victims arrived at the hospital with injuries. The father suffered from a broken nose and had various wounds and hematomas. He was unable to work for six weeks. The mother also had numerous wounds, while the 2-year-old son suffered a skull contusion. The 7-week-old daughter had a hematoma on her temple.
The mother and father are both in therapy with severe psychological trauma, and the son, who is now three, has constant fears of the “bad man.”
The trial also saw numerous pieces of evidence, including a video provided by a witness who filmed the attack, which forms the main piece of evidence in the case.
A police officer who testified about the police operation said, “I was thinking of a terror attack scenario.”
The Tunisian man appeared in court with a belly belt and handcuffs since he is so dangerous. In the psychiatric hospital, the Tunisian man beat up two nurses, illustrating the threat he presents.
Stili M. first entered France after leaving his home country of Tunisia in 2011. He moved between various European countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy.
He explained that he eventually chose Germany because “a friend told me that if I enter Germany, I will get accommodation for free.“ He never formally trained for any vocation, either.
The man has an incredible criminal record, including rape, assault, resisting arrest, and insults. He was quickly arrested as he moved around Germany, including in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.
While in prison, he set fire to a detainment room and used a knife to attack other inmates.
After being released, he was given supervision due to his high “risk of relapse.”
An expert states that the Tunisian man has schizophrenia and megalomania and has communication problems even with the use of an interpreter. All medications he has taken have so far failed to remedy the man’s issues, but he does not drink alcohol or do drugs.
“We don’t know what would have happened if the father hadn’t resisted sufficiently,” said Dr. med. Sebastian Spirling in court.
The judge has now ordered Stili M. to be placed in a closed facility, with the judge stating the man is “a danger to the general public.”
A 26-year-old Afghan man entrusted with caring for an elderly woman suffering from dementia has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison by a Vienna jury after sexually assaulting the helpless 82-year-old in her Austrian home.
The abuse was uncovered after the victim’s family installed surveillance cameras in her apartment out of concern for her safety.
According to the case heard at the Vienna Regional Court, the man was employed to support the woman in her daily life. Instead, prosecutors said, he exploited her advanced Alzheimer’s disease and sexually assaulted her while she was unable to comprehend what was happening.
As reported by Krone, footage from Sept.18, 2025, showed the attack, which the woman’s son discovered after reviewing recordings on his mobile phone.
The defendant confessed during proceedings, telling the court, “I’m sorry. I was just so stupid. I didn’t understand it myself at the time.”
During the court hearing, the defendant said, as cited by Der Standard, “The victim is as old as my grandmother,” to which the presiding judge replied, “You wouldn’t show your penis to your grandmother, would you?”
“No, of course not,” the migrant responded.
Prosecutors argued that due to the severity of the woman’s dementia, she was incapable of understanding or consenting to any sexual act.
Because of her condition, the victim did not testify. Instead, her daughter-in-law gave evidence describing the impact the assault had on the victim.
“You always think something like this changes a young person’s life, but it also changes the lives of older people,” she told the court. “She changed completely. She was a very cheerful woman. Her cheerfulness vanished. It ate her up inside. She just sat there and cried,” she added.
The witness revealed that the woman’s dementia had since progressed further, adding, “At least now she forgets it occasionally.”
In delivering the custodial sentence, the presiding judge described the crime as showing “a disturbed sexual behavior that is in no way comprehensible,” and spoke of a “high degree of reprehensibility.”
In addition to the prison term, the Afghan abuser must also pay the victim €3,000 in damages. The verdict is already legally binding and thus not subject to appeal.
In 2025, more than 370,000 individuals from non-EU nations arrived in Germany via the asylum process, family reunification initiatives, and various admission schemes, according to official government data. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is sharply criticizing this development, indicating it amounts to the equivalent of a major German city in terms of population.
Critiquing these figures, AfD MP Sebastian Münzenmaier told German outlet Nius: “(Interior Minister Alexander) Dobrindt’s alleged asylum policy turnaround turns out, upon closer inspection, to be nothing more than a sleight of hand.”
“At least 300,000 social migrants and so-called refugees, more like 400,000, in one year: that’s equivalent to a major German city. Anyone who fantasizes about a turnaround in view of this magnitude wants to deceive the citizens.“
He added that there will only be a real turnaround “when more migrants leave than arrive.”
Regarding how people came, initial asylum requests for the previous year totaled 113,236. This represents the lowest volume since 2020, when 102,581 applications were recorded, and is less than half of the 229,751 applications seen the year prior.
For context, 329,120 people sought asylum for the first time in 2023. The government is touting this figure while ignoring that the overall numbers are still extremely high, mainly due to legal migration.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) stated: “We are managing migration with clarity and consistency. Those who have no right to protection should not come – those who commit crimes must leave. The clear signal from Germany that migration policy in Europe has changed has been received worldwide.”
EU-wide decline in asylum seekers
This downturn in asylum seekers is not unique to Germany; it reflects a broader trend across the European Union. During the first nine months of 2025, EU-wide applications dropped by roughly 27 percent compared to the same timeframe in 2024. Certain nations, including Bulgaria and Cyprus, saw even steeper declines exceeding 60 percent.
Meanwhile, immigration for the purpose of family reunification remains at steady levels.
Diplomatic outposts under the German Foreign Office, led by Johann Wadephul (CDU), processed 110,400 visas for family reunification. When asked for comment, the Foreign Ministry informed NIUS that: “The most frequently represented countries were Turkey, Syria, India, Kosovo, and Albania.”
In 2024, family reunification accounted for 123,675 arrivals, meaning last year’s levels were nearly maintained. A June parliamentary decision to pause family reunification for individuals with subsidiary protection for two years, effective July 24, 2025, had a negligible impact on these figures. To qualify for these visas, sponsors must typically possess a valid residency permit, adequate housing, and independent financial means.
Looking at the broader historical context since 2015, approximately 2.8 million individuals have applied for asylum, while 1.2 million have arrived through family channels, totaling 4 million migrants.
A majority of Germans, 57 percent, believe that too many people have entered the country legally, with only a quarter of respondents considering the numbers appropriate.
When it comes to illegal immigrants, Germans are even more likely to be opposed. The poll showed that 81 percent of Germans state that illegal immigration was “far too high” or “rather too high” over the last 10 years. Only 5 percent view the levels as appropriate.
Another 75 percent say illegal migration has been bad for Germany.
Resettlement and humanitarian initiatives
Beyond the standard asylum and family paths, other entry routes are also playing a role in Germany’s immigration system.
In response to a query from AfD deputy Sebastian Münzenmaier, the government noted that: “As part of the Federal Reception Program for Afghanistan, a total of 1,137 people entered Germany between January 1 and December 31, 2025.”
Additionally, “a total of 1,093 people entered Germany in 2025 through the resettlement procedure (pursuant to Section 23 Paragraph 4 of the Residence Act).”
The arrival of people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine also persisted throughout 2025. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) confirmed to Nius that 145,222 individuals entered the country under Section 24 of the Residence Act between January and December.
Nius tallied the various figures, including 113,236 asylum seekers, 110,400 family visas, 1,137 Afghan arrivals, 1,093 resettlement participants, and at least 145,222 Ukrainian refugees. The total immigration from third countries reached at least 371,088 people.
Furthermore, roughly 50,000 people enter Germany annually via the Western Balkans Regulation. This specific pathway allows citizens from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia to obtain residency based on a job offer, regardless of formal qualifications. According to the Federal Employment Agency: “Due to high demand, the quota for 2025 has already been fully exhausted.”
France recorded a negative natural population balance in 2025 for the first time since the end of the Second World War, according to the national statistics institute INSEE, as the number of deaths exceeded the number of births over the year.
INSEE estimates that 645,000 babies were born in France in 2025, a decline of 2.1 percent compared with 2024 and 24 percent fewer than in 2010, the last peak year for births. Over the same period, 651,000 people died, an increase of 1.5 percent year on year. The result was a negative natural balance of -6,000.
The statistics institute said the increase in deaths was due in particular to a severe winter flu epidemic at the start of the year, as well as, in some areas, episodes of intense summer heat. Despite this, life expectancy at birth continued to rise, reaching 85.9 years for women and 80.3 years for men in 2025, both up by 0.1 years and at historically high levels.
The decline in births was compounded by a further fall in fertility. The total fertility rate dropped to 1.56 children per woman in 2025, down from 1.61 in 2024, and the lowest level since the end of the First World War. INSEE noted that the number of women of childbearing age has not fallen and has even increased slightly in recent years, meaning the drop in births is attributed entirely to lower fertility. The average age at which women give birth to their first child rose to 31.2 years in 2025, compared with 29.6 years in 2005.
As of Jan. 1, 2026, France’s population was estimated at 69.1 million, an increase of 0.25 percent over the previous year. This growth was driven entirely by migration, with net migration provisionally estimated at plus 176,000 people. The population included 66.8 million people in metropolitan France and 2.3 million in the overseas departments.
The demographic shift is also reflected in the country’s age composition. Some 22 percent of the population was aged 65 or over at the start of 2026, almost the same proportion as those aged under 20. By comparison, in 2006, 16.4 percent of the population was 65 or over, while 25.1 percent was under 20.
Marriage numbers continued to rise. INSEE projects 251,000 marriages in 2025, including 244,000 between people of different sexes and 7,000 between people of the same sex. The number of civil partnerships, or PACS, was almost stable in 2024 compared with 2023, at around 197,000.
🔴 Les chiffres 2025 de la natalité viennent d'être publiés par l'INSEE, et ils sont catastrophiques.
Nombre de naissances, fécondité, désir d'enfants…
En un fil, on vous récapitule ce qu'il faut savoir sur la nouvelle donne démographique française⤵️ pic.twitter.com/kuswGZlwlJ
— Hexagone – La France en chiffres (@Hexagone_org) January 13, 2026
Commenting on the figures, the outlet Hexagone described the 2025 birth data as “catastrophic,” noting that there were around 150,000 fewer births than in 2015 and calling 2025 a turning point in which, for the first time in peacetime, more people died in France than were born.
It added that even the most pessimistic fertility scenarios previously developed by INSEE and the National Institute for Demographic Studies had assumed a higher rate than that recorded in 2025.
“In 2021, INED produced 30 demographic projections for France. The most pessimistic of the 30 scenarios (the ultimate catastrophic scenario) projected an average of 1.69 children per woman in 2025. We learned today that France is at 1.56,” wrote one of its observers, Robin Nitot, on X.
A plummeting fertility rate is not an isolated problem for France; it is an existential crisis across Europe.
In April last year, Czechia reported a significant and sustained decline in its birth rate with a drop of around 12,000 births, pushing the annual total below the 100,000 mark. Its fertility rate fell to 1.66 after several years of gradual improvement.
In July, Germany also reported a rapidly declining birth rate, reaching a concerning 1.35 children per woman in 2023. However, the situation is even more critical for women with German citizenship, whose fertility rate has hit a 30-year low.
So, too, in Sweden, which recorded its lowest birthrate since 2003, with 99,000 babies born in 2024. The average age of first-time mothers was also over 30 for the first time, while in Poland, the birth rate has dropped to just 1.12.
“The total birth rate for Poland in 2024 may be the lowest in the whole of Europe (ex aequo with Spain) and amount to 1.12. This is the worst result in our modern history,” noted Andrzej Kubisiak, deputy director of the Polish Economic Institute, back in October 2024.
The Havel Thermal Baths in Werder, located close to the city of Potsdam, are now putting in place stricter controls and gender-based restrictions after a series of incidents involving groups of men committing sexual harassment, violence, and stabbings.
“We had big problems, especially with groups of men, some of whom were also drunk,” Managing Director Andreas Schauer told Berliner Zeitung, while also referring to repeated attacks.
“Even groping guests and staff and even stabbings in the parking lot,” said the managing director.
As a result of these incidents, external security services were hired at the location. In addition, in order to limit gender imbalances, no gender may outnumber the other gender by more than 20 percent. If this limit is reached, entry may be temporarily restricted even if the thermal bath is not at full capacity.
The incidents have echoes of the various incidents at German and Austrian pools in recent years involving sexual assault, mass brawls, acts of disrespect towards pool staff, and groping attacks, which led to a massive increase in police presence and increased security. However, this time, the attacks are taking place in the mostly indoor and upscale Havel Thermal Baths, according to Berliner Zeitung.
Although “large groups of men” are described in the report, no description is given about their nationality or whether there are police reports available about the various incidents.
Groups of three or more now must register by email more than two days before their planned visit, and they are only admitted if they receive a confirmation email. However, families with children are exempt from this rule.
An internal email from the Berlin Green Party parliamentary group has revealed a deliberate communication strategy following the sabotage attack on the city’s power grid by far-left activists, instructing lawmakers not to focus on the perpetrators and instead to direct public criticism toward Governing CDU Mayor Kai Wegner.
According to Bild, which obtained the document and said its authenticity was confirmed by the parliamentary group, the email sets out a “communication line” on the issue of the power outage and Wegner’s handling of the crisis.
The message states that the Greens have “a strategic interest in ensuring that the debate surrounding Kai Wegner receives prolonged media coverage and remains a leadership/competence issue for the Governing Mayor,” framing the core message as: “Kai Wegner is incapable of handling a crisis.”
The instruction comes after an attack on Jan. 3, when far-left perpetrators set fire to power cables on a bridge in southwest Berlin, cutting electricity to around 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses. For days, families, elderly residents, and people requiring care were forced to rely on emergency shelters as temperatures dropped. Several letters claiming responsibility later appeared online from the extremist Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).
One directive in the Greens’ internal email stands out. It tells party members: “DO NOT focus on perpetrators/investigations.” According to Focus, this guidance was circulated to all Green MPs in the Berlin House of Representatives.
The same email also instructs that criticism should be aimed at “CDU/Wegner as the politically responsible party for leadership and crisis management,” explicitly adding “NOT SPD Giffey/Spranger,” despite the fact that Interior Senator Iris Spranger and Economics Senator Franziska Giffey also hold key responsibilities in managing such crises.
Elections to the Berlin House of Representatives are scheduled for September.
🇩🇪 In this video, a cancer patient living through the Berlin blackout says he is sleeping in the hallway of his apartment complex because it’s the warmest part of the building.
In response, the Berlin Greens parliamentary group issued a statement saying, “We condemn this suspected left-wing extremist attack. The perpetrators must be brought to justice and convicted as quickly as possible. That has always been clear to us. We want to focus on how we can better protect our city in the future.”
Wegner has faced criticism over his personal conduct on the day of the attack, after it emerged that he played tennis for about an hour and only acknowledged this publicly several days later.
Security authorities have linked the attack to the Vulkangruppe, which has claimed responsibility in online statements. In one declaration published under the headline “Shutting down fossil power plants is manual work. Courage only. Militant New Year’s greetings,” the group framed the sabotage as an act of political resistance against fossil energy. “Last night, we successfully sabotaged the gas-fired power plant in Berlin-Lichterfelde,” the statement read, adding: “Power outages were not the goal of the action, but rather the fossil energy industry.”
According to Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, groups using the “volcano” label have been active mainly in Berlin and Brandenburg since 2011 and have repeatedly carried out arson attacks on critical infrastructure, causing power and telecommunications outages and disruptions to public transport. The Berlin state office classifies the groups as part of the wider spectrum of left-wing extremism alongside Antifa.
In the aftermath of the blackout, authorities have deployed hundreds of police officers to guard power infrastructure across the city. Tagesspiegel reported that about 300 officers are patrolling southwest Berlin, with others assigned to protect cable bridges and power poles, some in plainclothes, for an indefinite period.
Police unions have criticized the move. Stephan Weh, state chief of the GdP police union, said, “The fact that our colleagues now have to push completely pointless guard duty and object protection at cable ducts is a disgrace. There are private security services that the responsible companies could hire.”
In Ukraine, ongoing forced conscription and violent practices by the military are provoking civilians to finally resist in unprecedented fashion: passersby, neighbors, and family members are blocking the recruiters’ path as they try to drag civilians off the streets.
Forced conscription is causing increasing fear and distrust among civilians, reports Magyar Nemzet, but many are also no longer standing idly by: More and more footage shows passersby, neighbors, and family members stepping in when the TCK recruitment authorities show up.
People are now openly confronting the authorities, with a few lucky ones escaping conscription. Sadly, other videos show men being forced into vehicles by recruiters or beaten to death.
This past summer, József Sebestyén, a Hungarian from Transcarpathia, died during his forced conscription. The Ukrainian authorities tried by all means to cover up his case.
In the video, recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, a crowd of civilians surrounds a police car in which a man has been placed. In the recording, people can be heard protesting, standing in front of the car, and preventing the vehicle from leaving the scene.
Ukrainians are fed up with war and even more fed up with having to see their loved ones die for it. They are now openly speaking out against family members, friends, and neighbors being dragged away.
In another scene in Lviv, a woman unsuccessfully worked to stop recruiters from forcibly conscripting her son, and they drove away while she screamed.
The woman’s scream sounded like the wailing for the dead. In Lviv, a draft officer threw a woman into the snow when she tried to pull her man out of a van. pic.twitter.com/GiybPDbIPY
In the footage, a woman, believed to be a relative of the boy, desperately boarded the bus, while an older man jumped in front of the vehicle to prevent it from leaving. Meanwhile, neighbors called and recorded the events. The civilians’ action was ultimately successful: the boy was freed.
The army is finding it increasingly difficult to fill its ranks, and fear and distrust are growing among the population. Just this past November, MN reports that near a school in Cherkasy, Ukraine, a mother reported that she was walking with her children in the playground when a man was surrounded by TCK men. Three men in military uniforms and one in a police uniform got out of the vehicle.
According to the witness, the group briefly greeted the man and then suddenly punched him in the face.
In downtown Kyiv, passersby witnessed violent scenes in December: TCK employees tried to drag a man out of a store while officers with machine guns stood in ambush. They are no longer even trying to maintain the appearance of legality.
Recruiters seemingly couldn’t care less if their targets get injured or die during the operation.
🇺🇦❕ "If he catches ten men in a night, he's already got 80 grand. Why the fuck would he go take bullets?"
A Ukrainian conscription officer boasts he can make a nearly $2,000 bonus per night for catching ten men to send to their deaths on the front line.
The blackout has been a major black eye for the ruling government, including Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, who, despite previous attacks from the Vulcangruppe (“Volcano Group”) dating all the way back to 2011, did little to stop the latest disastrous attack in the middle of winter.
Government incompetence had a high price, though, with one elderly person reportedly losing their life due to hypothermia, along with hospitals, schools, nursing homes, daycares, and businesses all being paralyzed due to the blackout crisis.
In response, 400 officers are now on a “mission” to guard power boxes, cable ducts, and essential wires.
Taggespiegel reports that the large-scale operation will see 300 officers patrol in southwest Berlin, and another detachment will protect power poles and cable bridges. Some officers will be in plainclothes as well. The goal is to prevent other power outages, and so far, the deployment is scheduled for an “indefinite” period.
Notably, the police unions are already slamming the move.
“The fact that our colleagues now have to push completely pointless guard duty and object protection at cable ducts is a disgrace,” says GdP state chief Stephan Weh. “There are private security services that the responsible companies could hire.“
Weh said politicians have failed to protect infrastructure for years, including after the terror attack in Berlin-Adlershof in September 2025, which produced a massive blackout.
He said that “no effort was made on equipping key points of the power supply with video and sensor technology.“ Now, Wegner and Berlin authorities are using an ad-hoc measure that involves taking hundreds of police away from patrol and security and using them as a makeshift security detail.
GdP leader Weh added: “Given the other tasks in this city, it is slowly but surely enough for our colleagues to have to pay the price for the political inaction in protecting critical infrastructure.“
🇩🇪 In this video, a cancer patient living through the Berlin blackout says he is sleeping in the hallway of his apartment complex because it’s the warmest part of the building.
The German Police Union (DPolG) is also sharply criticizing state policy, with State Chief Bodo Pfalzgraf describing a loss of control.
“One wonders with which reserve large-scale operations in Berlin are to be managed,” he said, a clear reference to the lack of manpower the Berlin police are facing.
“My colleagues are rightly completely stunned by such excessive and senseless politically motivated hyperactivity,” said Pfalzgraf.
However, Berlin’s mayor knows the political consequences will be massive if the Volcano Group manages to take out the power again, although the group has since claimed that they would not again launch such an attack during winter.
Dutch prosecutors have ordered the release of two teenage boys arrested over the death of a 60-year-old man in Schiedam, saying there is currently insufficient evidence to hold them in custody or to establish a clear causal link between their actions and the fatal outcome.
In a statement published on Monday, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) said the two boys, aged 16 and 17 and both from Schiedam, appeared before an examining magistrate on Thursday in connection with an incident that took place on Jan. 5.
The pair had been suspected of assault and public violence resulting in death. The examining magistrate ordered both suspects to be released.
The incident occurred on Van Limburg Stirumstraat in Schiedam, near the Nieuwland metro station. According to police and witness accounts, the victim had criticized the youths for throwing snowballs at passing vehicles. Witnesses reported the man was then beaten by a group of youths.
The man was struck and knocked to the ground. He later died from his injuries, despite attempts by bystanders to resuscitate him at the scene.
Officers initially arrested two other youths from Rotterdam, but later released them. “Based on witness statements, we arrested two people on Monday, but it turned out they weren’t the ones,” a police spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that CCTV footage later led investigators to the two boys from Schiedam.
The 16-year-old later presented himself at a police station, while the 17-year-old was subsequently arrested at his home. Dutch law prevented authorities from releasing further identifying details about the suspects because of their age.
According to the prosecution service, the 17-year-old was released because of what it described as his limited role in the incident. The 16-year-old was released because the examining magistrate found that there was “insufficient evidence that the suspect’s actions led to the victim’s death.”
De 60-jarige opa die in Schiedam vermoord werd door ijsballengooiers, heette Berry.
“The precise events leading up to the incident are part of the ongoing investigation,” the OM said. It added that the victim’s body had been examined by the Netherlands Forensic Institute, and that it had become clear that “the victim’s fragile health may have played a role in this tragic outcome.”
In the days since the incident, flowers and cards have been left at the scene. One card from the victim’s daughter read, “As special as the snow fell, so special was your departure, Dad.” Another message said, “I’m proud of you, Dad. I love you so much! Love, your (big) little girl.” A separate card read, “Thank you for your help and the laughs. You were always there for us. Thank you, Berry.”
Schiedam’s mayor, Harald Bergmann, said in a statement that the violence had his “full attention.” He added, “Like everyone in Schiedam, I am angry and saddened by the senseless violence that has taken place in our city. My thoughts go out to the families of the victims, for whom this year has begun very sadly.”
In his annual address to the diplomatic corps at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV—the first American to be elected to the papacy—issued a stern warning regarding the erosion of civil liberties and the rise of ideological conformity in Western nations. The Pontiff expressed deep concern over what he perceives as a systematic retreat from open dialogue.
“It is painful to see how, especially in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is rapidly shrinking,” the Pope said during his address.
“At the same time, a new Orwellian-style language is developing, which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it,” he added.
✝️ Right as the UK considers banning X, Pope Leo XIV speaks out against mass censorship.
"It is painful to see how, especially in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is rapidly shrinking."
The forceful remarks come at a time when multiple Western governments are looking to ban X, a platform committed to free speech. At the same time, the EU and many Western European governments are already partaking in broad censorship and mass surveillance efforts.
In fact, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently said that Brussels is now partaking in “prebunking,” which means censoring information before it spreads online, even if that information is accurate.
So here we have Ursula von der Leyen describing free speech as a virus and censorship as its vaccine……. pic.twitter.com/ApIUT4UMPq
“And finally, it takes resilience. As technology evolves, we need to build up societal immunity around information manipulation. Because research has shown that prebunking is more successful than debunking… in short, prevention is preferable to cure.
Perhaps if you think of information manipulation as a virus. Instead of treating an infection once it has taken hold—that is debunking—it is much better to vaccinate so that the body is inoculated.
Prebunking is the same approach. Because disinformation relies on people passing it on to others. It is essential that people know what malign information influence is and what the techniques are that are behind it…
And as the knowledge goes up, our chances of being influenced goes down, and that builds up the societal resilience that we will need.”
Regarding Orwellian terms, the EU and various leading governments and NGOs often invoke terms such as “disinformation,” “misinformation,” and “influence networks,” without even referencing any specific evidence, giving them broad leeway to define these terms to their benefit. Now, these terms are being used to wield a massive censorship crackdown, which is only building in intensity on a nearly monthly basis.
“In the current context, we are seeing an actual ‘short circuit’ of human rights,” he said, as fundamental freedoms, including speech, conscience, religion, even life, face new restrictions “in the name of other so-called new rights.” He said this creates space for force and oppression.
According to Leo XIV, these trends not only impoverish discourse but also actively “threaten the right to freedom of conscience.“
Moving from the subject of language, the Pope addressed fundamental rights that are increasingly under threat in modern societies, specifically focusing on freedom of conscience and religious freedom. He defended conscientious objection as a vital safeguard for human dignity, stating that “Conscientious objection is not rebellion, but an act of fidelity to oneself.”
He argued that this principle reflects the truth that a free society “does not impose uniformity but protects the diversity of consciences,” a stance that he believes prevents authoritarian tendencies and encourages ethical dialogue.
In this regard, he insisted that healthcare professionals must be able to refuse participation in abortions or active euthanasia.
The Pope warned that religious freedom is also in jeopardy across the globe. Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, he described it as “the first of all human rights.”
He explicitly rejected the concept of a “right to abortion,“ emphasizing that the protection of human life remains the “indispensable foundation of all other human rights.“
He highlighted the alarming scale of the issue, noting that “64 percent of the world’s population” currently suffers from serious violations of this fundamental right.
The Holy See, he continued, demands full respect for Christians and “the same for all other religious communities.” On the sixtieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, he reaffirmed a “categorical rejection of all forms of antisemitism,” while emphasizing the necessity of Jewish-Christian dialogue and the recognition of their deep common roots.
Despite these calls for harmony, the Pope pointed out that the persecution of Christians remains one of the most widespread human rights crises in the world today. This crisis affects “over 380 million believers worldwide,” many of whom face high or extreme levels of discrimination and violence.
He specifically honored the victims of violence in Bangladesh, the Sahel, and Nigeria, as well as those killed during the June terrorist attack on the parish of Saint Elias in Damascus and victims of jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.
Finally, he identified subtler forms of discrimination targeting Christians even within majority-Christian societies in Europe and the Americas. He noted that in these regions, believers may face restrictions when proclaiming the Gospel, particularly when they speak out to defend “the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family.”
Regarding conscientious objection, he advocated for the right to refuse military service on moral grounds.
Beyond social issues, the Pope criticized the current international political climate. He noted a dangerous shift where the diplomacy of dialogue is being abandoned in favor of a policy of strength. In a somber assessment of global tensions, he warned that war has “become fashionable again“ and that a “warlike mood is spreading“ across the globe. He lamented the relative weakness of international organizations in the face of these escalating crises.
Finally, addressing specific regional conflicts, the Pope turned his attention to South America, calling on the international community to respect the “will of the Venezuelan people“ and to ensure the protection of their fundamental human and civil rights.
An Italian man who had previously confronted a Moroccan national for harassing young girls near a train station was left with permanent facial injuries after being attacked with a broken glass bottle by the migrant, in an assault that an Italian court ruled was carried out with the intent to kill.
According to La Tribuna, the attack took place in May last year behind the train station in Mogliano.
The victim had confronted 49-year-old Moroccan Isam Rachid a few days earlier after witnessing him harass young girls near the station.
The two men encountered each other again on the afternoon of May 27, 2025, and a further confrontation ensued. Surveillance footage cited in court showed an argument between the two before the violence escalated.
During the altercation, Rachid, who was holding a beer bottle, smashed it and attacked the local man with the broken neck of the bottle. He struck him four times in the face, aiming for the neck. The blows narrowly missed the jugular vein but caused permanent damage to the victim’s ear and mouth. The man collapsed to the ground.
The attack occurred in front of several witnesses, some of whom called the authorities. Emergency responders arriving at the scene found the victim lying in a pool of blood. Paramedics transported him to Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso, while Rachid was arrested by officers from the Mogliano station on suspicion of attempted murder.
The attacker was initially held in Santa Bona prison before being placed under house arrest at his apartment in Mogliano. He had no prior criminal record.
Following a summary trial, Rachid was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to three years, six months, and 20 days in prison. The sentence was reduced by a third due to the choice of an alternative trial procedure and the recognition of mitigating circumstances.
The court dropped the aggravating circumstance of acting for futile motives, as requested by the prosecution, after supermarket surveillance footage showed that provocations between the two men were mutual.
During the investigation, the local public prosecutor ordered an expert assessment to determine whether the attack could have been fatal. Based on both the victim’s injuries and the surveillance footage, the expert concluded that the blows were delivered with the intention to kill.
The victim has also filed a civil claim against Rachid for damages.
Once Rachid has served his sentence, he will be expelled from Italy.
In the French city of Melun, a 22-year-old Algerian man who has an open deportation order was arrested for the rape of a 15-year-old girl.
The man, named Hakim Daoudi, is accused of grabbing the teenager, forcibly kissing her, and then raping her on Jan. 11 at 10:15 p.m., according to French news outlet Valeurs Actuelles.
The teenager had been walking home when Daoudi allegedly began harassing her on a bus and then later at the bus stop. When the young woman approached Beauregard Square, the Algerian reportedly grabbed her and attempted to kiss her with force. He then dragged her down and raped her, according to police sources.
Once he fled the scene, he continued messaging the girl on Snapchat until he was traced back to a city gymnasium housing migrants. Police arrested him there and ran an identity check.
The 22-year-old Daoudi is homeless and already had two entries in the Criminal Records Database (TAJ), according to police sources.
He has already been issued with a deportation order (OQTF) and had open warrants for his arrest at the time of the rape. Police continue to investigate.
BREAKING: This shocking video shows Algerian migrant Dahbia Benkired carrying a suitcase into a bar containing the body of 12-year-old French girl Lola.
Benkired raped and tortured Lola.
This video was leaked and played in court today during the first day of Benkired's trial. pic.twitter.com/O0N88A0RAx
In the past, cases involving Algerians raping minors have made headlines across France, including the famed case of the 12-year-old Parisian girl Lola. The young girl was tortured, raped, and murdered, and then had her body stuffed into a briefcase by an Algerian migrant who had an open deportation order.
Notably, Algerians with a deportation order were only deported in 0.2 percent of cases, according to data examined by Remix News at the time of Lola’s murder.
The number of people granted asylum in Denmark in 2025 is expected to be at a historically low level, according to the latest figures from the Danish Immigration Service released via the Ministry of Immigration and Integration.
Up to November last year, asylum was granted to 839 people. That puts the total on track to fall below 1,000 for only the fourth time since records began in 1983.
“This is a main priority for me,” Immigration and Integration Minister Rasmus Stoklund said in a press release, cited by Berlingske Tidende. “It is absolutely crucial that as few foreigners as possible come to Denmark and receive asylum. Therefore, I am very satisfied that there are still very few people who are granted asylum in Denmark.”
The last times Denmark recorded fewer than 1,000 asylum permits were in 2024, when 859 people were granted protection, in 2020 with 601 permits, and in 1983 with 689. By contrast, during the peak of the refugee crisis in 2015, Denmark granted asylum to 10,849 people, primarily to Syrian nationals.
Since then, the number of asylum approvals has generally declined. Under Danish law, a person may apply for asylum if they have a well-founded fear of persecution on grounds such as race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group. Asylum permits are time-limited and intended to allow temporary residence until protection is no longer needed.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly argued that Europe’s asylum system is no longer functioning. She has said that “cynical human traffickers” have effectively taken control of who reaches Europe, while the most vulnerable refugees are left behind.
According to Stoklund, Denmark is continuing to push for a fundamental overhaul of the system at the European level. “At the European level, we are pushing for a new asylum system where we have more control over the influx into Europe,” he said. “That is why it is important that in December we agreed on legislation that can eventually move asylum processing completely out of Denmark and Europe.”
The sharp fall in asylum approvals comes as Frederiksen’s government signals a further hardening of immigration and deportation policy. In her New Year’s address on Jan. 5, the prime minister announced plans for a comprehensive deportation reform aimed at expelling more foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes, even if doing so tests the limits of the European Convention on Human Rights in its current format.
🇩🇰🚨 Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen used her New Year's address to promise ramped-up deportations for foreign criminals.
"We do not want your culture of dominance. You are destroying the most beautiful country in the world." pic.twitter.com/XKdbTmNXRn
“The government will soon present a comprehensive deportation reform,” Frederiksen said. “This will mean that even more criminal foreigners will have to be sent out of Denmark.”
She argued that public safety and victims must take precedence, adding, “In Denmark, when democracy and religion collide, it is God who has the right of way. Therefore, to the people who have come here and are committing crimes: You shouldn’t be here.”
Under the proposed reform, foreigners convicted of serious crimes and sentenced to at least one year in prison would be deported regardless of their length of stay or personal ties to Denmark, unless deportation would clearly violate international obligations.
After a brawl between 30 to 40 youths was reported in the French city of Antibes, a 21-year-old man who ran from police lost his life after getting stuck on a spiked fence while fleeing from police.
The initial brawl occured at 37 rue Dulys on Saturday night at 11:10 p.m., at which point a police pursuit occured, which took place over several kilometers, ending at the Allée des Mimosas.
There, four to five of youths jumped over a gate to escape police, but the last individual to jump up was tasered by police police, but they were still unable to handcuff him.
“A few minutes later, he called the fire department himself,” the prosecutor stated, apparently from serious blood loss.
Upon arrival, paramedics found the man was bleeding tremendous amounts from his femoral artery, at which point he went “in cardiac arrest. Resuscitation attempts were not successful, according to Grasse Public Prosecutor Eric Camous
An autopsy on the man will now be performed to determine whether one of the spikes on the gate the victim jumped over pierced his artery. In addition, authorities were also investigating the assault that led to the police chase.
According to media outlet France 3, “the Grasse public prosecutor’s office has also activated the ‘victim support pathway’ so that the family of the deceased young man can receive psychological support in the face of this tragedy.”
There were two murders in the area in 2024, notes France 3.
“In September 2024, a young man was stabbed to death in the chest after a fight on Boulevard Édouard Baudoin, near Le Village, a nightclub in Juan-les-Pins. Two weeks later, another homicide of an 18-year-old occurred on Chemin des Colombes,” the paper wrote.
The latest economic figures for Berlin are dramatic, revealing that 2025 saw more companies file for bankruptcy than at any point in the last two decades, all despite a promised economic turnaround from the Christian Democrat (CDU) government.
The wave of insolvencies grew significantly toward the end of the year, affecting the lives of thousands of employees. According to the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle, the annual total reached a historically high 17,604 bankruptcies. This translates to an average of 48 partnerships and corporations going out of business every day in Germany, according to Bild newspaper.
Instead of embracing mass immigration, China is rapidly replacing its workforce with robotics at an incredible pace.
Meanwhile, the pro-immigration EU is floundering. Macron was just in China calling for technology transfers, support and investment. pic.twitter.com/gmT26Udcx4
“Even in the wake of the major financial crisis in 2009, the number was around 5 percent lower,” the institute explained.
December was particularly severe, with 1,519 insolvency applications filed. This figure was 75 percent higher than the average for December between 2016 and 2019, prior to the pandemic.
Jonas Eckhardt, an economic expert from the transformation consultancy Falkensteg, told Bild that “the German economy is no longer just struggling with headaches. She’s got a fever. That won’t change anytime soon.“
Professor Dr. Steffen Müller, Head of IWH Insolvency Research, observed that the “increase was broad and no one was spared, though sectors like hospitality, construction, and real estate suffered particularly heavily.”
He noted that the interest rate increase at the end of 2022 has put a stop to some of the plans in those industries.
Bild goes on to cite a number of companies hit with bankruptcies.
In Saxony, a sausage company dismissed its entire staff, while the Leifert bakery chain in Lower Saxony affected 220 employees with its insolvency. Other large bakeries like Hansen Mürwik also filed for bankruptcy, impacting 145 workers.
Large corporations are also struggling. A survey by Falkensteg found that 471 companies with annual sales exceeding 10 million euros filed for insolvency, a 25 percent increase over the previous year. Since 2021, these major insolvencies have nearly tripled.
Less than a week ago, Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that parts of the German economy are in a “very critical state.” In the article from Bloomberg, it notes that while Merz did not specify which sectors, the car industry is seen as especially hard hit. This is due in large part to Chinese competition slowly crushing German companies, a topic Remix News has written extensively on.
While Müller points out that insolvency can be a market adjustment that makes room for future-proof companies, many businesses continue to struggle for survival. Jonas Eckhardt emphasized to Bild that for many medium-sized companies, the situation is no longer just an economic downturn but a question of survival. Experts do not anticipate a turnaround in 2026 and instead expect a further increase in bankruptcies among large companies.
Germany is not the only country struggling in Europe. Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron went to China essentially to beg for help, saying, according to Politico, that “European industry is facing a ‘life or death’ moment.”
“I am trying to explain to the Chinese that their trade surplus is untenable and that they are killing their own customers, mainly by not importing much from us,” Macron said, according to Politico.
Now, after Europeans complained about Trump issuing tariffs against China and Europe, Europe is considering pursuing the same tactic. At least, that is the threat Macron just issued China if the country does not refrain from relentlessly outcompeting the EU on trade, exports, and innovation.
Following the meeting in China, notably, no major business deals were signed, and on most key points, analysts say Macron walked away mostly empty-handed in regard to the major issues.
Remarkably, China almost completely rejected mass immigration and has about as many foreigners in the country as just one German city, Berlin.
Germany once again has more than 1 million long-term unemployed, according to new federal data that shows a growing share of those without work are foreign nationals, many from asylum-seeking countries.
Figures from the Federal Employment Agency show that 1,042,517 people had been unemployed for at least one year as of November 2025. That means more than one in three (36.1 percent) of all unemployed people in Germany are now classed as long-term unemployed, as Bild reported.
The data, released in response to a parliamentary inquiry by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), also shows how deeply rooted the problem has become. More than half of the long-term unemployed have been without work for over two years, and almost one in five for more than five years.
One in three long-term unemployed people does not hold German citizenship. In 2014, there were 196,122 foreign nationals among the long-term unemployed. Today, that figure has soared to 317,377.
The sharpest rise has come from people originating from asylum-seeking countries, such as Afghanistan and Syria. Their number has jumped from just over 19,000 in 2014 to more than 92,000 in 2024, almost a fivefold increase. Nearly one in ten long-term unemployed people in Germany now comes from such a country.
Overall, the share of foreigners among the long-term unemployed has almost doubled over the past decade, even as politicians continue to speak about a shortage of workers.
Despite that shortage, only 5.7 percent of the long-term unemployed have training in occupations officially classed as in demand. At the same time, 60.3 percent have no vocational qualification at all, and more than 23 percent did not even complete secondary school.
As a result, very few manage to find regular work. In 2024, only about 155,000 long-term unemployed people found jobs, and just 115,000 of those positions were not state-subsidized.
The welfare bill is also rising. Payments to the long-term unemployed totaled €9.9 billion, with €3.26 billion of citizen’s benefit, known as Bürgergeld, paid to foreign nationals alone. Housing, healthcare, and future pension costs are not included in those figures.
AfD labor policy spokesman Jan Feser described the situation as a “declaration of bankruptcy.” He told Bild that the figures expose what he called the impact of mass migration and failed labor market policies, arguing that Bürgergeld has not reduced long-term unemployment but instead locked people into it.
Welt also reported that the overall economic backdrop remains weak, with unemployment rising to nearly 2.9 million in December and the jobless rate climbing to 6.2 percent.
Figures from the Federal Employment Agency in August 2024 revealed that nearly half of all Syrians in Germany remained on Bürgergeld nearly a decade after the 2015 asylum wave, casting doubt on the narrative that Syrian migrants had provided a net benefit to the country. In total, 518,050 Syrian citizens were still in receipt of state welfare benefits at the time.
Similar trends can be seen elsewhere in Europe. Remix News reported in November last year that in Belgium, 60 percent of people without work in 2023 were of non-Belgian background. The Belgian government has now moved to cap unemployment benefits and cut long-term payments, a decision expected to see around 180,000 people lose benefits next year.
Other countries are taking an even tougher line. Greece has announced deep cuts to asylum-related spending, ending rent subsidies for refugees and tying support directly to work and language training. The Greek government says the aim is to stop permanent dependency and make the country less attractive for irregular migration.
A 63-year-old man originally from Sri Lanka has admitted in a Swiss court that he feels an urge to grope young men, as judges in Zurich hear a case involving repeated sexual assaults against teenage boys on public trains.
The accused is charged with carrying out a series of assaults on trains traveling from Zurich’s main station toward Olten and Aarau. Prosecutors say the attacks followed a clear and deliberate pattern and went on for years, according to Blick.
During questioning, the man told the Zurich High Court that he “occasionally feels the urge to touch young men” and claimed he was now prepared to take medication to suppress his sex drive. He also said he was willing to undergo therapy, despite earlier treatments having little effect.
The defendant already has three prior convictions for similar sexual offenses and continued committing assaults while on probation. Some of the incidents occurred even after he had already been arrested and released pending trial.
According to the indictment, the man would sit next to unaccompanied teenage boys, drape his jacket over both their laps, and then grope their legs and genitals underneath the cover. Victims described freezing in shock and being unable to react due to fear and shame.
In one case involving a 16-year-old boy, judges ruled that the conduct amounted to sexual coercion, noting the large age difference and the way the victim was taken by surprise and unable to defend himself, according to Watson.ch.
A lower court previously sentenced the man to 38 months in prison, suspended in favor of inpatient treatment, and ordered a five-year expulsion from Switzerland. The defendant appealed the ruling, asking to remain in the country and arguing that treatment should replace imprisonment.
The High Court has not yet issued a final verdict. Because the offenses took place under Switzerland’s old sexual offenses law, judges are reviewing which legal framework is more favorable to the accused.
In Germany, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister-President Daniel Günther has ignited a fierce national debate following an appearance on the German talk show “Markus Lanz,“ where he advocated for a social media ban for minors and stricter “quality criteria” for media outlets. His comments have drawn accusations of authoritarianism and threats to constitutional freedoms from across the political spectrum.
During the broadcast, Günther insisted that a social media ban for those under the age of 16 is a necessity for the protection of the state.
“This must come,“ Günther asserted.
He further argued for a digital levy on tech giants to fund traditional journalism, stating, “A democracy only works if these institutions work.“
Das ist absolut inakzeptables, autoritäres Geschwurbel von Daniel Günther. Finger weg von der Presssfreiheit! WK pic.twitter.com/buqf5wHRO4
When Lanz joked that such comments might draw the ire of U.S. officials like JD Vance, Günther countered that the United States uses these platforms to „simply to represent its power interests“ rather than to strengthen democracy.
Günther expressed deep concern over the blurring lines between social media agitation and traditional journalism. He lamented that even members of his own political circles fall victim to “such nonsense“ found online.
“Many media outlets are now also orienting themselves towards all this social media by engaging in political agitation themselves and no longer doing journalism,“ Günther remarked.
The minister-president argued that if an entity wields the same level of influence as traditional media, “then you have to adhere to certain quality criteria.“ He specifically targeted the German portal Nius, claiming that in their articles, “there is usually nothing right in it“ and that their work is “completely devoid of facts.“
However, he did not cite a single fact to back up his hyperbolic claim, with Nius only growing in influence due to its on-the-ground reports, such as during the recent massive blackout in Berlin caused by a left-wing terror attack. Analysts have noted that the blackout has further harmed the image of Günther’s party. Notably, Berlin’s mayor, Kai Wegner (CDU), was slammed for his response to the crisis, including playing tennis during the first hours of the blackout in what has been described as a “lie” by Bild’s news editor.
On top of that, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) did not make a single remark on social media for five days about the left-wing terror attack, instead wishing different political figures “Happy Birthday,” and commenting on international affairs.
🇩🇪 In this video, a cancer patient living through the Berlin blackout says he is sleeping in the hallway of his apartment complex because it’s the warmest part of the building.
“I think we need to wake up much, much more to the fact that these are our opponents and also the enemies of democracy, and if we do not pull ourselves together and join forces with civil society organizations to defend ourselves against such excesses, then we will not recognize our democracy in Germany for the next ten years,” said Günther.
Backlash from politicians and experts
The push for state-defined media quality met immediate resistance. FDP deputy Wolfgang Kubicki labeled the performance as “This is absolutely unacceptable, authoritarian gibberish from Daniel Günther. Hands off press freedom!”
Das ist absolut inakzeptables, autoritäres Geschwurbel von Daniel Günther. Finger weg von der Presssfreiheit! WK pic.twitter.com/buqf5wHRO4
FDP party leader Christian Dürr described it as a “terrifying understanding of freedom of the press.“
The AfD’s Stephan Brandner accused Günther of exposing himself as the “real enemy of the constitution.”
Even within the CDU, Potsdam’s Jan Jacobi expressed being “appalled“ by the suggestions.
“I’m appalled at how a CDU MP is rambling about which expressions of opinion should still be permissible in our country and wants to subject the press freedom of alternative media to certain requirements. That is not protection of democracy, but the exact opposite,” he wrote on X.
Ich bin entsetzt, wie ein CDU-MP darüber fabuliert, welche Meinungsäußerungen in unserem Land noch zulässig sein sollen und die #Pressefreiheit alternativer Medien bestimmten Vorgaben unterwerfen möchte. Das ist kein Schutz der Demokratie, sondern das genaue Gegenteil. #Lanzpic.twitter.com/qwFjMWpSfF
Constitutional lawyer Volker Boehme-Neßler characterized the demands as an „attempt at psychological censorship,“ noting that the right to “talk nonsense“ is protected under freedom of expression.
However, Günther did find some allies.
Green Party MP Till Steffen accused the FDP of a deliberate misunderstanding, noting that “Daniel Günther wants the media to pay attention to quality criteria,“ a sentiment echoed by former CDU General Secretary Ruprecht Polenz.
The war on the right continues to rage. Polling shows the Law and Justice (PiS) party may one day be forced to make a coalition with Grzegorz Braun and his Confederation of the Polish Crown if PiS wants to rule Poland. However, considering PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński harsh condenmnation and Braun and his ruling out of a coalition, it remains difficult to see how PiS and Braun could rule together in the future.
“Grzegorz Braun, MEP and leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown, has crossed boundaries that are insurmountable for politicians in our civilization,” said PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. He added that while he does not support repression, Braun’s party should remain on the margins.
During a briefing in the Sejm, Kaczyński was asked whether he had ever spoken to Grzegorz Braun and whether he considered him a “politician dangerous to Poland,” writes wPolityce.
“I’ve never spoken to him, and I consider him a politician who has far exceeded the boundaries that are impassable for politicians in our sphere of civilization. I’m not talking about today’s union, but about that sphere that could be described as the sphere of our civilization. He simply doesn’t fit into it,” replied the PiS chairman.
“I hope that the Confederation of the Polish Crown will not be in the parliament because they will not cross the electoral thresholds,” he added.
He stressed that he was not in favor of repression, but “this formation should remain on the margins. Beyond that, there’s the issue of his various presences in Moscow. There’s plenty of reason to say, ‘This is where the line is.’”
He added that PiS will not cross this line and that any vote for Braun is “completely ineffective” because – as he argued – if Poland wants to maintain the basis of security, “the new government cannot be a government with the participation or support of Mr. Braun’s supporters.”
An indictment against Braun was filed with the court last summer. The charges against him include events at the Sejm (lower house of parliament) on Dec. 12, 2023, including “extinguishing lit candles in a Hanukkah candlestick with a fire extinguisher,” which “offended the religious feelings of the followers of Judaism.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, Braun also violated the bodily integrity and “caused slight bodily harm” in connection with an intervention undertaken by one of the women attending the ceremony.
Other accusations surround incidents at the National Institute of Cardiology in 2022, when Braun entered the hospital with a group of people during the pandemic – none of whom were wearing masks – and then barged into a meeting of the facility’s management and allegedly detained its director, Dr. Łukasz Szumowski.
And yet another charge concerns events at the German Historical Institute in 2023, where Braun allegedly damaged property, including a microphone, and blocked a lecture by Professor Jan Grabowski on the Holocaust. The charges also include a case involving damage to a Christmas tree in the District Court in Kraków in 2023.
In a separate incident, Braun broke into a hospital ward and took a doctor hostage over his stance on abortion.
Most recently, Baun has taken up the cause of farmers, protesting with them against the recently signed Mercosur agreement and demanding that Poland exit the EU.
An Italian government official is fighting for his life after being brutally beaten in a migrant gang attack near Rome’s Termini station, in what police believe was one of two connected assaults carried out within an hour late on Saturday night.
The victim of the first attack is a 57-year-old Italian man who works for the Ministry of Enterprise. According to reports from Il Giornale, he was surrounded and savagely beaten around 10 p.m. on Via Giolitti, near the Termini station.
Witnesses said the man was left bleeding out in the street. Emergency responders rushed him to Umberto I Hospital, where doctors confirmed he had suffered extremely serious injuries. He remains in critical condition.
Less than an hour later, a delivery driver was attacked on Via Manin in the Esquilino district, also close to Termini. The victim, a 23-year-old Tunisian national, was beaten but managed to escape before the attackers could seriously injure him.
Investigators believe both assaults were carried out by the same group. Surveillance footage reportedly shows seven or eight individuals approaching one of the victims before launching the attack. Police immediately launched a large overnight operation in the area, carrying out searches, document checks, and arrests.
🇮🇹F**k off! You and the police too… Suck my c**k!”
When journalists approached a youth gang in the city center of Italy's Treviso, the youths hurled bottles and vicious insults at them.
Several of those detained are foreign nationals, many already known to police. Among them is an 18-year-old Egyptian man with a criminal record for robbery, receiving stolen goods, and carrying weapons and offensive objects. He was already under an expulsion order earlier this month for being in Italy illegally.
Police also identified a Tunisian man in his 20s with prior convictions for brawling and drug offenses, a 46-year-old man from Mauritius with an outstanding detention order, and a 43-year-old Peruvian man accused of damaging a police car during police checks. In total, four migrants were arrested, while others were taken to immigration offices to verify their legal status.
🇮🇹🔴 An Italian teen boy is surrounded and ruthlessly beaten by a gang of North Africans in the city of Turin. pic.twitter.com/U6BYZnyHUJ
Further checks in the area led to additional arrests for drug dealing, outstanding warrants, and violent behavior. A total of 16 people were taken in for immigration checks as police attempted to regain control of the area around the station.
“The double attack at Termini station, on a government official and a delivery driver within hours of each other, is causing great alarm and concern,” said Luisa Regimenti, Rome secretary for Forza Italia. She warned that despite a strong police presence, the area around Termini remains dangerous at night.
Regimenti called for tougher measures, including expanded surveillance, stricter exclusion orders, and stronger police controls, saying the station area is “besieged by drug dealers and vagrants.”
Lega MP Rossano Sasso added on X, “Yet another attack by immigrants. An Italian man was left near death by the usual gang of misfits who swarm that area day and night. Anyone who travels to Rome by train knows that Termini station is dangerous for anyone.
“On an almost daily basis, Italians, women and men, fall at the hands of immigrants. For the safety of Italians, an emergency and special decree should be issued: our war is at home, this is where we must send money and weapons. Not elsewhere.”
Zbigniew Ziobro, the former Polish justice minister under the conservative Law & Justice (PiS), has received asylum in Hungary as a political refugee, and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has come out in support.
“I’m not surprised in the sense that I read this justification. Political asylum was granted because the prosecutor’s office acts as a politically motivated body. Let’s ask ourselves, is it politically motivated? Of course it is. (…) Is Zbigniew Ziobro being prosecuted for political reasons? Of course he is. That’s why this decision isn’t strange to me,” the former prime minister and current PiS vice-president told RMF FM, as cited by Do Rzeczy.
Ziobro is being investigated for alleged financial crimes involving the misuse of the Justice Fund for personal and political gain, alongside charges related to the Pegasus spyware scandal, where he’s accused of illegally monitoring political opponents, journalists, and judges. The former minister repeatedly failed to appear before the parliamentary committee investigating the Pegasus scandal, leading to a court order for his potential 30-day detention for contempt.
Morawiecki was asked if he himself would be able to seek political asylum. “I certainly won’t be seeking asylum anywhere. Let them judge me here however they want, even if there’s a risk of arrest. If necessary, I’ll show up wherever I’m needed. I’ll fight this government here on the hard ground,” he stated.
When asked about the current political situation in Poland, the former prime minister assessed that “it’s something between dictatorship and democracy, or democratura.”
“Prosecuting political opponents is a characteristic of autocratic systems,” he emphasized.
A Turkish national with a criminal record is on trial in Germany, accused of taking part in an attempted contract killing of the estranged wife of a German-Bosnian man that prosecutors say was meant to look like a road accident in Baden-Württemberg.
According to the indictment, Dennis F., 28, who holds Turkish nationality, is believed to have been behind the wheel of a car used to try to kill Theresa K., a 30-year-old mother of one.
Prosecutors say he was hired as part of a paid hit arranged by the woman’s husband, as Bild reported.
The case centers on events from May 23, 2025, in the town of Waldenburg. A Ford Focus estate car drove onto the sidewalk as Theresa K. was walking to pick up her three-year-old daughter from kindergarten. She was struck by the front of the vehicle and thrown over the hood. She suffered injuries to her face, along with bruises and abrasions across her body.
In panic, the injured woman screamed for help and ran onto the kindergarten grounds. The car sped away from the scene and was later recovered from an underground parking garage.
Prosecutors say the attack was no accident. The Heilbronn public prosecutor’s office believes Theresa K.’s former partner, Sasa K., 41, hired two people to kill her. The alleged price for the killing was €15,000, with half of that sum reportedly paid in advance, according to SWR.
The two alleged hitmen are Dennis F. and Natalie G., 33, who is described as German-Russian. According to prosecutors, phone data shows the pair repeatedly visited the area around the kindergarten in the weeks before the attack. Investigators say they were watching Theresa K.’s routine and planning the attack.
Prosecutors also say the couple was struggling financially, and have questioned whether a life insurance policy in the wife’s name formed part of the motive.
All three defendants, who have been in pre-trial detention since June 2025, refused to speak when the trial opened last Thursday.
Theresa K. is a co-plaintiff but is said to still be deeply affected by the attack months later. She is expected to appear in court only to give her testimony.
Defense lawyer Anke Stiefel-Bechdolf told Bild, “The public prosecutor’s office has not yet answered the question of a possible motive,” with jealousy, revenge, and money all possible factors for the alleged hit.
The case is expected to last until March, with no fewer than 90 witness testimonies expected.
A 60-year-old man in the Netherlands was beaten to death after confronting a group of youths who were pelting passing cars with snowballs, police said, as two teenage suspects were arrested in connection with the killing.
The incident took place on Monday near the Schiedam Nieuwland metro station near Rotterdam. According to police, the victim approached the youths after they began throwing snowballs at vehicles in the area. A confrontation followed, during which a fight broke out, and the man was struck and knocked to the ground. He later died from his injuries.
Police reported they have arrested two boys from Schiedam, aged 16 and 17, after identifying them through security camera footage. The 16-year-old reported to a police station on Tuesday, though officers declined to say why. “We never comment on reports or why someone files a report, so we won’t do that now either,” a police spokesperson said, as cited by NOS.
The second suspect, a 17-year-old boy, was arrested shortly afterward at his home.
Dutch law prevents both the identity and a description of the attackers from being made public due to their age.
The police had initially arrested two other youths, also from Rotterdam. “Based on witness statements, we arrested two people on Monday, but it turned out they weren’t the ones,” its spokesperson said. They added that CCTV footage later showed the two individuals now detained.
Emergency services were initially called following reports of a resuscitation attempt. According to local reports, a bystander who first reached the victim was a trained first responder who lived nearby. He retrieved an automated external defibrillator from his apartment and attempted to revive the man, but was unsuccessful.
De 60-jarige opa die in Schiedam vermoord werd door ijsballengooiers, heette Berry.
Emotional tributes have been left at the scene this week, including a card from the victim’s daughter that read, “As special as the snow fell, so special was your departure, Dad.”
“I’m proud of you, Dad. I love you so much! Love, your (big) little girl,” she added.
Another card read, “Thank you for your help and the laughs,” reads one card. “You were always there for us. Thank you, Berry.”
In a statement on Thursday, the local mayor, Harald Bergmann, said the violence in the city had his “full attention.”
“Like everyone in Schiedam, I am angry and saddened by the senseless violence that has taken place in our city. My thoughts go out to the families of the victims, for whom this year has begun very sadly,” he added.
The ambassadors of the European Union member states are moving forward with the Mercosur free trade agreement. Following years of complex negotiations, the agreement is now set for signature, marking a major defeat for Europe’s farmers and food security across the continent. For conservatives across Europe, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s role in helping pass the agreement will be remembered as a bitter betrayal.
The European Commission is not passing it with any real semblance of democracy either, and as with many other topics, it is bypassing the democratically elected European Parliament entirely. The commission intends to “omit the European Parliament from the further procedure,” which grants European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the authority to sign the deal directly.
While a significant coalition of nations opposed the move—specifically Poland, France, Ireland, Hungary, and Austria, with Belgium abstaining—they failed to reach the required “blocking minority.” Italy, despite previous signals that it might join the opposition. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gave earlier signals she would not back the deal but ultimately aligned with von der Leyen despite mass protests by farmers.
🇪🇺🔴The true face of the EU.
Protesting farmers from across the EU are hit with water cannons and tear gas, all while the elite inside the European Commission surround their HQ with barbed wire.
The deal creates a massive trade zone between the EU and the Mercosur nations of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The primary goal is to facilitate economic exchange by slashing or abolishing customs duties.
This creates a reciprocal trade dynamic: European industrial giants gain access to South American markets, while Mercosur countries gain a pathway to export agricultural products into the EU at scale.
However, the deal is going to be a major catastrophe for European farmers and for food safety.
Europeans will be exposed to pesticides, farmers will go bankrupt
Now that Mercosur is almost certain to go into effect, food containing massive amounts of pesticides banned in Europe will flow into Europe. A documentary on the subject produced by a French-German team had been deleted from its website, but clips from the documentary have been circulating on social media. The film highlights the various threats.
The documentary reveals that in 2018, European companies sold over 80,000 tons of pesticides banned in Europe. Ninety percent of the products originate from European factories in the U.K., Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain. It notes that banned chemicals such as atrazine and metolachlor are used.
The film, which at the time of publication has a copy available on DailyMotion, is one of a number of news reports raising the alarm to no effect in recent years, including from Matador, which is a program from the German public broadcaster ARD. A link in auto-translated English is also available here.
In the run-up to the deal, Polish MEP Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik wrote that the deal is being rushed through and that very important clauses are not included, including balancing regulations and standards between Europe and Mercosur.
“And now a very important piece of information for all our health – the package of clauses that is to go to the vote tomorrow does not include the extremely important element known as reciprocity, which would force Mercosur countries to meet the same standards as EU farmers, in terms of pesticide and antibiotic use! This agreement will directly harm consumer health!” she wrote.
Another MEP, Anna Bryłka, wrote that the deal is incredibly dangerous.
“It’s not safe because no safeguard clauses will protect against mass imports from South America. The safeguard clauses, which the prime minister largely invokes, have been significantly weakened. This means that the conditions that must be met to even initiate an investigation, regarding disruptions in the agricultural market, are, in my opinion, virtually impossible to meet,” she said.
Bryłka has also outlined how the pesticide use in South America also represents not only a health risk, but also a competitive risk for Polish farmers.
Bryłka argues that “farmers from Mercosur countries produce food according to standards that are banned in the EU: other plant protection products, growth hormones, lack of real environmental standards.” This forces European farmers to compete with cheaper production that is legally prohibited within their own borders. She further characterizes the import of food with unknown standards as a “risk to the health of millions of Europeans.”
The risks are enormous. Brazil alone allows the use of as many as 3,669 pesticides. Europe’s emphasis on “eating local” to reduce carbon emissions associated with transportation will become a joke, as food from halfway around the world will often be cheaper than locally produced goods. European chemical companies will reap massive profits.
The documentary cited earlier shows how one Brazilian state features the most “agrotoxicity” in the world. Soon, this food will be on Europeans’ plates.
“Mato Grosso. This Brazilian state is the kingdom of the agricultural industry. Cotton, rice, sugarcane, corn, massive production of transgenic soybeans, and record pesticide use. Mato Grosso wins every global competition in the field of agrotoxicity. That’s the term used by those who condemn the chemical empire. Brazil allows the use of 3,669 pesticides. It’s a veritable Eldorado for corporations, primarily European ones. Products banned on the Old Continent are sold here,” said the narrator in the film.
“The poisoned kingdom is primarily a market of international corporations, including three European giants: the Swiss company Syngenta, and the German companies BASF and Bayer, which absorbed Monsanto in 2018,” the film states.
Loss of food security
The deal is also viewed by many as a threat to national security. Bryłka warns that becoming dependent on imports risks a “loss of food sovereignty,” leaving nations unable to recreate local production during a crisis. Economic reports, such as “Geopolitics on a Plate” by Pekao SA, suggest that the Polish agri-food sector will suffer the “greatest losses in the entire EU.” In this context, agriculture is seen as the “tender currency” in Brussels’ broader trade strategy.
So much for climate change protection
The MEP also points to a contradiction in EU policy: while Brussels imposes “increasingly stringent climate and environmental requirements” on its own citizens, it is simultaneously opening markets to countries where such standards are nearly non-existent. Ultimately, the deal is framed as a trade-off favoring large industrial economies.
As Bryłka concludes, “For Germany and the largest EU economies, this is a new market and space for economic expansion. For Poland, liquidation of farms and decline of villages.”
In a courtroom in Vienna’s”Landl district, a judge presented disturbing video evidence against five young mostly migrant defendants accused of a series of violent crimes and humiliations. The footage, recorded in September 2025 in a Kagran park, captured a 16-year-old victim with fear-filled eyes being forced to take turns kissing the feet and hands of his tormentor right before they severely beat him.
The humiliation was followed by an “explosion of violence” in which the perpetrator knocked the victim down and continued a brutal assault. The clip was later uploaded to Snapchat, accompanied by Arabic music, smileys, and the triumphant caption: “I broke his nose…, so awesome.“
The 15-year-old main defendant, standing alongside Iraqi, Romanian, and Austrian co-defendants, offered a blunt justification for the coercion and physical harm, according to Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
“I just wanted to protect my friend, but he gave a cheeky answer,” said the defendant.
🇩🇪🔴Germany: A young boy on a bike was surrounded and beaten by youths with a migrant background.
One boy, Yassar, slaps the victim, punches him, and screams, "Cry!"
The presiding judge expressed perplexity at this line of reasoning, asking who he was trying to protect. The charges include serious robbery, bodily harm, and at least one incident involving a knife.
The court heard that the group’s violence was not limited to their peers. In one instance, a random adult victim was so severely beaten that he suffered multiple fractures to his facial skull and lost four teeth.
During the trial, the first defendant attempted to make amends by handing over €2,800 in damages. In contrast to the severity of the injuries inflicted, the loot in another robbery mentioned in the indictment amounted to a mere €15.
While four of the five defendants had been held in pre-trial detention, the trial concluded with varying degrees of leniency. Two defendants received suspended sentnces..Another three received partial prison sentences.
The 15-year-old perpetrator behind the foot-kissing video was sentenced to 15 months in prison, with 12 of those months suspended.
The party says the brutal abuse of a 15-year-old boy over several months by five older classmates — all aged 20 and reportedly of Afghan, Turkish, and Albanian origin — represents “systematic abuse” and a failure of the state to protect its citizens, in particular minors in Austrian schools.
“What happened at an Upper Austrian school is not a triviality, but systematic abuse,” said FPÖ education spokesman Hermann Brückl. “This is pure violence.” He condemned the initial handling of the case by school staff, particularly the German teacher who reportedly assigned the perpetrators to write an essay on violence as punishment. “Instead of justice for the affected student, an essay was decreed,” Brückl added.
“If it turns out that the migrant perpetrators of violence do not have Austrian citizenship, they must be sent back to their country of origin,” he declared.
Underage girls in Austria are reportedly being approached by men of Arab descent who offer them drugs and promise more in Vienna, it has been claimed, after authorities revealed the death of another 16-year-old girl in a Viennese hotel room.
As reported by Heute, investigators have concluded that the victim likely died from a drug overdose after she was discovered in a hotel near Vienna’s Stadthalle on Oct. 31 last year. Information regarding the death was only released on Thursday.
According to Austrian broadcaster ORF, sexual exploitation by a migrant gang is among the scenarios being examined by investigators.
Heute reports that seven minors under the age of 18 who were under the supervision of child and youth services died in Vienna in 2025 as a result of drug use. Many of those affected are girls from unstable family environments or living in foster or group care.
Incidents are not limited to the Austrian capital, with Salzburg also reportedly a breeding ground for gangs preying on vulnerable young girls who are plied with drugs and alcohol, and exploited.
Belinda Plattner, head of child and adolescent psychiatry in Salzburg, told ORF that the scale of youth drug consumption has sharply increased. “We are currently seeing significantly more young people who use drugs. At least in Salzburg, this has never been the case to this extent before,” she said.
She told the broadcaster’s ZIB2 news program, “Girls have no value in this male-dominated society – they are worthless girls who can be easily manipulated. They are devalued – at the same time, they are lured to be taken into these apartments. And then, as they told me, sexual assaults repeatedly occur.”
Plattner described how girls aged 14 to 16 are deliberately targeted, particularly around Salzburg’s main train station. “The girls say that they are approached at Salzburg’s main train station by young men of Arab descent who offer them drugs and promise them even more drugs in Vienna. And many of these girls then go with them.”
Girls are then allegedly offered hard drugs like cocaine and crystal meth — both highly addictive substances — free of charge, and are initially treated with respect and invited to live with foreign men, “but often this leads to sexual abuse and demeaning behavior towards the girls,” Plattner said.
The psychiatrist has filed a formal complaint with Vienna police related to the latest death. The Vienna state police headquarters confirmed that an investigation is underway but said that “for investigative reasons, no further details will be released at this time.”
Concerns have also been raised at the political level. In November, Salzburg Social Affairs Councillor Wolfgang Fürweger of the FPÖ said authorities had gathered multiple indications of criminal activity linked to the exploitation of minors. “We ourselves collected information through the Child and Youth Welfare Office, about half a dozen pieces of evidence. We handed these over to the criminal police at the beginning of December,” he said. “Our clear request is: If you observe such things, don’t remain silent. Inform the authorities. Incredible things are apparently happening right before our eyes.”
Further details about the Vienna death were reported by MeinBezirk. Police said the girl was found dead in a hotel in Vienna’s 15th district and that there is currently no evidence of violent crime. A drug overdose is considered the most likely cause of death. Investigators are examining whether the teenager consumed the drugs alone or with others present, and whether the drug use was connected to a sexual encounter.
The girl lived in a group home operated by Vienna’s Child and Youth Welfare Office, MA 11. On the evening of her death, she did not return to the facility but instead checked into the hotel, where she was found the following day.
Remix News has extensively covered the ongoing grooming scandal in the Austrian capital. The most high-profile case was that of 13-year-old Austria schoolgirl Leonie, who was brutally raped and murdered by three Afghan migrants in June 2021. Her body was discovered by passers-by leaning against a tree next to Viktor-Kaplan-Strasse in the Austrian capital. She was found strangled, with her body dumped in a green strip close to the apartment of one of the attackers in Vienna-Donaustadt.
In December 2022, a Vienna court found the Afghan migrants had plied the victim with ecstasy with the intention of raping her; an autopsy report concluded she died of a drug overdose and asphyxiation.
The main 24-year-old defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment, while two accomplices, aged 19 and 20, were jailed for 19 years and 20 years respectively.
In December last year, a 27-year-old Syrian migrant was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl who was reported missing by her family. The court heard how the girl had been approached by three Syrian men who took her back to their apartment in the Donaustadt district of the city and plied her with drugs.
In September 2025, ten migrant defendants aged between 16 and 21 faced charges of sexual offenses against a 12-year-old girl who was approached through Snapchat and pressured into sex after refusing. According to prosecutors during the trial, the assaults took place over several months in parks, stairwells, hotel rooms, and private apartments in the city’s Favoriten district. The defendants were controversially acquitted after the court raised doubts about the girl’s testimony. Judges cited inconsistencies, including her initial failure to report coercion, her having presented ID and claiming to be older, and her appearance, which led the court to conclude it was unclear whether the defendants knew she was underage.
The events unfolded during Austria’s national holiday on Oct. 26, 2024 when the suspects approached the teenagers, inviting them to a party. Shortly after midnight, the girls entered a taxi with them, only to be taken to an abandoned office complex in Vienna’s 20th district — an area reportedly used as an illegal asylum shelter and drug den.
The prosecution told the court: “The defendants administered various debilitating substances to the two minors,” a fact later confirmed by blood tests. The victims reported being forced to swallow ecstasy tablets under the threat of death.
The 31-year-old first defendant allegedly raped the 15-year-old, telling her that no one would hear her screams and threatening to kill her if she resisted. Medical examinations later confirmed strangulation marks, bruises, and scratches consistent with her testimony.
Also in Vienna last September, a 27-year-old Afghan was jailed for six and a half years for raping a 17-year-old girl as she walked home from a party. The court found that the victim had been approached by her attacker and asked if she wanted to have sex with him. When she refused, she was placed in a chokehold and dragged behind a parked car, where she was raped by the man while he filmed himself covering her mouth.
In court, the attacker was described as a “well-integrated and law-abiding resident of Austria,” who arrived during the migrant crisis of 2015. The man worked in the hospitality industry and had no previous criminal record.
