Public prosecutors in Germany are investigating allegations of corruption at the Bielefeld immigration office, where employees are suspected of issuing permanent residence permits in return for payments of thousands of euros.
The Bielefeld public prosecutor’s office confirmed to public broadcaster WDR that four people are under investigation for bribery, accepting bribes, and granting and accepting undue advantages. Two of the suspects are employees of the city of Bielefeld, while the other two include an interpreter and a person who allegedly first obtained a residence permit and then assisted in the suspected criminal activities.
According to investigators, the case concerns at least 15 suspected incidents between September 2023 and October 2025. In one instance, a payment of €4,000 is alleged to have been made in exchange for a so-called settlement permit, which grants permanent residence.
Prosecutors are also examining allegations that bribes were paid to secure faster appointment dates at the immigration office.
Searches were carried out in November and December 2025 at the homes of the suspects. According to WDR, the searches also included offices within the Bielefeld immigration authority itself, and several devices were seized.
A permanent residence permit is the silver standard for migrants, only inferior to citizenship. Migrants must usually meet several conditions in order to obtain it. Applicants must typically have held a valid residence permit or paid into the statutory pension system for at least five years, as well as show sufficient funds or income, and have proficient German language skills.
The two employees at the agency have been suspended pending investigation, and Bielefeld mayor Christian Bauer has instructed the city’s audit office to repurpose itself as an anti-corruption unit to probe the agency.
This is far from an isolated incident of corruption and fraud in relation to illegal immigration across Europe. In September last year, a major investigation by broadcasters NTV, RTL, and Stern magazine uncovered a booming trade in forged language and integration certificates on TikTok, with fake documents being used to gain German residence permits and citizenship.
Four Algerians were arrested for a burglary in the French city of Yvelines on Dec. 25, right as the owners of the targeted house went to celebrate Christmas with their family. However, the men, all illegal migrants, have all already been released after they claimed they were minors.
On Dec. 25, all four men are alleged to have broken through shutters, the family’s French doors, and entered the house. However, a surveillance camera inside the house detected movement, and the family quickly notified the police.
Police arrived on scene and two of the suspects were arrested after police found them hiding under a bed on the third floor. The other two were apprehended at an RER train station nearby.
Once in custody, all four men claimed they were born in 2009 and therefore were all allegedly 16. Since they were illegally in France and had no documents, the claim allowed them to walk free immediately due to their alleged age.
French news outlet Valeurs was skeptical, noting that they all appear much older in the photos, even with blurring.
According to Valuers journalist Amaury Bucco, “To get an idea of the gap between their real age and their claimed age, we showed these photos (unblurred) to the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT, asking it to provide an age range for each of them. Here is its response: for the first suspect (top right), the software gives an age range between 23 and 28 years. For the second: between 27 and 34 years. For the third, between 24 and 30 years. And for the fourth: between 19 and 24 years.”
“In other words, according to this software, they would all be adults, with no possible ambiguity, with an age range from 19 to 24 years for the youngest, and 27 to 34 years for the oldest,” he added.
He goes on to state that prosecutors have the burden of proving the age of suspects, and since none of these Algerians had papers, this was not possible.
“A convenient way to claim a younger age and benefit from more lenient justice,” wrote Bucco, who added the judge let them “walk into the wild.”
Migrants undoubtedly receive many benefits from claiming they are minors, including social benefits, educational opportunities, and restrictions on deportations, just to name a few.
However, the French left are now putting safeguards on what many have called a scheme, after bone tests across Europe have consistently shown that migrants lie about their age.
On Dec. 15, French left-wing deputies voted in favor of extending the presumption of minority for migrants on the administrative level. Among the goals of the bill, “it would include schooling upon arrival in France, even if the minority status still needs to be recognized, and the prohibition of bone tests (and dental examinations) to determine age, deemed scientifically contested, intrusive, and an attack on dignity by several elected officials.”
Notably, a Senate report dating from September 2021 showed that 90 percent of young illegal migrants declared themselves minors upon their arrival in France, whereas after they were reviewed by medical professionals, 70 percent were actually determined to be adults.
In yet another major blow to the German automobile labor market, Mercedes has announced it will be relocating production of its A-Class from Rastatt, Germany, to Kecskemét, Hungary. While Hungary’s foreign minister is taking a victory lap, Germany’s largest opposition party is sharply crticizing he government as signs grow that Germany’s automobile market is faltering.
Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó has officially confirmed Mercedes move, writes Budapester.
Szijjártó credited the success to “an economic policy based on sound common sense and a stable government that continually attracts new investment projects from global companies in America, Asia, and even Germany.”
However, the news is not being welcomed in Germany, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) pointing out the dire economic situation the country is facing.
“Mercedes-Benz has stood for German engineering excellence and Germany’s economic upswing for decades. Yet, like many other automakers, the company is cutting jobs in Germany and expanding in other countries. As a result, the entire production of the A-Class is being relocated to Hungary. 20,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs as a result,” wrote AfD politician Christian Abel on X.
“This is a direct consequence of Friedrich Merz’s green climate and energy policies. To make Germany an attractive industrial location again, a genuine economic policy turnaround is needed through the termination of the energy transition, the combustion engine ban, the abolition of fleet emission limits, and the elimination of state-mandated reporting requirements. If this is not possible within the EU, Germany must seriously consider a Dexit,” he wrote.
His last comment has proven controversial in the AfD itself, with the mainline position that a Dexit will not be considered. In 2024, it was reported that AfD co-leader Weidel said she ruled out completely the idea that a Dexit, or exit of Germany from the EU, was possible.
Nevertheless, in 2023, the country lost a staggering 120,000 manufacturing jobs, highlighting serious problems.
However, Hungary, already a major manufacturing hub for German automobile producers, is now set to expand. Production of the A-Class is slated to begin at the Kecskemét plant as early as Q2, with production planned to continue until 2028.
“Hungary is demonstrating economic brilliance at a time when all of Europe is suffering from the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the misguided policies of the EU headquarters in Brussels,” Szijjártó wrote on social media.
Mercedes’ decision proves that investors embrace Hungary’s political stability, low taxes, and highly skilled workforce, with the Kecskemét plant its largest production site in Europe; only in China does the group have a larger capacity, notes Budapester.
Mercedes, named “Most Attractive Employer” in 2024, now directly employs more than 5,000 people in Hungary.
In October 2024, the plant celebrated the milestone of 2 million vehicles produced; in the future, the site will be able to manufacture both combustion engine cars and plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles.
Mercedes is also setting up its first R&D center in Hungary. With the relocation of A-Class production, the German automaker is now entrusting three models to the Hungarians, as the electric GLB and the new C-Class were already being built in Kecskemét.
Last December, Szijjártó also posted about new jobs in Szeged brought by Germany’s Rheinmetall as well. “Rheinmetall’s new hall has been completed, which means more than 300 new, highly skilled jobs in the city! Such investments contribute to Hungary becoming one of the most important European centers for future technologies, which is why we supported the German company’s 29 billion forint investment with 13 billion forints.”
The plant will produce high-tech components for both civil and defense applications, focusing on electromobility (e-mobility), hydrogen vehicles, and renewable energy power plants, alongside some military electronics. It’s Rheinmetall’s first major site outside Germany that combines civil and defense activities under one roof, creating jobs and positioning Hungary as a hub for future technologies.
German public prosecutors have filed charges against a 15-year-old Dutch national accused of throwing an improvised explosive device into a café in the Bockenheim district of Frankfurt, an attack that investigators say could have killed five people.
The minor is charged with attempted murder in five cases, as well as causing an explosive detonation and committing particularly serious arson. He is suspected of having acted on the orders of a criminal gang that allegedly sent him from the Netherlands to carry out the bombing.
As reported by Bild, the attack took place on Aug. 5, 2025, at Café Omonia. Prosecutors say the teenager threw a so-called ball bomb, combined with several liters of accelerant, through the café’s open door. The device detonated immediately, and the premises were engulfed in flames within seconds.
Several guests were inside the café at the time. Prosecutors said that only the actions of the café owner prevented fatalities. He reportedly kept the escape route clear for four guests, allowing all of them to flee the building. They escaped “largely unharmed,” according to the public prosecutor’s office.
The suspect was arrested in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene and remains in custody.
Due to the age of the accused, no further description has been made public. It is not known whether he has a migration background, only that he holds Dutch citizenship.
Investigators believe the crime was carried out on a contract basis. The public prosecutor’s office said the teenager was “recruited in the Netherlands beforehand” and promised payment for carrying out the attack.
“He is said to have been transported from the Netherlands to the Rhine-Main region for the specific execution of the crime and given targeted guidance,” added Chief Public Prosecutor Dominik Mies, as cited by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that a recent series of explosions at several businesses and residential buildings in Frankfurt, Offenbach, and Taunusstein could be linked to organized crime and international drug gangs infiltrating Germany.
“According to security authorities, criminal networks, particularly in the Netherlands, recruit young couriers or messengers who undertake dangerous missions for relatively low pay. This pattern has been known for years from the structures of the so-called Mocro Mafia, which is increasingly extending its influence to German cities as well,” it noted.
The motive for the attack, however, remains unclear, and investigators have not yet identified the individuals believed to be behind the recruitment of the teen.
The case will ultimately be heard by the juvenile chamber at Frankfurt Regional Court.
The Russian military deployed an Oresnik-type hypersonic missile during a massive strike on critical targets in Ukraine, near the Polish border. Online reports are saying the missile, carrying multiple warheads, hit Ukraine’s largest gas storage facility, Stryi, in the Lviv region.
Russia’s defense ministry has said the nighttime strike was a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian president’s residence in the Novgorod region, Mandiner reports.
Alleged video of the strike was widely shared on social media. Reportedly, the strike was conducted as “retaliation.” for the strike on Putin’s residence.
Rusko zasáhlo ve Lvově obří ukrajinskou elektrárnu. Použilo mezikontinentální balistickou raketu Oresnik, která může nést jaderné zbraně. Moskva už oznámila, že se jedná o odvetu za útok na Putinovu víkendovou rezidenci, který se OVŠEM NIKDY NESTAL. Ať žije vyjednávání o míru! pic.twitter.com/kO6T5QUk1k
“The Russian armed forces carried out a massive strike on critical targets in Ukraine using long-range, precision-guided land-based and sea-launched weapons, including the Oresnyk medium-range mobile ground-based missile complex, as well as attack drones,” the statement said.
According to rumors circulating on social media, the Russians struck the city of Lviv with the Oresnyk, which flew 1,800 km in just 12-13 minutes and reached speeds of over 10,000 km/h.
The Oresnyk (Russian for hazelnut) is a medium-range missile that can travel at 10 times the speed of sound. The missile can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and has a range sufficient to reach any European target.
In a major turn of events, the Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council, under pressure from Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission, has removed a declaration from the Mercosur proposal that prevented the agreement from provisionally entering into force before its approval by the European Parliament.
This effectively bypasses the EU parliament, paving the way for the agreement to enter into force immediately after its signature and approval by all Mercosur countries, writes Do Rzeczy, citing a report out of RMF FM.
Now, France, already a harsh critic of the agreement, has announced that it would vote against the agreement in Friday’s EU Council vote. President Emmanuel Macron stressed that while Paris supports international trade, the agreement with Mercosur is “an agreement from another era,” overly long in negotiations and based on outdated assumptions.
🇪🇺🔴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.
Macron points out that even after introducing so-called mirror agricultural production standards, reinforced sanitary controls, and a safeguard mechanism to suspend imports in the event of market destabilization, the agreement still threatens vulnerable agricultural sectors and Europe’s food sovereignty. Poland also maintains its opposition to the agreement.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk previously announced that Warsaw would not support the agreement in its current form.
Polish MEP Krzysztof Hetman emphasizes that, under EU law, an international agreement can only enter into force after receiving the consent of both the EU Council and the European Parliament.
“Attempting to introduce an agreement bypassing the European Parliament violates all principles of the European Union and deprives the European Parliament of its powers,” he said in an interview with RMF FM. He believes this is an undemocratic action and sets a dangerous precedent.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also reiterated Hungary’s opposition yesterday morning: “Hungary will vote against the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement tomorrow. The @EU_Commission is pushing to adopt and implement a deal that would open Europe to unlimited imports of South American agricultural products at the expense of the livelihoods of Hungarian farmers. We oppose this decision, as Brussels is once again ignoring the interests of our farmers.”
Hungary will vote against the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement tomorrow.
The @EU_Commission is pushing to adopt and implement a deal that would open Europe to unlimited imports of South American agricultural products at the expense of the livelihoods of Hungarian farmers.
Meanwhile, France’s National Rally (RN) says Macron’s opposition is all an act, with party leader Jordan Bardella declaring that they would be filing a motion of censure against the French government in the National Assembly as well as against the European Commission.
“Emmanuel Macron knows that the Mercosur agreement will be adopted, come what may and regardless of France’s vote. By claiming today to oppose it, after years of negotiations without ever defending French interests, he is attempting a communications maneuver that is as late as it is hypocritical. This staging is a betrayal of French farmers, who will directly suffer the consequences of this agreement,” Bardella posted on X.
“The President has indeed reiterated his opposition to this agreement ‘as it stands.’ But in reality, Emmanuel Macron is letting the Commission have its way. I, along with my colleagues from the National Rally delegation in the European Parliament, and on behalf of Marine Le Pen, am calling for concrete actions to be taken to establish a blocking minority within the European Union in order to definitively prevent the ratification of this destructive agreement,” wrote National Rally MEP André Rougé on his party’s website.
“With twenty-seven billion euros per year, France is the second largest contributor to the European Union budget. This gives us not only the right but also the duty and the ability to protect our essential interests when they are threatened, as General de Gaulle did in 1965 by resorting to the policy of the empty chair,” Rougé continued.
He closed his statement by calling on France “to use all means to show its opposition to this betrayal, up to and including the suspension of our contributions to the European Union, if necessary.”
The Czech Republic and Slovakia will resume intergovernmental consultations, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico announced on Thursday after a joint meeting in Bratislava, signaling a reversal of the freeze imposed by Prague’s previous government.
According to Babiš, the next joint meeting of the two governments is scheduled for March 31 and will take place in the Czech Republic. The consultations had been suspended the year before last by the cabinet of former Czech prime minister Petr Fiala, who cited differing views between Prague and Bratislava on key foreign policy issues such as Ukraine.
“I am ready and very much looking forward to continuing our cooperation as in the past. Slovakia is a priority for us. We will resume the joint meeting of our governments,” Babiš said at a joint press conference with Fico.
The Bratislava meeting was Babiš’s first official foreign visit since returning to office in December. During the talks, Fico proposed signing a memorandum with the Czech Republic aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation.
Energy policy featured prominently in the discussions, according to Echo24. Babiš pledged Czech assistance to Slovakia in securing natural gas supplies as the European Union moves to gradually end imports of Russian gas. Fico said the Czech Republic would be an important transit country for gas deliveries to Slovakia once Russian supplies are terminated.
“We are ready, and we will be happy to help,” Babiš said on the issue.
Both prime ministers agreed that persistently high energy prices need to be addressed at the European Union level. Fico identified the temporary non-application of emission allowances as one possible measure, arguing that they significantly increase energy costs.
Beyond energy, Babiš said he intends to draw inspiration from Slovakia’s state-supported rental housing system. He also voiced support for reviving cooperation within the Visegrad Four group of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, while noting the continuing tensions between Warsaw and Budapest.
“At today’s meeting, the prime minister and I agreed to continue with joint government negotiations. The agreement also stipulates that the next meeting will take place in the Czech Republic,” Fico said, as cited by TASR.
The Slovak leader also announced plans to convene a meeting in Slovakia with Babiš and Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker under the Austerlitz Format, which brings together Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and which Slovakia currently chairs.
Looking ahead, Fico stressed that Slovakia would seek to reinvigorate the Visegrad Four when it assumes the group’s rotating presidency after July 1. “We’ll be extremely active and will do our best to ensure that the V4 regains the strength that it used to have in the past, a strength that lay in the ability of the four EU member states to independently form positions and opinions that were able to influence internal life of Brussels,” he said.
Both noted that the future direction of the V4 would also be shaped by Hungary’s parliamentary election scheduled for April.
The publisher of the left-wing, opposition-friendly portal, 444.hu, has received additional significant financial support from Brussels.
According to data published on the European Commission’s website, Magyar Jeti Zrt. has won €318,172 as part of the media project called The Eastern Frontier Initiative (TEFI), after receiving support from the European Commission in the past, writes Magyar Nemzet.
Hungary’s Office for the Protection of Sovereignty recently examined the TEFI media project, which is also running a campaign in Hungary, and found that it is an integral part of the network of NGOs and news sites associated with George Soros and his Open Society Foundations.
According to the report, the consortium led by Magyar Jeti Zrt. in Hungary includes the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza, the Slovak Sme, the Dutch Bellingcat, and the Romanian PressOne, all of which are newspapers linked to Soros. According to the office’s report, the members of this consortium regularly publish various publications together with the think tank Globsec, which is considered an EU strategy-making workshop. These are then distributed in schools and universities.
MN previously reported that Brussels is“combating fake news” by giving 100s of millions of forints to such groups. The Hungarian Digital Media Observatory (HDMO), supported by the European Commission, is supporting its project against “disinformation,” which runs from Oct. 1, 2025, to March 31, 2028, with €1.3 million.
The money is largely controlled by left-liberal organizations hostile to the Hungarian government, such as Political Capital, the Mérték Médiaelemző Műhely, the Idea Foundation, Lakmusz (Magyar Jeti Zrt.), and the French news agency AFP.
These same names appeared in previous fact-checking programs between Jan. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2025, when they received €1.44 million in EU money, reminds MN.
Here, among the supported media companies, Magyar Jeti Zrt., which is also the publisher of 444 and Lakmusz, also appeared. The latter platform operates as a so-called fact-checking portal, a global progressive tool to restrict press freedom and shape public discourse in the name of “fact-checking.”
In 2024, Magyar Jeti Zrt. received HUF 173 million from tender grants alone, notes MN, including as part of the Sphera project funded by the European Commission, HUF 23 million more than the previous year.
The mantra is that foreigners will come to Germany to be doctors and engineers, but what happens when they are busy beating the young aspiring German doctors?
In the case of 23-year-old Paul S., there appears to have been a failure at every level, including from the police and the medical establishment. The young medical student was beaten by a group of eight men of “Southern European” appearance, with curly hair, beards, and goatees, but there is little chance they will now be apprehended.
The incident happened in the city of Essen, and the incredible violence against medical student Paul S. may ruin his medical career, and even may leave him unable to walk.
Bild described how Paul wanted to “become a doctor to help injured people, but whether he will ever be able to stand in the operating room for long periods himself has been uncertain since Christmas.”
The paper describes how he had his knee shattered in seven different places, which is being held together by screws and plates. He remains in the hospital, and due to an “incorrect assessment” by an emergency physician, no witnesses were questioned and no video recordings were secured by police after the attack.
The man was attacked on Dec. 20 after leaving an Irish pub with two friends. At around 3 a.m., they wanted to grab a drink at a kiosk in the Rüttenscheid district of Essen.
🇸🇾🇩🇪 German politicians are spreading misleading information about Syrian doctors working in Germany.
5,000 Syrian doctors may sound like a lot, but there are 420,000 doctors in Germany. The number of Syrian doctors is approximately just enough to cover the 1 million Syrian… pic.twitter.com/fHJh9945y9
“There were probably 20 people standing in front of it, everything seemed relaxed, people were chatting,” says Paul. “But suddenly, a guy insulted first my friend and then me. I told him to please stop.”
That was when Paul was jumped, with one of the young men striking Paul in the temple, while his friends were beaten when they tried to step in to help Paul.
“Then at least eight people piled on top of me. Punches and kicks came from all sides, and I went down. Luckily, the assailants then let go of me and fled,” he told Bild reporters from a hospital bed.
Despite the mass of witnesses nearby, nobody called emergency services, and nobody came to aid the young men who were being beaten by a mob. During the assault, the assailants shattered Paul’s knee with incredible force.
All evidence points to the assailants being foreigners or men with a migration background.
Bild states that police sources indicate the suspects are between 16 and 20 years old and between 1.75 and 1.85 meters tall. Both are said to have black, curly hair and a “southern European appearance.” During the incident, they were wearing black jackets and dark pants.
Two other accomplices had mustaches and goatees. According to witnesses, there were also two women in the group who did not participate in the assault. One of the women had long, dark hair.
After the severe beating, Paul managed to call emergency services himself.
His hell was only just beginning, though. The emergency physician did not recognize how severe his injury was and sent him away.
“She even refused to give me painkillers,” he said. She even told him not to “make such a fuss,” saying it was only a bruise.
This outright incompetence would be revealed shortly after, when Paul arrived at the Krupp Hospital in Essen, where doctors revealed his knee was fractured in seven different places, his meniscus was torn, and his cruciate ligaments had severe damage.
“You can’t injure a knee more severely,” the doctors told Paul. They conducted an operation on the young man for five hours, but it became clear that Paul needed a knee replacement.
It is very likely he will never be able to jog or play football ever again.
His mother, who is also a doctor, has issued a €10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of her son’s attackers.
“My son wants to become a surgeon,” said 46-year-old Jeanine S.
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.
Remarkably, the first police report of the incident was kept from the public because the first emergency physician classified his injury as “minor.” Therefore, police did not work to secure footage or interview witnesses. Now, the footage has been overwritten.
It took a whole two weeks for police to issue a public appeal for witnesses despite realizing shortly after the beating how severely Paul was injured.
Now, all of those blunders may add up to a life of pain and injury for a young German man.
Paul’s mother has no choice but to offer a reward after security services failed her.
“I can only urgently appeal to witnesses and anyone with information: Please come forward, anonymously if necessary, we need your help!” she said.
An Afghan migrant who was convicted in Sweden of raping a child at knifepoint but avoided prison because of his age has now been arrested again on suspicion of committing the same crime, this time with what prosecutors believe to have been a firearm.
Irshad Ahmad was convicted in July 2024 for the aggravated rape of a 13-year-old girl in Malmö, as well as for offensive photography, child pornography, and assault. Despite the severity of the crimes, he did not receive a prison sentence because he was registered as being only 15 years old at the time. Instead, the court sentenced him to ten months of youth care.
Now, Ahmad is once again under investigation, suspected of having raped another minor girl in November 2025.
The earlier conviction stemmed from an incident in February 2024 at Nydalatorget in Malmö, where two teenage boys raped a 13-year-old girl. During the attack, the boys demanded that the girl perform oral sex. When she refused, they escalated the situation by threatening her with knives.
“Then he said this: ‘I’m going to stab you, and no one can hear you here. I’m going to leave you here to die,’” the girl said during a police interrogation, as cited by the Samnytt news outlet.
She succumbed under duress, and the boys filmed the attack — footage that was used to confirm their guilt, in addition to semen traces at the scene, according to Sydsvenskan.
Despite the threats, the violence, and the age of the victim, Ahmad avoided prison. He resided at a special youth facility between September 2024 and March 2025, only to reoffend months after being discharged.
The Afghan-born rapist was granted a residence permit along with his parents in 2017, and later became a Swedish citizen in 2022, meaning he cannot be deported for his crimes, even once he has turned 18.
The latest alleged assault took place on Nov. 25, 2025, according to the arrest warrant.
In addition to the new rape charge, Ahmad is also suspected of assault in court, robbery, and aggravated weapons offenses.
“When it comes to the weapons crime and the rape of children, they are linked,” District Prosecutor Ludvig Olsson told Samnytt. “The suspicion is that this sexual assault was committed under some form of threat of a weapon.”
“I can’t say exactly what type of weapon it is. It is suspected to have been some kind of firearm,” he said.
An African man from the country of Ghana has been convicted for placing a trash bag over his wife’s head, raping her, and strangling her. Now, the Ghanaian man’s lawyer is arguing that he should have a more lenient sentence because of his culture, where a man “must” satisfy her husband.
“They come from a culture where a woman has to satisfy her husband, even if she doesn’t want to,” the lawyer said at the hearing.
The female victim, a resident of Mol, in Kempen, woke up on Aug. 27 with a trash bag wrapped around her head. She was then raped and strangled by her husband, known by his initial of JS. The man now faces three years in prison but requested leniency from the Turnhout Criminal Court on Wednesday morning.
Police were called to the house on Aug. 27 for a domestic violence call.
“The rape was discovered in a special way. The case began as a case of domestic violence, but it was the defendant himself who put us on the trail of rape,” said prosecutor Hanne Hendrickx.
The victim told police she woke up with a trash bag wrapped around her head. Her husband, JS, was on top of her and tried to strangle her.
“She explained that she was afraid of her husband and that this needed to change,” said the prosecutor.
Despite his conviction, JS denied the facts of the case, saying he “only” raped her that night but did not commit other acts of violence.
“He said he only raped her and sometimes forced her to have sex when she didn’t want to,” the prosecution representative added.
The Belgian newspaper 7sus7 described the case, writing: “Visibly unaware of the seriousness of his actions, JS tried to minimize his comments to the police and the courts.”
Prosecutor Hendrickz stated: “He claimed that it was not coercion, but sexual relations intended to calm an argument. He is very jealous and never accepts a refusal from his wife on a sexual level.”
However, the victim now hopes that JS finally understands that they “do not live in Africa.”
“You cannot demand sex at any time, even while married,” said Hendrickx. “If he does not understand this, he will have to receive support to understand the norms and values of Western culture.”
The African man said he regrets the incident; however, his lawyer did most of the speaking.
“His wife works nights, so they sometimes don’t have sex for several weeks. They come from a culture where men can expect more from women, a culture where women must satisfy their husbands even if they don’t want to,” she said in court.
According to the defense lawyer, the victim wants her husband home again. They are scheduled to begin couples therapy on Jan. 12.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has claimed that Poland and Europe are capable of fighting Russia without the United States, arguing that Europeans defeated Russia in the past before America even existed.
“Our economy is nine, ten times bigger, I’m talking about the EU, than Russia,” Sikorski said. “And you know, we fought Russia successfully before the United States existed, so we should be capable of doing it today.”
The remark came during a wide-ranging interview with TVP World in which Sikorski repeatedly pushed for continued confrontation with Moscow and rejected any move toward compromise or de-escalation in the war in Ukraine.
Asked what would force Russia to negotiate, Sikorski dismissed diplomacy and instead argued for further economic pressure. “What will bring Russia to the table is the further degradation of the Russian economy,” he said, adding that President Vladimir Putin “is not there yet.”
The liberal politician and key ally of Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed Putin still aims to subjugate all of Ukraine and said the war should continue until Russia is no longer capable of pursuing those goals. He argued that pressure must be applied to Moscow, not Kyiv. “We pile pressure on the aggressor, not on the victim of aggression,” he said.
He also defended the EU’s repeated rounds of sanctions, rejecting criticism that the need for constant updates shows they are ineffective. Sikorski argued that sanctions must be continuously expanded, including against tankers and crews involved in exporting Russian oil.
Despite Poland’s central role as a logistical hub for Ukraine, the Polish foreign minister acknowledged that Warsaw is not part of the main diplomatic talks involving the United States, Germany, France, and Britain. He denied that this reflected a failure of Polish diplomacy and pointed instead to Poland’s refusal to send troops to Ukraine.
“The president of Poland has said that under no circumstances will he allow any Polish military presence in Ukraine,” Sikorski said, noting that other European countries are openly discussing troop deployments.
Since the interview with TVP World, both Britain and France have pledged to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine following any agreement to end the war.
Throughout the interview, Sikorski argued that Europe must prepare to defend itself without assuming U.S. military support will always be available. He warned that Washington may be unable to help Europe if it becomes involved in a conflict in Asia.
“If the U.S. gets involved in a war in Asia, it might not be capable of helping us,” he said, adding that Europe has until the end of the decade to rebuild its military strength.
Sikorski rejected any peace deal that would leave Ukraine with unclear borders or unresolved territorial disputes, warning against another Minsk-style agreement. “We don’t need a Minsk 3,” he said.
The foreign minister concluded by arguing that Russia must be forced to accept defeat, leaving no room for half measures. “We will get a fair solution only once Russian elites have concluded that the invasion was a mistake,” he said.
Nearly 2,300 people under 30 were registered as unemployed in Krakow at the end of the third quarter of 2025. This is almost 40 percent more than a year earlier, according to the latest report from the Municipal Employment Office, cited by wPolityce.
“The rise in unemployment among people under 30 in Krakow is the result of several overlapping trends. For several years now, the city has been losing some of its shared service centers, which served as a natural entry point into the job market for graduates and young professionals,” said Krzysztof Inglot, labor market expert and founder of Personnel Service, for PAP.
“At the same time, increasing automation and the use of artificial intelligence-based tools are reducing the number of entry-level positions. This doesn’t mean Krakow is becoming unfriendly to young people, but rather that the entry threshold has significantly increased – employers now expect competencies and experience that the education system itself often doesn’t yet provide. As a result, young people are taking longer to find work or are considering relocation. This is already statistically evident in the rising unemployment rate in this age group,” he added.
The latest report of the Municipal Employment Office – “Krakow Labor Market Observatory” – summarizes the situation on the local labor market in the third quarter of 2025. The publication is largely devoted to the position of Generation Z, i.e., people born after 1995.
According to the Central Employment Office (GUP), Krakow is home to over 230,000 people under the age of 30 (as of the end of 2024), representing nearly 29 percent of the city’s total population. At the end of September 2025, exactly 2,290 unemployed people were registered in this group, a 37.7 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The share of young people in the total number of unemployed was 17.8 percent, and, as reported by the Central Statistical Office, although their situation has gradually worsened in recent years, it still remains more favorable than during the economic slowdown of several years ago.
The report shows that young unemployed people are increasingly often people with higher education, often without documented professional experience, which indicates difficulties in smoothly entering the labor market after completing their education.
According to the report, Generation Z values appreciation, a positive work atmosphere, work-life balance, and a supportive management style. This generation is aware of technological changes and the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market, which is why they are increasingly choosing job stability over rapid advancement.
The publication shows that young Krakow residents are striving for entrepreneurship. Between 2021 and 2025, people under 30 years of age accounted for over one-third of the beneficiaries of business start-up grants awarded by the Municipal Employment Office. Over 75 percent of these businesses remained active, and those who ceased their businesses rarely returned to the unemployment register.
At the end of September 2025, the total number of unemployed people in the capital of “Małopolska” (Lesser Poland) was 12,878, representing an increase of almost 23 percent year-over-year. The unemployment rate increased by 0.5 percent, reaching 2.5 percent, compared to 2 percent at the same time in 2024.
In its summary of the report, the Central Employment Office (GUP) assessed the Krakow labor market as moderately stable, with visible signs of structural change. Employment remained high, and average wages continued to grow, as did the number of registered businesses.
According to the authors of the report, the increase in unemployment should be interpreted mainly in the context of legislative changes and the reform of employment offices, which changed the registration rules, and not as a direct result of the worsening economic situation.
“The Krakow labor market remains relatively stable, but the growing number of reports of planned group layoffs indicates that many companies are undergoing reorganization processes. This is a signal that requires careful monitoring in the coming quarters,” reads the report.
The report also stated, among other things, that between January and September 2025, 29 employers in Krakow reported their intention to conduct collective layoffs, with 3,903 of these layoffs occurring, an 80.4 percent increase year-over-year.
The majority of notifications came from the IT industry and the professional, scientific, and technical activities sectors.
In September alone, the city office received 1,109 job offers, which is less than half as many as a year earlier.
Various leaders commented on the most recent Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris, with no real surprises.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded to developments from the meeting held in Paris to discuss further support and plans for Ukraine to help the war-torn country beat back Russia.
“Yesterday in Paris, the Coalition of the Willing made yet another proposal that pushes Europe closer to a direct confrontation with Russia. By seeking to establish a military presence in Ukraine, Western European countries are creating the risk of a direct war with Russia,” he posted on X.
“Hungary will stay out of this. We support peace talks, including negotiations at the highest level between the U.S. and Russia, and firmly reject this latest move towards war.”
Earlier, the presidents of France and Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky, met at the Élysée Palace, notes Do Rzeczy.
Following the summit, Macron, Zelensky, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed their own separate memorandum regarding the deployment of multinational forces following a ceasefire agreement.
Zelensky later posted on X: “We all understand how wars like this one – Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine – come to an end. When pressure is strong enough to exhaust the source of the war, peace comes. That pressure exists now, and the EU plays a key role in maintaining it. And I thank you for your willingness to help.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also confirmed her support for Ukraine, although this will not include sending troops to Ukrainian territory.
French President Macron posted as well: “The Paris meeting marks an unprecedented unity between the Coalition of Volunteers, Ukraine, and the United States on the central dimension of security guarantees for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Poland was represented at the Paris Summit by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“It’s obviously too early to make overly optimistic pronouncements. Peace requires, above all, a positive decision by the aggressor to end hostilities. But precisely to exert effective pressure on the Russian aggressor, it is necessary to clarify, step by step, the position of the United States, the European Union, and other countries associated in the Coalition of the Willing,” said the Polish prime minister.
“As I have repeatedly emphasized, Poland is ready and will certainly carry out all logistics-related tasks. Our partners do not expect the presence of Polish troops in Ukraine under any scenario. However, Poland’s participation in securing the actions of countries supporting Ukraine will be significant. Poland will be—and here I will be somewhat indiscreet—the leading country when it comes to these logistical and organizational matters,” the Tusk stated.
Following the terror attack on Berlin’s energy infrastructure, which police say has led to at least one elderly person dying, Mayor Kai Wegner is under intense pressure. Following revelations he was playing tennis on Saturday, there are calls from a number of opposition parties for him to resign.
“Yes, I was playing tennis on Saturday,” Wegner said on Wednesday evening on RBB. “Looking back, I should have said what I did on Saturday on Sunday.”
After he originally said he was working from his home office all day, newspapers like Bild are slamming him, alluding that he was not entirely honest. In fact, the chief editor from Bild, Peter Tiede, called him a “flat out liar,” in a video segment. Politicians like Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel even posted an AI-generated image mocking his tennis match.
Of course, the optics look bad. Berliners were left out in the cold while Wegner played tennis.
However, put into context, it is clear that it was an hour of exercise, on a Saturday no less. Even leaders during a crisis situation may need lunch or exercise, and in some cases, that can actually make them better at their job.
So, resigning over a match of tennis, even if he was not entirely truthful about it, seems overblown. He is also a public figure, but if he went out for a run for an hour, would there be as much uproar? He is a human, after all, and even an attempt to fudge exactly what he was doing can be forgiven.
🇩🇪BREAKING: The left-wing terror attack on energy infrastructure in Berlin has "claimed a life" after a 83-year-old "woman was found lifeless in her apartment" with severe hypothermia.
A relative found the woman, and rescue workers tried to unsuccessfully resuscitate her.
Others will obviously see it differently, especially some of those in southwest Berlin who are already furious at his role in the crisis. And of course, politicians are also going to take their shots at him. That is politics, and they sense the PR moment for Wegner has left him extremely vulnerable.
The highlighting of the tennis match, though, shows how much of politics is driven by PR and “image” and not necessarily policy.
Indeed, there are other concrete policy areas where Wegner could be criticized. For one, there appeared to be a significant lack of preparedness from authorities to deal with the crisis, at least in the early hours.
Second, it is true that Wegner is not responsible for the fact that the left-wing group claiming responsibility for the attack, the Vulcangruppe (Volcano Group), has been able to attack Berlin’s energy infrastructure with impunity for 15 years. However, many of the most high-profile attacks happened under his term as mayor, including the massive attack on the Tesla plant in Grünheide. More certainly could have been done to stop this group, no doubt.
As a number of commentators have noted, left-wing terrorism is treated entirely differently than right-wing terrorism, and in turn, the authorities may have never been pressured to take these cases as seriously as if it had been a group of neo-Nazis running around cutting the power to Berlin hospitals and daycares.
🇩🇪"Why are there always left-wing attacks in Berlin?"
After a terror attack from the left-wing "Volcano Group" in Germany's Berlin, which left 45,000 households without power, there are questions about how far left-wing violence is legitimized by the media, state, and society… pic.twitter.com/ZtdSusqorW
Finally, there are various policies from Wegner that I do not personally agree with, along with mayors from many of the major cities in the West, including London Mayor Sadiq Kahn or Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. However, it is very clear that the voting populations of these cities do. They vote for these policies.
Left-wing actions, and even terror, are deeply romanticized in cities like Berlin. There is a wink and a nod towards such actions, and in many cases, it is even glorified or actively supported by actual politicians, or at least activists in the political parties. Even Wegner, who is ostensibly a “conservative,” is not immune to this social reality.
This also feeds into the topic of mass migration. Wegner has spent a record amount of money on migrant accommodations in Berlin, amounting to nearly €1 billion last year. Once the blackout hit 45,000 households, he initially formulated that those affected would still need to pay €70 for a hotel room per night, a move that he backtracked on when it was met with outrage.
However, the affected wealthy districts in the southwest of Berlin, many of whom are more conservative than the average, did indeed vote for Wegner in large numbers. DId Wegner ever say he was going to substantially enact immigration restrictionist policies? No. So, this is, in a manner, what they were also voting for. Berlin has a fiscal problem, and even as budget cuts hit cultural, education, and transport sectors, money towards migrants goes up every year.
Again, you get what you vote for, so why should Wegner resign over a lack of accommodations available in an emergency?
We could also raise the fact that 2025 marked a major year in terms of escalating gang violence, another Wegner policy failure, as he is the “CDU guy” who is supposed to be “tough on crime.” By the end of 2025, public discourse in Berlin frequently referred to “almost daily gunfire” in connection with organized crime, clan rivalries, and drug trafficking in districts like Lichterfelde, Neukölln, and Kreuzberg. The Turkish Mafias are especially responsible for this incredible amount of gunfire in the capital. This uptick in high-profile street shootings led many officials to describe the current era as one of the most violent for the city in recent memory.
Again, this should not be a surprise. In fact, it is all very predictable.
Even if I would like to personally see Wegner out of office along with a number of Western politicians, society has an entirely different opinion about what they want. Berlin has elections later this year, where the populace will likely choose a left-wing mayor this time around. They certainly are not going to choose an immigration restrictionist, regardless of soaring crime, school and housing crises, or the many parallel societies that have arisen. In addition, action against left-wing terror groups is of very low priority overall. There will be no demonstrations against the Vulkangruppe, for instance, and no public mantras from Berliners about the “threat to democracy” the left-wing groups represent.
In fact, the Left Party has been polling second-highest in Berlin for the upcoming elections, which has the highest number of former or even current Antifa activists and apologists for outright left-wing violence.
The reality is that Western society in the cities is increasingly multicultural and liberal. Many of the residents, such as Turkish migrants, would vote for extremely conservative candidates like Erdoğan in their own home countries, but are choosing left-wing parties in Western nations, in large part due to their high social spending and support for more mass migration. Wegner, the supposed “conservative,” only won because he shifted towards the electorate, which means supporting immigration and going soft on left-wing causes as well. He needs coalition partners like the SPD, after all.
In other words, there are far bigger problems than a game of tennis, and there is little hope in the near term that anything will be done about them.
The Swedish Migration Board, the authority charged with deciding who may live in Sweden and under what conditions, has been described by internal sources as an organization largely staffed by personnel with a migration background who often speak their own languages and seek to prioritize those from their own country of origin to establish a greater cultural foothold in Sweden.
Swedish news outlet Samnytt spoke to long-serving employees of the organization who blew the whistle on its structural weaknesses and its inability to adhere to the agency’s requirement for neutrality on migration policy.
“Currently, the majority of the staff have a background other than Swedish. Many do not even have Swedish citizenship. And they speak their own language with their own group,” said one source who has worked within the authority for several decades and is still employed there.
They explained that the authority employs around 6,000 people and largely operates in open-plan offices, where employees are free to choose where they sit. In practice, this has led to, ironically, a distinct lack of integration.
“Kurds normally sit together with other Kurds, even if there are different clans among the Kurds, Somalis sit with other Somalis, and Syrians with other Syrians, and so on,” the source said.
“What affects us the most is that everyone speaks their own language, meaning you don’t understand what is said between groups and employees,” they added.
Earlier attempts to require Swedish as the working language within the authority have reportedly been abandoned. Instead, according to Samnytt’s source, parallel linguistic environments have become normalized within the very institution responsible for assessing integration, residency, and citizenship.
“This not only affects language, that people don’t understand each other or what is being said, but it also causes different groups to form within the authority, clans that are involved in bringing their own clan members or relatives from their home countries here. They have brought the Middle Eastern clan mentality into the authority,” the source said.
The Migration Board’s transformation is described as having accelerated during the 2015 migration crisis, when Sweden received more asylum seekers than its system was designed to handle. During that period, the authority’s role shifted from neutral administrator of the law to an increasingly politicized actor.
The source estimates that around 35 percent of employees at the Migration Board are Muslim and described a noticeable change following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Many may have been more moderate Muslims, but after Oct. 7 you could see that more and more Muslim women started wearing the hijab,” the source said. “Songs about ‘from the river to the sea’ could also be heard from the coffee room inside the Migration Board,” the source said.
Employees who object to this culture or raise concerns internally are reportedly ostracized and accused of disloyalty. “What has become unpleasant is that we who feel that things are not going right at the authority, and it is usually Swedes, have to talk behind closed doors so that no one hears,” Samnytt was told.
“You are removed from your position, perhaps placed in the reception,” the source said when asked what happens if an employee speaks openly about their concerns. “It is difficult to fire someone here, since the union is quite strong, but you are simply removed from influence, and all opportunities for a career within the authority disappear.”
When asked what message should be sent to responsible politicians, the source was unequivocal. “Shut down the entire agency. It can’t be changed,” they said.
“If you change the name or transfer responsibility to other agencies, the same people will follow. It will be the same thing again. If you want to change this, you have to take a completely new approach, with new people.”
The allegations come amid previous controversies surrounding the Migration Board. In February 2024, a 30-year-old Iraqi man employed as an administrator at the authority was reported to police on suspicion of data breaches, misconduct, and accepting bribes. According to documents seen by Samnytt, the man may have earned millions of kronor by selling residence permits to other migrants.
A top Berlin police official has confirmed that the power outage terror attack on Berlin, which police believe was committed by a left-wing terror group, has claimed at least one life.
According to Berlin Police Vice President Marco Langner, who spoke during a press conference, an 83-year-old woman was found inside her apartment with severe hypothermia.
🇩🇪🚨 Officials in Berlin initially told families and pensioners affected by the ongoing power and heating outage that they could stay in a hotel at a discounted rate of €70 a night.
Many slammed the proposal, reminding the city-state government that it's spending nearly €1… pic.twitter.com/8Csh5mCzX9
“This relative had already cared for her for months and then found her alive in the apartment. She was then resuscitated –unfortunately unsuccessfully– in the ambulance and subsequently died,” said Langner.
“Regardless of the possible cause of death, this is of course a very regrettable – very regrettable for the relatives – incident,” said the police chief. “The colleagues of the criminal investigation department who arrived at the scene could not immediately determine that the cause of death was caused by a fall.“
🇩🇪"Why are there always left-wing attacks in Berlin?"
After a terror attack from the left-wing "Volcano Group" in Germany's Berlin, which left 45,000 households without power, there are questions about how far left-wing violence is legitimized by the media, state, and society… pic.twitter.com/ZtdSusqorW
The fact that the police are now confirming that one death is tied to the blackout could raise the stakes for any criminal investigation. Already, the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group), which claimed responsibility for the attack, has been active since 2011 with major terror attacks on Berlin energy infrastructure.
Their latest attack in the southwest of Berlin left 45,000 households without power, along with 2,200 businesses. Also affected were retirement homes, daycares, and schools.
Numerous commentators and journalists are now criticizing the government and security services for failing to stop this terror group.
A ruling by Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court has confirmed that the Afghan national accused of stabbing a 39-year-old man in Bäckeranlage park in the spring of 2024 was an adult at the time of the attack, despite having claimed to be a minor during his asylum proceedings.
The finding undercuts criticism directed at Zurich security director Mario Fehr, who had cited the case when calling for tougher action against violent offenders within the asylum system.
The victim was seriously injured in the knife attack and required hospital treatment. Shortly afterwards, Zurich’s Security Minister Mario Fehr cited the case as evidence of young Afghan men being disproportionately represented in serious crime compared with their share of the resident population. He called on the federal government to ensure that asylum seekers who commit grave crimes can have their temporary protection withdrawn and be deported.
As reported by NZZ, left-wing parties in Zurich accused Fehr of exploiting the incident for political purposes. They argued that harsher measures would not improve public safety and said minors could not be deported in any case. In the city parliament, Green Party councillor Luca Maggi said that violence should not be downplayed but insisted that “adequate structural conditions” and support were the best forms of prevention, not tougher punishment.
As it turns out, the court ruling now shows that the suspect was not a minor. According to the judgment, Fehr’s office questioned the man’s claimed age shortly after his arrest. The State Secretariat for Migration later reviewed the case and also concluded that he was of legal age. The suspect appealed, but the Federal Administrative Court rejected his challenge.
Judges found that the man gave contradictory information during his asylum procedure. When he entered Switzerland, he stated his date of birth as Jan. 1, 2007, which would have made him 17 at the time of the stabbing. This would have meant he would receive a more lenient sentence and could not be deported after serving any juvenile sentence.
However, records from an earlier registration in Greece listed his birth year as 2006. The man said he did not know his exact date of birth and referred to Afghan identity documents, but the court said those documents, based on the Persian calendar, actually supported the conclusion that he was 18 at the time.
The ruling also noted that the suspect refused to undergo a medical age assessment, which can include X-rays of the left wrist, collarbones, and teeth. “The appellant violated his duty to cooperate by refusing the examination and must bear the consequences of the lack of evidence,” the judges said.
Criminal proceedings over the stabbing are ongoing and are still being handled by the juvenile prosecutor’s office. If he is convicted and the verdict becomes final, there is a high chance he will be deported.
The case comes as Switzerland resumes deportations to Afghanistan after a period of suspension. According to the State Secretariat for Migration, five Afghans were deported in 2024, with further removals carried out in late 2025.
Swiss authorities say the Zurich case is not an isolated one. Every year, hundreds of asylum seekers who initially claim to be minors are later reclassified as adults. In 2024, around 4,300 asylum applicants stated they were under 18, but only about 3,200 cases could be substantiated. In roughly 27 percent of cases, the State Secretariat for Migration said, the information provided about age was false, though not always intentionally, due to unreliable documents or genuine uncertainty.
Similar cases have emerged across Europe. In France, center-right MP Charles de Courson said in November 2023 that 80 percent of supposed unaccompanied minors tested in one northeastern department were found to be adults following bone analysis.
In Spain, authorities revealed in October last year that a Moroccan man arrested for the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Madrid, who had claimed to be 17, was in fact 23. His case was transferred from juvenile to adult court, significantly increasing the potential sentence he faces.
And in Greece, the migration minister said in November that more than half of asylum seekers claiming to be minors under a new verification system were determined to be over 18.
A 15-year-old girl was dragged into a bush on Saturday evening, Jan. 3, in the Wiesbaden district of Biebrich and raped by two men “speaking broken German,” who remain on the run from police.
The attack occurred around 6:30 p.m. in the area of Kasteler Straße in the Wiesbaden district of Biebrich. According to the victim, the two suspects held her down, pulled her into a bush, and one began raping her while the other one stood nearby.
The men then fled on foot towards Mainz-Kastel, while the teenager managed to get herself to a police station to report the incident, according to Wiesbaden Aktuell.
The suspects are described as being approximately 20 years old and standing about 1.85 meters tall with narrow to average builds. The first perpetrator reportedly had short black hair, a three-day beard, and spoke broken German with a heavy accent. He was seen wearing a black fanny pack and a dark brown and black tracksuit consisting of a sweater and sweatpants.
The second suspect was noted for having a broader face, short medium-brown hair, and a patchy three-day beard with gaps near the neck. He also did not speak German well and wore a black tracksuit that included a hoodie and sweatpants.
The Wiesbaden Criminal Investigation Department has officially launched a rape investigation and is appealing to the public for assistance. They are asking anyone who was traveling in the Kasteler Straße area at the time of the incident, whether on foot, by car, or on a bicycle, to come forward if they observed any suspicious behavior or individuals matching the descriptions.
A Syrian man, convicted in the Netherlands of murdering his daughter in a so-called honor killing after accusing her of behaving too Western, has been sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison after fleeing the country.
The ruling was delivered on Monday by the court in Lelystad, which found Khaled al N. guilty of orchestrating and carrying out the killing of his 18-year-old daughter, Ryan, from the town of Joure in Friesland. Her brothers, Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad, 25, were each sentenced to 20 years in prison for being complicit in the murder.
As reported by NOS, judges said Ryan’s death represented “a tragic low point in a family history in which the oppression of women was the common thread,” concluding that the killing was driven by the belief that she had damaged the family’s honor through what relatives regarded as an excessively Western lifestyle.
Prosecutors had sought a 25-year prison sentence for the father and 20 years for each brother. The court imposed a heavier sentence on Khaled al N., citing his leading role in the crime and the extreme violence involved.
Ryan’s body was discovered on May 28, 2024, in a marsh near the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve. Investigators established that she had been bound with approximately 18 meters of duct tape before being thrown into the water alive. When she was found, her hands were tied behind her back, and her nose and mouth were covered with tape. Her father later fled home to Syria, where it is understood he remains.
The court said Khaled al N. spoke positively about his daughter during the proceedings but refused to accept responsibility for her death. Judges described his actions as “incomprehensible and indigestible,” adding that a parent’s duty is to protect and support a child, not destroy her.
During the trial, a police officer said during their testimony, “How scared Ryan must have been. In the dead of night, in pitch darkness, in a remote place. Did she know her last hour had come? Did she scream? Barely 18. Vulnerable. Alone. She trusted her brothers.”
According to the ruling, there was a coordinated attempt to place sole blame on the father in order to shield the brothers, and his escape to Syria formed part of that plan. While the judges took into account the brothers’ young age and the pressure exerted by their father, they said this did not diminish their culpability.
Evidence showed that after Ryan’s death, the brothers destroyed evidence, erasing traces of the crime. They deleted photos and videos from her phone and asked relatives to remove chat messages, the court said, noting that there was no indication they feared for her welfare.
Investigators also uncovered a WhatsApp group chat including several family members entitled “Honorable family,” which revealed messages suggesting ways to kill Ryan for bringing shame on the family. According to De Telegraaf, these included pushing her in front of a train and poisoning her.
Prosecutors said the murder was premeditated and motivated by the view that Ryan had become a burden to the family. The family, which fled Syria and later settled in Joure, had been known to police and social services for years. From 2022 onward, Ryan stayed intermittently in shelters and institutions and had previously told police that her father abused and threatened her.
It is unclear why the authorities did not intervene at an earlier opportunity to protect the woman following the complaints.
One of her brothers had earlier told investigators that he believed Ryan had disgraced the family by appearing on TikTok without a headscarf and wearing makeup.
During hearings in November, the brothers denied involvement and claimed their father alone was responsible, describing him as a “psychopath” and a “monster.” Prosecutors questioned their credibility, noting that both had remained silent for months during the investigation.
Khaled al N., who has since remarried in northern Syria, wrote in a letter to De Telegraaf last year that he had killed his daughter, a statement his lawyer repeated in court.
It remains uncertain whether the father will ever serve his sentence. Although he is now the subject of an international arrest warrant, there is no judicial cooperation between the Netherlands and Syria, and Dutch authorities therefore cannot extradite him.
The Public Prosecution Service said it will continue to explore options to bring him to justice, either by securing his return to the Netherlands or by having him serve his sentence abroad.
The Ministry of the Interior ordered a national-level red code valid until the measure is revoked from 8 a.m. on Wednesday due to the snow and extreme winter weather, announced Attila Fülöp, the state secretary responsible for care policy at the ministry.
At a press conference, the state secretary emphasized that under such weather conditions, the state has the duty to protect the personal integrity and property of citizens, and all necessary resources are provided for this.
Due to the emergency situation, special measures have also been introduced in the social welfare system, the primary purpose of which is to protect human life.
“This is a special procedure, the essence of which is the protection of lives in need,” explained Attila Fülöp.
“From 8 a.m., therefore, all social institutions and residential institutions are obliged to receive our compatriots in trouble, homeless, struggling with any problems due to the cold, who temporarily need crisis care,” he explained.
Ordering a code red means that social institutions must provide assistance even more widely and that they cannot reject anyone who is in danger because of freezing weather.
Europe has already been hit with cold weather in recent days, and snow has accumulated in a number of countries, such as Germany and Hungary. Heavy snowfall led to delays at Budapest Airport and a number of severe road accidents. However, more heavy snowfall is expected in the coming days, including temperatures reaching deeper into minus territory.
Now, up to 10 to 20 centimeters of fresh snow are predicted in the east of the country, with more forecast for certain locales.
Drivers are especially cautioned for more difficult road conditions in Tiszántúl, the Borsod area, the Tisza area, as well as in the western part of Transdanubia and Bakony.
A Belgian court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to seven years in prison after rejecting claims that early menopause, stress, and a household overrun by 60 chihuahuas explained months of sadistic abuse that resulted in her husband being locked up and tortured for weeks on end.
The court heard how the 48-year-old Belgian male victim escaped from his home in Grobbendonk on March 18, 2025, barefoot and wearing only underwear and a T-shirt, when he fled a dog kennel where his wife, Anna V., had locked him. He staggered to a nearby home and knocked on a kitchen window, begging for help.
“He had used his last bit of strength to escape. The man was completely disoriented,” public prosecutor Hanne Hendrickx told the court as cited by HLN, explaining that a passing cyclist recognized the victim as his neighbor and helped police establish his identity.
According to the prosecution, the man had been regularly beaten, starved, humiliated, and imprisoned. “Photos show that at the beginning of the relationship, he was a strong, healthy man. In photos taken after the fact, we see a burned skeleton. There wasn’t much left of the victim,” Hendrickx said.
The defendant initially told police and emergency services that her husband was depressed and harming himself, a claim briefly accepted. She was even allowed to sit with him in the ambulance until a paramedic heard her whisper, “You have to be quiet,” and noticed the victim becoming visibly anxious. She was then removed from the ambulance and arrested.
The couple had only married in August 2024.
Investigators concluded the man had been beaten with fists and household objects, including a chair and a cooking pot, and was kicked when he fell to the floor. He was forced to clean the excrement of around 60 chihuahuas using bleach, but only barefoot because his wife had hidden his shoes, causing corrosive wounds. A camera had been installed to ensure he worked continuously.
According to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, the man was repeatedly deprived of his liberty, locked several times in a garden shed and a dog kennel, and once in a dark cellar without food or water. “Fourteen days before his escape, she also doused him with boiling water because two dogs had died and, according to her, it was his fault,” Hendrickx said.
Video evidence found during the investigation showed the defendant filming and laughing at her husband’s humiliation. Freddy Mols, the victim’s lawyer, told the court, “My client narrowly escaped death. He endured terrible things for a year. He was found suffering from dehydration and malnutrition, and was completely disoriented.
Prosecutors demanded an eight-year sentence, and while defense lawyer Romy Geysen called it “by far the most horrific case I’ve ever received,” she argued that her client’s mental state had changed since the abuse. She cited financial stress, the growing number of dogs in the household, and hormonal changes. “Moreover, she was in early menopause, which meant she couldn’t control herself,” Geysen told the court.
Speaking briefly, the defendant said, “I was so tired. I couldn’t handle it anymore, and I took it out on him. I now realize what I did to him. That should never have happened.”
The judge dismissed the mitigating remarks and sentenced the defendant to seven years in prison. She had also previously been fined €3,600 for the mistreatment of the dogs.
The victim’s lawyer has also requested €10,000 in damages to help with any therapy that may be needed in the future.
Britain and France have committed to deploying troops to Ukraine as part of a multinational force once a peace deal with Russia is reached, following talks in Paris between representatives of Ukraine, its European allies, and the United States.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the parties had made “significant progress,” announcing what he described as the Paris Declaration on security guarantees. According to Macron, the declaration sets out concrete components intended to preserve a prolonged peace.
“Today, we have made significant progress, reflected in the Paris Declaration, which provides reliable guarantees for a lasting peace,” Macron said. “This statement by the coalition of the willing recognizes for the first time the rapid rapprochement between the 35 countries that make up the coalition of the willing, Ukraine, and the United States. We are talking about reliable security guarantees.”
According to Macron, the declaration identifies several core elements. These include participation in a U.S.-led ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, designed to operate continuously with contributions from coalition members. The mechanism would include a special commission tasked with addressing breaches, attributing responsibility, and determining appropriate penalties for infringements.
The declaration also commits coalition members to continued long-term military assistance for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, aimed at ensuring sustained defensive capability and deterrence. This support includes long-term defense aid packages, financing for weapons procurement, cooperation on funding Ukraine’s armed forces through its national budget, access to European defense depots capable of rapid resupply in the event of a future attack, and practical and technical assistance in building defensive fortifications.
In addition, the declaration provides for the creation of a multinational force for Ukraine, composed of contributions from willing nations within the coalition. This force is to be deployed at Ukraine’s request once a credible peace deal has been agreed. It will have European leadership, involvement from non-European coalition members, and proposed support from the United States.
The document further sets out binding commitments to support Ukraine in the event of any future armed attack by Russia.
‘Our ironclad commitment to stand with Ukraine… We’ll help build military hubs and defend Ukraine’s skies… This is about building the foundations for peace.’
Keir Starmer says any deal must include firm guarantees, not blind trust, after Russia’s latest bombing of Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/cVSvPDG2Sd
“This is a vital part of our unwavering commitment to support Ukraine over the long term,” Starmer said at a press conference in Paris. “It creates the legal framework within which British, French, and partner forces can operate on Ukrainian territory, ensuring the security of Ukrainian air and sea space and strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces for the future.”
Starmer added that the arrangements would allow the United Kingdom and France, following a peace deal, to establish military hubs across Ukraine and build protected facilities for weapons and military equipment to support Ukraine’s defensive needs.
‘Britain and France are prepared to put boots on the ground in Ukraine, once there’s a peace deal.’
Nigel Farage reacts to the Paris summit, warning EU leaders are ‘desperately seeking relevance’, as Trump’s team pursues peace talks and Starmer signals UK troop involvement. pic.twitter.com/DA1lMXXGpM
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was critical of Keir Starmer’s remarks following the Paris meeting, saying: “You’ve got a series of European countries, predominantly European Union and us with Starmer half-in and half-out, desperately seeking relevance. That, I think, is what that press conference in Paris was all about.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the declaration on security guarantees as “very concrete,” saying Ukraine already knows which countries will participate and what contributions they will make. He added that progress had also been made in discussions with the American delegation in Paris on ceasefire monitoring.
Following claims spreading that Russians were responsible for the catastrophic attack on energy infrastructure in some of Berlin’s wealthiest neighborhood, the Berlin police are refuting these claims. Notably, a Christian Democrat (CDU) politician appeared on public media outlet ZDF and said the Russians are likely responsible.
CDU MP Roderich Kiesewetter is being accused of spreading rumors, or so-called disinformation, on Monday that Russia might be behind the attack on Berlin’s power grid. Berlin police are now calling it “fake news.”
“There is absolutely no evidence of this so far.” said Deputy Police Chief Marco Langner at a press conference on Tuesday. “These are the usual fake news stories we always encounter in such situations, intended to unsettle people.”
🇩🇪🚨 Officials in Berlin initially told families and pensioners affected by the ongoing power and heating outage that they could stay in a hotel at a discounted rate of €70 a night.
Many slammed the proposal, reminding the city-state government that it's spending nearly €1… pic.twitter.com/8Csh5mCzX9
The attack hit Berlin on Saturday, and responsibility has been claimed by the well-known left-wing Vulcangruppe (Volcano Group). The group has been active with major attacks on Berlin energy infrastructure since 2011, which also knocked out power to the Tesla plant outside Berlin, along with surrounding settlements. That attack alone is estimated to have cost €100 million. The group has never been apprehended.
Langer said that security authorities are once again attributing this latest attack to the Vulkangruppe. However, police are conducting their investigation in all directions.
🇩🇪 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.
However, Kiesewetter is not the only one claiming Russians were behind the attack. Rumors were spread that the statement from the left-wing terror group — which cited climate change, among other reasons, as the reason behind its attack — might have been translated from Cyrillic script.
A linguistic analysis of the statement allegedly showed “that a back-translation into Russian provides a much better linguistic representation than the clunky German one reads there,” CDU politician Kiesewetter also explained to Welt. “We know that Russia carries out a number of attacks and acts of sabotage.”
So far, the Berlin police have debunked this claim of Russians being behind the terror incident
The attack, which took out power to 45,000 households in areas such as Wannsee and Zehlendorf, is still ongoing for many residents, many of whom are still without power. The attack has also been highly embarrassing for not only the CDU-led Berlin government of Mayor Kai Wegner, but also for the entire federal security apparatus, which has failed to catch the terror groups for well over a decade.
Additionally, scenes of elderly victims being carted into gym halls while refugees are transferred to warm hotels has created a shocking juxtaposition for many Berlin residents.
The U.K. government is preparing a bill that would provide a legal framework for “re-tuning” relations between London and Brussels and allow for broad alignment of British regulations with those of the European Union, according to Politico, as cited by Mandiner.
A British government official has been quoted as saying that the legislation is expected to be introduced in parliament in the spring or summer. The draft bill would give the government and regional governments with partial autonomy broad powers to automatically transpose new EU rules into British law in specific areas.
These may include food safety regulations, animal welfare regulations, the use of pesticides, the EU electricity market, and carbon emission quota trading
The system would, in principle, preserve London’s veto power in certain specific cases, but the government emphasizes that the details are still being worked out.
The legislation would create the legal basis for a post-Brexit “reset agreement” that the British government is currently negotiating with the EU. The package would include the reintegration of electricity markets, an agri-food agreement, and linking of emissions trading systems.
EU Affairs Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds previously promised that parliament would have a say in the adoption of new EU rules and that the UK wanted to retain a “formative role” in EU decision-making.
According to a statement from the British government, the restructuring of relations with the EU could increase the performance of the British economy by around £9 billion by 2040.
The German government has “acknowledged” but strongly condemns the threatening statements of Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, but at the same time does not see it as justified to strengthen the chancellor’s protection, wrote Kárpáthír, following an article in Der Tagesspiegel.
Medvedev spoke following the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, saying he would even consider the kidnapping of Friedrich Merz as part of “a special operation.”
“The kidnapping of the same neo-Nazi Merz could be a great twist in this carnival series (…). He would have reason to be held accountable even in Germany. That’s why it wouldn’t be a shame to have him,” the newspaper quoted Medvedev as saying.
Government spokesman Sebastian Hille told a press conference in Berlin that the threat had been “noted” and condemned, but the current situation did not justify raising the alert level. He added that “existing security measures are adequate” and that the chancellor is “well and reliably protected.”
The German Armed Forces are preparing to deploy their first Muslim chaplains under a pilot project scheduled to begin in early 2026, according to reporting by NDR.
Under the plan, the Ministry of Defense will issue a public tender to recruit the first military imams, who will initially work only within Germany. The chaplains would be distributed across different regions and provide pastoral support to Muslim soldiers as required.
“With the 3,000 Muslim soldiers we now have, it is also important for us to acknowledge this diversity and to create a dedicated pastoral care service for Muslim soldiers,” said Colonel Thorsten Weber from the Ministry of Defense last month. He said the initial focus would be on gaining experience domestically before any consideration of overseas deployments.
The figure of 3,000 Muslim soldiers employed in the Bundeswehr is an estimate, with personnel not obliged to reveal their religious affiliation. This represents about 1.64 percent of its 182,667 active personnel as of 2025. While Christian and Jewish chaplaincies are fully institutionalized through state treaties that allow access to barracks and overseas missions, no equivalent arrangement exists for Muslims.
Although the pilot project is described as open-ended, it stops short of fully institutionalizing Muslim military chaplaincy. Some legal experts argue that this caution is unnecessary. Benedikt Plesker, a lawyer at the law firm Lenz and Johlen, told NDR, “I do think that a permanent military chaplaincy can be offered on a contractual basis. In my opinion, a state treaty isn’t necessary for that. It’s really more a question of political will and funding. Because it’s also clear that without proper funding, all attempts will remain stuck in the pilot project phase.”
The debate has gained renewed urgency amid broader discussions about manpower and the reintroduction of compulsory military service. In December last year, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported comments by Ali Mete, spokesperson for the Coordination Council of Muslims, who addressed the question of Muslim participation in the Bundeswehr. “As citizens, they should at least consider it,” Mete said, adding that the final decision was a matter of personal conscience.
From a theological perspective, Mete argued that serving the state in which one lives can be a religious obligation. “Muslims are expected to bear responsibility for society, and this includes military service if it serves to protect and maintain peace,” he said. At the same time, he stressed the need for fair conditions and respect for freedom of religion, calling for qualified imams, prayer spaces, pastoral care, and management training to ensure sensitivity to religious diversity.
The absence of a Muslim chaplaincy has been highlighted repeatedly in official reports. The issue appeared in the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces’ report as early as 2016 and was again described as “unsatisfactory” in the 2024 annual report by then-Commissioner Eva Högl. That report noted that the Ministry of Defense had at least advanced preparations for establishing such a service during the reporting year.
Last month, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense said the program was “logical” and would foster a “respectful and inclusive environment.”
The United States plans to attempt to seize the oil tanker Bella 1, which Russia has placed under its jurisdiction, Hungarian portal Mandiner writes, based on a report out of CNN.
The Bella 1 oil tanker was sanctioned by the United States in 2024, which claimed it was part of a “shadow fleet” transporting illegal oil from Venezuela.
This has now led to a major point of contention between the two superpowers.
The ship was originally headed to Venezuela, but turned back after fleeing the U.S. Coast Guard and, according to open-source shipping data, is currently sailing in the North Atlantic Ocean, near the British coast.
The ship’s crew painted a Russian flag on the ship during the pursuit and claimed that it was sailing under the protection of Russia.
Shortly thereafter, the tanker was registered in the Russian registry as the Marinera. U.S. sources said Russia had sent a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker, while Moscow called on Washington to stop pursuing the ship.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed concern over the situation surrounding the ship.
The United States, on the other hand, deployed P-8 reconnaissance aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in England to monitor the tanker last month, and the U.S. Southern Command signaled its readiness to take action against sanctioned ships and actors in the region. In addition, several U.S. military assets have recently been moved to the UK.
Based on available positioning data, the tanker is moving about 300 miles south of Iceland, heading towards the North Sea.
Capturing the Bella 1 would likely require special naval intervention, as the vessel will not surrender voluntarily. The operation is further complicated by the often bad weather in the North Atlantic and Russian claims of jurisdiction.
The plans to seize the tanker are linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last month that the United States was imposing a complete blockade on sanctioned oil tankers to put pressure on the regime of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is now in custody in New YOrk after being seized by America’s elite Delta Force.
The U.S. now says it is in negotiations to purchase millions of barrels of oil from the country it previously had under sanction, during which time, the majority of Venezuelan oil had been sold to China.
Spanish police have arrested 15 international bus drivers in Barcelona, accused of transporting illegal migrants between France and Spain in exchange for cash, exploiting their access to regular cross-border routes, according to reports by El País.
The Spanish National Police said the drivers used their positions on international services, particularly the Paris–Barcelona route, to bring “undocumented or visa-less foreigners into the country in exchange for money,” describing the scheme as “a new type of illicit human trafficking in the international land transport sector,” as reported by Le Parisien.
Migrants paid between €20 and €400 to travel without identity documents, without a valid ticket, or using tickets issued in someone else’s name, and bus drivers received payment to turn a blind eye.
According to the police statement, the drivers coordinated with intermediaries operating in bus stations and outside transport companies, who arranged payments and ensured migrants were allowed to board vehicles. Those arrested are being prosecuted on charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
The investigation began in March 2025 and uncovered a network involving not only drivers but also auxiliary staff linked to private transport companies. Police said those involved “took advantage of their access to European routes” to facilitate the irregular movement of migrants between Spain and France, earning some drivers as much as €50,000 per year.
Investigators also identified recruiters operating outside transport companies who negotiated payments with drivers and helped migrants board buses using false, manipulated, or no documents at all.
The operation was carried out in cooperation with French authorities, with police checks conducted in La Jonquera, Irún, Madrid, Barcelona, and Murcia.
The dispersal across Europe of migrants residing in Catalonia will be cause for concern to many, in light of recent reports detailing no-go zones for police officers in the region.
In September last year, Torelló, a town in the Osona region of Catalonia, faced growing insecurity after a leaked recording revealed local police officers acknowledging they are unable to control violent migrant groups gathering in certain areas, and have been laughed at and forced to retreat from dispatch calls.
The audio, verified by authorities and reported by ElCaso.cat, captured an officer telling a resident that police cannot act against migrant rioters due to insufficient resources.
“They are laughing at us,” the officer said in the call. “They are throwing us out. If we don’t want to get hurt, we too [must leave],” he added, describing how officers had to withdraw after being met with hostility.
While net migration to Spain and its islands was down last year, according to Frontex, huge numbers have already crossed and are now contributing to integration concerns. Despite numbers being down, Spain’s socialist government remains committed to importing newcomers.
In September, it began the gradual transfer of more than 600 Moroccan minors from the North African enclave of Ceuta to different regions on the mainland.
The decision has reignited debate in Madrid over how to manage unaccompanied minors entering the country, as new figures revealed just 41 of the nearly 30,000 minor arrivals since 2018 have been repatriated.
With an increase in internal illegal migration routes within the European Union itself, keeping tabs on new arrivals will become increasingly more problematic.
Ukraine carried out drone strikes on several Russian regions overnight, striking a high-rise building in Tver and killing one person, as well as hitting an oil facility in Usmany.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a total of 61 drones against Ukraine, of which air defenses neutralized 53, reports Portfolio.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a total of 129 Ukrainian drones were shot down over various regions of Russia on Tuesday night.
According to the Kyiv Independent, the center of the Penza region was also hit by a drone attack. Explosions were also heard in Sterlitamak and Bashkortostan, but it is not yet known what the target was.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday that Vasyl Malyuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), had resigned. Malyuk, however, will remain in the service and focus on asymmetric warfare against Russia in the future.
Zelensky arrived in Paris for a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing,” to be led by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The United States will be represented by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
According to a report by Ukrainian foreign intelligence, rural depopulation has accelerated in Russia. Last year alone, 266 settlements were officially abolished, and most of them were already completely uninhabited, RBC-Ukraine reports.
“Outside of a few large agglomerations, Russia is showing systemic decline: depopulation, the disappearance of villages, and the development gap continue to grow, while high-profile programs remain mere paper decorations in the face of the reality of rapid depletion,” the report reads.
Most of the villages that have now ceased to exist were once in the Novgorod and Kostroma regions, which account for three-quarters of all abolished settlements.
In third place is the Perm border region, where the authorities are not only registering the extinction of villages, but are also deliberately relocating the population of small, remote settlements. Some small villages are also being merged into larger ones to compensate for infrastructural deficiencies.
The Berlin Regional Court on Monday sentenced a 45-year-old Afghan national to life imprisonment for stabbing to death his estranged wife in front of their four children after she reportedly refused to take him back after he ended their coercive relationship and remarried.
The crime took place on April 17, 2025, in the woman’s apartment in the Britz district of Berlin-Neukölln. According to the court’s findings, the man stabbed his wife five times with a kitchen knife following an argument. The 37-year-old mother of four fled into the stairwell of the apartment building, where she bled to death.
The court described the circumstances of the killing as particularly horrific. The couple’s four children were present in the apartment during the attack. While their mother was fighting for her life, the children desperately attempted to resuscitate her. The defendant, the court found, watched these efforts “indifferently.” He told his then 8-year-old son that he would “buy him a new mother,” according to Welt.
During the trial, the couple’s eldest son, now 22, testified as a witness. He told the court that he woke up to his mother’s screams and witnessed the final stabbing. He described years of jealousy, control, and repeated violence by his father against his mother.
🇩🇪🚨 An Afghan migrant has been jailed for life in Germany for stabbing his estranged wife to death in front of their children.
He told his traumatized 8-year-old son he'd "buy him a new mother."
The Berlin Regional Court found that the 45-year-old Afghan stabbed his wife… pic.twitter.com/SiqV99j1Ip
As cited by Berliner Zeitung, the presiding judge said the defendant acted out of anger because his wife had not behaved according to his wishes. He was driven by the conviction “that as a man he had the right to punish his wife and was even justified in taking her life,” the judge said. The court explicitly classified the killing as a femicide.
According to the court, the couple married in Afghanistan in 2003 and moved to Germany with their family in 2015. After their arrival, the marriage became increasingly strained due to the defendant’s controlling behavior. He dictated his wife’s daily life, monitored her movements, and restricted her freedom. Among other things, he forbade her from attending a German language course and from working.
At the end of 2024, the man divorced his wife according to Islamic law in order to marry another woman. That relationship later failed, and he attempted to return to his former wife and the mother of his children. When she did not comply with his plans, the court found, he carried out earlier threats and killed her.
The prosecution initially charged the defendant with manslaughter, an offense punishable by a minimum of five years in prison. During the course of the trial, however, the court became convinced that the killing was murder. Diminished responsibility was ruled out.
The court said the defendant will not be eligible for parole for at least 15 years.
The verdict is not yet legally binding and could be subject to appeal.
Berlin’s handling of the prolonged power outage in the southwest of the city has sparked an angry public debate over priorities, after residents were initially asked to pay €70 per night for hotel accommodation while nearby migrant centers were evacuated and rehoused at public expense.
The blackout, now in its third day, has left around 26,900 households and 1,220 businesses without electricity, heating, or hot water following an arson attack on a cable bridge for which the far-left Volcano Group claimed responsibility.
Entire neighborhoods in Steglitz-Zehlendorf and Zehlendorf remain affected.
As reported by Welt, under the Senate’s initial response, residents unable to use their homes were offered hotel rooms at a reduced rate under a campaign branded “Berlin Hotels for Berliners,” launched with VisitBerlin and around 200 partner hotels. The state waived the city tax, but affected residents were expected to cover the remaining cost themselves.
The offer triggered an immediate backlash. On social media, users questioned how pensioners, families with children, or people on welfare were supposed to afford several nights in a hotel. “Not every resident of Steglitz-Zehlendorf will be able to just pull seventy euros a night out of their pocket,” one user wrote, cited by the German newspaper, while others described the scheme as “a bad joke” and “fake solidarity.”
Flüchtlinge in Berlin wurden evakuiert, während krebskranke und alte Anwohner in der Kälte verbleiben. Das ist Deutschland unter einer CDU und SPD Regierung. https://t.co/yzVJbEygmkpic.twitter.com/GEWaYmBkF0
Anger intensified as stories emerged from the blackout zone. Nius reported speaking to a cancer patient who said he was sleeping in the hallway of his apartment building because it was the warmest place available.
“I sleep in the hallway tonight, because the hallway is the warmest part of our house. Unfortunately, in my flat I am hit from every side by the cold,” he told the interviewer.
At the same time, residents reported that a nearby refugee center had been evacuated at the start of the crisis. “The refugees there have now been relocated,” one neighbor said. “They are no longer here, they are in the heat,” another added.
There is no evidence of a formal policy giving migrants preferential treatment during the outage, but decisions to evacuate refugee centers while asking Berliners to cough up the majority of a hotel bill to be relocated themselves have raised questions about priorities.
According to figures confirmed to the German Press Agency in December last year, the city paid €883 million in 2024 to house refugees, up from €312 million in 2020. Large facilities such as Tegel and Tempelhof account for particularly high costs, with Tegel alone costing around €260 million last year.
Kurze Erinnerung, wofür in Berlin genügend Geld da ist. Die Kosten für die Unterbringung von Asylbewerbern sind in den vergangenen Jahren explodiert. pic.twitter.com/Zb9LtREz7b
City officials are now under pressure to justify the ever-rising cost to the German taxpayer to house migrants, when those funds could have been saved and used as a contingency fund for a crisis such as the one now enveloping southwest Berlin.
Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs and Energy, Franziska Giffey, defended the hotel initiative as an act of solidarity. “People from 35,000 households in the southwest of our city are in need, and with this special offer, the hotels are offering their rooms at cost price,” she said, praising the waiver of the overnight accommodation tax and thanking hotels for what she called a “fantastic initiative.”
Imagine the media response if a far-right terrorist group sabotaged the power grid in a wealthy area of Berlin and left 45,000 homes without power and heating in deep winter.
A leftist terrorist organisation did exactly that and it has barely been covered outside Germany. pic.twitter.com/ntbRoaYRFn
However, after days of pressure, the Senate reversed course. The Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office announced on Tuesday that hotel costs for affected residents will now be reimbursed in full. Residents who cannot use their apartments due to power, heating, or hot water outages can stay in hotels and reclaim the costs by submitting the hotel bill, proof of hardship, and proof of identity to the social services office. Emergency shelters remain available.
Tim Richter, deputy mayor of the Wannsee district and CDU chairman in Steglitz-Zehlendorf, welcomed the change. “I advocated for a swift solution for the residents of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, and I am very grateful to the Senate that we can now provide pragmatic and rapid assistance,” he said.
Some, however, will say that city officials have already revealed their true colors when it comes to their priorities, and vulnerable Berliners appear to be at the back of the line.
The outage is the latest in a series of attacks claimed by the far-left “Volcano Group,” which has repeatedly targeted power and data infrastructure in Berlin and Brandenburg. In September 2025, the group knocked out electricity to around 50,000 households in southeast Berlin, and in 2024, it caused a blackout near the Tesla factory in Grünheide.
Brussels is pushing to vote on the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, collectively known as Mercosur) this week, with a final vote scheduled for Friday.
The European Commission is expected to release a statement soon, Magyar Nemzet writes, citing Politico sources, as it seeks to appease countries that have so far opposed the Latin American trade deal.
The vote now scheduled for Friday was already postponed, largely due to ongoing protests by farmers across Europe being opposed to the deal. Sources believe that the Commission has prepared new safeguards regarding payments to European farmers.
The move could win back the support of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who holds sway over her country’s agricultural lobby group. Italy has a virtually decisive vote on the deal.
If the Commission can provide assurances about the amounts of money allocated to farmers in the EU’s next seven-year budget from 2028 to 2034, it could help cushion the impact of a one-fifth cut to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), under which the bloc distributes subsidies to farmers.
Whether this will appease France and Poland is still in question, but only Italy matters, as without its vote, no block can succeed.
If the vote passes, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen could finally fly to Paraguay next week to sign the agreement, which has been overdue for more than 25 years, notes Magyar Nemzet.
This would create a free trade area covering more than 700 million people and eliminate tariffs on 90 percent of EU exports.
As to France, it plans to ban the import of food from South America or other countries containing pesticides banned in the European Union. During the protests, French farmers also blocked roads to protest the slaughter of cattle as part of strict measures to combat animal diseases, adding to ongoing tensions.
In an open letter to farmers, posted by French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard this past weekend, she sought to reassure the country’s farmers, announcing reinforced import controls and a decree banning food products with residues of substances prohibited in the EU.
Some politicians and supporters of Poland’s right-wing Law & Justice party (PiS) have begun to compare the situation of their prime minister, Donald Tusk, with that of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by the U.S. and taken prisoner.
“Look, Donald Tusk, how dictators end up,” wrote PiS MEP Mariusz Kamiński on X.
Similar statements did not go down well with some of the party’s politicians, writes Do Rzeczy, citing a report out of Wirtualna Polska.
“This labels us as lunatics,” one of the party’s MPs told the website. Another politician didn’t hide his anger, pointing out that they were once again forced to explain “some idiotic posts.”
“Elections in a democratic country are won fairly, according to the rules, as the presidential election demonstrated, even though one side tried to undermine it. Tusk is an extremely harmful politician, but he’s not a dictator. Kamiński and Sakiewicz are harmful,” he said.
PiS MP Radosław Fogiel commented on the law on Monday on Polish Radio: “I think that Americans are not stupid enough to think that they need Donald Tusk for anything, we would also be happy to get rid of him.”
“Tusk and his circle are very hurt by the fact that Americans do not talk to them and at least this way they try to attract attention, a bit like the donkey in Shrek,” he continued.
“If the court recently wrote in the justification of its decision that in Poland we are dealing with a government of the nature of a crypto-dictatorship, then it is a warning signal, and it would be good if Donald Tusk did not follow the path leading to dictatorship,” he said.
Another senior PiS politician sang the same tune.
Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński published a post in which he directly compared Tusk to Maduro.
“Tusk is politically responsible for the torture and human rights violations of government opponents, including women and clergy, as well as M. Kamiński, who was force-fed through his nose in prison, even though they knew he would be released in a few hours. This is how dictators operate. Tusk will also be held accountable for this,” Gliński wrote on the X website.
Earlier, the editor-in-chief of Telewizja Republika, Tomasz Sakiewicz, published a post on X with the following text: “Assad, Maduro… Tusk?”
Sakiewicz also shared the post by PiS MP Mariusz Kamiński, accompanied by a photo of the Venezuelan president and the comment: “See @donaldtusk, how dictators end up.”
A notorious crime-ridden Syrian family living in Stuttgart has cost German taxpayers more than €1 million in prison costs to date, according to figures released by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice.
The data, disclosed in response to a parliamentary inquiry by Alternative for Germany (AfD) state lawmaker Daniel Lindenschmid, details the scale of criminal offending by several members of the family and the financial impact on public finances.
According to the ministry, eight children of asylum seeker Almudy H. incurred a combined €1,053,508 in detention and prison costs as a result of their convictions. The extended family consisted of around 20 people and was housed in Stuttgart, where they lived a life of relentless crime. By 2025, authorities had linked family members to at least 160 criminal offenses.
The most serious cases involved several brothers with lengthy criminal records. As reported by Bild, one of them, 22-year-old Mufed, alone cost taxpayers €254,140. He was sentenced in February 2025 to two years in prison for threats and coercion, after previously spending three years in juvenile detention for offenses including aggravated assault, burglary, and arson. His brother Edo incurred €104,568 in prison costs and was involved in a stabbing in November 2023, while Khalid, who had eight prior offenses, served one year and two months in prison at a cost of €77,220. Mustafa, still a minor, was imprisoned at the age of 14, generating €20,700 in costs. Their 20-year-old sister Fakhria served four months in prison, costing €21,600.
A sum of €575,280 was attributed to the brothers Mohammed, Khalil, and Jamil, who were convicted of stabbing three men in Stuttgart in July 2024. Their releases are expected in August 2026, January 2027, and October 2027. State Secretary Siegfried Lorek said, “These three brothers will fly to their home country as soon as possible. However, according to current law, they must serve part of their sentence.”
In October 2025, Baden-Württemberg Justice Minister Marion Gentges and her department succeeded in securing the departure of 17 family members through a state-organized “controlled exit.” The operation cost €45,228.57 and included plane tickets, prisoner transport, document fees, and around €23,000 in cash payments provided for discretionary use. According to the ministry, each family member received an average of about €1,350 under Germany’s voluntary return program.
The case had already drawn national attention months earlier. In December 2024, officials confirmed that the extended family was responsible for at least 154 crimes, a figure that continued to climb. These included 47 physical assaults, 11 threats, two robberies, three robbery-related thefts, one case of smuggling of foreigners, and additional charges such as attempted murder. The scale of offending only became public after an AfD parliamentary inquiry, released by the Baden-Württemberg interior ministry.
German media reported that members of the family openly discussed their criminal pasts. In interviews with Bild, Mufed acknowledged multiple convictions, while the family patriarch, Abd Almudy H., blamed the German Youth Welfare Office for his children’s behavior, saying the agency had “spoiled” them. Bild later reported that Almudy H. himself had 12 criminal convictions, mostly for violent crimes and threats, despite publicly downplaying his record.
Following the deportations, authorities defended the state-funded departures as cost-effective. Lorek described the payments as “money well spent,” arguing that voluntary returns were cheaper and faster than prolonged incarceration or deportation proceedings, which are currently not possible to Syria. He added that the cost of human smuggling would make any attempt by the family to re-enter Germany financially unrealistic.
A 34-year-old Trenitalia train conductor, Alessandro Ambrosio, was found dead on Monday evening near the employee parking lot of Bologna’s main railway station, in what authorities believe was a fatal stabbing to the abdomen.
The body was discovered near the parking area reserved for railway staff shortly after 6 p.m. local time. Emergency medical services were called to the scene but were unable to revive the man, who was found lying in a pool of blood.
Authorities responded to the incident, alongside the coroner, and forensic examinations are underway.
Initial findings indicate that Ambrosio was not on duty at the time of his death. He reportedly worked primarily on Intercity services. According to an early reconstruction by police reported on by Corriere di Bologna, the body was discovered by an employee of Italo, the private high-speed rail operator, who alerted the railway police and triggered the first response.
Late on Monday evening, Il Giornale cited Galeazzo Bignami, leader of the local Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, who claimed the attacker had been identified. He is believed to be “a deranged man already known to law enforcement, originally from Eastern Europe.” The attacker was reportedly filmed wandering around the area, but is still on the run.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also the minister for transport and infrastructure, said he “is deeply saddened by the tragedy.” According to a statement, Salvini “expresses his heartfelt sympathy to the victim’s family and his colleagues, and is in constant contact with the law enforcement agencies who are investigating.” Salvini also “reaffirms his determination to increase the number of security uniformed men and women to 1,500 to guard trains and stations.”
Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore described the killing as “a very serious act,” and said officials were “waiting to understand what happened, but in the meantime, I would like to express our closeness, at this very painful time, to the family and colleagues of the young train conductor found dead near the Piazzale Ovest parking lot of the station. We trust in the work of the investigating authorities and offer our full availability for any assistance deemed useful to the investigation.”
Authorities have not released further details about a possible motive, and the investigation is ongoing.
The fatal stabbing comes against the backdrop of mounting concern over violence against railway staff in Italy. In November 2024, six rail unions announced a nationwide strike after a train conductor was stabbed by North African migrants on a regional service in Genoa, an attack that union leaders said symbolized “violent and repeated attacks” on workers and the lack of adequate protection.
That incident occurred on the Genoa Brignole–Busalla route aboard regional train 12042, when a 44-year-old conductor was checking tickets. According to investigators at the time, two young men, reportedly without tickets, assaulted the conductor during a routine inspection. One of the attackers, a 21-year-old Egyptian, allegedly stabbed the conductor twice with a knife, while a second suspect, a 17-year-old minor of North African origin with Italian citizenship, was also involved. Both fled but were later arrested based on passenger descriptions.
In response, six major trade unions called an eight-hour nationwide strike for railway workers, beginning at 9:00 a.m. the following day. “The gravity and intolerability of these episodes urgently require firm and decisive intervention,” the unions said in a joint statement, noting that warnings about rising attacks had already been raised in 2023 without, in their view, meaningful improvements in security.
Salvini also reacted to the Genoa stabbing at the time, writing on X: “Full solidarity with the injured man, currently in serious condition. And now, no clemency for those responsible: such acts must not go unpunished.”
Authorities have not indicated whether the victim’s profession in the Bologna killing played a part in the attack.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has announced plans for deportation reform aimed at expelling more foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes, using her New Year’s address to argue that Denmark must put public safety and victims first, even if doing so pushes the boundaries of international conventions.
“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 drew a clear distinction between immigrants who, in her words, had embraced Denmark and those who commit crimes. “You can be Danish even if your favorite dish isn’t meatballs or mackerel sandwiches, for that matter. We Danes, don’t look the same. Nor should we. But we should love each other.”
Frederiksen’s tone hardened when addressing the current issues regarding criminality and integration. “In Denmark, when democracy and religion collide, it is God who has the right of way,” she said, before adding: “Therefore, to the people who have come here and are committing crimes: You shouldn’t be here. We don’t want your madness and culture of dominance. You are destroying the most beautiful country in the world, and you should not be allowed to do that.”
🇩🇰🚨 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
She cited specific cases to underline what she described as systemic failures. “No one can understand why an Iraqi man convicted of brutally assaulting an innocent person with a golf club cannot be deported,” Frederiksen said. “Nor why a previously convicted man from Kosovo, convicted of abusing his children and spouse for several years, can be allowed to stay here.”
Under the government’s proposal, foreigners would be deported if they commit serious crimes and receive a prison sentence of at least one year, regardless of their length of stay or personal ties to Denmark. “This makes it a very clear starting point,” Frederiksen said. “If you are convicted of, for example, rape, aggravated assault, or other serious crime, then your stay in Denmark is over.”
Frederiksen said Denmark already deports many criminal foreigners due to what she described as a strict immigration policy that goes “to the edge of conventions.” She argued that the government could now go further because Denmark, together with Italy, had succeeded before Christmas in gathering support from 27 countries for a new interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights. “Now, first and foremost, it must be the populations – and the victims – who are protected. And not the perpetrator,” she said. “Instead of waiting several years for it to take effect in court practice, we are taking the lead and implementing legislation before the summer.”
In October last year, a government report revealed that nearly three-quarters of those convicted under Denmark’s so-called gang clause have immigrant backgrounds from non-Western countries. Data released by the Ministry of Justice showed that between 2018 and 2025, 213 people were convicted under Section 81a of the Criminal Code, which allows courts to double sentences for crimes likely to provoke gang violence. Of those convicted, 54 were of Danish origin, 36 were immigrants from non-Western countries, and 117 were descendants of non-Western immigrants, meaning 72 percent had non-Western roots. Conservative immigration spokesman Frederik Bloch Münster described the figure as “remarkably high.”
Denmark has already moved to tighten deportation rules. In December 2024, the government announced plans to abolish the so-called ladder system, which limits deportation based on the severity of a crime and the offender’s length of stay in the country. The proposed reform would allow the deportation of any foreign national sentenced to an unconditional prison term, unless doing so would breach Denmark’s international obligations.
“Unfortunately, foreigners in Denmark are overrepresented in the crime statistics and too often commit serious crimes — such as those related to gang activity. We don’t have to deal with that. The hammer must fall even harder,” said Immigration and Integration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek at the time. “Therefore, we want to tighten the rules so that we can get even more criminal aliens deported. Every criminal alien who is deported by Denmark is a victory for the legal community and a victory for our country.”
The deportation push is part of a broader tightening of Denmark’s approach to immigration and national identity. Since Jan. 1, 2025, it has been illegal to raise foreign flags without special permission, following new legislation passed by the Folketing after a Supreme Court ruling struck down a 1915 ban. The new rule restored restrictions while allowing exceptions for Nordic flags, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and specific contexts such as sporting events, demonstrations, or special permits granted by police or the justice minister.
Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard defended the measure last December, saying, “The Dannebrog is the most important national symbol we have in Denmark. A symbol that binds the Danes together as a people, and which should enjoy a very special status in Denmark.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used a wide-ranging international press conference in Budapest to frame the run-up to Hungary’s 2026 parliamentary election as a choice between what he called a Brussels-driven path toward war and centralization and a sovereign national course focused on peace, energy independence, and family-friendly policies.
Opening Monday’s event, Orbán said the “rules of the old liberal world order are no longer valid,” arguing that a new global phase had begun. “The new era will be the era of nations,” he said, adding that Hungary was already adapted to this reality.
He identified four defining issues of the period ahead: “War and peace, energy, migration, and development.”
On the war in Ukraine, Orbán reiterated Hungary’s refusal to take part in any form of military or financial involvement. “Hungary’s task is clear: we must stay out of war,” he said. He rejected EU proposals for joint financing and support, stating bluntly: “We will not give our money to Ukraine. We won’t give a war loan either — the word loan is a scam. Everyone knows it will not be paid back.” He added: “We do not send soldiers and weapons, and we do not accept the transition to the Brussels war economy.”
🕊️ PM Orbán: Hungary has decided to stay out of the war economy, we are building a peace economy
🎙️ @PM_ViktorOrban launched Hungary’s 2026 political season with a wide-ranging international press conference in Budapest, laying out the government’s position on key… pic.twitter.com/zTarm02w5j
Instead, Orbán said Hungary had chosen a different economic direction. “Hungary has decided to stay out of the war economy. We are building a peace economy,” he said, describing this approach as “the Hungarian way,” which he said offered “an opportunity for development.”
The Hungarian prime minister warned that the country’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, would adhere to Brussels’ demands in several areas, handing over taxpayers’ cash to fund the war, and accept the EU’s controversial migration pact and gender ideology, infringing on sovereignty.
Energy policy was also presented as a core element of national sovereignty. Orbán said energy would be “the most important issue of technological development, in addition to sovereignty,” arguing that countries able to secure cheap and reliable energy would emerge as winners in the new era. He sharply criticized EU sanctions on Russian oil and gas, saying that current regulations “would cut off supplies from Russia to Hungary” and that Brussels was abusing its legal powers. “Energy policy falls under national competence,” he said, confirming that Hungary was initiating legal proceedings against the European Commission. He also claimed that existing EU measures had “increased prices in the European Union by 20 percent.”
Migration was described as a fundamental and unresolved conflict with Brussels. Referring to the EU’s migration pact, Orbán said Hungary would be required to process 23,000 asylum applications a year, establish migrant facilities, and accept relocated migrants from other member states. He rejected this outright. “We will not take in any migrants. We will not change border security, and we will not become an immigration country,” he said. “Brussels cannot decide who Hungarians must live with.”
Orbán linked these positions to the broader political stakes of the 2026 election. “The government’s view is that the options facing the country are simple,” he said. “Either we follow the Brussels path, which leads to austerity, or we follow the Hungarian path, the path of peace, which creates a better life for Hungary.”
Funding war < Supporting families
While Western Europe shifts toward a war economy, Hungary strengthens a peace economy: higher wages, tax cuts for parents and small businesses, lifelong tax exemption for mothers, and a 14th-month pension. This is what choosing peace looks like. pic.twitter.com/uKX774Gj0H
Turning to domestic policy, Orbán argued that Hungary could continue developing even as much of Europe faced fiscal tightening. “You will have money for development if you do not give it to others,” he said, again referring to the government’s refusal to finance war-related spending. He stressed that resources would be used “for Hungarian families, not for foreign governments.”
He highlighted a package of measures that took effect on Jan. 1, calling them “decisions that are unthinkable in Western Europe today.” These include the completion of the doubling of family tax benefits, with a further 50 percent increase, personal income tax exemptions for mothers under 30 with one child and under 40 with two children, and an 11 percent rise in the minimum wage. Orbán also pointed to the launch of a corporate tax reduction program, the introduction of a 14th-month pension, continued 3 percent fixed-rate mortgages for first-time buyers, and additional pay increases across the public sector.
“The rate of growth is at the mercy of war,” Orbán said, “and we are still able to make the lives of Hungarians easier under such circumstances.” He argued that this demonstrated the resilience of the Hungarian economy, adding that “not many countries would withstand such measures while maintaining the budget deficit and public debt.”
In his closing remarks, Orbán said that Hungary’s position was not accidental but the result of consistent choices. “We must not give up the Hungarian way,” he said, presenting the election year ahead as a referendum on whether the country continues on what he called the path of peace and national independence or yields to external pressure from Brussels.
France is at the point of a deep political crisis, the main point of reference of which has become the presidency of Emmanuel Macron, writes Do Rzeczy, citing data from recent poll results showing the scale of the collapse of trust in the government and growing concerns about the future of the country.
Support for the French president has fallen to 25 percent, the lowest level during his term. A staggering 58 percent of French people expect his immediate resignation, unwilling to wait until his term ends in May 2027.
At the same time, only 35 percent of respondents believe Macron can prevent the country from being drawn into war, while 39 percent see a very serious risk of such a scenario.
The scale of public pessimism is overwhelming, with 90 percent of the French believing the country is declining, including 32 percent who believe this process is irreversible.
Only 10 percent of respondents believe France is not collapsing. This sentiment translates into open frustration: 96 percent of respondents declare anger at the state of the country, while 59 percent consider actions leading to a complete state paralysis to be justified. Some 43 percent demand the immediate dissolution of parliament.
In parallel to the French dissatisfaction with the president, a public finance crisis is growing. France’s public debt has exceeded €3.5 trillion, equivalent to 117 percent of GDP. Only Greece and Italy have higher relative debt levels in the European Union. The government plans to borrow a record €310 billion in 2026, with projected economic growth of just 0.9 percent. Financial markets are reacting to this situation with an increase in risk premiums – French bond yields have already surpassed those of Spain, Italy, and Greece.
Social discontent is widespread and systemic. Only 10 percent of the French trust political parties, while a mere 20 percent trust their MPs. In contrast, 82 percent say they trust small businesses and 47 percent trust large companies, underscoring the scale of the political class’s rejection. Only 40 percent of the population declares trust in the European Union.
Radical sentiment is also growing. While 85 percent of respondents expect a “true leader,” 34 percent believe that political systems other than democracy can be just as good, and 52 percent support reinstating the death penalty. Another 63 percent of French people do not feel at home in their own country, and 65 percent believe that too many foreigners live in France.
4iG Space and Defense Technologies Ltd. (4iG SDT) and the Czech company Tatra Trucks have signed an exclusive agreement, opening a new chapter in the companies’ cooperation and laying the foundation for the development of a long-term strategic partnership, 4iG announced on Monday, as cited by Magyar Nemzet.
Under the commercial agreement, 4iG SDT acquires the exclusive right to represent Tatra Trucks in Hungary and to sell its military and special vehicles.
The aim of the cooperation is to introduce Tatra’s heavy-duty vehicle platforms, known for their off-road capabilities, to the Hungarian market within a structured commercial and professional framework, primarily for national defense, security, and other special state uses.
The agreement goes beyond the Hungarian market launch: The parties are also exploring further domestic industrial cooperation opportunities, including the entire manufacturing, assembly process, and life-cycle support solutions, as well as vehicle maintenance. Rába Járműipari Holding (Rába), which is expected to become majority owned by 4iG SDT in early January 2026, and which has significant domestic defense industrial capacities, may play a prominent role in this process.
In the future, the agreement may also provide a basis for 4iG SDT to participate in the production of complete vehicles related to Tatra vehicles, in addition to components and subsystems, as well as in the preparation of new, joint development and market projects, even in markets outside Hungary.
The long-term goal of the parties is to make Rába, which has a 129-year history, the second-largest production and development center in Europe, serving the Central European region of Tatra.
The exclusive cooperation agreement is in line with the long-term strategy of 4iG SDT and the 4iG Group, which aims to make modern, NATO-compatible defense solutions available on the domestic market in cooperation with international technology partners, while strengthening Hungary’s role in the regional defense industrial value chain.
The agreement to integrate ground mobility capabilities is a key project of 4iG SDT’s land business, ensuring the development of a complex defense industrial portfolio based on land-aerospace competencies.
Czech opposition parties are demanding the removal of Tomio Okamura, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the now co-governing Freedom and Democracy (SPD).
Okamura has drawn the ire of pro-war forces by saying that supporting the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is senseless and that the country should not be admitted to the European Union.
Czech opposition politicians have started collecting signatures after they were dissatisfied with the New Year’s speech of the speaker of the lower house of parliament. Pro-war forces are demanding the dismissal of Tomio Okamura because he dared to speak out against financial support for the corrupt Ukrainian elite, writes Origo, citing a report out of Ukrainian news portal ZN.
Okamura spoke in his New Year’s video about the pointlessness of funding the war in Ukraine, as this money would be better spent on Czech citizens.
He expressed his hope that his country would jump off the “Brussels train” heading for World War III, and in relation to the war, he emphasized that the money spent on this would clearly be better spent on Czech families, pensioners, and the disabled.
The politician also emphasized that Western governments, companies, and actors in Zelensky’s corrupt government are benefiting from the war, and at the same time stated that Ukraine should not be admitted to the European Union.
The speaker posted a separate video message lambasting Ukraine for allowing marches for “Nazi criminal Stepan Bandera,” although no such marches have yet to be reported this year, and refusing to support Czech tax dollars going to support such a regime. In 2018, the Ukrainian parliament declared Jan. 1 a national day of commemoration for Stepan Bandera.
“Today, Jan. 1, traditional legally permitted marches were held throughout Ukraine in honor of today’s anniversary of the birth of the Nazi criminal Bandera. Stepan Bandera is the inspirer of mass murders and terrorist attacks in Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland. The Polish parliament recognized the mass murders of Poles in western Ukraine as genocide and officially established July 11 as the national day of remembrance of the Bandera genocide. Bandera’s followers also murdered and tortured Czechs and Slovaks not only during World War II, but also after the war, when they fought their way west through Czechoslovakia. It is unacceptable for the Czech Republic to finance Bandera’s worshipers.”
Dnes 1. ledna se konaly po celé Ukrajině tradiční legální povolené pochody na počest dnešního výročí narození nacistického zločince Bandery. Stepan Bandera je inspirátorem masových vražd a teroristických útoků na Ukrajině, v Bělorusku a Polsku. Polský parlament uznal masové… pic.twitter.com/OagcRrUKLv
However, with the latter statement, Okamura has incurred the wrath of pro-war forces. Czech opposition parties have launched a petition to remove the Speaker of the House, arguing that the statements harm the Czech Republic’s international reputation.
SPD is a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN) in the European Parliament, launched by Germany’s AfD after it was expelled from Identity and Democracy in 2024. In Czechia, SPD is part of a coalition government formed by Andrej Babis’s ANO party and Motorists for Themselves after ANO’s landslide victory in 2025.
European conservatives are split over U.S. President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela, with reactions ranging from strong condemnation on sovereignty grounds to cautious approval.
The divisions were most visible in France, where National Rally grandee Marine Le Pen broke with several allies to denounce Washington’s actions, warning that endorsing externally imposed regime change would set a dangerous precedent for all nations.
In a social media post, Le Pen acknowledged that while condemnation of Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship was entirely justified, overthrowing his regime by force was the wrong move. She warned of the “mortal peril” posed by abandoning the principle of state sovereignty.
“There were a thousand reasons to condemn the regime of Nicolas Maduro: communist, oligarchic and authoritarian, it had been imposing a pall of oppression on its people for far too many years, plunging millions of Venezuelans into misery – when it did not force them into exile,” Le Pen wrote. “But there is a fundamental reason to oppose the regime change that the United States has just brought about in Venezuela. The sovereignty of states is never negotiable, regardless of their size, their power, or their continent. It is inviolable and sacred.
Il existait mille raisons de condamner le régime de Nicolas Maduro : communiste, oligarchique et autoritaire, il faisait peser sur son peuple, depuis de trop longues années, une chape de plomb qui a plongé des millions de Vénézuéliens dans la misère – quand il ne les contraignait…
“To renounce this principle today for Venezuela, for any state, would be tantamount to accepting our own servitude tomorrow,” she added. “This would be a mortal peril, especially as the 21st century is already witnessing major geopolitical upheavals that cast a permanent shadow of war and chaos over humanity.”
Le Pen said she hoped “that the Venezuelan people will be given a voice as soon as possible,” arguing that “it is they who must have the power to define, sovereignly and freely, the future they wish to create for themselves as a nation.”
Her stance contrasted with the more cautious response of National Rally president Jordan Bardella, who avoided direct criticism of Trump. “The external overthrow of a government by force cannot be considered an acceptable response,” Bardella said, without naming the United States.
Other figures on the French right were openly supportive of the intervention. Eric Ciotti, a Le Pen ally, welcomed what he described as “good news” for Venezuelans, while Reconquête leader Éric Zemmour dismissed sovereignty-based objections altogether. “There’s no point in jumping up and down shouting ‘sovereignty,’” Zemmour wrote. “The duty of a statesperson is to make their country strong so that it will not be the one attacked.”
France’s centrist government also struggled to present a unified position. President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Maduro’s removal, writing that “the Venezuelan people are today rid of Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship and can only rejoice.” He called for a “peaceful, democratic, and respectful” transition and expressed hope that opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who many consider to be the legitimate president-elect of Venezuela following the 2024 presidential election, could oversee it.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, however, condemned the operation on legal grounds. “The military operation that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro violates the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law,” Barrot said, warning that repeated violations of this principle, particularly by permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, would have “serious consequences for global security.”
Elsewhere in Europe, conservative leaders offered more qualified responses. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy had never recognized Maduro’s electoral victory in 2024 and supported a democratic transition, but insisted that “external military action is not the path to end totalitarian regimes.” She nonetheless argued that “defensive intervention” could be legitimate in response to hybrid threats such as drug trafficking.
The American actions in Venezuela overnight are unorthodox and contrary to international law — but if they make China and Russia think twice, it may be a good thing.
I hope the Venezuelan people can now turn a new leaf without Maduro.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described the U.S. operation as “unorthodox and contrary to international law,” but said that “if they make China and Russia think twice, it may be a good thing.” The Hungarian government said it was monitoring developments but declined to state a position, confirming only that no Hungarian citizens were involved.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that at least 40 people were killed during the U.S. operation, including both soldiers and civilians, citing a Venezuelan source. Trump insisted there were no American casualties, though he acknowledged damage to military equipment. He later warned Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez that she would “pay” if she refused to cooperate with Washington. “If she doesn’t do the right thing, she’s going to pay a very high price, probably even more than Maduro,” Trump said in a phone interview with The Atlantic.
On Jan. 3, Venezuela’s Supreme Court appointed Rodríguez as interim head of state following the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. special forces in Caracas. The United States has said it intends to prosecute Maduro on charges of “narco-terrorism,” accusing him of flooding the United States with drugs from the South American nation.
Trump has said Washington will assume interim control of Venezuela until a “safe, orderly, and sound transition of power” is achieved.
German police and state security services are investigating what they believe to be an arson attack on a cable bridge near a gas-fired power plant in Berlin-Lichterfelde that left large parts of southwest Berlin without electricity and heating on Saturday.
On Sunday, Bild cited authorities who said they consider a letter claiming responsibility from the far-left extremist Volcano Group (Vulkangruppe) to be authentic and credible.
The blackout affected around 45,000 households during sub-zero temperatures, with some residents also losing heating. Emergency shelters were opened, and officials warned that repairs could take several days.
The affected area of Lichterfelde is considered to be one of the most affluent areas of the German capital. As of Sunday morning, around 7,000 households had had their power restored, but the majority were still in the dark.
In a statement published on the Vulkangruppe’s website under the headline “Shutting down fossil power plants is manual work. Courage only. Militant New Year’s greetings,” the group framed the attack as a political act of defiance against climate policy.
🇩🇪🔴Leftist radicals claim responsibility for cutting power to some of the wealthiest areas in all of Germany, known as the "villa districts" in Berlin.
45,000 households were without power, including 2,200 businesses.
“We can no longer afford the rich. We can initiate the end of the imperial way of life. We can stop the plundering of the Earth,” it read.
Describing fossil fuel extraction, the letter states: “In the greed for energy, the Earth is drained, sucked dry, burned, flayed, scorched, raped, destroyed. Entire regions are made uninhabitable by the heat. They simply burn. Or habitats disappear under floods or as a result of rising sea levels.”
Referring directly to the incident in Berlin, the group writes: “Last night, we successfully sabotaged the gas-fired power plant in Berlin-Lichterfelde.” It adds that the resulting power outages were not the intended objective, saying: “Power outages were not the goal of the action, but rather the fossil energy industry.”
Was im Berliner Südwesten passiert, ist kein Stromausfall – es ist eine Katastrophe von nationaler Tragweite.
1) Bürgermeister Kai Wegner war den ganzen Tag nicht vor Ort. Kein persönliches Lagebild, keine sichtbare Verantwortung. Er regiert gefühlt im Homeoffice.
The group characterizes the attack as “an act of self-defense and international solidarity with all those who protect the Earth and life,” and expresses hope that fossil fuel extraction can be stopped as a result of such actions.
Addressing the impact on residents, the letter includes an apology directed at poorer households affected by the blackout, while stating that the group’s sympathy for “the many villa owners in these districts” — in other words, wealthy residents — was “limited.”
According to Tagesschau, police regard the letter as authentic and its contents as credible based on current investigations. State security authorities are examining the case in all directions.
Governing Mayor Kai Wegner of the CDU and Berlin’s Economics Senator Franziska Giffey of the SPD said during a visit to an emergency shelter that they assume the fire was an arson attack. Wegner said the perpetrators were “clearly left-wing extremists.”
The Volcano Group is known to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In its 2024 report, the agency said the group deliberately selects infrastructure targets with “noticeable consequences for the population” and knowingly accepts harm to uninvolved third parties.
Security experts cited by Tagesschau say the group has repeatedly targeted cable ducts, power lines, and communications infrastructure in Berlin and Brandenburg. Similar letters have been linked to earlier attacks, including incidents in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 2018, near the Tesla construction site in 2021, and a power pylon fire in Brandenburg in March 2024 that temporarily shut down Tesla’s Grünheide factory.
Nach dem #Stromausfall mussten zwei Personen mit Pflegegrad 4 und 5 die letzte Nacht in der Turnhalle im Hüttenweg verbringen. Kai Wegner und Innensenatorin Iris Spranger (SPD) schlugen deshalb beim Besuch der Notunterkunft viel Wut entgegen. pic.twitter.com/5Gst3P1nan
On Sunday, Tagesspiegel’s head of Berlin state politics, Christian Latz, wrote on social media: “Following the power outage, two people with care levels 4 and 5 had to spend the last night in the gymnasium on Hüttenweg. Kai Wegner and Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) therefore faced a lot of anger during their visit to the emergency shelter.”
Investigations are ongoing, and no arrests have been made at the time of writing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed appointing Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, as the new head of the presidential office.
Zelensky announced the decision on social media on Friday, and Budanov later confirmed that he had accepted the offer, describing the appointment as a major step in his service to the country.
Writing on Telegram, he said, “I accepted the offer from the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to head the Office of the Head of State.”
“I consider the position of the head of the President’s Office as another milestone of responsibility to the country. For me, it’s an honor and a responsibility to focus on the critically important issues of our state’s strategic security at this historic time for Ukraine,” he added.
Budanov also thanked his colleagues at military intelligence, writing, “Thank you to all my combat comrades and the entire team of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for our joint work. We will continue to do our job — fight against the enemy, defend Ukraine, and work towards achieving a just peace.”
“We will continue to fight together for a free and safe future of Ukraine!” he concluded.
No official announcement has yet been made regarding Budanov’s successor at the Main Intelligence Directorate. However, Meduza reported Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak as saying the post will be taken over by Oleh Ivashchenko, the current head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
The position of head of the presidential office has been vacant since late November, when Zelensky dismissed Andriy Yermak amid mounting allegations of corruption at the highest levels of government. In early December, Zelensky had named Budanov among a shortlist of five candidates under consideration for the role.
Yermak’s dismissal followed a series of high-profile investigations linked to a widening corruption probe in the energy sector. In late November, investigators from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office conducted searches at Yermak’s home.
The investigation centers on alleged large-scale embezzlement at Energoatom, the state operator of Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. According to investigators, the scheme involved kickbacks worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Authorities have named Tymur Mindich, a close associate of Zelensky, as the alleged architect and one of the primary beneficiaries.
Mindich’s property was searched on Nov. 10, though he reportedly left for Israel shortly before the raid. Zelensky later imposed sanctions on Mindich and businessman Alexander Tsukerman, who is also believed to be in Israel. Both are now wanted in connection with the case.
The investigation has triggered upheaval across senior levels of government. Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk was dismissed, Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko was suspended pending further probes, and several suspects were taken into custody. Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, described as close to the president, was also arrested.
After a devastating fire broke out in a club in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, police say around 40 people have died, and another 115 are injured, with 80 in critical condition.
The working theory as to how the fire spread so quickly is that a “flashover” erupted after the wooden ceiling of the basement bar caught fire, likely due to sparklers on champagne bottles, with one witness stating that they saw a waitress holding such bottles being hoisted up on a man’s shoulders at one point.
Photos circulating online not only show waitresses carrying said champagne bottles with lit sparklers attached but also the narrow staircase leading out of the basement, which clearly became an impossible exit for a stampede of terrified revelers. Another photo also shows the ceiling on fire.
Écoute-moi bien, parce que je ne vais pas mâcher mes mots : ce massacre au Constellation à Crans-Montana n’est pas un “accident”. C’est un carnage prévu, une chaîne de négligences criminelles qui schlingue la cupidité à plein nez et le mépris absolu pour la vie des jeunes. Oui,… pic.twitter.com/yQd1pSZPjV
“On New Year’s Eve, a fire in the ‘Le Constellation’ bar in Crans-Montana caused a flashover, resulting in one or more explosions and numerous deaths and injuries,” read the official State Council release.
Fire safety expert Sandra Barz told ARD news that a flashover is when a “small fire event” releases heat into the surrounding air, accumulates under the ceiling, leading to temperatures that can reach as high as 1200 degrees Celcius. All flammable materials will then start to chemically decompose and produce certain gases.
The resulting firestorm can result in oxygen levels below 4 percent, in other words, an “unsurvivable” environment, even for firefighters without the right protection, she added.
Many of those at the bar are said to have been foreigners visiting the luxury ski resort over the holidays. Most of the victims are also said to be between the ages of 16 and 26, with 22 airlifted by helicopter to the University Hospital in Lausanne, according to Welt.
Chief physician of the Morges hospital, Wassim Raffoul, told RTS that the Lausanne University Hospital alone had admitted approximately 13 adults and 8 minors “whose body surface area was burned over more than 60 percent.”
Welt also cites a statement from the Italian ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, who told Sky TG24 that local authorities had informed him the fire was started by someone setting off a firework in the bar, which then ignited the ceiling. Of the injured, 13 are Italian, with another six Italians missing.
One young man from France, just 16 years old, told press that he had escaped the “total chaos” by pushing out a plexiglass window panel with a chair. He lost one friend in the fire, while another two or three are missing.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the incident as one of the worst tragedies in the country’s history, posting a video on Instagram offering his condolences to the victims’ families. In the wake of the incident, many parents arrived on scene searching for their teenage or young adult kids.
He has also postponed his normal New Year’s address.
The demographic landscape of Vienna is shifting rapidly, with a record number of newborns lacking Austrian citizenship despite being born within the country. According to recent data from Statistics Austria, 40.5 percent of babies born in the capital do not have Austrian citizenship — a figure that has doubled from 20 percent just two decades ago.
In several Viennese districts, the statistics are even more striking. In areas such as Favoriten, Ottakring, and Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, the share of non-Austrian newborns has surpassed 50 percent. While these children are born on Austrian soil, they are not legally considered citizens, according to data from Heute newspaper.
This data comes at a time when 40.9% of all of Vienna’s population is foreign-born. Over 50 percent have both parents born overseas.
Those born without a passport do not automatically receive Austrian citizenship, as they do in the United States. Instead, there is a process, and in a number of cases, these people do not go on to obtain Austrian citizenship and have issues with voting and sometimes even staying in the country. Leftist politicians have called for these citizens to receive automatic citizenship.
In addition, of the approximately 60 percent of those born in Vienna with an Austrian passport, many of these births are to those with a migration background who also have Austrian citizenship.
🇦🇹Austria
Vienna has seen incredible demographic changes, especially in the last decade.
40.9% of its population is foreign born. Over 50% have both parents born overseas.
This year, for the first time ever, over half of first-graders do not understand German (50.9%). pic.twitter.com/P0P7dJVj5Q
In short, the demographics of Vienna are rapidly changing. As Remix News reported last month, for the first time ever, over 50 percent of first-graders do not understand German, a major milestone in the troubled Vienna school system.
Muslim students now account for 41.2 percent of all students, while Christian students fell to 34.5 percent. The trend is only growing, and is accompanied by rising problems, including violence in schools, anti-Semitism, and contempt for women.
Meanwhile, the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) is raising the alarm about the rapid demographic change in Austria and Vienna.
“Austrians will soon be strangers in their own country,” said Hannes Amesbauer, security spokesman for the FPÖ.
FPÖ National Council member Maximilian Weinzierl, the FPÖ youth spokesperson and federal chairman of the Freedom Party Youth said:
“What we as the FPÖ have been warning about for decades, but which was always dismissed as right-wing scaremongering, is now reality: Immigration has completely overrun our country….41.2 percent of Muslim students – that’s no longer a minority, that’s the new majority. And it’s not just that Austrian children have become a minority in schools. Even together with other Christian European migrants, they are fewer than non-European Muslims. This is the direct result of replacement migration, asylum abuse, and the denial of reality by the SPÖ, ÖVP, and Greens.
In more and more school classes, German is a second language, and our values are becoming increasingly secondary. Our children are being marginalized by migrants. This is no longer immigration, this is displacement.”
Vienna has seen an incredible demographic transformation in recent decades, with an extreme acceleration in just the last 10 years.
The forint had an outstanding year in 2025; the Hungarian currency was one of the stars of the market globally, writes the Portfolio news outlet. The reason for this is the high interest rate difference: while the MNB kept the base interest rate at 6.5 percent throughout the year, the developed central banks and regional institutions significantly reduced their own interest rates. And the widening interest rate differential has stirred the imagination of carry trade investors, who seek to profit from the difference between borrowing at low rates and investing at higher rates.
This process led to the Hungarian currency appreciating by more than 6 percent against the euro and by 17.5 percent against the dollar in just one year.
In the former case, there has not been a greater strengthening against the dollar since 2012, and since 2002, that is, the forint has not had such a good year in more than 20 years. There is a relatively small chance that even this will be surpassed by the domestic currency in 2026.
In 2026, a significant additional capital inflow is no longer expected, and the question may be when investors will close these positions. If the capital goes out en masse, it may even bring a sudden significant weakening of the forint. Several analysts have warned that at the end of the year, we could already see signs that some investors are closing their positions and pocketing profits.
According to experts, inflation may drop to close to 2 percent at the beginning of the year, and from the point of view of the central bank, it will be crucial how the traditional January repricings and the basic processes develop. Margin stops will continue to reduce inflation by 1-1.5 percentage points; however, if the basic inflation processes develop favorably in the first months, the central bank may even try to reduce interest rates regardless. This, in turn, might lead to a weakening of the forint.
The most important event of the year could be the April parliamentary elections. Several international analysts have already mentioned the so-called Tisza-bet, which may indicate that a significant part of the market expects the victory of the opposition Tisza Party.
As Portfolio writes, the fact that a significant number of investors evaluate the possible victory of the party currently in opposition as a realistic option may have played a role in the strengthening of the forint last year.
The Tisza Party is openly campaigning to improve access to EU funds and even put the introduction of the euro on the agenda for the longer term. What Tisza would achieve in the event of a possible victory is another question. As known, Péter Magyar, Orbán’s main political rival, is careful not to say anything specific on important issues, but the leaked Tisza budget package has revealed that significant budget cuts and austerity would lie ahead for Hungary were the party to come to power.
In a statement to journalists in front of the Serbian Assembly, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that NIS will start procuring and processing oil right after the holidays, and that the refinery will start working at full speed around Jan. 18, writes N1.
The Serbian company is majority controlled by Russian state-owned Gazprom and was hit with sanctions last year. In line with these, the refinery and fuel station chain operator halted production a month ago.
Now, Serbia and Hungary are negotiating for the Hungarian energy conglomerate MOL to take over the Russian majority control.
In an indirect reference to MOL, Vučić expressed hope that the Russian and Hungarian sides will conclude the negotiations, while NIS can restart at full capacity in mid-January.
“I hope that by then the Russians and Hungarians will finish their work,” said Vučić, at the same time expressing the hope that there will be enough fuel for all needs in the country.
In the meantime, notes Mandiner, the U.S. Treasury Department has also allowed NIS to continue its operations, issuing a special license on Dec. 31, providing a legal basis for the company’s activities until Jan. 23, 2026. This covers restarting refinery processing, importing crude oil, and conducting transactions necessary to maintain security of supply and technical maintenance.
Hungary has announced the addition to its military arsenal of the Leopard 2 A7HU, “one of the most modern tanks in the world,” but some are asking about the future of tanks on the battlefield, given that so many have been taken out by drones on both the Russian and Ukrainian side.
Bálint Somkuti, a military historian and security policy expert, spoke to Mandiner about the usefulness of tanks in today’s warfare, especially with the emergence of drones.
“When aircraft carriers appeared, many declared that battleships were the end of the world, but in comparison, they were still in service in the United States Navy 40 years later. And when nuclear-powered submarines appeared, aircraft carriers were buried, but in comparison, they are fine, and are still considered the most advanced assets of the fleets,” he explained.
It should be noted that many believe traditional battleships are in need of a major overhaul to incorporate drone technology as well.
Nevertheless, Somkuti stresses that this new Leopard has “an active protection system, which will significantly increase the tank’s survivability.”
“Drone technology has not actually changed war primarily because they can destroy tanks with them, but because reconnaissance drones have made it impossible to conduct a deep breakthrough, a kind of ‘blitzkrieg’ warfare, the essence of which is to break through the weakest part of the front line quickly and unexpectedly. There are so many reconnaissance assets in the air and in space that this is no longer feasible. And it is relatively easy to strike at detected tank formations with either artillery or anti-tank weapons,” the expert told Mandiner.
Also, with effective drone jamming tech, tanks can operate as usual, he noted.
“If tanks were an obsolete tool, like biplanes are, no one would make them. In comparison, tank production is thriving, alive and well in Russia and China, as well as in the United States – where a new type of tank was recently designed and then abandoned – and next-generation tanks are also being designed in Europe.”
“The kind of mobile firepower that a tank has is simply still unavoidable. Today, not necessarily fighting directly alongside the infantry, but from a kilometer or two behind the front line, it can effectively support the infantry’s fight with direct fire, which is still essential,” he said.
“It is still impossible to imagine breakthroughs and deep-space operations without tanks. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, the question arises as to whether tanks still have a right to exist, as the number of tanks destroyed in the conflict has increased significantly due to drones and other means. However, most videos showing tanks being destroyed by drones show stationary, damaged, immobile vehicles.”
“Information has been received from several places that both the Ukrainians and the Russians use 50-60 drones to destroy a single tank,” Somkuti noted.
“A tank must first be immobilized before it can be destroyed by drones. In many cases, you see abandoned tanks being destroyed because the vehicle’s hatches are open,” he added.
The massive security deployment for New Year’s Eve did not prevent incidents of urban violence, attacks on police officers, and vehicle fires, writes Le Figaro. In fact, 1,173 vehicles were burned, reaching close to the national record of 1,300 for New Year’s set in 2019, and significantly more than last year’s numbers.
The paper notes that Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had announced a “zero tolerance ” policy for law enforcement and “immediate arrests” for perpetrators, and yet, an incredible number of vehicles were still burned nationwide.
Compared to last year’s mayhem, which saw 984 cars burned, this year saw 1,173 vehicles hit with arson attacks, representing a 19 percent jump.
In total, a ministry press release indicates that 505 people were arrested nationwide, with 403 taken into custody. Last year, there were 420 arrests and 310 detentions.
🇫🇷🔥In France's La Rochelle, multiple cars were set on fire and mortar fireworks were used during New Year's.
A "hundred hooded youths" were filmed taunting rescuers and police.
In Paris, “125 people were taken into custody overnight,” according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, which also indicated that they had “not been notified of any fires involving vehicles or street furniture.” Nevertheless, the arrests did include charges of violence and intent to commit violence or damage as part of a large group.
One incident in the suburb of Bagnolet sent a young man to the hospital with four gunshot wounds. Meanwhile, in the suburb of Trappes, a man “well-known to the police” in his 30s ended up in the emergency room after being shot in the leg.
🇫🇷🔥New Year's Eve in France's Metz-Borny, featuring video of several cars set on fire.
The official police report documented 15 vehicles burned in the Moselle department.
Nationwide, there were 1,173 cars burned, a 19% increase compared to last year.pic.twitter.com/L7zdxj2wCK
In Rezé (Loire-Atlantique), the police station was targeted by repeated mortar fire, and 24 vehicles were burned across the department. Police in Strasbourg reported over 100 vehicles set on fire, some 30 arrests, and more than 20 police officers suffering minor injuries.
A group of around 100 people even “targeted law enforcement officers in Rennes with mortars and projectiles, injuring a riot police officer,” according to sources who spoke to Le Figaro.
🇫🇷 Strasbourg on New Year's Eve
At least 101 vehicles were burned and 25 officers injured.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had announced a "zero tolerance" policy.
The use of firework mortars was widespread across France.
In Buchelay, Yvelines department, two 17-year-old minors were arrested while selling a stockpile of 389 mortars, in violation of a decree prohibiting their transport. In Trappes, Guyancourt, Mantes-la-Ville, and even on the Paris metro, police made numerous seizures of fireworks from teenagers, some as young as 15 or 16, according to a police source. In Chelles (Seine-et-Marne), a 12-year-old boy lost three fingers due to setting off a firework mortar.
In Lyon, multiple arrests were made for the use of fireworks. No injuries were reported, according to Le Progress. The Rhône department was reportedly calmer compared to past years, although this may have had to do with “massive police presence” of 800 police officers and gendarmes. All in all, some 15 people were arrested and some 80 cars, along with dozens of garbage cans, were set on fire across the Lyon metropolitan area.
Charges for those arrested included the use of fireworks, possession of narcotics, vandalism, armed or aggravated violence, refusal to comply, setting fire to garbage cans or barricades, and phone thefts.
Paris police also arrested 10 people for possessing nitrous oxide canisters, according to the prosecutor’s office. Nitrous oxide has been growing in popularity as a recreational drug, with various laws now in place restricting and regulating its use and sale due to the risk of severe neurological damage.
More serious violent incidents were also reported, including in Marseille, where a 36-year-old Algerian man, known to police, was stabbed five times before dying at La Timone Hospital. According to Le Figaro sources, he was reportedly attacked by a group of “hooded individuals armed with knives, tear gas, and batons.”
Czech President Petr Pavel used his New Year’s Day address to issue a clear warning to the country’s new government, saying he would actively monitor whether ministers take steps that could endanger democracy, national security, or the country’s Western orientation.
Speaking on Jan. 1, Pavel said that while he would give the new cabinet space at the beginning of its term, this would not amount to a prolonged grace period. “It does not have to be the famous 100 days of defense, because the time for the first evaluation will come soon,” he said.
He stressed that his role as president included oversight of the government’s adherence to fundamental democratic commitments. “In accordance with the presidential promise, I will always be interested in whether the government and individual ministers are fulfilling their promise and whether they are taking steps that could threaten our democracy, its institutions, our security, or our belonging to the free world,” Pavel said, adding, “And I believe that I will not be alone.”
Without naming specific parties or politicians, the president also warned against populism and the growing influence of social media-driven political extremes, placing responsibility not only on political leaders but on society as a whole.
Vážení spoluobčané, jako prezident republiky mám tu výjimečnou možnost promluvit k vám hned první den nového roku a popřát vám, aby byl dobrý a aby se každému z vás dařilo. pic.twitter.com/pUfyNFhMdR
“May each of us manage not to succumb to the appeal of populism,” he said. “May each of us lift our eyes from the extremes we see daily on social media and look at things around us more soberly and thoughtfully.”
The Czech head of state argued that political conflict had become overstated in public debate and was contributing to social division. “We are not divided because we have so many insurmountable differences among ourselves, but because the emphasis on contradictions sets the tone of our public debate.”
He cautioned against expecting politics alone to restore trust in society, claiming that “politics is inherently based on conflict of opinion, and controversy is the easiest way for it to gain traction.”
Concluding his speech, the president urged citizens to focus on shared values rather than division, saying that “the intersection of our goals is so broad that it makes no sense for disagreement to become the motto of our country.”
Lithuania is preparing for a possible armed conflict by strengthening bridges near the Belarusian border and building a Baltic defense line, while authorities are trying to avoid causing panic among the population, writes Portfolio, citing a report out of LRT.
Construction and reinforcement work has begun almost simultaneously on several bridges in Lithuania near the Belarusian border. The Lithuanian Armed Forces confirmed that this is part of a package of fortification measures adopted last July and is related to the construction of the Baltic defense line, which will run along the Russian and Belarusian borders.
According to plans, bridges will have structures that can be rigged with explosives if needed. In the event of an armed conflict, bridges near the border could be blown up more quickly, which would slow or halt the advance of enemy troops.
The army said the bridges and roads to be reinforced are being selected based on the location of natural obstacles and their strategic importance. Anti-tank weapons and other terrain obstacles are already being stored at dozens of locations near the border. Trees are also being planted along major roads for defensive purposes and irrigation ditches are being dug that can be used as trenches and anti-tank barriers.
Populists in the country have been vocal, criticizing such preparations and frequent rhetoric as outright warmongering.
Andrus Merilo, the commander of the Estonian Armed Forces, also spoke of “war hysteria” in October, saying it was seriously counterproductive and could easily cause panic in society.
Lithuanian officials say they are seeking a balance that allows for the presentation of defensive measures but does not incite unnecessary fear.
According to Major Gintautas Ciunis, an employee of the Lithuanian Armed Forces’ strategic communications department, “Russia’s threat remains constant.” Because of this, conflict preparation should be perceived by society as a regular, long-term activity. The Lithuanian state, he said, has lived with this threat from Russia for centuries and is expected to live with it in the future.
“That is why constant readiness is essential, and the more intensive this preparation, the greater the chance of effective deterrence,” Ciunis said.
Russia’s pipeline gas exports to Europe will fall by 44 percent in 2025, to their lowest level since the mid-1970s, driven by the closure of the Ukrainian transit route and the European Union’s push to phase out imports of Russian fossil fuels, according to calculations published by Reuters on Tuesday and cited by the Portfolio news portal.
The European Union aims to completely stop buying Russian gas by the end of 2027 at the latest. Brussels wants to reduce its dependence on Russian energy and to divert revenues that are used to finance Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Europe used to be Russia’s most important source of income from oil and gas sales. Exports through pipelines built in Soviet times in the 1960s and 1970s peaked in 2018-2019, with more than 175-180 billion cubic meters of gas flowing to the West each year.
This brought Gazprom and the Russian state tens of billions of dollars in revenue each year.
In 2025, however, Gazprom was only shipping about 18 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe, exclusively through the TurkStream undersea pipeline.
This is the lowest level since the 1970s. In 1975, the Soviet Union exported 19.3 billion cubic meters to Europe.
TurkStream remains the only Russian gas route to the European market after Ukraine did not extend its five-year transit contract with Moscow on January 1. In addition to Turkey, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia also receive natural gas through this pipeline.
Russia also transports LNG to Europe via tanker and is currently the second-largest LNG supplier to the European Union after the United States.
A nationwide farmers’ protest against the EU-Mercosur agreement began today in Poland at 10:00 a.m., with protests happening at over 190 locations across the country. Today’s protest is just a prelude. On Jan. 9, 2026, a large farmers’ protest will take place in Warsaw.
“This isn’t a show of support for the government, as the Polish People’s Party (PSL) or the Russian narrative portrayed it yesterday. If we were satisfied with the government’s actions, we wouldn’t have to be here today,” Kamil Szymański, co-organizer of the protest near Żyrardów, told Telewizja wPolsce24.
Farmers from all over Poland took to the roads to protest against a trade agreement with Mercosur countries that is detrimental to European agriculture.
“Today’s campaign is under the slogan ‘Stop Mercosur.’ As farmers, we strongly oppose the signing of the agreement. We refuse to allow products of much lower quality to enter our market. We produce the highest quality food, and it’s unclear why anyone would want to destroy so many years of hard work,’ said Kamil Szymański, co-organizer of the protest near Żyrardów.
“Safeguard clauses cannot protect agriculture because the EU lacks such instruments. This is a ploy to prevent us from protesting. People in Poland say one thing and those in the EU say another. This is not a show of support for the government, as the Polish People’s Party (PSL) or the Russian narrative presented yesterday. If we were satisfied with the government’s actions, we wouldn’t have to be here today,” added Szymański.
“This is a signal protest. We have banners that we will hang on the viaduct so that participants in the movement know why we are protesting,” said one of the protest coordinators, Janusz Terka, in an interview with Telewizja wPolsce24.
“Tractors are parked in such places that they do not obstruct traffic,” he added.
Mercosur could destroy Polish agriculture
Farmers have long warned that signing an agreement with Mercosur countries would mean the annihilation of agriculture across the EU. The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that disruptions to supply chains negatively impact society. If Poland were to lose its own agriculture and the ability to produce healthy food locally, it could find itself in mortal danger, at the mercy of the EU, which could use food rationing as a form of pressure.
🇪🇺🔴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.
Farmers and experts point out that having our own food production is a Polish national interest, which must be defended; otherwise, the country’s independence will be threatened. Furthermore, the quality of Mercosur food is a crucial issue, which, according to experts, will lead to an increase in the incidence of serious diseases and the threat of ingesting illegal pesticides and chemicals.
Farmers do not obstruct traffic
Deputy Commissioner Barbara Poznańska from the Częstochowa Municipal Police Headquarters confirmed to PAP that although farmers are protesting in several locations in the Częstochowa district, their actions are not impeding traffic. Farmers gathered in Święta Anna, near the roundabout on provincial road No. 786, near the Volunteer Fire Department station in Łabędź in the Koniecpol commune, in Drochlin in the Lelów commune, in Bolesławów in the Przyrów commune, near the viaduct in Wyrazowo, and near gas stations in Mykanów and Mokrzesz in the Mstów commune.
A similar protest is being conducted near Lubliniec, where farmers gathered near the intersection of DK11 and DK46, on an asphalt technical road.
“They don’t obstruct traffic in any way, they’re located along National Road 46, and they’re visible to passing drivers. Everything is done legally,” Police Officer Monika Wacławek from the Lubliniec police told PAP.
“We want to put pressure on those in power, not make life harder for drivers. We’re fighting not only for the future of Polish agriculture, but also for consumer safety,” said Jakub Buchajczyk, one of the protest leaders.
“Pressure makes sense. It worked on December 18th in Brussels (where a large protest by European farmers took place – PAP). We hope it will work this time too,” he concluded.
Christian Klar, the 63-year-old headmaster of the Franz Jonas European School in Vienna-Floridsdorf, has released a provocative new book titled: “How Do We Save Our Children’s Future?” Following his previous work on the state of the education system, Klar uses his latest publication to highlight what he describes as a growing “clash of cultures and religions” within the classroom, with Islam playing a major role.
One of the most notable cases he cited in his book is the example of a gay teacher who was asked to leave the school because of his sexuality, which illustrates friction between conservative religious values and Western liberal standards. Klar describes the man as a successful young teacher at a public elementary school, and despite being beloved by his students as a “class dad,” the atmosphere shifted instantly when his sexual orientation became public knowledge.
According to Klar, a Muslim father approached the administration to protest the teacher’s presence. The father claimed the teacher’s orientation was “incompatible with Islamic principles” and demanded his immediate dismissal. After requests for a dismissal and a transfer were denied, the school ultimately allowed the man’s son to switch classes to avoid the teacher, in the report covered by Austrian outlet Heute.
Klar questions the precedent this sets.
“A de-escalating and therefore perhaps wise decision, but where do such incidents lead? When is it time to say ‘Stop!’? I think we should have done that a long time ago!” says Klar.
Klar stated that the solution found to the so-called “problem” is a mere band-aid for a much larger problem, saying that secularism is losing ground to Islam. He observes that Islamic social codes are becoming the primary lens through which students view their daily lives.
“The topic of religion permeates the entire school day: Islam is omnipresent, everything is ‘haram’ or ‘halal’… Islamic rules are discussed by the children,” Klar explains.
He points to a visible shift in student attire, noting that “more and more girls wear headscarves or now niqabs and abayas,” and calls for a stricter enforcement of headscarf bans to maintain a neutral learning environment.
The principal concludes with a firm demand for policy reform, insisting that schools must remain a “religiously neutral space.” He emphasizes that while personal faith is private, the school system must be anchored in the “fundamental values of our liberal, democratic and social society.”
Klar is not the only one raising the alarm bell. Just last month, teachers’ union representative Thomas Krebs of the Christian Trade Unionists Group (FCG) said Viennese teachers are reporting growing challenges with students from immigrant backgrounds who are increasingly unwilling to learn German or adapt to local values.
Speaking to Heute, Krebs said many of those arriving from conflict or crisis regions now bring radical beliefs that pose problems in Austrian classrooms.
“In the past, people fled from extremism. Now, many people come to us radicalized by extremism and spread these ideas here as well,” said Krebs. He cited incidents of female teachers being disrespected or assaulted by male students and parents, saying such behavior reflects imported attitudes that reject gender equality. “This disrespect ranges from refusing to shake hands to insults and physical assaults,” he added.
Krebs said the problem also affects staff relations, with reports of some male teachers refusing to shake hands with female colleagues for similar reasons. He warned that children from Western or secular families are sometimes treated as inferior by classmates, while those from conservative backgrounds who wish to integrate face pressure to conform.
“Students from Western cultural backgrounds are not seen as equals,” Krebs said, adding that liberal democratic values are often dismissed in favor of religious rules.
Eleven individuals are accused of operating an organized criminal group, submitting visa applications to labor and other agencies to “legalize” the employment of the foreign workers, with the scheme seeing at least 7,000 foreigners enter Poland in an effort to enter Europe. Most visa recipients bypassed any real job and simply headed on to Germany.
In total, Polish offices received over 12,000 applications and declarations containing false information, based on which Polish consulates issued over 7,000 visas entitling them to cross into Poland and gain access to the rest of the EU. Many of those who obtained this “golden ticket” ultimately sought asylum in Germany.
The illegal activity involved the suspects establishing various limited liability companies via the S24 online portal using trusted ePuap profiles, where fictitious addresses of the entities’ registered offices were indicated, writes TVP Info.
Meanwhile, the real companies, whose names were being used, had no knowledge of what was going on.
After obtaining the National Court Register (KRS) and Tax Identification Numbers (NIP), the perpetrators submitted applications for employment permits to the District Employment Offices in Bydgoszcz, Nakło nad Notecią, Świecie, and Włocławek, as well as the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Office in Bydgoszcz and its branch in Włocławek.
They provided details of businesses throughout the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (hotels, farms, restaurants) allegedly interested in hiring a specific foreigner.
The addresses of these entities, the type of work agreed upon, and the hourly rate were provided. However, the individuals interviewed during the investigation, who actually represented these entities, denied ever consenting to the disclosure of company data or establishing contact with the foreign nationals identified.
“Based on documents obtained from Polish offices in this way, citizens of various countries, including: Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, India, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Congo, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, illegally obtained visas and entered the territory of the Republic of Poland, and thus the territory of the European Union,” says Agnieszka Adamska-Okońska, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bydgoszcz.
The suspects were detained during the investigation, and some of them – at the prosecutor’s request – were temporarily remanded in custody by the court. They will be charged with participating in an organized criminal group and organizing illegal border crossings.
These crimes are punishable by up to eight years in prison. The prosecutor imposed a security deposit on the suspects’ assets, valued at over PLN 100,000 and €30,000.
According to Bild, initial stats from the Federal Police recorded 5,569 suspects from January to October of this year alone who are alleged to have come to Germany with fraudulently obtained visas.
Dutch migration researcher and social scientist Ruud Koopmans has described the current rapid naturalizations as a “demographic time bomb” that could lead to 7 million Syrians in Germany within 50 years. Koopmans says that family reunification is the main factor, and with many relatives of these newly naturalized migrants having the right to reunification, it could transform Germany.
Koopmans criticizes Germany’s rapid naturalization of migrants, which was initiated under the last far-left German government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“One must consider whether refugees should be given access to German citizenship so quickly. If they are German nationals, there is no limit on family migration. Then any possibility of managing these migration flows is gone,“ he said in an interview with Cicero.
“This rapid naturalization can be considered a demographic time bomb in the long run,” he added.
He stated that the so-called “turbo naturalization“ after three years was removed by the current ruling government. The reality is that this option for receiving German citizenship after three years applied to very few people, sometimes numbering less than 10 people in certain German states.
However, standard naturalization is still possible after five years.
“I see a problem with naturalization. This limitation on family reunification only applies to those granted subsidiary protection as long as they don’t yet have German citizenship. While the federal government’s reform abolished accelerated naturalization after three years, standard naturalization after five years—even for people who came as refugees—remains,” he said.
Foreigners in Germany can receive citizenship after five years if they prove legal residence and an independent economic livelihood, have no criminal record, and have sufficient knowledge of German. However, there have also been widespread reports of cheating on the German-language tests.
Many of these new citizens are men, and they will want to bring their families to Germany.
“It is essential to consider the consequences this will have for the future. These (approx.) one million people are heavily overrepresented by men. They will largely seek their marriage partners in their country of origin. This is highly likely because marriage in these countries is typically within extended families. Marriage in these societies is also an economic transaction between families, and the ticket to Europe is an important means of exchange,” said Koopmans.
He then cited the rapid growth of previous immigrant populations, who used family reunification to grow their numbers by millions. Turks are a good case study, who are now over 6 million in number in Germany. They also remain extremely poorly integrated, and in fact, the recent gang war in Berlin, which has helped fuel a record number of shootings in the capital city this year, is due in large part to a feud between Turkish Mafia gangs.
“We only need to look at the past: How much has the population of guest workers from Turkey or Morocco grown over time through family reunification and reproduction? From 1973, the year recruitment was halted, to the present day, this group has increased sixfold or sevenfold. If we assume the same for the Syrians—and there is no reason not to—then in 50 years we will have seven million Syrians or citizens of Syrian origin in Germany. And I’m only talking about Syrians, but the same applies to people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and so on,” the researcher added.
🇩🇪🔴German police say members of an extended Syrian clan family are said to have committed at least 160 crimes in Stuttgart.
They have cost Germany nearly €500,000 in prison detention fees alone, and that is just for 5 of the highly criminal family.
Koopmans then claims that after 10 years, people should be allowed to stay in Germany, but five years is too soon.
“If that’s still the case after 10 years, at some point you have to say: Okay, people have been here so long now that we have to offer them a lasting perspective,” says Koopmans. “But I think it’s wrong to do this after just five years.”
Koopmans makes a distinction between immigrants, however.
“These problems, both regarding integration into the labor market and high crime rates, affect very specific immigrant groups. They are a consequence of the fact that we don’t have truly controlled migration. It’s not the case that all immigrants are significantly overrepresented in crime statistics. Many migrants in Germany come from other EU member states. These are not significantly overrepresented in crime statistics. In terms of labor market participation, migrants from other member states are even better off,” he said.
However, given demographic trends, any number of naturalizations may present a serious demographic crisis for the German population moving forward due to the sheer number of people who arrived over the last few decades.
Notably, a majority of Germans now support an immigration moratorium, according to a new YouGov poll. The poll shows just how deeply Germans have turned against mass immigration in the past 10 years.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities have announced charges against members of an organized crime group that operated in the Verkhovna Rada. Among the suspects are five members of parliament from Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, reports Do Rzezcy.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) announced that the charges were filed regarding bribes paid for votes in parliament.
According to investigators’ findings, MPs were paid to influence decisions made in the legislative chamber in a persistent and well-organized manner. In an official statement posted on Telegram, NABU announced that, in cooperation with SAP, an undercover investigation had identified an organized criminal group that included serving members of Ukraine’s parliament.
The investigation’s findings indicate that members of this group accepted illegal benefits in exchange for votes in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The bureau also emphasized that these activities are part of a broader strategy to combat corruption at the highest levels of government.
On Saturday, the website Ukrainska Pravda revealed that the suspects are members of parliament from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, Servant of the People: Yevhen Pyvarov, Ihor Nehulevsky, Olha Savchenko, and Yuri Kisel. The website also reported the name of Yuri Koryachenkov.
“According to the investigation’s findings, the group had a hierarchical structure and a clear division of roles. It included current Ukrainian deputies and officials from the Chancellery of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The group’s activities were coordinated by one of the deputies,” the report reads. The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported that “when organizing the votes, group members sent instructions with the numbers of bills in a specially created WhatsApp group.”
“Following the votes, payments were systematically transferred to individual deputies,” the report added.
The news comes after the “golden toilet” corruption scandal rocked Ukraine just months ago, and which led to the arrest of top ministers in Zelensky’s government and the arrest of Zelensky’s top aide. In addition, a long-time business associate of Zelensky fled to Israel after receiving a tip-off just hours before a NABU raid on his residence.
The Polish gas and oil giant Orlen has started exploiting the Różańsko natural gas field, located in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which has natural gas resources estimated at 1.2 billion m3, the company announced.
The investment in Różańsk will contribute to increasing domestic natural gas production by up to 130 million m3 per year. Orlen will continue to extract from this deposit for the next 20 years, i.e., at a time when the domestic economy’s demand for natural gas will be greatest.
“Gas from Różańsk will primarily power the combined heat and power plants in Kostrzyn nad Odrą and Gorzów Wielkopolski. Crude oil and liquid sulfur, produced, among others, thanks to a new gas desulfurization installation, will flow to Polish industry,” the press release stated.
Mining begins
“Domestic gas and oil extraction is one of the pillars of our energy security. Currently, we obtain about one-fifth of the natural gas we need in Poland – that’s nearly 3.5 billion m3 per year. In the coming years, as demand for this raw material increases, our production will systematically increase to reach 4 billion m3 in 2030,” said Wiesław Prugar, member of the Orlen management board for Upstream.
“The raw materials we extract work for the benefit of the entire economy – gas powers the energy and heating sectors, oil goes to domestic petrochemical and refinery installations, being the basis for the production of fuels and plastics, among other things, and sulfur is an important component in the production of artificial fertilizers and tires,” he added.
New gas field
Orlen said that the development of the deposit included the modernization of three existing production wells with the expansion of the installation, as well as the construction of a new pipeline allowing the connection of the deposit with one of the largest mining installations in the country, the Dębno Oil and Natural Gas Mine.
It was expanded with an 8 MW cogeneration unit, powered by gas from nearby deposits. This will ensure that the mines fully meet their electricity and process heat needs, with surpluses reaching the market. The expansion also enabled increased production from the nearby Cychra deposit.
“Strengthening domestic production is part of the Orlen 2035 strategy, which assumes an increase in gas production in Poland to 4 billion m3 per year in 2030. At the same time, the Orlen Group is developing projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and plans further foreign investments to reach 12 billion m3 of gas from its own deposits by the end of the decade,” the company said.
The Orlen Group manages refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, conducts retail operations in Central Europe, mining operations in Poland, Norway, Canada and Pakistan, and is also involved in energy production, including renewable energy and natural gas distribution.
As part of the construction of the multi-energy concern, the company finalized the acquisitions of Energa, Grupa Lotos and PGNiG. Its consolidated sales revenues reached PLN 296.95 billion in 2024. The company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 1999 and is part of the WIG20 index.
Hungary is ramping up its strategic energy mix, with both boosted solar energy storage capacity and nuclear.
In an interview with Portfolio.hu, Czepek Gábor, Hungary’s energy affairs deputy minister, said Hungary aims for strategic progress by the early 2030s by coordinating its nuclear energy, solar power, and energy storage development.
Rapidly growing renewable power, significantly scaling up storage capacity through both residential and industrial programs, and integrating nuclear energy, are all central to the Central and Eastern European (CEE) country achieving greater energy independence.
In terms of expanding solar energy storage, the government wants to install three times more energy storage capacity by the end of the decade than previously planned. Hungary plans to reach 1 GW of storage capacity by 2030, possibly even 2028, and aims for 3 GW by the early 2030s to support energy self-sufficiency.
In addition to the recently announced residential energy storage support, an industrial energy storage program is being prepared with more details expected this spring.
Support schemes include a residential storage tender launching in February that will nearly double the existing storage capacity of ~230 MW. A business-focused part of the Jedlik Ányos Energetikai Program will support up to 600 MW of industrial storage. In total, about 800 MW of new storage capacity is expected from these programs.
The residential support emphasizes engaging households—especially solar panel owners—to help balance electricity supply and demand, with priority in evaluations given to those losing annual net-metering or living in smaller towns.
Alongside innovations on the solar storage and renewables front, Hungary continues to prepare for SMR nuclear technologies, and is continuously diversifying its gas and oil mix, although long-term Russian gas contracts remain fundamental to the country’s gas supply.
While the mantra remains that Germany needs to import millions to fill “job roles,” the reality is that there are fewer job opportunities for the unemployed than ever before, according to Federal Employment Agency head Andrea Nahles.
She said the labor market has been “stagnant for months,” and “no momentum is coming in,” said Nahles in a Web.de interview.
Notably, the number of vacancies has decreased for seven consecutive quarters, showing signs of a labor market consistently cooling.
“We have an indicator that shows how likely unemployed people are to find a job again. The value is usually around seven, but now at 5.7 – the lowest it has ever been,” she said.
Notably, job losses are being felt across the spectrum, and nobody is “immune” from being hit.
“But the well-educated still have the best opportunities in the job market,“ said Nahles.
Notably, those at the entry-level are facing among the worst prospects. “We have had fewer young people placed in training than we have in 25 years,” she said.
Nahles also pointed to a new reform of the citizen’s benefit, which is the term used for German social welfare, that would give priority for job placements to the unemployed. However, Nahles said that the unemployed do not always have the skills that employers are searching for.
“The citizen’s income discussion must not ignore the labor market,” she said. “Qualification remains important, otherwise people will be back at the job center after three months.”
In August, Germany announced that there are now more than 3 million people without a job, a record that was last achieved in 2015.
However, unlike 2015, artificial intelligence is now a factor, with German firms looking to increasingly replace labor inputs with computers, robotics and automation. While economic rebounds may come and go, AI is set to be here for the long term, and experts predict more and more jobs will be replaced by the technology.
Immigration could actually worsen the situation. While there are certain high-skilled jobs that economists claim can only be performed by immigrants, China has bucked this trend, as Remix News has noted, pulling ahead of Europe in terms of manufacturing and innovation in a number of key areas, including clean energy, automobile production, and other industries, all without mass immigration.
However, Nahles remains sanguine on artificial intelligence.
“Sure, (artificial intelligence) will shake up some industries quite a bit. Activities will change. This causes stress for people, I understand that. But the forecasts of our scientists at the IAB (Institute for Labour Market and Occupational Research of the Federal Employment Agency; is that AI will create even more new jobs than it will eliminate. It is a transformation, with all the opportunities and risks,” she said.
Germany’s new government promised a “migration turnaround,” but it turns out, this was mostly a pack of lies, half-truths, and misinformation, all designed to disguise the ongoing wave of unceasing immigration.
In response to a parliamentary inquiry from the Green Party in the German Bundestag, the Interior Ministry has indicated that only 993 asylum seekers were stopped at Germany’s borders between May and October and turned back.
He points out that 157,436 asylum applications were already submitted in Germany from January to November 2026, according to the BAMF. In addition, the Federal Foreign Office indicates that 102,000 visas for family reunification were issued for children and spouses of recognized asylum seekers during the same period.
In total, that is 259,436 new migrants for Germany.
However, that is not all, with an additional 37,000 Afghans flown into the country due to an admissions program that has come under fire, especially due to the poor integration record of Afghans in Germany.
Despite this disastrous track record, the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU), who claim to be conservatives, are trying to put lipstick on their track record.
German Interior Minister noted that asylum applications fell by 50 percent compared to the previous year. He said this is a “migration turnaround” that was promised.
“We have succeeded – especially at the beginning of my term in office – in reducing the pull factors for refugees by strengthening border controls, refoulement, but also by suspending family reunification and abolishing turbo-naturalization,” he said.
Notably, much of the reduction in asylum seekers has been achieved on the Europe-wide level, including the tightening of land borders and sea routes. However, hundreds of thousands are still entering Europe, and much of the migration now besetting Germany has to do with family reunification and legal migration.
Overall, data from late 2024 and early 2025 indicate that approximately 545,000 first residence permits were issued in 2024. In that number are also family reunifications and other legal migrants, but Germans also want those numbers sharply restricted.
Two brothers, Turkish nationals Gürkan and Ismail U., are on trial for allegedly killing two young women in an illegal street race in the German city of Ludwigsburg, with Gürken the suspected driver of the vehicle that struck the women.
Notably, both men have already been convicted 26 times for various serious crimes.
In the Stuttgart court, Gürkan is on trial for murder for reportedly driving his Mercedes S-Class into the women at 150 km/h. The prosecutor’s office accuses the men of conducting a street race on March 20, at which point Gürkane slammed into the two young women, 22-year-old Selin K. and 23-year-old Merve K., as they drove their Ford Focus out of a gas station. The women were thrown into a tree and died at the scene.
According to Bild newspaper, Gürkan U. has 14 convictions. Already in school, he was arrested for punching, choking, and sexually abusing his classmates. He has multiple traffic and violent offenses on his record, including rape, fraud, theft with a weapon, driving without a license, hit-and-run, and violating insurance laws. He also tried to sell €65,000 worth of cocaine to an undercover officer. Gürkan lost his driver’s license in 2015, but two years later, he got it back and was back on the road.
His brother, Ismail U., is on trial for attempted murder and was previously arrested for drunk driving in 2018, when he sped away from the police with a blood alcohol level of 1.4 per mille, blew through a red light, smashed multiple vehicles, and blew through a police trap, nearly hitting an officer. Officers fired shots at him during the incident, but he continued speeding away even with two tires blown out.
Amazingly, he only received a two-year suspended sentence. He had to give up his license twice and only received a two-month suspension before the deadly speeding accident in Ludwigsburg.
Ismail U. also has a long criminal record for rape, extortion, various traffic violations, drunk driving, weapons possession, assault, trespassing, and other offenses.
This December, Russia’s manufacturing industry shrank at the fastest pace since March 2022, according to a report published by S&P Global on Monday, cited by Portfolio.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 48.1 points in December from 48.3 points in November. A reading below 50 points indicates contraction in the sector, while a reading above 50 indicates growth.
Production has been falling for 10 consecutive months, and the rate of decline in December reached its highest level since spring 2022. Companies cited weak demand and a decline in orders as the main reasons.
New orders have also been falling for seven consecutive months, although the pace of decline slowed somewhat in December.
The decline in demand is due to uncertainty and deteriorating purchasing power among customers. Employment has also continued to decline in December at the fastest pace since September, with job losses in three of the past four months.
Manufacturers attributed the job cuts to lower production needs.
Meanwhile, inflation in raw material prices jumped to its highest level since March, forcing manufacturers to raise prices despite subdued demand.
Confidence among sector players has weakened further as well, with optimism about future production falling to its lowest level since May 2022.
All of this puts added pressure on Moscow to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine, which, after the talks this past weekend between Zelensky and Trump, reportedly looks close.
Taking to Facebook as 2025 draws to a close, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó posted to reiterate Hungary’s opposition to migration, with the EU Migration Pact set to take effect in the coming year.
“It’s important to make it clear to everyone that, just as in 2025, we will not allow a single migrant into Hungary in 2026, nor will we pay a single forint of Hungarian taxpayers’ money for other migrants,” said Szijjártó as the new year approaches.
Predicting a “Hungarian uprising against the (EU) Migration Pact” in the coming year, the foreign minister stated: “It may seem far away now, but one of the biggest battles of 2026 will be the Hungarian uprising against the Migration Pact that Brussels is set to implement in the summer. This is the regulation that, on paper, is intended to ‘make the European asylum system more effective,’ but in practice it would mean nothing less than a coercive situation for Hungary: pay or accept.”
Szijjártó further clarified that not only will Hungary not allow in a single migrant, it will also not pay for them according to Brussels’ penalty system, which he called “downright absurd.”
“We, who built a fence at our own expense and have been protecting the EU’s external border for more than ten years. We, who are currently being fined 1 million euros a day just for not letting migrants into our country.”
“To the west of us, they did not act and were unable or unwilling to defend themselves against migrants. These are countries where the security situation has deteriorated to such an extent that it is tearing apart the social fabric, and that is why they now want to get rid of migrants under the Migration Pact,” Hungary’s foreign minister wrote.
“We say no to this in 2026 (as well), and we say it in advance: Hungary will not implement the measures of the Migration Pact. We do not want migrants, we do not want parallel societies, and we do not want to spend the Christmas holidays under the threat of terrorism,” wrote Szijjártó.
Calling on Hungarians to be wary of a Tisza-led government, under opposition leader Péter Magyar, Szijjártó said Hungary will become a mere puppet of Brussels if Fidesz loses the upcoming election in April 2026.
“But let there be no doubt, Brussels’ puppets would not do this; they would allow Hungary to be turned into an immigrant country. The Tisza and DK parties supported Brussels’ Migration Pact, but now they are keeping quiet.”
As the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Trump came to a close, a ceasefire does not appear to be on the table, although claims of progress were made by both leaders, as well as other prominent players in Europe. However, one Polish analyst appeared skeptical of peace, at least in the short-term.
Polish Prof. Antoni Dudek, historian and lecturer at UKSW, told Polsat News: “If anyone expects this visit to be a breakthrough and a ceasefire right after the New Year, I think they’re being overly optimistic. Trump is softening Ukraine.”
Professor Dudek stated that “Ukraine is already quite softened if it accepts the possibility of losing a significant portion of its territory.” The question remains what the outcome of the referendum in Ukraine will be, he noted.
According to the historian, “all this leads us to a referendum in which Ukrainians will decide whether they want a break in the war at the price of giving up the eastern territories they have already lost, and perhaps additional ones, because at the moment the game is about the remnants of Donbas.”
Dudek’s assessment comes after Zelensky posted on X:
“I thank President Trump and his team for the negotiations. I thank the United States for its support. Together, we must – and can – implement our vision for the sequencing of steps toward peace,”
I thank President Trump @POTUS and his team for the negotiations. I thank the United States for its support. Together, we must – and can – implement our vision for the sequencing of steps toward peace. pic.twitter.com/YklMUd62BA
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 28, 2025
The White House posted a similar message, along with a video of the talks, from Trump, simply stating: “Our meeting was excellent… we have made a lot of progress on ending that war – by far closer than ever before.”
Upon welcoming the Ukrainian president at Mar-a-Lago, Trump had told press that he believed the talks were in their final phase, adding: “I believe we have the basis for a mutually beneficial agreement on Ukraine,” he added, according to Do Rzeczy.
The U.S. president had also highlighted that fighting on the front would continue for a long time if no deal is made.
However, while Dudek does not believe in an immediate ceasefire, he believes a ceasefire is possible in the coming months, although a lasting peace deal may be more elusive.
“We’ll see what the final outcome is. In my opinion, a ceasefire is realistic, but sometime in the first months of next year, during the referendum. If the referendum yields the results Moscow hopes—war-weary Ukrainians abandoning their eastern territories—then there will be a ceasefire for some time. It’s impossible to predict how long it will last,” said Dudek.
Meanwhile, Poland is center stage in the talks, according to the Office of the Polish Presidency, which stated that President Nawrocki was on a teleconference of European leaders with Trump and Zelensky to discuss where the peace talks stand. “He noted that since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport has served as a hub for over 90% of aid to Ukraine. Therefore, Poland’s position at the time of signing the peace agreement will be crucial.”
“Today’s conversation shows that any decisions regarding peace and security in the region must be made among all interested parties. The determination of the American side and the unity of the positions of European countries provide a real chance to end the war caused by the Russian Federation,” Nawrocki’s office posted.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also posted, with encouraging news on “good progress” made: “We had a good, one-hour-long call with POTUS, President Zelensky and several European leaders to discuss their meeting today on peace negotiations. There was good progress, which we welcomed.”
The EU leader then emphasized that “Europe is ready to keep working with Ukraine and our US partners to consolidate this progress. Paramount to this effort is to have ironclad security guarantees from day one.”
The demographic changes across Europe are immense, with ethnic, indigenous Europeans rapidly being replaced. As Remix News has noted, this is apparent in cities like Vienna, Austria, but perhaps some of the most stark developments are taking place in Brussels, Belgium.
The data there shows that in Brussels, 72.9 percent of children and youth aged 0-17 have a migration background from outside the European Union or were born outside the EU, according to StatBel, the official government statistic organization.
Remarkably, only 10.56 percent in this age group are Belgians of exclusively Belgian origin.
In response, Belgian MP Filip Dewinter has referred to “population replacement,” which he argues is not a “conspiracy,” but clearly demonstrated by the data.
Many critics have stated that Brussels had such a high percentage of foreign youths because citizens from other EU nations had moved to the capital. However, the data shows that nearly all the youth in the capital city now belong to non-EU nations.
Overall in Belgium, there are remarkable differences between the regions. StatBel notes, “At the Belgian level, approximately two-thirds of the population was Belgian of Belgian origin as of Jan. 1, 2025. This varies from 22.0 percent in the Brussels-Capital Region to 63.6 percent in the Walloon Region, and 71.9 percent in the Flemish Region.”
In Belgium as a whole, 64 percent are of Belgian origin, 22.1 percent are Belgian of foreign origin, and 13.8 percent are foreigners with no Belgian citizenship.
In practice, this means that as of Jan. 1, 2025, the “Belgian population numbered in absolute figures 7,571,338 Belgians of Belgian origin, 2,619,289 Belgians of foreign origin and 1,634,924 non-Belgians,” according to BelStat.
Belgium clearly indicates that there are many Belgians of “foreign origin” in Brussels overall as well, amounting to 40.8 percent in the Brussels-Capital Region.
That means in Brussels, 78 percent of the population is of non-Belgian origin.
Since 2018, the annual average has fluctuated around 56,000 new family reunifications. The sole dip was seen in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. The peak was in 2024, with 59,873 family reunifications.
In a new column in Liberium, Filip Dewinter, a leading member of the right-wing Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang and currently Belgium’s longest-serving member of parliament, referred to a new 33-page Trump administration memo related to Europe. Among other issues, the memo cited that Europe’s demographics are changing and that this development could represent a threat to the United States. Dewinter wrote this:
Isn’t Trump simply right when he asserts that Europe is in decline, weakly led, and losing its identity, social cohesion, cultural identity, and ethnic homogeneity due to immigration, wokeism, and Islamization? In the 33-page memo—of which, incidentally, only two pages are about Europe—the Trump administration refers to ‘migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife.’
This supports the obvious assertion that the native European population is being replaced. By linking the immigration invasion to “cratering birthdates” and “the loss of national identities and self-confidence,” Trump fully endorses the population replacement analysis, and the concept of “population replacement” has evolved from “conspiracy theory” to American government policy.
The lawmaker for the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party, which sits with the Identity & Democracy group in the European Parliament, commented on the remarks by Johansson, the EU’s commissioner for home affairs, who said last month that the European Union needs at least 1 million migrants every year to replenish its depleting labor force and called for the bloc to further “invest in legal channels for regular migration.”
🇦🇹Austria
Vienna has seen incredible demographic changes, especially in the last decade.
40.9% of its population is foreign born. Over 50% have both parents born overseas.
This year, for the first time ever, over half of first-graders do not understand German (50.9%). pic.twitter.com/P0P7dJVj5Q
“These are Commissioner Johansson’s literal words: ‘We need migration,’” Vandendriessche said of the comments on Jan. 16.
“She wants to bring an additional 1 million migrants to Europe, on top of the many millions we already have.
“In doing so, she wants to combat the aging of Europe’s shrinking population. So she literally wants non-European peoples to replace shrinking European peoples.
“That is, by definition, replacement migration, a synonym for repopulation,” the Belgian MEP added.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that recent anti-war rallies in Hungary serve to explain to the public what he described as decisions being taken behind closed doors as Europe prepares for war.
Speaking on TV2’s Tények program, he said European leaders at a summit over the weekend had effectively convened a “war council,” with speeches focused on defeating Russia, and argued that a growing divide has emerged between the United States and Europe since the inauguration of Donald Trump in January.
“Previously, it was unthinkable within NATO that the United States would say no to something and European states would still go ahead and do it,” the prime minister said.
Orbán warned Europe is much closer to war than most Hungarians realize, noting what he described as a German war plan to seize Russian currency reserves held in Western Europe, a move he claimed that would openly turn Europe into Russia’s enemy.
According to the prime minister, Hungary will now have a war-free Christmas, but the danger has not passed. He said the European Union wants to provide Ukraine with €90 billion over two years, despite having no funds of its own, and is therefore seeking loans from banks that he claimed would never be repaid. Orbán said Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary refused to provide guarantees for the borrowing. “This would have cost Hungarian families 400 billion forints. We will not pay that — full stop,” he said.
⚠️ Even supporters of the €9️⃣0️⃣bn Ukraine loan concede it will not be repaid. The result is budget cuts and permanent debt for Europe. ➡️ This is not economic policy, but financing the continuation of war. 🇭🇺 Hungary will not take part. We stand with peace. https://t.co/r9zmB3yBQD
Orbán argued that Europe has more private-sector assets in Russia than the value of the funds it would have seized, adding that Hungary also holds significant corporate assets there. He expressed hope that U.S.-Russian negotiations would succeed despite what he called counter-campaigning by Europe’s political elite. He claimed that anti-war views now dominate Western public opinion as the economic costs of the conflict rise.
Hungary knows what war means. Two lost world wars, millions dead, decades of progress erased. War does not build nations, it devours their future. This memory of loss lives in our very core, in our instincts. Others seem to remember only vaguely, falling into speculation and… pic.twitter.com/u8AanMiHFu
“From a Hungarian perspective, war is the most horrific thing that can happen,” he said. “We know how a war consumes a nation’s future and decades of hard work.”
The prime minister also argued that financial interests are pushing politicians toward conflict. He said bankers were driving Europe toward war, as they did before World War I, and claimed that within months the divide between Hungarian and European politics would become even clearer. Germany, he said, is pro-war, as is the European People’s Party, while his administration in Budapest represents what he called the party of peace.
“We will not allow ourselves to be dragged into war,” Orbán said, adding that Europe’s stated aim of being ready for war with Russia by 2030 turns Hungary’s upcoming elections into a choice between peace and war. “We — and I personally — will succeed in keeping Hungary out of the war,” he said.
Turning to domestic policy, Orbán spoke of what he described as a “tax revolution,” saying the government had launched fixed-rate home-ownership and business loan programs, restored the fourteenth-month pension, and introduced lifetime tax exemptions for mothers with two or three children. “By the end of the year, every program was launched. Only we are doing this in an era preparing for war,” he said.
On the opposition Tisza Party, Orbán said, “The Tisza Party’s program is Brussels’ program. But Hungary must not take the Brussels path — we must stay on the Hungarian path.” He added that Hungary’s low household energy prices could only be maintained through agreements with Russia, the United States, and Turkey, warning that EU plans to scrap the policy would amount to “brutal austerity” for families.
A protest at the privately owned Silesia coal mine in Czechowice-Dziedziedzice continued for a second day on Tuesday, with presidential ministers travelling to the site and descending underground to meet miners refusing to surface over fears of mass layoffs and exclusion from state protection measures.
As reported by wPolityce, a delegation from President Karol Nawrocki’s office travelled to the mine, where miners from Przedsiębiorstwo Górnicze Silesia have remained underground since early Monday morning. Kazimierz Grajcarek, spokesman for the protesters, said presidential ministers were meeting workers who had refused to leave the shaft.
The protest began at around 6 a.m. on Monday, when miners refused to resurface. Union officials said between 30 and 40 miners initially took part. They stressed that the action does not constitute a strike and that mining operations have continued, albeit with reduced productivity.
The miners are demanding that their company be included in the protective measures provided by the amended Mining Act, which was signed by President Karol Nawrocki on Dec. 15 and is due to enter into force at the beginning of next year. The amendment introduces benefits for workers affected by mine closures, including paid mining leave at 80 percent of salary and one-off severance payments of 170,000 zlotys (€40,200), exempt from personal income tax.
Those protections apply to employees of Polska Grupa Górnicza, Południowy Koncern Węglowy, Węglokoks Kraj, Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa, and, in the future, Bogdanka, but not to the privately-owned mine at the heart of the protest.
Grajcarek said at a Tuesday morning briefing that ministers from the presidential chancellery had descended underground to join the protesting miners and would meet journalists after resurfacing.
“Then we’ll know how many people are left there, what’s happening to them,” Grajcarek said. “As unions, we have a problem because people want to protest, and we go to them and ask them not to protest, or maybe just a few people to do so, because we want the mine to keep working.” He emphasized that the protest was spontaneous.
According to the protesters’ spokesman, 16 miners remained underground overnight, while another five protested above ground at the processing plant. He said the union was providing food and supplies, and that the protesters had received medical care from their employer.
The Silesia mine accounts for about 3 percent of Poland’s thermal coal production and 2.3 percent of total hard coal output. At the end of November, the administrator of the restructuring estate notified unions of plans for mass layoffs affecting more than 750 employees.
Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka wrote on X that while the Silesia mine is a private company, the government is not indifferent to the situation of its employees. He said that, together with Deputy Energy Minister Marian Zmarzły, he was analysing possible forms of support, but added, “The company is currently undergoing restructuring proceedings, and the law does not allow for the provision of public aid to mining companies in such a situation. This is a formal blockade, not a government decision.”
At a separate mine in the region, two miners missing after an underground accident at the Pniówek coal mine in Pawłowice were found dead, company officials confirmed overnight. Adam Rozmus, vice-president of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa, said the men, aged 40 and 41, were pronounced dead by a doctor who reached them underground.
Polskie Radio reported that eight other miners working in the same area were able to reach the surface safely after contact was lost at a depth of around 830 metres.
The decision by EU ambassadors on safeguard clauses for farmers in the European Union’s trade agreement with Mercosur, originally scheduled for Monday, has been postponed until January, but the EU may be planning to sign the Mercosur trade agreement, highly protested by farmers across the EU, with the South American bloc on Jan. 12, according to Do Rzeczy.
Anna Bryłka, MEP of the Confederation, told Do Rzeczy that “there is a lot of communication chaos regarding the agreement with Mercosur.”
“Firstly, on September 3rd, the European Commission (EC) initiated the ratification process, which means it announced that the agreement would be ratified in a mixed mode, dividing the agreement with Mercosur into two parts – the trade part and the partnership part. The point is that the agreement with Mercosur should, in principle, be voted on in its entirety, but since it was known that France would oppose it, the European Commission removed the trade part from the whole, so that it could be voted on by a qualified majority at the Council of the European Union. The agreement still needs to be approved with the participation of the European Parliament,” she explained.
Other Polish MEPs, including Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik, are also raising the alarm. Zajączkowska-Hernik wrote on X 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.
WAŻNE wiadomości z Brukseli 🚨 Okazuje się, że wstrzymanie podpisania umowy UE z Mercosur było zwykłą ściemą Ursuli von der Leyen❗ Już na jutro na godzinę 14:30 do agendy posiedzenia ambasadorów UE wpisano kluczowe głosowanie ws. klauzul ochronnych❗
The other MEP, Bryłka, also noted that “in the meantime, knowing that the entire agri-food sector in the EU opposes it, the European Commission proposed on Oct. 8 the so-called regulation on safeguard clauses, or the so-called safeguards.”
“This regulation was recently voted on in the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. The decision by EU ambassadors regarding safeguard clauses for farmers in the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed until January. However, the vote on safeguard clauses is completely independent of the trade agreement, as it follows its own path. These are two separate legislative paths,” she explained.
🇪🇺🔴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.
Anna Bryłka pointed out that “everything indicates that on Jan. 9 the Council of the European Union will vote on the proper agreement with Mercosur, so that after Jan. 12 Ursula von der Leyen can finally sign this agreement in South America.”
“So we are at a point where there has been no vote on the agreement and no final vote on safeguards,” she added.
The Confederation politician recalled that “Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that the agreement is already safe.”
“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.
In addition, she stated: “Yes, they left in place the requirement that imports increase by 8 percent compared to the last three years. Just imagine if the European Commission came in and said these weren’t imports from Mercosur, but imports from Ukraine, so they couldn’t initiate an investigation. The application must be submitted by the EU industry, meaning an industry that represents 50 percent of the sector. This is impossible given the fragmentation of agriculture in the European Union,” she said.
Anna Bryłka stated that “the protection clauses are a smokescreen and a PR stunt. They are trying to convince farmers that they will be protected, that they have nothing to fear, and that they are safe.”
As she noted, “the actual trade agreement is part of a larger agreement that will only enter into force once it has been approved by all national parliaments.”
“Let me remind you that the agreement with Mercosur is the largest agreement in the history of the European Union, and the European Commission found a legal loophole to bypass a veto by one member state. We’re talking about France because it is the biggest opponent of the agreement with Mercosur,” she emphasized.
The Confederation’s MEP also noted that she believed the Polish government “made no effort to build a blocking minority.”
🇧🇪JUST IN: Police fire tear gas at protesting farmers in Brussels.
10,000 farmers are in Brussels to protest the South American Mercosur free trade agreement, which will destroy food security in Europe and lead to harmful pesticides in EU supermarkets. pic.twitter.com/WA1MVDfQOt
She recalled that “Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has stated that seeking a blocking minority on Mercosur is setting oneself up for failure.”
“If Poland approaches this with the attitude of building a blocking minority, it will not succeed, and I am convinced of that. However, the problem is that the Ministry of Agriculture, which is not responsible for trade, is largely making these pronouncements, as trade falls under the purview of the Ministry of Economy and Finance,” she pointed out.
Bryłka further noted that she hadn’t heard from the prime minister or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Poland was actively seeking a blocking minority. Although the EU commission currently has no qualified majority, she believes Italy will get on board.
“Italy does not yet have a position on this matter, but I believe that Italians will ultimately support this agreement,” she said.
When asked why the European Commission is pushing for the Mercosur agreement to come into force if it is harmful to agriculture, she replied that, first of all, there are countries for which this agreement will be beneficial.
“This is especially true for Germany, as its automotive and chemical sectors will benefit from the agreement. Italy is in a similar situation, as its northern industry also benefits from the Mercosur agreement,” she explained.
The Confederation’s MEP claims that the EU commission wants to move all production capacities to South America and turn this continent into an economic colony for Germany.
In Poland, the controversial Grzegorz Braun is enjoying an increase in support, with more and more Poles turning to his party. Deputy Speaker of the Sejm and Confederation party co-leader Krzysztof Bosak believes that this is the result of disappointment among existing Law and Justice (PiS) voters, with more conservative voters turning to the right-wing Braun.
A poll by Opinia24 for “Fakty” TVN and TVN24 indicates that the largest increase in support was recorded by Grzegorz Braun’s group, which is the Confederation of the Polish Crown. The left-liberal KO still tops the list, ahead of PiS and Confederation. Based on the current polling results, there would only be four parties in the Sejm.
The poll shows that 32.8 percent of respondents currently want to vote for Donald Tusk’s party, a 1.1-percentage point increase more than the previous study. PiS earned 25.4 percent of support, an increase of 0.3-percentage points. The Confederation obtained a result of 10.7 percent, a drop of 3.9-percentage points.
Quickly rising is the Confederation of the Polish Crown, with 8.6 percent support, an increase of 2.4-percentage points. Other parties did not earn enough to pass the electoral threshold of 5 percent, including by the Left (4.9 percent), Razem (3.5 percent), PSL (2.6 percent) and Polska 2050 (2.1 percent).
Bosak: Braun’s party is growing thanks to PiS disappointment
Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Krzysztof Bosak commented on Tuesday on the increase in support for Grzegorz Braun’s group.
“It seems to me that Grzegorz Braun’s party is largely growing thanks to disillusionment with PiS and the shift of PiS voters to its support base,” said the Confederation politician on Telewizja Republika.
“Perhaps, I do not rule out that there are also a few voters who voted for Confederation because of Grzegorz Braun and now want to vote for him,” he added.
Confederation politician: Those in power are simply lying
The parliamentarian sharply criticized the actions of those in power.
“Generally, those in power just lie. They lie regularly. The worst thing is that they not only lie as a result of tactics. I talk to them privately or unofficially many times, and some of them are, especially people unfortunately responsible for decisions on economic and energy matters, these are indoctrinated people who believe their lies,” said Bosak.
“They are like young communists in the Stalinist period. For example, they believe that if they connect more renewable energy sources to the Polish power system, the price of energy will fall,” he added.
The Confederation politician cited the issue of Russian assets as an example. “The strongest European countries were in favor of freezing these assets, but they were never in favor of transferring them [to Ukraine]. And to my knowledge, Polish politicians who say publicly that it was possible are simply lying,” he said.
A Geneva criminal court has sentenced an Algerian national to eight years in prison for the rape of an American tourist in the Swiss city’s Old Town in 2024, rejecting the defense’s call for acquittal and concluding that the assault was carried out with particular cruelty.
Presiding judge Sylvie Bertrand-Curreli said the facts left “no room for any other interpretation.” The court also ordered the man to be deported from Switzerland for 12 years after completing his sentence.
The verdict, delivered on Thursday, rested heavily on CCTV footage from the lobby of a hotel on Rue de la Rôtisserie, as well as forensic findings and the credibility of the victim’s account. The judges found that the woman, who was heavily intoxicated at the time, had clearly and repeatedly resisted the attacker, and that violence was used well beyond what would have been required to overcome her resistance.
Footage shown in court depicts the man following the woman into the hotel lobby shortly before 2 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2024. As reported by TdG, he is seen forcibly embracing and kissing her as she struggles to maintain her balance. As she pushes him away, his behavior becomes increasingly aggressive. The video shows her clinging to a wall in an attempt to prevent him from dragging her into a stairwell, which lies outside the camera’s field of view. Minutes later, the woman is seen leaving the area in a state of shock, partially undressed. The man reappears shortly afterward, zipping up his trousers.
Although the rape itself occurred off camera, the court said there was no doubt as to what had taken place. Judges described the victim’s testimony as “consistent, coherent, and measured,” noting that minor omissions or variations in her statements were consistent with the psychological effects of trauma. Forensic experts documented blows to the head, including a concussion, and confirmed the presence of the assailant’s DNA on the victim’s mouth, genitals, and clothing. The absence of semen traces, raised by the defense, did not undermine the finding of penetration, the judges said.
The court also upheld the aggravating circumstance of cruelty, concluding that the attacker had exceeded what was necessary to subdue the victim and had acted in a way that caused terror.
During the trial, the defendant, a man in his thirties, did not dispute that he was the individual shown in the footage but claimed to have no memory of the events, citing heavy consumption of alcohol, hashish, and cocaine. Judges noted that he did not appear impaired in the video. He attempted to suggest mutual consent, a claim the court dismissed as incompatible with the images and other evidence.
The victim, a mother of three and a psychologist from the United States, traveled to Geneva to attend the trial nearly two years after the assault. She told the court that she had been in the city with her family and friends and had been drinking heavily on the night of the attack. She described being approached outside her hotel by a man offering cocaine, which she refused, before encountering him again inside the lobby, where he became violent. Passersby later found her barefoot and disoriented in the street, and she reported having been raped and beaten, including losing consciousness.
Prosecutors had sought a nine-year prison sentence, arguing that the case represented “every woman’s nightmare.” The defense maintained that rape had not been proven and called for acquittal, a position rejected unequivocally by the court.
After the assault, the suspect fled Switzerland and was arrested days later in Aosta, Italy, after crossing the border through the Great St. Bernard Tunnel. Italian authorities reported that he attempted to evade a police roadblock and crashed into a police vehicle before being detained. He was later extradited to Geneva to stand trial.
China has imposed high tariffs on some dairy products from the European Union, with the highest rates applying to producers in Poland. The industry claims this is Beijing’s retaliation for imposing tariffs on electric cars, writes Do Rzeczy.
In early October 2024, EU member states decided not to block the Commission’s proposed tariffs on electric vehicles manufactured in China, and the regulation entered into force on Oct. 30.
Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia, and Slovakia voted against the tariffs. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Finland abstained. The remaining EU countries, including Poland, voted in favor.
According to media reports, China recently made the unexpected decision to temporarily raise tariffs on certain dairy products from the bloc from 21.9 percent to 42.7 percent. Polish producers will now have to pay the highest tax rate.
Beijing claims the tariff hike is the result of an anti-dumping investigation into EU agricultural subsidies that violate free trade rules. However, industry representatives say it is retaliation for Poland’s support for tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars.
“This poses very serious problems for our Polish exports. Although it should be emphasized that we have indeed observed a decline in their scale over the last two years. Nevertheless, these products are still relatively well-marketed in China. Today, hopes that we will be able to recapture the Chinese market have been dashed,” Agnieszka Maliszewska, head of the Polish Milk Chamber, told Interia.
In turn, Professor Dominik Mierzejewski, founder of the Center for Asian Affairs at the University of Lodz, believes that Beijing’s decision is a “tit for tat.”
“The Chinese economy is slowly trying to isolate itself from international markets, demonstrating its resilience to the shocks associated with additional restrictions. Although this is true in less important sectors,” the expert pointed out.
Four Syrian youths robbed, beat, and racially insulted another group of youths on a Düsseldorf commuter train, calling them “shitty Germans.” The youth suspects are accused of demanding money, assaulting one youth, robbing all the victims of cash, and sexually assaulting two more victims.
The suspects allegedly kissed two of the female victims against their will, punched one youth in the face, and stole cash. After a public appeal went out for their arrest, the Syrians turned themselves in to the police.
The suspects have already been released by police and, due to their age, are unlikely to face any serious consequences.
The case received widespread attention due to surveillance footage of the youths, which was released across Germany.
“The police are searching for this group of young men who are said to have threatened, assaulted, and robbed passengers on an S-Bahn train. In Düsseldorf, on Friday evening. One of them even brazenly poses for the surveillance camera! We can no longer feel safe in our own country. Nowhere,” wrote Gerhard Papke, president of the German-Hungarian Society in the Federal Republic of Germany and former FDP parliamentary group leader.
Die Polizei sucht diese Gruppe junger Männer, die in einer S-Bahn Fahrgäste bedroht, geschlagen und beraubt haben sollen. In Düsseldorf, am Freitagabend. Einer posiert sogar noch frech für die Überwachungskamera! Wir können uns im eigenen Land nicht mehr sicher fühlen. Nirgendwo. pic.twitter.com/sTDjIL2AcC
The incident occurred on Dec. 19, 2025, at approximately 9:45 p.m. on the S28 suburban train from Düsseldorf Central Station running towards Gerresheim. The suspects initially racially insulted the other group, including using the terms “fucking Germans” and “Shitty Germans.”
Afterwards, they demanded money from the victims. When the victims refused, the youths attacked one of them, according to German news outlet Apollo News.
“The aggressors then separated one of the youths from his companions. One suspect punched him in the face; at the same time, the victim’s wallet was pulled from his jacket pocket, and cash was stolen,” the police reported.
“Two of the suspects also kissed two youths from the other group,” the police report read.
The footage, which went viral in Germany, shows the youths walking directly toward the surveillance camera. One of them looks straight into the lens and makes a pistol gesture with both hands, in what appeared to be an arrogant pose after the robbery.
After their photos went viral, the suspects, 14, 16, and two 15-year-olds, turned themselves in at a police station in Wuppertal, according to police. Some of them were accompanied by their guardians. The suspects are four Syrian nationals who have prior criminal records.
“Since there are no grounds for detention, the four youths were not arrested. They face criminal proceedings,” police added. The State Security Criminal Investigation Department is leading the investigation.
Crimes by Syrians are extraordinarily high in Germany. A new report released in October detailed how in the last 10 years, Syrians have committed over 135,000 crimes against German victims. However, this group has also committed many crimes against non-German victims.
The Socialist Youth of Austria (SJ) has filed a criminal complaint against the co-governing Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm, alleging incitement to hatred over an Instagram post that noted two-thirds of Austrians currently find co-existence with Muslim refugees to be problematic.
The post was citing the recent findings of the Integration Barometer commissioned by the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF).
The study found that 68 percent of respondents believed Austria to be unable to cope with the current influx of asylum seekers, while 72 percent considered the level of integration among newcomers into Western society to be generally poor. Similarly, 66 percent of those surveyed perceived co-existence with Muslims to be poor or very poor.
The ÖVP Instagram post in question included a graphic that asked, “Did you know that two-thirds find living together with Muslims difficult?” The accompanying caption read, “Integration is not an option, it is an obligation.”
SJ chairwoman Larissa Zivkovic said the post crossed from political messaging into criminally relevant hate speech. She accused the ÖVP and Plakolm of deliberately sowing division with anti-Muslim rhetoric in order to distract from broader political failures. “Anti-Muslim hate speech has no place in our society,” Zivkovic said, warning that Muslims, particularly women, were already exposed to daily hostility and exclusion.
Senior ÖVP figures have rejected the accusation. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the post did not express a political judgment but quoted the results of a scientific study conducted by a reputable institute. As reported by Exxpress, Karner said the Integration Barometer reflected perceptions that already existed in society and that acknowledging those perceptions was necessary for effective integration policy. “This is not criticism of a religious community, but the result of a scientific study,” he said.
ÖVP Secretary General Nico Marchetti accused the Socialist Youth of attempting to “fight reality with lawsuits.” He said the survey findings were valid and reflected widespread concerns about immigration and integration. Marchetti argued that politicians had a responsibility to address those concerns rather than dismiss them as prejudice, and pointed to surveys among Social Democratic Party members in Carinthia showing strong support for tougher asylum and integration measures. He questioned whether the SJ would also consider legal action against those positions.
Plakolm said she was unconcerned by the criminal complaint, but warned that there were increasing attempts to adopt lawfare to shut down legitimate political debate. She said the public mood captured by the Integration Barometer had developed because of unresolved problems in social cohesion and insisted that integration would only succeed if expectations of newcomers were clear and consistently enforced.
Speaking last week about the government’s new integration program, Plakolm said, “Anyone who wants to live in Austria must fulfill three requirements to be considered successfully integrated: They must have sufficient command of our language, they must integrate into the labor market, and they must prioritize self-sufficiency, abide by our rules and values, and live accordingly. Anyone who rejects this must expect consequences and, conversely, is not welcome in Austria.”
The integration minister has been outspoken about the need for radical reform regarding the integration of Muslims into Austrian society, recently calling the wearing of headscarves by girls oppressive.
“I want girls, regardless of their religion, to have the same opportunities in our free and Western society. And that’s why I see the headscarf for girls under 14 as a sign of oppression,” she told Bild back in September.
A 14-year-old extremist Muslim girl is considered so dangerous that the German government is building its own “high-security container” to house her. Currently, she resides in the city of Paderborn, but will be transferred to the new site in the coming months.
The secure site will be fenced in, monitored by cameras, and strictly controlled.
In August, the 14-year-old girl, then 13, stabbed a caregiver in the back inside a psychiatric hospital in Paderborn. Now, no facility in Germany wants her due to her threat level.
Before arriving at the first clinic, she was under around-the-clock police surveillance due to suspicions she was planning a terror attack.
Currently, the Paderborn prosecutor says the 14-year-old will be “cared for there by specialists and security personnel, shielded from the public.”
The container has not yet been built, but once completed, inside her “high-security container,” the 14-year-old girl will “receive intensive educational support,” according to German public news media WDR.
It remains unclear how much just this one girl has cost German taxpayers, on top of the psychological and physical cost to the victim she stabbed in the back. However, another Islamist who required 24-hour surveillance and police escort had cost the German state €5 million, including 95,000 man-hours that were spent on him. In addition, over the course of one year, 99 percent of serious terror cases were Islam-related in Germany, with many of these cases involving enormous court and administrative resources.
Shakir Mahmoud Shakir, a 38-year-old Iraqi home care worker, has been sentenced to four years in prison for the rape of a 100-year-old woman in Stockholm. While the Swedish court delivered a guilty verdict for the assault committed during his service, Shakir was acquitted of a separate rape charge involving a 94-year-old woman and avoided deportation.
“There will likely be an appeal,” says prosecutor Linn Nyberg regarding the outcome.
The incident occurred in October when the 100-year-old victim was suffering from chest pains. Instead of receiving an ambulance, she was visited by Shakir, who was employed in the home service sector. According to the woman’s interrogation testimony, Shakir told her, “They have said that you should be anointed.”
He proceeded to use an ointment and an unknown object to assault her. Despite her yelling at him to stop, he continued the abuse for approximately 10 minutes without responding to her.
“Then I was ready to cry. And I thought, you work here. And then you do this to people. And against women,” the 100-year-old woman recounted in her statement.
Following the emergence of suspicions, Shakir took sick leave and was subsequently dismissed by the City of Stockholm.
Although Shakir is a citizen of Iraq and the prosecutor had requested his expulsion, the district court rejected this measure. Judge Mohamed Ali, newly appointed in June 2025, refused to issue the deportation order, saying there are “strong reasons that speak both for and against a deportation.”
He said that Shakir is “established” in Sweden and “has good contact with his daughter, who is a Swedish citizen,” according to Swedish news outlet Expressen.
The court also found that there were no ‘humiliating or degrading elements’ when Shakir Mahmoud Shakir raped the woman.
Acquittal of second rape
Shakir was also facing charges for the suspected rape of a 94-year-old woman in September. The victim recalled standing by her toilet needing assistance when she was assaulted and passed out from pain. When she awoke, Shakir was present.
While the district court assessed the woman’s story as credible and agreed that the investigation suggests abuse by home care staff, they ruled that it could not be proven that Shakir was the perpetrator. Consequently, he was acquitted of this specific charge.
The court classified the rape for which he was convicted as “serious,” acknowledging the victim’s defenseless position. However, it was not deemed “aggravated” because the course of events was considered limited and “neither threats nor violence have occurred.”
Prosecutor Linn Nyberg expressed disagreement with aspects of the verdict. “I don’t share the assessment, but have to go through how they have reasoned more properly,” she stated.
Shakir has a criminal record already
Shakir Mahmoud Shakir has denied all wrongdoing, admitting only to being present at the homes on the dates in question. “She thanked me when I walked out of here. I work from the heart, feel sorry for them,” he said during his interrogation.
This is not Shakir’s first encounter with the law. In 2021, he was convicted of document forgery and pretending to hold public standing after using a forged security guard ID. Additionally, last spring, he was fined and had his license suspended for driving with drugs in his blood.
Despite this criminal record, he was hired to care for the elderly.
Foreigners raping or abusing seniors in Sweden is hardly a rare occurrence. Just two months ago, a 20-year-old Iraqi migrant who had previously served prison sentences for drug offenses was discovered to have filmed and mocked elderly dementia patients while employed as a caregiver at a municipal care home in Ängelholm, southern Sweden.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the public support Czechia plans to provide for the construction and operation of two new nuclear power units at Dukovany complies with EU state aid rules, saying it has doubts about the appropriateness and proportionality of the proposed measures.
In a press release published on Monday, the Commission said it would focus on whether the aid package goes beyond what is necessary and on the impact the measures could have on competition in the electricity market. Prague plans to support the project through three instruments: a low-interest, repayable state loan currently estimated at between €23 billion and €30 billion to cover construction costs; a two-way contract for difference with a proposed duration of 40 years to ensure stable revenues; and a mechanism to protect the project company against adverse long-term policy changes.
“At this stage, the Commission, based on a preliminary assessment, finds the project necessary and considers that the aid facilitates the development of economic activity. However, the Commission has doubts as to whether the measure is fully compliant with EU state aid rules,” the Commission said.
Brussels said the combination of several aid measures could excessively limit risk for the beneficiary and potentially transfer too much risk to the state. “As there are several aid measures which together can limit the risk for the beneficiary, it is important to ensure that no more aid is ultimately granted than is necessary,” the Commission said.
The Commission is also examining the potential impact on competition, noting that it could not yet conclude whether there are sufficient safeguards to ensure that ČEZ’s, the largest utility company in the country, existing market power is not consolidated or indirectly strengthened, or that the aid will not be passed on to consumers or specific market participants.
As reported by Echo24, the two new units, scheduled to come online in 2036 and 2037, are intended to strengthen electricity supply security in Czechia and neighboring countries, support decarbonization, and diversify the national energy supply.
The investigation comes after Prague formally signed final contracts in June with South Korea’s KHNP for the construction of the two new reactors, shortly after the Supreme Administrative Court lifted an injunction that had temporarily blocked the deal. The signing followed a prolonged legal and political dispute, including a challenge by France’s EDF after losing the tender and earlier Commission concerns over possible foreign subsidies.
The Commission had previously urged Prague to delay finalizing the contract, citing concerns that KHNP may have received state support distorting the EU internal market. In May, Commission Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné penned a letter to Prague, warning of “significant indications” that the company had been “granted foreign subsidies that may distort the internal market.”
Czech officials suggested the letter, sent by the French European Commissioner, had been politically motivated following France’s failure to secure the contract.
During the recent election campaign, the ANO movement led by now-Prime Minister Andrej Babiš pledged to respect the original tender outcome and vowed not to reopen the process under foreign pressure.
After a knife-wielding African migrant, 26-year-old Muhamed Gueye, was shot dead by French police last week in the French city of Ajaccio, which is on the island of Corsica, Senegalese media has labeled the shooting racist. At the same time, Gueye’s parents, who still live in the country of Senegal, have filed a complaint against France for “aggravated voluntary homicide.”
The video of Gueye being shot shows him wielding a knife as police approach on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 12:30 p.m. According to reports, police deployed a taser against the suspect, which was ineffective. When he continued to rush them with a knife, he was shot dead by police.
Video of the shooting quickly went viral.
🇫🇷🔴The knife-wielding suspect killed by French police in Ajaccio has been identified as Muhamed Gueye.
His parents, who live in Africa's Senegal, have now filed a complaint for aggravated intentional homicide against the French police who killed the suspect. https://t.co/8CRUS5eXYJ
Prosecutors have already ruled out a terrorism motive in the case and have said the police shooting was justified, but some Senegalese media outlets see it differently.
“This Saturday, in Corsica, the police killed a black man, a Senegalese-Belgian named Mouhamed Gueye. He was strolling down a well-known avenue in Ajaccio, looking erratic. They say he had a bladed weapon, a knife. The images indeed show this man, his gait shaky. I can understand how scary he could have been. But I can’t understand why we had to shoot him, like a dog, in broad daylight. And again, even a dog would have had better treatment.
This man is the laughing stock of social networks, where far-right, racist and odious testimonies pop the champagne at the announcement of the death of a man. Moreover, many deny the humanity of the latter, rather pity the knife, the real victim of the affair.
Since the last European elections, France has fallen into uninhibited racism, and not a week goes by without politicians and their followers sending words of rare violence in the face of so-called different people. The famous immigration which is seen as the cause of everything. France’s debt has exploded, national education is going through a crisis, we are struggling to vote on a complete budget, we are worried about retirement, entrepreneurs are jumping ship, just like young people; but all this, of course, is the fault of immigration. The immigrant has become the scapegoat of a restricted, frustrated, impoverished French society, and this cannot continue like this.”
According to the Ajaccio prosecutor, the individual was driving on a scooter from the Ring Road towards the city center. Once he was approached by police, he brandished a knife.
“The police tried to control him with, a priori, one and two taser shots, without success,” specifies Nicolas Septe, the prosecutor, according to Europe3.
“When the person concerned continues his progress, he would brandish a knife in the direction of one of the police officers, threatening him. The second police officer present in this patrol of three police officers will protect his colleague and use his service weapon three times, hitting the person concerned in the chest. He died of injuries caused by these shots,” said the Ajaccio prosecutor.
Witnesses also backed the police story. Anthony Bezard, the owner of a nearby bakery, said the police “couldn’t stop him, they tased him, they tased him, but couldn’t neutralize him.” Bezard was so close by that he says he was accidentally tasered by the officers by mistake.
Another witness, Félix Bonardi, said: “The police were trying to arrest someone very tall and very strong. I saw a knife with a very long blade.”
Another witness, Krimau El-Majouti, also attacked the knifeman, saying: “I was afraid he would touch a mother or a child. I took a table to hit him on the head and finally hit him on the feet…There were other people next to me who threw chairs at him. He tripped and fell to the ground.”
It has been revealed that Muhamed Gueye had a student visa and Belgian identity papers, and in January 2025, he was already arrested for possession of a knife and committed to a psychiatric institution. Apparently, he was homeless in Ajaccio.
His parents have filed a complaint for aggravated homicide. He is the oldest of eight children who obtained a degree in medicine in 2020, according to Corse Matin.
The reason? The parents say the complaint is “above all, to find out what happened.”
A Rwandan migrant is accused of dragging a Belgian woman off her bicycle, pulling her into bushes, and raping Wednesday morning before sunrise in the Belgian city of Kortrijk. A passersby called the police, who arrested the suspect shortly after the rape.
The woman was cycling to work along the Bruyningpad, a cycle path that connects the Marke district and the Hoog Kortrijk district. At 6:50 a.m., she was surprised by the man, who dragged her into bushes near the E17 motorway and raped her before fleeing on foot.
“Attentive passersby noticed an abandoned bicycle along the bike path and alerted the emergency services at Groeninge Hospital,” said Griet De Prest, spokesperson for the West Flanders public prosecutor’s office. “Paramedics then discovered the victim near the path.”
After a brief manhunt, the perpetrator was arrested by police, according to news outlet 7sur7.
“He is a 25-year-old man of Rwandan origin, residing in Brussels,” stated Griet De Prest. “An investigating judge has been assigned to the case for rape and sexual assault. A forensic pathologist has been appointed, and the laboratory, accompanied by a tracking dog, went to the scene to conduct an investigation. The investigating judge and the public prosecutor’s office also visited the location.”
The victim was taken to Groeninge Hospital for treatment. She is also receiving psychological care. The African man is in custody and faces charges for rape.
Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, has died after a car explosion in southern Moscow, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia.
According to the Latvian-based Russian news website Meduza, an investigation has been opened for both murder and the illegal trafficking of explosive substances.
The explosion occurred on Monday morning in a parking lot on Yasenevaya Street in the south of the Russian capital. The Investigative Committee said an explosive device had been planted beneath Sarvarov’s vehicle. According to the business daily Kommersant, investigators believe a magnetic proximity mine was used. The committee said several possible motives are being examined, including the involvement of Ukrainian special services.
Telegram channels reporting from the scene said residents heard a loud explosion at around 6:50 a.m., which was audible several blocks away.
Baza, which is closely linked to Russian security services, reported that Sarvarov initially survived the blast but was seriously injured, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds, severe leg injuries, and a facial fracture. Baza and the Telegram channel Shot said Sarvarov managed to drive his Kia Sorento several meters before the explosion, large enough to also damage several nearby vehicles. Photographs from the scene suggest the blast hit the front section of the vehicle. Sarvarov died later in hospital.
🇷🇺🚨 Top-ranking Russian general killed in car bomb attack in southern Moscow.
Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed in the explosion outside his home early on Monday morning.… pic.twitter.com/QjVWXL63KV
According to leaked databases cited by the independent television channel Dozhd, a 2013 Kia Sorento was registered in Sarvarov’s name. It reported that the explosion occurred roughly 150 meters from a residential building housing several officers from the GRU military intelligence service.
Sarvarov was 56 years old. He was born in Russia’s Perm region and graduated from the Kazan Higher Tank Command Red Banner School in 1990, the Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces in 1999, and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2008. He had served as head of the Operational Training Directorate since 2016.
Emergency services continued to work at the site throughout the morning as investigators examined debris and searched for evidence. The Investigative Committee said it is continuing to assess all versions of the killing, including possible foreign involvement.
NATO has just announced another key hub in Romania, second to its existing one in Poland. This will help get aid and equipment to Ukraine faster, but the alliance has long faced serious logistics bottlenecks.
The Mandiner portal writes about an incident recalled by retired U.S. General Ben Hodges when dozens of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles passed through a Polish train station in 2017. The vehicles were too tall to fit under the roof, causing turrets of some of the vehicles to tear off after hitting the metal awning above them.
No one was injured, but the incident resulted in thousands of dollars in damage, and 10 combat vehicles were temporarily disabled. It also clearly showed that Europe’s infrastructure is not prepared to quickly move large numbers of heavy military equipment.
Credible — and reliable — defense capabilities cannot be based on a fragmented, economically vulnerable, and militarily unprotected telecommunications system, military expert Ferenc Vukics told the portal. This was also blatantly demonstrated when a damaged railway bridge in northern Germany paralyzed ammunition shipments to Ukraine for weeks, as it was the only rail connection to that port.
Vukics concludes that Europe has been demobilized not only in weapons but also in strategic thinking in recent decades. Until this changes, military Schengen and ambitious mobility plans alone will not solve the problem, he says.
NATO’s logistics system remains tailored to peacetime and, in a crisis, produces delays rather than rapid response. It was only after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that it became clear that European rearmament alone was not enough.
Not only are modern tanks and self-propelled guns needed, but they also need to be able to be delivered to the eastern flank within days.
The difficulty of this was illustrated when France was unable to send its Leclerc tanks to Romania via the shortest land route, via Germany. German authorities deemed the tanks too heavy for the infrastructure, so the shipment was shipped from Marseille across the Mediterranean to Greece and then transported by rail. What started as a quick show of force turned into a weeks-long logistical detour.
EU estimates currently suggest that it could take up to 45 days for a NATO force to reach allies near the Russian or Ukrainian borders from strategic ports. New plans for military mobility aim to reduce this to three to five days.
According to German Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, everything should work like “Swiss clockwork,” because deterrence is only credible if it is quick and predictable.
In early 2022, few Western leaders believed that Vladimir Putin would actually attack. According to Hodges, the speed of decision-making is a key issue: when to issue the mobilization order, when to open the ammunition depots, when to start the convoys.
This also requires that European leaders and the American president interpret the threat in the same way.
NATO does not officially release figures, but in the event of a war, diplomatic sources say that 200,000 troops, 1,500 tanks and more than 2,500 armored vehicles would need to be redeployed from the United States, Canada and Britain. Although the Americans have made great improvements in mapping European routes, the shortcomings are still staggering: narrow tunnels, weak bridges, dangerous track gradients, and different railway gauges.
This is why the 24 billion euro Rail Baltica project is underway in the Baltic states, and in Spain, the different gauges are also causing serious problems. Transshipment everywhere means a loss of time and creates “choke points” that are ideal targets in a modern missile war.
Germany is particularly vulnerable. The country’s geographical location makes it an unavoidable transit area, with around 37,000 U.S. troops stationed there, while the state of its infrastructure is critical in many places. The partial collapse of the Carola Bridge in Dresden has become a symbol of the continent’s infrastructure crisis.
The EU has identified 2,800 critical points, of which 500 are priority projects. NATO member states have pledged to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense by 2035, of which 1.5 percent can go to infrastructure, and Germany is preparing a €500 billion renovation program. The question is whether this will be fast enough.
In peacetime, military convoys must comply with customs and labor regulations, such as driving hours for truck drivers. Of course, in times of war, these obstacles disappear – but by then it’s too late, which is why the idea of a “military Schengen” arose to standardize and accelerate troop movements, Mandiner writes.
Although Germany, Poland and the Netherlands have already taken steps, paperwork still varies from country to country, and NATO still relies on paper-based documents due to cyber threats.
Ferenc Vukics points to the deeper causes of the problems, saying that NATO’s current logistical difficulties are not primarily technical, but rather historical and conceptual. Until the end of the Cold War, the so-called dual-use infrastructure was a given in Europe:
“Ports, highways, bridges, and train stations were designed from the start to be suitable for military purposes if necessary,” he says. States accumulated reserves of food, fuel, ammunition, and industrial raw materials sufficient for years, and industry could be quickly converted to war production in times of crisis.
This way of thinking gradually disappeared after the Cold War. Economic efficiency, just-in-time supply systems and peacetime planning pushed defense considerations into the background. Vukics cites as an example that “in 2009, Germany even removed traffic signs indicating routes suitable for military vehicles.”
The consequences of this can now be quantified: Making the ports suitable for military use alone would cost €15-€20 billion, and restoring the entire transport and logistics system would require an investment of hundreds of billions.
However, the costs are a must, because without a unified, secure European infrastructure, military mobility is simply not possible, warns Vukics.
The Greens, typically one of the most pro-migration parties in all of Germany, are now protesting the planned conversion of an office building in Hasenheide, near Kreuzberg (Berlin) to accommodate more than 1,000 migrants and refugees, reports Bild.
Notably, Kreuzberg is one of the most left-wing neighborhoods in Berlin, an already notoriously left-wing city. However, full NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) is not unusual in Berlin, with plenty of other districts run by pro-migration parties claiming they do not want migrants in their own neighborhoods, sometimes fighting years of legal battles to prevent them from moving in.
This is not stopping the mayor from the area from pulling out the stop project. In question is an office building that formerly housed the German Pension Insurance, which is being converted for the purpose of housing refugees. The building features 32,000 square meters of office space across 10 floors, which is being transformed into residential units. The estimated cost is between €150 million and €200 million.
In a letter quoted by Tagesspiegel and cited by Bild from Mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Clara Herrmann to Governing Mayor Wegner (CDU), Hermann expresses her “deep concern” that such a large-scale accommodation facility is “the wrong path for community life in the city.”
Herrmann says the district cannot meet the “considerable needs among the refugees,” referring primarily to the lack of available places in kindergartens and schools. She also claims that the district has no money to pay the rent for the accommodation (€10 per square meter) nor for the migrants’ “social support.”
Notably, these are the same issues facing cities and municipalities across the country, Under the motto “we have space,‘ Green politicians and other left-wing politicians called for more and more refugees to be sent to Germany.
Mayor Herrmann previously commented on the planned large-scale accommodation in Hasenheide months ago that young men could come into contact with drug dealers in Hasenheide Park.
The accommodation has been known about since early 2025, and the problems cited by Hermann have been known about for years, but only now are she and the Greens raising a red flag.
Notably, Berlin is spending nearly triple on refugee accommodations than what it did in 2020, rising to nearly €1 billion in just the space of five years. The incredible sums being spent on just housing migrants in Berlin comes at a time when the city is cutting billions from its budget for transportation, culture, and education.
A Green Party politician from Bavaria is leading a fight against 130 migrants scheduled to arrive in his village of 280 citizens. Green politician Wolfgang Köster, a board spokesman for the local association Dietramszell-Egling, has taken the unlikely lead role in the fight against the asylum container camp for his village of Bairawies.
Köster is not necessarily against more migrants coming to Germany, he just takes issue with them coming to his village. When asked by Bild to explain his stance against the refugee accommodations in contrast to the open borders policy of his party, he stated: “I am convinced that we can help the refugees. It is difficult, it is costly, but it can be successful. There is no doubt that this includes decent accommodation and functioning care. Neither would be the case in Bairawies.”
An Egyptian asylum seeker has been placed in pre-trial detention in Italy following his arrest on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in broad daylight as he walked home from school.
The attack occurred at around 2 p.m. near Via Settembrini, Reggio Emilia, in the north of the country.
As reported by Gazzetta di Reggio, the minor had gotten off a bus and was walking home from school when he was approached by the migrant. Investigators said the suspect had already clocked the teen while on the bus and began following him after he got off at his stop.
The suspect allegedly attempted to strike up a conversation with the boy, who tried to walk away.
According to police, the suspect then grabbed the boy from behind, stripped him naked, and sexually assaulted him. The victim managed to escape and ran to a nearby ice cream parlor for help. Staff then alerted the authorities.
CCTV footage from both inside the bus and the surrounding areas assisted officers with a reconstruction of the moments before and after the assault. Witness statements and a video recorded by the victim himself in the moments preceding the attack were also crucial in building a case against the suspect.
At a preliminary investigations hearing, the judge approved the request of the public prosecutor’s office for pre-trial detention. The 25-year-old suspect was charged with sexual assault against a minor and transferred to prison to be held on remand.
Few details surrounding how and when the Egyptian national arrived in Europe have been released; however, he already has a criminal record in Italy for minor offenses.
Starting in January 2026, a second NATO hub will begin operating in Romania, doubling the transit of weapons to Ukraine, including through the PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) mechanism.
Right after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, a similar hub was opened in Jasionka, Poland, to serve as a key logistics center for all international aid flowing to Kyiv — military, humanitarian, and medical. Funds flow into Jasionka from Europe and the United States, writes Do Rzeczy.
The opening of the second hub reporting directly to NATO was confirmed by NATO’s deputy commander for support to Ukraine, General Mike Keller, who also informed press that in the past year, Ukraine received around 220,000 tons of military aid – approximately 9,000 trucks, 1,800 railway cars, and some 500 aircraft carrying weapons and military equipment.
“This is actually quite positive news, considering the independence of arms supplies to Ukraine from a single logistics center in Poland. This concerns urgently needed air defense assets, and above all, missiles, ammunition, etc.,” Defense Express experts assessed.
The current hub in Poland is located approximately 80 kilometers from the Polish-Ukrainian border. From there, goods, previously subjected to security checks, including explosives and counterintelligence equipment, are transported to the Ukrainian border.
For over two years, all these tasks were performed by a special support inspectorate – a team of four services under the overall leadership of the Military Counterintelligence Service – the police, the Central Bureau of Police Investigation, the Military Counterintelligence Service, and a dozen or so officers of the Military Gendarmerie.
A Rotterdam court has ruled that the man who carried out a fatal stabbing attack with terrorist intent near the Erasmus Bridge last year will not be sent to prison, concluding that his actions cannot be attributed to him because he was suffering from a severe psychotic disorder.
The Hague District Court on Friday ordered compulsory psychiatric treatment for Ayoub M., 23, after finding him guilty of murder and attempted murder with terrorist intent, but fully criminally incompetent. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison sentence in addition to compulsory treatment.
The attack took place on Sept. 19, 2024, after the killer travelled from his home in Amersfoort to Rotterdam and bought two chef’s knives. Early that evening, he stabbed 32-year-old German national Philipp, who was skating near the foot of the Erasmus Bridge. He then chased other people, making stabbing motions and screaming “Allahu Akbar,” before injuring a second man, 33-year-old Stefan from Switzerland, at Remastered, a digital art museum nearby. He was eventually overpowered by a group of bystanders whose heroic intervention prevented further casualties.
The court found that Ayoub M. had acted with terrorist intent, with judges pointing to his consumption of jihadist material, including books on armed jihad, hours of audio recordings, and videos from Islamic State showing beheadings.
Despite this, the court ruled that he could not be held criminally responsible. “The horrific acts cannot be blamed on him; he was completely psychotic,” the judges said in their verdict, as cited by NOS. They found that his behavior was dictated by a mental disorder and that no punishment should be imposed as retribution for the suffering he caused.
The court heard how Ayoub M. had been diagnosed with schizophrenia since the age of 18 and has suffered recurring psychoses. During these episodes, he experienced hallucinations, heard voices, and became intensely preoccupied with religion, according to Rechtspraak. In 2022, during a previous psychotic episode, he attempted to slit his mother’s throat while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” A court in Gelderland also found him fully insane in that case, and he was placed under supervision with conditions.
Experts at the Pieter Baan Center examined the suspect for 10 weeks and concluded that he had never been completely free of psychosis and that even maximum medication had been insufficient. Because he claimed that he could not remember the attack, and it could not be scientifically established to what extent his disorder influenced his actions, the experts advised holding him partially responsible. The court rejected that recommendation, ruling that he bore no criminal responsibility at all.
During police questioning, the man said that non-believers should be killed. Jihadist material was found on his laptop and phone, including videos about suicide attacks and life in the Islamic State caliphate.
Relatives of the German victim addressed the court during the trial. Philipp’s mother said her family had “experienced the worst thing imaginable” and argued that M. should never be allowed to return to society. “If we have to suffer for life, the suspect should also pay for his actions, without pardon,” she said.
Attorney Sébas Diekstra, representing the injured Swiss victim and the German family, called the verdict disappointing. “They believe the court falls short in addressing the extent to which the defendant can be held personally responsible for the situation he has found himself in,” he said.
In addition to the compulsory psychiatric treatment, the terrorist was also ordered to pay €17,500 to each of the German victim’s father, mother, and partner. The injured victim was also awarded €18,500 in damages. It is unclear how these damages will be paid.
In February, the four men who intervened during the attack were honoured for their actions. Rotterdam’s mayor awarded medals to Melvin van Es, Yurie Jansen, Reniël Litecia, and Sebastiaan Herrera van der Nood for distracting, subduing, and attempting to save the victims, actions that the court acknowledged helped prevent further bloodshed.
“They showed courage and solidarity in times of danger and chaos. I would love to express my deep gratitude to all those people here today. Yet your dedication stands out; you played a decisive role in the events of that evening,” Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten at the time.
A 25-year-old man, described by police as a Black “African type,” is on the run from Swiss police after he allegedly dragged a 5-year-old child inside a playground bathroom in Basel, Switzerland, and sexually assaulted her.
Directly before the sexual assault, which took place at noon, he had beaten her 69-year-old female caregiver, according to the Basel public prosecutor’s office. The 69-year-old woman was injured during the assault.
The initial investigation indicates that the child was dragged into the toilet at Oecolampadmatte, and he performed sexual acts on the toddler inside. The man fled when the door to the bathroom facility was opened on Colmarerstrasse towards Türkheimerstrasse, according to MSN Deutschland.
Police and medical services arrived on the playground and treated the two injured victims. Police launched a manhunt for the suspect but were unable to find him.
The Basel-Stadt public prosecutor’s office has described the man as 25 years old, 1.80 centimeters tall, with short curly hair and a full, round face. He was wearing all black, including his hat, pants, jacket, and shirt.
The public prosecutor indicates it is providing a minimum of information to protect the two victims in the case.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office asks for witnesses or for those who can provide information about the crime to contact the Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Prosecutor’s Office on 061 267 71 11 or the nearest police station.
The German state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt apparently thinks Covid-19 is still in full force, using the pandemic to declare a state of emergency for the seventh time. Criticism is now pouring in from the Green Party, AfD,, BSW, and FDP, writes Apollo News.
At issue are the powers such a measure allows the state government, namely, allowing it to take on more debt and circumvent the debt brake. In doing so, Saxony-Anhalt can spend up to €790 million from its special coronavirus fund.
The only problem is that this money is meant to promote pandemic resilience and to fund the digitalization and renovation of hospitals. So where is it going instead?
It is no secret that the state is facing a budget crisis, scrambling even last year to plug various gaps. The head of the state audit office, Kay Barthel, says “there was no objective justification” for the extended emergency.
“This isn’t being done because we’re in a crisis. It’s being done because otherwise we don’t know how to finance certain investments,” he told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Last year, Barthel noted that he couldn’t imagine how current budget expenditures for 2027, which were financed by debt in 2026, would then be covered by the core budget.
Several parties, reportedly including members of his own CDU, are committed to blocking the use of these funds by the state’s minister-president, Reiner Haseloff (CDU).
BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht told the Bild newspaper: “This is a simple trick to get his hands on money and put the governing parties in a better starting position for the state elections.”
Wagenknecht went even further, suggesting that the federal government should intervene to prevent Haseloff’s plans from succeeding.
“This foul play must be stopped! If necessary, there is even Article 37 of the Basic Law that could be invoked; a federal commissioner could put a stop to this abuse.”
Such a commissioner has never been appointed by the federal government in the history of the Federal Republic.
“This is a compelling idea that should be pursued further,” said FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki, whose party, with only one dissenting member, voted in favor of declaring the emergency in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, agreed with Wagenknecht, calling it “a compelling idea.”
The AfD and the Greens announced they would examine their own legal options against Haseloff’s plan.
The state was allocated a special Covid-19 fund of approximately €2 billion. By October of this year, more than half of this amount had been spent. Repayment of state debt is scheduled to begin in 2029 with installments of €100 million.
Saxony-Anhalt is the only German state that has repeatedly extended its pandemic emergency declaration, with other states last declaring it in 2024.
Officials from the National Revenue Administration (KAS) successfully blocked an attempt to smuggle nearly 1,500 tons of illegal waste from Ukraine into Poland. The interception took place at the border crossing in Dorohusk and was later detailed in an official government statement. The case highlights yet another instance where Ukraine is testing the patience of Polish government authorities.
During an inspection of 35 wagons on a freight train arriving from Ukraine, officers from the Lublin Customs and Tax Office discovered that the cargo did not match its documentation. While the clearance papers described the load as “steel scrap – bulk waste” weighing nearly 1,500 tons, a physical search revealed a much more complex and illegal mixture.
According to the National Revenue Administration, “it was not just scrap steel, but a mixture of various wastes, “which contained a variety of unsorted materials, including used automotive parts, assembly foams and cables, and textile materials and plastic waste.
The Provincial Inspectorate for Environmental Protection determined that the cargo was a heterogeneous mixture “for which it is not possible to clearly establish the customs tariff code.” Furthermore, authorities discovered that the intended recipient in Poland lacked the necessary waste processing permits to handle such materials.
Following the discovery, the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (GIOŚ) in Warsaw officially categorized the shipment as illegal. This led the Head of the Lublin Customs and Tax Office to notify the prosecutor’s office regarding the “suspicion of committing a crime.”
Now, by order of the Polish prosecutor’s office, the entire 35-wagon transport was sent back to Ukraine. KAS reiterated its commitment to environmental safety, noting that the administration “monitors cross-border shipments of waste and combats attempts to import illegal waste into Poland,” with the primary goal of protecting the public and the environment from harmful pollutants.
The German government is signaling times of austerity are ahead for Germans, with German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) even saying there could be years of belt-tightening.
Klingbeil, a member of the far left SPD, is preparing the German public for a period of financial hardship, even as the country spends at least €50 billion a year on migrants, including for their housing, education, security, and integration. In addition, tens of billions have already headed to Ukraine, with another €19 billion directly from Germany planned.
Speaking on the ZDF program “Das Jahr 2025,” the SPD chairman warned of “very challenging years” ahead, stating that citizens would “also have to be asked to do something.”
„Jeder wird spüren, dass wir sparen“ – Klingbeil kündigt harte Einschnitte für die Deutschen an.
“Everyone will feel that we are saving,” Klingbeil explained, emphasizing the necessity of cuts. However, he pushed back against the narrative that the nation is facing fiscal ruin. “We are not broke. The country is not on the brink of collapse,” the finance minister stated, rejecting the impression of impending financial failure.
According to Klingbeil, while the nation’s problems are solvable, they will come with consequences. He highlighted a funding gap of €60 billion for 2028 alone, which cannot be closed without making serious cuts that people will notice.
Klingbeil’s announcement comes at a time when German municipalities across the country are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Many officials are also complaining that the historic debt package the government passed, which totals €1 trillion, will not fill the holes in the budget.
Last month, Essen’s Mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU), who is also a member of the CDU federal executive board, sounded the alarm, saying: “Almost every German city is now on the verge of bankruptcy.”
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, only 10 out of 396 cities and municipalities can present a balanced budget, and these alarming figures from Germany’s largest federal state can be applied to the “entire country,” he said.
Mayor Kufen stressed that the crisis is universal, affecting municipalities regardless of their location: “What’s new is that all cities have their backs against the wall,” he told Bild newspaper.
He warned that “budget freezes would now have to be imposed everywhere,” including in many cities previously considered wealthy.
Although Klingbeil did not provide specific details on the planned measures, he announced that a complete package would be presented at a later date by the party leaders of the CDU, CSU, and SPD. He stressed that these measures must be designed fairly: “The goal is that everyone contributes their part and not just one group.”
Not just the federal government, but also at the ground level in cities, budget cuts are being made, and they are expected to get worse, all while cities like Berlin are spending record amounts on migrant accommodations. A new report shows Berlin spent nearly €1 billion last year, all while making deep budget cuts in areas such as culture, education and transport.
However, Klingbeil is also calling on his own party to embrace change. He argued that the SPD must be prepared to overcome the status quo, noting that the perception of weakness had recently harmed the party.
“Social democracy is successful when it leads change and not just accompanies it,” he stated.
The announced austerity measures and the government’s fiscal management have drawn sharp rebuke from the opposition, particularly the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel strongly condemned the government’s course, characterizing the coalition’s fiscal policy as a “Black-Red debt orgy at the expense of Germany’s future.”
The AfD parliamentary group has further described Klingbeil’s budgetary drafts as “catastrophic for Germany,” arguing that the government’s approach places undue burdens on citizens while failing to address structural issues. Critics from the party have repeatedly emphasized that “the money is not reaching the people” and have warned against what they view as the mismanagement of public funds.
In a breakthrough after late-night negotiations in Brussels, EU leaders have finalized a massive financial support package for Ukraine. While the direct use of frozen Russian assets has been sidelined for now, leaders confirmed that the door remains open for that strategy in the future.
“Today, we approved a decision to provide €90 billion ($106 billion) to Ukraine for the next two years. As a matter of urgency, we will provide the loan backed by the European Union budget,” said European Council President António Costa. “We kept our promise.”
The funding structure involves 24 out of 27 EU member states — with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia opting out. These nations will take on common debt through the European Commission, backed by the EU budget. This capital will be extended to Ukraine as a loan over the next two years.
The repayment terms are unique: Ukraine is expected to repay the loan only if Russia pays reparations. If that does not occur, the option of still accessing the frozen Russian assets comes into play again. However, a notable concern raised by diplomats is the accumulation of loan interest for the EU, as it is currently unclear who will pay.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed the agreement as “good news for Ukraine,” though the final deal only incorporated portions of his initial proposal. In a written statement, Merz noted: “The financial package for Ukraine is in place. As I requested, Ukraine will receive an interest-free loan of €90 billion. These funds are sufficient to cover military and budget needs for the next two years. This signal is crucial to ending the war, because Putin will only give in when he realizes that his war is not worth it.”
Merz emphasized that “Ukraine only has to repay the EU loan once it has received compensation from Russia.” He further stated: “We expressly reserve the right: If Russia does not pay compensation, we will – in full accordance with international law – use Russian assets for the repayment.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron stated: “After long discussions, we decided on a loan to Ukraine in the amount of €90 billion for the next two years, based on a European Union footprint that will be guaranteed by the European budget. These eurobonds for Ukraine are a major advance that gives visibility to our Ukrainian friends and coherence to our support. This solution has appeared to be the most realistic and practical to ensure that Ukraine has the resources it needs to finance its war effort by 2026.”
The direct use of Russian assets was avoided for now because it “proved to be too complicated” during the six-hour summit. Merz confirmed the funds should be available by mid-January and reassured the public that taking on EU-level debt “does not put a strain on Germany’s budget.”
Regarding the United States, Merz expressed hope that the Trump administration would maintain diplomatic heat on Moscow. His final takeaway from the Brussels negotiations was: “Good news for Ukraine, pretty bad news for Russia.”
Meanwhile, criticism poured in from many corners over the tens of billions in loans for Ukraine.
“The EU is taking on €90 billion in debt to support Ukraine. Chancellor Merz is transferring his irresponsible debt policy to the EU. In the end, the German taxpayer will have to foot the bill again,” said AfD’s Alice Weidel on X.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also criticized the package but celebrated the fact that frozen Russian assets would not be used to finance Ukraine, which he said would have amounted to a declaration of war.
“We managed to avert the immediate risk of war. We did not allow Europe to issue a declaration of war on Russia by using Russian assets. This plan would have dragged Europe into war and imposed a financial burden of 1000 billion HUF on Hungary,” Orbán wrote.
We have endured a long and challenging night.
We managed to avert the immediate risk of war. We did not allow Europe to issue a declaration of war on Russia by using Russian assets.
This plan would have dragged Europe into war and imposed a financial burden of 1000 billion HUF… pic.twitter.com/Jbs1KI6XvA
“We succeeded in protecting Hungarian families from this. At the same time, 24 member states decided to grant a war loan to Ukraine for the next two years. If Ukraine is unable to repay the loan, those European countries will have to cover the repayment. Thankfully, the V3 cooperation is active once again: Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have decided not to get on that train,” he continued.
Streets in Odessa, Ukraine, were blocked on Thursday by local residents protesting against prolonged power outages, showcasing the difficulties the Ukrainian population faces in response to sustained Russian attacks against energy infrastructure.
“I understand people’s feelings. It’s hard and tiring to be without electricity for days,” Odessa regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on his Telegram page, as cited by Mandiner. He also urged residents to remain calm.
Kiper said that Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities caused the power outage, and that restoration work would be complicated by further attacks. Asking for understanding for the current situation, the governor added that authorities were providing emergency housing for those in need.
The Strana newspaper also published a video showing protesters blocking traffic on a street, causing a traffic jam. Similar actions have been reported in recent days from Dnipropetrovsk and Chernomorsk. The current power outage in the Odessa region was caused by a massive Russian missile and drone attack that occurred early Saturday.
The Ukrainian energy network has been severely weakened during the years of war, and authorities in other regions of the country are also forced to suspend electricity supply for longer periods of time to allow for repair work and to prevent network overload.
On social media, accounts also reported a drone strike on the bridge over the Dniester River in the Odessa region. Combined with the security checks on traffic due to the latest Russian strikes, a key Western supply route for Ukraine has been shut down for now.
💥– Geran drone strike on the bridge over the Dniester River in the village of Mayaki in the Odessa region.
❗️Although a drone strike is unlikely to cause serious damage to the bridge, traffic to several checkpoints on the Ukrainian–Moldovan border in the Odessa region has been… pic.twitter.com/RmXgk7dyfA
With Black Sea shipping largely restricted, Kyiv has been dependent on this corridor for fuel, military supplies, aid, and grain exports using ports along the Danube, one account explained.
Amidst massive farmer protests in Brussels and clashes with police against the European Union’s trade agreement with Mercosur countries, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has decided not to go forward with signing the agreement, cancelling her trip to Brazil, where she was expected.
The EU parliament voted on a “strengthened safeguard clause” to the European Union’s trade agreement with Mercosur member states, intended to allow the European Community to react more quickly in the event of problems arising from imports from South American countries.
However, the clause leaves the agreement intact, which is bad news for many farmers across the EU, although beneficial for Germany, as Mercosur is its 10th biggest trade partner outside the EU and this deal will be a boost for German exports and jobs.
Von der Leyen is saying she will head to Brazil in January, although one EU diplomat quoted by wPolityce says that what is really needed before the Mercosur deal is signed is getting Italy on board.
According to the portal, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke Thursday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will host Saturday’s Mercosur summit. Da Silva reported that Meloni told him she supported the deal but asked for patience to secure domestic support, i.e., support from Italian farmers. She also reportedly told him she was certain she would have this within the month.
Denmark, which holds the current EU presidency, is pushing for the agreement to be signed and had hoped von der Leyen could make the trip to Brazil to do so.
Meanwhile, Lula threatened that if the EU-Mercosur agreement was not finalized this month, Brazil would not sign it, and any concessions it was willing to make had already been made.
Poland and France are also opposed to the deal, and together with Italy, they could effectively block its approval. The Polish government has promised to engage in building a minority that can block the deal, reports Do Rzeczy.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk has repeatedly asserted that his government opposes the EU-Mercosur agreement, and yet, he has also said that blocking it would be “very difficult,” adding that Poland has worked hard to “push through some positive measures from the perspective of Polish farmers and Polish producers.”
By all appearances, he is looking to keep the door open to passing the trade deal, especially if Poland is needed to get the deal over the finish line.
“I discussed this today with Prime Minister Meloni and President Macron, about how we can proceed together,” Tusk announced in a major push for the present deal.
“If the version we currently have on the table, the Mercosur version, is adopted, it will be largely safe from the perspective of Polish farmers, but also Polish consumers. We’re talking about the use of pesticides and increased controls by the European Union. So the efforts – including those of the Polish People’s Party, I must emphasize this very strongly – have brought the desired result,” Tusk told press.
“We try to act wisely. We look for ways to block bad legislation when we don’t have a majority on a given issue. At least we fix the project so it doesn’t pose a threat to Poland. And here I can congratulate everyone involved – it’s not perfect, but it’s not bad,” Tusk said.
In a new analysis on the Onet website, cited by Do Rzezcy, Law and Justice (PiS) has seen the largest voter outflow since 2023, with the majority (4.6 percent) going to Grzegorz Braun’s party, Confederation of the Polish Crown. Another 4 percent chose Confederation.
“According to our analysis, the current electorate structure of the ‘Crown’ party has almost three times as many former PiS voters as former Confederation voters. This is mainly due to the fact that support for Grzegorz Braun’s party is systematically growing and is now almost identical to that achieved by Confederation in the 2023 elections,” Onet wrote.
The right-wing Confederation has a much more diverse electorate – one-third of its voters are “regular” supporters who already supported it in 2023, another 30 percent are former PiS voters, and another 20 percent are former Third Way supporters. In addition, about 10 percent are people who did not vote in the previous elections.
In the latest OGB poll, Grzegorz Braun’s party surpassed Confederation with 11 percent and took third place. This result is a shock for many political observers. Left-wing and liberal commentators have expressed outrage at such high support for the ultra-right Catholic, nationalist party.
Łukasz Pawłowski, president of the OGB, believes that it should rather be called a draw than a “fight” between the two Confederations.
“1. Braun’s party is catching up with Confederation among the 18-39 group (Braun received the highest support among all age groups in the 30-39 group in the presidential elections – 10 percent). 2. Braun’s party has equaled Confederation’s support among men (!!!). 3. Braun’s party has overtaken Confederation in the countryside. 4. Braun’s party is now the number 2 party among voters declaring right-wing views,” he told the paper.
As the EU moves to crush protesting farmers demonstrating in Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán offered full backing to the farmers and their efforts to stop the EU’s Mercosur free trade deal, which threatens to destroy food security in Europe.
“Farmers are 100 percent right,” said Orbán, who is currently in Brussels attending the EU Summit.
He added that the farmers have obvious issues with the Mercosur package, a free trade agreement with Latin American countries, because it “kills the farmers.”
🇧🇪JUST IN: Police fire tear gas at protesting farmers in Brussels.
10,000 farmers are in Brussels to protest the South American Mercosur free trade agreement, which will destroy food security in Europe and lead to harmful pesticides in EU supermarkets. pic.twitter.com/WA1MVDfQOt
“Hungary is one of the countries that does not support the Mercosur agreement. There were serious professional debates about this in Hungary, and the Hungarian position was that we do not support this,” said the prime minister.
Viktor Orbán reminded that the agreement would require a qualified majority, and according to his expectations, there is not enough support.
“Mercosur opponents make it impossible for this agreement to be signed. The plan is that the President of the European Commission wants to sign this later this week. I think this needs to be stopped here now, and we can prevent it,” he said.
He also said that another problem for farmers is the Green Deal, which leads to expensive overregulation in agricultural work in such a way that it represents a serious cost and competitive disadvantage for European food producers.
“So I have to say that with the Mercosur agreement, they are shooting European farmers in the foot, but before that, they tie their legs together so that they have no chance in the global competition,” he stated.
“That is why the farmers are absolutely right, the Hungarian government is 100 percent with the farmers,” said the Hungarian leader.
Farmers met with force
The use of force against farmers in Brussels is drawing criticism from Hungarian journalists, including Dániel Deák, the senior analyst of the Század Institute. He published a video report showing the European Commission building, or Ursula von der Leyen’s workplace, surrounded by barbed wire.
According to him, with these measures, they are trying to prevent farmer protesters from getting close to the president of the European Commission.
In the report, he also drew attention to the fact that if they tried to limit a demonstration in Hungary in a similar way, by placing barbed wire, it would provoke significant protests from the left, and the European Union would also talk about the use of “dictatorial means.”
In his opinion, all this once again points to the hypocrisy that is often used against Hungary. He also emphasized that demonstrations in Hungary can be held and that no attempt is made to make them impossible with barbed wire.
Approximately 10,000 farmers and demonstrators from across Europe have flocked to Brussels to protest against the European Union’s agreement with the South American Mercosur countries.
At the same time, a summit of EU leaders is taking place in the Belgian capital, where one of the main topics will be the free trade agreement, which, as many politicians, experts, and even farmers themselves emphasize, will lead to disaster for European agriculture.
Police have already deployed water cannons and tear gas as small-scale battles broke out with riot police.
🇧🇪JUST IN: Police fire tear gas at protesting farmers in Brussels.
10,000 farmers are in Brussels to protest the South American Mercosur free trade agreement, which will destroy food security in Europe and lead to harmful pesticides in EU supermarkets. pic.twitter.com/WA1MVDfQOt
Water cannons were also deployed against the protesters despite the cold weather.
Utilisation de canon à eau contre les #agriculteurs à #Bruxelles devant la Commission Européenne.
Des milliers d'agriculteurs de toute l'Europe convergent à Bruxelles pour protester contre le Mercosur, la taxe carbone sur les engrais, et la baisse de la PAC.#Brussel#Brusselspic.twitter.com/ensF2buU4W
Farmers from Poland, Sweden, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and France, along with many other countries, are also participating in the protest.
The protest in Brussels is organized by Copa-Cogeca, Europe’s largest organization of farmers’ unions and cooperatives. The organization’s social media accounts report that 10,000 farmers from 27 countries have converged on the Belgian capital, including many traveling over 1,000 kilometers from countries like Sweden to attend.
🇸🇪 Swedish farmers have arrived after 1400km, crossing Sweden, Germany, all the way through Brussels !
Farmers began gathering in front of the European Parliament yesterday evening. Dozens of tractors appeared on the streets of Brussels. The farmers began blocking one of the main streets leading to the EU institutions, surprising local authorities and leading to police intervention.
This week, the European Parliament voted on a safeguard clause to the EU’s trade agreement with Mercosur countries, but that is not considered enough to avert disaster for Europe’s food security, food safety, and agricultural future.
“The changes voted on in the European Parliament do not eliminate the fundamental threat to the food security of EU citizens, and the safeguard clause will not prevent the destabilization of the agricultural market. A sham solution was passed, intended to create the impression of agricultural protection and facilitate political acceptance of the entire agreement,” Jadwiga Wiśniewska, a PiS MEP, commented on the EP’s vote on safeguard clauses for the agreement with Mercosur countries in an interview with wPolityce.
“The safeguards approved do not eliminate the threats to small and medium-sized farms, which constitute the backbone of Polish agriculture. For them, these mechanisms will be completely insufficient,” she adds.
Another trial involving a foreigner committing a rape of an underage girl is ongoing in Vienna, Austria. This time, a 27-year-old Syrian man has been convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in the Donaustadt district, with the girl’s pregnant mother fainting after learning her daughter had been raped.
The girl, who was missing from her family, was raped on April 10, 2024. According to the prosecutor, the girl went home with three Syrian men, who offered that she should stay at their place during the night. She admitted to taking drugs at the time.
During the incident, one of the Syrians is pulled down her pants and underwear, restrained her arms, and forcibly penetrated the victim. She told him to stop repeatedly, but he refused.
The Syrian man said he “suddenly” ejaculated that morning, which “caused him to panic.”
“I suddenly saw semen dripping down my body. Then, I panicked,” he said, while denying that he had sexual intercourse with the victim, according to Austrian outlet Kronen Zeitung.
The DNA evidence confirms the man had sexual intercourse with the minor.
The mother told the court as witness, “I was pregnant at the time and fainted.”
A friend of the family picked the victim up at the apartment. During the trial, the girl testified, “I tried to stay awake. He attacked me all over. He wouldn’t leave.”
The girl was interviewed by officers, who then submitted her for psychiatric treatment. She only filed a police report due to her mother’s urging.
“She said it was so it wouldn’t happen to other girls,” said the girl.
While the defense attorney argued for acquittal, the judge found the man guilty. He has been sentenced to four and half years in prison for rape, but the verdict is not yet legally binding.
Brussels is reportedly split on the issue of using frozen Russian assets to fund the war in Ukraine, with some advocating instead for a joint loan. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán yesterday told press that the idea of going after Russian assets was already dead.
“This morning, the chairwoman of the committee announced that the committee has backed down and the issue of Russian assets will not even be put on the table,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán began in an interview with Dániel Deák, senior analyst at the 21st Century Institute, reported Magyar Nemzet yesterday.
“Last night’s background negotiations and struggles led to a result, and I think, if I understand correctly what the chairwoman of the committee said today, that the Russian assets will not be put on the negotiating table tomorrow. This morning, the chairwoman of the committee announced that the committee had backed down,” he told him.
What would remain is the proposed joint loan, with sources telling Politico that discussions would center around a loan deal without Hungary and Slovakia, who both oppose the idea. Both countries say they oppose any continued funding of the war in Ukraine, opting to focus on the current U.S.-led peace talks instead.
However, other portals as of early this morning say the topic of using Russian assets is still very much on the table, with a final decision due today.
According to the same Politico article, “Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is already predicting the assets will not be discussed in Brussels, and that negotiations have shifted to joint loans. Multiple diplomats, however, retorted that Orbán was wrong and that the Russian assets were still ‘the only game in town.’”
The BBC also wrote: “One European government official described being ‘cautiously optimistic, not overly optimistic’ that a deal would be agreed.”
Given the legal entanglements of using these funds, the idea still seems risky. Furthermore, Russia has already sued the clearing house holding the majority of its frozen money in Belgium, Euroclear. Just days ago, Moscow sent a clear message with its suit, seeking $230 billion in damages.
This week, a trial is currently underway involving an alleged Antifa attack against a right-wing activist. A group of left-wing activists are accused in court of ambushing the victim in the hallway of his home, armed with pepper spray, knives, and hammers. However, he fought back, seriously stabbing two of the left-wing perpetrators.
The trial is for 32-year-old Kolja B. and 33-year-old Konrad E., both charged with aggravated assault against 24-year-old Leander S. in April 2024, when he was returning from boxing practice.
Kolja B., Konrad E., and an unknown third party allegedly attacked Leander S. in the hallway outside his apartment building in Berlin, writes Bild, kicking, punching, and assaulting him with a glass bottle, a knife, and pepper spray.
The method used by the left-wing activists is being compared to the so-called “Antifa Ost,” which became known for brutal attacks which left their victims with severe, life-changing injuries, including smashing the skulls of their victims. The group has been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
The defendants, who had allegedly brought a hammer, knives, and pepper spray for their planned attack, face up to four years in prison and are represented by four lawyers.
The left-wing attack in Berlin did not go as planned. The victim apparently fiercely defended himself, severely stabbing two of the left-wing activists, leaving them to be found on the ground with serious knife injuries. One had a stab wound to the upper body, the other a bleeding wound in the thigh. Meanwhile, the intended victim suffered some light wounds, including cuts to his lower leg and back of his hand, and a laceration to his head.
On X, posts are highlighting that those on trial are deeply connected to left-wing organizations and NGOs.
AfD MP for Brandenburg’s state parliament, Fabian Jank, wrote that “the real scandal lies elsewhere: One of the defendants, Kolja B. (32), works as a scientific assistant for the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial Site – and is thus an employee of a foundation of the state of Brandenburg! Additionally, he is a doctoral candidate at the public Humboldt University of Berlin.
In #Berlin wird derzeit ein Antifa-Angriff auf einen angeblichen Rechtsextremisten verhandelt – mit brisanten Details!
Mehrere Linksextremisten sollen dem Opfer in dessen eigenem Hausflur aufgelauert haben, bewaffnet mit einem Hammer. Die Vorgehensweise erinnert an die… pic.twitter.com/udXi9CgAV3
He continued, writing that “The second defendant, Konrad E. (33), is also a social worker and works for the mobile youth outreach program ‘Outreach,’ which is financed with tax funds. Moreover, he wrote for a publication of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which is also state-funded and receives federal and state funds. Whether Konrad E. is an employee of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation is currently still unclear.”
The AfD MP argued that case shows the deep connection between left-wing NGOs and left-wing terrorism. “The case once again shows how short the paths are from state-funded NGOs to violence-ready left-wing terrorism. It must be thoroughly investigated how many left-wing extremist violent offenders finance themselves through state funding pots – often the ‘fight against the right.’”
The question also arises how the suspects know where there target would be, how they got his contact information and whereabouts, and how long they had been tracking him before they approached him.
Tensions in court
In court, tensions have been high, as Leander S. is a known member of the small party “III. Weg” (Third Way) and has been classified as a “neo-Nazi” party by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. He is being represented by Wolfram Narath, a lawyer known for representing right-wing defendants, including the NSU, a right-wing extremist group.
At the trial earlier this week, right-wing extremists stood at the left entrance, and left-wing extremists were on the right, notes Bild. Once inside the courtroom, 15 court officers were stationed to separate the two sides.
The public prosecutor on the case claims that Leander S. was allegedly one of the assailants who attacked participants of the Berlin CSD — Berlin’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade and festival — on July 27, 2023, including a friend of the defendants.
Kolja B. and Konrad E. have testified in court that they never had a knife with them, claiming they only intended to intimidate their victim. The plan, they said, was to “bring Leander S. to the ground.”
Kolja B. testified that Leander S. rushed forward, screaming and shouting, “Fucking communist f***! Is that all?”
“We were naive. I’ll never forget that day, if only because of the scars. It was a traumatic experience,” Kolja B. told the court.
According to their own statements, the defendants have been undergoing psychological treatment since their attack.
During his testimony, martial artist Leander S. told the court he has a “nationalistic worldview,” adding that he was “probably attacked by people who can’t handle it.”
He claims that on his way to the elevator in his apartment building, four to six people ambushed him and attacked him without warning: “They attacked me without a word. I was immediately knocked to the ground. One person sat on top of me.”
“I screamed in fear, pulled a knife from my right trouser pocket and acted uncontrollably towards the person in self-defense,” he further told the court.
When asked why he was carrying a knife, Leander S. said: “I often have it with me.” Could he have possibly inflicted the cuts on himself during the fight? His answer: He considered that unlikely.
The trial will resume on Dec. 18.
The case may remind some readers of the brutal “Hammer Group” attacks against innocent civilians in Budapest back in 2023. Members of the Antifa group, many of whom had come from Germany, were targeting right-wing extremists during a demonstration in the Hungarian capital and ended up sending random people to the hospital, some with severe head injuries.
In this case, Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled that the extradition of one of the perpetrators, Maja T., should have never happened because she identified as non-binary and would face violence and discrimination in a Hungarian prison.
Fights with bouncers are not totally uncommon, but most people who are rejected from a club simply head home disappointed. However, one Syrian migrant in the German city of Leipzig appeared to have an entirely different reaction, pulling out a Kalashnikov rifle before being tackled to the ground by security.
This disturbing scene played out on Sunday at 2:00 a.m. in front of a trendy club in Leipzig, known as “N 39” on Königshauspassage. The 27-year-old migrant, Bashar A., was rejected from the club, which was at its full capacity with 600 people. However, he did not accept this, and returned to the scene minutes later to insist he be let in.
🇩🇪🔴 A Syrian migrant pulls a AK47 in rage after being rejected from a nightclub in the German city of Leipzig.
27-year-old Bashar A. is tackled to the ground almost immediately.
Incredibly, he has already been released by police.
Once again, he was denied by bouncers. As seen on surveillance, he then moves away from the entrance, where he pulls an AK-47 rifle out of a bag before security tackles him to the ground.
The bouncers moved quickly though, knocking the man to the ground while he was allegedly trying to place a magazine inside the rifle. The security guards then disarmed the man and held him down.
“We are very grateful for how quickly our security company responded and that the police were there to assist within two minutes,” Langner told German news outlet TAG24.
When police inspected the weapon, they found that the firing pin was not inside, which meant the weapon could not be fired. Whether the suspect was aware the firing pin was missing is another question.
The Syrian man, who has many offenses on his criminal record, was arrested and taken to the police precinct.
Notably, clubs have become more aggressive places in recent years, according to arguably Germany’s most famous currently serving mayor, Tübingen’s Boris Palmer. He attributed the success of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party among young voters to the consequences of mass migration, which have transformed schools, clubs, and other locations where young people gather.
“They experience what irregular migration means on a daily basis,” Palmer wrote in a Facebook post last year.
“Above all, the young men who have arrived alone are changing the living environment of young people. In the park, in the club, on the street, on the bus, at the train station, in the schoolyard,” he added.
