The investigating judge of the Szekszárd District Court has ordered the arrest of a man who, according to well-founded suspicion, was preparing to kill the prime minister of Hungary and other people, Feol reports.
The portal cites a statement from the Tolna County Prosecutor’s Office, which found that the 44-year-old Tolna County man posted two videos on a social media platform in which he pledged to commit murder against Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, and other individuals.
The investigating authorities seized a tool capable of taking human life at the man’s residence, according to Magyar Nemzet.
The National Investigation Bureau questioned the man as a suspect on reasonable suspicion of the crime of preparation for murder, a crime punishable by one to five years in prison.
Taking into account the nature of the crime, the interests of the investigation, and the personal circumstances of the suspect, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a motion to arrest the suspect. The investigating judge of the district court granted the prosecutor’s motion and ordered the suspect’s arrest for one month due to the risk of recidivism.
Following the assassination attempt of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in 2024, Orbán spoke about the threats to his own life.
“When Robert Fico was shot, I thought of him. From then on, we prayed a lot for my friend’s recovery, but at that time I wondered whether he was a lone assassin or if some organization was behind the act,” said Orbán during his interview with Czech XTV, adding that “if it was an organization, then all of us who are now on the side of peace and arguing for peace are in greater danger.”
The Hungarian prime minister noted that many of the reactions were either subdued, made excuses for the killing, or were outright joyous.
“I’ve been watching the reactions ever since, and they worry us no less than the assassination itself; hate flows online without legal boundaries,” he said.
Orbán also pointed out that Hungary is “a free country, politicians can move freely, sometimes I drive my car myself. It is strange for us to feed the fear that an assassination may take place on a daily basis. Budapest is a safe city.”
In general, regarding potentially being assassinated, Orbán said: “I don’t think about it.”
A serial migrant rapist in Sweden has been sentenced to six years in prison for multiple sexual assaults, but will not face deportation at the end of his incarceration, despite the severity of his crimes.
Soheil Almasy, 31, was jailed by the Solna District Court on four counts of rape, two counts of assault, unlawful coercion, and molestation. He must also pay more than 1 million Swedish krona (€91,000) in compensation to his victims.
It is the fourth time Iranian-born Almasy has been convicted of serious sexual offenses.
As reported by Expressen, Almasy’s victims met him through TikTok, where he recruited them to work as hosts. According to their testimony, Almasy behaved aggressively and manipulatively, often justifying violence as part of a supposed test for future work or making direct threats.
“In several cases, he is said to have stated that the violence or the assault has been a test, something they must be able to cope with for future assignments and/or made direct threats,” the Solna District Court wrote in its judgment.
Almasy denied all allegations. However, the court found his defense inconsistent. “It is true that Soheil Almasy gave long and detailed accounts during the hearing. However, they have often been difficult to follow and they have contained both contradictions and elements that are difficult to explain,” the ruling stated.
He was acquitted on one charge of rape but convicted on the rest.
Almasy’s criminal history is extensive. His first convictions date back to 2013 when he was 19. At that time, his victims were underage girls. One 14-year-old was threatened with gang rape, while a 12-year-old was encouraged to prostitute herself. He told the younger girl: “If you go against this, you can get raped with 5 cocks and watch your parents get murdered.”
He previously worked as a nurse at Sankt Göran’s Hospital in Stockholm, and Omni reports that during his time as a psychiatric nurse, he also sexually harassed and threatened a female patient.
In 2016, he received probation with a treatment plan after being convicted of unlawful threats on nine occasions, attempted exploitation of children for sexual posing, sexual molestation on eight occasions, and attempted procuring for sexual exploitation on nine occasions.
In 2018, Almasy was sentenced again, this time to two and a half years in prison for rape, five counts of sexual molestation, assault in court, and impersonating a public official.
His most recent prior conviction came in 2021 when he was sentenced to three months in prison for attempted exploitation of children for sexual posing and contacting a child to arrange a meeting for sexual purposes.
The case has provoked outrage from politicians across the Swedish political spectrum.
“It is obvious that society has failed to protect Swedish girls and women from this monster,” said Richard Jomshof of the Sweden Democrats, formerly chairman of the Riksdag’s Justice Committee. “These kinds of people have no business being in Sweden.”
Social Democrat legal policy spokesperson Teresa Carvalho added: “A person like this should not be on the loose on our streets.”
Almasy’s lawyer, Olof Bexell, has maintained his client’s innocence, saying: “At the moment, I can only say that our position is that he has not committed any crime.”
Despite his extensive criminal history, Soheil Almasy cannot be deported because he was granted Swedish citizenship in 2010.
While those with dual nationality can have their Swedish citizenship revoked in exceptional circumstances, there is no indication that Almasy will be stripped of his right to reside in Sweden forever.
Hungarian Parliament recently unanimously voted to tighten the country’s animal protection law, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posting on Facebook: “Our common cause is animal protection.”
“Jail anyone who: tortures animals in an animal shelter, poisons animals, trades baby (animals) before a certain age by separating them from their mothers. We are all in this together for animal welfare!” he added
The prime minister called it important that all vulnerable animals in Hungary receive dignified treatment and that more effective action be taken against animal abusers in the future.
According to the so-called deadly connection theory, animal abusers are more likely to turn against their fellow humans, Szilvia Vetter, a lawyer specializing in animal protection and legal psychology, told Index.hu.
The head of the Animal Protection Law, Analysis and Methodology Center of the University of Veterinary Medicine says the new law well reflects society’s growing sensitivity to the fate of animals.
The original draft motion was submitted by Fidesz MP Péter Ovádi, who was later joined by Justice Minister Bence Tuzson and Fidesz “father-in-law” László Vécsey, with all members of Hungary’s parliament present voted to pass the legislation.
The Act on Certain Amendments to the Laws Necessary for the Protection of Animals will enter into force in the second half of August, at which time, it will be faster and easier to confiscate severely neglected animals, people will be able to adopt animals seized during criminal proceedings, and in some cases, bans on keeping animals may be applied.
“It is particularly outrageous when the crime of animal cruelty is committed by a person who is entrusted with the care of the animal, and the criminal law will now take stricter action against this, Vetter told Index, adding that if the act affects more than 10 animals, the Penal Code will provide for imprisonment of up to five years.
Szilvia Vetter is the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Head of the Animal Welfare Law, Analysis and Methodology Center of the University of Veterinary Medicine
The crackdown on breeding farms will also reach a new level: if someone weans (baby dogs or cats) too early in commercial quantities (which was already illegal) and exports or imports them, it will now be considered a crime:
Anyone who imports, exports or transports babies separated from their mothers in commercial quantities into, from or through the territory of the country before the age specified in the legislation on the keeping and distribution of pet animals shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of up to one year.
There will also be a ban on acquiring live animals in prize draws, the aim of which is to ensure that adopting an animal is a conscious, considered decision that lasts for the rest of the animal’s life.
He also confirmed that homeless people can still keep companion animals, but due to the poor conditions experienced recently, especially in Budapest, begging with an animal will be a violation.
“Animal cruelty and irresponsible animal husbandry are unforgivable and unacceptable in Hungary,” Vetter emphasized, adding that law enforcement officers will have to adapt and enforce these stricter laws. Professional training and strengthening of the authority infrastructure will be key to making sure authorities nationwide do their job.
Framing the new legislation as equally important for the safety and well-being of humans, Szilvia Vetter said, “Animal protection is not only for animals, but also for people: where there are no stray dogs, they cannot cause bite accidents, in the case of poorly kept animals there is a high risk of infections and zoonoses, moreover, these animals do not bring any economic benefit, and according to the so-called deadly connection theory, animal abusers are more likely to turn against their fellow humans.”
Vienna spent more than €650,000 of public money on its Pride Parade this year, according to Magyar Nemzet, which was in town to capture all those present and their messaging.
Calling it a platform for left-wing provocation, anti-Christian hatred, corporate marketing, obscenity and political hypocrisy, the portal also cited some data from Austrian press, specifically that Austria’s largest LGBTQI advocacy group, HOSI (Homosexuellen Initiative Wien), which organizes the Pride Parade every year, received more than €1.5 million in funding from the city of Vienna between 2020 and 2025. This year, the group had a huge bus leading the parade.
Joining the march was the queer feminist group “Furia,” which also held a demonstration in the city center featuring an image of a male-female hybrid carrying a small man holding an Austrian flag and a cross the she-he apparently had crushed.
Organizers and participants of Vienna Pride described themselves as intersectional, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist, writes Magyar Nemzet, with flags of the far-left extremist Antifa clearly present.
One speaker criticized the Pride Parade, according to Magyar Nemzet, precisely because it had become too “commercial” and instead demanded a more radical left-wing presence. The rhyme “Alerta, alterta, antifascista!” heard during the march is a clear reference to the slogan of the international Antifa movement.
Members of “Queers for Palestine” were also present, as well as the Revolutionary Communist Party of Vienna, which openly promotes communist, Marxist ideology. Then there were the normal political parties and groups such as the Social Democrats (SPÖ), the Greens, and the Anti-Discrimination Office.
Alongside the anti-capitalists were dozens of large political parties, companies and organizations, including the social democratic party (SPÖ), the Greens, the Anti-Discrimination Office, Wien Energie, ÖBB, Nivea, got2b, Spar’s S-Budget brand, the Austrian Post, and the Wiener Städtische insurance company. This latter made a promotional video with an organization that provides digital counseling to young people who think they may be gay.
The right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) sharply criticized the timing and tone of the pride march, especially in light of the fact that Austria is currently mourning the 10 victims of the Graz school massacre.
Lawyer and former government spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi was in Vienna for the parade as well.
“We went to Pride in Vienna to see exactly what they want to bring to the children on the streets of Budapest. What we saw there was so brutal that we can only share the pictures on the Fidesz Budapest page, where only people over 18 can see them – link in comments,” she posted on Facebook.
The content linked via the other Facebook account appears to be currently offline, but Szentkirályi commented on some of the sights on display. “Sexual parades of adults in front of children have no place on the open street,” she wrote.
“How can they want to show this to children? What kind of grown man wants to get naked in front of children? This has no place in Budapest. We Hungarians do not ask for this,” Szentkirályi closed her post.
Hungary is getting serious about its drug laws and making sure kids are protected from narcotics, which represent a growing problem in Europe.
“There is no bargaining with those who harm our children,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, on the occasion of the legislation coming into force this past Sunday.
“There will be reparation work during the execution of the sentence, an aggravating circumstance is if a crime is committed while under the influence of drugs, drug dealers can be banned from certain settlements, and anyone who is intoxicated or unconscious in a public area will be taken into custody,” the prime minister listed the stricter measures, as cited by Magyar Nemzet.
László Horváth, government commissioner responsible for the eradication of drug trafficking, also told Kossuth Radio that per Hungary’s new anti-drug law, “police will immediately seize not only the assets or tools of drug dealers, but also those movable and immovable properties – such as cars and apartments – that are in the name of another person but were used for drug trafficking and distribution.”
The commissioner also pointed out that under the stricter regulations, drug dealers can be banned from the town or area where they sold drugs. Additionally, distributing new psychoactive substances is no longer considered a misdemeanor, but a criminal offense.
László Horváth confirmed that “persons found guilty of a drug offense for the second time cannot be released on parole, meaning that no leniency can be applied to repeat offenders.”
“Since consumption is also a crime, according to the stricter measures, the consumer can only be exempted from punishment if he names who he got the drug from, or if he is unable to do so, he must assist the police with substantive information,” he added.
“If someone breaks in, steals, robs, or commits violence to obtain drugs, then from now on it is not a minor violation, but a serious case, i.e. a crime. Also, if someone commits a crime while under the influence of drugs, this is also an aggravating circumstance,” the commissioner clarified.
Horváth pointed out that drug trafficking has become an international industry and is consciously building its market, operating large production units, trade chains, distribution networks and media outlets. A lot of drugs and active ingredients come from China, cocaine is typically transported from Colombia, and there are also European supply points on the designer drug market, he said.
The amount of drugs on the market has decreased in the past three months, Horváth told listeners, and with the tightening of the law, the police have received new, more effective tools than before.
He indicated that many civil society organizations have joined the effort, and the next step is to broaden this social cooperation and increase the resilience of local communities, adding that new civil police organizations will be established in the most at risk areas.
“I would like there to be local groups that constantly monitor what is happening locally and pay attention to those children, young people, and families who are or may be in danger,” the government commissioner emphasized.
There has been some major news for Hungarian filmmakers at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France, Magyar Nemzet writes.
Hungarians were almost at every program. Multiple Annecy Award winner Áron Gauder held a master class, and his film “The Four Souls of the Coyote” was shown on a giant outdoor screen.
Key players in Hungarian animation presented the full scope of the industry at the forum titled Production Power, Global Vision: Futureproofing Hungarian Animation. Gergely Kalocsay, head of legal support for the National Film Institute, presented as did executive producer Réka Temple, of Cinemon Entertainment.
Alex Rabb, founder and CEO of Digic studio, pointed out that the largest international producers consider Hungarians to be reliable partners in connection with foreign productions. Zsuzsanna Vincze, director of the MOME Film Knowledge Center, spoke about the role of domestic higher education, while Anna Osvay, sales manager of Kedd Animation Studio, summarized recent international festival and commercial successes.
The European Animation Producers Association announced in Annecy that the Hungarian Animation Producers Association has joined it, which now includes organizations from 27 countries, and Réka Temple was elected as a member of the board.
Netflix also announced that Hungarian studio Digic will produce the long-awaited animated series based on the world-famous game “Magic: The Gathering.”
The series will be produced by showrunner Terry Matalas in collaboration with Hasbro Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast.
A man in the German state of Hesse was summarily fired after his employer discovered he had attended a book reading by Martin Sellner, the prominent figurehead of the Austrian Identitarian Movement, in July last year.
The dismissal sparked a legal challenge that was heard by an employment tribunal in Gießen earlier this week, which Apollo News reports ended with a settlement that includes the continuation of the man’s employment.
The controversy centers on a reading held on July 29, 2024, in Gladenbach, Hesse, where Sellner presented his book “Remigration: A Proposal.” Originally scheduled to take place in Marburg, the event was relocated at short notice due to mounting protests from Antifa activists.
Roughly 50 people attended the reading itself, which required police protection. Among them was the employee who would later be dismissed. Once his attendance became known at his workplace, he was terminated without notice — a measure that German labor law typically reserves for severe misconduct.
Though the company involved has not been officially named, it is believed to relate to disability assistance. The employer reportedly justified the dismissal by claiming that the employee’s presence at the event had disrupted workplace harmony and brought the company into disrepute.
The Gießen Labour Court confirmed to German media that an initial conciliation hearing was held on Oct. 24, 2024, but no agreement was reached. A second oral hearing took place on June 10, at which point the parties agreed to a settlement. According to the court, this agreement includes provisions for the employee to return to his job should he wish to do so.
Remigration is an increasingly popular term adopted by those who advocate for a reversal of the mass immigration experienced by Europe over the past two decades, and the phrase is often met with hostility by the authorities.
Last month, several activists, including Sellner, spoke at a “Remigration Summit” in northern Italy, prompting a number of German Identitarian Movement (IB) members to fly from Germany despite the German federal police issuing them with travel bans to try and prevent their attendance.
Upon their return, officers were waiting at Munich Airport to place them in handcuffs. They now face a year in prison simply for leaving the country to attend a conference.
In the Polish city of Piotrków Trybunalski on Thursday, residents protesting the construction of a migrant integration center were barred from entering the city council session where the matter was being discussed.
As reported by wPolityce.pl, demonstrators concerned about a rise in mass immigration gathered outside the city hall to observe the debate, but found the doors locked in their faces as officials held the meeting behind closed doors.
“This is a disgrace. This is an absolute scandal,” said Law and Justice (PiS) MP Krzysztof Ciecióra, who condemned the exclusion of local citizens. “We can see that the hall is basically empty and everyone can still sit here. The president is actually acting against good manners and democratic principles. All this indicates that there is something to hide here.”
Reporting from the scene, Telewizja wPolsce24’s Piotr Czyżewski confirmed that protesters were denied entry despite their concerns over the planned settlement of non-EU migrants in their community. “These ladies and gentlemen came here to protest against the idea of accepting illegal migrants, and the doors were closed to them,” he said.
Ogromne wzburzenie wśród mieszkańców Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego – drzwi na dzisiejszą sesję Rady Miasta, podczas której toczy się debata o migracji, zostały zatrzaśnięte im przed nosem. Ten gest mówi więcej niż słowa – pokazuje prawdziwe intencje tej władzy: lekceważenie obywateli… pic.twitter.com/o0xfHZqXk8
— Dominik Dzierżanowski (@D_Dzierzanowski) June 12, 2025
One resident summed up the mood outside: “We are simply ignored.”
Among the crowd was Robert Bąkiewicz, head of the Rota of the Independence March Association and a member of the Border Defense Movement, who blasted the local authorities for their dismissive treatment of the citizens. “This is chutzpah. The symbol of closed doors says everything about how councillors and the mayor treat the residents of Piotrków Trybunalski today,” he said, as the crowd chanted “Shame! Shame!”
🇵🇱‼️ Residents of Poland's Piotrków Trybunalski turned out en masse on Thursday to observe a city council debate on the creation of a migrant integration center.
The council, however, locked up and held the meeting behind closed doors.
Bąkiewicz later posted on X: “Disgrace! The mayor and the chairman of the City Council of Piotrków Trybunalski slammed the door in the face of the residents. This is unimaginable arrogance and contempt.”
The backlash comes amid the rollout of a controversial EU-funded project to establish 49 Centers for the Integration of Foreigners (CICs) across Poland, as reported by Remix News in October last year.
The initiative is being implemented by the Ministry of Family, Labour, and Social Policy under Donald Tusk’s left-liberal government. It is funded by the EU’s Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund and aims to facilitate the settlement and social integration of third-country nationals.
Each center will provide services such as language classes, legal advice, and psychological support, and will be required to involve at least one NGO experienced in working with migrants. While the government has presented the centers as “one-stop shops” for integration, critics have accused authorities of concealing the scope and local impact of the plan.
Many are concerned that the establishment of such centers is a precursor to the mass immigration now enveloping much of Western Europe.
Hungary’s state-owned defense portfolio, comprising nine companies and associated assets, will come under the control of 4iG SDT as part of a multibillion-forint restructuring deal.
The Hungarian state, through N7 Holding, will retain a minority stake, signaling a significant shift in the country’s defense-industrial strategy toward private sector-led operations.
According to Magyar Nemzet, the HUF 75 to 83 billion transaction will unfold in two steps. First, N7 Holding — a state enterprise overseen by the Ministry of National Economy — will form a new company, N7 Defence Zrt., and transfer its stakes in the relevant defense subsidiaries into it. Then, 4iG SDT will acquire a 75 percent plus one vote majority in the company, leaving N7 Holding with a 25 percent minus one vote share.
While the critical manufacturing infrastructure will remain state-owned, the production and sales activities will be handled by the new majority-private entity. The government emphasized that this structure ensures national sovereignty and supply security while optimizing Hungary’s export capabilities. N7 Defence Zrt., now under 4iG’s operational control, will pay a rental fee for the use of the strategic infrastructure.
“The state-owned N7 Holding will continue to own the critical manufacturing and production infrastructures that ensure sovereignty and security of supply,” the Ministry of National Economy said in a statement. However, “their utilization, i.e. production and sales, will be the responsibility of the new company, majority owned by the market player.”
The move marks another milestone in the expansion of 4iG, a rapidly growing conglomerate with interests across defense, telecommunications, and space technology. The firm made headlines previously for acquiring Vodafone Hungary, taking a 51 percent stake in a deal that saw the Hungarian government retain the remaining 49 percent, effectively creating a market-leading national telecommunications group.
4iG has also been positioning itself as a key player in Hungary’s space ambitions. Its HUSAT satellite initiative aims to launch a geostationary telecom satellite and eight high-resolution earth observation satellites into low Earth orbit by 2032. The program was reportedly a subject of discussion during Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to former U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last December, where 4iG CEO Gellért Jászai joined the delegation and met Elon Musk.
In another nod to the growing role of Hungarian firms in space, 4iG recently posted a message of support for astronaut Tibor Kapu, whose planned journey to the International Space Station has been delayed due to technical issues. “While HUNOR launches astronauts, HUSAT launches space assets, and together we are shaping the future of Hungarian space technology,” the company stated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the Israeli Defense Forces had launched a sweeping military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Dubbed Operation Rising Lion, the preemptive assault struck multiple key sites across Iran in the early hours of Friday morning, including nuclear facilities in Natanz, missile infrastructure, and scientific personnel reportedly linked to Tehran’s weapons program.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said. “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment and weaponization programs… This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival.”
Moments ago, Israel launched Operation “Rising Lion”, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.
This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) June 13, 2025
Citing intelligence that Iran had amassed sufficient highly enriched uranium for nine atomic bombs and was actively weaponizing it, Netanyahu warned that Israel could not afford to wait. He compared the situation to the West’s failure to prevent World War II, saying, “The hardest decision any leader has to make is to thwart a danger before it is fully materialized… Never again is now.”
Israel’s military confirmed it carried out dozens of precision airstrikes with fighter jets overnight, describing the attack as a “precise and integrated preemptive” operation based on “high-quality intelligence.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) emphasized that Iran’s regime has long orchestrated regional terrorism through proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, and was closer than ever to obtaining nuclear weapons. “The State of Israel has a duty to act to protect its citizens and will continue to do so,” it said in a statement.
Video footage showed explosions lighting up the skies over Tehran, Isfahan, and Natanz in the early hours of Friday.
🚨 URGENT — Tehran is shaking.
For the past 15 minutes, unexplained explosive sounds have been reported across:
While Israel insisted the targets were strategic and military, Iranian state media has reported claims of civilian casualties, including women and children, as well as the deaths of senior military officials.
Statement No. 1 of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
In the early hours of Friday, 23 Khordad (June 12), the Zionist regime carried out an aggressive and reckless attack on several areas of the country, including both civilian and military zones. This assault resulted in… pic.twitter.com/TyQtkxPMmU
Iran’s military issued a stark warning in response, “This assault resulted in the martyrdom and injury of our dear compatriots. The response of your soldiers… will be crushing and regret-inducing.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while reiterating Washington’s longstanding alliance with Israel, distanced the United States from the operation. “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” he said, noting that Israel had advised Washington in advance and justified the action as self-defense.
In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed grave concern and called for immediate de-escalation. “Europe urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint… A diplomatic resolution is now more urgent than ever,” she wrote.
🚨 Another elite double standard:
“Diplomacy is urgent—for regional stability and global security.”
However, her remarks were met with sharp criticism, including by former Dutch MEP Rob Roos, who accused EU leaders of hypocrisy: “You slammed Viktor Orbán for trying exactly that with Russia. Another elite double standard.”
Hungarian mechanical engineer Tibor Kapu, aged 32, was selected from 240 applicants to go on the next Ax-4 mission to the International Space Station, where he will spend two weeks.
“After more than 45 years, Hungary will soon have an astronaut again,” Portfolio.hu. Electrical engineer Gyula Cserényi, 35, will remain on the ground as a reserve astronaut.
Ax-4 is a cooperation between NASA and private companies Axiom Space and SpaceX. Some 60 experiments will be conducted, the most conducted on an Axiom mission to date, focused on a future private space station and the physical impact of longer manned space flights, such as to Mars.
This mission had been scheduled for takeoff from Kennedy Space Station in late 2024 or early 2025, but was postponed, first due to weather and now indefinitely due to an oxygen leak on the SpaceX rocket and other technical problems on ISS.
The Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) program was launched in 2021, and the recruitment process then started for the next Hungarian research astronaut, notes Portfolio.
Training in Houston began in August 2024 for both Kapu and Cserényi. Kapu will serve as mission specialist along with Polish Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewsk and be joined by American commander Peggy Whitson and Indian pilot Shubanshu Shukla.
American and Russian experts have been continuously working to fix the issue on the ISS to make sure the station can host additional astronauts.
The HUNOR research program, based on input from several Hungarian universities and companies will feature experiments to study the behavior of certain human bacterial, viral and fungal microbiomes under space conditions; nanofiber ophthalmic implants in microgravity; the defense mechanisms of fruit flies against radiation-induced DNA damage; the effects of space travel on 3D-printed materials; and upper atmosphere thunderstorms.
The police commissioner of the German Bundestag, Uli Grötsch, has demanded that all members of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) be removed from the police service.
Despite holding an office meant to monitor misconduct and structural problems in the federal police, Grötsch, a Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician, used the platform to argue that AfD membership is incompatible with public service.
“AfD membership and work as a police officer are not compatible,” Grötsch told the Rheinische Post, referencing the controversial classification of the party as “definitely right-wing extremist” by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
“Membership with visible commitment to the AfD must result in removal from service. For me, commitment means openly campaigning for the party, running for the municipal or city council, or even for the Bundestag,” he added.
Grötsch’s comments clash directly with more moderate voices in the federal government, including those from within the ruling coalition. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the Christian Social Union (CSU) dismissed the idea of blanket purges of public servants.
“The loyalty to the constitution that is required of civil servants can only be considered on a case-by-case basis,” he said, as cited by Junge Freiheit.
This is not the first time Grötsch has aggressively targeted AfD members in the police. In March 2024, he warned that any form of AfD support from within the police ranks was “highly problematic,” describing the party as increasingly radicalized. “It is devastating when police and judiciary are infiltrated by enemies of the free democratic basic order,” he said, according to Die Welt.
Grötsch appears to be escalating his efforts. In an earlier interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, he broadened the scope of concern, stating: “I think it is highly problematic if police employees are members of the AfD or support the party in other ways.” The statement leaves open whether mere support — including donations, expressions of sympathy, or voting — might fall under the same scrutiny.
A controversial internal memo from January 2025, initially reported by Junge Freiheit, further revealed that AfD-affiliated officials within the federal police were being targeted for removal, based on a directive signed by former Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, also of the SPD. The leaked memo stated that active participation in the AfD was grounds for disciplinary action.
With 54,000 employees in the federal police, including 45,000 officers, the actual number of AfD members within the force is unknown. Critics point out, however, that political membership alone has not been a disqualifying factor in the past — President of the Federal Police Headquarters Dieter Romann is himself a member of the CDU.
One passage shared from the internal police intranet stated: “If membership in such a party becomes known, there are sufficient actual indications that justify the suspicion of a disciplinary offense, at least if the officer is actively involved in such a party.”
The AfD has made law and order central to its platform. Many see its focus on border security, national sovereignty, and internal safety as naturally resonant with the concerns of police officers.
Critics now warn that attempts to exclude those who align with such views could amount to an ideological purge and attempt to stifle political opposition rather than legitimate oversight.
A 19-year-old Venezuelan man has been arrested in Toruń, Poland, after allegedly raping and attempting to murder a 24-year-old woman in a violent nighttime attack that left the victim in critical condition.
The assault took place around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday morning in Glazja Park, located in the Jakubskie Przedmieście district.
According to local police, a bystander heard the woman’s screams and quickly intervened, scaring off the attacker and calling the authorities. Police patrols were immediately dispatched, including units from outside the city.
The suspect was tracked down and arrested shortly after attempting to flee the scene. At the time of his arrest, the man had a blood alcohol level of 1.2 per mile, considered generally to be moderately intoxicated.
Police spokeswoman Dominika Bocian confirmed the suspect’s nationality and the severity of the crime. “The 19-year-old was tracked down by uniformed officers after a report from a random witness. She was taken to hospital in a serious condition and is fighting for her life,” she said.
The investigation is ongoing under the supervision of the prosecutor’s office, and forensic teams are securing evidence from the scene.
The attacker is currently in custody, but formal prosecutorial procedures have not yet been conducted. Under Polish law, attempted murder carries a penalty of at least eight years in prison, with the possibility of 25 years or life imprisonment.
As local news outlet Tylko Toruń noted, the park where the attack took place is a well-frequented area among locals. The swift response of a random passer-by may have prevented the woman from being killed, and authorities have praised his courage in disrupting the assault.
Around two dozen Hungarian mercenaries are fighting for Ukraine against Russia, Mandiner reveals, citing a lengthy report out of Blikk, and two may already be dead. As to those who may seek to come back home, they should expect serious legal trouble.
“A few months ago, it was reported in the press that there were eight Hungarians on the front line on the side of the Ukrainians who were not conscripted as dual Ukrainian-Hungarian citizens, but who volunteered to join the Omega Guard, that is, they are fighting in the elite unit fighting on the side of the Ukrainians, the international legion,” said Richard Bagjos, a security expert who has served in international mercenary units in Kuwait and Iraq.
The Hungarian mercenaries all volunteered individually but “stick together.” As to those who end up victims of the war, Blikk writes that such secret groups will typically disguise their deaths as some sort of traffic accident, and the insurance company also indicates this when the family receives compensation.
This year, Hungarian Richárd Bagjos was acquitted after facing charges for recruiting soldiers before the war in Ukraine even started. He now serves solely as a mercenary expert. He told Blikk that well-trained fighters can earn up to $5,000-$10,000 in Ukraine, depending on combat activity, task, and results, while others bring in around $1,000.
Two Hungarian “super soldiers” include a French-Hungarian who formerly served as a Foreign Legionnaire and a British-Hungarian citizen with combat training by elite English private units and served in G4S.
The Legionnaire, Levi, who also spent time training Hungarians in Transcarpathia, told Blikk: “My name is not a secret within the profession, just like almost every other professional, it is in an international database. If someone needs our expertise, they can find it and hire as many mercenaries as they want. The Ukrainians approached me, who are still recruiting for their international guards today. Next to Omega is the 3rd Assault Brigade, it is mixed, Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries also serve in it, I was a trainer here, and they are still looking for specialists who know Hungarian. The training is tough; they fight on the front line of the battlefield, and even before that, on diversionary missions behind Russian lines, intimidating untrained Russian units. This guard destroyed the Russians’ Russian 2 S4 Tyulpan mortars, with kamikaze drones, from a distance of 100 meters, which meant that they penetrated two kilometers from the front line for the action. We received a huge amount of money for this, and upon hearing this, hundreds of people signed up to join the Ukrainian mercenaries,” he said.
“There is also the Tempest Group, which has been fighting under the Ukrainian flag since 2024, in reconnaissance and night deployment operations, said the other Hungarian mercenary,” the Brit-Hungarian mercenary nicknamed Six added, before giving even more colorful details about the mercenaries on the ground in Ukraine.
“The Compania Serpente is a Portuguese-speaking unit, Brazilian and South American ex-soldiers, anti-drug police units, and former bodyguards of drug cartels fight here. They are extremely tough, cruel, terrifying. The Russians are terrified of them. Tormenta Hispana is the same, only for soldiers who know Spanish, but here there are also three Hungarians, former Hungarian commandos, who in 2010 chose not to join the TEK, but to demobilize, and worked in Venezuela for years as bodyguards, in private armies. The Ukrainian General Staff knows exactly the figures and units of the mercenaries, but they do not really brag about this, and not because they do not want to upset the Hungarian government, but because in the mercenary world, it is not good to advertise who is fighting where. There are mercenaries from 32 countries in the Ukrainian legions, most of them are Americans.”
Six participated in the encirclement of Russian units and the identification of their leaders who committed war crimes, executions, and body snatching. The leaders, if captured, were handed over to Ukrainian intelligence, but it is not at all certain that they were brought to justice, he said.
“Whether the war criminals were executed or brought to justice is none of the mercenary’s business,” Six said. “I’m going to take a little break now, summer vacation, and then I’ll come back because it sounds cynical, but there’s money in war, and in my own opinion, I’m fighting on the good side, and so are the 20-25 Hungarians here. I know of two guys who are not going home anymore, that’s part of our lives, but if I thought about it for even a minute, I’d drag them away from here.”
The Ukrainian International Legion is constantly recruiting fighters. Previous military records, career, training, weapons knowledge, technical-tactical knowledge, and combat experience must be verified, Blikk lists. If the applicant meets all requirements, they will be invited for a personal interview.
No help is given by Ukraine in getting a visa or other travel arrangements. All applicants who pass the first phase need to get to Kyiv on their own.
And then, there are the legal ramifications for Hungarians who decide to be mercenaries in Ukraine. In short, it is a war crime.
As noted by Mandiner, according to the Hungarian Penal Code, “anyone who recruits for military service or other military service in the territory of Hungary for a foreign armed organization – other than an allied armed force – or mediates contractors for such service shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of one to five years.” The same applies to anyone who “voluntarily joins a foreign armed organization participating in an international or non-international armed conflict, offers to do so, or participates in training in such an armed organization.”
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the Czech Republic violated the right to private life of a non-binary citizen by refusing to alter the gendered portion of their personal identification number unless they underwent irreversible gender reassignment surgery.
The opinion, published Thursday, marks a partial victory for the complainant, identified as T.H., who claimed to have long struggled with the male identity assigned at birth but opted not to have surgery due to health concerns.
As reported by Echo24, T.H. legally changed their name and obtained a new identity card in 2012, but Czech authorities declined to modify the birth number, which reflects a person’s gender. The national law requires individuals to undergo surgery before their legal gender can be officially changed.
The ECHR found that this legal requirement constituted a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to private and family life. In its reasoning, the court said: “Making the legal recognition of transgender people’s new gender identity conditional on the undergoing of surgery, which entails or may entail sterilization against their will, constituted making the full exercise of their right to respect for private life conditional on the full exercise of their right to bodily integrity.”
The court added that the Czech authorities failed to strike a fair balance between the general interest and the individual’s rights, stating that the refusal amounted to a denial of T.H.’s gender identity. However, the ECHR declined to rule on a separate complaint alleging a violation of Article 14 on non-discrimination.
As compensation, the court ordered the Czech Republic to pay T.H. €2,000 euros to cover part of their legal expenses. The court concluded that the acknowledgment of the rights violation itself constituted sufficient moral satisfaction.
The case had previously reached the Czech Constitutional Court, which ruled against T.H. in 2022, declaring, “In the Czech Republic, people are divided into women and men. This understanding of the binary existence of the human species does not originate in the will of the state in the sense of the will of public authority, as the public authorities have only accepted it as a social reality.”
“If it is constitutionally accepted, and even foreseen by the constitutional order, that people are divided into men and women… then it seems logical that the state records information about gender,” the Czech court added at the time.
Prominent right-wing Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun destroyed a pro-LGBT exhibition on Wednesday in the Polish parliament.
The organization “Tęczowe Opole” had created the exhibit to present photos and accounts of young homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people from the Opole region, and displayed it in the Sejm during an action-packed day as lawmakers were in full attendance to debate the confidence vote in Prime Minister Donald Tusk, writes the Do Rzeczy news portal.
In the footage now circling social media, a uniformed officer warned Braun to stop. “Mr. MP, I am calling you to order. Please do not destroy the exhibition,” he could be heard saying.
Another person present at the time asked Braun: “What are you doing, Mr. MP? This is an exhibition,” to which the MP replied, “I am preventing public scandal.”
Kiedy to miała być zwykła nudna wycieczka szkolna do Sejmu, ale Sejm akurat zawierał naraz Grzegorza Brauna i wystawę LGBT: pic.twitter.com/sqJSKeflAs
The footage also showed high school children who were apparently on a trip to the Sejm, with some commenters indicating they were amused by his actions.
In response to his actions, Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia told press that Braun will no longer be allowed to enter the Sejm.
“It is not the first time that MEP Braun has committed vandalism on the premises of the Chancellery of the Sejm. Until now, the Marshal’s Guard could use physical force against persons covered by immunity when someone’s health or life is at risk. From now on, the Marshal’s Guard will also use it in a situation when such a person destroys property on the premises managed by the Chancellery of the Sejm,” said Hołownia.
🇵🇱 Polish MEP and former presidential candidate Grzegorz Braun destroyed a pro-LGBT exhibition this afternoon in the Polish parliament. pic.twitter.com/XOi7EMr38o
“I have also decided that Braun will not be allowed to enter the Sejm. I do not intend to allow him to build his pathological popularity on xenophobia, on insulting people of a different sexual orientation, on hatred,” he added.
On the same day, Grzegorz Braun welcomed former MP Jacek Wilk to the Confederation of the Polish Crown at a press conference in the Sejm.
“We are breaking taboos, breaking monopolies in public and political life, and together with Jacek Wilk, a member of the Sejm of the 8th term, and I hope also of the following terms, we have been doing this together for years,” Braun said.
As noted by Do Rzeczy, Grzegorz Braun was removed from the Confederation of Freedom and Independence after he announced his run in the presidential elections.
Known for his anti-Semitic, homophobic, and nationalist views, Braun managed to secure 6.3 percent in the first round of Poland’s presidential election in May. The self-proclaimed monarchist has reportedly said he wants Jesus crowned king of Poland, and in his most recent stunt, took a doctor hostage for over an hour because he believed an abortion she had performed had been illegal.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić visited Ukraine for the first time to attend the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe summit in Odesa. Although seen by many as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vučić met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at the conference.
The Serbian leader declared that his country is and will remain committed to respecting international law and the UN Charter in the context of supporting the territorial integrity of states, a reference to the occupied territories of Ukraine annexed by Russia, writes Do Rzeczy.
He stressed that Ukraine “can always count” on Serbia’s humanitarian aid and political support for its territorial integrity.
Vučić also offered aid to Ukraine, specifically to help rebuild. “I would like to choose one or two cities or regions that we could help rebuild. I think it would be very clear and visible to the Ukrainian people, so they could receive concrete support,” he said.
Press reports indicate that Serbia is seeking to establish closer contacts with Kyiv in an effort to improve its relations with the European Union. As a candidate country for EU membership, this makes sense. Serbia has no definitive date for when it will become a member and despite having indicated that it aims to meet all criteria by 2026 or 2027, negotiations regarding its final accession are ongoing. Late last summer, the Serbian president even told press it was “unlikely” to join before 2030.
In the Russo-Ukrainian war, Serbia has maintained its neutrality. It has not imposed sanctions on the Kremlin and does business with Russia. Vučić was even in Moscow for Russia’s Victory Day on May 9, a visit slammed by Western media.
After the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe summit, EU politicians were to make it clear to the authorities in Belgrade that further integration of Serbia with the European Union would be impossible if the country continued to cooperate with Russia.
Recently, relations between Moscow and Belgrade were strained when Russia accused Serbia of selling arms to Ukraine. Serbia had initially denied that its arms factories were producing ammunition for Ukraine. President Aleksandar Vucic later said he would not prohibit these private companies from selling ammunition to countries that might pass it on to the war-torn country.
The Sejm held a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, with 243 MPs voting in favor and 210 against; no one abstained.
All 182 PiS MPs present were against, with seven not attending the vote, including opposition Law and Justice (PiS) head Jarosław Kaczyński, who said his meeting with President-elect Karol Nawrocki ran over.
Tusk called for the vote after his preferred candidate for president, Rafał Trzaskowski, lost the second round of elections to Nawrocki. During his speech before the vote, the prime minister focused on the opposition, as well as his own cabinet.
“I am asking this High House to grant a vote of confidence in our government for quite obvious reasons. The political calendar, very dynamic, has clearly shown the challenges facing the ruling coalition. We cannot close our eyes to reality. These challenges are greater than we expected, in connection with the presidential elections,” Tusk said, as quoted by Do Rzeczy.
“There is no earthquake, but let’s call a spade a spade: We are facing 2.5 years of very hard, serious work in conditions that will not change for the better, I am talking about political conditions. A president who is reluctant to the changes we proposed to Poland and our voters will be replaced in August by a president who is at least as reluctant to these changes and proposals,” he emphasized.
Third Way MP Aleksandra Leo commented on Donald Tusk’s speech on RMF FM radio.
“I have heard better speeches than Donald Tusk’s exposé. We have a majority. This is pure parliamentary mathematics. For me, much more important than just showing this strength, but also the unity of the coalition, was this new beginning, this program reset,” she said after the vote.
According to Do Rzeczy, Tusk gave an hour-long speech, and as many as 267 MPs asked questions for several hours, with each given one minute to ask a question. Topics addressed included the economy, security, immigration, foreign policy, healthcare, debt, deregulation, agriculture, education, justice, and local governments.
Referring to Donald Tusk’s responses to some of the MPs’ questions, Leo noted that it was good to hear Tusk address many of the reforms that had been in the works. “I missed this openness, these ideas that we are talking about and that the leaders are talking about,” she said.
“Before today, there were two meetings of the leaders. We went to these meetings with our five postulates, things that are important to us now, to implement as soon as possible. These are things that should have been implemented a long time ago, but they were not,” Leo said, adding that she was happy to hear Tusk mention three of their five postulates.
Tusk reportedly did not listen to everyone from his seat on the government bench, leaving the plenary chamber after the first break. This resulted in the vast majority of PiS politicians boycotting his speech.
The Third Way MP admitted that the prime minister’s speech contained “too many attacks on PiS.”
“We are really not exclusively anti-PiS. That is not the point and we are not here to only score points and bash PiS,” she said.
Commenting on Rafał Trzaskowski’s defeat in the presidential elections, Nawrocki’s victory is a yellow card for the government.
“The [Civic Coalition] candidate lost for many reasons. Many of our proposals were not implemented due to coalition disputes and the difficult budget situation that we found ourselves in after eight years of PiS rule.”
The former head of Equalis, a heavily subsidized French pro-migrant organization, stood trial on Tuesday in Meaux on charges of embezzling public funds and enriching himself with inflated salaries and luxury perks.
As reported by Le Parisien, Arthur Anane, 64, is accused of siphoning off large sums while directing an organization that receives millions in French and European taxpayer money to assist others, many of them foreign nationals.
Anane, alongside two business associates, faces charges stemming from allegations that he embezzled public funds, paid himself nearly €200,000 in 2020 alone, and used association money to rent a €100,000 Audi Q7 and secure other benefits in kind.
He risks a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a €2 million fine.
Equalis, which received more than €85 million in public funds annually — including over €5 million from the European Social Fund (ESF) since 2015 — presents itself as a humanitarian anchor in the Paris region. It offers emergency shelter and social services to over 14,000 people, including migrants, refugees, and stateless persons.
According to its own 2023 report, Equalis provides housing for asylum seekers, supports the integration of recognized refugees, and operates multiple centers across Île-de-France and the Loiret. It manages over 1,400 emergency shelter places and runs 20 programs designed to help migrants integrate through employment. One flagship initiative aims to dismantle shantytowns and integrate the predominantly migrant residents into mainstream society by offering access to schooling, healthcare, and job training.
But the organization’s charitable mission has been questioned following an investigation by France’s Departmental Directorate of Employment, Labour and Solidarity, which found that Equalis paid over €430,000 in 2020 to a human resources firm to recruit senior staff — despite half of those hires leaving within 15 months. One deputy director’s recruitment alone cost the charity €41,000, a sum authorities argue was unjustifiable given the association’s resources.
Investigators also flagged Equalis’ extensive use of a private cleaning company — one that allegedly employed people under social integration programs — despite the charity having its own division dedicated to similar work. The state’s report questions why public funds were used to outsource services Equalis was equipped to handle internally.
The charges prompted French MEP Jean-Paul Garraud, of the Patriots for Europe parliamentary group, to file a formal inquiry with the European Commission in February. Citing the “€11,400 monthly salary, Audi Q7, and housing allowance” granted to Anane, Garraud questioned the Commission on how much EU money Equalis had received and what safeguards existed to prevent abuse.
The Commission’s March response confirmed that Equalis was awarded “€4 million in ESF funds between 2015 and 2022, plus an additional €1.14 million since 2022.” Brussels reiterated that it is the French state’s responsibility to recover any misused EU funds and that the Commission can request corrections if systemic issues are found.
Anane was dismissed by the Equalis board after the scandal surfaced. A new executive director has since taken over, and the association remains operational.
Meanwhile, Anane’s co-defendants — a recruitment firm executive and the head of the cleaning company — are also on trial, though both deny wrongdoing.
The Hungarian government has launched a legal challenge against the European Commission’s decision to impose a daily €1 million fine over the country’s refusal to accept illegal migrants. György Bakondi, the chief security advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, announced on Wednesday that Budapest will file a lawsuit with the European Court of Justice.
Appearing on TV2’s “Mokka” program, Bakondi said Hungary will not comply with the European Union’s new Migration Pact, which he described as “a clear call for illegal immigrants to be allowed in.” He emphasized that Hungary remains committed to its sovereignty and national security, and refuses to be pressured into taking in individuals who entered the bloc unlawfully.
The lawsuit will be led by a team of lawyers with what Bakondi called “a serious reputation,” including two former members of the European Court of Justice.
Hungary’s resistance to EU migration policy is not new. In 2015, the country faced a surge of more than 400,000 illegal border crossings within two months. In response, the government implemented border fences and legal restrictions to halt the flow. Officials credited these measures with preventing the emergence of terrorist threats, no-go zones, and the overburdening of public services.
In a national referendum in 2016, 98 percent of those who voted rejected the proposal to allow the European Union to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary without parliamentary approval. The referendum had a 44 percent turnout, under the 50 percent threshold required to be considered valid.
The Orbán administration had already signaled its intent to take legal action against Brussels back in December, setting aside 600 million forints (approximately €1.5 million) to fund the court battle.
Hungary has consistently pushed for a rethinking of the EU’s asylum policy, including relocating asylum processing to centers outside of EU territory. Orbán reiterated this stance on Monday during a speech at a Patriots for Europe rally in France.
🇭🇺 @PM_ViktorOrban: "What is happening is not migration. It's an organized exchange of people to replace Europe's cultural base.
"For us, €1 million a day is a lot of money, but we'd rather pay than let anyone in illegally. It's the best investment for the future." pic.twitter.com/AZi3Yqqfl8
“What is happening is not migration,” he said. “It’s an organized exchange of people to replace Europe’s cultural base. For us, €1 million a day is a lot of money, but we’d rather pay than let anyone in illegally. It’s the best investment for the future.”
The European Commission has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is demanding that certain conditions be met before he agrees to the new sanctions package against Russia. If not met, he has promised to veto it.
On Tuesday, amongst its numerous new proposals in its latest sanctions package, the European Commission is lowering the price cap on Russian oil exports from $60 to $45 per barrel to put an even bigger dent in Russia’s revenues, and thus the money it has to spend on its war in Ukraine.
“In May alone, Russia’s state wealth fund fell by $6 billion, from $42 billion to $36 billion. And it could run out of money next year,” Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said.
During his speech at CPAC Hungary in late May, Fico reiterated his government’s refusal to send military aid to Ukraine, criticizing the European Commission’s strategy of isolating Russia as economically self-defeating and geopolitically reckless.
“If they have no realistic response to the war in Ukraine today… they cannot continue in their nervousness by suppressing the sovereignty of individual member states on legitimate issues.”
“The Slovak Republic will not support the prepared 18th sanctions package against the Russian Federation unless the European Commission provides it with a real solution to the crisis situation that Slovakia will find itself in after the complete cessation of gas, oil and nuclear fuel supplies from Russia,” Fico wrote on social media, according to Nový čas.
The trial of two Syrian brothers accused of a series of violent crimes, including rape, hostage-taking, and attempted human smuggling, began on Monday at the regional court in Kiel, Germany.
The older brother, aged 35, is facing charges of multiple rapes, unlawful imprisonment, and driving without a license. His 26-year-old brother is accused of aiding in the abduction of the woman and their children.
According to the prosecution, the 35-year-old raped his wife — whom he is married to under Syrian law — on multiple occasions, including in November 2022 and again in May 2024. In at least one instance, he is alleged to have tied her up in their shared apartment in Rendsburg.
As reported by the Welt newspaper, prosecutor Hanna Schmücker-Borgwardt told the court that the man wanted to take his wife and children to the United Kingdom in order to keep her away from the influence and protection of her family.
The brothers allegedly waited outside the woman’s parents’ home, and when she left with two of her three children, they threatened her and forced her into their vehicle. She was reportedly locked in the trunk while the children were placed in the back seat. The group began the trip to northern France, but disagreements during the journey led the younger brother to abandon the plan and leave the vehicle near Hanover.
The older brother continued toward France with his wife and children, eventually reaching Calais via the Netherlands and Belgium. There, they resided in a migrant camp while seeking help from smugglers to cross into the United Kingdom. The man allegedly raped his wife again while they were sleeping in a tent.
French authorities eventually apprehended the man, and both brothers are now in custody at the Neumünster correctional facility. In addition to the rape and kidnapping charges, both are accused of hostage-taking and driving without a license.
Before the trial began, the victim’s legal counsel requested that the public be excluded from the proceedings due to the sensitive nature of the case. However, presiding Judge Theresa Wiese denied the request, citing no substantial risk of undue public exposure for the victim.
Both defendants have so far refused to testify and are seeking acquittals.
The court is expected to deliver a verdict on Sept. 23.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in an exclusive interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro during CPAC Hungary, sharply criticized the West’s handling of the war in Ukraine and declared that only one leader, U.S. President Donald Trump, understands that the conflict cannot be won militarily.
“Everyone must realize that this war cannot be won in the trenches,” Orbán said, directly challenging the belief among Western governments that a Ukrainian military victory is still achievable.
According to the Hungarian leader, both Moscow and Kyiv are entrenched in unrealistic expectations, and European leaders are equally unwilling to acknowledge the war’s political dead end.
“The only person who doesn’t believe this war can be won is the president of the United States: Donald Trump,” Orbán said. “Only the Americans can bring peace through talks with the Russians. That’s the key.”
Orbán argued that a negotiated settlement can only emerge from U.S.-Russian dialogue, not from further fighting in Ukraine. In his view, Washington is already leaning toward a political resolution, but is being undermined by European elites who continue to push for more conflict.
“Europeans do not support the U.S. president’s peace initiative. In fact, they want to drag him back to the pro-war position,” he said. “The most important thing is for the West to support the American president in unison – this could bring peace.”
Orbán emphasized that the European establishment’s fixation on defeating Russia is further encouraging Ukraine to prolong the conflict in hopes of more Western aid.
“In reality, the Russians want to reach the borders of the four regions they have chosen. And the Ukrainians hope that if they continue the war, they will receive even more money, weapons, technology, and reconstruction support from Europe and maybe America,” he said.
In a broader reflection on global politics, Orbán advocated for a more grounded approach: “In politics, you shouldn’t plan too many steps ahead. Sometimes you just need to look at the most important goal. Approach it, and then we’ll see how it goes.”
Brussels has announced its 18th sanctions package against Russia, primarily targeting Russian energy and banking sectors.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen says the goal is to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, and force is the only language Russia understands. She also detailed, writes HVG, how sanctions have succeeded in eroding the foundations of Russia’s economy and war chest.
“The Russian Central Bank’s €210 billion in reserves are frozen. Russia’s oil and gas revenues have fallen by nearly 80 percent compared to pre-war levels,” von der Leyen said. “The deficit is skyrocketing. Interest rates are prohibitively high. Inflation is well above 10 percent. The cost of importing technology and critical goods is six times higher than pre-war levels and global average prices.”
The Commission is proposing – for the first time – a transaction ban on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. This means that no EU actor can directly or indirectly participate in transactions related to the Nord Stream pipelines. The pipeline is not currently operational and will not be operational in the future.
The European Commission is also proposing to lower the oil price ceiling from $60 to $45 per barrel. This would allow the EU to adapt to the changed market conditions, as it has been successful in keeping oil prices down so far, but oil exports still account for a third of Russian state revenues.
Timing is important, as the oil price ceiling will also be a topic at the G7 summit in a few days, and the EU will come with this offer.
Previous sanctions included measures against members of the Russian shadow fleet, ships that often sail under third-country flags to sell Russian oil, circumventing sanctions, but were also accused of sabotage against European undersea pipelines. So far, 342 ships have been listed, and a further 77 have now been identified, which are not allowed to call at European ports and are not allowed to be provided with services by European companies, such as insurance.
Additionally, the European Commission is proposing a ban on imports of refined products based on Russian crude oil, to prevent “part of Russian crude oil from entering the EU market through the back door.”
Regarding the banking sector, the proposal includes converting the existing ban on the use of the SWIFT system into a complete transaction ban and extending this provision to 22 additional financial institutions in addition to the existing banks.
A further export ban worth more than €2.5 billion is also being suggested for industry, including weapons production, which would cover machinery, metals, plastics, and chemicals used to manufacture drones, missiles, and other weapons systems.
The restrictive measures affect 22 Russian and foreign companies that provide direct or indirect support to Russia’s military and industrial sectors. The European accounts of these companies, if any, will also be frozen.
Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, also spoke about the fact that the sanctions are working.
“After our latest 17th package of sanctions, Russian oil exports via the Black Sea and Baltic Sea routes fell by 30 percent in a week. In May alone, Russia’s state wealth fund fell by $6 billion, from $42 billion to $36 billion. And it could run out of money next year,” she said.
The approval of the sanctions package requires the agreement of all member states. The discussion will now begin at the level of permanent representatives (ambassadors) accredited to the EU, with the aim most likely to adopt the package at the meeting of foreign ministers on June 23, before the EU summit due at the end of the month.
Hungary has continuously stated that it does not agree with the sanctions policy, but so far, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has voted for all packages. Slovakia has recently emphasized its independence, with Robert Fico saying that he does not support any punitive measures if they harm Slovakia’s interests.
A draft of Berlin’s new daycare education program has sparked outrage among left-wing politicians and activist groups, who are furious that topics such as gender identity, LGBT lifestyles, and anti-discrimination education may no longer be central to what toddlers are taught in state-run facilities.
The document, still in a confidential review phase, reportedly strips back the ideological content embedded in the city’s 2014 curriculum, drawing accusations of a “step backwards” from the progressive LGBT ideology so willingly now promoted across Western Europe.
“Content on the recognition and active addressing of diversity, queer lifestyles, gender diversity and anti-discrimination education is completely deleted or reduced to a minimum,” complained Alexander Freier-Winterwerb, the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) spokesman for family and youth policy. In an interview with the Tagesspiegel, he lamented the removal of material designed to embed gender and identity theory into early childhood education.
The new draft, produced under the supervision of CDU Youth State Secretary Falko Liecke, has not yet been made public, but has been circulated to selected associations and experts for consultation. Liecke defended the document, clarifying that it is an early version and subject to change, with feedback being accepted until June 26.
This, however, hasn’t stopped activists from expressing their outrage. The Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) warned that the removal of queer content could undermine what they see as children’s right to “feel recognized and safe.” Florian Winkler-Schwarz, LSVD’s managing director, demanded that the curriculum explicitly mandate queer representation and that queer advocacy groups be brought in to revise the document.
The city’s 2014 education program emphasized “diversity” as a core educational concept. Freier-Winterwerb now complains that the new draft only mentions “diversity” once, with no reference to gender ideology.
“Children grow up in very different family forms – and many of them experience at an early age that their reality of life is not made visible or even concealed,” said LSVD board member Ulrich Kessler. The pro-LGBT group claims that omitting such content undermines equal opportunity and amounts to exclusion.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk will face a motion for a vote of confidence today at 2 p.m., after Karol Nawrocki, supported by PiS, defeated KO candidate Rafał Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw, in the second round of Poland’s presidential election.
Before the vote of confidence, PM Tusk will deliver an exposé in the Sejm during a session set to have started at 9 a.m. After that, a debate will take place.
PiS (189 MPs), Konfederacja (16 MPs) and Razem (5 MPs) clubs will not grant a vote of confidence to the government, writes Do Rzeczy.
The ruling coalition has a total of 242 MPs, including the Civic Coalition (157 MPs), the Poland 2050 and PSL groupings (32 MPs each), and the Left (21). To obtain a vote of confidence, a majority of members of parliament must support the government (i.e., at least 231 votes in the 460-seat Sejm).
A vote of confidence in the government is a formal expression of support for the Council of Ministers by the parliament. Tusk has made clear that he has no intention of stepping down and sees this vote as “a new opening.”
Every new government formed after the elections must receive a vote of confidence. Any incumbent prime minister can also ask for a vote of confidence at any time during his term. If he does not receive the required majority, the head of government must resign along with his ministers.
The latest United Surveys poll for Wirtualna Polska shows that 44.8 percent of respondents believe that Donald Tusk should resign, while 43.3 percent are of the opposite opinion. Another 11.9 percent of respondents have no opinion on the matter.
The 68-year-old Tusk has headed the coalition government of KO, Third Way and the Left since December 2023 and previously served as prime minister twice (2007-2014).
The budget deficit target in Hungary is now 4.1 percent, instead of the previous 3.7 percent, said Kornél Kisgergely, state secretary responsible for public finances. Meanwhile, the cash flow deficit target has been raised from HUF 4.1 trillion (€10 billion) to HUF 4.8 trillion, writes HVG.
Kisgergely explained to press that the increase was due to EU funds still not arriving, resulting in a lack of resources from the EU Recovery Fund, an expectation for less tax revenue than before, and more funds required for family support and hospitals.
Portfolio.hu further detailed that the Hungarian government is having to make up for a worse-than-expected macro trajectory, while also reiterating that already announced government measures, such as extending the social security exemption for mothers, are taking additional funds.
Mihály Hoffmann, CEO of the State Debt Management Center, said that nearly double the value of foreign currency bonds (HUF 1.7 trillion worth) will be issued this year instead, due to the higher deficit. When asked whether this was necessary due to the lack of EU funds, he replied: “What was said can be interpreted in this way.”
A breakdown of debt ownership was also provided: Currently, the institutional market is approximately 50 percent, the foreign currency market is 30 percent, and the retail market is 20 percent.
The current amendments also mean that the share of foreign currency debt will temporarily rise above the 30 percent benchmark value.
As noted by Portfolio, violating the foreign exchange benchmark could send a negative message to the market and credit rating agencies.
Press noted that the Hungarian government waited for its announcement until after all three major credit rating agencies had given their latest review, which were already rather gloomy.
Fitch significantly lowered its forecast for 2025 Hungarian economic growth from 2.5 percent to just 0.7 percent. Moody’s sees GDP growth of 1 percent, down from 1.9 percent; and S&P is estimating 1.5 percent growth, down from 3 percent. S&P also downgraded Hungary’s credit rating from stable to negative.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has ruled that the European Union’s Green Deal policies, particularly their implementation through emissions trading directives, are incompatible with the Polish Constitution.
In a judgment announced on Tuesday, the Tribunal stated that certain interpretations of EU law, especially those affecting national energy policy, exceed the competencies conferred upon EU institutions through the European treaties and infringe upon Poland’s constitutional order.
The ruling stems from a case brought before the Tribunal by Polish parliamentarians who challenged the compatibility of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Directive 2003/87/EC with the Polish constitution. This directive forms a core part of the EU’s climate policy framework, dubbed the “Green Deal.”
“The EU, by imposing on Poland the solutions of the Green Deal that ruin our economy, violates the Constitution of the Republic of Poland due to the fact that Poland was deprived of the right of veto by EU bodies in this procedure,” wrote Law and Justice (PiS) MP Sebastian Kaleta on Facebook following the announcement. Kaleta, who represented the group of MPs behind the legal challenge brought before the court, said the judgment confirmed that attempts to implement measures like emissions trading for buildings and transport would now be unconstitutional.
POLSKA NIE MUSI WDRAŻAĆ ZIELONEGO ŁADU ‼️ PRZEŁOMOWY WYROK TK‼️
UE narzucając Polsce rujnujące naszą gospodarkę rozwiązania Zielonego Ładu łamie Konstytucję RP z uwagi na fakt, że Polska w tej procedurze pozbawiona była przez organy UE prawa weta‼️
At the heart of the judgment is the Tribunal’s rejection of how the EU institutions have interpreted key provisions of the TFEU. According to the ruling, EU bodies effectively circumvented unanimity requirements by classifying sweeping energy policy measures as falling under qualified majority voting. The Tribunal stated that this approach significantly influenced Poland’s sovereign right to determine its energy sources and policy, and therefore should have required ratification under Article 90(1) of the Polish Constitution.
The Court found that this interpretation violated the supremacy clause in Article 8(1), which asserts the Constitution as the highest law in Poland, and reiterated that Poland’s EU membership does not give European institutions a blank check to expand their competencies beyond the scope expressly agreed through the ratification of the European treaties.
“The effect of this judgment is not the loss of binding force of the drafting units of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, but the declaration of non-compliance with the Constitution… of the manner of interpretation of the legal norm,” read the Tribunal’s official press release.
The ruling has far-reaching implications. Kaleta claimed it could lead to a “radical reduction in electricity and heat prices” and block future enforcement of climate measures. He further alleged that the EU’s climate policy amounted to economic theft from Poland.
Several other high-profile conservative politicians in Poland commented on the ruling.
“The Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling protects Polish families from drastic energy bills,” wrote former PiS justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, on X. “What now, Prime Minister Tusk? Will you break the law again and hide the ruling to drive Poles into poverty, or will you behave properly?”
Former Prime Minister Beata Szydło said that “Tusk’s government should be grateful,” suggesting it had now “received a real tool to fight the Green Deal, which it is now supposedly so opposed to.”
The conservative Law & Justice (PiS) party in Poland says the conclusion of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay) is already a foregone conclusion, which is “very unfavorable” for Polish farmers, according to Do Rzeczy.
Just last November, the portal recalls, Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that Poland would not accept the agreement with the Mercosur group in the area of agriculture.
And yet, now, PiS MEP Waldemar Buda says that the deal will move forward “despite the assurances of the Polish government, despite all declarations that we have a blocking minority, despite the government claiming that this matter has already been resolved,” he announced.
Buda points to the results of talks at the EU level, as well as between France and Brazil. “It is certain that this agreement will be signed. Last week, we had a meeting between President Lula and President Macron. […] Unfortunately, after that meeting, it turned out that he would withdraw his opposition, and therefore there is no possibility of constructing a blocking minority,” Buda said.
He then blamed Tusk for not “securing Polish interests” during one of his “many” meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“So, all these assurances, both at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture and Prime Minister Tusk himself, turned out to be pure propaganda for the election campaign,” Buda said.
Last autumn, Paris was set on blocking the EU-Mercosur agreement and tried to persuade Poland to take joint action to build a blocking minority in the EU.
This was primarily in response to protests by European farmers, who have to deal with both the ideological EU Green Deal program and the influx of agri-food products located in Ukraine by international agro-holdings.
Now, after a visit last week from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will soon be taking over the presidency of Mercosur, Macron has signalled he is ready to sign the deal. Last Friday, he told Brazilian television channel GloboNews that he would sign off on the agreement with Mercosur by the end of 2025, if it included “mirror clauses” or “safeguard clauses.”
Farmers have pointed out that the agreement essentially shuts down European agriculture to make room on the continent for cheaper food from outside the EU, which is not subject to the regulations in force in this specific organization.
Austria is in mourning after one of the deadliest school shootings in the country’s history unfolded on Tuesday morning in Graz.
A 21-year-old former student of the BORG Dreierschützengasse opened fire shortly before 10 a.m., killing at least nine people and injuring dozens of others before taking his own life in a school restroom.
According to initial reports from Kronen Zeitung, the attacker used both a shotgun and a handgun during the rampage, which targeted two classrooms. Authorities confirmed that the gunman, a former pupil of the school, had recently acquired the weapons and may have been motivated by a long-standing grievance over bullying.
Governor Mario Kunasek of Styria (FPÖ) expressed deep shock in a public statement, “It is unbelievable what happened today in Graz. As governor and as a father, I am deeply saddened by this act of madness, which has brought so much disaster and incredible suffering. My thoughts are with the innocent victims, families, and teachers.”
BREAKING: 🇦🇹‼️ At least 9 people are dead after a shooting rampage at a school in Graz, Austria.
Eyewitnesses said they heard between 30 and 40 shots.
The suspected shooter is believed to have locked himself in the toilet and then killed himself. pic.twitter.com/ElCJfRLUdv
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and members of the federal government traveled to Graz to address the nation.
At a press conference later on Tuesday, it was confirmed that the shooter was an Austrian citizen and had dropped out of school. A total of 12 other people were injured in the attack, including nine of who are seriously injured. Two of the injured are in a critical condition
The scene was rapidly secured by emergency responders, including the elite Cobra police unit. Authorities have since declared the situation safe, although the area around the school remained cordoned off for much of the day. Two care centers were set up to provide support for victims, families, and witnesses.
🇦🇹 Footage from the school during the mass shooting in Graz, Austria.
The Styrian hospital association KAGes confirmed that students and staff injured in the attack were receiving treatment. Victims were distributed across multiple hospitals in Graz, with psychological care being extended to both families and medical personnel.
Video footage circulated online shows the moment gunfire erupted inside a classroom, and additional clips depict emergency teams sweeping through the school with weapons drawn.
Schrecklicher Anblick:🕯Tote Schüler auf Rettungstragen aufgereiht
Ein weiteres an AUF1 zugespieltes Video zeigt die erschütternden Szenen des Amoklaufs. Schüler filmten aufgereihte Rettungstragen, auf denen sich laut ihren Angaben teilweise auch Todesopfer des Schulmassakers… pic.twitter.com/WDrtGFppeM
Terrified students can be seen fleeing the building or waiting in shock as medics carry away the wounded.
Tuesday’s massacre occurred just days before the 10th anniversary of another rampage in Graz in 2015 when a car attack killed three and injured dozens.
A 31-year-old teaching assistant was stabbed to death on Tuesday morning outside Françoise Dolto Middle School in Nogent-sur-Marne during a routine school bag check, sparking national outrage and fierce criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron’s government for failing to stem the rise in youth violence.
According to local authorities, the attack occurred during a police-supervised inspection of student bags, a measure introduced earlier this year following a series of fatal youth brawls across France. The suspect, believed to be a teenage student at the school, allegedly produced a knife during the search and fatally stabbed the staff member.
A police officer assisting in the check was also injured during the suspect’s arrest.
BFMTV confirmed the victim had succumbed to her injuries shortly after the attack. Police say the student was subdued immediately and taken into custody. His motives remain unclear.
🇫🇷 A teaching assistant has been seriously injured after being stabbed by a student at a school in France.
The attack occurred at the Françoise Dolto middle school in Nogent (Haute-Marne).
The 31-year-old victim was rushed to hospital. A 15-year-old suspect has been arrested. pic.twitter.com/sytdEZK4mk
The incident has intensified criticism from conservative figures who accuse the French government of inaction. National Rally de facto leader Marine Le Pen condemned what she called the “trivialization of ultraviolence,” writing on X: “Not a week goes by without a tragedy hitting a school. The French can no longer take it and are waiting for a firm, implacable, and determined political response to the scourge of violence by minors.”
Pas une semaine sans qu’un drame frappe l’école. Désacralisation de la vie, banalisation de l’ultraviolence, encouragée par l’apathie des pouvoirs publics à y mettre fin, explosion du port d’armes blanches, les Français n’en peuvent plus et attendent une réponse politique ferme,… https://t.co/sakDFbf5WY
National Rally president Jordan Bardella echoed that sentiment, declaring: “Every day, France suffers an unprecedented savagery, which spares no place and no territory. The time is no longer for observations: We must act, in an implacable way.”
President Emmanuel Macron expressed condolences on X but insisted his government was working to tackle the epidemic. “While watching over our children in Nogent, an educational assistant lost her life, victim of a wave of senseless violence,” he wrote. “The nation is in mourning, and the government is mobilized to reduce crime.”
Education Minister Élisabeth Borne also called it a “terrible tragedy,” praising the staff and officers who intervened. She announced she would visit the school in person and reaffirmed government support for the local community.
The attack follows a series of deadly incidents in and around French schools. In March, a 17-year-old was killed in a fight outside a school in Essonne, prompting the government to introduce random bag checks. By late April, nearly 1,000 such checks had been carried out, resulting in the seizure of 94 knives. Despite these efforts, critics say the measures have done little to address the root causes of school violence.
The EU’s Ukraine Facility, launched in 2024, includes money for the Ukraine Plan, dedicated to rebuilding Ukraine and helping it become a member of the Union. As of now, the country has used half the funds allocated to the facility, writes Mandiner.
The Ukraine Facility has a total budget of €50 billion, €33 billion as a soft loan and €17 billion as a grant. This was agreed upon in 2024 as part of the mid-term review of the current EU multiannual financial framework, or MFF, for the period 2021-2027.
Philip Pilkington, a senior researcher at the MKI, believes that the estimated total cost of rebuilding Ukraine could exceed €1 trillion, which would further increase the financial vulnerability of already indebted EU member states.
The instrument is subject to a strict financial control and monitoring framework, and an independent monitoring body was set up for this purpose. As of early May, the European Council had approved three disbursements, bringing the total disbursement to Ukraine from the facility to €25.5 billion.
The most recent approval was in March for a €3.5 billion transfer, which Kyiv received in April.
The payment at that time was made possible because Ukraine demonstrated that it had successfully implemented 13 different measures since the last payment on Dec. 9. These include, among others, the adoption of reforms aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy, increasing the autonomy of energy regulators, simplifying border-crossing procedures, and adopting an agricultural and rural development strategy.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olga Stefanyshyna just recently told Ukrinform that Ukraine has 12 months left to meet all the conditions for receiving the money, including eight key draft laws. These include the law on courts and adjudication, the Anti-Corruption Agency, and the reform of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), which has long been postponed by the Ukrainian government.
According to Stefanyshyna, however, they still have plenty of time to take the measures, and if they are successful, the remaining money will come. Funds are sorely needed, as the country is on the brink of bankruptcy due to the war, and in were unable to pay back one debt this month. As a result, several major credit rating agencies have downgraded the country’s debt rating.
Ukraine is therefore on a ventilator economically and financially, notes Mandiner, but is still forging ahead with plans to join the European Union, as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2026.
According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, 80 percent of the conditions have already been met, and they will be able to easily join the OECD.
The OECD provided significant assistance in the economic recovery of countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic after the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
A Senegalese migrant has been arrested in the Spanish town of Cambrils after allegedly stabbing a 47-year-old street cleaner in the head and chest, reportedly because he was annoyed by the noise from a leaf blower. The incident took place shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Monday along Diputació Avenue.
According to sources from the Local Police of Cambrils, the victim, a worker contracted by the cleaning company Secomsa, was operating a blower outside the Apartaments Internacional building when the assailant confronted him.
As reported by Diari de Tarragona, the situation escalated into a violent assault in which the worker was stabbed multiple times. Witnesses say the attacker, who was seen leaving the apartment complex moments before, reacted aggressively after voicing his annoyance at the noise.
The attacker fled the scene following the assault, sparking a chase that ended on Valencia Street in the nearby town of Salou. A second Secomsa employee, who witnessed the attack, alerted a Local Police patrol and joined the pursuit. The police were assisted by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police, who deployed units to the area and ultimately helped arrest the suspect.
Authorities say the man attempted to hide in a flat believed to be occupied by members of the Top Manta network — informal street vendors, often undocumented migrants, who sell goods along the Cambrils seafront. This has led investigators to suspect that the detainee may be part of that group, although this has not been officially confirmed.
The victim was transported to Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona with serious injuries and significant blood loss. Medical sources say he remains in serious condition but is stable and out of immediate danger.
Initially treated as a case of assault, the investigation has now been reclassified as an attempted homicide. The Cambrils City Council confirmed that the arrested man, who is 38 years old, does not reside in the city. The motive for his presence in Cambrils and the reason for his violent reaction remain unclear.
The investigation is now being led by the Mossos d’Esquadra.
A teenage boy was violently attacked and sexually assaulted in the Paris suburb of Chennevières-sur-Marne over the weekend because he was in a relationship with a Turkish girl, according to French police and prosecutors.
The teenager, who is Franco-Turkish, told police that his girlfriend’s family did not approve of their relationship. “It didn’t please the father or the older brother of the girlfriend,” a source close to the investigation told Le Parisien.
The assault began around 10 p.m. on Saturday in the town of Noiseau. The victim was with a friend when two men arrived by car and forced both boys into the vehicle’s trunk. The victim immediately recognized the men as his girlfriend’s brothers.
They were taken to an industrial area in Chennevières-sur-Marne, to a business where the girl’s father works. There, the teenager was subjected to a brutal ordeal: He was beaten, sexually assaulted with a candle, and threatened with death.
His attackers filmed the abuse and warned they would release the footage if he continued to see the girl.
After the assault, the attackers drove the two boys to La Queue-en-Brie and released them. But instead of remaining silent, the victim and his friend went to the police station in Chennevières around 1 a.m. on Sunday and filed a complaint.
On Monday morning, officers from the Val-de-Marne territorial police arrested two suspects believed to be involved in the abduction and assault. The Créteil public prosecutor confirmed that the investigation has been assigned to the departmental security service.
Searches and further inquiries are ongoing. Police have not ruled out additional arrests.
French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen launched a scathing attack on the trajectory of the European Union at the Patriots for Europe rally in France on Monday, declaring, “We don’t want to leave Europe. We want out of this Europe, because it is not Europe.”
Addressing a crowd of allies and supporters from across the continent, Le Pen opened her speech with a rejection of the EU’s current direction, accusing it of becoming a “merchant, wokist, ultraliberal empire” that tramples national sovereignty and democratic choice.
“Our Europe does not reside in Brussels,” Le Pen said. “What we are seeing today on our continent is in no way European. It is a counterfeit, a cold, fleshless, soulless machine.” She accused the European Union of replacing citizens with “interchangeable masses,” nations with “administered regions,” and elected leaders with “provincial governors.”
Framing the current political moment as a turning point in European history, Le Pen warned, “This is no ordinary hour. This is not just a political step. It is a fracture in history, a moment of truth where much more than the fate of a mandate or a parliament is at stake. What is at stake here is the freedom of peoples, the dignity of peoples, the existence of our nations.”
🇫🇷 @MLP_officiel says the Patriots for Europe are the "architects of the future."
🗣️ "We will reform the EU into a true union of free nations, and we will give the people of Europe back their most sacred right — to choose who comes into their country and who stays." pic.twitter.com/Wi2rycLwce
Her speech celebrated the formation of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, now the third-largest bloc, comprising nationalist and conservative parties, including the Netherlands’ PVV, Hungary’s Fidesz, Austria’s FPÖ, Italy’s Lega, and Spain’s Vox. “This group is as united as the fingers of one hand, united by a shared vision of life and the world, but also united by a great political project for our homelands and our Europe,” she told the crowd.
She paid tribute to allies like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán — calling Hungary “a beacon nation in Europe” —and Geert Wilders, praising the Dutch leader for collapsing the Dutch government last week after a row over asylum policy. “Because Geert Wilders chose to leave the coalition government precisely to prevent his country from being flooded with immigrants,” she said.
🇭🇺 @PM_ViktorOrban: "What is happening is not migration. It's an organized exchange of people to replace Europe's cultural base.
"For us, €1 million a day is a lot of money, but we'd rather pay than let anyone in illegally. It's the best investment for the future." pic.twitter.com/AZi3Yqqfl8
Le Pen also accused Brussels of silencing critics, warning that opposition voices were increasingly being criminalized. “In this European Union, as you will have noticed, any assertion of identity becomes an offense. Any desire for sovereignty is heresy. Any idea of freedom is suspect. Any criticism is labeled a conspiracy. Any opposition is branded as subversion, criminalized, and prosecuted.”
She warned that Europe’s bureaucratic elite were preparing for war while ignoring domestic insecurity. “All the European Parliament’s thematic committees are actively, I would say compulsively, preparing for a war in the east,” she said. “We, the peoples of Europe, who know the price of blood, do not want war.”
Taking aim at French President Emmanuel Macron, she mocked his posturing on the international stage while violence and chaos go unaddressed at home. “Who can seriously believe that Emmanuel Macron’s France could wage a major war when he is already incapable of managing the chaos that reigns on match nights 200 meters from the Élysée Palace?”
Calling for a rebirth of European civilization based on “democracy, identity, and technology,” she promised that any future transfer of powers in the EU would require a referendum and that no new country should be admitted without a vote.
“We will make free trade agreements conditional on social justice, respect for our standards, and fair protection for our industries. Above all, we will give the people of Europe back their most sacred right to choose who comes into their country and who stays,” she said.
Le Pen closed with a call to action, “The future belongs to those who fight, not to those who comment, not to those who lie down, but to those who stand up. So yes, Europe can still be reborn, but only on one condition: that its children fight for it… Long live the Patriots for Europe! Long live the nations and long live a Europe of free peoples.”
A Dutch independent journalist says it is criminal for the Kyiv regime not to accept its fallen soldiers. Meanwhile, Washington is apparently “fed up” with Zelensky and has already laid plans to oust him.
Sonja van den Ende told Russian state media portal RIA Novosti that she had examined a refrigerator where the bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers are being stored and that the refusal of the Ukrainian side to accept the bodies is a crime of the Kyiv regime.
“It’s terrible, it’s actually a crime because these soldiers fought for the country, they were sent to fight at the front, and now they apparently don’t want to take them back. We already knew that there is a criminal regime in Kyiv, and what is happening confirms this,” van der Ende told the news agency.
The journalist added that she and several other European colleagues are trying to convey the real state of affairs to their audience, noting that in the Netherlands, people are increasingly asking questions about why support is being provided to Ukraine.
Van der Ende also stressed Russia’s very different stance on exchanging and transferring bodies.
“I know many media outlets that will show footage of refrigerated trucks. And they will say that Ukraine does not want to accept them. I am sure that independent alternative media will write about this,” she said, adding that events like those taking place in the Bryansk region convince more and more Europeans to follow alternative sources of information and to study more closely the official position of the Russian authorities in the Ukrainian conflict.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky was forced to comment on the situation with the exchange of prisoners of war and the transfer of bodies of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to Ukraine in accordance with the Istanbul agreements, since the Ukrainian side did not show up at the place of the proposed exchange, although the date was announced in advance.
In a report out of another Russian site, and repeated by TASS, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov says the United States is ready to remove Volodymyr Zelensky as president altogether.
Azarov specifically pointed to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office arresting Leonid Mindich, “the well-known wallet of Andriy Yermak and Zelensky.” Yermak is the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. Mindich is also a relative of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s business partner Timur Mindich.
The former PM said the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office was created by the U.S. They “staffed it entirely with their own people,” he told Rossiya 24, and this staff “only obeys the Americans,” inferring that the United States gave the order to detain Mindich at the Romanian border.
Azarov also said it was clear “serious work has begun” to remove Zelensky because some 100 auditors from the United States arrived in Kyiv to monitor the spending of funds allocated by Washington.
Dilan Yesilgöz, the leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the Netherlands, has ruled out any future cooperation with Geert Wilders and the nationalist PVV, prompting accusations that she is preparing to align the VVD with the left in order to block Wilders from entering government again.
Her remarks, published on Monday in De Telegraaf, have ignited a storm within her own party and across the political right.
“Geert Wilders has proven to be an incredibly unreliable partner,” said Yesilgöz of the Netherlands’ legacy center-right party. “This country needs mature leadership. We are not going to work with him anymore.”
The announcement comes just days after Wilders withdrew the PVV from the most recent coalition, claiming other parties had refused to adopt his hardline asylum policy demands.
🇳🇱🗣️ "I signed up for the strictest asylum policy ever, not the downfall of the Netherlands."@GeertWildersPVV speaks out after withdrawing his ministers from the Dutch coalition government. pic.twitter.com/ZPZvnkPcoX
“Wilders has walked away for the second time,” she said, referencing his decision to bring down the first Rutte cabinet in 2012. “It was irresponsible and totally unreliable.”
Responding to Yesilgöz on X, Wilders accused the VVD leader of betraying her voters and handing power to the left.
“Yesilgöz’s VVD therefore chooses GroenLinks/PvdA of Frans Timmermans,” he wrote. “Together with the left, she wants to destroy the Netherlands. That means many more asylum seekers and Islam. But the voter decides. So, make the PVV the largest party so that no one can.”
Critics, including some inside the VVD, according to De Telegraaf, say Yesilgöz’s move may backfire by making a PVV vote more appealing to right-wing voters, since the idea that such votes are “wasted” now appears less credible. It could also once again make Wilders’ party the attractive outlier away from the mainstream parties ahead of new elections.
Yesilgöz acknowledged that many VVD supporters are angry about the collapse, but insisted she had consulted party officials. “None of them said Wilders deserved another chance,” she said. “From day one, he showed he couldn’t and wouldn’t take responsibility. He puts personal interest above the national interest.”
The VVD leader emphasized that she still opposes a cabinet dominated by the left-wing PvdA/GL alliance led by former EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans. “There is a huge gap with PvdA/GL,” she said, adding that she fights them on substance, particularly over the far-left’s position on issues like the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. But, she added, “Just because I fundamentally disagree with a party doesn’t mean I’ll exclude it entirely. That’s a big step in a democracy.”
Yet, she insisted Wilders had crossed a different kind of line. “He let the voters down. That says something about character. Wilders only shouts things for the stage,” she said.
Despite her efforts to brand herself as firmly on the right, critics accuse her of betraying the conservative agenda. “That’s why I want to become the biggest [party],” Yesilgöz said in her defense, gearing up for the election. “This country needs a healthy right-wing liberal cabinet that delivers.”
Een stem op de VVD is dus een stem op de PvdA en je krijgt GroenLinks er gratis bij.
Wat een verraad van Yesilgöz aan de rechtse kiezer en aan Nederland. Ik hield mijn rug recht op asiel maar zij loopt weg naar links voor meer asiel.
Wilders, however, has also moved into election mode, telling Dutch voters that a vote for the VVD is now a vote for the left.
“A vote for the VVD is therefore a vote for the PvdA, and you get GroenLinks for free! What a betrayal of Yesilgöz to the right-wing voter and to the Netherlands,” he wrote. “I stood my ground on asylum, but she runs away to the left for more asylum. Only a big PVV can save the Netherlands!”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a defiant speech on Monday at the Patriots for Europe rally in Mormant-sur-Vernisson, France, urging French voters to help turn the tide against what he described as the ideological domination of Brussels and the threat of cultural erasure through mass migration.
“France is a great power,” Orbán told the crowd, “and Hungary is a small country with 11 million people, modest GDP, and limited military strength. But what makes Hungary interesting is its politics. We are the black sheep of the European Union. Brussels’ nightmare. The hope of Europe’s patriots. And the last bastion of Christians.”
Orbán acknowledged the historical distance between Hungary and France, but said the nations are now united in a shared struggle. Recalling esteemed French writer Victor Hugo’s praise of Hungarian heroism and philosopher Albert Camus’ words about the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, he cast Hungary as a nation forged in resistance — and today, once again resisting ideological occupation.
“I was born in a communist dictatorship under Soviet occupation. We had to fight for freedom and democracy,” he said. “The intellectual bureaucrats in Brussels who criticize Hungary have no idea what it means to fight for your country.”
🇭🇺 @PM_ViktorOrban: "What is happening is not migration. It's an organized exchange of people to replace Europe's cultural base.
"For us, €1 million a day is a lot of money, but we'd rather pay than let anyone in illegally. It's the best investment for the future." pic.twitter.com/AZi3Yqqfl8
The Hungarian leader accused Brussels and Western elites of attempting to dismantle national identity, Christianity, and the family. He said Hungary had witnessed a cultural siege over the past two decades, with global corporations, progressive NGOs, and foreign-funded media taking over national institutions. “For them, the family, the nation, and Christianity were just a joke,” he said.
He outlined his government’s response: a new constitution that enshrines national sovereignty and Christian values, a total rejection of illegal migration, and laws that define “a father as a man and a mother as a woman.” He said that protecting children now takes precedence over all other rights, and that illegal border crossings are treated as crimes. “Only those with prior authorization may enter Hungarian territory,” he said.
“In Hungary, the number of migrants is zero,” Orbán declared. “There are no migrant hordes on our streets. No anti-Semitism. No violence. No riots. Hungary is the country of the Hungarians.”
He warned that Hungary is under daily financial pressure from the European Union for its migration policy. “We are being fined €1 million per day by Brussels because we refuse to let in migrants, but we resist. We would rather pay than allow illegal entry. It’s the best investment in our future.”
Orbán attacked EU immigration policies, calling them part of a larger plan of population replacement. “This isn’t migration,” he said. “It’s an organized population exchange meant to replace the cultural foundation of Europe. We will not kneel before Brussels.”
The prime minister also spoke against the war in Ukraine, rejecting the narrative of continued escalation. “I come from a country that shares a border with Ukraine,” he said. “Warmongering politicians want us to believe this war must go on. But I warn you: it cannot be won. On the battlefield, there are only the dead, suffering, and destruction.”
“We don’t want to die for Ukraine,” he continued. “We don’t want our sons coming home in coffins. We don’t want a new Afghanistan on our doorstep. And we don’t want Brussels using this war as a pretext for federalizing member states’ finances, taking on massive debt, and pushing us into an arms race. We must stop them.”
Orbán tied his message to Pentecost, calling it the “great victory of Christianity.” He said that just as the nations once miraculously spoke a common language, today the people of Europe were beginning to speak the shared language of sovereignty and freedom. “A year ago, the French, Italians, Dutch, Czechs, Poles, Austrians, and Hungarians all said: Brussels, enough.”
Orbán concluded with a direct appeal to his French audience: “We Hungarians need your victory. Without you, we cannot take Brussels. And without you, we cannot save Hungary from the Brussels guillotine.”
“The weak fall. The cowardly are humiliated. But the brave stand tall. Effort wins. If we unite, we will be strong — and we will win. Marine [Le Pen], lead us.”
Poland’s president-elect Karol Nawrocki has praised Hungary as a key ally and pledged to reinvigorate the Visegrád Group in his first international interview, given to Hungarian newspaper Mandiner.
In a clear message of alignment with Central Europe’s national-conservative governments, Nawrocki expressed admiration for Hungary’s leadership and committed to closer cooperation on regional, economic, and cultural matters.
“Hungary is a very important partner for Poland,” Nawrocki said. “We have a beautiful shared history, including our common resistance to communist power. I have many friends in Hungary, both personally and institutionally.” He named Hungarian historian Réka Kiss and the leadership of the Hungarian National Memory Institute among his long-time contacts.
He promised to give full attention to reviving the Visegrád format — an alliance that he said could unlock the potential of Central and Eastern Europe not only militarily, but also socially and economically. “I can declare with full responsibility that the Visegrád Group is a priority for me,” he said, confirming plans for deeper ties within NATO’s eastern flank and the Bucharest Nine.
Though he has not yet met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Nawrocki made clear he sees him as a capable and legitimate leader. “I try not to judge those I haven’t met personally,” he said, “but I’ve followed his official statements, and the election results in Hungary speak for themselves. I absolutely look forward to working with him and building good cooperation for the sake of our region.”
The Polish president-elect, who defeated the liberal mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski in an eventual run-off last week, said he intends to restore sovereignty, calm, and what he called “normality” to Polish political life. “That’s exactly why I became president,” he told Mandiner. “To bring back peace, order, and stability to Poland.”
Nawrocki described the last two years of liberal rule as a period of institutional abuse, in which state institutions were used for partisan purposes with the backing of Brussels and the European People’s Party. “This campaign was unlike anything Poland has seen since 1989,” he said. “And yet, the European elites remained silent. If any of this had happened elsewhere, the EU would have triggered immediate action.”
He positioned himself as the voice of ordinary Poles who felt ignored or alienated under Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government. “The key to our success was that I gave voice to farmers who reject the Green Deal, to parents who don’t want foreign ideologies in our schools, and to all those whose voices weren’t heard in Tusk’s Poland,” he said.
Nawrocki emphasized that he is not against the European Union in principle but rejected what he called its federalist overreach. “I support the EU, but not as a quasi-state,” he said. “Poland wants to remain a free, sovereign nation within a union of equal states. Our identity, our Christian values, our thousand-year history — these are not negotiable.”
On foreign policy, Nawrocki took a strong stance against Russia, calling it a “post-imperial, neo-communist state” led by “a war criminal,” and confirmed Poland’s strategic commitment to Ukraine’s defense. However, he rejected fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU accession, warning that Polish interests must be protected, especially in agriculture.
“We must support Ukraine militarily and politically, but not at the expense of Polish farmers or our economy,” he said. “There must be compromise. Ukraine must understand that countries like Poland and Hungary also have their own interests and historical wounds that can’t be ignored.”
He specifically referenced the Volhynia massacres and the need for exhumations, stating that he did not support unfair economic competition in key sectors. “Poland was a leader in helping Ukraine, thanks to President Duda and the Polish people’s generosity, but our support must be met with respect.”
Concluding the interview, Nawrocki offered warm words for the Hungarian public and the Polish diaspora in Hungary. “I send greetings to the Hungarian people and to the Poles living there,” he said. “I hope we meet soon. My goal is simple: for the voice of the Polish people to be heard again in Warsaw, in Brussels, and across Europe.”
The full interview with Mandiner is available to watch here.
Russian troops are on the offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an area Putin has failed to take during the more than three years of war in Ukraine.
The new line of attack started last week, with Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling journalists on Monday that it is “partly aimed at creating a buffer zone in Ukraine.”
Battlefield reports indicate that the Russians are advancing towards Sumy near Dnipropetrovsk, while each side is continuously firing at the other using drones.
Meanwhile, Putin aide and Chairman of the Russian Maritime Collegium Nikolai Patrushev gave an interview over the weekend, announcing Russia’s new ambitious plan to expand its naval capabilities by 2050.
“Russia’s position as one of the world’s greatest maritime powers is gradually being restored,” he said.
“Russia’s naval power should be so that our country can effectively defend its interests in the World Ocean,” he added.
Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rutte has said that the alliance members must beef up defenses to counter Russian threats, calling for “a quantum leap” in defense spending.
“Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends. We must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full,” he said at Chatham House in London, as reported by the Kyiv Independent.
The man who entered a bakery in Uzès armed with a .22 long rifle and was disarmed by the owner has now been arrested, nearly four weeks after the incident.
Police from the Bagnols-sur-Cèze department apprehended the suspect on June 4. He is currently in pre-trial detention and is expected to appear in court in Nîmes on June 11.
The attack took place on May 10, when the man first entered the Moutas bakery in the early morning and began harassing a young woman. Cyril Cosmo, the bakery’s owner, stepped in and forced the man to leave. A few hours later, the suspect returned — this time with a rifle.
Despite the danger, Cosmo managed to disarm the attacker, who then fled. The act was caught on surveillance footage and widely shared online, earning Cosmo praise across France.
🇫🇷😡 French bakery owner fights off an attacker armed with a rifle, and survives against all odds.
The armed migrant came back to take revenge after Cyril, the owner of the Moutas bakery in Uzès, protected 2 women being harassed by the migrant.
Authorities confirmed the man was already known to the courts and now faces charges including armed violence and the illegal possession and transport of a category C weapon.
Cosmo, who has lived in Uzès since 2017, later thanked the national gendarmerie for their work, writing on his bakery’s Facebook page that they had “done their job brilliantly.” He also expressed deep gratitude to those who offered support, both in person and from afar.
A group of Dutch citizens staged an unauthorized border control operation this weekend between Ter Apel and the German village of Rütenbrock, citing frustration with what they describe as uncontrolled illegal immigration.
Wearing reflective clothing and wielding torches, the group of around 12 men began stopping vehicles on Saturday evening along the N366, a key route between Germany and the Netherlands.
The vigilantes, who pulled cars over and even inspected trunks, say they took action because authorities are failing to secure the border and stem the flow of asylum seekers entering the country. “Nothing is happening. Then we’ll do it ourselves,” said one activist, as cited by Algemeen Dagblad.
The action, although brief, drew sharp criticism from police and government officials. The municipality of Westerwolde and Dutch police released a joint statement declaring that “citizens are forbidden to stop cars” and that such actions “create enormously dangerous situations” and are “really unacceptable.” The vigilantes are believed to have violated road traffic laws, though it is unclear whether any formal charges will be brought.
🇳🇱‼️ Dutch vigilantes fed up with illegal immigration set up their own border controls with Germany this weekend, between Ter Apel and Rütenbrock.
Geert Wilders, the PVV leader who just collapsed the Dutch government over asylum red lines, called it a "fantastic initiative." pic.twitter.com/FfjTtkuO6k
One vehicle stopped by the group turned out to be a German police van. The officers promptly ordered the group to leave German soil, threatening to tow their vehicles if they did not comply. The activists relocated their checkpoint to a parking lot on the Dutch side of the border and continued stopping traffic from Germany.
The group, reportedly organized via Facebook, primarily includes residents from the municipality of Westerwolde.
Outgoing Justice and Migration Minister David van Weel, of the center-right VVD, responded by urging the group to stop. “I understand the frustration, but I really call on this group not to do this,” he said. “Let the police and military police do their job and abide by the law.” Van Weel acknowledged the Netherlands “cannot handle the current influx,” but insisted that border enforcement must remain the responsibility of the authorities.
Mayor Jaap Velema of Westerwolde expressed sympathy for the frustrations, citing “the lack of solutions to the crisis in asylum reception,” but warned: “This is not the way to express frustrations. We can’t all drive through red lights either.”
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration PVV party, praised the citizens’ actions on X, calling it a “fantastic initiative” and adding, “If [Prime Minister] Schoof and the VVD do not immediately deploy the army en masse for this, we will have to do it ourselves! I would like to participate next time!”
Fantastisch initiatief.
Zou overal aan de grens moeten gebeuren. Als Schoof en de VVD het leger niet meteen massaal hiervoor inzetten, moeten we het zelf maar doen!
Wilders has been vocal about tightening the Dutch asylum regime. His party recently withdrew from the governing coalition after other parties refused to adopt his 10-point plan for what he called “the strictest asylum policy ever.” The cabinet’s collapse triggered early elections, which are scheduled to take place on Oct. 29, 2025.
Van Weel reiterated the government’s focus on “stricter asylum laws and better border control.”
Wilders, however, responded by accusing him of inaction. “Weakling. You don’t do anything at all. You could have had the army guard the borders now and sent away all asylum seekers on the basis of Article 72 TFEU, just like the Germans do,” he posted on social media. “If people are frustrated, it is because the VVD is completely failing.”
Ter Apel is the home of the Netherlands’ largest asylum reception center, where officially around 2,000 asylum seekers are currently housed.
In March, residents of Nieuw-Weerdinge, a Dutch town between Ter Apel and the nearest city of Emmen, launched a fundraiser in support of a 51-year-old local man convicted of assaulting an Algerian asylum seeker during an attempted citizen’s arrest.
He was found to have confronted an Algerian national from the reception center for allegedly stealing €40 from a delivery van.
The town has established its own neighborhood watch app used by concerned residents to ensure anyone acting suspiciously in the area is identified after a surge in crime.
German industry has cut over 100,000 jobs within a year — around 45,400 of them in the automotive industry alone, writes Junge Freiheit, citing new data from consulting firm EY.
Metal and textile industries also experienced significant declines, while the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors were barely affected, the paper notes.
According to EY’s report, the number of employees in the manufacturing sector fell to 5.46 million by the end of March, a decrease of 1.8 percent year-over-year.
For automobile makers, nearly 6 percent of jobs were lost, and the number of employees fell to 734,000.
Since 2019, job losses in the manufacturing sector have totaled 217,000 positions, a decrease of 3.8 percent. EY lists high energy and personnel costs, weak demand in Europe, aggressive competition from China, and uncertainty in the U.S. market as reasons behind the weakness.
At the same time, Germany is suffering from structural change and excessive bureaucracy, it notes.
“Companies are under enormous pressure,” warns EY manager Jan Brorhilker. He expects another 70,000 industrial jobs to be lost by the end of the year. Mechanical and automotive engineering are particularly affected, with recent sales data indicating industrial sales have continued to decline.
Despite this development, EY does not see widespread deindustrialization. In a long-term comparison, industrial employment is still slightly above the 2014 level, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
But there is a growing chorus of criticism against the government’s course of action, or lack thereof. The President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, has said, “Competitiveness and attractiveness as a location must be the guiding principles of the new federal government.”
Junge Freiheit notes that lower costs, less regulation, and a stronger domestic economy are the only things that can bring a much-needed turnaround to Germany. Without these, the “backbone of the German economy” may be lost.
Confederation MP Witold Tumanowicz told listeners on a Sunday Radio Zet program that Karol Nawrocki’s victory in Poland’s presidential election would not have been possible had he not convinced Confederation voters who had supported candidate and leader of New Hope Sławomir Mentzen in the first round, Do Rzeczy writes.
“Nawrocki convinced Mentzen and Confederation voters that he was critical of the PiS government in terms of Covid policy, migration, tax policy, and the Green Deal,” said Tumanowicz.
Asked if he believed Nawrocki was sincere about this, Tumanowicz replied, “I would like to believe that signing the eight points proposed by Sławomir Mentzen will be a kind of guide for him during his presidency. It means that he will veto laws that will be harmful to Poland.
Noting the trust that Confederation voters have placed in Nawrocki, the MP said, “They believed that Nawrocki could be a truly civic president.”
Between the first and second round of elections, Menzten hosted Nawrocki and Trzaskowski on his YouTube channel, with both conversations garnering huge viewership. The conversation with the PiS-supported candidate began with a series of “yes” or “no” questions.
When Mentzen asked Nawrocki if (former PiS prime minister) Morawiecki’s introduction of the New Deal was a mistake, the candidate replied, “Yes.”
“Was (PiS leader) Kaczyński wrong to claim that rejecting the European Green Deal would mean marginalizing ourselves?” Mentzen then asked. “The Green Deal is bad, it must be rejected,” Nawrocki replied, adding that Kaczyński was wrong in this matter.
Asked about the PiS government accepting 366,000 Muslim and African immigrants between 2018 and 2022, Nawrocki flatly said, “Accepting Muslim immigrants is always bad.”
During his interview with Mentzen, Nawrocki was also asked if the Confederation was right to oppose closing the economy during COVID. “Here we would have to talk longer,” he said, while still offering up a response. “The Confederation was certainly in the same situation as I was as a PiS voter. However, reviewing decisions is easier than making them, and whenever someone makes decisions under heavy pressure, they are worse off than those who review them,” he said.
Nawrocki negatively assessed the closing of churches and cemeteries, as well as the ban on entering forests, restaurants, etc. He emphasized that as a PiS voter, he was dissatisfied with this.
Farmers in Spain and France were again protesting agricultural imports from Ukraine and South America under the Mercosur trade agreement ahead of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visiting France and the expiration of a free trade agreement with Ukraine, writes TopAgrar.pl.
Da Silva wants to convince President Emmanuel Macron to drop his opposition to the EU-Mercosur Agreement, and at a press conference with the French head of state, told press that he would not “leave the Mercosur presidency without having concluded the trade deal,” a position he will be taking up in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, the French Federation of Agricultural Unions (FNSEA) has once again called on Macron to take action to create a minority in the EU to block the ratification of the Mercosur Agreement by the Council of the European Union.
In a statement quoted by Reuters, the French organization warned that the agreement will be “devastating for the beef, poultry and sugar industries and compromise the EU’s ambitions in terms of food sovereignty.”
“We are raising the alarm!” said Alain Carre, head of the French sugar industry group AIBS.
If an agreement with Mercosur is reached, the French are demanding clear trade rules: “Our demands (for an EU-Mercosur deal) are simple: reciprocity of regulations, traceability of products abroad and much clearer labeling,” said Jean-Michel Schaeffer, head of French poultry industry group Anvol.
In Spain, hundreds of farmers gathered in Madrid to protest excessive grain imports from Ukraine, which have resulted in grain prices below production costs.
“Spanish farmers will lose €1 billion this year,” Javier Fatas, leader of the farmers’ union COAG from the Aragon region in northeastern Spain, said.
Spaniards also refuse to import genetically modified grain from Mercosur, which is cheaper than Spanish grain, into the EU.
Similar sentiments are prevalent in Poland. In June, farmers took to the streets again to express opposition to trade liberalization with Ukraine, the Mercosur agreement, and the Green Deal, reminds TopAgrar.
“Our position should be firm and clear: the customs and limits from before the war must return. Otherwise, we will not be able to compete on the European market, and especially in Poland,” said Stanisław Barna from the grassroots All-Poland Farmers’ Protest.
At the protest in Krążkowy in Wielkopolska, another OOPR representative, Krzysztof Olejnik, called the provisions of the EU-Mercosur Agreement a “spit in the face” of farmers: “If we are talking about Mercosur, we still do not have detailed information about the terms of this agreement. We assume that the terms of this agreement will probably not be favorable for us,” said Krzysztof Olejnik.
The lack of hope for economic improvement in agriculture is combined with a sense of lack of action on the part of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Government and the European Commission. Maciej Zawadzki from the Association of Farmers of Southern Wielkopolska said, “We decided to take to the streets because our issues that were supposed to be resolved are still unresolved. The government remains passive. (…) Unfortunately, we do not see any actions that would improve our position and situation. Quite the opposite: what is happening is working to our disadvantage.”
Stanisław Barna says the only option for farmers now is to put pressure on decision-makers via protests.
“We want to work with dignity, have a stable situation. Have a decent salary for our work (…) This is what we are reduced to, to make our farms fail. If you do not fight for yourselves, no one will do it for you! Thank you and God bless you for your determination and showing strength today. Let the government see, and Minister Siekierski will finally get down to work, because he has been talking to us for a year and a half, saying that he will prepare a position, but let him finally come to West Pomerania and talk,” he said.
Farmers also hope the newly elected president, Karol Nawrocki, will come through for them. “Mr. President, we are here, we are watching, we are waiting for your decision,” Barna added. “We farmers would like these promises to be fulfilled and not forgotten.”
Macron and Lula did not appear to make much headway on EU-Mercosur trade deal. Macron clearly wants to boost trade and relations with Brazil but he also made clear that he cannot accept the deal in its current form, emphasizing the need for “either mirror clauses or safeguard measures” to ensure Brazilian products conform with EU production standards.
Ukrainian Sz. Aleksandrov, who was arrested in Budapest and expelled from Hungary on suspicion of espionage, is challenging his expulsion in court, with an initial hearing taking place yesterday. He says he wants to return to Hungary, as his family is located in the country.
The questions at stake, according to a report in Blikk, were if he should have been sent to Russia or Ukraine and, most importantly, if he was in fact a national security threat, justifying his expulsion.
Sz. Alekszandrov’s lawyer, Dr. Gábor Szűcs told the paper, “My client wants to return to Hungary, as his family is here and he has built his existence here.”
One issue is that last November, Sz. Aleksandrov listed Ukraine as his homeland in his application for a Hungarian residence permit, indicating it as his destination in case he had to leave. His lawyer, however, argued that there is no space on the application form for another, intermediate citizenship. The basis for this argument is that the man is actually from Crimea, annexed by Russia, making him also a Russian citizen from a Russian area.
Sz. Alekszandrov had worked as a diplomat at the Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest in the 2010s, but no longer holds diplomatic status. His wife is the co-owner of a Ukrainian restaurant in Budapest.
His arrest came directly after Ukraine arrested two former soldiers accused of spying for Hungary’s military intelligence service, tasked with, among other things, assessing the potential reaction to Hungarian troops entering Western Ukraine.
In addition to the Immigration Office, the Constitutional Protection Office is also a defendant in the case, although it was not represented at yesterday’s hearing, nor was it even mentioned at the hearing. This is seen as odd given the most important issue to be addressed is if this man is a national security risk.
Sz. Alekszandrov, also not present, has requested a remote hearing so that he can have the opportunity to speak.
A family friend who works with a Ukrainian charity organization told Blikk that the accused was deported “despite having lived in Hungary with his family for more than 10 years, he was sacrificed in a theatrical performance. This was neither a peace-loving nor a rule-of-law measure. Moreover, Sz. could get into terrible trouble in Ukraine, as he is subject to military service, and despite having resided in Hungary for a long time, he did not respond to numerous military drafts.”
Employees of one of the accused’s restaurants said they were shocked, claiming that Sz. was a “law-abiding, honest businessman.” They also indicated that he is part of a Ukrainian aid foundation that used U.S. donations to deliver medicine, food, and ambulances to Ukraine.
Szymon Hołownia, a member of Poland’s ruling government and the leader of Poland 2050, lists urgent actions that the coalition must take to stop Law and Justice (PiS) and President Karol Nawrocki.
The leader of Poland 2050, when asked how the current situation in the coalition could be described, replied: “Rebuilding, a new beginning, a restart of hope. This is what we have to do today.”
He warned that the coalition is set to lose the Polish electorate by the fall if action is not taken, and it could potentially lead to a collapse of government.
“Because we have to be aware that if we don’t move forward quickly— that is, reconstruct the government, change the coalition agreement, define program priorities with dates for their implementation; and rebuild communication. We can’t just focus on the government spokesman, but the entire new media center that will work with the government and show what is happening with the government, so that people have real information. If we don’t do this, PiS and Nawrocki will give us the ‘autumn of the Middle Ages’ this autumn. There will be cabinet councils every two weeks, vetoing all bills, trying to undermine and overthrow the budget, in order to show that this government delivers absolutely nothing and is good for nothing,” he argued on Polsat News.
Hołownia: We do it, we just don’t communicate it
He stressed that since the coalition partners know what can happen, they should “act radically today and restart hopes.”
“It’s five minutes to midnight, because it’s halfway through the term. There will be no elections for two years. This is exactly the moment, but this is the last moment. If we don’t do it, I would say 3/4 of these things in a month, then we’re done. And we really should do it today. Because our problem is not that we don’t do it,” he said.
According to Hołownia, the mistake is the lack of communication with society.
“We are completely incompetent when it comes to storytelling, communication,” he said.
The European Central Bank (ECB) cut its deposit rate by a quarter basis point to 2 percent yesterday, along with its 2026 inflation forecast to 1.6 percent. ECB President Christine Lagarde indicated at a news conference that the eurozone economy was unlikely to accelerate, but the tone was slightly less pessimistic than a month earlier.
The rate cut was a “nearly unanimous” decision, with only Austria’s Robert Holzmann opposing it. Ahead of the meeting, he had called for a break in June and July, as well as to “maintain calm” amid ongoing EU-U.S. trade tensions.
The cut was in line with expectations. Goldman Sachs Asset Management expects the deposit rate to potentially reach 1.5 percent this year, while noting that “trade uncertainty continues to pose risk to euro area economic growth and underlying disinflation is likely to remain persistent.
Lagarde noted that risks to growth were still tilted to the downside, still a reversal from her recent assessment that “downside risks have increased.”
She emphasized the issue of wages, according to Polska Business Insider, pointing to further easing of wage pressures in the future. She also emphasized that inflation is expected to return to 2 percent in 2027, even after falling well below target next year.
“The inflation outlook is more uncertain than usual,” Lagarde said.
Possible sources of downward pressure include falling energy costs and a strengthening euro. This could intensify if higher U.S. tariffs lead to lower demand for exports and other countries redirect their goods to the eurozone.
On the other hand, fragmentation of global supply chains could raise inflation, as could increases in defense and infrastructure spending, she said.
Deutsche Bank singled out higher defense spending as a big positive for 2026, in terms of strategic autonomy and “EU exceptionalism,” according to ForexLive. It also expects the ECB to resume rate hikes by the end of next year.
On GDP growth, Lagarde said a boost in demand to circumvent U.S. tariffs likely boosted output in the first quarter, adding she wouldn’t be surprised to see further improvement.
Lagarde reiterated that the ECB was in a “good position” to face uncertainties after today’s cut, but signaled that this did not necessarily mean the ECB was finished cutting rates. Nor does it mean they can declare victory over inflation.
“Wins are always nice, but there’s always another battle. I think we’re approaching the end of a monetary policy cycle that has responded to complex shocks, including COVID, including the war in Ukraine, the illegal war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis,” she said.
The ECB head also called the euro’s strength probably the biggest surprise for policymakers right now, as they had expected it to lose value after Trump’s trade tariffs. Lagarde noted that its strength could be due to Trump’s unpredictable policies and the uncertainty they have generated.
Nevertheless, Lagarde stressed that “the ECB must remain vigilant, even if it does not target the exchange rate.”
The Ukrainian Drug Control Service recently issued the first license to import medical cannabis into Ukraine, after the law on the legalization of medical cannabis officially came into force in Ukraine last August. Several organizations have lobbied for at least partial legalization of marijuana in Ukraine in recent years – most of them supported by George Soros. This is no coincidence.
The Ukrainian Drug Control Service recently issued the first license for the import of medical cannabis into Ukraine, the document was issued on June 2, 2025, the Ukrainian news portal RBC reported.
In Ukraine, the law on the legalization of medical cannabis officially entered into force in August 2024. This allows the distribution of hemp-based medicines for medical, scientific and industrial purposes. As Remix News has documented in the past, medical and legal marijuana is not as benign as promoted and has only helped fuel the drug and mental crisis in the countries where it has already been legalized.
As V4NA reported, several organizations have been lobbying for the legalization of marijuana, at least partially, in Ukraine for years. In the summer of 2022, a bill was submitted to legalize medical marijuana products in Ukraine, when Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko announced that the Ukrainian cabinet had approved a bill on regulating the distribution of cannabis plants for medical, industrial, scientific and research and development purposes, in order to create conditions for patients to access cannabis-based products for the treatment of cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by war.
🇭🇺🇪🇺PM Viktor Orbán: "Soros has a plan to change the traditional image of the European continent, which is Christian and European, and to turn Europe into a mixed continent, a continent with a mixed population.
“We understand the negative consequences of war on mental health. We can see how many people will need medical treatment as a result of this impact. And we understand that there is no time to wait,” the minister wrote about the draft law on his social media page.
The country has been holding “hemp marches,” marches calling for legalization, since the 2000s, but the issue only developed into serious lobbying efforts a few years ago. President Poroshenko became the driving force behind this process, along with then-Minister of Health Ulana Suprun, who spent several years trying to convince Ukrainians that legalization was “a normal practice in civilized countries.”
Several organizations have been lobbying heavily in Ukraine for the legalization of marijuana, apparently serving the interests of global financial players.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, one of the initiators of the bill, was a direct associate of former Minister of Health Ulana Suprun. Previously, she was the head of the charitable foundation Patients of Ukraine, with a monthly salary of 70,000 hryvnias (about €1,800). The Ukrainian news portal Klymenko Time points out that this is considered a fairly good salary in Ukraine. As they write, the organization Patients of Ukraine actively lobbied for the legalization of marijuana.
Just like the organization 100% Life, whose leader, Dmytro Sherembey, previously worked with Olha Stefanishyna at the Patients of Ukraine organization, and also led several joint projects and events with Ulana Supron.
Janina Sokolova actively campaigned for the legalization of medical marijuana
Journalist-reporter Yanina Sokolova, known for her unpleasant, tough questions and for embarrassing public figures, also played an important role in the campaign for legalization. Klymenko Time called Sokolova the main propagandist of former President Petro Poroshenko.
What the Patients of Ukraine, 100% Life organizations, and Yanina Sokolova’s campaign have in common is that they are all supported by the Ukrainian International Renaissance Foundation of American financial oligarch George Soros, a convicted insider trader.
The fund founded by George Soros, which operates in Ukraine, also oversees a special public health program. It is within this framework that all these activists and their campaigns in support of cannabis receive funding. According to the 2019 report of the Soros Foundation, 23.85 percent of the 335 million hryvnias allocated to Ukraine were spent on the public health program. This is almost 80 million hryvnias (more than €2 million), writes Klymenko Time.
The Ukrainian curators of the program are Victoria Timosevska and Olena Kucheruk from the Soros Foundation. Timosevska lobbied for the legalization of marijuana and the corresponding bill back in 2016. Kucheruk began working in the East-West Partnership Without Borders program, one of Soros’ first projects in Ukraine. In the early 2000s, the office’s staff applied for the European call for proposals for the Program for Reducing Harm from Drug Use.
At the time, when he supported countless NGOs worldwide that fought for the legalization of marijuana, George Soros also became one of the most important shareholders of the American multinational chemical, agricultural and biotechnology company Monsanto (Monsanto merged with the German Bayer AG in 2018).
Monsanto already grew corn and soybeans in Uruguay for years, but the company also actively did research on THC, the active compound in marijuana. Incidentally, Soros is also credited with helping spread genetically modified food in Uruguay and also pushing for the legalization of marijuana in the South American country.
An organization he funded lavishly, the Drug Policy Alliance, also played a pivotal role in getting marijuana legalized. In its 2013 annual report, the chairman of the Drug Policy Alliance boasted: “In Uruguay we played a crucial role, as we helped a public education campaign to coordinate. There was a close collaboration with government officials, activists, journalists and others, including President José Mujica whom I met with personally.”
In fact, the president of the country had met with Soros privately in New York shortly before he returned to his country and convinced the senate to legalize the drug, making it the first South American country to do so. Soros-backed organizations reportedly poured millions into an ad campaign that ran across the country in order to influence the public into backing pro-cannabis legislation.
This was all done in opposition to public opinion, with 58 to 66 percent of Uruguayans being opposed to legalizing the sale of marijuana, while only 24 to 29 percent backed the legalization.
The marijuana industry has grown at a rapid pace in recent years, creating a billion-dollar industry. Two research firms, Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, estimated that global cannabis industry revenue could grow from $6.9 billion in 2017 to $16.9 billion in 2019 and more than $31 billion in 2022. Other analysts, such as Cowen Inc., estimate that with legalization, the global industry could reach sales of more than $50 billion by 2026.
At the same time, the Ukrainian news portal Klymenko Time drew attention to the fact that cannabis companies need new markets for further development, for which Ukraine would provide a good opportunity.
Canadian and American companies have also long been eyeing Ukraine. However, as they wrote: “A lot of hemp could be grown in our chernozems, which could be easily exported as a raw product. And the added value would be obtained from processing in other countries.”
Soros saw Ukrainians as cannon fodder already in the 1990s
Soros has a long and deep history in Ukraine that goes far beyond cannabis legalization. The billionaire financier, often portrayed as a humanist, promoted a hard-nosed geopolitical strategy in his 1993 piece entitled “Toward a New World Order: The Future of NATO.” In the piece, he outlines how Eastern Europeans could be used as the “manpower” in coming conflicts in an effort to reduce the number of deaths in Western countries, which Soros argues the West would not politically tolerate, unlike the East of Europe.
“The United States would not be called upon to act as the policeman of the world. When it acts, it would act in conjunction with others. Incidentally, the combination of manpower from Eastern Europe with the technical capabilities of NATO would greatly enhance the military potential of the Partnership because it would reduce the risk of body bags for NATO countries, which is the main constraint on their willingness to act. This is a viable alternative to the looming world disorder,” wrote Soros in the article.
Soros acknowledges that the NATO countries have no appetite for “body bags,” but his statement implicitly indicates that Eastern Europeans can fill this role.
What Soros described appears to be unfolding exactly as he predicted regarding the war in Ukraine. Armed with high-end NATO weapons, Ukrainian soldiers are ones tasked with actively countering Russia, which Soros had already feared would become a nationalist nation opposed to the global order he was promoting in 1993. That Soros already saw the potential of what this symbiotic match could produce on the battlefield decades in advance will likely bolster his reputation as a calculating — and perhaps ruthless — strategic thinker.
As Soros predicted, Ukrainian society appears to be tolerating the high death toll in its current conflict with Russia. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. lost 58,220 over the course of approximately 10 years, and yet, the war saw strong opposition from the American public. Despite a far higher death toll in a far shorter period of time, Ukrainian society has seen little in terms of protests.
The lack of protest in Ukraine may also be helped by the fact that Ukraine has suspended most of civil society, banned opposition parties and media, canceled all elections, and even outlawed the Russian Orthodox Church. Another key factor in society’s perspective on the conflict is that the war is taking place on Ukrainian soil, which is a highly motivating factor for Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukraine’s drug market is growing at an extraordinary rate
Modern war breeds drug addicts, and in Ukraine, drug use on the front lines is widespread and increasing.
Ukrainian recruiters usually take active or former drug users into the military, who are drafted without proper medical examination, and in many cases, they have no problem maintaining their addiction at the frontline, where the narcotics trade is a big business.
Many soldiers serving on the front line use drugs as a means of escape, while others use them to relax after sleepless nights spent under constant artillery fire.
Others are simply bored. Some use drugs to stay alert, as they are almost constantly on edge and in life-threatening situations. The front line has become a lucrative market for people involved in the drug trade.
In many ways, Ukraine is becoming an open-air drug market, with drugs being pushed at home and on the front. As always, few profit from this development, while many continue to suffer.
The Berlin Constitutional Court has ruled that the Senate must disclose the most common first names of suspects in knife attacks, siding with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a politically charged dispute over crime data transparency.
The ruling, announced on Monday, forces the Berlin Senate to provide the AfD parliamentary group in the House of Representatives with a list of the 20 most common first names among German citizens suspected of knife-related crimes. This comes after the Senate had previously refused to comply with a request made by AfD lawmaker Marc Vallendar in May 2024, citing concerns over personal data protection.
According to the court, while naming suspects involves an intrusion into personal data, there is no convincing evidence that it poses a real identification risk to specific individuals. “The assumption of a relevant identification risk for specific individuals is not plausible,” a court spokesperson said.
Vallendar justified his request by pointing to what he called a lack of transparency in crime data, particularly since the German government stopped separately recording suspects’ migration backgrounds in 2022. In his view, the only remaining statistical clue to the origins of suspects lies in their first names
New data shows that foreigners are responsible for 43.9% of all crimes in Berlin in 2024.
Murders and manslaughter also jumped over 50% compared to 2023!
"What should not be ignored is that 30% of foreign suspects are not registered in Berlin," said a police union rep. pic.twitter.com/5r3nwUEzMz
The Senate had previously argued that releasing such data could result in “social stigmatization” and misinterpretation. It cited the risk of names being used to construct social hierarchies or fuel biased narratives, particularly given the current public focus on knife-related violence.
BREAKING: ‼️🇩🇪 Germany's worst-kept secret is out — straight from the horse's mouth.
"This year, we have to talk about non-German suspects," says Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who admits that foreigners are significantly disproportionately represented in the country's crime… pic.twitter.com/KLZpwz6vH5
Berlin’s interior administration maintained that the release of first names would contribute little to an informed debate and could instead lead to misleading assumptions. Still, the court found that the public interest in transparency outweighed the Senate’s concerns.
The ruling is seen as a significant victory for the AfD, which has long criticized what it calls political censorship and a lack of openness in crime statistics.
Many Middle Eastern and North African-born migrants, now with German citizenship, are classed as Germans in the country’s federal crime stats, thus diluting the devastating impact mass immigration has had on soaring crime. Berlin, as one of the more multicultural areas of the country, has been significantly affected.
🇩🇪 Violent crime in Germany hit a record high in 2024, and now more and more Germans are afraid to leave their homes.
🔺55% believe the police have lost control of public spaces 🔺38% fear falling victim to crime in public spaces versus 28% in 2018 🔺Only 39% believe the police… pic.twitter.com/4sW5uiCPJA
In 2024, violent crime across the country hit a record high, leaving many Germans fearful of leaving their homes and having less confidence in the authorities to keep them safe.
Overall, non-Germans accounted for 39 percent of all crimes last year, but foreign-born naturalized citizens are not included in this percentage — a discrepancy the AfD believes hides the true cost of mass immigration.
The AfD’s state parliamentary spokesperson in Berlin, Dr. Kristin Brinker, took to X to comment on the ruling. “The fact that Marc Vallendar had to sue before the Constitutional Court gives a deep insight. Hopefully, the Senate of Berlin will come to its senses and finally provide the requested information on the first names of knife perpetrators.
“The fact that the Senate, led by Kai Wegner, of all people, does not want to give the first names is particularly remarkable. After all, it was Wegner himself who was able to win the 2023 election campaign by asking the first names of the New Year’s Eve riot perpetrators.
“Wegner didn’t get an answer at the time either and left the whole thing at that after his election,” she added.
In early May, a 56-year-old German woman was attacked by an Iranian migrant who suddenly snatched her dog inside a park. As she pursued him, he pushed her to the ground, knelt on her chest, and choked her with her dog’s leash.
The incident, in Glinde, Schleswig-Holstein, nearly ended with a homicide, but the woman’s life was saved by swift intervention of a witness. A police source told Bild newspaper that the woman “had already given up. He wanted to strangle her — and he almost succeeded.”
This disturbing act is linked to a case involving an asylum seeker, raising serious questions about why the man was at large and still in the country.
The suspect, Ali S., is a 32-year-old Iranian. He had his asylum application rejected and was subject to an enforceable deportation order but the police refused to remove him.
The Iranian man has terrorized the town of Glinde
Ali S. entered Germany in 2018 and has a history of police attention. In 2024, he terrorized the Glinde city administration, issuing death threats against employees.
Mayor Rainhard Zug reacted by closing the town hall to pedestrian traffic and hiring private security to control entry during opening hours. In other words, he turned a high-trust society into one that requires private security, just as seen in swimming pools across Germany, which now require private security to ensure riots and sexual assaults do not occur.
Zug concluded that the man is “uncontrollable,” citing employee reports of his sudden and erratic behavioral transformation.
Repeated attempts were made to persuade Ali S. to leave the country voluntarily, and he agreed three times. However, the Ministry of Social Affairs in Schleswig-Holstein confirmed that “all appointments failed, the last one due to a refusal of boarding by the airline.”
Specifically, in early May, the pilot of a scheduled flight to Iran refused to allow Ali S. on board, deeming it too risky.
The ministry stated that “due to his violent behavior, the person concerned would now have to be deported with security escort. Given the situation in the region of Iran, it is necessary for the Federal Police to provide a security escort.”
This requires a new agreement from the ruling government since, as with many countries, Iran does not have a deportation agreement with Germany. In addition, Ali S. does not possess an Iranian passport.
As shown time and again, bureaucracy and “humanitarian” left-wing interference are turning deadly in Europe, with the failure to deport Ali S. directly contributing to an older woman nearly being strangled to death with her own dog leash.
Desperate mayor out of options
Glinde’s Mayor Zug expressed anger and desperation, recounting his extensive efforts to contact the district’s immigration office, the district administrator, state parliament members, and the Ministry of Social Affairs. Despite these communications, the immigration office maintained that “the conditions for deportation are not met,” which Zug found frustrating.
In response to a Bild inquiry, the Stormarn district stated that its social psychiatric service had “multiple contacts with the person concerned over the past 1.5 years. At none of the times of contact were there conditions for admission (to a psychiatric clinic) due to an acute danger to self or others present.”
This statement comes despite the mayor citing specific death threats being issued to city government employees.
Ali S. failed to attend a follow-up appointment after his last unsuccessful attempt to leave the country on May 8. He allegedly committed the attack shortly thereafter. Ali S. is currently in a psychiatric facility.
The public prosecutor’s office has classified the crime as attempted manslaughter, while the court has categorized it as grievous bodily harm. The final legal outcome remains uncertain, but as with many other cases in Germany, the suspect may serve no jail time for his actions, with the courts ruling he is psychologically unfit to be held responsible.
As detailed in the article links provided in this story, cases of migrants “terrorizing” individual towns and cities in Germany is a commonplace occurrence, with some offenders committing dozens and sometimes over 150 offenses, with little consequence and certainly no deportations.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with French President Emmanuel Macron at Palazzo Chigi for a bilateral meeting that lasted nearly three hours, followed by a working dinner.
The two countries’ joint statement emphasized both their commitment to a stronger EU and to Ukraine.
“Remaining faithful to their role as founding nations in the building of Europe, Italy and France intend to strengthen their common commitment to a more sovereign, stronger and more prosperous Europe,” it reads.
“France and Italy’s unwavering and unhesitating support for Ukraine is even more necessary in order to reach a just and lasting solution, presupposing at the same time an ambitious scaling-up of European defense, in terms of both investments and support for the European defense industrial and technological base,” the release added.
Posting on social media, Meloni reiterated the progress made with her fellow leader. “We found strong convergences on the European agenda on competitiveness, on regulatory simplification, on the issue of public and private investments, on the energy transition with full technological neutrality, and on the support for strategic sectors such as automotive, steel, artificial intelligence, decarbonized renewable energies, as well as nuclear and space.
“We also reiterated our strong support for Ukraine to reach a fair and lasting solution, while promoting a strengthening of European defense.”
Tensions between the two countries have been seen as an obstacle to the Union’s current challenges, including strengthening the economy and pursuing peace in Ukraine. Meloni took heat for not being at the May 10 meeting in Kyiv attended by Macron as well as heads of state from Germany, the U.K., and Poland, writes Le Monde. She has also harbored strong reservations about sending any troops to Ukraine, while Macron has been a vocal supporter of such a move.
The Italian premier has also made a name for herself for not wanting to upset relations with America, specifically President Trump. However, with no peace in sight and much work to be done, Brussels is looking for a unified Union-wide commitment.
Perhaps less well known, or forgotten, are a few incidents highlighted by Le Monde: The migrant rescue ship in 2022 that Paris had to allow to port after Rome sent it away; former Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin saying Meloni was “unable to solve migration problems,” resulting in the Italian FM canceling his trip to Paris; and just this May Macron “accused Meloni of spreading false information about French actions in Ukraine.”
Then there is the supposed “persistent suspicion in Rome of supposed French economic imperialism targeting Italian infrastructure and strategic assets.”
This meeting is seen as a step in the right direction for the two allies to work towards common goals.
France and Italy also announced they will hold a bilateral summit at the start of next year. Specifically, they will discuss their goals outlined in the Quirinale Treaty, signed in 2021 to help strengthen cooperation between the two countries and which entered into force in 2023.
A French family has been left so traumatized by a home invasion and an attempted kidnapping of their 8-year-old daughter that they are selling their home and moving away.
In the harrowing case in Brétigny-sur-Orge, which occurred on April 21, an Algerian migrant conducted a home invasion of the family house armed with a pitchfork. Inside, he exposed his genitals to the family, demanded to leave with the small girl, and told the parents: “Give me the girl or I’ll kill you.”
The suspect, in his 20s and with multiple identities, was arrested on April 21, but his trial only started this week in Evry Criminal Court. A judge has ordered the trial postponed pending for a hearing from a psychiatric expert after the defendant claimed to “hear voices.”
The Algerian has been in France for a year and had an open deportation order. In the past, a psychiatrist had already determined that the man’s “intelligence is impaired” and that his “very dangerous.”
The mother, Johanna, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, spoke with French newspaper Le Parisien.
She said that on Easter Monday, the day of the incident, the man broke in.
“It was early in the morning, we were asleep. We heard a noise. We thought it was our neighbors doing work on the fence. But the noises seemed too close. I ran downstairs and saw the shutters open and a hand. I screamed,” she told Le Parisien.
The Algerian man tried to enter the house by lifting up the metal shutter, but without success.
“He was in front of the window with a pitchfork he’d taken from the garden. He stared at me for a long time, so I went back upstairs to call the police,” Johanna continued. “I took a picture of him; our daughter had woken up and was next to me. I told her to hide.”
The Algerian then ran to another window and smashed it hard with the pitchfork, shattering the glass, at which point the man entered the house.
“My daughter and I were hiding upstairs in the bedroom. My partner stayed in the hallway to find out what he wanted… My partner told me to get away. I threw cushions out the window to break our fall.” said Johanna.
The man then ripped off his sweater and pulled down his pants, revealing his penis. He then began masturbating right in front of Johanna’s partner. He picked up the pitchfork and started screaming, “I’m going to kll you.”
He then yelled: “Give me the little girl, or I’ll kill you.”
The mother then grabbed her daughter and jumped out of the second story to the yard below. The woman’s partner then grabbed the family dog and jumped out the window as well, resulting in an injured ankle that left the man unable to attend work for two days.
Police officers arrived on scene shortly thereafter and arrested the Algerian inside the family’s bathroom.
“Since then, we’ve only gone back to collect our things and show the house to the real estate agent,” Johanna sighs. “It’s traumatic. At the slightest noise, I jump. And my daughter is scared. We had started work to restart a business. Now, we’re back at my parents’ house, starting from scratch, all ecause of him.”
Given the man’s potential psychiatric evaluation, it is possible he will not serve any prison time. Many defendants in Europe realize that claiming psychiatric illness is the ticket to a more lenient sentence and the ability to avoid jail by being placed in a psychiatric institution.
Remix News has long documented instances of foreigners participating in home invasions across France, including raping the victims in numerous cases, and in others, even committing assaults and murders.
The issue of crime on public transport in Germany is a major topic, as the left wants more people taking public transport while at the same time promoting open borders, which makes public transport more and more dangerous. The data has shown for years that migrants are sexually assaulting women, partaking in knife attacks, and generally making public transport hell for Germans, and the latest data from the southern state of Baden-Württemberg only highlights this trend.
There, a recent inquiry by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to the Ministry of the Interior, Digitalization, and Municipalities reveals a concerning picture of safety on public transport in Baden-Württemberg.
In 2024, Baden-Württemberg’s public transport system saw a total of 30,950 individuals identified as suspects for various crimes, averaging about 85 suspects per day. It is important to note that this figure does not include violations for immigration offenses, which can only be committed by foreigners, of which there were an additional 20,339 violations of immigration law, bringing the total recorded incidents in public transport to 51,289.
NEW: 🇩🇪 Foreigners commit 59% of all sexual crimes at German trains and train stations, the latest crime data shows.
Sexual violence crimes have doubled between 2019 and 2024.
Significantly, foreigners also lead the statistics across all other crime categories, including violent crime. Out of the 30,950 suspects for crimes on public transport, 19,138 (62 percent) were non-German, compared to 11,812 (38 percent) German suspects.
A deeper dive into specific crime categories further highlights the trend:
Violent Crime: Of the 1,942 suspects recorded for violent crimes in 2024 (including murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and various forms of bodily harm), 1,037 (53 percent) were non-German, while 906 (47 percent) were German.
Theft Offenses: In the 2,180 suspects registered for theft, 1,397 (64 percent) were foreigners, compared to 783 (36 percent) Germans.
Drug Offenses: Non-German suspects also formed the majority in drug-related offenses, accounting for 1,216 (56 percent) out of 2,189 total suspects, with 973 (44 percent) being German.
Weapon Offenses: Out of 422 suspects, 257 (61 percent) were non-German, while 165 (39 percent) were German.
The number of suspects in knife attacks on public transport has continuously increased over the past three years in Baden-Württemberg, rising from 181 in 2022 to 184 in 2023, and reaching 224 suspects in 2024.
🇩🇪🚨Germany's Green Party is calling for "women-only" train cars in Berlin due to soaring sexual assaults.
In February, Iranian migrant Moshen K. raped a 63-year-old woman on the U3 train line, sparking outrage.
Of the 224 knife attack cases, foreigners constituted the majority, with 127 suspects (approximately 57 percent), compared to 97 German suspects (43 percent). Among the foreign knife attackers, individuals from asylum-seeker countries topped the list: Syria (30 suspects), Tunisia (14), Morocco (13), and Algeria (9). Turkey and Iraq each had six suspects, while Poland and Afghanistan each had five.
🇩🇪‼️ "I will beat you till you die… Look at your pig skin."
A migrant makes sexist, racist, and anti-LGBT remarks against young women in the Berlin train system near the Tempelhof stop. pic.twitter.com/LuJZCcrTsT
A “knife attack” is defined as an offense where an attack with a knife is directly threatened or carried out against a person.
It should be noted of the German offenders, many of them have a migration background, but Germany does not collect that data. However, in some cases where the names of suspects have been obtained, many of these German offenders clearly have foreign backgrounds, as data for gang rapes in North Rhine-Westphalia reveals.
🇩🇪🚨 Last year, police in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia arrested 155 suspects in connection with 209 cases of gang r*pe.
A total of 84 suspects were foreign nationals and 71 were German citizens.
In addition, foreigners only make up about 16 percent of the population of Germany, yet their extreme over representation in the crime statistics is striking.
Passengers are not the only ones being threatened with exploding crime levels, but also public transportation staff. German train unions have raised the alarm.
🇩🇪🗡️ NEW: Germany's rail system is seeing an explosion in violence, with 75 violent and sexual crimes every single day last year.
🔺 25,640 violent crimes were recorded in 2023, a 42% increase from 2019
“The worst case was that a train attendant was threatened with a knife,” said Recknagel, while another was physically attacked from behind and “the air was knocked out of her.”
🇩🇪‼️ German women rejected the advances of a group of 5 men and were spat at and then pepper sprayed.
According to the police report, the girls were waiting for a train in Cologne when the group of five men approached them. The group of girlfriends rejected the advances of the… pic.twitter.com/7Gmzl1DeDl
In other cases, female train workers were “slapped,” “kicked,” had their clothing pulled, and were “treated aggressively.” In some cases, the perpetrators told these female workers they were not allowed to speak because they are women.
The union head in that region said that while there are problematic spots across the German state, there is one particularly bad stretch between the state capital of Erfurt and Suhl. She said the “extreme” situation there is due to the presence of a refugee center in Suhl, which features mainly Syrian, Afghan, and Turkish migrants, who travel to Erfurt and back again on a regular basis.
Czech opposition leader Andrej Babiš has called on Prime Minister Petr Fiala to resign over a growing scandal involving a controversial bitcoin donation to the Ministry of Justice, warning that his ANO movement will initiate a vote of no confidence if the government refuses to take responsibility.
Speaking during an extraordinary session of the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, Babiš said the scandal had severely damaged the Czech Republic’s international reputation and undermined trust in public institutions. He claimed the case went beyond the resignation of Justice Minister Pavel Blažek and implicated other senior figures in Fiala’s government, including Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura.
Začala Sněmovna. Grilujeme premiéra a ministra financí za to, že vláda umožnila vstup do české veřejné sféry zločincům mezinárodního formátu. Na první fotce účast poslanců ANO, na druhé jsou pětikoaliční politici. Závěr? Za @P_Fiala už nestojí ani jeho nejbližší… pic.twitter.com/gsOXPCda4b
“This government must resign, not only because of the economic damage they cause, but also because of the reputational harm caused by this case with international implications,” Babiš said.
The controversy centers on a bitcoin donation made by Tomáš Jiřikovský, a convicted drug trafficker and former operator of an online drug marketplace. After serving his sentence, Jiřikovský transferred a large portion of bitcoin, originally seized and later returned, to the Ministry of Justice, which auctioned it for nearly CZK 957 million (around €38.5 million).
Blažek maintained that courts had not proven the assets were linked to criminal activity, but stepped down last week amid mounting pressure.
Babiš alleged that the prime minister and finance minister either knew about or failed to properly address the issue. “You abused the Czech Republic together with Stanjura and Blažek,” he told the chamber of Fiala, adding that the government had failed to act in a transparent or accountable manner.
He dismissed a government-commissioned audit as insufficient, arguing that criminal proceedings were already underway and that authorities in the United States had also taken an interest in the case.
Alena Schillerová, vice-chair of ANO, criticized the government’s past proposals on cryptocurrency regulation and questioned how such transfers would be monitored going forward. “I want Minister Stanjura to explain how these transactions will be overseen in future so that something like this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Other parties also voiced concern. The Pirate Party described the bitcoin affair as symptomatic of broader governance problems, with party chairman Zdeněk Hřib calling it “the tip of the iceberg.” The party has launched a petition for Stanjura’s resignation.
While Blažek’s resignation was intended to limit the fallout, Babiš insisted it was not enough. “If Prime Minister Fiala does not step down, ANO will call for a vote of no confidence,” he said.
Hungary is now the target of covert actions from Ukraine, and with a national election approaching within a year, Ukraine is increasingly portraying its neighbor as an enemy, warns Hungarian security expert József Horváth. However, beyond covert operations, Ukraine may even begin to launch sabotage attacks or other direct actions against Hungary, a threat that has risen since Ukraine’s successful attack on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet.
In recent weeks, Hungary and Ukraine have claimed to have uncovered spies and arrested them on their respective territories. Horváth, who is the head of the Sovereignty Protection Research Institute in Hungary, told Hungarian news outlet Mandiner that Hungary is essentially being treated as an “enemy” not just by Kyiv but also by other Western intelligence services.
“The news in Hungary in recent days and weeks confirms that the activities of the Ukrainian intelligence services must be taken very seriously. The disinformation and destabilization efforts they have seen in Hungary so far, and the recent action carried out in Russia, indicate that the threat has increased,” said Horváth.
The security expert even warned of a potentially major action from Ukrainian forces against Hungary.
“Hungary has been drawn as a kind of enemy on the country’s western horizon. In light of this, we cannot rule out the possibility that they could carry out an action like the one that was successfully carried out against Russian strategic bombers after a year and a half of preparation. Given this long and professional preparation, we must also be very alert in the coming months,” he said.
Such an attack against Hungary, which is a member of NATO, may produce little more than a shrug from many of Hungary’s NATO allies, many of which see Hungary as an enemy as well. Although Horváth does not mention what such an attack could look like, it could include actions against Hungary’s power grid, oil refineries and other critical infrastructure, as well as even targeting military infrastructure. Other false flag actions could occur as well.
When asked whether it could really be possible that Ukraine could attack Hungary, Horváth responded that it is not only realistic, but could even be supported by NATO members.
“To paraphrase Lord Palmerston’s famous quote, ‘Ukraine has no friends, Ukraine has interests,” he responded. “Yes, I think they would dare to do so, and I can even imagine that several NATO member states would look on with gloating.”
Ukrainian services are well-versed in sabotage operations on foreign soil and many on the left-liberal establishment would not blink an eye if Ukraine carried out attacks against Hungary, especially if Ukraine could obscure where these attacks are coming from. While Ukraine may not end up attacking Hungary, Kyiv will almost certainly run covert and influence operations against Hungary, all with the goal of ousting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from power.
“The simple answer is that they want to punish Hungary, and the more detailed one is that they would like to have a government in power that would oppose the current pro-peace, sovereignist policy and create a federal system that would stretch the nation-state framework of the union, because they would see this as an opportunity to break the resistance against them,” he said.
The Ukrainian population is also being primed for an attack, with Horváth saying that Ukraine is also increasingly viewing Hungary as a direct enemy amongst the Ukrainian populace.
“Ukrainian communication in the past year has been, with a slight exaggeration, nothing more than that Hungary is not supplying them with weapons, and therefore Ukraine cannot win. Both the soldiers and the civilians living in the hinterland have formed the image in their minds that we are preventing the Ukrainian victory,” said Horváth. “It doesn’t matter that we are providing humanitarian aid, supporting them with fuel, food, medicine, and electricity. This doesn’t add up in their minds. However, they have no chance of regaining the territories occupied by the Russians by force or in any other way, so their anger may turn towards us.”
The rhetoric coming from Ukraine at the moment is especially relevant given that the EU is pushing to make Ukraine an EU member state. Horváth notes that this push is coming despite an ongoing war.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that the Germans, the French, the British and to some extent the Poles are also determined on this issue. A ‘coalition of the determined’ has been created, and these countries agree not only on the need to support Ukraine ‘to the last Ukrainian’ in the war against the Russians, but also on the need to admit them to the union. From this perspective, the political elite in Brussels and the self-determining Western states seem to want to force Ukraine to become a member of the European Union, even against the common sense of two plus two, and thus pay for the fact that they will ‘defend Europe’ against a virtual Russian threat,” he said.
The EU is not only bending or breaking all the rules to fast-track Ukrainian membership, but they also want to admit another problematic country, Moldova.
“There is no such thing as speeding up the process of EU accession, and it has always been the case. However, the EU leadership is trying to create a precedent regardless of the rules. So far, they have intervened in the lives of nation-states in quite a few areas that they had no right to, but they have started to create those unique closures through which they later pretend that the given step was completely natural. There is one more thing that is not being talked about in Brussels: This is a package, and this package includes not only Ukraine, but also Moldova. By including Moldova, the EU would import another – albeit currently dormant – conflict, since part of the country, Transnistria, is controlled by Russian separatists,” he stated.
If Ukraine does join, it will present major problems for all of Europe.
“What will 800,000 severely traumatized, armed Ukrainian soldiers do, whose salaries are not paid overnight? What if only one 100,000 of them head west?” he asked.
As for peace, Horváth sees little chance now, especially after Ukraine’s massive drone strike against Russia’s bomber fleet.
“I think the time has passed (for peace) because the Ukrainian secret service has just recently caused a very painful loss by blowing up Russian strategic bombers, so I see no chance of a ceasefire at the moment. Not least because it seems that the current Ukrainian leadership is not interested in concluding a ceasefire, since then elections would have to be held, in which Zelensky would have no chance. Ergo, they jumped on the Brussels train because they know that they are in power as long as the EU gives them money, and until then they want to continue this war,” Horváth said.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk called a meeting for the Civic Coalition (KO) parliamentary group, with KO deputies and senators arriving to discuss, primarily, the results of the second round of the presidential elections, which they lost to the candidate backed by Law & Justice (PiS), Karol Nawrocki.
“The Prime Minister said that there is no more self-flagellation. Let’s get to work because we have a campaign in the parliamentary elections ahead of us,” one politician told Wirtualna Polska, as quoted by Do Rzeczy.
“The tone was that there is no step back, that PiS has not changed its position in the Sejm, so no more whining,” another stated.
Tusk reportedly told his faction members to resist being attacked while also informing them that talks with the leaders of the remaining coalition parties “will be serious and tough.”
Rafał Trzaskowski, who lost out to PiS-backed Karol Nawrocki for the role of president last weekend, was also present and greeted with a standing ovation. He thanked the MPs for their involvement in the campaign and emphasized that he was now focusing on his work as mayor at Warsaw City Hall.
According to one Polsat News reporter, there was no “major” talk of government reconstruction at the meeting. There were, however, words about a “new beginning.”
Rumors indicate that any government reconstruction will be carried out only after Karol Nawrocki is sworn in on August 6 and will focus on slimming down at least eight ministries. Donald Tusk’s government consists of a whopping 117 members, including 90 deputy ministers (as of June 4, 2025).
One name that may be on the chopping block is Marcin Kierwiński (PO), minister-member of the Council of Ministers and plenipotentiary for coordination of reconstruction after the flood.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says a demonstration of force is needed to force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, writes Odesa.novyny. Now, many are worried that Putin may beat them to it with his own “extreme” retaliatory measures after Ukraine attacked Russian air bases.
Regarding Russia’s nuclear stockpile, Pompeo warned that this is a serious threat.
“I am glad that Putin has not used his nuclear arsenal so far, but this danger is always present. According to my observations, he is willing to change his behavior only when he sees that the opponent is ready to strike back and take risks,” he said.
There are also those in the U.S. military establishment who seem to be worried about the consequences of the attack.
“The risk levels are going way up,” Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said in a Fox News interview. “When you attack an opponent’s part of their [nuclear] triad, your risk level goes up because you don’t know what the other side is going to do. And that’s what they did.”
Dan Caldwell, an influential foreign policy adviser who worked as a senior aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth until he was purged due to a leaking scandal last month, said: “It is not in America’s interest for Ukraine to be attacking Russia’s strategic nuclear forces the day before another round of peace talks.”
“This has the potential to be highly escalatory and raises the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO,” he said. “The U.S. should not only distance itself from this attack but end any support that could directly or indirectly enable attacks against Russian strategic nuclear forces.”
U.K.’s Express has also written about the increased threat of Putin going nuclear. Russian press and military bloggers are abuzz that Putin and his inner circle are demanding an “extreme response” to Ukraine’s ‘Pearl Harbour’ attack.
The drone offensive attack by Kyiv on air bases deep inside Russian territory is said to have caused damage estimated as high as €6 billion. The strike is believed to have damaged at least 40 war planes, including Tu-95 and Tu-22M heavy bombers.
Even in the U.S., influential conservative commentators are raising the alarm that the drone attack marks a major turning point in the war.
“Most people aren’t paying attention, but we’re closer to nuclear war than we’ve been since this began in 2022,” said Charlie Kirk, who is close to the Trump administration, and leads the Turning Point USA organization.
As for Pompeo, a well known war hawk, he is calling for even more support for Ukraine despite what he says is the threat of nuclear war. His comments came at the second international Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa, during which he also said the U.S. had not done enough to stop Putin from invading in 2022.
The former foreign minister reiterated that all NATO member states must stand united with Ukraine and support action against Russian influence.
“I regret that more was not done in 2014, that more was not done in 2022, that we lost deterrence. And now our task is to return everything to stability. I was involved in the Minsk negotiations (…) we have already sat at that table (negotiations — ed.), and there was no ‘hammer,’ there were no levers of influence,” he is quoted as saying.
Pompeo was also insistent that abandoning Ukraine is not an option for the United States and that the West “cannot return to Russian gas” even if peace is achieved.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has declared that Prime Minister Donald Tusk received a “red card” from voters in the presidential election, blaming his aggressive governance and efforts to control public media for the defeat of his preferred candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski.
In an interview with Radio Wnet following the presidential election, President Duda sharply criticized Tusk’s combative political style, accusing him of overreach and authoritarian tendencies. “Donald Tusk fought for the survival of the policy line he adopted – the line of aggressive policy. I think that this is what was accounted for by the Poles, and he got a red card,” Duda said.
The president emphasized that the high turnout and decisive victory for conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, who secured over 10.6 million votes, constituted a clear mandate to govern. “The result of the presidential election is unequivocal,” Duda said. “Karol Nawrocki won with a difference in the votes of the population of a large Polish city.”
Duda warned that any attempt to undermine the legitimacy of Nawrocki’s victory would spark a backlash amid remarks made by the prime minister after the election that he would push ahead with his progressive agenda. “Donald Tusk knows that these millions of people may take to the streets if the prime minister tried to deny these results,” he stated.
He also accused the Tusk government of attempting to dominate public institutions and media, referencing what he called “brutal actions” such as the politicization of the prosecutor’s office, arrests, and the forceful takeover of public broadcasting. “Breaking the law, brutal actions in short. I think that this is what was accounted for by the Poles on Sunday,” Duda said.
The government control of public media was noted in a damning assessment published by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) after Sunday’s run-off election, in which it reported how Donald Tusk’s preferred candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, benefited from unregulated third-party campaigning and favorable media coverage, while state broadcasters were critical of nationalist rival Nawrocki.
Turning to his own role, Duda clarified that he would not interfere in the personnel decisions of his successor. “I said to President Karol Nawrocki that I would absolutely not try to suggest or impose anything on him, especially in terms of personnel,” he stated, adding that while some of his associates have experience, it would be up to Nawrocki to decide.
Duda acknowledged his past rivalry with Trzaskowski, whom he defeated in 2020, but said they maintained a “mutually respectful” relationship. “We treated each other completely normally” during professional interactions when in office, he remarked.
He also took aim at the European Commission, accusing it of politically motivated double standards. Duda recounted that the Commission initially accepted his proposed judicial reforms but later withheld post-pandemic recovery funds that contributed to the fall of the conservative Law and Justice (party) government. “It was enough for Donald Tusk to create a coalition that took power in Poland, removed PiS from power in this way, and suddenly it turned out that everything was fine,” he said. “It is enough that the liberal-leftist group has obtained its man from its camp, who is the prime minister here and who is therefore the guarantor of their interests in the Republic of Poland.”
On the domestic front, Duda said he would recommend that Nawrocki continue to treat all presidentially appointed judges as fully legitimate. He reiterated his veto against judicial reforms proposed by former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro and argued that post-communist judges should be stripped of their pensions. “All judges who were immersed in communism should be deprived of their retirement, if they are still alive,” he said. “They never deserved it.”
Duda suggested that Tusk is still fixated on political rivalry with Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński. “In fact, Donald Tusk… is fighting only with Jarosław Kaczyński. The only thing is to deprive Kaczyński of power, to show once again that he is stronger,” he said.
While Duda expressed past disagreements with PiS over personnel decisions, such as the management of public broadcaster TVP, he was even more critical of Tusk’s truthfulness. “In my opinion, he rarely tells the truth. We should speak when he tells the truth rather than when he doesn’t,” Duda said.
Sweden will begin sending hundreds of its prisoners to Estonia after striking a deal with the Baltic state to rent 600 prison places, the government announced on Wednesday.
The move comes amid a deepening crisis in Sweden’s penal system, which is operating at over 140 percent capacity in many facilities following a spike in crime in recent years.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer confirmed the agreement at a press conference alongside key representatives of the governing Tidö coalition, including Henrik Vinge of the Sweden Democrats (SD), Ingemar Kihlström of the Christian Democrats (KD), and Martin Melin of the Liberals (L).
According to Samnytt, the deal follows months of negotiations and marks the first time Sweden will house a substantial number of its inmates abroad.
“The rooms will be of the same standard and have the same equipment as living rooms have in Swedish prisons,” said Henrik Vinge, chairman of the Justice Committee.
With Sweden’s Prison and Probation Service warning of continued growth in the inmate population, officials have stressed the urgency of the agreement. The current occupancy rate is officially 96 percent, but that figure climbs to 141 percent when excluding temporary double-occupancy solutions hastily introduced to contain the overflow.
The cost of renting a prison place in Estonia will be around €8,500 per prisoner per month — considerably cheaper than the €11,500 it costs to house a prisoner in Sweden. However, the savings come with logistical complications. Prisoners granted leave or temporary release must return to Sweden, and it will be Swedish taxpayers who foot the bill for their transport.
“Leave or other temporary stays will not take place in Estonia,” explained Strömmer. “There will be the same opportunity for leave as in Sweden, but then it will take place in Sweden.”
The announcement comes just weeks after the Swedish government unveiled plans for a series of proposals to toughen the country’s penal system, including a new indefinite prison sentence aimed at individuals deemed to pose a continuing danger to society.
At a press conference last month, Strömmer said that those sentenced under what has been called the “security sentence” provision could be kept incarcerated indefinitely, subject to regular reviews, similar to a system already in use in Denmark. Sweden had a comparable measure in the past, but it was abolished.
A report last February revealed the chaotic nature of Swedish prisons. “We are losing control. The inmates more or less have taken over the prisons,” Christer Hallqvist, chairman of the Seko union’s Department of Correctional Services, said at the time.
He revealed that staff had no choice but to distance themselves from the prisoners, as they do not currently have the resources to “avert incidents,” and warned that the current situation will “end in disaster.”
“We have crossed the line. The politicians need to calm down with their decisions so we can catch up,” he added.
The Czech Republic has formally signed final contracts with South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Dukovany power plant, just hours after the Supreme Administrative Court lifted a court-ordered injunction that had temporarily blocked the deal.
The signing follows a long legal and political battle, with French company EDF challenging the tender process after losing out on the contract, and the European Commission raising concerns over alleged foreign subsidies.
The €16.5 billion project, Czechia’s largest domestic investment to date, will see KHNP build two new nuclear units, with the first expected to be completed by 2036. KHNP beat EDF and U.S.-based Westinghouse in a competitive tender process concluded last year.
The contract was originally scheduled for signing in early May, but was frozen when EDF filed a lawsuit questioning the ruling of the Czech anti-monopoly office. The Regional Court in Brno issued a preliminary injunction, which the Supreme Administrative Court annulled on Monday after cassation complaints were filed by the project company EDU II and KHNP.
Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček (STAN) justified the government rubber-stamping the deal despite pending legal challenges, insisting it needed to seize the “open window of opportunity.”
The European Commission had urged the Czech government to delay finalizing the contract, citing ongoing concerns that KHNP may have received state aid that violates EU internal market rules. In a letter dated May 2, Commission Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné warned of “significant indications” that KHNP had been “granted foreign subsidies that may distort the internal market.”
As the Commission’s investigation is still in a preliminary phase, it stressed that proceeding with the deal could have “irreversible effects” and undermine the effective application of EU regulations.
However, the timing and tone of the letter — sent late on a Friday evening by a French commissioner — fueled accusations in Prague that the EU’s objections were politically motivated and linked to France’s failure to win the bid.
Last month, Czech President Petr Pavel warned that France’s actions “may lead not only to a relatively long delay but, in the worst case, to the freezing and paralysis of the entire project,” potentially threatening Czech energy security.
The ANO opposition party, currently leading in polls ahead of October’s election, had vowed to respect the original tender outcome if it returns to power, warning against any move to reopen the process under foreign pressure.
As many as 80 percent of Poles say they will limit their spending, with most saying this will cut purchases of electronic equipment or furniture, one expert tells Rzeczpospolita, cited by the Do Rzeczy news portal.
“Electronics are not products purchased regularly – unlike, for example, food or cosmetics. Phones, laptops, or refrigerators are bought once every few years. At a time when it is necessary to limit expenses, consumers are starting to avoid replacing equipment ‘just in case,’ if it still works,” explains the expert.
The newspaper notes that 36.6 percent of respondents plan to limit spending on furniture, while 35 percent will save by spending less on clothing.
Another 34.2 percent will cut back on construction materials, including finishing materials and tools. It’s no surprise that pharmaceuticals were cited by only 10.7 percent of respondents, given that these are more often than not an absolute necessity.
A previous report out of “Rz” indicated that less than one in five respondents expects their purchasing power to improve this year. “This is bad news for the economy because consumer demand is one of the main components of GDP growth in Poland,” it wrote at the time.
Poland has been battling high inflation, as well as layoffs, with Polish MEP Beata Szydło (PiS) calling recent job loss data a travesty for “thousands of Polish families, and what’s worse – it’s still only the beginning. It’s only going to get worse. Under Tusk, the Polish economy is reeling, industry is collapsing.”
Year-over-year inflation for May came in at 4.1 percent, the lowest level since June 2024. However, problems continue.
S&P recently called out the country’s rising deficit and public debt relative to GDP. “It’s not just defense spending, but also the legacy of the pandemic. Very generous social transfers to households and businesses are still present, especially when we talk about wages and pensions,” noted one analyst.
Meanwhile, Germany’s woes and wave of bankruptcies, which some are calling worse than the 2008 crisis, were already being felt in Poland last autumn. After all, with Germany being Poland’s biggest trading partner, bad news there is bound to continue putting pressure on Polish industry, jobs, and the economy overall. And that means Polish consumers may need to cut spending even more, which in turn, will put added pressure on Polish GDP.
An 11-year-old boy was walking through the German city of Dietzenbach when he was violently attacked by an unknown man who reportedly spoke Turkish. The man beat the boy so badly that the youth required treatment in a hospital for a concussion. Police are currently refusing to release a photo of the suspect for unknown reasons.
The boy was standing near a bank branch when, for unknown reasons, the suspect beat the victim to the ground and repeatedly kicked him in the head. The boy had been standing near a local bank branch when the attack occurred. When witnesses intervened, the man ran away.
The boy was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed, among other injuries, with a concussion, according to Offenbach police.
GERMANY:🇩🇪
This video of 20 foreigners beating a German 14-year-old was originally released by Remix News and garnered over 200,000 views. The video has since been censored on our X page and is no longer being distributed.https://t.co/meznLUPGu7
The attack, which occurred Monday evening near Rathausplatz, is still being investigated, according to the police report. It appears to have been a random attack.
Police launched 12 different patrol units in search of the suspect, but after combing the area, they did not find him.
Not only do police have surveillance footage of the suspect, but witnesses also filmed the man. Despite available footage, police are refusing to release any photo of the man. Police did say they ran a search based on his appearance and have found no evidence he is in their database.
🇩🇪🌊A 12-year-old German girl was raped inside the "Water World" swimming pool in the city of Braunschweig, allegedly by a 15-year-old Syrian national.
Police kept silent about the case for 3 weeks until the information leaked out.
German news outlet OP Online writes: “According to the police, it is not possible to publish a photo of the perpetrator under the given circumstances.”
Police have released a description of the man, a 30-year-old suspect with dark, short hair, and a dark beard. He is slim and was wearing a blue jacket, blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes. Perhaps most importantly for determining his background, witnesses said the man was speaking in Turkish.
🇩🇪 A photo of the 9-year-old boy killed in the German Christmas market has been released.
He was murdered by a Saudi Arabian man who made threatened to slaughter and murder Germans multiple times.
Given the description, some on X are questioning whether this is yet another attack involving a migrant or a man with a migration background.
Police are calling for witnesses to come forward.
As Remix News has documented over the years, children have often become the victims of rising violence in Germany. In many cases, these young people are attacked at random, including stabbing attacks inside their schools.
In other cases, German youths are beaten by foreign classmates or gangs in their area, who often gang up, attack their victim, and then post the video to the internet.
🇩🇪JUST IN: White German teen is relentlessly beaten by migrant youth in new viral video. pic.twitter.com/sGHJJSkum2
Moroccan pop star Saad Lamjarred appeared before a French appeals court on Monday, June 2, as he continues to contest his 2023 conviction for rape with violence.
The hearing at the Val-de-Marne Assize Court of Appeal was postponed indefinitely, with the court citing the need for further investigation before proceeding.
Lamjarred, 40, was found guilty by the Paris Assize Court in 2023 of raping and physically assaulting a 20-year-old woman, Laura P., in a Paris hotel room in 2016 after the two met in a nightclub. The court sentenced him to six years in prison.
The Moroccan artist has consistently denied the rape charge, although he admitted to physically assaulting the woman, claiming he “brutally pushed in the face” the victim after she scratched him during a kiss.
The victim’s lawyers emphasized the toll the years-long case has taken. “This new trial represents much more than a procedure for our client. It is the hope of a full and definitive justice done,” they told AFP, as cited by CNews. They noted that “after 9 years of proceedings, it is a new ordeal that is imposed on our client,” lamenting the prolonged delay.
Lamjarred’s defense team declined to comment ahead of the retrial, which had been expected to deliver a verdict by the end of this week. That schedule has now been pushed back following the postponement.
The case has been deeply controversial from the outset, not least because of the political intervention that followed Lamjarred’s 2016 arrest. The King of Morocco, who previously awarded Lamjarred the country’s highest national honor, took the unusual step of publicly intervening to cover the singer’s legal fees.
This is not the only allegation Lamjarred faces. He is also due to stand trial in the Var Assize Court in Draguignan for a separate but similar accusation dating back to 2018 in Saint-Tropez. That trial has yet to be scheduled. Additionally, Lamjarred had also been accused of sexual assault in other cases in New York and Casablanca, Morocco, though those cases did not lead to convictions.
Despite his legal troubles, Lamjarred remains a major celebrity in the Arab world, boasting more than 15 million Instagram followers and nearly 16 million subscribers on YouTube.
The EU wants Ukraine in the European Union, and they are willing to use underhanded methods in violation of the founding treaty, including cutting Hungary out of the process and ignoring the country’s veto.
Marta Kos, the European Commission’s commissioner for enlargement, spoke to the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, where she made it clear that they want to complete the enlargement process for Ukraine by the end of the next EU term, which is 2029.
“We must and will succeed in the next phase of European unification. We have a realistic chance of bringing one or more candidate countries to the finish line in this cycle,” said Kos.
To speed up the process, Brussels is also working on introducing an “alternative” decision-making mechanism. This is intended to ensure that bilateral disputes – such as Hungarian vetoes – can no longer hold back EU enlargement.
“Together with EU member states, the commission is exploring options to simplify access procedures so that bilateral issues do not hinder enlargement in this very sensitive geopolitical situation,” she said.
Kos also specifically addressed the accession process of Ukraine and Moldova, stating: “Now we absolutely have to take the next step with Ukraine and Moldova. Both countries have done their homework.” She also emphasized that all preparations have been made, so it is now up to the Council of Member States to open the first negotiation cluster.
According to the commissioner, enlargement is not only an economic opportunity, but also a key security guarantee for the European Union. To this end, the EU commission is already starting to open up the internal markets to the countries concerned — in particular in the areas of defense and security, energy and connectivity.
“To complement the accession negotiations, the commission is stepping up its efforts to accelerate the integration of the internal market: now in the areas of defense and security, and then in connectivity, energy and other areas, together with EU member states,” she added.
🇭🇺🇺🇦 PM Orbán: Europe’s wars lead to fewer White Christian Europeans and more migrants
Hungary's leader says the war in Ukraine is a demographic disaster, just like WWI and WWII were for Hungary. Now, migrants will be being used to fill the missing gaps. pic.twitter.com/IEwMOcJmxv
Kos said: “Ukraine’s access to the EU is a key security guarantee. We must make it happen. We must move forward to maintain the momentum of reforms in Ukraine, to help our member states address their concerns and, ultimately, to respond to the greatest security challenges since the Second World War.”
It is worth remembering that it was Marta Kos who recently admitted that accession negotiations with Ukraine would begin in June, and also spoke of doing everything she could to accelerate Ukraine’s accession.
She even said that a thousand people are already working in the Brussels institutions to accelerate the accession. This is interesting because it was EU Commissioner Marta Kos who showed Alex Soros that Ukraine could not meet a single EU accession condition.
Ukraine is considered the most corrupt country in Europe, a point that many top officials and organizations have acknowledged repeatedly in the past. The EU has already sent tens of billions to the country, but if EU membership occurs, European taxpayers can expect to be on the hook for many tens of billions more. The EU agriculture sector is also expected to experience even more losses if markets are opened up to cheap Ukrainian products, which is not just a concern of Hungary, but of countries across the bloc.
A confidential report by a senior French immigration official has warned that Afghan migration to France is posing deep and growing challenges to the country’s ability to integrate newcomers, raising serious concerns over cultural incompatibility, education deficits, and a disturbing overrepresentation in criminal activity.
The note, written by Didier Leschi, head of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), was published exclusively by Le Point, and exposes the social cost of mass immigration from the Middle Eastern country over the past decade.
Afghans now make up one of the 10 largest foreign nationalities with residence permits in France. More than 100,000 Afghans live in the country today, with their arrival dating back to the first waves in 2015, well before the Taliban returned to power in Kabul. “The subject is not so much the number of Afghans welcomed as the speed with which people who are very far from us culturally and linguistically have arrived, and which reveals the limits of our reception model,” Leschi wrote.
The report states that many of the Afghans coming to France are not fleeing political persecution by the Taliban but are part of a broader movement of economic migration. “We welcome people who were not necessarily hostile to the Taliban, but who have fled economic difficulties,” Leschi noted, highlighting that per capita GDP in Afghanistan is 100 times lower than in the EU. He added that, as countries like Iran and Pakistan continue to expel hundreds of thousands of Afghans, Europe has become the next destination, and within Europe, France is among the most generous. In 2024, nearly 80 percent of Afghan asylum applicants were granted protection in France, compared to just 40 percent in Sweden.
One of the most concerning findings in the report is the extreme gender imbalance. Between 2015 and 2024, 85 percent of Afghan asylum seekers in France were men. Women account for less than 18 percent of all Afghans in France who have a residence permit. Leschi explained that this reflects not only practical realities, such as restrictions on Afghan women traveling alone, but also cultural norms that subordinate women and exclude them from public life.
This gender imbalance has been a major driver of integration failure. “Young men who have been granted asylum find it difficult to integrate the norms of civility governing relations between men and women,” the report stated. Leschi added that in the OFII, where the majority of staff are women, “male-female interactions with Afghans are complex. There is a problem of recognition, of acceptance.”
These issues are compounded by poor education levels. Over 40 percent of Afghan arrivals have never attended school, and many cannot read or write even in their own language. Unsurprisingly, 57 percent remain unemployed 18 months after completing their initial integration program, and only half reach even a basic A1 level of French.
But it is the data on crime that is the most concerning. Citing German figures, the report noted that Afghans — who make up just 0.5 percent of the population — are five times more likely to be accused of criminal offenses and 21 times more likely to be implicated in the sexual abuse of minors. The report attributed part of this to “cultural violence inculcated in the relationship between men and women.” It also noted that in Afghanistan, underage marriage is widespread, with up to 65 percent of girls in some rural areas married before 18.
The note acknowledged there had been some success stories, particularly among Afghan women who do manage to resettle, but Leschi was clear that these are exceptions. “It’s not enough to say: The country is dangerous, people are coming, and that’s normal,” he wrote.
He also warned that France’s approach to integration, based on optional language classes and dispersing asylum seekers across the country, is lacking both structure and firmness. Refugees are allowed to refuse courses, and many end up isolated in medium-sized towns where social ties are difficult to establish. This isolation feeds what Leschi describes as “the community logic of confinement,” making assimilation all the more unlikely.
German MEP Moritz Körner responded to Poland electing the conservative Karol Nawrocki president by threatening the country with a renewed freeze of EU funds if the new president vetoes laws seeking to restore the rule of law.
Posting on X, the German politician said that “the vote of confidence that Poland received after the parliamentary elections has been exhausted.”
“The grace period for solving the rule of law problems in Poland has ended. The Polish government must now pass all the laws that will restore the rule of law in Poland. If the newly elected president boycotts the necessary rule of law reforms with his veto, the EU will have to freeze funds for Poland again. Ursula von der Leyen must make it clear that if Poles want to continue the boycott policy, they will receive continued sanctions. The president is therefore to blame,” wrote the MEP.
Der Vertrauensvorschuss, den Polen nach der Parlamentswahl erhalten hat, ist aufgebraucht. Die Schonfrist für Polens Rechtsstaatsprobleme ist vorbei. Die polnische Regierung muss jetzt alle Gesetze beschließen, die den Rechtsstaat in Polen wieder herstellen. Wenn der neugewählte… pic.twitter.com/VuQ3kb2FD5
The post sparked outrage across Poland. Polish MP Konrad Berkowicz responded on X.
“Moritz Körner – impudent MEP and Secretary General of the German FDP party (Hołownia’s coalition partner). He blackmails Poland,” wrote Berkowicz.
Moritz Körner – bezczelny europoseł i sekretarz generalny niemieckiej partii FDP (koalicjant Hołowni). Szantażuje Polskę. pic.twitter.com/vVvjeAesHA
— Konrad Berkowicz (@KonradBerkowicz) June 3, 2025
Filip Styczyński, the director of operations at the center for Intermarium Studies in Washington, wrote: “It is unacceptable to threaten to freeze Poland’s funds because of the democratic election of its representative. Such words from a German representative, whose country destroyed Poland and murdered 6 million of its citizens without ever taking responsibility, are an expression of not only arrogance, but also German neo-imperialism and racism. Shame on you, Mr. @moritzkoerner.”
It is unacceptable to threaten to freeze Poland's funds because of the democratic election of its representative. Such words from a German representative, whose country destroyed Poland and murdered 6 million of its citizens without ever taking responsibility, are an expression… https://t.co/uPsQQi0npI
— Filip Styczyński (@FilipStyczynski) June 3, 2025
The German politician’s post is not an isolated voice in the matter of a possible freeze of EU funds for Poland due to Nawrocki’s victory, writes Do Rzeczy. The German newspaper Die Tageszeitung estimates that the new president may boycott the current government.
“This could also put pressure on the EU, which gave Tusk a vote of confidence and released billions of euros from previously blocked funds. It is now clear that Tusk’s government will not be able to keep its promises of democratization. If Brussels were to turn off the money tap again, combined with Nawrocki’s boycott policy, this could lead to the fall of Tusk’s government and early elections,” says the newspaper’s correspondent Gabriele Lesser.
Die Tageszeitung also points out – in another article – that after Nawrocki’s victory, Warsaw’s current resistance to energy and migration policy will only intensify.
The Deputy Speaker of Poland’s Senate has issued a very harsh assessment of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Michał Kamiński wants Tusk to stop being the head of government entirely.
Since the KO-backed candidate Rafał Trzaskowski was defeated in the presidential election, relations in Poland’s ruling coalition, ruled by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, have clearly deteriorated, writes Do Rzeczy, with more and more saying Tusk should resign.
These many voices include Third Way Senator Michał Kamiński, who told the portal: “Nothing happened to make this coalition stop functioning. But everything happened to make Donald Tusk stop being its leader.” The senator added: “It’s like this. Nothing happened to question the existence of this coalition, but a lot happened, if not everything, so that Donald Tusk would stop being prime minister.”
Kamiński also said that no one will believe that Tusk, a man who “did not believe that Nawrocki would win the presidency and called him a pimp and did not believe that Trump would win and called him a KGB agent, is capable of conducting effective Polish politics?”
“Do I trust someone who threw mud at the American president and is unable to apologize for it? My answer is no. Do I trust someone who entrusted the fate of my coalition and all the values that are dear to me to people who I saw jumping at their own funeral on Sunday evening, election night?”
He then intimated that those running Trzaskowski’s campaign knew nothing about politics and learned their tactics from watching “House of Cards” with Polish subtitles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the special operation carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of historic significance, during which more than 40 Russian strategic military aircraft were destroyed. The action was carried out with the involvement of 117 drones, after more than a year and a half of preparation.
Zelensky said that Colonel General Vasyl Malyuk, head of the SBU, briefed him on the details of the operation codenamed “Pavutyina” (i.e. “Spiderweb”). The military action, planned for a year and a half, was allegedly carried out entirely by Ukraine, without any external assistance, according to Kyiv.
“This is an independent Ukrainian operation that will go down in history books,”Zelensky said on Telegram. “Our people who prepared the operation left Russian territory before the action and are now safe,” he added.
Operation Spider Web is a cold, hard lesson in modern warfare. Ukraine spent less than a million dollars on cheap, covert FPV drones and gutted billions of dollars’ worth of Russia’s strategic bombers and surveillance aircraft.
— TheDisinformationObserver (@DisinfoObserver) June 2, 2025
The series of attacks that began on May 31 targeted military airfields in at least five Russian regions. The main targets of the attacks were strategic bombers – the long-range missile carriers that form the backbone of the Russian army. It is estimated that 34 percent of Russia’s strategic missile carriers were destroyed during the operation.
Remotely piloted (FPV) drones were smuggled into Russian territory during the operation, which were hidden in mobile wooden frames and delivered to their targets. The “operations office” coordinating the attack was located in the immediate vicinity of one of the regional centers of the FSB, a fact that was publicly confirmed by Zelensky.
The operation was not coordinated in advance by the Ukrainian side with the United States, wrote Axios news outlet, however, this fact is hard to confirm, with many speculating CIA involvement is a real possibility. The SBU estimates that the total value of the destroyed Russian strategic aircraft reaches $7 billion.
According to Zelensky, this action could be a turning point in the Ukrainian-Russian war:
“We can finally see the results of the plans that I approved a year and a half ago. We have deprived the Russians of more than 40 strategic aircraft. And this is just the beginning. The operation is a clear sign that Ukraine is capable of delivering effective strikes deep into the Russian hinterland, not only in a military but also in a symbolic sense,” wrote Zelensky.
A high school teacher in southern Italy has been suspended and is under formal disciplinary investigation after posting a message on social media in which he wished for the death of the young daughter of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Stefano Addeo, 65, a teacher at the ‘Medi’ high school in Cicciano, near Naples, published a Facebook post in which he said he hoped Meloni’s eight-year-old daughter, Ginevra, would “meet the same fate” as a 14-year-old girl who was recently murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Afragola. The post was quickly deleted, but not before it was widely circulated.
Following the public outcry, the Campania Regional School Office announced it had initiated disciplinary proceedings. In a statement on Tuesday evening, it confirmed that “in order to guarantee and protect the serenity of the school community,” Addeo had been placed under precautionary suspension, effective immediately, pending the outcome of the investigation. Under Italian law, such a suspension includes a halving of salary, though family allowances remain in place.
La Repubblica reported how Addeo subsequently attempted suicide by ingesting a combination of alcohol and medication on Sunday evening. He was found by emergency services, reportedly alerted by the school’s headmistress, and taken to the hospital. Despite refusing hospitalization initially, he was later discharged in stable condition.
The teacher attempted to deflect blame for the post, telling Corriere della Sera that he had not written the message himself but had relied on ChatGPT to compose it. “Carelessly and stupidly, I published it,” he said, calling the post a “mistake” in a letter addressed to Meloni. He added, “I apologize for the content of the post: One never wishes death, especially to a child,” though he also made clear he had no intention of retracting his political views, stating: “I do not feel represented by this government. I have never done politics in the classroom. My students love me.”
However, according to reports in the Italian press, Addeo does wish death on children at least semi-regularly. Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Sunday that Addeo had previously made similar inflammatory comments, including a separate post wishing the children of Meloni, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini the same fate as children in Gaza.
The backlash from his latest social media entry has not just resulted in a suspension from his job, but Addeo is now under investigation for incitement to hatred, as well as threats and harassment.
The teacher has claimed that objects have been thrown at his apartment windows and that he has received numerous death threats from supporters of Meloni. Police reports have been filed in connection with these incidents.
Meloni has not responded directly to Addeo’s letter or request for a meeting, but in remarks widely interpreted as addressing the incident, she denounced the “ideological fanaticism that has lost all measure.”
Germany is bracing for a continued surge in major insolvencies throughout 2025 and even 2026, according to a recent analysis by credit insurer Allianz Trade. This all comes after a disastrous 2024, which saw a record-breaking number of bankruptcies in the country.
Allianz Trade forecasts an overall increase of 11 percent in corporate insolvencies in Germany this year, reaching approximately 24,400 cases. A further 3 percent rise to 25,050 cases is anticipated for 2026. These insolvencies put an estimated 210,000 jobs at risk across Germany.
In the first quarter of this year, 16 large German companies—those with revenues of €50 million or more—filed for insolvency. While this is a slight decrease of three cases compared to the same period last year, it’s double the number recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
She predicted Germany's economic demise 3 years ago.
Now, the German economy, run by the left and Greens, is in shambles.
Milo Bogaerts, CEO of Allianz Trade in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, expressed concern over the persistently high number of major insolvencies, attributing it partly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy. He warned that no respite is expected, even after 2024, which was a record-breaking negative year for insolvencies.
“Given the bleak economic outlook both in Germany and in global trade, and the many uncertainties caused by the tariff storm, we expect many major insolvencies and thus significant losses to continue in 2025,” Bogaerts stated. He added that these large-scale insolvencies will likely have a ripple effect on supplier companies, potentially creating “particularly large holes in their coffers” and impacting supply chains.
However, alarm bells are ringing across the country. The Federal Association of German Industry (BDI) published a declaration by more than 100 associations at the beginning of April where they directly addressed the ruling CDU and SPD. At the time, they were still working on a coalition agreement.
The BDI stated: “In the past few weeks, the economic situation has deteriorated dramatically. The facts are undeniable. Germany is in a serious economic crisis. A comparison with other countries shows that this crisis is primarily homemade.”
The BDI is also apparently unhappy with the coalition’s details on tax policy.
“In terms of tax policy, the coalition lags behind what is necessary. In the future, every scope must be used to relieve companies in order for the tax burden to quickly become internationally competitive,” said Tanja Gönner, BDI’s general manager. “The contract rightly formulates an ambitious modernization agenda for the state and administration, which must now also be followed by a determined implementation…. The bottom line is that we will measure the federal government by whether it will make the state more efficient and modernized.”
🇩🇪🚨 Ford Germany plans to cut 4,000 jobs as Berlin's economic disaster continues to unfold.
"The entire automotive industry is in crisis all over the world, in Europe and especially in Germany. This transition to electro-mobility is hitting us very, very hard." pic.twitter.com/oeqkDg0TBi
Sectors particularly affected include textile-related retail, the automotive supply industry, and healthcare. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, three German hospitals and three large textile companies filed for insolvency, alongside two automotive suppliers and two chemical companies.
In 2024, Germany saw a negative record of 87 major insolvencies, a 36 percent increase from the previous year. The combined turnover of these affected companies reached €17.4 billion, marking a 55 percent jump compared to 2023.
In an article for Tagesschau, reporters spoke to Jürgen Philippi, a publicly appointed auctioneer who also writes court reports for bankruptcy advisors. He has been working in the business for 30 years.
“There was a lot going on in the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent years. But now it’s worse. More and more industries are affected. I haven’t seen that yet,” said Philippi, who is so overburdened with bankruptcies that he has turned many clients away.
He also says there are fewer and fewer buyers willing to try and turn companies around.
“I am increasingly observing that managing directors do not want to continue their battered companies, although there are still market opportunities. Their reasoning? Taxes that are too high, too much bureaucracy,” said Philippi.
“‘I don’t want to do that anymore,’ I hear that more and more,” he added.
The second round of Poland’s presidential election, which ended in a narrow win for Law and Justice–backed candidate Karol Nawrocki, has come under scrutiny following a critical report by the OSCE’s election monitoring body.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conducted an observer mission in Poland during the election campaign, and highlighted serious concerns about campaign finance transparency, partisan conduct by public officials and broadcasters, and the influence of unregulated third-party campaigning in support of liberal candidate Rafał Trzaskowski.
While the OSCE acknowledged that fundamental freedoms were respected and polling day itself was orderly and professional, its preliminary findings point to structural flaws that undermined electoral fairness. Foremost among them was the use of opaque third-party campaigning, with several non-party groups — including some nominally independent election observers — actively campaigning for Trzaskowski, especially online, without being obliged to disclose their spending.
“Several third parties, including voter mobilization and election observer associations, campaigned in favour of Mr. Trzaskowski, including online, but were not subject to legal requirements for disclosure of the origins of their income and expenditure,” the report stated.
According to the report, these third parties were able to outspend the candidates themselves in the digital sphere. External investigations revealed that just two Facebook pages — Wiesz Jak Nie Jest and Stół Dorosłych— spent a combined PLN 487,000 (€114,000) on pro-Trzaskowski and anti-Nawrocki ads in less than a month, eclipsing the official digital ad budgets of both candidates. Additional campaigns by activist groups like Akcja Demokracja, which paid for hundreds of digital billboards, and Fat Frogs Media, which spent over PLN 130,000 (€30,500) on Google ads, were also noted. Many of these activities are now under investigation for possible illicit foreign funding.
Despite these significant and influential interventions in Poland’s democracy, Polish law does not require such third-party actors to register or report their finances, nor does the National Election Commission (NEC) have the authority to intervene during the campaign period.
The report revealed that one of the firms behind the ads, Estratos Digital GmbH, is backed by the US-based Higher Ground Labs and funded ads via a Polish NGO.
“The NEC, mandated with campaign finance oversight, is not entitled to act upon alleged violations during the campaign,” the report said. In a revealing admission, the NEC told OSCE observers that enforcing compliance before election day “could be perceived as inconsistent and politically motivated,” effectively leaving the campaign period unregulated.
The OSCE warned that this lack of oversight severely weakened the integrity and accountability of the electoral process. “The insufficient regulation of third-party campaigning, particularly online, combined with the lack of effective oversight and sanctions, further exacerbated existing legal loopholes,” the report stated.
Beyond campaign finance, the OSCE highlighted the deeply polarized media landscape, where public broadcaster TVP and private channels like TVN were accused of clear bias. Coverage of Nawrocki was described as overwhelmingly negative, often focusing on alleged connections to organized crime, while Trzaskowski enjoyed preferential treatment.
“Contrary to its mandate, public television, along with private TVN and Onet, often portrayed Mr. Nawrocki in a negative manner, while the coverage of Mr. Trzaskowski was largely uncritical,” the OSCE noted.
State institutions also failed to maintain impartiality, according to the report. Public officials were frequently involved in campaign activities, and the line between governance and electioneering was repeatedly blurred. In one case, a citizen observer organization openly endorsed Trzaskowski, undermining the role of such bodies as neutral watchdogs.
Despite these criticisms, the OSCE noted that the vote itself was generally well-managed at polling stations and that counting and tabulation proceeded smoothly, raising no concerns over the legitimacy of the actual result.
The co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, is reportedly filing criminal charges in cases where citizens insult her, which the AfD has harshly criticized as a violation of free speech.
The law, known as Section 188 of the Criminal Code (StGB), allows for criminal charges in cases involving “insults, slander, and defamation directed against political figures.” The law has been harshly criticized after it was revealed that top politicians, including former Economic Minister Robert Habeck, had used the law hundreds of times to go after those deemed to have used “insults.” In fact, Habeck himself is said to have filed at least 800 complaints.
The law, in its current form, is relatively new. The basis of it was already established in 1951 regarding “defamation” and libel, but the clause for “insults” was added in 2021.
Since then, it has become a thriving industry for lawyers and politicians, both which earn significant sums of money every time a citizen is successfully prosecuted for an “insult.”
However, the revelation that Weidel has been also using it has been met with criticism, especially because Weidel has officially said she wants the law abolished. That also happens to be the position of the AfD.
Weidel’s spokesperson defended the party leader’s use of the law as “legal equality of arms.” The spokesperson said the AfD continues to reject the law, but “it would be foolish for the AfD not to defend itself until it was abolished.”
There may be some sound reasoning in this argument, but abolishing the law is probably made more difficult when those advocating against the law continue to use it.
So far, it is unclear who Weidel has filed criminal complaints against and what was said or written. Was she called a “Nazi pig” or just labeled an “idiot?” There are broad range of possible insults, with some more extreme than others.
Habeck infamously filed a complaint against someone who called him an “idiot.” Former Interior Minister Nancy Faeser filed a complaint against a photoshopped picture of her holding a sign stating: “I hate freedom of expression.” Former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock filed a complaint against someone who called her the “worst foreign minister ever.”
🇩🇪🚨German police raided the house of this pensioner, pictured with his daughter Alexandra, for calling Green Economics Minister Robert Habeck an "idiot."
Habeck personally filed the criminal complaint against Stefan Niehoff.
When these cases were picked up by the press, they painted a picture of thin-skinned politicians getting rich off filing ridiculous complaints. In some cases, such as the “idiot,” comment, police house raids even occurred, painting the picture of a German political class sliding into authoritarianism.
Being a politician is a rough business, and there is no doubt levels of harassment and sometimes even death threats many of these politicians, both on the right and left, are constantly dealing with. Death threats, however, were always illegal, long before this “insult law” came into effect.
Weidel is setting herself up for serious criticism here, and at least one party is already dishing it out.
“Wanting to abolish something politically, but then using it hundreds of times yourself, is – to say the least – inconsistent. This puts Alice Weidel on Habeck’s level,” said left-wing politician, Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of BSW while speaking with Welt.
Wagenknecht said she sees the law, Section 188, as an “authoritarian restructuring of society” and wants it abolished.
🇩🇪🚨 AfD supporters in Germany should be attacked and people should "vomit in their faces."
"Break down their doors and gates, slap them in the face. Vomit in their faces. I don’t give a sh*t," said public figure Peter Fischer to RTL.
“A lèse-majesté clause is inappropriate for a liberal country. It is part of an authoritarian restructuring of society in which politicians no longer want to face public criticism, but instead let public prosecutors loose on them,” she said.
Wagenknecht also noted that she believes there were numerous instances when she could have used the law but did not.
“I could have reported Karl Lauterbach alone several times for outrageous insults, but I didn’t,” said Wagenknecht regarding the former federal minister of health, an SPD politician. Just last week, Lauterbach viciously described the BSW as a “party of Putin’s servants” and called Wagenknecht’s party’s failure to enter the Bundestag a “blessing.”
“This can be used to silence any criticism of the government. If a citizen considers Habeck an ‘idiot,’ that is covered by freedom of expression in a liberal society,” she added.
Perhaps one of the most ridiculous aspects of the “insult” law is that it only appears to apply to the “smallest” people. These comments from social media users are often found by AI software and the comments of themselves often have little to no engagement. In other words, these insults are not “impeding” the work of the politicians involved. Those delivering the biggest insults to the biggest audiences, such as the court jester of the German establishment, Jan Böhmermann, freely dish out insults with little consequence.
In a free society, the “little people” can speak their minds as much as the elite, but that is clearly not the case here. Weidel is not helping the degradation of free speech in Germany either by joining the bandwagon.
A political firestorm has erupted in Czechia over a controversial bitcoin donation accepted by the Ministry of Justice from a convicted drug dealer, which led last week to the resignation of Justice Minister Pavel Blažek and raised the prospect of wider government instability.
The scandal centers on a cache of cryptocurrency donated by Tomáš Jiřikovský, who served time for embezzlement, drug trafficking, and arms violations. Jiřikovský, who previously operated an online drug marketplace, transferred around 30 percent of the bitcoins from a police-confiscated wallet to the Ministry of Justice following his release from prison in 2021.
The ministry later auctioned the digital assets for nearly CZK 957 million, around €38.5 million.
Blažek, a senior figure in Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s Civic Democratic Party (ODS), maintained that the courts had not proven the bitcoins were linked to criminal activity, but still offered his resignation on Friday. “I am not aware of any illegal conduct. Of course, I do not want to damage the reputation of the government or the governing coalition,” he said.
The scandal has led to mounting calls for Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura, also of the ODS, to step down. Opposition leader Andrej Babiš of ANO, who is widely expected to win the forthcoming Czech elections in October, accused him of complicity and demanded that the entire government resign. “Stanjura admitted that he knew about a billion from a drug dealer. He was silent, he did not act, he covered it all up,” Babiš said on X, claiming the affair shows “this corrupt government must end immediately.”
Stanjura defended himself and insisted that he had no formal authority over the Justice Ministry’s actions and only became aware of the issue after the bitcoin donation had been received and auctioned off.
The ANO movement is calling a vote of no confidence in the government, although Stanjura insisted that “the fall of the government is not on the agenda” and called the controversy “exaggerated.”
“Prime Minister Fiala also admitted in the end that he knew about it,” added Babiš. “Blažek is said to have told him ‘a bit of a story.’ A story worth a BILLION from a drug dealer?! This is not just the inability to manage anything, no one can be this incompetent. Will they really tell us anything about values? Hypocrites.”
The coalition government has become strained following the incident. Interior Minister and STAN leader Vít Rakušan warned that his party would leave the government if Blažek did not resign, and has remained unconvinced even following his departure. “I certainly have questions, and I want to be able to ask those questions,” he told press.
“It is necessary to clarify whether the money could have come from criminal activity, what was the motivation for the donation, who arranged the transaction, and why the rest of the government did not know about it,” added Josef Cogan, head of the STAN parliamentary group in a comment to Echo24.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala has now announced that he will convene the State Security Council to find out “what the secret services know about the case.”
The Czech police and the National Headquarters for Combating Organized Crime are also understood to be investigating the provenance of the donation.
A Moroccan national has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually assaulting a minor during his employment as an educator at a juvenile center.
The Provincial Court of Murcia found that the 31-year-old man picked up the girl in his car and drove her to a remote field, where they had sexual intercourse. Although the court acknowledged that the act may have appeared consensual, it emphasized that under Spanish law, a person under 16 cannot legally consent to sex, making the act a criminal offense.
In other legal jurisdictions, the offense is known as statutory rape, although it is not referred to by that exact term in Spanish law.
As reported by La Opinión de Murcia, the incident occurred in March 2021 but was only resolved this year with a final court ruling. After returning to her residential facility, the victim confided in a classmate, who reported the incident to other educators. The man was immediately transferred from his role the following day.
In addition to his prison sentence, the man will serve five years of supervised probation after his release. He is prohibited from approaching the victim for six years and banned from working in any capacity involving regular contact with minors for 11 years.
He is not understood to be subject to deportation proceedings.
The convicted man had worked at the juvenile facility as both an educator and a translator. He denied the charges, claiming he was never alone with the girl and suggesting there was always a security guard nearby. He further alleged that the girl and another minor had harassed him, made inappropriate remarks, and touched him. According to his testimony, when he punished them, they responded with threats: “Son of a bitch, we are going to make you suffer for your whole life.”
He also claimed that the girl later told him, “If you don’t do anything to me, I’m going to fuck up your life.”
However, the court sided with the victim’s account. She testified that she met the man during the Covid-19 lockdown while living in the center. After she moved to a sheltered apartment, they exchanged phone numbers and began speaking on WhatsApp. She said they agreed to meet in person, and the man picked her up from Murcia’s bus station.
Before driving to a field, he reportedly asked her to “swear to her mother” that she would not report what they were about to do. In the field, the victim said, they had full sexual intercourse.
The girl also explained that when she first told a friend about the encounter, she might have downplayed its seriousness because she thought she was in love. Over time, she realized she had been manipulated and pressured, a realization that became clear when she turned 17 and began dealing with the psychological consequences.
In its judgment, the court noted the coercive nature of the relationship and the power imbalance between the adult and the minor, noting how the defendant had “transmitted frankness and conviction” in his dealings with the child.
Data from the Spanish interior ministry reported by La Gaceta in February revealed that over 5,400 Moroccans are currently incarcerated in Spain, accounting for 29.5 percent of the foreign prison population.
Moroccans are by far the largest group of foreign inmates in Spanish prisons.
With German Chancellor Friedrich Merz headed to Washington, Donald Trump appears to be rolling out the red carpet for the German leader. In fact, the tone of the Trump White House has notably shifted recently, with Trump apparently warming to the German leader.
One key reason is that Germany is signaling a new era of defense spending, a move that Trump has long called for from America’s NATO allies. Merz is not talking about a token billion euros here or there, but tens of billions.
In turn, the German chancellor is being honored in Washington with a stay at the Blair House, which Welt newspaper describes as a “highly symbolic gesture.”
“This historic residence, situated directly across from the White House, typically accommodates US presidents on the eve of their inauguration and has hosted esteemed foreign dignitaries like Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill, Angela Merkel, and even Vladimir Putin in 2001. Notably, Olaf Scholz, Merz’s predecessor, was lodged in a Pennsylvania Avenue hotel during his tenure,” writes Welt.
Trump may prefer the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in power, but Merz is certainly preferable for Trump to other German left-wing politicians. Merz, for his part, has at least talked tough on immigration. He is also a defense hawk who is promising to rearm Germany. Trump and he could find much common ground ahead.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been openly critical of Europeans for their lack of defense spending, but his tone has also changed on Germany.
Just days ago, he said at a Singapore conference that “it’s a bit hard to believe I’m saying this but Asian allies should look to countries in Europe as a newfound example. NATO members are pledging to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense, even Germany.”
Elbridge Colby, a prominent China hawk and a key figure in the U.S. regarding security policy during Trump’s first presidency, talked of “encouraging signals” from Berlin after meeting with Jasper Wieck, the director of the German Defense Ministry.
Colby stated that the German government would increase defense spending and that Germany would assume the role of leading conventional defense power.
“We at the Pentagon will work hard on this essential task of restoring NATO to a strong, secure, and balanced alliance,” said Colby.
The Trump administration now views China as the main geopolitical threat facing the United States. Tied to this is the belief that other NATO allies must step up their own defenses, as the U.S. cannot be expected to fight a war in defense of Taiwan and handle a European land war at the same time.
However, sharp differences still exist between Trump and Merz, namely on the issue of tariffs. Merz has called for European unity in the face of a trade war with the United States. Germany’s industrial sector faces serious headwinds if Trump moves forward with further tariffs against Europe, and Merz will likely have this issue at the top of his list when meeting with Trump this Thursday.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s threats regarding potential vetoes by President Karol Nawrocki and his announcement to “get down to work” triggered an avalanche of comments on social media.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk, of the Civic Coalition (KO) announced that he will ask the Sejm for a vote of confidence in the government.
“I want everyone to see, including our opponents, at home and abroad, that we are ready for this situation, that we understand the gravity of the moment, but that we do not intend to take a single step back,” said Tusk.
He also announced that if Karol Nawrocki vetoes his bills, he will still “rule.”
“A contingency plan, assuming difficult cohabitation, has been prepared. It is difficult to assume in advance what the attitude of the new president will be. If he shows a willingness to cooperate, it will be a positive surprise, to which we will respond with full openness. If not, there is no point in waiting. We will start working regardless of the circumstances because that is why we were elected. We will submit ready-made bills, but if necessary, we will govern and make decisions even with a president who blocks good changes. We already have experience,” said Tusk.
Tusk’s specific wording is raising fears that he may either ignore Nawrocki’s veto or simply pass laws through the backdoor using decrees and other illegal methods, according to Polish news outlet wPolityce. Given the sharp deterioration of the rule of law since Tusk took power, including seizing state media, ignoring court rulings, and imprisoning political opponents, there is ample concern that Tusk may only continue on the same path despite Nawrocki’s victory.
When Tusk came to power, he referred to his law-breaking methods as “militant democracy.” The claim was that because the previous conservative government was so bad, the new government would have to break the law in order to restore democracy.
“Donald Tusk did not get it. So I will say it straight: Poles did not give you permission to establish laws, because they elected a president who can veto your bills. This is what democracy is all about. And there is no room for ‘contingency plans’ here, because that would mean a coup d’état,” said attorney Jerzy Kwaśniewski, president of Ordo Iuris.
Polacy nie dali wam zgody na ustanawianie prawa, bo wybrali prezydenta, który może wetować wasze ustawy. Na tym polega demokracja. I nie ma tu miejsca na “plany awaryjne”, bo to oznacza zamach stanu. pic.twitter.com/S8ioO3oDyx
— Jerzy Kwaśniewski (@jerzKwasniewski) June 2, 2025
“Tusk, with his back to the wall, is trying to scare us. I take this as a signal to the Germans: ‘I won’t let myself be thrown (to the wolves) to be devoured,’” noted publicist Rafał Ziemkiewicz.
However, there are also extreme threats not only for Tusk, but also anyone who signs off on any illegal, unconstitutional methods his government may take to bypass the rule of law.
“The prime minister says: ‘Not a step back! And we are starting work! We are ready for a plan B if President Karol Nawrocki does not want to cooperate.’ So, an announcement of further breaking the law and bypassing the statutory path? But who will want to sign under it? If the government receives the support of the coalition despite the internal war consuming it, the right wing has a real chance for a constitutional majority in 2027. The ‘Third Way’ party and the Left Party will be out of the game, and KO itself will come out of this badly battered. Only it is a pity for Poland because we are sinking into chaos and lack of decision-making,” wrote attorney Bartosz Lewandowski.
The defeat of Tusk’s candidate appears to have been so bitter for the prime minister, that he has not even congratulated Nawrocki, a point many are saying may signal a dark era to come.
“Tusk, sick with hatred, did not even congratulate Karol Nawrocki on his victory. He said in a twisted way: ‘No matter how we judge the winning candidate, we should acknowledge his victory and congratulate his voters.’ The voters, not Nawrocki. This man has no class at all, and instead wants to drag his coalition partners into a total war. I wonder if the Third Way and the Left are stupid enough to go for it,” wrote publicist Sławomir Jastrzębowski.
One of the most ominous parts of Tusk’s claim was his statement: “We have experience.”
Jan Molski, citing this, said: “Donald Tusk announces directly that he will continue to break the law bypassing the president, with resolutions, guidelines, etc. The guy is ready to introduce anarchy in Poland. What a circus.”
One of the most powerful reasons to believe Tusk will continue on this path is the remarkable backing he has received from the EU so far, which has not made a peep about any of his illegal methods. In short, Tusk has a free hand from Brussels to violate the rule of law, and with Nawrocki in power, he may think it is time to fully take the gloves off and move forward, regardless of the enormous veto power the Polish constitution provides Nawrocki.
Another anti-Hungarian demonstration took place in Romania at the Úzvölgy military cemetery, while more and more people are warning about the extremist ideological deviation within the Romanian Orthodox Church.
On Sunday afternoon, June 1, about 100 people gathered at the cemetery for those who fell in WWI to “commemorate ” the alleged Romanian soldiers buried there, writes Mandiner. This was due to the call from Mihai Tîrnoveanu, leader of the anti-Hungarian nationalist movement Calea neamului (“The Path of the Nation), for the gathering on Romania’s Heroes’ Day.
The holiday has been increasingly used by many organizations for their own ideological goals.
During Sunday’s event, they marched into the cemetery singing patriotic songs, and reading out the names of the Romanian soldiers who had died and are, according to the Hungarian side, falsely claimed to be buried in the Úzvölgy cemetery.
Activist Cristian Marchiș posted on his social media: “According to the ethics of war, both sides have the right to take their dead and wounded from the front. Thus, both sides buried their fallen soldiers in their own cemeteries. The Úzvölgy cemetery contains the remains of soldiers from the armies of the following countries: Hungary (794), Germany (121), Russia (22), Serbia (3), Austria (2).”
He added that a total of 11 ethnic Romanian soldiers (8 nominally identified and 3 unidentified) were buried in the Úzvölgy cemetery. Of these, 5 ethnic Romanian soldiers were Hungarian citizens and fought in the Hungarian army, and a sixth was Russian. In the case of the other five soldiers, there is no information about which army unit they belonged to.
The “commemoration” concluded with the consecration of crosses by Orthodox priests, which was justified by the fact that the wooden crosses erected last year were damaged by “modern-day oppressors” and are now being replaced with new ones.
Tîrnoveanu had already appeared at the cemetery days earlier to prepare the “recapture” with some of his comrades. In his video message, he said: “Let us be united, my brothers, and protect the crosses of the heroes of the Romanian army.”
He also called not only for the protection of the cemetery, but also for a kind of spiritual and national unity, of which the presence of Orthodox priests was a prominent part. The event was not so much about the memory of the soldiers but more of a symbolic and political message to the Hungarian community.
Marchiș noted in his Facebook post that the event was for the sake of a “political war: The dead deserve peace. Because the war in which they lost their lives was enough. Instead, in Romania, they are still at war – a war in which they can no longer defend themselves.”
According to Marchiș, Romania betrays its own dead when it uses their graves for political purposes and when it tries to “Romanianize” soldiers through Orthodox religious rituals who often lived and died with a completely different identity, language, and faith.
More and more warn that certain circles of the Romanian Orthodox Church are also deeply involved in the spread of national ideologies. Journalist Paul Palencsar speaks of the “demon of phyletism,” which he says has flooded monastic cells, rectories, and even episcopal palaces.
According to Palencsar, the conflation of ethnic nationalism and Christianity has led to sermons no longer being based on the teachings of Jesus, but on quotes from Codreanu and Antonescu. The essence of Christianity, which is to “love your neighbor as yourself” has been completely sidelined, replaced by a geopolitical God who only accepts “Romanians by blood” as “his own people.”
Palencsar warns: “To preach phyleticism is to deny Jesus – this is the very teaching of the antichrist.”
The Úzvölgy cemetery has become a symbolic battlefield of Romanian-Hungarian relations again and again, with hatred of Hungarians, led by the Orthodox Church, increasingly present.
“It is not Mihai Tîrnoveanu’s antics that are most dangerous – it is the silence of the Romanian state and the Orthodox Church.”
Zsolt Pászkán, an external expert at the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs, calls out the Romanian power elite for their “consensual cooperation” in the Úzvölgy outrages.
He also specifically called out Patriarch Dániel, who is being sold as a symbol of the “Westernization” of the Romanian Orthodox Church, but has not once raised his voice against the desecration of the Hungarian military cemetery in Úzvölgy since 2019.
Moreover, he did not even attempt to discipline the priests of the church, who openly supported the anti-Hungarian actions.
Pászkán also harshly criticized the institutions of the European Union and the “international media justice NGO” network, which strongly advocate for the protection of sexual minorities, but ignore the cause of national communities – for example, the rights of the Hungarian community:
“In the EU’s value system, national communities come after sexual minorities, animals, plants and moths – or they do not even exist,” he said.
According to Zsolt Pászkán, the Hungarian community in this hostile environment “must fight for its rights with gritted teeth,” especially when “its own intellectuals, who have transformed from communist to liberal and then progressive, are ready to betray it in the hope of some of its old privileges.”
The fragile Dutch coalition formed around Geert Wilders’ PVV has collapsed after weeks of rising tensions, with Wilders formally withdrawing his party on Tuesday morning following a breakdown over additional asylum measures he proposed.
Wilders had insisted last week on a package of 10 additional asylum restrictions, arguing that the pace and scope of current reforms were insufficient to deliver on the promises made to voters. “The PVV has promised voters the strictest asylum policy ever,” he said in his statement. “I have presented a plan and I have asked for signatures from coalition partners. They didn’t. So I couldn’t do anything but withdraw our support. I have informed the Prime Minister that we are withdrawing the PVV ministers from the cabinet.”
🇳🇱🗣️ "I signed up for the strictest asylum policy ever, not the downfall of the Netherlands."@GeertWildersPVV speaks out after withdrawing his ministers from the Dutch coalition government. pic.twitter.com/ZPZvnkPcoX
“I have signed for the strictest asylum policy, not for the downfall of the Netherlands. This is where our responsibility ends,” he added.
The PVV leader suggested his proposals were still being resisted by both the VVD and NSC following crisis talks on Monday evening, forewarning the Dutch press after the meeting that things were “not looking good.”
VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz, whose party had reluctantly accepted a secondary role in the coalition, accused Wilders of running away. “He is not concerned with the content and the interest of the Netherlands,” she said. “This is someone who does not want to take responsibility… I am really baffled that someone can go for himself like that and let his voters suffocate.”
NSC leader Mona Keijzer had also expressed frustration, stating that she had no interest in renegotiating measures that had already been debated during the formation of the coalition agreement. The parties were unable to find common ground, and what Wilders saw as a firm mandate to act on immigration, others saw as political brinkmanship.
The collapse prompted further criticism from BBB leader Caroline van der Plas, who accused Wilders of “knowingly pulling the plug” on a coalition that could have governed. “While the Netherlands is asking for leadership, he chooses political games and threatening tweets. This is completely reckless,” she said.
Many observers, however, will see Wilders’ decision not as reckless but as principled. He entered negotiations with a clear promise to enforce the strictest asylum policy in Dutch history — a key factor in his PVV’s victory last November. With no guarantee of support from his coalition partners, continuing in the current arrangement risked diluting that agenda beyond recognition.
Whether Wilders’ move will ultimately hurt his political fortunes remains uncertain. The PVV remains level in national polls with both the VVD and the left-wing GL/PvdA on around 18 percent each. If fresh elections are called, the political arithmetic may shift decisively — and not in Wilders’ favor. Alternative coalition formations without the PVV may now appear more attractive to centrist and left-leaning parties, raising the prospect that Wilders could once again be sidelined despite topping the polls.
Van der Plas, for her part, insisted that new elections were not inevitable, hinting that other parties might seek to form a government without the PVV. For Wilders, the risk is that by walking away from the table, he may have handed that opportunity to his rivals.
But for his supporters, it may prove a bold stand — an unwillingness to compromise on the issue they care most about.
Gustav Klimt painted Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona in 1897, and the work had been considered missing since the 1930s. Recently revealed to have actually been in private Hungarian ownership from the 1950s until 2021, it is now on display at the TEFAF fair in Maastricht, Netherlands.
However, the Hungarian news portal HVG is now asking how it even came to Hungary after 1938 and if it was legally then resold.
Since its rediscovery in mid-March, Klimt’s work has garnered plenty of media attention and was exhibited in New York by Viennese art dealers Wienerroither & Kohlbacher at the U.S. edition of the TEFAF art fair.
Now, allegations are flying that the painting left the country “without the knowledge” of the authority responsible for the protection of cultural property. In other words, according to these accusations, it was smuggled out of Hungary.
According to Der Standard, HVG published research in May that the painting was subjected to scientific examination in 2022 in a specialist laboratory in Budapest. Its director, Zsófia Végvári, published her analyses and results in a blog post in March shortly after the “sensational discovery” became known, thereby highlighting her role in identifying the work. The person who commissioned this examination is currently unknown.
Hungary is known for having comparatively strict export regulations, mandating permits for such works that are not “the property of their creator,” are older than 50 years, and their respective value exceeds HUF 1 million, or the equivalent of approximately €2,500.
HVG asked the responsible ministry whether an export permit had been issued for the Klimt painting or a similar work by an unknown artist between 2020 and 2025. The authority denied this. However, in response to a request from Der Standard, both the Austrian Federal Monuments Office, which was responsible for the re-export permit, and the art dealers Wienerroither & Kohlbacher confirmed the existence of such a permit. “… not subject to authorization.”
The editorial team has a scan of this document, which refers to a total of four works of art. It states that the export of the objects identified by “data and photos” “from Hungary does not require authorization” and that the “export” is therefore “legal without authorization for reasons of monument protection.” Thus, the transfer from Hungary was approved on July 21, 2023.
The document does not indicate when the Hungarian Ministry was originally contacted. According to Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, the owner presented the painting in the spring of 2023 and subsequently confirmed the authenticity of the work to Klimt expert Alfred Weidinger.
At the time of processing, the authority had a color photograph of the Klimt painting and its dimensions, but no information about its provenance or a presumed artist. The inscription “Gustav Klimt Estate,” visible on the painting at shoulder height even before its restoration, may have been overlooked by the cultural heritage conservationists.
According to Wienerroither, it would have been impossible to have identified it as a Klimt before their restoration. “We looked at the painting, it was dirty and also had a bad frame, it didn’t look like Klimt at all,” DW quotes the art dealer as saying.
Hungary’s Ministry of Construction and Transport (ÉKM) presumably allowed the painting to leave the country, with little hope of it ever returning.
The results of the examination in 2022 by the Budapest laboratory are likely not available. In her blog post, Zsófia Végvári mentions not only the “estate stamp,” whose ink “flowed into the painting’s original network of cracks,” but also an interesting detail on the back. There, she says, is the inscription “G. Klimt,” which is invisible to the naked eye but readable in the infrared range.
Until the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938, it was housed in an Austrian collection, specifically that of Ernestine Klein, from whose villa in Vienna-Hietzing the portrait of the African prince, along with other art objects, disappeared under unknown circumstances during the Nazi era.
The current owner of the painting, who is said to have acquired it after 2021, reached an agreement with Ernestine Klein’s heirs in a private restitution settlement, making the sale of the painting possible. The initial estimated selling price is €15 million. According to Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, negotiations are underway with institutional and private buyers. (Olga Kronsteiner, May 20, 2025)
According to the DW article, the prince depicted is the nephew of an Osu king, who had been sent as the head of a group from his tribe that traveled to Vienna at the invitation of the director of the Vienna Zoo in 1897.
Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona was also painted by Franz Matsch, a work now at in the Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art in Luxembourg.
Franz von Matsch (1861-1942) – Portrait of William Nii Nortey Dowuona, prince of the Ga people of Osu in the Greater Accra region, Ghana, West Africa. Date: 4th quarter of the 19th century. Tom Lucas, Photographer. Wikimedia commons
A Hungarian commentator says while it is “forbidden to talk about,” the attacks and mass riots in Paris were done by migrants, Arabs, and people of color, and according to him, there is no denying it based on the video footage flowing out of Paris.
Zsolt Bayer, writing for Magyar Nemzet newspaper, one of the most widely read newspapers in Hungary, wrote that chaos in France left 264 cars burned, 692 cases of arson, one police officer in a coma, and two people dead, one due to stab wounds and the other due to a car accident. In addition, mass looting ensued, 192 people were injured, along with 21 police officers and seven firefighters.
He noted that after the PSG’s Champions League victory, there was no doubt that “celebrations,” would ensue, but everything that came next exceeded everyone’s expectations.
“And what is forbidden to talk about: all this was done by migrants. Look at the available footage! Arabs and people of color are setting fires, looting, attacking police officers and defenseless girls. I say it again: this is forbidden to talk about, because it is racism and Nazism,” he writes.
Videos of the incident went viral across social media, with many of them showcasing the extreme violence that took place in Paris and other French cities.
🇫🇷🔥 Two women completely surrounded and attacked by "football fans" in Paris during riots, new video reveals.
France's interior minister is in hot water for calling the rioters "barbarians," while French politician @ZemmourEric is blaming mass immigration,
Bayer, however, writes that in the case of a White perpetrator, the race is immediately named, as the media did in the recent Liverpool case.
“On the other hand, if an idiotic bastard drives into a crowd in Liverpool and happens to be not a terrorist, they will immediately describe him, proudly and happily, as ‘English, white-skinned,” wrote the Hungarian commentator.
Notably, newspapers such as the Daily Mail raced to name the suspect as White despite a policy of usually not naming the race of perpetrators. Many online commentators pointed out the double standard.
“For a white perpetrator, it is important that he is white. For a colored perpetrator, it is forbidden to talk about him… In any case, let us remember this: Today in France, during the victory of the capital team, Paris is being destroyed, looted, set on fire, and people are being killed. It is people of color and Arabs. Migrants. The pearls of Africa, those who have no business in Europe,” Bayer wrote.
Les images du pillage du magasin Foot Locker en marge du sacre du PSG ce samedi pic.twitter.com/3ZdGE7ZxaK
“But here they are, and they are pouring in. And lest we forget: Antoine Léaument, a representative of the radical left-wing France Unbowed (LFI), said the tear gas used on the Champs-Élysées was an overreaction and that the Minister of the Interior was responsible for the chaos,” Bayer continued.
JUST IN: Ongoing riots in Paris, France, at the Champs-Élysées.
Police are being attacked with fireworks and paving stones following PSG's victory. Police respond with baton charges and tear gas.
Bayer points out that there is already a debate within France about the perpetrators of the attacks and who they are, with a number of politicians using harsh terms to describe the rioters.
He pointed out that French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on his social media page that “true PSG fans are rejoicing at the team’s impressive performance, while barbarians are provoking law enforcement by storming the streets of Paris.”
Meanwhile, Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally, said Paris had become a “playground for rioters.”
However, Bayer does not view this as going far enough to describe what happened in France. He wrote that the term “barbarians” distorts the truth.
Des tensions éclatent aux abords des Champs-Elysées entre des supporters qui n’ont pas pu accéder à la parades des joueurs du PSG et forces de l’ordre #PsgInter#ChampsElyseespic.twitter.com/ip0Bq98NMM
— Fdesouche.com est une revue de presse (@F_Desouche) June 1, 2025
“After all, these barbarians also have skin color and we also know where they came from. Of course we do. Charles Martel also knew exactly who he was fighting, he also knew who Abdul Rahman al Ghafiqi was. If he hadn’t known, he wouldn’t have been able to win at Poitiers,” he wrote, citing Martel’s battle at Poitiers in 1356.
“Of course, today there is no Charles Martel, no Abdul Rahman al Ghafiqi — only the self-absorbed, self-surrendering emptiness, and on the other side the most disgusting scum, which, as things stand, will devour us unless we do something different,” he writes. adding, “because while this is what a big, nationwide celebration looks like in the bright and happy West.”
Of course, the debate is often about foreigners versus citizens, but Bayer claims there is a racial element that is in place that is not allowed to be talked about unless the perpetrators are White, as the British media showcased in Liverpool. Of course, the infamous French political Éric Zemmour, essentially spoke using the same language yesterday following the riots, blaming Arab-Muslim immigration for the chaos.
“This violence has nothing to do with football,” Zemmour insisted. “Whether their teams win or lose, these pseudo-supporters react in the same way. They break, they pillage, they steal, they assault, they burn.”
He argued the culprits are not true fans but instead come from “the same neighborhoods, the same backgrounds, most of them children of Arab-Muslim immigration,” and that their actions are motivated by hatred of France. “Whether they were born here or there, whether they are French or foreign, they hate France and the French. The Whites… are their enemies,” he claimed.
Bayer’s criticisms of France, therefore, track in a similar manner to Zemmour’s statements. However, Bayer most likely will not face any type of prosecution for his statements, whereas Zemmour has gone to court numerous times due to “hate speech.” The difference? Bayer lives in Hungary, a place where much of the liberal West complains there is a lack of freedom of speech, but one where both sides can speak their mind without being dragged to court for so-called hate speech violations.
As for Bayer himself, he believes the West is nearing its end, and events like the riots in Paris only appear to cement his belief.
“We need to clean up the murderers of the homeland and the nation, the mob that wants to murder us. Get ready. Because this is the island of Lord of the Flies, and the end is near,” Bayer writes.
Russia unexpectedly presented Ukraine with a proposal for a ceasefire on selected sections of the front. The reason for this move is the possibility of receiving the bodies of fallen soldiers.
President Vladimir Putin’s advisor and head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, told press on Monday in Istanbul that a proposal was on the table. This came during the second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the second such talks since March 2022.
“We have proposed a specific ceasefire for two or three days in some areas of the front so that commanders can collect the bodies of their soldiers. The details are to be agreed between military specialists,” Medinsky emphasized, according to the Do Rzeczy news portal.
Putin’s advisor noted some urgency surrounding this, given what he called an “epidemic threat” in the war zone. “It’s hot now, due to the sanitary situation in the grey zone, there is a risk of an epidemic,” explained Vladimir Medinsky.
Russia also presented its own ceasefire proposal, containing demands considered overly aggressive by Ukraine. Moscow would agree to peace if Kyiv gave up large new swaths of territory and accepted limits on the size of its military.
The terms, formally presented at the negotiations in Istanbul, reinforced Moscow’s refusal to compromise on its long-standing war aims despite calls by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.
Ukraine, on the back of a slew of successful drone attacks on bases inside Russian territory that destroyed numerous strategic bombers, has called Russia’s peace terms tantamount to surrender.
The Kyiv and Moscow delegations spoke for just an hour, according to Do Rzeczy. The two countries did agree to exchange more prisoners of war, focusing on the youngest and most seriously injured, and return the bodies of 12,000 fallen soldiers.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk acknowledged on Monday that the presidential election result, which saw conservative Karol Nawrocki defeat the government-backed candidate Rafał Trzaskowski, would complicate efforts to push forward his progressive agenda.
Speaking in the wake of the defeat, Tusk insisted that he would continue to govern in the same way even if the newly elected president attempts to obstruct legislative initiatives.
“This presidential election has not and will not change anything,” Tusk said. “We will cooperate with the new president wherever necessary and possible… But this does not in the least change my determination and willingness to act in defence of all that we believe in together.”
Tusk also confirmed that his government would soon call a vote of confidence in the Sejm to test the unity of the ruling coalition, describing it as the first step in a long political struggle. “This plan will require unity and courage from the entire coalition,” he said. “To all those who voted for Rafał Trzaskowski, I say today, let’s move on. I know how you feel.”
He added that a “contingency plan assuming a difficult cohabitation is in place,” hinting at a readiness to override resistance to his agenda from the Presidential Palace. “If [Nawrocki] showed a willingness to cooperate, it would be a positive surprise… If not, there is no more to look forward to. We will get on with the job no matter what the circumstances.”
Those remarks drew sharp criticism from conservative voices. Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Piotr Muller mocked Tusk’s assertion that he is now ready to govern, remarking: “Donald Tusk, in his graciousness, has just declared that he is getting to work! After 18 months since the government was appointed! 18 months lost for Polish. Do you believe him?”
🇵🇱 Poland's new president @NawrockiKn "will be a big headache for the current government. He’s closer to the Trump administration, he’s much closer to Viktor Orbán."
"He was expressing a Eurosceptic agenda, Eurosceptic narratives during his campaign." pic.twitter.com/LRlqlO4Ma9
Meanwhile, Jerzy Kwaśniewski, president of the conservative legal institute Ordo Iuris, accused Tusk of ignoring the will of the electorate. “It did not reach Donald Tusk. So I will say it directly: the Poles did not give you permission to make laws, because they elected a president who can veto your laws. This is what democracy is all about. And there is no place for ‘contingency plans’ here, because it means a coup d’état,” he warned.
Meanwhile, President-elect Nawrocki, in his first public remarks since winning the election, spoke of his commitment to the Polish people and the burden of the office. “Your votes made me elected to the office of the President of the Republic of Poland. It is a great responsibility and obligation. I accept this decision with humility and respect,” he said.
🇵🇱🗳️ Rafał Trzaskowski declared victory in last night's Polish presidential election after exit polls showed him marginally ahead.
His premature celebrations now look destined to become one of the great political missteps of recent Polish history. pic.twitter.com/2WMkQooGfr
Nawrocki thanked voters for their support despite “a wave of hate” and “manipulations” during the campaign. He promised to represent Polish interests with dignity at home and abroad. “We want to live in a safe, economically strong country that cares about the weakest… that cares about its centuries-old tradition and respects history,” he said. “I will not let go of any of the matters important for Polish and Poles.”
The Polish constitution gives the president the power to veto legislation, and overriding that veto would require a three-fifths majority in the Sejm — a threshold Tusk’s coalition does not currently command.
The election will effectively create further stalemate and tension between the Polish executive and the legislature, continuing on from outgoing president Andrzej Duda since Tusk’s coalition formed after the October 2023 parliamentary elections.
Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, of the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD), is keeping the hope for a ban on the Alternative for Germany (AfD) alive, saying a ban should still be on the table.
She told German newspaper Rheinische Post a ban should not be “dismissed for political reasons alone.” She also brushed away concerns that the AfD could “once again portray itself as a victim” if ban proceedings are initiated.
Most of the main German parties have advocated for an AfD ban, including many top politicians from the SPD. However, a vote must first pass in the German parliament, the Bundestag, and then be approved by the Bundesrat, which is represented by the 16 German states. From there, it would need to go to the top German court, the Constitutional Court, which could still reject such a ban as unconstitutional — a risk many opposed to a ban have cited for not moving forward with such a proposal.
Hubig acknowledges that the legal hurdles remain high. A ban of the largest opposition party in the country, and one that has reached first place in some polls, would potentially end German democracy, but this is not deterring many from the German political establishment.
Hubig said that it must be examined whether the AfD “is systematically and actively opposing the free democratic order, and whether this can be proven.” She said that if such a finding is determined, the government is obligated to take action.
“Then we must not hesitate,” she said, saying that the Basic Law, the German constitution, is her “compass.”
She also claimed in the same interview that legal action against the AfD should not replace political debate.
“Because many people who vote for this party are not right-wing extremists. As democratic parties, we want to regain their trust,” she claimed, although, her openness to a ban appears to contradict this view.
Even if a ban is voted on, it would likely still take years for the case to be decided by the Constitutional Court. Perhaps even more important is that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has rejected such a ban, and without his Christian Democrats (CDU), there is no chance for such a ban at the moment.
Merz not only ruled out a ban, but he used extraordinarily harsh language against the measure despite earlier rumors that he was receptive to such a ban.
“Working ‘aggressively and militantly’ against the free democratic basic order must be proven. And the burden of proof lies solely with the state. That is a classic task of the executive branch. And I have always internally resisted initiating ban proceedings from within the Bundestag. That smacks too much of political competition elimination to me,” he warned.
For now, Merz holds most of the power in regard to an AfD ban, although his new coalition partners, the SPD, have hinted they would not accept a coalition agreement if a move towards a ban is not initiated. It remains unclear how far the SPD will go to get what they want regarding the AfD.
Germany’s judiciary has once again intervened to block the migration policy of an elected government, ruling that the Federal Police acted unlawfully when they rejected three Somali asylum seekers at the Polish border earlier this month without initiating the required legal procedures.
The Berlin Administrative Court found that the May 9 pushback at Frankfurt (Oder), carried out under new instructions from Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, violated European Union law. The court held that asylum seekers must not be summarily turned back without undergoing the Dublin procedure, which determines the responsible member state for examining an asylum claim.
The ruling, which is final and incontestable, adds to a growing list of judicial decisions across Europe obstructing tougher immigration enforcement by elected governments. In Germany, it marks the first legal challenge to Dobrindt’s new policy, which sought to intensify border checks and allow authorities to reject migrants arriving from “safe third countries,” including Poland, without processing their claims.
According to the Berlin court, the federal government cannot bypass the Dublin Regulation by invoking emergency clauses under Article 72 of the EU treaties. “There is already a lack of sufficient demonstration of a danger to public safety or order,” the judges concluded, as cited by Welt. While the court did not affirm an automatic right for the Somali applicants to enter deeper into German territory, it stressed that the legal process must still be observed, even at the border.
The rejected applicants — two men and one woman — had arrived by train from Poland and were removed on the same day despite having declared their intention to seek asylum. Dobrindt’s border directive was touted by the government as a necessary response to surging illegal crossings, with exemptions only for children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable individuals.
The decision reignites tensions between Germany’s executive and judiciary over migration control. In January, the Munich Administrative Court blocked the deportation of two Turkish asylum seekers to Croatia, citing safety concerns.
Similar clashes have occurred in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s attempts to move asylum processing offshore through a deal with Albania were struck down by a Rome court late last year. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini responded by accusing judges of undermining national security, while Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani warned that judicial interference “puts democracy at risk.” Elon Musk also commented on the case, saying, “These judges need to go.”
Germany’s ruling adds to the mounting evidence that courts across Europe are increasingly dictating the limits of migration policy, regardless of public opinion or electoral mandates.
During the 4th Türk World Literature and Book Festival, a Hungarian Day was held on May 26, during which Hungarian literature was presented and two Hungarian poets received awards.
Each day of the festival presents the literature, artists and culture of one country – Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – to the festival audience and schoolchildren. Hungary has been an active participant in the festival since its beginning, writes Magyar Nemzet.
The panel discussion for Hungary presented the richness and diversity of 19th-20th century Hungarian literature, including poems by János Arany, Sándor Petőfi, Ágnes Nemes Nagy, Miklós Radnóti, and Attila József. Hungarian-Azerbaijani literary relations were also discussed.
The roundtable discussion was held with the participation of poet, translator and university professor Ramil Ahmed, as well as translator Rena Jahangirli, who recently completed her doctoral dissertation on Azerbaijani-Hungarian literary relations and is currently translating the works of Magda Szabó, writes the portal.
Azerbaijani poets, including Arzu Nehremli, Metanet Ulu Şirvanli, Aybeniz Eliyar, and Sevinc Memmedova, performed poems translated into Azerbaijani by Ágnes Nemes Nagy, as well as their own poems inspired by one of the most important Hungarian poets of the second half of the 20th century.
Dániel Levente Pál, whose poems were also read, noted: “There is often a language barrier to understanding each other and reading each other, but as soon as we find a common language, we question each other with a curiosity that stretches into the night.
“This year, I was surprised again by how fondly they speak about Hungary, their experiences there, the Hungarian authors they have met, and how thirsty they are for new translations and works,” he added.
Pál was also surprised that 75 percent of those invited to speak were women. “This overrode all my previous perceived or real prejudices,” he said.
In his welcoming speech at the opening of the festival, poet Attila F. Balázs emphasized the great importance of developing cultural relations between the two countries and the existence of mutual literary exchange translations, which is why he suggested that a joint anthology be created and published before next year’s festival.
Uzbek scholar Jumaygul Suvanova, Altinay Topdamatova (Kyrgyzstan), Bakutgul Kuzanova (Kazakhstan), and Attila F. Balázs and Dániel Levente Pál received a TÜRKSOY award, a prestigious medal named after the 18th century Azerbaijani poet Molla Penah Vagif.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has convened an emergency meeting of the country’s Defense Council, warning that the war in Ukraine is set to become “longer and more brutal” than previously expected.
In a statement posted to Facebook on Monday, Orbán said recent developments on the battlefield made it clear that the conflict is escalating rather than nearing resolution.
“The military actions of the past few days suggest that the war will be longer and more brutal than we expected at the beginning of the year,” Orbán said. He went on to criticize what he called a growing divide between advocates of peace and those determined to prolong the fighting. “We have to face the fact that transatlantic unity has been sharply disrupted. Never before has there been such a gap between the pro-peace forces under Trump and the leaders in Brussels and Kyiv who want the war to continue.”
Orbán reiterated Hungary’s stance as a neutral actor pushing for peace, even as it increasingly puts the country at odds with its European Union partners. “Hungary must remain on the side of peace, even if it means that our disputes with Brussels will be louder,” he said. “We must be prepared for the war to drag on, with all its security and economic consequences.”
The prime minister also warned that Hungary would likely be targeted as a result of its position. “We must be prepared for Hungary to be attacked with double force, because Hungary is President Trump’s ally and Hungary wants peace, not a continuation of the war.”
He predicted increased pressure on Budapest in the form of foreign intelligence activity, negative media campaigns, and political attacks. “We must prepare ourselves for the fact that the intelligence operations, the smear campaigns, and the war propaganda campaigns against Hungary will continue with even greater momentum than before.”
Orbán concluded by stating that the Defense Council would meet Monday afternoon to address these threats and ensure Hungary’s stability. “We will prepare and defend Hungary and Hungarian families!” he declared.
In Germany in 2024, a record number of foreigners were naturalized, with Syrians and Turks gaining citizenship at the highest rate when all nations are factored.
The data from 13 German states shows that 249,901 people were given German citizenship, which is more than the population of Chemnitz. However, this data does not include all German states, with results from Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein still pending.
Syrians were in first place. For example, in the most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, 24,349 Syrians received German citizenship.
🇩🇪 He received German citizenship, but it doesn't sound like he considers himself German.
❓"Are you both German now?"
🔺"What does German mean? Yeah, we have a German passport."
Turks came in second place and saw a big jump over 2023. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of Turks gaining German citizenship jumped 83 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Some other outsized growth numbers were seen in other German states. For example, Russians receiving German citizenship jumped 623 percent in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
PM Viktor Orbán: 🇭🇺🇩🇪 "Now, Germany is no longer Germany. It’s a colorful, changed multicultural world, where migrants coming in are no longer guests in this country… They are not here as guests of the native Germans, but in their own right. It is now their country, too." pic.twitter.com/yjjArFvYNA
During the previous government, the rules for citizenship were relaxed substantially in 2024, including the wait time to receive citizenship in some cases. However, according to Welt, this may have not played such a large role in the uptick in naturalizations, as in many states, those seeking citizenship have already been in Germany for many years.
In Baden-Württemberg, the average stay of residence for new citizens was 14.1 years. In some federal states, cases of people receiving accelerated naturalization procedures were not even registered in even a single case.
🇩🇪 NEW: "Uncontrolled immigration" fueled the AfD's "shock" victory in the east.
In fact, immigration is now the TOP issue for Germans, according to political analysts. pic.twitter.com/JBunVsP7Yl
This citizenship law provision, which critics labeled “turbo naturalizations,” allowed foreigners to receive citizenship after three or four years if they showed outstanding efforts to integrate. However, the new government is seeking to abolish this rule, even if it is not entirely clear if the coalition can work out an agreement.
One aspect of the new law that may have provided an outsized incentive for many long-time German residents to seek out citizenship was relaxation of dual citizenship rules. Previously, new German citizens would have to give up their old passports, but the new law changed this.
French nationalist politician Éric Zemmour has launched a blistering attack on President Emmanuel Macron and France’s political establishment following the rioting in Paris after Paris Saint-Germain lifted the Champions League for the first time, blaming the unrest squarely on immigration and “a foreign civilization” hostile to France.
In a video posted on X on Monday, Zemmour recalled celebrating PSG’s win over Inter Milan on Saturday night with young activists from his Reconquête party. “We were in front of the television, shouting, singing, we’d won,” he said.
But the joy of the match was overshadowed, he claimed, by the riots that followed in the streets. “This violence has nothing to do with football,” Zemmour insisted. “Whether their teams win or lose, these pseudo-supporters react in the same way. They break, they pillage, they steal, they assault, they burn.”
He argued the culprits are not true fans but instead come from “the same neighborhoods, the same backgrounds, most of them children of Arab-Muslim immigration,” and that their actions are motivated by hatred of France. “Whether they were born here or there, whether they are French or foreign, they hate France and the French. The Whites… are their enemies,” he claimed.
Zemmour strongly condemned Macron for using the term “brother” when congratulating PSG, saying the president spoke “like the young scum from the suburbs” and implying he was identifying with the Islamic community. “We didn’t know that the president of the French Republic wanted to show his proud membership of the Islamic Ummah,” Zemmour said, adding that “in the Ummah, Muslims are brothers, the others are disbelievers.”
Les violences de samedi n’ont rien à voir avec le foot. Elles sont les premiers symptômes d’une guérilla de civilisation.
Nous avons besoin d’une grande politique de remigration pour ramener la paix en France. pic.twitter.com/1oHtzkOlPW
Zemmour dismissed attempts by center-right politicians to blame the violence on the erosion of French social structures since the 1968 revolution. “If Saturday night’s violence was the result of the deconstruction of French society, it would be a good thing,” he said sarcastically. “So, why don’t the crowds at the Tour de France smash everything in their path?”
Instead, he likened the rioters to the barbaresques of the 17th century — pirates from North Africa who raided the French coast. “At least in those days, they went back to their lairs once their deed was done,” he said, before accusing French elites of having, over 40 years, “brought in millions of representatives of a foreign civilization who have accumulated centuries of conflict with France and the West.”
🇫🇷‼️ During the chaos in Paris this evening, a vehicle crashed into a scooter, sending its rider flying into a row of parked cars. pic.twitter.com/yozhlwYshO
Calling for what he termed a “radical change of policy,” Zemmour reiterated proposals from his 2022 presidential campaign. These included cutting welfare to families of rioters, restoring prison as a central instrument of justice, and revoking French nationality from dual nationals involved in criminal acts in order to deport them. “Yes, we need the remigration policy I proposed,” he added, noting that even the United States was “in the process of implementing it.”
Zemmour closed his message by urging an end to what he called France’s habitual hand-wringing after each eruption of violence. “Let’s stop lamenting every night of rioting. Let’s open our eyes to the diagnosis and adopt this radical treatment. Hope lies in action.”
Two people were killed amid the chaos in the French capital on Saturday night, scenes which continued the following evening. According to France’s interior ministry, 192 people were injured and 559 people were arrested across the country, including 491 in Paris.
In addition, 22 police officers and seven firefighters were injured, while 264 vehicles were set on fire.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants Germany to have the strongest army in Europe and has set aside billions of euros for this purpose. However, the Bundeswehr can’t even get ahold of its nearly one million potential reservists due to data protection regulations.
Patrick Sensburg, president of the German Reservists Association, tells Magyar Nemzet: “This is crazy. We have simply lost touch with these people,” he says, referring to the fact that the contact details of soldiers who previously served but have since been discharged are simply not available to the army.
According to Merkur, back in 2011, when Germany suspended compulsory military service, it also stopped recording any data. It is estimated that there are around 1 million former conscripts living in Germany who are under the age of 65 and could therefore be eligible for military service. However, they have no address, phone number or email address on record.
Berlin now believes that to be prepared for a Russian threat, they need more reserves. According to Carsten Breuer, the chief of staff of the Bundeswehr, 260,000 reservists are needed at a minimum, while they currently stand at just 60,000.
Even the 93,000 soldiers who served in Afghanistan cannot be reached, according to Sensburg, saying the Bundeswehr is “helpless.”
The German Ministry of Defense, led by Boris Pistorius, is examining data protection rules. “We are constantly examining how data protection rules can be harmonized with the requirements for reserve recruitment,” a ministry statement reads.
Since 2021, soldiers leaving active service will be automatically registered as reservists, but Sensburg says at least 1 million reservists would be needed for real national defense capabilities. Referring to NATO calculations, he said that in the event of a war on the Eastern Front, up to 5,000 soldiers could die every day.
“The annual volunteer quota of 5,000 is illusory. It’s a joke,” he told the paper.
“Without conscription, we cannot achieve our own goals and we will lose a war.,” he added.
In light of the Russian-Ukrainian war, many fear that Vladimir Putin could even target NATO territories within a few years. For this reason, European countries are accelerating the development of their military forces.
The restoration of compulsory conscription in the European Union has long been a cherished plan from certain politicians, the biggest advocate of which is the German Manfred Weber, president of the European People’s Party, notes Magyar Nemzet. Notably, Weber himself is unlikely to ever be conscripted or face frontline duty.
Conscription had been abolished in Germany back in 2011, but German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has set forth a Swedish-style system in which every young person turning 18 would receive a questionnaire, the completion of which would be mandatory for men and optional for women. Based on this, some would be called up for a medical examination, and those found suitable would serve for 6 to 23 months.
Following Poland’s presidential election last night, which saw the victory of conservative Karol Nawrocki, many establishment German politicians have expressed unhappiness and borderline despair with the outcome. Undoubtedly, the candidate overwhelmingly favored to win by the German government and the left lost the election, Rafał Trzaskowski, did not prevail.
Paul Ziemiak, chairman of the German-Polish parliamentary group and a member of the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU), admitted he’s at a loss regarding the future of bilateral relations.
“It is not easy with the new President Karol Nawrocki,” Ziemiak stated on Monday’s ARD “morning magazine,” while pointing to what he said was Nawrocki’s use of anti-German rhetoric during his campaign. Despite this, Ziemiak said that Chancellor Friedrich Merz remains convinced of the fundamental importance of strong cooperation between France, Germany, and Poland for Europe, especially during challenging times.
Ziemiak characterized the election outcome as a protest against “previously well-known faces” in Polish politics. As Remix News wrote before the election, Germany and many powerful voices in the left-liberal establishment in Brussels had much riding on a different outcome. Not only will Nawrocki’s victory complicate bilateral relations between Germany and Poland, but it will make it harder for the left to advance its agenda at the EU level.
Nawrocki’s victory grants him veto power over policies and laws put forward by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, leading Ziemiak to question how the two factions will proceed: “I lack the imagination of how to proceed now,” he said, suggesting that either compromises must be found or early elections might be necessary.
Nawrocki has tremendous power compared to other presidents in Europe. As Polish president, he wields a powerful veto, is the leader of the Polish armed forces, can introduce bills in parliament, and generally dictates foreign policy. In other words, he has the power to generally stifle any moves Tusk makes, to the point that some are speculating Tusk may resign as prime minister following his party’s loss during the election.
The German Green Party also reacted skeptically to the Polish election outcome. Katrin Göring-Eckardt, former vice president of the Bundestag, commented on “a divided country, in the middle of Europe,” predicting “difficult times for everyone who loves freedom.”
Knut Abraham, the new Federal Government Commissioner for Poland, also described a “difficult” road ahead for Poland. Speaking on Berlin broadcaster RBB’s “Radioeins,” Abraham pointed to deep divisions between Poland’s liberal cities and its more rural areas in the east and south.
Abraham singled out areas such as judicial reform and abortion, which may become particularly difficult for the Tusk government to reform.
“So a very, very, very difficult coordination can be expected,” he said.
Perhaps some of the most dramatic words came from Free Democrats (FDP) politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, known for her extremely hawkish stance towards the war in Ukraine. She said that the Polish government should now “prepare for total opposition from a hostile president who will do everything possible to overthrow the Tusk government, as announced in the election campaign.”
She said it was a major setback for Europe, and described the outcome as “not a good morning for the largest peace project in the world.”
Strack-Zimmermann’s view may have to do with Nawrocki’s opposition to Ukraine joining NATO. Her FDP party, notably, was voted out of the German parliament in the last federal elections.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took a more neutral approach to the news, congratulating Nawrocki on X.
“So let us work to ensure the security and prosperity of our common home,” she wrote.
I’m confident that the EU will continue its very good cooperation with Poland.
We are all stronger together in our community of peace, democracy, and values.
So let us work to ensure the security and prosperity of our common home.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 2, 2025
In response to her post, MEP Piotr Müller, a member of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS), wrote:
“Good relations should be based on the truth! Poles are waiting for the truth about the Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Green Deal, and the EU – Mercosur Agreement! Tusk lied, Trzaskowski lied, and you with the EU bureaucracy helped them!” he wrote.
Good relations should be based on the truth!
Poles are waiting for the truth about the Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Green Deal, and the EU – Mercosur Agreement!
Tusk lied, Trzaskowski lied, and you with the EU bureaucracy helped them!
The new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has challenged France to match its advocacy for a Palestinian state by creating a new one on French soil. He suggested that France “carve off a piece of the Côte d’Azur,” also known as the French Riviera, for the establishment of such a state. This proposal has prompted an angry response from Paris.
During an interview with Fox News, Republican Huckabee stated, “If France is truly so determined to see a Palestinian state, I have a suggestion: Carve off a piece of the Côte d’Azur and establish a Palestinian state.”
He added that France was welcome to take such an action, but criticized “putting this kind of pressure on a sovereign nation,” referring to France’s stance toward Israel.
Huckabee contended that the events of Oct. 7, 2023 – the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel – “changed a lot.” He deemed France’s initiative at the United Nations to promote a Palestinian state “incredibly inappropriate” given that “Israel is in the middle of a war.”
France and Saudi Arabia are set to co-chair an international conference on the two-state solution. While not explicitly stating whether France would recognize a Palestinian state, French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Friday that the “creation of a Palestinian state” under certain conditions was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”
Macron also called for a tougher European stance and Western sanctions against Israel if the situation in the Gaza Strip does not improve soon. He may have a number of prominent backers, as European leaders increasingly call for action against Israel from a broad political spectrum. Notably, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz appears to be ready to increase pressure on Israel if the country continues blocking aid to Gazans. Other European leaders from Spain, Ireland, Norway, and a range of other countries, have already called for sanctions against Israel and the recognition of a Palestinian state.
🇩🇪Germany makes an incredible U-turn against Israel and its war in Gaza.@bundeskanzler: “What has happened in recent days appears to me no longer to be urgently necessary for the defense of Israel’s right to exist… The civilian population is being affected excessively here.” pic.twitter.com/IZ5a2X7yWv
In response, the Israeli government accused Macron of waging a “crusade against the Jewish state.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that Israel would establish “a Jewish-Israeli state” in the West Bank, describing his declaration as a “decisive response to the terrorist organizations that seek to harm and weaken our control over this country.”
Katz further asserted that it was “a clear message” to “Macron and his partners”: “They will recognize a Palestinian state on paper – but we will establish the Jewish Israeli state here on this soil.”
Huckabee, known as a conservative hardliner, is a long-standing proponent of the Jewish settler movement in the West Bank, which has been deemed illegal by the United Nations.
🇭🇺🇮🇱 Is Hungary the only real ally Israel has left in Europe?
Orbán: "I will invite the Israeli PM Netanyahu to visit Hungary later today, and I will guarantee him in the invitation that if he comes, the ICC’s verdict will have no effect in Hungary." pic.twitter.com/Z16gO3xfWP
Israel has seen the number of allies dwindle in Europe; however, countries like Hungary appear to have only increased support for Israel since Oct. 7. Recently, Orbán’s government left the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials, for war crimes. Orbán also hosted Netanyahu on a state visit in Budapest at approximately the same time that he announced his country would leave the ICC.
The Swedish Social Democratic Party has approved a new integration strategy that aims to forcibly diversify the country’s residential areas, pushing for what party officials call a “socio-economic mix” of Swedes and migrants in housing developments.
The policy, adopted at the party congress ahead of the 2026 general election, includes proposals to limit immigration to vulnerable areas and to use housing construction to engineer a more integrated society.
“We are serious about the fact that we intend to break segregation and use housing policy as an engine in that work,” said Lawen Redar, the party official responsible for designing the new platform, as cited by Aftonbladet. Redar described the shift as a “U-turn” in the party’s approach, acknowledging that past strategies had failed.
The new policy includes scrapping the right of asylum seekers to choose their own accommodation and banning municipalities from placing new arrivals in already struggling districts. Instead, migrants will be relocated to wealthier areas in an effort to engineer demographic diversity and “repay the integration debt,” as the party put it.
Jonas Attenius, a senior party official newly elected to the executive committee and chairman of the municipal board in Gothenburg, emphasized the long-term nature of the project. “Yes, we need to mix the population in the long run. I usually say ‘in a generation’. This is long-term,” he said. He argued that integrating migrant families into more prosperous neighborhoods would be key to breaking entrenched segregation.
But critics have described the plan as ideological social engineering. Richard Jomshof, a member of parliament for the right-wing Sweden Democrats, responded sharply: “No, we don’t need your forced mixing. What we need are closed borders and a return migration (policy) worth the name. But sure, you socialists can mix as much as you want, just pack your bags.”
On the contrary, the Sweden Democrats announced last month they will campaign in the 2026 general election on a pledge to stop migration to the country.
The plan comes amid growing concern over crime and integration failures in Sweden’s suburbs, many of which are dominated by immigrant populations. In recent years, the country has faced a wave of gang-related violence, including record numbers of explosions and shootings, often tied to second-generation migrant youth. Some suburbs now rank among the most dangerous areas in Europe.
Despite the backlash, Social Democrat officials are confident the new approach will not alienate the party’s newer, affluent urban supporters — voters it began attracting after the 2022 election, in part due to the collapse of the traditional center-right Moderates. “I’m convinced of that,” said Attenius. “But again, this requires a strict migration policy.”
Attenius also issued an apology to migrants who had been concentrated in struggling districts. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry for doing that. Now it is time for the whole of society to take over.”
It is now certain. Karol Nawrocki is the next president of Poland. Both the web and within Polish media circles, there is now speculation about the future of Donald Tusk, with some describing the results as a huge defeat for the Polish prime minister. Are we therefore facing the resignation of the prime minister?
According to data from the National Electoral Commission, the second round of the presidential elections was won by the Law and Justice-supported civic candidate Karol Nawrocki from 100 percent of the districts. He won 50.89 percent of the votes. His rival, the Civic Coalition candidate Rafał Trzaskowski, was supported by 49.11 percent of citizens.
Presidential Elections 2025: Trzaskowski’s defeat Is the government’s defeat
Nawrocki’s victory has sparked a flood of questions about Tusk’s future.
“It is hard to imagine Tusk continuing as prime minister: Trzaskowski’s defeat is, above all, a defeat for the government. What is needed here is a new beginning and at least a declarative attempt at bearable cohabitation. Otherwise, in the fall, PSL will overturn the table and instead of a planned retreat, there will be a sudden BOOM,” wrote Michał Danielewski, editor-in-chief of OKO.press, on the X platform.
Patryk Słowik from Wirtualna Polska agreed with the assessment indicating the failure of Tusk’s government. “It is generally agreed that Trzaskowski’s defeat is primarily a defeat of Tusk and the government. Trzaskowski himself — if it were not for the government’s ratings, which are truly tragic — would have won these elections,” he stated.
In the journalist’s opinion, Tusk’s departure would in practice mean new elections. “There is not a single person in the entire government team who could hold the coalition together (as much as possible) and who could sometimes make a final decision that the coalition partners would not like. Only Kosiniak-Kamysz possibly, but KO did not win the elections to now give the prime minister’s portfolio to a person from a party whose support should be sought under a microscope,” he pointed out.
According to Słowik, there is a certain paradox, because “without Tusk there would be no chance for such a strong position of KO from 2023 (Tusk’s return to Poland literally saved KO from slow death), and at the same time Tusk is a burden today, which, however, cannot be gotten rid of, because everyone around him is marginalized.”
“Plus, simply changing the prime minister and remodeling the government will not make it function better. After all, the government knows perfectly well that, for example, it would be necessary to stop the bribing of state-owned companies. The problem is that they know, but they are too tempted,” he concluded.
Piotr Nisztor spoke in a similar tone to Danielewski. The journalist has no doubts: “Karol Nawrocki’s victory means one thing: Donald Tusk should resign.”
Trzaskowski has already declared victory. Dramatic turnaround in the elections
Sunday’s elections will go down in Polish political history, among other things, because of a dramatic turn of events. Initially, Rafał Trzaskowski was leading the race, as initial results indicated his victory.
The first poll results of the second round of the presidential election were announced at 9:00 p.m., right after the polls closed. The exit poll by Ipsos showed that Rafał Trzaskowski won 50.3 percent of the votes, and Karol Nawrocki won 49.7 percent. The Civic Coalition candidate had already announced victory and introduced his wife as the first lady.
Everything changed with the Ipsos late poll published at 11 p.m. It turned out that Karol Nawrocki had overtaken Rafał Trzaskowski, although the difference between them was still small. Nawrocki received 50.7 percent in this survey, and Trzaskowski, 49.3 percent. The statistical error of the survey is +/- 1 percentage point. Nawrocki’s advantage began to grow from that moment on, and his victory was confirmed by official data published by the National Electoral Commission.
Karol Nawrocki has been elected president of Poland, taking 50.89 percent of the vote, versus Rafal Trzaskowski’s 49.11 percent.
Those who supported President Andrzej Duda in the 2020 elections voted overwhelmingly for Karol Nawrocki this time. He received 93.6 percent of the votes of Duda’s voters from 5 years ago, while the remaining 6.4 percent voted for Rafał Trzaskowski.
Duda posted on X for Poland to “stay strong.”
DZIĘKUJĘ! Za udział w wyborach prezydenckich. Za frekwencję. Za spełnienie obywatelskiej powinności. Za wzięcie odpowiedzialności za Polskę. Gratuluję Zwycięscy! Trwaj mocna POLSKO! 🇵🇱
The incoming American ambassador to Poland offered up congratulations to Nawrocki on X.
“Congratulations to Poland – proving yet again throughout the ups and downs of a hard fought campaign between two great patriots exactly what a strong, proud and free people and nation they are!! if Poland wins the world wins!!” Tom Rose wrote on X.
CONGRATULATIONS TO POLAND – proving yet again throughout the ups and downs of a hard fought campaign between two great patriots exactly what a strong, proud and free people and nation they are!! IF POLAND WINS THE WORLD WINS!!
Nawrocki was more popular in the U.S., while Trzaskowski was more popular in Russia and Belarus, albeit very few voted in these latter two countries.
The PiS-backed candidate received 56.6 percent of the votes of Poles residing in the United States, slightly better than that obtained by Andrzej Duda five years ago (54.49 percent). KO-backed Trzaskowski 43.35 percent, according to the results published on the website of the National Electoral Commission. A record number of 49,000 people voted.
In Russia, Trzaskowski received 81 votes (63.78 percent), and Nawrocki got 46 (36.22 percent).
In Belarus, Trzaskowski received 57 votes (52.78 percent), and Nawrocki received 51 votes (47.22 percent).
Defense is expected to be a key aspect of Nawrocki’s term, as Poland has been a supporter of Ukraine against Putin’s aggression and is vocal about NATO members spending at least 3 percent of their GDP on defense. Last year, Poland spent over 4 percent.
However, Nawrocki has expressed his opposition to Ukraine joining NATO.
Outgoing President Duda is today together with the leaders of the B9 and Nordic countries. He will take part in a summit in Vilnius on Monday to discuss strengthening the defense of the eastern flank and prepare for the upcoming summit at the end of June in The Hague, according to presidential minister Wojciech Kolarski.
The meeting will be attended by leaders from the Baltic countries, (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland), and the Bucharest Nine along NATO’s eastern flank, (Baltic countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria).
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also be at the summit.
The situation in Europe is even worse than a civil war, because in a civil war, both sides are fighting, but in Europe, only one side is, and it is not White people, said Dutch political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek at CPAC Hungary.
“Many experts have been warning for years now that a civil war is impending. But I believe that our reality is actually worse than that. In a civil war, there are two sides fighting. Here in Europe, only one side is. And I can tell you that it’s not us. It’s not the white native population of Europe. That doesn’t mean, though, that the average European is okay with all of this,” said Vlaardingerbroek.
🇳🇱‼️ @EvaVlaar: "In a civil war, there are two sides fighting. Here in Europe, only one side is. And I can tell you that it’s not us. It’s not the white native population of Europe."
Eva Vlaardingerbroek speaks at CPAC Hungary on the dire situation facing Europeans. pic.twitter.com/YHYVMsD1Q8
Vlaardingerbroek has seen her popularity explode since last year’s CPAC, where she gave a speech that reached 30 million people on X and was shared by Elon Musk, which was on the topic of the Great Replacement.
Now, this year, her topic addressed the right of anti-immigration sentiment and the rise of parties willing to combat mass immigration, only for these parties to fail to achieve any of their objectives. She cited the case of her own country, the Netherlands, pointing to Geert Wilders and his incredible failure to control the border.
“We are trying to constitute change through the official channels, but so far with no luck. For example, in my country, the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ party got a whopping 25% of the votes in the elections of 2023. That’s more than he’s ever gotten before. And Wilders’ single most important aim has been to close the border. In fact, our government has implemented the, and I quote, ‘the toughest immigration policy our nation has ever seen.’ The result? 130,000 immigrants entered in the past year alone.
Despite Wilder’s efforts, so much so for the toughest immigration policy we’ve ever seen. And this is a pattern we see everywhere in Europe. Right-wing parties win the elections. In some countries, they even win with 30 percent of the votes. But since they never gain an absolute majority, coalitions have to be formed.”
She then said that three options always present themselves, with each option leading to the same open borders policies no matter who the public backs to win an election.
“And what always ends up happening is either one of the three following options. Option A, despite the right wing winning, the centrist parties then say, Oh no, but that party is too extreme for us and we don’t want to form a coalition with them. Or option B, even if a coalition does get formed, the policies get watered down so much so that nobody gets what they voted for. Or C, and this is something that we see increasingly often in Europe, the legal system steps in and thwarts all true right wing efforts by deeming the policies to be in violation of European law and human rights,” she said.
She then warned against increasing oppression against not only politicians and activists, but also private citizens.
“And I haven’t even come to the fact that our legal system is also targeting individuals at an exceptionally fast rate. Not just politicians and activists, but also private citizens who dare to speak out against the regime are being targeted, arrested, prosecuted, and even sent to prison. Keir Starmer, also known as two-tier Keir, is an absolute master at that. He is turning the UK into one of the most free countries in Europe. Right now, he’s even looking to introduce sentencing guidelines under which white men will be punished harsher than women and minorities. Ladies and gentlemen, last time I checked there is a word for that: apartheid.”
She then recounted how activists at the Remigration Summit were not only banned from leaving the country by armed police, but upon violating an order not to leave the country as an act of civil disobedience, were then arrested once again upon returning to Germany.
“Two weeks ago, I gave a speech in Milan at a remigration summit right before the conference was supposed to take place, a couple of German activists, young German activists, decided to travel to Italy but were notified by the German government that they were banned from leaving the country. Why? Well, because it would damage Germany’s reputation. Yes, you heard me right, potentially damaging your government’s reputation, whatever that may be, is now ground for them to take away your constitutional rights.
Heroically, those young activists decided to come anyway. So they crossed the border into Italy and attended the conference. But upon their arrival back in Germany, they were met at the airport by a heavily armed police force and brought into detainment. All of that simply for attending a conference to talk about the subjects that the elites don’t want you to talk about. My last example is a personal one. A few weeks ago, I got a notification from Apple saying that my phone was under mercenary spyware attack.
She closed out with a topic that is affecting more and more of the world, which is mass surveillance, including through powerful apps like the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware. The spyware has not only targeted the right, but also the left, politicians of all stripes, and humans rights activists and journalists.
“My last example is a personal one. A few weeks ago, I got a notification from Apple saying that my phone was under mercenary spyware attack. Mercenary spyware. So we’re talking highly sophisticated government-level spyware that is used for counter-terrorism. That means that they can look at me through my camera in real time, they can listen to my conversations, and they can go through every single file on my phone. That is what happens in Europe when a perfectly normal law-abiding citizen goes against the grain. So let’s face the facts here. Democracy is dead. Stone, cold dead.
However, the illusion of democracy is very much kept alive. We are being ruled by leaders who claim that they are democratic leaders and they force us to play along with their games. In fact, many people do so happily. And that is what makes modern day tyranny arguably worse than what we see in the history books. In the DDR, you at least knew that the government was listening in on you. In the USSR, you at least knew that going against the government could end you in the gulags. In Mao Zedong’s China, going against the government was something that surely would have you met with violence. But make no mistake, being a dissident now is just as dangerous as it was back then.
Our regime uses pretty words to hide their intentions, but they pervert and invert our definitions all the time. They say that to maintain peace in Europe, we need to go to war with Russia. They say that to protect democracy, we have to ban right wing parties. And they say that to safeguard freedom of speech, they need to censor disinformation. Just like in Orwell’s 1984, war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”
Vlaardingerbroek closed out her speech speaking out against Ursula von der Leyen, laying out the fact that she is unelected, yet, continues to promote policies of mass immigration, war, and corruption that are destroying Europe.
"Do you ever think about the people who suffer because of your policies? The mothers who cry at night because their children were raped or murdered by immigrants you let in? The farmers… pic.twitter.com/bfeiBArr10
National-conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki has been elected President of Poland after defeating Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski in Sunday’s run-off election.
Nawrocki ended the night with 50.9 percent of the vote to Trzaskowski’s 49.1 percent.
Despite exit polls initially suggesting a slim lead for Trzaskowski, a swing to the Law and Justice-backed candidate throughout the evening ultimately delivered Nawrocki the win.
Early projections from Ipsos and OGB showed Trzaskowski ahead by less than a percentage point, prompting him to prematurely declare victory at his campaign headquarters. “We’ve won!” he announced confidently, in a statement that now looks destined to become one of the great political missteps of recent Polish history.
However, as vote counts came in from across the country, especially from Poland’s rural and traditionally conservative regions, Nawrocki pulled ahead. The final tally saw Nawrocki at 50.89 percent and Trzaskowski at 49.11 percent.
Trzaskowski dominated in urban centers such as Warsaw, Gdańsk, and Kraków, but it was Nawrocki’s overwhelming support in the countryside, with margins of 90 to 10 in some districts, that proved decisive. He also benefited heavily from the redistribution of first-round votes. While voters from center-left and left-wing parties, such as those of Szymon Hołownia, Magdalena Biejat, and Adrian Zandberg, overwhelmingly backed Trzaskowski, supporters of right-wing candidates delivered a landslide for Nawrocki.
Karol Nawrocki won big in the more rural districts across the country.
Grzegorz Braun’s electorate broke decisively for the conservative, with 92 percent choosing Nawrocki. But the real kingmakers were the voters of third-placed Sławomir Mentzen of the nationalist-right Confederation party. Over 90 percent of them backed Nawrocki in the second round, sealing the result and ensuring continued political gridlock between a right-leaning presidential palace and the liberal-led parliament under Donald Tusk.
Exit polls have been criticized following the result, with many questioning how both major polling firms could miss the actual result. Former prime minister and senior PiS figure Mateusz Morawiecki told TVP that as much as “10 to 15 percent” of respondents refused to disclose their vote to pollsters, which may have disproportionately obscured conservative support.
Przemysław Czarnek, a senior Law and Justice MP and former education minister, celebrated the result and told TV Republika: “I can reassure you that maybe not starting tomorrow, but from Tuesday, we will begin very energetic work in order to give the Polish people another gift – the end of Tusk’s government.”
During his campaign, Nawrocki pledged to be a “guardian of the Constitution” and present a “moral alternative” to what he described as a corrupt liberal elite. He promised to block any legislation undermining Polish sovereignty or promoting what he called “gender ideology and mass illegal migration.” He also committed to protecting traditional family values, maintaining Poland’s tough stance on border security, and vetoing attempts to increase EU influence over domestic law.
Nawrocki’s election marks a significant symbolic victory for the nationalist right and the Law and Justice party, despite its loss of parliamentary power last year. His presidency ensures that Prime Minister Tusk’s government will continue to face an ideologically opposed head of state, setting the stage for further clashes between Poland’s executive branches in the months ahead.
Since the outbreak of the war, several Western media portals have reported that Serbian military companies are supporting the Ukrainian military through intermediaries.
The SVR – Russia’s foreign intelligence service – has accused Serbia of supplying its military-industrial companies with ammunition to Ukraine, even though Belgrade is officially neutral, based on a report by Ukrainska Pravda.
Since 2022, Serbian companies have sold hundreds of thousands of artillery shells and millions of rounds of small arms ammunition to Ukraine through intermediary countries.
Serbia had initially denied that its arms factories were producing ammunition for Ukraine. President Aleksandar Vucic later said he would not prohibit these private companies from selling ammunition to countries that might pass it on to Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Vučić apologized for voting for the UN resolution on Ukraine proposed by the Europeans, saying Serbia should have abstained.
The UN General Assembly had voted in February on two rival draft resolutions. The European-sponsored one condemned Russia, saying its three-year invasion of Ukraine threatened global stability, while a U.S.-sponsored resolution did not call Russia an aggressor or recognize Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“It is clear where the policy of the United States of America is heading and how it is progressing. Tectonic changes are taking place in the world that we cannot even comprehend,” the Serbian president said. “I do not believe that we should please any great power, neither the Russians, nor the Americans, nor anyone else,” Vučić said.
“As far as the American resolution is concerned, we voted exactly as it should have been. We abstained. We should have abstained, in my opinion, from the European resolution as well. As you can see, I am saying this at a time when it is quite clear that I will lose favor or political points in the EU because of this. I believe that Serbia had to abstain,” he added.
There is growing outrage after a discount retailer in Berlin, Norma, launched a sale on machetes, marketing the blades as low as €9.90 per machete despite a surge in knife crimes reported throughout the city and the country.
The first deputy federal chairman of the German police union (PolG), Manuel Ostermann, wrote on X: “79 knife crimes per day in 2024 and at the discount store you can buy a machete with a barb for 9.90 euros. Hello Norma, are you still feeling any impact? Why not just give it away to potential knife murderers? Unbelievable.”
Ostermann also posted a photo of the advert being promoted by Norma, which showcases the deadly-looking blades and their discount price.
In addition, the German Police Union (DPolG) chairman, Rainer Wendt, also reacted with outrage. He said that the ease of obtaining such weapons presents the police with a large security problem.
“It’s hard to beat the cynicism. No one in Germany needs such items,” Wendt told Bild newspaper. “The police can barely keep up with the checks – even children are sometimes armed.”
The 79 knife crimes a day applies to all of Germany, which reported nearly 30,000 knife-related crimes in 2024 and record high levels of violent crime. However, Berlin itself accounts for a large share of these knife crimes and attacks, recording 3,412 in 2024 alone, a 2-percent decrease from the 10-year-high hit in 2023. That amounts to nearly 10 knife attacks per day.
🇩🇪🗡️ Machetes are on sale from a Berlin discount store despite a huge surge in knife attacks across Germany.
"79 knife crimes per day in 2024 and at the discount store you can buy a machete with a barb for €9.90," wrote the German police union deputy chairman @M_Ostermann.
The special blade offer has been in place since last week and includes machetes, bush knives, and axes in the multicultural neighborhood of Kreuzberg for €9.99 each. The company promotes these blades as “ideal for gardening, camping, and the outdoors,” — not typically the type of activities people in the middle of the city enjoy doing. In fact, gardening with a large machete would be illegal in most public gardens, and very few people own a private garden in Kreuzberg.
The blades are up to 56 centimeters long (22 inches), some with barbs. For security reasons, they are not stored openly, but are only handed out upon request to only those 16 years and older. It is legal to possess such blades, but carrying them in public is illegal. The store indicated that they only support people using such blades for their intended purpose.
Remix News wrote an in-depth article on the recent wave of knife crime in Germany, detailing the toll it is taking on Germany. An extremely high number of these attacks are perpetrated by foreigners or those with a migration background, which is especially worrying given their overall smaller share of the population.
Remix News has occasionally posted some of the most egregious machete battles recorded in Berlin, such as this recording from Leipzig last year. It is not possible to embed in this article, perhaps due to EU restrictions placed on the post.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel used the stage at CPAC Hungary to raise awareness of what she says is growing authoritarian behavior from the German government towards millions of Germans. She points to calls to ban her party, the second-largest party in the country and the leading opposition party, as well as attacks on free speech and spying from the country’s powerful domestic intelligence agency.
“Let’s be clear, and this is what we want you to know. What we want the world to know what’s going on in Germany. Influential politicians in Germany have their minds up on banning the strongest opposition party on banning us the alternative for Germany,” said Weidel.
“They would eliminate a political force which will soon form the government in several East German regions. Furthermore, they want to ban a party and has caught up with and overtaken the chancellor’s party itself. It is grotesque. It is authoritarian. And yes, this is a path they pursue, but they will not prevail. They will not prevail,” she added.
🇩🇪 @Alice_Weidel exposes the state of modern Germany:
"Mass migration, exploding crime, high taxes, silenced dissent. The regime wants to ban the strongest opposition party — us, the AfD. This is grotesque. This is authoritarian. But, they will not prevail."#CPACHungary2025pic.twitter.com/E8myopUXpT
Weidel’s party, the AfD, had not been previously invited to any CPAC events in Hungary in the previous three years, but this pattern appears to have been broken. Orbán, who said that he had not previously conducted outreach with the AfD due to threats from the German government and in order to maintain ties with Berlin, publicly backed the AfD before national elections in Germany last year.
Weidel has only grown in popularity since those elections, and her party has even broken into first place in many polls for the first time. Approximately one in four Germans now backs the party, yet, the establishment has only upped its assault on the party, including the domestic spy agency, the Office of the Protection of the Constitution (BfV):
“The attempt to silence critical voices by framing them as right wing and extremist. Under the pretext of fighting hate speech and disinformation, legitimate opinions are being criminalized. And finally, there is our domestic intelligence service, the so-called Office for the Protection of our Constitution. In reality, it’s nothing but a service for protecting the establishment’s dwindling power.
When it comes to regular intelligence work uncovering terrorists and preventing terrorist attacks, this office is a complete failure. Instead of attending to the proper task, they spy on the opposition with one goal in mind to denounce the AFD as an enemy of the constitution and fabricate a pretext for outlawing our party.”
🇩🇪 @Alice_Weidel: "Only by excluding our party from government can the woke leftist elites cling to power against the will of the majority.
Weidel says that the establishment parties in Germany are looking to stop her party instead of addressing the legitimate issues driving her party’s growing popularity.
“In today’s speech, I am going to shed some light on the situation in Germany. For you to get some transparency about what’s going on in our home country. Our legacy media and establishment politicians fear us like no other party with good reason. More and more voters in Germany are simply fed up with being lied to and watching their quality of life deteriorating year for year.
Establishment politics have turned Germany into a danger zone for its citizens. Its people suffer from mass migration, exploding crime rates, high taxes, energy prices, inflation and the destruction of wealth. That’s why they voted out the old left-green government only to get a government that continues down the same disastrous path.
They got a government that pretends to prevent illegal immigration while leaving the gates wide open. In a futile attempt to evade his domestic problems, our chancellor travels the world fomenting conflict and throwing German taxpayers’ money out of the window as we see in the Ukraine. But when it comes to the daily horrors of imported migrant violence and Islamist terror on the streets, our chancellor remains silent.”
She also accused Merz of essentially stealing the AfD’s program, and then once winning the election, turning his back on all the promises he once made. Most notably, Merz immediately abandoned his promise to not take on more debt and relax the debt brake, instead choosing to take on nearly a trillion in debt.
“Mr. Merz won the election with copy-and-paste promises taken from us, the Alternative for Germany’s, program. The day after the election he went back on his word in every regard. He sold his soul to the leftists and kept them in power in exchange for being elected chancellor himself. Desperately clinging to power by all means has become the primary concern of our establishment politicians,” said Weidel. “Driven by panic, they bent laws, manipulate the constitution and eliminate the fundamental rights of the parliamentary opposition in order to prevent a democratic transfer of power. The current government continues a war on free speech started by its predecessors.”
Weidel said that her party represents 10 million voters, yet, these voters are being excluded by the firewall all parties say they have established against the AfD, which means they refuse to work with the party in government.
“The wind of change is blowing strong in Europe and in the Western world. The future belongs to free, patriotic citizens and sovereign nations. This conference gives testimony to that fact. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, thank you and your country for hosting us. You are truly a beacon of freedom. Thank you,” said Weidel towards the end of her speech.
