Author: staff
Published on 26/01/2026 – 12:46 GMT+1 Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland or AfD party in Bavaria is proposing a specialised police unit modelled on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to track asylum seekers and coordinate deportations, according to internal documents. At the press conference following the winter conference of the Bavarian state organisation, AfD parliamentary group leader Katrin Ebner-Steiner initially avoided questions about this model. While Ebner-Steiner explained that the unit’s organisational structure was still open, the fact that the concept paper envisages an orientation “similar to the ICE” only became known later, when the documents were made available to…
It is, by any reasonable measure, a strategic own goal. The consequences of this go well beyond trade. Mercosur governments spent years negotiating this free trade agreement (FTA) in good faith, navigating Europe’s hesitation, shifting demands and inconsistent political signals. Understandably, they are now interpreting the referral to the court as a political move. For partners already hedging their bets in an increasingly contested global landscape, it reinforces doubts over whether Europe can be relied on. Meanwhile, for Europe, the true damage is to a deeper truth it all too often obscures: That its real power comes from the ability…
Published on 26/01/2026 – 14:33 GMT+1 Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul denounced Russia’s “stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue” on Monday following talks between Russian, Ukrainian and US envoys in Abu Dhabi on ending Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine. “What I am hearing and reading today, including from the negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, is only Russia’s stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue,” Wadephul said during a visit to Latvia. “And if there is no flexibility here, I fear that the negotiations may still take a long time or may not be successful at this stage.” Wadephul…
Published on 26/01/2026 – 15:08 GMT+1 Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged the EU on Monday to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organisation” following Tehran’s deadly crackdown on country-wide mass protests over the past weeks. Tajani said he would propose the idea “in coordination with other partners” at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday. “The losses suffered by the civilian population during the protests demand a clear response,” he wrote in a post on X, calling for the EU to levy individual sanctions against those responsible. US-based rights group Human Rights…
Leaders rubber-stamped the law on Monday, but Hungary and Slovakia — which are highly dependent on Russian fossil fuels — voted against the measure, arguing that it would send energy prices skyrocketing. Hungary said it would begin proceedings against the EU as soon as the law is formally adopted, which is likely to be in early February. Szijjártó has repeatedly threatened to sue the EU but this is the first time he has laid out a specific timeframe. He criticized the EU’s use of a “legal trick” to pass the law by presenting it as a trade measure rather than a…
By Euronews Published on 26/01/2026 – 15:18 GMT+1 Norwegian prosecutors have charged two citizens and a Norwegian-based oil company with paying around $25 million (€21.1m) in bribes to the Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso and his family in exchange for offshore drilling rights. The alleged corruption centred on a 2016 oil licence application in which the defendants offered Sassou Nguesso and his relatives a quarter-share of the concession’s revenues, prosecutor Marianne Djupesland said Monday. “The main bribe is related to the fact that the Norwegians accepted that the president and his family would have one quarter of the…
The verdict also lands as countries such as France are actively discussing restrictions on social media platforms for children. The decision focuses particularly on WhatsApp Channels in which admins can broadcast announcements to groups of people in a feed, making it different from the messaging feature. WhatsApp’s private messaging service is explicitly excluded. WhatsApp was aware that the decision was coming as far back as August, when it reported that Channels had approximately 51.7 million users in the EU. That crossed the EU’s threshold for Very Large Online Platforms with over 45 million users in the EU. Meta now has…
Published on 26/01/2026 – 15:32 GMT+1 A global crackdown on human traffickers and migrant smugglers coordinated by Interpol led to the arrest of more than 3,700 suspects and aided over 4,400 potential trafficking victims around the world, the international law enforcement organisation said Monday. Interpol said 14,000 officers carried out Operation Liberterra III across 119 countries between 10-21 November which led to 3,744 arrests, the protection of 4,414 potential victims and the detection of 12,992 people caught in illegal migration schemes. Authorities opened at least 720 new investigations, according to the agency headquartered in France that helps police in 196…
Conservationists warn the world can “no longer afford” to delay climate action to protect and restore our planet’s natural wonders. Today (7 January), international nature charity Fauna & Flora has launched its 2026 Species to Watch list, highlighting some of the “weird and wonderful” creatures at risk of disappearing in the not-so-distant future. Kirsitian Teleki, Fauna & Flora’s CEO, says the list offers an insight into the “key challenges” facing some of the world’s most vulnerable species, including habitat loss, deforestation, the illegal wildlife trade and the climate crisis. “It also shines a spotlight on the weird and wonderful plants…
“It was always a matter of when, not if, Suella would defect. The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy,” the spokesperson said. The backlash came quickly. A Reform spokesperson said: “It’s gutter politics, a sign of what the Conservative Party has become.” At a press conference in Westminster Monday night, Farage said of the Tories: “Their reaction to Suella’s defection has been pretty abusive. Don’t please ask any questions about that. We will not lower ourselves to their level.” The backlash was not confined to Reform. Government minister Mike…