Author: staff

A driver plowed a car into crowds of people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday evening. Authorities took the driver into custody, according to German media. Magdeburg police shut down the market, citing “extensive police operations” in the area. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed the incident shortly after, saying: “My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.” News agency AFP reported that “60 to 80” people were injured, citing the local rescue…

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The Dutch government wants to introduce some of the toughest asylum rules in Europe, but it may not be so straightforward. The Dutch government agreed on strict new asylum measures on Friday, including differentiating between refugees based on their reason for claiming asylum.The proposals approved by the Dutch cabinet will still need to go to the Council of State, an independent adviser to the government, to make sure they are legally sound and can be implemented.“This cabinet is heading for the strictest asylum regime and the strictest admission requirements ever,” Minister of Asylum and Migration Marjolein Faber said in a…

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In September, the prosecutor asked for a six-year prison term for Salvini as well as compensation of more than €1 million for damages if the court had found him guilty. The appeals process following the verdict could still take years. Salvini repeatedly defended himself, saying he “simply protected the country’s borders,” by preventing the migrants from landing on Italian soil, and that he was doing “what Italians had asked him to do: defending the nation.” Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other members of the government have showed constant support for Salvini over the past few months. “It is…

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The leader of Italy’s right-wing Lega Party and Giorgia Meloni’s ally, Matteo Salvini, had been accused of kidnapping and dereliction of duty over his refusal to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019. A court in Sicily found Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini not guilty of kidnap for detaining 100 migrants aboard a humanitarian rescue ship in 2019 incident when he was interior minister. “I am happy. After three years, Lega has won, Italy has won. Defending the homeland is not a crime but a right. I will go forward with more determination than before,” Salvini…

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US president-elect keeps the prospect of a transatlantic trade war in the air, exactly a month before he is due to walk back into the White House. EU officials played down today Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, after the US president-elect warned of dire consequences unless the bloc ramps up its purchases of American oil and gas.Trump posted today on his Truth Social social media platform: “I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”Quizzed by…

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Since the cyclone, Mayotte has faced severe water shortages, with most of the territory also hit by network outages. “You’ve lived something terrible, everyone’s fighting, regardless of their skin color,” Macron was seen telling a crowd. “Don’t pit people against each other … Because you’re happy to be part of France. Because if it wasn’t France, I can tell you that you’d be screwed 10,000 times worse.” Macron was responding to a comment by a Mahoran woman accusing him of “coming to see us to say that everything’s alright when everything’s going bad.” The clip does not show her at…

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This article was originally published in German After days of negotiations which looked like they had reached a stalemate, German workers union IG Metall has reached a deal to avoid Volkswagen plant closures as well as redundancies and wage cuts. After more than 70 hours of marathon negotiations, the IG Metall workers union has reached an agreement with the management of car manufacturer Volkswagen.In a press release, IG Metall wrote that the agreement would enable sustainable investment in the future of the automotive manufacturer while at the same time creating prospects for its workforce and their families.All 10 of the company’s…

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“The culture always comes from the top,” O’Reilly said, referring to a lack of transparency in the EU executive. She added that if information is being “held back for political reasons and that culture comes from the top — then yeah, it probably is the president [von der Leyen] and her cabinet who are setting the culture.” She called out the Commission’s reticence when it comes to handing over documents, saying the trend is “worrying.”  “You can understand the frustration when we patiently for months go through an access to documents case, we’re quoting [European Court of Justice] law, we’re…

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“In any case, Peter Mandelson does not go unnoticed anywhere,” said Lamy. “Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he always gets noticed. He is an extraordinary personality.” China record On China, Mandelson has called for fresh economic dialogue between Britain and Beijing. That may clash with the hawkish views of some of Trump’s picks, including his choice for secretary of state, Marco Rubio. “It is absurd to imagine putting a country of such weight in the naughty corner,” Mandelson wrote in 2018 of relations between China and the U.S. during Trump’s first spell in the White House. Mandelson has also…

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This article was originally published in Polish Poland’s ambassador to Budapest has been recalled to Warsaw indefinitely after Hungary granted asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister, Marcin Romanowski. Poland’s ambassador to Budapest has been recalled to Warsaw indefinitely, a day after Hungary granted asylum to former Polish justice minister and current Law and Justice Party (PiS) lawmaker Marcin Romanowski, authorities said on Friday.Poland had earlier summoned Hungary’s ambassador to Warsaw.Romanowski is wanted in Poland for alleged corruption and misuse of public funds during his time as minister in the previous PiS government. On Thursday, Hungarian authorities announced they would be granting…

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