Europe
Europe
Seven Pakistani men found guilty of 50 offences committed between 2001 and 2006 where they used two teenage girls as sex slaves in the English town of Rochdale, all perpetrators prosecuted as part of Operation Lytton where 37 individuals have been charged so far with five more trials scheduled to take place from September onwards
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says he will do everything possible to prevent Ukraine's EU accession, says the accession would be a lucrative deal for the Brussels bureaucracy in a lost war and that he would not be able to face his conscience, grandchildren or country if he failed to protect Hungary and the EU from letting Ukraine drain every euro, forint and zloty
Academics and representatives from France's Muslim community denounce a leaked government report that alleges that the organization is attempting to influence policymakers as part of the group's long-held goal of establishing a state governed by Sharia law, official version of the report to be released to the public by the end of the week
Belgian parliament scraps nuclear phaseout plan with 102 votes in favor, eight against and 31 abstentions, passed a law for gradual phaseout of nuclear energy in 2003 where all nuclear power plants were to be closed by 2025 at the latest and prohibiting construction of new reactors but delayed the phaseout by ten years in 2022 motivated by the war in Ukraine, currently has two nuclear power plants which produce 40% of the country's power generation
Germany bans the Kingdom of Germany faction of the Reichsbürger movement and arrests four including its king Peter Fitzek in raids in seven states, the group with 6,000 members is accused of creating a counter-state and is said to have been printing its own passports and driver's licenses
Kent Police deletes caution given to 71-year-old retired English policeman Julian Foulkes in 2023 where he was arrested in his home by six officers and handcuffed for a reply on X to an anonymous pro-Palestine activist that he was one step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals, Foulkes comments that a woke mind virus is infecting everything and that the police called his book collection "very Brexity"
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigns after right-wing candidate George Simion wins the first round of the presidential election ahead of independent Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan and thus sidelining the established parties, Simion has touted Călin Georgescu who won but was disqualified in last November's cancelled presidential election as new prime minister
Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution BfV labels the entirety of Alternative for Germany as an extremist entity as the party's focus on ethnicity and ancestry is not compatible with the free democratic order, the designation gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party which got 20.8% of the votes in the last election and has since grown to be the largest party with 26% in a recent Forsa poll
Vladimir Putin says that Russia has regained control of Kursk, Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in the region in August and the territory has been viewed as a potential key bargaining chip in any peace talks
10,000 protesters in Oldenburg after a black 21-year-old was shot dead by police after pepper spraying nightclub security staff for denying him entry before wielding a knife against those threatening to chase him and then also approaching and pepper spraying police, Police Vice President Arne Schmidt says the death has deeply moved people within the police force and Amnesty International Germany calls for addressing structural racism within the police force
Keir Starmer's official spokesman says that the prime minister does not believe transgender women are women, follows the UK Supreme Court ruling last week that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law and differs from his quote in 2022 that it was not just his view but law that transwomen are women
40-year-old German palliative care doctor Johannes M accused of killing at least 15 of his patients in Berlin, 390 cases reviewed and apart from the 15 indictments another 75 cases are still being examined, allegedly dosed his patients with an anesthetic in combination with a muscle relaxer to spark paralysis of their respiratory systems and is also accused of in some instances starting fires in the patients' homes to cover up the murders
Muslim students account for 41.2% of all pupils in Vienna's primary and secondary schools up from 39.4% last year, Christian pupils account for 34.5% and 23% declare no religious affiliation, Vienna's City Councillor for Education Bettina Emmerling proposes compulsory primary school subject Living in a Democracy to counter the trend where young Muslims in the city are not only more religious but also more critical of Jews as well as LGBTQ and gender equality
UK takes control of Chinese-owned British Steel after emergency legislation was rushed through Parliament in a single day after the first Saturday sitting in over 40 years, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hails the legislation for turning the page on a decade of decline, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the measures were proportionate and necessary to protect UK's primary steelmaking capacity and 3,500 jobs as Jingye had failed to negotiate in good faith and adds that full nationalization is a likely option for the future
French right-wing politician Eric Zemmour fined EUR 10,000 for contesting crimes against humanity by saying during a TV debate in 2019 that World War II leader Philippe Pétain had saved French Jews, Zemmour who was knocked out in the first round of the 2022 presidential elections and has several hate speech convictions was cleared in lower courts as Pétain was never convicted of crimes against humanity but the top appeals court overturned his acquittal and ruled that the alleged remarks might still constitute an offense
Marine Le Pen banned from running in the next French presidential election after being convicted of embezzlement, case concerns EUR 4 million paid by the European Parliament to the party's employed assistants
Ukraine attacks more than 20 villages in Russia's Belgorod region after being pushed back from Kursk, increasing Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk as well as in Zaporizhzhia, both sides accuse each other of targeting energy facilities in breach of the agreement
30-year-old Ukrainian Roman D. arrested for the Thursday mass stabbing in Amsterdam where five people were injured, was arrested after a young English tourist ran him down and detained him until police arrived, motive under investigation
Poland plans to produce a million anti-personnel mines to fortify its borders with Russia and Belarus, the decision follows plans to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention which bans anti-personnel mines, Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Bejda says
Hungary's parliament passes a law in a 136-27 vote banning Pride events and allowing police to use facial recognition software to identify attendees, opposition lawmakers from the Momentum party ignite smoke bombs in the chamber during the voting, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib calls the law a ban on fundamental rights and Amnesty says it is a full-frontal attack on the LGBTQ+ community
Hungary opposes EUR 20 billion EU aid package for Ukraine, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó says they will not be dragged into allowing Hungarian taxpayers' money to be used to finance arms shipments to Ukraine, adds that they support peace negotiations and that thanks to President Trump peace is the closest it has been in the past three years which makes Brussels' pro-war stance unacceptable
Romanian presidential election winner Călin Georgescu appeals against the decision to bar him from participating in May's presidential election due to alleged Russian involvement in 800 TikTok accounts backing him, Georgescu calls the ban a direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide, widespread protests in Bucharest after the ban and JD Vance as well as Elon Musk have criticized the rejected candidacy
Irish teacher Enoch Burke who was suspended by his school in 2022 due to refusing to call a student by the preferred "they" pronoun gets his daily fine doubled to EUR 1,400 after entering his former school in defiance of a court order, Burke who says transgenderism goes against his religous beliefs and his right under the Constitution to express those beliefs currently owes EUR 79,100 in fines
Five people convicted of planning to using bomb attacks to cause a power outage in order to kidnap German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, with the end goal of ending the parliamentary democracy in Germany and restore the country's Imperial Constitution of 1871, the defendants were accused of being members of the terrorist organization Vereinte Patrioten and Reichsbürger theories rejecting Germany's postwar state were frequently expressed in the court proceedings, the sentences stretch from two years and ten months jail to eight years in prison
EU leaders agree on Ursula von der Leyen's "Rearm Europe" EUR 800 billion plan to increase defence spending, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen comments that the most important message is to "spend, spend, spend" and to continue to support Ukraine to reach peace in Europe
One dead and several severely injured after a black SUV is rammed into a crowd in the city centre of western German city of Mannheim during the preparation for the Rose Monday carnival, police says one suspect is arrested but provides no further info, third deadly car ramming in the country since December where the previous attacks were performed by a Saudi man and an Afghan man
Three Bangladeshi brothers aged between 38 and 49 sentenced in British court to between 10 years in prison and life with a minimum term of 21 years and 232 days for sexual offenses against children in Leeds and Barrow-in-Furness between 1996 and 2010, the brothers collaborated as a team and the judge comments that they were operating in plain sight
Volodymyr Zelensky says he is ready to resign as president if it brings peace to Ukraine, suggests the resignation could be swapped for NATO membership
One dead and two police officers seriously injured after knife attack where the perpetrator shouted Allahu Akbar in the French city of Mulhouse during Saturday evening, 37-year-old Algerian who was to be deported due to being on a terrorism watch list arrested, is investigated as terrorism
Syrian 19-year-old who stabbed a Spanish tourist in the neck at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial had planned for weeks to kill Jewish people according to police, the man who had no prior criminal record was arrested nearby with blood stains on his hands and clothing was carrying a prayer rug and a Quran as well as the suspected weapon in his backpack, the severly injured victim's life no longer in danger after being put into an induced coma
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte writes on X that Europe is ready and willing to step up regarding leading in providing security guarantees for Ukraine as well as willing to invest a lot more in security, adds that details will need to be decided but the commitment is clear
Germany prepares to open deportation centre in Eisenhüttenstadt on the German-Polish border, will have space for up to 250 people and will be used to speed up the deportation of asylum seekers who have submitted claims in other EU member states but relocated to Germany under the Dublin Regulation
292 people in Britain charged with "speech crimes" under the 2023 Online Safety Act, 23 charged with "illegal false communications" of which several for spreading claims that the Southport mass stabber Axel Rudakubana with Rwandan parents was a Muslim migrant, the Online Safety Act also empowers broadcasting regulator Ofcom to fine platforms up to 10% of the global revenue and ban them altogether if they fail to police content according to the wishes of the British state
German authorities say the 24-year-old Afghan Farhad Noori who injured at least 36 in Munich by ramming them with a car had Islamist motive but no link to terrorist organizations, the Afghan who yelled Allahu akbar to police has admitted to intentionally driving the car into the crowd and has posted on social media wishing to eradicate all those who are bad to Islam
At least 28 injured after car driven into a crowd in Munich at 10:30 during Thursday, 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker arrested
UK to refuse citizenship to refugees who have "made a dangerous journey" by for instance small boats or hidden in vehicles, will potentially bar 71,000 people who have successfully applied for asylum, the Home Office comments that the guidance further makes it clear that illegal immigrants will have their British citizenship application refused
German Daniel Kindl from Lower Saxony fined EUR 1,887 for X post telling Green Party MP Janosch Dahmen to cry quietly regarding worries about the political climate as this is just the beginning, Kindl defends the remark stating that it was meant to express the frustrations of rural citizens over government policies impacting farmers, follows growing trend in Germany where for instance a pensioner was fined EUR 800 for using the Foreign Office’s online contact form to write that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had hit her head against the ceiling jumping on a trampoline too many times
Elon Musk participates in Alternative for Germany rally via video link ahead of the Februari 23 snap election, asks Germans to move on from past guilt and protect German culture and people, repeats his statement that the party is the country's best hope
Germany's leading chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz vows to impose immediate permanent border controls if elected, says they are faced with the ruins of a ten-year-long misguided immigration policy and calls for a departure from the EU's Schengen principle of free movement as well as turning away all illegal immigrants including those seeking protection, the statements follow a knife attack in Aschaffenburg where a 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker with a history of violent behavior killed a man and a 2-year-old boy and injured three other people
British prime minister Keir Starner vows tougher checks on online knife sales after Axel Rudakubana, who admitted to murdering three young girls in Southport, bought his knife from Amazon when he was just 17 despite existing laws prohibiting the sale of most knives to under-18s, online retailers will be forced to ask knife buyers to submit an ID and record a live video to prove their age, Starmer calls the option to buy knives online a two-click killer and writes that the lessons of this case could not be clearer
Two dead including a 2-year-old and two severly injured after stabbing attack in a park in southern German town of Aschaffenburg on Wednesday, 28-year-old Afghan man arrested, motive under investigation but police says it was not terrorism
The European Court of Human Rights rejects Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu's bid to reinstate the presidential election result where he won but was accused of benefitting from a booster campaign involving TikTok, the court rules the case is not within its scope, new election to take place on May 4, right-wing Georgescu currently leading in the polls
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wins the Charlemagne Prize for contributions to European unity, is praised for her services to the unity of EU member states, leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, decisive stance against Russia and commitment to EU's Green Deal, says she is deeply touched and that the prize is a reliable anchor in turbulent times
Blood and Honour becomes the first right-wing group to have its assets frozen by the UK government, the group which was formed in 1987 by Skrewdriver singer Ian Stuart due to him finding National Front to mainstream is accused of being involved in terrorist activities, affiliate groups like security faction Combat 18 and online radio station 28 Radio also affected by the asset freeze
Czech police ask parliament to remove Freedom and Direct Democracy leader Tomio Okamura's immunity to prosecute him for eurocritic poster where an African man holds a blood-stained knife alongside the caption "Deficiencies in healthcare will not be solved by imported 'surgeons'", Okamura says he reacted to the government's policy and to the EU migration pact and that his movement is acting very leniently compared to attacks by migrants across Europe
Austria's Freedom Party (FPÖ) receives a mandate to try to form a new government after attempts to form a governing alliance without them failed but the conservative Austrian People's Party then signaled that it might be open to working with FPÖ, the anti-immigration and eurosceptic party which opposes sanctions against Russia was the largest party last election with 28.8% but was shut out as all parties refused to work with them, President Alexander Van der Bellen says he did not take this step lightly
British Health Secretary Wes Streeting calls Elon Musk's criticism regarding the government's response to child rape gangs that for decades abused mainly white girls in dozens of towns misinformed but adds that they are willing to work with him if he rolls his sleeves up, Musk accuses Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to bring the gangs to justice when he led the Crown Prosecution Service and calls for prison time for MP Jess Phillips who rejected requests for a national inquiry
All industries except food production forced to close in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region after Ukraine shut down Russian gas supplies, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Obolonik says that the problem is so extensive that they risk having irreversible changes where enterprises will lose their ability to start up
Germany has outstanding arrest warrants against 189 members of far-right groups Reichsbürger or Selbstverwalter that do not recognize the modern German state, 20 of the warrants are for violent political crime while the majority is for "the area of general criminality without political motivation"
Bulgaria and Romania celebrate their new full membership in the Schengen Area, means their populations can travel through almost all of EU without identity documents or controls but random checks will be carried out focusing on larger vehicles during the first six months to deter criminal activities, hopes being raised that the free travel will ease the historically rocky relationship between Hungary and Romania
Hungary loses EUR 1.04 billion from EU funds under the conditionality mechanism due to not meeting 2022 EU Council requirements regarding transparency in spending EU funds and mechanisms to prevent corruption, risks losing another EUR 1.1 billion by the end of 2025 in the same manner, has also lost access to EUR 10 billion in the EU National Recovery Plan
85-year-old German woman loses ownership to property sold under duress by Jews in 1939, the property that is valued at USD 1.6 million will be seized by the state and transferred to the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the woman says that she has lived her whole life in the house and that she does not know where she and her son will go, Claims Conference President Gideon Taylor says they are willing to work out an arrangement where the woman stays as a tenant
Slovakia threatens to halt electricity supplies if Ukraine ends Russian gas transit after January 1, says alternative arrangements could cost the country an additional EUR 220 million in transit fees
Elon Musk writes that Germany is on the brink of economic and cultural collapse and that Alternative for Germany is the last spark of hope in an opinion piece in Die Welt, adds that the party represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment, the newspaper's opinion editor Eva Marie Kogel submits her resignation due to the piece being posted
France rescues 107 people trying to cross to UK in 12 rescue operations on Christmas Day, 451 people on 11 boats managed to make it across during the day according to the UK Home Office
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg announces abdication in Christmas Speech, says he looks back with gratitude and humility on quarter century where the country made much progress and he was a part of the journey along with Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, steps down officially on October 3 2025 where his 43-year-old son Guillaume accesses the throne