French police cleared two huge migrant tent camps in northern Paris on Thursday and authorities vowed to clear other camps, a day after the government announced tighter immigration policies. Buses took away more than 1,600 people in the Porte de la Chapelle and Seine-Saint-Denis area, where illegal refugees lived in …
Read More »Spanish authorities ready for election eve protests: sources
Spanish authorities are preparing for protests by supporters of Catalan independence on the eve of Spain’s Nov. 10 general election that could turn violent, government and Socialist Party sources said. The comments from two senior sources echoed a report in El Mundo newspaper that quoted police sources as saying plans …
Read More »British PM Johnson gambles on an election to decide the fate of Brexit
The fate of Britain’s departure from the European Union could be decided in a Dec. 12 election after Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally won parliamentary approval for a gamble that he hopes will break the deadlock over Brexit. Johnson, who has failed to deliver on his “do or die” promise …
Read More »Police find 12 migrants alive in a refrigerated truck in Belgium
Belgian police found 12 migrants alive in a refrigerated truck at a motorway parking area in northern Belgium on Wednesday after the driver alerted authorities, a federal police spokeswoman said. The driver, who was transporting fruit and vegetables, called the police who found 12 adult men of Syrian and Sudanese …
Read More »New Silk Road: Kenya’s massive $1.5bn railway funded & built entirely by China.
China has been developing Kenya’s rail service as part of the Belt and Road Initiative to connect Asia, Europe, and Africa. The railway is Kenya’s largest infrastructure project since its independence. The so-called Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project was launched in 2017. Trains operating on a daily schedule between the …
Read More »Norwegian police arrest gunman after ambulance rampage.
Norwegian police said they arrested an armed man who stole an ambulance Tuesday and ran over pedestrians in Oslo, including at least one baby, as the motive was not immediately known. Police said they were searching for a second suspect — a woman described as having fair skin and wearing …
Read More »UK MPs back Brexit deal delay.
Boris Johnson has said he will press on “undaunted” with his Brexit strategy despite losing a vital vote in the House of Commons. He has vowed to introduce legislation needed to implement his agreement in Parliament next week. But he will be compelled later to ask the EU for an …
Read More »Barcelona paralyzed on the fifth day of protests.
The fifth day of protests and a general strike have brought Barcelona to a halt amid ongoing fury over jailed Catalan separatist leaders. Tens of thousands of demonstrators entered the city on Friday, stopping trains and blocking roads. Barcelona and Real Madrid football teams postponed a match they were due …
Read More »Brexit talks hang in the balance
With only a couple of days to go before a Brexit deal on Britain’s scheduled date of departure (October 31) from the European Union (EU) becomes impossible, there is much confusion about the outcome. In the latest development, the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Leo Varadkar, has said there are “many …
Read More »Trump blames Europe after Isis prisoners escape Syria camp.
Donald Trump lashed out at Europe after hundreds of Isis prisoners escaped during the Turkish offensive in northern Syria. The US president said that the UK and other EU countries “should have taken back” the captured fighters and their families instead of leaving them in camps guarded by Kurdish forces. …
Read More »Vaping illness, deaths likely very rare beyond the US, experts say.
E-cigarette or vaping-linked lung injuries that have killed 29 and sickened more than 1,000 people in the United States are likely to be rare in Britain and other countries where the suspect products are not widely used, specialists said on Monday. Experts in toxicology and addiction said they are sure …
Read More »Anger in Catalonia as Spain jails independence leaders
Angry protests erupt across Catalonia against a decision by Spain’s top court to sentence several Catalonia leaders to up to 13 years behind bars for sedition over their role in an independence referendum back in 2017. Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine separatist leaders from Catalonia to between nine …
Read More »‘Intense’ Brexit talks between UK and EU
Negotiators from the UK and EU are having what has been described as “intense technical discussions” in an attempt to agree on a new Brexit deal. About a dozen British officials, including the UK’s EU adviser David Frost, are taking part in the talks at the EU Commission in Brussels. …
Read More »Former French president Jacques Chirac dies, aged 86.
Former president Jacques Chirac, who led France from 1995 to 2007, has died at the age of 86. His son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told the Associated Press that Chirac died “peacefully, among his loved ones.” The exact cause of death is unknown, but he had reportedly been hospitalized several times in …
Read More »Strong earthquake shakes Istanbul
An earthquake measuring 5.8 magnitudes shook Istanbul on Thursday, causing panic among residents, the evacuation of schools and public offices, and at least some damage to buildings. Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said in a statement that the quake struck in the Sea of Marmara at 13:59 pm (10:59 …
Read More »Johnson faces hostile parliament as Brexit chaos deepens.
A defiant Boris Johnson faces parliament on Wednesday after a Supreme Court ruling that he had unlawfully shut it down, with opponents seeking new ways to block him from taking Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 without a deal. After three years of Brexit crisis and Johnson’s …
Read More »British travel giant Thomas Cook goes bankrupt, leaving 600,000 tourists in limbo.
One of the world’s oldest travel firms, Thomas Cook Group, has entered compulsory liquidation effective immediately. With all flights and tours canceled, the collapse will affect hundreds of thousands of travelers around the world. It is estimated that at least 600,000 people all across the globe will be affected, forcing …
Read More »Syrian refugees try to sneak past airport guards by masquerading as Ukrainian volleyball team.
Greek police have caught a group of migrants from Syria attempting to fool migration control by posing as a volleyball team from Ukraine. Ten Syrian refugees were arrested at Athens International Airport over the weekend, police said. In an attempt to fool migration control, they all dressed in identical uniforms, …
Read More »Trump threatens to free Daesh captives at EU borders
DONALD TRUMP threatened to release prisoners from Europe who have joined Islamic terrorist groups if their countries refuse to take back the captives. The US President has repeatedly criticized European countries for their reluctance to take back their citizens who defected to fight in the middle east and were captured. …
Read More »Ukraine’s comedian-turned-politician walks a fine line with America’s reality-TV President.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not have an easy job. Ukraine is one of the poorest places in Europe, his country faces a steady outflow of capital and a proxy war with Russian-backed insurgents has settled into a bloody stalemate. Now the comedian-turned-politician faces his first big challenge: Managing his …
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