Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/3/2025 | Gates of Vienna
The Dutch coalition government collapsed after Geert Wilders formally withdrew the PVV from it. Mr. Wilders was unhappy that the cabinet refused to implement his proposed asylum reforms. Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he would go to the king and offer the resignation of the cabinet.
In other news, the family of Boulder terror suspect Mohamed Soliman, who has been charged with attempted murder after Sunday’s attack in Colorado, has been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Dora, DV, LP, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, Wilson, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
CNN — The number of available jobs in the US unexpectedly increased in April, new data showed Tuesday, a potential indicator that the labor market isn’t yet buckling amid broader economic concerns.
Job openings totaled an estimated 7.39 million at the end of April, up from 7.2 million in March, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed how the US labor market — job openings, hires, quits and separations such as layoffs — is adapting as President Donald Trump’s sweeping (and frequently shifting) policy actions kicked into higher gear in April, rattling consumers, businesses and investors alike and reigniting recession fears.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A federal lawsuit has been filed against a California community college alleging administrators are infringing on conservative students’ free speech rights by telling them to tame their criticisms of hot-button topics such as Hamas and illegal immigration.
The Young America’s Foundation student activists filed the lawsuit against Golden West College, located in the Republican stronghold of Huntington Beach.
Student activists Matin Samimiat and Annaliese Hutchings allege administrators have threatened them with disciplinary actions if they continue to use extreme language to discuss controversial topics with peers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The simmering tensions between the Trump administration and House Democrats are threatening to boil over after agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) forced their way into the office of Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
The incident, which happened last week, led to the brief detention of one of Nadler’s staffers by DHS agents, who said they had entered the congressman’s Manhattan office searching for “protesters.” One agent accused Nadler aides of “harboring rioters.”
The episode has infuriated Nadler and other Democrats in the Capitol, who have long accused President Trump of ignoring the separation of powers and crashing through legal guardrails, particularly in his effort to deport people living in the country illegally. Recently, the administration has escalated its deportation campaign with an aggressive new strategy of arresting people at immigration courts, where claims of asylum are typically heard.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Ed Martin, who was recently appointed to the Department of Justice as Pardon Attorney, revealed to staff on Monday that he has been directed to investigate the clemency issued by former President Joe Biden in the final weeks and hours of his presidency.
Martin wrote in an email viewed by Reuters that the investigation centers around whether Biden “was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.” The email said that the preemptive pardons issued by Biden to several family members, as well as the clemency granted to 37 inmates on death row, were the focus of his investigation.
On December 1, Biden issued a pardon for his son, Hunter, who had been scheduled to be sentenced for federal firearm charges less than two weeks later. In the last hours of Biden’s presidency on Inauguration Day, Biden issued pardons for brother James Biden and his wife Sara Jones Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens and husband John T. Owens, and brother Francis W Biden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Chinese nationals are facing charges in connection with allegedly smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen into the United States, U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. in Detroit announced Tuesday.
Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, are facing charges of conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, making false statements, and visa fraud, reports the Department of Justice.
The FBI has arrested Jian in connection with the allegations related to her and Liu’s smuggling a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, a potential agroterrorism weapon.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House conservatives are challenging Republican leadership to bring a vote to the floor this week to codify the $9.4 billion rescissions package sent by the White House on Tuesday.
The proposed cuts, identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), include $8.3 billion from foreign aid programs and $1.1 billion from public broadcasting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has vowed to quickly pass legislation to make the cuts permanent. The House Freedom Caucus is pushing for double-quick.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A federal antitrust investigation into the coordinated efforts of advocacy groups and advertising coalitions has gained momentum, as the Federal Trade Commission sharpens its focus on whether Media Matters for America and its allies may have worked together to isolate Elon Musk’s X platform through organized advertiser withdrawals.
The probe is focussed on whether these groups crossed legal boundaries while attempting to impose their content standards on platforms through economic pressure.
Reclaim The Net previously reported that the FTC is not only examining Media Matters but also sending document demands to nearly a dozen other organizations tied to the ad industry and media oversight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It’s becoming familiar: get arrested, go to trial, and find out the government’s star witness is a half-baked algorithm built in a Silicon Valley basement, rubber-stamped by a judge who can’t program a VCR. This time it’s in New Jersey, where the prosecution in State v. Miles is taking this pastime to new levels of absurdity.
In the state’s latest criminal-justice-meets-cyberpunk farce, Tybear Miles stands accused of the 2021 killing of Ahmad McPherson. The central piece of evidence? Not fingerprints. Not an eyewitness. A facial recognition hit from a system so secretive, that the government won’t even tell the defense what it is, how it works, or whether it’s more accurate than a drunk dart throw.
The prosecution insists it has Miles nailed, thanks to a confidential informant who claimed that “Fat Daddy” was the killer. The cops then poked around Instagram, pulled some photos, fed them into a facial recognition system, and out popped Tybear Miles. The algorithm gave its blessing, the informant nodded in agreement, and the case was sealed.
Except there’s one hitch: the defense wants to actually see how the magic sausage was made.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A man has been charged with carrying out a shooting outside a Minnesota high school graduation that took place on the University of Minnesota’s campus on Friday.
Per Fox 9, 20-year-old Hamza Abdirashid Said of Coon Rapids, Minnesota has been charged through a detention order with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and possessing/operating a machine gun. Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting.
University of Minnesota police were dispatched to the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena at around 8 pm on Friday to reports of a shooting at Wayzata High School’s graduation. Witnesses said that they had heard two gunshots.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Needless to say, the 2028 US presidential election is way, way too far away to make any reasonable predictions. However, that does not stop major bookmakers across the world from already offering a market for the event.
And, as they are doing so, a funny anomaly occurred. Sitting Vice President JD Vance has by far the lowest odds, meaning he is the most likely successor to President Trump with bookies at odds as low as 3.5 (or +250 if you are familiar with the American moneyline format). However, if you are looking for the second-lowest odds, you still need to look on the GOP side: it’s President Trump himself.
That’s right, even though being constitutionally barred from running for a third term by the 22nd amendment, the one bookmaker that offers him as a bet in the market, the British William Hill, offers him at 11.0 odds (+1,000 line). That is the same value as what it has for the most likely Democratic nominee with the bookies, California Governor Gavin Newsom. However, other betting sites have Newsom with higher odds (as high as 17.7 at Betfair). Thus, technically, President Trump’s illegal third term is the second most likely outcome with bookies after a JD Vance presidency in 2028.
Vance, Trump, and Newsom are followed by progressive New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the next most likely winner with the bookies; whom, in turn, is followed by Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, another Democrat.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A federal judge has barred state officials from enforcing a Florida law that would ban social media accounts for young children, while a legal challenge against the law plays out. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued the order Tuesday, blocking portions of the law from taking effect.
The measure was one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. on social media use by children when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law in 2024. The law would ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for their use by 14— and 15-year-olds.
In his order granting the preliminary injunction sought by the groups Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, Walker wrote that the law is “likely unconstitutional,” but acknowledged that parents and lawmakers have “sincere concerns” about social media’s effects on kids.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk, less than a week after leaving his role leading President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts to cut spending and waste, on Tuesday savaged the president’s “big beautiful” tax-and-spending-cut bill as a “disgusting abomination” and chastised lawmakers for voting for it.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX posted on X, the social media site he owns. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
He added in a follow-up post that the legislation, which has passed the House and is now under discussion in the Senate, will, if passed, “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Welcome to a new privacy-first initiative challenging the digital identity status quo, urging a sharp turn away from the surveillance-ready infrastructure embedded in mobile driver’s licenses.
The campaign, called No Phone Home, brings together a broad alliance of civil liberties groups, privacy experts, technologists, lawmakers, and public officials who are resisting the ways digital IDs compromise people’s rights.
What’s fueling the campaign is concern over how mobile driver’s licenses, increasingly adopted in the US and abroad, are built atop a technical framework that allows them to silently transmit data back to issuing authorities. While this function may not be active by default, it exists; and that, privacy advocates argue, is a serious vulnerability.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Donald Trump is complaining that the Supreme Court justices he nominated, particularly Justice Amy Coney Barrett, are not standing behind his agenda, CNN reported.
Trump has been complaining about Barrett and the other justices he nominated, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, for at least a year, sources told CNN. He believes Barrett is “weak” and her rulings are not in line with how she presented herself when she met with Trump in 2020, according to CNN.
Harrison Fields, principal deputy press secretary, said Trump stands with the Supreme Court.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Longtime academic Santa Ono was rejected Tuesday for the University of Florida presidency by the state university system board amid sharp criticism from political conservatives about his past support for diversity, equity and inclusion programs and other initiatives they view as unacceptable.
The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s universities, voted 10-6 against Ono, who was most recently president of the University of Michigan. The University of Florida Board of Trustees had voted unanimously in May to approve Ono as the school’s 14th president, and it is unprecedented for the governors to reverse such an action.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
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.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Donald Trump has sent Congress a $9.4 billion rescissions package targeting foreign aid and public media funding, part of a broader GOP push to roll back previously approved spending and further the administration’s agenda of government downsizing, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The proposed cuts include $8.3 billion from foreign aid programs and $1.1 billion from public broadcasting, and they may be the first in a series of similar cost-cutting proposals.
Republicans, who hold majorities in both the House and Senate, can approve the package with a simple majority. However, the measure’s fate remains uncertain as debates over the size and scope of government spending continue within the GOP.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Trump is poised to extend the TikTok ban deadline — for the third time — as the White House and China prepare to hold trade talks, On The Money has learned.
The previous extension to the law — which forces TikTok’s Chinese parent company Bytedance to sell the popular video-sharing app in the US — expires June 19, but the two nations are expected to begin hashing out their feud over tariffs this week.
“The president has said he’s willing to (announce another extension) if it has to happen,” a government official familiar with the president’s thinking told On The Money on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Trump administration will be undertaking a “phased pause” at contractor-operated Job Corps centers across the country, which was recently found to have a low graduation rate and a high number of serious incident reports filed.
A press release from the Department of Labor stated that the pauses will occur at contractor-operated Job Corps centers by June 30, and will initiate “an orderly transition for students, staff, and local communities.”
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement, “Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community. However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve. We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
20-year-old Garon Nathaniel Killian of Berkley Street S.W. in Lenoir and 18-year-old Kylee Latod Simpson of Liberty Church Road in Hickory were arrested by Hickory Police early Sunday morning (April 6). They were both charged with seven felony counts each of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. They were also charged with discharging a firearm within the city limits and going armed to the terror of the people.
Killian and Simpson were arrested in connection with an incident on Catawba Valley Boulevard S.E. in Hickory in the vicinity of the former Party City store. The incident was reported at about 12:45 a.m. Sunday. Victims include a 35-year-old male from Morganton, a 35-year-old male from Newton, and a 27-year-old female from Newton. Both suspects were in possession of handguns at the time of their arrests.
Killian and Simpson were taken into custody without incident shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of 1500 25th Street Boulevard S.E. and 15th Avenue S.E., behind Walmart and Sam’s Club. Both suspects were placed in the Catawba County Detention Facility where they were initially held without bond. Each suspect has since been given a $100,000 bond. First appearances in District Court were scheduled today (April 7) in Newton.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Following Ukraine’s stunning attack over the weekend that used small drones to target and destroy Russia’s strategic bombing aircraft, the U.S. Army is applying big picture observations to its ongoing force transformation.
For starters, leaders believe it is a validation of some of the radical change the service is seeking in how to procure and manage capabilities differently in the future.
“Yesterday was a really good example of just how quickly technology is changing the battlefield. We’ve seen this over the last couple of years that everybody talks about [Program Objective Memorandum] cycles and everybody talks about program of record. I think that’s just old thinking,” Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army, said Monday during the Exchange, an AI conference hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project.
POM cycles refer to the five-year planning process for programs and capabilities in the Pentagon.
George noted that technology is changing too rapidly on the modern battlefield to be wedded to these large procurement programs that historically have taken years to develop and once fielded, can be largely obsolete.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
It’s been a bad week for University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann.
The week before last he got heat for posting on social media (regarding a federal judge’s ruling on dismantling the Dept. of Education) that “If Trump doesn’t comply, we’re in second amendment territory.”
After being called out for the seeming call to violence against the president, Mann deleted the post, but responded with “The second amendment refers to the right of the people to rise up and defend democracy. To argue this is a threat against Trump is very dishonest.”
But Mann perhaps is best known for his over-a-decade-old libel lawsuit against National Review, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and bloggers Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn for referring to his methodologies as “fraudulent” and “intellectually bogus.”
Mann initially won, being awarded $1 million by a court last year.
However, three years before a court ruled that National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute were not liable for defamation. Mann said he would appeal.
Then this January, DC Superior Court Judge Alfred Irving ordered Mann to pay National Review over $500,000 for its legal fees, and this was followed in March by a reduction of Mann’s “grossly excessive” $1 million award … to just $5,000.
Finally, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that just over a week ago, Irving ordered Mann to pony up $477,000 for the legal fees of the CEI and Simberg.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On May 20th, the World Health Organization’s worldwide assembly of member states finally adopted the so-called “Pandemic Agreement” —or the ‘Pandemic Treaty,’ as it’s more widely known—, the world’s first comprehensive international treaty to harmonize global pandemic response under the central guidance of the WHO. There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what extent member states have surrendered their sovereignty, and what the real purpose is behind the Treaty. Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Christine Anderson spoke with europeanconservative.com to shine light on the real nature of the agreement.
Christine Anderson has represented the AfD in the European Parliament since 2019. She rose to international fame during the COVID-19 pandemic for tirelessly advocating against the restrictions on fundamental freedoms globally. The walls of her tiny office in the Parliament are covered with letters and children’s drawings—messages of gratitude from as far as Japan—as well as a giant Canadian flag that was flown in Ottawa during the 2022 truckers’ blockade.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sovereigntists across Europe are jubilant about Karol Nawrocki’s victory in the Polish presidential election—a win, also, for the wider populist movement, which the Left has long tried to write off as dead.
The mood could not be more different in Brussels—or, indeed, in Brussels-friendly capitals—where official statements are as kind as they must be for diplomatic reasons while also pointing to underlying anxieties. Politico, the favorite outlet of Eurocrats, admitted that with Nawrocki’s win, “mainstream Brussels has lost a role model for how to counter populism.”
In Hungary, by contrast, prime minister Viktor Orban praised the “fantastic victory” and wished Nawrocki luck, while foreign minister Péter Szijjarto called the result a “fresh victory for [European] patriots” more broadly.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
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.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European banks could soon use AI not just to catch fraud — but to stop it before their clients even hit “send”.
A May 2025 study requested by the European Parliament has proposed setting up AI systems that watch payment behaviour in real time and stop transfers deemed suspicious before they are approved.
The study noted that European banks trailed behind their US peers and fintech start-ups in tech-driven fraud prevention, even as payment fraud incidents across the bloc have surged in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
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.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
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.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the centre-left coalition government leader, has asked parliament to initiate a vote of confidence in his government.
Tusk made his move in a televised address to the nation on June 2, just a day after Poles elected Karol Nawrocki, the opposition Conservatives (PiS), candidate, as President and rejected the government’s candidate Rafal Trzaskowski.
Nawrocki on June 2 received customary congratulations and good wishes from other political heavyweights, including European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte and Czech president Petr Pavel — but not from PM Tusk.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
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 Tomas Jirikovský, who served time for embezzlement, drug trafficking, and arms violations. Jirikovský, 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.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Tuesday announced the collapse of his cabinet during a press conference, blaming the fall on the withdrawal of the Party for Freedom (PVV) from the governing coalition. He said the PVV’s exit had stripped the coalition of majority support in the House of Representatives, leaving no choice but to dissolve the government.
Schoof confirmed that he would immediately offer the resignation of all PVV ministers to King Willem-Alexander. Ministers from the remaining parties—the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC), and Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB)—will remain in office in a caretaker capacity.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czechia’s government is currently embroiled in a scandal that could significantly impact its chances of winning the next general election, which is just four months away. One justice minister has already resigned, with talk of other senior ministers walking away—or perhaps even the whole government collapsing.
An urgent session in the Chamber of Deputies will be held to discuss the next steps on Thursday, June 5. The scandal involves bitcoin, a convicted drug trafficker, and an illegal marketplace on the darkweb. Here’s exactly what you need to know—and why it matters.
What happened exactly?
Back in March this year, the Czech Ministry of Justice quietly accepted a donation of 468 bitcoins—worth nearly CZK 1 billion—from Tomas Jirikovský, a wealthy and convicted drug trafficker who previously ran an illegal marketplace on the darkweb.
After Jirikovský was released from prison, he regained access to electronics that had been confiscated during his arrest. Jirikovský offered the ministry 30 percent of the wallet’s contents in exchange for its cooperation in opening it. Then-Justice Minister Pavel Blažek agreed. The transaction went ahead.
Nothing major happened in late May. That’s when Czech media outlet Denik N broke the news of the deal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The first sentences have been handed down following the riots in Paris on Saturday, May 31st after PSG won the Champions League. While we can applaud the authorities’ determination to bring the troublemakers to justice quickly, the leniency of the verdicts stirs scandal. The sentences are completely disproportionate to the seriousness of the offences.
On Monday, June 2nd, four people were tried in summary proceedings. There are approximately sixty defendants in total.
The first images of the ongoing trials raise questions. The language used gives the impression that we are dealing with acts of petty crime, not a civil war-like siege of the capital. “I am not a violent person,” said one defendant, immediately contradicted by the presiding judge: “You can celebrate a victory without mortar. You didn’t find it lying around, you bought it beforehand on Snapchat.” “He realised the seriousness of his actions after the fact,” was even heard during the hearing.
The defendants, who are “sorry” and admit to having made “a mistake,” have so far received insignificant sentences: fines, suspended prison terms from 2 to 8 months, and citizenship courses.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prime Minister François Bayrou is committed to reforming the voting system for parliamentary elections and wants to introduce proportional representation. Long promised, this reform could come to fruition in the coming months, but Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is vehemently opposed to it. He has even threatened to resign if the reform goes ahead.
The current French system uses two rounds to elect members of the National Assembly. Each of the country’s 577 constituencies elects one deputy through majority voting. In the first round, a candidate must win more than 50% of the vote and at least 25% of registered voters to secure a seat. If no candidate meets this, a second round of voting is held between candidates that received a minimum of 12.5% of registered voters’ support, and the person who secures the most votes in that run-off is declared the winner. This system tends to distort national vote shares and favor larger parties.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Authorities in Pilsen have launched a criminal investigation after a woman initially declared dead by a coroner was later found to be breathing by funeral home staff.
The incident occurred Friday morning after emergency services responded to a call regarding an elderly woman, born in 1937. Following protocol for suspected death, the case was referred to a coroner. The coroner then declared the lady dead. However, later that morning, workers from a funeral service discovered signs of respiratory activity in the woman.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said it no longer excluded detaining Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit the country.
In a May 31 interview with German newspaper FAZ, Thorsten Frei, chief-of-staff of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), tried to evade the question of whether Germany would execute an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu should he land on its shores.
“Currently, there is no visit planned. Therefore, there are also no decisions to take,” Frei said. He continued: “As a matter of principle, Germany respects the independence of the International Criminal Court and its procedures, as well as those of all other international courts.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The government of the German state of Brandenburg has admitted that its local intelligence bureau runs 287 fake accounts on social media. The admission came in the government’s response to an AFD parliamentary queryand was reported by the German wire service DPA and confirmed by the local parliamentary group of the opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Citing state interests (Staatswohl), however, the government refused to reveal further details on the social media platforms used by the intelligence agents or the exact targets of their operations (such as “right-wing extremism”, “left-wing extremism” or Islamism). The AfD Brandenburg has vowed to take legal action to force the disclosure of more detailed data.
The revelation is of particular significance for the AfD, since, as reported byBrussels Signal, the party has itself been under investigation by German domestic intelligence, the so-called Office for the Protection of the Constitution, for alleged right-wing “extremism”. Party officials contend that the presence of German domestic intelligence agents in chat-groups and on social media means that evidence favouring this designation is tainted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s highest court has thrown out two suits brought by the left-wing Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) party, challenging the general election result on February 23, 2025.
The Federal Constitutional Court announced its decisions on June 3 in a press release.
BSW had narrowly missed the threshold of 5 per cent of the vote to enter the main chamber of the German parliament, the Bundestag. The party — which broke off from the far-left Die Linke in January 2024 — achieved 4.981 per cent, missing the threshold by 9,500 votes and thus getting no seats in parliament.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s leftist justice minister has revived calls to ban the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), openly threatening legal action against the country’s most popular opposition party.
In a recent interview with Rheinische Post, Stefanie Hubig of the left-wing SPD forcefully reopened the debate on the potential banning of the AfD. Unlike other politicians who have treaded carefully, Hubig openly supports keeping the option of a ban on the table. “If the legal requirements are met, then we must not hesitate,” she stated bluntly.
Hubig, former minister of education in Rhineland-Palatinate and a trained lawyer, justifies her stance in the name of the rule of law. She says her guiding principle is the German Basic Law, which she claims requires the state to act when an organization actively threatens the democratic order. What she does not explain is how AfD threatens that order, nor what exactly she even means by it.
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Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary spoke before the General Assembly of Delegates of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) on Friday, 30 May in Budapest, Hungary. He did so on the occasion of the signing of a new strategic cooperation agreement between the Hungarian government and HCCI.
‘Let us remind ourselves that we have been working together for 15 years…The HCCI is a distinguished partner for the Government. There are many organizations that seek to represent the interests of businesses, and we express our respect to them; but at the same time we acknowledge that the HCCI is the key strategic partner for the Hungarian government. So what we think about businesses and businesspeople is reflected in our cooperation with the HCCI: this is the basis and the origin of our cooperation. In this context, I probably do not need to speak at length about the fact that Hungary’s future depends not solely on politics and parties—although, of course, it does depend on them also—but primarily on performance and partnership,’ the Prime Minister stated in his speech.
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On 29 May, the national holiday of Ascension Day, Google Maps displayed large swathes of the German autobahn network as closed, prompting widespread detours and congestion.
Users setting out for the holiday or a long weekend trusted red “road closed” warnings and “no entry” symbols to reroute but it turned out none of those sections was actually blocked.
Traffic backed up across Germany, spilling into Belgian and Dutch border regions. In Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg, secondary roads became gridlocked as drivers sought any alternative to Google Maps’ indicated closures.
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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.”
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English blasphemy laws were officially abolished almost two decades ago. But free speech campaigners warn that they have returned in all but name after a man who set fire to a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London was convicted on Monday of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Hamit Coskun—a Turkish political refugee—shouted “f**k Islam” and “Islam is religion of terrorism” as he held the burning book aloft in February and, after being found guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court of the offence, was fined £240 (€285) with a statutory surcharge of £96 (€114).
Free speech campaigners have been especially critical of the Crown Prosecution Service’s initial charge, accusing Coskun of acting with “intent to cause against the religious institution of Islam harassment, alarm or distress”—as though Islam itself were a person.
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Italy’s Giorgia Meloni could not have made it more clear that she will not participate in Britain and France’s so-called coalition of the willing, which will send European ‘peacekeeping’ forces to Ukraine—that is, if Donald Trump backs the plans and the tired armies of Europe can actually muster up enough troops.
But Emmanuel Macron is travelling to Rome today, on June 3rd, where he will dine with the Italian prime minister—apparently upon his own request—and try again to bring her around.
An Élysée readout said the French president will ask that the two countries “move forward together,” especially on the issue of Ukraine. The French president’s office also noted that Italy is an important partner that has a “crucial role to play in European decisions.”
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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.
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The non-PVV Cabinet members all responded with disappointment and anger to Geert Wilders’ decision to pull the PVV out of the coalition and recall his Ministers from the Schoof I Cabinet. They described it as “embarrassing,” “sad,” and “unnecessary,” speaking to the media on their way into the Prime Minister’s office to discuss how to proceed. Housing Minister Mona Keijzer (BBB) went so far as to call Wilders a traitor.
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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 Rafal Trzaskowski.
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk acknowledged on Monday that the presidential election result, which saw conservative Karol Nawrocki defeat the government-backed candidate Rafal 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.”
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Poland’s liberal prime minister has called a vote of confidence in his government following the victory of the conservative opposition-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki in Sunday’s presidential election.
The move is a clear attempt to repair PM Donald Tusk’s broken image and restore a sense of authority that he needs to continue his sweeping reforms, which are now at renewed risk of being blocked by a conservative president.
“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,” Tusk said on Monday evening.
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Big food delivery apps Delivery Hero and Glovo have been hit with fines after European Union investigators discovered they worked together instead of competing with each other.
The EU said on June 2 Delivery Hero must pay €223 million and Glovo €106 million because, from 2018 to 2022, the two firms quietly agreed to split up markets, swap sensitive business information and promised not to “poach” or “try to hire” each other’s employees.
By teaming up in sch a way, they formed a cartel — an illegal alliance that keeps prices high and limits choice — it was ruled.
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What began as an initiative to reinforce digital safety for minors is rapidly evolving into one of the most ambitious—and potentially controversial—regulatory reforms of the European digital space. Denmark, Slovenia, and Cyprus have joined the plan launched by Spain, France, and Greece to establish a common minimum age across the European Union (EU) for minors to access social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or X.
The proposal will be officially presented this Friday, June 6th, at the EU Telecommunications Council in Luxembourg. While no specific age has yet been proposed for the overall EU regulation, in. France, one of the promoters of the EU-wide reform, already in 2023 banned access to social media for children under 15 without parental consent, and Spain is working on a law to raise that threshold to 16. The stated goal is to shield minors from the psychological and social risks associated with these platforms.
As part of the broader strategy, the European Commission is developing a mobile application allowing users to verify whether they are over 18, without disclosing their exact age.
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Co-President of the French National Digital Council, Gilles Babinet, has warned that social media “in their current forms are not compatible with democracy”.
Giving testimony on June 2 as part of an inquiry by French parliamentarians into the psychological effects of TikTok, Babinet argued that social media algorithm eroded democratic debate by encouraging “radical” statements.
“Social networks in their current form are incompatible with democracy. We are witnessing a severe degradation of democratic debate,” he said.
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Stockholm officials are concerned that despite last month lowering the national terror threat level, the threat against Sweden’s Jewish population continues to grow.
The government has responded by launching a ten-year ‘national strategy,’ which Moderate Party culture minister Parisa Liljestrand conversely described as “very urgent,” to combat antisemitism.
But critics warn that the actual cause of this growing problem is being ignored.
Swedish comedian and writer Aron Flam said—in a thinly veiled comment on migration—that the government “can’t even mention where the threat is coming from and they are doing nothing (right) to stop what is coming.”
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VOX leader Santiago Abascal delivered a scathing rebuke to the People’s Party (PP) this past Monday for promoting a demonstration against Pedro Sanchez’s government, scheduled for this coming Sunday, June 8th, while continuing to uphold key agreements with the socialists in Brussels.
The timing of the protest has not gone unnoticed: it coincides with the Madrid Economic Forum, a high-profile international conservative event featuring the presence of Argentine President Javier Milei, whose visit threatens to overshadow the PP’s demonstration.
“It’s a political fraud. You cannot denounce Sanchez as a threat to Spain and simultaneously support him in the European Parliament,” Abascal declared in a television interview. “The People’s Party poses as opposition in Madrid but cooperates in Brussels. How can we take their narrative seriously when they vote with the PSOE 90% of the time in European decisions?” he added.
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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.
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The Hague is in chaos after Geert Wilders, the leader of the largest party in the Dutch parliament, announced that he’s taking the right-wing populist Freedom Party (PVV/PfE) out of the government. The reason is PVV’s much-needed asylum reform proposal, which failed to gather support from smaller, center-right coalition partners despite months of endless negotiations.
“No signature under our asylum plans … The PVV leaves the coalition,” Wilders wrote in a post on X on Tuesday, June 3rd. The party leader said he informed PM Dick Schoof that all PVV ministers will resign.
On Tuesday afternoon, Schoof officially announced the fall of the government to the media and said he would go to the king and offer the resignation of the cabinet.
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For a while now, the Ukraine-Russia war has been compared by various pundits to the Korean War of the early 1950s. That conflict, which split the Korean Peninsula in two, ended without a clear victor. Hostilities ceased with the signing of an armistice in 1953, but no formal peace treaty ever followed. The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, suspended in an uneasy truce and still divided along the 38th parallel.
Could Ukraine be heading toward a similar outcome? In many respects, today’s deadlock echoes the dynamics of the Korean War. North Korea relied on support from China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was backed by a United States-led coalition. Following a series of offensives and counteroffensives, the conflict slowed down to a war of attrition, which dragged out the negotiation of a ceasefire for two years.
Today, Russia, bolstered by China’s backing, is fighting in Ukraine, whose army is sustained by its Western allies. In the past year, the conflict has slowed down, and the map of the front line no longer sees dramatic changes.
But unlike in the Korean War, the prospects of a ceasefire here appear slim after three years of fighting. The diplomatic and pressure politics offensive by US President Donald Trump to force the two sides to put down their weapons has borne no fruit.
Both sides talk about ceasefire, but act as if they want the war to continue.
On Sunday, a fresh dose of fuel was poured into the fire.
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Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that the point of holding peace talks with Ukraine was to ensure a swift and complete Russian victory.
“The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else’s delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of the neo-Nazi regime,” the hawkish deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council said on Telegram.
“That’s what the Russian Memorandum published yesterday is about.”
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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.
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Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Tuesday that it had hit the road and rail bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula below the water level with explosives.
In a statement, the SBU said it had used 2,420 pounds of explosives that were detonated early in the morning and damaged underwater pillars of the bridge, a key supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine in the past.
The official Russian outlet which provides regular status updates on the bridge said its operation had been suspended for about three hours between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time.
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According to a statement released on Tuesday, Ukraine’s SBU said it used 1,100 kilograms (2,420 pounds) of explosives to target the road and rail bridge early in the morning.The blast reportedly struck the underwater pillars of the 19-kilometre Crimea Bridge over the Kerch Strait, a vital military and civilian link between Russia and the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. “Previously, we hit the Crimean Bridge twice, in 2022 and 2023. So today we continued this tradition underwater,” said the SBU, adding that the operation had been in planning for several months.
Footage released by the SBU showed an explosion near one of the bridge’s support columns.Reuters confirmed the location using visual elements of the bridge matched against satellite and file images, but could not independently verify when the video was recorded. The official Russian outlet responsible for providing status updates on the bridge said that its operation was suspended between 4 am. and 7 am local time. No official reason was given for the three-hour closure, although it confirmed that the bridge had reopened and was functioning normally.
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NEW DELHI, India: This year’s Asia Cup hangs in the balance following the recent clashes between tournament hosts India and arch-rivals Pakistan.
Already-soured relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors further worsened after four days of intense fighting before a ceasefire was announced last month.
India are scheduled to host the Asia Cup, a flagship event of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), in September but uncertainty lingers over the T20 tournament.
“To be honest, we have had no discussions within the board about the Asia Cup,” a top official of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) told Reuters on Tuesday, refusing to confirm whether the tournament will go ahead as scheduled.
“We have been busy with the Indian Premier League and then we have India’s tour of England. These are our immediate concerns,” he added.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was not forthcoming about its team’s participation in the tournament in India either.
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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, told BBC that Pakistan fought the recent 96-hour conflict with India using only its own resources.
His remarks counter reports from Indian media claiming China’s military assistance to Pakistan during the clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbours last month.
General Mirza emphasised that Pakistan used equipment comparable to India’s and procured some military hardware from other countries.
He highlighted that previous skirmishes were limited to disputed areas and did not reach the international border.
However, he continued, “This time the borders were relatively peaceful and this time the cities were hot.”
He argued that this lowering of threshold where cities are considered focal targets is dangerous for both India and Pakistan in any future conflict.
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Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news
The BBC has reported on smartphones smuggled out of North Korea that are setup to spy on citizens and prevent them from using language that is not authorised by the Communist state.
Instead of simply not allowing North Korean people to have such devices, the regime there has decided to manufacture and distribute phones as a tool for further controlling the population amid fears that freedom, in the form of South Korean culture, is encroaching.
The BBC reporter demonstrates how the phone edits words and phrases that are are not acceptable to the North Korean government, and replaces them with language they have sanctioned.
In one example, the reporter types in a South Korean slang word for “boyfriend” and the phone changes it to “comrade.”
A second example shows the reporter typing in ‘South Korea’ and the phone automatically changing it to “Puppet State.”
The phone also covertly takes a screenshot every five minutes, stores the images in a secret folder which the user cannot access, but North Korean authorities can scour through should they wish to do so.
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China-based AI company DeepSeek has released the latest version of its reasoning model, R1-0528, boasting technical improvements that bring it closer to the capabilities of Western leaders like OpenAI. Yet the real spotlight has landed not on its performance benchmarks, but on how aggressively it skirts politically sensitive territory.
While the model excels at tasks like mathematics, programming, and factual recall, its responses to questions touching on Chinese state policy or historical controversies have raised alarm. The behavior was documented by a pseudonymous developer known as “xlr8harder,” who has been using a custom-built tool, SpeechMap, to evaluate language models’ openness on contentious issues.
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An illegal migrant accused of planning to assassinate Donald Trump was framed in an elaborate scheme to stop him testifying in court, prosecutors say.
Ramon Morales-Reyes, 54, was rounded up by ICE last week after Milwaukee cops accused him of writing a chilling letter to a border agent warning he was ‘tired of this president messing with us Mexicans’.
‘We have done more for this country than you white people—you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him,’ the letter read.
The letter, written in neat handwriting in English, included a promise to ‘self-deport myself back to Mexico’, but only after carrying out a plot on the president’s life.
‘Not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president in his head — I will see him at one of his big rallies,’ the letter concluded.
Morales-Reyes’ arrest was lauded by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at the time, but according to a filing in Milwaukee County on Monday, the letter was fake.
Demetric Scott, 52, was arrested after allegedly trying to frame Morales-Reyes and get him deported so he would not be able to testify against him in a violent armed robbery case.
[Comment: Wow.]
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The Department of Homeland Security announced a revamp of its Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line in the wake of the attacks in Colorado over the weekend allegedly committed by an illegal migrant.
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem is adding resources and more manpower to the 24-hour tip line, according to Monday’s announcement.
On Sunday, 12 people were injured in Boulder, Colorado, when police say Mohamed Sabry Soliman, in the country illegally, allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices on a group that had gathered to bring attention to the Israeli hostages in Gaza. The FBI called it a terrorist attack.
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Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) has blown up the Dutch Government after the coalition failed to agree on stricter asylum policies.
On May 27, party leader Wilders had presented a list of demands to tackle the migrant crisis in the Netherlands, threatening to leave the government if other parties did not change course on the issue.
On June 3, the four coalition parties had a final meeting over Wilders’ demands, with the three other majority parties saying they did not want to change the coalition agreement.
As a result, the PVV decided to leave, effectively ending Prime Minister Dick Schoof’s administration.
It was unclear if there would now be new elections or not but many observers anticipated that the future government would take a turn to the Left either way.
At 9:15 AM, Wilders shared the news on social media.
“No signature for our asylum plans. No adjustment Main Line Agreement. PVV leaves coalition”, he wrote on X.
“We could not do otherwise. I promised voters the strictest asylum policy ever but you were not granted it,” he then added.
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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 have signed for the strictest asylum policy, not for the downfall of the Netherlands. This is where our responsibility ends,” he added.
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Last update at 9:52 a.m.
The Cabinet in the Netherlands fell apart after less than a year in office when PVV leader Geert Wilders pulled out of the four-party coalition on Tuesday. The decision was announced by coalition parties VVD, NSC, and BBB after a brief second meeting on a set of ten demands about asylum, migration, and immigration policy Wilders put forward last week.
Wilders drew the ire and scorn of his colleagues for threatening to pull out of the coalition. The four parties had agreements in place about the issues during the marathon of contentious talks that led to the formation of the Cabinet eight months after the November 2023 election.
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The family of Mohamed Soliman, charged with attempted murder after Sunday’s terror attack in Colorado has been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CNN reported, citing Department of Homeland Security sources.
Soliman has a wife and five children, CNN said, citing court filings. The family’s immigration status is unclear, CNN said. It is unknown whether all of his family was taken into custody, CNN said.
Soliman is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails into a group that had gathered to bring attention to Israeli hostages in Gaza, authorities said Monday.
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Berlin Administrative Court has ruled that rejecting asylum seekers at Germany’s borders was unlawful without following the Dublin Regulation procedure.
The ruling marked a serious defeat for Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The court clarified that asylum seekers must not be turned away without adhering to the Dublin Regulation, an European Union rule that determines which member state was responsible for processing an asylum application — typically the first EU country the applicant entered.
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Hungary has established itself as one of the most successful European countries in the fight against illegal immigration. In a context where migration flows continue to affect the continent’s stability, the Hungarian government has implemented a comprehensive border control policy based on physical, technological, and legal measures that have drastically reduced illegal crossings. Since January 1st, 2025, Hungary’s southern border with Serbia is its only frontier not shared with a Schengen country, and therefore a crucial containment line for all of Europe.
Europeanconservative.com visited the border and talked with several Police officers about the situation. The official numbers confirm it: between 2022 and 2024, interceptions dropped by more than 95%, while human smuggling cases fell to historic lows. In the face of Brussels’ criticism, Budapest reaffirms its sovereignty and defends order as a non-negotiable condition for any responsible migration policy.
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Federal immigration agents raided a cartel-operated nightclub in South Carolina early Sunday, arresting more than 70 illegal migrants, including a Honduran fugitive wanted for homicide, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Alamo, an underground nightclub in Summerville, was packed at around 3 a.m. when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stormed the building, recovering firearms, bulk cash, seven potential trafficking victims and a missing juvenile. Teens as young as 13 were found drinking inside the club, local law enforcement said.
The club’s owner, Benjamin Reyna-Flores, is a suspected member of the Los Zetas Cartel — now known as Cartel del Noreste (CDN) — which was formally designated a terrorist organization by the Trump Administration in February, Homeland Security said. He now faces both state and federal charges.
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An illegal immigrant has been charged with allegedly sexually abusing a teenage girl after the federal government sent her to live with him as part of the Biden administration’s program to place “unaccompanied alien children” in the homes of “sponsors” around the US.
Wilson Manfredo Lopez-Carillo, 37, was taken into custody by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office in Florida last month. Following his arrest, he was charged with three counts of sexual assault of a minor, Illegal Alien Crimes reported the case first on X with the charging documents.
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After Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced the collapse of his first Cabinet, his coalition’s top deputies put the blame squarely on the PVV and its leader, Geert Wilders. He announced his party’s withdrawal from the governing coalition after refusing to accept anything short of his unilateral demands on asylum policy, even though the coalition largely agreed with his wishes.
It was enough to prompt PVV Deputy Prime Minister Fleur Agema to confirm her departure from the Cabinet, while BBB Deputy Prime Minister Mona Keijzer accused PVV leader Geert Wilders of “betraying the Netherlands.”
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Trump’s border czar Tom Homan declared on Monday night that the United States is under threat of an imminent 9/11-style terror attack due to Joe Biden’s failed immigration policies.
Homan — who oversees Trump’s mass deportation initiative — cited the staggering number of immigrants who evaded capture, called ‘gotaways,’ as the nation’s greatest looming security vulnerability.
‘It’s coming,’ Homan said bluntly on Fox News. ‘I’m convinced something’s coming unless we can find them. It’s only a matter of time.’
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Desperate villagers have vented their fury at an emergency meeting over ‘chaos’ brought to their leafy Windsor idyll by a hotel-turned-asylum hostel.
Almost 100 residents of upmarket Datchet, Berkshire, crammed into a village hall to demand the Manor Hotel be banned from taking taxpayers’ cash to house migrants.
In a heated gathering attended by MailOnline, they insisted that the Manor should be transformed back into a venue for weddings, Christmas dinners and tourist parties.
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A trans-identifying male who was accused of exposing his genitals to a little girl and several women at the female-only Korean Wi Spa in Los Angeles in June 2021 has been acquitted. Darren Agee Merager, 55, of Riverside, was found “not guilty” of felony indecent exposure on Monday following a four-week jury trial at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California. Merager is a tier-one registered sex offender with multiple felonies and several jail stints, according to records.
The jury came to their conclusion after less than an hour and a half of deliberation, telling the Court that prosecutors did not submit sufficient evidence proving that Merager exposed himself with the intent of sexual gratification. Merager is a heterosexual male who identifies as transgender, and prosecutors could not prove that his penis was partially erect while sitting unclothed next to nude female patrons, which were claims made by several witnesses at the spa. Additionally, the jury foreman told Judge Joseph Burghhardt that the spa “let the defendant in,” which assisted the jury in reaching its verdict, according to Los Angeles Magazine.
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Liberals are more than twice as likely to say they have poor mental health — while conservatives are more than twice as likely to say their mental well-being is “excellent.”
Is it any wonder?
Conservatives promote family and religious values and pro-community messaging. The left is the party of grievance politics and “yes you can’t” messaging.
Now, data collected from the 2022 Cooperative Election Study from Tufts University and reported by statistician and political commentator Nate Silver reveals that, among voters who said their mental health was poor, 45% identified as politically liberal and just 19% were conservatives.
Conversely, those who said they had excellent mental health identified as conservative 51% of the time, while 20% were liberal.
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The federal Bureau of Prisons must continue providing hormone therapy and social accommodations to hundreds of transgender inmates following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that led to a disruption in medical treatment, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said a federal law prohibits prison officials from arbitrarily depriving inmates of medications and other lifestyle accommodations that its own medical staff has deemed to be appropriate.
The judge said the transgender inmates who sued to block Trump’s executive order are trying to lessen the personal anguish caused by their gender dysphoria, which is the distress that a person feels because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match.
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President Donald Trump early Tuesday doubled down on his warning that California will face “large scale fines” for allowing a transgender athlete to compete — and win — in the state’s high school track and field championship over the weekend.
“A Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so,” Trump posted on his Truth Social page shortly after midnight. “As Governor Gavin Newscum fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed!!!”
Saturday, transgender athlete AB Hernandez, 16, won gold in the girls’ high jump and triple jump events at the state championships, reports Sports Illustrated.
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There are “no plans” for President Donald Trump to recognize June as Pride Month or to dedicate it to any other minority group or special cause, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“There are no plans for a proclamation for the month of June, but I can tell you that the president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed,” Leavitt said Tuesday during a White House press briefing, according to The Hill.
Although Trump did not issue proclamations recognizing June as Pride Month during his first term, he did mention the month-long acknowledgment of the LGBT community in a social media post in 2019. At the time, he was promoting his administration’s efforts to decriminalize homosexuality around the world.
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Woke Air Canada Celebrates Pride Month With ‘First All-2SLGBTQIA+ Flight’
Air Canada has been forced to shut off public access to its social media replies after launching a special Pride Month celebration that drew critical responses rather than applause.
The Canadian national carrier went public with a post on X — formerly Twitter — celebrating its “first all-2SLGBTQIA+ flight.”
The slick, 90-second video across went across all its platforms, featuring employees from pilots and engineers to ground staff and cabin crew who identify across the self-described “2SLGBTQIA+” spectrum — Two-Spirit (2S), Lesbian (L), Gay (G), Bisexual (B), Transgender (T), Queer or Questioning (Q), Intersex (I), Asexual (A).
“Our first all-2SLGBTQIA+ flight was a heartfelt celebration reflecting our unwavering commitment to inclusivity and equality, in the air and on the ground,” Air Canada posted on X.
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