DIYARBAKIRT, Turkey (AFP) – Four suspected Islamic State militants and two Turkish police officers were killed Monday in a shootout in Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, security services said. Police had launched dawn raids on several houses in a
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) – European Union and Balkan leaders hold emergency talks on Europe’s migrant crisis today amid threats from three frontline states to close their borders if northern EU countries stop accepting migrants. The mini-summit called by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, groups
German will toughen up its asylum rules on Saturday, a week ahead of schedule, as it faces an unprecedented number of migrants arriving from Syria and elsewhere. The new bill, adopted by parliament at exceptional speed, had been expected to
Poland’s conservative opposition is poised to win Sunday’s general election, according to final polls which suggest that its welfare promises and anti-refugee rhetoric have helped clinch a hefty lead over the governing centrists. Analysts however also insist the departure last
Negotiators for the huge Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade pact said Friday they were aiming to conclude a deal next year, after making “substantial progress” this week at talks in in Miami. Week-long discussions in the Florida
Ten years on from the riots that shook France’s suburbs, many residents say almost nothing in their lives has changed, and they feel excluded from the country’s narrative and abandoned by politicians. President Francois Hollande paid a rare visit to
British police arrested a survivor of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and raided his home after he stepped out in front of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s motorcade, police and campaigners said Friday. Shao Jiang could be seen being dragged away by
Greece has seen a record 48,000 migrants and refugees land on its shores in the space of just five days, the International Organisation for Migration said on Friday. “Despite deteriorating weather conditions, approximately 48,000 refugees and migrants crossed from Turkey
A defence witness in the genocide and war crimes case against former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic (pictured above) has been found dead in his Hague hotel room, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal said Thursday. Dusan Dunjic, a forensic pathologist
Trollhättan (Sweden) (AFP) – A masked man brandishing a sword killed a teacher and a student and seriously wounded two other people at a school in Sweden Thursday before being shot and killed. Pictures taken by students and circulating in
A US F-18 fighter jet crashed near a British air base on Wednesday, killing the pilot, police and the US Embassy in London said. The single-seater US Navy plane came down near the town of Ely, around 130 kilometres (80
Ali, a Palestinian-Syrian banker desperate to reach the Netherlands, had to hide his surprise when he finally met a shadowy forger known as “The Whale” at an Arab-style shisha cafe near Athens. “It turns out the guy I’d been speaking
Poland’s divided attitudes to the European refugee crisis were laid bare during a televised debate between political candidates, ahead of a general election the conservative opposition is tipped to win. Candidates from eight parties faced off on how Poland should
An EU scheme to relocate asylum seekers from overstretched Italy and Greece could grind to a halt just two weeks after it began if member states fail to meet their obligations, an EU source said Tuesday. The source said Italy
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AFP) – Slovenia called in the army to help it manage a flood of refugees seeking to reach northern Europe ahead of winter, as the small EU state became the latest trouble spot on the migrant trail. The Slovenian
PERTH, Australia (AFP) – Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders was Wednesday met by protesters as he helped launch a new political party in Perth, the Australian Liberty Alliance. The Dutch firebrand and eurosceptic, who was controversially granted a visa, said the new party
Greece has witnessed a surge in migrant arrivals in recent days amid fears of worsening weather and closing borders inside Europe, the United Nations and Greek authorities said Tuesday. The UN refugee agency said it had registered a clear “spike
A Magna Carta exhibition scheduled for a Shanghai museum has been switched to the British Consulate — the second time the historic declaration of rights has been moved from a public venue in communist-ruled China. A display of one of
(AFP) – Poland’s conservative President Andrzej Duda on Sunday said his government should take steps to protect its citizens if it took in migrants as they could bring “possible epidemics”. The statements are potentially embarrassing for former Polish premier Donald
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday hailed progress in helping Ankara deal with the refugee crisis and vowed to push forwards its long-stalled EU membership bid, as Slovenia warned it would have to slow a rising influx of migrants. Merkel
Two Syrian sisters hold up a sign on an improvised board made of pink rubber – an attempt to keep fellow refugees calm as they wait in long, slow-moving queues at the Serbia-Croatia border. “There are no buses right now. Be
BONN, Germany – As UN diplomats convened in Bonn Monday, developing nations were balking at the latest draft of a global climate agreement to be inked in Paris in December, negotiators and experts said. The five-day session is the last
ZURICH, Switzerland – Swiss voters swung to the right in parliamentary elections on Sunday dominated by concerns over Europe’s migrant crisis, with the country’s largest party, the populist Swiss People’s Party, on track to win a record number of seats.
A group of 84 bishops have written to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to allow more Syrian refugees to settle in Britain, a published letter showed. The call comes days after 300 senior lawyers, former law lords and retired
Thousands took to the streets of San Sebastian in northern Spain on Saturday to call for the release of Arnaldo Otegi, the jailed head of the Basque independence Sortu party. Otegi, 57, is a former member of the armed separatist
