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Two police officers have been stabbed in Brussels in a possible terrorist incident, Belgian prosecutors say. One officer was stabbed in the neck and another in the stomach, while a third officer who arrived at the scene suffered a broken nose, Belgian broadcaster VRT reports. The attacker was shot in the leg and taken away by ambulance. It comes just hours after two major train stations in the Belgian capital were evacuated following a bomb scare.

MEDDLING Brussels has said the British press should not report when terrorists are Muslims in a slew of demands to the Government to crack down on the media. A report from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) found there was an increase in hate speech and racist violence in the UK from 2009 to March 2016. Blaming the press, ECRI Chair Christian Ahlund, said: “It is no coincidence that racist violence is on the rise in the UK at the same time as we see worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even...

Migrant families from camps in Greece and Turkey say they feel “cheated” to have been resettled in Lithuania, where benefits are lower than in Germany. One family is now looking into filing a complaint with the United Nations (UN). Despite families’ initially expressing gratitude to the Baltic state which offered them asylum, many have fled to richer countries, blasting asylum agencies for “deceiving” them by giving the impression that Lithuania is a “Class A” nation similar to Sweden and Germany.

Britain’s exit from the European Union — whenever it takes place — is a cloud over the economic outlook for both the country and its major trading partners within the 19-country eurozone. Further evidence emerged Wednesday to show that businesses across the single currency bloc are fretting over the risks, while those in Britain appear to have gotten over the initial shock of the vote to leave on June 23 thanks partly to the plunge in the pound. The drop in the currency, which this week hit a 31-year low against the dollar, makes British exports more competitive. Both the...

At their third annual joint conference, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and George Washington University (GWU) held a meeting on GWU’s campus last week. CIA Director John Brennan gave the opening remarks and interestingly enough, mentioned that the humanitarian and refugee crises concern the CIA's analysts. Also in his opening remarks, he estimated that up to 35 years of development has been set back due to the current Syrian civil war. He spoke about the perceived secrecy surrounding the CIA, “The American people have the right to know” what the government is doing, and made a veiled reference to exiled...

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has declared victory in a referendum on mandatory EU migrant quotas, despite a low turnout that appeared to render it invalid. Nearly 98% of those who took part supported the government's call to reject the EU plan. But only 43% of the electorate voted, short of the 50% required to be valid. A government spokesman said the outcome was binding "politically and legally" but the opposition said the government did not have the support it needed. Mr Orban urged EU decision makers to take note of the result and said he would change Hungary's constitution to...

Today’s mayhem is not so much the result of reckless bankers and asleep at the wheel regulators, but rather of the public policy response to the last crisis itself – that is to say, regulatory over-reach and central bank money printing. All eyes are naturally focused on the specific problems of Deutsche Bank, but Deutsche is in truth no more than the canary in the coal mine. As Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse, observed last week, as an entire sector, European banks are still “not really investable”. Much the same disease as afflicts Continental banks also applies to...

Hungary referendum rejects EU mandatory migrant plan Prime Minister Viktor Orban called on EU leaders to note the result Hungarians who voted in a referendum on Sunday have overwhelmingly rejected mandatory EU migrant quotas, the national election office has said.But exit polls suggest that turnout failed to reach the 50% needed for the result to be valid. With nearly all the votes counted, 98% rejected the quotas, officials said.

Germany’s highest official responsible for refugees has again called for the return of asylum seekers to Greece as the first EU country they normally reach, saying the European Union’s Dublin Regulation should be implemented regardless of objections by Athens. “I would like the Dublin convention to be applied again... we will take up discussions on this in a meeting with (EU) interior ministers,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in an interview published in the Greek media on Sunday, saying talks on the issue will take place later this month.

Hungary is set to vote in a referendum on whether to accept mandatory EU quotas for relocating migrants. Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban opposes plans to relocate a total of 160,000 migrants across the bloc. Opinion polls suggest strong support for a rejection among those who say they will vote. To be valid, turnout needs to be over 50% of voters. Voters will be asked: "Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly?" In December Hungary filed a court challenge against...

Theresa May will on Sunday announce she will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act in a move that will formally begin the process of making Britain’s Parliament sovereign once again. Addressing the Conservative Party Conference for the first time as leader, Mrs May will declare that her government will begin work to end the legislation that gives European Union law supremacy in Britain. In its place, a new “Great Repeal Bill” will be introduced in Parliament as early as next year to put power for the nation’s laws back into the hands of MPs and peers. The announcement is Mrs...

The European Union could remove Colombian guerilla movement FARC from its list of known terrorists, pending the signing of the peace agreement between the group and the country’s government. EurActiv Spain reports.Ahead of a formalization of the deal between FARC and the Colombian government, the EU indicated that it could soon remove the group from its terrorist blacklist. “FARC currently sits on the list of terrorist organizations in Colombia,” confirmed European Commission spokesperson Maja Kocijancic today (26 September), adding that the EU “has strongly supported the Colombia peace deal”. […] The European Court of Justice last week recommended that Hamas...

A huge explosion has rocked the centre of the Hungarian capital Budapest sparking fears of a terror attack. At least two people are believed to have been injured with a large police presence at the city's Oktogon intersection. Reports say the blast may have been caused by a gas leak, but this has not officially been confirmed. Footage from the scene shows a queue of police cars rushing down the street with terrified people running in the other direction. Cops have cordoned off a large area around a shop at the corner of Kiraly Utca (King Street) and buildings have...

Rarely in history has an offer of 13 billion euros been refused by a state or organization. Yet the government of Ireland entered the book of records on September 2, 2016 by not taking the offered gift. Instead, it decided to appeal against the ruling of the European Commission that it had granted Apple undue and illegal tax benefits that allowed the company to pay substantially less tax than other businesses, and that Ireland should recover the illegal aid. The European Commission had no specific concern about the Irish tax system, nor is it anxious to harmonize corporate tax rates...

New York, September 19 - Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday reiterated his disappointment at Friday's EU summit in Bratislava, which concluded with him openly coming out against Germany's and France's stance on migrants and economic growth for the bloc's post-Brexit future. "If Europe continues like this, we'll have to get organised and act autonomously on immigration," Renzi said. "This is the only new development to come from Bratislava, where there were so many words, but we weren't capable to saying anything clear about the issue of Africa. "That's why, to use a euphemism, we didn't take it well. "(European Commission...

With the influx of 1.3 million refugees and migrant asylum seekers flooding into Europe in 2015, a median 59 percent (59%) across 10 European Union (EU) countries have voiced concern about the prospect of increased terrorism, notes a recent Pew Research Center survey. The 10 EU countries that make up the survey include: France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. According to the Pew survey, “[m]any Europeans are concerned that the influx of refugees will increase the likelihood of terrorism and impose a burden on their countries.” A majority in eight of 10 of the...

This is the first time the General Assembly has called for a summit at the Heads of State and Government level on large movements of refugees and migrants and it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response.

"We have no use for staged events," the Italian PM has said one day after a meeting of European Union leaders. Renzi had refused to appear during closing press conference with his German and French counterparts. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi blasted the latest European Union summit in Bratislava on Saturday, effectively labeling Friday's high-level meeting a waste of time. "I don't think it would be right for Italy to pretend not to notice when things are not getting any better," Renzi said at a conference in Florence. Hours earlier, he criticized the summit in an interview with TV broadcaster...

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Bratislava (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Friday that the EU faces a "critical situation", as European leaders sought to plot the bloc's post-Brexit future at a summit without Britain. The 27 leaders -- minus British Prime Minister Theresa May -- gathered at Bratislava's towering castle overlooking the River Danube, determined to respond to the challenges of mass migration, security, globalisation and a stuttering economy. The aim was to thrash out a "roadmap" of reforms during talks in the Slovak capital's towering hilltop castle, and a boat trip down the Danube. Merkel said the bloc simply had to...