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Nine EU states are targeting the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights in a wider bid to deport unwanted migrants. A letter spearheaded by Denmark, which is set to take over the rotating EU presidency from July, is demanding more leeway on deporting people who have committed crimes. Published on Thursday (22 May), the letter was signed by leaders of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, and Poland. It faults the court for placing rights restrictions on deportations of "criminal foreign nationals". They are also unhappy on how the court interprets the European Convention on Human Rights,...

In a massive sting operation straight out of a crime thriller, Spanish police have smashed one of Europe’s most powerful underworld banks – a slick, secretive syndicate laundering millions using the ancient and shadowy “hawala” method. Cash, crypto and contraband – the works. In unbelievable scenes, Spain’s National Police, backed by EUROPOL and EUROJUST, swooped on a web of luxury and illegality. The secret January raids – now revealed – saw over 250 officers hit 13 locations across Spain and Belgium in a coordinated blitz, nabbing 17 suspects, seizing mountains of loot and blowing apart a money-moving machine that had...

A casual hike on the slopes of Zvičina Hill in the Czech Republic led to a remarkable discovery when two hikers stumbled upon a lost gold treasure worth more than $340,000. The find, made in early February but only recently announced, includes 598 gold coins, jewelry, and other artifacts. The entire collection weighs about seven kilograms, with gold coins accounting for nearly 3.7 kilograms. While exploring the landscape near the Polish border, the hikers uncovered a tin container packed with nearly 600 gold coins. The coins were carefully stacked in eleven piles and wrapped in black cloth. Not far from...

An earthenware dish designed and signed by Pablo Picasso in 1953, depicting a bullfight, was discovered by an employee of a second-hand shop in Antwerp, according to a local news outlet. “It’s a beautiful work. It required knowledge and training to spot it, though,” Davy van Basteleare, the Kringwinkel Antwerpen’s auction manager, told VRT News. The dish is in excellent condition, according to Lander Janssens, Head of Sales and Marketing at Kringwinkel. It is made of white earthenware with brown-green decoration in engobe (clay or clay powder), enamel, and oxidised paraffin. On the back of the dish are two stamps:...

The two men had entered Kenya on a tourist visa and were staying in a guest house in the western town of Naivasha. Their lawyer said that her clients did not know what they were doing was illegal. Two Belgian teenagers who were found with thousands of ants valued at more than €8,000 and allegedly destined for European and Asian markets will be sentenced in two weeks, a Kenyan magistrate has said. Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya's main airport, said she would not rush the case but would take time to review environmental impact and psychological reports...

Western nations are experiencing a spiritual awakening as church pews fill up and baptismal fonts overflow. From France to Belgium, from the United Kingdom to the United States, a dramatic surge in Christian faith is sweeping across the West—a revival many are calling a “silent revolution” against the failures of globalism, mass migration, and leftist cultural engineering. British conservative commentator Mahyar Tousi highlighted the trend in a powerful new video, reporting on a massive rise in church attendance and adult baptisms this past Easter. With soaring numbers across multiple countries, it’s clear that Christianity is no longer in retreat—it’s fighting...

Ninety per cent bored stiff, nine per cent frozen stiff and one per cent scared stiff. That was - historian Andy Robertshaw insists - the experience of most soldiers in the First World War. It was not one of constant fighting, never-ending trench foot and heartless aggression from commanding officers, despite the impression to the contrary given by most film depictions. As for how I felt on a chilly but sunny day last week when I toured Andy's faithful reconstruction of a real British trench, I will let you decide from the pictures. The trench dug in woodland at Detling...

A court in the Flemish Brabant city of Leuven has refrained from passing sentence on a 24-year-old medical student found guilty of the rape of a fellow student in November 2023. The judge decided not to pass sentence which means that although found guilty of rape the student will not have a criminal record or have to pay a fine, serve a custodial sentence or have to abide by any probation conditions. "It is undeniable that he crossed the line of what is acceptable, but he is still young”, the judge said. The rape took place in Leuven on 8...

The European Parliament has, once again, found itself at the heart of a corruption scandal, this time involving the Chinese tech giant Huawei. Police raids have been carried out across Belgium and Portugal amid suspicions of bribery, forgery, money laundering, and organized criminal activity. The European Parliament’s latest corruption scandal unfolds even as the previous one—the so-called ‘Qatargate’ affair—remains under investigation and litigation, further deepening preexisting concerns about foreign influence in EU institutions. The Qatargate scandal, which surfaced more than two years ago, involves allegations that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), lobbyists, and their families accepted substantial sums of...

An explosion in southern Lebanon last week destroyed what is believed to have been a Hezbollah weapons depot. This latest in a series of mysterious “accidents” in Hezbollah-controlled precincts proved, as one Israeli official wryly remarked, that those who “sleep with rockets and amass large stockpiles of weapons are in a very unsafe place.” With the Party of God’s overland supply route through Syria choked off by the 22-month-long uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Israel virtually in total control of the maritime route, Hezbollah’s stockpile is being systematically degraded.Yet the arsenal of Iran’s other regional proxy force, Hamas,...

... "This was a desperate attempt in cooperation with Brussels."

Conservative Bart De Wever was sworn in Monday as Belgium’s new prime minister, after striking a hard-fought coalition deal that moves the country to the right. Struck late Friday after seven months of tortuous negotiations, the agreement makes De Wever the first nationalist from Dutch-speaking Flanders to be named Belgian premier. The 54-year-old — who in recent years has backed off on calls for Flanders to become an independent country — took the oath of office before King Philippe, in a ceremony at the royal palace in Brussels.

WASHINGTON — Paul Goffin has spent much of his adult life solemnly remembering the American Army Soldiers who fought to free his home country, Belgium, during World War II. Yet, it wasn’t until Goffin retired in 1990 from the World Bank in the Washington, D.C., area that he could dedicate serious time to help recognize the men who fought during the Battle of the Bulge, the largest and deadliest conflict of the war. “They represented everything,” said Goffin, now 100, during an interview at his northern Virginia home. "They brought back the freedom which we didn't have, the hope for...

Language clash on a rush-hour train ignites political uproar in Belgium – and an official complaint. A seemingly innocent greeting from a train conductor has sparked a full-blown political row in Belgium, after a Dutch-speaking passenger took offence to a French ‘bonjour’ on board a rush-hour train. The conductor’s attempt to please all passengers has instead ignited a war of words in a country already deeply divided over language politics. Now Belgium’s language watchdog, the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control has got involved. That’s right, the big dogs have stepped in the ring. Who knows where this may take us...

In Munich on September 16, 1972, 10 days after the massacre of the Israeli athelets, a Nazi fascist rally, "the First National European Congress of Youth," was held. The 600 delegates cheered Black September to the rafters. Delegates also extolled Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian who killed Senator Robert Kennedy.

The European Green Party on Friday called for Jill Stein, the 2024 presidential candidate of the U.S. Green Party, to withdraw from the race...writing that the election is “too close for comfort.” “On 5 November 2024, the world will be watching to see whether Americans choose Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to be their next president,” the European party, also known as the European Greens, wrote. “Ahead of these pivotal elections, European Greens have called upon US Green Party candidate Jill Stein to withdraw her Presidential candidacy, and endorse Kamala Harris.” Harris is the only candidate who can block former...

Green politicians from across Europe on Friday called on U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to withdraw from the race for the White House and endorse Democrat Kamala Harris instead.“We are clear that Kamala Harris is the only candidate who can block Donald Trump and his anti-democratic, authoritarian policies from the White House,” Green parties from countries including Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, Belgium, Spain, Poland and Ukraine said in a statement, which was shared with POLITICO ahead of publication.

A new Islamic party in Belgium is gaining ground rapidly, and is pushing the capital of the European Union that much closer to being ruled by Sharia. Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from the online news portal Nius. The translator’s comments are in square brackets: 10% in local elections: Islamist party now establishes itself in Brussels!More and more Islamic political parties are being founded in Europe. Now an Islamist party is suddenly gaining strength in Belgium: the TFA. After achieving success in the Brussels parliamentary elections, it has surprised everyone with its next success in the...

Pope Francis said on Sunday victims of Catholic clergy sexual abuse in Belgium deserved more financial compensation, calling the amounts allocated to them so far "too small". On the flight back to Rome from Belgium, where the pontiff was pressed by the country's political leaders for more concrete actions to address clergy abuse, Francis also reiterated the Catholic Church's commitment to helping survivors. "We must take care of those who have been abused, and punish the abusers," he said. Francis was urged in Belgium by both King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to do more to help abuse...

In the wake of yet another foiled ISIS-inspired terrorist plot, this one by a Canada-based Pakistani seeking to kill Jews in New York on the anniversary of last year’s Hamas attack in Israel, everyone is loudly proclaiming: “ISIS is back.”And yet, this analysis is wrong.For someone or something to “be back,” it has to have left in the first place. This return can be surprising or expected, but in the end it is of note. With respect to the ISIS terrorist group, it has not “resurged” because it never went away in the first place.The group has been around since...