BERLIN: Weeks before Germany’s elections, a heated immigration debate inflamed by a deadly knife attack triggered a political earthquake Wednesday when conservative parties for the first time cooperated with the far-right AfD.
In what was decried by opponents as a breach of a long-standing taboo, the opposition CDU-CSU relied on backing from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to pass a controversial resolution through the national parliament.
Together, and with backing from the smaller FDP, they narrowly passed a toughly-worded motion that harshly attacked the immigration policy of embattled center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz ahead of February 23 elections.
Though it lacked the force of law, the motion called on the government to permanently police all borders and deny entry to all irregular migrants, whether they claim asylum or not.
Emotions are raw after a knife attack killed two people, including a two-year-old child, in Bavaria last Friday. Police have arrested a 28-year-old Afghan man as the main suspect.
In heated exchanges in the chamber, Scholz had told his election rival, frontrunner Friedrich Merz, that any cooperation with the AfD would be an “unforgivable mistake.”
Scholz told parliament that “since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany over 75 years ago, there has always been a clear consensus among all democrats in our parliaments: we do not make common cause with the far right.”
Merz angrily fired back at Scholz, recalling a series of bloody attacks blamed on asylum seekers and demanded: “What else needs to happen in Germany?“
“How many more children have to become victims of such acts of violence before you also believe there is a threat to public safety and order?“
The AfD’s top candidate, Alice Weidel, cheered the outcome of the vote in a message on X, calling it “a historic day for Germany, a victory for democracy.”
In the vote, conservative and far-right lawmakers, also backed by the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), passed the resolution with 348 votes in favor and 344 against, with 10 abstentions.
Afterwards, Scholz posted on X that he would “need some time to process what we have experienced together today... That is a bad sign. For the parliament. And also for our country.”
The resolution calls for the “rejection of all attempts to enter the country illegally without exception” because in the neighboring EU countries they arrive from, “they are already safe from persecution.”
The resolution also argues that people required to leave Germany “must be taken into custody immediately,” adding that more detention centers should be built.
It labelled as “clearly dysfunctional” the existing EU regulations on asylum seekers.
The motion also criticized the AfD, which it accused of “using the problems, worries and fears caused by mass illegal migration to stir up xenophobia and spread conspiracy theories.”
Despite this clause, the AfD voted in support of the resolution, helping it to pass despite the strong opposition of Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens.
Scholz had urged the CDU not to accept support from “those who fight our democracy, who despise our united Europe, and who have been poisoning the climate in our country for years.”
“This is a serious mistake — an unforgivable mistake.”
Merz, despite growing pushback also from human rights groups and churches, had argued the situation is so dire that he would take whatever support he could get.
After the vote, protesters angered at the CDU accepting the AfD’s support demonstrated outside the center-right party’s headquarters in Berlin, waving banners that read: “Stop the hate.”
“My main feeling is anger — I’m very outraged,” Eva, a 56-year-old protester who gave only her first name, told AFP.
The vote came after Germany was stunned by news last Friday that a man attacked a kindergarten group with a kitchen knife in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.
The attacker killed a two-year-old Moroccan boy and a German man who tried to shield the toddlers, and wounded three more people, including a two-year-old Syrian girl.
Police arrested a 28-year-old Afghan suspect, who was later transferred to a closed psychiatric institution.
In December a Saudi man drove a car through a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, and there were also deadly stabbing attacks last year blamed on Syrian and Afghan men.
Germany’s far-right ‘firewall’ crumbles as migration debate flares
https://arab.news/2u5eg
Germany’s far-right ‘firewall’ crumbles as migration debate flares
Thailand sacks senior cop over illicit gambling, fraud
- Surachate Hakparn, who served as the kingdom’s deputy police chief, was formally dismissed on Tuesday
- Widely known by his nickname ‘Big Joke,’ Surachate was snared in a series of raids in 2023
Surachate Hakparn, who served as the kingdom’s deputy police chief, was formally dismissed on Tuesday, police said in a statement.
Surachate, widely known by his nickname “Big Joke,” was snared in a series of raids in 2023 targeting an illegal online gambling network dubbed “Betflix.”
He was charged with money laundering, which he has denied, and suspended from the force while an investigation was under way.
Thai police said on Tuesday his dismissal was in line with “disciplinary procedures for officers under investigation.”
Most forms of betting are illegal in Thailand, with authorities striving to shut down illicit gambling dens and websites, which are often foreign-owned.
Long-serving Surachate has been linked to powerful figures in the previous army-aligned government.
He was appointed by then-deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan as chief of the Immigration Bureau in September 2018.
He disappeared in 2019 over unclear reasons, before then-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha made him a special adviser on strategy to police in 2021.
Surachate has 30 days to appeal against his dismissal.
“He has the right to fight the case and appeal,” Aek Angsananont, a former deputy police chief and now a member of the national police committee, told public broadcaster Thai PBS.
Surachate’s sacking comes days after the death of ex-policeman Thitisan Utthanaphon, nicknamed “Joe Ferrari” for his taste in flash cars, who was serving life in jail for the murder of a suspect during a brutal interrogation.
Last month, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra urged the Royal Thai police to step up efforts to combat human trafficking and drug-related crimes.
155 hostages freed, 27 militants killed in Pakistan train siege: security sources
- Security official says 27 militants killed, gunbattle ongoing while militants using women and children as human shields
- Baloch Liberation Army group says holding 214 people hostage including military, paramilitary, police, intelligence officers
QUETTA/KARACHI: Pakistani security officials said on Tuesday 155 hostages had been freed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying more than 400 passengers in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, with a gunbattle raging on hours after the assault began.
A low-level separatist insurgency in Balochistan is one of the chronic security problems undermining stability in Pakistan. The separatists accuse the government of stripping the province’s natural resources and leaving its people mired in poverty. They say security forces routinely abduct, torture and execute ethnic Baloch, accusations echoed by human rights campaigners. Government officials and security forces strongly deny violating human rights and say they are uplifting the province through development projects, including multi-billion-dollar schemes funded by China. Insurgents in the province also target civilians, especially Pakistanis from other ethnic groups who have settled in Balochistan.
The latest attack on the Quetta-Peshawar bound Jaffar Express occurred in Mushkaaf, an area in the mountainous Bolan range of Balochistan. The Baloch Liberation Army, the most prominent among separatist outfits operating in the province, accepted responsibility in a statement sent to the media and said it was holding 214 people hostage.
The Jaffar Express train was hijacked while it was en route to the northwestern city of Peshawar from the provincial capital of Quetta, carrying 425 passengers, according to Muhammad Kashif, a spokesman for Pakistan Railways Quetta Division.
“Security forces have safely rescued 104 passengers from the terrorists,” a security official with direct knowledge of the matter said, requesting anonymity and adding that the released people included 58 men, 31 women and 115 children.
He said troops had surrounded the militants and an exchange of fire was ongoing, with 16 insurgents killed.
“The complex operation is being carried out with utmost caution due to the use of women and children as shields and the difficult terrain,” the official added.
“RULES OF WAR”
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by area, covering 347,190 square kilometers and constituting 44 percent of the country’s total landmass. However, the remote province bordering Afghanistan and Iran is the country’s most backward region in terms of nearly all social and economic indicators. There are no Internet and mobile services in nearly 60 percent of the province, according to independent monitors, and areas which have such services often see shutdowns and months-long disruptions due to security reasons.
Speaking to Arab News, Imran Hayat, the divisional superintendent of Pakistan Railways in Quetta, said the department was unable to gather too many details of the attack or communicate with staff aboard the train as militants had carried out the assault in a “no-signal zone.”
“We haven’t retrieved a single body or injured from the area yet due to the communication blackout,” he said.
The BLA said it had blown up the railway track and taken control of the train.
“Under the rules of war, these 214 hostages are considered prisoners of war and BLA is prepared for a prisoner exchange,” the group said. “The occupying state of Pakistan is given 48 hours to immediately and unconditionally release Baloch political prisoners, forcibly disappeared persons and national resistance activists.”
The group warned that the hostages included military, paramilitary, police and intelligence officers, who would be killed if the BLA’s demands were not met within the stipulated period “or if the occupying state attempts any military action during this time.”
The separatists have also recently attacked projects being developed as part of the $65-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, in Balochistan. The program is also developing a deep-water port close to the new $200-million airport in Gwadar, a joint venture between Pakistan, Oman and China.
Al Shabab gunmen attack hotel in central Somalia, seven dead
- Hours after the initial attack, government forces were trying to flush out Al Shabab fighters, some of whom had been killed in nearby alleys, said Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from the town, the capital of Hiraan region
MOGADISHU: Al Shabab gunmen killed at least seven people in an attack on Tuesday at a hotel in a central Somali town where local elders and government officials were meeting to discuss how to act against the Islamist militant group, an elder said.
The Al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the attack in Beledweyne and said it had killed over 10 people. The attackers forced their way in by setting off explosives at the entrance, said a witness, shopkeeper Ali Suleiman.
Al Shabab frequently launches bombings and gun attacks in the fragile Horn of Africa nation as it tries to topple the government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
“So far seven people, including clan elders and their guards, all of them my relatives, died in the hotel. Parts of the hotel are ablaze now and it is not clear if the operation is concluded or not,” clan elder Abdullahi Fidow told Reuters.
“Some say the fighters are still fighting in nearby buildings. The death toll may rise because of the blasts and shooting by the fighters,” he said.
Hours after the initial attack, government forces were trying to flush out Al Shabab fighters, some of whom had been killed in nearby alleys, said Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from the town, the capital of Hiraan region.
In a separate incident, at least 10 people, including eight Al Shabab fighters, were killed in fighting in a village in the Middle Shabelle region in southern Somalia, Ali Farah, a military officer in the village, told Reuters.
State-owned Somali National News Agency reported that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was at the airport in Mogadishu to receive the soldiers wounded in the fighting.
Trump administration still plans to eliminate consumer finance bureau, witness says
- Trump has accused the agency of politicized enforcement and the CFPB has been reviled by conservatives and the financial services industry, which have accused it of overreach and overzealous enforcement actions
President Donald Trump’s administration still plans to fire all workers at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, effectively neutralizing it, according to witness testimony delivered Tuesday.
The testimony runs counter to CFPB court filings, according to which the agency would continue to exist only in a “streamlined” form, as a judge has temporarily blocked it from continuing with mass dismissals.
However a witness, an agency official who testified Tuesday in a Washington courtroom under a pseudonym for fear of retaliation, said she was privy to conversations with the Office of Personnel Management this month at which officials were still discussing firing all agency workers.
“On the 4th, it was mostly about a cost estimate for the final phase” for firing any remaining workers after as many as 1,200 workers are dismissed, said the witness.
“This was last Tuesday?” asked Deepak Gupta, a lawyer representing an employee union, consumer advocates and others challenging the administration’s moves against the CFPB.
“Yes,” the witness answered, adding that she was unaware of any change in plans to wind down the CFPB entirely.
She appeared under the pseudonym “Alex Doe” and explained that she feared retaliation for providing her testimony.
Representatives for the CFPB and OPM did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Unlike the government position taken in court papers, Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk have said the consumer financial watchdog should be eliminated. Trump has accused the agency of politicized enforcement and the CFPB has been reviled by conservatives and the financial services industry, which have accused it of overreach and overzealous enforcement actions.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs have said scrapping the agency in this manner defies the powers of Congress, which created the agency in 2010 and would be the sole authority able to abolish it.
Justice Department lawyers argue that Trump officials have acted within their authority and are working to comply with relevant laws.
The witness also said officials with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had pressured CFPB officials in mid-February to proceed more quickly in processing bulk notices of employee firings as a court hearing approached at which a judge could order a halt to the firings.
Lawyers representing the National Treasury Employees Union and others are seeking a court order directing the Trump administration to undo the actions it has taken so far in dismissing about 200 workers, placing remaining staff on leave and canceling service contracts, among other measures. A judge has yet to rule on the matter after two days of testimony.
What to know about Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia protester arrested by ICE and facing deportation
- Khalil was one of the most visible activists in the protests last spring at Columbia, which also happened on other college campuses around the world
- A federal judge in Manhattan ordered the government to not deport Khalil until the court has a chance to review the case
NEW YORK: A Palestinian activist who helped lead student protests at Columbia University faces deportation after being arrested over the weekend by federal immigration officials.
Trump has warned that the apprehension of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident, represents the “first arrest of many” as his administration cracks down on campus opposition to the war in Gaza. But a federal judge temporarily blocked the 30-year old’s expulsion from the country.
Here’s what you need to know:
What happened?
Khalil was detained Saturday night as he and his wife were returning to their Columbia University-owned apartment in upper Manhattan by officials from the US Department of Homeland Security.
The agents told the couple that Khalil was being detained because his student visa had been revoked.
When his wife provided documents proving he was a green card holder, the agents said that was also being revoked and took him away in handcuffs, according to a lawsuit Khalil’s attorneys filed challenging his detention.
Why is he facing deportation?
The Department of Homeland Security, confirming his arrest Saturday, accused Khalil of leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
The White House, elaborating more on its position Tuesday, claimed Khalil organized protests where pro-Hamas propaganda was distributed.
“This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary.
Khalil’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to the White House’s latest claims.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil was one of the most visible activists in the protests last spring at Columbia, which also happened on other college campuses around the world.
He served as a student negotiator — a role that had him speaking frequently with university officials and the press.
More recently, he was among the pro-Palestinian activists investigated by a new disciplinary body at Columbia University focused on harassment and discrimination complaints.
Khalil completed his master’s degree in public administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December.
What’s his legal status?
Khalil was born and raised in Syria after his Palestinian grandparents were removed from their homeland, according to his lawsuit.
He came to the US on a student visa in 2022 to pursue his graduate studies at Columbia.
Khalil and his wife, who is a US citizen, then married in 2023. He became a legal permanent resident — also known as a green card holder — last year.
Can the government deport green card holders?
Short answer: yes. Green card holders can be deported, but the government has the burden to prove the person is deportable.
Grounds for deportation can range from being convicted of a range of crimes, from murder, assault and burglary to tax evasion, domestic violence and illegal firearms possession, according to Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert and retired Cornell Law School professor.
But a legal permanent resident can also be expelled for providing material support to a terrorist group, in which case the government doesn’t need a criminal conviction to bring deportation charges, he said.
“Material support for immigration purposes is much broader than the criminal definition of the term,” Yale-Loehr explained. “For example, people have been deported for simply providing a cup of water or bowl of rice to guerrilla groups, even under duress.”
Where is Khalil?
Khalil is being held at a federal immigration detention facility in a central Louisiana town roughly 170 miles (274 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans.
The Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, which is a low-slung complex ringed by barbed wire fences, can hold about 1,160 detainees.
Louisiana became a hub for immigrant detention during the first Trump administration and has nine centers, most of them run by private contractors.
Critics say the isolated complexes cut prisoners off from easy access to attorneys and family.
“The intent is to kind of break the morale, the spirits, of those that are held at these facilities,” Yasmine Taeb, the legislative and political director for the Muslim activist group MPower Change, told reporters Tuesday.
What’s next?
Khalil is expected to make an initial appearance before an immigration court but is unclear when — it could happen anywhere from 10 days to a month, experts told the AP .
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the government to not deport Khalil until the court has a chance to review the case. A hearing was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.
Khalil’s lawyers contend that he has a right to due process as a legal permanent resident and that the government is “engaging in blatant efforts to target and chill” Khalil’s free speech and to “discriminate against particular viewpoints,” in violation of the First Amendment.
They’ve also petitioned the court to have him returned to New York, as his wife is eight months pregnant.
“For everyone reading this, I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby,” his wife, who has not been named, wrote in a statement provided by his lawyers. “I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world.”
