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Police have arrested 27 people in connection with alleged illegal tobacco production
Spain busts tobacco gang exploiting Ukrainians
MADRID — Police in Spain have broken up a gang they say ran three illegal tobacco factories where Ukrainian refugees worked in poor conditions.The operations were found in three regions of Spain and 27 people have been arrested.The gang is alleged to have smuggled large quantities of tobacco turned into counterfeit cigarettes.The factories could make more than half a million cigarette packs daily, which were sold across Spain and abroad.Police said the Ukrainians, who had fled Russia's invasion of their country, were living "crammed" into prefabricated shelters within the factories.They were working long hours and were not leaving, to avoid detection, as some had entered the country illegally.Meanwhile, the bosses of the organization enjoyed a "life of luxury",...
January 23, 2023

Spain busts tobacco gang exploiting Ukrainians

File photo shows Spanish National Police forces in action.
Spain dismantles Ukrainian refugee exploitation network
MADRID — Spanish police announced on Sunday they had dismantled an illicit network that was exploiting Ukrainian refugees.Ukrainians fleeing the grinding Russian invasion were “crammed” into makeshift accommodation and put to work in shady tobacco factories by the criminal group.The network is accused of smuggling “large quantities” of tobacco and making it into counterfeit cigarettes that were sold across Spain and neighboring countries, explained the Spanish Civil Guard in a press release.Twenty-seven people were arrested as part of the investigation, which was carried out with the help of Europol, the European police agency.Ten tons of tobacco and 3.5 million packets of cigarettes were seized, valued at nearly 37.5 million euros.Located in the region of La Rioja, Seville and...
January 22, 2023

Spain dismantles Ukrainian refugee exploitation network

File photo of a Ryanair aircraft.
Fighter jets scrambled after bomb threat on Ryanair flight to Greece
ATHENS — Fighter jets were scrambled on Sunday following reports of a bomb on a Ryanair flight to Greece.Two Greek F-16s escorted a Ryanair plane from Katowice in Poland as a precaution after a bomb threat was reported on the flight, according to the Greek Defense Ministry.The aircraft, with more than 190 people on board, landed safely at 5:40 p.m. local time in Athens International Airport.Firefighters and police surrounded the aircraft soon after it landed at a remote part of the airport, and it was inspected by the bomb squad, the Greek news agency ANA said.Passengers were taken off the plane and were searched, along with their luggage and the aircraft itself.Two fighter jets intercepted the airliner belonging to the budget carrier as it entered Greek airspace above North Macedonia,...
January 22, 2023

Fighter jets scrambled after bomb threat on Ryanair flight to Greece

File photo shows the German, French and European Union flags flutter in the wind at the Chancellery in Berlin on April 29, 2019. — courtesy John Macdougall/AFP
Germany and France meet to overcome differences
PARIS — France and Germany will meet for a day of talks on Sunday in a bid to patch up an alliance strained by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, among other things.Germany’s entire Cabinet is in Paris for a meeting on Europe’s security, energy and other challenges as the two countries try to overcome their differences, while around 300 lawmakers are gathering at the prestigious Sorbonne University.The day coincides with the 60th anniversary of a treaty signed between the historical foes underpinning the European Union.French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will oversee two rounds of talks at the Elysee Palace.The first will focus on energy and economic policy, moving on to defense.Top on the agenda, say officials, is devising a European response to US...
January 22, 2023

Germany and France meet to overcome differences

Migrants swim next to their overturned wooden boat during a rescue operation by Spanish NGO Open Arms at south of the Italian Lampedusa island at the Mediterranean sea, 2022. — courtesy Francisco Seco/ AP.
‘Solidarity is a must’: Greece calls for EU help on migration
ATHENS — Greece urged the European Union for more help with migration on Saturday, as Athens expands its sprawling border fence with Turkey.Speaking to EU ambassadors, plus those from the UK and Switzerland, Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos called for extra financial and logistical support, pointing out Greece’s border was also the bloc’s external border.Greece prevented around 260,000 migrants from entering illegally in 2022 and arrested 1,500 traffickers, an official said on Saturday.Athens is widely accused of expelling people as soon as they reach Greek soil in a practice known as pushbacks. They are illegal under international law — preventing refugees from seeking protection —- and often involve high degrees of violence and force.“The task [of...
January 22, 2023

‘Solidarity is a must’: Greece calls for EU help on migration

King Charles’s coronation plans include Windsor concert. The coronation weekend will include concerts, public celebrations and a bank holiday.
King Charles’s coronation plans include Windsor concert
LONDON — World-famous entertainers will perform at Windsor Castle as part of a weekend of celebrations to mark the King’s coronation, it has been announced.The concert will be broadcast on the BBC on May 7 featuring “global music icons”, orchestras and a diverse “coronation choir”.It will come the day after the coronation at Westminster Abbey.Processions to and from the abbey will take place, ending with a balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace.These are among the new details just released on plans for the weekend which the King and Queen Consort hope will be an opportunity for friends, families and communities to celebrate together, said Buckingham Palace.The concert choir will be picked from amateur choirs, including from the NHS, refugees, LGBTQ+ singing groups and...
January 22, 2023

King Charles’s coronation plans include Windsor concert

French President Emmanuel Macron seen in this file photo.
Macron announces major boost to French defense budget amid Ukraine war
PARIS — France will increase its military spending by over a third in coming years, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday, unveiling his goal to equip the French army to tackle this century’s great “perils”.The budget for the period will stand at €413 billion, a significant increase from the €295 billion allotted to 2019-2025. According to this plan, by 2030, France’s military budget would have doubled since he took power in 2017, Macron said.The French leader acknowledged the end of the “peace dividend” following the Cold War, and said the planned 2024-2030 budget would adapt the military to the possibility of high-intensity conflicts, made all the more urgent by Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine.“As war is changing, France has and will have armies ready...
January 21, 2023

Macron announces major boost to French defense budget amid Ukraine war

The Dzhokhar Dudayev Chechen volunteer battalion hold the flag of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during a training session in the Kyiv region on August 27, 2022. — courtesy Genya Savilov/AFP
‘TikTok warriors’: What are Chechen fighters doing in Ukraine?
KYIV — Chechens are among a few ethnic groups battling on both sides of the war in Ukraine.Those fighting alongside Ukrainian troops include Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oldest and fiercest enemies — veterans of the wars in their homeland and separatists wanted by Moscow. Some are on Kyiv’s side since the initial stages of the war in 2014.At the same time, Russia has used Chechens loyal to the Kremlin to discipline and reportedly even execute dissenting soldiers, as well as intimidate civilians in Ukraine.But what are Chechens doing in Ukraine? Why are they there? And what effect are they having on — and off — the battlefield?Chechnya is a restive part of southern Russia in the Caucus region. After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, its primarily Muslim population tried...
January 21, 2023

‘TikTok warriors’: What are Chechen fighters doing in Ukraine?

Waste floating in the Drina river near Visegrad, Bosnia, Friday. — courtesy Armin Durgut/ AP
Balkan river becomes floating rubbish dump
SARAJEVO — A river in the Balkans, known for its stunning natural beauty, has been transformed into a giant floating rubbish heap, amid a spell of bad weather, worsened by long-running mismanagement.Tons of plastic bottles, rusty barrels, used tires, household appliances, driftwood and other waste have piled up behind a barrier in the Drina River in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which snakes through forested hills.Much of this rubbish was dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries in the Balkans, accumulating behind the fencing as it flows downstream.The barrier installed by a Bosnian hydroelectric plant, a few kilometers upstream from its dam near Visegrad, a city in eastern Bosnia that has unwillingly been turned into a waste...
January 21, 2023

Balkan river becomes floating rubbish dump

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the talks with his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson were called off as they had “lost significance and meaning”.
‘Quran burning’ protest scuppers Turkey-Sweden NATO talks
ANKARA — Turkey announced on Saturday it had canceled a visit from Sweden, after an anti-Turkish protest was allowed in Stockholm.Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the talks with his Swedish counterpart Pål Jonson were called off as they had “lost significance and meaning”.The visit was intended to try and remove Ankara’s objections to Sweden’s NATO bid.Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist, Rasmus Paludan, was permitted to hold a demonstration on Saturday in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, arousing the ire of Turkey.Paludan had said he intended to “burn the Qur’an” in front of the building. A counter, pro-Turkish protest is also planned at the embassy.Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin condemned the demo, calling it a “hate crime”.“To...
January 21, 2023

‘Quran burning’ protest scuppers Turkey-Sweden NATO talks

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