Five dead after boat carrying migrants to Europe falls apart

Five people died after a Europe-bound rubber boat carrying 116 migrants and asylum-seekers fell apart in the central Mediterranean Sea, a Spanish humanitarian group said. The Open Arms rescue ship had been searching for the boat in distress for hours before finally locating it on Wednesday morning in international waters north of Libya. The NGO […]

Europe: New data law upends global online advertising

Europe’s new data privacy law has put a small army of tech firms that track people online in jeopardy and is strengthening the hand of giants such as Google and Facebook in the $200 billion global digital advertising industry. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/justice-and-fundamental-rights/data-protection/2018-reform-eu-data-protection-rules_en) brought in by the European Union in May is […]

Sting blasts leaders as ‘cowards’ over migration crisis

British singer and actor Sting called world leaders “half men and cowards” on Saturday for their inability to solve the refugee crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already played down expectations of a breakthrough at hastily-arranged talks among EU leaders on Sunday on the migration dispute dividing Europe and threatening her own government. Austrian Vice […]

Refugees brave snow, sub-zero temperatures in Greek camps

Refugees stranded in Greece suffered sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall on Tuesday at camps not designed for winter weather and the government promised those on one island temporary warm accommodations aboard a navy ship. A mid-winter icy spell and snowstorms have gripped central and southeastern Europe for days, and parts of Greece have been covered […]

Our Letter on the Refugees of Europe – Walking for Hope

This is the text of a letter that was sent into the Times today after the shocking pictures of young Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish shore with his small shoes on, as though he was just resting. Dear Sir, The pictures of the young Aylan Kurdi washed up on the shores of Bodrum are a […]

Europe’s current crisis reflects its own anxieties about Muslims

A footnote to Europe’s ongoing crisis is the rising use of anti-Muslim rhetoric. Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, defended the erecting of a razor-wire fence on its southern border through the language of cultural and religious difference. Orbán stated that “most of them are not Christians, but Muslims,” and that “Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity. Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian?” Antal Rogan, the parliament caucus leader of Orbán’s Fidesz party, said on Tuesday that “the very existence of Christian Europe” was at stake. Rogan also told the pro-government newspaper Magyar Idok “Would we like our grandchildren to grow up in a United European Caliphate? My answer to that is no”. Ivan Metik, a spokesperson for Slovakia’s interior ministry spokesman said last month: “We want to help Europe with the migration issue. We could take 800 Muslims but we don’t have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?” In July, Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, argued that Christians would cause less tension. He added that terrorists might attempt to mingle among Muslim refugees. [...]

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