Extremists

• Germany's domestic intelligence agency reports that nearly 60,000 far-right extremists are currently active in the country. • This figure represents an increase of over 8,000 individuals compared to the previous year, with more than 25% believed to be violent. • The agency's annual report also warns that extreme left-wing violence is rising, describing the trend as an "alarm-call" for the nation's rule of law.

• Germany's domestic intelligence service, the BfV, has warned that the country faces escalating threats from both foreign powers and domestic extremists. • The report identifies specific risks from Moscow-recruited saboteurs, Chinese spies, Iran-backed Islamist militants, and violent neo-Nazis. • These actors are allegedly engaging in sabotage, disinformation campaigns, illicit political interference, and assassination operations to destabilize the nation.

• Germany's domestic intelligence agency reports that there are now nearly 60,000 far-right extremists in the country, an increase of over 8,000 from the previous year. • The agency warns that more than a quarter of these identified individuals are believed to be violent, posing a significant threat to public safety. • The annual report also highlights a rise in extreme left-wing violence, describing the overall trend as an "alarm-call" for the nation's rule of law.

• EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib announced on Tuesday that the bloc is placing its largest-ever firefighting force on standby to combat an increase in wildfires. • The initiative follows a trend of forest fires starting earlier and growing in scale, with responses already required this spring in Czechia, Germany, Italy, and Poland. • This escalation in readiness highlights the EU's urgent need to mitigate climate-driven environmental disasters across member states.

Charlie Taylor, inspector of prisons for England and Wales, says dealers should be isolated and ‘assertively managed’Jailed criminals who are flooding prisons with drugs should be isolated like radical extremists and “assertively managed”, the England and Wales prisons watchdog has said.Charlie Taylor, HM inspector of prisons, said major dealers were living “consequence-free” in jail when they should be separated from the majority of inmates, subjected to regular searches for phones, and punished and rewarded according to their behaviour. Continue reading...

The former British foreign secretary is among 3,000 signatories, including leading members of Jewish diaspora, to open letter to Isaac HerzogThe former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind is among leading members of the Jewish diaspora urging the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, to intervene to stop “attacks by Jewish extremists” on Palestinians in the West Bank.An open letter to Herzog facilitated by the London Initiative – a liberal Zionist network of 360 people, including eminent Jewish, Israeli and Israeli Palestinian figures – has attracted more than 3,000 signatories, including diplomats, philanthropists, rabbis and academics from Australia, Canada, across Europe, South Africa the UK and US. It follows a spate of killings and arson attacks by settlers on Palestinian civilians in March. Continue reading...