The Hamburg Regional Court has sentenced a 34-year-old Afghan migrant to two years’ probation for rape and several counts of aggravated assault against his former partner, an 18-year-old girl. German social media accounts have already sharply criticized the sentence, arguing it is another example of lenient sentencing in the face of serious crimes.
While the defendant initially admitted only to striking her with his hand, he ultimately confessed to the remaining charges. The court convicted him of four counts of assault, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of rape. As a condition of his probation, he must pay an additional €3,000 in compensation after paying another €2,000 in damages to the victim before the verdict.
Judge Malte Wellhausen detailed that the six offenses occurred between autumn 2016 and spring 2018. The trial faced substantial procedural delays, leading the court to count four months of the sentence of the Afghan man, who works in IT, as already served.
The court found the Afghan man physically assaulted his former girlfriend on five separate occasions, including an incident where he used a leather belt and another instance where he choked her to the point of respiratory distress. The rape took place in October 2016, approximately ten years ago.
The defendant first met the 18-year-old high school graduate from Lower Saxony through an online platform. Physical abuse began only months after their initial meeting, starting when he struck her face. When the young woman reacted with fear and tears, the defendant remarked, “That wasn’t even hard.”
Routine physical assaults followed over minor issues, as well as disputes stemming from the victim’s parents opposing her relationship with the Afghan-born defendant.
The sexual assault occurred in his bedroom while both were in bed, leaving the victim with physical pain and bleeding. Despite the nature of the assault, she did not initially identify the incident as rape. Over the following months, the physical abuse persisted, including the incident involving the leather belt while the woman reportedly blamed herself for the incidents, according to German newspaper Welt.
In August 2017, after overhearing her covertly speaking with a friend on the phone, the defendant struck her face, causing her nose to bleed, and choked her violently by the neck. Rather than reaching out for assistance, the victim suffered severe distress, blamed herself, and engaged in self-harm.
During a subsequent trip to the United States, the defendant proposed to her, and she accepted out of fear. She eventually managed to break away from the relationship in 2018 by relocating her life to Denmark.
The criminal investigation began after the woman noticed a missing person report that featured a photograph of a garden in the Poppenbüttel district of Hamburg, where she had previously resided with the defendant. Concerned for the safety of the woman shown in the report, she eventually spoke with police officers and detailed the abuse she had endured, prompting authorities to open a criminal case.
Judicial findings later confirmed that the disappearance of the other woman was entirely unrelated to the defendant. Authorities proceeded with the investigation despite the victim’s reluctance to participate from Denmark. Further delays arose due to pandemic border closures and the illness of an expert witness, pushing the formal filing of charges to 2024.
The victim in the case tried to avoid the trial altogether and only joined in for video testimony after facing potential prosecution. The court ultimately found her account credible due to its memory detail and complete lack of malicious intent toward the accused.
Defense lawyer Claudia Krüger was positive about the ruling, calling it “a judgment with a sense of proportion. I am very satisfied.“
While the defense had argued for a suspended sentence, prosecutors had requested a prison term of three years and two months. The defense won out but the sentence is subject to appeal.
BioTexCom, a Ukrainian firm, has announced a September conference in Warsaw promoting surrogacy and offering the “purchase” of a child for 65,000 euros; the case is now with prosecutors
Since 2023, Ordo Iuris has submitted opinions to UN and EU bodies arguing that surrogacy constitutes human trafficking and the sale of children under international law.
The Ordo Iuris Institute cooperates with UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem, whose report on violence against mothers cited its position; Alsalem was a guest at a conference organized in June 2026.
Ordo Iuris advocates a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child banning surrogacy and has prepared Polish translations of two UN reports on the issue.
The Ordo Iuris Institute is petitioning Poland’s Minister of Justice, Waldemar Żurek, to block the event organized in Warsaw by BioTexCom as a promotion of human trafficking; the appeal is available at niedlasurogacji.pl.
On September 12–13, the Ukrainian company BioTexCom plans to hold a conference in Warsaw aimed at promoting programs offering surrogate motherhood and in vitro fertilization. The company is inviting interested parties to individual meetings with its representatives, offering surrogacy packages worth nearly 65,000 euros. Under Polish law—unlike Ukrainian law—surrogacy may be classified as a criminal offense. The matter of the Warsaw conference has already been referred to the prosecutor’s office.
This event is not an isolated episode but another manifestation of a broader phenomenon: Poland, alongside other Western and Central European countries that lack their own surrogacy regulations, has for years been becoming a market for foreign so-called reproductive companies. In this context, it is worth recalling that the issue of surrogacy has for years been a central concern of the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law—both at the domestic level and in the most important international forums.
Opinions and positions at the UN and the European Union
Since 2023, the Institute has regularly submitted opinions and positions to bodies of the United Nations (UN) and institutions of the European Union (EU), consistently arguing that surrogacy meets the definition of human trafficking and the sale of children under international law. In February 2023, Ordo Iuris experts published an analysis showing that European Union law does not require member states to legalize surrogacy. When, in December 2024, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on trafficking in women and girls that for the first time explicitly addressed the phenomenon of surrogacy, the Ordo Iuris Institute described it as a significant precedent.
A special place in these efforts is occupied by the cooperation with Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, who consistently defends the biological understanding of sex and motherhood in her reports. Ordo Iuris took part in informal expert consultations conducted by Alsalem for both of her key documents—the report on violence against women in the context of surrogacy, submitted to the UN General Assembly in October 2025, and the report on violence against mothers, presented to the Human Rights Council in July 2026. Importantly, the Ordo Iuris Institute’s position was explicitly cited in the latter document, in the section addressing the devaluation of motherhood in contemporary public and institutional discourse.
This cooperation also took a direct form: on June 3, 2026, Reem Alsalem personally took part—as a special guest—in the international academic conference “Motherhood in the 21st Century” organized by Ordo Iuris at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University. During the panel devoted to surrogacy, she presented the findings of her report, outlining the profile of women who become surrogates—almost exclusively poor women, often single mothers or immigrants—and calling for a model of surrogacy abolition modeled on the abolition of prostitution. She was accompanied by Olivia Maurel, spokeswoman for the international Casablanca Declaration—a coalition of more than 150 experts from 75 countries advocating a universal ban on surrogacy—who was herself born through the procedure and shared a moving personal testimony.
Cooperation with the initiators of the Casablanca Declaration
This is not the first time the paths of Ordo Iuris and the circle surrounding the Casablanca Declaration have crossed. As early as April 2024, the Ordo Iuris Institute took part in an international conference in Rome organized by the Declaration’s initiators, devoted entirely to the issue of surrogacy, and addressed its findings in the commentary “The Right to a Child, or the Rights of the Child?” The participation of the Declaration’s spokeswoman in the Warsaw conference in June 2026 is thus a continuation of many years of ongoing cooperation with this coalition, not an isolated episode.
A call for a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
In its opinions submitted to the UN, the Ordo Iuris Institute consistently puts forward a specific legislative proposal: the adoption of a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that would explicitly prohibit surrogacy. The legal argumentation, developed in particular in the November opinion for the Special Rapporteur, invokes Article 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 2(a) of the existing 2000 Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, whose definition of “the sale of children”—in the assessment of Ordo Iuris experts—also covers surrogacy agreements under which a child is transferred in exchange for remuneration or another benefit.
Polish translations of UN reports
The latest element of this activity is a publication that took place just a few days ago. On August 25, 2026, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published on its official website Polish translations of both of Reem Alsalem’s reports mentioned above—on violence against women in the context of surrogacy and on violence against mothers. Both translations were prepared by the Ordo Iuris Institute. Thanks to this, Polish-speaking lawyers, journalists, public administration officials, and NGOs have gained direct access to the full content of both documents—without relying on the fragmentary quotations and secondary media coverage through which UN reports had until now been known in Polish public discourse.
The actions outlined above—more than a dozen opinions and positions submitted to the UN and the EU, participation in the UN Special Rapporteur’s expert consultations, its own international academic conference in Warsaw, cooperation with the initiators of the Casablanca Declaration, the call for a new international treaty, and the preparation of official translations of UN reports—together form a picture of Ordo Iuris’s systematic, years-long engagement in the fight against surrogacy at both the domestic and international levels. It is against this backdrop that the Ordo Iuris Institute’s opposition to the BioTexCom conference planned for September 12–13 in Warsaw should be understood. The Ordo Iuris Institute has prepared a petition to Poland’s Minister of Justice, Waldemar Żurek, calling for the event to be blocked.
“The conference that the Ukrainian company is planning for September in Warsaw is not a neutral informational event, but a promotional campaign for a commercial reproductive business that treats a woman’s body as a means of production and a child as a product tailored to the client’s expectations.
Polish law does not explicitly criminalize surrogacy, but that does not mean a legal vacuum. An agreement under which a child is handed over in exchange for payment may meet the definition of human trafficking, and organizing and promoting such practices on the territory of the Republic of Poland should meet with a response from the relevant authorities. Ordo Iuris has for years documented the mechanisms of exploitation built into commercial surrogacy: from Colombia, through Ukraine, to the United States—and consistently works to ensure that this problem is no longer treated as the private affair of ‘commissioning parents,’ but is recognized for what it truly is: a form of economic exploitation of women in difficult life circumstances and a violation of a child’s fundamental right to identity and to a bond with the mother who gave birth to them,” notes Julia Książek of the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law.
A 23-year-old Guinean national already under an order to leave France (QQTF) is in pre-trial detention after being accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in foster care in Évreux on the evening of July 26. The details of this case are only now being reported, a month later.
The teenager, who lives in a foster home and was receiving psychological care, encountered the man near the city’s cathedral. Prosecutors say he forced her into his car, issued threats, paused at a kebab shop to eat, and then took her to his apartment close to the cathedral. Once inside, he is alleged to have slapped her, pushed her onto the bed and raped her as she cried out, according to French newspaper Paris-Normandie.
A roommate heard the screams. Afraid of confronting the resident himself, he called the police. Officers arrived to find the suspect insisting that “everything is fine.” From the rear of the apartment, they could still hear the girl sobbing. They entered immediately.
A subsequent medical examination recorded ten days of temporary incapacity for the victim. The suspect, who holds a permanent bodywork job in the Paris region and has no previous convictions, denied any rape allegations. He told investigators the girl had consented. Prosecutors rejected his request for release, pointing to the victim’s vulnerability, the risk that he might pressure her, and his irregular immigration status. A deportation order against him had already been issued but never carried out.
German police have released a photograph of a violent suspect, Emre Battal, whom police believe may be armed. Battal allegedly shot two people on Saturday afternoon in the city of Worms and remains on the run.
Police report the man became involved in an altercation with another man and a woman at around 4:30 p.m., with the argument turning violent. Battal drew his firearm and shot both the man and the woman. They both suffered serious gunshot wounds but are not in critical condition.
Battall quickly fled the scene, and despite an intense police manhunt, he successfully evaded capture. As a result, a photograph of the 31-year-old suspect has now been released. During the shooting, he was wearing a black T-shirt, black shoes, dark shorts, and a black baseball cap. He also has a distinctive lion tattoo.
German police warn the public not to approach the man, as he may still be armed.
The Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SZBU) struck a Tu-95MS strategic bomber in Engels, Russia, announced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Facebook on Friday.
Ukraine’s leader also confirmed that Ukrainian units attacked an oil refinery in Russia’s Yaroslavl region and several targets in the Black Sea.
“In the last 24 hours, Ukraine’s defense forces struck an oil refinery in the Yaroslavl region. The distance is a thousand kilometers from the front line. In the Black Sea, too, we have given our own just answers to the Russian war. In Engels, Russia, soldiers of the SZBU Alpha unit struck a Tu-95MS strategic bomber aircraft. It is precisely with such aircraft that strikes are carried out against Ukraine,” wrote Zelensky in his post.
Pro-Ukrainian accounts on X celebrated the destruction of the plane.
Ukrainian Forces has taken out another of Russia's long-range strategic bombers, after overnight strikes on the Engels-2 airbase, 700km distance from Ukraine.
Mostly being constructed back in the 1960's-1970's, Russia's rapidly vanishing bomber fleet had only recently lost… pic.twitter.com/YD3e5QPgXC
Operation Spiderweb in June 2025 is widely considered Ukraine’s most ambitious strike on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. After 18 months of planning, the SBU smuggled 117 FPV drones into Russia inside wooden cabins mounted on trucks. The trucks were parked near several airbases. The roofs of the vehicles were remotely opened and the drones were guided to their targets, which included Olenya , Belaya , Dyagilevo, and Ivanovo.
Ukraine claimed 41 aircraft were hit, including Tu-95s, Tu-22M3s, at least one Tu-160, and A-50 airborne early-warning planes, representing about 34 percent of Russia’s strategic cruise-missile carriers and causing roughly $7 billion in damage.
Independent satellite analysis and NATO assessments confirmed 10–13 aircraft destroyed and around 20–40 damaged. Visual evidence showed burning Tu-95s and Tu-22M3s on the tarmac.
The latest attack reveals that these Russian bombers still remain high-profile targets for Ukraine. Russia still appears unable to fully shield its fleet from drone and missile strikes despite moving many of these planes farther east in the country.
The Tu-95 itself is a four-engine turboprop design first produced by the Soviet Union in the 1950s. It is still used because no modern replacement is in series production.
The attack targeting a military patrol in the Benzú area of Ceuta last night was a pre-planned ambush rather than a spontaneous clash, according to preliminary findings from the National Police. Now, military sources are speaking of soldiers who are unable to use physical force, have no weapons, and are vulnerable to such attacks in the future.
Regarding the ambush, police investigators at the scene discovered an abnormal accumulation of heavy stones that did not match the natural geology of the terrain. Police believe the projectiles were intentionally stockpiled at the location in advance, setting a trap for a vehicle or convoy passing through the area.
Images of damaged military vehicles have gone viral across social media. Multiple vehicles suffered smashed windshields and other damage in the attack.
#URGENTE | Los inmigrantes ilegales de Ceuta han atacado esta madrugada los vehículos de los militares españoles.
Este es el estado de algunos de los coches y camiones del Ejército que les ha ayudado a instalarse en polideportivos. pic.twitter.com/KnT9RU35AM
The ambush occurred while troops from the 54th Regular Group of Ceuta were conducting routine patrol duties. Dozens of illegal immigrants ambushed the patrol vehicle with a heavy barrage of rocks. The sudden intensity of the assault severely damaged the vehicle, shattering its windows and trapping the occupants inside.
Surrounded by a high volume of projectiles, the soldiers “feared for their lives,” according to statements later provided to investigators, as reported by Spanish newspaper El Debate. Four soldiers were left injured and officials told the press that sthe all-terrain logistical vehicles were not armored and not equipped to deal with such attacks.
Marco Antonio Gómez, president of the Association of Spanish Troops and Sailors (ATME), stated that the “very serious aggression” shows “our military is helpless.”
“They go without weapons. Our colleagues had to run away to save their own lives.”
Speaking to El Debate, military sources who are directly on the ground in Ceuta say that soldiers have their “hands and feet tied.”
Although the military is working with National Police, the situation remains dangerous. The source said “they have done what is necessary and have intervened in situations in which the illegal immigrants bothered the inhabitants of Ceuta.”
A young Spanish woman is fleeing Ceuta because she no longer feels safe.
"I don't want to feel anxious every time I step outside… It seems awful to me that all this is allowed to happen and nobody can close the border or do anything."
However, these military sources complain that various legal frameworks have left soldiers without weapons, and these policies also restrict soldiers from carrying out arrests and using any type of force.
Migrants may even be aware of these restrictions, empowering them to conduct ambush strikes against soldiers with near impunity.
5 migrants tried to gang rape a 12-year-old girl as she screamed for help, said locals in Ceuta who stopped the attack.
"There were five against a 12-year-old girl. She was a little girl, they were taking off her pants. She was screaming, screaming, screaming. She was… pic.twitter.com/g97pj8phUR
Since the attack, 12 suspects have been taken into custody at the scene by National Police’s Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR). Some migrants reportedly tried to evade arrest by jumping into the sea. Reinforcement from the Civil Guard also helped secure the perimeter.
The Union of Military Troops (UMT) issued a statement expressing its “strong rejection and indignation,” stating they had warned about the conditions facing troops already ten days eariler.
The National Police investigation remains active as authorities work to trace all remaining individuals involved in the ambush.
Sven Hüber, the deputy federal chairman of Germany’s Police Union (GdP), has stepped down from his post with immediate effect following public scrutiny regarding his service as a political officer for East Germany’s border guards. Hüber recently made headlines for his stance against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The resignation follows investigative reporting by the German media outlet Apollo News alleging that Hüber committed severe abuses at the East German border during the Cold War prior to joining the German Federal Police. The report claims that during his tenure as an SED political officer, Hüber placed a service weapon into the mouth of a captured East German refugee in the “death strip” and physically assaulted the individual while they were pinned to the ground.
Hüber vehemently denied the allegations, framing the coverage as a coordinated effort to dismantle his reputation. In a formal press statement, he characterized the reporting as “defamatory” and a “character assassination,” explaining that his resignation was intended to “avert the daily new, untenable accusations from the GdP during the necessary legal proceedings.”
The finger is also being pointed at right-wing media, with Hüber’s attorney Johannes Eisenberg stating the claims began in “right-wing extremist media and from there overflowing into well-known inflammatory media.” Eisenberg firmly maintained that his client “did not commit the misanthropic acts spread about him there,” adding that Hüber would refrain from further public comment as he prepares to challenge the outlets in court.
The GdP similarly confirmed it plans to pursue criminal and civil legal action against authors and publishers behind what it deems false accusations, targeted threats, and distorted reporting.
Hüber’s tenure at the union had already generated significant friction prior to the recent revelations.
Writing in the official GdP members’ magazine, Hüber recently urged police officers to actively counter a potential AfD administration in Saxony-Anhalt, arguing that “police officers personally take on enemies of the constitution because the oath they take stipulates the same” and asserting that an “AfD seizure of power does not release any civil servant from their oath.”
Since Hüber’s resignation, his anti-AfD article, entitled “Saying a True No,” has been scrubbed from the GdP website, according to Apollo News, but is still archived in the police union’s newsletter.
Regardless of whether the claims about torture prove true or not, Hüber has his own history of reportedly making false allegations against his rivals. He previously faced backlash for attempting to block the lifetime professorship of conservative academic Stephan Maninger at the Federal Police Academy using claims that were ultimately shown to be groundless. Attorney Ralf Höcker subsequently alleged that GdP federal chairman Jochen Kopelke backed Hüber during that campaign, using union membership fees to support the effort.
The controversy triggered a wave of exits within the organization. The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung confirmed that a “low double digits” number of police officers in Saxony-Anhalt severed their union membership following the initial reports.
Hüber finalized his decision to step down following discussions with GdP federal chairman Kopelke. The union has not yet named a replacement to fill the vacant deputy chair position.
A French youth, 19-year-old Constant, was kidnapped, robbed, and beaten so badly by three suspects that he was left in a six-day coma in the hospital in 2025. Now, the case has come once more to the public’s attention after Constant described the attack on French television, including that his assailants were not speaking French when they nearly killed him.
Near dawn on April 12, 2025, 19-year-old Constant was on his way to work when three men changed his life forever. To this day, only one suspect has ever been arrested and convicted.
This French teen was kidnapped on his way to work and beaten into a 6-day coma by suspects who “did not speak French.”
19-year-old Constant, who has been an apprentice butcher since he was 15, was headed to work in Rouen at 5 a.m. when a car stopped near him. The suspects… pic.twitter.com/Y3u8y8qz2z
Constant was a hard-working French teenager, who had been an apprentice butcher since he was 15. Around 5:30 a.m., he left on his electric scooter for a 6:30 a.m. shift, traveling along Boulevard Jean-Jaurès in Petit-Quevilly, near Rouen. A car began following him, then cut him off and blocked the road. Occupants called for him to stop, appearing to need help or simply demanding that he approach. When a truck driver witnessed the scene and tried to intervene, the men threatened him. They forced Constant into the vehicle.
The suspects took him to Grand-Quevilly. Under threat of a knife, they demanded the PIN codes for his phone and bank card. After obtaining them, they beat him almost exclusively on his head. Family members later said the attackers “went after his head,” leaving a shoe tread mark across his face.
Once he was barely conscious, they abandoned him. In a state of shock, Constant managed to walk roughly two kilometers toward home before collapsing. His parents took him to the hospital, where he was also photographed with shoe tread marks across his face.
Constant was admitted to intensive care at CHU Rouen with a skull fracture and a subdural hematoma, then transferred to neurosurgery. Relatives described his head as massively swollen. Later accounts indicate he spent approximately six days in a coma. The attackers stole his e-scooter and phone and withdrew €1,170 from his account.
A witness had already called the police. Officers arrived at the initial scene and found no one. When family members tried to file a complaint the same day, they were told the adult victim would have to do it himself; police later opened an investigation and took his statement at the hospital.
Bank withdrawals allowed police to identify one of the three men. This suspect, who has not been named, was tried in court on Nov. 14, 2025, at the Rouen criminal court and sentenced to four years in prison with immediate detention. He was banned from contacting Constant and ordered to pay damages. He refused to name his two accomplices, who have not been arrested.
Months later, Constant appeared on France 2’s “Ça commence aujourd’hui” with Faustine Bollaert. In the clip that circulated widely in August 2026, he recounted being in the back of the car, being told not to look at the man on his right, and realizing the attackers were not speaking French.
As a result, it is clear that the attackers are not native French citizens, further highlighting the deteriorating security situation in the country due to mass immigration. Countless French youths have been the victim of foreigners over the last years, include Louis, Mégan, Thomas, Lola, and Théo, just to name a few of the victims.
A young German woman from the feminist group Lukreta has posted a video decrying yet another gang rape by foreigners in her country, this time involving three Afghan suspects who are accused of gang raping a 17-year-old girl in Dortmund, filming the rape, and then laughing as they traumatized the victim.
The three men – 20-year-old Quais W., 19-year-old Burhanulla N., and 25-year-old Kambiz H. – are currently on trial in Dortmund Regional Court involving a range of serious charges, including rape and the filming of a pornographic video of a minor.
"Three Afghan men raped a 17-year-old girl in Dortmund, filmed the act, and even laughed while doing so."
A young German woman says the case was "covered neither by public broadcasters nor by the political Left."
The three men reportedly lured the girl to their apartment in September 2024 in the city of Dortmund under a false pretext. However, once in the apartment, the suspects got the girl so intoxicated with alcohol that she lost consciousness.
“During the night, the witness lost consciousness as a result of alcohol consumption. The accused then took advantage of this situation,” said prosecutor Fabian Weishaupt.
The three men then systematically raped the girl and filmed themselves laughing. One of them even opened the unconscious girl’s eyes with his finger.
According to Bild, the three suspects all have extensive criminal records, including robbery, attacks against law enforcement, drug trafficking, assault, and other offenses.
As for the Lukreta feminist group, one of their members stated that the case was “covered neither by public broadcasters nor by the political Left even though it can hardly be surpassed in terms of abnormality and misogyny.”
“The reason, of course, is that the three perpetrators are all of Afghan origin and known to the police,” she said.
In other words, the media and left-wing feminist groups are very careful when perpetrators of such attacks are foreigners, but only because such cases are rapidly fueling the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The data is also clear. Remix News reported that last year, a record-high number of suspects involved in gang rape were foreigners, reaching 53 percent for the first time.
The young woman from Lukreta also has little faith in the German justice system and questions whether the Afghan men will be deported if convicted, stating: “Whether the three Afghans will even be justly convicted is questionable. What is certain, however, is that in the event of deportation, far-left Antifa activists will be at the airport to prevent the flight of the rapists.”
Polish prosecutors are now investigating a “White Lives Matter” graffiti as a hate crime in the city of Rzeszów, with the suspects facing up to three years in prison if they are apprehended and convicted.
Painted on a wall in the Polish city of Rzeszów, the graffiti was reportedly created as a memorial to the murdered British youth Henry Nowak. Polish police have reportedly secured surveillance footage and referred the case to Polish prosecutors. However, Polish newspaper toRzeszow claims that cameras are not in the direct area where the wall was painted, making it difficult to identify the suspects.
In Poland, prosecutors are now investigating a "White Lives Matter" graffiti as a hate crime, with the suspects facing up to 3 years in prison if they are apprehended and convicted.
Painted on a wall in the Polish city of Rzeszów, the graffiti was reportedly created as a… pic.twitter.com/FP1HYP0cDZ
Major Polish news outlet wPolsce24 has reacted with outrage to the investigation: “The Rzeszów case is part of a broader trend of suppressing the voices of white people who dare to remind them that their lives also have value. When black people say “Black Lives Matter,” it is a fight for equality. When white people say “White Lives Matter,” it is immediately racist.” The news outlet further writes: “The slogan on the garages in Rzeszów was not an expression of hatred. There was a voice reminding us that white lives matters too. And as long as we treat some lives as ‘more equal’ than others, such slogans will appear on walls.”
Meanwhile, authorities claim the graffiti is illegal under article 257 of the Polish penal code, which concerns the public insult of a group of people or an individual based on national, ethnic, or racial identity.
A group labeled “Narodowy Rzeszów” allegedly posted a video of themselves standing next to the graffiti holding a banner and flares and displaying the logo of the right-wing National-Radical Camp (ONR), however, it remains unclear if they sprayed the graffiti themselves. Their post pointed to violence against Whites in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Social media platforms took the video down.
An Indian employee of a catering firm in the Val-d’Oise department of France, located near Paris, has been indicted on charges of raping two vulnerable migrant colleagues but will continue to remain free on the street under judicial supervision. The decision stands after the prosecution’s appeal was dismissed for having been filed beyond the statutory deadline, a legal technicality.
According to details reported by French newspaper Le Parisien, the case began on April 17 when an undocumented worker of Sri Lankan origin employed by the same caterer in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône went to the police to accuse a 34-year-old Indian colleague of rape. She alleged that he had exploited her precarious migration status to rape her, counting on her silence out of fear that she would lose both her job and any chance of being legalized to stay in France.
A short time later, a second female employee of the company lodged a complaint of rape against the same man, describing circumstances that were essentially identical. Both women said the man raped them and then blackmailed them due to their illegal status to win their silence.
In early July, the man was arrested at his home in Pontoise. He had worked for the catering firm since 2015, is the father of three children and had no prior criminal record.
Placed in custody, he firmly denied the allegations during questioning and claimed he was the victim of a plot hatched by the women.
Despite his claims, he was subsequently indicted for the rape of vulnerable persons. However, the judge ordered his release under judicial supervision, requiring him to live in Normandy and forbidding any contact with the two migrant women he allegedly raped.
The public prosecutor’s office, persuaded that pre-trial detention was necessary, lodged an appeal against the release order. A procedural failure inside the services of the Versailles Court of Appeal, however, meant the file could not be examined within the legal fifteen-day period. Consequently the investigating chamber had no option but to record the missed deadline and uphold the judicial supervision already imposed on the indicted man.
The suspect’s employer, which operates sites in both Paris and the Val-d’Oise, quickly terminated the man’s employment.
A Ukrainian national suspected of involvement in the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines has been detained in Croatia and faces extradition to Germany, according to an announcement from the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe.
On the morning of Aug. 19, 2026, local police executing a European arrest warrant in the coastal city of Pula arrested the man, identified under German privacy rules as Vladimir Z., also referred to in some reports as Volodymyr Z.
The warrant had been issued by an investigating judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice on June 3, 2024. Prosecutors describe Vladimir Z. as a trained scuba diver who is strongly suspected of jointly causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage, and the destruction of buildings and structures.
According to the prosecutor’s statement, Vladimir Z. belonged to a group centered around separately prosecuted Ukrainian national Serhii K.
In September 2022, the group is alleged to have planted explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm. Vladimir Z. is said to have taken part in the necessary dives.
The team departed from Rostock, Germany, aboard a sailing yacht that intermediaries had rented from a German company using falsified identification documents. The explosives detonated on Sept. 26, 2022, causing extensive damage to both pipelines.
Upon extradition from Croatia, Vladimir Z. is expected to appear before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice. German authorities are actively pursuing the transfer.
This marks the second major arrest in the long-running German investigation. In June and July 2026, prosecutors filed an indictment against Serhii K., a former Ukrainian army officer, before the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg. He faces charges including co-perpetration of a war crime through an attack on civilian objects, causing an explosion, destroying infrastructure, and disrupting public services.
Prosecutors allege that Serhii K. acted on behalf of Ukrainian state entities, helping to plan and lead an operation aimed at permanently disrupting Russian gas deliveries and denying Moscow revenue that could fund its military campaign. Both K. and Ukrainian officials, including former army commander Valery Zaluzhny, have denied the claims.
Z. had previously been the subject of an extradition request in Poland. In October 2025, the District Court in Warsaw refused to hand him over to German authorities, lifted his pre-trial detention, and ordered his immediate release.
The Nord Stream explosions remain one of the most consequential acts of infrastructure sabotage in recent European history. Two of the three operational strands of Nord Stream 1 and one of the two strands of Nord Stream 2 were ruptured. The second Nord Stream 2 line, with an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters, had never entered service. At the time, Russia had already curtailed deliveries through Nord Stream 1 amid sanctions and technical disputes, while European governments accused Moscow of weaponizing energy supplies. Russia has repeatedly pressed Germany to activate the remaining capacity.
German investigators continue to treat the case as a matter of domestic jurisdiction because the pipelines terminate in Germany and their destruction affected the country’s energy security. Media reports, including those from Der Spiegel, have long described the operation as originating with Ukrainian actors.
Some accounts have suggested that U.S. intelligence, including the CIA, was aware of early planning discussions and did not initially object, even examining technical aspects. However, there has been no official confirmation of any American role in preparing or executing the sabotage, and such claims remain unproven.
Ukrainian anti-corruption services launched searches under codename “Operation Forrest Gump,” targeting, among others, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. The move expands the ongoing anti-corruption investigation which has seen a number of top officials in Zelensky’s cabinet flee to Israel shortly before police could raid their homes.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced they were conducting a special operation involving a criminal organization led by a current and former member of parliament, with the participation of high-ranking officials from the Office of the President of Ukraine.
“NABU and SAPO are conducting a special operation aimed at exposing a criminal organization that operated under the leadership of a current and former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, with the participation of high-ranking officials of the Office of the President of Ukraine and other individuals. Details – coming soon,” announced the anti-corruption services on Telegram.
The operation is codenamed “Forrest Gump,” also referred to as Forest Gump. Ukrayinska Pravda sources and other media reported that NABU and SAPO are conducting searches as part of this special operation at premises belonging to MP Vadym Stolar, who was elected to parliament on behalf of the currently banned Opposition Platform – For Life party.
In addition, Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, is also targeted in the raids.
Stolar has confirmed the investigative actions at his home and stated he is fully cooperating without obstruction.
Additional figures linked by media and law-enforcement sources include former MP Maksym Mykytas, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and senior management of the state-owned Sense Bank including the chair of the board and supervisory board. Searches were also reported at the bank premises.
NABU has released excerpts of intercepted conversations.
Fragments reference “bags of money,” discussions of registering assets or proceeds in the names of children, including high tuition costs, the “Forrest Gump” name itself in a context of concealing theft, and mentions of the Office of the President.
As EuroMaidan writes, “The operation carries a mocking name, Forest Gump, drawn from the suspects’ own words. In a 47-second recording of intercepted conversations, one man ties the label to how the group allegedly hid money.”
The suspect mocks that one of the co-conspirators used his children’s own name to register the stolen money.
“We’ve got Saving Private Ryan, right? But only an idiot would register the theft of money—and their tuition on top of it—on their own children. That’s why, Forest Gump,” he said.
Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators reportedly chose the name “Forrest Gump” to mock these statements from their own criminal targets.
Other parts of the conversation reference cash and the presidential administration directly. “Well, there are four bags of money there,” one voice says on the tape.
Another chimed in, saying: “If we do this, you can drive to the Office of the President yourselves. Believe me. I can see it.”
Investigators allege the group gained effective control over Sense Bank around early June 2026.According to NABU/SAPO details released as part of the operation, the group organized money laundering of $3.5 million in cash (UAH 150 million).
The funds were introduced into legal circulation through accounts of shell companies and Sense Bank to post bail for one of the defendants in the earlier “Midas” case, which was linked to former Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.
Cash was reportedly delivered in tranches, processed via controlled entities, and partially directed toward the High Anti-Corruption Court bail account. Allegations include that Mudra was expected to help arrange the raising of these funds and that unidentified individuals from the President’s Office tasked her with efforts related to bringing Sense Bank under greater control.
Investigators also seized a document described as an anti-crisis communications playbook outlining steps and messaging to shape public opinion around a Verkhovna Rada temporary investigative commission, framing it as an “audit, not attack” while shielding President Zelensky and his cabinet.
The probe has also documented alleged attempts to place controlled individuals in NABU and other law-enforcement bodies.
Incredibly, NABU has already posted these documents directly to Telegram.
Who is involved in the broader corruption scandal in Ukraine?
One of the main suspects in the related investigation is businessman Tymur Mindich. He is the co-owner of the Kwartal 95 production studio, which was founded and headed in the past by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Fearing arrest in the Energoatom affair (Operation Midas), Mindich fled to Israel. The Midas case centers on alleged large-scale kickbacks, approximately 10–15 percent of contract values, at the state nuclear company Energoatom, involving roughly $100 million in illicit funds, with the group using code names and cash deliveries.
During searches of Mindich’s premises in November 2025, investigators found large quantities of cash and a golden toilet, along with a golden bidet, in one of the bathrooms of his opulent Kyiv apartment —details that became a public symbol of excess and were widely referred to as the “golden toilet scandal,” which Remix News reported extensively on.
Mindich was not the only key figure to flee to Israel. His close associate, Oleksandr Tsukerman, also fled. The country does not extradite its citizens but Ukraine later imposed sanctions and issued international arrest warrants.
Among the suspects in the Midas scandal was the former head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak. The former head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office has been charged under the Criminal Code of Ukraine with laundering property obtained as a result of a crime. The alleged laundering of UAH 460 million, about $10.5 million, allegedly occurred during the construction of the Dynastia luxury housing complex in Kozyn near Kyiv.
According to investigators, some of the funds used for the construction may have come from corruption activities at Energoatom. The court then issued an arrest warrant for Yermak.
It stipulated that he would be able to be released if he paid bail of 140 million hryvnias. In mid-May, Andriy Yermak was released from custody after posting bail.
The Forrest Gump operation is now being presented as connected to the wider Midas network of allegations involving high-level influence over strategic state enterprises, money laundering, and related luxury projects. Developments remain ongoing, with NABU indicating further details would be released.
Polish state media outlet TVP reported: “The latest operation could further intensify scrutiny of the political establishment as President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government faces pressure to demonstrate progress in tackling corruption while Ukraine continues its war with Russia. It also poses a fresh headache for Zelenskyy after ousted defense chief Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a bombshell statement late on Tuesday.”
The question now remains: Is the noose tightening around Zelensky himself, or will he emerge from this massive corruption scandal of close associates squeaky clean?
When victims of organized migrant clan violence arrive at emergency rooms in Berlin, the impact extends far beyond the trauma bays. According to Felix Wolf (a pseudonym), a veteran emergency nurse with a decade of experience in a Berlin hospital, treating wounded clan members subjects medical staff to high-pressure security lockdowns, escalating street-level intimidation, and systemic stress.
According to Wolf, who spoke with Welt newspaper, violent incidents involving knives and firearms are becoming routine occurrences that frequently bypass official crime statistics.
“We are increasingly dealing with injuries from shootings and stabbings in the clinics,” Wolf said. “Not all cases become public or end up in the crime statistics, because especially in cases of simple stab wounds, the police are not always called in. We have such cases several times a week.”
The official data already shows a sharp rise in violence not only in Berlin but across all of Germany. Berlin, in particular, has been hard hit by a wave of violent gang warfare, which has seen a record high number of shootings in 2025. Reports indicate that the number of shootings has only intensified in 2026.
Wolf noted a trend toward younger offenders who demonstrate intentional lethality in their attacks: “Not only is the quantity increasing, but also the quality: especially among knife attackers, the perpetrators are getting younger and younger. I often treat 15- or 16-year-olds who know exactly where to aim in order to cause the greatest possible damage.”
The violence does not end on the streets either but often extends into the hospitals. When gunshot or stabbing victims arrive – often unannounced or brought in directly by associates – hospital protocol demands rapid security measures to secure the facility. To reduce the risk of retaliation or targeted harassment if a clan member patient dies, hospital staff adjust their daily routines and assignment distributions:
“This leaves us in nursing with great uncertainty: To what extent can we rely on support when we have to defend ourselves? Up until now, we’ve always been lucky that nothing worse has happened. But perhaps you remember the camera footage from New Year’s Eve when a nurse was knocked unconscious in another hospital? That happens too,” Wolf warned. “I haven’t worn a name tag in the emergency room for years because I don’t want to be identifiable. We take precautions: If two Arab boys need to be cared for, I don’t send in two girls, but at least one man. I also try to keep colleagues with Jewish surnames out of such a case.”
When a gunshot victim from a clan arrives at the hospital, police are immediately informed, according to Wolf, “In most cases, the injured come on foot or are dragged literally by a relative. As soon as certain surnames are mentioned, we’ll call the police.”
The police response often involves large-scale deployments to prevent secondary conflicts on hospital grounds.
“Thankfully, the officers have always arrived faster than the relatives in our country so far. Then 15 to 20 team cars with hundreds of them roll up, and all you hear for five to ten minutes are sirens,” Wolf said. “Everything will be sealed off, not just the hospital grounds, but entire streets up to the nearest subway station. That’s quite impressive. They screen in advance exactly who could drive in where, stop cars and conduct identity checks.”
During these incidents, emergency room operations are regularly halted.
“The injured person is usually already lying with us, accompanied by the two or three guys who brought him here. Then the police arrive and determine the personal details, photograph and confiscate evidence. The procedure often takes several hours – during that time the emergency room is temporarily closed. New emergency patients cannot be admitted during this time.”
In other words, not only have these criminal migrant gangs turned the streets of Berlin into the Wild West, but due to security precautions involved in such cases, entire emergency rooms are shut down, leaving patients unable to enter and receive treatment in their own city.
When family members start arriving, it often means the trouble is only beginning. Wolf described up to 40 family members arriving in some cases, often organized through Telegram channels, where they “want to show a presence in an often aggressive way.”
“In these circles, it is common for mothers and women to shout loudly and dramatically. This high noise level is a stress factor for staff and also for patients. In the clinic, this can still be managed to some extent; at the deployment site, it is significantly more difficult,” said Wolf.
The medical outcome of a patient can dictate the level of immediate danger faced by hospital workers and first responders.
“Thank God no clan member has ever died here. This might sound harsh, but we are always happy when the injured person dies on site and not here,” Wolf stated. “The stress that officers have to put themselves through in such a case is enormous: Because normally no one from the rival clan is there anymore, the police officers and emergency services are then attacked.”
Due to security budget limitations across clinics, staff must rely primarily on municipal police protection while implementing their own personal safety protocols.
“We must rely on the police. Money for one’s own security services isn’t very easy. I know clinics where you’re happy if even one security guard is on site at night,” Wolf observed. “Fortunately, the Berlin police are well-positioned and not hesitant. It is appalling under what conditions the police officers have to cope with such situations – and how, in the following days, individual images are repeatedly taken out of context and used against them.”
Wolf also addresses a German society rapidly trying to adapt to expanding violence, in which the victims are being taught to deal with being a victim, instead of perpetrators, often violent, being held accountable for their actions.
Wolf expressed skepticism toward institutional de-escalation courses, arguing they misplace responsibility onto healthcare workers: “Many clinics offer self-defense or de-escalation training. But I’m not a big fan of that. Many courses attempt to professionalize dangerous situations in such a way that a kind of perpetrator-victim reversal takes place. Why should I adapt to a situation that stems from the fact that the other person hasn’t learned how to behave decently?”
The crisis goes even deeper, threatening the entire health system by contributing to medical staff burnout, which is likely costing lives. The combination of workplace stress and safety concerns has led to high turnover rates among emergency care personnel, with many leaving the field within five to six years.
“Brutalization is a societal issue,” Wolf stated, saying that the amount of time staff are sticking around is dropping to five or six years at the most, with most moving on to other fields
“To a certain extent, this is due to a political failure: the authorities and the health system are being let down. But this brutalization is also a societal question.”
Wolf highlighted the difficulty of discussing specific patient demographics without facing public criticism or accusations of bias:
“Anyone who addresses such topics and clearly identifies the clientele that causes them will immediately get a dressing-down. ‘That’s not how you should say it; that’s too generalizing’, it then says. That may be true – but we simply do not have these difficulties with other groups of people. The fact that we cannot address this is a problem. I constantly get accusations of racism. Colleagues in the medical field and also in the police force understand what I mean. However, in certain Berlin circles, this issue is considered socially unacceptable.”
He claimed that voting for the AfD is not the answer, since he claims the AfD was especially opposed to the medical field during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Responding to political narratives, Wolf rejected the idea that voting for far-right parties like the AfD provides a solution, citing past hostility toward healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“During the pandemic, these very people declared us fair game,” he said.
An exhaustive search was conducted and there is no evidence any AfD member ever called for attacks on medical staff. There was criticism of the way the medical establishment handled the Covid-19 crisis, but there is no evidence there were any efforts to unleash violence on medical staff.
Wolf also stated that not all migrants can be blamed for attacks on medical staff, claiming that AfD members “are welcome to ask themselves if they would want to come and clean in our hospital for that kind of pay. Therefore, I do not want to turn our problems with clan members into a general migration debate.”
Following a trial, a 29-year-old Palestinian has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl on a bus in the French city of Toulouse. The girl, named Clara to protect her identity, openly sobbed in court while sitting next to her mother.
On June 18, the young girl was riding the L11 bus in the city when the Palestinian migrant, Ahmed, sat next to her. Ahmed spoke in court through a translator, claiming he thought he saw the teenager give “a sign” to him that she wanted to get to know him. Ahmed said he was attracted to Clara “at first sight.”
After Ahmed got on the bus, he went to sit next to the victim, at which point he began to rub her shoulders before he grabbed her transport card, which she had been holding between her legs, according to French news outlet La Depeche. He then grabbed her thighs before moving his hands to her chest. The Palestinian was then arrested after a criminal complaint.
In court, after recounting that he was attracted to Clara, he apologized for his sexual assault in criminal court, saying: “I thought carefully. I would like to apologize. I have trouble behaving around girls. That day, I was elsewhere, I behaved badly.”
“Do you realize that she is traumatized?” the judge responded.
Ahmed fled Gaza and arrived in France in March 2025. He said he has had a difficult existence in France living on the street and in squats. He also says he has been actively consuming cocaine and alcohol “to suffer less psychologically.”
He was then given taxpayer-funded social support and offered accommodations in Cugnaux.
Ahmed told the court that he experienced war and violence during his childhood and adolescence.
The court found Ahmed guilty and sentenced him to six months in prison with continued detention. He is also being banned from French territory for two years and is no longer allowed to participate in any activity involving minors. He will also be a registered sex offender.
A civil case may also rule on further damages related to the 15-year-old girl he targeted.
This is far from the only incident in Toulouse. Last year, Remix News reported on a 54-year-old Senegalese migrant who committed serial sexual assaults on the city’s bus lines over the course of three years, with the man targeting multiple women at different times.
In 2025, Remix News reported that sexual assaults on French public transport had risen 86 percent over the preceding ten years.
French authorities have launched a murder investigation after an agricultural worker discovered the partially charred, naked body of a woman in a vineyard last week near Nîmes. While official identification remains pending, the victim is believed to be 29-year-old Sonia Bellina, a popular social media influencer who went missing on Aug. 10.
Bellina, who lived between Paris and Nîmes, built a following of nearly 380,000 users across two TikTok accounts and 13,000 followers on Instagram.
JUST IN: The body of 29-year-old French TikToker Sonia Bellina has been discovered naked and charred in vineyards in Saint-Gilles.
"She ran into the wrong guy at the wrong time. I never thought this would happen to our family, to us. Especially since she was a sunny, kind… pic.twitter.com/WHBAq7GMNt
The Nîmes public prosecutor’s office opened the homicide inquiry following the Aug. 12 discovery in Saint-Gilles, located roughly 12 miles outside Nîmes. The investigation has been assigned to the Gard gendarmerie group and the Nîmes gendarmerie research section.
Speaking to reporters, a woman identifying herself as the victim’s older sister, Mia, said Bellina vanished after leaving for a date the night before the body was found, according to French news outlet Le Dauphine.
“She told us she was going out one evening, she never came back,” Mia said, adding that her sister was scheduled to meet someone she had been seeing. “She ran into the wrong guy at the wrong time.”
La jeune influenceuse gardoise, Sonia Bellina disparue le 10 août, retrouvée carbonisée à Saint-Gilles le 12 août. Sa famille, convaincue de son identité, dénonce le harcèlement en ligne et les commentaires haineux qui persistent même après sa mort.#SoniaBellina#meurtre… https://t.co/UPEklp591xpic.twitter.com/Bjqcy8OkKY
Family members have pushed back against online speculation regarding Bellina’s personal life and background, pleading for privacy as the investigation unfolds.
No arrests have been announced, and French authorities have not officially named a suspect in the ongoing investigation. The family is pleading for witnesses or people with information about the murder to come forward.
The Nîmes prosecutor’s office assigned a dedicated criminal task force of up to 40 gendarmes to comb the vineyards for microscopic forensic evidence and map out her final movements.
A total of 620 drones were launched at the Moscow region last night, with Russian air defense forces claiming to have shot down 180 of them during an intense overnight attack. The massive attack underlines a growing reality: Russian President Vladimir Putin had said at the beginning of the war that any attacks on Russian soil would be a “red line.” Now, there are daily attacks ravaging the country, with Ukraine striking critical energy structures, residential buildings, and major logistics warehouses.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported on the attacks on Tuesday, Aug. 18, noting that due to the scale of drone launches, it was one of the largest Ukrainian airstrikes aimed at the region since the war began. The TASS news outlet claimed it was the largest.
Moscow faced its largest drone attack in two years, according to Russian sources. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed 627 UAVs headed toward the capital, with around 180 downed over the Moscow region. Local reports cited a fire near the Kapotnya refinery, a strike on a Wildberries… pic.twitter.com/iFRq1YL8AY
The mayor noted that emergency services were actively deployed to sites where debris fell, though he did not provide immediate specifics regarding overall damage or fatalities.
Wildberries up in smoke
In the Moscow region, falling debris damaged a logistics facility belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, causing a localized fire. This follows Ukraine’s efforts to successfully strike Wildberries logistics hubs across the nation.
To put the Wildberries attacks in context, some figures put the company at 8.5 percent of Russia’s GDP. The company is often called the “Amazon of Russia,” employing 270,000 people and accounting for half of the country’s e-commerce sales. Ukraine has been systematically destroying Wildberries warehouses across the country with near impunity. It would be the equivalent of an enemy state destroying the largest Amazon warehouses in the United States, which would likely spark a consumer panic and send product inflation soaring.
In addition, Russia’s oil refineries and critical energy infrastructure are now being dismantled by Ukrainian drone strikes, threatening a major financial resource for Moscow and leading to fuel rationing across the country.
In late 2024, Russia updated its formal nuclear doctrine to state that a massive conventional attack backed by a nuclear power could trigger a nuclear response. As evidenced by massive missile and drone strikes against Russian territory using NATO weapons like British Storm Shadow missiles, it appears those threats were entirely empty. This stance has dramatically reduced Putin’s leverage and could lead Ukraine to further step up its attacks on Russian targets.
Drone strike intensity is increasing
Casualties were also reported in connection with Ukraine’s latest attack. Regional authorities reported that at least three people were injured across the surrounding district, including a 10-year-old girl. The aerial operation also extended to Russian-occupied Crimea, where local officials reported power outages affecting southern, northwestern, and eastern sectors of the peninsula.
Pro-Ukraine X account Nexta published some of the footage of the attacks
Overnight, Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, killing at least 10 people and injuring others, illustrating the intensifying cycle of long-range aerial exchanges.
This latest assault follows an earlier surge on Sunday, Aug. 16, when Moscow claimed to have intercepted more than 800 drones nationwide in what was previously cited as the war’s largest aerial assault to date. News agency Reuters pointed out that details regarding total drone counts and intercepted targets originate from Russian state sources and have not been independently verified.
The surge in long-range drone deployments reflects a growing wave of Ukrainian retaliatory strikes targeting economic hubs, energy networks, and logistics nodes deeper inside Russian territory.
Now in its fifth year, Russia’s invasion has developed into the largest armed conflict on the European continent since 1945. The duration of active hostilities has officially surpassed the timeframe of the Red Army’s engagement in World War II, known historically in Russia as the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel has launched a fiery attack against government-aligned NGOs, accusing them of illegitimately funneling public and private funds into state election campaigns to support the far-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party.
Speaking out against the massive capital deployment in Saxony-Anhalt, Weidel called for a full legal investigation into campaign spending practices.
“What is becoming apparent here is a democratic scandal that must be fully investigated legally,” Weidel stated.
At the center of the dispute is the left-leaning advocacy group Campact, which recently disclosed plans to spend hundreds of thousands of euros on targeted voter mobilization ahead of regional balloting. Weidel argued that such political intervention crosses the threshold into unregistered campaign financing.
“When organizations with substantial financial resources deliberately campaign in favor of left-wing parties, the question arises whether they are still operating within the limits of permissible party funding,” she said, emphasizing that a mere “relabeling as ‘campaign'” should not exempt third-party groups from statutory donation oversight.
The AfD is extremely close to securing an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt, which would enable the party to rule without a coalition. That may be necessary, since even with 42 percent of the vote, the AfD may be kept entirely from power through a coalition consisting of all other victorious parties. Much depends on whether certain parties, like the Greens, receive 5 percent of the vote, which is the threshold required for them to enter parliament.
Weidel pointed to the current ruling coalition of the SPD and Christian Democrats (CDU), targeting political hypocrisy surrounding state funding for civil society networks.
“It is an absolute scandal when left-wing NGOs claim political neutrality on the one hand, but on the other hand engage in massive fear-mongering against opposition parties critical of the government and advocate for the election campaign interests of the SPD and the Greens,” she said.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz had initially announced he would “clean up such negative developments” surrounding the explosion in the number of NGOs and their activities in Germany. However, Weidel says that the current black-red federal alliance has done the exact opposite by expanding federal allocations toward politically active advocacy organizations.
The AfD wants to completely revamp and likely strip much of the NGO sector in Germany of its massive power and financing, at least if that funding comes from the state. The party is pressing for strict statutory reforms regarding campaign operations and nonprofit privileges. The AfD leader demanded “complete transparency about all state funding to NGOs, but also – as in the case of Campact – about clients, major sponsors and their political activities.”
She argued that tax exemptions or state subsidies ought to be “bound to clear neutrality, transparency and control requirements.”
She is also calling for a level electoral playing field: “Anyone who intervenes in political decision-making must face democratic transparency and fair competitive conditions –regardless of whether it is a party, a foundation or an NGO.”
While Weidel may be focusing her ire on Campact, the NGO itself does not receive any taxpayer euros.
The controversy is centered around documents showing major third-party expenditures were formally submitted to parliamentary auditors. Disclosures show that Campact earmarked twin campaign budgets of 310,000 euros ($340,000) each aimed at boosting turnout for both the SPD and the Greens.
For its part, Campact maintains that its activities strictly adhere to electoral laws because the organization executes independent strategy rather than transferring funds directly to party treasuries. On its official website, the group asserted that the funds would be spent “without any mandate or control by these parties.”
Describing its initiative as a parallel campaign focused on “voting strategically,” Campact rejected assertions that its spending constitutes a party contribution, even though parliamentary transparency registries log third-party expenditures in similar disclosure frameworks.
“We do not transfer money to the SPD or the Greens,” the far-left organization stated, maintaining that they are urging citizens to vote for specific parties “on their own initiative.”
The move from Campact may be open to a legal challenge, but by then such a challenge moves through the court system, the election in Saxony-Anhalt will likely have long been decided.
The Spanish Civil Guard has now confirmed there have been 15 rapes in Ceuta since the mass migrant invasion at the end of July, which has continued to shake Europe. In response, women are now reportedly fleeing the city in greater numbers as sexual violence spreads and scenes from the city portray a government unable to contain the growing chaos on the beaches and streets.
Women in Ceuta are now reportedly looking for an exit. Two sisters, Yoli and María José, say they have left the city until the crisis ends due to fear for themselves and their daughters.
“What we are going through is very hard and it is very hard to hear journalists justify this Government, justify everything. We can’t take it anymore, we feel humiliated, trampled. I have had to take my daughters out of their house because the Government does nothing, because Mr. Pedro Sánchez is on vacation in La Mareta. Nobody cares about us,” said Yoli to Spanish television network Cuatro.
JUST IN: A Spanish woman says she has only her dog to protect her on the streets of Ceuta after a mass migrant invasion.
"She is the only one who protects me! Because there are no military, no police on the street. We are terrified!"
There have now been dozens of videos of women, both young and old, expressing their fears over the crisis. One asked, “Why do I have to leave my city, the city where my mother gave birth to me, where I was raised, and where I want to raise my children? What we are living through is very extreme.”
“I need someone to walk me to my front door at 29 years old. I never thought I would have to live through this situation we’re facing – never.”
JUST IN: 15 rapes have now been reported in Ceuta since the mass migrant invasion at the end of July, including a 10-year-old girl, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
Spanish women are now reportedly fleeing the city.
Another woman said she woke up to find a Moroccan migrant in his underwear in her bed after he climbed up multiple stories to slip into her room through the balcony window early in the morning.
BREAKING: A Moroccan migrant wearing only his underwear snuck into a sleeping Spanish woman's bed early in the morning in Ceuta.
"I live in the center on the fifth floor, mind you… He jumped onto my bedroom balcony. He came into my bedroom and got into my bed. I thought… pic.twitter.com/8cs7rasXSv
The Civil Guard has already identified approximately 1,800 minors, who have all been issued an identification bracelet. Sources cited by El Mundo indicated that these minors are simply released back to the streets since they cannot be returned to Morocco.
Beyond the threat of rape and sexual assault, daily life has also come to a halt in many respects. Many areas of the beach remain occupied by thousands of migrants, while health services speak of a catastrophe due to the influx of patients, many carrying and transmitting diseases like tuberculosis.
Tourists and locals should be enjoying pristine Ceuta beaches. Instead, the coastline has been turned into a massive garbage heap after hundreds of migrants erected tent camps.
"Wow! Here we are in Spain…Look at the shoes! The world is full of shoes!"
The government has tried to present a picture of calm but an announcement that tents would start being erected for the migrants has fueled fears that many of the migrants could be in the area for some time to come. Meanwhile, 1,500 agents of the Civil Guard and the National Police, along with military personnel, continue to operate in the area.
Police sources have also pointed out deficiencies in border controls, among them problems with air conditioning and identification systems.
A young Spanish woman is fleeing Ceuta because she no longer feels safe.
"I don't want to feel anxious every time I step outside… It seems awful to me that all this is allowed to happen and nobody can close the border or do anything."
During controls, Spanish police have also detained an immigrant with history of terrorism and other crimes, who also had an arrest warrant from Interpol. The detainee remains in Ceuta while the procedures for his extradition are completed. The case raises fears that during the chaos, migrants with terrorist motives may have made their way to European territory.
Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms have begun displaying targeted warning messages to users searching for news or information related to mass immigration, including terms such as “Ceuta.”
The prompts caution users to “be careful when searching for migration info” and include a prominent link or button offering “help with moving to a new country.”
BREAKING: Facebook is now displaying a message warning users to be "careful when searching for migration info" when they search for news related to mass immigration, including keywords like "Ceuta."
Clicking through takes users to a Meta Help Center page titled “Help is available if you want to move to a new country.” That page, created in consultation with experts from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), provides tips and guidance to help migrants enter Europe and other states.
The site encourages regular migration, compliant with the laws of origin, transit, and destination countries, compared to illegal migration, which it describes as dangerous and likely to expose people to violence, exploitation, and abuse.
The resource further directs users to the UNHCR website for information on asylum procedures, resettlement options for recognized refugees, and family reunification. These programs are fueling mass immigration into Europe and North America, often through legal channels, which offer a significantly larger demographic threat than illegal channels.
It also references IOM services and, in related materials and app descriptions circulating with the prompts, points toward the IOM’s MigApp. That mobile application is officially branded by the UN migration agency as a tool for “empowering migrants,” offering information on visas, health regulations, risks, money transfers, document storage, and access to IOM programs.
The feature appears to have rolled out recently and has drawn attention amid a surge of irregular migrant crossings into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. In late July 2026, tens of thousands of people attempted to enter Ceuta by swimming or scaling border fences, with reports of dozens of deaths.
Investigations showed that many of the attempts were coordinated through large public Facebook groups that shared maps, distances, equipment recommendations, and calls for additional crossings. Meta removed multiple groups after media reports, stating it monitors the situation in real time and removes content that facilitates human smuggling.
Critics argue that Meta’s messaging goes beyond safety warnings and actively steers users, potentially including those researching or considering irregular routes, toward UN institutions that support asylum claims and migrant empowerment. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin highlighted screenshots of the Instagram interstitial, noting that the “get migration info” pathway leads directly to UN resources for asylum seekers and the empowering-migrants app.
Dan Lyman wrote on X that “journalists in Europe have noticed this ‘guide’ when conducting searches on Instagram for ‘Ceuta.'”
Lyman further notes that a reporter told him, “It’s a guidebook to migration when people are searching for illegal immigration.”
Journalists in Europe have noticed this “guide” when conducting searches on Instagram for “Ceuta.”
“It’s a guidebook to migration when people are searching illegal immigration,” a reporter told me.
The EU knows that images like Ceuta are a boon to right-wing parties. For those seeking to come to Europe, there are many doors open. This new prompt from Meta may serve as a guidebook for mass immigration through the legal channels the EU desires.
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