Macklemore said he will be donating the entirety of his $1 million net earnings from Sheeran's tour to organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people.
Macklemore said he will be donating the entirety of his $1 million net earnings from Sheeran's tour to organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people.
Foreign-born suspects account for nearly three-quarters of sexual-crime arrests in Basque Country, official figures show
Official statistics released by the Basque regional police, the Ertzaintza, indicate that people born outside Spain made up 58.7 percent of all arrests in the first half of 2026 even though they represent 10.2 percent of the population. The disparity is sharper in several high-profile offense categories.
Of the 107 people detained for crimes against sexual freedom, 79 were born abroad, making up 74 percent of arrests in this category, according to data obtained by The Objective.
Foreign-born suspects also accounted for 73.3 percent of homicide arrests and 61.3 percent of those for causing injury.
The highest shares appeared in other offences: 94.7 percent of drunk-driving arrests (36 of 38), 79.6 percent of theft arrests (222 of 279), and 77.6 percent of robberies involving violence or intimidation (253 of 326).
The figures come from data the Basque Department of Security, which began publishing this data systematically at the end of 2025. Until then, the Ertzaintza routinely omitted the birthplace of detainees.
Security councillor Bingen Zupiria of the PNV said the change followed “tremendous pressure” from the Popular Party (PP) and Vox in the Basque parliament. Police unions supported the move as a contribution to “crime prevention.”
After that pressure, Zupiria stated, the department was forced to “change its criteria.” Arrests are now broken down first by continent and then by region, including North Africa, the rest of Africa, Latin America, or Europe.
The publication of these breakdowns ended a long-standing practice of withholding origin information that the Basque government said had created more confusion than clarity. Citizens, officials argued, have a right to see the actual composition of recorded crime.
Within the foreign-born group, those originating from North Africa are notable for their high offense rates.
They form roughly 1.8 percent of the Basque population yet accounted for 37 percent of homicide arrests, 24 percent of sexual-assault arrests, 64 percent of theft arrests, 48 percent of robberies with force, and 66 percent of violent robberies in the first six months of the year.
Suspects from the rest of Africa and from Latin America also appear over-represented in several categories of crimes against persons and property.
Overall arrests have been rising. The Ertzaintza recorded 6,903 in 2021 and 9,222 in 2025. The first half of 2026 already produced 5,050. If the pace continues, the year would end with a record of about 10,100.
Only the Basque and Catalan regional forces currently publish the origin of suspects to the general public. However, an internal document obtained earlier this year showed that, across Spain as a whole, foreigners accounted for 51 percent of daily arrests (527 of 1,033). The share was higher in Madrid (64 percent), Catalonia (71.8 percent) and Murcia (60 percent), close to the Basque figure of 59 percent.
A 30-year-old woman reported being raped Sunday night in the restrooms of a restaurant in Paris’s affluent 16th arrondissement. French police quickly arrested a 40-year-old Syrian-born suspect with Brazilian nationality after he fled the scene, according to French news reports citing sources close to the investigation.
The alleged assault occurred around 10:45 p.m, Sept. 13, at a restaurant on Avenue Kléber. Investigators said a man approached the woman inside the establishment, forcibly pulled her into the toilet stall and raped her. He then fled in a black Skoda with two other men, heading toward the Arc de Triomphe.
Officers from an anti-crime unit responded to the restaurant to gather descriptions of the suspect and the vehicle. The victim was taken to a hospital for medical examinations.
A patrol later spotted the car on Avenue des Champs-Élysées near the George V metro station and stopped it around 11:10 p.m. The main suspect was taken into custody.
The two other men in the car, both also born in Syria and aged 41 and 42, were brought to a police station for questioning.
The suspect is a 40-year-old man born in Syria who holds Brazilian nationality, Le Figaro reported, citing a source close to the case. The investigation was assigned to the 1st District of the Judicial Police.
French media described the account as a reported rape under investigation. No charges had been publicly detailed in the days immediately after the arrest, and the restaurant was not named in published reports.
The case drew rapid attention on social media after activist Claire Geronimi posted about it Monday, noting the suspect’s Syrian birthplace and framing the assault as part of a pattern of attacks on women.
“Another woman assaulted. Once again, the same questions that some stubbornly refuse to ask. Full support for this victim. We must be able to live, go out, and return home without fear,” she wrote on X.
Une femme de 30 ans violée dans les toilettes d’un restaurant à Paris.
Le suspect, âgé de 40 ans et né en Syrie, a été interpellé après avoir pris la fuite.
Encore une femme agressée. Encore une fois, les mêmes questions que certains refusent obstinément de poser.
A publicly owned hospital in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has fired a pediatric surgeon without notice after she ran unsuccessfully for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a neighboring state’s local elections.
Dr. Svetlana Spirina, a senior physician in pediatric surgery at Klinikum Lippe in Detmold, appeared on the AfD ticket for Osnabrück’s city council in Lower Saxony’s Sept. 13 vote. While she did not win a seat, the hospital, owned solely by the Lippe district, then dismissed her immediately, the clinic confirmed.
In many cases, native Europeans are being aggressively turned away from the medical profession and educational opportunities in favor of foreign workers.
German politicians are spreading misleading information about Syrian doctors working in Germany.
5,000 Syrian doctors may sound like a lot, but there are 420,000 doctors in Germany. The number of Syrian doctors is approximately just enough to cover the 1 million Syrian… pic.twitter.com/fHJh9945y9
According to accounts of the dispute, Spirina denied AfD membership and her candidacy in a staff meeting after a pediatrician from the Münsterland region publicized the campaign in an open letter. Campaign material then disappeared from the AfD district association’s website and social media accounts.
District chairman Florian Meyer said he deleted the posts to shield the doctor from professional consequences, while expressing dismay at her public distancing.
In a biographical text she wrote about herself, Spirina said she had been an AfD member since 2023. She left the party shortly before the election, apparently under pressure from her employer.
Spirina received 408 votes, or 6.7 percent. That was not enough for a council seat. The AfD won 8.5 percent in Osnabrück and four seats.
Across Germany, AfD members and politicians have been targeted with professional consequences, including open threats. Many experts believe this harassment campaign is designed not only to strike fear but also to limit the pool of quality candidates the AfD can recruit as politicians.
Mohammad S. was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for striking killing twin brothers with his car while the brothers were traveling on an electric scooter. The 24-year-old convict also left their friend without a leg after dragging him. The verdict left the twins’ mother in tears as it was read.
The Frankfurt Regional Court convicted Mohammad S. of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and attempted murder. Judges also ordered him to pay the surviving rider €350,000 in compensation for pain and suffering, plus 5 percent interest.
Presiding Judge Anke Wagner said the panel saw remorse and despair in the defendant, according to Bild newspaper.
“It was a difficult task for us to find a just verdict,” Wagner said. “He has repeatedly made it clear how much he would like to undo everything.”
Prosecutors had sought eight years in prison. Defense lawyers asked for a two-year suspended sentence on charges of dangerous interference with road traffic and leaving the scene.
Duy Quang N. and Quang Minh N., both 23, had come to Frankfurt with a friend for a concert. Relatives described the twins as young men who “always went through life with a smile” and who had completed an apprenticeship in Hamburg. Both died after a car hit their e-scooter. Their companion, Hieu Trung H., 28, lost a leg.
According to the court, Mohammad S. was driving his father’s Toyota Corolla at about 2:30 a.m. on July 6, 2025, with three friends after the group had inhaled nitrous oxide on the banks of the Main River. On Mainzer Landstrasse, the Syrian-born defendant struck the twins, who were thrown 30 meters through the air. An expert said the car was traveling at up to 87 kph (54 mph) in a 50 kph (31 mph) zone.
“At a constant, excessive speed,” according to the indictment, the convicted man then hit Hieu Trung H., who was riding about six meters ahead. The friend’s head pierced the windshield. Prosecutors said he was dragged 70 meters and lost a leg.
Hieu Trung H. testified Wednesday from a wheelchair, his hands folded and his voice trembling. He said he had come to Germany to train as a nurse and first met the twins in Vietnam during a German course. The defendant sent him a letter of apology, which he accepted, though he asked to be moved in the courtroom because he could not look Mohammad S. in the eye.
“I can’t remember the accident. I was in a coma for almost two months, only then did the memories come back. When I woke up, I thought the other two were still alive. Suddenly, I felt that I had lost a leg, and I was in pain that nobody wants to experience in their life.”
He also told the court: “The pain of my friends’ deaths was worse.”
The crash changed him, he said. “I used to be a person who liked to talk.”
He said that he hardly talks anymore and mostly just wants to sleep.
Surveillance video played at trial showed Mohammad S. continuing through the city after the collision, sparks flying from an e-scooter trapped under the Toyota for more than a kilometer. It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors or the defense would appeal.
Remix News has reported on numerous such incidents involving young foreigners hitting, maiming and killing drivers and pedestrians while traveling at high speeds on the road, often high on various drugs.
The Frankfurt sentence landed in the same week as another Hesse speeding case that has drawn similar anger.
In Offenbach, on Nov. 30, 2025, 32-year-old Edin D. drove a VW Golf through a 50 kph (31 mph) zone on wet Mühlheimer Strasse at extreme speed, with reports citing as high as 145 kph (90 mph).
After swerving around a car leaving a driveway, Edin D. crossed into oncoming traffic and hit an Audi A1.
The impact killed two women, 66 and 88, and 9-year-old Raksha, who had been riding with a neighbor on the way to church choir. Prosecutors called it murder and asked for life in prison.
On Sept. 9, 2026, the Darmstadt Regional Court instead convicted Edin D. of prohibited motor-vehicle racing causing death and sentenced him to seven years. The court said he acted with gross recklessness and accepted the risk, but it did not conclude the case was murder.
Remix News also reported this week on another similar case of Ali A., who, due to his reckless driving, killed 33-year-old Dutch woman Elisabeth, who was pregnant at the time of her untimely death. Ali A. is accused of huffing anti-dust spray and fleeing the scene after killing the woman and her unborn baby. In that case, the prosecution only asked for eight months in prison.
Within this article, Remix News has also embedded numerous stories that show the same trajectory of events involving foreigners killing victims due to reckless driving. However, they represent only a small fraction of the stories Remix News has covered on this topic.
A child protection activist, Dennis Engelmann, has filed a criminal complaint against a Berlin performance artist after a video circulated of the artist appearing only in his underwear while performing in front of children at a family festival at a left-wing venue.
Engelmann the complaint to Berlin police over Felix Baumann’s Sept. 6 appearance at ufaFabrik Boulevard 2026, a free outdoor street-art and environmental festival in the Tempelhof neighborhood. Police accepted the complaint and forwarded it to the responsible unit for review, Engelmann said.
Video of the incident has gone viral on X and other social media platforms.
This male artist danced half-naked in front of young children, in the German capital city of Berlin, during a family event.
A criminal complaint has now been filed against artist Felix Baumann, who has received significant taxpayer money for his performances.
The festival, held on the grounds of the ufaFabrik cultural center, was advertised as entertainment for “young and old,” with a children’s circus, a children’s farm and other family programming. Baumann was listed at 3 p.m. on the covered outdoor stage, between a children’s circus act and other performances. His solo show “ha ha ha hi!” has been marketed at other venues as suitable for audiences ages six and up.
Engelmann said the recording showed children standing immediately in front of the stage. In comments to the weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit, he said Baumann’s act should be investigated.
“For me, a clear line has been crossed here,” Engelmann said. “I find not only the extremely revealing clothing, but especially parts of the dance movements and the demonstrative play with one’s own body to be obscene and sexualizing. And that’s right in front of children at a family event. This is neither child-friendly nor responsible. From a professional point of view, I consider this specific incident to be a risk to the child’s welfare.”
According to the complaint and subsequent accounts of the video, Baumann performed in underwear at points in the routine, moved through the audience and, while wearing a nightgown, pulled the garment down and exposed his nipples. Engelmann wrote that he was expressly requesting a criminal investigation of the documented facts.
Baumann, 34, is a freelance physical-theater, dance and contemporary circus artist based in Berlin. His website describes “ha ha ha hi!” as a one-man show blending dance, circus, physical comedy and object manipulation, built around a “mediocre comedian” trying and failing to tell a joke. Other presenters have billed the piece as roughly 45 minutes long and recommended it from age six.
The research that led to the production was supported by the German Performing Arts Fund with money from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Junge Freiheit reported that Baumann received a €7,500 research grant from that fund when Green Party politician Claudia Roth held the federal culture post, and that he has received additional public support. His professional résumé lists further federal arts funding in recent years.
ufaFabrik describes itself as a place of diversity for people of “all nationalities, religions and professions.” The venue also receives significant financial support from the state of Berlin. According to figures cited from the Senate Department for Finance, the center received more than €2 million in taxpayer funding between 2021 and 2023.
Engelmann said he sent detailed questions to both the venue and the artist and set a deadline of 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, for responses. As of Wednesday, neither Baumann nor ufaFabrik had issued a public statement addressing the complaint. Junge Freiheit reported that Baumann deleted his Instagram account after the performance drew widespread criticism online.
Filing a complaint does not mean prosecutors have opened a formal investigation or that any charge has been filed. Berlin police did not immediately comment on the status of the complaint.
Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry statistics show that the country now has 107,677 centenarians, up 7,914 from the previous year. 88 per cent of them are women.
Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry statistics show that the country now has 107,677 centenarians, up 7,914 from the previous year. 88 per cent of them are women.
Four of Ed Sheeran's support acts, including his backing band withdrew from the tour after Macklemore was removed for making remarks in support of a Palestinian state on stage.
Four of Ed Sheeran's support acts, including his backing band withdrew from the tour after Macklemore was removed for making remarks in support of a Palestinian state on stage.
Poland wants to transfer missiles for the Patriot system to Ukraine, with Warsaw reportedly consulting with NATO to implement this plan. The plan is proving controversial due to the global shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles which have been rapidly depleted due to the war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran and its proxies.
Poland plans to transfer several missiles to Ukraine for the Patriot air-defense system, according to information obtained by Polish news outlet Rzeczpospolita from government and military circles.
Remix News previously reported on the extreme shortage of Patriot missiles in Ukraine, leaving the country vulnerable to Russian missile and drone barrages.
However, it is a small number of missiles, not a large delivery. This information was indirectly confirmed by the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, General Ireneusz Nowak, who noted that the transfer of missiles falls within a previously established, classified quantity.
“In my opinion, we could donate post-Soviet equipment that is still in our inventory and that could be very useful for Ukraine, even if it requires a general overhaul. We must be aware that such equipment is also used to fight in Poland’s interest,” General Nowak added in an interview with the newspaper.
How many missiles will Poland donate? The Polish Ministry of National Defence does not want to say.
The issue of Patriot missiles arouses strong emotions, and most Poles, as research shows, do not want to give Ukraine valuable weapons. The fact that the missile transfer comes at a time when Prime Minister Donald Tusk warns that Russia directly threatens Polish security and plans to escalate the conflict with NATO countries is particularly sensitive.
Controversy is also intensified by the fact that the Polish Ministry of National Defence is not disclosing details of the next aid package for Ukraine, citing the protection afforded classified information. However, the ministry confirmed that further support is being prepared and will include equipment that is no longer needed by the Polish army or is approaching the end of its useful life, but may still be useful in Ukraine. Details regarding specific types of weapons remain confidential.
The planned donation is part of broader Polish military aid to Ukraine. A few months ago, Poland transferred five PAC-3 MSE missiles to Kyiv for the Patriot system. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz argued at the time that combating Russian missiles over Ukraine could increase Poland’s security because it would reduce the risk of them reaching Polish airspace. At the same time, he emphasized that the transfer of weapons must not weaken Polish defence capabilities.
Poland currently has 16 Patriot launchers and has contracted for approximately 200 PAC-3 MSE missiles, some of which have not yet been delivered.
Transgender German federal police officer “Maja S.” has confessed yesterday to the rape of a minor and other serious charges before the Traunstein Regional Court as a part of a plea.
The former officer, who had 35 years of service, admitted to raping a friend’s 14-year-old daughter in the bathroom of a fast-food restaurant in August 2025.
“The injured party was unable to react to this, but stared at the accused in shock,” the court indictment states about the rape. “The accused left the toilet stall and the injured woman locked herself in the toilet, trembling all over her body while suffering from heart palpitations.”
Maja S. confessed to the charges as part of a plea agreement that is expected to result in a sentence of 3 to 3.5 years, according to media reports. Some commentators on social media are already decrying the potential sentence as far too lenient given the gravity of the crimes involved.
Maja S. also confessed to possessing around 2,000 pornographic files depicting brutal assaults and the sexual violence against children, some as young as three.
The transgender former officer also confessed to assault and the sexual abuse of juveniles.
The former officer admitted to producing pornographic videos involving animals, including with other sexual partners and a dog.
According to Bild, the former officer was previously assigned to a special unit of the Federal Police (GSG 9) and was deployed in Afghanistan, among other places. Maja S. continues to receive hormone therapy.
Maja S., who is biologically male, was previously housed in a women’s prison section but is now in the men’s wing of a prison in Munich. Maja’s lawyer has complained that Maja is facing harassment there, including being whistled at by other prisoners.
In addition to the potential prison time, Maja S. must also pay the 14-year-old victim €5,000 and give her a motorcycle. This is the first time Remix News has observed reports of a victim, especially a young victim who cannot even legally ride a motorcycle yet, receiving such a vehicle as part of a plea deal.
Notably, this does not appear to be the first time that Maja S. has offended. Welt newspaper reported that Maja S. must also pay a fine “resulting from a previous, apparently relevant, judgment of the Rosenheim District Court.”
The Welt report notes that the fact that Maja S. reoffended so quickly after this previous verdict from July 2025 was a detrimental factor in this more recent case.
Ali A. had just turned 18 when he decided to drive his brand new BMW X1 over double the speed limit, high on anti-dust spray, striking 33-year-old Dutchwoman Elisabeth in Rotterdam.
On Monday, prosecutors said in court that it was just two days after his eighteenth birthday, in March of last year, when Ali A. drove at 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, or 71 mph in a 30 mph zone, with the car which his father had just given him as a gift.
Prosecutors say they want him to be sentenced to eight months in prison and given a five-year driving ban.
Dutch news outlet NOS wrote that Ali A. was weaving his car, driving on the wrong side of the road, and is suspected of having been under the influence of propellant anti-dust spray, a kind of narcotic used by young people.
Video footage shows him overtaking a car at very high speed and barely avoiding an oncoming vehicle. Then, he hit Elisabeth’s car, who was on her way to her hockey club, which led her vehicle to slam directly into a tree.
Doctors tried to save her life but she died that same day. She was fourteen weeks pregnant with her first child, who also died.
The suspect, now 19, offered a different account of the accident in the Rotterdam court. He said he lost control of the car and was trying to avoid other cars, but one of his statements also appears to contradict this claim.
“I didn’t know the car well yet and wanted to test it out. I may have been overambitious and thought I was a better driver, but I couldn’t control it,” he said.
After the collision, Ali A. ended up in the ditch with his car. He claims he thought he was unconscious for a while and was “in terrible shock” after the accident.
The prosecution argues the man was high on anti-dust spray, but Ali strongly denies inhaling any drugs.
However, police have recorded him fleeing the scene of the accident and throwing away two aerosol cans. He claims that if police had discovered the aerosol cans, it would have given them the “wrong impression.”
“I am aware that the spray is used to get high. I was afraid they would suspect me of that if they had found the cans in the car,’ he stated.
When asked why he did not go help Elisabeth, or call emergency services, he said: “I was in shock.”
The prosecutor went on attack, saying that Ali A. is claiming he is too shocked to help Elisabeth or call emergency services but had the presence of mind to run away and toss the two anti-dust cans.
He had recently bought two cans of the spray because he saw — right after coming home from a short foreign birthday trip — that there was some dust on his PlayStation. He claims his plan was only to clean his PlayStation. When asked why he bought two cans, he said he had no idea how much cleaning product was needed.
The prosecutor rejected that explanation.
“I don’t see any shock, I see someone deliberately dumping evidence,” she said.
The attorney representing the family, Anne Bleeker, said that Ali A is, “Thoughtful, cunning, self-centered.”
“This is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced,” he said, and added that he was also greatly affected by the accident. That claim was heard with disbelief in the packed courtroom.
When Ali said again during his closing words how much trouble and stress he himself had from the accident, several of Elisabeth’s relatives walked out of the room.
Elisabeth’s partner, mother and brother called on him in their victim statements to take responsibility.
“It is completely disrespectful to us. You say you were in shock after the accident and can’t remember anything. I was also in shock after hearing about the accident, but I can still remember everything exactly,” Elisabeth’s partner said, according to De Telegraaf newspaper.
Her mother said she should not have been in court at all today.
“I should have picked out a present for my grandchild’s first birthday…You drove like crazy. There are too many young people like you. Too much testosterone, too little brain.”
“We were happy to become grandparents again, it was [the other parents of the father] who were preparing to become grandparents for the first time. They had already prepared some old baby clothes,” she added.
Her brother also spoke, saying: “A beautiful vision of the future on a sun-drenched day. It turned into horror in the hospital. We were completely devastated.”
The court will rule in two weeks, on Sept. 28.
Various commentators and political figures are outraged by the case, including Eva Vlaardingerbroek.
“Ali A. (18) hit and killed Elisabeth (33) who was pregnant with her first child. He was driving 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone and was high on laughing gas. The Dutch prosecutor is demanding 8 months in jail. That’s apparently all the life of a Dutch pregnant woman is worth,” she wrote on X.
Ali A. (18) hit and killed Elisabeth (33) who was pregnant with her first child.
He was driving 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone and was high on laughing gas.
The Dutch prosecutor is demanding 8 months in jail.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the agency has deployed “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.”
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the agency has deployed “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.”
'This decision should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there,' a spokesman for the couple said.
'This decision should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there,' a spokesman for the couple said.
The “conference” that the Ukrainian company BioTexCom had announced for September 12–13 in Warsaw has no venue — the owner of the premises refuses to rent it out. This is the result of pressure exerted for weeks by Polish legal organization Ordo Iuris and other groups.
Centrum Żoliborz, which rents out training rooms at 49 Aleje Jerozolimskie in Warsaw has stated that it will not rent premises to that company and that BioTexCom had no right to use its address. Polish media reported the venue would host the “conference” with Ukrainian company BioTexCom on September 12–13.
To those now asking about the possibility to take part in the conference, BioTexCom replies that the event has been postponed to another date and will not take place for the time being. The reason given is the safety of the company’s clients. The company itself, meanwhile, is redirecting interested parties to individual conversations via WhatsApp. The announcement of the Warsaw event nevertheless still appears on BioTexCom’s website, which is why vigilance in this matter remains necessary.
On September 7, Ordo Iuris put a question to Centrum Żoliborz asking whether the Ukrainian company had in fact reserved a room there. The reply Ordo Iuris received left no doubt:
“I would like to inform you that we received an inquiry from this entity about the possibility of renting a training room. An offer was sent, but no room was reserved. At the same time, I wish to inform you that, after learning what this entity does, we categorically do not want to enter into any cooperation with it or to rent it our training rooms. This company had no right whatsoever to use our address.”
This is an important signal. When the owners of venues learn what a “surrogacy program” actually is and what legal risk may be involved in making premises available to promote it, they decided to refuse the client. In this case, it was enough for the matter to come to light: the Ordo Iuris Institute’s notification to prosecutors, a petition, appeals from Catholic Action and the Polish Bishops’ Conference, an announced picket, as well as action from, among others, the Center for Life and Family and dozens of press publications. Pressure works.
It would be premature, however, to declare victory. The announcement of the Warsaw event scheduled for September 12–13 still appears on biotexcom.pl. Nor has the company withdrawn from the Polish market. Instead, it has moved its offer to an individual channel, proposing free online “consultations.” The matter therefore requires continued attention and firm opposition.
A company that puts children on sale
The scale of BioTexCom’s disregard for elementary ethical standards is not a matter of interpretation. In November 2021, the company ran a Black Friday promotion: from November 15 to 26, it offered a 3-percent discount on all packages. In practice, this meant €1,947 off the “All inclusive VIP” package worth €64,900 and €447 off the “Perfect Chance” in vitro program costing €14,900. The advertisements urged people to hurry in order to “make it” in time for the discount and fulfill the dream of a child more quickly. The child became a seasonal sale item — exactly like a television set or a washing machine.
The company’s price list is built like a catalog of tourist services: packages from €36,900 to €64,900, divided into “standard,” “standard plus,” and “VIP” versions. The difference is that the object of the transaction is a human being.
“Warehouses” of human goods. A lesson from 2020
The world saw the most telling image of this business in May 2020. BioTexCom then published a video in which 46 newborns could be seen arranged in rows of transparent cribs at the Venice hotel in Kyiv — normally used to receive the company’s foreign clients. The video, translated into several languages, was meant to mobilize buyers to pressure their own embassies and foreign ministries into granting permission to enter Ukraine, which was closed because of the pandemic. The message was unambiguous: the goods ordered are on site, waiting in optimal storage conditions. The camera panning over the rows of infants involuntarily evoked an association with a production line.
It was estimated at the time that around 500 children born to surrogate mothers for foreign clients were stranded in Ukraine. Ukraine took over this market after Asian countries — following a series of scandals — banned the sale to foreigners of children born through surrogacy.
Before the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine, BioTexCom accounted for about two-thirds of Ukraine’s exports of this “service,” estimated at around 2,000 newborns a year. In 2018–2019, the company and its owner were at the center of an investigation into more than a thousand irregular surrogacy procedures; no charges were brought against him at the time, however.
In August 2019, the Australian broadcaster ABC showed how children born with disabilities are abandoned by the commissioning parents, who refuse to take delivery of “defective” goods — they then end up in Ukrainian orphanages and public hospitals.
The French precedent: a fair that had to leave Paris
France’s experience shows that consistent social and legal pressure can lead to the permanent cancellation of events of this kind, such as the “conference” BioTexCom had planned in Warsaw. For years, Paris hosted the “Désir d’enfant” fair, later held under the name “Wish for a Baby,” at which — just as BioTexCom intended to do in Warsaw — surrogacy services were promoted, even though they are illegal in France.
For several years, Le Syndicat de la Famille (formerly La Manif Pour Tous) had run a campaign against the fair’s organizers that included demonstrations, leafleting, undercover-camera footage, and lawsuits against the organizers and the owners of the venues. The lawsuits accused them of complicity in surrogacy brokering. As pressure mounted, the fair first had to leave the Espace Champerret and move to the smaller Espace Charenton. Finally, on April 16, 2025, the organizers announced that the event would be moved to Brussels, giving up any further presence in Paris.
“This victory is the fruit of a mobilization carried on year after year,” commented Ludovine de La Rochère, the organization’s president. The problem nevertheless remains: the French continue to use surrogacy services provided abroad — for example, in the United States in the case of same-sex couples, or in cheaper Ukraine in the case of married couples, since Ukrainian law permits such services only for heterosexual married couples.
Italy: punishment even for surrogacy arranged abroad
This is why Italy has gone further. Surrogacy has been banned there since 2004 under Article 12(6) of Law No. 40. The provision imposes a penalty of three months to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of €600,000 to €1 million on anyone who carries out, organizes, or advertises surrogacy.
This solution, however, was relatively easy to circumvent — it was enough to use services abroad, for example in Ukraine, Georgia, or the United States. Giorgia Meloni’s government decided to close this loophole. On the initiative of the Brothers of Italy, the Italian parliament passed an amendment, which the Senate adopted on October 16, 2024, by a vote of 84 to 58. Law No. 169 of November 4, 2024, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on November 18 and in force since December 3, 2024, supplemented Article 12 of Law No. 40 with a provision under which, if acts related to surrogacy are committed abroad, an Italian citizen is subject to punishment under Italian law. The Italian media dubbed the new measure a “reato universale” — a universal offense. “This is a common-sense rule against the commodification of women’s and children’s bodies. Human life has no price and is not a commodity,” Giorgia Meloni argued.
The Italian solution shows that a state which treats surrogacy as a form of human trafficking can effectively counteract it even when the practice is organized beyond its borders. It need not stop at mere declarations — it can create real legal tools to limit circumvention of the national ban.
Vigilance and consistency
For years, Ordo Iuris has pointed out that surrogacy is not a service but human trafficking. In connection with the announced conference in Warsaw, the Ordo Iuris Institute filed a notification with the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw regarding BioTexCom, citing Article 211a of the Polish Criminal Code (arranging adoptions in violation of the law for financial gain), Article 189a § 2 of the Criminal Code (preparation for human trafficking), and Article 258 of the Criminal Code (participation in an organized criminal group), and requesting, among other things, a travel ban for those responsible.
As Julia Książek of the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law emphasized, the promotion of commercial reproduction treats a woman’s body as a means of production and the child as a product tailored to the client’s expectations. The Ordo Iuris Institute is also part of an international coalition, coordinated by the group of experts behind the Casablanca Declaration, which is appealing to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to recognize paid surrogacy as the sale of children within the meaning of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“I was programmed to be abandoned,” said Olivia Maurel, a woman born as a result of surrogacy, during a June conference organized by the Ordo Iuris Institute together with the Research and Teaching Center for Catholic Social Teaching at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University (UKSW). At the same conference, Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, called for the global abolition of surrogacy.
The Warsaw “conference” of the Ukrainian company BioTexCom has no venue today. That is good news, but it is not the end of the matter. Continued vigilance is needed, both from the owners of conference and hotel venues and from the organs of the state, which should consistently enforce the law in force in Poland.
The best solution, however, would be to follow Italy’s example and adopt legislation providing for severe penalties for the use of surrogate mothers’ services — regardless of whether the practice takes place in Poland or abroad. Only in this way can the path to circumventing the ban be effectively closed and the growth of a market in which the human body and children become objects of transaction be curbed.
A trans person on trial in the German state of Bavaria on charges that include the alleged rape of a teenage girl and the possession of a large collection of child sexual abuse material while serving as a German police officer.
The trial of the 55-year-old defendant — who is a male-to-female trans person and who has been removed from duty — began today, Tuesday morning, at the Traunstein Regional Court, according to German news outlet Rosenheim24.
Prosecutors accuse the trans ex-officer of raping a 14-year-old girl in the toilet stall of a fast food restaurant and of possessing hundreds of files depicting the sexual abuse of children. Investigators say the material includes violent acts against children, with the youngest victims described as about three years old.
Photos of the trans ex-officer in the courtroom show a tall individual with long bleach-blonde hair, a large arm tattoo, and tall platform shoes.
The defendant also faces an accusation of producing animal pornography. The trans ex-officer is alleged to have made videos where the defendant had sex with a dog, along with several sexual partners. It remains unclear if any of these other individuals have been identified.
The most serious charge concerns an incident in August 2025. Prosecutors say that during an outing with a friend, the defendant raped the friend’s 14-year-old daughter in the restroom of a fast-food restaurant. The defendant is also accused of sending a pornographic WhatsApp message to the girl, who was roughly 40 years younger than the defendant.
The court has scheduled four days of hearings. A verdict could be delivered on Oct. 8.
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