Month: January 2026

In Padua, controversy has arisen over a recently opened shop in Piazza dei Signords that specialises in paninis and cured meats. To make it clear what it sells, the shop displayed a plastic pig figurine in its window, a visual symbol of the products on offer (photo above).

What was perceived by shop owners and some customers as a mere advertising gimmick has become the subject of a public inquiry by some representatives of the local Islamic community. Salim El Mauoed, a doctor and regional vice-president of the community, demanded the removal of the figure, describing its presence as ‘tasteless’ and potentially offensive to Muslims visiting the city centre.

The municipality has not taken any official measures. There is no regulation prohibiting the use of pig images as commercial symbols. However, the request has provoked mixed reactions in Padua and beyond, with several politicians and citizens condemning it as an attack on freedom of trade and civil coexistence.

@natyygonzalezt Fui a la apertura de Mortadella que está en Piazza di Signori y me encanto ❤️ @lamortadellaofficial definitivamente si quieres comer algo rico, rápido y súper fresco vayan aprobar sus rosette 🥪✨. #padova #erasmusstudent #latinoseneuropa #foodie #mortadella ♬ Moves like Jagger – s0ng4y0uu

The controversy has taken on a larger dimension. According to proponents of the censorship measures, symbols that contradict Islamic religious precepts should be avoided in public. Other observers, however, warned of the risk of setting a precedent that would influence religious claims on legal and long-standing business practices. Some Muslim employees of the shop also supported keeping the figure, as it was seen as compatible with the shop’s identity and not offensive.

Il Giornale

An Afghan national has appeared in court to deny raping two teenage girls.

Sultani Bakatash, 28, is charged with two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault.

These charges relate to an incident said to have taken place at a flat in Bolton, Greater Manchester on December 6, 2025.

It allegedly involved two girls who are both aged 14, who cannot be legally identified due to their age.

Bakatash appeared at Bolton Crown Court via video link from HMP Forest Bank in Salford, with a person present in the courtroom to assist with Dari translation.

Each of the five counts was put to the defendant one by one, with details given for each.

When asked for his pleas on each of the five charges, Bakatash, of Georgina Court, responded he was not guilty.

The court then dealt with several administrative matters which cannot be reported ahead of the trial.

The defendant was represented by Paul Becker, while the prosecution was headed by Harriet Lavin.

A previous hearing heard Bakatash arrived in Britain two years ago and had been granted indefinite leave to remain, with his mother, two brothers and two sisters also living in the UK.

The trial has been scheduled to begin on June 8 and is expected to last for five days.

Until then, Judge Nicholas Clarke KC, Honorary Recorder of Bolton, has remanded Bakatash in custody.

Chief Superintendent Helen Critchley previously stated: “We’ve been using all available resources to understand what has happened and help this case progress through court.

“We remain firmly committed to protecting young girls in Bolton and across Greater Manchester and to help people feel safe in their neighbourhood.

“As criminal proceedings are now active, I urge the public not to speculate so that the legal process can take its proper course and the dignity of the girls is maintained.”

She also stated the alleged victims were being supported by specialist teams.

gbnews

I took a little look — my first — at Facebook, and I immediately came upon a site where the posters, all from the UK, were expressing great unhappiness over the Muslim presence in Great Britain. The tone was one of frustration, and even anger, with the government’s failure to act, and with the reluctance of individuals to speak out about the matter for fear of being accused of “racism” and “Islamophobia.” And several referred to the predictions about the Muslim invasion that they had made long ago. One woman said that in 2013, as her father lay dying, he told her he was glad he would not live to see the final triumph of Islam in Britain, that he had been warning about for years. His final words were “this will be a Muslim country!”

Here are those posts:

1. I wrote this 5 years ago.

This will upset a few people, but here goes.

We are, as a nation, getting exactly what we deserve. We sit on closed groups on Facebook and type how disgusted we are, but we will never go out and protest. We, myself included, are cowards. We don’t want to be branded “racists” or “islamophobic” and risk losing our jobs, nor do we want to lose the respect of our friends and wider community, so we keep our true thoughts to ourselves, and they know it. That’s why they will win. This country, and the rest of Western Europe, is lost, because the radical left insist we continue down this road of “multiculturalism” while ignoring the fact that it is NOT increasing integration but is encouraging the “islamification” of our country, only mass deportations will return the balance and no one will do anything about it.

2. Look what happened last year when ppl protested . It’s our governments are the ones to blame we have to put up with the s##t and it will only get worse .

3. Perfect no one has the balls to protect our country since Margaret Thatcher !

4. On my father’s death bed he spoke these words:

“Natalie I am so thankful that I was born the year WW2 ended…. I will be happy to be gone because the eastern world has infiltrated every aspect of Great Britain and it will be a Muslim country! He died in 2013!

He knew…..

5. Well me and hubby have been on the London rallies alongside thousands of people but what can you do when no one in government listens or cares or even acknowledges that people are even there, there’s no MSM acknowledgment, politicians know how the public…

6. That’s why Starmer came out calling people far right and having them arrested, silencing and shaming people, I’ve been saying what you’ve said for the last 30 odd yrs and now I watch people who didn’t like what I had to say now thinking what I said all them yrs ago

7. Today we’ve become an Orwellian type dictatorship, and we’ve let it happen.

Enoch Powell was correct.!!

8. I could stop the boats but I’m not allowed and I’m not going to prison for these leaches, so who is really wrong, I have got the spine to go and make a stand on stopping it but why should I end up in prison?

9. We the people see it but it’s the kalergi plan this government wants. I actually don’t know which way to turn; it’s becoming orwellian dictatorship.

10. I talked for a decade on Islamic invasion of europe,and its intentions. I’m reminded every day that I’m a racist bigot

11. Bang on the nail with the help of anti-white working class uni party politicians we gave our country away

These are the people who cannot bear to see their country being slowly taken from them by Muslims, both through demographic conquest, and through the behavior of pusillanimous political leaders who refuse to tell the country the truth, and instead allow that Muslim invasion to continue. And ordinary citizens, too, have been afraid to speak their minds because they are fearful of being tarred with accusations of “racism” and “Islamophobia.” Several of those who provided comments on this thread have been warning for many years about the rising Muslim sea in Britain. One woman said her own father on his deathbed in 2013 told her he was glad he would not live to see Islam take over the country. This desperate situation may change if the Reform Party gains power. That could be the UK’s last best hope.

frontpagemag

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki has said that he will not participate in the last synodal assembly of the heretical German “Synodal Way.”

In an interview with Domradio published on Tuesday, the archbishop of Cologne was asked why he decided not to attend the sixth synodal assembly of the Synodal Way taking place in Stuttgart at the end of January.

“For me, the Synodal Way is over. It was originally agreed that there would be five meetings, and I took part in all of them,” he said. “In my opinion, this body also does not have the mandate to evaluate what an individual local bishop or diocese has or has not implemented from the decisions of the Synodal Way.”

The sixth synodal assembly will take place three years after the conclusion of the first five assemblies and is meant as an opportunity to evaluate the “reform process.”

The German Synodal Way is infamous for proposing heretical changes to immutable Catholic teaching. The heterodox “reform” project was launched by the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics, a laity organization, in December 2019.

By 2023, an overwhelming majority of the members of the Synodal Way, including more than two-thirds of the German bishops, voted in favor of heretical documents calling for “women deacons,” “blessings” of homosexual relationships, changing Church teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts, and even “transgender” priests in a text replete with gender ideology.

Cardinal Woelki added that “other important issues were not addressed during the Synodal Path either, such as the question of evangelization, which Pope Francis emphasized in his 2019 letter ‘to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany.’ I see this as a major shortcoming of these five plenary assemblies.”

The cardinal, who was part of the minority of bishops who opposed the heretical documents of the Synodal Way, did not call out his brother bishops directly for their errors but instead said, “All I can say is that I am accountable for my ordination vows.”

“I promised to protect the faith of the Church and to walk the path in my diocese in unity with the Pope. I would like to continue to do so in the future.”

“I have the impression that, at a certain point, the Synodal Path in Germany became primarily about implementing certain church policy positions,” the archbishop of Cologne stated.

“My great concern is that there is currently a creeping attempt in Germany to implement a new ecclesiology and a new anthropology that are no longer in harmony with the faith and teaching of the universal Church,” he concluded.

Cardinal Woelki also commented on the plan of the majority of the heterodox German bishops, together with the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), to give the laity greater executive power in the Church through the establishment of a permanent Synodal Council.

“As Catholics, we live in a hierarchical, sacramental Church,” he stressed. “This is not simply a question of organization, but a question of the very nature of the Church. And this is the basis on which we must walk a common Synodal Path.”

“In this Church, the bishop has ultimate decision-making authority for his diocese, which is conferred on him by Christ himself. In this respect, I find it difficult to accept the idea of being part of a body in which 27 diocesan bishops, 27 members of the ZdK, and another 27 members who have yet to be elected deliberate and decide together. And that is ultimately what it is all about, even if attempts are made to describe it in other terms.”

According to an Italian journalist and Vatican insider, Nico Spuntoni, the Holy See is concerned that a Synodal Council that gives authority reserved for bishops to the laity could lead to a schism of large parts of the German Church.

lifesitenews

In 2025, France is seeing a significant shift in its non-EU immigration landscape, with first-time residence permits projected to reach 384,000 — an 11.2 percent increase from the previous year. This growth is uniquely defined by a massive 65 percent surge in permits granted on humanitarian grounds, primarily to refugees and those seeking subsidiary protection.

The legal foreign population in France is expected to hit approximately 4.5 million by the end of 2025, a 3.2 percent annual increase. However, previous reports have put the total population of foreigners at much higher levels, already reaching 6 million in 2024. While humanitarian reasons are the primary driver for new arrivals, the “stock” of residents remains heavily influenced by family ties and labor needs.

The purpose of residency varies drastically depending on the country of origin, reflecting France’s diverse historical and geopolitical ties. As French news outlet Fdesouche notes, “Nationals of the three Maghreb countries are more often issued with residence permits granted for family reunification reasons.” These countries consist of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. However, these groups are also now being granted work permits, with the government arguing they can be used to fill labor shortages.

For China and the United States, most of the permits being issued are for studying and academic research.

Meanwhile, Afghans receive residence permits almost entirely based on humanitarian reasons. To a lesser extent, Ukrainians and Ivorians also receive such first-time permits.

Renewals are approaching a milestone of 1 million per year (955,000 projected for 2025). This trend confirms that a vast majority of non-EU immigrants who arrive in France are transitioning into long-term legal residents, despite stricter new integration requirements — such as the mandatory civic exam and A2-level French proficiency introduced in the 2024-2026 reforms. Notably, A2 is considered a rudimentary level of language understanding.

🇫🇷🔴 Paris is paying €1.2 billion per year on migrant accommodations, according to French politician @eciotti.

"An average of 50,000 hotel rooms are paid for by the (Paris) regional prefecture, mainly for foreigners seeking asylum. 1.2 billion euros a year." pic.twitter.com/fo5N7BLZvW

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 12, 2026

Last year, demographic researcher and data analyst Marc Vanguard reported that “the foreign population in France is growing FOUR times faster than the population of French nationality.”

The rapid demographic change has led academics, researchers, literary figures, and politicians to dub this trend the Great Replacement.

In 2022, famed French author Michel Houellebecq came out and said the Great Replacement is a “fact” during a wide-ranging discussion with influential French philosopher Michel Onfray.

“The Great Replacement, I was shocked it’s called a theory. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact,” said Houellebecq. “When it comes to immigration, nobody controls anything; that’s the whole problem. Europe will be swept away by this cataclysm.”

“It’s objectively what the figures say,” added Onfray, who said he thinks that the decline of the West is primarily a demographic decline. 

The fact that France’s greatest living writer, as he is often described by the mainstream press, has said the Great Replacement is a fact will only add to the growing body of intellectuals, academics, and politicians who have increasingly been willing to describe the Great Replacement in public forums over the years.

Notably, the vast majority of the French want serious immigration restrictions put in place, while a tremendous 53 percent of women want zero immigration into the country, according to polling.

rmx

The German state has paid out a record sum in child benefits to recipients abroad in 2025, latest numbers by the Federal Employment Agency (BfA) show.

Altogether, €528 million in benefits were transferred to foreign bank accounts, the highest sum so far.

Child benefits transferred abroad have rapidly risen over the past years. In 2010, Germany only transferred €36 million abroad. In 2024, the total had already risen to €514 million.

Altogether, the country paid out €55.3 billion in child benefits in 2025, meaning that the transfers to foreign bank accounts account for about 1 per cent of total pay-outs.

The majority of the foreign transfers went to European Union member states, primarily Poland, Romania, Czechia and France.

The BfA cautions that a foreign bank account does not automatically mean that the child for whom the benefits are paid is also living abroad as migrants may retain their old bank accounts after moving to Germany.

Out of the 17.6 million children for whom child benefits were paid, though, more than 3.9 million – or 22 per cent – did not have German citizenship. This means almost €13 billion in benefits were paid to non-German recipients.

The biggest groups of non-German recipients are Turkish people, followed by Ukrainians.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) commented on the numbers, saying the German child benefits system needed an overhaul.

AfD MP René Springer said: “As in Denmark, entitlement for foreigners should be linked to clear conditions: A valid residence permit and several years of gainful employment. This is the only way to stop immigration into our social systems on the basis of attractive social benefits.”

Currently, Germany generally pays child benefits of €259 per month to all parents (or other caretakers of children) residing in Germany for children aged 0 to 17. For EU citizens employment in Germany is not a necessary condition to receive the benefits due to EU regulation.

The system has repeatedly been exploited by fraudsters. In February 2025, for example, authorities in Duisburg (North Rhine Westphalia) uncovered a large-scale fraud operation by “families from south-eastern Europe” – primarily gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria – who had falsely registered children to take in child benefits.

brusselssignal

The Swedish government announced this week that it plans to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13-years-old as it seeks to confront the rampant use of youths by criminal gangs.

At a press conference on Monday, representatives of the governing Tidö coalition government said that the criminal age of responsibility for the most serious crimes, such as murder and attempted murder, will be gradually lowered over the next five years to 13, Aftonbladet reported.

They said the change would affect crimes with a minimum prison sentence of four years, as well as attempts or conspiracies to commit such crimes.

The planned legislation from the governing parties would also eliminate the lighter sentencing requirements for people aged 18 to 20 years old and increase the maximum sentence for minors from 14 to 18 years in prison.

It comes in response to the growing issue of criminal networks recruiting young teenagers, often from impoverished minority and migrant communities, as those under 18 face less imprisonment than adults. As long ago as 2015, Swedish police told Breitbart News how mass migration was transforming the crime picture in the country, with migrant criminal gangs importing a whole new type of lawlessness into what had once been a relatively peaceful corner of Europe.

The issue has become so rampant that gang-affiliated teenagers in Sweden are regularly contracted out as mercenaries to networks in neighbouring countries like Denmark, where they serve as hitmen or other criminal-for-hire activities.

The proposed change in the age of criminal responsibility has drawn some criticism within the country, with some arguing that imprisoning children may serve to increase the likelihood they remain criminals.

However, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said that the changes are necessary given the widespread proliferation of youth gang violence.

“One of our absolutely crucial tasks is to put a stop to the gangs’ use of children and young people,” Strömmer said per SVT. “We have an urgent situation, and the measures we take must reflect the problems we have.”

The proliferation of gang violence in Sweden, which is often conducted by kingpins in the Middle East, came in the wake of large-scale demographic change as a result of the open borders policies of the previous Social Democrat government, which resulted in one in five people living in Sweden being foreign-born.

The centre-right coalition government of Ulf Kristersson has sought to reverse course, with Sweden recording net negative immigration for the first time in decades in 2024. The government is also set to make it more difficult to become a citizen, including by requiring eight years of residency rather than five and income requirements.

breitbart

Spain’s left-wing government on Tuesday approved an extraordinary plan to grant legal status to illegal migrants by decree, marking a further break with tougher migration policies elsewhere in Europe. The measure, agreed upon between the Socialist-led executive and Podemos with the backing of other left-wing groups, is expected to include around half a million immigrants.

The reform will be implemented via Royal Decree, a route that avoids parliamentary ratification, where the governing coalition lacks a majority. According to the agreement, the objective is to “guarantee rights and provide legal certainty to an existing social reality.”

Eligibility will extend to migrants who can prove at least five months of residence in Spain, have no significant criminal record, and were present in the country before the end of 2025. The regularization will also apply to their children already living in Spain. The application period is expected to open in April and run until the end of June. Filing an application will suspend deportation or return procedures.

Migration Minister Elma Saiz said beneficiaries would be able to work “in any sector, in any part of the country,” stressing “the positive impact” of migration. “We are talking about estimations, probably more or less the figures may be around half a million people,” she said, according to AFP.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has defended the policy as economically necessary in a country facing demographic decline and labor shortages. He has also argued that migration has been a key driver of Spain’s recent economic growth.

Podemos has framed the agreement as a victory for rights and social justice after months of negotiations. Party representatives argued that immigrants in Spain so far lacked basic human rights and were targeted by the police. Criminal records and already substantial benefits for immigrants say otherwise.

The announcement prompted an immediate backlash from the center-right People’s Party (PP) and right-wing nationalist VOX. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo strongly criticized the move on social media, despite previously siding with the government on pro-mass immigration policies.

“Up to 46 dead. Hundreds injured. Not a single resignation. And Sánchez’s first response is a mass regularization to divert attention, increase the pull factor, and overwhelm our public services,” he wrote, referring to the recent train catastrophe in Spain. “In socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded,” he added.

PP argued that the government had failed to explain how integration would be managed or how the measure would affect housing, healthcare, education, and social services, claiming it would shift the burden to “neighborhoods, municipalities, and regional governments.” “Regularizing immigration without genuine integration benefits doesn’t improve anyone’s life. It fuels the underground economy, increases pressure on public services, and generates social frustration,” the PP said.

VOX leader Santiago Abascal reacted even more sharply. “500,000 illegals! The tyrant Sánchez hates the Spanish people. He wants to replace them. That’s why he intends to create a pull factor by decree, to accelerate the invasion,” he wrote. “This must be stopped. Repatriations, deportations, and remigration,” he added.

Police unions have already spoken out against the decree that might see the largest regularization in its history if it surpasses the figure set in 2005. The National Police union SUP declared in a statement, “It is a mass regularization without resources, it responds to a political calculation and puts security at risk.” The SUP highlighted how the decision will create an immediate pull factor for immigrants trying to avoid deportation. Police forces and other related social resources are not prepared for such an immense pressure, as they are already saturated by dealing with the immigrants already inside their borders.

europeanconservative

Fifty-five years ago, Democrat activist and community organizer Saul Alinsky published Rules for Radicals. Its stated purpose was not reform, persuasion, or compromise, but disruption — manufacturing chaos, provoking conflict, and inciting revolution as a means of political change. 

Alinsky was explicit: power is seized, not earned, and the ends always justify the means. More than half a century later, the book has not faded into obscurity. It remains the Left’s operating manual — its tactical guide and its justification for tearing down institutions in the name of “progress.” 

Alinsky prescribed a deliberate three-step process for political change — one rooted not in persuasion, but in pressure. We are watching Alinsky’s guerrilla warfare techniques play out in real time in Minneapolis right now.

The first step is to create a crisis.

Alinsky argued that in a complex society, people do not act until they are forced to. The organizer’s job is to trigger a crisis by “rubbing raw the sores of discontent.” The crisis must be intensified to generate motivation.

Over the past year, Democrats nationwide have relentlessly vilified ICE agents for doing their lawful job — enforcing federal immigration law. Agents tasked with apprehending illegal aliens are portrayed not as law enforcement, but as villains, fascists, and moral monsters. This rhetoric has not merely poisoned public discourse; it has actively encouraged confrontation between federal agents and radical protesters.

Even as this Democrat-designed and Democrat-sustained conflict has resulted in real-world tragedy, Minnesota’s leadership continues to escalate rather than de-escalate. Tim Walz has repeatedly attempted to delegitimize ICE itself, asserting that its agents are “not law enforcement” — a claim that is both false and dangerously inflammatory.

Never mind that illegal presence in the United States is itself a violation of federal law, or that many individuals apprehended by ICE are repeat offenders charged with serious crimes including rape, assault, and homicide. By erasing these facts, Democratic leaders shift blame away from criminal behavior and onto those tasked with enforcing the law.

Crucially, this crisis is not universal. In states where local authorities cooperate with ICE, deportation numbers are significantly higher and enforcement proceeds with low to nonexistent public disorder.

In Minnesota, Democratic leadership has chosen confrontation over cooperation. By encouraging hostility toward ICE and refusing meaningful coordination with federal authorities, they have manufactured a volatile environment — one where enforcement becomes dangerous, chaos becomes predictable, and outrage becomes the objective.

This is not accidental. It is textbook Alinsky: provoke, polarize, and escalate until crisis itself becomes the lever of power.

The second step is to blame the target and personalize it.

Alinsky famously instructed organizers to “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Institutions are abstract. By isolating a single person or group and turning them into the embodiment of evil, the organizer simplifies the conflict and focuses public rage where it can do the most damage. 

In Minnesota, that target has been ICE — and by extension, the individual agents tasked with enforcing the law. Rather than supporting the rule of law, Democrat leaders have inverted reality — demonizing the American agents carrying out federal statutes. These men and women are portrayed as Nazis rather than public servants — an accusation so obscene it would once have ended a serious political career. 

At the same time, the individuals ICE is charged with apprehending are recast as victims, saints, or symbols of moral righteousness — no matter their criminal histories. Violent offenders are defended. Illegal status is ignored. Responsibility is shifted entirely away from lawbreakers and onto those enforcing the law. 

This is not accidental rhetoric. It is deliberate personalization. By turning ICE agents into the face of evil, Democratic leaders focus public anger on a human target rather than a policy debate. Moral clarity is replaced with emotional manipulation, and law enforcement becomes the enemy.

The third step is the ultimate objective — to force the “solution.” Once the crisis has paralyzed the target and public pressure has peaked, the organizer presents the solution. This solution, however, is framed not as one option among many, but as the only path forward: accept it or face escalating chaos.

This is the Left’s only solution: President Donald Trump must remove ICE from Minneapolis and effectively cease deportation operations nationwide.

Those enforcing the law are blamed, those breaking it are excused, and the public is told that the only way to stop the disorder is to surrender authority.

This is not accidental disorder. It is intentional political warfare, designed to use instability as leverage until the Democrats get what they want — illegal voters imported under the Biden regime to give them political power.

americanthinker