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US President Donald Trump announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be sent to US airports on Monday to assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff. "On ‌Monday, ICE will be going to ‌airports to help our wonderful ‌TSA ​Agents who have stayed on the job," ​Trump wrote in a Truth Social post ⁠on ​Sunday. Like ICE, the Transportation Security Administration falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is responsible for passenger security screening at airports. Budget standoff over immigration crackdown The DHS has been operating without funding since February 14, as Democratic lawmakers demand reforms in the wake of Trump's deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Democrats have demanded shorter patrols, a ban on face masks, and ...

Crowds of protesters took to the streets of Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday to decry efforts to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol.    The capital's governor last week banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in restaurants and bars across the city. They have been given three months to comply with the order.  Authorities said the decision was made "at the request of the local community." They have granted an exemption to shops in three predominantly Christian neighborhoods, allowing them to sell alcohol in sealed take-away bottles. The stores, however, aren't permitted to serve booze on site. They also must keep at least 75 meters (246 feet) away from mosques and schools, and 20 meters (65 feet) away from police stations and government offices.President Ahmed al-Sharaa has not ...

Socialist candidate Emmanuel Gregoire won in the Paris mayoral race on Sunday, succeeding fellow party member Anne Hidalgo as the French capital's mayor. Gregoire claimed victory after estimates based on partial results placed him well ahead of conservative rival Rachida Dati, who acknowledged defeat. He said the French capital would resist the right and far right in the lead-up to next year's presidential polls in France. "Paris will be the heart of the resistance against this alliance of the right, which seeks to take away what we hold most precious and fragile: the simple joy of living together," Gregoire said after projections landed from the second-round runoff of local elections.Cities for people: How Paris learned from GroningenTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and con...

Slovenia's parliamentary election on Sunday looked set to end in a two-way tie between the ruling liberal Freedom Movement of Prime Minister Robert Golob and the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), led by populist Janez Jansa. With some 99% of the votes counted, Golob's party was less than half a percentage point ahead with 28.5% versus the 28.1% tallied up for the SDS. An exit poll published by public broadcaster TV Slovenia and commercial Pop TV had given the Freedom Movement a greater margin, but this faded as ballots continued to be counted. Prime Minister Golob claims victory With the almost final results, it was unclear who had the best path to forming a government, with smaller parties looking set to be kingmakers in a possible coalition. Golob spoke shortly after the ...

The statements made following an emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers on Thursday in Riyadh had one clear subject: Iran. The previous day, in a major escalation of the war which started at the end of February when the US and Israel attacked Iran, the Iranians targeted a major energy hub in Qatar. That followed an Israeli strike against Iran’s South Pars ​gas field.  Saudi Arabia's patience is running out, the country's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said at a press conference after the meeting. His country would prefer a diplomatic solution and has made it clear it wouldn't allow Saudi territory to be used to launch attacks on Iran, the senior Saudi said. But Saudi Arabia would also use every lever they had to get Iran to stop targeting neighboring countri...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners on Thursday in exchange for easing sanctions from Washington, according to the US embassy in nearby Lithuania. It is reportedly the largest one-time release of its kind so far, as Belarus is ramping up efforts to normalize ties with the United States. Led by Lukashenko since 1994, the former Soviet state has faced widespread sanctions for its crackdown on human rights and permitting Moscow to use its territory to invade Ukraine in 2022. Thursday's move follows a meeting between Belarus' leader and US President Donald Trump's special envoy, John Coale, in Minsk. Coale celebrated the decision as a "significant humanitarian milestone" and told reporters that the United States would lift sanctions on t...

US President Donald Trump's demand for European allies to help secure the passage of oil and gas tankers through the Strait of Hormuz was a major talking point at today's meeting of European Union foreign affairs ministers in Brussels. Some member states indicated that they do not want NATO to be involved in guarding the strait, which was closed by Iran to most traffic in reponse to the US-Israeli bombing campaign.  Europeans are unwilling to deploy troops to secure the Strait of Hormuz, "because that adds them to the list of potential targets" for Iran, Charles Hecker, Associate Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told DW. At the start of the meeting the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallass said it was in the bloc's "interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and that's w...

Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out an airstrike that killed at least 400 people at a drug treatment hospital in Kabul late Monday. Afghan officials said the strike hit the 2,000-bed rehabilitation facility at around 9 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), causing extensive damage and leaving hundreds wounded, in a major escalation of the weekslong cross-border fighting between the neighbors. The deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, Hamdullah Fitrat, posted on X that the airstrike on the hospital killed at least 400 people, with hundreds more injured. "Rescue teams are currently at the scene working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims," Fitrat said. Pakistan denies targeting hospital in Kabul Pakistan denied targeting civilian infrastructure...

Kosovo, Europe’s youngest country and the second-smallest nation in the Western Balkans with a population of 1.7 million, has fallen short of political and institutional stability for more than a year. Following two parliamentary elections in 2025, which Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his left-leaning Self-Determination party, Vetevendosje, won decisively, it is now the presidential election that is fanning the crisis. Current President Vjosa Osmani's term ends on April 4. A new head of state must be elected by the parliament. However, the opposition parties in parliament are refusing to cooperate. Kurti, they say, already leads the government and also appoints the Speaker of Parliament from within his party's ranks. Now, they fear their country may additionally get a head of state from...