Portugal arrests six people linked to far-right group
Portuguese authorities arrested six people linked to a far-right group and seized explosive material and several firearms, police said on Tuesday.
The detainees are believed to belong to the so-called Movimento Armilar Lusitano (MAL), which sought to establish itself as a political movement supported by an armed militia, according to a police statement.
They are suspected of crimes related to terrorist groups and activities, discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence and possession of prohibited weapons, police added.
Authorities seized several explosives, firearms — some built with 3D printers — and rounds of ammunition and knives in the operation, police said in a statement.
"The quality and diversity of what we seized was surprising," Manuela Santos, the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Unit (UNCT) of the Judicial Police, told journalists at a press conference.
Among the six detainees is a member of the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP), the country's national civil police force, while others reportedly have links to private security groups.
"They are people from many backgrounds," Santos said, saying they were united by "discrimination based on gender identity, race and creed."
A video distributed by police showed neo-Nazi books, propaganda and 3D printers used to make weapons or modify guns so that they can fire lethal ammunition.
The European Parliament voted on Tuesday overwhelmingly in favour of a directive that would criminalise the creation, possession and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated using artificial intelligence. The text also covers offences related to grooming, sextortion, and livestreamed abuse, while addressing legal definitions and age of consent issues across the EU.
The vote passed with 599 in favour, just two against, and 62 abstentions - an unusually broad consensus from the entire political spectrum for such a sensitive file.
'It will be treated in exactly the same as if it were real child abuse material,' Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands/European People's Party), the lawmaker leading the file, told Euronews. 'Because we know that these models, first of all, they need to train on real child sexual abuse material and secondly, we see that using AI child sexual use material is a very small step to actually moving on to real child sexual abuse.'
Recent research by Helsinki-based non-profit Protect Children highlights a link between viewing abusive content and committing contact offences against children, even if a direct causal link has not been proven. According to the study, 52% of respondents said they feared viewing such material could lead them to commit abuse. Meanwhile, 44% said it made them consider seeking contact with a minor, and 37% admitted to having acted on those thoughts.
Lenaers told Euronews that AI-generated child abuse material has increased by over 1,000% in the past year alone.
The Parliament's position was welcomed by both tech industry players and child protection advocates. In a joint statement, DotEurope, a Brussels based tech lobby group representing among others OpenAI, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta - and Eclag (European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group) said: 'We are happy to be joining forces for the first time to tackle the danger posed by AI for child sexual abuse at EU level. Hopefully, we can continue to find ways to work together to make online child sexual abuse history.'
However, Tuesday's vote is not the final step. Negotiations will now begin between the Parliament, the Council of the EU, which represents national governments, and the European Commission. These 'trilogue' talks will determine the final shape of the law.
The Council adopted its own position in December, but stopped short of including the criminalisation of AI-generated child abuse material — prompting strong calls from MEPs, industry and advocacy groups for ministers to align with Parliament.
Age of consent also proved divisive during the Council's negotiations. A coalition of seven countries - Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Sweden - issued a joint statement warning that, while children who reach the age of sexual consent may legally agree to sexual acts, they remain especially vulnerable and need strong legal protection.
The proposed directive goes beyond AI imagery. It introduces a shared legal framework across the EU to combat online child abuse, with clear definitions of 'grooming' and 'sextortion' as crimes. It also seeks to outlaw the livestreaming of abusive acts, lift time limits for reporting sexual abuse, recognising that many victims come forward only years later, and ban so-called 'paedophile handbooks', which provide instructions on how to manipulate children and evade detection.
During the plenary debate, Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner called for ambition and unity: 'We cannot be ambitious enough. There is no more important priority than protecting our children.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
3 hours ago
- Euronews
Massive Pride march in Budapest in defiance of ban
Well over a hundred thousand people marched in the Budapest Pride march organised by the NGO Rainbow Mission and city hall, despite the government's ban, standing up for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community as well as for freedom of assembly, and against the Hungarian government's policies. In the spring, the Hungarian ruling parties attempted to ban the annual regular human rights march of the LGBTQ community through a series of constitutional and legislative amendments on the grounds that it violates the rights of children, which they have put above other fundamental rights by amending the constitution. The police rejected the application for a permit by the NGOs that usually organise Pride in the past, at which time the Mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, announced that another event, the Budapest Pride march, would be held as a municipal event, because the municipality is not subject to the law on assembly and therefore, according to their interpretation of the law, does not need to apply for a permit to hold the event. The police called the event illegal and warned that participants could face fines and organisers up to one year in prison. Despite this, a huge crowd turned out. "I feel we have to stand up now, if we don't speak out now we may never have the chance to do so again," one participant told Euronews. "We're not that political, we really just want to be free, and this is how we can be free, by coming out and standing up for ourselves," a young couple told us. Counter-protesters few in number and on the wrong bridge There was concern before the event that police had allowed counter-demonstrations by several far-right groups on the route of the march, but in the event, they were separated from the Pride march and their presence did not cause any disruption. Although the Our Homeland counter-demonstrators blocked the Freedom Bridge on the original route of the march, they were surrounded by police on both sides while Pride participants crossed the Elisabeth Bridge. "What is happening here is completely illegal, it is endangering the healthy development of children, and I find it very sad that the police are not stopping this process," Tamás Gaudi-Nagy, executive director of the National Legal Defence Service, told Euronews. "While the national radical organisations have been restricted in their demonstrations, as they have been for many years, the protesters of Our Homeland have not been allowed to cross the Liberty Bridge." Mayor Karácsony: Budapest 'capital of Europe for the day' The march was joined by more than 70 members of the European Parliament and several mayors from various European capitals. One of the organisers of the event, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who has been threatened with jail by the Hungarian government's justice minister, said in his speech: "If you can ban a Pride event in a European Union member state, then no mayor in Europe is safe, and today, by so many of you coming, you have made Budapest the capital of Europe for this day." Karácsony said that the participants "showed a big gesture to the powers that be", while at the same time he also took a swipe at Péter Magyar, the leader of the strongest opposition party, Tisza, who did not participate in the march and only cautiously posted a message of support on social media without mentioning the name of the event. The mayor said that they would not vote for just anyone in the election against the powers that be. They will support whoever they can rightly expect to make Hungary their common home again. According to the police, to whom Karácsony nevertheless gave special thanks, they had a lot of trouble with what they thought was an illegal gathering, and blamed the organisers for not co-operating with them. However, by 20:00, a total of only 36 people had been stopped and only two people had been arrested - one for hooliganism and one for possession of drugs - meaning that Budapest Pride ended with literally no major incidents.
France 24
6 hours ago
- France 24
Russia's 'Mr Nobody' gambles all with film on Kremlin propaganda
Talankin, the school's event organiser and also a keen videographer, found the propaganda work so depressing that he wanted to quit his job in the industrial town of Karabash. Then he received what he says was the strangest message of his life. A Europe-based filmmaker got in touch, offering to collaborate on a project to document the abrupt militarisation of Talankin's school in the wake of Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbour. Talankin had earlier seen a post from a Russian company looking for people whose jobs had been affected by the war. Talankin said he was ready to talk. After receiving the foreigner's offer Talankin did not sleep all night. The project changed his life forever. After teaming up with David Borenstein and shooting many hours of footage, Talankin last summer fled Russia with seven hard discs, leaving behind his mother, brothers and sisters and the town he loved. Using the smuggled-out footage Borenstein, a Denmark-based US filmmaker, directed what became "Mr Nobody Against Putin", an award-winning 90-minute documentary which exposes the intensity of the propaganda at Talankin's school and throughout Karabash. It premiered at the 2025 Sundance film festival in January. - 'Persona non grata' - The project cost Talankin dearly. Local officials banned his former colleagues from contacting him, he became a hate figure for supporters of the war and his school librarian mother was upset. "I have become a persona non grata," Talankin, 34, told AFP from Prague, where he is now based. Russia outlawed all criticism of the Russian military and the Kremlin and Talankin knew he had taken huge risks. But he has no regrets. "I would do it all over again." He has been buoyed by the support of people featured in the film including those who lost their loved ones in the war. One former colleague said she became ashamed that she, too, was "part of the system." The documentary reaped awards at festivals and the film crew hopes it will be available to wider audiences in Europe later this year. Borenstein said the film's success had been a "relief" because the multi-national crew overcame numerous obstacles including communication and security. But above all he was "really scared" that if the film flopped Talankin's sacrifice would come to nothing. "I knew the whole time that Pasha would have to leave Russia to make this project happen," Borenstein told AFP, referring to his co-director by his diminutive. "That is a huge sacrifice for him, because his mum is there, his whole life is there, he does not speak English, not at that time." Talankin has not been able to join the crew to present the film at the Sundance festival in Utah and elsewhere due to paperwork issues, but the team hopes this will soon change. For now he is learning English and adjusting to his new life in Prague. 'Like musketeers' Talankin said he was heartened by the reactions at the screenings. One viewer in the Czech Republic said he hated Russians but the film made him reconsider. "We knew nothing about what was happening to you," Talankin quoted the Czech as saying. "It is a powerful and poetic piece of cinema," said producer Alexandra Fechner, who is promoting the film in France. "This film shows the hidden side of propaganda in Russia, which targets the youngest members of society, children who are being taught a rewritten version of history and given guns!" she said. With the war in its fourth year, Moscow has put society on a war footing and leveraged the educational system to raise a fiercely pro-Kremlin generation. The film features Wagner mercenaries telling children about hand grenades and teachers calling Ukrainians "neo-Nazi", and includes an audio recording of a wailing mother at her soldier son's funeral. But critics also point to the documentary's empathy and light touch. In one episode, a history teacher tells pupils that the spiralling prices could soon make gas unaffordable for Europeans. "The French will soon be like musketeers, riding horses, and the rest of Europe too," he said. Borenstein said that by viewing the footage sent by Talankin nearly every day, he understood the effect of the dehumanising war-time propaganda. While at the beginning he found some of the clips shocking, months later his mind had become so used to the onslaught of the propaganda that he did not see the footage depicting the Wagner mercenaries as something abnormal. "I was able to replicate among myself some of the feelings that maybe the students and people in the school felt," he said. "Looking at this propaganda every single day was a lesson in how desensitised you can become to it." A lot of the footage had not made it into the film, including the school's preparations for the possibility of a nuclear attack. Karabash is located close to one of Russia's most sensitive sites, the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant. Talankin said Borenstein did not want the viewers to "drown in the enormous amount of negative material." © 2025 AFP
France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
Trump says 'not going to stand' for Netanyahu's continued prosecution
"The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. An Israeli court on Friday rejected Netanyahu's request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial, ruling that he had not provided adequate justification for his request. In one case, Netanyahu and his wife Sara are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors. In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage from two Israeli media outlets. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and has thanked Trump for his support in Israel's war with Iran, which saw a ceasefire agreement earlier this week. His lawyer had asked the court to excuse the leader from hearings over the next two weeks, saying he needs to concentrate on "security issues." Trump on Wednesday sprung to Netanyahu's defense, describing the case against him as a "witch hunt." On Saturday, he described Netanyahu as a "War Hero" and said the case would distract the prime minister from negotiations with Iran and with Hamas, the Gaza-based Palestinian armed group that Israel is at war with. "This travesty of 'Justice' will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations," said Trump, although it was unclear what negotiations he was referring to with regards to Iran. Hamas took 251 hostages during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, with 49 still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Negotiations are ongoing for the return of the remaining hostages and the bodies of those killed, while Israel's punishing war on Gaza continues unabated. The US leader also likened Netanyahu's legal troubles to his own before he took office for his second term. "It is a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure," said Trump. The Republican was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024 in a case related to hush money payments to a porn star. Trump also faced two federal cases, one related to his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
