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Irish Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Deportation flights signal Germany's pivot to hardline stance on migration
The Qassim family were not in the Potsdam court last Tuesday to hear the ruling in their favour. Five hours previously, the parents and their four children aged five to 17 had been bundled on to a charter flight to Baghdad. They are now back in the country they fled in 2014 after the Islamic State terror organisation murdered 5,000 members of their Yazidis (Kurdish) minority. After landing, 12-year-old Maatz Quassim sent a voice note to a Berlin radio station about the dramatic end, in the middle of the night, of their happy life in Brandenburg. READ MORE 'They shouted 'police' loudly and shone their torches in our faces,' she said. 'Now we're afraid.' In a statement, the federal interior ministry said the deportation flight with the Qassims and 37 others 'demonstrates that we are continuing to push forward resolutely with a migration policy shift'. Last May, Germany's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) took office promising a tougher approach to migration and asylum, imposing checks on all German borders and promising 'more pressure on returns'. The shift is a response to two developments. The first: a series of fatal knife and car attacks in recent years where, in many cases, perpetrators were failed asylum application with overdue deportation orders. Last week's flight, the statement said, deported '14 single men, some of whom have a criminal record'. 'We will continue to carry out deportations,' the ministry concluded, 'provided they are legally and effectively possible.' There are no criminals in the Qassim family and, while doubtlessly effective, the legality of their deportation is in doubt. The court ruling granted them leave to challenge the refusal of their asylum application. The Brandenburg state refugee council denounced the dawn raid as a 'scandalous' example of Germany 's new 'deportation agenda, driven by the right wing'. 'The fact that they are Kurdish Yazidis from northern Iraq should have prevented the rejection of their asylum application,' it said. 'Germany recognised the Yazidi genocide and said we have a particular responsibility here as a result.' But German politicians, particularly in the CDU, say they feel a greater responsibility to their own voters. That leads to the second motivator for the migration pivot: an opinion poll which, this week saw the far-right Alternative for Germany ( AfD ) pull level with the CDU. [ Germany increases border checks: Alexander Dobrindt oversees radical policy shift Opens in new window ] A decade ago, as Germany faced a growing refugee crisis, chancellor Angela Merkel adopted a motivational 'we can do this' approach to the challenges of welcoming and integrating more than a million people annually. Last Friday, her CDU successor Friedrich Merz binned that legacy. 'Some 10 years on we know that, in the [integration] context she meant ... we clearly haven't managed it,' he told journalists in Berlin. German chancellor Friedrich Merz (right) and his interior minister Alexander Dobrindt. Photograph:As Merz spoke in the capital, his interior minister Alexander Dobrindt presided over a gathering of migration hardliners in his native Bavaria. To the top of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, Dobrindt invited counterparts from France, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark, as well as European Union home affairs commissioner Magnus Brunner. The informal gathering proposed greater use of drones at the EU's outer borders, ex-territorial 'return centres' for failed asylum seekers and the use of trade and development aid as leverage in negotiations over returns to third countries. 'We are all concerned that overburdening our countries through illegal migration is contributing massively to the polarisation of society and want to push back against this,' the ministers said in a concluding document. Despite its pivot, Germany has shied away from backing more radical migration proposals circulating in Europe. Last May, all of Dobrindt's Zugspitze guests backed a Danish-Italian demand for reform of the European Convention on Human Rights to 'match the challenge that we face today'. The paper warned that the convention, and the European court that oversees it, no longer reflect the realities of modern migration and, too often, results in 'the protection of the wrong people'. The European Court of Human Rights dismissed the paper, saying 'debate is healthy but politicising the court is not'. The Zugspitze document attempts a balance, vowing to 'preserve the judicial independence and guarantees of the European Human Rights Convention' while 'respecting the interests of the member states'. The Zugspitze gathering was an effort by Berlin to ease tensions with its immediate neighbours over its new border checks and refusal to accept asylum seekers from other EU states. Warsaw and other capitals are holding their tongues in public, anxious not to halt Dobrindt's momentum. His ministry organised a second deportation flight last week with 81 people aboard, this time to Kabul. To assist with this and future deportations, Berlin confirmed it had accredited two Afghan consular officials to work from Germany. It was a bold move given the previous refusal of Berlin, along with other western capitals, to recognise the Taliban-led regime. Opposition politicians have denounced the move as a 'de facto diplomatic recognition' of the Taliban regime that regained power in Afghanistan in 2021 but remains internationally isolated largely over its human rights record, particularly towards women and girls. While German migration analysts warn of a populist race to the bottom, Dobrindt's message to voters is clear: 'When ít comes to migration, Germany is no longer the brake but the locomotive.'
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Jay Slater sent chilling text to friend just hours before vanishing in Tenerife
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas previously said Jay Slater had sent a text to a friend before he went missing - the message claimed someone had 'a marker' on him Jay Slater sent a cryptic text to a friend while he was "buzzing" and seemingly experiencing "paranoia", according to an investigator. The 19-year-old teen, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was holidaying in Tenerife and attended the NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on June 16 last year. He is believed to have gone to a holiday rental apartment in the early hours of the next morning before vanishing. He was reported missing on June 18 and his body was found in a ravine by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard near the village of Masca on July 15. A post-mortem found Jay had consumed alcohol and drugs in the hours before he fell down the ravine. According to former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, Jay wanted to carry on partying even though his friends left, which led him to make the decision to travel far away from his accommodation. An inquest today heard that when the teen said he was going to an Airbnb with new friends Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas, his friend Brad Hargreaves, who was visiting the Spanish island with Jay and is also known as Bradley Geoghegan, "didn't think anything of it" as the pair were with them "for three days". Previously, Detective Williams-Thomas said in a podcast: "Jay was still buzzing at 6am from the alcohol and drugs but his friends wanted to go home, so when Qassim told Jay that he could go back to theirs and continue partying he jumped at the chance." He added that at 2.35am, Jay sent a cryptic text to a friend, saying: "They've got a marker on me." His friend replied to the text at 3am, saying: "You need to go home lad you're off your barnet." Jay then replied by writing: "You think I'm going home you must be disabled." At this stage, the investigator said, Jay "was very heavily under the influence of drink and drugs." According to Mr Williams-Thomas, it is possible that "some paranoia" was present "because his friends were saying he was not making much sense and being argumentative which was very unlike Jay." He added: "Jay had no official marker on him, and yes he was around people selling drugs and he could have upset people that morning because of his state." The investigator's comments have resurfaced after Mr Qassim gave evidence to the inquiry today, saying he met Jay and his friends out in Tenerife. He said he had been in a different venue then later met Jay and his friend Bradley getting something to eat after the clubs closed. Mr Qassim described Jay as: "On a buzz. Chilled, happy. Mingling in'it." He said Jay then asked if he could come back to his and Mr Roccas' apartment. Giving evidence via videolink, Mr Qassim told the hearing: "I did say, 'Bro, oh mate, it's so far away from the strip.' There's nothing happening there other than scenery. I said I would drop him off in the morning. He rolled with us." The coroner then asked the witness about messages Jay had sent about a watch possibly being stolen. Mr Qassim said while still on the strip before leaving for their apartment he saw what he described as a Romanian "lucky-lucky" man take a watch from another person before trying to sell it to him and Jay. He added: "Jay did not steal no watch. I can say one hundred per cent." While on the drive to the Airbnb, Jay then posted a message to friends on social media, saying: "Just took a 12k Rolly (Rolex) off some c*** with this Maili (Somalian) kid. Off to get 10 quid (thousand) for it. Off my undies ha, ha, ha." Coroner Dr Adeley asked the witness: "You were not involved in taking a watch?" Mr Qassim replied: "No. And neither was he." Asked to explain the social media post by Jay, the witness said: "He could be boasting to his friends. He's on a buzz, so maybe it could be that. Sometimes people do exaggerate." The coroner continued: "But so far as you are concerned, none of that is true?" Mr Qassim said: "No. One hundred per cent. I didn't see a watch. At this point he's just firing off messages." He said when they got to his Airbnb he gave Jay a blanket and pillow and told him he could sleep on the sofa downstairs before going off to his own bed. He said that from upstairs he could hear Jay moving around and heard the door open. He fell asleep and then was woken by the door buzzing because someone wanted him to move his car, the inquest heard. Mr Qassim said when he returned to the house, Jay was leaving and told him: "I'm going to catch a bus." He said: "I went 'bro, there ain't no buses coming here any time soon'." He said Jay said he had been told there were buses every 10 minutes. He told him that was wrong but Jay left anyway, he said. He added: "At that point I presumed he'd sit at that bus stop and that's it. He's waiting till the first bus comes and he's out of there."
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Jay Slater's drug dealer pal finally reveals bombshell truth about 'stolen' £12,000 Rolex
The inquest into the death of teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife last summer has resumed, two months after his tearful mother asked the coroner to adjourn until his friends could be located A convicted drug dealer who offered Jay Slate r a place to stay the night before he vanished has finally turned up to give evidence at the tragic teen's inquest. Ayub Qassim extended an invitation for Jay to return to his rented Airbnb in the Tenerife mountain village of Masca on the evening before he disappeared. The 31-year-old, who also goes by "Johnny Vegas" is giving evidence via video link at today's hearing, having failed to turn up at the start of the inquest in May. And now Qassim has shared a major update in the mystery surrounding the allegedly stolen Rolex watch that Jay bragged about to his friend, as he told the coroner: "Jay did not steal no watch". The pal said that the night before Jay disappeared, the group they were both with went to get food around 6am following a night of partying. Jay asked Quassim if he could stay with him at his place, because everyone else had left. His flat, in Masca, was around a 40-minute drive from the strip, something his friends jokingly complained about, the inquest heard. Jay Slater's friends from 'missing' Lucy Law, last phone call and desperate plea from mum Jay Slater UPDATES: Bombshell witness who 'vanished in Spain' arrives at inquest Qassim says he agreed to take Jay and offered to drop him off in the morning. But before they left, Qassim says he saw a Romanian man on the strip "take a watch off some other guy, some randomer" before offering it to Qassim and Slater, which he wasn't interested in. "Whether he gave it to Jay or not, I don't know, but it was a fake watch," Quassim told the court. "One thing I can say is: Jay did not steal no watch." After Quassim's evidence, the court was shown a Snapchat picture sent by Jay. It's understood to have been taken on June 17 at around 5.50am. It showed a blurry picture of the teen in a car, wearing sunglasses. The caption of the picture says: "Yes cuz ended up getting thrown out of there me with 2 maili kids just took an AP [expensive watch] off some c*** on way to sell it for 10 quid." In an earlier message, Jay had claimed the 'watch' had been a Rolex. AP refers to Audemars Piguet, an expensive watch designer. At the inquest, coroner Dr James Adeley asked Quassim "Do you have any explanation as to why this was posted?" and he said: "No. He could be boasting to his friends, you can tell he's on the buzz. It could be that. When we were all younger, we might over-exaggerate." At an earlier hearing in May, Jay's friend and witness Josh Forshaw gave evidence on the messages, and claimed Jay was planning to sell the strap for "10 quid" - a slang term for £10,000. The whereabouts of the Rolex is still unknown, as it was never found. Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, went missing In Tenerife last summer and after a search that lasted several weeks, his body was discovered in a remote ravine. The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer had been partying at NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas and is believed to have ended up at a holiday rental apartment in the early hours of June 17. Evidence suggests he left the flat hours later, attempted to walk back to his own apartment and tragically fell into a ravine. A huge search operation was launched before his body was found in a steep and inaccessible area by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard near the village of Masca on July 15. But a number of witnesses who were with him on the night he disappeared or at the rental apartment did not attend the inquest when it started at Preston Coroner's Court in May. The court heard they could not be traced or were unavailable, despite extensive efforts to get them to come as witnesses. Debbie Duncan, Mr Slater's mother, tearfully asked the coroner to adjourn as the family still had questions for the last people to see him alive. Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, agreed to adjourn to Thursday July 24 to make a final attempt to trace the witnesses. Jay's friend Lucy Law, who is giving evidence at today's inquest via video link, was the first to sound the alarm when Jay vanished. The pair were mates prior to the getaway and both hail from Lancashire. In the immediate aftermath of his disappearance, she spearheaded initial search operations and provided support to the teenager's relatives upon their arrival. She was absent from the initial inquest into his death, with her family explaining she was overseas and unaware the hearing was scheduled. Meanwhile, another pal, Bradley Hargreaves, has given evidence at today's hearing in person after missing the inquest when it started. He also made the journey from Lancashire to Tenerife with Jay. He possessed knowledge of Jay's final whereabouts after receiving the location from the lad himself. Steven 'Rocky' Roccas, who was staying with Mr Qassim at the Masca Airbnb, remains shrouded in mystery as little is known about him. Met Police officers attempted to deliver a witness summons to his London address, only to discover he had moved on. The hearing in May heard from witnesses including toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin. The court heard that analysis showed traces of drugs – including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy – and alcohol in Mr Slater's body. Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said his post-mortem examination gave cause of death as head injuries and Mr Slater's body showed no evidence of restraint or assault, with the pattern of injuries consistent with a fall from height. Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Higson, from Lancashire Constabulary, said police had analysed Mr Slater's phone data. On the night out he had received phone messages from friends telling him to go home as he was "off his head". Phone location data suggested he travelled to the holiday flat then left the property at around 7.45am the next day. Statements from local Spanish witnesses said they were approached and asked by Mr Slater about buses or taxis to take him home. More messages from friends warned him about the "boiling" heat of the day but activity data on his phone stopped at 8.51am, suggesting the battery had died. Marieke Krans from Dutch rescue charity Signi Zoekhonden helped in the search. She said the area where the body was found was about a three and a half-hour walk from the holiday apartment and was "really steep, really dangerous", and it was "easy" to lose your footing. The coroner told the hearing that one explanation for Mr Slater's death could be "he has walked into the middle of nowhere and fallen off a cliff". The inquest is scheduled to conclude on Friday.
Arab News
22-07-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Qassim governor launches $53m health, energy, municipal initiatives
RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Mishaal, the governor of Qassim, inaugurated health, municipal, energy and charitable projects in Al-Bukayriyah governorate, worth more than SR200 million ($53 milion). He said these projects reflect the leadership's strong support for development programs and better services for citizens and residents, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. Prince Faisal highlighted efforts to upgrade infrastructure, expand healthcare and social services, and enhance municipal initiatives to create a safe and vibrant urban environment. He thanked all government and civil entities involved. Prince Faisal emphasized the importance of supporting high-quality tourism projects that contribute to rural development and offer diverse tourism options for residents and visitors to the region. (SPA) The municipal projects, costing more than SR140 million, aim to improve infrastructure and the urban landscape and include, according to the mayor of Al-Bukayriyah, roads, streets, public squares, parks and pedestrian walkways. Prince Faisal praised the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and local municipalities, stressing the need to continue delivering quality projects that serve citizens and support comprehensive development. He inaugurated the second phase of a solar energy project at the governorate building, part of efforts to adopt renewable energy and improve efficiency in government facilities. Prince Faisal reviewed projects to restore Al-Bukayriyah's old town and develop the Jabal Saq trail. The projects aim to revive the town's heritage character, create an attractive environment, and enhance the urban landscape. The project is a step toward sustainability by reducing reliance on traditional energy and powering the facility with solar energy, the SPA reported. Prince Faisal said the use of solar power cuts operating costs, lowers carbon emissions, and improves spending efficiency, and expressed the hope to expand such initiatives throughout the region. The project is a step toward sustainability by reducing reliance on traditional energy and powering the facility with solar energy. (SPA) He also launched several health projects, worth SR26 million, to strengthen the health sector and improve services. These include upgrades to Al-Bukayriyah General Hospital, an automated lab, improved inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services, the development of Al-Zahra Health Center, and replacement of the hospital's electrical systems. Prince Faisal also visited Basma Rural Resort in Al-Bukayriyah governorate. He toured the resort's facilities and reviewed its tourism services and unique rural hospitality that reflect the region's natural landscape and agricultural heritage. Prince Faisal emphasized the importance of supporting high-quality tourism projects that contribute to rural development and offer diverse tourism options for residents and visitors to the region. He commended the private sector's efforts to invest in sustainable tourism activities aligned with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 to develop tourism as a vital economic sector. Prince Faisal said that Al-Bukayriyah, like other governorates in the region, possesses promising tourism potential that should be optimally leveraged. The Qassim governor expressed hope for more high-quality tourism projects that support the local economy and generate job opportunities for Saudi men and women. Prince Faisal visited Maqsourat Al-Suwailem at the Al-Bukayriyah heritage site, where he was briefed on its historical and architectural significance. He underlined the importance of preserving heritage sites as part of national identity and promoting heritage tourism. Such projects, he said, honor the legacy of ancestors and help introduce younger generations and visitors to the region's culture. The governor praised the Al-Suwailem family for preserving and exhibiting the site, highlighting their role in fostering awareness of national heritage and supporting heritage tourism. Prince Faisal also reviewed projects to restore Al-Bukayriyah's old town and develop the Jabal Saq trail, implemented by the municipality in cooperation with the Al-Bukayriyah Community Committee. The projects aim to revive the town's heritage character, create an attractive environment, and enhance the urban landscape. The Jabal Saq trail, at an elevation of 400m, is a tourist and recreational destination, offering walking, hiking, and scenic views to boost local tourism. Prince Faisal highlighted the importance of such initiatives in preserving heritage and promoting tourism, praising the municipality and committee for their efforts aligned with Vision 2030 goals to develop tourist sites and improve quality of life. Prince Faisal launched two major charitable initiatives worth about SR10.5 million: the Waqf Al-Walidayn by the Holy Qur'an Memorization Association; and the Investment Endowment by the Saei Association for Widows. The Waqf Al-Walidayn supports the association's Qur'anic education programs and financial sustainability, while the widows' endowment funds Saei's initiatives to improve widows' living and social conditions. He also sponsored an agreement between the People of Al-Bukayriyah Endowment Foundation and the Healthy Cities Program to support community initiatives that promote health and enhance quality of life.
Arab News
18-07-2025
- Automotive
- Arab News
Buraidah on the right road
BURAIDAH: Qassim municipality completed a series of operations and maintenance projects in Buraidah in the first half of 2025 as part of efforts to upgrade infrastructure and improve municipal services for citizens and residents. Work included resurfacing more than 230 km of roadway with asphalt to enhance the efficiency of the road network, improve traffic flow, and minimize damage caused by frequent usage. Municipal projects also included pothole repairs on 247,000 square meters of roadway and crack sealing over about 2.46 million square meters, contributing to longer road lifespans and heightened safety standards.
