Day: January 4, 2017

Berlin terror suspect traveled via Amsterdam, Brussels

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The man suspected of carrying out the Berlin Christmas market attack traveled through the Netherlands and Belgium before entering France and then moving on to Italy, local media report Wednesday. Two days after the December 19 attack in which 12 people were killed, Anis Amri was captured on CCTV at Amsterdam’s Central Station, a spokesperson for the Dutch federal prosecutor’s office confirmed to broadcaster NOS. According to earlier reports, he was also spotted in Nijmegen, a Dutch city just across the border from Germany. It is now believed that he took a train from there to…

Tunisia ‘essential partner’, Italian Interior Minister says

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Talks focus on fighting terrorism and illegal immigration The issue of security in the Mediterranean was at the centre of talks between Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti and his Tunisian counterpart Hedi Majdoub in Tunis on Tuesday. “Some of the questions concerning terrorism and illegal migration must be addressed outside our country and Tunisia is an essential partner in joint action against terrorism and human traffickers,” Minniti told Media. “Here I met with the interior minister and premier and our collaboration was extremely profitable: we examined existing cooperation agreements ……

North Walsham shooting victim returns to Tunisia to repay hospital which saved his life following beach massacre

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A Norfolk couple shot in a terrorist massacre have given thousands of pounds worth of equipment to the Tunisian hospital which cared for them.  Tony Callaghan, 64, has just returned from Sousse, in Tunisia, where he saw the three hospital beds, medication trolleys and surgical equipment bought with the £9,000 he raised through a Crowdfunding appeal to mark the first anniversary of the June 26 2015 atrocity.Mr Callaghan, from North Walsham, was greeted as a VIP, with a reception committee which included Tunisia’s assistant minister for health, and he was…

Tunisian Prisons are Overpopulated, Justice Minister

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Tunisian Justice Minister Monday sounded the alarm over the “catastrophic” conditions of inmates in the country’s prisons. “Detention centers in Tunisia are extremely overpopulated,” Ghazi Jeribi told a parliament committee. Over 20,000 people have been locked up in the country’s few prisons, exceeding the capacities of these centers. The overpopulation has been estimated at 217  of the centers’ capacity. The degradation of conditions has been traced back to 2011 revolution marked by acts of vandalism and arson attacks, Jeribi noted. Out of the over 20,000 inmates, 14,343 are first-time offenders…

Italian Interior Minister in Tunisia and Malta

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Security and illegal immigration at centre of talks ANSAmed reported that Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti is to discuss security in the Mediterranean and relations with Europe particularly in regards to combating illegal immigration and terrorism and strengthening cooperation in police training during meetings with institutional representatives in Tunisia and Malta on Tuesday and Wednesday. In Tunisia Minniti is to meet with his counterpart Hèdi Majdoub, Premier Youssef Chahed and Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui. He is also expected to meet with President Beji Caid Essebsi at the presidential palace in…

Germany plans security overhaul after Berlin attack

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Germany’s interior minister on Tuesday outlined plans for a security services overhaul, seeking greater federal powers on domestic intelligence and quicker expulsions of illegal migrants following the Berlin truck attack. Thomas de Maiziere also wants federal police to be given wider oversight across the country’s 16 states, and for a new national crisis management centre to be set up. “We don’t have federal jurisdiction to deal with national catastrophes. The jurisdiction for the fight against international terrorism is fragmented,” he wrote in a guest column for the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine…