Reading view

Gaza flotilla activists from Spain and Brazil appear in Israeli court

Court extends detention of two men who were among 175 people intercepted in Mediterranean on Thursday

Two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla who were brought to Israel for interrogation have appeared before an Israeli court, a rights group defending them has said.

The flotilla of more than 50 vessels had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza and bringing supplies to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

© Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

© Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

  •  

‘It’s like a cat and mouse game’: on the frontline of Belgium’s fight against drug smugglers

Antwerp port is stepping up scanning of goods amid warnings country risks becoming a narco-state

Sara Van Cotthem takes a safety knife and precisely slices open the side of a cardboard box to unpack its contents, an aluminium stepladder made in China. Working under harsh fluorescent lights at the border inspection post at the port of Antwerp, Van Cotthem checks the paperwork and taps the ladder with a magnet to check if it really is aluminium and not another metal.

It is an everyday operation for customs officers at Antwerp, one of Europe’s main commercial gateways, which handled the equivalent of 13.6m 20ft-long (6 metres) containers last year. Everything is in order and the lorry, jam-packed with identical boxed ladders, can get on its way to Germany.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Judith Jockel/The Guardian

© Photograph: Judith Jockel/The Guardian

© Photograph: Judith Jockel/The Guardian

  •  

Czech Republic president on Trump’s anger with Europe over Iran war response: ‘We are not part of it’

The leader of the Czech Republic pushed back this week against President Trump’s accusations that Europe has failed to do its part to support the U.S.’s ongoing military operations against Iran. “I believe that Europe could do much more, but we are not part of it,” Czech President Petr Pavel told CNN’s Christine Amanpour at...

  •  
❌