- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
Germany announces tougher knife laws after deadly attack
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Thursday the government would toughen knife controls and curb benefits for some illegal migrants in response to a suspected Islamist stabbing.
Three people were killed and eight others injured at a festival in the western city of Solingen on Friday, in an attack allegedly carried out by a 26-year-old Syrian man with links to the Islamic State group.
The knife attack has inflamed the debate over immigration in Germany and put pressure on the government to act ahead of key regional elections on Sunday.
The stabbing has "shocked us deeply", Faeser said at a press conference on Thursday alongside Justice Minister Marco Buschmann.
The threats highlighted by the attack demanded a packet of "tough measures", including tightening weapons controls and strengthening security services, Faeser said.
Carrying knives at festivals, like the one in Solingen, as well as "sports events and other similar public events" will be banned, Faeser said.
There will be reasoned exceptions to the ban, including for those working in hospitality and performers, she added.
Knives will also be banned on long-distance trains, the minister said, with police given more powers to search members of the public.
- Benefits cuts -
The alleged Solingen attacker, named as Issa Al H., initially evaded police before being taken into custody on Saturday.
The suspect was meant to have been deported to Bulgaria, where he had first arrived in the European Union, but the operation failed after he went missing.
The seeming ease with which the 26-year-old avoided efforts to remove him from the country has piled pressure on the government to crack down on illegal migration.
"The entire process... must be examined, must be made more effective, so that we can deport people more quickly," Justice Minister Buschmann said Thursday.
Cases where an individual cannot be removed because authorities are unable to locate them "must end", Buschmann said.
In future, Germany would refuse benefits payments to migrants set to be deported to other countries in the European Union, Faeser said.
"For cases who have to pursue their asylum procedure in other member states and who have already had a transfer request approved in the member state in question, the receipt of benefits should be excluded," Faeser said.
Faeser also indicated that the government would endeavour to "remove hurdles" to quicker deportations.
The government would also continue to work "intensively" to restart deportations to Afghanistan and Syria, which have been halted for several years, Faeser said.
- Regional elections -
The debate over immigration has dominated the run-up to elections in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony on Sunday, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling well.
The anti-immigration AfD has accused successive governments of contributing to "chaos" by allowing too many migrants into the country.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats meanwhile look set for a weak showing, as do the other parties in his coalition, the Greens and the pro-business FDP.
The conservative CDU, Germany's main opposition party, has called on the government to take stronger action to limit immigration.
In search of a cross-party response, Scholz on Wednesday said he would hold talks on migration policy with the conservatives and representatives from Germany's states.
The initial measures announced Thursday were not "wrong" but neither were they "the measures necessary", senior CDU politician Carsten Linnemann told the Rheinische Post daily.
The federal government is "not prepared to seriously address the issue of restricting illegal migration", Linnemann said.
G.Teles--PC