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NGOs condemn Donald Tusk's plan to fortify Poland's eastern border

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NGOs condemn Donald Tusk's plan to fortify Poland's eastern border

The Polish border with Belarus has seen conflict between law enforcement and migrants travelling eastwards, and Germany’s decision to temporarily impose border checks has put Poland under further pressure.

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NGOs in Poland and abroad have criticised Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s announcement that he intends to temporarily suspend the right apply for asylum in his country.

The proposal is part of a wide-ranging strategy approved by Tusk’s Civic Coalition party. According to initial versions of the document published by Polish media, the plan includes limiting the number of people who can apply for a visa, making it harder to obtain a Polish passport, and introducing programmes to help migrants better integrate into Polish society.

The strategy also proposes that Brussels allow EU member states to temporarily suspend the right to submit asylum applications — a move that the European Commission has already warned could be unlawful.

The premier’s plan is largely seen as a response to the crisis on Poland’s 400-kilometre border with Belarus.

Since 2021, thousands of people have attempted to cross into Poland through thick forests in temperatures that drop to below zero in the winter.

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Tusk has said that his government does not want to terminate international agreements that guarantee the right to asylum.

Instead, he says the current rules are inadequate in situations that threaten national security such as the Polish border, where he and others in his government say Russia and Belarus are actively encouraging migrants to try to cross in an attempt to destabilise Europe.

NGOs say that the proposal would do little to tackle problems that exist along the border, a site where both deaths and brutal pushbacks — an illegal process whereby refugees and migrants are sent back across the border they have attempted to cross — have been reported.

“The suspension of the right to asylum at the border is in some ways de facto a reality for us. Particularly in recent weeks, most people who try to cross into the border in Poland never begin the procedure,” said Dominika Ożyńska from the Polish NGO Egala.

Part of the government’s strategy includes giving more powers to border guards, allowing them to detain foreigners at the border who they deem a threat to Poland’s safety.

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“We are afraid that a verbal statement like the one made by the prime minister will give the border guards a certain impunity to continue abusing the existing laws at the border,” said Ożyńska.

In a statement announcing the policy, Tusk said that “the Polish state has lost control over the wave of illegal migration”, citing figures relating to temporary visas. Between 2018 and 2023, Poland issued more than 6 million visas, 3.8 million of which were work visas.

But Ożyńska points out that the number of people successfully applying for asylum into Poland via the Belarusian border is relatively low.

According to data collected from border guards and published on the Ombudsman’s website, Polish border guards accepted only 3,172 applications for international protection at the Polish-Belarusian border between 1 January 2023 and 15 September 2024.

The first safe country

“The measures could mean that people will be forced to try to cross in an unregulated way,” Ożyńska said. She points out that the measure would mean Germany could de facto take the place of the first safe country in the EU for people to seek asylum, meaning a longer and more dangerous journey for those moving eastward.

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Some NGOs working at the border say that tightening measures will not deter people from crossing the border, and risks simply making the process more dangerous.

Aleksandra Kramer, a humanitarian worker with Grupa Granica, said that turning away asylum seekers at the border puts them at risk of human traffickers.

This has been echoed by a report published by The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action Against Human Trafficking, which says migrants who remained at the border between Poland and Belarus for prolonged periods were at a high risk of falling prey to human traffickers.

Amnesty International said that Tusk’s proposal endangers the rights of those who “may have been subject to violence and trafficking, or lured to EU borders under false pretences.”

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The government has said that those with a legitimate asylum claim would still be treated “favourably” and could be offered temporary stays on a humanitarian basis, but it has yet to provide further details on how this would be implemented.

Tusk has been critical of moves other countries have taken to strengthen their borders. He has said that Germany’s recent decision to introduce border checks for six months will create obstacles for Poles travelling legitimately to Germany without actually tackling the flow of irregular migration.

Migration is set to dominate a summit for European leaders in Brussels on Thursday, with Italy’s landmark deal to send migrants to offshore processing centres on Albanian soil catching other governments’ attention.

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Iran closes Strait of Hormuz over ceasefire violations

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Iran closes Strait of Hormuz over ceasefire violations
Iran’s top joint military command, ​Khatam al-Anbiya Central ‌Headquarters, said on Saturday that the Strait ​of Hormuz would ​be closed to vessel ⁠traffic, citing ​alleged violations of a ​ceasefire agreement by the U.S. and Israel, Iran’s ​Mehr state ​news agency reported.
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Keir Starmer reportedly considering stepping down as PM and could announce timetable for departure

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Keir Starmer reportedly considering stepping down as PM and could announce timetable for departure

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly considering stepping down and could announce a timetable for his departure as early as Monday, according to a report published Saturday.

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Britain’s Observer newspaper reported that Starmer was discussing his future with his wife at his Chequers country residence before making a final decision.

The outlet reported that senior Labour Party figures expect a statement addressing his future as early as next week.

A government source told Reuters that Starmer remains focused on governing and pointed to previous comments in which he vowed to remain in office.

AS EPSTEIN-LINKED APPOINTMENT SPARKS BACKLASH, UK PM STARMER FACES PARTY REVOLT AMID RESIGNATION CALLS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer awaits Switzerland’s Federal President Guy Parmelin on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday. (Isabel Infantes/Pool Reuters via AP)

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the prime minister’s office for comment.

Pressure on Starmer has been building for months amid growing dissatisfaction within his party and concerns over the government’s handling of the economy and cost-of-living issues.

The political threat to Starmer intensified Friday after rival Andy Burnham won a seat in Parliament, positioning him to mount a formal leadership challenge.

LABOUR MP PUTS CABINET ‘ON NOTICE,’ THREATENS TO TRIGGER LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE AGAINST STARMER BY MONDAY

Britain’s Labour party candidate Andy Burnham speaks to supporters after the Makerfield by-election in Ashton in Makerfield, England, Friday. (Jon Super/AP)

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Starmer congratulated Burnham following the victory, writing on X that voters, “chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.”

When asked about Burnham’s apparent ambitions to replace him, Starmer insisted he intends to remain in office.

“I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away from that,” Starmer said.

UK’S STARMER JUGGLES TROUBLE AT HOME AS HE WALKS GEOPOLITICAL TIGHTROPE WITH TRUMP

Sir Keir Starmer is battling to save his position and refusing to stand aside despite dozens of Labout MP’s demanding he resigns. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

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Starmer has led the Labour Party since 2020 and became prime minister in 2024.

Calls for his resignation intensified last month, with more than 100 Labour lawmakers publicly urging him to step aside or set out a timetable for his departure. Several parliamentary aides also resigned in protest.

The internal revolt followed a series of disappointing local election results for Labour, which lost hundreds of council seats across England, surrendered long-held ground in Wales and fell behind political rivals in Scotland.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks a news conference at Downing Street in London, March 5. (Tolga Akmen/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)

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Starmer’s popularity has also declined amid a persistently high cost of living, sluggish economic growth and criticism over his acceptance of gifts from wealthy donors.

Fox News Digital’s James Cirrone and Emma Bussey, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Trump vows Iran will not charge Strait of Hormuz tolls, but says US might

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Trump vows Iran will not charge Strait of Hormuz tolls, but says US might

United States President Donald Trump has pledged there will be no tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, unless they are collected by his own country.

Trump’s statement, made in a Saturday afternoon post on Truth Social, is the latest sign that a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) may be unravelling.

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“There will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired,” Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America.”

Since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, Iran has successfully used the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point, closing the strategic waterway to traffic.

But under the terms of Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum, the strait is supposed to reopen for an interim period of 60 days. During that time, Iran is barred from charging vessels for passage.

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On Saturday, however, Iran’s joint military command said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing a “clear breach” of the memorandum’s commitments.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), the agency that oversees military operations in the region, denied that report and maintained that the traffic continues to flow through the waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between the US and Iran. Nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas is transported through the strait, as well as about 30 percent of the global fertiliser trade.

Closure of the strait has caused global fuel costs to soar and has tested agricultural sectors across the world.

Trump had responded to Iran’s chokehold over the strait by imposing a US naval blockade on Iran’s ports in the region.

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But that naval blockade was lifted under the terms of Wednesday’s memorandum. The deal also paused fighting on all fronts in the regional conflict, including in Lebanon.

The memorandum, though, was not intended as a long-term deal. It serves as a launching point for negotiations on key issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Several points of divergence also went unaddressed in the memorandum. Nowhere does the memo say that future tolls cannot be collected from the strait after the 60-day period expires.

Before the war, there was no charge for passage through the strait. Trump himself said in an interview with The New York Times that the waterway should remain “permanently toll-free”.

But he appeared to reverse course in Saturday’s post, once again floating the possibility that the US could extract tolls in the strait, while barring Iran from doing so.

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No fees should be levied, Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed”.

He explained that such a charge would compensate the US “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs”.

Trump used similar language in his New York Times interview earlier this week, floating the US becoming “the guardian of the Middle East” in exchange for 20 percent of its revenue.

Saturday’s post is not the first time Trump has mused about the US imposing tolls in the strait, either.

In April, for instance, he discussed the idea with reporters, saying, “What about us charging tolls? I’d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won.”

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There has been no indication that Trump’s plans have been officially presented to countries in the region, many of whom have struck a careful balance in their dealings with both the US and Iran during the war.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly said they will not rule out imposing tolls in the strait, framing the issue as a matter of sovereignty and regional negotiation. The strait sits between Iran and Oman.

Further discussions are expected on the matter in the coming weeks.

But such negotiations have been thrown into jeopardy amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which threaten to violate Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum.

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Iran claimed that Saturday’s closure of the strait was a result of new Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, which killed dozens of people after the ceasefire was announced.

Iranian officials have also said that any upcoming talks should focus on proper implementation of the initial memorandum, and that the 60-day negotiating period stipulated in Wednesday’s deal would begin after that was settled.

Pakistan, a top mediator between the US and Iran, has said that follow-up talks are set to begin in Switzerland on Sunday.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that an Iranian delegation, led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, has already arrived for the negotiations.

On the US side, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend.

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Vance departed for Switzerland late Saturday.

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