The United States pressured the Dutch government, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte himself, to block the sale of ASML chip manufacturing technology to China, Reuters reports based on anonymous sources. According to the news agency, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lobbied the Dutch government, and White House officials shared classified intelligence with Rutte to convince him not to allow the sale. Source NL Times
A special police unit will be disbanded after investigators found right-wing extremist messages shared by some of its members. Police from the central German city of Frankfurt am Main have decided to disband the city’s Special Task Force (SEK) following the discovery of far-right extremist messages in group chats, a state official said on Thursday. Source Deitsche Welle
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the end of Operation Barkhane, an offensive against Islamist insurgents in West Africa’s Sahel region that was launched in 2013. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he was ending France’s eight-year operation in the Sahel region of Africa, particularly in Mali, where the country’s military has been waging a battle against Islamist insurgents. Source Deutsche Welle
A pro-Islamic Party Nyanset (Nuance Party) is targeting Sweden’s Turkish and Muslim communities in a bid to reach the election threshold of 4% and enter parliament in the 2022 elections.
Party leader Mikail Yüksel announced to his 200 followers on TikTok on Friday that the party’s posters have even been put up in Turkey. Founded in 2019, the party could potentially gain a large following in Sweden, which is home to an estimated 810,000 Muslims, or around 8.1% of the population. Of these, around 50,000 people have Turkish origins. Source Euractiv
