EU's "Shut the Door" Vote to Process Migrants in Offshore Camps

 The European Parliament’s approval of “return hubs” marks a significant shift toward externalizing migration control, intensifying enforcement measures while exposing deep divisions over legality, accountability and human rights.

Lawmakers voted 389 to 206 to adopt their position on the EU Return Regulation, enabling negotiations with member states.

The proposal would allow rejected asylum seekers to be transferred to third countries, where they could be held in offshore detention centers.

“If you come to Europe illegally, rest assured that you will not stay here,” said French MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, reflecting the stricter enforcement approach underpinning the reforms.

The legislation introduces tougher penalties for irregular migrants, including extended detention periods and entry bans. It also formalizes a model already under consideration by several EU states.

Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece and Denmark are exploring agreements with African countries to host such facilities, indicating a coordinated shift toward outsourcing migration management.

Critics argue the framework risks undermining legal protections. Amnesty International described the move as a “growing trend towards increasingly harmful, exclusionary and draconian policies.”

The International Rescue Committee warned that such centers could become “legal black holes,” operating outside EU legal frameworks.

Italian MEP Cecilia Strada said: “These appalling laws will push innocent people into hiding for fear of prison and deportation.”

The vote exposed a clear divide between center-right and far-right supporters and center-left opposition. Irish MEP Maria Walsh, speaking ahead of the vote, warned that migrants could be sent to countries “they have no connection with” and held for prolonged periods.

“These hubs would be funded by EU taxpayers, but operate outside EU law,” she said, adding that she had seen conditions where “children without schooling” and families lacked basic services.

Walsh also cited data showing asylum applications in Ireland fell by nearly 30% last year, challenging claims of continuously rising migration pressure.

The adopted position now enters negotiations with EU member states, where final provisions will be determined. The speed of the vote and alignment among several governments suggest momentum behind stricter migration controls, even as legal and humanitarian objections intensify.

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/eus-shut-the-door-vote-to-process-migrants-in-offshore-camps-julv17rpgn

Sources:

Africa News

'Spain Rushes to Algeria in a Scramble for Gas Amid Energy Crisis'

 Spain is moving to secure additional gas from Algeria as energy markets tighten following the Iran-linked disruptions, underscoring a strategic shift toward reliable regional suppliers.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algiers Thursday, signaling efforts to deepen energy cooperation. Talks focused on increasing volumes of natural gas amid volatility linked to the Middle East conflict.

“We have talked about there being a greater volume (of gas),” Albares said, adding discussions covered “the context of the gas market with the war in the Middle East.”

Two sources told Reuters that flows through the Medgaz pipeline could rise by as much as 10%. The subsea link is central to Spain’s imports, with Algerian gas accounting for more than 29% of supply in the first two months of the year, according to Enagas.

Naturgy, a key Spanish utility, holds contracts for around 5 billion cubic metres per year with Algeria’s Sonatrach. The Algerian state firm controls 51% of Medgaz and holds about a 4% stake in Naturgy, reinforcing mutual dependency.

Albares emphasized political alignment alongside commercial ties. “Algeria, our first gas supplier, is a strategic, reliable, and steady partner,” he said. He added that “Spain and Algeria are friendly countries and strategic partners in the Mediterranean.”

He also noted that “the constant dialogue that we are strengthening today is for the benefit of our two peoples,” framing the talks as part of a broader effort to stabilize the region’s energy landscape.

The war on Iran has disrupted flows through the Strait of Hormuz, prompting European states to diversify supply sources. Italy has also approached Algeria for additional gas, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni raising the issue during a visit to Algiers.

Spanish utility executives have signaled similar intentions. Naturgy CEO Francisco Reynes said the company aims to strengthen ties with Sonatrach as market volatility increases.

The shift reflects intensifying competition for stable gas supplies across Europe. With global markets unsettled, Algeria’s role as a nearby supplier with existing infrastructure is gaining importance.

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/spain-rushes-to-algeria-in-a-scramble-for-gas-amid-energy-crisis-f630262us6e

Sources:

Reuters

Illegal voting is not that "rare"

 by Kim Ezra Shienbaum

Assertions about election integrity carry weight far beyond any single bill or news cycle, particularly when they rely on conclusions drawn from incomplete data. Democrats opposing the SAVE Act have settled on a declaratory talking point: illegal voting in American elections is “exceptionally rare.” Delivered with confidence, the claim goes largely unchallenged. But in a nation with well over 20 million noncitizens, such certainty warrants closer scrutiny.

The evidence on illegal voting is thin -- but not because it doesn’t exist. It’s thin because it’s rarely sought. Election officials don’t audit citizenship status systematically. States rely mainly on self-attestation, assuming honesty in the absence of meaningful verification. It’s a system built on trust, not proof.

Opponents of reform cite a 2014 paper in Election Studies by Richman et al estimating noncitizen voting at 6.4% in the 2008 Obama election. The study’s methods were challenged later for data flaws, and critics used that to scrap the entire premise. But invalidating one study doesn’t erase the weakness of our registration process. Rare enforcement doesn’t equal rare offense -- it often means we’re not looking.

In my own county in NE Pennsylvania, registering to vote requires little more than a driver’s license and a Social Security number. Neither proves citizenship. In fact, most states and localities do the same. Only a few states require proof of citizenship when registering to vote -- Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington -- through optional enhanced driver's licenses (EDLs) requiring proof of citizenship through birth certificates or passports.

A noncitizen with a state-issued ID -- perfectly legal in many jurisdictions -- and a tax ID number can enter the voter rolls unflagged. Even the federal REAL ID program establishes lawful presence, not citizenship. 

This unrecognized vulnerability ties into broader national trends. Several states issue driver’s licenses to undocumented residents, often for practical reasons. But those databases connect directly into voter registration systems -- sometimes automatically, under “motor voter” provisions. Unless a citizenship check is built in, the system can’t reliably distinguish citizens from noncitizens. Yet critics of the SAVE Act insist such registration errors are nearly impossible.

Equally misleading is the claim that voter ID laws “disenfranchise” seniors or the poor. Nearly all older Americans collect Social Security or Medicare. Low-income citizens receive SNAP, Medicaid, or other benefits. Each of these programs already requires valid photo ID and supporting documentation far stricter than documentation needed to vote. Are we to believe these same citizens, capable of managing complex federal requirements, can’t produce ID at the polling place?

The real divide isn’t between the enfranchised and the disenfranchised -- it’s between citizens who trust the system and politicians unwilling to verify it. Protecting elections from illegal participation should be a bipartisan, commonsense goal. If illegal voting is as rare as critics insist, they should welcome a law that confirms it.

Confidence in democracy depends on verification, not denial. The SAVE Act doesn’t restrict voting -- it restores integrity. The right to vote belongs only to citizens. Given the patchwork of state regulations, this duty must fall on the federal government to ensure it does.

The writer, Emerita Professor Politics at Rutgers-Camden, currently publishes political commentary in Spectator-World and American Thinker

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/illegal_voting_is_not_that_rare.html

Hamas will never agree to disarm

 by Susan Quinn

The demands for Hamas to disarm in Gaza seem to have taken on a life of their own. So many writers insist that Hamas must do it, but they have so far refused. President Trump demands the same, but his 20-Point plan seems to be languishing on the sidelines. So where do the negotiations stand now? Some background first will help to understand the situation.

The history of the peace plan shows a mixed response from the parties involved. In spite of Trump and Netanyahu declaring that Hamas has agreed to disarm, Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk denies having had that discussion. In fact, he denies that any such discussion ever took place, with either U.S. or Israeli leadership, or with the mediators.

President Trump laid out a detailed plan in September 2025, but Hamas’s careful response did not, in particular, include disarmament. Meanwhile mediators from the newly established “Board of Peace” moved forward in trying to actualize an agreement:

Mediators meeting in Cairo said in an interview with NPR that they had given Hamas a formal proposal to lay down its weapons. The proposal calls for Hamas and all other terrorist groups in Gaza to hand over all weapons, making an emerging governing authority responsible for all the arms.

The proposal is said to call for a comprehensive framework to ensure the ‘complete handover’ and ‘full decommissioning’ of arms belonging to Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, and that if Hamas accepted the proposal, it would ensure large-scale reconstruction of Gaza.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has also emphasized that full disarmament must take place before any efforts to rebuild Gaza begin.

Observers have voiced concerns that the longer it takes for an agreement to be reached, the more opportunity the mediators will have to weaken the final plan, just to finish the job.

Over the past several months, Hamas has continued to tyrannize the Palestinian population, implementing price controls and taking control of food and other humanitarian resources meant for the people. They have likely used this time to restock their weapons and munitions. Hamas also has agreed that Palestinians other than Hamas can govern in Gaza, but insists it must be included in that governance. To complicate matters further, Hamas does not want to complete the plan until the war in Iran has ended. This decision is probably just one more stalling tactic.

No matter how many times observers insist that an agreement must be reached that will include Hamas disarming, it’s extremely unlikely that will occur. At no point has Hamas complied with that demand or acknowledged a willingness to do so. Truth be told, Hamas is not interested in stopping the conflict until Israel is destroyed; it also doesn’t care how many Palestinians, including Hamas, die in the effort.

Netanyahu and Trump have both weighed in on the current situation agreeing that Hamas must go, reluctantly acknowledging Gaza will likely go with it:

‘As I agreed with President Trump… there are only two possibilities: either this will be done the easy way, or it will be done the hard way, but in any case, it will happen,’ Netanyahu said of disarmament, using a formulation he has employed previously, and specifying Gaza must be demilitarized before reconstruction begins.

Trump said Monday, after Israeli forces returned the remains of the last hostage: ‘Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised.’

Gaza will become a quarry of rubble and devastation.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/hamas_will_never_agree_to_disarm.html

After the euthanasia, the Noelia Castillo Ramos story gets worse

 by Monica Showalter

I think it was La Rochefoucauld who said 'Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.'

Meaning, when confronted with the immensity and permanence of death, there are many who turn away from it -- the bridge jumper who is talked off the ledge, or the building jumper who tries to break her fall with her arms. It's not uncommon for those who have decided upon death to try to stop it at the last minute.

What's evil is when someone else tries to prevent that person from coming back.

Which may have happened in the sad case of Noelia Castillo Ramos, aged 25, who was executed by government doctors in a requested euthanasia yesterday. There are reports emerging that she may have wanted out -- and the authorities wouldn't let her.

First, ahead of the euthanasia, she was in isolation, unaware that thousands of people outside the hospital she was in were outside urging her not to do it. Worse still, her best friend was not allowed in to try to talk her out of it:

If a hospital is refusing to let a dying girl see their best friend before she’s euthanised…

…because they’re worried she might CHANGE HER MIND and not agree to be killed and organ harvested…

They are the villains.
No ifs, ands, or buts. pic.twitter.com/wEYzKJgDRb

— Samantha Smith (@SamanthaTaghoy) March 26, 2026

I am a little amazed she had a best friend, given her statements about her loneliness. But she apparently did, and the friend would have known she had manic-depressive tendencies -- meaning, she would have a reasonable belief she could talk her out of it.

But the establishment said there was no going back.

The establishment had its reasons:

Spain is now killing to order. https://t.co/RwRY74o8zf

 

— J Michael Waller (@JMichaelWaller) March 27, 2026

According to her lawyer, Noelia Castillo Ramos cannot change her mind about undergoing euthanasia because her organs are already committed.

Her lawyer highlights the hospital’s conflict of interest in this case, because Noelia’s organs are worth millions in billable charges.… https://t.co/C5CeIucss1 pic.twitter.com/rCdG0Kof2h

— Dr. Heidi Klessig (@heidiklessigmd) March 26, 2026

🇪🇸 A 25-year-old Spanish woman just died by euthanasia, and her lawyer claims the hospital pressured for it because her organs were already committed for transplant.

Noelia Castillo had been raped by her ex-boyfriend, then gang-raped in a state youth center by 3 North African… pic.twitter.com/Hxls4A2Pxt

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 27, 2026

Castillo was a sad story. She had a difficult life brought on mostly by the actions of others -- she was thrown into a government group home against her will when her parents ran into financial problems, where she said she got raped by reportedly Moroccan illegal migrants inexplicably placed in that supposed state protection with her yet none were ever reported nor charged. Suffering untreated or ineffectively treated depression and PTSD, she attempted suicide at least once by jumping from a window, and ended up paralyzed  (in her last interview she denied this), so at a minimum in a life of pain. After that she chose the government's newly legalized suicide, something her parents opposed, but also something she had NGO lawyers, paid for by someone, advocate for, from her parents' opposition, all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights. Her mental illness counted for nothing, despite the prohibition in the law for the mentally ill to do this.

Now there are reports that she may have wanted out, or may have been capable of being talked out, but the walls came down and the needle filled with poison came out, and she was euthanized on schedule. The bureaucrats must have been so satisfied and now the divvying up of her organs can begin.

It goes to show the problems with government-approved euthanasia and assisted suicide: There are too many cases where the victim is coerced, led on, killed against their will or halted from reversing course. It doesn't take much for the voluntary dying to become simple killing, which is why the law is so bad. That looks likely in the case of Noelia Castillo Ramos and it's an outrage that cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. It's why Spain has got to reverse course. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/after_the_euthanasia_the_noelia_castillo_ramos_story_gets_worse.html

USS George H.W. Bush said to deploy toward Iran

 The United States Navy is preparing to move the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier into waters near Iran, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the decision.

The vessel is reportedly expected to operate under the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). However, it remains uncertain whether the Bush will reinforce or replace one of the two carriers already active in the region.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/USS-George-H.W.-Bush-said-to-deploy-toward-Iran/65971322

Phathom upgraded at Barclays following pullback, Voquezna optimism

 

• Barclays upgraded Phathom Pharmaceuticals (PHAT) to overweight from equal weight following a huge share decline year to date on growing indications that sales of Voquezna (vonoprazan) will ramp up in Q2.
• The bank raised its price target to $18 from $16 (~67% upside based on March 26 close).
• Phathom shares are down ~36% YTD. However, analyst Jenna Dividner said that the pullback, along with an expected uptick in prescriptions for heartburn drug Voquezna from Q2 through the end of the year, provides an attractive entry point.
• "Trends in March are positive, with the most recent week (3/13) topping peak levels in 4Q25," she wrote. "While 1Q overall is trending flat sequentially, we acknowledge that the latest weekly data points are increasingly positive, and a continuation of these trends could shift stock momentum in a more positive direction."
• Dividner added that the company's targeted commercial approach to gastrointestinal providers rather than a GI and primary care focus "may prove to be a tailwind to drive increased adoption."  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/phathom-upgraded-at-barclays-following-pullback-voquezna-optimism/ar-AA1Zye6A