International News
Poland Resumes Border Checks With Germany In Anti-Migrant Clampdown
Border guards and military police could be seen looking into passing cars and occasionally stopping vehicles for document checks on the bridge connecting the Polish town of Slubice with Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany.
The new checks are a response to growing anti-migrant sentiment on both sides of the border.
Poland says hundreds of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, cross into the Baltic states from Belarus every month, then travel through Poland into Germany.
The issue has become a particularly sensitive one in Polish domestic politics and has led to tensions with Germany.
Warsaw has accused Berlin of sending the irregular migrants it manages to intercept back into Poland.
“The checks being implemented aim to combat illegal migration,” Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak was quoted as saying by his ministry on X.
Shortly after the new checks came into force on Monday, Polish border guards detained a man for assisting irregular migration.
The Estonian national is accused of transporting four irregular migrants, believed to be from Afghanistan.
Siemoniak said the detention was “proof that these checks are necessary”.
‘Ping-Pong Game’
Germany, which introduced checks on the border with Poland in 2023, has welcomed the Polish initiative and called for collaboration against a common problem.
Speaking to the daily Rheinische Post, the head of German police union GdP, Andreas Rosskopf, said the two countries needed a “workable procedure”.
He warned against Polish and German border guards engaging in a “ping-pong game” with asylum seekers by sending them back and forth.
Representatives of German business associations have also voiced concern.
“We are receiving worrying feedback from the business community,” Helena Melnikov, chief executive of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
“If commuters can no longer get to work reliably and on time at the German-Polish border, there is an increased risk that they will look for work elsewhere on a permanent basis—with consequences for the shortage of skilled workers in border regions,” she said.
Marek Klodnicki, an administrative employee who lives in Slubice but works in Germany, said the reintroduction of border controls was “very sad”.
“We have waited so long for open borders,” he said, adding that the checks would result in “a disruption in social and economic life.”
Business owners, particularly hairdressers and tobacco shops, which get a lot of custom from Germans crossing the border, also voiced concern the checks could disrupt business.
“Ninety percent of our customers are Germans. We may have less traffic, less revenue,” Kinga Dziuba, a 29-year-old cigarette vendor, told AFP.
But Dziuba said the checks were “very much needed” to control migration, adding, “Security is more important to me than trade.”
The issue of migration was central to June’s presidential election in Poland, where nationalist Karol Nawrocki—who ran on a slogan of “Poland first, Poles “first”—narrowly defeated the candidate backed by pro-European Union Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The Tusk government is now seeking to outflank its rivals by taking a tougher approach to immigration.
Checks ‘Unnecessary’
In total, 52 checkpoints have been set up on the border with Germany and 13 with Lithuania, Siemoniak said.
The controls will last from July 7 to August 5 but could be extended.
They will mostly consist of spot inspections, particularly of vehicles carrying several people, officials said.
Nationalist and far-right politicians accuse Tusk’s government of having “abdicated” to Germany on migration and of allowing Berlin to overwhelm Poland with migrants.
In June, members of a far-right movement gathered at several points along the border to set up “citizens’ patrols,” which the government insists are illegal.
In Slubice, Edyta Taryma, a 54-year-old hair salon owner, said her revenues had already dropped by 20 percent after Germany re-imposed border controls.
“A great many people did not come, or came less often, because they were afraid of traffic jams,” she said.
She called the checks “unnecessary.”
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
The South African government says more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago.
Most were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, officials say, and the number is likely to rise as repatriations and deportations continue.
South Africa is carrying out one of its biggest crackdowns on undocumented migrants in years, following weeks of anti-immigration protests that have seen violence, intimidation and looting.
Protesters have been demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, accusing migrants of contributing to high unemployment, rising crime rates and collapse of public services.
The UN has warned against using migrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
Anti-migrant activists have threatened to stage weekly protests to pressure the government until their demands are met, and there are fears the protests could turn violent.
The demonstrators had set an “unofficial deadline” of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, which has seen many foreigners leave to escape violence and intimidation.
Several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, have flown their citizens home in recent weeks.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Sunday that 53,499 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, “which is dominated by the Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans”.
“We are striving to achieve an orderly and regular migration which is mindful and sensitive to the concerns raised by our people, while observing human rights and dignity of all people in our country, irrespective of their citizenship and immigration status,” Kubayi told a news conference in Pretoria.
She said the repatriation and deportation process has helped them catch people who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal activity.
Authorities will continue to enforce its immigration laws, she added, but warned that protesters should not conduct unauthorised searches of homes and businesses that are suspected of sheltering undocumented migrants.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged public concerns about immigration but has condemned attacks against migrants, warning citizens against taking the law into their own hands.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities, some of whom enter the country illegally.
‘
Plans for a 64-team men’s World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be “for the whole world”.
The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.
“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, external when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been “a huge success”, citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The Fifa council approved the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2017.
An official proposal to boost the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams was put forward by South American governing body Conmebol in April 2025, but no decision has been reached.
The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be hosted by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the 64-team proposal, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.
Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and he believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.
However, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, said the United States could consider making a bid to host the 2038 World Cup and would be able to “handle it” if expanded to 64 teams.
Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from council members.
The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to happen imminently.
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