The barmy edicts claim that trying to stop terrorists from returning home is racist and set out a series of stringent criteria dictating how extremists’ “human rights” must be pandered to. They mean that ISIS jihadis will be able to stream into Europe and cross the continent unchallenged all the way to Calais, where they can launch attempts to smuggle themselves past Britain's overwhelmed border guards.

Critics said the actions of Labour’s representatives in Brussels were “shameful” and will put British lives at risk by “opening the door” for ISIS fighters to return from Syria and carry out atrocities on our streets. They were all passed with Labour’s support just six days after the Paris attacks, which were carried out by ISIS jihadis who strolled into Europe posing as refugees in Greece before moving across the continent unchallenged because of its free movement laws. But in a raft of controversial amendments to current EU resolutions all they appeared to achieve was to further degrade Europe’s already leaky border controls.

UKIP’s Home Affairs spokeswoman Diane James said she was “astounded” that Labour had backed the proposals just days after the horrific Paris massacre, in which 130 people lost their lives. She raged: "After the events of Paris I am astounded that Labour MEPs have voted for these amendments. The free movement of people has led to the free movement of jihad and the only way to combat this is for Member States to regain control of their borders immediately. Labour opened our borders and have attempted to keep them open even in the face of these barbaric forces. UK citizens' security should be paramount. Apparently Labour does not agree."

"Merkel, step down. You can do it," Frauke Petry told some 600 AfD supporters, mainly gray-haired men, putting a new twist on Merkel's "Wir schaffen das" (We can do it) message to those who doubt Germany can deal with the influx of migrants expected to reach one million this year. Petry, whose Alternative for Germany is enjoying an improbable revival after nearly imploding in a power struggle, said her party stood a real chance of entering three new state parliaments next year and the national parliament for the first time in 2017.

Petry drew at least four standing ovations with attacks on what she called Merkel's undemocratic decision to open Germany's borders to migrants who are expected to reach one million this year. Merkel, who will attend a summit of European Union leaders and Turkey's prime minister on Sunday on the issue, has resisted pressure from her own conservatives to cap the number of refugees.

In an address to parliament on Wednesday, she vowed to stick to her open-door refugee policy, defying criticism at home and abroad which has risen due to fears about a potential security risk after the Islamist attacks in Paris.

The triumph of the triple-Left alliance under Socialist leadership is a historic moment for the country and implies a sweeping reversal of austerity cuts imposed by the now-departed EU-IMF Troika. President Anibal Cavaco Silva warned the Socialists that he will sack the government if it violates eurozone deficit rules and the Fiscal Compact, or endangers the “external credibility” of the country. “It is an illusion to think that Portugal can dispense with the institutions and creditors,” he said.

Yet his rhetoric cannot disguise the fact that an establishment centre-Left party has, for the first time, defied the prevailing ideology in the eurozone. The Germans can no longer count on Lisbon to make the austerity case for them, and to provide political cover. “They have lost their best ally for fiscal discipline,” said Ricardo Amaro, from Oxford Economics.

Yet the picture remains chaotic and fraught with danger. The Socialists are to rule by minority, with no encompassing coalition agreement. The Communists and the Left Bloc reserve the right to dissent, and have made it clear that they will do so. “It could break over Syria, or TTIP (trade deal), or anything,” said Mr Tavares.

And now that France, reeling from the Paris attacks, has declared war on the Islamic State, other European countries are shrugging their shoulders, mumbling condolences, and silently hoping that the conflict will spare them. The implication is clear: although Europe has made significant progress toward fiscal union, it remains far removed from political union.

A half-century after the foundation of a common market and 15 years after the launch of the common currency, Europe still lacks a united police force and a single foreign policy. Perhaps most problematic, the EU is still home to 28 armies, with 28 commanders-in-chief, bound together only loosely by NATO.

It is time for the EU to change its approach to integration. Instead of continuing to push for unbalanced fiscal integration, it must work to implement key elements of political union, including an integrated police force, common asylum laws, a single foreign policy, and, above all, a united army. If recent events have taught us anything, it is that threats to the EU stem not from inadequate fiscal risk-sharing, but from insufficient coordination on foreign-policy and security challenges.

Bloomberg in September reported details of the plan, which may also seek to consolidate the country’s seven military regions to as few as four. The plan also seeks to tighten the Communist Party’s grip over the 2.3-million-member military, with Xi insisting the People’s Liberation Army maintain "correct political direction” and stressing "the Communist Party of China has absolute leadership of the armed forces," Xinhua reported.

Under Xi, China has been more assertive over territorial claims in the East China Sea and South China Sea, raising tensions with neighbors such as Japan and the Philippines, as well as the US. Xi’s policy marks a shift from China’s previous approach of keeping a low profile and not attracting attention on the world stage, a philosophy laid out by former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

“Under the leadership of the party, the army has gone from small to large, from weak to strong and from victory to victory," Xi told military leaders, according to Xinhua. “The reason why the military has stayed vigorous is that it has kept pace with the times and never ceased reforming itself. Now, as the country progresses from a large country to a large and powerful one, defense and military development stands at a new and historic starting line.”

Commercial-scale oil smuggling from Islamic State controlled territory into Turkey must be stopped, Putin said after meeting Hollande in Moscow. “Vehicles, carrying oil, lined up in a chain going beyond the horizon,” said Putin, reminding the press that the scale of the issue was discussed at the G20 summit in Antalya earlier this month, where the Russian leader demonstrated reconnaissance footage taken by Russian pilots.

The views resemble a “living oil pipe” stretched from ISIS and rebel controlled areas of Syria into Turkey, the Russian President stressed. “Day and night they are going to Turkey. Trucks always go there loaded, and back from there – empty.”

When it came time to speak, Pope Francis delivered his sharpest remarks yet on his first trip to Africa. He lashed out against what he called “new forms of colonialism, which would make African countries parts of a machine, cogs on a gigantic wheel.” Francis said that “countries are frequently pressured to adopt policies typical of the culture of waste, like those aimed at lowering the birthrate.” He even called the slums “wounds” inflicted by the elite. “How can I not denounce the injustices which you suffer?” he said.

There are few places more apt for Francis, who has cast himself as a champion of the world’s poor, to deliver such remarks. The slum he visited, Kangemi, on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is a seemingly endless rusted-roof settlement where thousands of families cram into iron shacks with ripped mattresses on the floor and cockroaches scuttling in the unlit corners. Many here survive on a few dollars a day.

The subject has been a bit awkward for him because the corruption plaguing Kenya has been carried out, according to numerous allegations, by members of the same government that has placed the red carpet under his feet. “Corruption is something that eats inside, it’s like sugar, it’s sweet, we like it, it’s easy,” Francis said. “Please,” he implored. “Don’t develop that taste.”

The EU has stumbled in its responses to these problems while suffering from an image of a bloated, wasteful bureaucracy bent on undermining the sovereign powers of the European nations. Its remedy for every problem is repetition of a tired mantra: "more Europe." Designed 60 years ago for a very different world, the EU's aims no longer match the priorities of today.

The US has long been a supporter of European integration. This dates back to 1946 and George Kennan's famous telegram favoring European integration under French leadership to help rekindle the German economy and provide a bulwark against communism. More recently, US administrations have been deceived by the idea that the EU would provide an answer to its long-standing demand for greater burden sharing by the Europeans.

But the EU does not make a strong partner. The eurozone economy is sclerotic with 11 percent unemployment and 22 percent youth unemployment, double the rates of the UK and US. As even German Chancellor Angela Merkel observed, "the EU accounts for just over 7 percent of the world’s population, 25 percent of its economy, and 50 percent of global social welfare spending.” This is an unsustainable situation. It’s no wonder the EU is increasingly unpopular.

And his warning also came alongside what appeared to be a sly dig at German leader Angela Merkel, who said migrants are welcome in Europe, as he declared: "It was not France that said come." In an interview with German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Mr Valls said: "We cannot accomodate any more refugees in Europe, that's not possible."

He said: "If we don't do that, the people will say 'enough is enough'." Mrs Merkel has come under fire for her welcoming comments to refugees, many of which are fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East and north Africa, after the flow pouring into Europe turned into unprecedented numbers.

The migrant situation took a drastic turn last week after it emerged that the ISIS terrorists who killed 130 people and injured hundreds more in Paris took advantage of the migrant crisis to "slip into" the country unnoticed. The revelation came from Mr Valls as he revealed how those linked to the atrocities may have gained access to his country from outside the EU.

He described how some slipped through the net by using the refugee system to wreak havoc in Paris. Mr Valls said: "These individuals took advantage of the refugee crisis… of the chaos, perhaps, for some of them to slip in to France. Others were in Belgium already. And others, I must remind you, were in France."

Under the last government, flags displayed at government events including press conferences were equally split between the Polish national, and the European Union. It was all change at Tuesday’s press conference with new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who appeared at her podium with Polish flags only.

Asked about the change, Mrs Szydlo said she was happy with Poland remaining inside the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but national matters called for the national flag. In future government press briefings “will be held only with the most beautiful red and white Polish flags”, said Mrs Szydlo.

The new foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski …also stood by the comments of a party colleague who said migrants brought diseases and parasites into Europe, when pressed by the BBC to condemn them. Citing his experience with Arab countries, Mr Waszczykowski said: “Such a large, uncontrolled migration may cause problems for the life of Europe. I spent years living in foreign countries, living in the Middle East. I was the ambassador to Iran. I know this region, I know the culture, I know what might happen with uncontrolled migration from regions where war has been going on for years”.

Over the past few years, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray have all become household names because of the way that they died, and now it looks like Laquan McDonald’s name will be added to that list. But the situation in Chicago is potentially even more volatile than what we witnessed in either Ferguson or Baltimore.

More than a million African-Americans live in the Chicago metropolitan area, and the crime rate in the city has already been skyrocketing. In fact, it is being projected that Chicago’s murder rate will increase by 20 percent in 2015. This is a city that is always living on the edge of chaos, and now the video of Laquan McDonald’s death could be the spark that sets Chicago ablaze.

After everything that has happened over the past few years, the last thing that we need is another incident that will make racial tensions in this country even worse. Unfortunately, that appears to be exactly what we are going to get. Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama ordered the city of Chicago to release the video of the death of Laquan McDonald to the public, and now the entire country is going to get to see what really happened. Could this be the footage that causes the anger and frustration of the African-American community to completely boil over?

If you live anywhere near Chicago, you need to prepare yourself and your family for what could happen next. Now that this video is available to the public, it could set off anger unlike anything we have seen up to this point, and that would not be good for any of us.

But the EU wants to encourage Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. The whole idea of Turkey joining the EU is very controversial. Many European politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are unenthusiastic. Such a large, mainly Muslim country with many rural poor could change the whole character of the EU, critics argue.

Turkey's EU negotiations began in 2005, but so far only 13 chapters have been opened and only one - science and research - has been provisionally closed. Chapter 17 of the EU acquis - the rules that would-be members have to sign up to - covers economic and monetary policy. Mr Bozkir tweeted that Chapter 17 would be opened at talks on 14-15 December in Brussels.

The European Commission has urged Turkey to strengthen democracy and human rights, underlining the need for deeper judicial reform. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on political opponents has drawn much criticism in the EU.