Italy extends border controls with Slovenia until June

Italy will prolong border controls with Slovenia until June, Rome's interior ministry said on Wednesday, citing the risk of terrorists hiding among migrants in transit on the Balkan route. Free movement on the border with Slovenia, as stipulated by the Schengen passport-free area, was suspended in the second half of October, following the outbreak of the latest Hamas-Israel conflict. "Border controls with Slovenia will be extended, as of Jan. 19, for a further five months," the ministry said in a statement.