(Reuters) Germany’s hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party fired an official on Monday who had been caught on a hidden camera discussing gassing refugees. In footage, recorded secretly by ProSieben television in February, Christian Lueth, then a party spokesman, was filmed in […]
(Reuters) Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Wednesday defended Germany’s decision to take a further 1,553 refugees from camps in Greece, saying the country could be proud of its role in Europe’s migration crisis. On Tuesday, Germany announced it would take in 408 […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to a deal that would allow 400 unaccompanied minors from the Greek migrant camp to move to other parts of the European Union, Merkel confirmed on Thursday. Merkel, whose country […]
(AFP) Five years after Germany controversially took in hundreds of thousands of migrants, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday she would do the same again as she rides a wave of popularity for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “I would make essentially […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) have finally managed to expel controversial politician turned author Thilo Sarrazin, who has published a series of books over the last decade bearing little resemblance to the party’s stated positions. Sarrazin’s books criticizing the lack of […]
(Deutsche Welle) German prosecutors are investigating a police officer for allegedly distributing internal police information on the 2016 Berlin terror attack to friends in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, public broadcasters reported Friday. The officer, himself a member of the […]
(Breitbart) Several German parties, including the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, have expressed support for allowing public broadcasts of the Islamic call to prayer during Ramadan across Germany. The CDU, Social Democrats (SPD), and Greens have all welcomed granting […]
(Reuters) Five years ago the arrival of a wave of refugees caused much consternation and fueled support for Germany’s far-right. Now, the country is turning to its migrant community to plug an anticipated shortage of medical staff battling the coronavirus. The German […]
(Reuters) Berlin will take in 80 to 100 children from Greek refugee camps, an official in the German capital said on Tuesday, as concern mounts about migrants amassing on the Turkish-Greek border. European politicians are struggling to agree what to do about […]
(AFP) With his neatly trimmed beard, sharp suit and broad smile, Ozan Iyibas looks like a typical politician out to win votes ahead of a municipal election in southern Germany’s Bavaria region. But he has unleashed a mini earthquake with his candidacy […]
(Deutsche Welle) Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Saturday the creation of an “independent expert group on Islamophobia” (Muslimfeindlichkeit), saying it would emulate current ministerial panels on anti-Semitism and antiziganism, meaning hostility toward Jewish and Roma communities respectively. His call follows a charge […]
(Deutsche Welle) There are very few women and girls in Germany wearing a full-face veil such as the niqab or the burqa — most likely a mere two-digit number. A recent verdict handed down by a Hamburg court, however, has sparked a […]
(AFP) A court in Germany ruled Monday against an attempt by authorities in Hamburg to forbid a 16-year-old schoolgirl from wearing a niqab during lessons. The ruling, which cannot be appealed, has fuelled debate in Germany over whether schools should allow the […]
(Deutsche Welle) The German government announced on Friday negotiations with Ankara to create a framework for Turkish schools to be opened in Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt, sparking debate over the schools’ role in increasing Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s political influence abroad. […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany has deported 90 “Gefährder” and other “relevant persons” since the 2016 attack on a Berlin Christmas market, according to German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, which cited a government response to a parliamentary inquiry on Friday. In Germany a “Gefährder” (lit. “endangerer”) […]
(Deutsche Welle) Thilo Sarrazin, who has been accused by Islamic organizations of racism and damaging Germany’s reputation, will no longer appear at a private business club in the northwestern city of Bremen next month. The Weser-Kurier newspaper cited organizers as saying the […]
(Deutsche Welle) Future victims of terrorist attacks in Germany will get better and speedier [compensation] after a new law was passed in the Bundestag on Thursday evening. The modernizing move came after criticism of the treatment received by the victims of the […]
(JTA) Electoral gains by Germany’s strongest far-right party has Jews and Muslims here worried. Winning 23.4 percent of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD party — propelled by male voters and those under the age […]
(Deutsche Welle) Although the site is remote, it has plenty of symbolism: Beginning this Sunday, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders from some 15 countries will meet in the southern Italian city of Matera, one of Europe’s 2019 cultural capitals, to take part […]
(AFP) Far-right Dutch MEP Geert Wilders on Saturday said nationalist parties were experiencing “tough” times but predicted that they would make a come-back. “It’s a tough time. We will come back,” Wilders said, speaking at an event in northern Italy. “I believe […]
(AFP) Germany’s far-right AfD party surged in elections in two ex-communist eastern states Sunday, reflecting anger over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migrant policy and a wealth gap 30 years after the Berlin Wall fell. The Alternative for Germany became the second-strongest party in […]
(AFP) Germany is bracing for what could be the first outright election victories for the far-right AfD party on Sunday, when voters in two states in the ex-communist east go to the polls. Even strong vote results, coming 30 years after the […]
(AFP) Around 35,000 people marched against hate and racism in the eastern German [city of] Dresden on Saturday, organisers said, a week before state elections when far-right party AfD is projected to make huge gains. Under the banner “indivisible,” a broad coalition […]
(JTA) Concentration camp memorials in Germany should offer tours in Arabic, Germany’s main Jewish leader urged. Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Welt am Sonntag weekly newspaper that the former concentration camp in Flossenbürg is […]
(Deutsche Welle) The man accused of the killing that led to a week of far-right violence last year in Chemnitz was found guilty of manslaughter at a court in Dresden on Thursday, and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. […]
(Deutsche Welle) Plans to no longer serve children pork or gelatin-containing products like gummy bears at two daycare centers in the eastern German city of Leipzig prompted a wave of criticism online and made headlines across the country on Tuesday. The mass-circulation […]
(AFP) An Iraqi man was sentenced to life in jail by a German court on Wednesday for the rape and murder of a teenage girl that fuelled far-right protests against a mass influx of mostly Muslim migrants. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) […]
(Politico) German MP Beatrix von Storch reckons Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini should be given the Nobel Peace Prize for his “great contribution to the security and stability of Europe.” “I propose Matteo Salvini for the Nobel Peace Prize because he […]
(AFP) The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party lost its bid to capture its first mayor’s office in the country in a bellwether election on Sunday ahead of three key regional polls. In a run-off ballot in Goerlitz, Octavian Ursu, 51, a […]
(VOA) The election victory last week by Denmark’s Social Democrats has prompted a debate among fellow European left-wing parties: Should they, too, adopt anti-migrant rhetoric, imitate their Danish counterparts and campaign for stricter immigration rules? Because of a surge in support in […]
(AFP) Its cobblestone lanes and Baroque architecture are so quaint that Hollywood directors often come calling, but the German town of Goerlitz may soon have a new claim to notoriety. A run-off election in the small city of around 55,000 people on […]
(AFP) The German government has called on people to wear the Jewish kippa ahead of an anti-Israel protest as a demonstration of solidarity and as Jews face a spike in anti-Semitism, withdrawing an earlier warning against wearing the traditional skullcap. At the […]
(AFP) Germany’s government commissioner on anti-Semitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks. “I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” Felix Klein […]
(JTA) A conservative pro-Israel think tank has come to the defense of a far-right German party over a campaign ad depicting dark-skinned Muslim slavers bargaining over a naked white woman. In an article shared by the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, one of […]
(Reuters) Germany spent a record 23 billion euros ($25.65 billion) last year on helping to integrate more than one million refugees and fighting the root causes of migration abroad, a government document seen by Reuters showed on Monday. That marks an increase […]
(Reuters) Migrant arrivals to Italy have almost dried up, new asylum requests across the European Union have more than halved in three years and at the end of 2018, Hungary’s reception centers housed just three refugees. On the face of it, Europe’s […]
(Deutsche Welle) It was the first time Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, had hosted his agency’s traditional symposium. The event on Monday in Berlin was entitled “Mobilization Capability in Political Extremism” — […]
(AFP) Hungary’s anti-immigration Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy’s hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini moved closer to formal cooperation Thursday for upcoming European Parliament elections, vowing to prevent an “Islamic caliphate” on the continent. European voters are due to choose a new […]
(AFP) A European elections campaign poster by Germany’s AfD featuring a 19th-century painting called “The Slave Market” has raised hackles, with a US art museum demanding that the far-right party withdraw the advert. The Berlin chapter of Germany’s anti-immigration party has featured […]
(Deutsche Welle) Right-wing populist attitudes have become “normal” in Germany’s mainstream, said authors of a new study presented by the left-wing Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Berlin on Thursday. “The center is losing its footing and its democratic orientation,” researchers said. The foundation […]
(AFP) “Refugees are bringing crime into our town,” an election leaflet declares — an example of how Germany’s far right feeds its narrative of a country threatened by more than a million new arrivals. Alternative for Germany (AfD) hopes the strategy that […]
(Deutsche Welle) The trial of Alaa S. began in Dresden on Monday morning in the middle of a media scrum and fears of far-right protests, following the killing last year of Daniel H. in Chemnitz — an incident that led to a week […]
(AFP) An Iraqi man confessed in a German court Tuesday to the murder of a teenage girl, but denied raping her in a case that inflamed anti-immigrant tensions last year. “My vision went black and then it happened,” Ali Bashar, 22, testified […]
(Deutsche Welle) Kiel University on Wednesday announced that it has banned full-face coverings in classrooms, citing the need for open communication that includes facial expressions and gestures. However, the university in the capital of the German state Schleswig-Holstein clarified that its action did […]
(AP) German authorities arrested three Iraqi refugees on Wednesday on allegations they were planning an Islamic extremist bombing attack, and searched properties in three states in connection with their investigation. Federal prosecutors said Shahin F. and Hersh F., both 23, and Rauf […]
(Deutsche Welle) A German far-right group claims to have carried out street patrols in the Bavarian town of Amberg where four asylum-seekers allegedly attacked a dozen passers-by over the weekend. The Nuremberg branch of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) posted pictures […]
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(Swiss Info) Some consumers in Switzerland and abroad have been questioning the halal label on Toblerone chocolate bars. Although certified as halal in April, it was only this week that a small storm began brewing on social media — with some people […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Constitutional Court dismissed three complaints initiated by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) challenging German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policies in 2015. Judges on the high court unanimously rejected all the cases, which were brought by the AfD’s group […]
(Reuters) The new leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) outlined plans on Sunday to change the party’s migrant policies before next year’s European election, signaling that she could break with her mentor Angela Merkel’s liberal approach. The conservative party elected Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer […]
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