(Kathimerini) A total of 116 refugees from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, including 30 families with children, departed from the island of Lesvos on a charter flight to Hannover in Germany on Wednesday morning. It was the first direct flight from an Aegean […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday said he was “relieved” that a “humanitarian” recovery operation had brought home 18 children and five “Islamic State” (IS) brides from Kurdish-run internment camps in northeastern Syria. One of three German women brought back, identified in reports as […]
(AFP) Germany said Friday it would allow deportation of Syrians to their war-ravaged homeland from 2021 if they are deemed a security risk, five years after a massive refugee influx. The EU’s biggest economic power and most populous member allowed in hundreds […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s current general deportation stop to Syria should not be extended, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Friday, urging that individual case-by-case decisions be made “at least for criminals and those considered a threat.” In 2012, Germany passed a ban on […]
(Reuters) The EU plans to tighten its rules to combat online extremism, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting this week between ministers under pressure to beef up security following deadly attacks in France and […]
(Reuters) France and Germany pushed on Tuesday to tighten European Union borders to head off what French President Emmanuel Macron called the “threat of terrorism” after suspected Islamist militants killed eight people in Paris, Nice and Vienna within a month. The attacks […]
(AFP) Austrian police on Monday raided more than 60 addresses allegedly linked to radical Islamists and seized millions of euros in cash, with orders for 30 suspects to be questioned. The operation came a week after a convicted Islamic State group supporter […]
(Politico) European Council President Charles Michel on Monday called for the creation of a European institute to train imams as a way to curb hate speech and prevent terrorism. Speaking in Vienna, where he paid tribute to the victims of last week’s […]
(AFP) Austrian investigators were on Tuesday piecing together the Monday evening rampage through central Vienna by a lone gunman and later claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a European response to “political Islam.” Four people […]
(AFP) A knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in the French city of Nice on Thursday, slitting the throat of at least one of them, in what officials are treating as the latest jihadist attack to rock the country. The […]
(AFP) Turkey on Tuesday accused French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo of “cultural racism” over a front-page cartoon for its latest edition that mocks President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We condemn this most disgusting effort by this publication to spread its cultural racism and […]
(AFP) A knife attack that killed one tourist and seriously injured another in the German city of Dresden in early October is being treated as a terrorist attack, prosecutors said Wednesday, turning fears to Islamist violence after a string of far-right attacks. […]
(Deutsche Welle) The first group of refugees from the razed Moria camp arrived in Germany from Greece on Wednesday. A group of 139 people — unaccompanied children, children suffering from serious health problems and their immediate families — arrived in Hannover, in […]
(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) The European Union’s executive launched a contentious plan on Wednesday for overhauling broken migration rules to resolve years of bitterness and provide a better welcome for refugees fleeing the Middle East and Africa. The most sensitive element would de facto oblige […]
(AFP) The UN refugee agency on Friday warned Greece that a new camp on Lesbos island hastily built to house thousands of migrants left homeless by a fire last week can only be temporary. “This new site is currently functioning as an […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Germany said Tuesday it will take in more than 1,500 refugees from Greece on top of the 150 unaccompanied minors whose camp burned down on the island of Lesbos as Berlin tried to rally a fresh EU response to a years-long […]
(AFP) Greece said Sunday it hoped thousands of asylum seekers left homeless by fires at Europe’s largest migrant camp could be rehoused within a week to end a crisis that has seen protesters clash with police. Asylum-seekers — including the elderly and […]
(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) Germany on Wednesday pushed for urgent reform of the EU’s migration policies, with its minister for Europe telling AFP it was all the more crucial to act quickly after a fire laid waste to the biggest refugee camp in Greece. “We […]
(AFP) Since taking in more than a million people fleeing war and poverty in 2015, Europe has stepped up border controls but still falls short on common migration and asylum policies. At the time, the migrant crisis “laid bare Europe’s structural flaws […]
(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 […]
(Jerusalem Post) German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Foreign Ministry has been plunged into a devastating new antisemitism scandal for the hiring of a radical Islamist who defends the annual Iranian regime-sponsored rally al-Quds Day calling for the obliteration of Israel. Andreas Görgen, the […]
(Deutsche Welle) The government of the western German state of Baden-Württemberg agreed on Tuesday to ban full-face coverings, often known as burqa or niqab, in schools. The new rule comes as the topic of Muslim face coverings has been hotly debated in […]
(Jerusalem Post) German federal police caught a suspected spy for Iran’s terrorist Quds Force in the state of Hesse, according to a review of the new Federal Intelligence Service report released by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s interior minister on Friday. “In February 2019, […]
(Asharq al-Awsat) Hussein Demir, a former law professor at the University of Ankara, sat inside a Turkish cafe in the Spandau district of Berlin, with his friend Omar, a Turkish businessman, drinking coffee and whispering. As I joined them, the conversation moved […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has accused European Union member states of not doing enough to solve the continent’s migrant dilemma. Speaking at an online conference hosted by re:publica and the Media Convention Berlin, Maas said the manner with which […]
(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 […]
(Jerusalem Post) After the city-state of Berlin declined to take action against an annual Iranian regime-sponsored protest calling for the destruction of Israel, German Jewish retiree Gilbert Kallenborn filed a lawsuit to stop the rally. The Berlin-based B.Z. paper reported on Monday […]
(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 […]
(AP) Clashes broke out on Greece’s border with Turkey before dawn Wednesday, after about 500 migrants attempted to break down a border fence and enter Greece. Greek police said they used tear gas to repel the push south of the Kastanies border […]
(AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday discussed the migrant crisis and the situation in Syria’s rebel enclave of Idlib, with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain. The four-party video conference that involved French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela […]
(Greek Reporter) At the request of Greece, Bulgaria opened an Evros River dam located on its territory on Monday in order to cause intentional flooding and make it more difficult for migrants amassed at the Greek-Turkish border to cross the river, according […]
(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 […]
(Reuters) President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he would not stop migrants trying to cross Turkey’s border into Greece despite EU pressure to do so, but he also announced a summit next week in Istanbul with European leaders to seek a solution […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany is prepared to take in “an appropriate share” of the neediest refugee children housed in overcrowded Greek migrant camps, German officials said on Monday. The country is set [to] take children in as part of “a coalition of the willing” […]
(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) Up to 5,000 people gathered in Hamburg on Saturday in protest of the German government’s handling of the fresh migrant crisis unfolding at the Turkish-Greek border. The rally took place in response to the rush by thousands of … migrants […]
(Reuters) Social Democrat state [premiers] on Saturday called for Germany to take in vulnerable refugees from crowded reception camps in Greece, in the latest sign of discord in the ruling coalition over the prospect of a new refugee wave hitting Europe. Tens […]
(Jerusalem Post) Israeli Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff has stepped up his push for the German government to ban activities of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization in the federal republic. “The decision of the Bundestag, which calls for the prohibition of Hezbollah […]
(AFP) With tensions growing and accusations flying between Turkey and the EU over an escalating migrant crisis, the head of NATO has warned Europe it must find a way to work with “important ally” Ankara. EU members accuse Turkey of unleashing a […]
(AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Monday that “millions” of migrants would soon head for Europe, drawing accusations from EU leaders that he is trying to pressure them into backing his incursions into Syria. Turkey gave the green light to […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Some attempt to cut through a barbed wire fence while others hunt for wood and rocks to throw at police. The thousands of migrants at the Kastanies border town between Turkey and Greece are desperate to reach Europe and furious with […]
(AP) Hundreds of refugees and migrants in Turkey have begun heading for the country’s land and sea borders with Greece, buoyed by Turkish officials’ statements indicating they will not be hindered from crossing the frontier to head into Europe. The move comes […]
(AFP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned Europe it could face new threats from terrorist organisations if Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli were to fall. In the article, published on the Politico news website on the eve of a Libya […]
(Jerusalem Post) Ali Ertan Toprak, the chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany, on Tuesday lodged a formal criminal complaint against the Iranian regime-controlled Islamic Center of Hamburg, the owner of the Imam Ali Mosque, for its support of terrorism. According to […]
(Deutsche Welle) The threat from potential Islamist terrorists in Germany has decreased from last year, according to data from the German Interior Ministry. A total of 679 Islamic extremists in Germany were considered to pose a terrorist risk at the beginning of November 2019, compared […]
(AP) Germany’s parliament passed a resolution Thursday calling for a national ban on the activities of Hezbollah and for the Lebanese militant group to be put on the European Union’s terrorist list. Mathias Middelberg, the spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in […]
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