(Reuters) Asylum applications in Germany fell by 34% last year, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, in news welcomed by the outgoing Social Democrat interior minister amid heated debates over migration ahead of a national election set for Feb. 23. Public angst […]
(AP) The German parliament narrowly rejected on Friday an opposition-sponsored bill calling for tougher rules on migration that risked becoming the first draft legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party. It became a focus of a controversy about the attitude toward […]
(Deutsche Welle) The date January 29, 2025, will be remembered for a long time in Germany. It was the day the conservative group comprising the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, the largest opposition force in the Bundestag, put forward a […]
(DPA) Maryam has a clear idea of which party she does not want to see leading Germany for the next four years. Voting for the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) on February 23 “is out of the question for me,” […]
(AFP) Germany’s ex-chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in Thursday on a controversy flaring ahead of February elections, slamming her party successor for relying on far-right support on the flashpoint issue of immigration. Conservative CDU leader Friedrich Merz sparked outrage Wednesday when he pushed […]
(DPA) Plans to reject more asylum seekers at Germany’s borders tabled by the opposition conservatives passed in parliament on Wednesday with the help of votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The proposals by opposition Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz, […]
(Reuters) Germany’s government and opposition parties duelled on Monday over rival border control policies, with opposition leader Friedrich Merz, favourite to become next chancellor, saying he would advance his plan with the help of the far right if needed. Merz called for […]
(DPA) Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance is to put forward two motions in the nation’s parliament this week to stiffen migration policy amid an increasingly febrile debate following a recent double murder and ahead of elections next month. “Current asylum and immigration policy […]
(AFP) With Germany reeling from another deadly knife attack by a migrant suspect, experts warned that the inability of asylum seekers to access mental health services has added to their existing vulnerabilities. Wednesday’s stabbing in Aschaffenburg, which claimed the lives of a […]
(Reuters) Germany is planning to fly a group of convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country for the second time since the Taliban took power, newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Friday. The newspaper quoted the interior ministry as saying it […]
(Politico) German conservatives’ determination not to play ball with the far right is ebbing away. Friedrich Merz, favorite to be chancellor after next month’s election, signaled he’d try to push tougher migration measures through parliament even if passage depends on the support […]
(AFP) A deadly knife attack on a play school group in Germany, where an Afghan man was arrested at the scene, reignited a bitter immigration debate on Thursday, a month before elections. Germany was stunned by the latest in a series of […]
(Politico) Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s response to a fatal knife attack allegedly perpetrated by an Afghan man in southern Germany on Wednesday marks a clear shift in his rhetoric on migration ahead of a national election. The attack on a group of pre-school […]
(AFP) A knife attacker killed a two-year-old child and a man on Wednesday in a public park in Germany, where police arrested an Afghan man as the main suspect. Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the “unbelievable act of terror” on a play school […]
(DPA) German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Monday that Syrian refugees must be in employment if they are to remain in the country. “We can make good use of those who work here,” Habeck said on the Deutschlandfunk public radio station. […]
(Politico) The German government is reeling from an attack on a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg that saw at least five people killed when a car apparently driven by an “Islamophobic” Saudi Arabian refugee plowed into Friday evening crowds. With […]
(AFP) The German city of Magdeburg was in mourning Saturday over a car-ramming attack that brought death and carnage to its Christmas market, but the sorrow gave way to anger when the politicians showed up. Chancellor Olaf Scholz led a group of […]
(Politico) A driver plowed a car at high speed into crowds of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, adding further tension to an election campaign already riven by a bitter debate over migration. Right-wing parties seized […]
(Politico) When Osama Sabsabi learned that opposition forces had captured the city of Homs, where he grew up, he did something that would have been unthinkable just days earlier: He booked a ticket home. “We, the Syrian people, are experiencing an indescribable […]
(AP) Nearly a decade after he arrived in Germany from Syria and took a selfie with then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, Anas Modamani has finished his university studies and has a German passport. He’s less positive about some German politicians’ reactions to the fall […]
(AFP) Britain, Germany, France, Italy and several other European countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad. While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments […]
(European Conservative) An invitation by a mosque in Germany for girls as young as thirteen to take part in a “preparatory marriage course” has sparked a huge backlash, with centre-right and right-wing parties demanding an explanation. The invitation was sent out by […]
(DPA) The German lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, has passed a motion to combat anti-Semitism in its first plenary session since the ruling centre-left coalition broke apart. The motion entitled “Never Again Is Now: Protect, Preserve and Strengthen Jewish Life in […]
(JNS) Germany’s coalition parties and the main opposition faction agreed on Saturday to pass a Bundestag resolution on antisemitism that for the first time will see the legislature name Muslim immigration as a driver of the problem. The draft resolution, which will […]
(Iran International) Germany’s intelligence services are investigating alleged espionage activities involving 700 people linked to the Iranian state-run Al-Mustafa Institute in Berlin, according to the Bild newspaper. The report coincides with diplomatic tensions between Berlin and Tehran, following the execution of German-Iranian […]
(European Conservative) A 41-year-old Syrian man set fire to two buildings, rammed his vehicle into a grocery store, and threatened passers-by with a machete in the western German city of Essen. While authorities and mainstream politicians are treating the case as an […]
(DPA) German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has ordered passport controls to be resumed along all German land borders in a bid to sharply curb the number of people entering the country without visas, government sources told dpa on Monday. The border controls […]
(DPA) Several German political leaders demanded stricter asylum and immigration policies ahead of a cross-party meeting on migration and security in Berlin on Tuesday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the gathering after a deadly mass stabbing at a festival in the western German […]
(DPA) Calls for the German government to tighten rules for asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan mounted on Monday, three days after the deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen. Resuming deportations to the two countries has been a hot-button […]
(AP) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to toughen knife laws and step up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers Monday as he visited the scene of the knife attack in which a suspected Islamic extremist from Syria is accused of killing three people. Scholz, […]
(Politico) A knife attack allegedly perpetrated by a Syrian asylum seeker that authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism has renewed a heated debate over migration in Germany ahead of three state elections in which the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for […]
(Deutsche Welle) German prosecutors on Sunday released the name of the 26-year-old Syrian man suspected of a multiple stabbing attack in the western city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight others. Issa Al H., who was identified without his family name due […]
(Politico) A brutal knife attack in the German city of Solingen has reignited a debate about public security a week ahead of important state elections in eastern Germany, with the far right hammering the government coalition and other parties over alleged shortcomings. […]
(Deutsche Welle) The Islam practiced in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sandzak region in southwestern Serbia is considered open-minded and tolerant. For centuries, Sunni Muslims have lived their own form of a European Islam here alongside Christians and Jews. Since the 1990s, however, this […]
(Deutsche Welle) Colleagues, family and politicians converged on the city square in Mannheim on Friday to remember the young policeman who sustained deadly injuries one week ago. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier laid flowers. A 25-year-old man originally from Afghanistan, who is married […]
(DPA) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to allow the deportation of serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria again, he told parliament on Thursday, following the recent death of a police officer who was stabbed at an anti-Islamic rally. “Such criminals should be […]
(Exberliner) Berlin’s SPD parliamentary leader Raed Saleh is advocating for laws against Islamophobia to be entered into the state constitution, according to a report by Tagesspiegel. Saleh emphasises that this would be in addition to constitutional clauses which advocate against antisemitism. The topic […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s newly founded “Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening” (DAVA) is currently a voters’ association, but it intends to run as a party in the European elections on June 9. This announcement in January triggered a heated debate in Germany, […]
(Euractiv) The Turkish AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will run in the European elections in Germany, according to media reports, with high-ranking German politicians noting it will expand Turkish influence in the EU. The AKP affiliate in Germany, the Democratic […]
(European Conservative) A top Christian Democrat politician wants to amend the constitution if necessary, so that German taxes can be used to pay for mosques. Jens Spahn — a former minister and deputy leader of the opposition center-right CDU/CSU’s parliamentary group — […]
(Deutsche Welle) The new color scheme a few months back was only a cosmetic step. Now, Germany’s center-right Christian Democrats are going under the hood. For the first time since 2007, the party that ruled Germany for most of the republic’s young […]
(European Conservative) New German citizenship laws that expand voting rights to up to 2.5 million recent migrants are unnerving even the usually complacent CDU, with one conservative lawmaker airing fears that the new arrangement could enable a potential Islamist bloc to attain […]
(JTA) Recognizing Israel’s right to exist is now mandatory for those who want to become German citizens in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Applicants living in the state will have to confirm in writing “that they recognize Israel’s right to […]
(Politico) Geert Wilders may be just the tip of the iceberg. Following the anti-Islam politician’s shock election win in the Netherlands, European elites are nervously scanning the political landscape for signs of what’s to come — including further surprise wins from far-right […]
(Algemeiner) More than one-quarter of Muslims residing in Germany believe that “wealthy Jews are the real rulers of the world,” far higher than the national average, according to a new survey published on Tuesday by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. While 26 percent […]
(Deutsche Welle) A hostile attitude toward Muslims is widespread in large sections of German society. Its manifestations are an everyday reality. One in two people in Germany agrees with anti-Muslim statements. These are the findings published this Thursday (June 29) by the Independent […]
(National-UAE) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hit the campaign trail on Monday in a Berlin mayoral election marked by concerns over violence and integration. Ugly scenes on December 31 including attacks on police and buses led to fingers being pointed at Arab and […]
(Reuters) Youth riots that erupted in Berlin on New Year’s Eve have rekindled a debate over immigration just as Germany is preparing reforms to lure a new wave of skilled foreign workers to Europe’s largest economy. Dozens of police officers, firefighters, rescue […]
(Anadolu) A conservative lawmaker sparked criticism by suggesting that immigrant children must only speak German in schoolrooms, corridors and in the playground. Mario Czaja, secretary general of the Christian Democratic Union, claimed that many immigrants are poorly integrated into society due to […]
(Jerusalem Post) A controversial Islamic organization has removed Iran’s Hamburg Center from its Shura executive board after German intelligence sources revealed that the Iranian entity in the city-state supports the late Qasem Soleimani, who was a designated terrorist according to US and […]
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