(Local) Green Party co-chairman Robert Habeck has weighed in on the debate surrounding Mesut Özil’s retirement from the German national football team, saying that interior minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) must shoulder some of the blame. Habeck said that Seehofer, who is also […]
(AFP) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said he had backed Mesut Ozil’s decision to quit the German national team on racism grounds in a telephone call with the Turkish-origin football star, wading into a controversy that caused uproar in Germany. Ozil […]
(Deutsche Welle) The overall news was good as Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) President Hans-Georg Maassen presented their report on Tuesday for 2017. Politically motivated crimes in Germany declined by 4.9 percent over 2016 […]
(Deutsche Welle) In a statement released on Monday, the DFB (German football association) said it regretted but respected Mesut Özil’s decision to retire from the national team. It also thanked the midfielder for his 92 international appearances for the country, as well as […]
(AFP) “He did the right thing,” said 63-year-old Abbas Haydin, as Turks in Berlin on Monday rallied around football star Mesut Ozil and praised his decision to quit the Germany team over perceived racism. “He has set an example. This was bound […]
(Deutsche Welle) In a local vote on Sunday, the residents of Kaufbeuren, a small town in Bavaria, decided against providing public land for the construction of a mosque. At issue was the question of whether the city would provide the local branch […]
(Deutsche Welle) Mesut Özil said on Sunday he will no longer play international football for Germany following the fallout from his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The 29-year-old issued three lengthy and hard-hitting statements via Twitter, in which he singled out German […]
(Deutsche Welle) It’s a result that has given journalistic and political Berlin pause for thought: Germans are more concerned about old-age poverty and affordable housing than about migrants. At least that’s the finding of a recent Emnid poll for the Bild am […]
(Deutsche Welle) The German government will put forward legislation declaring Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Georgia “safe countries of origin.” The decision was reached after the weekly meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday in Berlin. If enacted, the change in the […]
(AFP) Greece will process 1,500 asylum applications from Germany as part of a deal signed between the two countries, Greece’s migration minister said Wednesday. “In the first half of 2018 there were 1,500 requests for processing by Germany, and they will be […]
(Gatestone) A court in Gelsenkirchen has ruled that deporting a self-declared Islamist — suspected of being a bodyguard of the former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — was “grossly unlawful” and ordered him returned to Germany. The case has cast a spotlight […]
(JTA) American Jews joined local Muslims and Jews for a “kippah walk” through the heart of Berlin in a show of solidarity with Jews in the German capital. Sunday’s march came against a backdrop of recent sensational anti-Semitic incidents in Germany; most […]
(AFP) An asylum seeker deported to Afghanistan this month will be returned to Germany, the interior ministry said Wednesday, in the latest of a series of scandals surrounding Berlin’s hardening migration policy. A ministry spokeswoman said the federal migration and refugee agency […]
(Deutsche Welle) By the time the summer comes to a close, things will be different at the German Islam Conference, an annual event aimed at fostering dialogue between the government and Muslims living in the country. At least that is the aim […]
(Deutsche Welle) When the Turkish government crushed an attempted coup on July 15, 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric in self-imposed exile in the United States. There were plenty of rumors about Gulen’s involvement in […]
(Kathimerini) Turkey criticized Greece on Thursday over a Greek appeals court decision to reject an application by the Turkish Union of Xanthi to register as a local association, due to the use of the word “Turkish.” The Union had appealed to the […]
(Jerusalem Post) The police in the West German city of Bonn allegedly mistakenly beat an Israeli philosophy professor after a German of Palestinian origin attacked him because he was wearing kippah. According to a Thursday report in the Rheinische Post, the 20-year-old […]
(Gatestone) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has banned a Turkish boxing gang called “Osmanen Germania BC” (“Germania Ottomans”) on the grounds that it poses a serious threat to public order. The gang, most of whose members are Turkish Germans, is said to […]
(AFP) An Afghan man deported from Germany has been found dead in a hotel room in Kabul after committing suicide, officials said Wednesday. The 23-year-old man, who has not been identified, was forcibly returned to the Afghan capital on July 4 along […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer outlawed biker group Osmanen Germania BC (Germania Ottomans) on Tuesday, banning them from all activity. “The club presents a serious danger for individual legally protected rights and for the general public,” the ministry said in […]
(Deutsche Welle) Interior Minister Horst Seehofer finally got to present his migration “master plan” to the press on Tuesday, a month after it was blocked at the last minute by Chancellor Angela Merkel, precipitating a crisis in the German government that almost […]
(Local) A full 72% of Germans find immigration policies in Germany to be “too careless,” according to a newly released survey by the research institute YouGov. The survey, which asked 2,040 participants their views between June 20th — July 4th, was conducted […]
(Deutsche Welle) Just last week, a man wearing the Star of David was beaten down and kicked right in the center of Berlin. Some weeks earlier, a similar incident in Germany’s capital caused public outrage and sparked a nationwide debate on anti-Semitism […]
(Deutsche Welle) His highly controversial books sell in the millions. It all began with “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (“Germany is doing away with itself”). Thilo Sarrazin’s 2010 book stimulated a fiery debate over German immigration policy and migrants from Islamic countries. While […]
(AFP) German police arrested 10 people Sunday over an alleged anti-Semitic attack in a Berlin park, with local media reporting that both victim and suspects are Syrians. The group, aged between 15 and 25, including three women, were detained following the assault […]
(AFP) Publishing giant Random House has declined to release a new book by controversial German politician-turned-author Thilo Sarrazin over fears it could whip up anti-Muslim hatred, Bild daily reported Friday. The dispute, which will be heard before a court in Munich on […]
(Gatestone) In an apparent attempt to sweep under the rug a recent double homicide in Hamburg, Germany, authorities there censored the story. They also raided the apartments of a witness who filmed a video describing the murder, and a blogger who posted […]
(Deutsche Welle) Family Minister Franziska Giffey plans to fund 170 bullying prevention experts, who are to be sent to selected German schools, she told Thursday’s edition of German daily Rheinische Post. Asked if anti-Semitism is a growing problem in schools now that Germany […]
(AFP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday accused Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of failing to respect “humanity” with his immigration policy, days after she made key border protection concessions to hardliners who have embraced Budapest’s anti-migrant stance. In a remarkable […]
(Reuters) The parties in Germany’s ruling coalition on Thursday reached agreement on a package of measures to deal with asylum-seekers who have already registered in other European Union states, and vowed to push ahead with an immigration law before year’s end. The […]
(Gatestone) In an extraordinary last-minute reversal, Chancellor Angela Merkel, facing the imminent collapse of her coalition government, agreed late on July 2 to reinstate border controls with Austria. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had threatened to resign from Merkel’s cabinet unless she agreed […]
(AP) German authorities say they have deported 69 Afghans whose asylum requests were rejected back to their home country. A plane carrying the men from Munich to Kabul landed in the Afghan capital early Wednesday. It was one of the largest collective […]
(Reuters) Hungary’s anti-migrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday signalled his willingness to strike a bilateral deal with Chancellor Angela Merkel to limit the arrival of asylum seekers in Germany and other European countries. Merkel needs the backing of both her junior […]
(AFP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached a deal Monday on migration with her rebellious interior minister, Horst Seehofer, defusing a bitter row that had threatened her government. Both sides hammered out “a truly good compromise … after a tough struggle and difficult […]
(AFP) Germany’s interior minister Horst Seehofer on Sunday said he wants to resign both his office and his position as head of the hardline conservative Bavarian CSU party, throwing into question the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government. “He wants to […]
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