(Reuters) Germany said it resumed flying convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country on Friday, days before German regional elections in which migration is a campaign issue. Berlin stopped returning people to Afghanistan because of human rights concerns after the […]
(Deutsche Welle) Osman Soyer is a religious affairs officer who was sworn into office this month in the Sehitlik Mosque in Berlin’s Neukölln district. He is one of 28 young men and women who have been trained as “religious representatives” by DITIB, […]
(AP) Hundreds of Iraqis returned home Thursday from Belarus after abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union — a repatriation that came after tensions at Poland’s eastern border, where thousands of migrants became stuck in a cold and soggy forest. Many […]
(AFP) Belarus on Thursday said there were around 7,000 migrants in the ex-Soviet country, with around 2,000 of them camped on the border with EU member Poland. Thousands of mainly Middle Eastern migrants are camped around the border in what the West […]
(AP) European Union officials on Wednesday accused Belarus of state-sponsored “trafficking” of human lives by luring desperate migrants to the Polish border — the edge of the EU — where many are now stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather. As the […]
(AP) Poland reinforced its border with Belarus with more riot police on Tuesday, a day after groups of migrants tried to storm through a razor-wire fence on the eastern frontier where thousands have camped on the Belarusian side in the tense standoff. […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Federal Police on Saturday said there was a knife attack on a train in the southern German state of Bavaria, resulting in several injuries. The train was traveling near Neumarkt between the cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg at the […]
(AP) German police said on Monday that they registered more than 5,000 unauthorized border crossings last month by people who had arrived from Belarus, marking a significant uptick in the number of arrivals through a new and politically sensitive migration route. Federal […]
(AFP) Germany has suggested increasing joint patrols along its border with Poland in response to increasing numbers of migrants arriving via Belarus, according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday. The presence of border forces should be “noticeably” increased, German Interior […]
(AP) European Union foreign ministers looked at ways on Monday to stop the illegal migration into the 27-nation bloc from neighboring Belarus, including stopping companies from leasing jets to Belarusian airline Belavia. The EU has accused the government of Belarusian President Alexander […]
(AP) Germany and the Netherlands have suspended any deportations of migrants to Afghanistan due to the tense security situation as Taliban insurgents make sweeping gains in the Central Asian country. Almost 30,000 Afghans in Germany, many of them failed asylum-seekers, are currently […]
(AFP) Germany’s Bundestag lower house of parliament passed a law on Friday outlawing symbols of groups designated as terrorist organisations by the EU, including the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. The new law, which must still be approved by the Bundesrat upper house, […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s Interior Ministry has outlawed three organizations accused of collecting money for the militant Iran-backed movement Hezbollah in Lebanon. Bans against German Lebanese Family, People for Peace and Give Peace came into effect on Wednesday, but had already been pronounced […]
(Deutsche Welle) Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced on Wednesday that Germany has banned the Islamist organization Ansaar International and several of its sub-organizations. “The network finances terrorism worldwide with donations,” Seehofer’s spokesman Steve Alter tweeted on Wednesday. Alter quoted Seehofer as saying: “If you want to […]
(Algemeiner) The annual “Al Quds Day” march and rally calling for the violent elimination of the state of Israel will not take place in Berlin next month for the second year running, police in the German capital confirmed on Thursday. Sponsored by […]
(Deutsche Welle) Germany’s DWD weather service on Tuesday used Ahmet as the official name for a low pressure system over Romania that’s headed for Germany and Poland and set to bump into Lisa, another low over Italy, and Alexander, a high over […]
(AP) A plane carrying 88 asylum-seekers, including 19 sick children, arrived in Germany on Thursday as part of the country’s pledge to take in migrants from camps in Greece, the Interior Ministry said. The charter flight was the last as part of […]
(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 […]
(Deutsche Welle) The latest spate of terror attacks in France and Austria will not hamper the cooperation between the government and Germany’s Muslim community, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday. “We won’t let terrorism and extremism derail us,” Seehofer said at […]
(Deutsche Welle) At least one of the assailants in the Vienna attack was known to police. The 20-year-old, shot dead on Monday evening, had made several attempts to leave the country and join the so-called Islamic State (IS). It would appear, however, that […]
(AP) Germany’s top security official is calling for a review of the country’s rules prohibiting all deportations to Syria after a young Syrian who had recently been released from prison was arrested as a suspect in a fatal stabbing that prosecutors suspect […]
(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. […]
(Reuters) EU governments began talks on Thursday on a proposed overhaul of migration rules to resolve years of bitter divisions as Germany, chairing the discussions, expressed optimism a deal might be possible by December. The video-conference of EU interior ministers was the […]
(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 […]
(Reuters) Plans by European countries to take some 400 unaccompanied children from the burned-down Moria refugee camp in Greece should mark just the beginning of their efforts, German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday. Fires destroyed Greece’s biggest refugee camp on […]
(AFP) It is “shameful” that the European Union has still not found a solution for the care of asylum seekers five years after the migration crisis, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, whose country holds the EU presidency, said Tuesday. Seehofer was speaking […]
(Times of Israel) Israel’s Mossad spy agency gave information to Germany on Hezbollah’s activities on its soil ahead of the country banning the Lebanese terror group this week, Channel 12 news reported Saturday. Germany branded the entirety of the Iranian-backed group — […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Thursday banned all Hezbollah activities in the country, his ministry spokesman said on Twitter. He also confirmed that “police measures are underway in several federal states concurrently,” and added that even in times of […]
(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 […]
(AP) Germany plans to take in up to 50 unaccompanied minors staying at overcrowded refugee camps in Greece, while Luxembourg has agreed to accept 12, government officials said Tuesday. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer will propose to the Cabinet on Wednesday a plan […]
(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) EU members on Wednesday rejected what they said is Turkey’s use of desperate migrants to pressure its neighbours — and strongly backed Greece’s border crackdown. In a statement agreed by European interior ministers meeting in Brussels, the 27 capitals said the […]
(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 […]
(Local) Last year, 111,094 people applied for asylum in Germany — a drop of 14.3 percent compared to the previous year. Government figures show 8,534 fewer applications for asylum were submitted in 2019 than in the previous year when 129,628 claims were […]
(Deutsche Welle) Since the 2016 terrorist attack in Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, German authorities have prevented a further nine attacks of a similar nature, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said Sunday. Indeed, last month alone, two acts of terror were thwarted, the BKA told Germany’s Welt […]
(Deutsche Welle) The German Cabinet has introduced a draft of a bill that would require clergy from countries outside the EU to prove their knowledge of German in order to reside in the country. Although the law would apply to clerics from […]
(Deutsche Welle) German authorities were investigating Tuesday why a man rammed a stolen truck into a line of cars in Limburg, leaving eight people injured as well as the driver. Officials confirmed that the 32-year-old suspected hijacker had been detained. A judge later issued a […]
(AP) Greek authorities were transferring around 570 migrants from an overcrowded camp on the island of Lesbos on Sunday, officials said. A regularly scheduled ferry left Lesbos carrying the migrants, who used to live in the migrant camp of Moria. Authorities say […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has warned of a larger influx of refugees than that seen in Europe in 2015. He made the statement during an official visit to Greece. Traveling with incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, […]
(AP) Greece said Friday it will call on the European Union to impose sanctions on member states that refuse to accept refugees, as senior European officials visited Ankara and Athens to try and stem a surge in migrant arrivals overwhelming Greek islands. […]
(Reuters) Greece’s prime minister accused Turkey on Friday of appearing to “exploit” Europe’s migrant crisis for its own ends and said Ankara could and should control migrant flows to the continent. Greece, the route into the European Union for nearly a million […]
(AFP) EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Thursday there was an “urgent need” to stop illegal departures from Turkey as Greece struggles to cope with a sharp increase in the refugee arrivals. “Irregular arrivals to Greece increased over the past weeks and […]
(Jerusalem Post) Germany is investigating possible terrorism activities within a pro-Hezbollah center in the country, following an expose last week by the Jerusalem Post. However, a member’s declaration that “we are proud of terrorism” was not classified as targeting the federal republic. […]
(Jerusalem Post) The Hezbollah mosque in the German city of Münster posted a shocking video in December on its Facebook page, announcing it was proud of terrorism and its allegiance to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Washington-based […]
(Deutsche Welle) German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a tough response to Syrian refugees who leave Germany for holidays in their home country. “If somebody, a Syrian refugee, regularly takes holidays in Syria, he cannot honestly claim to be persecuted in Syria,” Seehofer told […]
(JTA) A resident of Potsdam who was wearing a kippah with a Star of David on it was the victim of an anti-Semitic attack. The victim reported being followed, spat upon and insulted in the weekend attack. Police quickly arrested two men, […]
(AFP) A charity rescue vessel on Saturday brought 41 shipwrecked migrants into port in Lampedusa, the second boat to defy far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s bid to close Italian ports to them. Mediterranea’s Italian-flagged Alex was met by a strong police presence […]
(Jerusalem Post) The intelligence agency for Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia revealed on Thursday that the number of Hezbollah members rose in 2018. According to the intelligence document reviewed by the Jerusalem Post, the number of Hezbollah members climbed from […]
(JTA) The annual al-Quds Day march in Berlin is often cited as a prime example of the rise of so-called new anti-Semitism in Europe: hatred of Jews in connection with Israel, often by people from Muslim societies. Despite attempts by organizers in recent years […]
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