Tag Archives: Germany

UN: EU Must Accept 200,000 Migrants

The United Nations has told member nations of the European Union (EU) that they must accept 200,000 migrants in a “common strategy” rather than their current “piecemeal” approach.

The head of the UN’s refugee agency said that the EU is reaching a “defining moment.”

Antonio Guterres said that the EU leadership must demand “mandatory participation” of any country in the EU.

Germany has been taking in the majority of the migrants but is starting to limit migrant access because of the mass influx.

“Germany is doing what is morally and legally required of us, no more and no less,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday. “That’s why this problem concerns all of us in Europe.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that because “Britain is a moral nation” they will fulfill their responsibilities.

Germany and France have sent a proposal to all EU nations with suggested amounts of migrants for each country but has found backlash from the smaller nations.  CNN reported over 350,000 migrants have come into Europe this year, a level not seen since World War II.  Over 3,600 people have died trying to make the journey.

Hungary Now Calls Migrant Crisis A “German Problem”

The leader of Hungary, which has been struggling with an influx of thousands of refugees from the Middle East, says the problem is a “German problem” because that’s the destination for most of the immigrants.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban added, however, that he would not allow migrants to leave his country without registering.

“Nobody would like to stay in Hungary, neither in Slovakia nor Poland nor Estonia,” Orban said.  “All of them would like to go to Germany. Our job is only to register them.”

The comments from the country’s leader comes as the country’s train station in the capital city of Budapest was reopened to migrants.  However, the trains that migrants board only travels to a registration center and not to Germany or other European Union (EU) nations.

Many of the migrants are resisting efforts to leave the trains at the registration center in Bicske and are having to be removed by police.

German officials have previously stated they expect to take in over 800,000 migrants this year, four times the number from last year.  However, they are calling for “fair” distribution of the current migrant influx to all EU nations.

Emergency meetings to discuss the situation between EU leaders is scheduled for mid-month.

Hungary Sending Troops to Stop Migrants at Border

Hungarian officials are rushing military troops to their border to try and stop a massive wave of migrants attempting to escape the violence of the Middle East and Asia.

Hungarian officials said that a record 2,533 migrants were arrested attempting to enter the country on Tuesday.  Most of them were from Syria, Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Officials are calling the situation the worst migrant crisis since the second World War and Hungary is attempting to quickly build a 110 mile border fence with razor wire to stop the illegal immigration.

“Hungary’s government and national security cabinet … has discussed the question of how the army could be used to help protect Hungary’s border and the EU’s border,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters.

The move by Hungary is coming under criticism from Germany and France.  The German and French governments are working to put together a comprehensive plan for all nations across Europe to accept migrants, but Hungary’s actions are countering the proposed actions.

Other nations are also overwhelmed.  Greece, which is in the midst of financial crisis unlike any other in the nation’s history, has been burdened with 50,000 migrants in just the month of July.

Germany to Welcome All Syrian Refugees

As a wave of Syrian refugees attempting to escape the violence of the Middle East drew closer to the Hungarian border, Germany announced they would be welcoming in anyone escaping the civil war.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the situation the biggest migration crisis since World War II.

The announcement comes as some smaller nations have declared states of emergency because of the mass wave of people fleeing ISIS and the Syrian war.  Macedonia first tried to use their military to keep out the migrants and when they were overrunning chartered trains to take the migrants directly to Germany or France.

German and French officials are working together to create a joint plan for all of Europe to deal with migrants from war torn areas.  The outline will provide expedited asylum for those refugees as well as returning to home countries those who are not arriving from an area of conflict.

“There are moments in European history when we face exceptional circumstances, and these are exceptional circumstances that will last,” Hollande said alongside Merkel before they met for talks in Berlin. “So rather than wait and then cope on a day-to-day basis, we must get organized and strengthen our policies.”

Germany announced they expect to absorb 800,000 migrants this year, after only receiving 44,417 in the first six months of the year.

Officials are dealing with a wave of anti-immigrant violence.  A shelter for migrants in the German town of Heidenau was attacked three consecutive nights despite police guarding the facility.

Heat Wave Sets Records in Germany; More Deaths in Egypt

The death toll in the Middle East heat wave continues to climb.

Egyptian officials say that 76 people are now confirmed dead because of the extreme heat which reached 116 degrees in some parts of the country.  State media said that 21 people died from heatstroke on Tuesday.

Over 1,200 people are hospitalized with heat related illnesses.

The heat outside is also causing the heat to rise in the arena of socio-political problems within the Middle Eastern nation.

“It is highlighting the huge gap that exists between classes in the region in general and specifically in countries that are not as rich as the Gulf countries. So in Egypt, for example, it is dividing the classes further,” Ziad Akl, a senior researcher at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told VOA.  He said that the rich remain inside with air conditioners while the poor have no choice but to use locations like public fountains.

In Iraq, the heat is causing people to short out electrical systems in attempts to keep cool.

“Last week most Iraqi areas were left without electricity for almost three days,” Suadad al-Salhy, a freelance journalist who covers Iraq for Middle East Eye said to VOA.

The heat wave is moving north from the Middle East into Europe causing electrical grid disruptions.

Poland’s national electric supplier cut power to factories for several hours Monday to try and keep the grid from total failure.  The heat combined with extended dry weather has reduced water levels to rivers that cool the nation’s power plants.

Wroclaw, Poland saw an all-time record high of 102 degrees.  The average high for that area is 72 degrees.

Germany tied its all time record high with a mark of 104.5 in Kitzingen.  It was the second time in a month the city had hit the 104.5 mark.

At least 19 cities in the Czech Republic have also tied or topped all-time heat records.

Germany Caves To International Pressure on Greece

German officials have reportedly given in to the demands of other European nations and banking institutions in regard to money owed them by Greece in what could be a significant step toward ending the Greek debt crisis standoff.

The European Council had been calling the loudest for Germany to make steps toward working with Greece after Chancellor Angela Merkel and other officials took a hard line stance over Greece’s unwillingness to accept austerity measures.

“The realistic proposal from Greece will have to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors,” said Donald Tusk, the European Council president.

Greece submitted a new reform proposal to the EU just two hours before a midnight deadline Thursday.  The plan contains many items that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had rejected and urged the nation’s voters to reject in a recent referendum.

The new proposal includes tax increases, reform to pensions and spending cuts.

“The package takes a very substantial step in the right direction, and it should move us closer to a deal,” said Mujtaba Rahman, the Europe director for the Eurasia Group, told the New York Times.  “The question now is whether the Greeks are actually going to implement some of the measures over the course of the weekend by putting them before their Parliament as German officials seems to be demanding.”

German Chancellor Merkel stated later in the day Thursday that she still opposes any debt reduction for Greece as part of the deal.

Three Men Die From Squirrel Virus

A new report on the deaths of three German men who worked as squirrel breeders has found that they all died from a new strain of virus that jumped from the squirrels to the men.

“A new bornavirus that can be transmitted to humans and cause severe disease has been detected in variegated squirrels. The study shows that exotic animal species can have the risk of transmitting novel zoonotic viruses to humans from close contact,” said Dr. Martin Beer, head of virus diagnostics at Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler Institute.

The men developed encephaltits, or brain inflammation, and died within two to four months after showing symptoms

The breed of squirrel involved live in southern Mexico and Central America.  That’s one of the reasons Dr. Marc Siegel of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York told HealthDay the general public shouldn’t be concerned at this time.

“It’s likely that bornavirus, commonly found in horses and sheep and capable of causing neurological symptoms, was present in the squirrels that scratched these men, causing the neurological and behavioral symptoms,” he said.  “It is possible that this virus could spread to squirrels here in the U.S. and occasionally to humans, but we wouldn’t see sustained spread, as there is no evidence of spread from human to human.”

All the men who died from the virus were in their 60s or older and had other health conditions that doctors say could have contributed to the virus being able to impact them.

Jewish Woman Gets Doctorate Denied By Nazis

102-year-old Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport is now a doctor.

Eight decades after she should have earned that honor.

In 1938, she was denied the change to defend her doctoral thesis by the Nazis.  Her crime?  She was part-Jewish.  Now, the University of Hamburg has given the neonatologist a doctorate after she passed an oral exam.

“After almost 80 years, it was possible to restore some extent of justice,” Burkhard Goeke, the medical director of the university’s hospital, said in his speech. “We cannot undo injustices that have been committed, but our insights into the past shape our perspective for the future.”

Syllm-Rapaport said that she did it for more than herself, but for all those who suffered injustice at the hands of the Nazis.

“For me personally, the degree didn’t mean anything, but to support the great goal of coming to terms with history — I wanted to be part of that,” Syllm-Rapoport told German public television station NDR.

Uwe Koch-Gromus, the university’s dean of the medical faculty, was asked about her oral exam on the subject of diptheria, the subject of her original doctoral thesis.

“She was brilliant, and not only for her age,” he said.   “We were impressed with her intellectual alertness, and left speechless by her expertise — also with regard to modern medicine.”

Taking her grades into account, she was graduated magna cum laude.

Naghmeh Abedini Asks European Officials For Help

The wife of wrongfully imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini is turning to European leaders for help in her quest to free her husband.

Naghmeh Abedini visited with German officials and the European Parliament to speak with lawmakers who are committed to religious freedom around the world.  The German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights quickly supported Naghmeh’s mission.

“I call upon Iran to quash Pastor Abedini’s sentence – and the sentences of all those imprisoned merely on account of their religious belief – without delay,” the commissioner said in a statement following the meeting. “Until he is released, I appeal to all those responsible in Iran to grant him urgently needed medical treatments, including outside the prison.”

A vigil at the Iranian Embassy in Germany was held by Naghmeh and German freedom advocates.

The meetings were arranged by the American Center for Law and Justice along with the German rights group Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte.

Tiffany Barrans of the ACLJ traveled with Abedini.

“This opportunity was invaluable to raise the plight of Pastor Saeed and the Christian community that suffers in Iran,” Barrans said.

The ACLJ has been advocating for Abedini’s release for years.

“Continued international pressure has helped free persecuted Christians before and we pray that it will again,” ACLJ said.

German Officials Stop Boston Style Terrorist Attack

German security officials told reporters that they had stopped an Islamic terrorist plot similar to the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

A 35-year-old Turkish man and his 34-year-old wife were taken into custody near Frankfurt.  Special police forces found a bomb, firearms, ammunition and chemicals that can make explosives.

Authorities say that the man had been under surveillance as a suspected Islamic extremist.

“According to our current information we have prevented an attack,” said Stefan Mueller, the chief of police for western Hesse state.

The speculation among police is that the target was a professional cycling race scheduled for Friday.

“Of course we talked about the Boston attack last night,” said Mueller, explaining why security officials decided to go ahead with the raid. The race “is a soft target, and of course since the Boston Marathon it’s part of the security assessment for every marathon in Germany, and of course this is true for cycling races too.”

Weapons found in the home included a pipe bomb, 100 rounds of ammunition, a training rocket for an anti-tank weapon and a gallon of hydrogen peroxide along with other chemicals.  Hydrogen peroxide can create a substance called TATP which is what shoe bomber Richard Reid tried to use to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight.

“I want to emphasize that an attack was prevented, but it will have to be seen whether a concrete attack against tomorrow’s cycle race was planned,” Mueller added.