Showing posts with label Bavaria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bavaria. Show all posts
Monday, November 02, 2015
Bavaria Promises to Bus Refugees to Merkel's Office in Berlin
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Bavarian PM Gives Merkel Deadline to Close 'Open Door' for Refugees
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Germany: Bavaria's Seehofer Demands German Government Limit Influx of Migrants
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Munich Fears Migrants and Beer Hunters May Not Mix Well at Oktoberfest
Pedro Feiten, a Brazilian, is celebrating Oktoberfest and immigration in Munich this year, raising a glass to the difficult journeys that took his ancestors away from Germany nearly two centuries ago and are bringing others to the country today.
“Our relatives were fleeing war when they left Germany. The people coming here now are like we were then,” said Feiten, heading off in traditional Lederhosen bought especially for the beer-drinking festival, which starts on Saturday.
But not everyone in Munich thinks the city’s twin influx of tourists and refugees is so compatible. Many of the region’s top politicians have been worrying publicly about whether they can cope when the annual Oktoberfest kicks off in a city that has become one of the focal points of Europe’s migration crisis.
Tens of thousands of refugees have flooded into Munich since the start of the month when Angela Merkel effectively declared Germany’s borders open, sometimes more than 10,000 arriving in a single day on trains and buses. Mixing that pace of new arrivals with up to 6 million beer-drinking revellers who usually descend on the Bavarian capital for two weeks of festivities could cause tensions, regional interior minister Joachim Herrmann warned. » | Emma Graham-Harrison in Munich | Friday, September 18, 2015
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Sunday, September 13, 2015
Munich at Limit of Capacity amid Refugee Surge, Say Police
Munich is at the limit of its capacity to welcome refugees arriving in Germany, police have said, a day after 12,200 asylum-seekers reached the city.
“We had a total of 12,200 refugees on Saturday ... today we’re expecting several hundreds. Given the numbers from yesterday, it is very clear that we have reached the upper limit of our capacity,” said a police spokesman.
“Our aim today would be to transport as many as possible out of here, to make place for new arrivals,” he added. » | Agence France-Presse | Sunday, September 13, 2015
BILD AM SONNTAG: „München ist voll“: Die Stadt München kann nicht mehr. Alle zwei Stunden steigen am Hauptbahnhof bis zu 500 Flüchtlinge aus einem Zug. Die meist jungen Männer werden im Gänsemarsch durch einen abgesperrten Korridor bis zur ersten Sammelstelle geführt. Helfer mit Mundschutz und Handschuhen drücken ihnen Wasser und Kekse in die Hand. » | Von T. Gautier, A. Hellemann, N. Mertens und B. Uhlenbroich | Sonntag, 13. September 2015
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: "Our work of information is not oriented against Muslims, but against the political ideology of Islam. Muslims are its first victims, most of all women." — Politically Incorrect
The Bavarian branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), has placed under state surveillance German activists accused of fomenting hate against Muslims due to their opposition to the construction of a mega-mosque in Munich.
The move to silence critics of the mosque for being "unconstitutional" was announced by Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann in a press conference on April 12, and represents an unprecedented threat to the exercise of free speech in post-reunification Germany.
Herrmann made the announcement while presenting an annual report about threats to democratic order in Germany. A seven-minute video of the press conference with subtitles in English can be viewed here.
Herrmann singled out a citizen's movement called Die Freiheit Bayern (Freedom Bavaria), as well as the Munich branch of a highly popular free speech blog called Politically Incorrect (PI), which focuses on topics related to immigration, multiculturalism and Islam in Germany. » | Soeren Kern | Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Thursday, February 07, 2013
BBC: A German job centre has apologised after offering work as a hostess in a brothel to a teenage girl, according to a local newspaper in Augsburg, Bavaria.
The 19-year-old's mother screamed when she saw the letter offering her daughter the work placement, the Augsburger Allgemeine reports.
The head of the job centre was quoted as saying it should have asked the young woman before sending the letter.
Roland Fuerst stressed that the work being offered was not prostitution. » | Thursday, February 07, 2013
Monday, February 04, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The Greek right-wing extremist party Golden Dawn has established contacts with German neo-Nazis in Bavaria. The group, which is represented in Greek parliament, is also attempting to set up a cell in the southern German state.
The Greek right-wing extremist party Golden Dawn is establishing close contacts with Bavarian neo-Nazis and began setting up a cell in Nuremberg last year. The party, known in Greek as Chrysi Avgi, even held a conference in the southern German city recently.
Bavaria's state intelligence agency is particularly interested in meetings that have been taking place between right-wing extremists from Greece and those in Bavaria.
An umbrella organization of Greek communities in Germany has called on all Greeks in Germany to reject attempts by neo-Nazis to promote "violence, inteolerance and social cannibalism." » | cro/SPIEGEL | Monday, February 04, 2013
Sunday, July 04, 2010
THE CANADIAN PRESS: German state of Bavaria to hold referendum on smoking ban in pubs, beer tents: BERLIN — Germans in the southern state of Bavaria are voting on whether to completely ban smoking statewide, or to continue to allow exceptions for clubs, bars[,] cafes and beer tents. >>> The Associated Press (CP) | Sunday, July 04, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A close friend and ally of the Pope Benedict XVI, has offered to resign over allegations that he abused children in his care.
Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, in southern Germany, denied for weeks that he had used violence against youngsters. But the bishop from the Pope's native Bavaria later admitted that he "may have" slapped the children while a priest decades ago.
Some of the victims, who are now adults, allege that he hit them in the face with full force and beat their bare skin, shouting: "Satan is in you and I must drive him out."
In his letter of resignation to the Pope, the bishop wrote: "I ask the forgiveness of all those to whom I may have been unfair and to those who I may have caused heartache."
The 68-year-old bishop said he was "fully aware of my own weaknesses" and would co-operate with investigators.
A statement released by the diocese said: "With his resignation, he wants to avert further damage to the Church and to allow a new start."
Adding to Bishop Mixa's troubles, a special investigator has found financial irregularities at the children's home he was in charge of at around the same time as the allegations of beatings.
The case does not involve allegations of sexual abuse. However, the bishop, who was appointed by the Pope in 2005, is a controversial figure who has tried to explain paedophilia in the Church by claiming the sexual liberation movement must share a "significant" part of the blame. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ALLEMAGNE | Une inscription "obscène" a été découverte mardi matin sur la maison natale du pape Benoît XVI, dans le village bavarois de Marktl-am-Inn, a-t-on appris auprès de la police.
Les mots inscrits au-dessus de la porte d'entrée – "Fick euch selbst" (Allez vous faire en...), selon les photos – ont été effacés dans la matinée, à précisé un porte-parole de la police.
"On peut établir un lien" avec le scandale des abus sexuels qui secoue l'Eglise catholique, notamment en Allemagne, a-t-il ajouté.
L'inscription "de couleur bleue, au contenu injurieux" a été remarquée par un témoin vers 6H45 sur le mur au-dessus de la porte d'entrée de la maison natale du pape, précise un communiqué de la police.
Son auteur "a visiblement employé une bombe de laque et a tracé des lettres d'environ 30 centimètres de hauteur".
Le dommage sur la façade de la maison est estimé à environ 1500 euros, selon la police, qui a lancé un appel à témoins. "Entre-temps, un peintre a été chargé de masquer le texte", précise le communiqué.
Le pape Benoît XVI, né Joseph Ratzinger le 16 avril 1927 à Marktl-am-Inn, fêtera dans trois jours son 83ème anniversaire. Il est devenu pape il y a près de cinq ans, le 19 avril 2005. >>> AFP | Mardi 13 Avril 2010
Friday, April 02, 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: They may be simple flagstones, but they were once part of Adolf Hitler's mountain retreat in Obersalzberg. Now, a historian's claim that stones from the dictator's villa were used for the construction of a local chapel has many in the region up in arms.
It was a pleasant, dignified and very Bavarian celebration. There was a brass band, a group in lederhosen and dirndls, local dignitaries and even a close associate of the pope. All of them were there to attend the dedication of the Wegmacher chapel, a small roadside chapel in Obersalzberg, Adolf Hitler's mountain headquarters in the southeast corner of Germany.
Matthias Ferwagner, head of the building authority in the nearby town of Traunstein, told a touching story about a girl named Sophia who had cancer and placed daisies on the chapel's walls as a way of comforting her parents and how, shortly thereafter, the chapel was able to open its doors and fulfill its purpose of bestowing divine protection on Bavaria's road-construction workers and drivers.
Now, 13 years on, many of the guests who attended the dedication are starting to wish the chapel had never been built. It is difficult to ascertain, of course, whether the building is fulfilling is sacred function of protecting travelers. What is clear, however, is that the chapel is causing nothing but trouble in the secular world.
The red marble flagstones on the chapel's floor are now rumored to have an unpleasant past, and many locals fear that the nearly 10 square meters (108 square feet) of stone used to build it could become a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis and National Socialist die-hards, thereby creating a problem for the tourist industry serving the surrounding area.
The reason for this apprehension is a belief held by some that these flagstones may once have adorned the terrace of the Berghof, Adolf Hitler's mountainside retreat on the Obersalzberg, towering above the town of Berchtesgaden. Florian Beierl, a historian who has been looking into the history of the Berghof, is one of those who adheres to this idea.
Since Beierl went public with his theory in the International Herald Tribune in February, the chapel has been a major topic of discussion in the region. And now that some people are calling for the chapel to be demolished, local newspapers, Bavarian television stations and the online media have been debating whether Beierl should have just kept his mouth shut. In his defense, Beierl says that sweeping his suspicions under the rug would have gone against the seriousness called for when dealing with Germany's Nazi past. >>> Connie Neumann | Thursday, April 01, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Once every 10 years Oberammergau, in Bavaria, crucifies Jesus all over again and local hairdressers nearly go out of business.
That's because nearly half the 5,300-strong village lets hair and beards grow for over a year to better resemble the Jews they will interpret in the Passion play that has been running here for nearly 375 years.
The tradition goes back to 1633 when the plague struck the alpine village and locals vowed, if they were spared, to put on a play about the crucifixion and reincarnation of Jesus once every 10 years - for ever.
"A lot of people, including some 600 children stop having their hair cut from Ash Wednesday (February 25) 2009 to October 3 2010" when the play packs up for nine years, says Doris Renner, 51, who runs one of the village's three hairdressing shops.
"That means a tremendous loss of business and shorter working hours for some employees," she adds.
But "Jesus", for his part, is working over time.
Frederik Mayet, 30, a marketing student, is both "Jesus" and spokesman for the play.
To take part in the Passion, "you have to be born in the village, have lived here for 20 years, or be married to someone from the village for over 10 years", he says.
The Passion is the "social event of the decade", says play director Christian Stueckl.
"Some want to take part because it's a tradition. Others for religious reasons. Still others, who aren't at all religious, just don't want to miss out," according to Stueckl, a village native who usually runs the Munich Volkstheater.
Villagers give up a lot of time to take part. >>> Francis Curta, in Oberammergau for AFP | Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 07, 2008
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The leaders of Bavaria's ruling party, the Christian Social Union, want to relax the state's smoking ban -- and very quickly. Many of the party's politicians blame the ban for the CSU's poor showing in recent local elections.
The leaders of the Christian Social Union, the conservative Bavarian sister party to Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, are planning to relax Bavaria's smoking ban -- just two months after it was introduced.
The state's ruling party wants to introduce the relaxation next week, granting special exemptions to beer tents and small pubs. The change in regulation is aimed in particular at large tents, as found in Munich's famous Oktoberfest (more...). Bavarian Politicans Want to Relax Smoking Ban >>>
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