Germany: ‘Gender (in)equality not linked to Islam’ Via DW : Equality between Muslim men and women has little to do with religion, says Gönül Halat-Mec. DW’s Klaudia Prevezanos spoke to the family lawyer and member of the of the annual German Islam Conference
Germany: A Koran in every household Via Welt Online , Trouw : Salafists in Germany launched a project aimed at distributing 25 million free Korans. Project “Lies!” (Read!) was started in October 2011 by Ibrahim Abou Nagie, who says he wants a Koran in every German household
Austria: Integration secretary plans home visit initiative Via the Austrian Times : Social workers will visit badly integrated foreigners at home to help them learning German, People’s Party (ÖVP) Integration Secretary Sebastian Kurz announced yesterday (Tues). Kurz said his office planned to expand a successful Viennese pilot project concept based on programmes in Switzerland and Australia to several other Austrian towns and cities in the coming months. The project has a budget of 300,000 Euros, according to Austria’s first state secretary for integration who was sworn in around one year ago
Baden-Württemberg: More self-criticism needed, says integration minister Via DW : In May 2012, Bilkay Öney will have been in office as Integration Minister in the German state of Baden-Württemberg for one year.
Berlin: Syrian Channels Aid to Embattled Countrymen Via Spiegel : A Syrian expat in Berlin has teamed up with Germans to launch a donation drive similar to long-distance “adoption” programs for children in poor countries.
Cologne: Row threatens mega mosque Via the Guardian : Architect and developers of multimillion euro project in dispute over everything from soaring costs to colour of facade It was conceived as a project that would foster dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims and act as a bridge between Islam and Christianity. But the completion of a controversial multimillion euro mosque and culture complex is under threat after a prolonged row between its German architect and its Turkish developers
Bavaria: Police union prints racist calendar Via the Local : Bavarian police chiefs are ordering thousands of racist and tasteless calendars printed by the police union be taken down from the walls of cop shops across the state – a full two months after the German media pointed out its faults.
Germany: 24% of young, non-German Muslims are religious extremists Via the Local : The survey showed that of Muslims living in Germany who were not German citizens, 52 percent favored integration, while 48 percent “strongly leaned toward separation” and clearly rejected German majority culture. But when taking into account both Muslims who were German citizens and those who were not, the figure rose to 78 percent in favor of integration, versus 22 percent who favoured a more separatist approach.
Germany: Secret services ramp up online surveillance Via the Local : German secret services have ramped up surveillance of online communications in the fight against terrorism. A new report reveals the authorities accessed 37 million emails and data connections in 2010 – five times as many as in 2009.
Germany: Anti-Islamization float in carnival A papier-mache frog with the text on its tongue ‘Islamization’ and a butterfly with ‘Arab Spring’ on a float is pictured during the traditional Rose Monday carnival parade in the western German city of Duesseldorf on Feb. 20, 2012.