https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Germany in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed The mayor of Cologne has announced a two-year pilot project that will allow mosques to broadcast the call to prayer on the Muslim day of rest each week. https://www.thelocal.de/20211011/mosques-in-cologne-to-start-broadcasting-the-call-to-prayer-every-friday Mon, 11 Oct 2021 12:28:17 +0200 mosques-in-cologne-to-start-broadcasting-the-call-to-prayer-every-friday Germany has launched a state-backed training centre for imams to help reduce the number of Islamic leaders coming in from abroad, but the initiative has been shunned by leading Turkish groups. https://www.thelocal.de/20210615/imams-made-in-germany-countrys-first-islamic-training-college-opens-in-osnabruck Tue, 15 Jun 2021 19:30:50 +0200 imams-made-in-germany-countrys-first-islamic-training-college-opens-in-osnabruck German intelligence services said Wednesday that they would widen their surveillance of the Islamophobic protest movement Pegida in its home state of Saxony, as the group had become a "extremist" and "anti-constitutional". https://www.thelocal.de/20210507/german-spy-agency-calls-anti-islam-pegida-protest-group-anti-constitutional Fri, 07 May 2021 15:38:42 +0200 german-spy-agency-calls-anti-islam-pegida-protest-group-anti-constitutional Around 5.5 million Muslims live in Germany, almost one million more than five years ago. And now the group is more diverse than ever before, according to a new study. https://www.thelocal.de/20210430/in-numbers-a-breakdown-of-germanys-muslim-population Fri, 30 Apr 2021 17:18:18 +0200 in-numbers-a-breakdown-of-germanys-muslim-population Germany's highest court on Thursday upheld a ban on headscarves for Muslim trainee lawyers in courts, finding that the requirement of maintaining religious neutrality was justified. https://www.thelocal.de/20200227/german-court-upholds-headscarf-ban-for-legal-trainees Thu, 27 Feb 2020 11:58:23 +0100 german-court-upholds-headscarf-ban-for-legal-trainees Around half of the German population has concerns about Islam, according to a new study on democracy and religious tolerance. But what's the reason behind the negative feeling towards Islam felt by many? https://www.thelocal.de/20190711/why-do-so-many-germans-see-islam-as-a-threat Thu, 11 Jul 2019 14:18:18 +0200 why-do-so-many-germans-see-islam-as-a-threat A German court on Monday ordered seven Islamic fundamentalists to pay fines over a so-called "sharia police" patrol they launched in 2014 to mass media and political outrage. https://www.thelocal.de/20190527/german-court-fines-sharia-police-patrol Mon, 27 May 2019 17:31:47 +0200 german-court-fines-sharia-police-patrol Drinks coasters with questions about Islam have been handed out in Maintal, near Frankfurt, in a bid to promote integration. But is it culturally insensitive given that many Muslims do not drink alcohol? https://www.thelocal.de/20190517/row-breaks-out-in-city-near-frankfurt-over-islam-beer-mats Fri, 17 May 2019 11:49:52 +0200 row-breaks-out-in-city-near-frankfurt-over-islam-beer-mats On Wednesday and Thursday, the controversial Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CDU) is for the first time hosting the Islam Conference in Berlin, with integration as a top theme. https://www.thelocal.de/20181128/interior-minister Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:00:05 +0100 interior-minister 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. https://www.thelocal.de/20180706/random-house-axes-islam-book-by-controversial-german-author Fri, 06 Jul 2018 19:09:47 +0200 random-house-axes-islam-book-by-controversial-german-author Germany’s new Interior Minister caused uproar last week when he declared that "Islam doesn’t belong to Germany." The Germany expression is a headache to translate, partly because it is so deliberately vague. https://www.thelocal.de/20180321/does-islam-belong-to-germany-the-most-meaningless-debate-of-the-year Wed, 21 Mar 2018 14:04:28 +0100 does-islam-belong-to-germany-the-most-meaningless-debate-of-the-year The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party deleted a survey that it had posted on social media on Tuesday, after participants gave a radically different answer to the one they wanted. https://www.thelocal.de/20180321/afd-faces-ridicule-for-erasing-islam-survey-after-result-doesnt-go-its-way Wed, 21 Mar 2018 11:23:26 +0100 afd-faces-ridicule-for-erasing-islam-survey-after-result-doesnt-go-its-way The first major controversy of Germany's new government broke out on Friday when Merkel was forced to contradict her new interior minister over the place of Islam in the country. https://www.thelocal.de/20180316/islam-doesnt-belong-to-germany-says-interior-minister-horst-seehofer Fri, 16 Mar 2018 10:55:13 +0100 islam-doesnt-belong-to-germany-says-interior-minister-horst-seehofer A German court in Traunstein on Friday handed a life term to an Afghan asylum seeker who stabbed to death a compatriot mother-of-four because she had converted to Christianity. https://www.thelocal.de/20180209/afghan-gets-life-term-in-germany-for-killing-christian-mother Fri, 09 Feb 2018 15:24:10 +0100 afghan-gets-life-term-in-germany-for-killing-christian-mother A member of Germany's far-right and anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany party (AfD) who recently converted to Islam has said he did so in protest at what he sees as the "moral decline" of the Protestant church. https://www.thelocal.de/20180131/leading-far-right-afd-member-embraces-islam-over-churchs-moral-decline Wed, 31 Jan 2018 10:03:34 +0100 leading-far-right-afd-member-embraces-islam-over-churchs-moral-decline The Alternative for Germany is known for its mantra that “Islam doesn’t belong in Germany.” Now a senior member of the party in Brandenburg has caused a mini-sensation by converting to Islam. https://www.thelocal.de/20180124/leading-member-of-far-right-afd-in-brandenburg-converts-to-islam Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:36:19 +0100 leading-member-of-far-right-afd-in-brandenburg-converts-to-islam An Afghan asylum seeker went on trial in southern Germany on Tuesday accused of stabbing to death a compatriot mother-of-four because he was furious she had converted to Christianity. https://www.thelocal.de/20180123/trial-starts-of-afghan-accused-of-killing-christian-convert-mother-of-four Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:30:14 +0100 trial-starts-of-afghan-accused-of-killing-christian-convert-mother-of-four Since 2011, the number of Salafists in the nation’s capital has almost tripled from 350 to currently over 900 people, according to a media report. https://www.thelocal.de/20180118/salafist-scene-in-berlin-has-grown-by-a-third-report Thu, 18 Jan 2018 12:55:17 +0100 salafist-scene-in-berlin-has-grown-by-a-third-report Sheikh Nahjan Mubarak al Nahjan, the minister for tolerance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has said that inadequate surveillance of mosques has led to Islamist terrorism in Germany. https://www.thelocal.de/20171114/gulf-minister-warns-germany-to-keep-better-control-over-its-mosques Tue, 14 Nov 2017 11:45:27 +0100 gulf-minister-warns-germany-to-keep-better-control-over-its-mosques Thomas de Maizière, the federal interior minister, suggested on Monday that parts of Germany with large Muslim populations could get public holidays during Muslim festivals. https://www.thelocal.de/20171013/interior-minister-upsets-colleagues-by-suggesting-germany-could-celebrate-muslim-holidays Fri, 13 Oct 2017 17:47:33 +0200 interior-minister-upsets-colleagues-by-suggesting-germany-could-celebrate-muslim-holidays