Germany

19 October 2023; MEMO: Germany, on Thursday, advised its citizens to leave the West Bank now due to intensifying violence in the region, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We recommend all German nationals to leave the West Bank now,” the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement, warning against travelling to Israel and the Palestinian Territories “due to the escalation of violence in the region.”

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly condemned a firebomb assault on a synagogue in Berlin on Wednesday, saying, “We will never accept when attacks are carried out against Jewish institutions.”

Assailants threw two Molotov cocktails early Wednesday at the synagogue in the center of the German capital, police said, as antisemitic incidents in the country have been rising following the violent escalation in the Middle East.

BERLIN, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday warned against trying to push Palestinian refugees into Egypt or Jordan, adding that the humanitarian situation must to be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank.

"That is a red line, because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground. No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt," King Abdullah said at a news conference following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

BERLIN (AP) — Several more people suspected of being involved in planning a far-right coup and plotting to kidnap the German health minister were arrested in raids in a number of regions on Tuesday, authorities said.

Prosecutors have said the group intended to create “conditions similar to civil war” by using explosives to cause nationwide blackouts, then kidnapping Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who was a prominent advocate of strict coronavirus measures. There were no indications the group was close to launching a coup.

BERLIN, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Air traffic has resumed at Germany's Hamburg airport, a spokesperson told Reuters on Monday, after a police operation in response to a threat against a plane from Tehran prompted all landings and take-offs to be halted.

A federal police spokesperson earlier said officers, acting on a threat of an attack sent via email, searched a plane with 198 passengers from Tehran that had landed in the northern German city.

BERLIN, Oct 8 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned on Sunday against violence spreading like wildfire "with incalculable consequences for the whole region" following the biggest attack on Israel in years by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"We warn everyone against fueling and spreading terror in this situation," he said, noting he would hold a discussion with U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the topic later on Sunday.

BERLIN (AP) — Two German states hold elections on Sunday at the halfway mark of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular national government, with polls showing the center-right opposition well ahead and Germany’s interior minister facing an uphill struggle in a bid to become governor of her home region.

BERLIN, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 jolted Iceland at 1612 GMT on Wednesday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 64.44 degrees north latitude and 17.64 degrees west longitude. 

BERLIN, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Serbia's troop deployment on Kosovo's border recalls Russia's behaviour towards Ukraine before its invasion, the Kosovar foreign minister said, urging the European Union to take action against Belgrade such as freezing its candidacy status.

The warning comes after the United States said on Friday it was monitoring a troubling Serbian military build-up along the Kosovo frontier that is destabilising the area, and NATO said it was authorizing additional peacekeeping forces for Kosovo.

BERLIN, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Germany will introduce new border controls with Poland and the Czech Republic this week, the German interior minister announced on Wednesday, saying that more should be done to protect the European Union's fragile system of open borders.

Germany saw its first-time asylum requests rise by 78% in the first seven months of 2023, according to official data. In August, registered illegal border crossings to Germany reached 14,701, up 66% on the same month last year, police data shows.