Germany
Germany's Angela Merkel says 'serious differences' remain in coalition talks
http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-angela-merkel-says-serious-differences-remain-in-coalition-talks/a-42431402
Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) are locked in talks aimed at creating a "grand coalition" government after last year's inconclusive general election.
One of the differences concerns labor policy. The SPD is seeking to expand labor rights by giving employees the right to move between full-time and part-time work in the event they must care for children or elderly parents. However, the CDU and CSU have expressed reservations, saying it would be a costly measure.
Anti-Christian crime causes increasing concern in Germany
http://www.dw.com/en/anti-christian-crime-causes-increasing-concern-in-germany/a-42430403
Germany's federal police recorded almost 100 attacks on Christians or Christian institutions in Germany in 2017.
Most violent incidents occurred among asylum seekers living together in refugee homes.
According to the reports, a quarter of the 97 cases comprised attacks on churches and Christian symbols, and there were 14 cases of violent "anti-Christian crimes" among asylum seekers or refugees. That number includes the murder of a Christian convert by a fellow refugee in Prien, Bavaria. There were also nine cases of bodily harm.
The new figures also show that Islamophobic attacks remain much more widespread in Germany. The government revealed last year that there were around 200 recorded Islamophobic crimes in both the first and second quarter of 2017, mostly committed by far-right extremists.
German court bans mosque from call to prayer in Oer-Erkenschwick
http://www.dw.com/en/german-court-bans-mosque-from-call-to-prayer-in-oer-erkenschwick/a-42432256
A German court on Thursday
ordered a mosque to stop broadcasting its weekly call to prayer after the complaint of a Christian couple who live about a kilometer (0.6 miles) away.
The couple in the town of Oer-Erkenschwick, near Dortmund, said the muezzin's call violated their religious rights.
The Gelsenkirchen Administrative Court ruled the town had not properly assessed the 2013 request of the local Turkish Muslim community to broadcast the call to prayer.
However, the mosque is still free to reapply for permission.