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A hotel in the eastern German city of Leipzig was facing accusations of antisemitism on Tuesday after a musician said he was denied service for wearing a Star of David. The video sparked sharp criticism from Germany’s Jewish communities and drew the attention of police. In a video posted on social media, German musician Gil Ofarim said he attempted to check in to the Hotel Westin in Leipzig on Monday evening. Ofarim, who is Jewish, was wearing a necklace with a Star of David pendant. Due to technical issues with the hotel’s computers, a long line had formed at the...

Thirteen police officers sustained minor injuries in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Saturday when protesters pelted them with stones and fireworks during a demonstration against the banning of a leftist website. Eleven officers were attacked with stones and glass bottles and two sustained injuries from fireworks. The protest began peacefully in front of the Federal Administrative Courthouse in the largest city in Saxony, where a lawsuit against the ban is due to be heard later this week. […] Around 1,600 people, according to police figures, had gathered for the demonstration in Leipzig to protest a ban of the...

Plans to no longer serve children pork or gelatin-containing products like gummy bears at two day care centers in the eastern German city of Leipzig prompted a wave of criticism online and made headlines across the country on Tuesday. The mass-circulation Bild newspaper first reported about the day care centers’ proposal, saying the decision to make the changes came from consideration for two Muslim children. “Out of respect for a changing world, only pork-free meals and snacks will be ordered and served starting from July 15,” read a letter sent to parents, according to Bild. Responses to the plans grew...

New pornographic figurines from the Stone Age have been discovered in Germany. But researchers can't agree on what the 7,000-year-old sculptures mean. Were our ancestors uninhibited sex fiends, or was reproduction strictly controlled to improve mobility? An increasing number of finds seem to indicate the Stone Age was an orgy of sexual imagination. The project itself was far from extraordinary. Workers near the Eastern German city of Leipzig were digging a ditch for a new gas line. Hum drum. But what they discovered was far from routine. A backhoe unearthed a 7,200-year-old, Stone Age garbage pit -- and it was...

Security forces have launched a nationwide anti-terror operation in Germany. Police in the states of Saxony, Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin confirmed that properties have been searched. German anti-terror police carried out a series of pre-dawn raids in the eastern city of Leipzig Wednesday. Regional news portal “Tag24” reported that the operation targeted suspected members of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS), as well as other extremist factions. A police spokesperson in Leipzig said the raids were part of a nationwide anti-terror operation. …

An empty lot in Leipzig where a local Muslim community plans to build a mosque was the target of an apparent Islamophobic attack on Wednesday, when a passer-by found a dead piglet in a bush. The dead piglet had the words "Mutti Merkel" (Mother Merkel) daubed on it in red paint, the Leipziger Volkszeitung (LVZ) reported. "I see this as just a stupid act. I don't know what they mean to say with this, but our mosque construction project will continue," Dr. Rashid Nawaz of the Leipzig branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat (AMJ) organization told The Local. The piglet...

'It was terror on the streets': Mayor of German town rocked by anti-migrant riots condemns the 'naked violence that took place' as the country braces for a new march of the far~right Anti-refugee rioters went on a rampage in the German town of Leipzig, trashing doner kebab fast food restaurants 250 hooligans ~ part of the local branch of PEGIDA known as LEGIDA ~ set cars on fire and vandalised shops Mayor Burkhard Jung condemned the 'naked violence that took place' and has described 'terror on the streets' Tonight the country feared a new march of the far right...

++UPDATE++ Die Welt reports that protestors in Leipzig have attacked journalists ++UPDATE++ Large explosion reported in Leipzig, Police moving in fast ++UPDATE++ A column of protestors 60 ft wide and half a mile long estimated in Leipzig Pegida marches. 100,000 people have gathered in the East German city of Leipzig for the latest anti-Islamification marches.

A German theologian has sparked controversy by calling Sweden's beloved Pippi Longstocking children's books racist and demanding additions to prompt parents to skip over or explain certain passages. Dr. Eske Wollrad from the the Federal Association of Evangelical Women in Germany first made her comments as a speaker at a state conference on anti-discrimination in Leipzig last weekend, stirring debate in the German media. “It is not that the figure of Pippi Longstocking is racist, but that all three in the trilogy of books have colonial racist stereotypes,” Wollrad told The Local on Tuesday. The publishers had already changed the...

"Tourist Arrested In Disney Bomb Threat German Man Claimed He Was Joking, Deputies Say" ORLANDO, Fla. - SNIPPET: "According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Naumann was going through a security checkpoint at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom at about 10:22 a.m. and told a worker that he had two bombs in his backpack. The Disney cast member questioned Naumann, of Leipzig, Germany, and he again stated that there were two bombs in his backpack, deputies said."

THE LEIPZIG DECLARATION ON GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGEAs independent scientists concerned with atmospheric and climate problems, we -- along with many of our fellow citizens -– are apprehensive about emission targets and timetables adopted at the Climate Conference held in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. This gathering of politicians from some 160 signatory nations aims to impose on citizens of the industrialized nations, -- but not on others -- a system of global environmental regulations that include quotas and punitive taxes on energy fuels to force substantial cuts in energy use within 10 years, with further cuts to follow. Stabilizing...