News in Short

News in Short


Netherlands


Most popular last names - among immigrants are Yilmaz, Nguyen and Ali. Among ethnic Dutch: De Jong, Jansen and De Vries. (NL)


Supporting prostitution windows - Two Muslim parliament members Fatma Koser Kaya (D66) and Naïma Azough (Greens), object to closing down prostitution windows, saying that this enables the authorities to supervise prostitution and prevent abuse. (NL)


Wife abuse - Cebeli Gönül (Labor), councillor in the Rotterdam district of Overschie, showed up in court on charges of abusing his wife. The party is waiting for sentencing before taking a stand. (NL)


Imam murder - A court in Rotterdam sentenced a man to 16 years in prison for stabbing a former imam to death. The man, who's mentally disturbed, thought that the imam had cast a spell on him, rendering him impotent. (NL). See also Rotterdam: Former imam killed


Muslim women and fashion - a Dutch study says that Dutch Muslim women say they don't have much fashion to choose from. The researchers urge fashion designers to take this market segment (85,000 young women) into account. (NL)


Imam wins libel case - The Panorama weekly has to pay imam Fawaz Jneid of the As-Soennah mosque 3,5000 euro compensation for publishing an edited image showing him with Samir Azzouz and Mohammed Bouyeri. The judge said Panorama should not have shown Jneid together with people who were sentenced for grave terrorist crimes. (NL)


Breast cancer screening - A study by Medio 2008 for Pharos titled "Migrant women and the national breast cancer screening program" shows that Moroccan and Turkish women don't go to breast cancer screening as much as ethnic Dutch women. 83% of ethnic Dutch women go to screenings, compared with 54% of Moroccans and 62% of Turks. Ten years ago, 825 of ethnic Dutch women went to screenings, compared with 45% of Moroccans and 53% of Turks. The researchers say the reasons for not going are lack of awareness, taboo and fear, and not being able to read the invitation to go. (NL, Study PDF)



Denmark

Author-refuge - Aarhus announced it will give shelter to an anonymous Algerian author. Four municipalities in Denmark are getting government support to serve as refuge-cities for persecuted authors. The author is currently living in a different EU country, and has not yet officially agreed to the plan. It is expected to cost 1.2 million Danish kroner to keep him safe in Aarhus. (DA)



Germany

Call to prayer - the central mosque in St. Georg (Hamburg) wants to sound the call to prayer by loudspeaker. Ramazan Ucar, chairman of the North German Islam Community, says that they're considering making such a request. They would also like to sound the call to prayedr in Rendsburg, where the plan caused a lot of protest from the neighbors. Ucar says they're still discussing the issue internally regarding St. Georg, but he does not hide the fact that some of the community members miss the muezzin call even in St. Georg. (DE, via PI)