German Vice-Chancellor Calls for Ban on Mosques; Communities To Be Dissolved

                                    

Sigmar Gabriel, the leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Vice-Chancellor to Angela Merkel, has taken a hard line on Salafist Islamism in an interview with Der Spiegel.

Gabriel, speaking just a few weeks after a Tunisian migrant killed a Polish haulier and drove his lorry into a packed Christmas market in Berlin, admitted that the country was now locked in a kulturkampf, or “cultural war”.

“We must strengthen the cohesion of society,” said the Vice-Chancellor, who had previously argued that Germany could take in 500,000 migrants a year “for several years”, and “maybe more”.

“Salafist mosques must be banned, the communities dissolved and the preachers should be expelled, as soon as possible,” he has now said.

Gabriel has already begun to attempt to distance himself from Angela Merkel’s unpopular open-door policy, last August saying his senior partner had “underestimated” the challenges of integration.

In contrast, the increasingly embattled Merkel, who like Gabriel faces a strong challenge from the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in this year’s elections, has insisted that Germany must continue its attempts to fight terrorism with compassion.

Salafism is a fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam which, increasingly powerful in the Arab world, which seeks to return the religion to its 7th century roots. There is a strong emphasis on emulating the first three generations of Muslim believers, known as the salaf, who rode with Mohammed and conquered Jerusalem, Persia and Spain.

The startling growth of Islamism in Germany has been blamed on Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, where a strain of Salafi Islam known Wahhabism, said to be the “main source of global terrorism”, is the state religion.

Last month Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) revealed that there are at least 10,000 Salafists in Germany, supported by Saudi-backed “missionary movements” such as the Saudi Muslim World League and the Sheikh Eid Bin Mohammad al-Thani Charitable Association.

Ambode to dismantle Illegal settlements in Eti-Osa

                                                  

Barely a day after environmentalist NGO, Safe Habitat, petitioned the Lagos state government to address the presence of illegal aliens and outlaws in certain coastal communities in the state, there are indications that efforts are on to evict illegal settlers and dismantle their shacks.

The group, which advocates environmental safety, had in a statement by its Executive Director, Ade Williams on Saturday, January 7, said “we are concerned about information reaching us that some aliens and criminals fleeing from law enforcement agencies have formed the habit of creating illegal settlements and shanties in some waterfront communities, especially in Eti-Osa local government area of the state, where they constitute an environmental nuisance and launch criminal attacks against residents of Lekki, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and others.”

Williams said that the earlier government and other stakeholders take decisive action against illegal settlements and shanties, the better for the environment, lawful residents and the general business environment of the state.

In a follow up statement on Sunday, Safe Habitat said “we are glad to update members of the public that further information reaching us after our statement on Saturday indicates that both the state government and the relevant stakeholders in Eti-Osa local government area of the state have started taking steps to remove the shanties in Ebute Ikate Elegushi to stop the environmental nuisance and security threats coming from the community.”

While commending Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the Elegushi Royal Family and the Ikate Elegushi Residents Association for rising up to the challenge, Safe Habitat noted that the Lagos government had taken a similar action in 2016 to rid Ikoyi and Victoria Island of illegal settlements.

The previous administration of the state had cleared Kuramo beach of criminal activities in 2007 by dislodging illegal settlers erecting shanties in the popular resort area.

“We are aware that the prompt response by the state and relevant stakeholders is to disallow fleeing Boko Haram insurgents dislodged from the North East, Niger Delta militants and other criminal elements from neighbouring countries from having a foothold in Eti-Osa and indeed Lagos state. We commend this and urge all stakeholders to mobilise support for the effort”, Williams stated.

Source: Sun News Ng

Bank of India to reduce lending rates on retail loans

                                

State-run Bank of India on Sunday said it has decided to reduce its interest rates on retail loans, including home and vehicle loans, with effect from Monday. The bank earlier reduced its minimum lending rates or marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) by up to 90 basis points, effective January 7, it said in a release Mumbai.

"The revision in rate of interest on retail loans is a consequence of reduction in MCLR," it said. The rate on home loans has been lowered to 8.65% for women borrowers, while for others the rate has been set at 8.70%. The bank has reduced the interest rates for vehicle loans to 9.35%. For loan against property, the new rates are set in the range of 10.50-11%.

The rates for women borrowers will be 0.5% lower than the others, the bank said. Many banks like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and others have reduced their lending rates after they were flushed with funds following the government's move to demonetise high currency notes on November 8 last year.