Holiday island mourns after bus crash kills 29 German tourists

Yahoo – AFP, Jerome Pin, April 18, 2019

The bus plunged down a 10-metre slope with around 50 people on board
(AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Caniço (Portugal) (AFP) - Portugal and Germany mourned on Thursday after 29 German tourists died when their bus tumbled down a slope and crashed into a house on the tourist island of Madeira.

Drone footage showed the mangled wreckage lying against a building on a hillside near the town of Canico, the vehicle's roof partially crushed and front window smashed.

Rescue workers attended to injured passengers on the grass where the bus rested nearby, some of them bearing bloodied head bandages and blood-stained clothes.

A woman who survived the accident said on the TVI television channel that the bus crashed after hitting a wall.

"It happened just after the bus started, one minute or a few seconds later. People were flying through the windows," said the woman, who was not named.

"Some people were crying for help and we could immediately see some people were dead," said her husband, who also survived the crash. "Help arrived very fast."

Rescue workers helped survivors at the crash site (AFP Photo/RUI SILVA)

Local authorities said most of the dead were aged in their 40s and 50s. Twelve men and 17 women were among the victims, an official at the Nelio Mendonca hospital, Tomasia Alves, told reporters.

They were among the more than one million tourists who visit the Atlantic islands off the coast of Morocco each year, attracted by their subtropical climate and rugged volcanic terrain.

"It is with sadness and dismay that I think of our compatriots and all the other people affected by the terrible bus accident in Madeira," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement.

"My sincere condolences go above all to those families that have lost loved ones in this tragedy," she added, thanking the Portuguese emergency services for their efforts.

The bus was only five years old and has been recently inspected, officials 

said (AFP Photo/RUI SILVA)

Investigation launched

Witnesses and officials said the 50-odd tourists had left their hotel on their way to the regional capital Funchal for dinner when the bus crashed on Wednesday.

Local media said two Portuguese nationals survived the crash: the driver and a tour guide.

Prosecutors have opened a probe. The vice-president of the regional government Pedro Calado said it was "premature" to attribute the cause of the accident.

He said the bus was five years old and had been recently inspected.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he would travel to Madeira on Thursday with a team of doctors and psychologists to "speak personally with those affected".

The injured were "in a state of shock, with memories of terrible images. An injured woman said she had lost her partner," Ilse Everlien Berardo, the pastor at the German Evangelical church in Madeira, told Germany's RTL network.

Wellwishers left flowers for the victims (AFP Photo/MIGUEL RIOPA)

Frankfurt-based tour operator Trendtours said 51 of its customers were involved in the accident. Another company, Schauinsland, said it also had two customers in the crash.

The companies sent their condolences to victims' families and said they were sending teams to Madeira to offer support.

Trendtour said the bus had been hired by a local operator and crashed off the road "for a reason still unknown".

Makeshift morgue

A makeshift morgue has been set up at the airport in Funchal, local media reports said. Medical teams will be flown in from Lisbon to carry out autopsies.

German holidaymakers were the second largest group after British tourists to visit Madeira in 2017, according to Madeira's tourism office.

Madeira lies in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco (AFP 

Photo/Maria-Cecilia REZENDE)

Known as the Pearl of the Atlantic and the Floating Garden, Madeira is home to just 270,000 inhabitants.

The Portuguese government decreed three days of national mourning.

"I express the sorrow and solidarity of all the Portuguese people in this tragic moment, and especially for the families of the victims who I have been told were all German," President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told Portuguese television.

Alves said the hospital hoped to begin returning victims' bodies to their families by Saturday.

The last serious bus accident in Madeira occurred in December 2005, killing five Italian tourists in Sao Vicente.

Foreign tourist numbers to the Netherlands hit 17.6 million

DutchNews, January 22, 2018

The number of foreign tourists visiting the Netherlands reached a new record last year, soaring 11% to hit 17.6 million, the national tourism and convention board NBTC reported on Monday. 

Tourists spent a total of €12.9bn during their stay, the figures show. 

Most foreign visitors – 42% – came from Germany and Belgium. German tourists numbered more than five million and the NBTC said it is clear that the German economy is improving because of the increase in short breaks. 

More than 2.2 million Belgians visited the Netherlands last year while Britain was in third place with nearly 2.2 million visitors. The NBTC expects visitor number to top 18.5 million in 2018, a rise of 5% on last year. 

The popularity of the Netherlands, especially for weekend breaks, has led the NBTC to develop a new strategy to try to better spread tourists across the country. 

‘We need to invest more in accessibility, new and more varied experiences, and appropriate places to stay,’ director Jos Vranken said. ‘On Wednesday we will urge MPs to focus on the need to strengthen and speed up the implementation of the HollandCity strategy.’ 

The HollandCity strategy involves promoting the Netherlands as a single metropolis with lots of districts, such as Lake District Friesland and Design District Eindhoven.

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Europe brings on charm and blue skies to lure Chinese tourists

Chinese tourists are big spenders and with the numbers visiting Europe set to soar by nearly 70 percent over the next five years, the countries of the Old Continent are rolling out the red carpet to make the guests feel welcome https://t.co/Ao1n3dfovy pic.twitter.com/vHbrfR8DIA

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 20, 2018

Taboo-breaking liberal mosque opens in Berlin

Yahoo – AFP, Yannick PASQUET, June 17, 2017

Lawyer and women's rights activist Seyran Ates opened the
Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Mosque with words of welcome before Christian and
Jewish guests and a large media contingent (AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

Berlin (AFP) - With a mission to spread a liberal form of Islam, a mosque where men and women pray side by side has opened its doors in Berlin, complete with female imams.

The Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar" ('God is greatest') resonated through the crowded Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Mosque Friday as US-Malaysian Ani Zonneveld, one of the world's few female imams, launched the call to prayer.

Then one of the founders of the new place of worship, lawyer and women's rights activist Seyran Ates, opened the event with words of welcome before Christian and Jewish guests and a large media contingent.

"We want to send a signal against Islamic terror and the misuse of our religion," said Turkish-born Ates, 54, dressed in a long white robe. "We want to practise our religion together."

Ates -- no stranger to breaking taboos, having called for a "sexual revolution" in the Muslim world -- vowed she would not allow ultra-conservatives "to rob me of my right to be Muslim".

Kneeling on green carpets, the faithful -- men and women, side by side -- bowed to Mecca for the traditional prayer as the imam spoke in German.

Some of the women wore veils or head coverings, others did not.

'Depoliticise' Islam

The new mosque, the 88th in the German capital, is located in a rented room on the third floor of the Protestant Johanniskirche (St. John's Church) building.

Founded by Seyran Ates, the mosque aims to establish a humanistic, 

secular and liberal reading of Islam (AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

All Muslims -- Sunni or Shia, Alawite or Sufi -- are welcome in the mosque named after one of Germany's greatest writers, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and 12th century Islamic scholar Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes.

The seven founding members said they want to open their prayer hall to all groups, including gays and lesbians.

"This mosque allows Muslims to define themselves in a new way," said co-founder and German Islam scholar Abdel-Hakim Ourghi.

He added that "we will try to depoliticise Islam", as the religion was being torn by rival political movements. "Because religion is a private matter."

Police stood guard outside the entrance of the building.

The founders said they had not received any threats or insults, but that they fully expected not everyone would be happy.

Time for change

Germany, with some four million Muslims, has been the target of jihadist attacks, the deadliest last December when a truck tore through a Berlin Christmas market crowd killing 12 people.

Seyran Ates -- who has campaigned against forced marriages,
domestic violence and so-called "honour killings" among Muslim
migrants -- said the project was eight years in the making (AFP
Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

The arrival of more than one million refugees, most from mainly Muslim countries, since 2015 has worsened the fears of some Germans.

Ates -- who has campaigned against forced marriages, domestic violence and so-called "honour killings" among Muslim migrants -- said the project was eight years in the making.

"Many left along the way," she said. "They told us it was dangerous, that they were afraid."

Elham Manea, a Swiss political scientist of Yemeni background, said the time had come for change, with other so-called liberal mosques having also opened in the United States, Britain and Switzerland.

The Berlin mosque, financed by private donations, is located in the Berlin district of Moabit, which has a large immigrant population.

It was in this neighbourhood that Tunisian Anis Amri, the Christmas market attacker, frequented a radical mosque that has since been closed.

Pakistani human rights activist Mukhtar Mai (C) receives a standing ovation
as she takes the stage following performance of the opera 'Thumbprint', at
the Roy and Edna Disney/Calarts Theater (REDCAT) in Los Angeles, on
June 16, 2017 (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)

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Yassmine el Ksaihi poses in the prayer hall of the Polder Mosque in Amsterdam, 

Netherlands, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Uniquely in the Netherlands, men and 

women pray together in her mosque, albeit segregated, with the women praying

 in the back of the prayer hall. Devotions and sermons are conducted mostly in

 Dutch rather than Arabic. And non-Muslims are welcome. Across Europe Muslims

 are seeking a formula that lets them be an inseparable part of their country while

 maintaining their loyalty to their faith and origin. (AP Photo/ Evert Elzinga)

Merkel Praises Indonesia's Development in Meeting Focused on Education

Jakarta Globe, Eko Prasetyo, April 19, 2016

President Joko Widodo in a discussion with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in
Bundeskanzleramt, Berlin, Germany, Monday (18/04). (State Palace Press Photo/Laily)

Jakarta. German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Indonesia’s developments and achievements while meeting with President Joko Widodo in Bundeskanzleramt, Berlin, on Monday (18/04).

“It is a challenging duty for a country to develop itself, especially for Indonesia with 250 million citizens and 17,000 islands. I am amazed by Indonesia’s achievements. Surely, we can discuss many issues together,” Merkel said in an official statement.

Prior to the visit, Joko said the two will focus on efforts to increase and strengthen partnerships in vocational education in a number of sectors.

“Indonesia wants Germany to assist vocational education, especially those related to industry, such as power plants, textile, maritime and others,” Joko said.

Both leaders agreed in their meeting to follow up the vocational partnership commitment in a technical meeting in May.

Both countries agreed to complete the "scooping papers," which will accelerate the establishment of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

The meeting touched on terrorism and the place of soft and hard power in eradicating the threat, as well as a proposal to establish a Steering Committee to oversee the application of 2012 Indonesia-Germany Comprehensive Partnership.

Germany is Indonesia's top European trading partner and its seventh largest investor.

Commentary: Even After Paris, Fear Is No Match for Love

Jakarta Globe, Katrin Figge, November 24, 2015

Police outside the stadium following the cancellation of the Germany-Netherlands
international friendly soccer match due to a security threat, in Hanover, Germany,
on Nov. 17. (Reuters Photo/Morris MacMatzen)

As I was standing in front of the football stadium HDI Arena in Hanover, there was suddenly an announcement over the speakers: "The football match Germany vs. the Netherlands has been canceled at the last minute. Please remain calm and go home immediately."

I looked around me, and there were no signs of panic in the faces of the other football fans – it was mainly disappointment. Like myself, most of them had come that night not only to witness a football match but to make a statement: in the wake of the terror attacks that hit Paris, we wanted to show the world that they we won’t let any threat harm us and our way of living. We still want to go out on Friday nights and have dinner and drinks in a nice café, we still want to watch football at the stadium, and we will continue to go to concerts, the opera and the theater.

With the cancellation of the football match, this opportunity to take a stand against terror was denied to us. As I made my way back to the hotel, I witnessed the heavily-armed anti-terror squad doing random checks on people carrying big bags, pulling over cars and urging the passersby to quickly walk on.

Back at the hotel, I immediately turned on the TV, and it was only then that I began to feel uneasy: there had been plans of several bombing attacks in the stadium and at other places in the city of Hanover. Residents were advised to stay at home. The sirens of the police cars were the sound I fell asleep to.

When I woke up again, it was a perfectly normal autumn day in Hanover. And yet, the occurrences of the night before still lingered over the city. At the same time, an anti-terror raid had taken place in Saint-Denis in France. The gunshots made me shiver.

Since I was scheduled to go back to Berlin only on the next day, I decided to go ahead with what I had planned – a small sightseeing tour. The normalcy – if not to say banality – of exploring Hanover on a bicycle felt extremely good, but whenever I was passing a public place with increased security, I couldn’t help but feel sad.

I live in Jakarta, and I am used to passing metal detectors and undergoing security checks whenever I want to enter a shopping mall or a hotel. Seeing the same thing in Germany is strange.

The next day, my train to Berlin was delayed for almost two hours. While I was waiting on the platform, only 10 meters away from where I was standing, people had spotted an ownerless black bag and informed authorities.

Within only a minute or so, there were at least five police officers on the platform. In the end, it was only false alarm, but I could still feel tension and fear in myself and the people around me. Back in Berlin, there wasn’t any difference to Hanover: increased security at the train station and the airport.

From Berlin, I took a flight with Turkish Airlines back to Jakarta on Saturday evening, and the first thing I read when I landed in Indonesia at Soekarno Hatta airport was that there had been a bomb threat on another Turkish Airlines flight from New York to Istanbul. Meanwhile, Brussels was -- and remains -- on lockdown.

I was glad when I reached home and my dog greeted me at the front door, happily wagging his tail because we hadn’t seen each other for seven days – compared to the madness that was last week, it instilled a sense of normalcy in me again.

The terror attacks in Paris have not only changed the French capital, but the whole of Europe. They hurt us deeply, as they have attacked our sense of freedom and independence and took away the lives of innocent people so randomly.

As my sister recently told me, she is almost afraid to turn on the TV or open the newspaper in the morning because every day, there seem to be more devastating news. It is quite easy to lose faith in humanity with everything that is happening in this crazy world but isn’t this exactly what the terrorists want?

Therefore, we must stand tall and strong, in unity – just as I was planning to do ahead of the football match in Hanover. When I travel to Germany again for Christmas, I will watch the last Bundesliga game of Hertha BSC live at the Olympiastadion before they go into the winter break. I usually dread going to the stadium in winter time simply because I can’t stand the cold – but this is about solidarity, compassion and my new motto: love over fear.

I know it sounds cheesy, but maybe it’s exactly what we need in these rather dark and gloomy days. It is as Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Katrin Figge is a freelance journalist based in Jakarta. She published her first book on football this year, 'An Tagen wie diesen.'

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"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. Do Not Despair

There's too much information to give you in one channelling, in one sitting, so I refer to past messages for you to better understand and reference the information in order to get the bigger picture. So I wish to remind you of something I also told you in a recent channelling called Do Not Despair. You're winning! It's because you're winning that the dark consciousness on this planet is feeling it, and the humanity that represents darkness is pulling out everything it has to survive.

It Has Always Been There

Let's look at it, because it's all over the news. Are you shocked at the sudden existence of the organization that will remain unnamed [for this channelling]? Where did it come from? How could it be so organized? How could it be so well funded? This organization could have its own country soon! They might as well name it, “The Old Energy Dark Country”, for that's what it will represent.

The barbaric past of humanity comes forward to show its face. It has always been there, hiding under the rocks and between the cracks of civilized humanity. It couldn't show itself until now, but now it has to. It's ugly and it's not for the faint at heart, is it, dear ones? Seeing evil personified in Human action is abhorrent. It is so ugly and so dark that you cannot look upon it with a gentle heart. God is not a part of it and this is obvious.

You're winning! Light is winning! The uprising of dark consciousness would not have shown itself with this strength, or this quickly, if this were not so. This is exactly what I told you to look for, and it is proof that those representing this dark consciousness are in trouble. Dear ones, dark consciousness has always had a tried-and-true system. It lurks in the shadows and influences all the power places of the planet - government, commerce, finance. Suddenly, it can't hide there as well anymore and it's out in the open.

Where is the funding coming from? It is coming from a storehouse that has always been there, dear ones. It uses income that has been generated from low consciousness acts, collected for a very long time. Funding didn't just appear. It has been stored, waiting to be used in order to spread fear and darkness to save what they believe is their way.

Who Will Win?

Dear ones, they haven't got a chance! But it looks like they do, doesn't it? Everything that they are doing is calculated to scare you into submission. Are they winning? Now, that's a question I want you to take from here and examine every day.

Fear is black. If you're in fear, there is no light. You can be the grandest Lightworker, or even be the channeller, but if you're in fear, it doesn't matter how many years you've done light work, or how much light you've accumulated personally. It all goes away with fear, and then they've won the battle for your mind. Do you understand this?

The Strength of the Old Soul - YOU

Old souls, Lightworkers reading this, the experiences you have had over lifetimes and lifetimes are incredible! The old soul knows fear. I don't want to be too graphic, but I want you to understand! What was it like when you put your head in the guillotine because you talked about God in a way that was inappropriate? What was it like to be bound hand and foot when they lit the match at your feet? Old soul, that's fear! You carry those experiences in your Akash.

I want to tell you they haven't got a chance to scare you! You absolutely know what fear is, and they haven't got a chance as long as you cling to that part of you that is the strength of God. You've been through it all. That means you've got the weapons of truth, wisdom and light. Don't forget it. Don't forget who you are!

Do you see how fast they assembled? It seemed like only yesterday that there was no organization at all. Where did they come from? Have you noticed a certain hesitancy to fight them? Why is it that the citizens of the lands that they are invading are hesitant to fight them? Instead, these leaders are calling on others to help. Why is it that the others are also hesitant? I want to show you that there are some anomalies of logic that are not making sense, because this is a battle you have never seen before on this planet. We've expected it, but you haven't. It's about consciousness, not land or resources.

How to Win?

We gave you the secret before of how to defeat them without taking even one life: Simply take away their funding. They cannot exist without their funding. The funding has to be organized, stored, and distributed. It has to be generated in such a way that it must also go through institutions. Did you hear that? All you have to do is stop the system. Winning won't be done with bombing. It's going to be done with intelligence, clever thinking and financial forensics. It's time to get smart on some of these things and not to be afraid to look at this puzzle differently than you have before. Do not apply the energy they are using in order to fight them, because you won't win. Figure it out. It's the last bastion of organized darkness and evil thinking on this planet coming together to try to survive the assault of your light. Don't be afraid to look at the funding trail, no matter where it takes you.

Fear is Their Weapon

I want you to know something as you look at your news. It may appear that you are unable to stop them. In many places, they will gain strength as they create fear. The fear is easily created in those who are not old souls and who don't know fear like you do and who don't have the armor of your spiritual experiences. This puts you in the front line, dear one. Did you realize that? But you don't have to go fight them on their terms. All you have to do is broadcast light. High consciousness will beat fear any day.. .”

Germany ready to support Turkey's EU accession process, says Merkel

Chancellor Merkel has said Germany will support Turkey's EU membership bid, during a visit aimed at securing Ankara's help in stemming a migrant influx to Europe. Turkish PM Davutoglu hailed Europe's "better approach."

Deutsche Welle, 18 Oct 2015

Merkel and Davutoglu shake hands at a joint-press conference

Germany is ready to accelerate Turkey's EU accession process, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Merkel spoke of organizing the accesion process "more dynamically."

"Germany is ready this year to open Chapter 17, and make preparations for (Chapters) 23 and 24. We can talk about the details," she said.

Kanzlerin #Merkel zu Gesprächen in #Türkei eingetroffen. Im Mittelpunkt: Syrien+Kooperation in der Flüchtlingskrise. pic.twitter.com/15vLrwt6jM

— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) 18 oktober 2015

Merkel's statement comes as she visits Turkish leaders on Sunday in a bid to secure Ankara's support in stemming the current migrant influx into the EU.

'Better approach'

Davutoglu hailed the EU's latest moves to foster collaboration between Brussels and Ankara as a "better approach."

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing. We are very pleased there is a better approach now. The issue of sharing going forward is very important," Davutoglu said.

The Turkish premier also praised Merkel for "not turning a blind eye" to the crisis.

However, Davutoglu noted that "significant new waves of migration" were likely to occur if a political solution to the Syrian conflict does not emerge.

Turkey has taken in more than two million Syrian refugees since a civil war erupted there in 2011, according to UN figures.

Thousands of refugees have crossed the Aegean Sea to enter EU member
state Greece from Turkey

Whole package?

According to officials, the EU offered Ankara an aid package of at least 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) along with an easing EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens, which Merkel and Davutoglu discussed.

The German chancellor later met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said he asked Merkel to support Turkey's EU membership bid. Erdogan added that he also asked France, Britain and Spain for support.

The EU is struggling to cope with the current influx of asylum seekers, with more than half a million migrants having crossed into the 28-nation bloc in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in September.

ls/tj (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

Germany, Turkey hail progress in handling refugee crisis http://t.co/KzSFwV7skC pic.twitter.com/HgwlJBVOOH

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 18 oktober 2015

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Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

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Germany calls for global abolition of death penalty on world awareness day

The German government has urged countries around the globe to bring an end to capital punishment. The call coincides with the thirteenth "World Day Against the Death Penalty."

Deutsche Welle, 10 Oct 2015

German commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, Christoph Strässer (SPD), said on Saturday that the punishment has no place in the 21st century.

"I encourage all people who work against this cruel and inhuman punishment, to continue their efforts continue," Strässer said.

"There is a misconception that the death penalty is good to fight crime," he commented, adding that despite a general move away from capital punishment around the world, the number of execution cases in China, Iran, Saudia Arabia and Iraq had recently been on the increase.

Amnesty International estimates that in the first half of this year alone, almost 700 people were sentenced to death in Iran . According to the human rights organization, there were executions in 22 countries last year.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to visit Saudi Arabia and Iran later in October.

No excuse for execution

Strässer also noted on Saturday that many cases of execution follow "questionable verdicts" in which the confessions have been given as a result of torture.

It is "terrifying" he said, how often such defendants are offered no legal representation or a translator.

"These states, which can't ensure consistent enforcement, simply accept misjudgments," Strässer said, before rejecting any argument that the death penalty will help in the fight against terrorism.

"Violations of human rights in a social climate actually promote instability," he said.

The thirteenth "World Day Against the Death Penalty" on Saturday, aims this year to raise awareness specifically about the application of capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

ksb/jm (AFP, dpa)

Muslims mark end of Ramadan with Eid-al-Fitr festival

The Muslim community around the world has begun to mark the end of Ramadan. After a month of fasting, followers of Islam will now start celebrating the festival of Eid-al-Fitr - not all, however, on the same day.

Deutsche Welle, 17 July 2015

For the past month, some 1.5 billion devotees have fasted from dawn to sunset every day, marking the month in which they believe the Quran was sent down to the lowest heaven, where it was prepared for Gabriel to later reveal to the Islamic Prophet Muhammed. Many Muslims regard the fast as a means of creating astronger bond with their religion.

Due to Islam's 12-month lunar calendar, however, not all Muslims will begin the celebrations of Eid on the same day. The sighting of the new, crescent moon ends Ramadan, and the start of Eid must be declared by sunset; some countries still observe the tradition that this new moon be observed with the naked eye, meaning they tend to be one day late.

Some 1.5 billion Muslims around the
 world have fasted for the last month

Festivities will therefore have a staggered start across Friday and Saturday, as Muslim communities rely on different methods of confirming the end of Ramadan.

'New beginning'

Whether beginning on Friday or Saturday, the world's Islamic community will now revel in three days of celebrations to mark the end of Ramadan. Eid, also known among other names as the Feast of Breaking the Fast or the Sugar Feast, brings together Muslim families over gifts and decadent meals.

In a statement released late on Thursday, US President Barack Obama offered his wishes to Muslims around the globe as they prepared to break their fast.

"While Eid marks the end of Ramadan, it marks a new beginning for each individual - a reason to celebrate and express gratitude on this holiday," Obama said.

The president also made reference to New York City's recent decision to include Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as public school holidays, describing the decision as "acknowledgement of the great diversity and inclusiveness that adds to the richness of our nation."

German President Joachim Gauck, himself a former pastor, used the occasion to appeal for religious unity.

"If we let ourselves be driven by a wish for respectful, peaceful coexistence, we'll secure a good, collective future," Gauck said. Germany's Central Council of Muslims said it was happy to have observed many non-Muslims in Germany joining in the late-night fast-breaking celebrations which take place during Ramadan.

Heatwave during fasting

Many communities turn to Mecca to

determine the end of Ramadan

Since beginning Ramadan on June 18, Muslims, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, faced a particularly grueling month of fasting this year, with temperatures reaching as high as 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) in Germany, taking the meaning of Ramadan - "hot month" - to the very extremes.

There are of course exemptions to fasting during Ramadan, which include menstruating or pregnant women, the sick, the young and the elderly. Doctors and public health organizations this year issued extra warnings to fasting Muslims across Europe, reminding families of the dangers of dehydration, particularly among the young and elderly - sentiments which were widely supported by Muslim councils and leaders.

Temperatures in Europe were nothing, however, compared to those in the Middle East, which saw highs of 48 degrees Celsius in Iraq. Military and civilian aid organizations in Pakistan set up dozens of temporary camps to care for victims of dehydration, heatstroke and circulatory collapse as temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius in the shade.

ksb/msh (AFP, dpa)

The Empire State Building glows green on July 17, 2015 in New York City to 

celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan (AFP 

Photo/Brigitte Dusseau)

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DJ legend van Dyk unites Middle East with dance music

Business Insider - AFP, Shaun Tandon, 4 May 2015

German DJ Paul van Dyk poses on January 30, 2012 in Cannes, southeastern
France (AFP/File Valery Hache)

New York (AFP) - He is unlikely to be named a Middle East peace negotiator, but DJ superstar Paul van Dyk says that his music in a way has succeeded where politics has failed.

"The Politics of Dancing 3," the German DJ's latest album which was released Monday, brings together artists from around the Middle East in a sign of how electronic music has increasingly become global.

Van Dyk -- often considered a pioneer of trance music, although he dislikes the categorization -- brought both established and emerging DJs into the studio for the album, which is driven by fast-paced driving beats and catchy, accelerating melodies.

"The collaborations I did, they very clearly show how uniting music is," van Dyk told AFP in New York, where ahead of the album's release he played a six-hour set at a Brooklyn warehouse.

"Someone from Israel could never travel to Lebanon, and definitely has big issues going to Egypt or other places, so musically we don't have those boundaries.

"We are miles ahead in terms of the 'politics of dancing,' compared with the politics out there," he said.

Range of collaborations

"The Politics of Dancing 3," van Dyk's seventh studio album, features a collaboration with Aly and Fila, the Egyptian duo who have emerged as one of trance's biggest acts, as well as a separate track with the Israeli trance duo Las Salinas.

Van Dyk also worked with star Turkish DJ Ummet Ozcan and emerging Egyptian DJ Mohamed Ragab, and brought in vocals from Singaporean singer and former television talent contestant Daphne Khoo.

Van Dyk's previous two installments of "The Politics of Dancing" consisted of mixes but the latest album has only one such track -- his remix of "Around the Garden" by Algerian DJ Mino Safy, which van Dyk said captivated him when he first heard it.

Van Dyk said he selected artists for their music and that his political point was incidental rather than deliberate. The album also features European DJs including Giuseppe Ottaviani and Michael Tsukerman.

Still, van Dyk said he was struck about how two of his friends -- one from Tel Aviv and the other from Beirut -- bonded when they met in the Spanish clubbing island of Ibiza.

"They could have otherwise never met each other. And they just say, 'Look, we are just like any young people. We want healthy, peaceful living. Why can't we have this with our countries being so close?'"

Upfront about drugs

Raised behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin, the 43-year-old van Dyk became a major force in electronic music during the boom in clubbing in the 1990s and gained wider exposure through his work with New Order.

The original inspiration for "The Politics of Dancing" series came not from the Middle East -- or from the unconnected 1983 song of the same name by the British New Wave band Re-Flex --but from New York, where authorities cracked down on the thriving clubbing scene in the late 1990s as part of then mayor Rudy Giuliani's law-and-order approach.

"I was trying to explain, it's not just people getting drunk and dancing. It is actually a youth culture that unites people from all these different cultural or religious backgrounds," van Dyk said.

With electronic music growing rapidly, van Dyk said it was important to acknowledge the pitfalls -- particularly drug overdoses.

Van Dyk said that the problem was especially acute in the United States due to clubs' strict prohibitions against admitting young people under 21, who take the scene underground.

"If I were to have children, I would want them when they were 15 or 16 going to a club in a safe environment and having a good time rather than going to an open field.

"It's almost pathetic that one is preferred over the other here, but the wrong way around, I believe," he said.

Van Dyk said that he was not entirely comfortable serving as a role model, but hoped nevertheless to set an example.

"I got into contact with electronic music as a teenager in front of the radio in East Berlin," he said.

"I never really made that connection that I had to take drugs to enjoy the music."

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