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Author: Vijeta Uniyal

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Vijeta Uniyal

Vijeta Uniyal is a writer based in Germany. He is Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Gatestone Institute and founder of the "Indians For Israel".

The probe into Tuesday's triple bomb blasts in the city of Dortmund has led the German police to the refugee circles. Investigators detained a known Islamist holding a German passport and an asylum seeker from Iraq on suspicions of carrying out coordinated bomb attacks on the Borussia Dortmund soccer team bus, injuring one player. Three explosive devices went off near the soccer team's bus as it left the hotel for to the Champions League quarterfinals against AS Monaco. German authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. German Police recovered a note near the site of explosions that began with "the name of Allah, the merciful," German newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. The note further calls for Germany to close the Ramstein airbase that serves as the headquarters for the U.S. Air Force in Europe:

With her book The Veiled Threat dealing with the plight of Muslim women in Europe, former radical feminist Zana Ramadani has kicked the Islamist hornets’ nest in Germany. Being born a Muslim herself, Ramadani is fearful of her life after receiving countless death threats from radical Muslims in Germany. German authorities have not granted her police protection yet. Ramadani gained public prominence in Germany five years ago when she founded the German chapter of the radical feminist group Femen. Once a darling of the left, Ramadani quickly fell out of favour with German liberals once she started criticising the oppression of women within Islam. Her fellow feminists accused her of being a racist and forced Ramadani out of the group which she founded.

In what is being described as the largest single defense deal in Israel’s history, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has secured a defense contract worth almost $2 billion from India. Under the contract, IAI will equip the Indian Armed Forces with long and medium-range missile defense systems that have been developed through a joint Israeli-Indian partnership. IAI has been supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to strengthen the Indian manufacturing base, also known as ‘Make in India’ initiative. "The current contracts represent an enormous expression of confidence by the Government of India in IAI's capabilities and advanced technologies which are being developed with our local partners as part of the Indian Government's 'Make in India' policy." IAI's CEO Yossi Weiss said.

The government of Angela Merkel has approved draft legislation that seeks to combat certain content on the social media. The proposed law will force social media companies to remove content that German government may find offensive or 'false'. In its broadly defined parameters the law wants social media companies to act against hate speech, and other contents that may be "in breach of German laws", Bonn-based public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported. Companies could face up to €50 million, or $53 million, in fines if they fail to remove 'criminal content'. All the major social media providers are based in the U.S. and by enacting this law Merkel government clearly wants to circumvent the free speech rights granted under the U.S. Constitution.

President Donald Trump's latest executive orders on foreign trade have irked Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, prompting tough talk from Berlin. On Friday, President Trump signed two orders seeking to identify trade abuse and other malpractices carried out by foreign governments in order to lower the U.S. trade deficit. Merkel's second-in-command, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, described Trump's moves as unlawful, claiming that he wants to "favour American companies, even if it contradicts international law." Germany's Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said that President Trump was taking the U.S. in  "completely the wrong direction" and "moving away from free trade" by signing those executive orders. Minister Zypries had previously threatened to take the U.S. to court if the Trump administration were to impose import duties on German products.

Germany's biggest sports body, German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), has cancelled its cooperation with Palestinian Football Association (PFA), the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung (TAZ) reported. The German decision came after concerns raised by Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center following an exposé released by the media watchdog Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). In an exposé release early February, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) had highlighted the role of Palestinian Football Association’s President, Jibril Rajoub, in promoting Jihad and martyrdom against unarmed Israeli citizens.

Mainstream media is reeling following the victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-Right BJP party in nationwide state elections, with leading liberal newspapers and news outlets raising the cry of ‘Islamophobia’ in India. The UK's left-wing newspaper The Guardian called the Hindu-Right electoral gains in the biggest Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), which has a population of 220 million, “a victory for anti-Muslim bigotry”. Aiming its criticism of the man elected to run the state -- a 44 year-old Hindu Monk -- Yogi Adityanath, The Guardian complained  that "[Adityanath] backs a Donald Trump-style travel ban to stop "terrorists" coming to India." According to Indian media reports, President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Modi today to congratulate him on his electoral success.

With the diplomatic row between Europe and Turkey escalating further, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan issued an unveiled threat to Europeans. "If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, Turkey. Earlier, several cities in Germany and the Netherlands canceled public appearances by Erdogan's ministers citing security concerns. It is unclear if Erdogan's statement was meant as a direct call to violence, but Erdogan supporters have a track record of resorting to intimidation and violence abroad to push their Islamist leaders' political agenda. Earlier this month, thousands of Turkish immigrants rioted in the streets of Rotterdam after city's mayor refused the landing rights to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Following those riots in the Netherlands, Erdogan supporters vandalised the Dutch consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger, Social Democratic Party's (SPD) candidate Martin Schulz kicked off his election campaign by bashing U.S. President Donald Trump. Schulz denounced, what he called, U.S. President's "misogynistic, anti-democratic and racist" rhetoric. These latest comments follow SPD candidate's earlier remarks in January when he called President Trump "un-American". Schulz was speaking at the SPD party convention on Sunday that unanimously confirmed him as party's Chancellor candidate. Long-time E.U. insider Schulz is running on the slogan "Make Europe[-an Union] Great Again". He served from 2012 to 2017 as the President of E.U. Parliament.

A video footage, in which President Donald Trump apparently ignores a handshake request from the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a photo op in the Oval Office, has irked the German press. In the video, press photographers can be heard urging both leaders to shake hands for the photo. Prompted by reporters, Merkel is heard asking Trump: “Do you want to do the handshake?” Trump appears to ignore the request. German broadcaster NTV complained lack of public affection during the bilateral meeting with the headline “No Kiss On the Cheek, No Patting”. The German TV channel contrasted Trump’s apparent snub of Merkel with chivalry shown by him towards the British Prime Minister Theresa May during her Whitehouse visit in January.

Having postponed her Tuesday's visit due to a blizzard, German Chancellor Angela Merkel heads to Washington today. This would be the first in-person meeting between the two world leaders since the change of the guard in Washington. While German police go after citizens for criticizing Chancellor Merkel or her ‘Refugee’ Policy, demeaning President Trump is the new favourite pastime for Germany's political establishment and mainstream media. German mainstream media, hostile to President Donal Trump on any given day, made no effort to hide its belligerence toward the U.S. President ahead of Merkel's visit.

According to final vote count tallies, Prime Minister Mark Rutte's centre-right VVD has scored a commanding lead over his main rival Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV). With 95 percent of votes counted, PM Rutte's VVD won 33 seats in the 150-place legislature, down from 41 at the last vote in 2012. Wilders came second with 20 seats, Reuters news agency reports.

What undoubtedly could be the most significant political encounter of the year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Washington on Tuesday to meet President Donald Trump, the first meeting between these two world leaders. Ahead of German Chancellor's visit to the U.S., mainstream media is once again busy inflating the stature of their favourite European leader.  "The great disrupter confronts the last defender of the liberal world order," wrote The New York Times. London-based Financial Times declared in its headline, "The time for German leadership has arrived." However, a lot of Merkel’s political clout has been chipped away since President Obama endorsed her re-election bid while visiting Berlin last November.

A diplomatic dispute between the Netherlands and Turkey has led to rioting by Turks in Rotterdam and a diplomatic crisis that could influence the Dutch elections that are just a few days away.

Thousands of Turkish immigrants rioted in the streets of Rotterdam early Sunday following the Dutch government's decision to bar two Turkish ministers from entering the country.

The Mayor of Rotterdam issued emergency orders late Saturday in an attempt to contain a demonstration supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan outside the Turkish consulate in the city which has turned into a rallying point for Turkish immigrants.

Today morning, pro-Erdogan rioters vandalised the consulate of the Netherlands in the Turkish city of Istanbul and took down the Dutch flag replacing it with a Turkish flag, French news agency AFP reports.

While the Merkel government and German media don't like to talk about the No-Go Zones and the rising wave of migrant crime in the country, a popular German TV show "Akte 2017" has brought the issue to the forefront. German journalist and moderator Claus Strunz went to Berlin's Kottbusser Tor area -- dubbed as the 'most dangerous place in Germany' -- to record the latest edition of his show.

As Berlin's Left-wing state government prohibits police from carrying out video surveillance in the capital on the grounds of 'preserving individual privacy', Strunz and his crew installed 9 cameras in and around Kottbusser Tor, and ran them for 48 hours. Last year, Berlin police registered 1,600 crimes in Kottbusser Tor. However, according to the show's moderator Strunz, his crew recorded 'hundreds of crimes' in just 48 hours and with just 9 cameras.

'Never believe anything until it has been officially denied,' they use to say in days of the Soviet Union. Today, the same is apparently true for the European Union. After years of official denials, E.U. has announced its plans to build a unified military command in the Belgian city of Brussels -- a move set to take NATO's European partners away from the existing transatlantic alliance. Germany's state-run ARD broadcaster called it an "attempt to transform European Union into a real defense union". Just last year in the run-up to the Brexit vote, U.K.'s Deputy Prime Minister and pro-E.U. campaigner Nick Clegg blasted U.K. Independence Party's (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage for misleading the voters on the issue of a proposed E.U. Army ahead of the referendum, saying Farage was spreading a 'dangerous fantasy that is simply not true.' That 'dangerous fantasy' is now coming true.

What is being seen as a sharp departure from India's longstanding Middle East policy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be visiting the Palestinian Authority during his historic visit to Israel, the first ever by a sitting Prime Minister of the country.  "Contrary to expectations that Modi would include Palestine in his itinerary like many ministers did in the past, he will be travelling only to Israel", the leading Indian newspaper Time of India wrote. Prime Minister Modi is expected to visit Israel in July to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries. According to the Times of India, the Palestinian Authority's (PA) envoy to India was 'shocked' at Modi government's decision to skip the customary visit to the Palestinian Territories. "Mr. Modi is not visiting Palestine on this occasion. Inshallah [By Allah's will], our President [Mahmoud Abbas] will be here this year," PA-envoy Adnan Abu Alhaija told the Indian newspaper.

The number of Islamists leaving Germany to join the ranks of Islamic State fighters is on the rise, German news magazine DER SPIEGEL reports. More than 910 German residents have left the country to fight under the banner of ISIS including nearly 200 female fighters, DER SPIEGEL wrote citing Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, or BfV. What makes these revelations most disturbing is the fact that 300 ISIS members -- many of whom have active combat experience -- are already back in Germany. Most of these battle-hardened terrorists are now back in their communities and in many cases not even under full surveillance.