Germany to ease visa conditions for some earthquake victims
Berlin, Feb 12: The German government wants to temporarily ease visa restrictions for survivors of the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria who have close family ties to Germany if they are facing homelessness or were injured.
"It's about helping in times of need. We want to make it possible for Turkish or Syrian families in Germany to bring close relatives from the disaster region," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser tweeted late Saturday.
"They can find shelter with us and receive medical treatment," Faeser said. "With regular visas, which are issued quickly and are valid for three months."
However, not all the requirements of a regular visa procedure are being waived. Applicants must still be able to present a valid passport likely to be an obstacle for people who fled collapsing buildings.
Several million people in Germany have Turkish roots because, more than 60 years ago, West Germany recruited "guest workers" from Turkey and elsewhere to help the country advance economically.
More recently, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees came to Germany looking for safety from the brutal civil war back home.
Turkish and Syrian immigrants in Germany have been collecting aid, sending donations and worrying for their relatives back home. Calls to allow them to take in close family members from the devastated regions had been growing for days.
The German government said it would ease the normally very strict and bureaucratic visa conditions quickly, adding that the foreign ministry had already both increased its staff in Turkey and redeployed capacity at visa acceptance centers there.
Earthquake victims who wish to seek refuge in Germany and want to apply for a three-month visa need to prove that they have close family members in Germany who have German citizenship or a permanent right of residence, German news agency dpa reported.
The German host family member must submit a declaration promising to pay for the living expenses and subsequent departure of the person taken in.
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Mandya district court receives bomb threat, turns out to be hoax
Mandya (Karnataka) (PTI): A bomb threat email sent to the judge of the Mandya district court here triggered panic on Thursday, prompting police to launch a search operation.
According to police, the district court received a bomb threat through an email earlier in the day, following which authorities immediately evacuated the premises.
Court proceedings were halted, and lawyers, judges, staff and litigants were asked to immediately vacate the premises.
Police teams, along with the bomb disposal squad and fire brigade personnel, rushed to the spot and launched a thorough inspection of the court premises.
Senior police officials, including Additional Superintendent of Police Gangadhar Swamy, were present at the scene and supervised the search operation.
Police later said the threat appeared to be a hoax.
Lawyers said a similar email threat was received on February 16 as well, and expressed concern over the recurrence of such incidents.
Police said an investigation has been launched to nab those behind such acts.
