Germany has condemned a Taliban official’s appearance at an event being held at a mosque in the city of Cologne.
Abdul Bari Omar, who works in the Taliban-run health authority in Afghanistan, visited the mosque where he spoke at a conference organised by the city’s Afghan association.
“The appearance of a representative of the Taliban in Cologne is completely unacceptable and must be strongly condemned. No one should offer radical Islamists a platform in Germany,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs – known as Ditib – which manages the mosque is one of the largest Islamic organisations in Germany.
Ms Faeser urged Ditib leaders to explain “how it could have been possible that the room was used” in this manner.
Ditib's management said it had no prior knowledge the Taliban official would appear at the event.
“Contrary to the original contract, it was transformed into a political event and a speaker who was not known to us had been invited,” it said.
Ditib rejected “any proximity, even spiritual, to the Taliban”.
The German Foreign Ministry said the Taliban official had not been issued a visa to enter Germany.
He apparently was able to travel to the country using a Schengen visa issued by a “neighbouring country”, it added.
Mr Omar travelled from the Netherlands, where he had participated in a World Health Organisation conference in early November, German media reported.
Since the Taliban swept back to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, billions of dollars in assistance and assets have been frozen by the West in what the UN has described as an “unprecedented fiscal shock” to the country's aid-dependent economy.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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