Mahaba Niue: GERMANY

German Christian sect raided and children put in care....

<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"><img alt="The Twelve Tribes community in Klosterzimmern, Germany" height="360" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69678000/jpg/_69678826_ap120520030145.jpg" width="640" /></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">German police have raided two communities in Bavaria belonging to a Christian sect and removed 40 children.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">There was new evidence of ongoing child abuse by members of the Twelve Tribes sect, officials told Germany's Spiegel Online website.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">Witnesses of the dawn raids said there was no resistance from the group members, who denied the allegations, Augsburger Allgemeine reports.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">The US-founded sect says it believes in spanking children if disobedient.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">But it said a "small reed-like rod" was used intended only to inflict "pain and not damage" and was not abusive.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"Desiring to be good parents, we do not hit our children in anger, nor with our hand or fist," <a href="http://twelvetribes.com/frequently-asked-questions" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to the Twelve Tribes page about spanking and disciplining children">the group, which has communities in 10 countries around the world, says on its website about raising children</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"We know that some people consider this aspect of our life controversial, but we have seen from experience that discipline keeps a child from becoming mean-spirited and disrespectful of authority."</div><span class="cross-head" style="background-color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.231em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">School objections</span><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">More than 100 officers were involved in the operation to remove the children, who have been placed temporarily with foster families.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">They were taken from two locations run by the group - 28 from a monastery and farm of Klosterzimmern near Deiningen town and 12 from a communal house in the village of Wornitz.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">Twelve Tribes, which follows teachings in the Old and New Testaments as God's direct word, has come to the attention of the German authorities before, especially for its refusal to send its children to public schools.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">Recently local authorities withdrew an education licence from a Twelve Tribes school at Klosterzimmern because of a lack of suitable teachers.</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">"The action today has nothing to do with the subject of compulsory education," a spokesman for the Bavarian state education ministry told Augsburger Allgemeine.</div><br />

German Christian sect raided and children put in care....

German police have raided two communities in Bavaria belonging to a Christian sect and removed 40 children. There was new evidence of ongoin...

13:25

Joachim LOEW BEMUSED BY "REAL SELLING OZIL TO ARSENAL..."

<div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;"><img alt="PHOTO | CHRISTOF STACHE Joachim Loew, head coach of Germany's national football team, follows a news conference in Munich, southern Germany, on September 4, 2013." height="426" src="http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/1979724/highRes/571579/-/maxw/600/-/qm9k25z/-/Joachim+Loew+px.jpg" width="640" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">Mesut Ozil's move to Arsenal is good for the German national side, coach Joachim Loew believes, but he is bemused by Real Madrid's decision to sell their midfield star.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">Ozil, 24, joined Premier League side Arsenal for 50 million euros on Monday's transfer deadline day after Real completed the signing of Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">Loew said he was happy to see Ozil move to the Gunners to work under coach Arsene Wenger, but bemused as to why Real let him go.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">"The transfer is good for the national team, he will have a top coach at Arsenal and will be playing at a very high level, that'll suit him well," said Loew with Germany hosting Austria in a World Cup qualifier in Munich on Friday.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">"I have heard a few players like Cristiano Ronaldo or Sami Khedira are sad to lose a class player.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">"And for me it's hard to understand why Real let one of their top scorers go, but that's business."</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">Ozil netted 10 goals for Real last season, setting up a further 24 as Cristiano Ronaldo finished as Real's top scorer with 55.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">Loew said he has already noticed Ozil is clearly "happy and satisfied" with the move during his training sessions with the Germany squad in Munich.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">"He's a sensitive player who needs a lot of confidence in him from his club and coach," said Loew.</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">"I phoned him in the days before the transfer, because you could feel that this trust was not quite 100 percent there."</div></div><div style="font-family: ColfaxRegular, 'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069', 'Nimbus Sans TW01', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'ITC Century W01 Light'; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15.600000000000001px;">Ozil has made 47 appearances for Germany, scoring 14 goals.</div></div>

Joachim LOEW BEMUSED BY "REAL SELLING OZIL TO ARSENAL..."

Mesut Ozil's move to Arsenal is good for the German national side, coach Joachim Loew believes, but he is bemused by Real Madrid's d...

07:13