[55d250eb1400001a002e31e9.png] Edition: US * عربي (Arabi) AR * Australia AU * Brasil BR * Canada CA * Deutschland DE * España ES * France FR * Ελλάδα (Greece) GR * India IN * Italia IT * 日本 (Japan) JP * 한국 (Korea) KR * Maghreb MG * United Kingdom UK * United States US * * Homepage India Brasil U.K. Maghreb Japan Deutschland Canada Korea France Espana All Sections News Politics WorldPost Business Media Sports Education Crime Weird News Good News Entertainment Entertainment Celebrity Comedy Arts & Culture Books TV Life & Style Healthy Living GPS for the Soul Style Home Taste Weddings Travel Parents Divorce Huff/Post 50 Marlo Thomas OWN Dr. Phil Quiet Revolution Tech & Science Tech Science Green Voices Women Black Voices Latino Voices Voces (en español) Gay Voices Religion College Teen Impact Local Chicago DC Denver Detroit Hawaii Los Angeles Miami New York San Francisco OUR MOBILE APPS iOS Android HuffPost Live (iOS) GPS For The Soul (iOS) GPS For The Soul (Android) * 205 * facebook * twitter * pinterest * email * comments 17 Merkel's Popularity Dips As Refugee Crisis Worsens 10/14/2015 10:28 am ET | Updated Oct 19, 2015 Reuters [561e66191400002200c79e5b.jpeg] JOHN MACDOUGALL via Getty Images Germany's government hasn't been able to agree on an answer to the influx of refugees. A fall in support and a government row over the refugee crisis raised the heat on German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, forcing allies to defend the integrity of her coalition. Germany, a favored destination for migrants, expects 800,000 to a million new arrivals this year. Many Germans feel the country cannot cope with the record influx. As tempers frayed, Merkel's conservatives met fierce resistance from their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners over plans for transit zones at border crossings to process refugees' asylum requests. They have had to deny such centers would resemble concentration camps. Asked whether the transit zone row heralded the end of the ruling coalition, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told Deutschlandfunk radio: "No! We shouldn't talk about the failure of the coalition every time (there is an argument)." A Forsa poll showed support for Merkel's conservatives had dropped one percent to 38 percent, its lowest level since June 2014. Merkel is trying to steer a course between pressure from her conservatives - especially the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party of her Christian Democrats (CDU) - to take a harder line on refugees and SPD opposition to the transit zones. Bavaria is the first point of entry for many migrants and the state has threatened to take the government to court unless it tries to limit the flow of asylum-seekers. The CDU-run Interior Ministry has drawn up a draft bill that provides for the transit zones, which would hold refugees at border crossings so asylum requests can be examined before they are allowed in. SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel has dubbed the centers "detention zones". Responding to such criticism, CSU lawmaker Stephan Mayer told Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday: "This is not about concentration camps." WE CAN, CAN'T WE? Merkel also faces increased pressure from her own conservatives to end the open-door policy she has pursued with the catchphrase: "We can do this!" A YouGov poll on Tuesday showed that 56 percent of people surveyed thought there were already too many refugees in Germany and that the country could not cope with more. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Tuesday questioned whether all refugees should receive the same benefits as others in Germany. "If we pay out from the first day as much Hartz IV (benefits) to such people - who we first need to teach to speak and write the (German) language - as to someone who has worked for 30 years and is now unemployed, what will a trade unionist say to his members?" he asked. At a meeting of the conservatives' parliamentary group on Tuesday, Merkel resisted pressure to tighten border controls and turn away refugees arriving via Austria. "Her dominance over the party has suffered a bit," said Gero Neugebauer, political scientist at Berlin's Free University. But he added that she could afford to stand firm. "There is no one else who is ready to be chancellor," he said. "That is Merkel's strength." Also on HuffPost: Inspiring Reactions to The Migrant And Refugee Crisis Inspiring Reactions to The Migrant And Refugee Crisis * * * * * Share 1 of 32 Finland's Prime Minister Offers Up Home Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said on Sept. 5 that refugees and asylum seekers would be welcome to stay in his house in the north of the country from early 2016 onwards. Reuters reports that Finland expects about 30,000 asylum seekers to enter the country in 2015. [5605913f1b00004c0005d5cf.jpeg] Michel Euler/Associated Press Finland's Prime Minister Offers Up Home Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said on Sept. 5 that refugees and asylum seekers would be welcome to stay in his house in the north of the country from early 2016 onwards. Reuters reports that Finland expects about 30,000 asylum seekers to enter the country in 2015. Michel Euler/Associated Press image Vatican Parishes Take In Refugee Families Pope Francis announced on Sept. 6 that the Vatican's two parishes would shelter refugee families. The Pope also called on parishes and religious communities across Europe to help house refugee families. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press image Egyptian Billionaire Offers To Build Island For Refugees Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris proposed to buy an island in the Mediterranean Sea in which refugees could live and work. Shawn Baldwin/Bloomberg/Getty Images image Spanish Soccer Coaching Academy Offers Refugee A Job The National Center for the Education of Coaches, Spain's national soccer coaching academy, offered Syrian refugee Osama Abdul Mohsen a soccer coaching job after seeing a video of a Hungarian camerawoman tripping him. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images image Duolingo Offers Free German Language Courses To Arabic-Speaking Migrants Language learning site Duolingo is rolling out free German language course for Arabic speakers to help Arabic-speaking refugees find work in German-speaking countries, like Austria and Germany. Duolingo image Volunteers In Calais In the past years, volunteers from all across Europe have traveled to the "Jungle," a makeshift camp located in Calais, France. Some volunteers even built a library within the camp, named "Jungle Books." Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press image Lebanon Offers Free Education To Syrian Refugee Children On Sept. 21, Lebanon's government announced it would provide free education for up to 100,000 Syrian refugee children, with help from the United Nation's refugee agency UNHCR and children's fund UNICEF. Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images image German Company Refuses To Deliver Razor Wire To Hungary Mutanox, a Berlin-based company, refused to deliver a shipment of razor wire to Hungary, which the country would have used to build a fence around its border to ward off migrants and refugees entering the country. Darko Bandic/Associated Press image British Marine Equipment Company Makes Inflatable Tubes To Save People In The Mediterranean The Unique Group started sending the CentiFloat, an inflatable buoy that can save hundreds of people in danger of drowning, to rescue agencies around the Mediterranean. In an Aug. 6 rescue mission, the CentiFloat managed to rescue some 700 migrants and refugees from an overly packed wooden boat. Christophe Stramba/Doctors Without Borders image Google Matched $5.5 Million In Online Donations Google announced on Sept. 15 that it would match $5.5 million in donations to organizations helping with the migrant and refugee crisis until it reached its goal of $11 million. Google managed to achieve this within two and a half days. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images image Greek Startup Teams Up With Humanitarian Organization To Send Supplies To Migrants Greek startup Taxibeat teamed up with nonprofit Action for Migration and Development to send cars to collect essential items like blankets, food and clothes for refugees stranded on the Greek islands and near the Macedonian border. Thanassis Stavrakis/Associated Press image Facebook Pledges To Bring Internet To Refugee Camps Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced at a Sept. 28 U.N. meeting that his company would partner with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to provide Internet access to U.N. refugee camps. UN Photo/Mark Garten/Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images image "Airbnb For Refugees" Helps People Find Housing In Germany Refugees Welcome, a Berlin-based website to match refugees and homeowners willing to take them in. The site has been a great success, and has even inspired individuals in Austria, Greece, Portugal and the UK to start similar efforts. Markus Schreiber/Associated Press image Mother Launches Crowdfunding Campaign To Donate Baby Carriers To Syrian Mothers Glendale, California-based mother Cristal Logothetis launched a crowdfunding campaign to provide baby carriers, slings and wraps for Syrian parents on the Greek island of Kos. Michael Debets/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images image Danes Crowdfund To Buy Ads Apologizing For Government's Anti-Migrant Stance On Sept. 7, Denmark's government issued ads in four Lebanese newspapers discouraging migrants and refugees from moving to the country. A group of Danish citizens, named "People Reaching Out," raised funds to buy ads in the same four newspapers on Oct. 2 apologizing for their government's "hostility towards refugees" and welcoming them to the country instead. Recep Yasar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images image British Woman Sends Machines For Refugee Women To Produce And Sell Menstrual Protection Amy Peake, founder of nonprofit organization "Loving Humanity," is preparing to ship machines to the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan for Syrian women to cheaply produce and sell sanitary pads. Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images image Online University Helps Refugees Go To College For Free Berlin-based Kiron University partnered with more than 20 global universities to offer free online university-level courses to registered refugees worldwide. Refugees can take courses including economics, engineering, information technology and architecture. Carsten Koall/Getty Images image Danish Newspaper Gives Refugee Journalists Editorial Control For A Day Twelve refugees who previously worked as journalists in their home countries produced a 48-page special issue in the Danish liberal daily newspaper Dagbladet Information. They recounted their stories, commented on the refugee crisis and discussed problems back home. Dagsbladet Information image Google Calls For Translation Help For Refugees Google asks users to contribute words and sentences to its Translations app, particularly between German and Arabic and Farsi -- languages spoken in countries like Syria, Lebanon and Afghanistan -- so that refugees and locals in Germany can better communicate with each other. Google image People In Spain Knit Blankets For Displaced Syrians Before Winter Over six weeks, knitters and crocheters across Spain made some 3,500 blankets to help displaced people in Syria prepare for winter. Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images image Refugees Set Up Schools For Other Refugees Who Had Fallen Behind In Studies Refugees living in Egypt set up schools for other refugee students from countries including Syria, Libya and Iraq who had fallen behind in their education. One of the schools, named the Civilization Builders Education Center, teaches the Egyptian national curriculum and also provides "psychological and social support" for students. Nariman El-Mofty/Associated Press image German Tech Entrepreneurs Teach Refugees How To Code A group of tech entrepreneurs in Germany founded "Refugees on Rails," a nonprofit organization that will use donated old laptops to teach newcomer refugees how to code as they seek asylum in Germany. Axel Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images image U.K. Nonprofit Sends Caravans To Calais U.K.-based volunteer group Caravans for Calais collects donated caravans and sends them to the "Jungle," a makeshift refugee camp in Calais, France, where people live in shoddy tents and shanties despite falling temperatures. Lea Beven/Caravans For Calais image Thousands Of Refugees In Greek Transit Camp Join In Emotional Performance The "Initiative of Citizens of Thessaloniki: We cross borders" group organized a concert for refugees in the Idomeni transit camp, near the Greek-Macedonian border. When Syrian musician Ziad Rajab performed, some refugee musicians were so emotional they even joined him on stage. Giannis Papanikos/Associated Press image Refugee Musician From Syria Plays To Thousands In Munich Munich's city government teamed up with nonprofit Bellevue di Monaco and indie rock band Sportfreunde Stiller to host a concert welcoming refugees and thanking volunteers involved in the refugee effort. Ayham Ahmad, a piano player who fled his home in Syria earlier in the year, was part of the performance and played to thousands of people. Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images image Local Italian Families Receive Refugees As Winter Comes Provincial governments in Italy fund local families to host refugees who have just arrived in the country. Thibault Camus/Associated Press image Volunteers Help Move Refugees Into Old Cold War Secret Police Headquarters The German Red Cross and local volunteers in Berlin helped move over 400 refugees and asylum seekers in the city into a vacant building once occupied by the Stasi, the secret police that ruled East Germany during the Cold War. Wolfgang Kumm/AFP/Getty Images image Volunteers Wash Laundry For Refugees On Lesbos A group of local and foreign volunteers, named the "Dirty Girls of Lesbos Island," washes dirty clothes found around the island, and distributes the clean garments to camps and outposts. Giannis Kotsiaris/InTime News/Associated Press image App Connects Berlin Locals With Refugees Through Home Cooked Meal A group of Berlin-based tech entrepreneurs created "Refoodgee," an app that facilitates local to invite refugees to a home-cooked meal. Memorado/YouTube image Group Provides Psychosocial Support To Syrian Refugee Children Project Lift, which consists of trained therapists and almost 200 volunteers, provides psychosocial support to Syrian refugee children traumatized by the violence and bloodshed they witnessed in their home country. The group's members also work to integrate the children into host communities. Sophia Jones/The WorldPost image Tsunami Survivor Helps Refugees Arrive Safely At Lesbos 2004 Thailand tsunami survivor Enrique Alvarez joined volunteer group Proactive Open Arms to rescue people at sea and help them land safely on Greece's shores. Carl Court/Getty Images image Sydney Hackathon Creates Apps For Newcomer Refugees At a hackathon in Sydney, over 50 tech developers teamed up with 30 people who came to Australia as refugees to create apps that would help newcomer refugees integrate into society. Matt Cardy/Getty Images image MORE: Merkel, Germany, Angela Merkel, Refugees, Refugee Crisis, Euope Refugees FOLLOW HUFFPOST * * * * * HuffPost * WorldPost * HuffPost * WorldPost * HuffingtonPost Available on the App Store Android App on Google Play Get it at Blackberry App World HUFFPOST NEWSLETTERS Enter your email address to get top stories and blog posts emailed to you each day. Get top stories and blog posts emailed to me each day. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements. Learn More. ____________________ Subscribe! 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