Germany Bans Ansaar International Over ‘Terror Financing'

German police officers. Reuters file photo
German police officers. Reuters file photo
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Germany Bans Ansaar International Over ‘Terror Financing'

German police officers. Reuters file photo
German police officers. Reuters file photo

Germany on Wednesday banned Ansaar International, accusing it of collecting donations to help finance terrorism worldwide.

The prohibition came along with a series of raids on properties in ten states, with investigators also seizing items.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer "has banned the association Ansaar International and its related organizations. The network finances terrorism worldwide with donations," tweeted ministry spokesman Steve Alter.

"If you want to fight terror you have to dry up its sources of funding," said Seehofer.

Ansaar says on its website it provides humanitarian aid to people affected by war and crises by, for instance, building or financing the construction of hospitals, orphanages and schools.

In 2018 alone, it collected 8 to 10 million euros in donations, according to its first chairman.

The interior ministry said however that the funds are in fact raised with the intention of financing foreign groups such as the Palestinian movement Hamas as well as the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab and al-Nusra Front.

"Financial support, even for what at first glance appear to be charitable activities, secures the terrorist groups' power and dominance in the respective region, facilitates the recruitment of activists, and saves the terrorist group money, which in turn can be used to carry out the crimes it plans," said the ministry.



North Korea Opening Tourist Site on East Coast Next Week

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
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North Korea Opening Tourist Site on East Coast Next Week

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sitting center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju, rear, and daughter tours the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone in North Korea Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea next week will open a signature tourist site on its east coast that it called a prelude to a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen its borders to foreign visitors.

The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone has hotels and other accommodations for nearly 20,000 guests who can swim in the sea, play sports and other recreation activities and eat at restaurants and cafeterias on site, state media said, according to The Associated Press.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the site and cut the inaugural tape at a lavish ceremony Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday. He said its construction would be recorded as “one of the greatest successes this year" and called the site “the proud first step” toward realizing the government's policy of developing tourism, according to KCNA.

The Wonsan-Kalma zone will begin service for domestic tourists next Tuesday, KCNA said. But it didn't say when it will start receiving foreign tourists.

Kim has been pushing to make the country a tourism hub as part of efforts to revive the ailing economy, and the Wonsan-Kalma zone is one of his most talked-about tourism projects. KCNA reported North Korea will confirm plans to build large tourist sites in other parts of the country, too.

But North Korea hasn't fully lifted the travel curbs, including a ban on foreign tourists, that were imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting from February 2024, North Korea has been accepting Russian tourists amid the booming military and other partnerships between the two countries, but Chinese group tours, which made up more than 90% of visitors before the pandemic, remain stalled.

In February this year, a small group of international tourists visited the country for the first time in five years, but tourist agencies said in March that their tours to North Korea were paused.