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Category: 992-INTEGREAT

Languages in Syria—a complicated history

By Youssef and Majd Kanjou and Michael Seifert Everyone knows that the official language in Syria is Arabic. Historians, however, speak of ancient sources in Syriac. What is it about this mysterious Syriac language, spoken by only a few, for which there is a word of its own in Arabic (Siriani) which, unlike in German, is different from the name of the nationality (Syria)? tünews INTERNATIONAL spoke about this with the Syrian expert on Aramaic history and linguistics Jabagh Kablou. He was a professor at the University of Damascus until 2016 and now works as a scholarship holder at the… Read More

An ancient tourist destination as a coin image

By Mona Hähnle There are cases where coins combine very well with literary sources and complement them visually. This is also the case with the coin presented here. It is a bronze coin with a weight of 17.23 g and a diameter of 3 cm. The portrait of the Roman Emperor Philip II is depicted on the obverse. He wears a laurel wreath, armour and a cape draped on his back. The inscription names the emperor in ancient Greek. On the reverse of the coin is the goddess Atargatis. She is seated frontally on a lion striding to the right.… Read More

Long wait for housing benefit

“More housing benefit for more people.” This is what the Bundestag and the Bundesrat decided. From January 2023, around two million households—instead of 600,000 households so far—are to receive housing benefit. The housing allowance is to be increased by an average of 190 euros per month to 370 euros from next year. According to the federal government, about 380,000 people will no longer have to rely on social assistance or unemployment benefit II. However, long waiting times for the processing of applications must be expected because of a lack of staff at the housing allowance offices, among other reasons. Attention!… Read More

Test on 8 December: Warning news on mobile phones

The weather is becoming more and more extreme. Sometimes there is flooding, sometimes a storm sweeps across the country, sometimes there is a major fire. When disasters like these occur, the Cell Broadcast System is supposed to alert the population. Does it all work? That will be tested on the nationwide warning day, Thursday, 8 December, at 11 am. Then mobile phone users who are in the area of a cell will receive a text message on their device—if the mobile phone or smartphone is on and connected to the mobile network. At the highest alert level, a siren is… Read More

Aid needs in Ukraine

Russia is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and is deliberately destroying its infrastructure. On 15 November 2022 alone, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence reported nearly 100 missile attacks. Refugees from Ukraine often phone relatives and friends daily and report on their tense situation. At present, the electricity supply is particularly critical. It is completely unreliable. On some days there is only electricity for five hours, often only for one hour. When there is no electricity, the central heating in larger houses fails. And even if it comes on for an hour, it is not enough to heat the… Read More

The world’s first schools were in Iraq

By Michael Seifert “A house that someone covered with a sheet like a treasure chest. … One entered closed-eyed, one came out open-eyed. The solution to the riddle: the school.” A famous Babylonian riddle, almost 4000 years old, shows that schools already existed at that time in Mesopotamia, the Mesopotamia of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in what is now Iraq. These were the oldest schools about which anything is known through written tradition. Among others, Konrad Volk, Professor Emeritus of Ancient Oriental Philology at the University of Tübingen, who was interviewed by tünews INTERNATIONAL, is researching these schools. Writing… Read More

Certified work experience

Many people acquire professional knowledge and skills during their working life. They often cannot prove these acquired competences with a formal document, e.g. a certificate. In order to accelerate the validation (that means: to establish the value of something) of non-formally and informally acquired knowledge in Germany, the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) have developed the project “Valikom Transfer” (duration until 10/2024) together with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). In this project, non-formally and informally acquired knowledge is identified. Vocational experts then assess whether the… Read More

State pays the gas surcharge in December

Those who heat and cook with gas or use district heating will be relieved in December. The Bundestag and the Bundesrat have passed an emergency aid bill worth billions. In December, the state will take over the down payment for gas—but only one twelfth of the annual consumption forecast in September. If tenants have a contract directly with an energy supplier, the company either waives the instalment in December or pays it back later. For other tenants, the landlord saves first. The landlord is then supposed to pass on the savings to the tenants in the annual statement of operating… Read More

Warning apps for your pocket

Warnings of dangers such as floods, toxic smoke or a terrorist attack sometimes come from a jacket pocket or backpack in Germany: namely, when a cell phone owner has the warning app Nina or Katwarn installed on their device. These free apps allow authorities to issue targeted warnings to the population of affected areas so that people can get to safety. The cell phone apps are a response to the fact that many sirens have been dismantled in Germany over the past 30 years, which previously alerted people with wailing sounds. The best known is the warning app NINA (https://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Warnung-Vorsorge/Warn-App-NINA/warn-app-nina_node.html).… Read More

Hryvnia exchange program ends

Refugees from Ukraine can exchange their Ukrainian banknotes for euros free of charge only until November 18. This is pointed out by the Deutsche Bundesbank. The exchange program has been running since May 24 and is based on an agreement between the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the National Bank of Ukraine. It allows all adult refugees from Ukraine to exchange up to 10,000 hryvnia (around 275 euros) per person into the local currency at participating banks and savings banks. The prerequisite is that they have an account with the bank in question. Banknotes of 100, 200,… Read More

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