Connect with us

World

Police foil extremist plot to kidnap Germany’s health minister

Published

on

A plot to kidnap Germany’s well being minister and destroy the corporate’s electrical energy provide services has been foiled, say authorities.

Prosecutors in Koblenz and Rhineland-Palatinate’s state felony police workplace stated raids had been carried out at 20 properties throughout Germany Wednesday following an investigation launched in October.

The suspects had been members of a chat group referred to as “United Patriots” on the Telegram messaging service.

Investigators stated the suspects had been related to the protest motion in opposition to coronavirus restrictions and with the Reich Residents motion, which disputes the legitimacy of the post-World Battle II German structure and, by extension, the present authorities. In all, 12 persons are underneath investigation.

Authorities stated the group’s declared purpose was to destroy electrical energy provide services and trigger a protracted blackout throughout the nation, with the purpose of manufacturing “situations just like civil struggle” and in the end overthrowing the nation’s democratic system.

Advertisement

Police seized 22 firearms, together with a Kalashnikov rifle, together with a whole lot of rounds of ammunition, 1000’s of euros in money, and quite a few gold bars and silver cash. Additionally they discovered cast COVID-19 vaccination and check certificates.

The group allegedly deliberate to kidnap well-known public figures. Investigators stated that included well being minister Karl Lauterbach.

Lauterbach stated he was “appalled” by the information and thanked investigators.

“The entire thing reveals that corona protests haven’t simply turn into extra radical, however that it’s now about greater than corona — that there’s an try right here to destabilize the state,” he advised reporters throughout a go to to Husum on Germany’s North Coastline. “It is a small minority in our society, however extremely harmful.”

“This won’t affect my very own work,” Lauterbach stated, including that he’ll proceed attempting to stability the pursuits of people that need looser measures in opposition to COVID-19 with those that need stricter ones.

Advertisement

The suspects, all German residents, are accused of making ready a critical act of violence and of violating weapons legal guidelines.

“We’re coping with a mix consisting of conspiracy theorists, opponents of vaccination but additionally Reich Residents that we hadn’t seen on this kind up to now,” stated the pinnacle of Rhineland-Palatinate state’s felony police workplace, Johannes Kunz.

He stated group members repeatedly expressed their disdain for the German state, amongst different issues expressing the want that Russian President Vladimir Putin mustn’t simply assault Ukraine but additionally invade Germany, information company dpa reported.

Prosecutor Juergen Brauer stated the group’s procurement of weapons and cash made clear to investigators that “we’re dealing not simply with cranks, however with harmful criminals who need to implement their plans”.

German Inside Minister Nancy Faeser stated that the investigation pointed to “a critical terrorist menace,” and that the Lauterbach kidnapping plan and fantasies about overthrowing democracy represent “a brand new high quality of menace.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

World

Video: How Internet Access Is Transforming Life in This Amazon Tribe

Published

on

Video: How Internet Access Is Transforming Life in This Amazon Tribe

Since September, the Marubo, an isolated Amazon tribe, were connected to high-speed internet through Elon Musk’s Starlink. Jack Nicas, The New York Times’s Brazil bureau chief, visited the tribe’s remote Indigenous villages to see what the internet has changed for them.

Continue Reading

World

Russia not 'bluffing' with nuclear threats as Biden greenlights limited military strikes, Medvedev says

Published

on

Russia not 'bluffing' with nuclear threats as Biden greenlights limited military strikes, Medvedev says

A senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is not bluffing about using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and warned that the conflict could spill over into other countries.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, made the comments after President Biden quietly authorized Kyiv to launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets just over the border in Russia that are supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

“This is, alas, neither intimidation nor bluffing,” Medvedev said Friday, speaking on the potential to use strategic nuclear weapons, per Reuters.

UKRAINE SEEKS TO STRIKE RUSSIAN TARGETS WITH WESTERN WEAPONS, ZELENSKYY SAYS

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, says Russia is not bluffing about using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and warned that the conflict could spill over into other countries. President Biden, left, quietly authorized Kyiv to launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets just over the border. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images  |  Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

Advertisement

Russia has been using staging locations just across the border to enable its attacks against Ukraine and Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them. Germany has also backed the move.

The White House says the policy is limited and prohibits the use of army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) or long-range strikes inside Russia. 

In March, the U.S. quietly delivered long-range ATACMS to Ukraine for the first time – which the Ukrainians have since deployed against Russian military forces inside Ukraine.

Medvedev said Friday that “Russia regards all long-range weapons used by Ukraine as already being directly controlled by servicemen from NATO countries.”

“This is no military assistance, this is participation in a war against us. And such actions could well become a casus belli (an act that provokes a war),” Medvedev said Friday, per Reuters. 

Advertisement

Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 and 2012, said that the West’s ongoing support of Ukraine could lead to an escalation of the 27-month-old full-scale invasion.

“The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. There is a constant escalation when it comes to the firepower of NATO weapons being used. Therefore, nobody today can rule out the conflict’s transition to its final stage,” Medvedev said.

KYIV’S FORCES ARE UP AGAINST A CONCERTED RUSSIAN PUSH IN EASTERN UKRAINE, A MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS

Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, speaks during an interview with Russian media at a residence outside Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2023. (Sputnik/Yekaterina Shtukina/Pool via REUTERS)

The comments come as depleted Ukrainian troops are losing ground in the war – and just weeks after the U.S. agreed to send an extra $60 billion in aid to the war-torn country. In the border region of Kharkiv, Ukraine has endured a Russian onslaught this month that has stretched Kyiv’s outgunned and outmanned forces.

The White House says that Russia’s forward progress has stalled and that Russia will not be able to capture Kharkiv. 

Advertisement

Russia has only moved forward by a few kilometers and its forces are under relentless barrage by the Ukrainians and suffering at an extraordinary cost, the White House tells Fox News. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that it’s only a matter of time before Ukraine utilizes the Western weaponry to strike Russian territory.

The developments and threats of escalation came just weeks after Gen. Charles Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said NATO military trainers will eventually be sent to Ukraine, according to a report in the New York Times.

Ukrainian officials have asked their U.S. and NATO counterparts to help train 150,000 new recruits closer to the front line for faster deployment, per the report. 

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital at the time that deploying military trainers would lead to a wider war in the region.

Advertisement

Friday’s comments by Medvedev are not the first time he has taken a hardline stance against the West. In January, he warned the U.K. that putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would amount to a declaration of war against Russia.

Zelenskyy and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, greets Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, prior to their meeting in Kyiv on May 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

In January, he also raised the prospect of nuclear war, warning NATO allies that a defeat for Russia in Ukraine could provoke a nuclear war. 

“The loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the beginning of a nuclear war,” he said in a Telegram post.

“Nuclear powers have [never] lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” the Kremlin official added. 

Advertisement

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, as well as Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Advertisement
Continue Reading

World

Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir set to become Iceland’s next president

Published

on

Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir set to become Iceland’s next president

Tomasdottir wins 34.6 percent of the votes to become the Nordic country’s second female president.

Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman and investor, has won Iceland’s presidential election, topping a crowded field of candidates in which the top three finishers were women, the country’s national broadcast service reports.

Tomasdottir, 55, was elected to the largely ceremonial post with 34.3 percent of the vote, defeating former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, with 25.2 percent, and Halla Hrund Logadottir, with 15.5 percent, RUV said on Sunday.

Tomasdottir is currently on leave as chief executive of The B Team, a global nonprofit co-founded by UK business tycoon Richard Branson to promote business practices focused on humanity and the climate, and has offices in New York and London.

Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic, acting as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity. He or she, however, has the power to veto a legislation or submit it to a referendum.

Advertisement

Tomasdottir campaigned as someone who was above party politics and could help open discussions on fundamental issues such as the effect of social media on the mental health of young people, Iceland’s development as a tourist destination and the role of artificial intelligence.

She will replace President Gudni Th Johannesson, who did not seek re-election after two four-year terms. Tomasdottir will take office on August 1.

Iceland’s second woman president

Iceland, a Nordic island nation located in the North Atlantic, has a long tradition of electing women to high office.

Vigdis Finnbogadottir was the first democratically elected female president of any nation when she became Iceland’s head of state in 1980.

The country has also seen two women serve as prime minister in recent years, providing stability during years of political turmoil.

Advertisement

Johanna Sigurdardottir led the government from 2009 to 2013, after the global financial crisis ravaged Iceland’s economy.

Jakobsdottir, 48, became prime minister in 2017, leading a broad coalition that ended the cycle of crises that had triggered three elections in four years. She resigned in April to run for president.

In the country of 380,000 people, any citizen gathering 1,500 signatures can run for office.

While Jakobsdottir was at times seen as the favourite, political observers had suggested that her background as prime minister could weigh against her.

Among the other main candidates in the field of 13 were a political science professor, a comedian, and an Arctic and energy scholar.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending