Over 5,000 Possible Targets Found in Germany Terror Raids

German special police forces. (Reuters)
German special police forces. (Reuters)
TT

Over 5,000 Possible Targets Found in Germany Terror Raids

German special police forces. (Reuters)
German special police forces. (Reuters)

The names of over 5,000 possible targets were found during terrorism raids in the east German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern last week, Die Welt newspaper reported on Friday.

The raids were carried out against the homes and workplaces of two terror suspects.

The list of names also includes over 100 politicians, said Die Welt.

Federal police officials seized two binders filled with names of over 5,000 people during searches of the properties of one of the suspects, an attorney and a local politician in Rostock, a northern city.

It said the politicians on the list belonged to a wide range of parties, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

Die Welt, citing security sources, said one of the suspects, a former policeman who has since been suspended, is believed to have used his office computer to search out the addresses of political opponents.

German police on August 28 raided the homes and workplaces of the policeman and another person suspected of planning to capture and kill politicians because of their views on immigration, authorities said.

The Die Welt report marked the first substantial details that have emerged about the case.

At the time, the federal prosecutor’s office said the suspects, who feared Germany’s refugee policies would impoverish the country, had begun to stockpile food and ammunition and plan attacks.

The newspaper said there were no indications thus far of surveillance of the people on the lists, or of any concrete murder plans. Much of the information was publicly available, the paper cited the sources as saying.

In other terror raids in Europe, French police unearthed second stash of explosive materials near Paris on Thursday after a similar find in a nearby suburb on Wednesday, a justice official said as three suspects were questioned by anti-terrorism investigators.

Thursday’s swoop was carried out at a garage rented by one of the three detained in the wake of Wednesday’s raid on an apartment in Villejuif, on the southern edge of the French capital, the source said.

Materials used to produce TATP, an explosive often used by suicide bombers, were found at the flat after a plumber phoned police to report suspect activity there, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

Two people in their 30s and 40s were arrested in the immediate wake of Wednesday’s raid, said Collomb, who added that the suspects were being questioned on suspicion of terrorist activity despite talking of a bank heist. A third man was arrested overnight, a source said.

“Those under investigation spoke of wanting to blow up a bank with the TATP but they way we see it is they have links with terrorism, and this is the channel of investigation,” Collomb told public radio station franceinfo.

That line of inquiry was prompted by information found in telephone communications after the raid, he added.

The minister spoke before developments later in the day in which police found explosive materials at a garage in Thiais, southeast of Paris.

TATP, an unstable explosive, has been used by extremists in several attacks in western Europe in recent years, including Manchester in May, Brussels in 2016 and Paris in 2015.



US Says Mexico Agrees to Water Treaty Obligations

FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo
TT

US Says Mexico Agrees to Water Treaty Obligations

FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo

The United States and Mexico reached an agreement on water-sharing on Friday, after President Donald Trump threatened new sanctions.

Trump said Mexico owed 800,000 acre-feet of water to the US and demanded it release a quarter of this amount by December 31 or be hit with a new five percent tariff, AFP said.

The Republican leader accused Mexico of violating a 1944 treaty under which the US shares water from the Colorado River in exchange for flows from the Rio Grande, which forms part of the border between the two countries.

"The United States and Mexico reached an understanding to meet the current water obligations of American farmers and ranchers," the US Department of Agriculture agency said in a statement.

It said the agreement includes both the current water cycle and the deficit from the previous cycle.

The two countries are expected to finalize the plan at the end of January.

The agreement as it stands would have Mexico releasing 202,000 acre-feet of water starting next week.

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement on Friday that Mexico "has delivered more water in the last year than in the previous four years combined," but fallen short of their obligations.

"Farmers across South Texas have been reeling from the uncertainty caused by the lack of water. Now they can expect the resources promised to them," Rollins added.

Rollins echoed Trump's threat saying that if "Mexico continues to violate its commitments, the United States reserves the right and will impose five percent tariffs on Mexican products."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has not commented on the agreement, but on Tuesday expressed confidence in reaching a solution.

At the time, she also cautioned it would be physically impossible to meet the December 31 deadline because of limitations on the pumping equipment, but said: "We have the best will to deliver the amount of water that is owed."

Mexico acknowledged that it has been behind in its water deliveries to the US over the past five years, citing drought in 2022 and 2023.

Trump had previously threatened Mexico in April with economic repercussions over the water dispute, prompting Mexico at the time to immediately send water.

Mexican goods currently face a 25 percent tariff unless they fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade deal struck during Trump's first term and which Washington is aiming to renegotiate in 2026.


Bolivian Court Orders Ex-president Jailed for 5 Months on Corruption Charges

Former Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora enters San Pedro prison after a judge ordered him held in pre-trial detention for five months as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement, in La Paz, Bolivia, December 12, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Morales
Former Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora enters San Pedro prison after a judge ordered him held in pre-trial detention for five months as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement, in La Paz, Bolivia, December 12, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Morales
TT

Bolivian Court Orders Ex-president Jailed for 5 Months on Corruption Charges

Former Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora enters San Pedro prison after a judge ordered him held in pre-trial detention for five months as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement, in La Paz, Bolivia, December 12, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Morales
Former Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora enters San Pedro prison after a judge ordered him held in pre-trial detention for five months as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement, in La Paz, Bolivia, December 12, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Morales

A Bolivian court on Friday ordered the country's former President Luis Arce to remain detained for five months while he awaits trial on corruption charges, the latest development in a case that threatens to exacerbate Bolivia's political tensions.

Arce, 62, a leader from Bolivia’s Movement Toward Socialism party, was elected in 2020 and left office a month ago following the election of Bolivia's first right-wing leader in nearly two decades. He strongly denies the charges of breach of duty and financial misconduct. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted.

Two days after Arce's sudden arrest on the streets of Bolivia's capital of La Paz, a judge ordered his detention in a virtual hearing Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Arce was transferred to one of Bolivia's largest prisons in La Paz at night. No trial date was announced.

The accusations concern the alleged diversion of millions of dollars from a state fund into private accounts and date back to when Arce served as economy minister under former President Evo Morales from 2006 until 2017.

Although the scandal first broke in 2017, investigations into the alleged graft stalled during Morales' presidency as Bolivia's courts proved submissive to the political power of the day. The case was reopened when conservative President Rodrigo Paztook office last month, ending almost two decades of dominance by the Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party.

Paz campaigned on a promise to clean up the government and seek justice for corruption as he rode to power on a wave of outrage over Bolivia's worst economic crisis in four decades.

Arce criticized the charges as political persecution.

“I’m a scapegoat,” he told the judge, insisting that he had no personal involvement in the government fund under scrutiny, which supported the Indigenous people and peasant farmers who formed the backbone of MAS support.

“The accusations are politically motivated.”

Officials involved in the previous iteration of the investigation say Arce is accused of siphoning off money from rural development projects to secure loyalty from MAS-allied union and Indigenous leaders during election campaigns.

Morales was elected to three consecutive terms, but was ousted in 2019 when his reelection to an unprecedented fourth term sparked accusations of fraud and mass protests.

Arce's lawyers asked the judge to grant his release pending trial, citing the ex-president's battle with kidney cancer several years ago.

But Judge Elmer Laura denied the appeal, and even exceeded the prosecution’s request of three months in a juvenile detention center by ordering five months in a state prison.

“These are crimes that directly affect state assets and resources that were allocated to vulnerable sectors," Laura said.


Iran Detains 18 Crew Members of Foreign Tanker Seized in Gulf of Oman

St Nikolas ship X1 oil tanker involved in US-Iran dispute in the Gulf of Oman which state media says was seized is seen in the Tokyo bay, Japan, October 4, 2020, in this handout picture. Daisuke Nimura/Handout via REUTERS
St Nikolas ship X1 oil tanker involved in US-Iran dispute in the Gulf of Oman which state media says was seized is seen in the Tokyo bay, Japan, October 4, 2020, in this handout picture. Daisuke Nimura/Handout via REUTERS
TT

Iran Detains 18 Crew Members of Foreign Tanker Seized in Gulf of Oman

St Nikolas ship X1 oil tanker involved in US-Iran dispute in the Gulf of Oman which state media says was seized is seen in the Tokyo bay, Japan, October 4, 2020, in this handout picture. Daisuke Nimura/Handout via REUTERS
St Nikolas ship X1 oil tanker involved in US-Iran dispute in the Gulf of Oman which state media says was seized is seen in the Tokyo bay, Japan, October 4, 2020, in this handout picture. Daisuke Nimura/Handout via REUTERS

Iranian authorities detained 18 crew members of a foreign tanker seized in the Gulf of Oman on Friday that they said was carrying 6 million liters of smuggled fuel, Iranian media reported on Saturday, citing the Hormozgan province judiciary.

It said those detained under the ongoing investigation include the captain of the tanker, Reuters reported.

The semi-official news agency Fars said the crew were from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The authorities said the tanker had committed multiple violations, including "ignoring stop orders, attempting to flee, (and) lacking navigation and cargo documentation".

Iran, which has some of the world's lowest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the plunge in the value of its national currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land and sea to neighboring countries.