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Germany Searches for Chemicals after Arresting Iranian Brothers Accused of Terrorism

German criminal police confiscate evidence from the apartment of an Iranian detainee who was preparing a terrorist operation (AP)
German criminal police confiscate evidence from the apartment of an Iranian detainee who was preparing a terrorist operation (AP)
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Germany Searches for Chemicals after Arresting Iranian Brothers Accused of Terrorism

German criminal police confiscate evidence from the apartment of an Iranian detainee who was preparing a terrorist operation (AP)
German criminal police confiscate evidence from the apartment of an Iranian detainee who was preparing a terrorist operation (AP)

German authorities raided new sites in search of chemicals, a day after they had arrested two Iranian suspects who were preparing a terrorist attack using biological weapons, according to the Düsseldorf prosecutor’s office.

Police and investigators are still searching for evidence in the case, but they have not yet found any chemicals, according to security sources cited by the German news website, Der Spiegel.

Officials said Monday that, during searches of multiple locations in connection with the investigation, they found a package with unknown contents in a garage, which was to be removed for inspection. Some homes in the immediate vicinity were evacuated as a precaution.

Police agents raided the Iranians’ home in the city of Castrop-Rauxel, in western Germany’s North-Rhine Westphalia state, around midnight Saturday night after neighbors had reported suspicious activity.

Several police, firefighters and rescue workers took part, with many emergency personnel donning biochemical protection suits.

Despite the raid, authorities couldn’t find what they were looking for.

Two arrest warrants were issued against the Iranians, who are brothers, and the public prosecutor charged the main suspect in the case, Mounir J., a 32-year-old Iranian national, with preparing a terrorist attack because of his sympathy with ISIS.

The prosecution is accusing Mounir of wanting to make a biological bomb after possessing highly toxic materials, namely ricin and cyanide.

The police arrested the main suspect and his brother after obtaining information about their preparation for an imminent attack from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The involvement of the brother, who was arrested during the operation, remains unclear. According to German media, the main suspect wanted to carry out the attack on New Year's Eve.

He, however, was not able to obtain all the necessary materials in time.

The two brothers arrived in Germany in 2015 and applied for asylum.

According to media sources, the main suspect claimed that he was a Christian persecuted in Iran.

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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.