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Germany Protests to Iran Over Plot to Attack Synagogue

FILED - 15 December 2023, Berlin: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (Not Pictured) after their meeting. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
FILED - 15 December 2023, Berlin: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (Not Pictured) after their meeting. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
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Germany Protests to Iran Over Plot to Attack Synagogue

FILED - 15 December 2023, Berlin: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (Not Pictured) after their meeting. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
FILED - 15 December 2023, Berlin: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (Not Pictured) after their meeting. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa

Germany protested to Iran on Tuesday after a court ruling implicated Tehran in a plan to attack a synagogue last year.
The Duesseldorf state court convicted a German-Iranian man of attempted arson and agreeing to commit arson and sentenced him to two years and nine months in prison.
Judges found that the man threw an incendiary device at a school in the western city of Bochum in November 2022 because the neighboring synagogue appeared too well secured, German news agency dpa reported. The defendant denied planning to attack the synagogue. The school received minor damage.
The court found the 36-year-old defendant had been tasked with the attack by a former Hells Angels member who had gone to Iran, and that Iran was behind the latter man, dpa reported.
A court statement said the defendant tried in vain to persuade an acquaintance to join him in carrying out the attack, and that he ultimately threw the incendiary device at the school “to simulate carrying out the act, or at least corresponding efforts, to the initiator.”
The German judges established that “the plan for the attack stems from an Iranian state institution,” according to the statement, which didn't give more precise details.
Germany's Foreign Ministry wrote Tuesday on social platform X that the Iranian charge d'affaires was summoned to discuss the matter.
“It is intolerable that Jewish life was to be attacked here,” it added. “We will tolerate no foreign-steered violence in Germany.”
The ministry said the court's detailed reasons for the verdict will be important in determining “consequences and (the) next steps,” including at the European Union level.

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World

Madagascar Cyclone Death Toll Rises to 59 

General view of the city center of Toamasina on February 14, 2026 following the passage of tropical cyclone Gezani during the night of February 10, 2026. (AFP)
General view of the city center of Toamasina on February 14, 2026 following the passage of tropical cyclone Gezani during the night of February 10, 2026. (AFP)
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Madagascar Cyclone Death Toll Rises to 59 

General view of the city center of Toamasina on February 14, 2026 following the passage of tropical cyclone Gezani during the night of February 10, 2026. (AFP)
General view of the city center of Toamasina on February 14, 2026 following the passage of tropical cyclone Gezani during the night of February 10, 2026. (AFP)

Flooding and fierce winds have pushed Madagascar's death toll from Cyclone Gezani to 59, with more than a dozen people still unaccounted for, the country's disaster agency said on Monday.

It is the latest in a string of tropical storms to batter the southern African island in recent months, underscoring its vulnerability to increasingly extreme weather fueled by climate change.

At least 59 people had been killed countrywide by the cyclone, which slammed into Madagascar on February 10, the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNRGC) said, while more than 16,000 people have been displaced by storm waters.

A previous report had put the death toll at 43.

Most of the fatalities were reported in the port city of Toamasina on the east coast, formerly known as Tamatave, Madagascar's second-largest urban center with around 400,000 inhabitants.

Another 15 people remain missing nearly a week after the cyclone struck, according to BNRGC.

The damage to housing was extensive, with some 25,000 homes destroyed, 27,000 others flooded and more than 200 classrooms partially or completely wrecked, it said.

Gezani made landfall last week with winds topping around 250 kilometers (160 miles) per hour, prompting the government to declare a national emergency.

AFP images showed a trail of destruction across Toamasina, with streets in the city center still swamped by muddy floodwater and debris strewn between shuttered shops and damaged homes.

Residents queued for food at a primary school turned relief hub, while health workers screened families for malaria as the city began the slow clean-up and took stock of the cyclone's toll.

The World Food Program warned Friday that "the scale of destruction is overwhelming," with the city running on roughly five percent of its electricity and without water.

China and France have sent support for search and rescue efforts.

The storm largely spared neighboring Mozambique, skirting about 50 kilometers (30 miles) off its coast and causing far less damage, though authorities reported at least four deaths.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday offered condolences and prayers for "the people of Madagascar, who have been struck by two cyclones in quick succession".

In early February, Madagascar's northwest was hit by Tropical Cyclone Fytia, which killed at least seven people and displaced more than 20,000.

World

Kremlin Says 'Main Issues' Will Be Discussed in Geneva Talks on Ukraine this Week, Including Territory

FILED - 26 July 2023, Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/KREMLIN/dpa
FILED - 26 July 2023, Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/KREMLIN/dpa
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Kremlin Says 'Main Issues' Will Be Discussed in Geneva Talks on Ukraine this Week, Including Territory

FILED - 26 July 2023, Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/KREMLIN/dpa
FILED - 26 July 2023, Russia, Saint Petersburg: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov/KREMLIN/dpa

The Kremlin said on Monday that what it called "the main issues" would be ‌discussed ‌in peace talks ‌on ⁠Ukraine due to be ⁠held in Geneva this week, including territory.

Kremlin spokesman ⁠Dmitry Peskov ‌said ‌that Putin ‌aide Vladimir ‌Medinsky, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, and special ‌envoy Kirill Dmitriev would take ⁠part ⁠in the talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

World

German Foreign Minister Slams France Over Defense Spending 

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 14, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. Heads of state and government as well as foreign and defense ministers from all over the world are expected to attend the security policy talks from February 13 to 15, 2026. (AFP)
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 14, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. Heads of state and government as well as foreign and defense ministers from all over the world are expected to attend the security policy talks from February 13 to 15, 2026. (AFP)
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German Foreign Minister Slams France Over Defense Spending 

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 14, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. Heads of state and government as well as foreign and defense ministers from all over the world are expected to attend the security policy talks from February 13 to 15, 2026. (AFP)
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 14, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. Heads of state and government as well as foreign and defense ministers from all over the world are expected to attend the security policy talks from February 13 to 15, 2026. (AFP)

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticized French defense spending on Monday, calling for Paris to do more to turn calls for European security sovereignty into concrete capabilities.

The comments marked the latest crack in relations between the two European giants.

French President Emmanuel Macron "repeatedly and correctly refers to our pursuit of European sovereignty," Wadephul told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

"Anyone who talks about it needs to act accordingly in their own country."

European NATO members are under pressure from the United States to build up their defence spending.

Though they pledged last June to raise their defense and security-related outlays to five percent of GDP by 2035, Wadephul said progress in Europe so far had been lacking.

"Unfortunately, efforts in the French Republic have also been insufficient to achieve this so far," Wadephul said. "France, too, needs to do what we are doing here with difficult discussions."

Germany last year exempted most defense spending from constitutionally enshrined debt limits and current budgets foresee Berlin spending more than 500 billion euros ($593 billion) on defense between 2025 and 2029.

Under financial pressure, France has less room for maneuver.

The country has the European Union's third-highest debt burden as a proportion of GDP after Greece and Italy, almost twice the 60-percent ceiling set in EU treaties.

France and Macron needed to be ready to take difficult decisions, Wadephul said, including possible welfare cuts, to build the "breathing space needed".

"That is a call that goes out to all European countries," he added. "We will have to hold very open, very honest discussions about this here in our European family."

- Discord over fighter jet -

Wadephul's call comes amid strains in the Franco-German alliance, traditionally the motor of European cooperation.

Germany has slapped down Macron's repeated calls for so-called eurobonds to boost investment, fearing common EU debt would lead to open-ended subsidies of EU member states with weak finances.

Wadephul reiterated that Germany was also opposed to the proposal when it comes to defense spending, adding that NATO member states had last year agreed to reach the five-percent spending goal by their own efforts.

"We must also say to all our European partners -- in a spirit of friendship but with clarity -- that what was promised, the five per cent, were commitments to national contributions," he said.

"We are looking forward to and eagerly await another speech by the French president, I believe on the 27th of this month, where he will comment on strategic issues," Wadephul added.

Nerves are also fraying over plans by Paris and Berlin for a next-generation European fighter jet, where German industry and unions have accused French aerospace firm Dassault of seeking to dictate the terms of the project.

In other recent disagreements, France wanted to block an EU trade deal with a group of South American countries, backed by Germany. Paris also opposed a push by Berlin and Rome to water down a planned EU ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2035.

A European diplomat last week told AFP that right now "the Franco-German axis isn't working".