German Police Defuse Grenade Found in Red Army Faction Suspect's Home

German police officers guard a building where Daniela Klette, a 65-year-old alleged member of Germany's notorious Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group, has been arrested after decades on the run from armed robbery and attempted murder charges, in Berlin, Germany, February 28, 2024 - Reuters
German police officers guard a building where Daniela Klette, a 65-year-old alleged member of Germany's notorious Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group, has been arrested after decades on the run from armed robbery and attempted murder charges, in Berlin, Germany, February 28, 2024 - Reuters
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German Police Defuse Grenade Found in Red Army Faction Suspect's Home

German police officers guard a building where Daniela Klette, a 65-year-old alleged member of Germany's notorious Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group, has been arrested after decades on the run from armed robbery and attempted murder charges, in Berlin, Germany, February 28, 2024 - Reuters
German police officers guard a building where Daniela Klette, a 65-year-old alleged member of Germany's notorious Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group, has been arrested after decades on the run from armed robbery and attempted murder charges, in Berlin, Germany, February 28, 2024 - Reuters

The Berlin apartment block in which a suspected Red Army Faction (RAF) militant lived during three decades on the run had to be evacuated on Wednesday after authorities found a grenade in her apartment, police said.

Daniela Klette, 65, and two other suspects are alleged to have belonged to the third generation of the leftist militant group which from the early 1970s committed a string of murders and kidnappings of government officials, US soldiers and German diplomats, originally in protest against the Vietnam war.

"Our specialists have so far removed one grenade from the flat on Sebastianstrasse in (Berlin's) Kreuzberg and defused it in a safe place," police wrote on social media. "Other objects are still being examined."

It was unclear if a person detained on Tuesday and released the following morning was linked to the two remaining suspects: Burkhard Garweg, 55, and Ernst-Volker Staub, 69, who have also been at large for 30 years. Authorities declined to comment on media reports of a third arrest on Wednesday, according to AFP.

The charges against the three relate not to the militant group's political crimes but to bank robberies and at least one attempted murder committed between 1991 and 2016 to finance their life underground.

It remained unclear where Klette, now in custody in the northern city of Bremen after her arrest in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, hid out over the past three decades, though newspaper Die Welt published footage appearing to show her dancing at a Berlin carnival in 2011.



Female Iranian Student Arrives in Iran After Release in France

Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari arrives for her trial on charges of promoting terrorism on social media at a Paris courthouse on January 13, 2026. (AFP)
Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari arrives for her trial on charges of promoting terrorism on social media at a Paris courthouse on January 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Female Iranian Student Arrives in Iran After Release in France

Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari arrives for her trial on charges of promoting terrorism on social media at a Paris courthouse on January 13, 2026. (AFP)
Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari arrives for her trial on charges of promoting terrorism on social media at a Paris courthouse on January 13, 2026. (AFP)

Iranian student Mahdieh Esfandiari arrived in Iran after being released in France, Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday, after ‌two French ‌nationals facing security ‌charges ⁠were allowed to ⁠leave Iran following three-and-a-half years in detention.

Esfandiari, who was convicted at the end ⁠of February for glorifying ‌terrorism ‌in anti-Israel social ‌media posts, was released ‌after serving almost a year in prison.

"I think it's ‌clear for everyone that there is ⁠no ⁠freedom of speech, at least not in France where I was. The court's ruling was very unjust," Esfandiari told state television.


Israeli Rights Group Files ICC Case Against Spanish PM

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gestures as he speaks during a press conference in Madrid. (AFP)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gestures as he speaks during a press conference in Madrid. (AFP)
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Israeli Rights Group Files ICC Case Against Spanish PM

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gestures as he speaks during a press conference in Madrid. (AFP)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gestures as he speaks during a press conference in Madrid. (AFP)

An Israeli rights group said Tuesday that it had asked the International Criminal Court to consider legal action against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for allegedly “aiding war crimes” through exports to Iran.

Filed by the Shurat HaDin non-governmental organization, which has taken legal action worldwide against what it calls “Israel’s enemies,” the lawsuit accuses Spain of providing “components required by the regime in Tehran and its proxies for military purposes.”

In a filing submitted under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, it alleges that Spain approved the export of about 1.3 million euros’ worth of so-called dual-use products that could be used in detonators and other explosive-related applications.

“These materials are not innocent industrial products, but critical components that enable explosive devices to function, and they were transferred in circumstances where their use for attacks against civilians was foreseeable and reasonable,” Shurat HaDin said in a statement.

The complaint comes in the midst of an escalating diplomatic spat between the two nations, which began with the start of the Gaza war in October 2023 and worsened after Madrid recognized a Palestinian state a year later.

Spain’s Socialist leader has also opposed the US-Israeli war with Iran, drawing a sharp Israeli reaction.

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barred Madrid from joining the work of a US-led center to stabilize post-war Gaza, accusing Spain of waging a diplomatic campaign against Israel.


Xi Calls China-Russia Ties ‘Precious’ in Current International Context

This handout picture posted on the Telegram account of the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 15, 2026 shows Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) shaking hands with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing. (Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This handout picture posted on the Telegram account of the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 15, 2026 shows Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) shaking hands with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing. (Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
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Xi Calls China-Russia Ties ‘Precious’ in Current International Context

This handout picture posted on the Telegram account of the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 15, 2026 shows Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) shaking hands with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing. (Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This handout picture posted on the Telegram account of the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 15, 2026 shows Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) shaking hands with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing. (Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that the stability and certainty of China-Russia relations are particularly “precious” in the face of an international landscape intertwined with change and chaos.

During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Beijing, Xi said the strong vitality and exemplary significance of the friendship treaty between the two countries stand out even more under such a backdrop.

He said foreign ministries from both countries would need to fully implement the consensus reached between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for strengthening strategic communication and close diplomatic coordination.

He also urged them to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between Beijing and Moscow to “stand higher, walk more steadily and go further.”

Xi touted the value of the two nations’ ties, but he did not specify what he referred to as chaos and changes in the international context, as uncertainty still lingers about how long the Iran war would last.

In clips from an interview with the Fox Business Network, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the war was “close to over.” Trump has repeatedly declared a US victory in Iran after the war started — even as the reality on the ground has been far more complicated.

Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Trump’s unorthodox approach to the war in Ukraine has added a twist to the relationship but doesn’t appear to have fundamentally changed it.

When Putin visited China in September, Xi welcomed his counterpart as an “old friend.” Putin also addressed Xi as “dear friend.”

Lavrov arrived in China on Tuesday for a two-day trip at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.