German Police Arrest Syrian Suspected of Helping Attack at Holocaust Memorial

Elements of the German police (Reuters - file photo)
Elements of the German police (Reuters - file photo)
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German Police Arrest Syrian Suspected of Helping Attack at Holocaust Memorial

Elements of the German police (Reuters - file photo)
Elements of the German police (Reuters - file photo)

German police arrested a Syrian citizen on Wednesday suspected of aiding and abetting attempted murder and grievous bodily harm in an attack on a tourist at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin last year, prosecutors said.

The arrest of the suspect, identified as Khalaf A. in line with German privacy laws, follows the sentencing of a Syrian refugee, Wassim Al M., in March to 13 years behind bars for attempted murder.

The court found that Wassim Al M. was a radical with antisemitic views who had used a knife to stab a Spanish tourist in the neck at the memorial in February 2025. The tourist sustained life-threatening injuries.

Prosecutors said they suspected that Khalaf A. had spent the afternoon before the attack with Wassim Al M. and encouraged him to go ahead with his plan.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact the suspect's lawyer.

The Holocaust memorial, a maze of concrete slabs in the heart of the German capital, commemorates the murder of 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler's Nazis.



Iran Says 'Low' Possibility of Return to War with US

US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Iran Says 'Low' Possibility of Return to War with US

US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that a return to war with the United States was unlikely, but warned the Islamic republic stood ready to respond to any attack.

The statement came a day after Iran accused the US of breaching the ceasefire in place since April, and warned it was prepared to retaliate following the most serious strikes since the truce took effect.

Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, said that while the likelihood of returning to "war is low because of the enemy's weakness, the armed forces are lying in wait with full magazines".

He went on to warn that the military would turn the area along Iran's coastline "into a graveyard for aggressors", in quotes carried by the Tasnim news agency.

Tehran's intelligence ministry, meanwhile, said that the US and Israel were still seeking to overthrow the Islamic republic and partition Iran.

The ministry said it had evidence that they would smuggle "various weapons, ammunition and illegal communication tools, especially Starlink" satellite internet devices, into Iran to foment religious and ethnic divisions and carry out sabotage missions.


Pope Leo Decries 'Sharp Intensification' of War in Ukraine

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Pope Leo Decries 'Sharp Intensification' of War in Ukraine

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo on Wednesday decried what he called a "sharp intensification" of the war in Ukraine, telling pilgrims at his weekly audience at the Vatican that ⁠he wanted to ⁠express closeness to civilians killed in recent attacks.

"I am following with concern ⁠the war in Ukraine," Leo, the first US pope, said, according to Reuters. "War does not solve problems, but aggravates them. It does not build security, but multiplies suffering and ⁠hatred.”

"Where ⁠missiles and drones fall, hopes also fall, homes and places of worship are destroyed, and innocent lives are shattered," he said.


US Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in Pacific Kills One, Strands Two

A US strike targeted a boat suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific (Reuters ffile photo)
A US strike targeted a boat suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific (Reuters ffile photo)
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US Strike on Alleged Drug Boat in Pacific Kills One, Strands Two

A US strike targeted a boat suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific (Reuters ffile photo)
A US strike targeted a boat suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific (Reuters ffile photo)

The US military attacked what it called a drug trafficking boat Tuesday in the eastern Pacific, killing one person and leaving two others stranded at sea, officials said.

"One male narco-terrorist was killed during this action and there were two survivors," US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) wrote in a post to X.

It added that it "immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for the survivors."

In its post, the military alleged the targeted vessel was "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" and "transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific" for drug trafficking.

Grainy black-and-white video accompanying the post showed part of the boat obscured by a box before the strike, then a large explosion, and then smoking wreckage in the water.

No survivors can be seen in the footage.

The US military launched the operation, dubbed "Southern Spear," in early September, with President Donald Trump insisting the US is effectively at war with drug cartels operating out of Latin America.

But his administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking.