BERLIN: A Syrian man arrested after a stabbing attack at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial that seriously wounded a Spanish man had been harboring a “plan to kill Jews,” police and prosecutors said Saturday.
The 19-year-old arrested Friday with blood stains on his hands was carrying a copy of the Qur'an and a prayer rug, and initial investigations suggested “connections with the Middle East conflict,” they said.
The assault shocked Germany two days before Sunday’s general elections after a campaign centered heavily on immigration and security fueled by a series of deadly stabbing and car ramming attacks blamed on migrants.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the “abhorrent and brutal crime” and said that “we must assume an anti-Semitic” motivation.
The Syrian suspect “must be punished with the full force of the law and deported directly from prison,” she said in a statement. “We will use all means to deport violent offenders back to Syria.”
The attacker approached the 30-year-old Spanish man from behind at around 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) and stabbed him in the neck with a knife, according to investigators.
The assault took place at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a somber grid of concrete steles located near the Brandenburg Gate and the US embassy in Berlin.
The victim suffered life-threatening injuries and had to be placed in an artificial coma but was no longer in critical condition.
The Syrian suspect came to Germany in 2023 as an unaccompanied minor, police said. He was granted asylum and lived in the eastern city of Leipzig.
There was no evidence of links to other people or groups and the suspect had not previously come to the attention of the police in Berlin, they said.
Six people who witnessed the knife attack received counselling from rescue services at the scene, where bloodied clothes were left on the ground.
The run-up to Germany’s election on Sunday has been heavily dominated by a bitter debate on migration and a surge in support for the far-right AfD, now polling at around 20 percent.
Just ten days before the vote, an Afghan man was arrested on suspicion of plowing a car through a street rally in Munich, killing a two-year-old girl and her mother and injuring dozens.
In January, a man with a kitchen knife attacked a kindergarten group, killing a two-year-old boy and a man who tried to protect the toddlers.
Police arrested a 28-year-old Afghan man at the scene of the attack in the southern city of Aschaffenburg.
In December, a Saudi man was held on suspicion of driving an SUV at high speed through a Christmas market crowd, killing six people and wounding hundreds in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
The attacks have prompted conservative leader Friedrich Merz, the frontrunner in the election race, to pledge a “fundamental” overhaul of Germany’s asylum rules.
Germany has grown increasingly alarmed about rising anti-Jewish sentiment and violence since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
A record 5,164 anti-Semitic crimes were recorded in 2023, compared with 2,641 the previous year, according to figures from the domestic intelligence agency.
In an attack in early September, German police shot dead a young Austrian man known to have had ties to radical Islam as he was preparing to carry out an attack on the Israeli consulate in Munich.
Syrian suspect in Berlin stabbing wanted ‘to kill Jews’: police
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Syrian suspect in Berlin stabbing wanted ‘to kill Jews’: police
- The assault shocked Germany two days before Sunday’s general elections after a campaign centered heavily on immigration
- Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the “abhorrent and brutal crime” and said that “we must assume an anti-Semitic” motivation
German minister to Iran: never too late to negotiate
Wadephul said Israel’s fear that Iran would develop nuclear weapons was justified
BERLIN: Germany’s foreign minister appealed to Iran’s leaders to make credible assurances that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon and to show it is willing to find a negotiated solution as fears mount of further military escalation between Iran and Israel.
“We are still ready to negotiate a solution. However, Iran must act urgently ... it is never too late to come to the negotiating table if one comes with sincere intentions,” Johann Wadephul said at a news conference with his Jordanian counterpart on Wednesday.
Wadephul said Israel’s fear that Iran would develop nuclear weapons was justified and it had a right to self-defense.
“The Israeli decision to do something against this threat is comprehensible,” he said, adding civilian deaths on both sides were regrettable after air attacks between Iran and Israel.
His ministry was arranging special flights later on Wednesday and on Thursday to each repatriate about 180 German citizens via Amman, he said.
Wadephul also said Germany had agreed to create an economic council with Syria to improve cooperation and boost prosperity and stability there.
Hegseth says the Pentagon has given Trump possible options for Israel-Iran conflict
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said ‘maximum force protection’ was being provided for US troops in the Middle East
- He said that it is Trump’s decision whether to provide Israel a ‘bunker buster’ bomb to strike at the core of Iran’s nuclear program
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the Pentagon was providing possible options to President Donald Trump as he decides next steps on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes, an action that could risk dragging America into a wider war in the Middle East.
Hegseth was on Capitol Hill for the last of his series of often combative hearings before lawmakers, who have pressed him on everything from a ban on transgender troops to his use of a Signal chat to share sensitive military plans earlier this year.
In questioning before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth said “maximum force protection” was being provided for US troops in the Middle East and that it is Trump’s decision whether to provide Israel a ”bunker buster” bomb to strike at the core of Iran’s nuclear program, which would require US pilots flying a B-2 stealth bomber. He would not indicate what the US may do next.
“My job — our job, the chairman and I — at all times is to make sure the president has options and is informed of what those options might be and what the ramifications of those options might be,” Hegseth said, referring to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was testifying alongside him.
The US has shifted significant numbers of refueling tanker and fighter aircraft to position them to be able to respond to the escalating conflict, such as supporting possible evacuations, or airstrikes. Hegseth said this week that was done to protect US personnel and air bases.
Hegseth, who is appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, has spent vast amounts of time during his first months in office promoting the social changes he’s making at the Pentagon. He’s been far less visible in the administration’s more critical international security crises and negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Iran.
Philippines struggles to evacuate nationals from Iran amid Israeli bombardment
- Some 700 Filipinos live in Iran, most married to Iranian nationals
- Marcos says the government is looking for a route to ‘get them out’
MANILA: The Philippines is struggling to evacuate its nationals from Iran as exit routes are difficult to secure, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday, as an increasing number of them are seeking to leave amid growing destruction from Israeli bombardment.
The Philippine embassy in Tehran estimating that some 700 Filipinos live in Iran. Most are married to Iranian nationals and initially were not willing to leave when the attacks started last week.
“But now, some are saying they’re scared, so they’re asking for help to get out. The problem we’re facing in evacuating them is that — because of the war — many airports are closed,” Marcos told reporters in Quezon City.
“We’re looking for a route through which we can get them out.”
Following Israeli attacks, Iran has suspended flights at major airports. Neighboring countries such as Iraq and Jordan have also closed their airspace, making air evacuations nearly impossible
Some countries are evacuating citizens by land via Azerbaijan and Turkiye, but these journeys are long due to distance, heavy traffic, fuel shortages and potential Israeli strikes.
The Philippine government is also planning to pull non-essential personnel out of the embassy in Tehran and raise the alert level for nationals in Iran to “voluntary repatriation phase,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose De Vega told the Philippine News Agency.
“We cannot raise it to mandatory because most of the Filipinos there won’t go home anyway, they have Iranian families there,” he said.
Israeli attacks on Iran began on Friday, when Tel Aviv hit more than a dozen Iranian sites — including key nuclear facilities and the residences of military leaders and scientists — claiming it was aiming to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Daily attacks have been ongoing for the past six days after Iran retaliated with ballistic missile strikes against Israel.
The Israeli military has intensified its bombing of civilian targets, hitting Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran and a hospital in Kermanshah. On Wednesday alone, it said it had hit 40 sites across the country.
According to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, at least 224 people have been killed and 1,481 wounded in the attacks since Friday; however, various media outlets report casualty numbers could be at least twice that many.
Mediterranean rescuers say saved 175,000 people since 2015
- The majority had died in the central Mediterranean, waters between between Libya, Tunisia, Italy and Malta
- In that area, the equivalent of five adults and one child lost their lives every day over the past decade
BERLIN: Maritime rescue organizations said Wednesday they had pulled more than 175,000 people from the Mediterranean over the past 10 years, as waves of migrants sought to use the dangerous sea route to reach Europe.
The group of 21 NGOS active in the region estimated that at least 28,932 people had died while trying to cross the sea since 2015.
The majority had died in the central Mediterranean – waters between Libya, Tunisia, Italy and Malta – Mirka Schaefer of German NGO SOS Humanity told a Berlin press conference.
In that area, the equivalent of five adults and one child lost their lives every day over the past decade, she said.
The number of unrecorded cases was likely to be “significantly higher,” she added.
Of the 21 organizations currently engaged in maritime rescue in the region, 10 of them are based in Germany. Between them the groups operate 15 boats, four sail ships and four planes.
The organizations have frequently clashed with authorities over their rescue operations, which were launched as Europe’s migration crisis broke out in 2015, when hundreds of thousands headed to the continent, mostly from the Middle East.
In Italy the current government has vowed to end crossings and attacked NGOs for creating a “pull factor” that encourages departures, something migration observers say is unproven.
Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government has passed laws requiring rescue ships to return to a designated port, a measure NGOs say is contrary to maritime law.
“The pressure on us is growing,” Schaefer said, criticizing a lack of support from the German government.
The rescue organizations were calling on Berlin to support “an effective, coordinated sea rescue program, fully funded by the EU,” Sea Watch spokeswoman Giulia Messmer said at the press conference.
The proposal, which had been sent to the German government and to the European Commission, called for the EU to spend between €108 million-€240 million ($124 million-$276 million) a year on rescue patrols and arrival centers.
India’s commerce minister heads to UK to fast-track free trade deal
- FTA talks started in 2022 and stalled over tariffs, mobility for services professionals
- Deal-in-principle was announced by Indian, British PMs last month
New Delhi
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has embarked on a two-day visit to the UK to accelerate talks on a long-pending bilateral free trade agreement, his office said on Wednesday.
Launched in January 2022, the FTA negotiations between India and the UK were set to conclude the same year, but despite more than a dozen formal rounds, talks have stalled over issues like tariffs, rules of origin and mobility for services professionals.
A deal-in-principle was announced in May by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart, Keir Starmer.
Goyal’s UK visit comes in the “backdrop of the announcement” and “aims to accelerate bilateral engagements and harness emerging opportunities,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.
The minister is scheduled to meet UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to “review the progress made in the ongoing FTA negotiations and chart out a clear, time-bound road map for its finalization and implementation.”
If Goyal’s visit succeeds in producing an implementation road map with timelines, he would be able to start negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty with the UK, Anupam Manur, professor of economics at the Takshashila Institution in Bangalore, told Arab News.
“A working FTA for India is extremely important, especially in a scenario where global trade uncertainty is at an all-time high due to the trade war and tariffs imposed by President Trump,” Manur said.
“In this scenario, an FTA with the UK delivers greater certainty to India, provides market access to an important large economy, and will also act as a leverage point for trade negotiations with the US.”
India has so far signed 14 free trade agreements with 25 countries, along with several regional and preferential trade pacts covering additional nations. These include agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the UAE.
Talks are also ongoing with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the EU — with commitments to conclude talks in 2025.
