Foreign News
Three suspected Chinese agents arrested in Germany
German authorities say they have arrested three people on suspicion of spying for China.
The main suspect, named as Thomas R, is accused of spying for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
Prosecutors allege his network operated a front company which co-operated with German research organisations.
The accused are said to have collected sensitive information, including designs for an engine suitable for use on combat ships, to pass on to China.
In a separate development, two men in the UK were charged with spying for China after being accused of providing information which could be “useful to an enemy”, according to police.
In the German case, prosecutors allege Thomas R obtained “innovative technologies for military use” on behalf of an MSS employee. They also allege he used a company – run by the two other suspects, named as Herwig F and Ina F – which contacted people working in science and research.
A first project regarding the operation of high-performance marine engines for use on combat ships is alleged to have already been completed.
At the time of their arrest, the accused were allegedly in further negotiations on other projects that could be of use for China’s navy, prosecutors said.
They added that the arrests took place in the western German states of Hesse and North-Rhine-Westphalia.
The three suspects are also accused of exporting a laser to China, which is banned under EU “dual use” regulations. The rules prohibit sending goods which can be used for military and civilian purposes to certain countries.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the arrests of the three suspects in Germany were a “great success for our counterintelligence”. “The area affected in the current case – innovative technologies from Germany that can be used for military purposes – is particularly sensitive,” she added.
The arrests come a week after Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Beijing, where he raised issues including China’s support for Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
They also come days after two alleged spies, suspected of planning to sabotage German military aid for Ukraine, were arrested in the southern German state of Bavaria. The two men, described as dual German-Russian nationals, were detained on suspicion of spying for Russia.
(BBC)
US President Donald Trump’s administration has exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from “reciprocal” tariffs, including the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports.
US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late on Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump’s 10% global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax.
The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.
This is the first significant reprieve of any kind in Trump’s tariffs on China, with one trade analyst describing it as a “game-changer scenario”.
[BBC]
A notorious bandit kingpin and 100 of his suspected followers have been killed in a joint military operation in north-west Nigeria, authorities say.
Gwaska Dankarami was said to have been a high-value target who reportedly served as second-in-command to an Islamic State-linked leader.
The alleged gang leader had been hiding in the Munumu Forest, with authorities reporting that several other criminal hideouts were also destroyed across the state on Friday.
His apparent death comes after bandits kidnapped 43 villagers and killed four others in a deadly attack on a village called Maigora in the northern Katsina State earlier this week.
The police had said that it deployed security forces in pursuit of the kidnappers.
However, this is not the first time Dankarami’s death has been reported.
In 2022, the Nigerian Airforce claimed to have killed him in a similar operation.
The Katsina State commissioner for internal security and home affairs, Nasir Mua’zu, said the killing was a significant milestone in the fight against banditry in the state.
“It is expedient to state that this successful mission has significantly disrupted the criminal networks that have long terrorised communities across Faskari, Kankara, Bakori, Malumfashi, and Kafur,” Mua’zu added.
Security forces said they had also recovered and destroyed two machine guns and locally fabricated shotguns.
In a separate operation on Thursday, security forces killed six bandits, including their commander, while several other bandits escaped with bullet wounds.
Seven motorcycles were also intercepted and recovered during the intelligence-led operation.
Katsina, the home state of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, has witnessed sporadic attacks by bandits and kidnappers that have claimed many lives.
The state governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, has expressed the government’s determination to eliminate criminals and ensure every forest is thoroughly monitored to protect residents.
The authorities said that the operations are part of a broader effort to restore stability in the state and the north-west region of Nigeria, which has witnessed repeated banditry attacks.
[BBC]
At least three suspected rebel fighters and one Indian soldier have been killed in separate firefights in Indian administered Kashmir less than a week after Interior Minister Amit Shah visited the disputed territory.
The Indian army said on Saturday that Indian soldiers killed three fighters in a gun battle that began on Wednesday in a remote forest in Kishtwar in southern Kashmir.
Senior Indian army official Brigadier JBS Rathi said troops had displayed “great tactical acumen”.
“In the gun battle, three terrorists were neutralised,” he told reporters on Saturday in a commonly used term for rebels opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir.
Weapons and “war-like stores” were recovered from the site, the army’s White Knight Corps posted on social media platform X.
A soldier was killed in a separate incident late on Friday night in Sunderbani district along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that cuts Indian-administered Kashmir into two.
The White Knight Corps said on X troops had “foiled an infiltration attempt” there.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full but governing only part of it.
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers deployed in the territory after an armed uprising against Indian rule in the late 1980s.
Thousands of people, most of them Kashmir civilians, have been killed as rebel groups have fought Indian forces, seeking independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
In 2019, a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused India of human rights violations in Kashmir and called for a commission of inquiry into the allegations. The report came nearly a year after the then UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Husseincalled for an international investigation into abuses in the Muslim-majority region.
Last month, four police officers and two suspected rebels were killed in the region in a clash that also wounded several police officers.
The territory has simmered in anger since 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended the region’s semi-autonomy and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying military operations.
Thousands of additional troops, including special forces, were deployed across southern mountainous areas last year following a series of deadly rebel attacks that killed more than 50 soldiers over three years.
India regularly blames Pakistan for pushing rebels across the LoC to launch attacks on Indian forces.
[Aljazeera]
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