Heavy snowfall and freezing rain disrupted rush-hour traffic across large parts of Germany on Monday morning.
Accidents became more frequent on the roads in the north-east according to reports from states including Saxony, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Rail operator Deutsche Bahn said that delays and cancellations were to be expected on long-distance services. This applies to the whole of southern Germany as well as connections to and from Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover, Deutsche Bahn said.
In Berlin, tram services had to be cancelled due to icy overhead power lines, and public transport services were restricted elsewhere in the capital.
The snow front reached south-western Germany on Sunday evening, where some areas saw up to 25 centimetres of fresh snow.
Early on Monday, parts of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg were still under severe weather warnings from the German Weather Service due to the risk of black ice. Parts of northern Bavaria were under severe weather warnings due to snowfall.
Near Weinsberg in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, 15 to 20 cars and lorries got stuck in the snow on a road connecting two motorways during the night, according to police.
Near Nuremberg, a man skidded in his car on an icy road and ended up in the front garden of a church, crashing into the steps of the building. Rescue workers took the 34-year-old driver to hospital with minor injuries.
The weather is not set to improve for the time being. The weather service expects further snowfall in many parts of Germany during the course of the day, which will then gradually ease, and further frosty weather.
German authorities have arrested a woman suspected of spying for a Russian intelligence agency and passing on information related to the war in Ukraine, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The German-Ukrainian national, who was taken into custody in Berlin, is believed to have been in contact with a middleman at the Russian Embassy in the German capital who worked for a Russian intelligence service, according to the Federal Public Prosecutors’ Office.
Since November 2023 at the latest, the suspect provided the contact with “information relating to the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine” on several occasions, Germany’s top law enforcement agency said in a statement.
More specifically, the woman is accused of gathering background on participants in “high-profile political events” as well as “information on the locations of the arms industry, drone tests and planned deliveries of drones to Ukraine.”
To that end, she also contacted former German Defence Ministry employees “whom she knew personally.”
Officers raided several properties linked to the woman as well as addresses connected to two further suspects in the case in the state of Brandenburg, just outside Berlin, as well as in Munich and in western Germany.
According to military sources, investigators are also looking into two former members of Germany’s armed forces – a recently retired staff officer and a senior civil servant who left the Bundeswehr more than 15 years ago.
Both men are suspected of “disclosing official information to an accused intermediary who was allegedly acting on behalf of the Russian intelligence service and was detained today,” sources told dpa.
The German-Ukrainian national is also believed to have helped her embassy contact to attend political events in Berlin under an alias in order to establish contacts relevant to the secret service.
The woman is set to be brought before a magistrate at the Federal Court of Justice who will decide on possible pre-trial detention.
BERLIN/PARIS/, Jan 21 (Reuters) – European far-right and populist parties that once cheered on Donald Trump and gained in standing through his praise are now distancing themselves from the U.S. president over his military incursion into Venezuela and bid for Greenland.
The Trump administration has repeatedly backed far-right European parties that share a similar stance on issues from immigration to climate change, helping legitimize movements that have long faced stigma at home but are now on the rise.
The new U.S. National Security Strategy issued last month said “the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.”
But those parties now face a dilemma as disapproval of Trump rises across the continent over his increasingly aggressive foreign policy moves and in particular his efforts to acquire Greenland from Denmark.
GERMANY’S AFD BERATES TRUMP
“Donald Trump has violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely, not to interfere in other countries,” Alice Weidel of the far-right Alternative for Germany said, while party co-leader Tino Chrupalla rejected “Wild West methods”.
The AfD has been cultivating ties with Trump’s administration – but polls suggest this may no longer be beneficial. A survey by pollster Forsa released on Tuesday showed 71% of Germans see Trump more as an opponent than an ally.
Wariness of Trump has grown since he vowed on Saturday to slap tariffs on a raft of EU countries including Germany, France, Sweden and Britain, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.
Those countries had last week sent military personnel to the vast Arctic island at Denmark’s request.
National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said on Tuesday Europe must react, referring to “anti-coercion measures” and the suspension of the economic agreement signed last year between the EU and the United States.
British populist party Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage has long feted his close ties with Trump, said it was hard to tell if the president was bluffing.
“But to use economic threats against the country that’s been considered to be your closest ally for over a hundred years is not the kind of thing we would expect,” Reform said in a statement published on Jan. 19.
Blunter still was Mattias Karlsson, often cited as chief ideologist of the far-right Sweden Democrats.
“Trump is increasingly resembling a reversed King Midas,” he wrote on X. “Everything he touches turns to shit.”
Political scientist Johannes Hillje said it would always be hard for nationalists to forge a common foreign policy “because the national interests do not always converge.”
Not all European far-right and populist parties have been so critical. Some, like the far-right Dutch Party for Freedom and Spanish Vox, praised Trump for removing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yet kept silent on his Greenland threats.
Others, such as Polish President Karol Nawrocki and the nationalist government of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban have called for the issue of Greenland to be settled bilaterally between the United States and Denmark.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis posted a video on social networks on Tuesday in which he brandished a map and a globe to show how big Greenland was and how close it was to Russia if it were to send a missile.
“The U.S. has a long-term interest in Greenland, it is not just an initiative of Donald Trump now,” he said, calling for a diplomatic resolution.
MILD CRITICISM FROM MELONI
Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is seen as one of the closest European leaders to Trump, said his decision to slap tariffs on European allies was a “mistake”.
“I spoke to Donald Trump a few hours ago and told him what I think,” she said on Sunday, adding that she thought there was “a problem of understanding and communication” between Washington and Europe. She has not said anything since, but Italian media have said she is against slapping tariffs on the U.S. in response and is instead seeking to defuse the crisis with talks.
However, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party, blamed the renewed trade tensions on the European nations who dispatched soldiers to Greenland.
“The eagerness to announce the dispatch of troops here and there is now bearing its bitter fruit,” he wrote on X.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Crispian Balmer in Rome, Jesus Calero in Madrid, Bart Meijer in Amsterdam, Johan Ahlander in Stockholm, Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Jan Lopatka in Prague and Krisztina Than in Budapest, Elizabeth Piper in London and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris)
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) announced the addition of Tipico, one of Germany’s top dogs when it comes to sports betting and iGaming, to its ranks. As the newest member of the association, Tipico has expressed a firm commitment to safeguarding the sector’s integrity and championing the EGBA’s ideals.
Tipico Wants to Champion Robust Industry Standards
According to the announcement, the addition of Germany’s leading sports betting and online gambling operator to the EGBA fold reaffirms the association’s position as “the leading voice” of the Old World’s online casino sector. In addition to that, Tipico’s decision to become a part of the EGBA has expanded the latter organization’s presence in one of Europe’s most important gaming markets.
As mentioned, Tipico’s membership of EGBA showcases the operator’s commitment to protecting the industry’s integrity and championing high standards through industry cooperation. According to the announcement, Tipico will now begin contributing to EGBA’s working groups and to the association’s initiatives, which include promoting responsible advertising, safer gambling, and preventing crime such as money laundering.
A Welcome Addition to the EGBA Family
Tipico’s director of public policy, Jocher Weiner, was very pleased to see his company become a part of the European Gaming and Betting Association, hailing the EGBA’s important work and reasserting his team’s unwavering vow to protect players, remain compliant and contribute to the broader sector.
This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to promoting high industry standards and our fight against the black market for online gambling in Europe.
Jocher Weiner, director of public policy, Tipico
Maarten Haijer, EGBA’s secretary general, welcomed Tipico to the EGBA family. He said that his team is delighted to have the company on board just in time for 2026, lauding its membership as a “strong addition.”
As Germany’s leading online gambling operator with a strong track record, Tipico brings valuable expertise to our association and will reinforce our collective efforts to promote a well-regulated and sustainable gambling sector in Europe.
Maarten Haijer, secretary general, EGBA
Haijer concluded that he is looking forward to working closely with Tipico’s team members and ushering in a new era of exemplary and responsible gaming across Europe.
The EGBA continues to promote best practices across the European gaming sector, urging its members to do more to shield consumers from harm. To that end, the company previously launched a new website dedicated to European Safer Gambling Week, an annual initiative seeking to raise awareness of the risks of gambling, how to play moderately and what safer gambling tools are available to players experiencing struggles.
Businesses in Germany that operate casinos and sportsbooks would now have to be careful lest they allow a player to deposit more than the EUR 1,000 deposit cap in the country, around $1166.
A court in Bonn has ruled that players who have been allowed to deposit beyond this threshold will be entitled to get the money they overspent, which would mean that operators that have failed to police the depositing patterns of their players would be on the hook for the returns.
German Court Sides with Plaintiff on Deposit Limits and Subsequent Losses
However, the excess money deposited that way could also lead to more headaches, as some players may end up winning money, putting operators in an even tougher spot – do they void the wagers that were placed with the excessive money, and thus expose themselves to further litigation and regulatory scrutiny?
This may be what happens next, after the Bonn Regional Court said that Bet3000, a sportsbook, and operator IBA Entertainment would have to reimburse a customer’s online betting losses, because the brand allowed the user to deposit more than is permitted by law between November 2019 and April 2022.
In the space of several years, the person ended up racking up losses of roughly EUR 16,000 ($18,673). The court established that the deposit limits for the customer were set as high as EUR 30,000 ($35,013).
The court sided with the player, who argued that the losses that were incurred above the depositing limit ought to be reimbursed, which is precisely what the judge decided. This amounts to about EUR 12,000 ($14,000) based on the complaint.
While this ruling may prove harsh from an operator’s standpoint, there is an inherent logic to it, based on existing gambling laws in Germany. The depositing limit is strictly observed, as are other consumer protection measures.
Germany Still Needs to Address Black Market Operations
However, a much broader dialogue ought to be opened into whether these measures actually work. Germany has been scrutinizing its rules about gambling, and has paid closer attention to the spread of black market and offshore operations, although a chronic debate over channelization rages on, fueled by watchdog and industry trade groups.
At the same time, the GGL, the country’s gambling watchdog, has appealed to players to engage with licensed operators and avoid black market alternatives.
BENGALURU, Jan 13 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday he assumes Iran’s leadership is in its “final days and weeks” as it faces widespread protests.
Demonstrations in Iran have evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to calls for the fall of the clerical establishment in the Islamic Republic.
“I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” Merz said during a trip to India, questioning the Iranian leadership’s legitimacy.
“When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime.”
Merz said Germany was in close contact with the United States and fellow European governments on the situation in Iran, and urged Tehran to end its deadly crackdown on protesters.
He did not comment on Germany’s trade ties with Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that any country that does business with Iran will face a tariff rate of 25% on trade with the United States.
Germany maintains limited trade relations with Iran despite significant restrictions, making Berlin Tehran’s most important trading partner in the European Union.
German exports to Iran fell 25% to just under 871 million euros ($1.02 billion) in the first 11 months of 2025, representing less than 0.1% of total German exports, according to federal statistics office data seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke in Bengaluru and Rene Wagner in Berlin, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
AHMEDABAD, India, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he expects the United States to continue to protect Greenland together with Denmark but ongoing talks would determine the exact nature of the collaboration.
“We are in very detailed discussions with the Danish government and simply want to work together to improve the security situation for Greenland,” Merz told reporters in the Indian city of Ahmedabad.
“I expect the Americans to also participate in this,” he said, adding that talks over the next few days and weeks would show in what form that would happen.
(Reporting by Reinhard Becker and Maria MartinezWriting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Matthias Williams)
Jan 11 (Reuters) – A group of European countries, led by Britain and Germany, is discussing plans to boost their military presence in Greenland to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to protect the Arctic region, the Bloomberg report added, citing people familiar with the plans.
Trump said on Friday that the U.S. needs to own Greenland to prevent Russia or China from occupying it in the future. He has repeatedly said that Russian and Chinese vessels are operating near Greenland, something Nordic countries have rejected.
BERLIN, Jan 8 (Reuters) – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has strongly criticised the U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump and urged the world not to let the world order disintegrate into a “den of robbers” where the unscrupulous take what they want.
In unusually strong remarks, which appeared to refer to actions such as the ousting of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro at the weekend, the former foreign minister said global democracy was being attacked as never before.
Although the German president’s role is largely ceremonial, his words carry some weight and he has more freedom to express views than politicians.
Describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a watershed, Steinmeier said the U.S. behaviour represented a second historic rupture.
“Then there is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the USA, which helped build this world order,” Steinmeier said in remarks at a symposium late on Wednesday.
“It is about preventing the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers,” he said.
Active intervention was needed in threatening situations and countries such as Brazil and India must be convinced to protect the world order, he said.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Alison Williams)
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, US President Donald Trump, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gather and chat with each other in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, United States on August 18, 2025.
Ukrainian Presidency | Anadolu | Getty Images
As 2026 kicks off with several unexpected geopolitical earthquakes, Europe looks woefully unprepared to deal with the upending of old rules — and the new world order — being created by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Less than a week into the new year and not only has the U.S. deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and threatened Colombia, Iran, Cuba and Mexico, but has also turned its sights on taking over Danish territory Greenland, potentially using military force, and threatening the very fabric and future of NATO.
Then there’s Ukraine, with European leaders’ efforts this week to cement security guarantees in a potential peace deal to end the war looking like small fry as other potential territorial takeovers garner global attention.
Largely seen as the “Old World” by the rest of the globe, Europe appears to have fallen far behind other power blocs on a number of levels, with its economy in the slow lane and its geopolitical isolation — and apparent impotence — in stark contrast with bullish regional superpowers like the U.S., Russia and China.
It’s a dangerous moment for Europe and the existing international order, analysts say, as the established rules-based international order is torn up.
“What happened in Venezuela and now talk about Greenland, Cuba or Colombia, we are really into getting into uncharted territory, and we have to be really extremely careful,” Wang Huiyao, founder and president at the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, told CNBC Wednesday.
“The international community has to work together now and probably stop this kind of unilateral approach. It’s a wake-up call for the European countries so closely allied with the U.S. who have suddenly realized now that its fundamental basis has been eroded and has been really challenged.”
Europe senses danger
There’s no doubt that Europe knows the trouble it’s in as it confronts both the dangers of ongoing war in Ukraine, and an elusive peace deal, as well as the real possibility of a confrontation with the U.S. over Greenland, which belongs to EU and NATO member Denmark.
European leaders met on Tuesday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, but also issued a statement pushing back against any American territorial ambitions over the Arctic island, insisting: “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
A flurry of fraught diplomacy ensued on Wednesday morning, with France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stating that he had spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The French politician said Rubio had “ruled out the possibility of what happened in Venezuela happening in Greenland.”
Rubio reportedly told lawmakers at a closed briefing on Capitol Hill on Monday that the Trump administration did not plan to invade Greenland, but aimed to buy it from Denmark, the Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC on Tuesday that the administration was considering “a range of options” in order to acquire Greenland — including “utilizing the U.S. Military.”
Greenland and Denmark have requested a meeting with Rubio to discuss the U.S.’ intentions. On Monday, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that “if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country, everything will stop.”
Existential crisis?
It’s not the first time that the transatlantic partnership has looked shaky under Trump’s leadership, with the president barely containing his disdain for Europe’s perceived shortfalls in recent years, particularly when it comes to defense spending, investment, and economic prowess.
In December, the U.S. warned in its new national security strategy (NSS) that the region faced oblivion. Trump then called Europe’s leaders “weak” and said the region was “decaying.”
European officials responded to Trump’s comments with irritation, but the uncomfortable question was whether the U.S. had a point.
In its NSS, the U.S. listed Europe’s waning economy, migration policies, and “loss of national identities and self-confidence” as reasons to worry for the continent. It then warned that European countries faced “civilizational erasure” and questioned whether they can “remain reliable allies.”
Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told CNBC that Washington was essentially telling Europe not only what it already knew, but what it was already trying to fix.
“Civilizational erasure’ sounds offensive, but many European leaders – in France, Germany, Italy – have been raising similar concerns for years. In fact, EU migration policy has tightened considerably since [former Chancellor Angela] Merkel’s open-door approach,” he told CNBC.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets with U.S. President Donald Trump during the 80th United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, New York, U.S., Sept. 23, 2025.
Alexander Drago | Reuters
“The key difference is that Europeans want to address these and other challenges by making Europe stronger, not by tearing it apart,” Bremmer said.
“European leaders see this for what it is,” he added.
“If Washington is no longer aligned with Europe on values Europeans consider essential, then the United States can no longer be counted on as an ally. That’s an existential crisis for the transatlantic alliance … What the Europeans are prepared to do about it is another matter entirely.”
BERLIN, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Berlin’s mayor said on Monday the German capital’s core infrastructure needed better protection two days after an arson attack on a power station left tens of thousands of people without power.
The far-left Volcano activist group claimed responsibility for the attack which also shut down mobile phone connections, cut heating during freezing weather, stopped trains and forced hospitals to switch to back-up generators.
“Left-wing terrorism is back in Germany with increasing intensity,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bild newspaper in an interview.
Volcano, which says it is against the energy industry’s use of fossil fuels, has claimed several attacks in Berlin and the neighbouring Brandenburg region.
“There will be talks which we have to have with the federal government about how we can better protect our critical infrastructure, especially in the area of the capital,” Berlin mayor Kai Wegner told a news conference.
Germany and other Western powers have also been on the alert for sabotage attacks on power, communications and transport systems at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
A blaze early on Saturday destroyed a cable duct over a canal, cutting power in around 45,000 households and more than 2,000 businesses in the southwest of the city, including the prosperous areas of Zehlendorf and Wannsee.
Electricity has since been restored for some 14,500 households but full restoration is not expected until Thursday afternoon, Stromnetz Berlin, the city’s network operator, said.
In 2024, the Volcano group claimed responsibility for a suspected arson attack on a power pylon near Tesla’s car factory outside Berlin.
In its most recent annual report, the domestic intelligence agency said left-wing militancy was a growing danger and made explicit reference to the Volcano group.
Bernhard Büllmann, head of Stromnetz Berlin, said restoring electricity to areas still without power would be a complex operation involving high-tension lines that required specialist staff.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that Greenland belonged to Denmark and that the NATO alliance could discuss strengthening its protection if necessary.
Wadephul was speaking after U.S. President Donald Trump made renewed threats to take over Greenland, a prospect that alarmed NATO allies and has taken on a new urgency after Trump followed through on threats to topple Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to take over Greenland, an ambition first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency.
On Sunday, he told The Atlantic magazine in an interview: “We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence.”
Speaking to reporters in Lithuania, Wadephul said Germany had questions about Maduro’s removal and stressed the Venezuelan people should determine their country’s future in free and fair elections, after Trump said the U.S. would run the country.
On Greenland, Wadephul stressed it was part of Denmark.
“And since Denmark is a member of NATO, Greenland will, in principle, also be subject to NATO defence,” he said.
“And if there are further requirements to strengthen defence efforts concerning Greenland, then we will have to discuss this within the framework of the alliance.”
He did not elaborate on the nature of those discussions.
(Reporting by Matthias Williams, editing by Miranda Murray)
FRANKFURT, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Germany’s foreign ministry on Saturday called for a political solution in Venezuela where the United States attacked and captured leader Nicolas Maduro.
“We call on all involved parties to avoid an escalation of the situation and to seek ways for a political settlement,” said a written communication obtained by Reuters after a crisis team had met at the ministry.
“International law has to be respected … Venezuelans deserve a peaceful and democratic future,” it added.
The ministry said it was in close contact with the embassy in Caracas and a travel warning had been issued.
Its note echoed statements by both the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who also has repeatedly said that Maduro “lacks legitimacy,” and from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who demanded the observance of international law.
German politicians and commentators on Saturday took mixed stances, with some applauding Maduro’s removal and others condemning what they called the abandonment of the rules-based order of the post-1945 Western world.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Vera Eckert; Editing by Toby Chopra)
First, why Germany is rearming, modernizing its military. Then, a look at life-saving drugs that cost millions per dose. And, Indiana Hoosiers: from outcast to undefeated.
Berlin — Robbers used a large drill to break into a German savings bank’s vault room and steal cash, gold and jewelry worth some 30 million euros ($35 million), police said Tuesday.
The heist in the western city of Gelsenkirchen saw the thieves break into more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes, they said.
While the criminals remained at large, hundreds of distressed bank customers massed outside the branch on Tuesday demanding information, but were kept at bay by police.
According to police, the robbers drilled their way into the underground vault room of the Sparkasse savings bank from a parking garage.
Investigators suspect the gang spent much of the weekend inside, breaking open the deposit boxes.
The break-in came to light after a fire alarm was triggered in the early hours of Monday and emergency services discovered the hole.
Police officers stand in front of a savings bank branch in the German town of Gelsenkirchen, Dec. 30, 2025, after thieves broke into the bank’s vault from a parking garage.
Christoph Reichwein/picture alliance/Getty
Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the parking garage during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Footage from security cameras has also shown a black Audi RS 6 leaving the parking garage early Monday morning, with masked persons inside.
The car’s license plate had been stolen earlier in the city of Hanover, police said.
A police spokesman told AFP that the break-in was “indeed very professionally executed,” likening it to the heist movie “Ocean’s Eleven.”
“A great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,” he said.
Police said the more than 3,000 boxes had an average insurance value of 10,000 euros, and therefore estimated the damage at some 30 million euros.
The robbery comes amid ongoing moves by managers of one of Europe’s most famous museums, the Louvre in Paris, to tighten up security in the wake of a brazen heist that saw thieves break in through an upper story window to steal French crown jewels valued at an estimated $102 million. The four suspected thieves have been arrested, but none of the state treasures have been recovered.
Several victims of the robbery in Germany had told police officers that their losses far exceeded the insured value of their safe deposit boxes.
The police spokesman said that “disgruntled customers” were outside the bank branch which didn’t open for security reasons, after threats had been made against the employees.
“We’re still on site, keeping an eye on things,” he said, adding that “the situation has calmed down considerably.”
MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a Ukrainian drone attack on a presidential residence in the Novgorod region would toughen Russia’s position on a possible peace deal to end the fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed the Russian accusations as “another round of lies” aimed to justify additional attacks against Ukraine and to prolong the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted Ukraine’s denial of the drone attack – and said that many Western media were playing along with Kyiv’s denial.
“This terrorist action is aimed at collapsing the negotiation process,” Peskov told reporters. “The diplomatic consequence will be to toughen the negotiating position of the Russian Federation.”
The Russian military, he said, knew how and when to respond.
“We see that Zelenskiy himself is trying to deny this, and many Western media outlets, playing along with the Kyiv regime, are starting to spread the theme that this did not happen,” Peskov said. “This is a completely insane assertion.”
Peskov declined to say where Putin was at the time of the attack, saying that in light of recent events such details should not be in the public domain.
When asked if Russia had physical evidence of the drone attack, he said air defences shot the drones down but that the question of wreckage was for the defence ministry.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge editing by Andrew Osborn)
MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) – A probe by German prosecutors into alleged foreign trade law violations by EU-sanctioned Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov is closed, his lawyers in Germany said in a statement on Tuesday.
The investigation looked into an alleged payment of 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) for security at two homes in the Bavarian lakeside community of Rottach-Egern between April and September 2022.
Prosecutors also claimed that Usmanov failed to declare jewellery, paintings and wines to Germany’s export control office, BAFA, in accordance with European Union sanctions rules. Usmanov has denied any wrongdoing.
Usmanov, who has a net worth of $18.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is subject to EU and U.S. sanctions and a travel ban, which were imposed after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Usmanov’s lawyers said he had no links to the companies involved in the alleged payments nor did he own or control the properties in question, adding that the EU sanctions were not directly applicable to the probe. Prosecutors were expected to release a statement on the matter later on Tuesday.
His lawyers said it was agreed to close the case to save time and resources. They added that their statement had been coordinated with the prosecutors.
They said Usmanov had agreed to pay 10 million euros split between the German state budget and German charity groups as part of an arrangement to close the probe. They said that the payment was neither a fine nor a form of punishment.
In November 2024, German prosecutors dropped a money laundering investigation against Usmanov on similar terms.
(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
CHICAGO — Barely half an hour had passed since the flight landed at O’Hare International Airport, and the Army combat veteran’s palms were already sweating.
Spencer Sullivan, 38, situated himself at the front of a crowd of people waiting near the exit for international arrivals. He knew it could be hours before his friend got through customs.
Still, he said, “I’ve been waiting so long for this moment. I don’t want to miss it.”
It had been just over 13 years since Sullivan, who now works in corporate development, first began helping his former interpreter in Afghanistan petition for a visa to live in the U.S.
The process had been full of big hopes and bigger letdowns. Then, after they finally secured the visa in September, an Afghan immigrant was accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington.
In the politicized aftermath, Sullivan wondered: Would his friend get in?
Abdulhaq Sodais, left, and Spencer Sullivan have breakfast at a hotel in Skokie, Ill., a day after Sodais’ arrival in the U.S.
After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, teenage Abdulhaq Sodais enrolled in English classes with the goal of becoming an interpreter for coalition forces. Nearly a decade later in 2010, employment records show he was contracted by Mission Essential, one of the largest companies that supplied interpreters in Afghanistan to Western forces.
Sodais, 33, and Sullivan, then a platoon leader, met two years later at a military base in the remote Zabul Province.
Together they would go on intel-gathering missions, talking to village leaders, scouting unfamiliar terrain and observing the Taliban from hilltops, where Sodais interpreted their radio transmissions for Sullivan in real time.
In December 2012, Sullivan returned to the U.S., though he and Sodais stayed in touch. The following year, the blast of an improvised explosive device left Sodais with a concussion and a bulging spinal disk. He returned to his parents’ home in Herat to recover.
After his convalescence, he said, his supervisor told him to take a dangerous road back to the Zabul base — a day’s drive for a journey commonly traveled by air. Afraid it would be a suicide mission, he declined to take the land route and was fired for job abandonment.
The denial of his first Special Immigrant Visa application soon followed.
Those visas offer a pathway to citizenship for Afghans who were employed by the U.S. government or its private contractors. In establishing the program, federal officials acknowledged a moral obligation to protect allies who risked their lives to help the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
More than 50,000 such visas have been approved since 2009, according to the State Department.
One requirement is “faithful and valuable service to the U.S. government.” Applicants denied visas are often deemed to have failed that provision, though interpreters and advocates have said the smallest inconsistency could trigger a denial. Over the next few years, Sodais said, three more visa applications would be denied.
In a Nov. 23, 2014, recommendation letter, Sullivan, by then an Army captain, wrote that granting Sodais a visa “is the least that can be done in order to express America’s gratitude for his services.”
“On multiple missions in enemy controlled villages, his life was threatened by local nationals in support of the Taliban for his assistance of [coalition] forces,” Sullivan wrote. “Abdulhaq did not cover his face while on mission, leaving him recognizable to Taliban informants, further endangering his life.”
He was rehired by Mission Essential in 2014, but fired again in 2016, with a civilian contractor writing in his file that he had an “incompatible skill set with [the] unit’s mission.” She accused him — falsely — Sodais says, of checking his personal Facebook at the office.
Mission Essential later told The Times that he was terminated by the military for poor performance but that it had no record of the incident he referred to.
Sodais said he was confronted by his local mullah, or Muslim clergy leader, in 2015 for working with Western armed forces. The mullah said he was labeled an infidel, and his death had been sanctioned by the Taliban. He went into hiding at his parents’ home.
Then, in July 2017, the Taliban killed Sayed Sadat, another interpreter who had worked with the platoon Sullivan had led. Devastated by the news, Sullivan reached out to Sodais, asking if he was OK.
Sodais had gotten a new phone and didn’t reply. Sullivan, who now wears a metal memorial band with Sadat’s name and date of death, feared Sodais also was dead.
Abdulhaq Sodais and Spencer Sullivan walk through a park in Bremen, Germany, in 2021. Sodais fled Afghanistan for Germany, and Sullivan worked for years to get him a visa to travel to the U.S.
(Peter Dejong / Associated Press)
What Sullivan didn’t know was that Sodais had fled Afghanistan and arrived in Germany in 2018 after seven months of travel with smugglers by land.
After his first German asylum claim was rejected, a lawyer told Sodais he needed more evidence to back up his claims of working for the U.S. So, that Christmas Eve, he messaged Sullivan asking for photos from their missions together. He told Sullivan that if he couldn’t find safety and stability, he would take his own life before the Taliban could.
Sullivan had been wracked with guilt since Sadat’s death and vowed to help. He sent the photos Sodais requested, wrote a letter of support and helped him navigate German bureaucracy. He even flew to Germany from his home in Virginia in 2019 to offer encouragement.
But the asylum process moved slowly. By March 2021, Sodais, overwhelmed by fear of deportation, became deeply depressed and attempted suicide. At a psychiatric hospital, medical records show, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
That August, as the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, Sullivan returned to Germany to help Sodais prepare for his final asylum appeal hearing.
The verdict arrived a month later. He’d won.
Sodais found succeeding in German society difficult. He felt a palpable sense of discrimination and was laid off from various contract jobs, including as a forklift operator and an aid helping special needs children on and off school buses.
While Sullivan was happy his friend had found safety, he was disappointed that the country he had served continued to reject his requests for a visa.
“He should be in America,” he said at the time. “We failed him.”
In the meantime, life continued. Sodais married another Afghan refugee, Weeda Faqiri, in 2022. Sodais’ and Sullivan’s families met for the first time in 2022 when Sullivan, his wife and son visited Germany.
Also that year, Sodais said, he won a $15,000 legal judgment against Mission Essential over lack of medical care after the explosive device blast more than a decade earlier.
He and Sullivan decided to write a book about Sodais’ life and their friendship. “Not Our Problem: The True Story of an Afghan Refugee, an American Promise, and the World Between Them” is scheduled to publish in April.
Last year, Sodais decided to make a final pitch to the U.S. government. On Feb. 4 came a reply unlike the others: “Approval of Appeal for the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program.”
Abdulhaq Sodais and his wife, Weeda Faqiri, share their first meal in the United States at a restaurant in Chicago on Dec. 17.
On Sept. 25, Sodais was issued a visa valid for just over five months, until March 3. Overjoyed, he and Faqiri, 26, began planning their move.
Two months later, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was charged in the shooting that killed Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24.
Lakanwal, who pleaded not guilty, entered the U.S. in 2021 through a Biden administration program for Afghans in the wake of the military withdrawal, and his asylum application was approved in April. In Afghanistan, he served in a counterterrorism unit operated by the CIA.
After the shooting, the Trump administration enacted sweeping restrictions to legal immigration programs, including halting visa applications for Afghans and others.
Worried that further restrictions could follow, Sullian called Sodais and told him there were likely two options: stay permanently in Germany, or attempt to move immediately to the U.S.
Sodais chose the move.
Sullivan learned that RefugeeOne, a Chicago-based group that aids refugees, could help. Using money from their book advance, Sullivan booked Sodais and Faqiri flights from Munich to Chicago, arriving Dec. 17.
“Well, this confirms our decision to get them here as fast as possible,” he said that night. “This is a deliberate dismantling of the SIV program, one brick at a time.”
Then he learned the proclamation wouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1. The panic subsided a little.
A woman is taken into custody by Border Patrol agents after she was accused of using her vehicle to block their vehicles while they were patrolling in a shopping center in Niles, Ill., on Dec. 17.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
On the day of Sodais’ arrival, Border Patrol leaders returned to Chicago for a fresh round of immigration raids and patrolled a neighborhood near the hotel where he and Faqiri would be staying.
Sullivan said he would put himself physically between Sodais and immigration agents. He was half-joking, but it underscored the political moment.
After Sodais’ plane landed, Sullivan knew he had seen one of his WhatsApp messages because of the two blue checkmarks next to it. But others were unread. Had he been denied entry?
“After so many disappointments over the years, it’s hard to believe that anything’s going to go right,” Sullivan said, later admitting that “I was convinced they were cuffed face-down on the linoleum somewhere.”
Spencer Sullivan, left, guides Abdulhaq Sodais to a parking garage at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Dec. 17.
The arrival of three giddy RefugeeOne employees lifted the mood. After years of serving mostly Afghans, Syrians and Ukrainians, they hadn’t picked up an arriving refugee since January, said Emily Parker, who oversees contract compliance.
Parker said a private donor had paid for Sodais and Faqiri to stay a week in a hotel. They qualified for food stamps, three months of rental assistance, cash assistance and four months of Medicaid, a welcome provision because Sodais still suffers back pain from the explosion.
On the other side of the arrivals door, Sodais and Faqiri were stuck in a winding line with hundreds of other foreigners. Sodais later said they were nervous — they had been questioned for an hour in Munich and nearly just as long on their layover in Lisbon.
When they finally got to the front, the customs officer asked what Sodais did for work in Afghanistan. Sodais said he had been an interpreter for U.S. forces. Great, he recalled the agent replying, before welcoming them through.
At 5:24 p.m., Sullivan’s phone rang. Sodais had exited through a different door, so Sullivan rushed to another part of the airport and pointed excitedly when their eyes locked.
“You made it!” Sullivan said, pulling his friend in for a bear hug as they both sobbed.
Without Sullivan, Sodais told the RefugeeOne workers, he would never have made it to the U.S.
“He saved my life.”
Abdulhaq Sodais, right, listens to Adriano Gasparini, a housing manager with RefugeeOne, after viewing potential apartments in Chicago.
The next morning, Parker conducted an intake interview with Sodais to determine potential job placements and explain the services her organization would provide. She said Sodais had technically entered the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident, and his green card should arrive in the mail within a few months.
“That’s how it works with SIVs,” she said. “They’re already 100 steps ahead of any asylee or other refugee.”
Sullivan let out a deep breath. “In my mind, we were playing a long gamble on the courts challenging the executive orders, so that’s good news,” he said.
Sodais, who had applied for the visa with only Sullivan’s help and no lawyer, was also pleasantly surprised.
“This is very exciting for me, because I heard Donald Trump say he stopped everything about refugees,” he said.
Spencer Sullivan looks out of a living room window in a potential apartment for Abdulhaq Sodais and his wife in Chicago.
After dinner — the couple’s first Chicago tavern-style pizza — Sullivan offered Faqiri a box to save her last slice, and she hesitated. Sodais gently explained that in Afghanistan, it’s not cultural norm to take food home from restaurants.
“I just realized something,” Sullivan said. “You’re going to be my interpreter for the rest of our lives.”
BERLIN, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Belarusian opposition leaders Maria Kalesnikava and Viktar Babaryka, freed this month after five years in prison, said they need more time to recover before speaking publicly.
The pair, prominent figures in the movement that challenged President Alexander Lukashenko in a disputed 2020 election, were released on December 13 as part of a deal under which the U.S. lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash in exchange for their freedom.
They had been expected to give a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday.
“Maria and Viktar need some time to recover and to reconnect with their loved ones,” Kalesnikava’s sister Tatsiana Khomich told Reuters. “After the New Year, we will get back with a format that will allow for the broadest possible participation.”
The two were imprisoned on what Western observers said were trumped-up political charges. Human rights activists said they had been subjected to degrading treatment and undergone serious health emergencies during their time in detention.
Last week Germany announced that it would grant residency to the pair, part of a policy of allowing prominent prisoners of conscience residence on their release.
(Reporting by Thomas EscrittEditing by Ros Russell)
Dec 14 (Reuters) – Talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials on proposals for a settlement of the war in Ukraine ended after more than five hours on Sunday and are set to resume on Monday, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said.
“They went on for more than five hours and ended for today with an agreement to resume tomorrow morning,” adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
Lytvyn said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would comment on the talks on Monday once they were completed. Officials, Lytvyn said, were considering the draft documents.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Olena Harmash; Editing by Paul Simao)
