International
Greta Thunberg briefly detained at German coal mine protest
January 18 | By AFP |
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was hauled away and briefly detained on Tuesday during a protest near a German village being razed to make way for a coal mine expansion, police said.
Thunberg has been in Germany for several days to support protests against the demolition of Luetzerath, which have become a symbol of resistance against fossil fuels.
Images showed the activist, smiling and dressed in black, being picked up by police officers wearing helmets and then escorted to a waiting bus.
Police said a group of activists were detained after having “broken away from the demonstration”, and run towards the edge of the open-cast coal mine.
They were taken away from the “danger zone” by bus, their identities were checked, and then they were released, a spokesman said.
The process took “several hours” as there were a large number of protesters, he said, without giving a precise figure.
The activists were not formally arrested, police said.
On Saturday, Thunberg joined thousands of demonstrators in a large-scale protest against the demolition of the hamlet, marching at the front of a procession.
She said it was “shameful” that the German government was “making deals and compromises with fossil fuel companies”.
On Monday, the last two climate activists occupying the hamlet to stop it from being razed left their underground hideout, marking the end of the police operation to evict them.
Around 300 activists had occupied the village, staking out emptied buildings and constructing positions in the trees, to try to prevent the expansion of the adjacent Garzweiler open-cast coal mine.
‘Stop coal’
Luetzerath has been deserted for some time by its original inhabitants, as plans move forward to expand the open-cast mine, one of the largest in Europe, operated by energy firm RWE.
Police launched an operation last week to clear the protest camp, making quicker progress than expected, and by Sunday had succeeded in removing all but the last two, holed up in a self-built tunnel under the settlement.
The end of the operation came despite Saturday’s demonstration, which was attended by thousands, with protesters holding banners with slogans including “Stop coal” and “Luetzerath lives!”
Protest planners accused authorities of “violence” after clashes between police and participants, which resulted in injuries on both sides.
RWE has permission for the expansion of the mine under a compromise agreement signed with the government, led by Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Under the deal agreed in October, Luetzerath will be demolished, while five neighbouring villages are spared.
At the same time, RWE also agreed to stop producing electricity with coal in western Germany by 2030 — eight years earlier than planned.
With Russia’s gas supply cut in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Germany has fallen back on coal, firing up mothballed power plants.
The extension to the mine is deemed necessary to secure Germany’s future energy supply.
But activists argue extracting the coal will mean Germany misses targets under the key Paris climate agreements.
International
El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzmán López pleads guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges
Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, pleaded guilty on Monday to drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court, months after his brother Ovidio reached a similar plea agreement, according to local media reports.
The defendant appeared before a federal court in Chicago early Monday afternoon and changed his previous plea in the case, the Chicago Tribune reported. U.S. authorities accuse him of forming, together with his three brothers, the cartel faction known as “Los Chapitos.”
The group is believed to have continued the operations of El Chapo, who has been serving a life sentence in the United States since 2019.
Guzmán López, 39, was arrested after landing in Texas in a small aircraft alongside cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
International
Venezuela authorizes return flights as U.S. continues deportations amid rising tensions
The arrival of U.S. aircraft carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued regularly despite rising tensions between Washington and Caracas over President Donald Trump’s military deployment in the Caribbean.
Trump maintains that the deployment is part of an anti-narcotics operation, while Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro insists the true objective is to remove him from power and seize the nation’s oil resources.
Venezuela’s aviation authority has “received a request from the United States government to resume repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants from that country to Venezuela,” the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement .
“Under the instructions of President Nicolás Maduro, authorization has been granted for these aircraft to enter our airspace,” it added.
Caracas will permit two Eastern Airlines flights to land on Wednesday and Friday.
Migration remains one of the Trump administration’s flagship issues. On Monday, the U.S. president held a meeting with his National Security Council to discuss the situation in Venezuela, a day after confirming he had spoken with Maduro by phone, without offering further details.
According to the Venezuelan government, roughly 75 deportation flights have been carried out this year, returning at least 13,956 Venezuelans from the United States.
International
20,000 rounds stolen from german army after driver leaves cargo unattended
The German army confirmed the theft of a shipment of ammunition that occurred a week ago while it was being transported by a civilian delivery driver, a military spokesperson told AFP, confirming earlier media reports.
According to Der Spiegel and the regional broadcaster MDR, around 20,000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from an unguarded parking lot near Magdeburg, in eastern Germany, while the driver was asleep in a nearby hotel. No information has been released regarding the identity of the suspects, and the military declined to specify the exact type or amount of ammunition taken.
Authorities have also not indicated how the perpetrators knew the cargo would be left unattended.
“The theft was discovered upon delivery at the barracks,” the German army spokesperson said.
A police spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that an investigation has been opened but refused to provide further details “for tactical reasons.”
Sources close to the German military, cited by Der Spiegel, believe it is unlikely the theft was a coincidence. They suspect the thieves waited for the driver to stop for the night before striking.
Der Spiegel also reported that the Defense Ministry normally requires two drivers for this type of transport to ensure the cargo is constantly monitored. However, in this case only one driver was assigned, meaning the civilian transport company failed to comply with the security protocols.
El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzmán López pleads guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges
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