German authorities have arrested seven suspected supporters of the IS terror group as part of an investigation into terrorist financing, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
At the same time, authorities conducted 19 raids in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as in one property in the Netherlands, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The individuals arrested are suspected of belonging to an international network that solicited financial donations for IS in Syria through platforms including Telegram and subsequently transferred them to the group or its intermediaries.
At least 65,000 euros ($71,552.00) were transferred in this manner, prosecutors said, adding that the money was used to support IS members imprisoned in Syria, in some cases allowing them to escape from prison camps.
The seven suspects are to appear on Wednesday and Thursday before a magistrate who will decide whether they are to remain in pre-trial detention.
Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline on Friday after it was hit in a drone attack, disrupting a key route used to bypass shipping problems in the Strait of Hormuz.
BRICS members agreed on a joint declaration on Saturday, expected to condemn unilateral aggression by any country without naming individual states, according to sources cited by Reuters.
Philippine rescuers recovered 41 more charred remains from a ferry fire, authorities said on Saturday, raising the death toll to 76 and leaving 13 people unaccounted for, as forensic teams faced the daunting task of identifying the victims.
Russian air strikes in several Ukrainian regions on Saturday killed six people, injured dozens and damaged residential buildings and infrastructure across the country, officials said.
Bulgaria is investigating the cause of a fire at a weapons storage facility operated by EMCO, including the possibility of sabotage and a link to a previous blaze at another of the company's facilities in August, the interior minister said.