BERLIN (AP) — Two men accused of planning an attack in Sweden for an affiliate of the Islamic State group in response to the burning of copies of the Quran have been charged in Germany, where they were arrested earlier this year, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The two Afghan citizens, identified only as Ibrahim M.G. and Ramin N. in line with German privacy rules, were charged with conspiring to commit a crime and violating export laws. Ibrahim M.G. was charged with membership in a terrorist organization and Ramin N. with supporting one.
The men were arrested on March 19 near Gera in eastern Germany. Federal prosecutors said they filed the indictment on Aug. 12 to the state court in Jena, which will decide whether and when the case goes to trial.
Ibrahim M.G. is accused of joining an IS affiliate that has carried out attacks in Afghanistan and elsewhere, known variously as ISIS-K, IS-K or ISPK, in August 2023. Prosecutors said that prior to that, the two suspects collected about 2,000 euros ($2,220) in Germany in donations for IS.
Ibrahim M.G. allegedly was tasked by the IS affiliate in summer last year with carrying out an attack in Europe as a reaction to Quran burnings in Sweden and elsewhere. The two suspects planned to kill police officers and other people near the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm using firearms and made “concrete preparations” in close consultation with members of the group, prosecutors said in a statement.
The two men conducted online research on the location and tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to procure weapons, prosecutors said.
FILE - A police officer on a Segway patrols Sweden's parliament in Stockholm, Thursday Aug. 17, 2023. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP, File)
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose on Thursday, encouraged by gains on Wall Street led by a handful of influential Big Tech companies.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 soared 3.4% to finish at 36,833.27, although the gains were partly a reflection of earlier sharp drops.
The cheap yen was a boon for some issues, as it boosts the value of overseas earnings when converted into yen. Toyota Motor Corp. jumped 3.8%, while Nintendo Co. edged up 1.5%.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 142.98 Japanese yen from 142.28. The euro cost $1.1018, inching up from $1.1017.
Shares in Nippon Steel Corp. added 1.8% after Keidanren, a group of Japan’s top businesses, expressed in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concerns about “political interference” in Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp. U.S. Steel issues finished nearly 7% higher a day earlier.
“America’s investment climate will be severely tarnished if such political interference prevails,” according to the letter, which was also signed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Global Business Alliance, Alliance for Automotive Innovation and other groups.
Yellen oversees the government committee reviewing the takeover, while the White House recently signaled an openness to blocking the acquisition.
In the rest of the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to 8,075.70. South Korea's Kospi rose 2.3% to 2,572.09. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.0% to 17,276.38, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2% to 2,717.12.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rallied 1.1% after erasing a morning wipeout of 1.6%. A majority of the index’s stocks still finished lower for the day, but the performances by Nvidia and other tech stocks were enough to drive it to a third straight gain and back within 2% of its all-time high set in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 124 points, or 0.3%, after rallying back from a drop of 743 points. The Nasdaq composite jumped 2.2%.
In the latest government report on U.S. inflation, overall inflation slowed to 2.5% in August from 2.9% in July, a touch better than expected. But prices rose more than expected from July into August when ignoring food and energy, and economists say that can be a better predictor of where inflation is heading.
The data seemed to confirm the U.S. Federal Reserve will likely cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week, which would be the first such cut in more than four years. A worry is that it may prove too late, with U.S. shoppers already struggling under the weight of high prices.
Big Tech also once again lifted Wall Street. A handful of these behemoths accounted for most of the S&P 500’s return through the early part of this year, in large part on excitement about the artificial-intelligence boom.
Besides the 8.1% jump for Nvidia, gains of 2.8% for Amazon, 2.1% for Microsoft and 6.8% for Broadcom were the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 58.61 points to 5,554.13. The Dow rose 124.75 to 40,861.71, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 369.65 to 17,395.53.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.66% from 3.64% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for Fed action, rose more, to 3.65% from 3.59%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 96 cents to $68.27 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard added $1.07 to $71.68 a barrel.
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
The American flag hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
