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HAMBURG

Widow of German rapper turned IS fighter arrested in Hamburg

German prosecutors said Monday they have arrested a German-Tunisian woman, the widow of a German rapper turned Islamic State fighter, over her alleged membership of the extremist group.

Widow of German rapper turned IS fighter arrested in Hamburg
The late rapper Denis Cuspert, aka Deso Dogg, in Berlin in 2015. Photo: DPA

The woman, named only as Omaima A., was arrested in Hamburg last week and
also stands accused of having raised her children in the ideology of the
jihadist group.

Omaima A. had married the rapper Denis Cuspert — who went by the stage
name Deso Dogg — after her first husband was killed in an air raid in Kobane,
according to prosecutors.

READ ALSO: Berlin rapper turned Isis fighter killed in Syria (for third time)

Cuspert, killed last year in an airstrike in Syria, was one of the most notorious Western fighters for IS, having appeared in several propaganda videos including one that apparently showed him with a man's severed head

Omaima A. had travelled to Syria in January 2015 with her three underaged children, to join her first husband and their father, Nadar H., in Syria.

She lived under IS rules, raising her children following the group's  doctrines, and receiving monthly financial help from the militant outfit, prosecutors said.

She subsequently wed Cuspert, but left him and returned to Germany pregnant
with their child, as well as her three other children, in 2016.

According to German media, Omaima A. quietly slipped back into German society after her return to Europe, working as an event manager and interpreter.

But a Lebanese journalist broke her story in April, sparking outrage in Germany over why the alleged IS member had not faced prosecution back in her  home country.

Germany has put on trial several returning IS militants, and in April also took its first female returnee to court.

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FRANKFURT

Emergency numbers fail in several German states

Callers to the emergency numbers 110 and 112 weren’t able to reach operators Thursday morning in several German states.

The 112 emergency number on an ambulance.
The 112 emergency number on an ambulance. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

The emergency number 110 for police and 112 for fire crews failed around the country early Thursday morning, with callers unable to reach emergency operators for urgent assistance between about 4:30 am and 5:40 am local time.

The Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid is looking into these outages, which were reported in states including Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, and  Brandenburg, and in major cities like Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. Cologne was further affected by cuts to electricity, drinking water, and regular telephone services. Lower Saxony also saw disruptions to the internal phone networks of police and hospitals.

Emergency services are not reporting any more disturbances and people should be able to once again reach 110 and 112 around the country as normal.

Investigators are looking into the problem, but haven’t yet established a cause or any consequences that may have happened due to the outage. Provider Deutsche Telekom says they have ruled out the possibility of an attack by hackers.

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