Trial opens of 'esoteric' wing of alleged German coup plotters

Eight alleged members of the German far-right Reichsbà¼rger are to go on trial accused of a plot to violently overthrow the state, in the third in a row of similar court cases being held across the country. The defendants, including a GP, a celebrity chef and an astrologer, are accused of serving as the plot's leadership council and, prosecutors say, were set to become a cabinet in waiting if the group's plan to storm the parliament building and overthrow the government had succeeded. They are charged with membership of a terrorist organisation and preparing an act of high treason. The…