WORLD NEWS
Police May Have Nabbed Wrong Man in Berlin Market Attack, German Prosecutor Says
The German federal prosecutor’s office says the man detained after a Christmas market attack that killed 12 people in Berlin may not be responsible for the slaughter, raising the prospect that other suspects may still be at large.
Attorney General Peter Frank told reporters this morning that officials must prepare for the possibility the man they apprehended earlier is not the person who plowed a truck into a crowd of people Monday and that authorities are unsure whether multiple suspects are involved.
Officials have labeled the incident a terrorist attack.
The detained man, whose name has not yet been released, had a pending asylum case and first entered Germany on Dec. 31, 2015, the country’s interior minister said today.
He arrived in Berlin in February and was not on any terrorist watch list, authorities said. He has denied involvement in the attack, according to Berlin police, who asked the public to remain vigilant.
It is unclear how the attack was planned or whether the attacker had logistical support from anyone affiliated with terrorist organizations.
The truck involved in the incident was stolen in Poland from a building site, the Berlin police tweeted.
The use of a stolen truck as a weapon bears similarities to the July attack in Nice, France, when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel killed 86 people, including children, by driving a rented truck into a crowd of Bastille Day revelers.
The Tunisian-born Bouhlel was living in France. In December, French police detained 11 people suspected of providing logistical support in his attack.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a brief statement today, saying, “This is a difficult day. I am, like millions of people during these hours, horrified and shocked by what happened at the Breitscheidplatz in Berlin.”
Flags flew at half-staff across Germany today as the country mourned the victims. Christmas markets in Berlin closed for the day, and the attorney general announced the beginnings of a criminal investigation.
A male passenger in the truck died at the scene, authorities said, and is being counted among the 12 fatalities.
“The man who was found dead in the truck did not control the truck that drove to the Christmas market,” Berlin police said early today, after earlier tweeting that the man was a Polish citizen.
Ariel Zaurawski, the Polish owner of the truck, told Reuters, “The person who was driving and jumped out of the truck was not my driver. I can vouch for my driver.”
Zaurawski said he believes the truck was hijacked and that something may have happened to the driver. “I can guarantee the one who was in Berlin center was not my driver. They must have done something to him … His phone does not answer. A moment ago, my wife spoke to his wife. She could not get through to him since [about 4:00 p.m. local time]. Something is wrong. He should have answered, the more so that it was his wife calling.”
White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price described the incident as an apparent “terrorist attack.”
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms what appears to have been a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, which has killed and wounded dozens. We send our thoughts and prayers to the families and loved ones of those killed, just as we wish a speedy recovery to all of those wounded. We also extend our heartfelt condolences to the people and government of Germany,” the statement reads.
Price added that the United States has offered to aid Germany in the investigation.
“We have been in touch with German officials, and we stand ready to provide assistance as they recover from and investigate this horrific incident. Germany is one of our closest partners and strongest allies, and we stand together with Berlin in the fight against all those who target our way of life and threaten our societies,” he said.
President-elect Donald Trump released a statement about the incident, saying, “Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today’s horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday.”
He went on to appear to tie the incident to ISIS.
“ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedom-loving partners,” he said.
From ABC News
Singapore registered 931 new coronavirus infections, its health ministry said on Sunday, taking the city-state’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 13,624.
The vast majority of the new cases are migrant workers living in dormitories, the health ministry said in the statement. Fifteen of the new cases are permanent residents.
The number of new cases rose from 618 reported on Saturday.
The tiny country of 5.7 million people now has one of the highest infection rates in Asia, according to official figures, due to outbreaks in cramped dormitories housing over 300,000 mainly South Asian workers.
Sourced From: Reuters: World News
Spain released guidelines on Saturday allowing children to go outside after six weeks living under one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, as figures showed a daily coronavirus death toll of 378, up slightly on Friday’s 367, the lowest in the past month.
The total of fatalities rose to 22,902 and Spain’s Health Ministry said the overall number of coronavirus cases rose to 223,759 from 219,764 the day before.
Yet Spain sees enough evidence of the virus being under control to start easing its lockdown. Children were trying out their masks in anticipation of their first taste of fresh air since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a state of emergency on March 14.
The government said under 14s will from Sunday be allowed up to one hour of supervised outdoor activity per day between 9am and 9pm, staying within one kilometre of their home.
Adults can accompany up to three children, who will not be allowed to use playparks and must adhere to social distancing guidelines, remaining at least two metres from other people.
The government has not yet said when confinement measures will be eased for older children.
In Pineda de Mar, northeast Spain, volunteer seamstresses were hard at work making face masks for children ahead of the deconfinement measure.
“More than 100 people are making protective equipment,” the town’s mayor Xavier Amor told Reuters. “We started with masks and then we followed the demand of hospitals, health centres, and nursing homes.”
As bars and restaurants eye a gradual reopening one company is devising safety measures to encourage wary clients to return.
Leganes-based LlenaTuBar, whose name translates as fill up your bar, is fitting dining tables with clear plastic screens to protect customers and installing thermal cameras to detect any patrons with a fever.
“It’s a critical situation for the hospitality sector and if we’re locked down much longer, people will struggle to reopen their businesses,” owner Manuel Gil told Reuters.
As the economic fallout from the virus continues to build, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reiterated calls for a pan-European response.
“The depth of the economic downturn and the risk that its effects will persist after the health emergency requires that a foundation be laid for a rapid, balanced, environmentally sustainable and socially just recovery,” Sanchez wrote in a piece for newspaper Expansion on Saturday.
The Health Ministry on Friday changed the methodology for logging cases of the virus. It will no longer count antibody tests and will only include positive results from PCR tests.
Discounting antibody tests puts Saturday’s total number of cases at 205,905 and Friday’s at 202,990.
Sourced From: Reuters: World News
MOSCOW —The coronavirus pandemic has given Russian President Vladimir Putin a fresh opportunity to drive home for worried Russians a recurring theme of his long reign: Western liberal democracies are weak, globalism is fragile and the Russian model of centralizing power in a strong leader is superior in times of crisis.
Throughout much of the pandemic, the Kremlin leader has sought to project strength and calm, assuring his people that the spread of the new coronavirus is under control in Russia, even as it has killed 14,000 and likely more.
Sourced From: NewsPrime.Org
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unveiled a futuristic toilet Tuesday that doesn’t need water or sewers and uses chemicals to turn human waste into fertilizer.
It is the brainchild of research projects funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s biggest private philanthropy organization.
There are multiple designs of the toilet but all work by separating liquid and solid waste, Reuters said.
“The current toilet simply sends the waste away in the water, whereas these toilets don’t have the sewer,” Gates said. “They take both the liquids and solids and do chemical work on it, including burning it in most cases.”
He compared the change from traditional toilets to waterless models as similar to development in computing around the time he founded Microsoft in the mid-1970s.
“In the way that a personal computer is sort of self-contained, not a gigantic thing, we can do this chemical processing at the household level,” he said.
Poor sanitation kills half a million children under the age of five annually and costs $ 200 billion a year in healthcare costs and lost income worldwide, according to the foundation.
Gates’ foundation has committed roughly $ 200 million to the toilet project and expects to spend the same amount again before the toilets are viable for widespread distribution.
During a speech at an event in Beijing, Gates held up a clear jar of human faeces to illustrate the importance of improving sanitation.
“It’s a good reminder that in (the jar) there could be 200 trillion rotavirus cells, 20 billion Shigella bacteria, and 100,000 parasitic worm eggs,” he said.
Gates said the next step for the project is to pitch the concept to manufacturers, saying he expects the market for the toilets to be over $ 6 billion by 2030.
The billionaire also lauded the globalized and free trade systems that made the toilet technology possible.
“I honestly believe trade allows every country to do what it’s best at,” he told Reuters in an interview. “So when I talk about components of this toilet being made in China, others in Thailand, others in the United States, you really want to be bringing together all of that IQ so that you’re getting that combination.”
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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