Tuesday, January 1, 2019
German police: Man intentionally drove into crowd, injured 4
German police say at least four people have been injured after a man intentionally drove into a crowd of people in western Germany in what appears to have been an attack directed at foreigners.
Muenster police said the 50-year-old driver of a Mercedes drove into a crowd in the center of Bottrop shortly after midnight Tuesday. Two other attempts by the driver to drive into other people failed.
Police said those hit by the car included Syrian and Afghan citizens, and some were seriously injured. The driver fled toward the nearby city of Essen before being stopped and arrested by police.
Authorities said the driver made anti-foreigner comments during his arrest and the attack is presumed to have been premeditated. Police said there are indications the suspect suffered from mental illness.
from The Malta Independent http://bit.ly/2RpubDr
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UK police: New Year's Eve stabbing of 3 treated as terrorism
Police in the English city of Manchester are questioning a man arrested in the New Year's Eve stabbing of three people at a train station and treating it as a terrorist attack, authorities said Tuesday.
Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said a man and a woman suffered "very serious" injuries in the attack and remained in the hospital. Both have abdominal injuries and the woman also has injuries to her face.
A police sergeant who was stabbed in the shoulder has been released.
The attack happened at Manchester's Victoria Station shortly before 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The busy train station is next to Manchester Arena, where a suicide bomber killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017.
Police have detained the suspect, who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but not yet provided a motive for the stabbings. A witness said the suspect shouted Islamic slogans during the frenzied attack.
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said police believe they have identified the suspect and are searching his home in the Cheetham Hill neighborhood of Manchester.
BBC producer Sam Clack, who was on the train platform, said he heard a "blood-curdling scream" when the attack started and saw a man dressed in black having what looked like a fight with two victims.
Clack said he heard the man with the weapon shout Islamist slogans during the assault, and then the attacker was chased by police.
"He came towards me. I looked down and saw he had a kitchen knife with a black handle with a good, 12-inch blade," Clack said, adding that his reaction "was just fear, pure fear."
Clack said police used pepper spray and a stun gun to bring the man down.
Police say there's no indication that any others were involved in planning or assisting the attack. The investigation is being led by Britain's counterterrorism police.
British police tried to reassure the public that the area was safe despite the attack.
The incident is "not ongoing" and there is "currently no intelligence to suggest that there is any wider threat," Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said.
"I know that the events of last night will have affected many people and caused concern," Hopkins said. "That the incident happened so close to the scene of the terrorist attack on 22 May, 2017, makes it even more dreadful."
Prime Minister Theresa May expressed concern for the victims and thanked emergency workers for their "courageous response."
Extra police officers were on the city's streets Tuesday as a precaution.
Britain's official threat level has long been set at "severe," indicating that intelligence analysts believe an attack is highly likely.
from The Malta Independent http://bit.ly/2GQgtFB
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Papal ode to motherhood ushers in 2019 after disastrous 2018
Pope Francis ushered in the New Year with an ode to motherhood Tuesday, reminding the faithful that a mother's example and embrace is the best antidote to today's disjointed world of solitude and misery.
Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to formally open 2019, a Jan. 1 tradition that is dedicated both to the Madonna and to the Catholic Church's call for peace.
In his homily, Francis urged Catholics to allow themselves to be led again as children are led by their mothers, saying "a world that looks to the future without a mother's gaze is shortsighted."
"It may well increase its profits, but it will no longer see others as children," he said. "We will all dwell in the same house, but not as brothers and sisters."
"We need to learn from mothers that heroism is shown in self-giving, strength in compassion, wisdom in meekness," he said.
The New Year follows a disastrous 2018 for Francis. Last year opened with the explosion of the global sex abuse scandal and ended with the sudden departures of the Vatican spokesman and deputy in a sign of discord and dysfunction within the Holy See.
Spokesman Greg Burke and deputy Paloma Garcia Ovejero quit Monday without explanation, other than to say that their decision had been months in the making and that they wanted to let Francis build a new communications team.
It has been clear for some time that Francis' centralization of the Vatican's byzantine communications operations has run into troubles, with the first communications chief forced to resign after he misrepresented a letter from the previous pope and doctored a photograph.
The spokesman's office has been caught in the middle, often stymied from responding to communications crises, caught off guard by papal statements and shut out of direct access to Holy See decision-making.
from The Malta Independent http://bit.ly/2RxHRwx
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