Online Reporter
Two killed in Germany as car ploughs into crowd
AT LEAST two people, including a small child, were killed and scores injured on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.
Nearly 70 were injured, including 15 who were left in a critical state, according to the city government.
In the attack, a black BMW drove straight into the crowd at the market, travelling at speed for 400 metres in the direction of the town hall, according to witnesses cited by a broadcaster.
Videos posted on social media showed a dark-coloured car driving into the crowd at high speed.
Several media outlets showed the videos in their coverage, but the authenticity of the footage has yet to be officially confirmed.
Emergency workers were seen treating victims on the ground at the market, surrounded by blood.
Makeshift tents were erected at the site.
Witnesses reported hearing cries and screams.
The driver of the car was immediately arrested, and later identified as Taleb A, a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia.
The man had been living in Germany since 2006.
The suspect, a consultant for psychiatry and psychotherapy, was recognised as a refugee in 2016.
Some German media pointed to the suspect’s past social media posts in which he reportedly expressed views critical of Islam and had even warned of the “dangers” of an Islamisation of Germany.
Footage from the scene showed the alleged perpetrator lying on the ground, his head raised, next to a badly damaged black car.
A police officer metres from him is pointing a drawn weapon in his direction as passers-by look on in shock. — theguardian.com
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Malaysia to resume
hunt for Flight MH370
Malaysia has agreed to resume the search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, its transport minister said on Friday, more than 10 years after it disappeared in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
“Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the next of kin,” transport minister Anthony Loke told a press conference.
“We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will be found and give closure to the families.”
Jiang Hui, whose mother was an MH370 passenger, welcomed the decision to resume the search, but said the process to get there had taken too long and would be better if more players could take part.
“We hope the Malaysian government can adopt a more open approach, such as offering a public reward system where anyone can participate in the search,” he said.
MH370’s last transmission was about 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.
The pilots signed off as the plane entered Vietnamese air space over the Gulf of Thailand and soon after its transponder was turned
off.
Military radar showed the plane left its flight path to fly back over northern Malaysia then out into the Andaman Sea before turning south, then all contact was lost.
Debris, some confirmed and others believed to be from the aircraft, have since washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean. — reuters.com
Suspected ‘witchdoctors’ arrested over attempt to ‘bewitch’ Zambia’s president
Two men have been arrested in Zambia for allegedly being “witchdoctors” tasked with trying to bewitch the president.
The police said they had arrested Jasten Mabulesse Candunde and Leonard Phiri in the capital, Lusaka.
“Their purported mission was to use charms to harm” President Hakainde Hichilema, said a police statement released on Friday.
Many people in the Southern African country believe in — and live in fear of — witchcraft.
The police said Candunde and Phiri were hired by Nelson Banda, the younger brother of MP Emmanuel “Jay Jay” Banda.
The MP was reportedly arrested last month in neighbouring Zimbabwe on robbery charges, which he denies, but he has not been seen in public.
He is also accused of having escaped from custody in August as he awaited to appear in court.
The opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party, led by former President Edgar Lungu, has previously alleged that these charges are politically motivated.
Emmanuel Banda, who has been an independent MP since 2021, was previously associated with Lungu, who lost the presidency to Hichilema that year.
In their statement, the police said the MP’s younger brother, Nelson, was “currently on the run”.
Candunde and Phiri have been charged under Zambia’s Witchcraft Act with “possession of charms”, “professing knowledge of witchcraft” and “cruelty to wild animals”.
The pair were found in possession of “assorted charms”, including a live chameleon, the police added. — bbc.com
