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Germans mourn five people killed, 200 injured in Christmas market attack

Germans mourn five people killed, 200 injured in Christmas market attack

A memorial service takes place in the cathedral of Magdeburg, a city shaken by the deadly incident. Germans have gathered in Magdeburg to mourn the victims of a car-ramming attack in the eastern city that killed at least five people and injured 200. Authorities said a doctor drove into the busy outdoor Christmas market on Friday evening, killing four adults and a nine-year-old child, and wounding 41 people badly enough that the death toll could rise. Church bells rang out in the city at 7:04pm (18:04 GMT) on Saturday, the exact time of the attack the evening prior. A memorial service took place in the city’s cathedral, intended mainly for relatives of the victims, as well as emergency responders and invited guests, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Those who were not allowed to attend the service gathered outside the church to watch it on a large screen. Several hundred people also gathered on the city’s central square, some laying flowers and lighting candles. The crowds also included those carrying banners with far-right slogans. Far-right demonstrators take part in a protest after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 20, 2024 [Christian Mang/Reuters] The violence has shocked the German city of about 240,000 people 130km (80 miles) west of Berlin. Advertisement It led several other places in Germany to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its many markets open but increased its police presence at them. Probe into motive continues The suspect is a 50-year-old immigrant from Saudi Arabia who described himself as an Islam-critical activist and who surrendered to police at the scene. The suspect is being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said at a news conference. Investigators are looking into whether the attack could have been motivated by the doctor’s dissatisfaction with the way Germany treats Saudi refugees, Nopens said. Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Posts on the suspect’s X account, verified by the Reuters news agency, suggested he supported anti-Islam and far-right parties, including Alternative for Germany. A Saudi source told the agency that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the suspect after he posted “extremist” views on his X account that threatened peace and security. A risk assessment conducted last year by German state and federal criminal investigators came to the conclusion that the man posed “no specific danger”, the Welt newspaper reported, quoting security sources. Closed stalls stand at the site where a car drove into a crowd at a Magdeburg Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany [Christian Mang/Reuters] Germany has suffered a number of attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August. Advertisement Friday’s attack also came eight years after a man drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy. Adblock test (Why?)

US says it conducted strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital

US says it conducted strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital

US strikes on Sanaa come amid recent series of attacks between the Yemeni rebel group and the Israeli military. The United States military says it has conducted air strikes against targets linked to the Houthi rebels in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, including a missile storage facility and a “command-and-control” site. US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US Army operations in the Middle East, said on Saturday that the strikes aimed “to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations”. The Iran-allied group has previously launched attacks on US Navy and merchant vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said in a social media post. The US strikes come amid an uptick in attacks between the Houthis and the Israeli military this week. Israel bombed several targets in Yemen on Thursday, including power stations near Sanaa. The Israeli bombardment, which killed at least nine people, followed a missile launch by the Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, towards Tel Aviv. CENTCOM Conducts Airstrikes Against Iran-Backed Houthi Missile Storage and Command/Control Facilities in Yemen TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by… pic.twitter.com/YRWWQJIweP — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 21, 2024 Advertisement In the latest incident, in the early hours of Saturday, the Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile at central Israel. The Israeli military said it had failed to intercept the projectile, which fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area. Local emergency services said 16 people were “mildly injured” in the incident. The Houthis have been targeting Israel with drones and missiles to pressure the US ally to end its war in Gaza, where the US-backed Israeli military has killed more than 45,000 people. The Yemeni rebels also have been carrying out attacks on shipping lanes in and around the Red Sea as part of the same campaign, which they say is in support of Palestinians. For months, the US and the United Kingdom have been bombing Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Red Sea assaults. The administration of US President Joe Biden has also imposed sanctions against the Houthis. On Thursday, Washington sanctioned the governor of the central bank in Houthi-controlled Sanaa and several Houthi officials and associated companies, accusing them of helping the group acquire “dual-use and weapons components”. Adblock test (Why?)

‘An ethical crisis of its own making’: Democrats blast Supreme Court ethics

‘An ethical crisis of its own making’: Democrats blast Supreme Court ethics

A report from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee has detailed new allegations about the “lavish gifts” justices on the United States Supreme Court received from donors. The 93-page report, released on Saturday, culminates a nearly 20-month investigation led by outgoing Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin. It builds on previous reporting from the news outlet ProPublica that raised questions about potential conflicts of interest on the highest court in the land. The report, however, claims to have uncovered never-before-reported trips allegedly taken by Justice Clarence Thomas at the expense of real estate developer Harlan Crow, a prominent supporter of the Republican Party. While other justices are also named in the report, it singles out Thomas for particular censure. “The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history,” the report reads. Justice Thomas has yet to respond publicly to the report’s allegations. Advertisement Prominent Senate Democrats like Durbin have long pushed for the Supreme Court to institute a watertight code of ethics to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure compliance with disclosure mandates. In their report, the Democrats slammed the Supreme Court’s chief justice, conservative John Roberts, for not taking more forceful steps to crack down on the apparent ethical lapses. “Chief Justice Roberts’s continued unwillingness to implement the only viable solution to the Court’s ethical crisis — an enforceable code of conduct — requires Congress to act to restore the public’s confidence in the highest court in the land,” the report said. It accused the court of failing to deal with “an ethical crisis of its own making”. In the wake of ProPublica’s investigation, Roberts did take steps to implement a Supreme Court code of ethics. The court never had such a code before. But critics pointed out that the new code, agreed to unanimously by the justices in November 2023, included no means of enforcing its tenets or investigating possible violations. That has led to further public outcry. The polling firm Gallup reported on December 17 that confidence in the US judicial system had sunk to a record low, making it an outlier from other relatively wealthy countries. Gallup found that 55 percent of residents of countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) expressed confidence in their courts, as a median. In the US, however, that number was only 35 percent. Advertisement Saturday’s report is likely to contribute to that scepticism. The report itself acknowledges the crisis of public faith. “The public is now far more aware of the extent of the largesse certain justices have received and how these justices and their billionaire benefactors continue to act with impunity,” it said. The report specifies that “justices appointed by presidents of both parties” have engaged in ethically dubious behaviour. It criticises left-leaning Justice Sonia Sotomayor for initially failing to disclose travel and lodging from the University of Rhode Island while on a book tour. However, the report reserves some of its most scathing criticism for Justice Thomas and his conservative colleagues, Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia. Many of the incidents have been detailed elsewhere before. For instance, the report points out that Justice Thomas has failed to recuse himself in cases where his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, had a stake in the outcome. The report asserts that this constitutes a violation of federal law. ProPublica had previously chronicled Thomas’s trips on board Crow’s yacht and private jet, potentially worth thousands of dollars. But Saturday’s report also highlights two newly-revealed trips in October 2021 to Saranac, New York, and to New York City. In previous public statements, Thomas has maintained he “always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines”. He has also characterised his outings with Crow as “family trips” made with some of his “dearest friends”. Advertisement Another friend of Justice Thomas, lawyer Mark Paoletta, responded to the Democrats’ report on social media. He accused Democratic Senators of “smearing” Justice Thomas and attacking the court, which currently has a six-to-three conservative supermajority. “This entire investigation was never about ‘ethics’ but about trying to undermine the Supreme Court,” Paoletta wrote. “The Left has invented recusal standards to attack the Justices [and] try to force them off cases. It has not worked.” Earlier this year, in June, Republican senators blocked a Democrat-led bill designed to create an enforcement mechanism for ethics violations on the court, called the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. But Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina questioned the bill’s constitutionality and called it an overreach. In January, Republicans are set to hold a majority in the Senate, which is currently led by Democrats. Once they do, they will have control of both chambers of Congress. Adblock test (Why?)

Lara Trump removes herself from consideration for Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate seat

Lara Trump removes herself from consideration for Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate seat

Lara Trump, President-elect Trump’s daughter-in-law, said Saturday she is removing herself from consideration for Florida Republican Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate.  “After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” she wrote on X Saturday.  The president-elect has nominated Rubio to be secretary of state.  “I could not have been more honored to serve as RNC co-chair during the most high-stakes election of our lifetime and I’m truly humbled by the unbelievable support shown to me by the people of our country, and here in the great state of Florida,” Lara Trump added. TRUMP SAYS HE DOESN’T EXPECT DESANTIS TO NAME DAUGHTER-IN-LAW LARA TRUMP AS RUBIO’S SENATE REPLACEMENT Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, the president-elect’s son, stepped down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee earlier this month. ” I have read so many of your kind messages and I cannot thank you enough,” Lara Trump said, adding she has a “big announcement that I’m excited to share in January.” She said she remains “incredibly passionate about public service and (looks) forward to serving our country again sometime in the future. In the meantime, I wish Governor DeSantis the best of luck with this appointment.” The president-elect had previously pressed DeSantis to name Lara as Rubio’s replacement, a source in his political orbit told Fox News Digital, but he later told reporters he didn’t necessarily expect him to select her.  CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION “That’s his choice,” the president-elect added.  Rubio’s senate replacement will be appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and will serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term.  In 2026, the seat will be open for a full six-year term.  Lara Trump had previously said she was “seriously considering” the position, although she wasn’t sure it was right for her.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP DeSantis previously said he would make an appointment by early January.  Lara Trump did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Rockin’ around the congressional Christmas tree

Rockin’ around the congressional Christmas tree

“Rockin’ around the Christmas treeAt the Christmas party hop” – Brenda Lee It’s a yuletide tradition on Capitol Hill.  An annual custom of rockin’ around a congressional Christmas tree, festooned with hundreds of legislative ornaments, Advent appropriations and mistletoe modifications. A political Polar Express chugs through the halls of Congress nearly every December. It’s always the last piece of legislation huffing out of the congressional station. WHAT TO EXPECT AS REPUBLICANS TRY TO SALVAGE SPENDING PACKAGE, AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN “All aboard!” hollers the conductor. Get your Noel needs loaded into the baggage car of this train, or it’s going to be left behind. So, lawmakers decorated their “Christmas tree” in the only way they know how. That resulted a few days ago in the colossal 1,547-page interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The sheer scope of the bill was breathtaking. You want a hippopotamus for Christmas? You surely would have gotten it with this plan. It wasn’t long until House Republicans pulverized the legislation. “It’s another cram down,” fumed Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, the morning after congressional leaders released the bill. “Here’s what you get. ‘Do this or shut the government down.’ So, it’s very disappointing.” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., didn’t gift wrap his criticism. “It’s a total dumpster fire. I think it’s garbage,” decreed Burlison. “It’s shameful that people celebrate DOGE coming, and yet we’re going to vote for another billion dollars to be added to the deficit. It’s ironic.” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., mocked his colleagues for talking out of both sides of their mouths when it came to spending. “We keep on saying we want to take the deficit and the debt seriously. But we keep on voting to increase it. You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “This is irresponsible.” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, lamented this was business as usual. “I mean, the swamp is going to swamp, right?” proffered Roy. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERIM SPENDING BILL House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the following in the fall: “We have broken the Christmas omni. I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition. There won’t be a Christmas omnibus,” Johnson declared Sept. 24. “We won’t do any ‘buses.’” So, yours truly pressed Johnson about his promise after frustrated Republicans upbraided him during a House GOP Conference meeting. “You said back in September there would be no more Christmas omnibuses. You were not doing anymore ‘buses,’” I asked. “But how is this not yet another Christmas tree at the holidays?” “Well, it’s not a Christmas tree. It’s not an omnibus,” responded Johnson. Johnson is technically right. In appropriations parlance, it’s not a true omnibus — even though outside observers and many lawmakers themselves might colloquially refer to the massive bill as an “omnibus.” An omnibus is where Congress gift wraps all 12 individual spending measures into one package. A “minibus” is where a handful of bills are bundled together. Even so, I reminded Johnson of the opprobrium directed at this legislation. “They called this cram down. They said it was garbage. Those are your own members calling it that,” I noted. “Well, they haven’t even seen it yet,” said Johnson, even though the bill materialized the night before. “I’ve got a couple of friends who will say that about any end-of-year funding measure. This is not an omnibus, OK? This is a small CR (continuing resolution) that we’ve had to add things to that were out of our control.” The legislation was stocked with a hefty price tag to cover the entire cost of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. A radioactive pay raise for lawmakers. Health care provisions. Language about concert ticket prices. Emergency aid for farmers. And $110 billion to help cover devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. “It was intended to be, and it was until recent days, a very simple, very clean CR stopgap funding measure to get us into next year when we have a unified government,” said Johnson. “But a couple of intervening things have occurred. We had, as we say, acts of God. We had these massive hurricanes.” But then Elon Musk torched the bill. President-elect Trump demanded an immediate debt ceiling increase. Debt limit deals are one of the most complex and contentious issues in Congress. They require weeks if not months of painstaking negotiations. HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL This wasn’t as simple as presenting Santa at the mall a wish list of items for Christmas morning. The bill began bleeding support just hours before the House planned a vote. But to paraphrase Charles Dickens’ opening line in “A Christmas Carol” about Jacob Marley, “That bill was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that.” Democrats were flabbergasted at outside last-minute ultimatums. Especially since Johnson attended the Army-Navy football game last week with Trump. How could they not have discussed the contours of this bill? “It was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., scoffed about the bill. “So, who is our leader, (House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., supposed to negotiate with? Is it Mike Johnson? Is he the speaker of the House? Or is it Donald Trump? Or is it Elon Musk. Or is it somebody else?” Johnson and company then prepped a svelte 116-page bill to fund the government. But bipartisan lawmakers roasted that measure faster than chestnuts by an open fire. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., mocked Republicans for insisting that they adhere to their internal “three-day rule.” That allows lawmakers to ponder bills for three days before a vote. Yet Republicans were now racing the new bill to the floor faster than shoppers rushing home with their treasures. “Have you printed it? How many pages is it? What happened to the 72-hour rule?” mocked Moskowitz. The bill plummeted to an embarrassing defeat on the House floor.