(Vatican Radio) Germany has expressed relief after Italian police confirmed that they shot dead the man believed to be responsible for this week's Berlin Christmas market truck attack that left 12 people dead and 49 injured. Officials said the shooting happened after the suspect pulled a gun on them during a routine check in the early hours of Friday. The 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri travelled to Italy from France, triggering a Europe-wide manhunt and criticism from euroskeptics over Europe's open-border Schengen pact. Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: The Islamic State group acknowledged on Friday that Amri was shot dead in a police shootout overnight in Milan when he tried to carry out another attack. It said he carried out Monday's rampage which involved driving a truck deliberately into crowd killing 12 people and injuring nearly 50 more. The group's news agency posted a video of Amri pledging allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu ...
(Vatican Radio) Germany has expressed relief after Italian police confirmed that they shot dead the man believed to be responsible for this week's Berlin Christmas market truck attack that left 12 people dead and 49 injured.
Officials said the shooting happened after the suspect pulled a gun on them during a routine check in the early hours of Friday.
The 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri travelled to Italy from France, triggering a Europe-wide manhunt and criticism from euroskeptics over Europe's open-border Schengen pact.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
The Islamic State group acknowledged on Friday that Amri was shot dead in a police shootout overnight in Milan when he tried to carry out another attack.
It said he carried out Monday's rampage which involved driving a truck deliberately into crowd killing 12 people and injuring nearly 50 more.
The group's news agency posted a video of Amri pledging allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and calling for supporters of the militant group to take revenge of what he called “crusader pigs” bombing Muslims.
POLICE SURPRISED
An Italian police chief said his men had no idea they might be dealing with Amri when they approached him at around 3 a.m. local time outside a station in Sesto San Giovanni, a suburb of the northern city of Milan.
Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti confirmed that police later discovered they had killed one of Europe's most wanted men. "After an investigation it was found that the person who was killed, without a shadow of a doubt, Anis Amri the
presumed suspect in the Berlin lorry attack," he told reporters.
Police said he was killed after taking out a pistol and opening fire. He injured one of the police officers who is recovering in hospital.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who spoke with his Italian counterpart, expressed relieve that the attacker was no longer a threat and praised Italian police. "I would like to especially thank these two polices officers who, during this night, just as my Italian colleagues have confirmed, worked excellently and were particularly brave," he said.
"One of the police officers was injured in a very minor way. I am very relieved that no more danger will come from this attacker," he added. "The Italian authorities have already carried out a fingerprint recognition and could, thus, confirm the identity of the suspected attacker."
He cautioned however that the terror threat "remains high" in Germany and security won't be scaled down. Islamic State has warned of more attacks in Germany and other European nations.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Radio City Rockettes will be dancing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next month, but not everyone is kicking up their heels at the booking....
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Radio City Rockettes will be dancing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next month, but not everyone is kicking up their heels at the booking....
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- The nation's largest freight railroad has agreed to more thorough inspections and maintenance improvements after a fiery oil train derailment in Oregon and the discovery of more than 800 potential safety violations across its sprawling network....
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- The nation's largest freight railroad has agreed to more thorough inspections and maintenance improvements after a fiery oil train derailment in Oregon and the discovery of more than 800 potential safety violations across its sprawling network....
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A Little Rock man who fired his gun into a car, striking and killing a 3-year-old boy, did so because he thought the driver of that vehicle was following him too closely, police said in an affidavit released Friday following the suspect's arrest....
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A Little Rock man who fired his gun into a car, striking and killing a 3-year-old boy, did so because he thought the driver of that vehicle was following him too closely, police said in an affidavit released Friday following the suspect's arrest....
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Frustrated after seeing another candidate secure the presidency without winning the national popular vote, mostly Democratic lawmakers in several capitols want their states to join a 10-year-old movement to work around the Electoral College....
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Frustrated after seeing another candidate secure the presidency without winning the national popular vote, mostly Democratic lawmakers in several capitols want their states to join a 10-year-old movement to work around the Electoral College....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Hundreds of people returned to eastern Aleppo neighborhoods on Friday to check on their homes after the last opposition fighters left the city, picking through debris and wreckage for personal belongings blasted by years of fighting....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Hundreds of people returned to eastern Aleppo neighborhoods on Friday to check on their homes after the last opposition fighters left the city, picking through debris and wreckage for personal belongings blasted by years of fighting....
MILAN (AP) -- A routine request for ID papers outside a deserted train station in Milan at 3 a.m. Friday led to a police shootout that killed the Tunisian fugitive wanted in the deadly Christmas market attack in Berlin....
MILAN (AP) -- A routine request for ID papers outside a deserted train station in Milan at 3 a.m. Friday led to a police shootout that killed the Tunisian fugitive wanted in the deadly Christmas market attack in Berlin....
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In a striking rupture with past practice, the United States allowed the U.N. Security Council on Friday to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law. In doing so, the outgoing Obama administration brushed aside Donald Trump's demands that the U.S. exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel's leadership....
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In a striking rupture with past practice, the United States allowed the U.N. Security Council on Friday to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law. In doing so, the outgoing Obama administration brushed aside Donald Trump's demands that the U.S. exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel's leadership....
(Vatican Radio) Thanks to Pope Francis over 2 million people affected by the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine will receive a first installment of much needed aid in time for Christmas.A communiqué released by the Papal charitable office ‘Cor Unum’ reveals that about 6 million euros, out of the 12 million that have been collected so far, will reach vulnerable people in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, Zaporozhe, Kharkiv and Dnepropetrovsk.The press release points out that aid will be distributed regardless of religion or ethnic group.The money was collected by Catholic churches across Europe in response to a personal appeal by the Pope for a collection on April 24, 2016, in aid of Ukrainians affected by the conflict in the east of the nation. He then set up a committee presided over ‘in loco’ by the Auxiliary Bishop of Kharkiv- Zaporozhe, Jan Sobilo, and coordinated by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, ...
(Vatican Radio) Thanks to Pope Francis over 2 million people affected by the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine will receive a first installment of much needed aid in time for Christmas.
A communiqué released by the Papal charitable office ‘Cor Unum’ reveals that about 6 million euros, out of the 12 million that have been collected so far, will reach vulnerable people in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, Zaporozhe, Kharkiv and Dnepropetrovsk.
The press release points out that aid will be distributed regardless of religion or ethnic group.
The money was collected by Catholic churches across Europe in response to a personal appeal by the Pope for a collection on April 24, 2016, in aid of Ukrainians affected by the conflict in the east of the nation.
He then set up a committee presided over ‘in loco’ by the Auxiliary Bishop of Kharkiv- Zaporozhe, Jan Sobilo, and coordinated by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, to oversee the distribution of the funds.
The committee has since selected and evaluated a series of aid programmes presented by Christian and international humanitarian organizations.
So far it has decided to fund 20 large-scale projects and 39 smaller ‘solidarity’ initiatives.
In collaboration with the Apostolic Nunciature, the money will be used to fund food, housing, medical and health care projects.
According to a recent UNHCR report, the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine has killed 9758 people and injured almost 23000 since it began in mid-2014.
(Vatican Radio) The Catholic lay community Sant’Egidio is gearing up for its traditional Christmas lunch for the poor, marginalized and homeless. Sant’Egidio first offered the lunch to a couple dozen elderly friends, neighbors and homeless in the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in 1982. Since then, the event has extended to communities in more than 700 cities across the globe and this year, organizers expect some 200,000 people, including prisoners and refugees to attend.Sant’Egidio has re-baptised the event “the most beautiful lunch of the year” because “there is a place at the table for everyone.”In Africa, Asia, and Latin America, street children and those who frequent the community’s Peace Schools are also among the honored guests.In Italy, where the now global community first took root, hundreds of cities are participating in the event, offering Christmas lunches over three days to more than 40,000 p...
(Vatican Radio) The Catholic lay community Sant’Egidio is gearing up for its traditional Christmas lunch for the poor, marginalized and homeless. Sant’Egidio first offered the lunch to a couple dozen elderly friends, neighbors and homeless in the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in 1982. Since then, the event has extended to communities in more than 700 cities across the globe and this year, organizers expect some 200,000 people, including prisoners and refugees to attend.
Sant’Egidio has re-baptised the event “the most beautiful lunch of the year” because “there is a place at the table for everyone.”
In Africa, Asia, and Latin America, street children and those who frequent the community’s Peace Schools are also among the honored guests.
In Italy, where the now global community first took root, hundreds of cities are participating in the event, offering Christmas lunches over three days to more than 40,000 people, including the basilica in Trastevere where it all started.
Sant’Egidio calls itself a “family gathered by the Gospel. Therefore at Christmas, when all over the world families gather around the table, the Community celebrates with the poor, who are our friends and our relatives.”
“This is the reason why the Community wishes, on the very day Jesus was born, poor for the world's salvation, to gather as a big family where everybody can feel at home. It is the most beautiful image, which explains to the world eloquently the Community way of staying among the people and particularly with the poor.” In a world marked by terror, violence and war, the Community hopes this year’s initiative “will launch a robust message of peace and solidarity.”
