World Briefing: December 21, 2024

Scores of people have been injured and at least two people, including a small child, were killed on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack. The number of victims was not immediately clear, but German media citing emergency services in the region said between 60 and 80 people might have been injured. A black BMW apparently drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, travelling at speed for 400 metres in the direction of the town hall, according to eyewitnesses cited by the broadcaster. The driver of the car was arrested immediately, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. He was identified as a Saudi citizen who rented the car shortly before the attack, according to reports citing a security source. He was not known to authorities as someone with an Islamist background, the same sources told German media. The site around the car was sealed off amid suspicions that a package that had been left on the front passenger seat might have contained explosives. It remained unclear whether the driver of the car had been acting alone or whether he had an accomplice - The Guardian

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.” Loke said the proposal to resume the search in the southern Indian Ocean came from exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018. A contract would be signed to cover an 18-month period and the firm would receive $70 million if wreckage found was substantive, he said, adding the search would be on the seabed of a new area covering 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) - Reuters

The US House of Representatives approved legislation on Friday to avert a federal government shutdown that was just hours away, with lawmakers extending funding into mid-March and approving disaster relief for parts of the nation still recovering from storms. The vote came after Republicans stripped out a provision sought by President-elect Donald J. Trump to suspend the federal debt limit and spare him the usually politically difficult task of doing so when he takes office. The debt measure incited a revolt by Republicans on Thursday and led to the defeat of Speaker Mike Johnson’s first attempt to extend government funding. The measure that passed on Friday, by a vote of 366 to 34, must still be approved by the Senate and sent to President Biden to keep dollars flowing to federal agencies. Otherwise, funding will lapse at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The outlook in the Senate was unclear, though top lawmakers predicted earlier Friday that senators, with Christmas looming, were likely to accept what the House passed and avert the crisis before bringing this session of Congress to a close - NYT

U.S. taxpayers have been billed tens of millions of dollars for maintenance costs of a seized superyacht owned by Russian gold magnate Suleyman Kerimov. The $325 million Anadea was seized in Fiji in May 2022 as part of sanctions against Putin’s allies, and proceeds from its sale was supposed to be transferred to Ukraine for its defence. But with the yacht caught in legal limbo, the U.S. government has been sticky paying for things like scrubbing its hull ($12,458), groceries for its 30 crew members ($52,718.08 on one day), and fuel ($277,200 for for the six-deck vessel to sail from Fiji to San Diego). The figures were obtained by the Washington Post via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. “Its capture came with a surprising drawback: tens of millions of dollars in maintenance costs billed to U.S. taxpayers,” wrote The Post. “The counterintuitive outcome underscores the shortcomings of the U.S. push to seize and sell the assets of Russian oligarchs.” In all, some $30 million has been spent to maintain the yacht - including for items such as toilet brushes and phones.

The co-manager for Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign has called the next UK ambassador to the U.S. an “absolute moron.” Lord Mandelsom served in Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s cabinets, will become the UK’s top diplomat in Washington as president-elect Trump returns to the White House in January. In a post on X, Chris LaCivita linked to an article in The Daily Telegraph which reported on Lord Mandelson describing Mr Trump as “a danger to the world”. The peer also described Mr Trump as “little short of a white nationalist and racist” during an interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, according to the newspaper. In the post on X, Mr LaCivita said: “This UK govt is special replace a professional universally respected Ambo with an absolute moron - he should stay home! SAD!” He added the headline of the piece in his post: “Mandelson described Trump as a danger to the world and ‘little short of a white nationalist’.” It comes as Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the appointment of Lord Mandelson to the post. - Sky News

Drones have hit high-rise buildings in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, with the attacks causing the city’s airport to temporarily suspend flights. RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service reported that Tatarstan authorities said that eight drones attacked Kazan in the morning of December 21, with at least five of them hitting residential buildings. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the drones were of Ukrainian origin, while Ukrainian authorities have not issued any comment. According to a statement from the Kazan mayor’s office on Telegram, drones targeted residential areas in three districts of the city.

At least 35 children were killed and six others critically injured when a stampede broke out at a Christmas fair on Wednesday in southwest Nigeria. What was supposed to be a fun occasion turned tragic after thousands of children and their parents showed for a chance to receive N5,000 (around $3.20) promised to the first 5,000 kids by the event’s organizers. According to the Africa Report, a local radio station urged more people not to attend the event out of safety concerns. “The organizers of the event also did all they [could] to ensure that the tragedy was curtailed by deploying security apparatus, medical officials, and other relevant agencies to come to the aid of those affected by this tragic event,” the radio station said in a statement - Daily Beast

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