GERMANY: 11 SUSPECTED EXTREMISTS ARRESTED
BERLIN» German authorities arrested 11 people Friday during a series of raids on a group of people suspected of planning an Islamic extremist attack using a vehicle and firearms.
Frankfurt prosecutors said the aim of the alleged plot was “to kill as many ‘infidels’ as possible,” news agency dpa reported.
The main suspects are two 31-year-old brothers from Wiesbaden and a 21-year-old man from Offenbach, near Frankfurt, all of them German citizens. The group under investigation — ages between 20 and 42, and from Frankfurt, Offenbach, Mainz and Wiesbaden — is suspected of offenses including terror financing and conspiracy to commit a crime.
China chemical plant blast kills 47, injures hundreds more.
massive explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China with a long record of safety violations has killed at least 47 people and injured hundreds of others, 90 seriously.
Thursday’s blast in an industrial park in the city of Yancheng, north of Shanghai, was one of China’s worst industrial accidents in recent years. State-run television showed crushed cars, blown-out windows and workers leaving the factory with bloodied heads.
Schools were closed, and nearly 1,000 residents were moved to safety as a precaution against leaks and additional explosions, the city government said in a statement posted to its microblog.
The blast created a crater, and more than 900 firefighters were deployed to extinguish the fire that burned into the night.
Windows in buildings as far as 4 miles away were blown out by the force of the blast, which caused a magnitude 2.2 seismic shock.
Two officers charged in beating of handcuffed man.
IND.» Two ELKHART, police officers who are seen on video repeatedly punching a handcuffed man were charged with a federal civil rights crime.
Cory Newland and Joshua Titus of the Elkhart Police Department were indicted by a grand jury Thursday on a charge of depriving Mario Ledesma of his rights through excessive force. Police video shows them punching Ledesma after he spat at Newland while sitting handcuffed in a chair at the police station in January 2018.
Newland and Titus have been on leave since November and have pleaded not guilty to separate state charges. Titus’ attorney, Edward Merchant, said the indictment was disappointing.
British lawmakers told not to use public transport alone.
On Wednesday, Lindsay Hoyle, deputy speaker in the House of Commons, urged members of Great Britain’s Parliament to be more vigilant in public as tensions over Brexit mount.
According to an email leaked to news site Politics Home and the BBC, Hoyle wrote to members of Parliament: “We can also take simple steps to improve our personal safety by traveling home from the House by taxi or with colleagues in the coming days. The Serjeant at Arms has made provision for black cabs to collect from within the estate.”
“I have never felt this level of tension during my time in the House and I am aware that other colleagues feel the same,” Hoyle wrote.
The email was sent the same day British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed Parliament for the deadlocked Brexit.
Museum is glad to hear: Yes, it’s a Van Gogh.
CONN.» A painting HARTFORD, at a Connecticut museum that has long been thought to be by Vincent Van Gogh has been authenticated by Dutch researchers.
The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford announced Friday that the oil painting “Vase with Poppies” has been verified by researchers at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam as having been painted by the Dutch artist in 1886, just after he moved to Paris.
It has been in the museum’s collection since 1957.
Its authenticity was called into question in 1990 by art historian and Van Gogh expert Walter Feilchenfeldt, who raised concerns about many purported Van Goghs around the world.
Years later, with advances in technology and knowledge of Van Gogh, the museum decided to revisit the question.
A digital X-ray revealed an underpainting that looked like a self-portrait, which added to confidence about its authenticity. — Denver Post wire services