Page 9 - aruba-today-20171202

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WORLD NEWS Saturday 2 december 2017

DAILY FROM 4PM TILL 6:30PM

Germany: Suspicious parcel held nails, powder, firecracker

By DAVID RISING the parcel.
Associated Press The Christmas market was
BERLIN (AP) — German po- evacuated to allow explo-
lice evacuated a popular sives experts to secure the
Christmas market in the device and destroy it in
city of Potsdam on Friday place outside the pharma-
before destroying a suspi- cy in Potsdam, the capital
cious package containing of the state of Branden-
nails and an unidentified burg, just outside of Berlin.
powder in a controlled ex- Residents of the street were
plosion, officials said. told to stay in the back of
There were no injuries re- their homes while the pro-
ported in the evacuation cedure was carried out.
or demolition of the pack- "The evaluation and analy-
age, which authorities said sis is just beginning now,"
did not appear to include Schroeter said. "If it was re-
a fuse or other parts for a ally explosive or if it was a
detonation. Potsdam po- fake or a dummy, we will
lice said it was too soon only know through further
who may have been re- investigation."
sponsible. Police close the streets around a Christmas market after a suspicious object was found in Pots- Christmas markets are ex-
Police were alerted at dam, eastern Germany, Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. tremely popular in Ger-
about 2:30 p.m. (1330 GMT; ( Julian Staehle/dpa via AP) many and have increased
8:30 a.m. EST) after the security this year following
package was delivered to the deadly truck attack at
a pharmacy on the same Meyritz wasn't immediately vice. ister Karl-Heinz Schroeter, a market in downtown Ber-
street as the Christmas available to provide further Police said later on Twitter said it also held a large lin last December.
market, police spokesman details, but told the news- that the package included firecracker without a fuse, In that case, a Tunisian
Peter Meyritz told the Pots- paper that the package "a cylindrical object with Germany's dpa news man hijacked a truck and
damer Neueste Nachrich- measured about 40 centi- cables, batteries and nails agency reported on Friday drove it into a crowded
ten newspaper. Wires and meters by 50 centimeters but at this point no ignition night. market, killing 12 people
other items that aroused (16 inches by 20 inches) device has been found." Schroeter told reporters at in an attack that was lat-
suspicion were found in- and was apparently deliv- Brandenburg state's top se- the scene earlier that nails er claimed by the Islamic
side, he said. ered by a messenger ser- curity official, Interior Min- and a powder were inside State group. q

Dutch autopsy shows dead war criminal had cyanide in system

By MIKE CORDER Public Prosecutor's Office via confirmed his 20-year tors. mains unclear how Praljak,
Associated Press said in a statement. sentence for crimes during The announcement came who was in custody before
THE HAGUE, Netherlands The cyanide caused heart the 1992-95 Bosnian war. after Croatia's justice min- the hearing, obtained the
(AP) — A former Croatian failure, which investiga- He was pronounced dead ister raised doubts about substance and managed
general who died after tors "pointed out" as the at a nearby hospital a little whether security and med- to smuggle it into the court-
swallowing a liquid at a war 72-year-old Praljak's "sus- while later. ical staff at the tribunal re- room.
crimes hearing in the Neth- pected cause of death," Meanwhile, the United Na- sponded quickly enough The tribunal's review will
erlands had cyanide in his according to the prosecu- tions tribunal ordered an when Praljak raised the begin next week and be
system, Dutch prosecutors tor's statement. independent review of its bottle to his lips with a led by Hassan Jallow, a
said after an autopsy was On Wednesday, Praljak "internal operations" follow- trembling right hand and former prosecutor with the
performed Friday. drank from a small bottle ing the dramatic event in consumed its contents. U.N.'s Rwanda war crimes
Preliminary results from a that he said contained its courtroom. The tribunal Before the toxicological tribunal. It aims to file a re-
toxicological test revealed poison seconds after an said its review was meant test results came back, port by Dec. 31, when the
"a concentration of potas- appeals judge at the U.N.'s to complement the ongo- Dutch prosecutors had tribunal formally closes its
sium cyanide" in Slobodan International Criminal Tribu- ing investigation of Praljak's confirmed the bottle car- doors, having completed
Praljak's blood, the Hague nal for the former Yugosla- death by Dutch prosecu- ried a toxic chemical. It re- all its cases.q