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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Berlin truck attack suspect
killed in Milan police shootout
ROME — The Tunisian man suspected of driving a truck into
a crowded Christmas market in Berlin was killed early today in
a shootout with police in Milan, ending a Europe-wide manhunt,
Italy’s interior minister said.
Checks conducted after the shootout showed “the person
killed, without a shadow of a doubt, is Anis Amri, the suspect of
the terrorist attack,” Interior Minister Marco Minniti said.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Mon-
day attack in Berlin, which killed 12 and injured 56 others.
Amri, who had spent time in prison in Italy, was stopped
by two officers during a routine police check in the Sesto San
Giovanni neighborhood of Milan early today. He pulled a gun
from his backpack after being asked to show his identity papers
and was killed in the ensuing shootout.
One of the two officers was shot by Amri and is in the hos-
pital, but his condition is not life-threatening, Minniti said. The
other officer fatally shot Amri.
Trump: US must ‘greatly
strengthen’ nuclear capability
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Thurs-
day abruptly called for the United States to “greatly strengthen
and expand its nuclear capability” until the rest of the world
“comes to its senses” regarding nuclear weapons.
His comments on Twitter came hours after Russian Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin said strengthening his country’s nuclear
capabilities should be a chief military objective in the com-
ing year. The president-elect’s statement also followed his
meetings a day earlier with top Pentagon officials and defense
contractors.
Trump, who is spending the holidays at his palatial private
club in Florida, did not expand on the actions he wants the U.S.
to take or say why he raised the issue Thursday.
Spokesman Jason Miller said the president-elect was referring
to the threat of nuclear proliferation “particularly to and among
terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes.” Miller
said Trump sees modernizing the nation’s deterrent capability “as
a vital way to pursue peace through strength.”
If Trump were to seek an expansion of the nuclear stockpiles,
it would mark a sharp shift in U.S. national security policy. Pres-
ident Barack Obama has made nuclear non-proliferation a cen-
terpiece of his agenda, calling in 2009 for the U.S. to lead efforts
to rid the world of nuclear weapons — a goal he acknowledged
would not be accomplished quickly or easily.
Backlash kicked up as Rockettes
picked for inauguration
NEW YORK — 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.
One of the famed dancers took to Instagram to say she was
“embarrassed and disappointed” by the gig, triggering calls for a
boycott by some on social media. Critics have posted the phone
numbers of the dancers’ union and the Rockette’s employer to
urge complaints.
But Madison Square Garden Company, which employs the
dancers, said today no dancers are being compelled to attend the
event.
“For a Rockette to be considered for an event, they must vol-
untarily sign up and are never told they have to perform at a par-
ticular event, including the inaugural. It is always their choice. In
fact, for the coming inauguration, we had more Rockettes request
to participate than we have slots available.”
Many on social media believed attendance was mandatory,
including Julissa Sabino, a performer who is part of the union,
who tweeted that the issue “breaks my heart” and urged support-
ers to “help these ladies.” Autumn Withers, a former Rockette,
supported a boycott, saying “take a knee, ladies!”
The Rockettes, who have performed at Radio City Music Hall
since the 1930s, have previously appeared in Super Bowl half-
time shows, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades and George W.
Bush’s inaugurations in 2001 and 2005.
The Rockettes who choose to attend will join The Mormon
Tabernacle Choir at the swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20. Ear-
lier this month, Trump’s inaugural committee announced that
“America’s Got Talent” star Jackie Evancho will be singing the
national anthem at the ceremony.
Four Washington state electors
to be fined $1,000 for vote
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Four Washington state electors who
cast their vote for someone other than Democrat Hillary Clin-
ton will each be fined $1,000 next week, the secretary of state’s
office said Thursday.
David Ammons, a spokesman for Secretary of State Kim
Wyman, told The Associated Press that the electors will have 60
days to pay the fine, and said the office is putting together an
appeals process in case of a challenge.
Clinton won the state’s popular vote last month, earning her
12 electoral votes. Under state law, presidential electors — who
are chosen by their party at their state convention — sign a pledge
to vote for their party’s nominees for president and vice president.
But during Monday’s Electoral College vote in Olympia,
Clinton got just eight votes, while former Secretary of State Colin
Powell got three and Native American tribal elder and activist
Faith Spotted Eagle got one vote.
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Dancers from the Radio City Rockettes promote their “New York Spectacular” show by performing on the marquee of
Radio City Music Hall in New York in June. The Radio City Rockettes have been signed on to dance at President-elect
Donald Trump’s inauguration next month.
Republican Donald Trump finished with 304 votes — win-
ning all but two of the Electoral College votes he claimed on
Election Day — and Clinton had 227 after losing five — the four
in Washington state and one in Hawaii. It takes 270 Electoral
College votes to win the presidency.
Aleppo confronts vast destruction
left by four years of war
BEIRUT — After more than four years of brutal street fight-
ing and punishing aerial bombardments, the staggering extent
of destruction in Aleppo begins to emerge: Tens of thousands
of homes and apartments are uninhabitable, most factories have
been looted or destroyed and some ancient landmarks have been
reduced to rubble.
Reconstruction would likely take years and cost tens of bil-
lions of dollars, experts say. Some of Aleppo’s centuries-old
cultural heritage may have been lost for good. And healing the
wounds in a city once split between a wealthier, pro-government
west and a poorer, pro-rebel east could take even greater effort.
Damage assessments emerged as the Syrian government
announced Thursday that it had assumed full control of the city
— a significant victory in a nearly six-year battle with an armed
opposition trying to unseat President Bashar Assad. In recent
months, rebels rapidly lost ground in the city as Assad and mili-
tary allies Russia and Iran stepped up attacks.
Located at the crossroads of ancient trade routes, Aleppo was
Syria’s biggest city before the war, with more than 3 million res-
idents and a world-famous cuisine.
It served as the country’s industrial hub, home to factories
producing textiles, plastics and pharmaceuticals. Its ancient cen-
ter, recognized as a World Heritage site, drew large numbers of
tourists.
Today, Aleppo “resembles those cities that were stricken
during World War II,” said Maamoun Abdul-Karim, head of the
government’s museums and archaeology department. The scale
of devastation has already evoked comparisons with cities like
Grozny and Dresden.
Christmas in N. Korea: Lights
and trees, but void of Jesus
PYONGYANG, North Korea — If Santa Claus stops in
North Korea this year, he’ll find some trees and lights and might
even hear a Christmas song or two. But he won’t encounter even
a hint of what Christmas actually means — not under a regime
that sees foreign religion a very real threat.
There are almost no practicing Christians in North Korea.
But there used to be. And while the trappings of the holiday sea-
son they once celebrated haven’t been completely expunged, any
connections they had to the birth of Jesus have been thoroughly
erased.
Take Christmas trees, for example.
They aren’t especially hard to find in Pyongyang, especially
in upscale restaurants or shops that cater to the local elite and
the small community of resident foreigners. A waist-high tree
was long a feature at the offices of the Koryolink mobile phone
provider.
The trees are often decorated with colorful lights and shiny
baubles, but none of the displays have explicitly religious asso-
ciations. Many are up all year, further diluting their Christmas
connotation.
Germany: Two detained over
suspected mall attack plot
BERLIN — Two Kosovo-born brothers have been detained
on suspicion they were planning to carry out an attack on a shop-
ping mall in western Germany, days after a truck attack in Berlin
Russia’s Putin praises Trump’s
judgment, rejects hacking claims
By VLADIMIR
ISACHENKOV
Associated Press
MOSCOW — Russian
President Vladimir Putin
voiced hope today that frayed
relations with the U.S. will
improve once Donald Trump
becomes president despite his
pledge to strengthen the U.S.’s
nuclear arsenal.
Speaking during a mara-
thon end-of-year news confer-
ence that lasted the best part
of four hours, Putin heaped
praise on the president-elect
while downplaying any con-
cerns stemming from Trump’s
support for a strengthened U.S.
nuclear capability.
Putin also used the opportu-
nity offered by the press con-
ference to lambast Trump’s
rivals in the Democratic Party
for seeking to blame their
defeat in November’s election
to hacking accusations against
Moscow.
“They are losing on all
fronts, and are trying to find
the culprits elsewhere,” he
said. “They are humiliating
themselves. They must know
how to lose with dignity.”
Asked how he responded
to President Barack Obama’s
hacking accusations during a
conversation shortly before the
vote that Russia was involved
in the hacking of Democratic
Party officials’ emails, Putin
said he wouldn’t divulge
details of a confidential talk.
“The most important thing
is the substance of the informa-
tion the hackers have presented
to the public opinion,” Putin
said, adding that the Demo-
crats should have apologized to
Americans over the “manipula-
tions” the emails revealed.
“The current administration
and the Democratic Party’s
leadership are trying to shift
the blame for all their failures
to external factors,” Putin said.
that killed 12 people.
Police said today that the men, aged 28 and 31, were detained
in Duisburg in the industrial Ruhr region shortly after midnight.
Authorities suspect the two men may have been planning an
attack on the Centro mall in nearby Oberhausen. They are now
probing what the pair’s intentions were and whether anyone else
was involved.
Police said in a statement that they increased their presence at
Centro and a nearby Christmas market on Thursday evening after
receiving a tip from “security sources.”
Officers in uniform and plain clothes patrolled the area, but
the mall remained open.
Australia police: Christmas Day
bomb plot foiled, five detained
CANBERRA, Australia — Police in Australia have detained
five men suspected of planning a series of Christmas Day attacks
using explosives, knives and a gun in the heart of the country’s
second-largest city, officials said today.
The suspects were inspired by the Islamic State group and
planned attacks on Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street train
station, neighboring Federation Square, a fashionable bar
and restaurant precinct, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican
church, Victoria state Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ash-
ton said.
He said they had been plotting the attack for three weeks.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was one of the most
substantial plots that have been disrupted over the last several
years.
The arrests came after a truck smashed into a Christmas mar-
ket in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 people. A manhunt is under-
way for the person behind that attack, which prompted increases
in security around the world.
Two of seven people initially arrested in raids Thursday
night and this morning in Melbourne — a 26-year-old man and
a 20-year-old woman — were released without being charged,
police said.
AP: Eric Trump Foundation
flouts charity standards
A charity operated by one of Donald Trump’s sons flouts
philanthropic standards by financially benefiting charities con-
nected to the Trump family and members of the charity’s board,
an Associated Press investigation shows.
The AP found that Eric Trump has exaggerated the size of
his foundation and the donations it receives. At the same time,
the charity’s payments for services or donations to other groups
repeatedly went to one of Donald Trump’s private golf clubs
and to charities linked to the Trumps by corporate, family or
philanthropic relationships.
The Eric Trump Foundation has raised $7.3 million mostly
for children ill with cancer, according to IRS filings since 2007.
The charity has long raised money from donors willing
to make large contributions to hobnob with the Trumps. For
example, golf at the foundation’s chief 2015 fundraiser cost up
to $50,000 per foursome. Donald Trump often attends these
events, which include a gala dinner, and mixes with the guests
and has his photo taken.
On Wednesday, the younger Trump said he’ll cease solicit-
ing donations for his nonprofit to avoid accusations that con-
tributions could be perceived as a means to buy access to the
Trump White House.
The announcement to stop raising money for the founda-
tion followed cancellation of an online auction for “Coffee with
Ivanka,” Eric’s sister.
The auction was to be sponsored by the Eric Trump Foun-
dation, whose proceeds generally benefit St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.