20 December 2016 (02:35 UTC-07 Tango 06) 30 Azar 1395/20 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/22 Geng Zi 4714

Berlin polizei, in Deutschland, say the driver of the truck appears to be an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan.  Polizei now saying the attack is a “probable” act of terrorism.  Reports about the ‘passenger’ in the truck change again.  Now it sounds as if the passenger, a Polska citizen, was already dead before the attack on the Xmas Market (news media say he was shot, a witness says he heard gunshots after the driver fled the scene of the attack).  Deutschland news media say polizie are now targeting immigrant housing centers.   Death toll at 12, despite earlier reports by live reporters saying 18 had died.

Reports that Russia has ordered retaliation against those behind the assassination of their ambassador to Türkiye.  The assassin was a Turkish cop who admittedly supported the U.S.-EU backed foreign rebels in Syria.  The assassin was shot and killed by fellow cops.  Some Turkish news media say the assassin was posing as a bodyguard.

In Switzerland, news media now saying the ‘gunman’ who shot three people is now dead.  This is interesting because earlier reports, controlled by the police, made it sound as if they were the ones who did the shooting after chasing a “suspect” into a Mosque for migrants.  Swiss police now say the apparently anti-migrant suspect started shooting randomly at a Mosque near a Zurich train station, wounding three people.   The suspect’s body was found near the building later on.  There’s no explanation how the suspect got shot, or why it took police so long to connect the body to the Mosque shooting.

The attacks took place after some other significant events: Syria retakes Aleppo from U.S.-EU backed rebels. Iran and Russia hold phone meeting to discuss countering further U.S.-EU support for foreign rebels in Syria. European Union then extends sanctions against Russia.