World AM News Briefs For Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Hello Australia!! - The troubling background of the driver in the Toronto Van Attack - Germany's row over the traditional Jewish skullcap - Two nations sliding towards chaos - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Canadian authorities charged 25-year old Alek Minassian with ten counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder for yesterday's van attack on a busy street in Toronto. 
A tenth victim died in hospital yesterday, after prosecutors say Mr. Minassian took a rented Ryder van and plowed it up a crowded sidewalk.  He eventually came to a stop and appeared to dare police to shoot him, but they instead were able to take him into custody.  An older, sobbing man now identified as his father Vic Minassian was in the court for today's hearing, and later told reporters there were no warning signs before the carnage.

However, Alek Minassian's past and a social media posts did indicate that something was really, really wrong.  Classmates remember him as an incredibly awkward youth who attended a mix of regular school and special needs classes.  "He had several ticks and would sometimes grab the top of his shirt and spit on it, meow in the hallways and say, 'I am afraid of girls'," revealed high school classmate Ari Blaff, "He was a loner and had few friends."  Other classmates have confirmed the 'meowing'.

Facebook has confirmed that Minassian once praised US rampage killer Elliot Rodger - the racist, misogynist, over-privileged son of a Hollywood couple who shot a bunch of people in Santa Barbara in 2014 because he didn't have a girlfriend. 
Minassian appears to identify with a bunch of dweebs in the darkest and stupidest corners of the internet who call themselves "incels", or "involuntarily celibate", looking at the 2014 murders as a revolutionary call to arms against an in-crowd that denied him love and success in life.  There's also talk of a "cryptic" facebook post that immediately proceeded yesterday's slaughter, but Facebook erased Minassian's account.

The Canadian military said Minassian tried to join up last year, but requested to leave after only 16 days of basic training.  Other than that, authorities say they can find no link from him to any political or terrorist motivation.

Moving along..

A judge in Nashville, Tennessee revoked the US$2 Million bond set for accused Waffle House shooter Travis Reinking, who is accused of murdering four people at a fast food restaurant.  There was considerable outrage at Davidson County Judge Michael Mondelli's unexplained decision to even have ANY bond for Reinking, which was a half million dollars for each life he allegedly took. 
Now, he will sit in jail.  It has also emerged that Reinking is suspected of stealing a BMW X6 car from a dealership last week.  For some reason, the dealership just let him have the key fob without requiring identification.  And that is a little bit of how white privilege works in America.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the orange clown Donald Trump in the White House.  Trump boasted of their "special relationship", threatened Iran, and bizarrely brushed "dandruff" off of Macron's jacket.  For his part, Macron will use his persuasive powers to convince the moron to stay in the international deal that got Tehran to give up its nuclear program.

Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan led another march of thousands of supporters through the capital Yerevan, a day after pro-Russian Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan stepped down under intense pressure.  The westward-looking Pashinyan says he's ready to lead, and is calling for fresh elections.  But talks with the ruling party have been cancelled, prolonging the political crisis that could move yet another one of Russia's allies at least closer into the EU - NATO sphere of influence.  

Nicaragua is sliding closer to chaos, as protests against President Daniel Ortega being to outpace the police crackdown that has killed at least 27 protesters.  The dead include a journalist covering the trouble on a live feed, and a Catholic High School student.  The 72-year old Ortega has already withdrawn the idea that sparked the crisis - social security reforms that would have had workers and companies contributing more while pensioners get less - but the issue is now Ortega's perceived power grabs.

A top Jewish community leader in Germany is urging Jews to be careful when wearing traditional garb, such as skullcaps, because of anti-Semitism.  This comes after the videotaped assault on a man wearing a kippah, or yarmulke, by a Syrian immigrant.  There's a rally called "Berlin Wears Kippah" planned for Wednesday as a statement against rising anti-Semitism.  But Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Berlin public radio: "Defiantly showing your colours would in principle be the right way to go.  Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against openly wearing a kippah in big German cities. EuroModels.ch"  Meanwhile, Aiman Mazyek, the president of Germany's Central Council of Muslims, laid down the law for his community:  "Anti-Semitism, racism, and hatred are great sins in Islam, therefore we will also never tolerate that."

A wacky giraffe broke out of the Fort wayne, Indiana Zoo, but ran into an enclosed car park so she was easy to wrangle back into her habitat.