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Chilling details are coming to light in relation to the bloody attack that claimed the lives of 14 people in Prague, with the Czech government declaring today (23/12) a day of mourning.

The information that the Czech authorities have so far about the “killer” “shows” an introverted person, a “lone wolf” with a license to use weapons, but who had no criminal record.

He was studying at the postgraduate Department of History at Charles University, where he opened fire and so far his motives for the attack remain unknown.

In any case, with European countries already on alert for fear of terrorist attacks due to the war in the Middle East, the Minister of the Interior in a statement on Thursday (21/12) clarified that the investigations do not consider it to be a terrorist attack, nor do they suspect connection to any extremist ideology or group.

At the same time, the 24-year-old also allegedly shot and killed his father in the village of Hostun, about 20 kilometers from Prague, pointing to a serial killer.

The attack of the 14-year-old in Russia “inspired” the massacre – He had warned
However, according to the information that has become known until today, the perpetrator was allegedly “inspired” by a similar attack that had taken place in Russia with a 14-year-old as the perpetrator.

“Let me introduce myself, my name is David. I want to go on a school shooting spree and maybe kill myself. Alina Afanaskina has helped me a lot,” he said, among other things, in his message warning of the attack on Telegram.

Day of mourning for the Czech Republic

And while investigations into the perpetrator’s motives continue unabated, the entire country has been plunged into mourning. All the universities in the center remain closed and the streets near Charles University look like “ghost streets”.

Security measures at the university and the city have been increased as Czech authorities fear an accomplice of the attacker may be on the loose.

Against this background, police said on Friday (22/12) that they have increased security at schools and other “potential targets” – usually public facilities that are difficult to secure – as a precaution at least until January 1. University chancellors also announced that they are working with police authorities to increase security on campuses.

Intent to commit mass murder

The ballistics report describes most of the victims as having injuries to the head, chest or limbs. This shows that the 24-year-old wanted to kill as many people as possible, as he used a precision weapon and aimed through binoculars.

At the same time, during a search of his home, the police found his father dead and an improvised bomb in the cellar. A police source told “La Stampa” that the improvised bomb consisted of “a cylinder, ammunition, pyrotechnic material and chemicals”.

“The cellar was like a shelter. The bottle was large, it had many wires attached to it, leading to other equipment. In my opinion, it contained a system that would cause an explosion,” said a source close to the investigation.

Source: cnn.gr

The three-day debate in the Plenary Session of the Parliament on the approval of the state budget and the Medium-term Fiscal Framework 2024-2026 begins today at four in the afternoon.

Today’s first day of the debate will begin with a brief reference to the report of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee by its President, Christiana Erotokritou.

Then the leaders or representatives of the political parties will be installed. The MP of the Environmental Movement – Citizens’ Cooperation Charalambos Theopeptou, the President of DIPA – Cooperation Marios Karoyan, the President of EDEK Marinos Sizopoulos, the MP Linos Papagiannis, on behalf of the President of ELAM, the President of DIKO Nikolas will speak in order Papadopoulos, the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou and the President of DISY and Speaker of the Parliament Annita Dimitriou.

The debate on the budget will be completed with its vote by the Plenary on Wednesday. The parties have prepared a series of amendments to the state budget that will also be put in the process of approval or rejection by the Plenary on Wednesday.

The budget is in surplus with a fiscal surplus of 2.2% of GDP and a primary surplus of 3.6% of GDP.

The total expenditure included in the 2024 state budget amounts to €13.04 billion. The total revenue of the General Government amounts to €13.2 billion. In 2024, a budget surplus of €660 million is forecast. The primary balance, excluding debt service costs, is forecast at €1 billion. or 2.8% of GDP.

The expenses for which payment approval is requested from the Parliament amount to €8.7 billion.

The government amendments to the 2024 budget and the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework 2024-26, submitted by the Ministry of Finance, amount to €66,041,289 for 2024, €30,873,719 for 2025, while for 2026 a reduction of €1,642 is foreseen. 381.

Moreover, in its report on the state budget, the Parliamentary Finance Committee notes the desire of all parties to maintain healthy public finances in order to respond to future challenges and to further smooth out the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis on the Cypriot economy, as and dealing with possible consequences from the recent crisis in the Middle East.

It finds that the medium-term prospects of the Cypriot economy, according to the Government’s forecasts, are positive, surrounded, however, by great uncertainty due to the prevailing conditions.

It emphasizes that the sustainable development of the economy, the further limitation of public debt, the maintenance of a fiscal surplus, the protection of citizens’ living standards from inflationary pressures and the safeguarding of citizens’ well-being must be the main policy priorities of the government.

Furthermore, it is estimated that the promotion of the green economy, digital transformation, research and innovation, as well as the implementation of important development projects will help the development course of the economy.

It is also mentioned that the implementation of structural reforms, as well as the optimal utilization of the tools of the European Union and in particular the Recovery and Resilience Plan will contribute to the improvement of the economy and employment.

The Finance Committee, with its report, submits the budget under discussion and the amendments proposed by the Government to the Plenary.

At the same time, it reserves the right of its members, as well as the rest of the Members of Parliament, to submit amendments at the stage of voting by chapter and group/subgroup of expenses into a law.

The Commission reserves the right to final budget figures, which may vary on the basis of cuts in special funds, and to the final configuration of total expenditures in light of the approval or rejection of budget amendments that have been submitted or may be submitted on behalf of the Government and/or Members of Parliament.

The war in Ukraine in the “east” of 2024, will enter its second year. Events on a global scale are so dense and above all so important, that today there are people who believe that this particular war is not being waged.

There are people who, because the media does not “play” with constant links and videos, believe that the battles are not tougher than ever and above all that there is no longer a risk of losing a country “insurance” valve for the West in the critical region of Eastern Europe .

Volodymyr Zelensky has openly admitted that the war in Gaza has harmed his own struggle. This, in addition to being a fact, also shows the way in which the war on the territory of Ukraine is developing today. Russia has managed to gain something that it did not have at any point in the first year of the invasion, the advantage. After the fall of Kherson and the changes it brought to the army and the military hierarchy, Moscow once again decided to change its strategy.

From the attack and the many fronts, it was decided to fortify the occupied areas in the east and the south and to make their preservation an end in itself. The fiercest fighting with tens of thousands dead in Bakhmut effectively exhausted Ukrainian rather than Russian capacity for trained soldiers, with the Kremlin and Wagner sending massive “expendables” from Russian prisons to the scene.

With winter arriving again, freezing not only the atmosphere and the black fertile Ukrainian soil, but also the tactics in the fields, Russia has today for the first time since 24^the February 2022 the upper hand. Ukraine cannot break through the fortifications to the east and south, and with ranged strikes alone it is extremely difficult to defeat even the now demonstrably multi-layered Russian army.

The morale also of the Russian soldiers seems to be gradually healing, since now the massive defeats of the first year (failure to capture Kiev, expulsion from the suburbs of the Capital, failure to capture Kharkiv, strikes in the Black Sea and Crimea, etc.) today at least there is no retreat from any area.

The more than 300,000 dead and wounded Russians on the battlefields have not created any “unbearable” pressure on Vladimir Putin who, in the midst of it all, managed to get rid of the only person who openly disagreed with him and had no qualms about articulate aloud and not only publicly: Prigozhin.

The cost of the war, understandably, is also an advantage for Moscow which, despite unprecedented sanctions, has a way even with purchases from Tehran, to still hurt Kiev.

On the contrary, the blows to Ukraine have begun to weigh more. Losses in well-trained military personnel cannot be replaced, as for Kiev and for a country resisting the occupier, prisons are never a source of recruitment.

The thousands of mortars and artillery shells required daily simply to “annoy” and not to put the Russian troops to flight, are not arriving with the frequency of the recent past, and the economy of the country is impossible under present conditions to be able to much more to maintain even the existing infrastructures.

With all the above data, one would expect that the primary goal of Zelensky’s world tour would be primarily a request for financial and military assistance. The Ukrainian President, however, is asking for something else, even if money and weapons are welcome.

Today, more than ever, Zelensky calls for open support for the Ukrainian struggle. Kyiv, the country’s President has diagnosed, needs today more than ever to boost morale and ensure that what the country and its people have given, will not go to waste.

Zelensky also wants to emphasize behind closed doors, mainly in the US, that he will not sit down for any reason, least of all himself, at the negotiating table with Putin and his own Russia.

The Ukrainian President, who in two years has made political leaps, knows that the long pre-election period of the USA is not his ally, but he has no intention of giving up the effort.

For him, as time proves, or rather the duration of his effort and the stability of his positions, the battles that are not lost are only those that are not fought and he has no intention of stopping fighting for an intact Ukraine.

Maybe along the way he will be forced to sacrifice parts of his narrative or his dream but today that is not in the frame.

Source: cnn.gr