Multiple Dead After Shooting in Hanau, Germany: Reports

‘Unhealthy Partisanship’: Move Afoot to Improve the Workings of Parliament

Canada’s Parliament is increasingly moving away from forming decisions based on debates, with decisions instead largely dictated by parties or party leaders, says a veteran MP. A recent report backs up this view, showing the majority of MPs believe that “unhealthy partisanship” has become more prevalent in Parliament, with democratic practices declining, particularly in the areas of MP independence and debates. In the current minority Parliament, some MPs are working toward modernizing the House in order to increase efficiency and eliminate parliamentary dysfunction, among other issues that have long plagued the legislative body. Engaged in the discussions is Conservative MP Michael Chong, who has been committed to democratic reform ever since he was elected in 2004. In his view, Parliament has increasingly gravitated toward conformity to the point that new…

The number of dead in the shootings Wednesday evening rose to nine, a police statement said.

At least eight people are dead and five others are critically injured after two shootings in Hanau city in west Germany, some 15 miles east of Frankfurt.

An unidentified attacker or attackers began shooting at a shisha bar in central Hanau on Wednesday night, according to regional public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk.

The broadcaster said聽that witnesses reported hearing eight or nine shots and seeing at least one person lying on the ground. The same attacker or attackers later drove to Hanau’s聽Kesselstadt neighborhood and opened fire again at another shisha bar.

Police officers secure the area after a shooting in Hanau near Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 19, 2020. (Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

The attacker or attackers have fled the scene and their motives are unclear, according to a聽short police statement. The statement said聽that authorities are searching for the perpetrators.

Special forces were chasing the gunmen who fled in a dark-colored car, police said, Reuters reported.聽Police have set up a hotline for members of the public with information that could lead to the perpetrators.

Heavily armed police sealed off two streets in the city of Hanau where ambulances had rushed, according to the news wire service. A police helicopter hovered over the city, east of the financial hub Frankfurt.

Hanau is in southwestern Germany, about 12 miles east of Frankfurt. It has about 100,000 inhabitants.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Shaking Hands With Bad State Actors Not Smart ‘Chess’

News Analysis Diplomatic relations is a chess game, one that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t play very well when he had a friendly handshake with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, says former cabinet minister and longtime MP David Kilgour. “You need to know how to move your pieces in a way that you’re going to serve your country and its interests, and not serve the interests of the other country, which is trying to hurt you in every way it can,” Kilgour says. Images of Trudeau greeting Zarif with a friendly handshake and bowing his head on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14 was shared widely by Iranian state media, with critics raising concerns that the prime minister is being used as a propaganda prop by…