Month: September 2021

Two men appeared in court Friday in connection with the murder of Lyra McKee, an influential Northern Irish journalist shot dead as she covered rioting in Londonderry in 2019.   Gearoid Cavanagh, 33, and Jordan Devine, 21, were charged with murder, possession of a firearm and ammunition, possession of petrol bombs, throwing gasoline bombs, arson and riot.   McKee, 29, was observing anti-police rioting in the city, also known as Derry, when she was hit by gunfire in April 2019. The New IRA, a small paramilitary group that opposes Northern Ireland’s peace process, said its members shot McKee by accident …

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The tourism industry in Turkey has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and until recently several wildfires. Several sites, however, have again started to attract local and international visitors. VOA’s Arif Aslan reports from Van, Turkey, in a story narrated by Sirwan Kajjo. …

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France has suspended 3,000 health care workers who were not inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine by a government-mandated Sept. 15 deadline. “Several dozens” of the country’s 2.7 million health workers, Health Minister Olivier Veran said Thursday, opted to resign rather than receive the inoculation against the coronavirus. Tens of thousands health workers were unvaccinated in July when President Emmanuel Macron announced the Sept. 15 deadline to have at least one shot of a vaccine. Veran said most suspended employees worked in support services, while few doctors and nurses were among the suspended. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Friday …

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Taiwan’s government called on the European Union to quickly begin trade talks after the bloc pledged to seek a trade deal with the tech-heavyweight island, something Taipei has long angled for. The EU included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for a potential bilateral investment agreement in 2015, the year before President Tsai Ing-wen first became Taiwan’s president but has not held talks with Taiwan on the issue since then. Responding to the EU’s newly announced strategy to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific, including seeking a trade deal with Taiwan, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday talks should …

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Ukraine and the United States will start joint military exercises in western Ukraine next week, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Thursday, days after Belarus and Russia staged large-scale drills that raised neighboring countries’ concerns. The “Zapad-2021” war games ran on Russia’s and Belarus’ western flanks, including sites close to the European Union’s borders, and alarmed Ukraine and some NATO countries.  Ukraine said the “Rapid Trident 2021” exercises would involve 6,000 troops from 15 countries — Ukraine, the United States and other NATO members — and would last until Oct. 1. “The main goal is to prepare for joint actions …

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Russians in the Far East began voting in a three-day parliamentary election in which vocal Kremlin critics have been barred from running following a historic crackdown on the opposition. Parliamentary and local polls in the world’s largest country spread over 11 time zones began at 8 a.m. Friday. So as Muscovites prepared to go to bed, residents of the Far Eastern Chukotka and Kamchatka regions were gearing up to cast their ballots. “Let’s go!” Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, said in a live broadcast. “We are so excited!” The run-up to the parliamentary polls has been …

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As Germany prepares to elect a new leader, climate change is high on the agenda. Floods blamed on global warming killed hundreds in July. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from Germany, the country is also Europe’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and is struggling to wean itself off fossil fuels …

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The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five al-Qaida supporters for allegedly helping the militant group with financial assistance. The department said the operatives supporting al-Qaida were working out of Turkey.  “We will continue working with our foreign partners, including Turkey, to expose and disrupt al-Qaida’s financial support networks,” Treasury Department official Andrea Gacki said in a statement.  Five individuals named The department said Egyptian lawyer Majdi Salim, whom it described as the main facilitator, was sanctioned, along with Muhammad Nasr al-Din al-Ghazlani, an Egyptian financial courier, and Turkish citizens Nurettin Muslihan, Cebrail Guzel and Soner Gurleyen. “As a result of today’s …

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The European Union’s executive arm asked its member countries Thursday to better protect journalists amid a rise of physical attacks and online threats against media professionals. According to the European Commission, 908 journalists and media workers were attacked across the 27-nation bloc in 2020. A total of 23 journalists have been killed in the EU since 1992, with the majority of the killings taking place during the past six years. “No journalist should die or be harmed because of their job. We need to support and protect journalists; they are essential for democracy,” said Vera Jourova, the commission vice president …

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