NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Hit man: German prosecutors on Thursday filed murder charges in a Berlin court against a Russian man accused in the brazen daylight slaying in Berlin last year of a Georgian man, and said that the Russian state ordered the killing. The case prompted Germany in December to expel two Russian diplomats, citing a lack of cooperation with the investigation of the Aug. 23 killing. The victim, who also has widely been identified as Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, was a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity who fought against Russian troops in Chechnya. He had previously survived multiple assassination attempts and continued to receive threats after fleeing to Germany in 2016. Federal prosecutors filed charges of murder and a violation of weapons laws against a Russian citizen they identified as Vadim K.. His last name was withheld in line with German privacy laws but has been widely reported as Vadim Krasikov. The suspect is in custody.
_2 Corruption allegations: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s former justice minister and the minister’s lawmaker wife were arrested Thursday over allegations they engaged in vote buying during last year’s election, officials and local media said. The Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office said it arrested the former minister, Katsuyuki Kawai, and his wife, Anri Kawai, though it did not immediately give a reason. Local media including Kyodo News reported the arrest was over allegations that the couple offered millions of yen in cash to dozens of voters ahead of the 2019 upper house election in which Anri Kawai won a seat.
_3 Vera Lynn: Dame Vera Lynn, the endearingly popular “Forces Sweetheart” who serenaded British troops abroad during World War II, died in London at 103. During the war and long after, Lynn got crowds singing, smiling and crying with sentimental favorites such as “We’ll Meet Again,” and “The White Cliffs of Dover.” Lynn possessed a downtoearth appeal, reminding servicemen of the ones they left behind. “Winston Churchill was my opening act,” she once said.
_4 Australia cyberattacked: Australia is under increasing cyberattack from a “sophisticated statebased cyber actor,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday, but he would not name the state. He said he made the growing threat public to raise awareness. Morrison would not comment on the inevitable speculation that the cyberattacks were part of Australia’s increasingly hostile rift with China. China in recent weeks banned beef exports from Australia’s largest abattoirs, ended trade in Australian barley with a tariff wall and warned its citizens against visiting Australia. Although the threat was constant, the frequency of attacks had increased “over many months.” The measures are widely interpreted as punishment for Australia’s advocacy of an independent probe into the origins and spread of the coronavirus. _5 Rocket attack: Four rockets exploded inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone near the American embassy, Iraq’s military said Thursday, in the third such attack since the U.S. embarked on strategic talks with Iraq’s new government. It wasn’t immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, which caused no casualties or damage, but the U.S. has blamed Iranbacked militia groups for a recent quick succession of rocket attacks targeting the American presence in Iraq. The attacks are proving to be a key challenge for the administration of Prime Minister Mustafa alKadhimi, whose government has promised to take action against militias who attack the United States. Thursday’s attack was the third since strategic talks were launched last week.