SALT LAKE CITY (Dispatches) — Prosecutors seeking to establish a political motive in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk have pointed to an engraved bullet and alleged messages by the accused gunman, while Kirk’s own increasingly critical views of U.S. military involvement in Israel’s war against Iran have drawn renewed attention. In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said a bullet found with the suspected murder weapon was engraved with the words “Hey Facist! CATCH!”, describing the inscription as an overt political reference and evidence that Kirk was targeted because of how the defendant viewed his politics. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty against Tyler Robinson, who is charged with aggravated murder and has not entered a plea. During the June 2025 Israeli war on Iran, Kirk publicly questioned whether the United States should become involved in Israel’s war against Iran. He warned against a large-scale American military campaign and argued that a war aimed at regime change in Iran would be disastrous. Kirk also warned that Iran’s history and size made it fundamentally different from countries where Washington had previously intervened.

 

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FRANKFURT (Dispatches) -- A second suspect accused of taking part in the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts has been arrested in Croatia and will be extradited to Germany, said German prosecutors on Wednesday. In its statement, the federal prosecutors’ office identified the Ukrainian national only as Vladimir Z., adding he was arrested in the seafront Croatian city of Pula by local police forces who acted on a European arrest warrant. Prosecutors had brought criminal charges in July against another Ukrainian, former army officer Serhii K., for involvement in the blasts, accusing him of acting on behalf of Ukrainian state entities. Russia and Western countries have described the September 2022 explosions, which followed the outbreak of the Ukraine war earlier that year, as sabotage.

 

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SEOUL (Reuters) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for talks with South Korean officials, media reported, after Seoul and Washington scaled back joint military drills amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to revive diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Wang was due to hold talks and a dinner with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun later on Wednesday. The two were expected to discuss bilateral ties, Korean Peninsula issues and regional affairs, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.  On Thursday, Wang was scheduled to meet President Lee Jae Myung. He was also to hold talks and a luncheon with National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, according to the presidential office.

 

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MONROVIA (Reuters) -- Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the U.S. in the next 12 months, with an initial group of 20 deportees expected to arrive on Thursday, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. Since taking office in January last year, the Trump administration has struck several deals with African countries on deporting people it cannot legally send to their home countries. The deportees have in most cases obtained legal protection against repatriation after U.S. immigration judges ruled they risked torture or other abuses in their home countries. Washington has defended the third-country deals as lawful, although rights groups and advocates have said the details are opaque and many of the deportees are ultimately repatriated.

 

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HARARE (Reuters) -- A government-owned ferry that capsized on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba last week was carrying about 180 passengers, double what police had given as its capacity, the government said on Tuesday, as the death toll rose to 94. State-controlled newspaper The Herald said it was the deadliest transport disaster in the Southern African country’s history, surpassing a 1991 bus crash that claimed 89 lives. The boat was travelling from the town of Kariba in northern Zimbabwe to a remote rural community on the lake when it capsized after being struck by strong waves.

 

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NAIROBI (Reuters) -- The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo now exceeds 5,000, government data showed late on Tuesday, as health officials warn that response efforts are failing to contain the deadly disease. Congo’s 17th Ebola epidemic turned into the biggest in the country’s history in terms of number of cases in late July and over the weekend the death toll hit 2,378, the public health institute said, surpassing the previous worst outbreak in 2018-2020. At least 30 deaths at Congo camp show Ebola could be spreading fast