Police charged two Belfast men in connection with the knife slaying of a Catholic civilian, the first breakthrough in an IRA-linked case that has overshadowed Northern Ireland's peace process for months.
Police said the two men, who were arrested Wednesday, were set to be arraigned yesterday in Belfast Crown Court for their alleged roles in killing Robert McCartney, 33, and seriously wounding his friend Brendan Devine outside a Belfast pub on Jan. 30.
The Irish Republican Army initially denied involvement. But after facing public pressure from McCartney's five sisters and fiancee, the group admitted its members committed the attack.
Since then, members of the IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party have faced continued criticism internationally for allegedly covering up evidence and refusing to cooperate with the police investigation.
Police said a 49-year-old man would face a charge of murdering McCartney, while a 36-year-old man would be charged with the attempted murder of Devine.
The two men are the first to face charges in the case. They were among a dozen suspects that had been arrested previously and released without charge after refusing to answer questions.
Witnesses say an IRA unit initially attacked Devine inside the pub, then targeted McCartney when he pulled his friend, bleeding from a neck wound, outside. The gang stabbed McCartney in the neck and stomach and clubbed him in the head with iron bars, then went back inside the pub to mop up blood and other forensic evidence.
They also allegedly took a tape from a surveillance camera and warned witnesses not to talk to police.
The McCartney sisters, who have taken their campaign to the White House and the EU Parliament, said they were initially stunned, then overcome with joy -- but emphasized that their mission for justice still had a long way to go.
"We hope it will lead to further arrests, because there were more than two people involved. We still have a long way to go in terms of a trial and convictions," said Catherine McCartney. "We are happy this has happened, but we know it is by no means over."
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS