Some leaders at UN condemn ‘sick expression of joy,’ ‘macabre response’ to Charlie Kirk’s killing

The reaction over Charlie Kirk’s assassination touched yet another constituency this week: the collection of world leaders gathered at the United Nations.
Two weeks after Kirk was shot and killed in Utah, several of the world leaders gathered at for the UN General Assembly this week referenced the conservative activist’s slaying — and some of the divisive outpouring of reaction to it — as evidence of deeper fissures in global society.
Decrying the “sick expression of joy for the crime committed against an innocent person,” Serbian President Alexsandar Vucic told assembled leaders on Wednesday that reaction to Kirk’s death represents “the best confirmation of that.”
Social media lit up in the days after Kirk’s Sept. 10 death with people mourning his loss — some of whom said they disagreed with Kirk’s ideological stances but supported his right to voice them — as well as those celebrating it.
It set off a national discussion about freedom of speech. Comments led to the firings of numerous people, from political analysts and opinion writers to school employees. Several conservative activists sought to identify social media users whose posts about Kirk they viewed as offensive or celebratory, targeting everyone from journalists to teachers.
On Wednesday, Vucic said reaction to the conservative activist’s assassination was demarcated “less by ideological but much more by emotional hate driven differences.”
“Such a development devastates in a deepest and clearest way the world political community much more than conflicts with clear and visible actors,” Vucic said, remarking on how such a seemingly singular event can evoke such strong reactions across the globe.
“He was savagely assassinated just because his killer did not like his ideas,” Vucic said of Kirk, suggesting that some of the reaction in the slaying’s aftermath caused yet more damage in terms of the division it sowed. “He was shot even after death by the same ones who had prepared political and media grounds for his assassination.”
Kirk was assassinated during a Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University. US President Donald Trump and other administration leaders gathered Sunday at a memorial service, where other speakers noted the worldwide reaction to Kirk’s death, mentioning areas around the world where memorials had sprung up.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña also mentioned Kirk in his speech Wednesday, saying in Spanish that he was “shaken, saddened, and distressed” by Kirk’s killing and arguing that the “macabre response must awaken us from our sleepy state of complacency.”
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned Kirk, as well as last month’s stabbing death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system, as representative of “headlines about violent attacks happening all around the world.”
“Sadly, his life was short by a bullet,” Zelensky said of Kirk. “Once again, violence with a rifle in hand.”

The risk to human health remained “low” and that “properly cooked” poultry and eggs were safe to eat
The virus can spread through droppings and saliva or contaminated food and water

LONDON: The UK government on Tuesday ordered all poultry in England to be kept inside due to escalating cases of avian influenza.
The order takes effect from Thursday.
“The new measures mean bird keepers across the whole of England must house all poultry and captive birds if they keep more than 50... or if they sell or give eggs away,” a statement said.
Similar limited restrictions were made in parts of north, central and eastern England last week.
“Given the continued increase in the number of avian influenza cases in kept birds and wild birds across England, we are now taking the difficult step to extend the housing measures to the whole of England,” said UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss.
The risk to human health remained “low” and that “properly cooked” poultry and eggs were safe to eat, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.
There were 85 recorded avian flu outbreaks in poultry farms in Europe between August 1 and late October with 28 in the last week of that period, according to the Europe-wide ESA animal health monitor.
Of those six outbreaks were in Britain.
In January, following an uptick in cases, the UK government ordered mandatory culls in England of birds within a three kilometer (1.8 mile) radius of a confirmed case, as well as stepped up hygiene measures and controls across wider areas.
The virus can spread through droppings and saliva or contaminated food and water.
Vaccinations against bird flu are currently not allowed in the UK, except in zoos.

Some leaders at UN condemn ‘sick expression of joy,’ ‘macabre response’ to Charlie Kirk’s killing