The International Criminal Court (ICC) was urged on Wednesday to probe the spate of Afghan journalists and media professionals' killings in the war-struck country.

The international press freedom organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), or the Reporters Without Borders, has made the call after at least 11 journalists have been killed since March last year.

According to the RSF, all these journalists and media workers were targeted because of their work amid an armed conflict that has seen an increase in violence against journalists and civil society in general since early 2020.

“RSF has every reason to believe that armed groups, especially the Taliban or Taliban affiliates, are responsible for this wave of killings," said the group.

It has asked Fatou Bensouda, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, to include these murders among the crimes committed in Afghanistan since 2003 that she is authorized to investigate by the ICC’s Appeals Chamber in March 2020.

At least 100 journalists, including 15 international journalists, have been killed in connection with their work in the past 20 years, while more than 60 media outlets have been destroyed or attacked and hundreds of threats have been made against journalists and media, said the RSF.

Last month, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar visited The Hague to hold talks with Bensouda in connection with the alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has submitted its performance report and requested assistance in this regard./aa

The Italian ambassador to Ankara said Wednesday Turkey is Italy's main trading partner among the countries in the Mediterranean basin.

Speaking at an online event held by the Italian Embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara on the occasion of Italy's June 2 Republic Day, Massimo Gaiani said the friendship between the peoples of the two countries unites Italy and Turkey.

Gaiani said he has met people from different segments and ages, which forms the basis of the ties between the two countries since he came to Turkey, noting that they have established prosperous and mutually beneficial commercial relations.

Reminding that Italy is Turkey's second-largest trading partner within the EU, Gaiani pointed out that Italy is ranked first among the countries investing in Turkey.

"As loyal members of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) and active supporters of the UN peace and security system in the international context, we face numerous global challenges together. We must unite our efforts to defeat the pandemic and revive our economies," he added./aa

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on Wednesday individuals who have seafood allergies against eating cicadas, the bugs that have swarmed across a quarter of the country.

Cicadas have not been put on some dinner tables, but have also popped up on menus at select restaurants where daring customers can sample them in multiple forms, including as a taco filling and chocolate-covered treat.

Still, the FDA is warning potential consumers against doing so if they have seafood allergies, because the bugs share genetic relations with shellfish.

"Yep! We have to say it!" the agency said on Twitter. "Don't eat #cicadas if you're allergic to seafood as these insects share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters."

The Brood X tsunami of the little insects have been spotted as far south as Georgia and as far north as New York. They have also emerged in the Midwest where they have been seen in parts of Illinois and Indiana.

In the US capital region, the bugs have erupted en masse with nearly all trees and shrubs sporting a handful or more of the black and yellow insets or their shedded shells.

Estimates vary on the number of cicadas in Brood X, but they are widely believed to number in the trillions./aa

By taking our own measures, we will learn to participate in the normalization of life, the Turkish health minister told media outlets following a virtual meeting of the Coronavirus Science Board on Wednesday.

When the course of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered, the periods with strict measures and lockdowns resulted in dramatic drops in the numbers of new infections, said Fahrettin Koca.

"On the other hand, when we lose control, each reopening period leaves deep traces that we experience with exponentially rising numbers in cases, patients, and losses.

"We certainly pay heavy medical, human, economic, and sociological prices unless we socialize in a controlled way," he added.

“We must not waste the results of our sacrifice during restriction periods through a rush or trying to instantly return to our old normal,” he said, adding: “Although we’ve achieved a significant breaking in the course of the pandemic, we must remember that the virus is still circulating among us.”

Personal measures will be more significant from now on, Koca noted, saying this summer will be the last one for wearing masks.

“To successfully achieve this, I've only one new request from you: Those who have their turns for vaccination, please receive their jabs,” he emphasized.

“Phase 3 human trials, the final phase of the vaccine studies, of our vaccine candidate developed with the support of the Health Institutes of Turkey will begin. It has been produced as a working product and the final tests are being carried out,” he noted.

When it passes all tests, Turkey will start to use it clinically as soon as possible, he added.

Koca also said comparing the vaccines in terms of their reliability and effectiveness requires time, stressing that those vaccines with their tests and clinical trials completed have started to be administered.

“We can't talk about stopping the pandemic without making at least 60% of our society immune through our vaccination program. To achieve this, we have a responsibility to protect ourselves and our loved ones.”/aa

Pakistan is set to reopen its border with neighboring China for trade from Thursday after a gap of one and a half years due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, an official confirmed.

Faiyaz Ahmad, the deputy commissioner of the northern Hunza district, which borders China, told reporters on Wednesday that the border will be reopened only for unilateral trade.

The border between Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region and China's Xinjiang province was closed early last year, following the emergence of COVID-19.

According to Ahmad, Pakistani traders would be allowed to only import goods from China. Restrictions on exports to the neighboring country -- the origin of the coronavirus -- will remain in place until further orders./aa

The US on Wednesday expressed concern at the presence of Belarus and Syria as Executive Board members of the World Health Organization (WHO), saying they have conducted "abuses" against their citizens.

Amy Norris, a senior health adviser to the US State Department, said there are "grave concerns that governments of two new board members, Belarus and Syria," do not share the WHO's values demonstrated by their "respective human rights violations and abuses against" their own citizens.

Norris said that both Belarus and Syria had been "overwhelmingly condemned by the international community."

Belarus and Syria were among a group of countries chosen to serve the Executive Board at last week's World Health Assembly.

"In particular we note Syria's track record of conducting chemical weapons attacks harming civilians and striking medical facilities as well as first responders," said Norris.

The US, which is not a current WHO board member, said it called on the governments of both Belarus and Syria to respect human rights.

"We also call on Syria to allow for the unimpeded access of life-saving humanitarian aid, including medical supplies regardless of where those in need are located," said Norris.

A Syrian diplomat responded by saying that leading the WHO on "political imperatives that politicize the humanitarian nature of operating in this field is going in the wrong direction."

Later in the session, Syria issued a statement, saying: "These puzzling politicized comments made by the United States are a clear example of a systematic policy that flies in the face of the UN Charter and international law.”

A Belarus envoy also criticized the US intervention and "politicized discussion."/aa

Croatia became one of the first EU countries to start the EU digital COVID-19 certificate application and apply it in border controls.

Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic visited the Bregana Border Gate to observe the digital COVID-19 certificate application on-site.

In his statement, Bozinovic said they are happy to be among the first countries in the application.

“Those who have received a digital certificate in their country spend a maximum of 20 seconds at the border and enter the country without any problems,” said Bozinovic.

He added that 112 people so far entered Croatia with the certificates and some 40,000 people have applied for digital certificates in Croatia.

Croatia had implemented a digital certificate earlier this week.

The EU COVID-19 digital certificate shows the person's vaccination status, whether they have been infected with COVID-19 as well as the result of the PCR test.

Croatia also announced that it has opened its borders to EU citizens who have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine 22 days before their entry./aa

For 639 days, a group of sit-in families whose children have been abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK terror group has been waiting for their children in southeastern Turkey.

The families have been protesting since Sept. 3, 2019, encouraging their children to give up their weapons and surrender to Turkish authorities.

Protests outside the office of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Diyarbakir province started with three mothers who said their children had been forcibly recruited by the terrorists. The Turkish government says the HDP has links to the PKK terrorist organization.

Fatma Akkus is one of the mothers protesting for the return of her daughter Songul, who was abducted by the terror group seven years ago when she was 15.

"We aren't leaving here without reuniting with our children," Akkus said, and urged her daughter to return.

She also said: "25 parents are happy now. Their children came back, you (should) come too," referring to the families who reunited with their children as a result of the ongoing protest.

Suleyman Aydin, a protesting father, said their children are sentenced to death in the mountains and voiced determination to continue the protest until they come back.

"No mother and father will leave here before we get our children from the HDP," he said.

Aydin called on his child to surrender to the security forces.

Offenders in Turkey linked to terrorist groups who surrender are eligible for possible sentence reductions under a repentance law.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa