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Reporters and media executives give thanks for family, the First Amendment, essential workers, and turkey

A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.



a close up of a tall building: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 25: Decorations for the Thanksgiving parade are installed outside of Macy's in Herald Square on November 25, 2020 in New York City. Many holiday events have been canceled or adjusted with additional safety measures due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

© Noam Galai/Getty Images
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 25: Decorations for the Thanksgiving parade are installed outside of Macy’s in Herald Square on November 25, 2020 in New York City. Many holiday events have been canceled or adjusted with additional safety measures due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

I asked a cross-section of leaders across the media industry, from newsrooms to Hollywood studios, to share what they are thankful for, in 2020, the toughest of years. The first person who replied, Associated Press DC bureau chief Julie Pace, took some of the words out of my mouth: “I am thankful for all of the readers who reached out this year with story ideas, thoughtful feedback and encouragement (there are more of

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Germany angers Turkey with attempt to police Libya arms embargo

BERLIN/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey protested to Germany and the EU on Monday after German forces belonging to an EU military mission boarded and tried to search a Turkish cargo ship that they suspected of taking weapons to Libya illegally.

Soldiers from the frigate Hamburg, part of an EU mission enforcing a U.N. arms embargo, boarded the Roseline A overnight but withdrew after Turkey raised objections with the EU mission, which had ordered the search, the German Defence Ministry said.

Turkey released footage showing armed men in military uniform marshalling sailors with their hands on their heads on the bridge of what it said was the Roseline A, at sea southwest of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula.

The incident comes at a time of friction between Turkey and the European Union. The EU’s foreign policy chief has said ties are reaching a “watershed moment” over Turkish oil prospecting in waters claimed by

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Turkey to grow 0.3% in 2020, finance minister says – media

FILE PHOTO: A shopkeeper waits for customes as a man uses an ATM machine at Mahmutpasa street, a popular middle-class shopping district, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan was quoted as saying on Tuesday that he expects the economy to grow 0.3% in 2020 as consumption, investment and exports recover.

Elvan was speaking at a meeting of the parliament’s planning and budget commission regarding the government’s budget for next year.

Under previous finance minister Berat Albayrak, Ankara had also forecast 0.3% growth this year in its medium-term economic programme, estimating a 1.5% contraction under a worst-case scenario.

State-owned Anadolu news agency also quoted Elvan as saying that Ankara will implement structural reforms to improve the investment environment for international and domestic entrepreneurs. He said Ankara aims to transfer 2 billion lira ($258.78 million) to venture capital funds by the end

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Turkey interested in producing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine: Russian health ministry

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Turkey is interested in producing Russia’s first coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, at domestic facilities, Russia’s health ministry said on Wednesday after a phone call between the countries’ health ministers.

Russia is already testing two vaccines against the virus and is on the cusp of registering a third. It is rolling out its Sputnik V vaccine for domestic use despite the fact that late-stage trials have not yet finished.

“The head of the Turkish health ministry expressed interest in organising production of the Sputnik V vaccine at Turkish pharmaceutical manufacturers’ facilities, after toxicology studies have been carried out, as stipulated by local legislation,” the health ministry said in a statement.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko assured his Turkish colleague of the readiness to organise such tests, the statement said.

The Turkish health ministry declined to corroborate that claim, but Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed that the two men

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Texas Turkey facility shuts down production after explosion

Tyler, Texas firefighters respond to a fire and explosion at the freezer buildings at Greenberg Smoked Turkeys Inc., in Tyler, Texas, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020. The company in eastern Texas that sells about 200,000 smoked turkeys every holiday season was forced to shut down after the fire and at least two explosions destroyed part of the facility. The company will halt production for the rest of 2020 after a mechanical failure that started a fire caused a freezer holding 87,000 turkeys to explode. (Zak Wellerman/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)
Tyler, Texas firefighters respond to a fire and explosion at the freezer buildings at Greenberg Smoked Turkeys Inc., in Tyler, Texas, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020. The company in eastern Texas that sells about 200,000 smoked turkeys every holiday season was forced to shut down after the fire and at least two explosions destroyed part of the facility. The company will halt production for the rest of 2020 after a mechanical failure that started a fire caused a freezer holding 87,000 turkeys to explode. (Zak Wellerman/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)Zak Wellerman/AP

TYLER, Texas (AP) — A company in eastern Texas that sells about 200,000 smoked turkeys every holiday season was forced to shut down after a fire and at least two explosions destroyed part of the facility.

Greenberg Smoked Turkey Inc. in Tyler, Texas, will halt production for the rest of

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Turkey fines social media giants for breaching online law

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has issued fines against global social media companies for failing to appoint a representative to ensure they conform to Turkish law, a senior official said Wednesday.

Omer Fatih Sayan, chairman of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, said Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Periscope, YouTube and TikTok would be fined 10 million lira ($1.2 million) each.

The fines are the first step on an escalating scale of penalties that can end in a block on 90% of the site’s internet traffic bandwidth.

Social media firms with more than 1 million daily users in Turkey had been due to notify the government that they would establish a representative in the country by Monday.

The fine is the first of five stages to penalise companies that do not comply with the law, which came into force on Oct. 1.

“I have complete faith that social network providers will make

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Turkey to Temporarily Shut Businesses, Including Movie Theaters, After 10 p.m.

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Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) has announced the imminent shutdown of all businesses across the country after 10 p.m., including restaurants, movie theaters and concert venues, as the country looks to diffuse a rise in coronavirus cases.

Turkey tallied 2,343 new cases on Tuesday according to national health ministry data released in local media. The figures indicated that the overall count now stands at 382,118 coronavirus infections and more than 10,000 deaths.

Istanbul, which is the hub of the country’s film and TV industries, is among the provinces suffering from a more severe outbreak, according to Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, which quoted Health Minister Fahrettin Koca last week announcing that the city currently hosts 40% of the country’s current coronavirus patients.

Nonetheless, film and TV production in Turkey continues undeterred, sources confirmed.

Netflix last month announced they were ramping up production in Turkey

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Charlie Hebdo Erdogan cartoon sparks fury in Turkey amid Macron feud

  • The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published a caricature of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid his tensions with French President Emmanuel Macron.
  • The cartoon depicts Erdogan sitting in his underwear, drinking a beer, and lifting up a woman’s hijab to expose her bare backside. Most Muslims consider drinking alcohol haram, or forbidden.
  • Erdogan has vocally condemned Macron’s recent attacks on Islam, saying on Saturday the French president “needs a mental check.”
  • On October 2, Macron had announced a law to monitor and regulate France’s Islamic communities. Support for the law strengthened after the October 16 killing of a teacher who showed his class cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
  • Charlie Hebdo’s inflammatory cartoons that mocked the Prophet has prompted several terror attacks in recent years.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published a searing caricature of Turkish President Recep

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Aggressive turkey named ‘Gerald’ is safely relocated

Estimated to be around 20 pounds, Gerald had been causing problems in the Grand Lake neighborhood for months, attacking dozens of people and ultimately leading to the closure of nearby Morcom Rose Garden, an 8-acre municipal garden that was his favorite stomping grounds.

Rebecca Dmytryk, a wildlife expert and founder and director of Wildlife Emergency Services based in the Monterey Bay area, was hired to humanely capture Gerald in the park after attempts by the city were unsuccessful.

After observing the bird a few weeks earlier, she and her husband, Duane Titus, arrived at the rose garden on Thursday to make their first attempt at capturing the wayward bird.

“When we got there, there were no turkeys in sight,” Dmytryk told CNN. “We worried we missed him, and he’d gone somewhere else.”

Gerald on the streets of the Grand Lake neighborhood in Oakland before he became so aggressive.

That soon changed. Dmytryk and Titus spotted Gerald along with some other turkeys in a redwood grove near

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Trump administration slams NATO ally Turkey for weapon test

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday slammed Turkey for taking a new step toward fielding a Russian-made air defense weapon. The U.S. complaint marked a deepening rift that threatens the future of a security relationship that has been central to the NATO military alliance for seven decades.

After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that his country had tested the S-400 air defense system and brushed off American complaints, saying, “We aren’t going to ask America,” the Pentagon hit back.

“The U.S. Department of Defense condemns in the strongest possible terms Turkey’s October 16 test of the S-400 air defense system,” the top Pentagon spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said in a statement. “We have been clear and unwavering in our position: an operational S-400 system is not consistent with Turkey’s commitments as a U.S. and NATO ally.”

The State Department separately called Turkey’s test unacceptable and a “clear step

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