NEWS - The African Mirror

Nov

30

2023

SA receives power generating equipment from China

NEWS

ELECTRICITY generation, and supply, have become South Africa’s perennial albatross around the neck. So much so, that our country is credited with the popularization of the term “load-shedding”. And so constant has this societal inconvenience been since 2007 that, to a large extent, load-shedding has come to be accepted as a normal occurrence in SA. At the beginning of the year, President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the energy crisis by declaring a national state of disaster. Today might, however, just be the beginning of the end of load-shedding, thanks to the flourishing bilateral relations between Pretoria and Beijing. Minister in…

Nov

29

2023

By FELIX NJINI

Mine tragedy: 11 die, 75 injured in cablecar accident

NEWS

IMPALA Platinum temporarily halted operations at its Rustenburg mining complex in South Africa after 11 workers died and 75 were injured in what the CEO said was "the darkest day" in the company's history. Impala said in a statement that workers were being brought to the surface at the end of their shift on Monday when the conveyance system that carries workers up and down an underground shaft 1,000 meters (3,281 ft) deep started a rapid descent. The Johannesburg-based platinum miner said 86 workers were involved in the incident at its No. 11 shaft. The injured were admitted to four…

Nov

29

2023

By CLEMENCE MANYUKWE, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Meet Africa’s female science champions

NEWS

AT primary school, Nthabeleng Hlapisi was curious about unexplained mysteries, including black holes, shaped by unseen forces in the universe. The promising young scientist from Lesotho credits that curiosity for the later developments that landed her one of Africa's top science awards. Hlapisi was among the 30 winners of the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Young Talents Sub-Saharan Africa Awards at a ceremony held in Botswana early in November. She also made history as the first national of Lesotho to win the annual award, which is now in its 14th year. According to a L’Oréal-UNESCO statement, the awards enable its…

Nov

29

2023

By The African Mirror

British-Nigerian man pleads guilty in New York to bank hacking crimes

NEWS

A British-Nigerian national has pleaded guilty in New York to involvement in a more than seven-year scheme to hack into banks' and brokerages' computer servers, causing more than $6 million of losses for customers. Idris Dayo Mustapha, 33, pleaded guilty to access device fraud, conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn. Mustapha, a native of Lagos, Nigeria, had been arrested in the United Kingdom in August 2021 and was extradited to the United States in August. He faces up to 20 years…

Dec

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Death toll from Kenya’s El Nino floods jumps to 120

NEWS

SEVERE flooding caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon has killed 120 people in Kenya, while people in almost 90,000 households have been forced to leave their homes, the government said. The latest estimated death toll in Kenya has doubled as heavy seasonal rains following the worst drought in four decades have submerged towns and villages across East Africa, rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Thousands of homes have been washed away or are marooned, while farmland has been submerged and tens of thousands of livestock drowned, aid agencies said. In neighbouring Somalia floods have killed at least 96 people and…

Nov

30

2023

By NAFISA ELTAHIR

Sudanese general accuses UAE of supplying paramilitary RSF

NEWS

A top Sudanese general has said the United Arab Emirates is sending supplies to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), publicly accusing the UAE of involvement in its war with its powerful paramilitary rival for the first time. Army leaders had previously only hinted at interference from unnamed neighbouring countries in the seven-month-old war, which has displaced more than 6 million people and triggered waves of ethnically driven killings in Darfur. "We have information from intelligence, military intelligence, and the diplomatic circuit that the UAE sends planes to support the Janjaweed," General Yassir al-Atta said in a speech to members of the General Intelligence Service…

Nov

30

2023

By The African Mirror

Congo opposition party says activist killed in violence at election rally

NEWS

A Congolese youth activist was killed by stones pelted during an opposition campaign rally in the east-central city of Kindu, the party of presidential candidate Moise Katumbi said. The Together for the Republic party accused local authorities of seeking to stifle the opposition and allowing unnamed attackers to hurl stones during the campaign event at which Katumbi and two other opposition candidates who backed him for the December 20 election appeared. "This violence ... caused the tragic death of Mr Dido Kakisingi," the party said in a statement. Kakisingi, a lawyer and father of six, was the head of a political youth…

Nov

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Moroccan arrested in connection with Belgian school bomb alert

NEWS

BELGIAN and Moroccan police have arrested in Morocco a suspect in an extortion case that led to the closing of schools in Belgium due to a bomb alert, the country's prosecutor's office said. The Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement administration body on Monday shut at least 27 schools in Brussels and the neighbouring Brabant region after a bomb alert on Sunday evening. Belgian media reported that the sender of the alert had demanded 10 million euros to reveal the location of five bombs. "The arrested person, who is of Moroccan nationality, was questioned and admitted the deeds to the Moroccan authorities. The investigation's initial conclusions…

Nov

28

2023

By UMARU FOFANA

Twenty killed in Sierra Leone attack and nearly 2,000 prisoners escape

NEWS

TWENTY people were killed and nearly 2,000 inmates escaped during an attack on a military barracks, a prison and other locations in Sierra Leone, officials said. The West African country was thrown into panic in the early hours when the assailants sent gunfire ringing across the capital Freetown. The government blamed "renegade soldiers" that it said had been repelled. President Julius Maada Bio said in an address on Sunday that most of the leaders of the attack had been arrested and that efforts to apprehend others were underway. An investigation has been launched, he said. Army spokesman Colonel Issa Bangura…

Nov

28

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s immigration proposals are based on false claims and poor logic – experts

NEWS

THE South African government recently issued a long-awaited policy statement – called a White Paper – outlining proposed changes to the country’s asylum and immigration system. More than 20 years after its first post-apartheid immigration legislation in 1998, immigration remains a pressing concern. Getting this policy right could help with South Africa’s economic recovery, increase regional prosperity, and heighten security for citizens and migrants alike. LOREN B LANDAU, Co-Director of the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab, University of the Witwatersrand REBECCA WALKER, Research Associate at the African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand A general election is due…