WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

03

2025

Gaza aid worker killings: one humanitarian still missing in shallow grave

WORLD

UN humanitarians and partners expressed deep shock at the killing of 15 colleagues on duty in southern Gaza whose remains were recovered from a shallow grave after a week-long rescue operation, noting that one worker is still missing. “This is a huge blow to us…These people were shot,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. “Normally we are not at a loss for words and we are spokespeople, but sometimes we have difficulty finding them. This is one of those cases,” he told journalists in Geneva, referring to video footage taken near Tal-As-Sultan by an OCHA rescue party showing…

Apr

03

2025

By BRUCE WOLPE

US Senator Cory Booker just spoke for 25 hours in Congress. What was he trying to achieve?

WORLD

THE Democrats have been under intense pressure to find an effective way to challenge US President Donald Trump without control of either chamber of Congress or a de facto opposition leader. They may have just found one. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker took the Senate floor on Monday evening in Washington to give a speech lambasting Trump’s actions. He didn’t stop talking – aside from the occasional question from a fellow Democrat – until Tuesday night, 25 hours later. So, how common are these types of speeches in the US Congress, and what’s the point? https://www.youtube.com/embed/rCUK2VbdLS4 Booker reportedly did not…

Apr

02

2025

By MOHAMED AL-ASTAL

Eid amid the unfathomable horror unfolding in Gaza

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Mohamed al-Astal ONE moment my six-year-old Lama is content, pretending a structure she has built by stacking pebbles and rocks in the backyard of our partially destroyed home in Khan Younis is a proper house she has made for us to spend Eid al-Fitr in. She proudly points out where each of the rooms would be and where the little frills and details we’ve lost – and that she misses – might have been in that fragile structure, which is propped up by wooden planks and covered with a piece of…

Apr

02

2025

By The African Mirror

UNHCR rushes emergency supplies to quake-hit central Myanmar

WORLD

AS aftershocks continue to pound central Myanmar following the earthquake on 28 March, UNHCR has rushed emergency supplies from Yangon to some 25,000 earthquake survivors in the Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw areas. We are mobilizing more relief items from our existing stocks in Myanmar, and hope these plastic sheets, sleeping mats, blankets, kitchen sets and mosquito nets can provide some relief in these turbulent times. Our team is currently identifying critical needs in the worst-affected areas of Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing Regions as part of an inter-agency rapid needs assessment. The most urgent requirement is to deploy shelter and…

Apr

02

2025

By AURELIEN MONDON

Marine Le Pen’s victim narrative is already being constructed – but there are ways to stop her criminal conviction benefitting her

WORLD

MARINE Le Pen, figurehead of France’s Rassemblement National (RN), one of the most established far-right parties in Europe, has been found guilty of embezzling funds from the European parliament. During her time as an MEP between 2004 and 2017, Le Pen and her team paid party staff with funds that should have gone to European parliamentary aides. The ruling estimates that a total of €2.9 million (£2.4 million) in European parliament funds were involved in the crimes and that Le Pen personally embezzled €474,000 of that total. She has been sentenced to four years in prison, two of which would…

Apr

01

2025

By ROSS BENNETT-COOK

Tourists are cancelling trips to the US – here’s how this could affect its economy

WORLD

THE United States is one of the top three most visited countries in the world. The big draw cards – cities such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago and national parks such as Yosemite – have attracted international tourists for decades. This combined with its role as a global business powerhouse meant it had 66.5 million visitors in 2023 – and the 2024 figure is expected to be higher still. But a lot has changed in recent months, and 2025’s figures may not be as strong. The 2024 reelection of Donald Trump as the president of the United States…

Apr

01

2025

By CHARLOTTE AL-KHALILI and MELISSA GATTER

Syria after Assad: why many Syrian refugees aren’t returning home

WORLD

WHEN news of Bashar al-Assad’s downfall broke on December 8 2024, 13 years after the beginning of the Syrian uprising, Syrians around the world rejoiced. We rejoiced along with them, having spent the last decade in conversation with Syrians displaced to the neighbouring countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where we research humanitarian aid in refugee camps and revolutionaries in exile. The days and weeks following Assad’s ousting were spent on the phone with the people we have gotten to know since their lives changed drastically in 2011 – hoping that 2025 would be the turning point in a very…

Mar

31

2025

By EDWARD KONING

Politicians’ attacks on immigrants lack solid evidence: New data set the record straight

WORLD

IMMIGRATION dominated recent election campaigns in countries that include the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States. The subject sparked particularly fierce debates over welfare. While some politicians called for more support for typically economically vulnerable immigrant populations, others argued that welfare systems are already too generous and accommodating to newcomers. Unfortunately, many debates on this subject lack solid evidence. A newly launched data set could change that. The data, which provides systematic information on immigrants’ access to social programs across different countries and different time periods, can help ground some of these discussions in empirical reality. The data…

Mar

31

2025

By ADAM SIMPSON

Thousands are feared dead in Myanmar’s quake. Trump’s USAID cuts will cause even more unnecessary deaths

WORLD

IN early 2021, after a decade of political and economic reforms, Myanmar looked like it was finally beginning to shake off the hangover of decades of military rule. Foreign investment was growing, and standards of living were gradually improving. In February of that year, however, the military again grabbed power after ousting Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in a coup. This sent the country spiralling towards civil war and social and economic collapse. In the latest addition to the daily misery of Myanmar’s long-suffering people, a huge 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the centre of the country on Friday. Its…

Mar

31

2025

By GRACE ERWIN, REWIRE NEWS GROUP

Hope Walz never planned for TikTok fame. Now her platform inspires change

WORLD

This story was originally published by Rewire News Group, a national, nonprofit media organization exclusively dedicated to reporting on reproductive and sexual health, rights and justice. HOPE Walz had no intention of becoming a social media sensation when she first whipped out her phone to shoot a video with her brother, Gus. A few months ago, the Walz siblings—children of former Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz—were headed back to their home state of Minnesota. Their father and his running mate, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, had just lost the 2024 presidential election. And Hope Walz wanted to post an update. From the…