WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

10

2024

Asia’s strongest storm of 2024 leaves 100 dead

WORLD

AUTHORITIES and residents in northern Vietnam are dealing with the aftermath of Asia’s most powerful storm of the year, Typhoon Yagi, which has killed at least 60 people and injured some 300 more in the country, after claiming dozens of lives in China and the Philippines. The storm, which hit Vietnam on Saturday, caused widespread destruction, including the collapse of the Phong Chau bridge over the Red River in Phu Tho province. This left three dead and 13 missing as cars and scooters were sent crashing into the water. Dozens were also missing feared dead after a bus was swept away by a…

Sep

10

2024

By AMANDA BECKER

Harris and Trump will meet in person for the first time on the debate stage

WORLD

WHEN Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump face off Tuesday in their first and so far only scheduled presidential debate, watch for interruptions, raised hands and a flood of information — some of it wrong. Over the 90-minute debate, Harris is expected to lean into her background as California’s top prosecutor to highlight legal cases against Trump related to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; his 34 felony convictions related to a scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election; and credible allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Trump will likely continue attacking Harris for her work…

Sep

09

2024

By NADRA NITTLE

Young voters were crucial in 2020. They’re urging Kamala Harris not to take them for granted

WORLD

IN November, Adah Crandall plans to vote in her first presidential election. There’s no question which candidate she’s supporting: Vice President Kamala Harris. Crandall, an 18-year-old organizer with the Sunrise Movement, which is made up of young climate activists, said the choice is clear. “I would rather organize under Harris than under a man that … fundamentally doesn’t believe the climate crisis is real.” Former President Donald Trump has labelled climate change a “hoax,” and his administration rolled back climate protections, while Harris’ decisive vote for the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allowed the United States to make unprecedented environmental investments. As a…

Sep

07

2024

By The African Mirror

UNHCR rushes relief supplies to support Bangladesh’s flood-affected population

WORLD

IN solidarity with the people of Bangladesh, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has rushed humanitarian relief items from its refugee stockpiles to help people affected by the recent flash floods. The recent catastrophic and massive floods in Bangladesh have affected millions of people in 11 districts across the country, including those in Cox’s Bazar where nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live alongside their generous host communities. UNHCR is providing core relief items and other humanitarian support to help address the most immediate needs of the local communities in the region, including shelter and health. We have transported medicine and medical…

Sep

06

2024

By The African Mirror

Liz Cheney says she’ll vote for Kamala Harris

WORLD

FORMER GOP Republican Liz Cheney is voting for Kamala Harris. Cheney, an ex-Republican member of Congress from Wyoming and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, announced her backing of current Vice President Harris while speaking at Duke University on Wednesday. “As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, I’m voting for Kamala Harris,” Cheney said to applause from the audience. Cheney went from Trump supporter to critic to one of his top adversaries in her high-profile role investigating the January…

Sep

06

2024

By The African Mirror

Yemen: Needs grow for millions displaced amid catastrophic flooding and prolonged humanitarian emergency

WORLD

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is warning that millions of displaced Yemenis face worsening conditions as Yemen’s prolonged crisis deepens. This is according to the findings of the latest UNHCR assessment. UNHCR’s Internally Displaced Persons Protection Monitoring Update, issued this week, reveals a grim picture of the conditions affecting Yemen’s displaced and host communities. The data, collected from over 47,000 households in the first half of 2024, offers insights into the struggles of internally displaced people (IDPs), returnees and host community members. Among these households, a significant number reside in formal and informal IDP sites, reflecting the ongoing displacement crisis. Away from…

Sep

05

2024

By The African Mirror

UN demands release of staff held in Yemen as detention reaches three years

WORLD

THE United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a forceful demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN staff members who have been detained in Yemen, some for as long as three years. The call comes as the situation for humanitarian workers in the country grows increasingly precarious. According to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, a total of 17 UN personnel are currently being held by the Ansar Allah de facto authorities, also known as the Houthis. The detainees include staff from various UN agencies, with six UN Human…

Sep

05

2024

By The African Mirror

Thousands more Gaza children vaccinated against polio

WORLD

PAUSES in the fighting in Gaza held on enough for the UN-led mass vaccination against polio to be rolled out and thousands more children received their dose, in addition to the 87,000 who received their first round on Sunday, UN agencies said. “There were 87,000 vaccinated on the first day out of 156,000 that we are hoping to reach in the Middle Area,” said Louise Wateridge, Senior Communications Officer for UNWRA, the largest UN agency in the Gaza Strip. “It's very promising that already, we have heard interest from parents who have come from Khan Younis, who have come from…

Sep

05

2024

By ALI M. LATIFI

The world was moving closer to the Taliban, but a new law could endanger all that

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Ali M. Latifi MORE than three years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the international community is gradually pursuing a path towards greater dialogue with the Islamic Emirate government. Diplomatic and humanitarian sources cited a UN-led meeting in Qatar in July as a significant step forward. “It was an important opportunity to put conditions and expectations on the table for everybody,” one Western diplomat told The New Humanitarian of the three-day gathering. But hopes for greater engagement that might help to alleviate one of the world’s gravest humanitarian…

Sep

04

2024

By The African Mirror

How a Native elections official is breaking down voting barriers in Arizona

WORLD

GABRIELLA Cázares-Kelly knows the obstacles voters in remote and Indigenous communities face to participate in elections — and she’s tackling them her way. About a month before Arizona’s July primary, Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly and her older sister Elisa Cázares were driving around Three Points, a rural community between Tucson and where they grew up on the Tohono O’odham Nation, dropping off flyers for the recorder’s re-election campaign. Some 5,000 people live in Three Points, which leans conservative. The properties, an assortment of mobile homes and ranch-style houses, are separated by chain link fences, but their yards blend into…