WORLD - The African Mirror

May

06

2024

Trump vows to fight ‘anti-white feeling’ in the United States. His allies have a plan

WORLD

DONALD Trump's pledge to fight what he calls "anti-white feeling" in the U.S. will likely embolden allies who seek to dismantle government and corporate programs created to battle racism and boost diversity in American life. Some high-profile supporters of the former president, now the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, say policies for safeguarding people of color in classrooms, workplaces and charities should be repurposed to protect the rights of white people as well. "I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country," Trump told Time in an interview published on Tuesday. "I don't think it would be a very…

May

05

2024

By The African Mirror

Rains in southern Brazil kill at least 39, some 70 still missing

WORLD

HEAVY rains battering Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 39 people, local authorities said, and the death toll is expected to rise as dozens still have not been accounted for. Rio Grande do Sul's civil defence authority said 68 people were still missing and at least 24,000 had been displaced as the storms affected more than half of the 497 cities in the state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina. "These numbers can still materially change over the following days as we gain access to more regions", Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told reporters. In…

May

05

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and AHMED MOHAMED HASSAN

Hamas negotiators arrive in Cairo for Gaza truce talks

WORLD

HAMAS negotiators began intensified talks on a possible Gaza truce that would see a halt to the fighting and the return to Israel of some hostages, a Hamas official told Reuters, with the CIA director already present in Cairo for the indirect diplomacy. The Hamas delegation arrived from the Palestinian Islamist movement's political office in Qatar, which, along with Egypt, has tried to mediate a follow-up to a brief November ceasefire amid mounting international dismay over the soaring death toll in Gaza and the plight of its 2.3 million inhabitants. Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and advisor to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh,…

May

05

2024

By JACK QUEEN, BRENDAN PIERSON and ANDY SULLIVAN

Former Trump aide Hope Hicks testifies he told her to deny Stormy Daniels affair

WORLD

HOPE Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified that he told her in the final days of the 2016 presidential election to deny that he had a sexual relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels. Hicks' testimony gave jurors an inside look at the campaign's damage-control efforts when Trump faced multiple accusations of unflattering sexual behaviour in the waning weeks of his successful White House campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment made at that time to Daniels, who was threatening to go public with her story of their 2006 sexual…

May

04

2024

By JACK QUEEN, BRENDAN PIERSON and ANDY SULLIVAN

Former Trump aide Hope Hicks testifies that she did not expect presidential bid

WORLD

HOPE Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, told jurors at his criminal trial that she was surprised when he decided to run for president in 2015. Called to testify on the trial's 11th day, Hicks was expected to face questions about efforts during that 2016 presidential campaign to bury stories about his alleged sexual misbehaviour. Hicks is the first person who worked directly for Trump to testify in the first trial of a former U.S. president. Jurors have already heard accounts from outsiders about a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty to…

May

04

2024

By The African Mirror

Dozens arrested after London protest blocking removal of asylum seekers

WORLD

BRITISH police arrested 45 people during a protest in London against the transfer of asylum seekers staying in a hotel to a barge off southern England. Dozens of protesters outside the hotel in Peckham, southeast London, attempted to stop a bus carrying the asylum seekers from leaving, reportedly deflating its tyres and obstructing the vehicle by surrounding it, London's Metropolitan Police said. Tackling illegal migration is one of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's top priorities, and in order to bring down the high costs of accommodating migrants in hotels while their asylum claims are processed, the government has been trying…

May

04

2024

By The African Mirror

Rains in southern Brazil kill at least 31, more than 70 still missing

WORLD

HEAVY rains battering Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 31 people, local authorities said, and the death toll is expected to rise as dozens still have not been accounted for. More than 70 people were still missing and at least 17,000 were displaced in the state bordering Uruguay and Argentina, which had nearly half of its 497 cities affected, according to Rio Grande do Sul's civil defence. In several towns, streets essentially turned into rivers, with roads and bridges destroyed. The storm also triggered landslides and the partial collapse of a dam structure at a small…

May

03

2024

By Manfred Zwecker

Rebuilding bombed Gaza homes may take 80 years, UN says

WORLD

REBUILDING homes in the Gaza Strip could drag into the next century if the pace follows the trend of previous conflicts, according to a U.N. report released. Nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment have caused billions of dollars in damage, leaving many of the crowded strip's high-rise concrete buildings reduced to heaps, with a U.N. official referring to a "moonscape" of destruction. Palestinian data shows that around 80,000 homes have been destroyed in a conflict triggered by Hamas fighters' deadly attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israeli strikes have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The assessment, released by the U.N. Development…

May

03

2024

By JAMES OLIPHANT and GRAM SLATTERY

Trump’s second-term agenda: deportations, trade wars, NATO rethink

WORLD

DONALD Trump plans to deport millions of migrants, reshape global trade with pricey tariffs and fill the government with loyalists if he wins a second White House term in the November presidential election. Here is a look at some of the policies Trump has pledged to institute: TRADE Trump, a Republican, has floated the idea of a 10% or more tariff on all goods imported into the United States, a move he says would eliminate the trade deficit, but critics say would lead to higher prices for American consumers and global economic instability. He has also said he should have the…

May

03

2024

By MANOJ KUMAR and AFTAB AHMED

Low turnout, apathy in India election a worry for Modi’s campaign

WORLD

A lower turnout so far in India’s long general election has rattled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign managers, raising into question whether his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies can achieve the landslide victory predicted by opinion polls just one month ago. The lack of momentum has been partly blamed on apathy among party workers believing victory is assured and seems to have prompted Modi to change tack in his campaign speeches to try to fire up the Hindu majority, the party’s support base, and get them out to voting stations, political analysts said. The last major opinion poll had predicted that the…