WORLD - The African Mirror

May

02

2024

US surgeon in Gaza: nothing prepared me for scale of injuries

WORLD

A U.S. vascular surgeon who left Gaza after a stint as a volunteer said nothing had prepared him for the scale of injuries he had faced there. Dozens of patients a day. Most of them young. Most face complicated injuries caused by shrapnel. Most end up with amputations. "Vascular surgery is really a disease for older patients and I would say I had never operated on anybody less than 16, and that was the majority of patients that we did this time around," Shariq Sayeed, from Atlanta, Georgia, told Reuters in Cairo. "Most were patients 13, 14, 15, 16 and…

May

02

2024

By JACK QUEEN, JODY GODOY and ANDY SULLIVAN

Judge fines Trump $9,000, threatens jail for contempt in hush money trial

WORLD

THE judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order. In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty. "Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory…

May

02

2024

By The African Mirror

UK police officer charged with showing support for Hamas

WORLD

A British police officer has been charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly publishing an image in support of Hamas, a group banned in Britain as a terrorist organisation, police said. Mohammed Adil, 26, from Bradford in northern England, was arrested last November and charged following an investigation by British counter-terrorism officers, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement. The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said the inquiries had focused on messages shared on WhatsApp which had concluded the case should be referred to prosecutors. "On Monday, PC Mohammed Adil, 26, was charged with…

May

01

2024

By MOHAMED SOULAIMANE

‘If we survive’: Palestinians in Rafah on fears of an imminent Israeli invasion

WORLD

FOLLOWING months of threats, an Israeli ground invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah appears imminent. The city – the only major population centre in the Gaza Strip yet to face a full-scale Israeli assault – is currently housing around 65% of the enclave’s population. “We live in constant fear, day and night, of what our fate will be if this invasion occurs,” Maisaa Abu Samaan, a 35-year-old mother of six, told The New Humanitarian in a recent interview. Abu Samaan is one of around 1.5 million Palestinians living in Rafah after being displaced from their homes by Israel’s…

May

01

2024

By The African Mirror

Teenage boy killed in London sword attack

WORLD

A 14-year-old boy was killed and four other people were injured after a stabbing in London involving a man with a sword. Police said they did not believe the incident was terrorism-related. Police tasered and arrested a 36-year-old man after the incident near Hainault in east London. Video footage showed a man dressed in yellow wielding what appeared to be a sword. "It is with great sadness that I confirm one of those injured, a 14-year-old boy, has died. He was taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died shortly afterwards," London's Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell said.…

May

01

2024

By JACK QUEEN, JODY GODOY and ANDY SULLIVAN

Judge fines Trump $9,000 for contempt in hush money trial, threatens jail

WORLD

THE judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order. In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty. "Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceration…

Apr

30

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Israel kills at least 30 Palestinians in Rafah, new Gaza ceasefire talks expected in Cairo

WORLD

Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed at least 25 Palestinians and wounded many others, medics said on Monday, as leaders of Hamas arrived in Cairo for a new round of talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. In Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least four people and wounding several people, health officials said. The strike on the other house killed two brothers, they added. The strikes on Rafah, where more than one million people have sought refuge from months of Israeli bombardment, took…

Apr

30

2024

By The African Mirror

Moscow may seize private US assets in Russia if US seizes frozen reserves, says Putin ally

WORLD

RUSSIA may respond to any U.S. confiscation of its currency reserves frozen in the West by seizing the assets, including property and cash, of U.S. citizens and investors in Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, a senior security official, said. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the Biden administration to confiscate Russian assets held in American banks and transfer them to Ukraine, something the Kremlin has said would be illegal and trigger retaliation. In response to Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry and blocked about $300 billion…

Apr

30

2024

By ROHULLAH TALAAS and OROOJ HAKIMI

Afghan women become YouTubers as Taliban restrict work

WORLD

HER living room is a far cry from the bustling, brightly lit film sets she once loved, but Setaish Hayat says making YouTube videos at home is the next best thing in Afghanistan where Taliban edicts have increasingly confined women indoors. Hayat, 21, was a budding actor in local film and television until the Taliban seized power in 2021 and began issuing decrees on women that included banning TV dramas with female actors and ordering women to wear strict hijab while presenting the news. Now Hayat creates about 30 videos a month - on topics from cooking, fashion and make-up,…

Apr

29

2024

By The African Mirror

Abbas says only US can halt Israel’s attack on Rafah, expected in days

WORLD

PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas said that only the United States could stop Israel attacking the border city of Rafah in Gaza, adding that the assault, which he expects within days, could force much of the Palestinian population to flee the enclave. "We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack. America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime," Abbas told a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Israel, which has threatened for weeks to launch an all-out assault on the neighbourhood saying…