WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

19

2024

Dubai faces massive clean up after deluge swamps glitzy desert city

WORLD

DUBAI, a city in the desert proud of its modern gloss, faced the towering task of clearing its water-clogged roads and drying out flooded homes two days after a record storm saw a year's rainfall in a day. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday's deluge. The rains were the heaviest experienced by the United Arab Emirates in the 75 years that records have been kept. They brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage. Flooding trapped residents in traffic,…

Apr

19

2024

By The African Mirror

Woman wheels corpse into Brazil bank to sign for loan

WORLD

A woman brought a 68-year-old man in a wheelchair into a bank branch and tried to get him to sign for a loan, but he had been dead for hours, Brazilian police said. Erika Vieira Nunes wheeled the cadaver into the bank in a Rio suburb on Tuesday and told the teller the man wanted a loan for 17,000 reais ($3,250), security camera video showed. She held a pen and moved his hand forward to no response. "Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign," she said, according to the security video, suggesting she sign for him. "He doesn't say…

Apr

18

2024

By DAWOUD ABU ALKAS and SALEH SALEM

After surviving airstrike Palestinian boy dies seeking aid

WORLD

WHEN an Israeli airstrike destroyed his family's home in November, Zein Oroq was pinned under rubble. He was wounded but survived, while 17 members of his extended family died. But Zein, 13, would later suffer a cruel fate in Gaza, where Palestinians face severe shortages of medicine, food and water in a deepening humanitarian crisis. The population of the tiny enclave, where Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas have been fighting for more than six months, is at risk of famine. Last week, during an airdrop of aid, the teenager was struck by one of the packages as he…

Apr

18

2024

By LUC COHEN

Trump’s ex-fixer Michael Cohen to be key witness in hush money criminal trial

WORLD

MICHAEL Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump, is now poised to serve as a star prosecution witness in the former U.S. president's criminal trial on charges of covering up hush money paid to a porn star. Cohen's role at the first criminal trial ever of a U.S. president, which began on Monday in New York state court in Manhattan, marks the culmination of his 15-year arc from being the businessman-turned-politician's lawyer and "fixer" to an outspoken antagonist. "I'm the guy who would take a bullet for the president," Cohen told Vanity Fair in 2017. The case stems from Cohen's…

Apr

18

2024

By KYAWSOE OO

Police arrest six, seek three others linked to Canada’s largest gold heist

WORLD

POLICE in Canada and the United States have arrested six people and are seeking three others in connection with the theft of over C$22 million ($16 million) in gold and cash from an Air Canada cargo facility last year. In what authorities described as the largest gold heist in Canadian history, suspects including an Air Canada employee forged an airway bill to steal the cargo that had arrived in Toronto from Zurich in April 2023. The cargo contained 6,600 gold bars weighing 400 kilograms (882 pounds), worth over C$20 million, and C$2.5 million in foreign currency, the Peel regional police…

Apr

17

2024

By JAMES MACKENZIE

Israeli war cabinet to meet for third time on response to Iran’s attack

WORLD

ISRAEL'S war cabinet was set to meet for the third time in three days, an official said, to decide on a response to Iran's first-ever direct attack, amid international pressure to avoid further escalating the conflicts in the Middle East. Military chief of staff Herzi Halevi had promised that Saturday night's launch of more than 300 missiles, cruise missiles and drones from Iran into Israeli territory "will be met with a response", but gave no details. While the attack caused no deaths and little damage, thanks to the air defences and countermeasures of Israel and its allies, it has increased concerns that violence…

Apr

17

2024

By LUC COHEN, JACK QUEEN and ANDY SULLIVAN

Trump’s criminal hush money trial has its first six jurors

WORLD

THE first six jurors were selected to serve on Donald Trump's hush-money criminal trial, as the selection process continues to choose a panel of 12 members and six alternates who can be fair to the former U.S. president. The judge also warned lawyers that he would not tolerate disruptions after saying Trump, the Republican candidate for president in the November 5 election, was audibly muttering while a prospective juror was questioned. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Daniels says she had a…

Apr

17

2024

By LEWIS JACKSON

Stabbed Sydney bishop is a TikTok star beloved by his community

WORLD

BISHOP Mar Mari Emmanuel who was stabbed during a church service live streamed from Sydney is a social media star with followers around the world, but the bearded clergyman is also a divisive preacher. Dressed in dark robes, clutching a large cross and sporting a bushy grey beard under a black cowl, Emmanuel's sermons from the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church range from homilies on the Bible to fiery criticisms of homosexuality, COVID vaccinations, Islam and U.S. President Joe Biden's election. The 53-year-old bishop, who has a popular youth following on TikTok and was awarded by YouTube in 2023…

Apr

16

2024

By JEFF MASON, AHMED RASHEED and SAMIA NAKHOUL

Iran says it gave warning before attacking Israel. US says that’s not true

WORLD

TURKISH, Jordanian and Iraqi officials said that Iran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but U.S. officials said Tehran did not warn Washington and that it was aiming to cause significant damage. Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Saturday in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria. Most of the drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory, though a young girl was critically injured and there were widespread concerns of further escalation. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran gave neighbouring…

Apr

16

2024

By LUC COHEN and JACK QUEEN

Trump faces criminal trial, a historic first for a former president

WORLD

DONALD Trump became the first former U.S. president to stand criminal trial when he appeared in a Manhattan court to face charges stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star that could complicate his bid to win back the White House. Wearing his signature blue suit and red tie, Trump, 77, sat expressionless at the defence table with his attorneys while photographers snapped his picture. Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, entered about half an hour later. Trump is required to attend the trial, which is expected to last through May. The selection of 12 jurors and six…