WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

16

2024

Russia man sentenced to 14 years in prison for collaborating with Ukraine

WORLD

A Russian military court handed down a 14-year sentence to a man it found guilty of cooperating with a foreign state and "justifying terrorism," Russian media reported. Investigators initially accused Vladlen Menshikov, 29, of attempting to sabotage railway lines carrying military equipment near his hometown of Rezh, a small village near the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, the Vecherniye Vedomosti newspaper said. He was later charged with the two other counts and the attempted sabotage charge was dropped, the newspaper said, citing documents from the Yekaterinburg military court. It said Menshikov was suspected of receiving instructions from the Freedom of Russia Legion,…

Apr

15

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Iran’s attack on Israel stirs admiration among Gaza Palestinians

WORLD

IRAN'S attack on Israel drew applause from many Palestinians in Gaza as rare payback for the Israeli offensive on their enclave, although some said they suspected Tehran had staged the assault more for show than to inflict real damage. "For the first time, we saw some rockets that didn’t land in our areas. These rockets were going into the occupied Palestine,” said Abu Abdallah, referring to land that became Israel in 1948 rather than the occupied West Bank and Gaza. “We are hopeful that if Iran or any other country enters the war a solution for Gaza might be nearer than ever. The Americans may…

Apr

15

2024

By SCOTT MURDOCH and ALASDAIR PAL

Sydney knife attacker had mental health issues, ideology not motive, police say

WORLD

THE man who fatally stabbed six people in Sydney had mental health issues in the past and there is no indication ideology was a motive in the attack in one of the city's busiest shopping centres, police said. The attacker, identified by police as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, was known to police in the neighbouring state of Queensland, and police have spoken to his family after Saturday's attack, according to police from New South Wales and Queensland states. Cauchi's family recognised him and contacted police on Saturday after seeing news reports of the killings. "The family, when they viewed footage of…

Apr

15

2024

By JOSEPH AX

Trump repeats attack on ex-lawyer on eve of trial despite gag order

WORLD

DONALD Trump once again attacked his former lawyer Michael Cohen, potentially testing the limits of a gag order that bars him from making public statements about witnesses concerning their testimony in his upcoming criminal trial in New York. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the former president wrote, "Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING? Only TRUMP people get prosecuted by this Judge and these thugs!" Cohen is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution at the trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday and will be the first criminal trial ever of…

Apr

14

2024

By KIRSTY NEEDHAM and JILL GRALOW

Sydney knife attacker shot dead after killing 6 in Bondi mall

WORLD

AN attacker who fatally knifed six people in a Sydney mall was shot dead by police in the beachside suburb of Bondi, police said, as hundreds fled the scene. The assailant was shot by a police officer after he attacked shoppers in the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, a police statement said. Five of the six victims killed were women, while eight people, including a nine-month-old baby, were taken to hospital with stab wounds, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb told a press conference. Police at this stage do not believe the attack was terrorism-related, Webb said. Prime…

Apr

14

2024

By MOHAMMED TOROKMAN

Settlers incensed over teen’s slaying rampage in Palestinian towns

WORLD

ARMED Jewish settlers blocked roads, vandalised property and scuffled with Palestinians around towns and villages in the occupied West Bank, medics and witnesses said, after an Israeli teenager was killed in a suspected militant attack. Israeli authorities said they were beefing up security forces to tamp down the flare-up, worried about a possible spread of violence from the Gaza war now in its seventh month. The friction between settlers and Palestinians, at several locations between the city of Ramallah and northern Nablus, began on Friday after a 14-year-old Israeli went missing in the area. His body was discovered on Saturday,…

Apr

14

2024

By The African Mirror

Cable car accident kills one and prompts massive rescue effort in southern Turkey

WORLD

ONE person was killed and 10 others injured in the southern Turkish province of Antalya when a cable car cabin collided with a broken pole, prompting a massive operation that rescued a further 174 passengers, Turkish officials said. Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation and ordered the detention of 13 people in relation to the incident, including officials from the private company running the cable car, Justice Minister Tunc Yilmaz told reporters. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement on social media platform X, that 10 helicopters and more than 607 rescue workers were involved in rescue efforts that lasted…

Apr

13

2024

By The African Mirror

Russia, Germany, UK urge restraint as Iranian threat puts Middle East on edge

WORLD

RUSSIA, Germany and Britain urged countries in the Middle East to show restraint and Israel said it was preparing to "meet all its security needs" in a region on edge over an Iranian threat to strike Israel. The German airline Lufthansa, one of only two Western carriers flying to Tehran, extended a suspension of its flights to the Iranian capital and Russia warned against travel to the Middle East. Iran has vowed revenge for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus that killed a top Iranian general and six other Iranian military officers, ratcheting up tension in a region already…

Apr

13

2024

By The African Mirror

Final death toll of Italy hydroelectric plant blast rises to 7

WORLD

ITALIAN rescuers have found the bodies of the last two missing workers from an explosion at a hydroelectric plant near Bologna three days ago, a spokesperson for the fire brigade said, bringing the final death toll to seven. On Tuesday, a fire broke out on a transformer and the subsequent blast rocked the plant on the shores of the artificial Lake Suviana, owned by Enel Green Power, a unit of utility group Enel. The explosion has heightened concerns by trade unions about workplace safety in Italy, where over 1,000 people lost their lives while working last year, according to a…

Apr

13

2024

By HYUN YOUNG YI and DAEWOUNG KIM

Ten years after South Korean ferry disaster, mothers express their grief on stage

WORLD

FOR Lee Mi-Kyung, whose son was one of the 250 children who died in South Korea's Sewol ferry disaster 10 years ago, coping with the grief and anger has been incredibly hard. She works through her pain on stage. "I will no longer hide in darkness, nor be defeated by sorrow, nor cry in despair," Lee, 58, declares in a play in which seven mothers of children who died in the tragedy portray their journey of mourning. The play is one of five that Lee and other mothers have performed over the past eight years, each highlighting a different aspect…