WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

By RICHARD COWAN, MOIRA WARBURTON and PATRICIA ZENGERLE

US House passes $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package, sends to Senate

THE U.S. House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from Republican hardliners. The legislation now proceeds to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. U.S. leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell had been urging embattled Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote. The Senate is expected to pass the measure next week, sending it to Biden to sign into law. The bills provide $60.84 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including…

Apr

2024

By TORA AGARWALA, SUNIL KATARIA and JOSEPH CAMPBELL

India’s strife-torn Manipur overcomes fear of violence to vote in big numbers

WORLD

RESIDENTS of India's violence-torn northeastern state of Manipur turned out in large numbers to vote on Friday, despite the shadow of ethnic clashes that killed at least 220 people in the last year hanging over the national election. The state has been roiled by fighting between the majority Meitei and tribal Kuki-Zo people since May and continues to be divided into two enclaves - a valley controlled by Meiteis and Kuki-dominated hills, separated by a stretch of "no man's land" monitored by federal paramilitary forces. There were scattered incidents of violence on Friday in the state, despite heavy security. At least…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Reaction to Israel’s military response to Iran’s attack on Israel

WORLD

ISRAEL carried out an attack on Iranian territory, sources said, days after Iran struck Israel with a barrage of drones and missiles. Here are reactions to the Israeli military response, from official statements and postings on social media: UN SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES: "It is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East. The Secretary-General condemns any act of retaliation and appeals to the international community to work together to prevent any further development that could lead to devastating consequences for the entire region and beyond." EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN: "It is absolutely necessary…

Apr

2024

By KRISHN KAUSHIK, PRAVEEN PARAMASIVAM and YP RAJESH

Indians vote in huge election dominated by jobs, Hindu pride and Modi

WORLD

THE first of India's almost one billion voters cast ballots in the country's multi-day election, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a rare third term on the back of issues such as growth, welfare and Hindu nationalism. The vote pits Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against an alliance of two dozen opposition parties that promise greater affirmative action and more handouts while stressing what they call the need to save democratic institutions. Nearly 970 million people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase exercise, the world's largest election, which runs through the peak of summer until June 1, with results set for June 4. Election Commission…

Apr

2024

By JACK QUEEN and LUC COHEN

Lawyers select 12 jurors to serve in Trump hush-money case

WORLD

LAWYERS in Donald Trump's historic criminal trial selected 12 jurors who will assess his guilt or innocence over the coming weeks in a case stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star. Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution still must select alternate jurors for the trial, the first ever in which a former U.S. president is the defendant. Opening statements could take place on Monday, said Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the trial. Earlier in the day, Merchan dismissed a juror who said she felt intimidated that some personal information was made public. The judge also excused…

Apr

2024

By JAMES MACKENZIE and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Israel will defend itself, Netanyahu says, as West calls for restraint

WORLD

ISRAEL will make its own decisions about how to defend itself, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, as Western countries pleaded for restraint in responding to a volley of attacks from Iran. The United States, European Union and G7 group of industrialised nations all announced plans to consider tighter sanctions on Iran, seen as aimed at mollifying Israel and persuading it to rein in its retaliation for the first ever direct Iranian strikes after decades of confrontation by proxy. Iran attacked in retaliation for a suspected Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1. Israel and its allies mostly shot…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

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

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

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

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…