WORLD - The African Mirror

Feb

15

2024

Russia warns the West: we will be very tough if you ‘steal’ our assets

WORLD

RUSSIA warned the West that Moscow would be very tough if the United States and European Union seized hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian assets. After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West. The EU on Monday adopted a law to set aside windfall profits made on frozen Russian central bank assets, it said on Monday, in a first concrete step towards the bloc's aim of using the money to finance the reconstruction of…

Feb

15

2024

By RAMI AMICHAY

Israeli hostage families fly to The Hague to press ICC to investigate Hamas

WORLD

FAMILIES of Israelis held hostage by Hamas since October 7 urged the International Criminal Court to ensure justice for their loved ones and to help bring them home. "Today is Valentine's day and Ohad, the love of my life, is still being held hostage," freed hostage Raz Ben Ami, whose husband Ohad remains captive in Gaza, said after travelling to The Hague, where the ICC is based. "My love, I hope you can hear me, I am still waiting for you," she said near the ICC's headquarters. Standing in the rain, families and activists waved Israeli flags and chanted "Bring…

Feb

15

2024

By The African Mirror

Spanish police defuse hostage crisis among drug boat crew, arrest all

WORLD

SPANISH police arrested a group of suspected cocaine traffickers on a boat from South America in the middle of the Atlantic after one of them shot dead a fellow smuggler and took the rest hostage, the interior ministry said. It said the case occurred in November but was kept under judicial secrecy until an investigation was completed. In an apparent falling-out among the boat's crew, a Serbian national seized control of the vessel Sea Paradise shot one of the other smugglers, threw his body overboard and took the eight other crew members hostage, a ministry statement said. Tipped off about…

Feb

14

2024

By JOHN KRUZEL and ANDREW CHUNG

Trump asks US Supreme Court to intervene in his immunity bid

WORLD

DONALD Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put on hold a judicial decision rejecting his claim that he is immune from being prosecuted for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, arguing that without such a shield "the presidency as we know it will cease to exist." Trump, seeking to regain the presidency in the November 5 U.S. election, asked the justices to pause a February 6 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting his claim of immunity from prosecution. Trump's lawyers in a brief to the Supreme Court warned that "conducting a…

Feb

13

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and EMILY ROSE

Israel frees two hostages, Gaza officials say airstrikes kill 67

WORLD

ISRAEL freed two Israeli-Argentinian hostages in Rafah under the cover of airstrikes which local health officials said killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens in the southern Gaza City is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians. A joint operation by the Israeli military, the domestic Shin Bet security service and the Special Police Unit in Rafah freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, the military said. They were among 250 people seized during the Oct. 7 raid by Hamas militants that triggered Israel's war on Gaza. More than four months on, much of the densely-populated strip of…

Feb

13

2024

By RUPAM JAIN

Indian state’s polygamy ban divides some Muslim women

WORLD

SHAYARA Bano heaved a sigh of relief at the enactment of a law banning polygamy in her small Indian state, the culmination of a years-long effort including her own case before the nation's Supreme Court. "I can now say that my battle against age-old Islamic rules on marriage and divorce has been won," said Bano, a Muslim woman whose husband chose to have two wives and divorced her by uttering "talaq" three times. "Islam's allowance for men to have two or more wives at the same time had to end," she told Reuters. But Sadaf Jafar did not cheer the new law,…

Feb

13

2024

By YURII KOVALENKO and STEFANIIA BERN

Ukrainian family hopes for father’s return from Russian captivity

WORLD

EVERY Sunday in Kyiv, two-year-old Tymofii carries a picture of his father at rallies organised by activists and family members to remind citizens of the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers being held as prisoners of war by Russia. Tymofii was not yet one when he last saw his father Denys Chumak, who was captured while fighting in the besieged southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in May 2022. "I am not alone," said his mother and Denys' wife Alisa, referring to the crowd of about 100 people. "On the one hand, this makes it easier but on the other, it's more…

Feb

12

2024

By The African Mirror

Trump’s NATO comments draw scorn, White House calls them ‘unhinged’

WORLD

TOP Western officials criticized former president Donald Trump after he suggested the U.S. might not protect NATO allies who aren't spending enough on defence from a potential Russian invasion. "Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk", said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a written statement. "Any attack on NATO will be met with a united and forceful response," he added, reacting to remarks on Saturday by Trump, who is likely to be the Republican nominee in this year's U.S. presidential election. Polish Defence…

Feb

12

2024

By CHARLOTTE GREENFIELD and ARIBA SHAHID

Pakistan’s Khan-backed independents lead in final poll count

WORLD

THE final results of Pakistan's national election put independents, backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, in the lead with 93 of 264 seats. The party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was second with 75 seats after Thursday's vote, lacking a clear majority but it was the largest single party in parliament as Khan's independents ran as individuals. As coalition talks were held and protesters blocked roads in the north of the country, it was not clear who would form a government. The final tally of votes was published by the election commission more than 60 hours…

Feb

10

2024

By GIBRAN NAIYYAR PESHIMAM, ASIF SHAHZAD and ARIBA SHAHID

Pakistan ex-PMs and bitter rivals Sharif and Khan both claim poll win

WORLD

FORMER Pakistani prime ministers and bitter rivals Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan both declared victory in elections marred by delayed results and militant attacks, throwing the country into further political turmoil. Sharif's party won the most seats by a single party in Thursday's election, but supporters of imprisoned Khan, who ran as independents instead of as a single bloc after his party was barred from the polls, won the most seats overall. Sharif said his party would talk to other groups to form a coalition government as it had failed to win a clear majority on its own. Sharif's announcement…