WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

21

2026

Politics is shaken by a new wave of #MeToo reckonings

WORLD

A years-long, explosive investigation by The New York Times last month exposed allegations of sexual abuse by the late labor leader Cesar Chavez. Two members of Congress, one Democrat and one Republican, resigned this week after being accused of sexual misconduct. And Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing an internal investigation, including allegations of inappropriate behavior by her father and husband toward young women staff. This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. The #MeToo movement, founded in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, brought…

Apr

20

2026

By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

‘Lords of War’: How the Global South finally named its oppressors

WORLD

IT was the kind of language that foreign ministries the world over spend entire careers avoiding. But on Saturday, in the convention halls of Spain's second city, the presidents of Brazil and South Africa stripped away the diplomatic niceties and delivered, with striking directness, a verdict that billions across the Global South have long believed but rarely heard stated so plainly from the lips of world leaders: the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are not guardians of global peace — they are its chief destroyers. "The United Nations has now become a toothless organisation because those…

Apr

20

2026

By ADAM R. NORTH

Iran’s AI memes are reaching people who don’t follow the news – and winning the propaganda war

WORLD

A Lego-style Iranian military commander raps over a gangster beat: “Our inbox is flooded with Americans saying they don’t watch the news. They listen to our songs instead since your media is full of shit.” This is the opening line of an AI-generated video, which is part of Iran’s meme campaign – built around Lego-style animation and rap soundtracks, which have accumulated billions of views online. The line captures the strange reality of contemporary politics: news is often most effectively disseminated not through journalism but humour, memes, and entertainment. Since late February, pro-Iranian media groups – most notably, the X…

Apr

20

2026

By GRACE PANETTA

On Capitol Hill, survivors push for change as Congress confronts its own misconduct

WORLD

THEY came to lobby against online sexual abuse and found lawmakers wrestling with abuse within their own ranks. For four years running, policy experts and survivor advocates with RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence advocacy organization, have come to Capitol Hill for a day of lobbying. This year, their annual advocacy day came amid a reckoning over sexual misconduct in the halls of Congress. This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. As survivors gathered Monday evening at a hotel in downtown Washington for…

Apr

18

2026

By MARIKA SOSNOWSKI

Israel and Lebanon have a ceasefire, but global attention shouldn’t move on. This isn’t a tidy end to the war

WORLD

AFTER weeks of bombardments in southern Lebanon that have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than one million residents, Israel has announced a ten-day ceasefire with Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, vowed to keep Israeli troops in southern Lebanon to create a ten-kilometre “security zone”, raising immediate questions about whether the ceasefire would actually stop Israeli attacks against Hezbollah. After a previous ceasefire in late 2024 ended 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli troops continued to launch airstrikes and carry out targeted killings of Hezbollah fighters. People like to bound events such as…

Apr

18

2026

By JASMINE MITHANI

Domestic violence organizations turn away thousands each day. Julia was one of them

WORLD

CONTENT warning: This story references incidents of domestic violence. On January 18, 2025, Julia Gilbert kicked her fiancé out of their shared apartment. “When the apartment door shut, I remember knowing it was right,” she said. Gilbert, 32, said she had planned to end the relationship for some time. Worried her ex was lying to her, she had been recording their arguments at her therapist’s suggestion. A week after he left, she filed a petition for a harassment restraining order (HRO), which requires the respondent to limit communication and in-person contact. In Minnesota, where she lives, residents can fill out…

Apr

17

2026

By ALI MAMOUR

Iran has a powerful new tool in the Strait of Hormuz that it can leverage long after the war

WORLD

The Trump administration claims its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is working, with nine ships complying with orders to turn around. One of those was a Chinese-owned tanker called the Rich Starry that turned around in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday to head back through the strait. Iran, meanwhile, maintains it still has control over the strait and it will determine which ships transit through the crucial waterway. It also said if its ports are threatened, “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will remain safe”. No matter how the blockade plays out, Iran…

Apr

17

2026

By FLAVIO MACAU

Will oil prices ever truly go back to ‘normal’?

WORLD

THE fallout from the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has dominated global oil markets. And not just because the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about 20% of global oil and gas, remains effectively closed to shipping traffic. Deep uncertainty about how long the disruption will continue has added a persistent “risk premium” – an extra cost built into oil prices to account for the risk of disrupted supply. Rising insurance costs, reduced ship traffic, and longer transit routes avoiding the Middle East have all added further friction to global oil supply chains. An optimist might say…

Apr

16

2026

By The African Mirror

Middle East crisis deepens: UN warns of maternal despair in Lebanon, first aid reaches Iran amid Strait blockade

WORLD

ESCALATING violence in southern Lebanon and stalled Iran talks are unleashing a humanitarian catastrophe across the Middle East, with civilian deaths surging, mass displacement, and global trade choked—threatening food security and economic stability far beyond the frontlines—as UN agencies race to deliver aid under fire. In Lebanon, Israeli ground operations intensify as the UN Security Council convenes Tuesday and Israeli-Lebanese envoys meet for the first time in Washington. Lebanese authorities report at least 2,089 deaths since March 2, with Israel's military striking 150 Hezbollah positions in the past 24 hours alone, confirming one reservist killed and three injured. The bloodshed…

Apr

16

2026

By FARAH N. JAN

The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran‑US deal

WORLD

TWENTY-ONE hours of direct negotiations. The highest-level face-to-face engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And yet, U.S. Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad on the morning of April 12, 2026, with no deal to end the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, including an understanding over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The U.S. has since begun what it says is a blockade of any and all ships originating in Iranian ports and would interdict every vessel that has paid a toll to Iran. The collapse of the talks wasn’t the fault of bad faith…