WORLD - The African Mirror

Jan

24

2024

Hindus throng Ram temple in India’s Ayodhya as it opens to the public

WORLD

TENS of thousands of Hindus braved biting cold to pray at a new temple to Lord Ram in India's northern city of Ayodhya, a day after its inaugural by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site believed to be the god-king's birthplace. Hindu groups, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates have portrayed the opening as part of a Hindu renaissance after past centuries of subjugation by Muslim invaders and colonial powers. "I was adamant about this ... I will only leave after I have seen my Lord Ram," one of the visitors, Guddu Shukla, who queued at the…

Jan

23

2024

By STEVEN SCHEER

Gaza hostage relatives burst into Israeli parliament, calls for action mount

WORLD

A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem, demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones. The action by about 20 people signalled growing domestic dissent in the fourth month of the Gaza war against Hamas. One woman held up pictures of three family members who were among the 253 people seized in the cross-border Hamas rampage of October 7 that triggered the worst fighting in decades. Some 130 remain in captivity after others were brought home in a November truce. "Just one…

Jan

23

2024

By The African Mirror

Donald Trump back on trial, may testify in E. Jean Carroll case

WORLD

THE trial in writer E. Jean Carroll's latest civil case against Donald Trump resumes, with the prospect that the former U.S. president may for the first time testify in open court in the defamation case. A nine-person jury is hearing evidence to determine how much Trump should pay Carroll for defaming her in June 2019, when he denied raping her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan. Trump, 77, has consistently denied that anything happened, and accused Carroll, 80, of making up the incident to boost sales of her then-new memoir. A different jury last May…

Jan

23

2024

By The African Mirror

At least 12 dead in suspected attempt to rescue son of Mexican cartel hitman

WORLD

AT least 12 suspected criminals were killed on a highway near Hermosillo in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, a state official said, in what authorities called a foiled attempt to rescue the son of a cartel hitman. Another seven escaped and some are probably wounded, the Sonora's state attorney's office said in a statement. A spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that 12 had been killed. Two security officials were hospitalized after the crossfire but are now in stable condition, the statement added. The office said it suspected the group, armed with assault weapons, was attempting to rescue the son of…

Jan

22

2024

By The African Mirror

Russia says four survive charter jet crash in Afghanistan, condition of two others unclear

WORLD

RUSSIA'S aviation watchdog said that four people survived the crash of a charter plane bound for Moscow in northern Afghanistan, citing the Russian embassy there, and it said the condition of two other passengers on board was not yet clear. Two Taliban provincial officials said four survivors were now with Taliban administration officials who had reached the remote, mountainous site of the crash. They said that two other passengers had died. The Taliban administration's top spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the pilot of the plane was among four who had survived. "The investigative team of the Islamic Emirate continues their efforts…

Jan

22

2024

By The African Mirror

West stands to lose at least $288 bln in assets if Russian assets seized -RIA

WORLD

RUSSIA'S state RIA news agency said that it had calculated that the West stood to lose assets and investments worth at least $288 billion if it confiscated frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine and Moscow then retaliated. After President Vladimir Putin sent forces into Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West. U.S. and British officials have worked in recent months to jumpstart efforts to confiscate Russian assets immobilized in Belgium and other European cities to help reconstruction…

Jan

22

2024

By SAURABH SHARMA and YP RAJESH

Ayodhya: Religious spectacle to mark Modi’s opening of Ram temple

WORLD

A grand temple to Hindu god Lord Ram opens on a site in India millions believe is his birthplace, in a religious spectacle led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi months before he seeks a rare third term in elections. The construction of the temple is a 35-year-old, central promise of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a contentious political issue that helped catapult the party to prominence and power. Hindu groups are portraying the inauguration ceremony in the northern city of Ayodhya as the peak of Hindu awakening after centuries of subjugation by Muslim and colonial powers. It…

Jan

21

2024

By KANTARO KOMIYA and JOEY ROULETTE

Japan’s SLIM moon craft short on power after successful lunar landing

WORLD

JAPAN became the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon, but solar power issues threatened to cut short the nation’s mission to prove a "precision" landing technology and revitalise a space programme that has suffered setbacks. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on the moon's surface at around 12:20 a.m. (1520 GMT Friday), but its solar panels were not able to generate electricity, possibly because they are angled wrong. JAXA prioritised the transfer of SLIM's data to earth as the probe relied only on its battery, which would last for "a few…

Jan

21

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and FADI SHANA

Fighting across Gaza as Israel drops leaflets seeking its hostages

WORLD

ISRAEL pounded targets across the Gaza Strip while its planes dropped leaflets on the southern area of Rafah urging Palestinians seeking refuge there to help locate hostages held by Hamas, residents said. Palestinian fighters battled tanks trying to push back into the eastern suburbs of the Jabalia area in northern Gaza, where Israel had started pulling out troops and shifting to smaller-scale operations, residents and militants said. The Israeli military said aircraft struck militant squads trying to plant explosives near troops and fire missiles at tanks in northern Gaza and said it was striking targets throughout Gaza. In the southern area…

Jan

21

2024

By MINWOO PARK and JIMIN JUNG

North Korea teens get 12 years’ hard labour for watching K-pop – video

WORLD

VIDEO footage released by an organisation that works with North Korean defectors shows North Korean authorities publicly sentencing two teenagers to 12 years of hard labour for watching K-pop. The footage, which shows the two 16-year-olds in Pyongyang convicted of watching South Korean movies and music videos, was released by the South and North Development (SAND) Institute. Reuters was unable to independently verify the footage, which was first reported by the BBC. North Korea has for years imposed tough sentences on anyone caught enjoying South Korean entertainment or copying the way South Koreans speak in a war on outside influences…