WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

25

2023

By MARGARYTA CHORNOKONDRATENKO and YURII KOVALENKO

Ukraine’s new Christmas Day unites Catholic-Orthodox family

WORLD

Ukrainian couple Lesia Shestakova, a Catholic, and Oleksandr Shestakov, an Orthodox believer, will for the first time celebrate Christmas together on December 25. Ukraine, like Russia, officially observed Orthodox Christmas on January 7 according to the Julian calendar until Kyiv passed a law earlier this year shifting the date to December 25 in line with other Western European countries. It is part of a cultural shift that is erasing traces of Russian influence as Ukraine fends off Moscow's invasion launched nearly two years ago. Lesia, Oleksandr and two of their children used to celebrate Christmas twice: first with Lesia's parents…

Dec

24

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and EMILY ROSE

Fighting rages in northern Gaza after U.N. stops short of ceasefire call

WORLD

ISRAEL battled Hamas militants on Saturday in pursuit of its elusive interim goal of full control of northern Gaza after the U.N. Security Council appealed for more aid for the Palestinian enclave but stopped short of demanding a ceasefire. Thick smoke hung over the northern town of Jabalia - which is also home to Gaza's largest refugee camp - and residents reported persistent aerial bombardment and shelling from Israeli tanks, which they said had moved further into the town. Hamas' armed wing Al Qassam Brigades said it had destroyed five Israeli tanks in the area, killing and injuring their crews,…

Dec

24

2023

By BRAD BROOKS

Colorado paramedics found guilty in death of Elijah McClain

WORLD

TWO negligent homicide by a jury for their role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after police roughly detained him, put him in a choke hold, and the medics injected him with a powerful sedative. The trial of paramedics Jeremy Cooper, 49, and Peter Cichuniec, 51, was the last of three involving the death of McClain, 23, who was stopped by police after a bystander reported he looked suspicious. He was not alleged to have committed any crime. In addition to finding both men guilty of criminally negligent homicide - punishable by up…

Dec

24

2023

By MARK TREVELYAN

Yekaterina Duntsova barred from running against Putin in election

WORLD

FORMER TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova was disqualified from running against President Vladimir Putin in an election next March because of alleged flaws in her application to register as a candidate. Video from a meeting of the central electoral commission showed members voting unanimously to reject the candidacy of Duntsova, who had wanted to run on a platform to end the war in Ukraine and release political prisoners. Her disqualification was seized on by Putin's critics as proof that no one with genuine opposition views would be allowed to stand against him in the first presidential election since the start of…

Dec

23

2023

By JAN LOPATKA

Czechs mourn victims of university shooting as police patrol public areas

WORLD

CZECHS mourned the victims of the country's worst mass shooting as police tightened security around schools and other public buildings across the country after a student gunman killed 14 people at a Prague university building. At the Charles University headquarters, crowds that included Prime Minister Petr Fiala and U.S. Ambassador Bijan Sabet paid tribute to the victims. Some knelt to light candles and lay flowers while others stood crying and hugging each other. "We are here to show our support as fellow students," said Czech student Daniel Broz. "I was on the other side of the river and hearing gunshots,…

Dec

23

2023

By BASSAM MASSOUD and MAGGIE FICK

Gaza death toll: why counting the dead has become a daily struggle

WORLD

IN the morgue of the Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza, workers wrap the corpses of people killed in Israeli airstrikes in white cloth amid the stench of death. They record whatever basic facts they can about the dead: name, identity card number, age, and sex. Some of the bodies are badly mutilated. Only those that have been identified or claimed by relatives can go for burial and be included in the Gaza Health Ministry's death toll for the war. The rest are stored in the morgue's refrigerator, often for weeks. The toll reached 20,057 people on Friday, amid renewed international calls…

Dec

23

2023

By JOSEPH AX and STEVE GORMAN

Three Washington state police officers acquitted in killing of Black man

WORLD

THREE Tacoma, Washington, policemen were acquitted of homicide charges in the 2020 killing of Manuel Ellis, a Black man whose dying pleas for breath during a struggle with officers bore grim parallels to the murder of George Floyd weeks later. Officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins were found not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges, while a third officer, Timothy Rankine, was found not guilty of manslaughter following a trial that lasted more than two months. Ellis' family members and their supporters expressed anger at the outcome of the first such case brought against law enforcement officers under a new…

Dec

22

2023

By JAN LOPATKA and JASON HOVET

Gunman kills at least 15 people in Prague university shooting

WORLD

A gunman killed at least 15 people and wounded at least 24 others at a Prague university before he was "eliminated", according to police and Prague emergency services, marking the country's worst-ever mass shooting. Czech police responded to the shooting at Charles University's Faculty of Arts building in Jan Palach Square shortly after 3 p.m. (1400 GMT). Police said the father of the shooter - a student at the faculty - was found dead earlier on Thursday. "We always thought that this was a thing that did not concern us. Now it turns out that, unfortunately, our world is also…

Dec

22

2023

By ALESSANDRO DIVIGGIANO, XIAOYU YIN AND LIZ LEE

A dozen still missing after China’s earthquake, 137 dead

WORLD

A dozen people were still missing after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Gansu province late Monday, and netizens questioned the speed at which rescue operations had ended. Chinese media reported that search-and-rescue work in Gansu ended at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, about 15 hours after the disaster hit a remote and mountainous area near the border straddling Gansu and Qinghai provinces. It was not immediately clear whether the search in Qinghai was continuing. In Gansu, 115 people had been found dead as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday (0100 GMT) and 784 were injured, authorities said. Gansu has not…

Dec

22

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, BASSAM MASOUD and DAN WILLIAMS

Israel intensifies Gaza strikes, Hamas fires rockets amid truce talks

WORLD

FIGHTING in the Gaza Strip escalated with some of the most intense Israeli bombardment of the war and Hamas demonstrated its ability to rocket Tel Aviv, even as the foes engaged in the most serious talks for weeks on a new truce. Israeli bombing was at its most intense over northern Gaza, where orange flashes of explosions could be seen from across the fence in Israel in the morning. Later, Israeli planes roared over central and southern areas, dropping bombs that sent up plumes of smoke, residents said. In Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv, sirens wailed and rockets exploded overhead, intercepted…