WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

21

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, BASSAM MASOUD and DAN WILLIAMS

Hamas leader visits Egypt amid intensive talks on new ceasefire

WORLD

THE leader of Hamas made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who normally resides in Qatar, typically intervenes in diplomacy publicly only when progress seems likely. He last travelled to Egypt in early November before the announcement of the only agreement on a ceasefire in the war so far, a week-long pause during which more than 100 hostages were released. Islamic Jihad, a…

Dec

21

2023

By SUBAN ABDULLA and NATALIE THOMAS

Love or country: UK families caught up in Sunak’s plan to cut migration

WORLD

IN early December Rebecca Kaya was celebrating after she and her Kurdish husband Baran finally hit their savings goal to qualify for a British visa so the couple could move from Icmeler in Turkey to Britain. A few days later Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hiked the amount a British person must earn to sponsor a foreign partner to move to Britain - raising their fears that the savings threshold will also jump and their nest egg will not be enough. The new policy came days after official data put legal net migration to Britain at a record high of 745,000…

Dec

21

2023

By ANDREW GOUDSWARD and JACK QUEEN

Trump barred from Colorado primary ballot for role in US Capitol attack

WORLD

FORMER President Donald Trump is disqualified from serving as U.S. president and cannot appear on the primary ballot in Colorado because of his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, the state's top court ruled Tuesday. The historic 4-3 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, likely to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court, makes Trump the first presidential candidate deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used constitutional provision that bars officials who have engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding office. The ruling applies only to Colorado's March 5 Republican…

Dec

21

2023

By CHARLOTTE BRUNEAU

Ukraine’s citizen army struggles with a hidden enemy: combat stress

WORLD

PSYCHOTHERAPIST Oleh Hukovskyi stands beside a whiteboard in a makeshift classroom in eastern Ukraine and addresses a group of soldiers attending a session on how to cope with the stress of war. The former psychiatrist joined the armed forces about six months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, and now runs a psychological support group attached to the 67th Separate Mechanised Brigade in the direction of the ruined town of Lyman. The classes cover basic psychological theory and coping techniques including breathing exercises. While the dozen soldiers attending are responsive to questions and suggestions, Hukovskyi is aware…

Dec

20

2023

By LIZ LEE, QIAOYI LI and RYAN WOO

Homes collapse as earthquake kills more than 100 in China’s rural Gansu

WORLD

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck one of China's poorest regions just before midnight, killing at least 127 people, injuring hundreds and bringing down mud houses in remote villages that never stood a chance. Chinese state media arriving at the sixth commune of Dahe village, one of the worst-hit areas in China's northwestern Gansu province, found many houses were either at risk of collapse or had already crumbled to the ground, especially homes built from earth and clay. "I've lived for more than 80 years and had never seen such a big earthquake," said an old man who was being carried out…

Dec

20

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and BASSAM MASOUD

Israel keeps pounding Gaza, Houthis vow more Red Sea attacks

WORLD

ISRAEL kept pounding the shattered Gaza Strip while Yemen's pro-Palestinian Houthi movement vowed to defy a U.S.-led naval mission and keep hitting Israeli targets in the Red Sea. Israel's campaign to eradicate Hamas militants behind an October 7 massacre has left the coastal enclave in ruins, brought widespread hunger and homelessness, and killed nearly 20,000 Gazans, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry. Under foreign pressure to avoid killing innocents, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will not stop until the remaining 129 hostages are freed and Hamas is obliterated after its fighters slay 1,200 Israelis. The conflict has spread beyond Hamas-ruled…

Dec

19

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Vatican approves blessings for same-sex couples in landmark ruling

WORLD

THE Vatican said in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies. A document from the Vatican's doctrinal office, which effectively reversed a declaration the same body had issued in 2021, said such blessings would not legitimise irregular situations but be a sign that God welcomes all. It should in no way be confused with the sacrament of heterosexual marriage, it added. It said priests should decide on a case-by-case basis and "should not prevent or prohibit the…

Dec

19

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, BASSAM MASOUD and JAMES MACKENZIE

U.S. defence chief urges Israel to do more to protect Gaza civilians

WORLD

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that Washington's support for Israel was "unshakable" but he urged its ally to do more to protect civilians as its war against Hamas brought yet more death and destruction to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Lloyd, speaking during a visit to Israel, said Hamas was a "fanatical terrorist group" which should never again be able to make attacks on Israel from Gaza. His visit came amid growing concern from foreign governments and international organisations over the death toll among civilians in Gaza from Israeli bombardments as well as rising hunger and destitution. The Gaza…

Dec

19

2023

By SOO-HYANG CHOI and KANTARO KOMIYA

North Korea fires ICBM after condemning US ‘war’ moves

WORLD

NORTH Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that has a range to hit anywhere in the United States, said South Korea and Japan, marking its second launch in hours as Pyongyang condemned a U.S.-led show of force as "war" moves. The missile has the potential to travel more than 15,000 km (9,300 miles), meaning it can reach anywhere in Japan and the mainland United States, Japan's Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defence Shingo Miyake said. The U.N. Security Council is due to meet on Tuesday at the request of the U.S. and other states to discuss the launch. South Korea's National…

Dec

18

2023

By The African Mirror

British man accused of swindling nearly $100 million in wine fraud case pleads not guilty

WORLD

A British man accused of allegedly defrauding investors of nearly $100 million through a Ponzi-like scheme involving nonexistent luxury wines pleaded not guilty in a U.S. court on Saturday. Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited to New York from Morocco on Friday to face the charges after he was arrested in 2022 after entering that country using a fake Zimbabwean passport, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said that Burton, along with a co-defender, ran Bordeaux Cellars, a company they said brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors. Burton pleaded not guilty to the indictment which was filed in 2022 and was…