WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

18

2023

Putin says Russia has no plan to attack NATO, dismisses Biden remark as ‘nonsense’

WORLD

KREMLIN chief Vladimir Putin dismissed as complete nonsense remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden that Russia would attack a NATO country if it won the war in Ukraine, adding that Russia had no interest in fighting the NATO military alliance. The war in Ukraine has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and Biden warned last year that a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia would trigger World War Three. In a plea to Republicans not to block further military aid earlier this month, Biden warned that if Putin was victorious over Ukraine…

Dec

18

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Will Cardinal Becciu serve time in prison after corruption conviction?

WORLD

NONE of the six people who received jail sentences at the end of the Vatican's big corruption trial will likely be spending time behind bars anytime soon and some perhaps not ever, according to legal and security experts. Several, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, and London-based Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, already have announced appeals. Others are expected to join them. All the defendants had denied wrongdoing. A new trial would likely not start before the end of next year and take at least another year to conclude. The…

Dec

17

2023

By MAAYAN LUBELL

Israeli hostages killed in Gaza were holding white flag, official says

WORLD

THREE Israeli hostages killed mistakenly in Gaza by Israeli forces had been holding up a white flag, a military official said, citing an initial inquiry into the incident that has shaken the country. A soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of metres from Israeli forces on Friday in Shejaiya, an area of intense combat in northern Gaza where Hamas militants operate in civilian attire and use deception tactics, the official said. "They're all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they're terrorists. They (the…

Dec

17

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Senior cardinal convicted in Vatican corruption trial

WORLD

CARDINAL Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, was convicted on Saturday of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail. The Italian prelate's lawyer, Fabio Viglione, told reporters in the courtroom he would appeal, saying his client was innocent. Becciu, who lives in the Vatican, was expected to remain free for the time being. In all, 10 defendants were accused of crimes including fraud, abuse of office and money laundering. All denied wrongdoing. It took Court President Giuseppe Pignatone 25 minutes to read all the verdicts and…

Dec

17

2023

By AHMED HAGAGY

For Kuwait’s new emir, Saudi ties are seen as key

WORLD

SHEIKH Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah was named Kuwait's new emir on Saturday after the death of his brother Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah aged 86. Sheikh Meshal, 83, spent much of his career helping build the Gulf state's security and defence apparatus before stepping into the public eye when he became crown prince three years ago. He was thrust further into the spotlight when he was handed most of the frail Emir Sheikh Nawaf's duties in November 2021. Sheikh Meshal became Kuwait's third emir in just over three years. Until 2020, the post had been held for 14 years by Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad, a…

Dec

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Missing boy found in France to return to Britain in next few days

WORLD

A teenager from Britain who resurfaced in southern France after disappearing six years ago is expected to return to northern England in the next few days, police said after the boy left a spiritualist mountain community in the Pyrenees. Alex Batty disappeared at the age of 11 during a holiday with his mother and grandfather in Malaga, Spain, in 2017 and both are still wanted in connection with his disappearance. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said they were working with French authorities to bring Batty back home and to his grandmother, who is his legal guardian, according to French prosecutors. "He's getting well…

Dec

16

2023

By MICHAEL HOLDEN and SAM TOBIN

Prince Harry was phone-hacking victim and editors knew, London court rules

WORLD

PRINCE Harry scored the biggest win yet in his legal war against British tabloids when London's High Court ruled he had been a victim of phone-hacking and other unlawful acts by Mirror Group journalists with the knowledge of their editors. King Charles' younger son, who became the first senior British royal for 130 years to give evidence in court when he appeared at a trial in June, was awarded 140,600 pounds (around $180,700) after the judge agreed he had been targeted by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). The judge's conclusion that the editors of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and…

Dec

16

2023

By The African Mirror

COP28 climate deal ‘stab in the back’, activist Greta Thunberg says

WORLD

THE COP 28 climate deal reached with huge fanfare this week in Dubai is a stab in the back for the nations most affected by global warming and won't stop temperatures rising beyond critical levels, activist Greta Thunberg said. Nearly 200 countries agreed at the summit to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuel and adopt a raft of measures, including more clean energy production, to avert the worst effects of climate change. But critics say the deal will not prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, which scientists say will trigger catastrophic and irreversible impacts, from…

Dec

15

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Gaza families beg for bread, eat donkey meat as aid deliveries falter

WORLD

PEOPLE in Gaza described begging for bread, paying 50 times more than usual for a single can of beans and slaughtering a donkey to feed a family as food aid trucks were unable to reach most parts of the bombarded Palestinian territory. Israel was pounding the length of the Gaza Strip in pursuit of its goal of destroying Hamas, the conflict making it almost impossible for aid convoys to move around and reach people going hungry. The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA said on Thursday that limited aid distributions were taking place in the Rafah area, close to the border with Egypt, where…

Dec

15

2023

By The African Mirror

Turkish MP dies after suffering heart attack in parliament

WORLD

AN opposition Turkish lawmaker died, two days after suffering a heart attack and collapsing in front of parliament as he finished a speech criticising the government's policy toward Israel. Hasan Bitmez, 54, a member of parliament from the opposition Felicity (Saadet) Party, died in Ankara City Hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters in televised remarks. A graduate of Cairo's Al Azhar University, Bitmez was the chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research and had previously worked for Islamic non-governmental organisations, his parliament biography shows. He was married and a father of one. Parliament's official broadcast showed Bitmez collapsing…