WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

01

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, MOHAMMAD SALEM and HUMEYRA PAMUK

Hamas hands over two female hostages, others expected after truce extended

WORLD

HAMAS handed two female hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza City's central Palestine Square and further hostages are expected to be released later in the evening following a last-minute deal struck with Israel to extend a truce. Israel identified the freed hostages as 21-year-old Mia Schem, who was seized at a dance party along with many of the other hostages abducted into Gaza and 40-year-old Amit Soussana. Schem also holds French nationality. Footage aired on Aljazeera showed the women being taken out of a white vehicle surrounded by armed Hamas militants in Gaza City and met by Red Cross officials, amid…

Dec

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Henry Kissinger, dominant U.S. diplomat of Cold War era, dies aged 100

WORLD

HENRY Kissinger, the dominant U.S. diplomat of the Cold War era who helped Washington open up to China, forge arms control deals with the Soviet Union and end the Vietnam War but who was reviled by critics over human rights, has died at the age of 100. Kissinger, a German-born Jewish refugee whose career took him from academia to diplomacy and who remained an active voice in foreign policy into his later years, died at his home in Connecticut on Wednesday, his geopolitical consulting firm, Kissinger Associates Inc., said. Kissinger was at the height of his powers during the 1970s…

Dec

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Singapore and Zurich world’s most expensive cities

WORLD

SINGAPORE and Zurich tied for the world's most expensive city this year, followed by Geneva, New York and Hong Kong, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said as it cautioned that the global cost-of-living crisis was not yet over. On average, prices have risen by 7.4% year on year in local currency terms for over 200 commonly used goods and services, a drop from the record 8.1% increase last year but still "significantly higher than the trend in 2017-2021," it said in a report. Singapore regained the top of the rankings for the ninth time in the past eleven years due…

Nov

30

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, MOHAMMED SALEM and EMILY ROSE

Islamic Jihad says it frees some hostages as truce talks proceed

WORLD

THE Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said that it had handed over several civilian hostages as part of an exchange deal with Israel, on the final day of a two-day extension of a truce in the Gaza war. The release was overshadowed by an unconfirmed claim by Hamas, the largest militant group in Gaza, that a family of Israeli hostages, including the youngest hostage, baby Kfir Bibas, had been killed during earlier Israeli bombardment. Israeli officials said they were checking the Hamas report about the Bibas family, a very sensitive issue in Israel where the family is among the most high-profile…

Nov

30

2023

By The African Mirror

EU court says public employees may be barred from wearing head scarf

WORLD

THE top European Union court ruled that public authorities in member states can prohibit employees from wearing signs of religious belief, such as an Islamic head scarf, in the latest decision on an issue that has divided Europe for years. The case came to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) after an employee of the eastern Belgian municipality of Ans was told she could not wear an Islamic head scarf at work. The municipality subsequently changed its terms of employment to require its employees to observe strict neutrality by not wearing overt signs of religious or ideological…

Nov

30

2023

By MUSHTAQ ALI

Pakistani father, three relatives held for ‘honour killing’

WORLD

PAKISTANI police have arrested four people, including a man who killed his teenage daughter on instructions from family elders because she had appeared in a picture on social media, police said. The police said the 18-year-old woman was shot dead by her father last week in the northwestern Kolai-Palas valley near the Afghan border after her relatives advised him to do so. The relatives also called for a so-called honour killing of the woman's friend who appeared with her in the picture, but she had been rescued by the police, officials said. The father, Arslan Mohsin, and three relatives have…

Nov

29

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, MOHAMMED SALEM and JAMES MACKENZIE

Hamas, Israel release more hostages, prisoners in fifth day of Gaza truce

WORLD

HAMAS freed 12 more hostages and Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday, the fifth day of an extended six-day truce between the militant Palestinian group and Israel in the Gaza war. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the 12 hostages had been transferred from Gaza, and Israel's military confirmed that the 10 Israeli citizens and two foreign nationals were with its special forces on Israeli territory. The hostages were among some 240 people seized by Hamas gunmen during a rampage into southern Israel on October 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. Israel's bombardment…

Nov

29

2023

By RICH MCKAY and STEVE GORMAN

Vermont man charged with attempted murder in shooting of students of Palestinian descent

WORLD

THE man accused of shooting and wounding three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, over the weekend, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges and was ordered by a judge to remain held without bond. Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arraigned in Chittenden County Criminal Court in Burlington, appearing via a video feed from the county jail where he has been detained since his arrest on Sunday, the day after the attack. Police have said investigators were treating Saturday evening's gun violence in the heart of Vermont's largest city as a suspected hate-motivated crime. Two of the three…

Nov

29

2023

By SAURABH SHARMA

All trapped Indian workers rescued from Himalayan tunnel, say officials

WORLD

INDIAN rescuers pulled out all 41 construction workers trapped for 17 days inside a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas, hours after drilling through the debris of rock, concrete and earth to reach them. The evacuation of the men - low-wage workers from some of India's poorest states - began more than six hours after rescuers broke through the debris in the tunnel in Uttarakhand state, which caved in on November 12. They were pulled out on wheeled stretchers through a 90 cm (3 feet) wide steel pipe, with the entire process being completed in about an hour. "Their condition is…

Nov

28

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza extended two days under deal

WORLD

MEDIATOR Qatar said that a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave. "An agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian pause for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip," a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said in a post on social media platform X. There was no immediate comment from Israel, but a White House official confirmed an agreement had been reached. Hamas also said it had agreed a two-day extension to the truce with…