WORLD - The African Mirror

Oct

18

2023

Gaza families ordered south return home, say nowhere is safe from Israeli bombs

WORLD

THE Abu Marasa family are returning to Gaza City, having fled after Israel ordered all civilians to go south or face bombardment, saying they would rather die at home after an air strike hit the house next to where they were sheltering. Bombing in the south of the tiny, crowded Gaza Strip killed scores of people overnight, local authorities said, and the Abu Marasa family is one of several Reuters spoke to that have concluded they may as well go back to their homes in the north. More than a dozen members of the family were crowded into a car on…

Oct

17

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israeli strikes on Gaza intensify as humanitarian crisis deepens

WORLD

DIPLOMATIC efforts to arrange a ceasefire to let aid reach the besieged Gaza Strip failed and Israel ordered the evacuation of villages in a strip of territory near its border with Lebanon, raising fears the war could spread to a new front. Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules Gaza, after its fighters burst across the barrier surrounding the enclave on October 7, gunning down 1,300 Israelis, mainly civilians, on the deadliest day in Israel's 75-year history. It has put Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total blockade and pounded it with unprecedented air strikes,…

Oct

17

2023

By JASON LANGE and ALEXANDRA ULMER

Trump’s legal troubles keep fueling surges in fundraising

WORLD

SMALL donors have responded to Donald Trump's legal problems by showering money on his presidential campaign, helping him roughly match the fundraising pace of Democratic President Joe Biden who is seeking re-election, according to disclosures released. More than $2 million surged into Trump's coffers within a day of the August 24 release of his mugshot after he was booked at a jail on Georgia state charges stemming from his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, according to a disclosure the campaign submitted to the Federal Election Commission. It was the biggest two-day sum the campaign has reported taking in…

Oct

17

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch offers to be exchanged for Gaza hostages

WORLD

POPE Francis' representative in the Holy Land said that he was willing to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, made his comment in response to a question during a video conference with journalists in Italy. "I am ready for an exchange, anything if this can lead to freedom, to bring the children home. No problem. There is total willingness on my part," he said. "The first thing to do is to try to win the release of the hostages, otherwise there will be no way of…

Oct

16

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and EMILY ROSE

Israel vows to demolish Hamas as troops prepare to move on shattered Gaza

WORLD

ISRAEL'S Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "demolish Hamas" as his troops prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world. Israel has urged exhausted Gazans to evacuate south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave that is home to more than 2 million people. Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told people to ignore Israel's message. Inside Gaza's narrow and crowded streets, conditions were deteriorating as deaths from Israeli air strikes rose. Bodies were stored in ice cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals was too risky…

Oct

16

2023

By PRAVEEN MENON

‘Reconciliation is dead’: Indigenous Australians vow silence after referendum fails

WORLD

AUSTRALIAN Indigenous leaders called for a week of silence and reflection after a referendum to recognise First Peoples in the constitution was decisively rejected. More than 60% of Australians voted "No" in the landmark referendum on Saturday that asked whether to alter the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people with an Indigenous advisory body, the "Voice to Parliament", that would have advised parliament on matters concerning the community. Australia's first referendum in almost a quarter of a century needed a national majority and majorities in at least four states to pass. All six states rejected the proposal. "This is a bitter…

Oct

16

2023

By GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and LAURIE CHEN

Putin to visit China to deepen ‘no limits’ partnership with Xi

WORLD

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin will meet Xi Jinping in China this week in a bid to deepen a partnership forged between the United States' two biggest strategic competitors. Putin will attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on October 17-18, his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the Hague-based International Criminal Court issued a warrant for him in March over the deportation of children from Ukraine. China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in…

Oct

15

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and JOHN DAVISON

Palestinians flee northern Gaza as Israel masses troops for assault

WORLD

THOUSANDS of Palestinians fled the north of the Gaza Strip from the path of an expected Israeli ground assault, while Israel pounded the area with more air strikes and said it kept two roads open to let people escape. Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza in retaliation for a rampage by fighters, who stormed through Israeli towns a week ago, gunning down civilians and making off with scores of hostages. Some 1,300 people were killed in the worst attack on civilians in Israel's history. Israeli forces have since put the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to…

Oct

15

2023

By SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI and MAYA GEBEILY

Arab states say Palestinians must stay on their land as war escalates

WORLD

CALLS for a humanitarian corridor or an escape route for Palestinians from Gaza as a conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has escalated have drawn a blunt reaction from Arab neighbours. Egypt, the only Arab state to share a border with Gaza, and Jordan, which is next to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have both warned against Palestinians being forced off their land. It reflects deep Arab fears that Israel's latest war with Hamas in Gaza could spark a new wave of permanent displacement from the land where Palestinians want to build a future state. "This is the cause of all causes, the…

Oct

15

2023

By The African Mirror

Reuters journalist killed in Lebanon in missile fire from direction of Israel

WORLD

A Reuters video journalist was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene. The group of journalists, including from Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse, were working near Alma al-Shaab, close to the Israel border, where the Israeli military and Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been trading fire in border clashes. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and a Hezbollah lawmaker blamed the incident on Israel. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s U.N. envoy, Gilad Erdan,…