WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

24

2023

By LUC COHEN, PATRICIA ZENGERLE and ANDREW GOUDSWARD

US Senator Menendez charged with bribery, says he will not resign

WORLD

U.S. prosecutors charged powerful Senator Bob Menendez and his wife with taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, which could complicate Democrats' efforts to keep their slim majority in the U.S. Senate in next year's elections. Menendez later stepped down temporarily from his role as chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee until the case is resolved, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, adding that Menendez had a right to due process. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said Menendez, 69, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using…

Sep

23

2023

By MICHELLE NICHOLS

Canada’s Trudeau wants India to cooperate in murder probe, declines to release evidence

WORLD

CANADIAN Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on India to cooperate with an investigation into the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia and said Canada would not release its evidence. Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible allegations linking Indian government agents to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi. Najjar, 45, was a Canadian citizen. The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Sikh separatist leader's murder, CBC News separately reported on Thursday citing sources. Traditional Canadian allies have so far taken…

Sep

23

2023

By The African Mirror

First big grain ship leaves Ukraine’s Black Sea port

WORLD

THE first big ship carrying grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port has set sail since Moscow quit a deal in July to allow exports, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister said on Friday, part of Kyiv's campaign to break Russia's de facto blockade. The Aroyat "left the port Chornomorsk after loading 17,600 (metric tons of) Ukrainian wheat for Egypt," Oleksandr Kubrakov said on the X social media app, formerly Twitter. He posted a photo of the ship at sea. It was the second of two bulk carriers to leave the port this week using what Kyiv calls a new temporary…

Sep

23

2023

By CRISPIAN BALMER

Asylum seekers in Italy told to pay to avoid detention

WORLD

ASYLUM seekers in Italy will have to pay 4,938 euros ($5,259) to avoid detention while their request for protection is being processed, the government said on Friday, in a measure apparently aimed at deterring migrants. Facing a surge in new arrivals, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition announced this week that it would increase the number of detention centres around the country to hold migrants ahead of their possible repatriation. It also said that it would increase the amount of time people could be detained to 18 months from three months. At present migrants to Italy who apply for asylum are free to…

Sep

22

2023

By STEVE SCHERER and DAVID LJUNGGREN

Canada’s allies in a bind as tensions rise with India over Sikh leader’s murder

WORLD

CANADA this week divulged it had intelligence possibly linking Indian government agents to the murder of a separatist Sikh leader, the kind of news that usually sparks uproar among democratic allies. Not this time. India is being courted by the United States and others as a counterweight to China, and Trudeau's rare attack just days after New Delhi hosted a G20 Summit is putting Western nations in an awkward position. "India is important in Western calculations for balancing China, and Canada is not," said Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Ottawa's Carleton University. "This really does put Canada offside among…

Sep

22

2023

By Xinghui Kok

Assets seized in Singapore’s money laundering case swell to S$2.4 billion

WORLD

The total value of assets seized in Singapore's biggest money laundering case has swelled to S$2.4 billion ($1.76 billion), police said on Wednesday. The assets now include cash amounting to more than S$76 million, 68 gold bars, cryptocurrencies of more than S$38 million, more than 110 properties and 62 vehicles worth more than S$1.2 million. Police did not give details of the fresh seizures and how they were found. Last month, 400 police officers ran simultaneous raids across Singapore and arrested 10 foreigners in an anti-money laundering swoop. Police have said the 10 suspects were allegedly "laundering the proceeds of…

Sep

22

2023

By GABRIELA BACZYNSKA

‘Stop the war’ and Zelenskiy need not speak, UN Security Council chair tells Russia

WORLD

IT was to be Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy's first in-person appearance at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Moscow's invasion of his country when Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia objected to him taking the floor at the start of the meeting. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, serving as president of the tense session, responded with a gibe at Moscow, which has long said the invasion does not amount to a war but was a mere "special military operation". "I want to assure our Russian colleagues and everyone here that this is not a special operation by the Albanian presidency," Rama, known…

Jul

16

2023

By JOYCE LEE

South Korea landslides, floods kill more than 20

WORLD

TWENTY-two people have died, 14 were missing and thousands evacuated in South Korea as, according to ministry data, as a third day of torrential rains caused landslides and the overflow of a dam. As of 6 p.m. (0900 GMT), 4,763 people had been evacuated nationwide, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, as water overtopped the dam in North Chungcheong province on Saturday morning. Local governments' evacuation orders covered more than 7,000 people at various times, according to provincial authorities. The tally is expected to rise as more heavy rain is expected on the Korean peninsula on Sunday, the Korea Meteorological…

Jul

16

2023

By DAN WILLIAMS

Israel’s Netanyahu in hospital, likely suffering from dehydration

WORLD

ISRAEL'S Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was admitted to hospital with dizziness from apparent dehydration but was in good condition, his office said, and there were no indications of a potential handover of power. By Saturday evening, Energy Minister Israel Katz, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, told Israel's Channel 13 TV: "He's coming back to work. This event is behind us." He did not say when the prime minister would resume work. With his potential absence raising questions as the country deals with a crisis over a planned judicial overhaul as well as simmering conflicts with the Palestinians and Iran,…

Jul

16

2023

By ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY

Insight: She’s 47, anorexic and wants help dying. Canada will soon allow it.

WORLD

LISA Pauli wants to die. The 47-year-old has wrestled with the eating disorder anorexia for decades; she says she has had a warped relationship with her body since age 8. These days, Pauli says, she weighs 92 pounds and may go days without eating solid food. She says she is too weak to carry groceries home without stopping for breaks. "Every day is hell," she said. "I'm so tired. I'm done. I've tried everything. I feel like I've lived my life." Pauli cannot legally get medical help to die - yet. An expansion of the criteria for medically assisted death…