WORLD - The African Mirror

Jul

12

2023

Trump seeks to delay trial in classified documents case

WORLD

FORMER President Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta have asked a federal court in Florida to postpone their criminal trial in the case of a classified document, saying Trump's busy presidential campaign schedule ahead of the 2024 election will make the current trial schedule "untenable." "President Trump is running for President of the United States and is currently the likely Republican Party nominee. This undertaking requires a tremendous amount of time and energy, and that effort will continue until the election on November 5, 2024," attorneys for Trump and Nauta wrote in a joint court filing late on Monday.…

Jul

12

2023

By RAMI AMICHAY

Israel protests flare over Netanyahu’s new Supreme Court bill

WORLD

THOUSANDS of protesters blockaded Israel's main airport and major highways as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right coalition pressed ahead with a justice bill that has opened the deepest splits seen in the country in decades. A day after parliament passed a key element in the bill, which aims to curb the power of the Supreme Court, crowds of flag-waving protesters stopped morning traffic in major intersections and on highways nationwide. Some lay down on roads, while others threw flares. Police on horseback deployed among hundreds of demonstrators in Israel's business hub, Tel Aviv. At the entrance to Jerusalem, officers used…

Jul

11

2023

By ANDREW OSBORN and MARK TREVELYAN

Putin held post-mutiny talks with Wagner leader Prigozhin and his fighters – Kremlin

WORLD

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has held Kremlin talks with Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and his commanders to discuss the armed mutiny Wagner attempted to mount against the army's top brass, Putin's spokesman said. The meeting was first reported by French newspaper Liberation, which said Prigozhin had met Putin and the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and SVR Foreign Intelligence boss Sergei Naryshkin. The meeting, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was held on June 29, five days after the aborted mutiny, which is widely regarded to have posed the most serious challenge to Putin since he came…

Jul

11

2023

By THE AFRICAN MIRROR

China kindergarten attack kills six, sparks safety worries

WORLD

A 25-year-old man was suspected of attacking a kindergarten in China's Guangdong province, killing six people and injuring one, triggering an outpouring of concern about violence against children at school. Media reported the attack in Lianjiang county in the southern province was a stabbing. The suspect, with the surname Wu and from Lianjiang, had been detained, police said, adding they were investigating. Some media reported that both adults and children were among the victims. While violent crime is rare in China due to strict gun laws and tight security, incidents of stabbings at pre-schools over the past few years have…

Jul

11

2023

By SAM TOBIN

Kevin Spacey may have drugged alleged victim before assault, UK court told

WORLD

AN alleged victim of Kevin Spacey told a London court that he believes the Oscar-winning U.S. actor drugged him before performing oral sex on him after he had passed out. Spacey is on trial at London's Southwark Crown Court on a dozen charges of historic sex offences against four men, then aged in their 20s and 30s, between 2001 and 2013. The 63-year-old has denied all the charges and his lawyer Patrick Gibbs said at the start of the trial that the jury were going to hear some "damned lies". The trial, entering its third week on Monday, heard the…

Jul

10

2023

By The African Mirror

Six dead in private jet crash outside Los Angeles

WORLD

ALL six people aboard a small jet died when the aircraft crashed and burned in a field near an airport near Los Angeles, local and federal authorities said. The aircraft, a Cessna C550 business jet, was travelling from Las Vegas and crashed near French Valley Airport in Riverside County, about 85 miles (137 km) south of Los Angeles, at around 4:15 a.m. the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The passengers and pilot who died were all adults, Elliott Simpson, an aviation investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news briefing. The privately-owned plane crashed 500…

Jul

10

2023

By PAUL SANDLE

BBC suspends presenter over alleged teenager photos scandal

WORLD

BRITAIN'S BBC suspended a male member of staff following an allegation that one of its star presenters paid a teenager thousands of pounds to pose for sexually explicit photos, beginning when they were 17 years old. The broadcaster said it first became aware of a complaint in May, but new allegations of a different nature were made to it on Thursday, and it had informed "external authorities". London's Metropolitan Police said it had received initial contact from the BBC but no formal referral or allegation had been made. "We will require additional information before determining what further action should follow,"…

Jul

10

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian, Turkish ministers talk after Turkey sends Ukrainian commanders home

WORLD

THE foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement. The Russian and Turkish foreign ministries said Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Ukraine, as well as a Black Sea grain export agreement that lifted a Russian de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports last year. Moscow has threatened to quit the grain export deal when it comes up for renewal on July 17, saying demands to facilitate sales of its…

Jul

09

2023

By DANIEL TROTTA and BRAD BROOKS

Shooter who killed 23 at Texas Walmart sentenced to 90 life terms

WORLD

A federal judge sentenced a white supremacist to 90 consecutive life terms in prison for a 2019 shooting in which he killed 23 people and wounded 22 others at a Texas Walmart while targeting Hispanics, according to court records and prosecutors. The sentencing by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama in El Paso adhered to a plea agreement from February in which shooter Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty to and agreed to 90 consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole in order to avoid the federal death penalty. He still faces Texas state charges that could result in the death…

Jul

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Hundreds defy Paris protest ban a week after riots

WORLD

HUNDREDS of protesters defied a ban to march in central Paris against police violence, a week after riots sparked by the killing of a teenager in a Parisian suburb. Police dispersed the crowd from Paris's huge Place de la Republique, sending several hundred people towards the wide Boulevard Magenta, where they were seen marching peacefully. Two people were arrested, Paris police said after the demonstration. The Paris police department said in a decision published on its website that it had banned the planned demonstration, citing a "context of tensions". "We still enjoy freedom of expression in France, but freedom of assembly,…