WORLD - The African Mirror

Jun

22

2023

Who is on the missing Titanic sub?

WORLD

A five-person submersible vessel taking tourists on a $250,000 trip to see the wreckage of the 1912 Titanic disaster 12,500 feet (3,800m) undersea is missing in the Atlantic off Canada. Following is what we know so far: WHO IS ON BOARD? * HAMISH HARDING. The British billionaire and chairman of aviation company Action Aviation is among those missing. Dubai-based Harding had posted on social media that he was proud to be heading to the Titanic as a "mission specialist", adding: "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission…

Jun

22

2023

By TREVOR HUNNICUTT and RYAN WOO

China lashes back as Biden labels Xi a ‘dictator’

WORLD

CHINA hit back after U.S. President Joe Biden referred to President Xi Jinping as a "dictator", saying the remarks were absurd and a provocation, in an unexpected spat immediately following efforts by both sides to lower tensions. Biden's comments came just a day after top U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilize bilateral relations that China says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established. Attending a fundraiser in California, Biden said Xi was very embarrassed when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was blown off course over U.S. airspace early this year, making a personal comment on…

Jun

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian air strikes hit Kyiv, other Ukrainian cities far from front lines

WORLD

RUSSIA struck at military and infrastructure targets in Ukraine's capital Kyiv and across other parts of the country, including western areas far from the front lines, Ukrainian officials said. Russia's Defence Ministry said for its part that Russian forces had hit and destroyed eight ammunition warehouses across Ukraine in the last 24 hours and repelled Ukrainian attacks in three different directions. Also on Tuesday, local authorities in the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a woman and wounded four other people. The morning attack on public service facilities was carried…

Jun

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax crimes, reaches deal on gun charge

WORLD

SARAH N. LYNCH, JEFF MASON and TOM HALS U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two charges of willfully failing to pay income taxes and to enter into an agreement that could enable him to avoid a conviction on a gun-related charge, according to a court filing. The federal charges against Hunter Biden resulted from an investigation by David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in the Democratic president's home state of Delaware, who was appointed by Republican then-President Donald Trump. Hunter Biden, 53, for years, has been the focus of unrelenting attacks by Trump and…

Jun

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Ships, planes search for sub that went missing on trip to Titanic wreckage

WORLD

JOSEPH AX and KANISHKA SINGH U.S. and Canadian ships and planes searched for a submarine that went missing more than a day earlier off the coast of southeastern Canada while taking tourists to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, officials said. The U.S. Coast Guard said there was one pilot and four passengers on board and that the vessel had the capacity to be submerged for 96 hours, but it was unclear whether it was still underwater or had surfaced and was unable to communicate. U.S. and Canadian ships and planes have swarmed the area about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of…

Jun

20

2023

By TOM BALMFORTH and PAVEL POLITYUK

Ukraine says eight villages retaken from Russian forces in two weeks

WORLD

UKRAINE said it had driven Russian forces from an eighth village in its two-week-old counteroffensive, a settlement on a heavily fortified part of the front line near the most direct route to the country's Azov Sea coast. A Russian-installed official said on Sunday that Ukraine had taken control of the village, Piatykhatky, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. He later said Moscow had pushed them out and on Monday morning he said Ukraine was attacking again. Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces had not only retaken Piatykhatky but had advanced by up to seven km (4.3 miles) into Russian lines…

Jun

20

2023

By SAURABH SHARMA

Scores die in northern India as heat wave scorches region

WORLD

AT least 54 people died in a district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh over the last few days, the Times of India newspaper reported, as authorities probed if the loss of lives was due to the heat wave in the region. Another 45 people died in neighbouring Bihar state, local newspapers reported. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert warning last week for extreme heat in some regions of the country, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The government said it was investigating the cause of the deaths that occurred over three days last week in…

Jun

20

2023

By PHILIP PULLELLA

Kerry meets Pope Francis privately, says he’s in great form and spirits

WORLD

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met Pope Francis, the first official to have a private audience with him since his discharge from hospital, and told Reuters that he found the pontiff "in great spirits and in great form". Francis, 86, left Rome's Gemelli hospital on Friday, nine days after surgery to repair an abdominal hernia. "He was in great spirits and great form ... I was really amazed. He embraced a lot of our conversation. It was a nice meeting," said Kerry, who was the first person on the pope's public schedule. "I found the pope to be very much the pope…

Jun

19

2023

By The African Mirror

Evidence suggests Russia blew Kakhovka dam in Ukraine: NYT

WORLD

EVIDENCE suggests this month's destruction of the huge Kakhovka dam in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine resulted from an inside explosion set off by Russia, the New York Times said. Citing engineers and explosive experts, the newspaper said on Friday that its investigation found evidence suggesting an explosive charge in a passageway running through the dam's concrete base detonated, destroying the structure on June 6. "The evidence clearly suggests the dam was crippled by an explosion set off by the side that controls it: Russia," the Times said. Mapping the damage from the Nova Kakhovka dam collapse Separately, a team…

Jun

19

2023

By JONATHAN LANDAY

Trump lacked power to declassify secret nuclear arms document, experts say

WORLD

EVEN when he was president, Donald Trump lacked the legal authority to declassify a U.S. nuclear weapons-related document that he is charged with illegally possessing, security experts said, contrary to the former U.S. president’s claim. The secret document, listed as No. 19 in the indictment charging Trump with endangering national security, can under the Atomic Energy Act only be declassified through a process that by the statute involves the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. For that reason, the experts said, the nuclear document is unique among the 31 in the indictment because the declassification of the others…