WORLD - The African Mirror

Jun

15

2023

Global level of forced displacement climbs to record 110 million, UN says

WORLD

THE number of people forcibly displaced around the world has climbed to a record 110 million people, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said, with conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan spurring millions of people to flee their homes. The increase of around 19 million people to 108.4 million by the end of last year is the biggest annual jump on record, UNHCR said in a report released on Wednesday. That number has since risen further to 110 million, mostly due to Sudan's eight-week-old conflict, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told journalists. "It's quite an indictment…

Jun

15

2023

By The African Mirror

Japanese soldier arrested after fatal gun-range shooting – defence ministry

WORLD

JAPANESE police arrested an 18-year-old soldier after he shot and killed two instructors and injured a third at a military firing range in central Japan, the country's defence ministry said. The incident at about 9 a.m (24:00 GMT) in Gifu City was the first such fatal shooting at a Ground Self Defense Force (GSDF) firing range since 1984, GSDF Chief of Staff General Yasunori Morishita told reporters. The three instructors, which public broadcaster NHK said included a man in his 50s and two in their 20s, were taken to hospital where two died, Morishita said. The alleged shooter, who is…

Jun

15

2023

By GUY FAULCONBRIDGE

Russia now has free hand to destroy undersea communications cables – Putin ally

WORLD

A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday there was no reason for Moscow not to destroy its enemies' undersea communication cables given what he said was Western complicity in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts. A sharp drop in pressure on both gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea was registered on September 26 last year and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about sabotage to one of Russia's most important energy corridors. It is still unclear exactly what happened to Nord Stream, a multibillion-dollar project that carried Russian gas to Germany. Some U.S. and European…

Jun

14

2023

By JACK QUEEN and JACQUELINE THOMSEN

Trump pleads not guilty in federal documents case

WORLD

FORMER U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to federal criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. Trump's plea, entered before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in a federal court in Miami, sets up a legal battle likely to play out over coming months as he campaigns to win back the presidency in a November 2024 election. Experts say it could be a year or more before a trial takes place. The hearing was closed to cameras and live broadcasts. Trump's former aide Walt Nauta,…

Jun

14

2023

By PHIL NOBLE and SACHIN RAVIKUMAR

UK police arrest murder suspect after three bodies found on Nottingham streets

WORLD

BRITISH police said a man had been arrested on suspicion of murder after three people were found dead on the street in the central English city of Nottingham and three were injured after an attempt to run them over with a van. Detectives said they had an open mind about the motive for the linked incidents, which began just after 4 a.m. (0300 GMT), and added that counter-terrorism officers were working on the investigation, although they said this was normal. Two of those killed were students from one of the city's universities. A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion…

Jun

14

2023

By CRISTIANO CORVINO

‘Goodbye President’: Berlusconi fans pay tribute to late leader

WORLD

SUPPORTERS of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi gathered outside his villa near Milan on a rainy Tuesday morning to honour the billionaire who dominated Italy's politics, business and soccer world for nearly three decades. Berlusconi died on Monday aged 86, three days after his readmission to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he had spent a month and a half in April-May to treat a lung infection and a chronic form of leukaemia. He was a highly divisive figure who set the mould for other businessmen-turned-politicians like former U.S. President Donald Trump. Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud in 2013 and temporarily…

Jun

14

2023

By JACQUELINE THOMSEN and JACK QUEEN

Trump supporters gather outside Florida court where he faces charges

WORLD

Supporters of Donald Trump gathered outside a Miami courthouse where the former U.S. president faces criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. Trump was expected to be fingerprinted and to submit a plea during an arraignment scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). It will be the second courtroom visit for Trump since April when he pleaded not guilty to charges in New York stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star. Several dozen protesters and journalists mingled outside the courthouse while helicopters hovered overhead. Security was tight, and…

Jun

13

2023

By RENJU JOSE

Driver charged after Australia’s worst bus accident in decades kills 10 wedding guests

WORLD

A man was charged with dangerous driving after at least 10 wedding guests were killed when the bus they were travelling in crashed at a roundabout in Australia's worst bus accident in almost 30 years, police said. Twenty-five people were injured in the accident around 11:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) on Sunday near the town of Greta, about 180 km (112 miles) northwest of Sydney, police said. The bus carrying 35 passengers left the road and flipped onto its side at a roundabout after a wedding in the Hunter region, a rural area famous for its vineyards and wedding spots. Police…

Jun

13

2023

By EMILIO PARODI, ELVIRA POLLINA and ALVISE ARMELLINI

Silvio Berlusconi: former Italian prime minister has died at 86

WORLD

SILVIO Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul and former Italian prime minister who transformed the nation's politics with polarising policies and often alarmed his allies with his brazen remarks, died aged 86. Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving premier who counted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a close friend and gained notoriety for his "bunga bunga" sex parties, had suffered from leukaemia and recently developed a lung infection. He died at Milan's San Raffaele hospital, where he was admitted on Friday. His five children, partner Marta Fascina and younger brother Paolo were with him, a hospital spokesperson said. A state funeral will be held in Milan…

Jun

13

2023

By SARAH N. LYNCH

Trump is ‘toast’ if classified records case is proven, ex-attorney general says

WORLD

FORMER U.S. Attorney General William Barr defended Special Counsel Jack Smith's 37-count indictment against Donald Trump, saying if the allegations the former president willfully retained hundreds of highly classified documents are proven true, then "he's toast." "I was shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, ... and I think the counts under the Espionage Act that he willfully retained those documents are solid counts," Barr, who served under Trump, told, "Fox News Sunday." "If even half of it is true, then he's toast." The comments from Barr, who was Trump's attorney general from February 2019…