WORLD - The African Mirror

May

19

2023

Traitor next door? Fear stalks Kherson after Russian occupation ends

WORLD

VALENTYNA Haras says she isn't a traitor. Nonetheless, her garden walls in the Ukrainian city of Kherson are covered with graffiti marking her out as a Russian collaborator. "Rashist" - a Ukrainian blend of Russian fascist - is scrawled in red paint. Accusatory "Z"s - symbols of support for Moscow's war machine - are daubed liberally. Fear and suspicion stalk the streets of Kherson, a southern port that was occupied by Russian troops for over eight months before they were driven out by Ukrainian forces in November. The city is now the focus of relentless Russian bombardment. Six months on…

May

19

2023

By The African Mirror

Colombian children found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash

WORLD

FOUR children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the south of the country more than two weeks after the plane they were travelling in crashed in thick jungle, President Gustavo Petro said. The children were rescued by members of the military, firefighters and civil aviation authority officials in the dense jungle of Colombia's Caqueta province. The plane - a Cessna 206 - was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare province, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure in the…

May

19

2023

By CLAUDIA GRECO and CRISPIAN BALMER

Nine dead in northern Italy floods, Formula One race called off

WORLD

NINE people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes as torrential rain battered Italy's northern Emilia-Romagna region, triggering floods and landslides, officials said. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks, sending water cascading through towns and submerging thousands of acres of farmland. Sunday's Formula One Grand Prix in Imola, which is close to many of the worst-hit areas, was called off in an effort to relieve pressure on emergency services and prevent motor racing fans from converging on the inundated region.…

May

18

2023

By The African Mirror

Wife of Pakistan’s Imran Khan, charged with graft, is known for spirituality

WORLD

ASIF SHAHZAD BUSHRA Khan, the wife of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, is facing corruption charges in the same case that led to his arrest on May 9. On Monday, he accompanied her to a court that granted her protective bail. She is known for her spirituality and devotion to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam. Khan, 70, has often called Bushra his spiritual leader. Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after her marriage. Her husband and followers commonly refer to her as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that in Urdu denote respect. She has kept a low profile since her…

May

18

2023

By The African Mirror

Investigator boasted about ‘getting queen’s medical records’, Prince Harry case told

WORLD

SAM TOBIN A private investigator who worked for the publisher of the Daily Mirror boasted he could "get the queen's medical records", a retired police officer told a court hearing Prince Harry's lawsuit against the British newspaper. Harry, King Charles' younger son, and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, accusing the papers of phone-hacking and other unlawful behaviour between 1991 and 2011. MGN, which is now owned by Reach, said it strongly denied the allegations. Former police officer Derek Haslam told London's High Court that MGN journalists…

May

18

2023

By The African Mirror

US federal judge, 95, faces fresh competency claims as she fights probe

WORLD

A U.S. federal appeals judge facing a competency investigation has been unable to complete simple tasks independently and threatened a staffer with arrest, according to witness reports included in an order from her court on Tuesday. An investigative committee of the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Judge Pauline Newman, 95, to transfer the probe to another circuit. It ordered her to undergo a neurological evaluation and neuropsychological testing, with a Friday deadline to say whether she will comply. The Washington-based Federal Circuit said it will not comment on the order or other related documents it released on…

May

17

2023

By GLEB GARANICH and SERGIY KARAZY

Kyiv says it shoots down volley of Russian hypersonic missiles

WORLD

UKRAINE said that it had shot down six Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles in a single night, thwarting a superweapon Moscow had previously touted as all but unstoppable. It was the first time Ukraine had claimed to have struck an entire volley of multiple hypersonic missiles, and if confirmed would be a demonstration of the effectiveness of newly deployed Western air defences. Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine early on Tuesday and were heard over Kyiv and its region for more than three hours. "The enemy's mission is to sow panic and create chaos. However, in the northern…

May

17

2023

By The African Mirror

Five Germans handed jail sentence for Green Vault jewel heist

WORLD

A German court sentenced five men to several years behind bars for their involvement in a jewel heist in 2019 at a museum in Dresden which houses one of Europe's greatest art collections. The pieces stolen from the break-in at the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) museum in Dresden contained more than 4,300 diamonds with an estimated value of more than 113 million euros. They included a breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle and an ornate diamond headdress. However, police have said most of the stolen jewels have been recovered. Six German men, all in their 20s, had…

May

16

2023

By DAN PELESCHUK

Ukraine hails its first offensive success in defence of Bakhmut

WORLD

UKRAINE'S military hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city. But Kyiv also said the situation in Bakhmut was difficult. It cautioned that Moscow had not changed its goal of capturing the city and was sending assault troops to Bakhmut's outskirts. The Ukrainian military said last week it had started to push Russian forces back in and around Bakhmut after months of heavy fighting, and Moscow acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of the city. "The advance of our troops along the Bakhmut direction is…

May

16

2023

By HUSEYIN HAYATSEVER, ORHAN COSKUN and BIRSEN ALTAYLI

Turkey faces election runoff, Erdogan seen with momentum

WORLD

PRESIDENT Tayyip Erdogan led comfortably after the first round of Turkey's presidential election, with his rival facing an uphill struggle to prevent the president from extending his rule into a third decade in a runoff vote on May 28. Turkish assets weakened on the news, which showed Erdogan only just below the 50% threshold needed to avoid sending the NATO-member country to a second round of a presidential election viewed as passing judgment on his autocratic rule. Erdogan's People's Alliance, comprising his Islamist-rooted AK Party and its nationalist partners, also appeared set to win a majority in Turkey's new parliament with 321 of the…