WORLD - The African Mirror

Apr

21

2023

Three Alabama teens charged with murder in ‘Sweet 16’ party shooting

WORLD

BRENDAN O'BRIEN THREE Alabama teenagers have been taken into custody and charged with murder in last week's shooting at a "Sweet 16" birthday party that left four dead and 32 wounded, state police said. Two suspects - Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16 - both from Tuskegee, were arrested on Tuesday night and charged with four counts of reckless murder, Sergeant Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said during a news conference. The agency said a few hours later that a third person had been arrested. Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, was taken into…

Apr

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia expands war recruitment drive with video ad calling for ‘real’ men

WORLD

ANDREW OSBORN THE Russian military has launched a video campaign to lure more professional soldiers to fight in Ukraine which challenges those interested to show they are "a real man" and swap what it casts as hum-drum civilian life for the battlefield. The ad, set to stirring music, follows a report from British military intelligence and Russian media reports that suggest Moscow is seeking to recruit up to 400,000 professional soldiers - on a volunteer basis - to bolster its forces in Ukraine. The ad has so far been released on major Russian social networking sites. Russia, which says it…

Apr

20

2023

By The African Mirror

Kansas City homeowner charged in shooting of Black teen released on bond

WORLD

AN 84-year-old white man charged in the shooting and wounding of a Black teenager who mistakenly walked up to the man's house in Kansas City surrendered to police, the Clay County Sheriff's Office said, but was freed on bond within a few hours. Andrew Lester had been charged a day earlier with first-degree assault, which could bring a sentence of life in prison, for shooting Ralph Yarl, 16, on the doorstep of his suburban home around 10 p.m. last Thursday. Yarl had walked up to Lester's house to pick up his younger siblings, who were at a nearby house with a similar…

Apr

20

2023

By The African Mirror

Brazil’s Lula condemns invasion of Ukraine, touts peace initiative

WORLD

ANTHONY BOADLE BRAZILIAN President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has condemned the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity by Russia and again called for mediation to end the war, a peace initiative that was criticized by the Ukrainian government. Speaking at a lunch with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Lula said a group of neutral nations must come together to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. His comments came after he set off a storm among Western allies by stating over the weekend that they were prolonging the fighting by supplying arms to Ukraine. A White House spokesperson accused Lula of "parroting Russian…

Apr

20

2023

By The African Mirror

India’s population to overtake China, with 2.9 mln more people by mid-2023, UN estimates

WORLD

YP RAJESH INDIA is poised to overtake China as the world's most populous nation, with almost 3 million more people than its neighbour by the middle of this year, data released by the United Nations showed. India's population by mid-year is estimated at 1.4286 billion, against 1.4257 billion for China - 2.9 million fewer - in the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) "State of World Population Report" for this year. The United States is a distant third, with an estimated population of 340 million as of the end of June, the data showed in a report that reflects information available…

Apr

19

2023

By The African Mirror

White Kansas City man, 84, charged for shooting Black teen who went to wrong house

WORLD

JASPER WARD PROSECUTORS charged an 84-year-old white Kansas City man with two felonies in the shooting of a Black teenager who was wounded after walking up to the wrong house when going to pick up his younger twin brothers. Andrew Lester was charged with first-degree assault, which could bring a sentence of life in prison, and armed criminal action for shooting Ralph Yarl, 16, on the doorstep of his suburban home around 10 p.m. last Thursday, the prosecutor said. "I can tell you there was a racial component to the case," Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson told a news conference,…

Apr

19

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin visits two regions in Ukraine, Russia presses assault on Bakhmut

WORLD

DAN PELESCHUK and GUY FAULCONBRIDGE RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has met his commanders in two regions of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed, while Russian forces stepped up heavy artillery bombardments and air strikes on the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, meanwhile, visited troops in the eastern town of Avdiivka, about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Bakhmut, and was briefed on the battlefield situation, his office said. The Kremlin said Putin on Monday had attended a military command meeting in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and visited a national guard headquarters in eastern Luhansk. Putin heard reports from…

Apr

19

2023

By The African Mirror

K-pop star and BTS member J-Hope starts mandatory military service

WORLD

J-HOPE, a member of Grammy-nominated K-pop boy band BTS, began his mandatory military service in South Korea, the second member of the group to do so. The singer kept a low profile as a van carrying him entered the venue for his military enlistment ceremony in the city of Wonju, some 87 kilometres (54 miles) away from Seoul, news agency Yonhap reported. "I'll be back later," the singer whose real name is Jung Ho-seok said on Monday in a post on the fan platform Weverse, alongside a picture of his shaved head. More than 10,000 comments from fans wished him…

Apr

18

2023

By CHENEY ORR and JULIA HARTE

Four dead in Alabama ‘Sweet 16’ birthday party shooting

WORLD

AT least four people were killed and 28 wounded in a shooting that erupted during a late-night "Sweet 16" birthday celebration at a dance studio in the small town of Dadeville, Alabama, state police and local news media said. Some of the injured were critically wounded during the shooting in east-central Alabama, about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of the state capital of Montgomery, authorities said. There was no official word on what led to the gun violence. Authorities said the shooting started shortly after 10:30 p.m. CT on Saturday but they declined to answer questions or provide further details…

Apr

18

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin critic jailed in treason case for 25 years

WORLD

ANDREW OSBORN KREMLIN critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 25 years by a Moscow court, the harshest sentence of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine, after being convicted of treason and other offences in a trial he said was politically motivated. Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and an opposition politician who holds Russian and British passports, spoke out against President Vladimir Putin for years and successfully lobbied Western governments to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for purported human rights violations. State prosecutors, who had requested a 25-year term, had accused him of treason, among other offences, and of discrediting…