WORLD - The African Mirror

Mar

20

2023

Donald Trump could be charged any day – what happens next?

WORLD

JOSEPH AX DONALD Trump could be charged in New York as soon as this week for allegedly covering up hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, nearly seven years after the money changed hands. But any trial of the former U.S. president would still be more than a year away, legal experts said and could coincide with the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign as Trump seeks a return to the White House. In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday and called on his followers to protest,…

Mar

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin, Xi discuss Chinese peace proposal for Ukraine in visit denounced by US

WORLD

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed Beijing's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in talks in Moscow while displaying a warm friendship forged on a mutual rivalry with the West. Xi's visit is a boost to Moscow as it struggles to make ground in its year-long war on Ukraine. It was criticised by Washington as providing "diplomatic cover" for Putin and for the war that has killed tens of thousands of people. While China has sought to cast itself as a potential peace-maker in the conflict, the visit underlined an ever-closer relationship between Moscow and Beijing.…

Mar

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Judge rejects Trump, rape accuser Carroll’s request for single defamation trial

WORLD

JONATHAN STEMPEL A federal judge in Manhattan rejected a joint request by former U.S. President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll to hold a single trial on whether Trump defamed the former Elle magazine columnist by denying he raped her. Carroll and Trump had said combining Carroll's civil lawsuits would be more efficient and avoid juror confusion. But in a one-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said both sides overestimated the potential benefits, and that he could "achieve appropriate conservation of judicial resources and avoidance of inconsistent rulings" in separate trials. He also noted that both sides are awaiting a decision…

Feb

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian mercenary boss escalates row with top army brass with image of dead bodies

WORLD

ANDREW OSBORN RUSSIAN mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin took a bitter public feud with the top army brass to a new level, publishing a grisly image of dozens of his fighters he said had been killed after being deprived of ammunition. Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company which is fighting on Moscow's behalf in Ukraine, has this week repeatedly accused the Russian defence ministry of deliberately starving his fighters of munitions in what he has called a treasonous attempt to destroy Wagner. The defence ministry, in a statement late on Tuesday, said such allegations were "completely untrue" and complained -…

Feb

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Turkey steps up rebuilding plans as quake toll nears 50,000

WORLD

HENRIETTE CHACAR and TIMOUR AZHARI TURKEY has stepped up plans to house victims of the devastating earthquake which struck its border region with Syria, the interior minister said, as the combined death toll in the two countries crept towards 50,000. Suleyman Soylu said 313,000 tents had been erected, with 100,000 container homes to be installed in the disaster zone which stretches for hundreds of kilometres inland from the Turkish and Syrian Mediterranean coast. The number of people killed in Turkey has risen to 43,556, Soylu said, while in Syria the death toll was close to 6,000. The United Nations said…

Feb

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Florida TV journalist shot dead while reporting on a murder – police

WORLD

STEVE GORMAN A gunman opened fire on two television journalists reporting on a murder near Orlando, Florida, killing one and wounding the other before fatally shooting a 9-year-old girl and wounding her mother in a nearby home, authorities said. A suspect identified as Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was arrested shortly after the assaults on the TV news team and the mother and daughter, about a block away from each other, in the Orlando suburb of Pine Hills, said Orange County Sheriff John Mina. Moses was detained as a suspect in both those attacks and was formally charged in the killing…

Mar

20

2023

By The African Mirror

Hundreds of elite Israeli reservists say they are joining judicial protests

WORLD

DAN WILLIAMS A group of Israelis describing themselves as reservists in elite military and intelligence units said they would not turn up for some duties from Sunday, escalating protests at the hard-right government's planned judicial overhaul. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which wields a Knesset majority, say they want bills that would limit the authority of the Supreme Court to be written into law by April 2. The plan has stirred concern for Israel's democratic health at home and abroad. As ratification nears, demonstrations have spiralled, the shekel has slipped and fears have been voiced by national security…

Mar

19

2023

By The African Mirror

Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday, calls for protests

WORLD

LUC COHEN and KAREN FREIFELD FORMER U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects to be arrested on Tuesday as prosecutors consider charges over a hush money payment to a porn star, and called on his supporters to protest. "Illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political Manhattan district attorney's office ... indicate that with no crime being able to be proven ... the far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week," Trump wrote on Truth Social. A spokesman for Trump said the former president had…

Feb

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Biden meets eastern NATO allies after Putin’s nuclear warning

WORLD

NANDITA BOSE and ALAN CHARLISH U.S. President Joe Biden met leaders of NATO's eastern flank to show support for their security after Moscow suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, which he called a "big mistake". Biden arrived in the Polish capital Warsaw late on Monday after a surprise visit to Kyiv just days ahead of the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Amid the highest tension between Russia and the West since the Cold War over three decades ago, Biden addressed thousands in downtown Warsaw on Tuesday and said "autocrats" like Russian President Vladimir Putin must be opposed. Hours…

Mar

19

2023

By The African Mirror

Reactions to ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin citing Ukraine war crimes

WORLD

FOLLOWING are reactions to the news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine. The court also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, on the same charges. ICC STATEMENT ON THE CHARGE ACCUSING PUTIN "The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian-occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes." KREMLIN SPOKESMAN DMITRY PESKOV Said Russia found the very questions…