WORLD - The African Mirror

Feb

28

2023

Four appear in Hong Kong court charged with gruesome murder of model

WORLD

FOUR people charged in connection with the killing of 28-year-old model Abby Choi appeared in court after police found parts of her body in a village house on the outskirts of the financial city. Abby Choi, 28-year-old model who was murdered and parts of her body were found in a village house on the outskirts of Hong Kong, China, is seen in this picture obtained from social media released on February 6, 2023. Abby Choi via Instagram/via REUTERS. Hong Kong police said on Sunday they had charged three men, aged 28-65, with murder, and a 63-year-old woman with one count of obstructing…

Mar

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Texas man sues 3 women for helping his ex-wife obtain abortion pills

WORLD

GABRIELLA BORTER A Texas man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing three women of helping his ex-wife obtain abortion pills, in one of the first major legal challenges under a state abortion ban since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Plaintiff Marcus Silva filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Galveston County, Texas, alleging that three Texas women are liable for wrongful death because they helped his ex-wife obtain abortion pills to terminate a pregnancy in July 2022. The civil lawsuit is seeking damages of $1 million against each woman. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe…

Feb

28

2023

By The African Mirror

Italy shipwreck death toll at 62, including children

WORLD

REMO CASILLI and ANGELO AMANTE RESCUERS recovered three more bodies, a day after a wooden sailboat carrying migrants to Europe smashed onto rocks in stormy weather off southern Italy, bringing the death toll to 62, including at least 14 children. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said more than two dozen Pakistanis were believed to have been among the vessel's passengers. Rescuers said many Afghanis and some Iranians had also been aboard the boat. "We met a survivor who fled Afghanistan with his sister to escape the Taliban. She did not survive," said Sergio Di Dato, a project coordinator with the charity Doctors…

Feb

28

2023

By The African Mirror

‘Massive’ violations in Ukraine a focus as UN human rights body meets

WORLD

GABRIELLE TÉTRAULT-FARBER and EMMA FARGE THE U.N. rights chief condemned Russia's "senseless" invasion of Ukraine at the start of a Human Rights Council session at which countries want to strengthen scrutiny of Moscow's alleged war crimes and raise China's treatment of Muslim Uyghurs. Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner, in one of his first speeches to the 47-member council, warned that human rights gains were being reined back and even reversed, citing Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an example of oppression. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a separate speech that the war had triggered "massive violations" of rights.…

Feb

18

2023

By The African Mirror

Overnight protests rock Tehran, other Iranian cities, online videos show

WORLD

PROTESTS rocked Iran again overnight after a seeming slowdown in recent weeks, with marchers calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, online video posts purportedly showed. The marches in numerous cities including Tehran that began on Thursday evening and went on into the night marked 40 days since the execution of two protesters last month. Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini were hanged on January 8. Two others were executed in December. The protests that have swept across Iran began last September after the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini for flouting the hijab…

Feb

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin casts war as a battle for Russia’s survival

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin cast the confrontation with the West over the Ukraine war as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people - and said he was forced to take into account NATO's nuclear capabilities. A year since ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin is increasingly presenting the war as a make-or-break moment in Russian history - and saying that he believes the very future of Russia and its people is in peril. "They have one goal: to disband the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part - the Russian Federation," Putin told Rossiya…

Feb

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Thousands without power as California storms bring rain, snow and cold

WORLD

NEARLY 85,000 households and businesses were without power in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, as storms continued to pummel parts of California, bringing snow to higher elevations and dumping rain and hail in the flatlands. Interstate 5, the largest highway leading north out of the city, remained closed at the steep grade known as the Grapevine due to heavy snow, while several more southern points of the freeway in and around Los Angeles were closed due to flooding, the California Department of Transportation said. In Northern California, San Francisco was expected to experience record cold temperatures on Saturday, and…

Feb

27

2023

By The African Mirror

Migrant shipwreck in southern Italy kills at least 58, including children

WORLD

GIANNI DANIELE and ALVISE ARMELLINI AT least 58 people died, including several children when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Europe crashed against rocks near the southern Italian coast early, authorities said. The deadly incident reopened a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where a recently-elected right-wing government has introduced tough new laws for migrant rescue charities, which drew criticism from the United Nations and others. The provisional death toll stands at 58, Manuela Curra, a provincial government official, told Reuters. She said 81 people survived, with 20 hospitalised including one person in intensive care. As emergency services…

Mar

12

2023

By The African Mirror

German police storm Karlsruhe pharmacy, arrest suspected hostage-taker

WORLD

TOM SIMS and RIHAM ALKOUSAA GERMAN police said it had arrested a male suspect after a special unit stormed a pharmacy in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe where multiple people had been held hostage for hours. A number of explosions were heard when officers in tactical gear entered the pharmacy in the city centre after first arriving on the scene at around 4:30 p.m. "A special unit entered the pharmacy at 21:10; a male suspect was arrested," Karlsruhe police said on Twitter. Officers restrained a man they had brought out of the pharmacy, covered his head in a blanket and…

Mar

12

2023

By The African Mirror

California man gets 25 years to life for 1996 murder of student Kristin Smart

WORLD

STEVE GORMAN MORE than a quarter-century after college freshman Kristin Smart vanished in what became one of California's most notorious unsolved crimes, the man ultimately convicted of killing her was sentenced on Friday to serve 25 years to life in prison. The prison term imposed on Smart's one-time classmate, Paul Flores, the maximum sentence under California's current penal system, was announced by the San Luis Obispo County district attorney in a statement. "Today, our criminal and victim justice system has finally delivered justice for Kristin Smart," District Attorney Dan Dow wrote. Flores, 46, was found guilty by a 12-member jury…