WORLD - The African Mirror

Feb

15

2023

India tax officers search BBC offices weeks after critical Modi documentary

WORLD

KRISHNA N. DAS and KYLIE MACLELLAN INDIAN tax officers searched the BBC's bureaus in New Delhi and Mumbai, the British broadcaster said, weeks after the government banned as propaganda a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in the 2002 riots. The documentary focused on the Hindu nationalist politician's leadership as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat during the riots in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, though activists put the toll at more than twice that number. The government last month dismissed the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", as propaganda and blocked its streaming…

Mar

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Xi clinches third term as China’s president amid host of challenge

WORLD

YEW LUN TIAN XI Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third term as president of China on Friday during a parliamentary session in which he tightened his control of the world's second-largest economy as it emerges from a COVID slump and diplomatic challenges mount. Nearly 3,000 members of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), voted unanimously in the Great Hall of the People for the 69-year-old Xi in an election in which there was no other candidate. Xi has taken China on a more authoritarian path since assuming control a decade ago, and he extends his tenure for another five-year term amid…

Mar

10

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia says mass strikes were ‘retaliation’ for attack it blamed on Ukraine

WORLD

RUSSIA said that its forces had carried out a "massive retaliatory strike" on Ukrainian infrastructure after what it called a terrorist attack in Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, last week. Ukraine said at least six civilians were killed in the first big volley of Russian missile strikes since mid-February, The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that it hit Ukrainian defence companies and other "military infrastructure" with a range of weapons including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. It said it had destroyed targets including drone bases and sites producing ammunition, and disrupted the transport of foreign weapon supplies across Ukraine by rail.…

Mar

10

2023

By The African Mirror

Malaysia’s ex-PM Muhyiddin to face multiple graft charges

WORLD

MALAYSIA'S anti-corruption agency said it would charge former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin with multiple counts of corruption, a move that he called political persecution. The charges come just three months after Muhyiddin lost a closely fought general election to Anwar Ibrahim, and are likely to increase political tensions in Malaysia, which has seen four prime ministers since 2018. Muhyuddin will be charged under laws related to abuse of power and money laundering in a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday over an economic recovery project launched by his government, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said. Muhyiddin denied accusations of wrongdoing and…

Feb

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Young girl rescued from rubble in Turkey 178 hours after quake

WORLD

A young girl named Miray was rescued from the rubble of an apartment block in the southern Turkish city of Adiyaman, 178 hours after a devastating earthquake shook the region, a minister and media reports said. Broadcaster CNN Turk said the girl was six years old and that rescuers were also close to reaching her older sister. Turkish Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoglu had earlier said she was four years old. Thomson Reuters Foundation

Mar

10

2023

By The African Mirror

Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet: royal titles for Prince Harry’s kids

WORLD

THE children of Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will be known as prince and princess, with the couple publicly using their daughter's royal title for the first time to announce she had been christened. Under royal rules, the monarch's grandchildren can become princes or princesses of the realm, meaning that Harry's children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, were eligible to use the titles since his father became king last September. The interest in Harry's children's titles comes after his relationship with his father, King Charles, hit rock bottom following his tell-all memoir earlier this year, in which he made accusations…

Feb

14

2023

By The African Mirror

U.S. shoots down mysterious object near Canadian border

WORLD

PHIL STEWART and IDREES ALI U.S. military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, the latest incident since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon put North American security forces on high alert. It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a U.S. missile in a little more than a week. China's foreign ministry said it had no information on the latest three flying objects shot down by the United States. U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters that the military has…

Feb

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia’s Wagner militia suggests deserter was – and wasn’t – executed

WORLD

A video appearing to show the execution using a sledgehammer of a Russian mercenary who fled the Wagner group while fighting in Ukraine was shared on social media, although Wagner's founder declined to say whether the apparent victim had been killed or not. The Wagner mercenary group, which operates outside the main Russian military command in Ukraine and promotes itself as Russia's most ruthless and effective fighting force, has adopted the sledgehammer as its symbol after reportedly using it to execute a defector from its ranks last year. In the footage, captioned "Video from the court for treason", a man…

Feb

13

2023

By The African Mirror

Earthquake death toll tops 33,000, Turkey starts legal action

WORLD

ALI KUCUKGOCMEN and HENRIETTE CHACAR RESCUERS pulled more survivors from the rubble, nearly a week after one of the worst earthquakes to hit Turkey and Syria, as Turkish authorities sought to maintain order across the disaster zone and began legal action over building collapses. With chances of finding more survivors growing more remote, the toll in both countries from Monday's earthquake and major aftershocks rose above 33,000 and looked set to keep growing. It was the deadliest quake in Turkey since 1939. Displaced residents in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, near the epicentre, said they had set up tents as…

Feb

13

2023

By The African Mirror

Israel’s Netanyahu pledges more action against Palestinian attackers

WORLD

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a stronger Israeli response in dealing with a spate of Palestinian attacks in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, as pressure swelled within his right-wing government to employ more severe tactics. His remarks came two days after a car-ramming attack in the Jerusalem outskirts killed three Israelis and two weeks after a lone Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue, adding to rising anxiety in Israel over security. Tensions are also high in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of arrests in recent months during near-daily raids that have seen…