WORLD - The African Mirror

Feb

13

2023

BBC chair made ‘errors of judgement’ over Boris Johnson loan, lawmakers say

WORLD

BBC Chair Richard Sharp made "significant errors of judgement" in failing to declare his involvement in facilitating a loan for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson shortly before he was appointed to the role, a committee of lawmakers said. Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker, has said he introduced Sam Blyth, an old friend who wanted to help Johnson, to a government official in late 2020, but his involvement went no further. Blyth, who is a distant cousin of Johnson, went on to lend the former prime minister up to 800,000 pounds ($964,640), a media report has said. Sharp has said and…

Mar

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin’s cellist friend moved millions through Swiss bank accounts – prosecutor

WORLD

JOHN REVILL and OLIVER HIRT A concert cellist linked to Vladimir Putin moved millions of francs through Swiss bank accounts without proper checks, Swiss prosecutors said in a trial of four bankers accused of helping him. Prosecutors alleged that Sergey Roldugin, a close friend of the Russian president, deposited millions of francs in Swiss bank accounts between 2014 and 2016. The four bankers - three Russians who worked in Zurich and one Swiss - appeared at Zurich District Court on Wednesday and denied charges of lacking diligence in financial transactions. They cannot be identified under Swiss reporting restrictions. The hearing…

Mar

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Malaysia’s ex-PM Muhyiddin summoned to anti-graft agency

WORLD

FORMER Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was summoned to appear at the country's anti-graft agency, following allegations of abuse in stimulus programmes launched under his premiership. In a Facebook post, Muhyiddin, who was prime minister for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, said he has been called into the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at 11 am on Thursday. He did not say why. He also denied a news report that he was arrested on Wednesday. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last year ordered a review of government projects worth billions of dollars approved by Muhyiddin, including COVID-19 relief…

Mar

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Belgium says attack to Brussels metro today is ‘unlikely’

WORLD

MARINE STRAUSS BELGIUM'S crisis centre said that an attack on the Brussels metro was unlikely after EU institutions and international embassies warned their employees of bomb threats in central Brussels. Federal body OCAM, which analyses risks to the country, added in a statement that police had carried out a security sweep of the metro as a precaution. While the Brussels prosecutor opened an investigation, the general threat level for Belgium remained at 2 on a scale of 4. Belgian daily Le Soir said the European Commission informed the police on Tuesday afternoon of an email written in Russian and referring…

Feb

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Rescuers toil on in rubble of Turkey and Syria, survivors ever harder to find

WORLD

MAYA GEBEILY, ALI KUCUKGOCMEN and KHALIL ASHAWI RESCUERS pulled some survivors from the rubble, five days after Turkey's most devastating earthquake since 1939 that also killed thousands of people in Syria, but hopes were fading for many more to be found. In Kahramanmaras, close to the epicentre in south Turkey, there were fewer visible rescue operations amid the smashed concrete mounds of fallen houses and apartment blocks where trucks rumbled through streets shipping out debris. The death toll kept growing - exceeding 25,300 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, facing questions over earthquake planning and response…

Feb

11

2023

By The African Mirror

U.S. shoots down unidentified object flying above Alaska

WORLD

ANDREA SHALAL, STEVE HOLLAND and PHIL STEWART A U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object flying high over Alaska, U.S. officials said, less than a week after the military brought down a Chinese balloon that had flown across the United States. A Sidewinder missile downed the latest craft, which was about the size of a small car, said U.S. Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson. "We don't know who owns this object," said White House spokesperson John Kirby, adding that it was unclear where it began its flight. President Joe Biden ordered the shootdown, which was…

Feb

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Nicaraguan Catholic bishop sentenced to decades in prison, citizenship stripped

WORLD

ISMAEL LOPEZ A Nicaraguan court sentenced Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez to more than 26 years in prison, a day after the cleric and critic of President Daniel Ortega declined to be expelled to the United States as part of a prisoner release. Alvarez, bishop of the Matagalpa diocese, was convicted of treason, undermining national integrity and spreading false news, among other charges. During Friday's court hearing, it was also announced that he would be fined and stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship. Originally scheduled for late March, the sentencing of the bishop, widely known by the Catholic honorific monsignor, was sped…

Feb

11

2023

By KEMAL ASLAN, MAYA GEBEILY and KHALIL ASHAWI

Children plucked from ruins days after earthquake, but death tolls tops 22,000

WORLD

RESCUE crews saved a 10-day-old baby and his mother trapped in the ruins of a building in Turkey and dug several people from other sites as President Tayyip Erdogan said authorities should have reacted faster to this week's huge earthquake. The confirmed death toll from the deadliest quake in the region in two decades stood at more than 22,000 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria four days after it hit. Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless and short of food in bleak winter conditions and leaders in both countries have faced questions about their response. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made…

Mar

08

2023

By The African Mirror

Responding to Chinese ‘joke’, Russia says US is ‘invisible hand’ in Ukraine

WORLD

RUSSIA said that the United States was driving the war in Ukraine, saying China's foreign minister was joking when he said an "invisible hand" was to blame. In effusive comments on China's stature in world affairs, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Moscow was paying close attention to a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine that Beijing published last month. He was speaking after Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said the Ukraine crisis seemed to be driven by an invisible hand, pushing to extend and escalate the conflict and using it "to serve certain geopolitical agendas". "Here we can probably disagree with…

Mar

08

2023

By The African Mirror

Brazil investigates undeclared $3 million jewellery gift to Bolsonaro

WORLD

BRAZILLIAN Justice Minister Flavio Dino ordered police to investigate an alleged attempt to bring in undeclared jewellery, a gift from Saudi Arabia valued at $3.2 million, to former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The diamond necklace, ring, watch and earrings gifted to Bolsonaro and former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro by the Saudi government were seized by customs officials at Sao Paulo's international airport in October 2021. The luxury jewellery, made by Chopard of Switzerland, was found in the backpack of a government aide who had travelled to Riyadh with then Energy Minister Admiral Bento Albuquerque. The Saudi embassy did not reply to a…