WORLD - The African Mirror

Mar

04

2023

Biden had skin cancer removed, doctor says no more treatment needed

WORLD

KANISHKA SINGH and STEVE HOLLAND U.S. President Joe Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest in February that was a basal cell carcinoma - a common form of skin cancer - and no further treatment is needed, White House physician Kevin O'Connor said. All cancerous tissue was successfully removed, the White House physician said in a letter, adding that Biden will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing healthcare but the site had healed. Last month, doctors declared Biden, 80, healthy and "fit for duty" after a physical examination. They said at the time that a small lesion…

Mar

03

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin says Ukrainian group attacks border region, Kyiv denies Russian ‘provocation’

WORLD

ANDREW OSBORN and MARK TREVELYAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin said Russia had been hit by a "terrorist attack" in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians. Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false "provocation", but also appeared to imply some form of operation had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans. Amid reports of shelling and sporadic sabotage, Russia's border regions have become increasingly volatile since Moscow invaded Ukraine a year ago in what it called a "special military operation". Putin, in a televised address, accused…

Mar

03

2023

By The African Mirror

Anger, sorrow in Greece as train crash death toll rises

WORLD

LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS and ALEXANDROS AVRAMIDIS ANGER and sorrow grew in Greece over a devastating train crash that killed dozens of passengers along with crew members near the central city of Larissa in the country's worst rail disaster. Carriages were thrown off the tracks, crushed and engulfed in flames when a high-speed passenger train with more than 350 people on board collided head-on with a freight train on Tuesday. They were on the same track. As more bodies were recovered on Thursday, the number of dead rose to 57, among them university students returning home after a long holiday weekend. Scores were injured.…

Mar

03

2023

By The African Mirror

US arrests man with explosive device in luggage at Pennsylvania airport

WORLD

KANISHKA SINGH A man was arrested and charged with attempting to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft after his bag triggered an alarm at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, U.S. authorities said. The FBI said that Mark Muffley, 40, from Lansford, Pennsylvania, checked a suitcase on Monday for a flight that was heading to Sanford, Florida. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said one of its official located a suspicious item inside the suitcase that appeared to be a live explosive device. "FBI and local law enforcement bomb technicians determined that the item was indeed a…

Feb

08

2023

By ECE TOKSABAY and HUSEYIN HAYATSEVER

Turkish leader declares emergency as Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 5,200

WORLD

TURKISH President Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces devastated by two earthquakes that killed more than 5,200 people and left a trail of destruction across a wide area of southern Turkey and neighbouring Syria. A day after the quakes hit, rescuers working in harsh conditions struggled to dig people out of the rubble of collapsed buildings. As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One United Nations official said it was feared thousands of children may have been killed. And residents in several damaged Turkish cities voiced anger and despair…

Feb

08

2023

By GLORIA DICKIE

Explainer: Why was the Turkey-Syria earthquake so bad?

WORLD

THE magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria is likely to be one of the deadliest this decade, seismologists said, with a more than 100 km (62 miles) rupture between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. Here is what scientists said happened beneath the earth's surface and what to expect in the aftermath: WHERE DID THE EARTHQUAKE ORIGINATE? The epicentre was about 26 km east of the Turkish city of Nurdagi at a depth of about 18 km on the East Anatolian Fault. The quake radiated towards the northeast, bringing devastation to central Turkey and Syria. During the 20th century, the…

Feb

08

2023

By DAVID SHEPARDSON, JEFF MASON and YEW LUN TIAN

U.S. seeks Chinese balloon remnants, says approach to China will stay calm

WORLD

THE U.S. Coast Guard imposed a temporary security zone in waters off South Carolina during the military's search for debris from a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down by a U.S. fighter jet, and the White House said it would keep a calm approach to relations with Beijing. President Joe Biden told reporters it was always his view that the balloon needed to be shot down and brushed off a question about whether the incident would weaken U.S-China relations. "No. We made it clear to China what we're going to do," he said. "They understand our position. We're not going to back…

Feb

07

2023

By The African Mirror

Huge earthquake kills 2,700 in Turkey and Syria, bad weather worsens plight

WORLD

MERT OZKAN and KINDA MAKIEH A huge earthquake killed more than 2,700 people across a swathe of Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, with freezing winter weather adding to the plight of the thousands left injured or homeless and hampering efforts to find survivors. The magnitude 7.8 quake brought down whole apartment blocks in Turkish cities and piled more devastation on millions of Syrians displaced by years of war. It struck before sunrise in harsh weather and was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake. "It was like the apocalypse," said Abdul Salam al-Mahmoud, a Syrian in the northern town…

Feb

07

2023

By The African Mirror

China urges restraint as U.S. military searches for balloon remnants

WORLD

YEW LUN TIAN and DAVID LAWDER BEIJING urged Washington to show restraint as the U.S. military searched for remnants of what it believes was a Chinese surveillance balloon it shot down over the Atlantic but which China says was a civilian craft that accidentally drifted astray. The balloon drama has further strained tense relations, prompting Washington to cancel a planned visit over the weekend to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. A U.S. fighter jet shot down the balloon off South Carolina on Saturday after the military had tracked its path across the continental United States, a response China…

Feb

07

2023

By The African Mirror

Workers stage largest strike in history of Britain’s health service

WORLD

SACHIN RAVIKUMAR and NATALIE THOMAS TENS of thousands of nurses and ambulance service staff walked off the job in a pay dispute, putting further strain on Britain's state-run National Health Service with their largest-ever strike. Nurses and ambulance workers have been striking separately since late last year but Monday's walkout involving both, largely in England, is the biggest in the 75-year history of the NHS. Nurses will also walk out on Tuesday, ambulance staff on Friday, and physiotherapists Thursday, making the week probably the most disruptive in NHS history, its Medical Director Stephen Powis said. Health workers are demanding a…