WORLD - The African Mirror

Jul

04

2026

Vietnam’s population hit the 100 million milestone. Where’s it headed?

WORLD

THE population of Vietnam reached the 100 million mark in 2023. Fifty years ago, in 1976, when it was reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the country had fewer than half as many inhabitants (46 million). A hundred years ago, it had only one sixth as many (16 million). When we compare the current demographics to those of other Asian countries, we can identify patterns specific to Vietnam. Its population is likely to continue growing and could reach a peak of 110 million by the mid-21st century, according to the United Nations’ medium population projections. These projections anticipate that…

Jul

03

2026

By MARTA KHOMYN

Trump has made more than $1 billion from crypto in a year. How?

WORLD

US President Donald Trump once called cryptocurrency a “scam”. It’s now a major moneymaker for him: his just-released annual financial disclosure shows he made more than US$1 billion from cryptocurrency last year. This news has raised the ire of Trump’s critics. Juliana Stratton, the Illinois lieutenant governor and a Democratic Senate candidate, accused Trump of using his public office “to make billions while American families struggle to afford their basic needs. His infinite greed is disgusting.” The White House denied that Trump or his family has engaged in conflicts of interest. Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said, “All actions by…

Jul

03

2026

By IRINA KUZNETSOVA

Ukrainian families have been torn apart by the war – reunifying them is no easy task

WORLD

RUSSIA’S war in Ukraine has caused the largest forced population displacement crisis in Europe since the Second World War. As of 2026, roughly 4.4 million refugees from Ukraine hold temporary protection status in the EU. Around 4.6 million more are internally displaced. Hundreds of thousands of families in the country have been separated and many relatives have not seen each other for years. Men subject to conscription cannot leave Ukraine, while older adults and people with mobility issues face difficulties evacuating. Others have simply chosen to stay in their homes. Travelling around Ukraine is unsafe and trips abroad are expensive…

Jul

02

2026

By The African Mirror

Venezuela earthquake aftermath: ‘breakdown of basic services’, disease risks and health workers missing – UN agencies

WORLD

AS search and rescue operations continue in Venezuela, thousands of displaced people are struggling to find shelter while infectious diseases threaten to spread, according to UN humanitarians. Six days after powerful earthquakes struck central-northern Venezuela, Carlotta Wolf, a spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva that in La Guaira, the hardest-hit state, “food shortages are widespread”. “Basic services have broken down and connectivity has been largely severed,” she said, adding that community tensions are rising as access to assistance remains constrained. Wolf explained that in the aftermath of a massive disaster such as this one, “there…

Jul

02

2026

By MORGAN MARIETTA

In rebuke to Trump, Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, emphasizing the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence

WORLD

THE Supreme Court on June 30, 2026, declared that universal birthright citizenship is protected by the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, meaning that nearly all babies born in the United States automatically become American citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. The ruling rejects President Donald Trump’s executive order, signed the first day of his second administration, which sought to end birthright citizenship for the children of parents present in the country illegally and for tourists visiting only temporarily. The high court ruled that “under the Constitution, they are citizens by birth.” A close decision…

Jul

02

2026

By CHRISTOPHER J. WATTERSON

International efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program have failed. Here’s what comes next

WORLD

THE dust has now settled on the ostentatious summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang earlier this month. But perhaps the biggest takeaway was what was left unsaid. Chinese readouts from the summit conspicuously excluded any mention of denuclearisation in North Korea (meaning North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons). This signals a shift away from a decades-long policy goal of Beijing. It’s the latest in a long list of setbacks for international efforts to denuclearise North Korea, and my soon-to-be-published research shows experts are widely concerned about the depth of the…

Jul

01

2026

By AMY MCAULIFFE

Israel’s ‘campaign between the wars’: How strategy to contain Iran and its allies risks further straining ties with US

WORLD

A lot hangs on whether the United States can compel Israel to cease operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. After all, an end to the Israeli military offensive was a key provision of the broad U.S.-Iran agreement setting out a road map to end the Iran war. And even though Israel did not sign the deal, policymakers in Washington will continue to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abide by the truce. Yet there’s a larger and more vexing issue for the Trump administration and its Arab allies in the Middle East that has received little attention: Israel’s long-standing “campaign…

Jul

01

2026

By The African Mirror

Online hate, real consequences: Maryland man jailed 15 months for threats against Black and Muslim groups

WORLD

A U.S. federal judge has sentenced Maryland resident Raymond Pumphrey to 15 months in prison for posting violent, racially and religiously charged threats online targeting Black and Muslim communities. U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson ordered the 47-year-old to serve 15 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release, after Pumphrey pleaded guilty to making threatening posts on YouTube and other social platforms, according to a DOJ statement. Prosecutors said his messages advocated violence against Black people in multiple large U.S. cities and included threats to kill politicians and members of their families. “Those who use the internet to…

Jul

01

2026

By RAFFAELE DE RISI

Expert Q&A: Why did so many buildings collapse in Venezuela’s double earthquake?

WORLD

MORE than 500 people have been killed in Venezuela following powerful back-to-back earthquakes, with many more injured. Rescue teams have also been trying to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings. Here, Raffaele De Risi, associate professor in civil engineering at the University of Bristol, answered our questions about the role building design may have played in the disaster. Venezuela is in an active seismic zone. Why do you think there have been so many devastating building collapses? Indeed, Venezuela is a seismically active country. Hazard levels can easily be checked on several websites, such as the Global Seismic Hazard Map…

Jun

30

2026

By ERICA HELLERSTEIN and EL TÍMPANO

Preparing for the unthinkable

WORLD

IN 2024, Guadalupe Maribel Aguilar Martín became a U.S. citizen, nearly two decades after fleeing an abusive ex-boyfriend in her native Guatemala. The 42-year-old Maya-Mam immigrant, originally from Santiago Chimaltenango, a small town in the country’s western highlands, recalled how she felt the moment she learned her citizenship had been granted, years after enduring severe domestic violence in Guatemala and a long, uncertain path to remain in the United States. “Very happy and proud,” she said in Spanish, “because not everyone has the opportunity to get papers here.” These days, however, that pride is laced with fear. Over the past…