WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

31

2022

Analysis: Chinese airlines primed to take advantage of border opening

WORLD

JAMIE FREED and SOPHIE YU CHINESE airlines will be the early winners of the country's international reopening, analysts say, having kept most widebody planes and staff ready while foreign carriers struggle with capacity constraints after previous border openings. Less than one-fifth of China's widebody fleet of about 500 planes is in storage, according to a McKinsey analysis using Cirium data, with most planes active but flying fewer hours than usual on domestic routes and limited international and cargo flights. Reuters Graphics Chinese airlines also retained most pilots and cabin crew during the pandemic, and airports kept about 90% of their…

Dec

29

2022

By The African Mirror

Russia intensifies attacks on liberated Kherson, eastern Ukraine

WORLD

DAN PELESCHUK and HERBERT VILLARRAGA RUSSIAN forces stepped up mortar and artillery attacks on the recently liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, Ukraine's military said, while also exerting constant pressure along front lines in eastern regions of the country. Russia fired 33 missiles from multiple rocket launchers at civilian targets in Kherson in the 24 hours to early Wednesday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its morning report. Russia denies targeting civilians. Heavy fighting also persisted around the Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut, now largely in ruins, in the eastern province of Donetsk, and to…

Dec

29

2022

By The African Mirror

Chinese hospitals, funeral homes ‘extremely busy’ as COVID spreads unchecked

WORLD

MARTIN QUIN POLLARD CHINESE hospitals and funeral homes were under intense pressure as a surging COVID-19 wave drained resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules for Chinese visitors. In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year. The lifting of restrictions, which came after widespread protests against them, means COVID is spreading largely unchecked and likely infecting millions of people a day, according to some…

Dec

29

2022

By The African Mirror

‘Coup-mongering’ Bolsonarista’s battle cry reveals a radicalized Brazil

WORLD

GABRIEL STARGARDTER NEARLY two weeks after Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil's most fraught election in a generation, Milton Baldin arrived in the capital Brasilia to try to overturn the result. A small business owner from the deep interior of Brazil, Baldin, 55, joined thousands of hardcore Bolsonaro supporters who had set up an encampment outside army headquarters, from where they were urging the military to stage a coup. On November 26, Baldin took to the camp's stage and made a call to gun owners across Brazil, a group that has surged to nearly a…

Dec

27

2022

By The African Mirror

Ukrainian soldier reunites with family over Christmas call from east

WORLD

VITALII HNIDYI and HERBERT VILLARRAGA LEONID Onyshchenko, a gruff-voiced 63-year-old Ukrainian soldier with a thick moustache, has spent many a Christmas away from his family, but hearing his little grandson Petro's voice over the phone from far away is as hard as ever. Onyshchchenko joined the territorial defence force after Moscow's February invasion and has volunteered to support Ukraine's army in the fight against Russian-backed separatists in the country's east since 2014. While he is stationed in the Donetsk region which has seen some of the heaviest battles, his daughter Maryna and her husband Vitalii were celebrating Christmas at home…

Dec

27

2022

By The African Mirror

Ukraine to boost diplomacy in Africa, other regions

WORLD

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Kyiv would intensify diplomatic efforts in Africa, Latin America and Asia to take advantage of "colossal economic potential" and other international benefits. African countries have had varying responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as some countries like South Africa have close trade and security ties with Russia they do not want to jeopardise. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said diplomats would focus on countries where Ukraine has lesser influence, particularly in the Global South. "There is the colossal economic potential and considerable diplomatic avenues," he said. He singled out votes in support of…

Dec

27

2022

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe’s night markets cushion crisis-weary citizens from inflation

WORLD

NYASHA CHINGONO AS dusk descends on the dimly lit central business district of Zimbabwe's capital Harare, a steady stream of home-bound workers flows into a sea of informal traders hawking a mixture of essential foods, clothes and electronic devices. The crowds of night-time street traders have expanded as the southern African country's economic crisis, marked by high inflation and unemployment, pushes people to earn extra cash or look for bargains to make their money go further. Street trading is illegal in Zimbabwe and the traders hope by setting up under cover of darkness they can avoid being spotted by police.…

Dec

28

2022

By The African Mirror

Iran reroutes plane carrying soccer star’s wife, blames UK over unrest

WORLD

IRANIAN authorities rerouted a flight bound for Dubai and prevented the wife and daughter of former national soccer team captain Ali Daei, who has supported anti-government protests, from leaving the country, state media reported. Amid a concerted clampdown, Tehran also said the arrests in Iran of citizens linked to Britain reflected its "destructive role" in the more than three months of unrest. People from across Iran's social spectrum have joined one of the most sustained challenges to the country's ruling theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, relying heavily on social media platforms - which the government is trying to shut…

Dec

24

2022

By The African Mirror

Clashes erupt in Paris after gunman kills three at Kurdish cultural center

WORLD

JULIETTE JABKHIRO A gunman shot dead three people at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby Kurdish cafe in central Paris, prompting scores of protesters to take to nearby streets. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspected assailant had clearly wanted to target foreigners, but there was no evidence yet that he had picked out Kurds specifically. Multiple gunshots were fired on Rue d'Enghien at about midday, sowing panic on a street lined with small shops and cafes in the French capital's busy 10th district. All three of the deceased victims were Kurdish, a lawyer for the Kurdish cultural centre…

Dec

28

2022

By The African Mirror

Fighting rages in east Ukraine as Russia reaffirms demands for ending war

WORLD

DAN PELESCHUK and HERBERT VILLARRAGA RUSSIAN forces shelled and bombed towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine, a day after Russia's foreign minister said Kyiv must accept Moscow's demands for ending the war or else suffer defeat on the battlefield. Those demands include Ukraine recognising Russia's conquest of a fifth of its territory. Kyiv, armed and supported by the United States and its NATO allies, has vowed to recover all occupied territory and to drive out all Russian soldiers. Britain's defence ministry said in its latest update of the situation in Ukraine that fighting was particularly intense around the…