WORLD - The African Mirror

Nov

08

2022

No-boom, no-bust economy dogs Democrats in U.S. midterm elections

WORLD

HOWARD SCHNEIDER HOUSEHOLD cash is near record levels in the United States, and consumers are using it to pack restaurants and aeroplanes and buy new cars. Jobs are there for the taking. Net worth is 30% higher than before the pandemic, more so for those in the bottom half. And people have soured on President Joe Biden despite all of that. Midterm elections on Tuesday could hamstring the Democratic president with a Republican-controlled Congress, and opinion polls and public sentiment surveys suggest that a gloomy mood around economic issues is pushing voters in that direction. It is a fact of…

Oct

20

2022

By The African Mirror

Putin declares martial law in occupied parts of Ukraine, boosts Russia’s war footing

WORLD

MARK TREVELYAN RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said he was introducing martial law in four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that Moscow claimed last month as its own territory but is struggling to defend from Ukrainian advances. In televised remarks to members of his Security Council, Putin boosted the powers of Russia's regional governors and ordered the creation of a special coordinating council under Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to step up the faltering war effort. He said the "entire system of state administration", not only the specialised security agencies, must be geared to supporting what Russia calls its "special military operation". The…

Oct

20

2022

By The African Mirror

British PM Truss: ‘I am a fighter, not a quitter’

WORLD

BRITISH Prime Minister Liz Truss defied calls from opposition lawmakers to resign after having U-turned on her proposed economic plans, saying she was a "fighter" and not a "quitter". Responding to a question from opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in parliament on why she should remain in power, Truss said: "I am a fighter and not a quitter." "I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability." Thomson Reuters Foundation

Nov

07

2022

By The African Mirror

COP27 kicks off with deal to discuss climate compensation

WORLD

GLORIA DICKIE and KATE ABNETT DELEGATES from nearly 200 countries kicked off the U.N. climate summit in Egypt with an agreement to discuss compensating poor nations for mounting damage linked to global warming, placing the controversial topic on the agenda for the first time since climate talks began decades ago. The agreement set a constructive tone for the COP27 summit in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where governments hope to keep alive a goal to avert the worst impacts of planetary warming even as a slew of crises - from a land war in Europe to rampant inflation…

Oct

20

2022

By The African Mirror

US basketball star Griner, facing Russian jail term, sends thanks for support

WORLD

AMERICAN WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner, whose appeal against a Russian jail term is due to be heard next week, sent her supporters a message of thanks on Tuesday, her 32nd birthday. The two-time Olympic gold medallist was arrested on February 17 at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage and was sentenced on August 4 to nine years in a penal colony on drug smuggling charges. Her appeal is due to be heard next Tuesday. "All the support and love are definitely helping me," Griner was quoted as saying by her lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander…

Nov

07

2022

By The African Mirror

‘Kill them’: Arizona election workers face midterm threats

WORLD

LINDA SO, PETER EISLER and JASON SZEP ELECTION workers in Arizona’s most fiercely contested county faced more than 100 violent threats and intimidating communications in the run-up to Tuesday’s midterms, most of them based on election conspiracy theories promoted by former President Donald Trump and his allies. The harassment in Maricopa County included menacing emails and social media posts, threats to circulate personal information online and photographing employees arriving at work, according to nearly 1,600 pages of documents obtained by Reuters through a public records request for security records and correspondence related to threats and harassments against election workers. Between…

Nov

07

2022

By The African Mirror

Iran lawmakers demand severe punishment for ‘rioters’ as protests rage

WORLD

HARDLINE Iranian lawmakers urged the judiciary to "deal decisively" with perpetrators of unrest, as the Islamic Republic struggles to suppress the biggest show of dissent in years. Widespread anti-government demonstrations erupted in September after the death of young Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly flouting the strict dress code imposed on women. "We ask the judiciary to deal decisively with the perpetrators of these crimes and with all those who assisted in the crimes and provoked rioters," 227 lawmakers from Iran's 290-seat, hardline-led parliament said in a statement, according to state media.…

Nov

06

2022

By The African Mirror

From Russia with cash: Georgia booms as Russians flee Putin’s war

WORLD

JAKE CORDELL AS war chokes Europe, a small nation wedged beneath Russia is enjoying an unexpected economic boom. Georgia is on course to become one of the world's fastest-growing economies this year following a dramatic influx of more than 100,000 Russians since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's mobilisation drive to drum up war recruits. As much of the globe teeters towards recession, this country of 3.7 million people bordering the Black Sea is expected to record a vigorous 10% growth in economic output for 2022 amid a consumption-led boom, according to international institutions. That would see the modest…

Nov

06

2022

By The African Mirror

Pope, in Bahrain, condemns rearmament pushing world to ‘the brink’

WORLD

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE Francis appealed to religious leaders to help bring the world back from "the brink of a delicate precipice" and oppose a new race to rearm that he said was redesigning Cold War-era spheres of influence. Francis spoke on his first full day in Bahrain as he closed a forum on East-West dialogue promoted by the king of the Gulf country where, unlike Saudi Arabia, Christians are allowed to practice their faith publicly in churches. The visit continues the pope's policy of improving ties with the Islamic world following a historic visit to Abu Dhabi in 2019, the…

Nov

06

2022

By The African Mirror

Biden says Twitter spews lies across the world

WORLD

U.S. President Joe Biden said that Elon Musk had purchased a social media platform in Twitter that spews lies across the world. Twitter laid off half its workforce on Friday but said cuts were smaller in the team responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation, as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation. Biden said at a fundraiser: "And now what are we all worried about: Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends - that spews lies all across the world... There’s no editors anymore in America. There’s no editors. How do we expect kids to be…