WORLD - The African Mirror

Jul

14

2022

Sri Lankan president flees to Maldives, protesters storm prime minister’s office

WORLD

UDITHA JAYASINGHE, DEVJYOT GHOSHAL and WARUNA CUDAH NIMAL KARUNATILAKE Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday, driven out after an economic collapse unleashed a popular uprising that appeared to end his family's near two-decade dominance of the country. His decision to leave his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in charge as acting president triggered more demonstrations, with protesters storming the premier's office demanding that he go too. Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo aboard an air force plane early on Wednesday, the air force said in a statement. Reuters…

Jul

14

2022

By The African Mirror

Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

WORLD

UKRAINE said an agreement to resume grain exports blocked by Russia appeared close as Turkey hosted four-way talks, raising hopes of an end to a standoff that has exposed millions to the risk of starvation. Several Ukrainian cities meanwhile reported heavy Russian shelling. ECONOMY/DIPLOMACY * Delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey met U.N. officials in Istanbul to discuss resuming exports of Ukraine grain from the Black Sea port of Odesa. Kyiv believed a deal was "two steps away", Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying, though other participants seemed less optimistic and Turkey's defence ministry gave no details of…

Jul

14

2022

By The African Mirror

The most coveted endorsement in race to be next British prime minister? Margaret Thatcher

WORLD

ANDREW MACASKILL MARGARET Thatcher has not been in power since 1990. In fact, she's been dead since 2013. But the former Conservative prime minister has been a regular presence in this week's contest to replace Boris Johnson as Britain's next leader. Thatcher, the most polarising prime minister in modern British history, was reviled and revered in equal measure as she crushed the unions and privatised large swathes of industry. Tough and outspoken, she led the Conservatives to three election victories, governing from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous period in office by a British premier in over 150 years. The…

Jul

13

2022

By The African Mirror

Ukrainian rockets hit Russian-held area as Kyiv readies southern counter-attack

WORLD

TOM BALMFORTH and PAVEL POLITYUK UKRAINE said it had carried out a long-range rocket strike against Russian forces and military equipment in southern Ukraine, territory it says it is planning to retake in a counter-offensive using hundreds of thousands of troops. The strike hit an ammunition dump in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and killed 52 Russians, Ukraine's military said. It came after Washington supplied Ukraine with advanced HIMARS mobile artillery systems which Kyiv says its forces are using with ever greater efficiency. A Russian-installed official in Kherson gave a different version of events. He said…

Jul

13

2022

By The African Mirror

Ex-finance minister Sunak launches bids to be UK PM as rival backs him

WORLD

ELIZABETH PIPER and KYLIE MACLELLAN EX-FINANCE minister Rishi Sunak, the favourite to become Britain's next prime minister, kicked off his campaign promising "honesty", in an increasingly testy and divisive battle to succeed Boris Johnson. An initial 11 candidates put their names forward to become the leader of the governing Conservative Party and Britain's next premier after Johnson was forced to say he would step down when support drained from him over a series of scandals. Only those who get nominations from 20 of their 358 Conservative colleagues in parliament on Tuesday will go forward to the first vote on Wednesday.…

Jul

13

2022

By The African Mirror

Seething Sri Lanka stops president’s brother flying out of the country

WORLD

UDITHA JAYASINGHE and DEVJYOT GHOSHAL SRI Lankan immigration officials stopped the president's brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa from flying out of the country on Tuesday, as anger mounted over the island's worst economic crisis in decades. It was not clear where Rajapaksa, who also holds U.S. citizenship, was trying to go. He resigned as finance minister in early April as street protests surged against shortages of fuel, food and other necessities, and quit his seat in parliament in June. His elder brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, will resign as president on Wednesday to make way for a unity government, after…

Jul

12

2022

By The African Mirror

Ukraine apartment block toll rises as Zelenskiy laments Russian firepower advantage

WORLD

ANNA VOITENKO and TOM BALMFORTH RESCUE workers pulled some survivors from an apartment block destroyed by a Russian missile strike that killed 30 people in eastern Ukraine, while Russian shelling killed at least three in the second-largest city of Kharkiv. The civilian deaths hammered home the human cost of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth month, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lamented Russia's "big advantage" in artillery despite Western offers of help. In the city of Chasiv Yar, rescuers made voice contact with two people in the wreckage of the five-storey apartment building demolished by a rocket on…

Jul

12

2022

By The African Mirror

Swedish political festival murder investigated as possible terrorist crime

WORLD

SWEDISH prosecutors said that the killing of a woman at a political festival last week would be investigated as a terrorist crime. A man was held after the woman was stabbed to death on the island of Gotland at a political festival being held ahead of a national election in September. Prosecutors said last week that he appeared to have acted alone and to have targeted her. The Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Monday that the man was now suspected of "terrorist crime through murder", and of preparing terrorist crime through the preparation of murder. The authority added that there…

Jul

12

2022

By The African Mirror

Foreign Secretary Truss enters race to become next British prime minister

WORLD

THE 11 candidates seeking to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister will learn the planned timetable to select the new British leader, as the contest becomes increasingly unpredictable, bitter and divisive. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss became the latest high-profile name to put herself forward, echoing the promises of her rivals to cut taxes and saying she would maintain a tough line against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Johnson was forced out last Thursday after his government imploded over a series of scandals. The contest is for the leadership of the ruling Conservative Party, with the winner then becoming prime minister.…

Jul

11

2022

By The African Mirror

Death and devastation as Russian rockets hit Ukraine apartment block

WORLD

ANNA VOITENKO and MAX HUNDER AT least 15 people were killed and two dozen more are feared trapped after Russian Uragan rockets hit a five-storey apartment block in Ukraine's Donetsk region, local officials said on Sunday as rescuers picked their way through rubble. Ukraine also reported clashes with Russian troops on fronts in the east and south, while Moscow said its forces struck Ukrainian army hangars storing U.S.-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery, near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region. Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strike on the apartment building took place on Saturday evening in the town of Chasiv…