WORLD - The African Mirror

Jan

12

2021

At least 25 domestic terrorism cases opened as result of assault on Capitol – lawmaker

WORLD

ANDREA SHALAL and DAVID SHEPARDSON AT least 25 domestic terrorism cases have been opened as a result of the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has told a Democratic lawmaker. The Justice Department also said two more men were arrested in connection with the rioting on Wednesday. Representative Jason Crow, a member of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said McCarthy told him the Pentagon was aware of "further possible threats posed by would-be terrorists" in the days up to and including the inauguration of Democratic President-elect Joe…

Jul

22

2022

By The African Mirror

BBC agrees ‘substantial damages’ to ex-royal nanny over Diana interview

WORLD

THE BBC said it had agreed to pay "substantial damages" to the former nanny of Britain's Prince William and Prince Harry over the broadcaster's now much-criticised 1995 interview with their mother, the late Princess Diana. The payout to Tiggy Legge-Bourke, now Alexandra Pettifer, was over false claims made about her by BBC journalist Martin Bashir in order to obtain the interview, in which Diana admitted to an affair and disclosed intimate details of her failed marriage to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles. Last year, a report concluded Bashir had tricked Diana's brother into arranging a meeting with her…

Jan

12

2021

By The African Mirror

In domestic abuse crackdown, UK law targets ‘horrendous’ strangling attacks

WORLD

EMMA BATHA DOMESTIC abusers who attack their partners by throttling them could face up to seven years in jail under a new law to make non-fatal strangulation a specific offence in England and Wales, the government confirmed on Monday. The law will close a loophole that often lets abusers escape justice for choking attacks - which can cause brain damage, strokes and other serious injury - and comes amid fears domestic violence could surge during Britain's third COVID-19 lockdown. "I've heard too many terrible stories of women being throttled only to see their abusers get off with a slap on…

Jan

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Indonesia names first plane crash victim, steps up ‘black box’ hunt

WORLD

AGUSTINUS BEO DA COSTA and YUDDY CAHYA BUDIMAN INDONESIA has identified a victim from the Sriwijaya Air crash as emergency crews prepared to send in a remotely operated underwater vehicle to search for the jet's cockpit recorders in the sea. The Boeing 737-500 plane with 62 people on board plunged into the Java Sea two days ago, minutes after taking off from Jakarta's main airport. Divers scoured the sea bed on Monday, retrieving human remains, personal possessions and pieces of plane wreckage until fading light ended the search, emergency officials said. Okky Bisma, a flight attendant on the plane, was identified…

Jan

11

2021

By The African Mirror

OPERATION DUMP TRUMP

WORLD

SUSAN CORNWELL, PATRICIA ZENGERLE and DIONA CHIACU U.S. House of Representatives Democrats plan a vote today to urge Vice President Mike Pence to take steps to remove President Donald Trump from office after his supporters' deadly storming of the Capitol, before attempting to impeach him again. The plan, spelled out by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a letter to members on Sunday evening, came as Washington struggles to decide what to do about the Republican president in the 10 days before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20. Officials have opened at least 25 domestic terrorism investigations…

Jul

21

2022

By The African Mirror

Russia declares expanded war goals beyond Ukraine’s Donbas

WORLD

RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow's military "tasks" in Ukraine now went beyond the eastern Donbas region, in the clearest acknowledgement yet that it has expanded its war goals. In an interview with state media nearly five months after Russia's invasion, the foreign minister also said peace talks made no sense at the moment because Western governments were leaning on Ukraine to fight rather than negotiate. Ukraine's foreign minister retorted that Russia wanted "blood, not talks". When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, President Vladimir Putin explicitly denied any intention of occupying his neighbour. He said then that…

Jul

21

2022

By The African Mirror

Race to become UK PM down to final two: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss

WORLD

FORMER finance minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss will battle it out to become Britain's next prime minister after they won the final lawmaker vote, setting up the last stage of the contest to replace Boris Johnson. Sunak has led in all rounds of the voting among Conservative lawmakers, but it is Truss who seems to have gained the advantage so far among the 200,000 members of the governing party who will ultimately choose the winner. The final stretch of a weeks-long contest will pit Sunak, a former Goldman Sachs banker who has raised the tax burden towards…

Jul

21

2022

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE: China seeks to stop UN rights chief from releasing Xinjiang report – document

WORLD

EMMA FARGE CHINA is asking the United Nations human rights chief to bury a highly-anticipated report on human rights violations in Xinjiang, according to a Chinese letter seen by Reuters and confirmed by diplomats from three countries who received it. United Nations High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has faced severe criticism from civil society for being too soft on China during a May visit and has since said she will refrain from seeking a second term for personal reasons. But before she leaves at the end of August, she has pledged to publish a report into the western Chinese region of…

Jan

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Democrats push toward second Trump impeachment

WORLD

JOSEPH AX and RICHARD COWAN DEMOCRATIC-LED efforts to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump for a historic second time gained momentum over the weekend, although it looked far from certain whether enough Republicans would back the move with just days left in his term. Democratic members of the House of Representatives will introduce articles of impeachment on Monday after Trump encouraged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Representative Ted Lieu said on Twitter. The California Democrat, who helped draft the charges, said the articles had drawn 190 co-sponsors by Saturday night. As of Saturday afternoon, no Republicans had…

Jan

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Indonesia locates black boxes of crashed jet as body parts recovered

WORLD

FRANSISKA NANGOY and BERNADETTE CHRISTINA INDONESIAN authorities have located the black boxes of the Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea soon after taking off from the capital Jakarta, as human body parts and pieces of the plane were retrieved. The Boeing 737-500 with 62 passengers and crew was headed on a domestic flight to Pontianak in West Kalimantan on Saturday before it disappeared from radar screens four minutes after take-off. Indonesia National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) chief Soerjanto Tjahjono said the locations of Flight SJ 182's two black boxes had been identified. "Hopefully, we can retrieve them soon,"…