WORLD - The African Mirror

Aug

28

2020

Japanese PM Abe resigns over worsening health

WORLD

ELAINE LIES and YOSHIFUMI TAKEMOTO PRIME Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving premier, has resigned because of poor health, ending a stint at the helm of the world's third-biggest economy during which he sought to revive growth and bolster its defences. "I cannot be prime minister if I cannot make the best decisions for the people. I have decided to step down from my post," Abe, 65, told a news conference. Abe has battled the disease ulcerative colitis for years and two recent hospital visits within a week had fanned questions on whether he could stay in the job until the…

Aug

28

2020

By The African Mirror

Trump assails rival Biden in White House speech accepting nomination

WORLD

JEFF MASON and JOSEPH AX A defiant President Donald Trump has accepted the Republican nomination for a second term with a scathing attack on rival Joe Biden, asserting that a Democratic victory in November would only exacerbate the racial strife and coronavirus pandemic besieging the nation. Speaking from the White House South Lawn despite criticism that he was using the executive residence as a political prop, Trump portrayed Biden, a career politician with a long record as a moderate, as a far-left extremist who would usher in a lawless, dangerous America. "This election will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans,…

Aug

27

2020

By The African Mirror

In ‘law-and-order’ speech, U.S. Vice President Pence warns against Biden win

WORLD

JEFF MASON and JOHN WHITESIDES U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday cast the re-election of President Donald Trump as critical to preserving America's safety and economic viability, while cautioning Democrat Joe Biden would set the country on a path to socialism and decline. Amid widening protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Wisconsin, Pence and other Republicans at their national convention described the Nov. 3 contest between Trump and Biden as a choice between "law and order" and lawlessness. "The hard truth is you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," Pence told the…

Aug

27

2020

By The African Mirror

World’s oldest Ironman plans to keep competing into his 90s

WORLD

JACK TARRANT and HIDETO SAKAI HIROMU Inada, 87, already has a certificate on his wall that confirms his status as the world's oldest Ironman, but the Japanese man is still pounding away on his training bike and hopes to continue competing into his 90s. In 2018 at the age of 85 years and 328 days, Inada went to Kailua-Kona in Hawaii and set a new mark for the oldest person to complete the world championship Ironman - a feat beyond most people decades younger than him. The cancellation of this October's Ironman because of the coronavirus pandemic has not dulled…

Aug

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Christchurch killer’s life sentence serves justice, but no quick healing

WORLD

TOM WESTBROOK and RUMA PAUL THE harshest criminal punishment ever applied in New Zealand, life behind bars for the Christchurch mosque killer, gave justice and a relief but left a long and painful road to healing for survivors and relatives of those killed in the attack. Brenton Tarrant Brenton Tarrant, 29, will die in jail under a life sentence without parole that he was handed on Thursday. He killed 51 Muslim worshippers with high powered guns during Friday prayers at two Christchurch mosques in March 2019. "Finally justice has been served," said Hina Amir, on the phone from her living…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

At least 13 bodies pulled from rubble of collapsed Indian building

WORLD

RAJENDRA JADHAV AT least 13 people have been killed and several are still missing after a residential building collapsed in western India, where a rescue operation has been underway for more than 28 hours, officials have announced. The emergency services have found 76 people alive, but there are still around six unaccounted for following the disaster on Monday evening in Mahad, an industrial town about 165 km (100 miles) south of Mumbai. Workers rescued a four-year-old boy after his cries were heard beneath the ruins of the five-storey building, which a police officer described as having come down like "a…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Two dead as gunfire erupts at Wisconsin protests over shooting of Black man

WORLD

BRENDAN McDERMID and STEPHEN MATUREN Two people died and a third was wounded after street protests over the police shooting of a Black man erupted into gun violence late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, police said. The Lake Michigan city of about 100,000 has been rocked by civil unrest since Sunday, when police shot Jacob Blake, 29, in the back at point-blank range. The incident, captured on video, has reignited protests over racism and police use of force in the United States. The third straight night of protests, which coincided with the second night of the Republican National…

Aug

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Melania Trump offers sympathy on coronavirus, racial suffering in convention speech

WORLD

JOHN WHITESIDES and JEFF MASON FIRST lady Melania Trump offered sympathy for victims of the coronavirus pandemic and a plea for racial understanding in a Republican convention speech on Tuesday aimed directly at the women voters who have abandoned U.S. President Donald Trump. On the convention's second day, the speech's warm tone was out of step with a Republican gathering that featured harsh rhetoric about Democratic challenger Joe Biden and sometimes apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of Democratic governance. Trump's wife acknowledged the pain of the pandemic in sharp contrast to most other speakers at the party's national convention, notably…

Aug

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Four takeaways from the first night of the Republican National Convention

WORLD

JAMES OLIPHANT and DOINA CHIACU THE Republican Party kicked off its convention to re-elect U.S Donald Trump with an unsubstantiated warning from the president himself that he may face a "rigged election," followed in the evening by full-throated praise for Trump and warnings that America would crumble under Democratic leadership. WARNINGS AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT WOULD DISAPPEAR Democrats spent much of their national convention last week trying to convince independent and even lifelong Republican voters that nominee Joe Biden would be an acceptable choice. The Republican approach has been much different. From speeches from the McCloskeys, the St. Louis…

Aug

25

2020

By The African Mirror

New Zealand shooter emotionless as victims’ families address sentencing hearing

WORLD

PRAVEEN MENON A white supremacist who killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand last year watched without emotion on Monday as relatives of his victims recounted the horror of a massacre which prosecutors said he carefully planned to cause maximum carnage. Australian national Brenton Tarrant, 29, has pleaded guilty to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders and one charge of committing a terrorist act during the shooting rampage in the city of Christchurch which he live-streamed on Facebook. He could be the first person in New Zealand to receive a term of life in prison without parole, when a…