WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

27

2020

INTERVIEW-Women must be kept safe online to meet global gender goals, activist says

WORLD

GOVERNMENTS must do more to keep women safe online in order to meet global goals on gender inequality, a British Nigerian activist has warned, as the coronavirus pandemic causes a surge in racism and gender-based abuse on the internet. Women's rights campaigners worldwide have warned of an increase in online abuse such as revenge porn as COVID-19 continues to keep many people at home in front of a screen, but Seyi Akiwowo said information on how to stay safe was lacking. "I'm still not confident that global leaders are understanding the impact lockdown has on the online space and putting…

Sep

27

2020

By The African Mirror

As U.S, China squabble at U.N, a plea – and warning – from one of world’s smallest states

WORLD

MICHELLE NICHOLS AS China and the United States feuded at the United Nations this week over COVID-19 and climate, one of the world's smallest states pleaded for detente. "Micronesia asks our American and Chinese friends to reinforce their cooperation and friendship with each other ... to achieve what is best for our global community," the Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo told the U.N. General Assembly in a video address. Micronesia - with a population of about 113,000 - and its Pacific Island neighbors have long been stuck in a diplomatic tug-of-war between the world's biggest economic powers as…

Sep

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Modi pledges to use India vaccine-production capacity to help ‘all humanity’

WORLD

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged at the United Nations that his country's vaccine production capacity would be made available globally to fight the COVID-19 crisis. "As the largest vaccine-producing country of the world, I want to give one more assurance to the global community today," Modi said in a pre-recorded speech to the U.N. General Assembly. "India's vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis." Modi said India was moving ahead with Phase 3 clinical trials - the large-scale trials considered the gold standard for determining safety and efficacy -…

Sep

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Knifeman in Paris wounds two at scene of Charlie Hebdo attacks

WORLD

TANGI SALAUN and EMILIE DELWARD A man armed with a meat cleaver attacked and wounded two people who had stepped out for a cigarette in front of the Paris office building where Islamist militants gunned down employees of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago. Police soon after detained the man suspected of carrying out the attack, with bloodstains on his clothes, next to the steps of an opera house about 500 metres (yards) away. The suspected attacker was from Pakistan, and had arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. "We are…

Sep

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Dirty secret: Half of world lacks clean cooking, at a huge cost

WORLD

MEGAN ROWLING A global failure to provide about 4 billion people - half the world's population - with access to clean, safe and affordable ways of cooking is costing $2.4 trillion a year in damage to health, the climate and local economies, new figures show. A report released by the World Bank and its partners this week said women bear the brunt of preparing food using harmful and polluting fuels - a blindspot for governments and business, despite a global goal to provide clean cooking for all by 2030. The bulk of the cost of dirty cooking - $1.4 trillion…

Sep

26

2020

By The African Mirror

British police raid drug gangs as COVID-19 fuels child trafficking fears

WORLD

KIERAN GUILBERT MORE than 1,000 people were arrested and dozens of suspected victims of modern slavery identified in a crackdown on the drug trade in Britain, police said, as concerns grow about a rise in child trafficking during the coronavirus pandemic. Police said 69 possible trafficking victims were referred to government bodies for support following a series of raids this month to disrupt the so-called County Lines drug trade, by which criminal gangs move drugs from cities into rural areas. The operation was the biggest of its kind to-date and led to the seizure of more than 1 million pounds…

Sep

26

2020

By The African Mirror

“Never-ending nightmare”: Violence returns to Paris street where Charlie Hebdo was attacked

WORLD

TANGI SALAUN THE stabbing of two people in Paris's rue Nicolas-Appert HAS brought violence back to the street where, five years ago, Islamist militants killed 12 people in the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Two journalists were wounded in Friday's attack in what Prime Minister Jean Castex said was a symbolic place, outside Charlie Hebdo's former offices. Bullet-holes in railings along the short street lined with apartments and offices bear the scars of the earlier attack, in which the assailants stormed Charlie Hebdo's offices on January 7, 2015. A mural on the street shows the faces of the 11…

Sep

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Boy’s death spurs calls for bonded labour crackdown in central India

WORLD

ROLI SRIVASTAVA THE death of an eight-year-old boy whose parents worked as bonded labourers has triggered demands for authorities to crack down on thousands of other suspected cases in nearby villages in central India. Debt bondage is India's most common form of slavery despite being outlawed four decades ago, and millions of bonded labourers work in fields, brick kilns and rice mills to clear loans. Police said the boy's parents, who were repaying a 25,000-rupee loan by working on their employer's farms for five years without pay, lived in a "polythene hut" and were assaulted when they asked for money…

Sep

24

2020

By The African Mirror

Chief Justice Roberts memorializes Ginsburg at U.S. Supreme Court

WORLD

LAWRENCE HURLEY and ANDREW CHUNG THE United States has begun three days of tributes to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as pallbearers carried her flag-draped coffin into the white marble court building and mourners lined up to pay their respects. Wearing dark suits and black face masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of the liberal icon's former clerks stood at attention as the coffin was carried up the court's broad steps. "Her voice in court and in our conference room was soft. But when she spoke, people listened," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a private ceremony inside…

Sep

24

2020

By The African Mirror

Kentucky grand jury indicts one of three officers in Breonna Taylor killing

WORLD

BRYAN WOOLSTON and JONATHAN ALLEN A Kentucky grand jury considering the March killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker, in her home has voted to indict one of three white police officers for wanton endangerment, the state's attorney general said. The officer indicted was Detective Brett Hankison, who faces up to five years in prison if convicted, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said at a news conference. Hankison was with two colleagues when they shot into the apartment of Taylor, 26, killing her in front of her boyfriend. The two other officers, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, were…