WORLD - The African Mirror

Oct

05

2020

Trump’s condition improving, received steroid in COVID-19 treatment, doctors say

WORLD

ALEXANDRA ALPER and DOINA CHIACU PRESIDENT Donald Trump's condition is improving as he is being treated for COVID-19 at a military hospital, his medical team said on Sunday, as they provided more details of the toll the lung illness has taken on him. Trump, 74, who was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, could return as early as Monday to the White House, where doctors would continue his five-day course of the intravenous antiviral drug Remdesivir. Dr Sean P. Conley told reporters Trump had received supplemental oxygen on Thursday and Friday and is also being given…

Oct

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Trump says ‘real test’ ahead in his COVID fight after mixed messages from White House

WORLD

ALEXANDRA ALPER and JEFF MASON PRESIDENT Donald Trump told Americans from his hospital room that the next few days will be the "real test" of his treatment for COVID-19, after a series of contradictory messages from the White House caused widespread confusion about his condition. In a four-minute video posted on Twitter on Saturday from his hospital suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a tired-looking Trump said he was feeling "much better." "Over the next period of a few days, I guess that's the real test, so we'll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days,"…

Oct

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Turkey rejects ‘superficial’ Caucasus ceasefire calls

WORLD

TURKEY has rejected "superficial" demands for a ceasefire in the South Caucasus, where it backs Azerbaijan, after a week of fierce fighting with ethnic Armenian forces in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. While Russia, the United States and France have called for an end to hostilities, regional power Turkey has staunchly supported the Azeris and has repeated that what it called Armenian "occupiers" must withdraw. Armenia said on Friday it would work with the three big powers toward a ceasefire. But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said they should have no role in peacemaking and on Saturday said Ankara backs the…

Oct

04

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Trump not yet on clear path to recovery’

WORLD

PRESIDENT Donald Trump is not yet on a clear path to recovery from COVID-19 and some of his vital signs over the last 24 hours were very concerning, a person familiar with the situation told reporters. The source, who asked not to be identified, said the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of Trump's care. The assessment seemed at odds with that of Trump's doctor during a brief press conference. The president’s doctor said Trump was "doing very well" and is fever-free at a military hospital on Saturday a day after he tested positive for COVID-19. But a…

Oct

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Trump in military hospital after COVID-19 diagnosis

WORLD

STEVE HOLLAND U.S. President Donald Trump has been admitted to a military hospital for treatment after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the White House has announced, as his administration and election campaign scrambled to adjust to an extraordinary twist in his turbulent presidency. Trump, 74, moved to a special suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for the next few days as a precautionary measure, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said. "Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices…

Nov

07

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Spreading like wildfire’: Facebook fights hate speech, misinformation before Myanmar poll

WORLD

FANNY POTKIN and POPPY McPHERSON ONE of two Muslims allowed to run for the ruling party in Buddhist-majority Myanmar's general election on Sunday, Sithu Maung, worries fake news on Facebook could damage his chances. Within a torrent of racist abuse and misinformation posted about him ahead of the polls are false claims he plans to close Buddhist monastic schools and to advocate for the teaching of Arabic. "They use race and religion to attack me," the 33-year-old told Reuters in the commercial capital of Yangon, where he is standing for a seat won by the ruling party in the last…

Nov

07

2020

By The African Mirror

Kamala Harris inspires women leaders in her ancestral Indian village

WORLD

MORE than 8,000 miles (12,870 km) from Washington, Indian women have been rooting for the "America lady" in the village of U.S. vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris's grandfather. As locals in Thulasendrapuram's temple held special prayers for a Democratic win in the Nov. 3 election, 34-year-old M. Umadevi - who was elected to the village council in December - said she related to Harris as a fellow woman politician. "She is a daughter of our village," said Umadevi, who has a five-year-old son and sews clothes to support the income of her husband, a driver. "This must have been difficult…

Nov

07

2020

By The African Mirror

Ukraine to build synagogue on site of Babyn Yar massacre

WORLD

UKRAINE will build a synagogue at the memorial site commemorating the victims of Babyn Yar, one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, the head of the memorial site Max Yakover has told Reuters. "This should be a significant thing with a very deep meaning," he said. The synagogue is expected to open next year to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the killings, and would be Kyiv's first new synagogue built since Ukraine's independence in 1991. The Babyn Yar massacre marked the start of Ukraine's Holocaust in which a pre-war Jewish population of about 1.5…

Nov

07

2020

By The African Mirror

Some Americans dance, others wield guns outside vote-tallying sites as counting draws to a close

WORLD

JARRETT RENSHAW and MICHAEL MARTINA SUPPORTERS of Joe Biden danced in the streets outside a ballot-counting centre in Philadelphia as the steadily growing vote tallies showed the Democratic former vice president could soon be declared the winner of the U.S. presidential election. In Detroit, several hundred supporters of President Donald Trump, some visibly armed with guns, raised premature chants of "We won!" outside a counting center, despite it looking increasingly unlikely that this would prove true. Philadelphia appeared to relish its turn as the center of the nation's attention, even if it was earned only by the relative slowness of…

Nov

06

2020

By The African Mirror

Europe must strengthen border controls after attacks, says Macron

WORLD

EUROPE must rethink its open-border Schengen area, including a more robust protection of the zone's external frontiers, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, after a spate of Islamist attacks in France and Austria. The tighter controls were needed to curb clandestine immigration, said Macron, adding that the criminal gangs illegally trafficking migrants into Europe were often linked to terror networks. "I am in favour of a deep overhaul of Schengen to re-think its organisation and to strengthen our common border security with a proper border force," Macron said during a visit to the Franco-Spanish border. The president said he would…