WORLD - The African Mirror

Nov

09

2020

Prayers of gratitude for election of ‘daughter of India’ Harris as U.S. VP

WORLD

SUDARSHAN VARADHAN INDIANS burst firecrackers and offered prayers of gratitude over the election of Kamala Harris as the next U.S. vice president, declaring it a proud moment for Indian-Americans. Harris, born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, both of whom immigrated to the United States to study, made history by becoming the first woman to win election to the post. At her ancestral village in southern India, about 14,000 km (8,700 miles) from Washington D.C., children clutched posters of Harris as people gathered at a Hindu temple to thank the gods for the victory that she and President-elect…

Nov

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Here are six things Joe Biden will likely do on immigration

WORLD

TED HESSON WHEN he enters the White House, Joe Biden will likely seek to reverse much of President Donald Trump's immigration legacy and push ahead with his own agenda. While some measures could be quickly rescinded, the multitude of Trump administration changes could take months or years to undo. Here is what to expect from Biden in six key immigration policy areas: 1. IMMIGRATION REFORM AND 'DREAMERS' Biden plans to send an immigration bill to Congress on his first day in office in January that includes a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country…

Nov

09

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. allies greet Biden as next president despite Trump refusal to concede

WORLD

THOMAS ESCRITT, MICHAEL HOLDEN and DAVID LJUNGGREN SOME of the United States' biggest and closest allies quickly congratulated Joe Biden on his presidential election victory on Saturday even though Donald Trump, with whom several have had rocky relations, had yet to concede. Germany, Canada and France, which have had strained ties with the Trump administration despite being its G7 and NATO partners, were among the first to recognise Biden's victory, soon after major U.S. television networks declared it. "I look forward to future cooperation with President Biden," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement on Twitter. "Our transatlantic friendship…

Nov

08

2020

By The African Mirror

French PM vows to fight radical Islam in tribute to attack victims

WORLD

FRENCH Prime Minister Jean Castex says his government would keep "fighting relentlessly" against radical Islam as he paid tribute to the three victims of a knife attack in the southern city of Nice last month. A Tunisian man shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is Greatest) beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in the coastal city on October 29 before being shot and taken away by police. "We know the enemy. Not only has it been identified, but it has a name, it is radical Islam, a political ideology that disfigures the Muslim religion," Castex said in…

Nov

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Lebanon’s president seeks evidence behind US sanctions on son-in-law

WORLD

PRESIDENT Michel Aoun says Lebanon would seek evidence and documents from the United States that led Washington to impose sanctions on Gebran Bassil, a prominent Christian politician who is his son-in-law. The United States has blacklisted Bassil, leader of Lebanon's biggest Christian political bloc, accusing him of corruption and ties to the Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah movement that Washington deems a terrorist group. Aoun asked Lebanon's caretaker foreign minister to obtain the evidence and documents that should be submitted to Lebanon's judiciary "to take the necessary legal measures" if any data is available, said a statement tweeted by the presidency. Gebran…

Nov

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Kamala Harris breaks barriers as America’s next vice president

WORLD

JAMES OLIPHANT KAMALA Harris made history with her election as Joe Biden's vice president, becoming the first woman, first Black American and first Asian American to win the second highest U.S. office. Harris, 56, is widely seen as an obvious candidate for the Democratic Party nomination in 2024 should Biden, who will be 78 at their inauguration on Jan. 20, decide not to seek a second term. She hasn't weighed in publicly on such speculation. Edison Research and the major U.S. television networks on Saturday projected their victory, based on unofficial final results, even though the incumbent president, Republican Donald…

Oct

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Netherlands offers compensation to children of executed Indonesians

WORLD

THE Dutch government has offered compensation to the children of Indonesians who were executed by Dutch soldiers during the Indonesian war of independence between 1945 and 1950. In a settlement meant to end lengthy court battles, the government promised 5,000 euros ($5,890) to everyone with a credible claim to their father's execution during the conflict. The war of independence started after the end of World War Two in 1945 and ended in December 1949, when the Netherlands recognised the independence of its former colony. During the conflict, Dutch soldiers executed opponents without any form of trial and tortured prisoners during…

Oct

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Hundreds of Indian workers demand unpaid wages from Saudi construction firm

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ HUNDREDS of Indian migrant workers who were laid off by a construction company in Saudi Arabia due to the coronavirus pandemic have filed a rare complaint to the Indian government over unpaid earnings, lawyers and campaigners said. More than 280 labourers - who were fired by the Nasser S Al Hajri Corporation before being flown home on chartered flights in July - are part of what is believed to be the biggest collective case of its kind, said their lawyer Subhash Chand. Chand said all of the workers had been at the firm for at least five years…

Oct

19

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. military defends air strikes as Taliban warns of ‘consequences’

WORLD

THE U.S. military has defended its air strikes against Taliban fighters as the insurgent group accused Washington of violating their signed agreement and warned of consequences if such actions continued. The Taliban launched a major offensive in the southern province of Helmand in a bid to take the provincial capital, prompting U.S. air strikes in support of Afghan security forces, which were being overrun. "American forces have violated the Doha agreement in various forms by carrying out excessive air strikes following the new developments in Helmand province," Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement on Sunday. The…

Oct

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Lithium, Morales and cocaine: What’s at stake as Bolivia votes?

WORLD

DANIEL RAMOS AS Bolivia readies to vote in a defining election, a number of key issues are on the table, including the country's huge lithium deposits, the role of unseated ex-leader Evo Morales, and policy on farming coca, the raw ingredient of cocaine. Sunday's presidential ballot is a delayed re-run of a fraught and later voided vote in 2019 that sparked off deadly protests and led to the resignation of leftist Morales after a nearly 14-year rule. WHO ARE THE FRONT-RUNNERS? The two front-runners this time are Luis Arce, the candidate for Morales' socialist MAS party, who would tilt the…