WORLD - The African Mirror

Nov

16

2020

China finds coronavirus on frozen meat, packaging from Latin America, New Zealand

WORLD

THE Chinese city of Jinan has revealed that it had found coronavirus on beef and tripe and their packaging from Brazil, Bolivia and New Zealand, while two other provincial capitals detected it on packaging on pork from Argentina. China is ramping up testing on frozen foods after repeatedly detecting the virus on imported products, triggering disrupting import bans, even as the World Health Organization says the risk of catching COVID-19 from frozen food is low. In Jinan, capital of eastern China's Shandong province, the goods involved were imported by a unit of Guotai International Group, and Shanghai Zhongli Development Trade,…

Nov

16

2020

By The African Mirror

Trump acknowledges Biden ‘won’ the U.S. election, but says it was ‘rigged’

WORLD

JOSEPH AX PRESIDENT Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge publicly for the first time on Sunday that Democrat Joe Biden won the November 3 U.S. presidential election but asserted that it was "rigged", reiterating his false claims of widespread voting fraud. Biden defeated Trump by winning a series of battleground states that the Republican incumbent had won in 2016. The Democratic former vice president also won the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points. Trump seemed to acknowledge Biden's victory in a Twitter post in which he listed unsubstantiated allegations of fraud. "He won because…

Nov

15

2020

By The African Mirror

Storm Eta damage pushes small, indigenous farmers in Central America into hunger

WORLD

ANASTASIA MOLONEY RUBEN Garcia not long ago had small herds of cattle and fields bursting with crops, and now the indigenous farmer in northern Nicaragua lies awake worrying how long it will be before he and his neighbours run out of food. The wooden homes and tiny farms of the indigenous Miskito community stood little chance against the sustained winds of 150 mph as Hurricane Eta barreled along the Caribbean coast earlier this month. The subsistence farmers in one of Nicaragua's poorest areas will have little to eat in the wake of one of the most powerful storms to hit…

Nov

15

2020

By The African Mirror

President-elect Biden, denied classified intel briefings, to bring in national security experts

WORLD

SIMON LEWIS U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will be briefed by national security experts next week, Biden transition official Jen Psaki has revealed, amid concerns that being out of the loop due to delays to the transition could be a national security risk. Biden's team is pressing ahead with a transition despite President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the November 3 election, which major news organizations called for Biden on November 7. Psaki said the fact that Biden was not yet receiving classified intelligence briefings could hurt his preparations to govern. "It's been six days, but with every day that passes…

Nov

14

2020

By The African Mirror

London mayor targets racial discrimination in city’s police

WORLD

SONIA ELKS LONDON's police force will boost recruits of Black and minority officers and be subjected to closer public scrutiny, the city's mayor said on Friday as he unveiled plans aimed at tackling complaints of racial discrimination. Black Londoners are more than three times as likely to be stopped and searched by police, official data shows, and the Met Police has faced increased pressure over such disparities since global protests over racism erupted earlier this year. Under a strategy laid out by Mayor Sadiq Khan, community groups will help establish a Disproportionality Scrutiny Group tasked with looking at how policing…

Nov

14

2020

By The African Mirror

Spanish women fight for control of childbirth as COVID-19 curbs rights

WORLD

LAURA MANNERING AS she struggled through painful labour contractions, Spanish nurse Teresa pleaded with doctors not to perform a caesarean section on her. But offering no explanation, they did it anyway. Teresa, 40, who asked not to give her real name, found out later they had operated because she had COVID-19 - triggering a hospital protocol that said most women who had tested positive for the disease should have caesareans. Traumatised and suffering nightmares, Teresa has sought psychological help and feels unable to return to her job at the public hospital in northern Spain where she gave birth seven months…

Nov

14

2020

By The African Mirror

Biden to be briefed by national security experts next week – transition official

WORLD

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will be briefed by national security experts next week, Biden transition official Jen Psaki has revealed, amid concerns that being out of the loop due to delays to the transition could be a national security risk. Biden's team is pressing ahead with a transition despite President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the November 3 election, which was called for Biden on November 7. Psaki said the fact that Biden was not yet receiving classified intelligence briefings could be hurting his preparations to govern. "It's been six days, but with every day that passes on, it becomes…

Nov

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Biden moves forward as top Democrats blast Republican post-election ‘shenanigans’

WORLD

SUSAN CORNWELL, DOINA CHIACU and SIMON LEWIS U.S. President-elect Joe Biden moved ahead with planning his new administration on Thursday as his fellow Democrats in Congress blasted Republican "shenanigans" challenging Donald Trump's election loss and urged action on the coronavirus pandemic. The Republican president has refused to concede the election and his allies in Congress have declined to acknowledge Biden as the winner while Trump's campaign pursues legal challenges to vote counts in several states, based on unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud. The two top Democrats in Congress - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck…

Oct

22

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran, Russia have tried to interfere in 2020 election

WORLD

JOSEPH MENN and SARAH N. LYNCH U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has revealed that Russia and Iran have both tried to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. Ratcliffe made the announcements at a hastily arranged news conference that also included FBI Director Chris Wray. The announcement two weeks before the election showed the level of alarm among top U.S. officials that foreign actors were seeking to undermine Americans' confidence in the integrity of the vote and spread misinformation in an attempt to sway its outcome. "We have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran,…

Oct

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Bangladeshi protestors say death penalty not the answer to rise in rape

WORLD

NAIMUL KARIM PROTESTORS took to Dhaka's streets to demand action on rising rape cases in Bangladesh, saying a new law that expanded the use of the death penalty was not enough to bring about real change. Women's rights campaigners are demanding a root and branch reform of the legal system and more education to address what they say is a rising incidence of violence against women in Bangladesh. Earlier this month, the government changed the law to make rape committed by a single person punishable by death following protests triggered by an online video showing a group of men sexually…