WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

28

2020

Hungry for change: Faulty for systems laid bare by COVID-19 and climate crises

WORLD

THIN LEI WIN and CORMAC O’BRIEN FROM wildfires in California and locust attacks in Ethiopia to job losses caused by pandemic lockdowns in Italy and Myanmar, climate change and COVID-19 disrupted food production and tipped millions more people into hunger in 2020. Now there are fears the situation could worsen next year as both the coronavirus crisis and wild weather exacerbate fragile conditions linked to conflicts and poverty in many parts of the globe, aid officials told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Even before COVID-19 hit, 135 million people were marching towards the brink of starvation. This could double to 270…

Dec

27

2020

By The African Mirror

China to leapfrog US as world’s biggest economy by 2028 – think tank

WORLD

CHINA will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest economy in 2028, five years earlier than previously estimated due to the contrasting recoveries of the two countries from the COVID-19 pandemic, a think tank said. "For some time, an overarching theme of global economics has been the economic and soft power struggle between the United States and China," the Centre for Economics and Business Research said in an annual report published on Saturday. "The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fallout have certainly tipped this rivalry in China's favour." The CEBR said China's "skilful management of the pandemic", with…

Dec

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Asian migrant workers locked up, dumped as coronavirus curbs ease

WORLD

RINA CHANDRAN MIGRANT workers in Asia are being locked up and abandoned by employers even as countries ease coronavirus curbs, say human rights groups, which are calling for better housing and changes to visa laws. The warning came after more than a dozen workers from Myanmar were dumped by the roadside in Thailand this week following a ban on the movement of migrant workers in and out of certain areas because of a COVID-19 outbreak. In Singapore, where cramped dormitories were a virus hotspot, migrant workers are still largely confined to their rooms even as authorities have eased restrictions in…

Dec

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Many just want a hug for Christmas this year, Queen Elizabeth says

WORLD

MICHAEL HOLDEN ALL many people want for Christmas this year is a simple hug, Britain's Queen Elizabeth said in her annual festive message, saying it would be hard for those who lost loved ones to COVID-19 pandemic or were separated by curbs on social mixing. In her traditional pre-recorded Christmas Day address to the nation, the 94-year-old monarch repeatedly spoke of hope for the future whilst acknowledging millions of Britons would be unable to have their usual family celebrations this year. "Of course for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness; some mourning the loss of those…

Dec

26

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’: EU and UK clinch narrow Brexit accord

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE, ELIZABETH PIPER and JOHN CHALMERS BRITAIN clinched a narrow Brexit trade deal with the European Union just seven days before it exits one of the world's biggest trading blocs in its most significant global shift since the loss of empire. The deal, agreed more than four years after Britain voted by a slim margin to leave the bloc, offers a way out of a chaotic finale to a divorce that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two. It will preserve Britain's zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the bloc's single…

Dec

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Politics blunts Christmas as U.S. government shutdown nears, COVID-19 aid uncertain

WORLD

STEVE HOLLAND and TIM REID PRESIDENT Donald Trump spent Christmas Day golfing at his West Palm Beach club while millions of Americans faced the risk of losing jobless benefits and the threat of a partial government shutdown next week if he refuses to sign a $2.3 trillion coronavirus aid and spending package. Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, whose victory Trump still refuses to acknowledge nearly two months after the Nov. 3 election, spent the day at his Delaware home and had no public events, according to his staff. Biden takes office on Jan. 20. Trump stunned members of both parties when…

Dec

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Kevin Spacey tells people who are struggling ‘It does get better’

WORLD

OSCAR-winner Kevin Spacey has appealed to people who were struggling with shame or depression not to take their own lives. Spacey, who has largely disappeared from public view since being accused of sexual misconduct three years ago, made the plea in a Christmas Eve video titled "1-800 Xmas" that he posted on YouTube. Filming himself walking in a park, Spacey said a lot of people had reached out to him in 2020 to share their struggles and some had spoken about wanting to end their lives. "If you're suffering, if you need help, if you feel guilt or shame, if…

Dec

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Trump pardons former campaign chairman Manafort, associate Roger Stone

WORLD

STEVE HOLLAND U.S. President Donald Trump has granted pardons to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former adviser Roger Stone, sweeping away the most important convictions under the long-running Russia election probe. Trump also issued a pardon for Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump, taking advantage of a right granted by the Constitution only to the president, has issued two groups of pardons in as many days, and more are anticipated as Trump faces the end of his presidency on January 20. The announcement came just after Trump arrived in Palm…

Dec

25

2020

By The African Mirror

On cusp of Brexit trade deal, EU and UK haggle over fish

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE, ELIZABETH and JOHN CHALMERS BRITAIN and the European Union were on the cusp of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday, swerving away from a chaotic finale to a Brexit split that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two. While a last-minute deal would avoid the most acrimonious ending to the divorce, the United Kingdom is heading for a much more distant relationship with its biggest trade partner than almost anyone expected at the time of the 2016 referendum. Sources in London and Brussels said a deal was close…

Dec

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Actress Nicole Kidman calls violence against women a ‘shadow pandemic’

WORLD

CHRISTINE MURRAY ACTRESS Nicole Kidman said that everyone had a role to play in ending violence against women and girls that has surged in lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic. The Oscar-winning actress, who is a U.N. Women's Goodwill Ambassador, said her role in television series "Big Little Lies" had strengthened her stance on violence against women, calling lockdown spikes in abuse a "shadow pandemic". Kidman said playing lawyer and domestic abuse survivor Celeste on the hit HBO series had affected her personally. "I felt very exposed and vulnerable and deeply humiliated as I told her story - even though playing…