WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

21

2020

Biden unveils diverse team tasked with ambitious climate agenda

WORLD

TREVOR HUNNICUTT US President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his climate and energy team, a history-making group that will seek to advance an ambitious climate agenda that reverses many Trump administration policies. Michael Regan would become the first Black man to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if confirmed by the Senate, and U.S. Representative Deb Haaland, as interior secretary, would be the first Native American Cabinet member. "This moment is profound when we consider the fact that a former secretary of the Interior once proclaimed it his goal to, quote, 'civilize or exterminate' us," said Haaland, referring to comments made…

Dec

21

2020

By The African Mirror

Indonesia church decorates Christmas tree with masks, sanitisers to promote COVID awareness

WORLD

HERU ASPRIHANTO A catholic church in Indonesia has decorated a Christmas tree with protective masks and hand sanitisers as a way to spread awareness of COVID-19 in the festive season, as the country's daily death toll hit a record high on Sunday. "The tree was made with the intention of making people more aware of the importance of maintaining health protocols," Markus Marcelinus Hardo Iswanto of the parish of The Catholic Church of Christ the King in Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya told Reuters. Starting with a bamboo skeleton, the church's followers and the local Muslim community decorated the tree with…

Dec

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Hackers’ broad attack sets cyber experts worldwide scrambling to defend networks

WORLD

JACK STUBBS SUSPECTED Russian hackers who broke into U.S. government agencies also spied on less high-profile organizations, including groups in Britain, a U.S. internet provider and a county government in Arizona, according to web records and a security source. More details were revealed on Friday of the cyber espionage campaign that has computer network security teams worldwide scrambling to limit the damage as a senior official in the outgoing administration of U.S. President Donald Trump explicitly acknowledged Russia's role in the hack for the first time. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on the Mark Levin radio show "I think…

Dec

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Brazil governors urge extension of COVID-19 emergency measures

WORLD

GOVERNORS from 17 Brazilian states urged President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday to extend a "state of public calamity" due to the COVID-19 pandemic now set to expire at the end of the year. Under the emergency measure, lawmakers are permitted to break certain budget rules as they prioritize addressing fallout from the pandemic. Brazil, which has the highest COVID-19 death toll in the world outside the United States, has been dealing with an increasingly severe second wave over the last month or so. "In this challenging moment in which we're seeing an increase in the number of cases of the…

Dec

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Smuggled orangutans start new life after repatriation to Indonesia

WORLD

YUDI SAPUTRA A pair of critically endangered orangutans, rescued from smugglers on the Thai-Malaysian border in 2017, have arrived in Indonesia to undergo rehabilitation so they can finally be released back into their native forest habitat. Believed to be between the ages of four to six the orangutans, Ung Aing and Natalee, spent three years at Khao Pratab Chang Wildlife Breeding Center in central Ratchaburi province, Thailand. On Friday they arrived in western Indonesia's Jambi province for medical checks, which will include COVID-19 swabs, before a rehabilitation process to prepare them for their jungle home. "We will do a medical…

Dec

19

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Sesame Street’ unveils Rohingya Muppets to help refugee children

WORLD

NAIMUL KARIM CHILDREN’S TV show "Sesame Street" has unveiled its first Rohingya Muppets to help thousands of refugee children overcome trauma and tackle the pandemic's impact in the world's largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh. Six-year-old twins, Noor and Aziz Yasmin, will feature alongside the show's famous characters like Elmo and Louie in educational videos in Rohingya language in the camps, according to Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organisation behind the show. "Noor and Aziz are at the heart of our efforts to bring early education ... to children and caregivers ... impacted tremendously by the dual crises of displacement and the…

Dec

19

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. blacklists dozens of Chinese firms including SMIC, DJI

WORLD

ALEXANDRA ALPER, DAVID SHEPARDSON and HUMEYRA PAMUK THE United States added dozens of Chinese companies, including the country's top chipmaker SMIC and Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, to a trade blacklist on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration ramps up pressure on China in his final weeks in office. Reuters first reported the addition of SMIC and dozens of additional companies eary Friday. The move is seen as the latest in Republican Trump's efforts to cement his tough-on-China legacy as part of lengthy fight between Washington and Beijing over trade and numerous economic issues. The U.S.…

Dec

19

2020

By The African Mirror

Comfort and joy over COVID vaccines collide with Christmas curbs

WORLD

ALISTAIR SMOUT CORONAVIRUS vaccine approvals have brought comfort and joy for many this Christmas but failed to halt new curbs on travel and gatherings as COVID-19 cases rise worldwide and deaths in the United States surpassed 3,000 for a third straight day. Scientists and government leaders have hailed the vaccines as a huge success in attacking the pandemic, but only once they are administered, a process likely to take months, even in the world's richest countries. More than 73.68 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 1,655,424 have died, according to a Reuters tally,…

Dec

18

2020

By The African Mirror

UK’s Gove says Brexit trade talks could go on beyond Christmas

WORLD

ONE of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's senior ministers has said that Britain hoped to reach a trade deal with the European Union but that talks might go on until after Christmas. "When we think about the real deadline, I hope that we can conclude an agreement as quickly as possible but talks may go on until after Christmas," Michael Gove told a parliamentary committee. "We will want to ensure that parliament has a say, and a chance to scrutinise any agreement that's reached, so realistically it's in the days just immediately after Christmas." Gove, who earlier said the chances of…

Dec

18

2020

By The African Mirror

How a U.S. jobs charity plans to spend $20 million from Mackenzie Scott

WORLD

ANASTASIA MOLONEY ON Monday, Steven Preston, who heads a non-profit helping vulnerable Americans find jobs, received a call from MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Scott, the world's 18th-richest person, told Preston she was donating $20 million to his organization - Goodwill Industries International - which helps people of color, people with disabilities and people without a high school diploma, among others, find work. In the past four months, Scott has donated more than $4 billion to food banks and emergency relief funds fighting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The Thomson Reuters Foundation spoke to…