WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

15

2021

Putin meets Assad, takes swipe at US and Turkish forces in Syria

WORLD

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has met his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, for the first time since 2018 and criticised foreign forces that are in Syria without permission or a U.N. mandate - a rebuke of the United States and Turkey. Putin is Assad's most powerful ally in the decade-long Syrian conflict; his deployment of Russia's air force in 2015 helped to turn the tide in Assad's favour, allowing him to recover most of the territory lost to insurgents. However, Turkish forces are now present in much of the north and northwest, helping to shore up the last major bastion of…

Sep

15

2021

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE: US, EU pursuing global deal to slash planet-warming methane emissions

WORLD

KATE ABNETT and VALERIE VOLCOVICI THE United States and the European Union are making a joint diplomatic push to get countries to commit to cut methane emissions by nearly a third over the next decade, ahead of the COP26 climate change summit in November, according to documents seen by Reuters. The greenhouse gas methane is the biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide (CO2), and is facing more scrutiny from governments as they seek solutions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, a goal of the Paris climate agreement. In an attempt to jumpstart action, the United States and…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Russian court keeps Kremlin critic Navalny in jail despite outcry

WORLD

MARIA TSVETKOVA and TOM BALMFORTH A Russian court on Thursday ordered Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to be kept in jail, rejecting an appeal against his detention and shrugging off calls by the West and tens of thousands of his Russian supporters for his release. Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was remanded in custody for 30 days on Jan. 18 after flying back to Russia from Germany for the first time since being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in August. A court at the time ordered him detained for alleged parole violations, which he denied. With various…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

China sharpens language, warns Taiwan that independence ‘means war’

WORLD

TONY MUNROE and YEW LUN TIAN CHINA toughened its language towards Taiwan on Thursday, warning after recent stepped up military activities near the island that "independence means war" and that its armed forces were acting in response to provocation and foreign interference. Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, reported multiple Chinese fighter jets and bombers entering its southwestern air defence identification zone last weekend, prompting Washington to urge Beijing to stop pressuring Taiwan. China believes that Taiwan's democratically-elected government is moving the island towards a declaration of formal independence, though Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly said it…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

U.N. goal to end child labour by 2025 deemed impractical, out of touch

WORLD

EMELINE WUILBERCQ A goal to stamp out child labour by 2025 is out of touch with global realities and could push many working children into worse poverty and marginalisation, a group of academics said this week as they called for more realistic targets. The United Nations launched the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour last week, saying urgent action was needed to meet the goal as COVID-19 puts more children at risk of underage work and threatens decades of progress. According to the academics, the objective was unrealistic even before the pandemic disrupted schooling and increased hardship for…

Sep

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Taliban breaking promises including over women, says U.N.

WORLD

EMMA FARGE AFGHANISTAN’S Taliban rulers have contradicted public promises on rights including by ordering women to stay at home, blocking teenage girls from school and holding house-to-house searches for former foes, according to a senior United Nations official. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Afghanistan was in a "new and perilous phase" since the militant Islamist group seized power last month, with many women and members of ethnic and religious communities deeply worried. "In contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold women's rights, over the past three weeks, women have instead been progressively excluded from the public…

Sep

14

2021

By The African Mirror

A reluctant feminist: Germany’s Merkel still inspires many women

WORLD

SUSANNE NEUMAYER-REMTER and TANYA WOOD PETRA WISCHGOLL GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has become a feminist icon after 16 years in power even though the world's most powerful woman has only belatedly accepted that label as she prepares to step down, and conceded that gender equality is still a long way off. "She is admired by women all over the world, this is her main legacy. That a woman showed what she is capable of and does this with dignity and resolve," German feminist activist Alice Schwarzer told Reuters. A rare woman in the upper echelons of her conservative, male-dominated Christian…

Jan

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden’s immigration changes too late for grandfather deported on Inauguration Day

WORLD

MICA ROSENBERG, KRISTINA COOKE and JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ AS U.S. President Joe Biden took the oath of office last Wednesday, Felipe Ortega sat in a van handcuffed and chained at the waist and feet, headed toward Mexico and the end of his 30-year life in the United States. A day earlier, the 58-year-old grandfather of eight U.S. citizens was on his way to work when immigration agents surrounded his car in Midland, Texas, just blocks from his home. They told Ortega he had an outstanding deportation order from 15 years ago. After one sleepless night in jail and a long…

Jan

28

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Crazy and evil’: Bill Gates surprised by pandemic conspiracies

WORLD

KATE KELLAND MICROSOFT co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates says he has been taken aback by the volume of "crazy" and "evil" conspiracy theories about him spreading on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said he would like to explore what is behind them. In an interview with Reuters, Gates said the millions of online posts and "crazy conspiracy theories" about him and about top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci had likely taken hold in part because of the combination of a frightening viral pandemic and the rise of social media. "Nobody would have predicted that I and Dr.…

Jan

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Auschwitz marks anniversary virtually as survivors fear end of an era

WORLD

KACPER PEMPEL and JOANNA PLUCINSKA MARIAN Turski, a 94-year-old survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, was marking the 76th anniversary of its liberation by Soviet troops on Wednesday only virtually, aware that he might never return as the coronavirus pandemic drags on. Survivors and museum officials told Reuters they fear the pandemic could end the era where Auschwitz's former prisoners can tell their own stories to visitors on site. Most Auschwitz survivors are in their eighties and nineties. "Even if there was no pandemic, there would be fewer survivors at every anniversary," Turski told Reuters in a Zoom interview from…