WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

13

2021

FBI releases first declassified 9/11 document after Biden order

WORLD

AAKRITI BHALLA and MARK HOSENBALL THE FBI has released a newly declassified document related to its investigation of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and allegations of Saudi government support for the hijackers, following an executive order by President Joe Biden. The partially redacted 16-page document released by the FBI on the 20th anniversary of the attacks detailed contacts between the hijackers and several Saudi officials, but it did not draw a definitive conclusion whether the government in Riyadh was complicit in the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Earlier this month, Biden ordered the Department of…

Sep

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Taliban say women can study at university but classes must be segregated

WORLD

WOMEN in Afghanistan will be allowed to study in universities as the country seeks to rebuild after decades of war but gender segregation and Islamic dress code will be mandatory, the Taliban's new Higher Education minister said on Sunday. The minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, said the new Taliban government, named last week, would "start building the country on what exists today" and did not want to turn the clock back 20 years to when the movement was last in power. He said female students would be taught by women wherever possible and classrooms would remain separated, in accordance with the…

Sep

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Israeli minister says Iran giving militias drone training near Isfahan

WORLD

ISRAEL’S defence minister has accused Iran of providing foreign militias with drone training at an airbase near the city of Isfahan, a month after Tehran came under global scrutiny over a suspected drone attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off Oman. Israel has combined military strikes with diplomatic pressure to beat back what it describes as an effort by its arch-foe, whose nuclear negotiations with the West are deadlocked, to beef up regional clout through allied guerrillas. In what his office described as a new disclosure, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Iran was using Kashan airbase north of Isfahan to train…

Sep

12

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Like an eternal flame’: Americans honor the fallen on 20th anniversary of Sept. 11

WORLD

TYLER CLIFFORD and NATHAN LAYNE TWENTY years after hijackers slammed airplanes into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, Americans came together on Saturday to remember the nearly 3,000 killed on September 11, 2001, and reflect on how the attacks reshaped society and tipped the country into an intractable war. As a first responder struck a silver bell, the ceremony at the September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan began with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT), the exact time the first of two planes flew into the World Trade Center's twin towers.…

Sep

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Brother of Afghan opposition figure executed by Taliban, family says

WORLD

Amrullah Saleh THE Taliban have executed the brother of Amrullah Saleh, the former Afghan vice president who became one of the leaders of anti-Taliban opposition forces in the Panjshir valley, according to his nephew. The news that Saleh's brother Rohullah Azizi was killed came days after Taliban forces took control of the provincial centre of Panjshir, the last province holding out against them. "They executed my uncle," Ebadullah Saleh told Reuters in a text message. "They killed him yesterday and would not let us bury him. They kept saying his body should rot." The Urdu language account of the Taliban…

Sep

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Brazil’s Pele conscious, recovering satisfactorily after operation

WORLD

FORMER Brazilian soccer great Pele remains in an intensive care unit and is recovering satisfactorily almost a week after surgery to remove a tumor from his colon, his doctors have said. Pele "is conscious, conversing actively and is maintaining normal vital signs," a statement from the Alberto Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo said. In a separate social media post, the 80-year-old three times World Cup winner said he was feeling better and joked he still had hopes of playing again. "My friends, with each passing day I feel a little better," he said on Instagram. "I'm looking forward to playing…

Sep

11

2021

By The African Mirror

20 years later, survivor still carries 9/11 with him

WORLD

SOREN LARSON TOM Canavan was buried alive at the World Trade Center site when the twin towers collapsed 20 years ago on September 11. He was on the 47th floor of the North Tower on a conference call in his boss' office when the American Airlines Flight 11 plane struck his building at 8:46 a.m. Canavan and his colleagues from First Union, a brokerage firm, began to slowly descend the stairwells to safety, passing police, firefighters and Port Authority rescue workers on their way up to try to rescue wounded survivors. While they were trying to escape, a second plane…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Indian farm protesters battle police to plant flags at historic Red Fort

WORLD

DEVJYOT GHOSHAL and ADNAN ABIDI THOUSANDS of Indian farmers protesting against agricultural reforms breached barricades on yesterday to enter the historic Red Fort complex in the capital and hoist flags after clashing with police, who fired tear gas to scatter them. Growers, angered by laws they say help large, private buyers at the expense of producers, have camped outside New Delhi for almost two months, posing one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014. The body of one protester draped in an Indian tricolour lay in a central Delhi street after…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Trump opens Florida office to push his former administration’s agenda

WORLD

DONALD Trump has opened an office in Florida that will handle his duties as a former U.S. president and seek to further his administration's agenda. "The Office will be responsible for managing President Trump's correspondence, public statements, appearances, and official activities to advance the interests of the United States and to carry on the agenda of the Trump Administration through advocacy, organizing, and public activism," a statement said. The announcement came on the same day the House of Representatives delivered to the Senate an impeachment article charging Trump with inciting insurrection in a speech to supporters before the deadly attack…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Hungary says to target tech giants over alleged manipulation of social media platforms

WORLD

MARTON DUNAI HUNGARY'S nationalist government said on Tuesday it would place restrictions on social media giants to prevent "deliberate, ideological" misuse of digital platforms by liberal critics ahead of elections in 2022. Justice Minister Judit Varga drew parallels with the shutdown of ex-U.S. President Donald Trump's main social media accounts by Twitter and Facebook after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, saying tech giants were also trying to limit the "free speech" of Hungarian state leaders. With Joe Biden's election as U.S. president, "the American tech gurus have also come unleashed, and (ex-president) Barack Obama himself has…