WORLD - The African Mirror

Jan

20

2021

Joe Biden sworn in as 46th U.S. president

WORLD

TREVOR HUNNICUTT, PATRICIA ZENGERLE and JARRETT RENSHAW DEMOCRAT Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States tonight, assuming the helm of a country reeling from deep political divides, a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans. With his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, Biden took the presidential oath of office administered by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts just after noon (1700 GMT), vowing to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Biden, 78, became the oldest U.S.…

Sep

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden orders declassification review of documents related to Sept. 11 attacks

WORLD

JEFF MASON AND JAN WOLFE U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday ordered the Department of Justice to review documents from the FBI's probe into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for declassification and release. "When I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America," Biden said in a statement. "As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment." The order requires U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to make the declassified documents public over the next six months as it…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Trump, praising his won record, leaves White House

WORLD

STEVE HOLLAND US President Donald Trump hailed his administration's record as he left the White House for the last time today, hours before President-elect Joe Biden assumed the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic. Biden, 78, will become the oldest U.S. president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. Trump left the White House with his…

Sep

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Taliban, opposition battle for Panjshir Valley, Pakistan spy chief flies to Kabul

WORLD

TALIBAN and opposition forces were fighting on Saturday for control of the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, the last province in Afghanistan holding out against the Islamist group, according to reports. Taliban sources said its fighters had taken the valley, although the resistance denied it had fallen. The Taliban have so far issued no public declaration that they had taken the valley, which resisted their rule when they were last in power in Kabul from 1996 to 2001. The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, which groups opposition forces loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said Taliban forces reached the Darband…

Sep

05

2021

By The African Mirror

New Zealand supermarkets take knives off shelves after ‘extremist’ stabbing

WORLD

PRAVEEN MENON NEW Zealand supermarket group Countdown said on Saturday it has removed knives and scissors from its shelves, a day after a man the authorities called an Islamist extremist stabbed six people in one of the company's stores. "Last night, we made the decision to temporarily remove all knives and scissors from our shelves while we consider whether we should continue to sell them," said Kiri Hannifin, Countdown's general manager for safety. "We want all of our team to feel safe when they come to work, especially considering the events of yesterday," she said in a media statement. Other…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

In parting shot, Trump accuses China of ‘genocide’

WORLD

HUMEYRA PAMUK THE Trump administration has determined that China has committed "genocide and crimes against humanity" by repressing Uighur Muslims in its Xinjiang region, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has revealed, delivering an embarrassing blow to Beijing a day before U.S. president-elect Joe Biden is set to take office. Pompeo said he made the move - which is certain to strain further already frayed ties between the world's top economies - "after careful examination of the available facts," accusing the Chinese Communist Party of crimes against humanity against the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities since at least March 2017. "I…

Sep

04

2021

By The African Mirror

NY, NJ officials vow to improve extreme weather resilience as Ida death toll rises to 46

WORLD

MARIA CASPANI and JULIA HARTE OFFICIALS in c said on Friday that improvements to infrastructure were needed to deal with extreme weather events after flash flooding from Hurricane Ida caught the U.S. Northeast off guard, killing at least 46 people. Ida struck the Gulf coast Sunday as a Category 4 storm and marched northward through the eastern United States, culminating in high-intensity rains and fast-rising floods in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York on Wednesday night. Thousands of people were stranded in their homes or cars and rescued by emergency responders or neighbours in rafts and lifeboats. Many are…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny makes allegations of Putin wealth ahead of protests

WORLD

ANDREW OSBORN AND GABRIELLE TETRAULT-FARBER ALEXEI Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic who was jailed at the weekend, on Tuesday released a video in which he and his allies alleged that an opulent palace belonged to the Russian leader, a claim the Kremlin denied. The allegations, which first surfaced in 2010 when a businessman wrote about them to then-President Dmitry Medvedev complaining of official graft, come as Navalny's supporters urge people to join nationwide protests on Saturday. Reuters reported in 2014 that the estate in southern Russia had been partly funded by taxpayer money from a $1 billion hospital…

Sep

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Hunted by the men they jailed, Afghanistan’s women judges seek escape

WORLD

STEPHANIE VAN DEN BERG SAFE in Europe after escaping from Kabul, an Afghan woman judge describes how she was hunted by men she had once jailed, now freed by the Taliban fighters who took over the country. "Four or five Taliban members came and asked people in my house: 'Where is this woman judge?' These were people who I had put in jail," she told Reuters in an interview from an undisclosed location, asking not to be identified. Afghanistan has around 250 women judges. A few were able to flee in recent weeks, but most were left behind and are…

Sep

04

2021

By The African Mirror

UK’s Johnson calls racist abuse of England players in Hungary ‘disgraceful’

WORLD

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on world soccer's governing body FIFA to take action over what he described as "disgraceful" racist abuse aimed at England players by Hungary fans during a World Cup qualifier. "It is completely unacceptable that England players were racially abused in Hungary last night," he wrote on Twitter. Johnson urged FIFA to take "strong action against those responsible to ensure that this kind of disgraceful behaviour is eradicated from the game for good." FIFA said on Friday that it had opened disciplinary proceedings into the incidents at the match and reiterated an earlier statement reaffirming…