WORLD - The African Mirror

Feb

18

2021

Japan’s ruling party invites more women to meetings, as long as they don’t talk

WORLD

JU-MIN PARK and CHANG-RAN KIM Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, long seen as a homogeneous redoubt of elderly men, now wants more women at its key meetings - provided they don't do the talking. The party, in power for most of the time since 1955, has proposed allowing five female lawmakers to join its board meetings as observers in a response to criticism that its board is dominated by men. Two of the party's 12-member board are women, while only three of its 25-member general council are women. The proposal comes after sexist comments from former Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro…

Jul

29

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. cities offer displaced Black families the ‘right to return’

WORLD

CAREY L. BIRON THE way Robbie Jones sees it, the big infrastructure projects that reworked the face of her California hometown a half-century ago included a pointed message for minority communities. During the 1950s and 1960s, whole neighbourhoods in Santa Monica were forced to move to make way for what was called urban renewal projects, including a civic centre and freeway. "That whole community, predominantly African American residents, were uprooted, and their homes later ... burned to the ground," the 63-year-old activist and historian told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. "To me, that was sending a message," she said,…

Jul

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Brazil’s Bolsonaro shuffles cabinet, recreates labour ministry

WORLD

ANTHONY BOADLE BRAZILIAN President Jair Bolsonaro has appointed centre-right Senator Ciro Nogueira as his chief of staff x to shore up waning political support in Congress and recreated the labour ministry to deal with record unemployment. Nogueira, a leader of the Progressives Party (PP) to which lower house speaker Arthur Lira also belongs, will be Bolsonaro's closest aide and minister, replacing a retired general. His appointment is aimed at improving the far-right president's relations with Congress, where there have been dozens of requests for his impeachment as his popularity drops during the world's second-deadliest COVID-19 outbreak. A Senate investigation has…

Jul

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Amid pandemic, Argentine couples ask ‘can I bring a child into this world?’

WORLD

LUCILA SIGAL IN the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, a city famed for its passionate tango dancing and romance, the pandemic is putting a dampener on couples making babies, with birthrates down by a quarter since COVID-19 struck early last year. Claudia Becerra and her boyfriend Agustín Cacciola have long dreamt of having a child, but strict quarantines and economic malaise from the impact of the virus have made them put off their plans. "Uncertainty is the most difficult thing we face," Cacciola, a 32-year-old lawyer, told Reuters alongside Becerra, an accountant, at their home in the Belgrano neighbourhood. He lost…

Feb

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar military guarantees new election; protesters block train services

WORLD

MYANMAR’S military junta guaranteed today that it would hold an election and hand over power, denied its ouster of an elected government was a coup or that its leaders were detained, and accused protesters of violence and intimidation. The junta's justification of its February 1 seizure of power and arrest of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others came as protesters again took to the streets and after a U.N. envoy warned the army of "severe consequences" for any harsh response to the demonstrations. "Our objective is to hold an election and hand power to the winning party," Brigadier…

Feb

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Federal lawsuit accuses Trump, Giuliani of conspiracy to incite Capitol riot

WORLD

SARAH N LYNCH A Democratic lawmaker has filed a lawsuit accusing former President Donald Trump and lawyer Rudy Giuliani of conspiring to incite the violent riot that shook the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The lawsuit by Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat who chairs the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, in U.S. District Court in Washington. The U.S. Senate acquitted Trump of inciting the riot at the Capitol. The Senate vote of 57-43 fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection after a five-day impeachment trial but he can still…

Feb

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Inspired by protests, India’s women farmers revive their own demands

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ AS protests against agricultural reforms catch global attention, India's neglected women farmers are seizing the moment to dust off their own long-standing demands - from land rights and farm credit to grains subsidies. Hundreds of miles from the sit-in demonstrations near the capital, Ponnuthai said the protests were helping her and other women farmers gain recognition - spurring her local collective to draft new petitions for demands first made decades ago. "The protests in Delhi have given us our identity as women farmers," Ponnuthai, who goes by one name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from her home in…

Feb

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Tokyo Olympics chief’s ‘annoying’ women remark and six other sexism rows in Japan

WORLD

BEH LIH YI Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori, who resigned on Friday after making sexist remarks, is the latest Japanese official whose comments about women have sparked outrage. Mori apologised but failed to quell a global outcry and his departure is a rare example of an official being held accountable for sexism in Japan, ranked 121 out of 153 countries on the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index. Mori, 83, sparked a furore when he said during an Olympic committee meeting this month that women talk too much "which is annoying". He initially refused to step down. The issue has focused global attention…

Jul

28

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. panel hears of ‘medieval’ Capitol violence by pro-Trump rioters

WORLD

A congressional committee has held its first hearing investigating the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, with testimony by four police officers who struggled against a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters engaging in "medieval" violence and warnings from lawmakers against whitewashing the riot. At the Democratic-led House of Representatives investigatory committee's first hearing, the officer, Aquilino Gonell, described being pummeled by rioters fired up by Trump's false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. "What we were subjected to that day was like something from a medieval battlefield. We fought hand-to-hand and inch-by-inch to prevent…

Jul

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Olympic host Tokyo hits record 2,848 COVID-19 cases, seeks more hospital beds

WORLD

ANTONI SLODKOWSKI and SAM NUSSEY TOKYO’S 2,848 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday were the Olympic host city's highest since the pandemic began, officials said, as media reported that authorities had asked hospitals to prepare more beds for patients as the Delta variant drives the surge. The rise in cases threatens to further erode support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose ratings have slid to their lowest level since he took office last September, in large part because of his haphazard handling of the pandemic. It also spells trouble for the Olympics, as many Japanese fear the influx of athletes and officials…