WORLD - The African Mirror

Feb

28

2021

Woman killed in Myanmar police crack down on protests

WORLD

POLICE have cracked down in Myanmar to prevent opponents of military rule gathering and one woman was shot and killed, media reported, after the country's U.N. envoy urged the United Nations to use "any means necessary" to stop a February 1 coup. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide. Uncertainty has grown over Suu Kyi's whereabouts, as the independent Myanmar Now website on Friday quoted officials of her National League for…

Jul

18

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Sulli Deals’: Muslim women in India being put up for sale

WORLD

SANIA FAROOQUI ONGOING online sexual harassment of Muslim women through ‘Sulli Deals’, an auctioning app hosted by GitHub, has been reported to the authorities – but not before it called untold trauma to the targeted women. Cyber Cell registered the case in Delhi, India, despite GitHub having shut the open-source app Sulli Deals down. Sulli is a derogatory term that is often used by abusive right-wing trolls for Muslim women in India. Previously similar profiles and handles were found on Twitter and YouTube. These platforms were used to harass Muslim women using a similar ‘Sulli Deals’ modus operandi to auction…

Jul

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Death toll rises to 157 in Germany and Belgium floods

WORLD

PETRA WISCHGOLL and DAVID SAHL RESCUE workers have continued to search flood-ravaged parts of Germany and Belgium for survivors after burst rivers and flash floods this week collapsed houses and claimed at least 157 lives. "We mourn with those that have lost friends, acquaintances, family members," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during a visit to Erftstadt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the disaster killed at least 43 people "Their fate is ripping our hearts apart." Some 133 people have died in the flooding in western Germany, the country's worst natural disaster in more than half a century. That…

Jul

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Music banned on Greece’s Mykonos in new COVID-19 restrictions

WORLD

GREECE banned music in restaurants and bars and restricted movement on its popular holiday island of Mykonos on Saturday after a rise in new coronavirus infections there. Known as the party island of the super-rich, Mykonos is one of Greece's most popular destinations, attracting more than a million visitors each summer, among them Hollywood stars, models and world-famous athletes. Following a "worrying" local outbreak, the Civil Protection Ministry said it was banning music on the island around the clock and would only allow movement between 1 a.m to 6 a.m to those going to and from work, or for health…

Feb

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar police fire into air to disperse protests as Suu Kyi’s lawyer says access denied

WORLD

POLICE dispersed protesters in Myanmar's two biggest cities yesterday, firing stun grenades, rubber bullets and guns into the air in a crackdown on weeks of demonstrations that have challenged the army's bid to re-impose its rule. At least one person was wounded in the protests in the main city of Yangon, a witness said, and several people were hurt in the second city of Mandalay. Police were not immediately available for comment. The Southeast Asian country has been in crisis since the army seized power on February 1 and detained government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her…

Apr

07

2021

By The African Mirror

World powers, Iran, U.S. begin indirect talks to revive nuclear deal

WORLD

FRANCOIS MURPHY, PARISA HAFEZI and JOHN IRISH EUROPEAN intermediaries began shuttling between Iranian and U.S. officials in Vienna yesterday as they sought to bring both countries back into full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal that Washington abandoned three years ago. Iran has steadily overstepped the accord's limits on its nuclear programme in response to Washington's withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and its reimposition of sanctions that have crippled the Islamic Republic's economy. While Tehran has repeatedly rebuffed "direct and indirect negotiations" with its old foe, Washington said on Monday it expected the talks to be difficult. Neither side…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Floodwaters still rising in western Europe with death toll over 110

WORLD

MARTIN SCHLICHT and DAVID SAHL MORE than 1,000 people were missing in flood-stricken regions of western Germany and Belgium on Friday, where waters were still rising with the death toll already well over 100 and communications in some areas cut. Entire communities lay in ruins after swollen rivers swept through towns and villages in the western German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Belgium as well as the Netherlands. "It was terrible not to able to help people," Frank Thel, a resident of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate, told Reuters in front of a pile of rubble. "They were waving at us…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. charges two men for plotting to blow up Democratic headquarters in California

WORLD

SARAH N LYNCH TWO California men have been indicted on charges they conspired to attack the Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, according to the U.S. Justice Department. According to the unsealed indictment, Ian Benjamin Rogers, 45, of Napa and Jarrod Copeland, 37, of Vallejo started plotting to attack Democratic targets after the 2020 presidential election. They also tried to get support from an anti-government group to further the cause. The indictment does not name the militia group they contacted. However, in a different court filing, prosecutors said that Copeland emailed the far-right group Proud Boys in an effort to "recruit…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Canada to welcome ‘human rights defenders’, including journalists, as refugees

WORLD

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY CANADA is establishing a dedicated refugee stream for "human rights defenders," including journalists, who may need to seek asylum to escape persecution in their country, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marco Mendicino has announced. The stream - the first of its kind in the world, according to the UN refugee agency - will accommodate 250 people a year, plus their families, and focus on people at heightened risk, such as women, journalists and LGBTQ2 rights advocates. "We must not overlook those who bear witness to these human tragedies, who are active through demonstration and reporting so the…

Apr

06

2021

By The African Mirror

As WHO highlights COVID animal origins, China wildlife crackdown needs more teeth – experts

WORLD

DAVID STANWAY CHINA and its neighbours must not only crack down on wildlife trade but also shut legal loopholes that allow disease-prone species to be farmed, experts said after an investigation team concluded that COVID-19 most likely originated in animals. A World Health Organization-led study said it was "likely to very likely" that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the global pandemic, was introduced to humans from bats via an intermediary species, with wildlife farming playing a crucial role. Tong Yigang, a Chinese animal disease expert involved in the joint study, said the findings vindicated Beijing's decision last year to ban…