WORLD - The African Mirror

Jun

29

2021

Florida inspector reassured condo residents in 2018 despite engineer’s warning

WORLD

GABRIELLA BORTER A town inspector reassured residents in 2018 that the building that collapsed near Miami last week was in "very good shape," just a month after an engineer warned that the high-rise had suffered major structural damage that required repair, according to an NPR report. The 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside partially collapsed early on Thursday as residents slept, killing at least nine and leaving more than 150 people still missing. Rescue crews are working around the clock, sifting through the rubble for signs of life even as hopes of finding more survivors grow dimmer by the hour.…

Jun

29

2021

By The African Mirror

White man sentenced to 22 years for murder of Black actor in Portugal

WORLD

A Portuguese court yesterday sentenced a white man who shot dead a Black actor in a busy street last year to more than two decades behind bars in a case that put racism and the country's colonial past in the spotlight. Bruno Cande, 39 and of Guinean origin, was shot several times by white Portuguese man Evaristo Marinho, 77, at Avenida de Moscavide, about 10 km (six miles) from Lisbon's city centre, in July 2020. Marinho was convicted of racially motivated murder and will spend 22 years and nine months in prison, the court ruled. A soldier during the war…

Jun

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Young brides’ deaths trigger dowry crackdown in southern India

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ INDIA’S Kerala state has launched a crackdown on the payment of dowry after the deaths of four young married women highlighted domestic abuse linked to the custom, which remains common despite being banned 60 years ago. Traditionally gold jewellery that parents hand over when their daughters wed, nowadays dowries can include a range of costly "gifts" for the groom's family - straining the finances of families with daughters and often causing rows and abuse. "In light of the recent horrifying incidents of domestic abuse, Kerala has decided to take more stringent measures to create a fair society," the…

Apr

16

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. ends its longest war: Some Afghans not happy

WORLD

MANY Afghans believe that the United States is putting them at the mercy of hardline Islamist Taliban insurgents after President Joe Biden's announcement that U.S. troops will leave the country by September 11. The withdrawal date was pushed back four months from the May 1 deadline agreed to between the Washington and the insurgents last year - but, this time, there have been no conditions attached to the pullout. "International forces' intervention was like a light in a dark night," Amina, 32, a teacher at a girls school in the northern province of Kunduz, told Reuters. Amina, who was a…

Apr

16

2021

By The African Mirror

“Cancel plans to launch Instagram for kids”

WORLD

AN advocacy group yesterday called on Facebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to not create a version of photo-sharing app Instagram for children who are under 13, as it would put them at "great risk". The letter to Zuckerberg from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) comes at a time the world's largest social network has been criticized for amplifying misinformation globally across its platforms, while also exposing children to inappropriate material. Facebook did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Instagram exploits youngsters' fear of missing out as they constantly check their devices seeking approval…

Jun

28

2021

By The African Mirror

UK government to probe leak of Hancock footage

WORLD

BRITAIN’S government will investigate how footage of former minister Matt Hancock kissing his aide found its way into the media and forced his resignation, in the latest scandal to hit Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government. After first rejecting calls for Hancock to be sacked or resign as health minister after pictures were published of him embracing a woman he had appointed to a taxpayer-funded role, Johnson accepted his decision to step down on Saturday. The departure puts pressure on Johnson's government, which has overseen one of the highest official death tolls from the COVID-19 pandemic and was criticised for its…

Jun

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Death toll in Florida building collapse rises to nine

WORLD

ANDY SULLIVAN AS the death toll rose to nine, searchers have continued with work to find more than 150 missing residents amid the rubble of a Florida apartment building that collapsed three days ago, as questions arose about the tower's structural integrity. The death toll was certain to rise as emergency workers in Surfside, a shore town near Miami, were joined by teams from Israel and experts from Mexico. "Everybody that is needed is on the site and doing the work and we're continuing our efforts to find people alive," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told CBS on Sunday.…

Jun

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Israel summons Polish envoy over Holocaust property bill

WORLD

MAAYAN LUBELL ISRAEL summoned Poland's ambassador yesterday to express its "deep disappointment" over a Polish bill that critics say will make it harder for Jews to recover property seized by the country's Nazi occupiers during World War Two and then kept by post-war communist rulers, the foreign ministry said. Poland's lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a draft bill introducing a statute of limitations on claims for the restitution of property, drawing a furious response from Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who labelled it a "disgrace". A statement from the Israeli foreign ministry said the legislation could affect up…

Jun

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Pressure builds on UK’s Johnson to fire health secretary

WORLD

KATE HOLTON BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under mounting pressure to fire his health secretary after the admission that he broke COVID-19 guidelines by kissing an employee sparked accusations of blatant hypocrisy. Matt Hancock, 42, has been at the centre of the government's fight against the pandemic, routinely telling people to follow strict rules and even welcoming the resignation last year of a senior scientist who broke restrictions in a similar manner. Hancock apologised on Friday after The Sun newspaper showed him kissing and embracing a senior aide in his office last month, at a time when it…

Jun

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Rescuers search around the clock for survivors of Florida building collapse

WORLD

FRANCISCO ALVARADO PROSPECTS for recovering survivors from a Florida high-rise have diminished with each passing hour, two full days after the 12-story condominium mysteriously collapsed while many residents slept. Even so, search-and-rescue teams worked around the clock through an unstable mountain of debris looking for signs of life from any of the 159 people still unaccounted for, while smouldering fires filled the air with smoke. The death toll of four was certain to rise with one floor of the high-rise stacked atop another like pancakes. Aided by dogs, cameras, sonar and heavy equipment, rescuers looked for any spaces that may…