WORLD - The African Mirror

Jun

27

2021

Brazilian lawmaker denouncing vaccine deal wears bullet-proof vest to hearing

WORLD

MARIA CAROLINA MARCELLO A Brazilian congressman who has denounced alleged wrongdoing in a 1.6 billion reais ($323 million) COVID-19 vaccine contract signed by Brazil's government arrived at a Senate commission inquiry wearing a bullet-proof vest for safety. Congressman Luis Miranda and his brother Luis Ricardo Miranda, the whistleblower at the Health Ministry who raised suspicions about the vaccine deal with India's Bharat Biotech, are the key witnesses in a hearing underway on Friday. The parliamentary inquiry is looking into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than half a million people in Brazil, and accusations that…

Jun

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Ex-police officer Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22-1/2 years for George Floyd murder

WORLD

NICHOLAS PFOSI and JONATHAN ALLEN A Minnesota judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin to 22-1/2 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020 on a Minneapolis sidewalk, video of which sparked global protests. A jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty on April 20 of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after a trial that was widely seen as a landmark in the history of U.S. policing. Before the sentence was handed down, Floyd's brothers told the court of their anguish, Chauvin's mother insisted on her son's innocence, and Chauvin…

Jun

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Families pray for ‘miracle’ with 159 missing in Florida condo collapse

WORLD

FRANCISCO ALVARADO RESCUE workers scouring the debris of a collapsed condo building in a Miami suburb said they heard sounds in the rubble overnight, as officials raised the number of people unaccounted for to 159 and the confirmed death toll to four. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters that three more bodies were pulled from the wreckage overnight. Another person was reported to have died on Thursday. The mayor also said the number of presumed missing had increased from the 99 reported missing on Thursday. "I'm praying for a miracle," Rachel Spiegel, whose mother Judy Spiegel is missing, told…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Syrian refugee girls face ‘dangerous’ child marriage trend, says charity

WORLD

MAYA GEBEILY SYRIAN refugee girls are increasingly at risk of child marriage due to a surge in pandemic-linked poverty, legal loopholes and long-term displacement in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, charity Save the Children has said. More than 5.5 million Syrians are registered as asylum seekers in the region, 10 years since conflict broke out in their homeland, according to the United Nations. "Refugee communities are reeling from protracted displacement, poverty and the consequences of COVID-19 and we know that economic hardship, protection concerns and lack of access to education are persistent drivers of child marriage," said…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Last Straw’: Americans confront racism, violence in Chauvin trial

WORLD

THE trial and conviction of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd came with America at a crossroads, a moment of anguish, but also of possibility, which historians and activists compared to the Civil Rights era. From policing and race relations to the criminal justice system, the three-week trial of Derek Chauvin became "a symbol and stand in for our emotions, our fears and our hopes surrounding this whole set of issues," said David Greenberg, a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers University. The audience for the trial was hard to measure, but likely vast because…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Hundreds more unmarked graves found at erstwhile Canadian residential school

WORLD

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY and MORIA WARBURTON AN indigenous group in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has found the unmarked graves of an estimated 751 people at a now-defunct Catholic residential school, just weeks after a similar, smaller discovery rocked the country. The latest discovery, the biggest to date, is a grim reminder of the years of abuse and discrimination indigenous communities have suffered in Canada even as they continue to fight for justice and better living conditions. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "terribly saddened" by the discovery at Marieval Indian Residential School about 87 miles (140 km) from…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Oxygen leak kills 22 in Indian hospital as coronavirus infections mount

WORLD

RANJENDRA JADHAV and NEHA ARORA AT least 22 patients died on Wednesday in a hospital in western India after a disruption to their oxygen supply caused by a leaking tank, the health minister said, as a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases soaks up supplies of the gas. The incident in the city of Nashik, one of India's worst-hit areas, happened after the tank of oxygen leaked, said Rajesh Tope, the health minister of Maharashtra, the richest state, where the city is located. "Patients who were on ventilators at the hospital in Nashik have died," Tope said in televised remarks. "The…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Queen Elizabeth touched by tributes to husband as she marks 95th birthday

WORLD

MICHAEL HOLDEN BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth said she had been deeply touched by the tributes paid to her husband Prince Philip, in her first public remarks since his death earlier this month and as she marks her first birthday without him in 73 years. Prince Philip, whom Elizabeth married in 1947, died on April 9 aged 99 and the royals paid their final respects to the family's patriarch at a funeral on Saturday at Windsor Castle. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the queen sat alone during the sombre service for Philip, whom she had previously described as her "strength and stay" during…

Apr

20

2021

By The African Mirror

GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! Chauvin convicted 3 times

WORLD

JONATHAN ALLEN, NATHAN LAYNE and GABRIELLA BORTER FORMER Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murdering George Floyd, a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement's treatment of Black Americans. A 12-member jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty of all three charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter after considering three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts. Deliberations began on Monday and lasted just over 10 hours. In a confrontation captured on video, Chauvin, a white veteran of the police force, pushed…

Jun

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Death toll in Miami building collapse rises to three

WORLD

The death toll from the collapse of a Miami oceanfront apartment block has risen to three, ABC News reported, and nearly 100 people remained unaccounted for as rescue workers continued their search for survivors in the rubble. U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration in the state of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts. "The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts," the White House said on Friday. Rescue crews picked through tons of rubble on Thursday looking for survivors. Search…