WORLD - The African Mirror

May

04

2021

‘No one should die’: Volunteers provide oxygen as India’s COVID tally nears 20 million

WORLD

ADNAN ABIDI and SHILPA JAMKHANDIKAR INDIA’S tally of coronavirus infections rose on Monday to just short of 20 million, propelled by a 12th straight day of more than 300,000 new cases, as scientists predicted the pandemic could peak in the next couple of days. Total infections since the start of the pandemic have reached 19.93 million, swelled by 368,147 new cases over the past 24 hours, while the death toll rose by 3,417 to 218,959, health ministry data show. At least 3.4 million people are currently being treated. But medical experts say actual numbers could be five to 10 times…

May

04

2021

By The African Mirror

German police make arrests over massive child pornography website

WORLD

GERMAN police have uncovered one of the world's largest underground websites for child pornography with more than 400,000 users and arrested four people connected to the platform, prosecutors have said. The "BOYSTOWN" platform has existed since at least June 2019 and was only accessible via the so-called Darknet, the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office and the BKA Federal Police said in a statement. The website has more than 400,000 users and was used for the worldwide exchange of child pornography. It enabled members to retrieve child pornography content and exchange footage with each other in chat areas as well as via…

May

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar rebels say they downed helicopter, pro-junta official killed

WORLD

AN ethnic rebel group in Myanmar said it had shot down a military helicopter yesterday as fighting in the country's northern and eastern frontier regions intensified following an army coup. Domestic media also reported that a junta-appointed local administrator had been stabbed to death in the main city, Yangon. Violence has spiralled since the February 1 coup, with at least 766 civilians reported killed by security forces and increasing confrontation with ethnic armies on Myanmar's fringes and junta opponents in the cities and countryside. The United Nations estimates that tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes to escape…

Jun

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Quoting Irish poet, Biden ends EU trade war in renewal of transatlantic ties

WORLD

STEVE HOLLAND, PHILIP BLEKINSOP, MARINE STRAUSS and ROBIN EMMOT U.S. President Joe Biden ended one front in a Trump-era trade war when he met European Union leaders on Tuesday by agreeing a truce in a transatlantic dispute over aircraft subsidies that has dragged on for 17 years. Quoting Irish poet W. B. Yeats at the start of his first EU-U.S. summit as president, Biden also said the world was shifting and that Western democracies needed to come together. "The world has changed, changed utterly," Biden, an Irish-American, said, citing from the poem Easter 1916, in remarks that pointed towards the…

Jun

16

2021

By The African Mirror

New Zealand’s collective backlash at Christchurch film

WORLD

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER JACINDA Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, has reacted negatively to the plans for a film about the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, calling them ill-timed. News has been travelling from Hollywood on the plans for a film that would be based on the mosque shooting, in which a gunman opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 people and wounding 40. Ardern responded to a question posed to her on TVNZ’s Breakfast show, saying that she felt that a film on the attacks felt “too soon” and “too raw” for the people of New Zealand. “While…

Jun

16

2021

By The African Mirror

France starts giving COVID jab to 12-year-olds

WORLD

LEA GUEDJ PERCEVAL Gete, a 12-year-old French boy, is one of the youngest people in Europe to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, and to accommodate his young age, the nurse administering the jab had to use a special child-size needle. His mother brought Perceval to a vaccination centre near Paris on Tuesday, the first day the age of eligibility in France was lowered to 12, because, she said, the more people get inoculated, the sooner pandemic restrictions can be lifted. "I wanted it to be done as soon as possible," his mother, Melanie Gete, said at the vaccination centre in the…

May

03

2021

By The African Mirror

India’s COVID-19 daily cases stay near record, another state imposes lockdown

WORLD

AFTAB AHMED INDIA’S new coronavirus cases dipped marginally on Sunday but deaths from COVID-19 jumped by a record 3,689, with one more state going into lockdown as the nation's creaky healthcare system is unable to cope with the massive caseload. Authorities reported 392,488 new cases in the previous 24 hours, pushing total cases to 19.56 million. So far, the virus has killed 215,542 people. India reported a record 401,993 new coronavirus cases on Saturday. Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed as the country has reported more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight. Many families…

May

03

2021

By The African Mirror

G7 to consider mechanism to counter Russian ‘propaganda’

WORLD

WILLIAM JAMES THE Group of Seven richest countries will look at a proposal to build a rapid response mechanism to counter Russian "propaganda" and disinformation, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Reuters. Speaking ahead of a G7 foreign ministers' meeting in London, the first such in-person meeting for two years, Raab said the United Kingdom was "getting the G7 to come together with a rapid rebuttal mechanism" to counter Russian misinformation. "So that when we see these lies and propaganda or fake news being put out there, we can - not just individually, but come together to provide a rebuttal…

Jun

15

2021

By The African Mirror

NATO designates China as a “systemic” challenge

WORLD

ROBIN EMMOTT, STEVE HOLLAND and SABINE SIEBOLD NATO will confront China's military ambitions for the first time and designate Beijing as presenting "systemic challenges", according to a copy of a summit communique seen by Reuters and set for release later on Monday. In a diplomatic victory for U.S. President Joe Biden, who has urged his fellow NATO leaders to stand up to China's authoritarianism and growing military might, the final statement brands China a security risk to the Western alliance. The language, which will now set the path for alliance policy, comes a day after the Group of Seven rich…

Jun

15

2021

By The African Mirror

New Israeli government faces tension with Palestinians over Jerusalem

WORLD

JEFFREY HELLER VETERAN leader Benjamin Netanyahu handed over power in Israel yesterday to new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett but remained defiant as the patchwork government faced tensions with Palestinians over a planned Jewish nationalist march. Minutes after meeting Bennett, Netanyahu repeated a pledge to topple the new government approved on Sunday by a 60-59 vote in parliament. "It will happen sooner than you think," Netanyahu, 71, who spent a record 12 straight years in office, said in public remarks to legislators of his right-wing Likud party. Formation of the alliance of right-wing, centrist, left-wing and Arab parties, with little in…