WORLD - The African Mirror

Jun

07

2021

In Venezuela, an account of a kidnapping renews focus on violence against women

WORLD

VIVIAN SEQUERA and MIRCELY GUANIPA In 2001, Linda Lopez was kidnapped and held for almost four months in a Caracas apartment, where she was repeatedly raped and tortured. Now, she has released a book about her experience and her years-long battle to bring the case to trial in a system that she says still fails Venezuelan women. The release of the book co-written by Lopez, a lawyer, and Luisa Kislinger, a Venezuelan writer and activist, has revived debate about violence against women and girls in Venezuela, which activists says is often overshadowed by the country's humanitarian and economic crisis. Venezuela…

Jun

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Putin calls U.S. ransomware allegations an attempt to stir pre-summit trouble

WORLD

SUGGESTIONS that the Russian state was linked to high profile ransomware attacks in the United States were absurd and an attempt to stir trouble ahead of his summit this month with the U.S. President Joe Biden, said Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, yesterday. A hack of Brazilian meatpacker JBS's facilities in the United States, reported this week, is the third such ransomware hack in the country since Biden took office in January. JBS told the White House it originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia. The White House said on Wednesday that Biden, who is due to…

Jun

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Peru’s Castillo, the champion of the poor

WORLD

MARCO AQUINO PERU’S Pedro Castillo has come a long way to be on the cusp of winning the Andean nation's presidential election. The son of peasant farmers, who lives humbly as a teacher in Peru's north and tends animals on his land, is the narrow favorite ahead of Sunday's run-off vote that has become a referendum on wealth and poverty in the copper-rich country. Castillo, 51, who represents the socialist Peru Libre party, shot to prominence in April when he shocked analysts and pollsters to win the first-round vote. He even caught some major news outlets off guard, as they…

Jun

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Rich states haven’t done enough for the environment, Pakistan PM says

WORLD

GIBRAN NAIYYAR PESHIMAM THE world's richest countries have not done enough to combat global warming, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said, adding his country had done more than any other in the world to combat rising emissions relative to its economic means. Pakistan, this year's host of the United Nations' annual World Environment Day on June 5, is among the countries worst affected by climate change, having been regularly hit by devastating floods in recent years, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying swathes of agricultural land. "Has the developed world done enough: The answer is no," Khan…

May

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Remains of 215 children found at former indigenous school site in Canada

WORLD

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY THE remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, were found at the site of a former residential school for indigenous children, a discovery Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as heartbreaking. The children were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978, according to the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Nation, which said the remains were found with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist. "We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify," Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said in a statement. "At…

May

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden to press Putin on respecting human rights in Geneva

WORLD

U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday said that he will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect human rights when the two leaders meet in June. During a speech honoring the U.S. holiday Memorial Day, Biden said, "I'm meeting with President Putin in a couple of weeks in Geneva making it clear we will not, we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights." The White House said on Friday it was planning to move ahead with the summit between the two leaders after Microsoft flagged a cyberattack on U.S. government agencies by Nobelium, the group behind last year's…

May

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Netanyahu’s grip on power loosens as rival moves to unseat him

WORLD

JEFFERY HELLER FAR-right party leader Naftali Bennett threw his crucial support on Sunday behind a "unity government" in Israel to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in what would be the end of a political era. Bennett's decision, which he announced in a televised address, could enable opposition chief Yair Lapid to put together a coalition of right-wing, centrist and leftist parties and hand Netanyahu his first election defeat since 1999. Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party that finished second to Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in an inconclusive March 23 national ballot, faces a Wednesday deadline from Israel's president to…

May

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Belarus opposition leader hails world support after journalist arrest

WORLD

ANDRIUS SYTAS BELARUS opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Saturday hailed support from around the world after Minsk scrambled a warplane to intercept a flight and arrested a dissident journalist on board. Belarus has been subject to EU and U.S. sanctions since President Alexander Lukashenko cracked down on pro-democracy protests after a disputed election last year. But his decision to intercept an international airliner in Belarusian airspace and arrest the 26-year-old has brought threats of more serious action. Most European countries told their aircraft to avoid Belarus airspace and banned Belarus carriers from their skies. "I am very touched by the…

Jun

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden order bans investment in dozens of Chinese defense, tech firms

WORLD

MICHAEL MARTINA and KAREN FREIFELD US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that bans U.S. entities from investing in dozens of Chinese companies with alleged ties to defence or surveillance technology sectors. The move, which his administration says expands the scope of a legally flawed Trump-era order, drew anger from Beijing. The Treasury Department will enforce and update on a "rolling basis" the new list of about 59 companies, which bars buying or selling publicly traded securities in target companies, and replaces an earlier list from the Department of Defense, senior administration officials told reporters. The order prevents…

Jun

05

2021

By The African Mirror

G7 nations ‘just one millimetre’ from historic tax deal

WORLD

DAVID MILLIKEN SOME of the world's richest nations are within touching distance of a historic deal to close the net on large companies which do not pay their fair share of tax, France and Germany said yesterday after a day of talks in London. Finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations are meeting in person for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic after U.S. President Joe Biden's administration gave fresh impetus to stalled global tax talks this year. Rich nations have struggled for years to agree a way to raise more tax from large…