WORLD - The African Mirror

Jan

06

2026

Trump’s intervention in Venezuela: the 3 warnings for the world

WORLD

THE January 3 US military operation in Venezuela, seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, was in equal measure audacious and illegal under international law. It’s even more breathtaking that the Trump administration now says it “will run” Venezuela on an interim basis. The US will also seek to control the country’s vast oil interests. Irrespective of its contested domestic politics and the chequered record of the Maduro regime, Venezuela remains a recognised sovereign state under international law. This includes permanent sovereignty over its natural resources. Any US seizure of Venezuelan oil would be a…

Jan

06

2026

By JENNIFER GERSON

The making of a MAGA martyr

WORLD

IN the wake of the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump quickly took up the cause of a 35-year-old veteran named Ashli Babbitt. “Who killed Ashli Babbitt?” he asked in a one-sentence statement on July 1, 2021. This story was originally reported by Jennifer Gerson of The 19th. Meet Jennifer and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. “An innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman,” Trump said during a Fox News interview a few weeks later. To Trump and his Make America Great Again movement, Babbitt was not an insurrectionist shot…

Jan

05

2026

By JUAN ZAHIR NARANJO CÁCERES

The US has invaded countries and deposed leaders before. Its military action against Venezuela feels different

WORLD

IN the early hours of Saturday morning, US special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his home in Caracas and flew him out of the country. US President Donald Trump announced that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face federal narco-terrorism charges in New York. For anyone familiar with the history of US interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean, the basic pattern is grimly familiar: a small state in Washington’s “backyard, a leader deemed unacceptable, military force applied with overwhelming effect, and a government removed overnight. Yet what makes Venezuela’s case different – and profoundly alarming –…

Jan

05

2026

By JUAN LUIS MANFREDI

Trump’s new world order is taking shape in Venezuela. Five keys to understanding the US military attacks

WORLD

ON the back of every dollar bill, the phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum (“New order of the ages”) hints at the principle guiding the US’s new security strategy. The attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro herald the decoupling of Trump’s United States from the rules-based international order, and the end of liberal order as a whole. A new international order is now emerging, based on the use of force, revisionism and security on the American continent. Here are five keys to understanding the outcomes of the military intervention and the new order it ushers in. 1. Expanded…

Jan

05

2026

By The African Mirror

Gaza crisis: Eight-nation coalition demands humanitarian access as winter storms expose catastrophic conditions

WORLD

A coalition of eight Arab and Islamic nations has issued an urgent appeal for immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza, warning that severe winter weather has exposed the catastrophic fragility of conditions for nearly 1.9 million displaced Palestinians living in inadequate shelters. The joint statement from the foreign ministers of Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt represents a significant multilateral pressure campaign on Israel to lift constraints on aid delivery as heavy rainfall, storms, and plummeting temperatures compound an already dire humanitarian emergency. Crisis Reaches Breaking Point The ministers painted a grim picture…

Jan

03

2026

By The African Mirror

Global outrage, alarm follow U.S. Military strikes on Venezuela and abduction of President Maduro

WORLD

THE international community reacted with shock, condemnation, and alarm to Saturday's extraordinary U.S. military operation that saw multiple sites in Venezuela's capital bombed and President Nicolás Maduro and his wife forcibly removed from the country to face criminal charges in New York. Latin America United in Condemnation Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the U.S. bombings and capture of Maduro as crossing "an unacceptable line," warning that attacking countries "in flagrant violation of international law, is the first step toward a world of violence, chaos, and instability, where the law of the strongest prevails over multilateralism." Lula's statement…

Jan

02

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENTS

When celebration turns to catastrophe: 40 dies, 100 injured in nightclub fire in a Swiss resort

WORLD

IN the span of seconds, joy transformed into terror. What began as New Year's Eve revelry at Le Constellation bar in the exclusive Swiss Alpine resort of Crans-Montana ended in one of Switzerland's deadliest fires in recent memory. Around 40 people are confirmed dead, with approximately 100 others injured - many critically - after flames engulfed the packed nightclub in the early hours of January 1, 2026. The tragedy has left Switzerland in mourning and raised urgent questions about nightclub safety standards, emergency preparedness, and the deadly combination of pyrotechnics and flammable materials in crowded venues. The Anatomy of Disaster…

Jan

02

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

There’s an African in New York: When the city of dreams crowned its first son of the continent

WORLD

IN the hushed moments after midnight on New Year's Day, beneath the vaulted ceilings of a century-old subway station that once welcomed America's huddled masses, New York City did what it does best: it reimagined itself. Zohran Mamdani, born in Kampala, Uganda, placed his hand on a Quran and became the first African-born mayor of the city that has long styled itself as the world's capital. At 34, this son of a filmmaker and an academic took an oath in the Old City Hall station - a jewel of civic architecture abandoned to time - and in doing so, breathed…

Jan

02

2026

By JUSTIN BERGMAN

Like strongmen the world over, Donald Trump’s power grab required a crisis – and a scapegoat

WORLD

DONALD Trump has sounded the alarm, over and over again, that the United States is facing an “invasion” by dangerous gang members. He blames immigrants for the country’s economic problems and claims protesters are destroying US cities. Trump is not the first would-be autocrat to manufacture a crisis to seize extraordinary powers. As Natasha Lindstaedt, an expert in authoritarian regimes at the University of Essex, says in episode 3 of The Making of an Autocrat, a strongman “loves a crisis”. A crisis is the way that they mobilise their base, the way that they can depict themselves as the saviour,…

Jan

01

2026

By The African Mirror

The great Gelsenkirchen grinch job: a new year’s heist for the ages

WORLD

WHILE most of Germany was nursing their Glühwein hangovers and quietly digesting their third helping of Stollen, a band of decidedly unholiday-spirited individuals were hard at work in Gelsenkirchen. Their Christmas wish list? Oh, just a casual €10 million (and counting) from several thousand safe deposit boxes at the local Sparkasse bank. The Scene of the Crime: A Masterclass in Festive Larceny Picture, if you will, the aftermath: A gaping wound in solid concrete that screams "industrial drill" louder than a Black Friday sale announcement. Brick dust everywhere - like someone shook the world's most expensive snow globe and forgot…