WORLD - The African Mirror

Nov

03

2025

Why was it ‘necessary’ for King Charles to take action on Andrew – and why now?

WORLD

THE man formerly known as Prince Andrew will now simply be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor after he was stripped of all his official titles. In a statement, Buckingham Palace said the king has “initiated a formal process” to remove his brother’s titles. This refers to letters patent – the mechanism by which the monarch can remove titles like “prince”. At the heart of the matter is Mountbatten Windsor’s relationship with convicted paedophile sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the allegations by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre that she was forced to have sex with the then-prince as a teenager. Mountbatten Windsor…

Nov

01

2025

By TOM HARPER

What will Trump’s deal with Xi mean for the US economy and relations with China? Expert Q&A

WORLD

IT was 12 out of ten, said US President Donald Trump when reporting back on his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The two men met in the South Korean city of Busan on October 30, the first time they have come together face to face since 2019. That, in itself, must be seen as progress after months of rising tensions. Since Trump returned to the White House in January, the world’s two biggest powers have squared off in what has threatened to become an increasingly damaging trade war. Their meeting by no means resulted in a trade deal…

Nov

01

2025

By NICO DIALESANDRO, UNCLOSETED

Mamdani and Cuomo’s complete track records on LGBTQ+ issues

WORLD

THIS year’s mayoral race in New York City is shaping up to be the most-watched and most consequential local election in the country. Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman and Democratic Socialist who cleanly won the Democratic primary earlier this year and maintains a double-digit lead in the polls, is facing off against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary. This story was originally published in Uncloseted Media, an LGBTQ-focused investigative news outlet. Analysts argue that this race could have significant implications for the future of the Democratic Party. If Mamdani wins, it will represent…

Oct

31

2025

By The African Mirror

Hurricane Melissa: A Caribbean Catastrophe

WORLD

HURRICANE Melissa has carved a merciless path of destruction across the Caribbean, leaving at least 44 people dead - including 10 children - and transforming vibrant communities into landscapes of rubble, floodwater, and shattered dreams. The storm's wrath fell heaviest on Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba, where the human toll and infrastructure damage paint a sobering portrait of nature's fury unleashed. Jamaica: Ground Zero of Annihilation Jamaica bore witness to history's darkest storm chapter when Melissa roared ashore as a monstrous Category 5 hurricane - the most powerful ever recorded on the island. The numbers tell a grim story: at least…

Oct

31

2025

By TILMAN RUFF

If the US resumes nuclear weapons testing, this would be extremely dangerous for humanity

WORLD

US President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing immediately, “on an equal basis” with other countries’ testing programs. If Trump is referring to the resumption of explosive nuclear testing, this would be an extremely unfortunate, regrettable step by the United States. It would almost inevitably be followed by tit-for-tat reciprocal announcements by other nuclear-armed states, particularly Russia and China, and cement an accelerating arms race that puts us all in great jeopardy. It would also create profound risks of radioactive fallout globally. Even if such nuclear tests are conducted underground, this poses a risk in…

Oct

31

2025

By ORION RUMMLER

Cancer killed his parents. He’s facing the same disease alone — and unhoused

WORLD

AT 61, Marcus Ford spends most nights riding the Chicago Red Line or looking for a park bench or bus stop that can hold him over until morning. Sleep is rare. And after going through a battery of radiation treatments to treat prostate cancer, he can feel the toll of going too long without it. He’s waited months to be let into a shelter. Most of them are at capacity as the winter months creep closer. “You call one number, and they give you another number, and then you call another number, and they give you back to the first…

Oct

30

2025

By The African Mirror

When the sky fell: Mother Nature’s fury unleashed on Jamaica

WORLD

THE heavens opened not with rain, but with vengeance. Hurricane Melissa descended upon Jamaica like an ancient goddess roused to wrath, her fury written in 300-kilometre winds that screamed through the Caribbean night like banshees heralding apocalypse. The island—emerald jewel of the tropics, home to resilient souls who have weathered countless storms—had never witnessed Mother Nature's rage distilled to such terrifying purity. This was no ordinary tempest. This was elemental chaos incarnate, a reminder that humanity's dominion over Earth remains a fragile illusion. The Deluge The sky turned the colour of bruised plums, swollen and angry. Then it wept—torrentially, catastrophically,…

Oct

30

2025

By SHEFALI LUTHRA

Mamdani spoke of his aunt’s fear after 9/11. Backlash revealed how Islamophobia persists

WORLD

A speech by New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — and the conservative reaction to it — highlight how Muslim women are specifically targeted during times of heightened Islamophobia or anti-Arab sentiment. “I want to speak to the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” Mamdani, the city’s Democratic mayoral nominee and likely next mayor, said Friday in a speech on Islamophobia. “I want to speak to the Muslim who works for our city, whether they teach in our schools or walk the beat for the NYPD.”…

Oct

30

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

UN documents human rights impact of Afghanistan’s September telecommunications shutdown

WORLD

A 48-hour nationwide telecommunications shutdown in Afghanistan last month resulted in preventable deaths, disrupted humanitarian operations and exacerbated restrictions on women and girls, according to a UN Human Rights Office report released Tuesday. The shutdown, implemented by the de facto authorities between September 29 and October 1, 2025, cut off access to essential services across the country, UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told reporters at a biweekly press briefing in Geneva. "From its health systems to the banking sector and everyday operations of small businesses, the people of Afghanistan are heavily reliant on telecommunications systems to access essential services,"…

Oct

29

2025

By BEN L MURPHY

ICJ tells Israel to let UN aid flow into Gaza – but UN’s own failures throughout the war loom large

WORLD

THE UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanded that Israel allow aid into Gaza in an advisory opinion on October 22. It held that Israel is in breach of its obligations as a UN member state by having failed to do so adequately over the past two years. The opinion was requested ten months ago by the UN General Assembly after Israel’s parliament banned the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in territories occupied by the country. UNRWA has long played a pivotal role in delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians. In its verdict, the ICJ…