WORLD - The African Mirror

Oct

01

2025

How a government shutdown could impact federal workers and lower-income families

WORLD

THE U.S. government is careening toward a shutdown after a Monday meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders did not lead to a funding deal beyond September 30. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned ahead of the meeting that there was “nothing to negotiate” with Democratic leaders. This story was originally reported by Candice Norwood and Amanda Becker of The 19th. Meet Candice and Amanda and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Republicans aim to pass what’s known as a “clean” short-term bill to fund the government at current levels through November 21. Democrats…

Sep

30

2025

By ELISENDA CALVET MARTÍNEZ

Overwhelming evidence of genocide against Palestinians: a legal expert unpacks the UN report on Gaza

WORLD

ON September 16, 2025, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued its third report on the situation in Gaza since October 7, 2023. For the first time, the COI has recognised that genocide has been committed, and continues to be committed, against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It demands that Israel immediately implement a “complete and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza, and that it ensures unhindered access to humanitarian aid, including food, clean water, medical equipment and medicine in all of Gaza. What’s in the report? The report is a…

Sep

30

2025

By ERRIN HAINES

The Kamala Harris we see in ‘107 Days’

WORLD

KAMALA Harris’s “107 Days,” in which she recounts her experience of the 2024 presidential election, is a revealing look at how she saw many of the moments that shaped her campaign, and into the candidate herself, a rarity for a politician’s book. As someone who has covered Harris for the better part of a decade, to read the book was to see a version of Harris I’d gotten to know as a reporter, but that the American people rarely saw, and that the media often missed or dismissed. She was charming, prepared, a mentor, a demanding boss and a devoted…

Sep

29

2025

By KATE SOSIN

Assata Shakur, who wrote and fought for Black liberation, dies at 78

WORLD

ASSATA Shakur, one of the most consequential Black political revolutionaries and writers of her time and an enemy of the U.S. government until her last breath, died September 25. This story was originally reported by Kate Sosin of The 19th. Meet Kate and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Shakur was 78 and living in exile in Havana, Cuba. She died of “health conditions and advanced age,” according to a statement from Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Shakur had the distinction of being the first woman to ever make the FBI’s most wanted list. She was…

Sep

29

2025

By NOUR ELASSY

I survived Israel’s genocide in Gaza. This is what recognition of a Palestinian state means to me

WORLD

I am writing these words from Paris. Just a few months ago, I was evacuated from Gaza through the French consulate after enduring nearly two years of siege, bombardment, and starvation. I left with nothing but the clothes I wore, my phone, and my ID card. My family and friends remain behind, surviving in ruins. The guilt of leaving them has no language. This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Nour ElAssy And yet, as I learn to breathe in exile, the world suddenly finds its voice: After decades of denial and equivocation, Britain, Canada, Australia, Portugal,…

Sep

29

2025

By The African Mirror

Four more Gaza hospitals forced to close as Israeli offensive intensifies

WORLD

FOUR hospitals in northern Gaza have been forced to shut down this month as Israel's military offensive in Gaza City continues, leaving only 14 functioning hospitals across the entire Palestinian enclave, the World Health Organisation has announced. The closures — affecting Al Rantisi Children's Hospital, the Ophthalmic Hospital, St. John Eye Hospital, and Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics — further cripple Gaza's already devastated healthcare system as Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza City to target Hamas fighters. "The situation at the remaining eight hospitals and one field hospital in the city is critical," said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic…

Sep

27

2025

By LISA M. GIVEN

Social media age restrictions may go further than you thought. Here’s how

WORLD

AUSTRALIA’S eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, today outlined an updated list of platforms that may fall under the social media age restrictions that will take effect later this year. While Australians expected platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to be included, this new list demonstrates the legislation’s reach is even broader. Which platforms will be required to restrict access for under-16s? When the legislation was first introduced, the government explained it would use the definition of social media outlined in Australia’s Social Media Services Online Safety Code. The law, which comes into effect on December 10, will…

Sep

27

2025

By SAM JUDY, THE BARBED WIRE

Sisterhood sustained her for 141 days in ICE custody. Now she’s fighting for those still inside

WORLD

ON the evening of Feb. 11, 22-year-old Ward Sakeik sat on a plane from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Miami. She and her husband, Taahir Shaikh, were returning from their honeymoon, but he was sitting a few rows away. She didn’t look back at him — her handlers told her that even smiling at him could be considered a crime. Sakeik, a wedding photographer who’s lived in Texas since the age of 9, hadn’t slept for two days. She’d spent nearly 36 hours confined to a small intake room at the Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas in the…

Sep

27

2025

By JENNIFER MATHERS

Russia is turning to African women and conscripted North Koreans to tackle its defence worker shortage

WORLD

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Ukraine could win back all of the territory it has lost in the ongoing war, but Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shows no signs of wanting a peace deal or reducing the military offensive. Instead, night after night, Russia continues to launch hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine, killing civilians and destroying homes, public buildings and infrastructure. Russia can only continue this war if it has enough workers. It has one of the world’s largest armed forces (composed of 1.32 million active military personnel), but its military recruiters face a challenging job in outpacing…

Sep

26

2025

By DENIS MULLER

Lawsuits, cancellations and bullying: Trump is systematically destroying press freedom

WORLD

UNITED States President Donald Trump is well advanced in his systematic campaign to undermine the American media and eviscerate its function of holding him and others in power to account. Since the late 18th century, this function has often been called the fourth estate. It’s the idea that the media is a watchdog over the other three estates, which, in modern democracies, are parliament, the executive government and the judiciary. In the US, Trump has had considerable success in weakening the other three. His Republican Party controls both Houses of Congress, and they have shown no sign of wishing to…