WORLD - The African Mirror

Sep

23

2025

Women bear brunt of Afghanistan’s deadly earthquake as aid efforts face Taliban restrictions

WORLD

MORE than two weeks after a devastating 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, women and girls who make up the majority of victims face a deepening crisis as international aid efforts clash with Taliban restrictions on female humanitarian workers. At least 2,200 people died when the shallow quake hit Kunar province at midnight on August 31, collapsing houses built on steep hillsides. Women and girls accounted for more than half of those killed and injured, and represent 60% of the missing, according to UN Women. "While the major aftershocks have passed, women in affected areas are facing a long-term disaster…

Sep

23

2025

By AMIN SAIKAL

Is Benjamin Netanyahu on a mission to realise a Greater Israel?

WORLD

MUCH of the world is focused on a two-state solution in resolving the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears devoted to realising his vision of a “Greater Israel” instead. Netanyahu appears to be halfway through achieving this goal, despite all the international condemnation of his war in Gaza and the increasing isolation of Israel. The two-state solution now seems to be no more than a catchword for governments around the world that want to show their solidarity with the Palestinian cause at a time when Israel is hard at work to ensure the concept becomes totally…

Sep

22

2025

By MAHA NASSAR

UK and other Western nations recognize Palestinian state ahead of UN meetings – but symbolic action won’t make statehood happen

WORLD

RECOGNITION of a Palestinian state is likely to dominate proceedings at the U.N. beginning Sept 23, 2025, when world leaders will gather for the annual general assembly. Of the 193 existing U.N. member states, some 150 now recognise a Palestinian state. Ahead of the U.N. gathering in New York, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have become the latest. And that number is expected to increase in the coming days, with several more countries expected to officially announce similar recognition. That a host of Western nations are adding their names to the near-universal list of Global South countries that already…

Sep

20

2025

By RASHA ABOU JALAL

“The steadfastness and will to stay broke”: Rasha Abou Jalal’s Gaza City diary, part two

WORLD

AFTER holding out in western Gaza City for as long as they could, Rasha Abou Jalal, her husband, and their five children joined hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being forced out of Gaza’s main metropolis by Israel’s intensifying invasion, and fled south on 16 September. With the Israeli military aiming to take control of Gaza City and displace its residents, perhaps permanently, “staying is no longer just a decision. It has become a battle of identity and existence,” Abou Jalal wrote on 1 September in an entry of the diary she has been keeping for The New Humanitarian. But by…

Sep

22

2025

By RORY MCCARTHY

Why Egypt is not bowing to pressure to accept Palestinian refugees

WORLD

AS the Israeli military advances its ground invasion of Gaza City, Egypt is coming under mounting pressure to accept a mass expulsion of Palestinians. The Israeli military has already confined Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians into a small area of the occupied strip. And the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has now accused Egypt of choosing “to imprison residents in Gaza who would prefer to leave the war zone”. U.S. President Donald Trump has also supported the idea of forcing out the Palestinians. In February, he made the extraordinary proposal that Egypt and Jordan should accept all of Gaza’s population and…

Sep

20

2025

By JONATHAN ESTE

What will the UN’s Gaza genocide report achieve?

WORLD

THE report of the UN’s independent international commission of inquiry on Palestine, released this week, makes for gruelling reading. It found that Israel’s 23-month campaign in Gaza is being waged “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. This, according to the commission, amounts to genocide under the Geneva Conventions. The detailed 72-page report has found that Israel’s military, under the direction of its political leaders, satisfies four of five acts specified by the convention as genocidal. This includes the genocidal act of “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”.…

Sep

20

2025

By FRANCESCA JACKSON

A ceremonial sword and ‘beating the retreat’: decoding the rituals of Donald Trump’s state visit

WORLD

STATE visits are always grand occasions, but Donald Trump’s second was unprecedented in terms of scale and spectacle. The president was treated to the most impressive ceremonial welcome ever laid on for any head of state. After enjoying a carriage ride through the grounds of Windsor Castle with the king, queen and prince and princess of Wales, the president was greeted by the largest guard of honour ever, comprising 1,300 troops and 120 horses. A lunch, private tour of St George’s Chapel and a Red Arrows flypast followed, before the day culminated in a lavish white-tie state banquet. All this…

Sep

19

2025

By RILEY SPARKS

EXCLUSIVE: Israel has killed nearly 3,000 Gaza aid seekers

WORLD

OVER the past 23 months, Israeli forces have killed nearly 3,000 people attempting to get aid in the Gaza Strip and wounded almost 20,000 others. For over a year, The New Humanitarian has been conducting an open-source investigation documenting these killings, which we are now publishing as a publicly accessible database and timeline. This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Riley Sparks Since the end of May, when the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating, the attacks on people seeking aid have dramatically escalated, drawing global attention and condemnation. But these attacks are not an…

Sep

19

2025

By The African Mirror

Why are state visits such powerful diplomatic tools? A constitutional expert explains

WORLD

THE US president and first lady, at the king’s invitation, are on a state visit to the UK and will stay at Windsor Castle. The event is laden with ceremony and glitz, but it also carries great political potential – for the host nation in particular. Formal visits by foreign heads of state are generally aimed at strengthening international relationships. The invitation for this visit was handed to Donald Trump in the Oval Office, on camera, by Keir Starmer at a time when the British prime minister was seeking to act as the bridge between the US and Europe over…

Sep

19

2025

By CANDICE NORWOOD

Women judges see rising threats to their work — and clear paths to defusing them

WORLD

FEDERAL judges rarely defend their work publicly. The typical mandate for those in the judiciary is to let their decisions speak for themselves. Commentary outside of that risks being criticised as biased or politically motivated. But as political violence rises against public figures, and as public confidence in the judicial system shrinks, current and former women judges are the leading voices weighing in. This story was originally reported by Candice Norwood of The 19th. Meet Candice and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned in May against what she…