WORLD - The African Mirror

Jun

20

2025

Serial rapist – who violated women in China and Britain – jailed for life

WORLD

ZHENHAO Zou, a 28-year-old Chinese PhD student, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years after being found guilty of drugging and raping at least 10 women across London and China between 2019 and 2023. The full scale of his crimes, however, is now believed to be far greater than initially uncovered. At the conclusion of his trial at Inner London Crown Court, police revealed they had recovered nearly 1,300 videos from Zou’s devices, many of which he filmed himself, documenting assaults on women, some of whom remain unidentified. While the jury convicted him of…

Jun

20

2025

By The African Mirror

Interview: The omnipresent danger facing Gaza’s journalists

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. AT least 176 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023. The danger feels omnipresent for Maha Hussaini, a journalist and human rights advocate who has been contributing articles and videos to The New Humanitarian from the Gaza Strip since early on in the brutal campaign. In this conversation, Maha takes us inside the day-to-day reality of working and surviving amidst unimaginable violence, destruction, and deprivation. She describes how journalists in the Gaza Strip live with the constant fear that they could…

Jun

19

2025

By BRIAN BRIVATI

Israel, Iran and the US: why 2025 is a turning point for the international order

WORLD

ISRAEL’S large-scale attack against Iran on June 13, which it conducted without UN Security Council approval, has prompted retaliation from Tehran. Both sides have traded strikes over the past few days, with over 200 Iranians and 14 Israelis killed so far. The escalation has broader consequences. It further isolates institutions like the UN, International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ), which have found themselves increasingly sidelined as Israel’s assault on Gaza has progressed. These bodies now appear toothless. The world appears to be facing an unprecedented upending of the post-1945 international legal order. Israel’s government is operating…

Jun

19

2025

By The African Mirror

Aftermath of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki eruption: a test of resilience for communities, Bali’s vital tourism industry

WORLD

THE eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in East Nusa Tenggara province has cast a shadow over Indonesia’s eastern archipelago, sending towering ash clouds into the sky and disrupting life for thousands. The volcano’s violent awakening, with ash plumes reaching up to 11 kilometres high, forced the evacuation of local residents, closure of key airports, and cancellation of flights that ripple far beyond the immediate vicinity. For communities living in the volcano’s shadow and for Bali’s bustling tourism industry, the eruption is both a crisis and a call to resilience. For the villagers near Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, the eruption is a…

Jun

19

2025

By YOUNGEUN KOO

South Korea is finally reckoning with its decades-long foreign adoption scandal

WORLD

KIM Tak-un was four years old when he was adopted by a Swedish family in 1974. Originally from South Korea, Tak-un had lived with his single father, a labourer who moved frequently for work. One day in the summer of 1974, while staying with his aunt, Tak-un wandered outside and disappeared. Local police considered him abandoned and referred him to an adoption agency, which arranged his adoption to Sweden within five months. When his father realised his son was missing, he searched everywhere, only to discover – too late – that Tak-un had already been sent overseas. Devastated, he demanded…

Jun

18

2025

By The African Mirror

Cities under siege: The escalating war between Israel and Iran

WORLD

IN the skies above Tehran and Tel Aviv, a deadly dance of missiles and airstrikes rages on - a relentless tit-for-tat conflict that has plunged two nations into chaos and grief. Over the past days, the fragile veneer of peace has shattered, leaving behind smouldering ruins and the haunting echoes of civilian lives lost. Iran’s missiles darken the skies over Israel’s heartland, striking cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Bat Yam with unyielding force. Residential buildings crumble, schools lie in ruins, and the very infrastructure of daily life is shattered. The Israeli Defence Ministry and even the U.S. Embassy in…

Jun

18

2025

By The African Mirror

Gaza health system at a breaking point

WORLD

DR Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said global attention had shifted to escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, but the world needed to continue to focus on Gaza, which had been decimated, and its health system, which was at breaking point. Currently, only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional. Of these, just four, including Nasser Medical Complex, were major referral facilities. The 17 hospitals had a total of around 1,500 beds - around 45 per cent fewer hospital beds available in the Gaza Strip than before the start of the conflict - for…

Jun

18

2025

By NADRA NITTLE

‘This is the first time I’ve been afraid that I am Latina’: ICE raids set L.A. on edge

WORLD

This story was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of The 19th. Meet Nadra and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. “TOO much, too soon, too fast” — psychologists warn that this is a recipe for trauma. And over the past six months, no city nationwide has been battered in such a way as Los Angeles. The year began, as Joan Didion once wrote, with “the city on fire, just as we had always known it would be.” Before Angelenos could recover from the hurricane-strength winds that blanketed L.A. in flames, killing more than two dozen people…

Jun

17

2025

By The African Mirror

Fire and fear: The battle for Tehran’s soul

WORLD

THE ancient city of Tehran trembles under a crimson sky as the dawn breaks not with the call to prayer, but with the thunder of war. Across the sprawling metropolis of nine million souls, highways have transformed into rivers of desperation—an endless procession of families clutching their most precious belongings, fleeing the capital that has been their home for generations. Through the pre-dawn darkness, headlights pierce the chaos like fallen stars. The Tehran-North highway, normally a mundane commuter route, has become an artery of survival. Mothers cradle infants against their chests while fathers grip steering wheels with white knuckles, their…

Jun

17

2025

By The African Mirror

UN human rights chief warns world is abandoning international law as conflicts spiral

WORLD

THE UN's top human rights official has delivered a stark warning that the world is witnessing a dangerous erosion of international law and human rights protections, as conflicts escalate globally and powerful nations abandon the agreements that have underpinned peace for eight decades. Speaking to the 59th Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk painted a grim picture of a world in crisis, where civilians are deliberately targeted, humanitarian aid is obstructed, and human rights defenders are killed at an alarming rate. "The current trajectory – of escalating conflict and blatant disregard for international human rights…