WORLD - The African Mirror

May

19

2025

Trump’s vision for Air Force One will turn it from the ‘Flying White House’ to a ‘palace in the sky’

WORLD

SINCE President Donald Trump excitedly announced that he would be accepting a US$400 million plane from the Qatari government to serve as the next Air Force One, even members of his own party have expressed alarm. There’s the price tag of refurbishing the plane with top-secret systems – upward of $1 billion, according to some estimates. Then there are the conflicts of interest from accepting such a large present from a foreign nation, which some say would be the most valuable gift ever given to the U.S. But it would also mark a striking departure from tradition. While they’re often…

May

17

2025

By BUSHRA KHALIDI

Gaza is what occupation looks like when it is allowed to go unchecked

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Bushra Khalidi THE situation in Gaza is beyond words, but we have to keep trying to tell the truth – because silence is complicity, and giving up is not an option. Because if we don’t speak, the silence will bury the truth. What humanitarian teams are seeing – and what Palestinians in Gaza are living through – is not just a crisis. It’s a collapse. A collapse of basic survival, of dignity, of international order. People are eating animal feed. They are boiling grass. It appears that families are slaughtering their…

May

17

2025

By MEL LEONOR BARCLAY

Fourteen years in America. A one-way ticket to El Salvador

WORLD

This story was originally reported by Mel Leonor Barclay of The 19th. Meet Mel and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. MILWAUKEE — When Yessenia Ruano walks through the door of her home after work, her husband, Miguel, is in the kitchen, shredding chicken with two forks, and her twin daughters are in the living room, playing on an iPad. The sound of “Primer Impacto” fills the background. Ruano opens the fridge to keep the dinner prep going. On the top shelf, there are more than 150 corn tortillas lying flat in their plastic bags. On…

May

16

2025

By The African Mirror

The latest in the Diddy Combs trial: Cassie Ventura’s powerful testimony

WORLD

THE Manhattan courtroom was electric, thick with anticipation and dread, as Cassie Ventura, once the muse and partner of Sean “Diddy” Combs, took the stand. Her testimony has become the emotional and evidentiary centrepiece of a trial that has rocked the music industry and cast a harsh spotlight on one of its most powerful figures. Cassie’s voice was steady at first, but her words cut sharply. She described a relationship marked by control, intimidation, and escalating violence. She told the jury how Diddy orchestrated what he called “freak-offs”-multi-day, drug-fueled sexual encounters with escorts, which she said she was coerced into…

May

16

2025

By JULIE M. NORMAN

Netanyahu’s occupation plan for Gaza means more suffering for Palestinians and less security for Israel

WORLD

ISRAEL’S prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared on May 5 that his government intends to intensify military operations and indefinitely reoccupy Gaza. The announcement has dashed hopes for a permanent ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The plan, which was unanimously approved by Israel’s security cabinet, includes displacing Gaza’s 2.1 million inhabitants to a single “humanitarian area” on less than a quarter of Gaza’s territory. This will result in Palestinians leaving “in great numbers to third countries”, said Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. It is tempting to view the plan as another move by Netanyahu…

May

16

2025

By SAMARA KIM, KATHOMI GATWIRI, and LYNNE MCPHERSON

Children in need of ‘rescuing’: challenging the myths at the heart of the global adoption industry

WORLD

KOREAN adoptees worldwide are grappling with a devastating possibility: they were not truly orphans, but may have been made into orphans. For decades, adoptees were told they were “abandoned”, “rescued”, or “unwanted”. Many were told their Korean families were too “poor” or “incapable” to raise them, and they should only ever feel grateful for being adopted. But these long-held stories are now under scrutiny. Our recent research interrogates the narratives that have obscured the darker realities of intercountry adoption. Rather than viewing adoption solely through the lens of “rescue”, our work examines the broader power structures that facilitated the mass…

May

15

2025

By NOUR ELASSY

“We are the last eyes left inside Gaza”

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Nour ElAssy SINCE the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed – an unprecedented slaughter. I’ve watched colleagues be beheaded by missiles, others torn apart in their cars clearly marked “PRESS”. I’ve seen one of us lose his son, another lose his brother. I’ve seen one burned alive, trapped under the flaming rubble of a newsroom that became his tomb. Their screams still echo in my ears. And yet, every morning, I get up. I put on my…

May

15

2025

By The African Mirror

UN Human Rights raises human rights concerns about deportations from the United States of America

WORLD

ACCORDING to official US data, between 20 January and 29 April, 142,000 individuals were removed from the US. In particular, the fate and whereabouts of at least 245 Venezuelans and some 30 Salvadorans who were removed to El Salvador remain unclear. Many of them were deported under the Alien Enemies Act as alleged members of specific criminal groups. They have reportedly been detained in the maximum-security “Centre for Terrorism Confinement” (CECOT) in El Salvador, a facility where detainees are treated particularly harshly, without access to legal counsel or their relatives, or other contact with the outside world. “The UN Human…

May

15

2025

By MATT WILLIAMS

India-Pakistan strikes: 5 essential reads on decades of rivalry and tensions over Kashmir

WORLD

INDIAN airstrikes deep into Pakistan and retaliatory shelling across the border have put the subcontinent on edge once again, with many fearing a further escalation between the two nuclear neighbours. At least 26 people were killed on May 6, 2025, by missiles launched by India, according to Pakistani authorities. India says it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” sites in the operation in response to an attack on April 22 that saw dozens of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir killed by gunmen. Pakistan warned it would respond “at a time, place and manner of its choosing.” Meanwhile, shelling by Pakistan across the “line of…

May

14

2025

By The African Mirror

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces damning prosecution case in sex trafficking trial as jury hears allegations of coercion and abuse

WORLD

FEDERAL prosecutors laid out a detailed and damning case against Sean “Diddy” Combs on the opening day of his sex trafficking trial in Manhattan, portraying the music mogul as the ringleader of a criminal enterprise that exploited women for over two decades. Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson told the jury that Combs used his celebrity status and power to coerce women into drug-fueled, prolonged sexual parties he called “freak offs,” where they were forced to engage in acts with male escorts while he watched. Johnson described Combs as a “business magnate” and “cultural icon” who maintained a secret criminal organisation…