Britain - The African Mirror

May

2023

South Africans call for UK to return diamonds set in crown jewels

SOME South Africans are calling for Britain to return the world's largest diamond, known as the Star of Africa, which is set in the royal sceptre that King Charles III will hold at his coronation on Saturday. The diamond, which weighs 530 carats, was discovered in South Africa in 1905 and presented to the British monarchy by the colonial government in the country, which was then under British rule. Now amid a global conversation about returning artwork and artefacts that were pillaged during colonial times, some South Africans are calling for the diamond to be brought back. "The diamond needs…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

From ‘Rottweiler’ to queen – the reinvention of King Charles’ wife Camilla

WORLD

MICHAEL HOLDEN and SARAH MILLS AFTER years of being depicted as the most hated woman in Britain, Camilla, the second wife of King Charles, will be crowned queen on Saturday, capping a remarkable turnaround in public acceptance few would have thought possible. When Charles' divorced first wife, the popular, glamorous Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Camilla bore the brunt of media hostility. Some declared the couple could never wed. But marry they did eight years later, and since then she has come to be recognised, albeit still grudgingly by some, as a key member…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Italy’s Meloni defends Britain’s migration deal with Rwanda

NEWS

ITALIAN Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Britain's plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda was a deal between two free nations which are safeguarding the safety of the people, adding it was wrong to call it a deportation. Meloni, who heads a right-wing government in Rome, was talking to reporters at the Italian embassy in London after a two-day visit to the British capital during which she met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. "I think that talking about deportation or suggesting that Rwanda would be a country that does not respect rights and would be an inadequate or unworthy nation…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Britain’s migrant deal unlawful as Rwanda is unsafe, lawyers say

NEWS

MICHAEL HOLDEN and SAM TOBIN BRITAIN'S plan to send migrants to Rwanda is unlawful because the East African country is not a safe country, lawyers for a group of asylum seekers told the Court of Appeal in London on Monday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government wants to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) away to Rwanda as part of a 140 million pound ($174 million) deal agreed upon last year. It regards the plan as central to deterring record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel from France, something Sunak has made…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

US and UK warn of possible attack in Nigeria’s capital

NEWS

THE United States and Britain warned of a possible terrorist attack in Nigeria's federal capital Abuja, especially aimed at government buildings, places of worship and schools, among other targets. Nigeria is fighting an Islamist insurgency mainly in the northeast, but in July the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a raid on a prison in Abuja, which freed around 440 inmates, raising fears that insurgents were venturing from their enclaves. The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria said "there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically Abuja" and added that shopping malls, law enforcement facilities and international organisations were among the…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Britain hit by its biggest political crisis in years

WORLD

A group of cabinet ministers are about to tell Prime Minister Boris Johnson to quit, including the man who has just been appointed as the new finance minister, media reports said. BBC Political Editor Chris Mason said Transport Minister Grant Shapps would lead a delegation on Wednesday evening. Other media reports said that Nadhim Zahawi, appointed as finance minister late on Tuesday as Johnson's government started to collapse, would be part of the delegation. Zahawi had told reporters earlier on Wednesday that he fully supported Johnson. The Times newspaper reported that Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had also told party officials…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Britain to send migrants to Rwanda

NEWS

ALISTAIR SMOUT and CLEMENT UWIRINGIYIMANA BRITAIN could send tens of thousands of asylum seekers to the East African country of Rwanda, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, aiming to break people-smuggling networks and stem the flow of migrants across the Channel. Concerns over immigration were a big factor in the 2016 Brexit vote, and Johnson has been under pressure to deliver on his promise to "take back control" of Britain's borders. But his plan drew swift criticism from opponents of his Conservative Party and from charities. "We must ensure that the only route to asylum in the UK is a safe…

Jan

2022

By The African Mirror

Britain extends pardons to all men convicted under scrapped gay sex laws

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE GAY and bisexual British men convicted over any consensual same-sex relations under now-abolished laws will be able to have their convictions removed from the public record, the government said on Tuesday. The announcement extends a programme launched a decade ago that granted pardons to gay men convicted of "buggery", "gross indecency" and "sodomy". It will now cover all other convictions related to consensual same-sex sexual activity. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the move was aimed at "righting the wrongs of the past". "It is only right that where offences have been abolished, convictions for consensual activity between same-sex…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Jamaica plans to seek reparations from Britain over slavery

WORLD

KATE CHAPPELL JAMAICA plans to ask Britain for compensation for the Atlantic slave trade in the former British colony, a senior government official said, under a petition that could seek billions of pounds in reparations. Jamaica was a centre of the slave trade, with the Spanish, then the British, forcibly transporting Africans to work on plantations of sugar cane, bananas and other crops that created fortunes for many of their owners. "We are hoping for reparatory justice in all forms that one would expect if they are to really ensure that we get justice from injustices to repair the damages…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX: China, climate and vaccines – what the G7 agreed this weekend

WORLD

THE Group of Seven rich nations promised to tackle China's growing influence, fight climate change, get more COVID-19 jabs to poor countries and keep up their economic stimulus programmes at their first summit since Joe Biden became U.S. president. Following is a summary of the main points agreed by the leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada at their three-day meeting at a beachside hotel in southwest England which ended yesterday. CLIMATE CHANGE - The G7 said it would meet a long-overdue funding pledge of $100 billion a year by rich countries to help poorer…