WORLD - The African Mirror

May

03

2024

Rebuilding bombed Gaza homes may take 80 years, UN says

REBUILDING homes in the Gaza Strip could drag into the next century if the pace follows the trend of previous conflicts, according to a U.N. report released. Nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment have caused billions of dollars in damage, leaving many of the crowded strip's high-rise concrete buildings reduced to heaps, with a U.N. official referring to a "moonscape" of destruction. Palestinian data shows that around 80,000 homes have been destroyed in a conflict triggered by Hamas fighters' deadly attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israeli strikes have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The assessment, released by the U.N. Development…

May

03

2024

By JAMES OLIPHANT and GRAM SLATTERY

Trump’s second-term agenda: deportations, trade wars, NATO rethink

WORLD

DONALD Trump plans to deport millions of migrants, reshape global trade with pricey tariffs and fill the government with loyalists if he wins a second White House term in the November presidential election. Here is a look at some of the policies Trump has pledged to institute: TRADE Trump, a Republican, has floated the idea of a 10% or more tariff on all goods imported into the United States, a move he says would eliminate the trade deficit, but critics say would lead to higher prices for American consumers and global economic instability. He has also said he should have the…

May

03

2024

By MANOJ KUMAR and AFTAB AHMED

Low turnout, apathy in India election a worry for Modi’s campaign

WORLD

A lower turnout so far in India’s long general election has rattled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign managers, raising into question whether his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies can achieve the landslide victory predicted by opinion polls just one month ago. The lack of momentum has been partly blamed on apathy among party workers believing victory is assured and seems to have prompted Modi to change tack in his campaign speeches to try to fire up the Hindu majority, the party’s support base, and get them out to voting stations, political analysts said. The last major opinion poll had predicted that the…

May

02

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

US surgeon in Gaza: nothing prepared me for scale of injuries

WORLD

A U.S. vascular surgeon who left Gaza after a stint as a volunteer said nothing had prepared him for the scale of injuries he had faced there. Dozens of patients a day. Most of them young. Most face complicated injuries caused by shrapnel. Most end up with amputations. "Vascular surgery is really a disease for older patients and I would say I had never operated on anybody less than 16, and that was the majority of patients that we did this time around," Shariq Sayeed, from Atlanta, Georgia, told Reuters in Cairo. "Most were patients 13, 14, 15, 16 and…

May

02

2024

By JACK QUEEN, JODY GODOY and ANDY SULLIVAN

Judge fines Trump $9,000, threatens jail for contempt in hush money trial

WORLD

THE judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order. In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty. "Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory…

May

02

2024

By The African Mirror

UK police officer charged with showing support for Hamas

WORLD

A British police officer has been charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly publishing an image in support of Hamas, a group banned in Britain as a terrorist organisation, police said. Mohammed Adil, 26, from Bradford in northern England, was arrested last November and charged following an investigation by British counter-terrorism officers, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement. The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said the inquiries had focused on messages shared on WhatsApp which had concluded the case should be referred to prosecutors. "On Monday, PC Mohammed Adil, 26, was charged with…

May

01

2024

By MOHAMED SOULAIMANE

‘If we survive’: Palestinians in Rafah on fears of an imminent Israeli invasion

WORLD

FOLLOWING months of threats, an Israeli ground invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah appears imminent. The city – the only major population centre in the Gaza Strip yet to face a full-scale Israeli assault – is currently housing around 65% of the enclave’s population. “We live in constant fear, day and night, of what our fate will be if this invasion occurs,” Maisaa Abu Samaan, a 35-year-old mother of six, told The New Humanitarian in a recent interview. Abu Samaan is one of around 1.5 million Palestinians living in Rafah after being displaced from their homes by Israel’s…

May

01

2024

By The African Mirror

Teenage boy killed in London sword attack

WORLD

A 14-year-old boy was killed and four other people were injured after a stabbing in London involving a man with a sword. Police said they did not believe the incident was terrorism-related. Police tasered and arrested a 36-year-old man after the incident near Hainault in east London. Video footage showed a man dressed in yellow wielding what appeared to be a sword. "It is with great sadness that I confirm one of those injured, a 14-year-old boy, has died. He was taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died shortly afterwards," London's Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell said.…

May

01

2024

By JACK QUEEN, JODY GODOY and ANDY SULLIVAN

Judge fines Trump $9,000 for contempt in hush money trial, threatens jail

WORLD

THE judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order. In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty. "Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceration…

Apr

30

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Israel kills at least 30 Palestinians in Rafah, new Gaza ceasefire talks expected in Cairo

WORLD

Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed at least 25 Palestinians and wounded many others, medics said on Monday, as leaders of Hamas arrived in Cairo for a new round of talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. In Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least four people and wounding several people, health officials said. The strike on the other house killed two brothers, they added. The strikes on Rafah, where more than one million people have sought refuge from months of Israeli bombardment, took…