WORLD

Cape Town, SA | Xinhua | TikTok has overtaken Instagram to secure the second place among the “Big Five” social media platforms in South Africa, challenging Facebook’s dominance in the country. Facebook, with a commanding 56.7 percent penetration of South Africans aged 15 and over in urban areas, continues to dominate …

Brussels, Belgium | Xinhua | European Union (EU) leaders failed to reach consensus on migration Friday after a two-day summit. Poland and Hungary continued to oppose a proposed obligation for EU countries to welcome migrants to their land or else pay a fee of 20,000 euros (21,826 U.S. dollars) for each …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russia extended the ban on the transportation of goods across the country by trucks from unfriendly countries until Dec. 30, according to the official legal information portal on Friday. “The ban on international road transport of a number of goods on the territory of Russia by …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Xinhua | Ethiopia has submitted a request to join the BRICS mechanism, said the foreign ministry on Thursday. “Ethiopia is a founding member of numerous multinational organizations, like the United Nations, the African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement,” Meles Alem, spokesperson for the ministry, told reporters. “Taking …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Half of the world’s population still does not have adequate access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) which could have prevented at least 1.4 million deaths and 74 million disability-adjusted life years in 2019, this is according to the latest report by …

Johannesburg, SA | Xinhua | The South African government on Thursday started to accept media accreditation for the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg from Aug. 22 to 24. The deadline for the media accreditation is Aug. 11 and it will not be extended, the Department of International Relations …

Washington,  US  | Xinhua | The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that race-conscious admissions policies used by colleges and universities are unconstitutional, in a pair of cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Supreme Court stated that the admissions policies of Harvard …

Changsha, China | Xinhua |   The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off on Thursday in Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan Province. The expo aims to welcome more “Made in Africa” products into China and boost business links between the two sides. Themed “Common Development for a …

Amman, Jordan | Xinhua |  Jordan’s foreign ministry on Thursday summoned the Swedish ambassador in Amman in protest of the burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book Quran in Stockholm. The ministry said in a statement that it was a racist act of dangerous hate and a manifestation …

London, UK | THE INDEPENDENT | Court has ruled as unlawful the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership. The asylum partnership arrangement was to enable the UK to send some people to Rwanda who would otherwise claim asylum in the UK. Rwanda would consider them for permission to stay …