Counteroffensive: Ukraine says it has advanced near eastern Bakhmut city, plans to circle it
Ukrainian military analysts have said that securing Klishchiivka would help Ukraine take back Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian forces in May after months of fighting.
As Wagner Group fighters mutinied Damascus acted fast to bring the mercenaries in Syria to heel
Damascus has not publicly commented on the June 23-24 Wagner mutiny in which mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his men fighting for Russia in Ukraine to march on Moscow before a deal brokered by Belarus saw them turn back and many exiled.
UN mission head says South Sudan not ready for elections despite President Salva Kiir’s assurance
President Salva Kiir and his rival turned Vice President Riek Machar were at loggerheads in recent days over the sacking of the defence and interior ministers. The peace agreement signed in 2018 stated that Kiir was to appoint the interior minister while Machar was to appoint the defence minister. But the president has unilaterally fired both ministers.
Kenya postpones border reopening in response to increased terror attacks by Somali insurgents
On June 13, eight Kenyan police officers were killed in Garissa, an eastern county along the border with Somalia, when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. On June 24, five civilians had their throats cut in an attack in Lamu, another county on the border. Some were beheaded.
Keen to clear Russian troops out of Ukraine, US says it’s willing to send Kyiv cluster munitions
In previous conflicts, cluster munitions have had a high dud rate, which meant that thousands of the smaller unexploded bomblets remained behind and killed and maimed people decades later. The US last used its cluster munitions in battle in Iraq in 2003 and decided not to continue using them as the conflict shifted to more urban environments with more dense civilian populations.
Forget how your personal data is harvested by your phone, your car ‘knows’ your sleazy secrets
The Vehicle Privacy Tool says Toyota’s documents are “silent” on whether the company collects data from people’s phones that are synced with its vehicles. Proffitt says it doesn’t collect this data, except for “using an identifier for the sole purpose of connecting a user’s profile on the Toyota/Lexus app with a vehicle” if a profile has been set up. “Any synchronization of contact info and call history for Bluetooth purposes remains on the vehicle and is not sent to Toyota,” Proffitt says.
Dogfight: Facebook parent company launches Threads app that might just cannibalise Twitter
The platform also arrives at a particularly weak moment for Twitter. Musk’s recent announcement that free Twitter accounts would, temporarily, only be able to view 600 tweets per day was met with derision. Such moves will likely further hurt advertising on the platform – worsening a crisis that’s been ongoing throughout Musk’s tenure.
Africa’s illiterate professors: It is difficult to use graduates of our universities as agents of uniting our countries
For lack of commitment to true freedom and democracy, many rulers of Africa have facilitated re-penetration of their countries by their former colonial masters and the newer economic and political forces of USA, Russia and China. They have allowed their universities to continue as if they are still manifesting in the colonial times. To meaningfully and effectively achieve continental or regional unity or integration, there must be a cluster of universities structurally and functionally oriented towards integration.
