President Zelensky celebrates return home of Ukrainian commanders captured by Russia
President Volodymyr Zelensky brought home from Turkey on Saturday five former commanders of Ukraine’s garrison in Mariupol, a highly symbolic achievement that Russia said violated a prisoner exchange deal engineered last year. Russia immediately denounced the release. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ankara had promised under the exchange agreement to...
White House plans to appeal landmark censorship ruling that limits Biden’s government contact with Big Tech
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig also criticised Tuesday’s injunction, saying that free speech is “a conservative political ideology” and that the ruling’s references “questioning vaccines, questioning masks” were “conservative talking points.”
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.
Belarusian President Lukashenko claims Russia’s mutinous mercenary lord is still holed up in Russia
President Lukashenko said Prigozhin had his liberty but that journalists were naive if they thought Russian security services were not keeping a very close eye on him. Asked about earlier comments suggesting Putin had wanted to “wipe out” Prigozhin as the mutiny unfolded, Lukashenko said some in the Kremlin had wanted this, but that it would have tipped Russia into civil war.
Chinese mining company opens a giant lithium – used in electric car batteries – plant in Zimbabwe
Lithium is a key component for electric vehicle batteries. To cash in on demand, Zimbabwe last year banned the export of raw lithium ore. In doing so, it joined countries like Indonesia and Chile that are trying to maximise their return on deposits of lithium, cobalt and nickel by requiring miners to invest locally in refining and processing before they can export.
Johannesburg hosts 19th African edition of NBA and FIBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp
BWB Africa 2023 will bring together 40 boys and 40 girls from more than 25 African countries to learn directly from current and former NBA, WNBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches and compete alongside their peers from across the continent. The campers and coaches, who will be announced prior to the camp, will also take part in life skills and leadership development, and NBA Cares programming.
