UNITED KINGDOM SANCTIONS WAGNER LEADERS LINKED TO KILLINGS, TORTURE IN AFRICA.

Head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has said his men will continue to fight in African countries, where they are already present.

Ever since Prigozhin mounted a failed mutiny in Russia last month and was banished to Belarus, there have been questions over Wagner’s future.

He did not appear on camera during the interview with Afrique Média, which is a pro-Kremlin news channel that targets French-speaking African countries and has been linked to the Wagner group.

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SUDAN GOVERNOR RENEWS CALL FOR DARFURIS TO TAKE UP ARMS.

Darfur governor and former rebel leader Minni Arko Minnawi renewed his call for civilians in the region to take up arms to defend themselves.

He said this administration was leading efforts to stop the fighting between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army, particularly in Darfur.

The conflict is now in its fourth month.

Minnawi has made similar remarks in the past, raising fears that Darfur, which is divided into five states, could descend into an all-out civil war amid growing ethnic tensions.

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MALAWIAN COURT CONVICTS CHINESE OVER RACIST VIDEOS.

A Malawian court has convicted a Chinese national accused of racism and exploiting children in relation to a series of online videos and ordered him to leave the country.

A judge in the African nation’s capital of Lilongwe handed Lu Ke, 27, a 12-month sentence after the man found guilty of procuring children to take part in entertainment and racially exploiting them.

Public prosecutor Masauko Chamkakala said Lu, who was arrested last year, was given seven days to leave Malawi, having already served his time behind bars.

Lu allegedly filmed children singing racist chants about themselves in Chinese which they did not understand and then sold the videos on Chinese social media.

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KENYA’S PRESIDENT PRAISE POLICE FOR ENSURING PEACE DURING OPPOSITION PROTESTS.

Kenya’s President William Ruto has praised the police for ensuring peace during recent opposition protests while a leading rights group has described their reaction as “an act of terrorism”.

Over the past four months of demonstrations there have been several deaths, including 10 people being shot by police last week.

Local media are reporting that six people died in clashes with the police.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, which is an NGO, said there was “a troubling pattern to show that the police’s actions and use of lethal force were premeditated”.

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UKRAINE, ETHIOPIA LEADERS DISCUSS RUSSIA CONFLICT.

The political heads of state of Ukraine and Ethiopia have held talks on the telephone for the first time ever.

The conversation between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took place in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from a deal that allowed for the safe exporting of Ukrainian grain.

There have been concerns over the impact of this decision on food security in poorer countries.

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RUSSIAN BOMBS TARGET FRONTLINE UKRAINE CHEMICAL PLANT.

The Russian high-explosive bombs started falling around the frontline Ukrainian chemical plant about three months ago.

Sergiy Dmytrenko trundled out to survey the newest craters outside his pockmarked facility’s walls wearing body armour and a puzzled frown.

The 34-year-old plant director said workers had pulled out the most hazardous materials from the plant south of Bakhmut shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine 17 months ago.

But a fifth of the phenol and naphthalene extracted from the local coal tar still rested in the 106-year-old site’s storage vats.

The vapours wafting out from inside had a slightly sweet smell that left a metallic tang on the tongue.

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CHIP GIANT DELAYS ARIZONA PRODUCTION IN BLOW TO PRESIDENT BIDEN.

Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor, has delayed the start of production at its factory in the US state of Arizona, in a setback to President Joe Biden’s technology ambitions.

The firm says chip manufacturing will no longer start next year, due to a shortage of skilled workers.

The White House has laid out plans to bring more chip production to the US.

It comes as an ongoing trade row centred on the technology intensifies between Washington and Beijing.

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AMSTERDAM BANS CRUISE SHIPS TO LIMIT VISITORS, CURB POLLUTION.

Amsterdam’s council has banned cruise ships from the city centre as the Dutch capital tries to limit visitor numbers and curb pollution.

Politicians said the vessels were not in line with the city’s sustainable ambitions.

It means the central cruise terminal on the River IJ near Amsterdam’s main train station will close.

It is the latest measure to clamp down on mass tourism in the city.

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FOUR HELD OVER INDIA NAKED WOMEN VIDEO, MAY FACE DEALTH PENALTY.

Indian police have arrested four men accused of parading two women naked in front of a mob in a northeastern state where months of ethnic violence have left at least 120 dead.

The suspects were identified from a video clip of the incident in early May that went viral on social media, causing outrage across the country.

The video clip showed the women walking naked along a street, being jeered at and harassed by a mob in the state, where the authorities have imposed an internet shutdown.

Manipur’s state government, led by the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said police took action when the video surfaced on social media more than two months after the incident.

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