30 June 2023; MEMO: The UN Human Rights office has updated a list of companies doing business with illegal Israeli settlements, removing 15 companies from the database that were no longer involved, a spokesperson said on Friday, Reuters reports.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A truck rammed into several other vehicles and market traders in western Kenya killing at least 51 people, police said.

The Friday evening accident occurred at a location known for vehicle crashes near the Rift Valley town of Londiani, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of the capital, Nairobi.

Officers at the scene counted 51 bodies, but more people were believed to be trapped in the wreckage, Rift Valley police commander Tom Odera told The Associated Press.

SARAJEVO, July 1 (Reuters) - Bosnia's international peace overseer, Christian Schmidt, on Saturday annulled two laws that Bosnian Serb parliament had adopted defying the constitution and the terms of a peace deal that ended the Balkan country's war in the 1990s.

Schmidt, who as international High Representative in Bosnia has powers to impose laws and sack obstructive officials, also amended a law so that those seen as attacking the state institutions can be criminally prosecuted.

CAPE TOWN, July 1 (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 the social media realm, according to the South African Social Media Landscape 2023 study, released by brand intelligence consultancy Ornico and market research house World Wide Worx, local media reported Saturday.

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/: Russia and Cuba resumed regular direct air service as the first flight since the two countries suspended service last year took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Saturday.

Boeing-777 flights will be carried out by Aeroflot’s subsidiary, Rossiya Airlines. Rossiya Spokesman Sergey Starikov said the demand for tickets was enormous. It takes about 13 hours to fly from Moscow to Varadero.

Flights will be operated twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays. And starting from September, the program will be expanded to three flights per week.

ISLAMABAD, Jul 1 (NNN-APP) – Six terrorists were killed in two separate clashes between security forces and terrorists, in Pakistan’s north-west Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a military statement said, late last night.

Three terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire late Thursday night, in the Manzai area of the Tank district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan army, said, in a statement.

30 June 2023; MEMO: The US State Department, on Thursday, condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden but said it demonstrates, by the issue of a permit, the support for freedom of expression, Anadolu Agency reports.

State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said at his press briefing that the US is "deeply concerned by the act," but supports freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly as elements of democracy.

30 June 2023; MEMO: Spain, on Friday, rejected the expansion of Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories and condemned violence by settlers, calling Tel Aviv's decision contrary to international law and an impediment to peace, Anadolu Agency reports.

"The Government of Spain rejects the measures approved this week on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the West Bank and condemns the violence exercised by settlers," Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/: The Ukrainian government has decided to ban monks of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church from using some premises at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and is demanding they vacate these premises by July 4, according to a lawyer for the church’s lawyer.

The lawyer, Nikita Chekman, said the Ukrainian Culture Ministry made the restrictions known in a letter, a copy of which he posted on Telegram.

30 June 2023; MEMO: Hundreds of Iraqi demonstrators yesterday stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad to protest the burning of the holy Quran in Stockholm.

Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr had called for a large "angry" protest outside Sweden's embassy in Baghdad, demanding the expulsion of its ambassador from the country as well.

CHANGSHA (Hunan, China), July 1 (NNN-Dailynews) — Zanzibar Pres Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, who is attending the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo that opened on Thursday in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province, was impressed with data indicating strong trade growth between China and African countries.

“Africa still has enough land, labour force and opportunities for business. We invite Chinese companies to invest in the African continent,” said Dr Mwinyi, adding that the investment environment has also been improved in many African countries.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Saturday morning reported more civilian casualties from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south, as a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began in Kyiv as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the European Union for Ukraine’s fight to dislodge invading Russian forces from its territory.

In an address to Ukraine’s parliament that received several standing ovations, Sánchez said, “We’ll be with you as long as it takes.”