Blog one column

More than a dozen states in the US have sued TikTok, accusing the social media platform of helping to drive a mental health crisis among teenagers. A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country allege that the company uses addictive features to hook children to the app and that it has intentionally […]

Brazil’s Supreme Court has said it is lifting a ban on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. In his decision, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said that he authorised the “immediate return” of X’s activities in the country after it paid hefty fines and blocked accounts accused of spreading misinformation. According to a […]

The main suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann, has been cleared of a series of sexual offences in an unrelated trial. Christian Brückner, 47, who is already serving a seven-year jail term in Germany for rape, was acquitted of carrying out three rapes and two instances of sexual abuse in Portugal […]

A French-Cameroonian writer, Charles Onana, is due to go on trial in Paris accused of complicity in contesting the 1994 Rwandan genocide. About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed within 100 days. In a book published five years ago, Mr Onana described the idea that the Hutu government had planned a genocide in Rwanda […]

Ethiopia’s parliament has approved the appointment of a new president to replace the country’s first female head of state, Sahle-Work Zewde. Taye Astike Selassie, foreign minister since February, has taken up the largely ceremonial role. In Ethiopia, political power lies with the prime minister – currently Abiy Ahmed. Sahle-Work had reportedly fallen out with Abiy […]

Dorothy Masasa happily walks down a dirt road on a sunny afternoon, her baby securely strapped on her back. Just six months ago the 39-year-old, originally from southern Malawi’s Thyolo district, was in Kenya for life-saving radiotherapy. Malawi has only recently received its first such machines, so other women with cancer may no longer have […]

In an election that was criticised by rights groups, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has won a second term with more than 90% of the vote, the electoral commission has said. Only two candidates out of more than a dozen other hopefuls were allowed to stand against President Saied in Sunday’s ballot, where only 29% of […]

The mayor of a Mexican city plagued by drug violence has been murdered less than a week after taking office. Alejandro Arcos was found dead on Sunday in Chilpancingo, a city of around 280,000 people in the southwestern state of Guerrero. He had been mayor for six days. Evelyn Salgado, the state governor, said the […]

Two Chinese nationals have been killed and at least 10 people injured in a suspected suicide attack near Karachi airport in Pakistan. A third body, not yet officially identified, is thought to be that of the attacker, the BBC understands. The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said the explosion on Sunday night was a “terrorist attack” […]