Niger
Sixty-nine people have been killed in an attack by gunmen in southwestern Niger, according to the government. As mentioned in previous newsletters, the western Sahel region has for years been the epicenter of a conflict between the governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and armed groups with links to al-Qaeda and ISIS. The violence appears to have significantly worsened in recent months and monitoring groups say more than 500 people have been killed in such attacks this year.
More from Al Jazeera here.
South Africa
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has won less than 50 percent of the vote in an election for the first time in the country’s democratic history. The local elections delivered a hammer blow to the storied party of Nelson Mandela as it lost support right across the nation. With no clear anti-ANC bloc yet emerging among smaller parties, it is still comfortably the biggest party in the country but the immediate future of South African governance may now lie in coalitions.
More from BBC here.
China
A Chinese government recommendation that people store necessities in case of emergency has sparked panic-buying and frantic speculation that China is planning to go to war with Taiwan. Though most analysts do not believe war is imminent, tensions between Beijing and Taiwan, which China sees as a rogue state that should be part of its territory, have grown in recent months. State media tried to calm speculation by saying the warning was prompted by concerns over Covid.
More from AP here.