SOUTH AFRICA - Can Pretoria legally grant Russian President Vladimir Putin immunity from ICC arrest in time for the BRICS summit in August? The foreign ministers of BRICS meet in Cape Town on Thursday to prepare for their August summit in Durban amid growing speculation and uncertainty about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the summit. When the five foreign ministers from South Africa, Russia, Brazil, China and India meet in Cape Town, they will be joined, virtually, by their counterparts from the “Friends of BRICS” — a sign of growing interest from Global South countries in joining this bloc. This new interest has partly been inspired by the growing polarisation between the West and Russia/China over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.

SOUTH AFRICA - With a general election next year and an unprecedented series of crises being faced by our society, there is little evidence that our politicians are actively looking for solutions to South Africa’s multiple problems. There is much evidence that our politicians are finding it easier to pick arbitrary fights with each other and within their alternate universe than to spend their time fixing the country’s problems. Coupled with this, the state itself has steadily grown weaker. It appears that those thirsting for political power are more comfortable fighting yesterday’s battles than solving today’s problems.

SOUTH AFRICA - Women continue to bear the brunt of violent attacks in South Africa. In the first three months of 2023, 10,512 women were raped, 1,485 attempted murders of women were reported, 969 women were killed, and over 15,000 women were assaulted. “Women of this country continue to be stalked by violence, mainly at the hands of men. A total of 6,289 people were killed with either a firearm, knife, sharp and blunt instruments and even bare hands, between January and March this year. Most of the killings took place in the KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng provinces with arguments, vigilantism and robberies topping the motive list for murder.

SOUTH AFRICA - Many white South Africans will be forced to leave the country under the current regime’s latest apartheid legislation. Now new government rules will make it nearly impossible for business owners to hire whites or Indians in the country. Controversial affirmative action policies mean blacks take precedence over whites in the job market. This is the racist reality of South Africa today. This doesn’t make many headlines. Over one million South Africans have migrated in the past 7 years.

UK - They have a new bicentenary slogan on the Oxford Union Society's literature this year: 'Celebrating 200 years of free speech'. Last night, a vociferous alliance from across the 'trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming and intersex' community was doing its best to draw a line under that long and noble tradition by attempting to silence a middle-aged woman who has had the temerity to argue that a person with a penis is not a biological woman. Yet despite repeated attempts to curtail the appearance of Professor Kathleen Stock in the society's famous debating chamber – including a sit-down protester with a tube of glue – it was cancel culture which was ultimately cancelled. As she explained to a packed house – many of whom gave her a standing ovation at the beginning and the end: 'You can go about your life pretending for a while but ultimately reality will hit you in the face.'

USA - CNN spoke with four women who “married themselves” — a self-marriage officially referred to as “sologamy.” The left-leaning news outlet painted “sologamy” as pertaining more to mental health and “self-love.” rather than an extension of living an “auto-sexual” lifestyle — being sexually attracted to oneself — which has been addressed in other news articles on the topic. “The concept of self-marriage, or sologamy, has been around for years… No data exists on how many people celebrate sologamy with ceremonies, but the practice has been explored in a handful of recent news articles,” CNN reported. The women interviewed “described the act as a symbolic expression of self-love and an affirmation of a deep meaningful relationship with one’s self.”

USA - The family-friendly entertainment organization MovieGuide is sounding the alarm about a new campaign against an upcoming Disney+ that features a teenage girl’s love affair with Satan. The streaming platform has given the green light to start production on a new German original series titled Pauline. According to Deadline, the series follows an 18-year-old girl who becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with the devil. The series’ creators, who are behind Netflix’s “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast),” say the project is “very close” to their hearts. “For a long time, the series has been and still remains a project very close to our hearts,” Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann said. “We’re thrilled that Disney+ loves this coming-of-age story as much as we do and that we’ve now been able to begin filming with such an amazing cast and crew.”

MIDDLE EAST - On Friday, members of the Arab League welcomed the Syrian regime back to the organization. Representatives from several Arab member states shook Syrian leader Assad’s hand and gave him, a “warm” reception according to several news outlets. Syria was suspended from the league in 2011, but on May 7 in Cairo the league agreed to reinstate the Assad regime. This represents a reversal from years of isolation placed on the regime, and a break with US policy which remains staunchly opposed to Assad.

USA - One does not have to be an economist or financial advisor to recognize the massive threat to the US economy posed by China and Russia. The leaders of the BRICS coalition have as their stated goal to replace the dominance of the US Dollar in the world. If they can even partially accomplish this goal, they will disrupt the abilities of American businesses and citizens to thrive. If they can fully accomplish their goals, it would cause an economic collapse in the United States unlike anything we’ve seen.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - What these short-sighted armchair activists fail to realize is that their green absolutism actually promotes inequality. Do they know what is being done to satiate their need for all these electric batteries? Slavery and child labor. No, I’m not being hyperbolic. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), so-called “artisanal” miners work in extremely dangerous conditions to mine cobalt and nickel-elements crucial in the production of batteries seen in electric cars like Teslas, Fords, and VWs.

USA - America’s credit card balance has passed $1 trillion, or it’s about to, depending on whom you ask. The average interest rate on a new card is 24 percent, the highest figure since the Reaganomics era. A typical American household now carries $10,000 in credit card debt, by one estimate, another record. If that doesn’t sound like a lot of debt, try paying it off. At $250 per month, with 24 percent interest, you’ll be making payments until 2030, and you’ll spend a total of $20,318, twice what you owed. And that assumes you never use the card again. “It’s hard to build wealth when you’re paying 20 percent interest every month,” said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com. The nation’s credit card debt stands at $986 billion, according to the Federal Reserve. The figure has climbed by $250 billion in two years. Some other estimates range higher. A WalletHub report put total card debt at $1.2 trillion at the end of 2022.

USA - The federal government paid Wyoming farmers $5.5 million in 2022 not to farm certain land plots, a significant leap from the 2021 grant of $3.4 million. Industry experts credit changing demands for food and skyrocketing fuel and equipment prices in 2022 for Wyoming farmers’ growing interest in the federal Conservation Reserve Program. Farmers will sign up for the Conservation Reserve Program if it looks more lucrative than farming.

USA - A black woman worked for the gym Equinox. The company fires her, says she was late 47 times in 10 months. She says she was fired for being black. A jury just awarded her $11.25 million. If you own a business in New York City, sell it immediately. If you live there and you value common sense, leave there as quickly as possible. The city is lost.

JAPAN - Growing human babies from scratch in a lab could be possible in just five years thanks to a new breakthrough. Researchers in Japan are on the cusp of being able to create human eggs and sperm in the lab from scratch, which would then develop in an artificial womb. Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi, a Japanese scientist at Kyushu University who has already figured out the process in mice, believes he is just five years away from replicating the results in humans.

GERMANY - According to experts, Germany’s recession is seen as the first falling domino within the EU, given that Germany has long been the flagship and a powerhouse of Europe. Germany entered a technical recession in the first quarter of 2023, according to recent figures from the Federal Statistical Office. What’s behind the new trend and what does the future have in store for the German economy? As per international economic observers, the unfolding economic slowdown has largely been caused by the disruption of Germany’s energy ties to Russia, which exacerbated the already swirling crisis in the country and contributed to gradual de-industrialization.