WhatsApp has said it blocked over two million accounts in India in May and June for violating rules.

The service said 95% of these users were blocked for violating the limits of the number of times messages can be forwarded in India. The submissions were made by WhatsApp in its first monthly compliance report under India’s controversial new IT rules. India is WhatsApp’s largest market with about 400 million users. The Facebook-owned messaging service said its “top focus” has been to prevent accounts in India from sending harmful or unwanted messages at scale. Using advanced machine learning technology, WhatsApp reportedly bans close to eight million accounts across the world every month.  Two million accounts in India sending a “high and abnormal rate of messages” were banned in India alone between 15 May and 15 June, the service said.(BBC)…[+]

Almost every night, a handful of young men slip across the well-guarded border, swimming across a fast-flowing brown river and trudging into Sudan to escape what they say is a sudden upsurge in ethnic violence in the far western corner of Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

This fertile area, still held by soldiers and militias loyal to Ethiopia’s federal government, is now seen as a likely next target for Tigray’s rebel fighters, as they seek to strengthen their control over the region and secure a potentially crucial supply route into neighbouring Sudan. The conflict in Tigray is now showing dangerous signs of transforming into a more widespread ethnic conflict that could suck in other parts of Ethiopia. “They gave us two days to leave, or we would be killed,” said one 18-year-old Tigrayan, who’d just crossed the river with three school friends and asked for his identity to be hidden to protect relatives still living inside Ethiopia.(BBC)…[+]

Armed South African police officers are protecting deliveries of food and supplies to supermarkets after days of widespread looting and violence. Riots were sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma. An estimated $1bn (£720m) worth of stock was stolen in KwaZulu-Natal with at least 800 retail shops looted, a mayor in the province said. President Cyril Ramaphosa said that his government would not allow “anarchy and mayhem” to prevail. He also suggested that the violence had been deliberately provoked. In KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Zuma’s home province and the epicentre of the violence, many have been queuing for food, with some lining up from the early hours of the morning just to get a few items. People queueing told the BBC they were concerned about feeding their families, getting formula and nappies for their babies, and even food for their pets.(BBC)…[+]