WEST-AFRICA   –  The first thing Dinah Colecraft does when she wakes up in her house in Ghana’s capital, Accra, isn’t take a shower or make a coffee.

Instead, she downloads a devotion sent by her church, using an app. With Asoriba she can browse the church events taking place that weekend and even make a donation using her credit card. Basically, it’s a one-stop shop for spirituality.  Created by a team of young Ghanaian entrepreneurs, Asoriba the parent company behind the app was deemed Africa’s Best Startup at the Seedstars World event last month in Casablanca, Morocco. In Ghana, Christians normally give tithes or a tenth of their monthly income  to the church.

While nobody knows exactly how much money is in circulation within the Christian church in the West African nation, due to the plethora of small institutions with no collective figures, most agree it’s a huge figure. (CNN.COM)…[+]

BANGLADESH   –   Sixty-five people have been killed by lightning strikes in Bangladesh in four days, as the country endures its annual severe storm season.

Most of the deaths occurred in rural parts of north and central Bangladesh, with the victims predominantly farmers and construction workers, Reaz Ahmed, director general of Bangladesh’s Department of Disaster Management, told CNN on Monday. The deadliest recent day was last Thursday, when 34 people were killed, he said. Twenty-one died the following day, seven on Saturday and three on Sunday. Lightning strikes are relatively common in the low-lying, densely-populated nation, with the country experiencing severe storms with frequent lightning often between March and June, ahead of the onset of the monsoon. .(CNN.COM)…[+]

THAILAND – Thailand’s plan to accelerate sales of 11.4 million tonnes of rice in stockpiles within two months sparked concerns that it would hurt prices as well as Vietnam’s rice exports. However, some people were optimistic that the impact would not be significant. Thailand planned to sell the amount of rice in a government stockpile in May and June to generate US$2.8 billion, at an average price of US$245 per tonne, in what could be the biggest rice sale clearance ever of the world’s second largest rice exporter after India.

According to Le Van Banh, director of the Department of Agro-Fisheries Processing and Salt Production, the biggest stockpiled rice sell-off from Thailand would certainly have an impact on the global rice market following the law on supply and demand, as well as on Viet Nam’s rice market.  However, the impact on Vietnam’s rice exports would not be significant, at least in the short term, Banh said.  Banh also said that Thailand’s plan to sell 11.4 million tonnes of rice within just two months was not feasible.  (asiannewsnetwork)…[+]

RUSSIA   –  Russian senator has said that a Ukrainian singer’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest was a case of politics prevailing over art, and has suggested Russia skip next year’s contest in response, Russian state media reports.

Jamala of Ukraine won a politically charged edition of the annual event in Stockholm, Sweden, on Saturday night with her performance of “1944,” a somber but controversial song that evoked Moscow’s deportation of members of her Crimean ethnic group during World War II. But many listeners saw the song as a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 military push into Ukraine, when Russia annexed Crimea. The song was labeled anti-Russian by Russian media last week. Russian Senator Frants Klintsevich told reporters Sunday that Jamala’s victory sent an alarming signal, and questioned the future of the contest, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. .(CNN.COM)…[+]

COLOMBIA   –  Police in Colombia seized more than 17,500 pounds of cocaine from a gang in a series of operations across the country in recent days, authorities said.

The drug bust was part of an offensive against a narcotrafficking criminal gang called Clan Úsuga, authorities said. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos congratulated police on Twitter for carrying out the operation, which he said resulted in the largest drug seizure ever. The Colombian Defense Ministry called it the biggest cocaine seizure on Colombian territory in history. Pictures released by police showed hundreds of pre-packaged bricks of drugs laid out by police.  Authorities also arrested four men and found a handful of weapons, according to a press release from Colombian National Police. .(CNNC.OM)…[+]