🌍 Despite general global turbulence and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year has been particularly eventful for African nations. Countries on the continent have increased their role in world politics, trade, and economy.

As 2022 comes to an end, Sputnik has created a list of the most prominent feats of African nations in the field of economy, tourism, innovation, and development based on their performance and improvements in global indexes and rankings.

Check out the most prominent achievements and growth of the continent in the international arena over the past year!

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Russian petroleum products will no longer be considered to be of Russian origin and subject to the price cap once they are transformed in another jurisdiction, the US Treasury announced on Friday.

The Treasury also said it does not consider blending operations, like gasoline or crude blending to be substantial transformation for the purposes of the crude oil determination.

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How Saddam Hussein’s Execution Scarred Iraq and Changed US Foreign Policy Forever

Friday marks the anniversary of the December 30, 2006 execution of Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq. How did Hussein’s hanging by the American occupation regime affect Iraq and alter US foreign policy?

👉 Sputnik explains

Fraud Case: Is Bankman-Fried's Closeness to White House & Democratic Party Paying off?

Sam Bankman-Fried is famous for being a Democratic Party "mega-donor." According to the US press, he was one of just a handful of donors who spent over $10 million on Joe Biden's campaign in 2020, and hired a network of political operatives and spent around $38 million on the Democratic Party's midterm campaign, being second only to liberal American-Hungarian tycoon George Soros.

It appears that the high-profile crook and former Democratic mega-donor is being treated with kid gloves. As one British newspaper remarked, "crime does pay."

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🎊 Hope you start your New Year as magnificent as this lion

🦁 A video of a giant male lion with an enormous mane in Masai Mara in the East African country of Kenya is going viral on social media. Netizens are amused by the noble appearance of the big cat.

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Echoing Merkel, Fmr French Prez Confirms West Lied to Russia on Minsk Deal to Buy Kiev Time to Rearm

They say confession is good for the soul. Former French President Francois Hollande has joined his colleagues ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in admitting that the Minsk Agreements on Donbass peace were just a ploy to buy Kiev time to rearm.

Read more about it here

New Ukrainian Media Law Nationalistic, Anti-Russian, European MP Says

💬 "Censorship of the media is not new in Ukraine. The best way to apply the regime's nationalistic policies is to control the press, just like in the good old days of the Soviet Union. Mr Zelensky knows it and is deepening censorship, with some opposition in the Rada [the Ukrainian parliament] though," Thierry Mariani, a French member of the European parliament, told Sputnik.

Mariani explained that the Ukrainian government decided to adopt the law as it wants to eradicate the Russian language, despite it being the mother tongue of a large part of the country's population.

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⚽ Cristiano Ronaldo has officially signed with Saudi football club al-Nassr

📹 Russian warships carry out strikes targeting Ukrainian military command and controls systems, as well as defense industry and energy facilities (video courtesy of Russia’s MoD)

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‼️Venezuelan opposition has officially put an end to the interim government headed by Juan Guaido since 2019

The vote came down 72-29

‘Major Political Error’: Moscow Warned About NATO Expansion in 2001, Declassified Docs Reveal

Russian officials have repeatedly complained about Washington's broken promises on NATO's eastward expansion. Now, new archival records from Tony Blair's cabinet office reveal UK efforts to keep up diplomatic decorum, befriend Putin and try pull the wool over his eyes on the West’s 'friendship' with Russia as the Western military alliance pushed east.

Find out more here

⚡North Korea has reportedly launched an unidentified projectile toward Sea of Japan

🐼 Panda cubs give New Year greetings in Chengdu, China

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 The US should stop the sale of arms to Taiwan and cut military ties with the island, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday. On Thursday, the US State Department authorized a sale of Volcano anti-tank systems worth $180 million to Taiwan.

💬 "China urges the US to abide by the One-China principle and the provisions of the three joint China-US communiques, earnestly implement the promise of the US leaders not to support the 'Taiwan independence,' stop selling arms to Taiwan, cut US-Taiwan military ties and stop creating new tensions across the Taiwan Strait," Wang told a briefing. He added that China was ready to take steps to resolutely defend its sovereignty and security interests.

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➡️ South Korean military has confirmed that a total of three short-range ballistic missiles were launched by North Korea

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'Citizen Hero': NFL Quarterback Blaine Gabbert Saves Family in Helicopter Crash

Tampa Bay Buccaneers backup Quarterback Blaine Gabbert is being called a “citizen hero” after he and his two brothers saved a family stranded in the ocean after a helicopter crash off the coast of Tampa Bay, Florida.

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💬 "With three Tory prime ministers and about the same number of months, the UK in effect has a zombie government. It is trailing by between 20 and 30 points, trailing the Labor Party and nearly all the opinion polls. The Bank of England, which of course, is neo liberal in its policy orientation, believes that the UK will be in a slump for 2023. Unemployment will continue to be high," says Dr. Kenneth Surin, a political and foreign affairs analyst, on migration crisis in Europe.

🎧 Listen to more of Dr. Surin’s analysis in our podcast