Africa

Since it first entered service with the Soviet army in 1948, the AK-47 and its derivatives have become the world's most widely used assault rifles.

As Statista's Niall McCarty writes, in his book "AK47: The Story of The People's Gun", author Michael Hodges estimates that there are as many as 200 million Kalashnikov rifles in circulation, one for every 35 people on earth. Its popularity among soldiers, criminals and militants is primarily due to its cheap price, durability, reliability and sheer simplicity.

Authored by Daniel Moscadi via GEFIRA,

Vallombrosa is a unique place in Tuscany. Its founder, Saint Giovanni Gualberto, a Benedictine monk, chose this secluded place in the mountains 40 km east of Florence to lead a hermit-like existence, right after the year 1000, and with a restricted group of monks started his own monastic order, the Vallombrosani.

Authored by Erico Matias Tavares via Sinclair & Co.,

If you're a Cuban focused on visiting the United States for tourism of business purposes, it's probably going to be a case of "close but no cigar". As Statista's Nial McCarthy notes, even though relations between Washington and Havanna have improved hugely over the past few months, Cuba still has the highest rate of U.S. visa refusal of any country worldwide. According to U.S. State Department data, 81.9 percent of all Cuban applications for B Visas (tourism or business) were turned down in fiscal year 2016.

The rand tumbled as much as 1.7% and banking shares on the Johannesburg bourse fell more than 2% after South African President Jacob Zuma unexpectedly ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to return from an investor roadshow to Britain and the United States on Monday because he "did not give permission for the trip" a government source said.

"They were told last night or this morning to come back... the presidency did not give permission for the trip," the government source said.