Weekend News in Tweets: Rio is ready, Fikile Mbalula on the decks & more

News moves at the speed of social media in today’s world, and that’s especially the case on the weekend. Take a look at the world news you might’ve missed this weekend through the 140-character lens of Twitter.

Welcome to the Weekend News in Tweets (29 July – 31 July 2016).

Host city of the 2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro is putting the finishing touches on some of its infrastructure upgrades, starting with the dedicated Metro line 4. The line, which cost the city US$3.1-billion, is the final piece of the transport puzzle upgrades, linking Ipanema to Barra (the Olympic village district). The Olympic Games kick off in less than a week.

Metro Line 4 open for business: one of the biggest legacies of #Rio2016 is inaugurated https://t.co/1ZKy71ZO70 pic.twitter.com/1pCDFPZqCq

— Rio 2016 (@Rio2016_en) July 31, 2016

Not content with simply managing South Africa’s sporting codes, Minister Fikile Mbalula also took to the decks at the recent ANC Rally at Ellis (Emirates Airlines) Park, Johannesburg. South Africa heads to the polls in its latest round of municipal elections Wednesday.

DJ Mbaweezus 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/QRC17qoAc2

— RSA Min of Sport (@MbalulaFikile) July 31, 2016

Flash floods killed at least two people, and tore up much of Ellicott City, Maryland — one of America’s most affluent communities. The damage has left much of the city inaccessible.

Unbelievable video shows man chasing his car through floodwaters in Ellicott City, MD https://t.co/chtSrqTNqohttps://t.co/KlvB1igPhH

— ABC News (@ABC) July 31, 2016

Oklahoma-born Jimmy Walker has won the final golf major of the year at the PGA Championship this weekend. It’s the American’s first major triumph of his career, beating Australian Jason Day to the title.

Jimmy Walker’s birdie from the bunker is the #ShotOfTheDay https://t.co/xaRFFPV0Yj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 1, 2016

Few people are crazier than Luke Aikins, who this weekend became the first person in history to skydive without a parachute and survive. He plunged around 7000m into a suspended net.

Skydiver jumps 25,000 feet without parachute https://t.co/16Ol7TPYSn #LukeAikins pic.twitter.com/E3fDUtDIHO

— New Straits Times (@NST_Online) August 1, 2016

Typhoon Nida is the latest named storm wreaking havoc in the Pacific. The cyclone — currently a category two — passed directly over the Philippines this weekend dropping around 300mm of rainfall over the country’s northern regions. It’s due to hit Hong Kong Tuesday.

#China issues a storm warning as #Nida Typhoon Approaches – Meteorological Center https://t.co/cXbcn89416 #typhoon pic.twitter.com/wugq06WQoz

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) July 31, 2016

JK Rowling — author of the Harry Potter series — celebrated her birthday this weekend. She also noted at The Cursed Child‘s debut in London that Harry Potter — at least as a series — “is done”.

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! I’m very fond of you lot, too 😘

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 31, 2016

Feature image: Government ZA via Flickr