Turin (Italy) (AFP) – Hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets of Turin, Italy, ahead of the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment that opened on Sunday evening. Earlier that day, demonstrators blocked a highway and burned images with the faces of the G7 country leaders.
Venice (AFP) – People welcome Pope Francis’s visit to Venice on Sunday, the ageing pontiff’s first outside Rome since last year. The Pope addressed more than 10,000 faithful seated in the vast St Mark’s Square, following an earlier visit to a women’s prison and an address to young Venetians.
Manila (AFP) – Easy to fix and cheap to ride, jeepneys were once the backbone of the Philippines’ transport system, carrying passengers, goods and even visiting popes. But the government’s plan to phase out jeepneys in an effort to modernise the country’s public transport network has put the future of the iconic vehicles in doubt.
Kyoto (Japan) (AFP) – A special Japanese animation studio aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism, who can find it hard to cope in Japan’s often high-stress and long-hours work environment.
Geneva (AFP) – The UN denounces the increasing enforcement of Iran’s strict hijab laws, with reports that “uniformed and plainclothes police are enforcing a violent crackdown” against women and girls. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, says “hundreds of businesses have been forcibly closed for not enforcing compulsorty hijab laws”.
Berlin (AFP) – Architect and founder of the woman’s rights group “Shirzan”, Iranian-born Apameh Schönauer has been exposed to a wave of online abuse after being crowned as the new Miss Germany. “I knew I would get a bit of blowback, but not like this,” Schönauer,39, tells AFP:
Austin (AFP) – More than 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters rallied at the University of Texas (UT) campus in Austin. A few pro-Israeli counter protesters also rallied.
Beijing (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war that are currently sweeping the United States are part of democracy, but criticised the “silence” over the Palestinian militants Hamas. Blinken is speaking in Beijing, China following a day of meetings with high-ranking officials.
Mathura (India) (AFP) – India’s six-week election juggernaut resumes with millions of people lining up outside polling stations in parts of the country hit by a scorching heatwave. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a third term in the election, which concludes in early June.
Dhaka (AFP) – Millions of pupils in Bangladesh were told to stay home this week as the country experiences one of its worst heatwaves on record, with temperatures 4-5 degrees Celsius above the long-term average.
Paris (AFP) – Security arrangements for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 26 July are being presented at a press conference with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris Prefect Laurent Nuñez and Olympic chief organiser Tony Estanguet.
Sakura (Japan) (AFP) – Kabosu the dog is best known as the logo of Dogecoin, but to her owner Atsuko Sato, the Shiba inu has been a steadfast companion for over a decade.
