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Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Environmental activist Greta Thunberg denounces the ecological havoc caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the lack of international reaction to the disaster. “Ecocide and environmental destruction is a form of warfare… as Ukrainians by this point know all too well — and so does Russia,” she says, during a visit to Kyiv as part of an international delegation investigating the environmental consequences of the conflict.

Brussels (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron leaves early from an EU summit in Brussels to return to France, where three nights of unrest over the police shooting of a teenager have taken place. Macron cancelled a media conference scheduled for the second and last day of the summit to go back to Paris. IMAGES

Brussels (AFP) – EU heads of state — including French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Dutch PM Mark Rutte, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban and EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell — arrive at the European Council for the second day of the summit. On the agenda: migration and relations with China. IMAGES

Buenos Aires (AFP) – Gladys Meza and Limpia Benitez travel every two weeks to the Buenos Aires Central Market to look for intact fruits and vegetables that the produce vendors throw in the trash. It’s a tiresome task, they say, but the only way they have to make ends meet in a country with monstrous inflation, which accumulated to 114% in the last 12 months.

Bangkok (AFP) – The iconic scenes from Studio Ghibli’s famous animations over the last 30 years are brought alive at an exhibition in Bangkok. Visitors are immersed in the 3D world of the ten Ghibli movies including Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Seoul (AFP) – Drag queen Hurricane Kimchi has torn through Seoul’s nightlife scene like their meteorological namesake for a decade, part of a burgeoning LGBTQ community fighting for their rights in socially conservative South Korea. Gay marriage is banned in the country, social pressure keeps many in the closet, and the annual Pride celebration attracts vicious Christian-led opposition. But change is coming.

Lormont (France) (AFP) – Protests over the fatal police shooting of a teenager rocked France for a third straight night on Thursday, with cars burned, buildings vandalised and hundreds arrested in cities across the country.

Svyatogirsk (Ukraine) (AFP) – More than nine months after Russian troops left Svyatogirsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, life is still precarious for the 900 people living in the former resort town. As reconstruction gradually progresses, the inhabitants are trying to get their lives back to normal.

Mexico City (AFP) – “I’ve never experienced anything like this, it’s totally unique,” says Rebecca, an American tourist after eating tacos in “El Vistito,” a mechanical workshop in Mexico City that turns into a “taqueria” by night. It is one of the “must-sees” on a tour of taco restaurants in the Mexican capital that attracts thousands of tourists.

Marmaris (Turkey) (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounces Sweden for allowing a protest during which a man burned pages from the Koran, further clouding the Nordic nation’s chances of quickly joining NATO. 

Brussels (AFP) – The EU’s top diplomat warns that a “weaker” Russian President Vladimir Putin would pose a “greater danger” after Wagner’s aborted mutiny sparked the largest political crisis in decades in the nuclear-armed country. 

Spanish and Colombian authorities have seized over 6.5 tonnes of cocaine set to enter Spain through the port of Algeciras from Colombia. Thirteen people were arrested in connection with the seizure.