Chongqing (China) (AFP) – Malls and subway stations attract dozens of people who want to keep cool and beat the soaring heat in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing, as the country faces its hottest summer on record.
Berlin (AFP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz assures Kyiv of Germany’s support for as long as necessary as Ukraine marks its independence day and six months since the start of the Russian invasion. of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine unveils its ‘Train to Victory’: a project in collaboration with Ukrainian artists that aims to convey the message that Ukraine will reclaim its Russian-occupied territories. It also honours rail workers taking part in civilian evacuations.
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis calls for peace “for the beloved Ukrainian people” on the war-torn country’s Independence Day and the six-month anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion.
Shanghai (AFP) – Shanghai is switching off decorative lights along its famed Bund riverfront for two days, according to city authorities, in response to a nationwide heatwave that has sent power demands soaring. Multiple provinces have announced power cuts to cope with a surge in demand, driven partly by people cranking up the air conditioning to cope with temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
United Nations (United States) (AFP) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the six-month anniversary of the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine is a “sad and tragic milestone.” Guterres makes the comments during a special meeting of the UN Security Council to mark the anniversary, during which Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak by video-link.
Bosler (United States) (AFP) – After a fellow cowboy died from fentanyl poisoning in 2021, Rand Selle launched ‘No More Empty Saddles,’ a group dedicated to giving cowboys the space and the tools to talk about drugs, addiction and their emotions, with the aim of preventing needless deaths.
Images of the Independence Square in Kyiv and a display of seized Russian military equipment in the city as Ukraine marks 6 months of war.
Chongqing (China) (AFP) – The riverbed of the Jialing river in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing, a tributary of the Yangtze river, runs dry as the country is hit by record temperatures and droughts.
Beirut (AFP) – Relatives of the victims of Beirut’s deadly 2020 port explosion protest after a large section of the damaged structure collapsed, calling for the remaining block to be preserved as a memorial to those killed. The damaged complex has come to symbolise the deadly explosion, but also state negligence and corruption, which many Lebanese blame for the blast.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – “This is definitely not our responsibility”, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Crimea Platform conference, after Russia accused Ukrainian intelligence of being behind the car bomb that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of an ultranationalist intellectual allied with Vladimir Putin. The bombing had apparently targeted Dugina’s father Alexander Dugin.
Makaylab (Sudan) (AFP) – After torrential rains caused floods in Sudan’s River Nile state which killed at least 52, people are left to sift through the wreckage of the thousands of homes the floods destroyed. In inundated Makaylab village, some 400 kilometres north of the capital Khartoum, residents lament the destruction the water left behind – and fear that the rains could just be the start of an even worse autumn to come.
