Johannesburg (AFP) – DeLovie Kwagala, a LGBTQ Ugandan activist currently living in South Africa, fears for their life as their visa expires and they need to travel back to Uganda to renew it. Under a new law passed by the Ugandan parliament earlier this month, anyone who “knowingly promotes homosexuality” faces up to 20 years in jail and “engaging in acts of homosexuality” would be an offence punishable with life imprisonment.
Unknown (AFP) – The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group claims the complete capture of the east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow’s offensive. “Today around mid-day, Bakhmut was taken in its entirety,” Yevgeny Prigozhin says in a video posted on Telegram, with fighters behind him holding the Russian flag surrounded by ruins.
Harare (AFP) – Former detainees celebrate as they walk out of a prison in Zimbabwe following a presidential amnesty freeing about a fifth of the country’s inmates, only a few months ahead of crunch general elections. The 4,270 freed inmates will be able to vote in upcoming presidential and legislative elections due to be held in August. The polls come at a time of discontent over chronic poverty and power cuts and high inflation.
Moscow (AFP) – During a televised meeting, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that announcements by G7 leaders at their summit this weekend to help end the conflict in Ukraine show a determination to “contain” both Russia and China.
Forlì (Italy) (AFP) – Volunteers in the town of Forli set up a mobile field kitchen for volunteers helping people affected by the floods in Italy’s northeastern Emilia-Romagna region, described as the worst the country has seen in a century. Over 200 volunteers are expected to arrive, according to Mauro Valentini, who’s managing the operation.
Guacalillo (Costa Rica) (AFP) – Around 40 volunteers gather on Guacalillo Beach, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, to clean its shores. “Costa Rica sells itself as a green country, but the reality is that there is a lack of awareness and education” says Montserrat Courrau, a participant in the cleanup day. In 2021, the country generated over 1.6 million tonnes of municipal waste according to the Organisation For Economic Co-operation And Development (OECD).
Cannes (France) (AFP) – Australian actress Cate Blanchett, French former model Carla Bruni and American actress Natalie Portman walk the red carpet on the fourth day of the Cannes Film Festival.
Paris (AFP) – The once-tiny sea lion foetus is getting so big it now fills the screen during a routine ultrasound at the Paris Zoological Park. This will be Nora the sea lion’s second baby. “Very few are born in Europe each year. You can count them on one hand, even in a good year. So every birth is really very important for the population,” says the zoo’s chief veterinarian.
Glasgow (AFP) – Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is celebrating British fashion trailblazer Mary Quant, long credited as a pioneer of the miniskirt, as her colourful and daring 1960s designs take centre stage in an exhibition. “She introduced such a revolutionary attitude to clothes – garments that the young could run, jump, leap onto a bus, go dancing – they didn’t have to dress like their mothers anymore, which, of course, they had to do in the days of post-war austerity,” former co-director of Mary Quant Limited tells AFP.
Cannes (France) (AFP) – The cast and crew of “The Zone of Interest” by British director Jonathan Glazer walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. The filmmaker returns with a fourth feature film, a chilling portrait of Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss and his family, tasting the pleasures of life in their house adjoining the death camp.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Yevgenia can barely look at her brother’s photo a year after Russia captured him and over 2,000 other fighters in the siege of the Azovstal plant. She fears she hasn’t done enough to bring him home. Families like hers have used protest, political pressure and their own pain to battle for their loved ones’ return since the siege in the port city of Mariupol, which came to symbolise Ukrainian resistance.
Xian (China) (AFP) – Xi Jinping pledges 26 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in “financing support and free assistance” to Central Asia as he wraps up a landmark summit with heads of state from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Xi’an in northern China.
