San Francisco (AFP) – Many San Francisco bars and restaurants have begun asking customers to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test result before entering the premises.
Chicago (AFP) – One of America’s largest events — Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago — is underway this weekend, to the delight of fans and to the despair of others. The four day music festival is expected to draw more than 100,000 people to downtown Chicago each day, at a moment when coronavirus cases are on the rise and vaccinations have plateaued. Lollapalooza has said their policy is for unvaccinated people to wear masks and show a recent negative Covid test.
Gyōda (Japan) (AFP) – Japan’s Ukiyoe and Kabuki culture are showcased in an unusual masterpiece. Rice fields have been transformed into art in the Japanese city of Gyoda to mark the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Chambley-Bussières (France) (AFP) – In the sky above the French region of Meurthe-et-Moselle, more than three hundred hot air balloons rise to the rhythm of the rising sun.
Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel launches its campaign to give over-60s coronavirus booster shots, becoming the first country to widely offer a third dose of a western vaccine to citizens.
Quincy (United States) (AFP) – Moving up and down through the aisles of northeast America’s Stop and Shop supermarkets is an autonomous robot named Marty. In these stores he has one job: to inspect the floor and look for hazards and spills.
heinavesi (Finland) (AFP) – When the pandemic shut down tourism, Finland’s only orthodox Christian monastery, Valamo, faced a one-third loss of its three million euro ($3.5 million) turnover, but the monks opted to cut down and sell four years’ worth of their trees at once, managing to plug the gap in its finances. The orthodox Christian church numbers 60,000 members in predominantly protestant Finland, about one percent of the population.
Mugla (Turkey) (AFP) – Turkish firefighters continue to battle deadly wildfires that forced the evacuation of entire villages and hotels on the Mediterranean coast. At least four people were reported dead Thursday and more than 180 injured.
Ramat Gan (Israel) (AFP) – A baby Sumatran orangutan clings to its mother Tana at Israel’s Ramat Gan Safari Park zoo. The baby was born on the 10th of July, 11 years after its father Rachamim.
Chaman (Pakistan) (AFP) – The Taliban’s capture of a key Afghan-Pakistan border post has hiked trucking costs between the two countries, with insurgents and government officials taxing traders for their goods and demanding bribes to allow them through. Thousands of vehicles cross daily from Chaman in southwestern Pakistan to Spin Boldak on the other side, carrying goods destined for Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-biggest city. The insurgents have captured a vast swath of the country since early May after launching a series of offensives to capitalise on the final stages of the withdrawal of foreign troops.
Nicosia (AFP) – Young wildlife vet Constantinos Antoniou, known in his country and among animal lovers as the “Birdman of Cyprus”, passionately takes care of hundreds of wounded or sick wild birds every year before releasing them back to their natural habitat.
Tokyo (AFP) – American swimmer Chase Kalisz, who won gold in the 400m individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics, says it “hasn’t really hit” him that he’s an Olympic champion, and that it will “take some time to really process what happened”.
