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La Misión (Mexico) (AFP) – With traditional dances, rodeos and bonfires, Mexicans celebrate cowboy culture in the village of La Mision, just south of the US border. The two-day festival honors the area’s blend of cultures through history, from its indigenous roots to the founding of a Spanish mission in the village by Dominican missionaries in 1787. “For me, being a cowboy is like being an artist, a painter, a composer,” says Villagardo Moreno, one of the founders of the event, held annually since 1979.

Chequers (United Kingdom) (AFP) – “Liverpool stands together, and the whole country stands with Liverpool,” says British Prime Minister Keir Starmer the day after a car rammed into a crowd at Liverpool’s Premier League title parade. “Scenes of joy turned to utter horror and devastation, and my thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country are with all of those that are affected,” Starmer adds.

Kathmandu (AFP) – Two Nepali climbers have achieved world records this week. Kami Rita Sherpa reached the summit of Everest for a record 31st time on Tuesday, and Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa climbed the same mountain four times in just 15 days. Gyalzen Sherpa received a hero’s welcome on his return to Kathmandu.

Undisclosed (AFP) – Kyiv and Moscow complete their biggest prisoner exchange since the start of Russia’s full-scale offensive in February 2022, with 1,000 captured soldiers and civilian prisoners exchanged by each side. Russia has signalled that it will send Ukraine its terms for a peace settlement after the exchange without saying what those terms would be.

Bangalore (AFP) – Quick commerce apps are redefining the retail game in India, allowing customers to get hold of not only food and drink but anything else from clothes to iPhones — within minutes. At a warehouse managed by online grocer BigBasket in central Mumbai, employees work with military-like precision to pull off deliveries in just 10 minutes. These warehouses are known within the industry as “dark stores”, a reference to being closed off to customers. Local tech companies have poured in billions to set up these nifty logistical networks across big cities, fuelling India’s rapid shopping industry.

Kemijärvi (AFP) – A fighter jet roaring through the grey sky breaks the tranquillity of a boreal forest in northern Finland, one more sign of a growing military presence that is challenging the ability of reindeer herders to exercise their livelihood. Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, dropped decades of military non-alignment to join NATO in 2023 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reindeer herders worry that a large live-fire and combat exercise involving around 6,500 soldiers from Finland, Sweden and Britain in May would disturb the reindeer.

Dubai (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates exceeds its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius in Sweihan — which lies 97km (60 miles) west of Abu Dhabi. In Dubai, high temperatures in the mid-40 degrees Celsius were recorded. The desert nation, a top global oil exporter, lies in one of the planet’s hottest regions and one which is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Cannes (AFP) – Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi wins the Palme d’Or top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The latest film from the 64-year-old, ‘It Was Just an Accident’, tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail. Panahi, who was banned from making films in 2010 and has been imprisoned twice, used his own experiences in jail to write the screenplay.

Undisclosed (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Russia is giving grounds for new sanctions after Russian drone and missile strikes hit Kyiv Saturday. “Every day gives reasons for new sanctions against Russia. Every day proves that without pressure on Russia, the war will continue,” Zelensky says in his evening address.

Cannes (AFP) – A power substation and an electricity pylon were vandalised overnight in the region around France’s Cannes, which has been hit by a major blackout on the final day of its film festival, according to officials. Traffic was widely impacted, and festival goers and tourists scrambled for paper money after the power cut hit the town, leaving cash machines out of order and restaurants unable to process card payments.

Siem Pang (AFP) – A helicopter successfully herds 16 critically endangered banteng onto a truck in Cambodia for the first time. Conservation groups Rising Phoenix and Siem Pang said that the banteng found in the wild were herded over three days through a “mass-capture funnel trap” onto a truck before being relocated to a wildlife sanctuary. Banteng are a type of wild cattle native to Southeast Asia and listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species. Their natural habitat is forests and grasslands, but only a few thousand remain in the wild, and they are mostly threatened by hunting, logging and industry.

College Park (AFP) – Wearing a formal cap and gown, Kermit the Frog offers a graduation speech to students at the University of Maryland. “Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side,” says Kermit at the establishment his creator, Jim Henson, graduated from in 1960.