Paris (AFP) – With fewer than 50 days to go until the kick-off of the Paris Olympic Games, organisers unveil a display of five Olympic steel rings mounted on the French capital’s iconic Eiffel Tower. “An extraordinary symbol” of the start of the Games, explains Paris’ Mayor Anne Hidalgo from the Trocadero esplanade.
Abu Dhabi (AFP) – Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency releases 50 rehabilitated sea turtles back into their natural habitat around Saadiyat Island. The animals are the first group of over 200 to be gradually released into key marine areas around the capital.
Skardu (Pakistan) (AFP) – In the mountainous valleys of Pakistan, 18-hour daily power outages have become a regular occurrence in the city of Skardu amid the country’s power crisis. A surge in mountain tourism, driven by climbers and Pakistanis looking to escape heatwaves, is rapidly depleting the region’s limited energy supply.
Venezuela (Venezuela) (AFP) – An empanada restaurant in a remote Venezuelan village is the latest target of President Nicolas Maduro’s regime. Their crime? Serving breakfast to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Just 30 minutes after the politician visited the restaurant, run by two sisters, the tax authorities shut it down.
Al Qahtaniyah (Syria) (AFP) – Holding a weapon in one hand and fixing her scarf with the other, Atia Hassan patrols one of northeast Syria’s vast wheatfields, a vital source of income in the country’s breadbasket. The 50-year-old is among dozens of volunteers, some of them women, helping the semi-autonomous Kurdish-led region protect the fields near Qahtaniyah, from fires and arsonists.
Singapore (AFP) – Singapore’s only heavy metal bar, “The Flying V” lies tucked away in a basement of an old mall, just around the corner from the city-state’s parliament and Supreme court buildings. Sitting at the bar one Tuesday night, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover enjoyed a dark Welsh beer ahead of his band’s concert the next day.
Seoul (AFP) – Park Choong-kwon was once a member of an elite North Korean unit that developed long-range missiles. Now, as a lawmaker in the South, he is sounding the alarm over Kim Jong Un’s weapons.
Singapore (AFP) – Singapore’s only heavy metal bar, “The Flying V” lies tucked away in a basement of an old mall, just around the corner from the city-state’s parliament and Supreme court buildings. Sitting at the bar one Tuesday night, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover enjoyed a dark Welsh beer ahead of his band’s concert the next day.
Tullamore (Ireland) (AFP) – Many young doctors in Ireland are leaving the country in search of better lifestyles. Skewed work-life balance, housing and cost of living crises are some of the issues young doctors face in Ireland. “A 40-hour week compared to an 80-hour week is hugely significant for having a life outside work,” said Niamh Humphries, a lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland who researches doctor emigration trends and motivations.
College Park (United States) (AFP) – Seated side by side behind an antiquated viewer, two sisters run and rerun the 35 mm black-and-white film reel, whispering to each other about the images captured by their father, the only cameraman on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Jennifer Taylor-Rossel, 66, and Patricia Spae, 65, have come to a darkened room at a National Archives facility outside Washington for the first time to look at the film, at the invitation of French documentarian Dominique Forget. Filled with emotion, Taylor-Rossel says she hadn’t realized “how much he was part of D-Day” adding, “I’m kind of reaching back into history and touching that.”
