Seoul (AFP) – Drag queen Hurricane Kimchi has torn through Seoul’s nightlife scene like their meteorological namesake for a decade, part of a burgeoning LGBTQ community fighting for their rights in socially conservative South Korea. Gay marriage is banned in the country, social pressure keeps many in the closet, and the annual Pride celebration attracts vicious Christian-led opposition. But change is coming.
Lormont (France) (AFP) – Protests over the fatal police shooting of a teenager rocked France for a third straight night on Thursday, with cars burned, buildings vandalised and hundreds arrested in cities across the country.
Svyatogirsk (Ukraine) (AFP) – More than nine months after Russian troops left Svyatogirsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, life is still precarious for the 900 people living in the former resort town. As reconstruction gradually progresses, the inhabitants are trying to get their lives back to normal.
Mexico City (AFP) – “I’ve never experienced anything like this, it’s totally unique,” says Rebecca, an American tourist after eating tacos in “El Vistito,” a mechanical workshop in Mexico City that turns into a “taqueria” by night. It is one of the “must-sees” on a tour of taco restaurants in the Mexican capital that attracts thousands of tourists.
Marmaris (Turkey) (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounces Sweden for allowing a protest during which a man burned pages from the Koran, further clouding the Nordic nation’s chances of quickly joining NATO.
Brussels (AFP) – The EU’s top diplomat warns that a “weaker” Russian President Vladimir Putin would pose a “greater danger” after Wagner’s aborted mutiny sparked the largest political crisis in decades in the nuclear-armed country.
Spanish and Colombian authorities have seized over 6.5 tonnes of cocaine set to enter Spain through the port of Algeciras from Colombia. Thirteen people were arrested in connection with the seizure.
Arkadag (Turkmenistan) (AFP) – Turkmenistan inaugurates the city of Arkadag, named after the energy-rich former Soviet republic’s authoritarian ruler: former President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. The former leader handed the presidency to his son, Serdar, who participated in the opening ceremony. The republic is one of the most secluded countries in the world. IMAGES
Jorj Cristea is one of a dwindling number of doctors providing badly needed care as a GP in rural Romania, a country fighting to stop a mass exodus of its healthcare professionals. The brain drain was exacerbated by Romania joining the European Union in 2007, with over 15,000 doctors having left since.
For the inhabitants of the northern Albanian village of Rec, wasps are proving to be their undoing. The insects wage war on the area’s chestnut trees, the impoverished village’s main source of income for the last centuries. By killing the trees, the Asian wasps, originally from China, are forcing villagers to pack up and leave.
