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Kutupalong (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Rohingya refugees hold “Genocide Remembrance Day” rallies across the huge network of squalid camps in Bangladesh where they live in dire conditions, marking five years since fleeing from a brutal military offensive in Myanmar. In August 2017 around 750,000 of the mostly Muslim minority streamed over the border from mostly Buddhist Myanmar from the onslaught, which is now the subject of a landmark genocide case at the UN’s top court. Today there are nearly a million Rohingya, half of them under 18, in rickety huts in a network of camps in southeastern Bangladesh where the mud lanes regularly become rivers of sewage during monsoon rains. IMAGES

Paris (AFP) – Ukrainians and other residents in Paris, Berlin and Tel Aviv march through their cities to mark Ukraine’s independence day and also to protest against Russia’s invasion of the country, which has now lasted for six months.

Chongqing (China) (AFP) – Malls and subway stations attract dozens of people who want to keep cool and beat the soaring heat in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing, as the country faces its hottest summer on record.

Berlin (AFP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz assures Kyiv of Germany’s support for as long as necessary as Ukraine marks its independence day and six months since the start of the Russian invasion. of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine unveils its ‘Train to Victory’: a project in collaboration with Ukrainian artists that aims to convey the message that Ukraine will reclaim its Russian-occupied territories. It also honours rail workers taking part in civilian evacuations.

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis calls for peace “for the beloved Ukrainian people” on the war-torn country’s Independence Day and the six-month anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion.

Shanghai (AFP) – Shanghai is switching off decorative lights along its famed Bund riverfront for two days, according to city authorities, in response to a nationwide heatwave that has sent power demands soaring. Multiple provinces have announced power cuts to cope with a surge in demand, driven partly by people cranking up the air conditioning to cope with temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the six-month anniversary of the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine is a “sad and tragic milestone.” Guterres makes the comments during a special meeting of the UN Security Council to mark the anniversary, during which Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak by video-link.

Bosler (United States) (AFP) – After a fellow cowboy died from fentanyl poisoning in 2021, Rand Selle launched ‘No More Empty Saddles,’ a group dedicated to giving cowboys the space and the tools to talk about drugs, addiction and their emotions, with the aim of preventing needless deaths.

Images of the Independence Square in Kyiv and a display of seized Russian military equipment in the city as Ukraine marks 6 months of war.