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Annapurna (Nepal) (AFP) – A Norwegian climber is aiming to reach the world’s 14 highest mountain summits in a quest to change how the mountaineering industry views women athletes. Having already climbed six peaks in Nepal, including Mount Everest, Kristin Harila, 36, is on track to achieve her six-month target to reach the 14 peaks. Harila hopes to match, if not beat, Nepali adventurer Nirmal Purja’s ambitious six months and six day’s record.

Moscow (AFP) – The space that became Russia’s first McDonald’s in Russia in 1990, reopens with a under name and logo in a potent reminder of the upheaval sparked by the conflict in Ukraine. US fast-food giant McDonald’s announced on May 16 that it would exit Russia in the wake of its Ukraine offensive. In Moscow’s Pushkin Square, dozens of people gather outside the Russian incarnation of the fast-food restaurant, “Vkusno i tochka” (“Delicious. Full Stop”).

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asks for international pressure to end the Russian naval blockade of Black Sea ports that has cut off his country’s grain exports, threatening a global food crisis. “The world will face an acute and severe food crisis and famine, in many countries of Asia and Africa,” Zelensky says in a video address to the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

Unknown (AFP) – Justin Bieber tells fans in a video posted to Instagram that he’s been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is causing him partial facial paralysis. The 28-year-old pop singer recently announced he was pausing his Justice World Tour due to illness, hours before his first slated concert in Toronto. Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is a complication of shingles that occurs when an outbreak impacts the facial nerve near one ear. In addition to facial paralysis, it can cause hearing loss.

Kathmandu (AFP) – The annual Pride parade is back on the streets of Nepal’s capital after a two year hiatus during Covid-19. Hundreds walked the streets of Kathmandu waving flags, holding signs, and shouting pro-LGBTQIA+ slogans. Nepal has some of the most progressive policies on homosexuality in South Asia, but the law still does not allow for gay marriage. It introduced a transgender category for citizenship certificates in 2013, and passports must also include a third gender category. Despite this progress, and bureaucratic hurdles still complicate matters for some – like the transgender community. Attendees at this year’s Pride parade hope to raise awareness on equal rights.

London (AFP) – At the ‘Small is Beautiful’ exhibition in London, visitors must lean or squat to appreciate every detail of the 143 miniatures made by 33 local and international artists. With paper folds displayed on the walls, figurine under glass bell of Greta Thunberg, replicas of buildings, the possibilities offered by the miniature format seem endless and joyful for artists, and visitors can have tremendous fun finding the little figurines in a landscape entirely made up of brightly coloured sweets. For Lisa Swerling, her small-scale art is a way of showing “support for the little ones among us who are trying to change things.” The exhibition, located in South Kensington, is open until July.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – In his nightly address, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says that “Russia wants to devastate every city in the Donbas, every single one, without exaggeration.”

Tel Aviv (AFP) – Over 170,000 participants march in the streets of Israel’s coastal city of Tel Aviv, waving vibrant rainbow flags, during an annual Pride parade in an explosion of glamorous self-expression.

Malmö (Sweden) (AFP) – Two rubbish bins on Davidshallsbron bridge in Sweden’s southern city of Malmö have been equipped by city authorities with loudspeakers, blaring out sexual phrases like “ooooh, right there yeah” when the lid is opened to encourage passers-by to use the bins to get rid of their rubbish.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleads for Ukraine’s entry into the European Union, asking for his country not to remain in a “grey zone”, while EU leaders must decide by the end of June if they will grant official candidate status to Ukraine.