Western Australia to scrap 2021 Aboriginal heritage protection laws (www.reuters.com)
Bear escapes from crate in plane’s cargo hold at Dubai airport (www.theguardian.com)
Families in Turkey's quake cities battle dust and rubble six months on (www.bbc.com)
Hulya Yesiloglu gazes just beyond her temporary tent city towards a cemetery and says she often wonders if she would have been better off ending up there rather than surviving Turkey’s twin earthquakes....
UK hiring falls at fastest pace in over three years, wage growth slows (www.reuters.com)
A deadline has arrived for Niger's junta to reinstate the president. Residents brace for what's next (apnews.com)
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The deadline has arrived Sunday for Niger’s military junta to reinstate the country’s ousted president, but the West Africa regional bloc that has threatened a military intervention faces prominent appeals to pursue more peaceful means....
South Korea presses on with World Scout Jamboree as heat forces thousands to leave early (www.npr.org)
Paris 2024 test event cancelled over pollution (www.bbc.co.uk)
Protesters demand answers on third anniversary of Beirut port explosion | CNN (www.cnn.com)
Europe is becoming a US 'vassal', leading think tank warns (www.brusselstimes.com)
ECFR: with possible exception of France, whole of Europe “has almost completely renounced the idea of greater strategic autonomy.” “We are so vassalised that we can’t even admit to it. If we did, then people might figure it out and that would be terrible.”
Lithuania declares more than 1,000 Belarusians and Russians to be national security risks (abcnews.go.com)
Iran's oil shipments to China triple in 3 years despite sanctions (www.al-monitor.com)
In March, China brokered the agreement that resumed diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. China has been Iran’s top trading partner for 10 straight years.
Australia’s prime minister stands firm against the US on WikiLeaks founder’s prosecution (apnews.com)
Blinkered Blinken. USA Land of the free, my bollax
Winter heat wave in Chile offers 'window' to warmer world • FRANCE 24 English (youtube.com)
A winter heat wave bringing historically high temperatures to Chile is a “window” to an increasingly warm future, according to scientists....
Dozens injured after protesters storm Eritrean festival in Stockholm (www.theguardian.com)
Archived version: archive.ph/ALGwq...
US should drop pursuit of ‘American primacy’ in Southeast Asia, report urges (www.scmp.com)
The US should abandon the idea of “American primacy” if it hopes to counter China’s sway in the “multi-actor” Southeast Asia region, the Asia Society has urged in a new report....
Ukrainian volunteers develop inexpensive missiles to 'overwhelm' Russian air defences (www.france24.com)
The “trembita”, a traditional Ukrainian mountain horn, is also the name of a cruise missile developed by volunteers in Ukraine, who say it will be hundreds of times cheaper than Western equivalents....
Ukrainian Tank Losses Diminish As Polish Technicians Save More And More Damaged Leopard 2s (www.forbes.com)
If Kyiv’s allies can fix up every Western tank that analysts have counted as damaged, Leopard 2 losses might total … three.
Iraq’s electric grid hit by fire, explosions amid scorching heat (www.aljazeera.com)
A fire at a power station in southern Iraq and several explosions have affected the country’s ailing national electricity grid as temperatures rise....
Ukrainian Armed Forces announces successful strike on Chonhar Bridge (www.pravda.com.ua)
The defence forces of Ukraine successfully struck the Chonhar Bridge on Saturday morning.
‘We’re angry’: Israel tensions mount as army reservists threaten to refuse duty (www.theguardian.com)
Conflict over Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul judiciary is leading to new levels of civil disobedience – and potential security risks
Official tells AP that Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organized peace summit in August (apnews.com)
Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organized peace summit in early August seeking to find a way to start negotiations over Russia’s war on the country, an official said Saturday night. The kingdom and Kyiv did not immediately acknowledge the planned talks....
Why it's getting easier to be a single mum in China (www.bbc.com)
Until last year it was not really possible for most unmarried women to become mothers in China - practically speaking. But a social change is under way and it is driving shifts in policy too....
Japan remains in the grip of heat wave | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News (www3.nhk.or.jp)
The mercury in many areas of eastern and western Japan topped 38 degrees Celsius on Saturday....
Hungarian bookstores face fines over closed packaging for LGBTQ+ books (www.msn.com)
In a snug, wood-paneled Jewish bookstore in Hungary’s capital, Eva Redai carefully climbed the rungs of a ladder to arrange titles on the shelves. Among the books were volumes bound in plastic wrapping — titles containing LGBTQ+ content that the country’s right-wing government has deemed unsuitable for minors under 18....