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🌎  7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Ukraine-Russia war update: In an interview with the BBC, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated that “Russia is not ashamed of Ukraine war” and “did not invade Ukraine.” Meanwhile, EU leaders cleared the way for Ukraine’s immediate bid to join the European Union in Kyiv.

• Global stock markets crash: Stock markets continue to falter, heading towards their worst week since 2020. Japan’s Nikkei fell by more than 1.5% today while the European markets wobbled before steadying by midday. Central banks fearing recession have implemented tighter policies to tackle global inflation as the U.S. Federal Reserve announced yesterday its steepest interest rate rise in nearly three decades.

• Julian Assange’s extradition to the U.S. approved: UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an order to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S., where the whistleblower is wanted on 18 counts, including charges of espionage. Assange has two weeks to appeal.

• China launches Fujian, its third aircraft carrier: China officially unveiled in a launch ceremony its third aircraft carrier ‘Fujian’, a domestically-built vessel. This is a new step towards the modernisation of China’s military equipment in an effort to catch up with the U.S.

• U.S. actor Kevin Spacey granted bail in London sexual assault case: U.S. actor Kevin Spacey, formally charged with sexual assault in London, has been granted bail by a British court, until his plea appearance on July 14. He has been asked not to leave the country until then.

• Nepal to move Everest base camp: The Nepalese authorities announced plans to move one of the two Everest base camps, in the Khumbu glacier, to a lower-altitude site. The camp is becoming dangerous because of global warming and human activities, with some 1,500 people stopping off in high season.

• Warriors’ fourth NBA title in eight seasons: The Golden State Warriors won their fourth NBA title in eight years by beating the Boston Celtics 103-90 in game six.

🗞️  FRONT PAGE

Italian daily La Repubblica features “Europe arriving in Kiev,” a day after President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a historic joint visit — the first since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.

#️⃣  BY THE NUMBERS

17

A new study by Brunel University London finds that urine samples of men aged 18 to 30 contain up to 17 times the acceptable levels of endocrine disruptors, chemical pollutants believed to be a leading cause for the decline in sperm quantity and quality across Western countries in recent decades.

📰  STORY OF THE DAY

LGBTQ+ International: Marriage in Thailand, trans teacher suicide in Italy — And much more

In this first edition of Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International, we bring you up-to-speed on the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — a topic that you may follow closely at home but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Whether it's trans rights, same-sex marriage, gender identity and sexual orientation, find the latest news from all corners of the planet. You can receive LGBTQ+ International directly in your inbox every week: Subscribe here.

🏳️🌈⚖️ Lawmakers in the southeast Asian country of Thailand have taken the first steps toward legalizing same-sex marriage after approving two bills that would permit civil partnerships and same-sex marriages. A committee will consolidate the bills into two proposals in order to give MPs a choice between approving civil partnerships or same-sex marriage. Although it has yet to pass, the new legislation marks a significant milestone for the LGBTQ+ community in overcoming the many existing barriers of discrimination.

🥀 A transgender former physics teacher killed herself in her camper van near Venice, in northern Italian, during the weekend. Cloe Bianco had announced she was going to commit suicide in a June 10 post of her blog, where she had previously written about how, as a trans woman, she was not allowed a place in society. Italian daily La Stampa reports that Bianco had been suspended as a teacher in 2015 when she came out to her students and was demoted to a role as a secretary.

🇦🇺 🗞️ Australian actress Rebel Wilson revealed her relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma, her “Disney Princess,” last Friday with an Instagram post. But it has since been revealed that the move was to preempt an Australian newspaper that had planned to “out” her. Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery accused Wilson of revealing her relationship to “gazump” a story he planned to publish. Critics have argued that Horney’s approach was an “abuse of power” and a “journalist ego". The situation has triggered a reckoning for the Australian press and opened a discussion on journalism ethics worldwide.

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📣 VERBATIM

Russia is what it is. And we are not ashamed of showing who we are.

— During a rare interview with the BBC, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that the war in Ukraine was not an invasion but a “special military operation” against Nazis. When confronted with the fact that 360 Ukrainian villagers were held in catastrophic conditions in a basement for 28 days, resulting in 10 of them dying, Lavrov said it was “a great pity” but that "Russia is not squeaky clean. Russia is what it is. And we are not ashamed of showing who we are."