To celebrate the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison held an open day event starting on Saturday. The national flag-raising ceremony was held on Saturday. 

After the flag-raising ceremony, the PLA HK Garrison prepared various performances such as the military band formation, combat performance, and helicopter show. During the two-day event, the Chinese PLA Hong Kong Garrison’s Ngong Shuen Chau Barracks, Shek Kong Barracks and San Wai Barracks will be open to the public, which allows Hong Kong residents to know more about the military life and the motherland.

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden to commemorate the 84th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi’s invasion of the Soviet Union.

Defence Minister also laid flowers at the Eternal Flame. The participants observed a minute of silence in memory of defenders of the Fatherland. The event continued with a guard of honour squad and a military band marching past the national memorial of military glory.

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Pakistan’s annual Shandur Polo Festival  held at 12,000–12,500 ft on the Shandur Pass in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the world’s highest polo tournament. Dubbed the “Roof of the World,” this three-day extravaganza brings together teams from Chitral and Gilgit‑Baltistan, engaging in bare‑knuckle, freestyle mountain polo a rugged form of the sport with few rules.  

The event kicked off on June 20, a date moved earlier to respect Muharram. The festival features more than just polo: expect paragliding, folk music & dancing, local handicrafts, food stalls, and a camping village at altitude. In essence, Shandur is more than a polo tournament; it’s a cultural phenomenon, a tourism driver, and a test of endurance played out on the planet’s highest polo field.

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The 15th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to South Sudan on Friday donated educational supplies, sports equipment and daily necessities to students and teachers of a local girls’ primary school in Wau, northwest of the country.

Located near the peacekeepers’ camp, the school has faced severe shortages of essential supplies due to prolonged instability in the region. These donations aim to improve the school’s teaching and recreational facilities, supporting both education and daily needs. The engineering contingent also treated the teachers and students with musical performances, including guitar shows.

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Pope Leo XIV said humanity is crying out for peace, and called for an end to wars. Each member of the international community has the moral responsibility to end the tragedy of war, before it becomes an irreparable chasm," the pontiff says during his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican. The pope also called on the world not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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Visitors to Japanese valley cool down with water-streamed noodles. People in Japan’s western prefecture of Okayama have beaten the sweltering heat by a unique way savoring cold noodles which flow down chutes in water. 

A restaurant in the city of Maniwa offers the summer culinary tradition called “nagashi-somen.” Customers use chopsticks to scoop up thin noodles from slides, dunk them into broth and slurp them up. The eatery, with a history of more than four decades, sits in the Yamanori Valley, a popular summer retreat. It began this year’s business on Saturday.  

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Dressed in feathered headgear and traditional swords, several thousand of Malaysia's ethnic Dayak people celebrate the end of the rice harvest season by parading through the streets of Kuching, the capital of Sarawak state on the island of Borneo.

The Gawai Dayak 2025 Parade in state capital Kuching is the only annual gathering by representatives of around 11 of Sarawak's main Dayak groups which participants said helps to keep alive a unique part of the Southeast Asian nation's culture.

Malaysia's Dayak people are mainly riverine and hill-dwelling, made up of dozens of ethnic groups, each with their own distinct dialect, customs, laws and practices. Rainforest-clad Borneo is the world's third-largest island and is shared between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

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Two Air Self-Defense Force aircraft have left for Djibouti to prepare for a possible evacuation of Japanese nationals in Israel and Iran. The C-2 transport planes left the Miho Air Base in Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, on Saturday. Defense Minister Nakatani Gen on Thursday ordered the dispatch of the aircraft to the African country to be on standby amid the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The Defense Ministry says it will work closely with the foreign and other relevant ministries with a strong sense of urgency to do everything it can to secure the safety of Japanese citizens abroad. The Japanese government has been helping its citizens and their families in Israel and Iran leave by land. The government had assisted about 90 people as of Friday.

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In a forested area near the Hetaoping Wild Training Base in Wolong, three mother panda and cub pairs are undergoing a stage of training designed to prepare the cubs for independent life in the wild.

The training, based on the “mother-led” model, allows panda moms to guide their cubs through hands-on behavioral learning, demonstrating how to search for food, respond to nature, and survive outside of captivity. To ensure the mothers get enough nutrition to nurse their cubs, panda keepers hike into the mountains every morning and afternoon to provide supplementary feeding.

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Maritime rescue charity Sea-Watch said it rescued 70 people stranded in a rubber dinghy in the central Mediterranean on 20 June, coinciding with World Refugee Day.

The charity said the youngest person onboard was only one year old. One of those rescued had to be medically evacuated to Malta while several others are suffering fuel burns, dehydration and exhaustion after being stranded at sea for more than 24 hours. Sea-Watch spokesperson said they demand an immediate European rescue program and safe passage for all.
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