The world at a glance

Baghdad

Briton sentenced: A retired British geologist accused of trying to smuggle ancient artefacts out of Iraq has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Baghdad court. The family of Jim Fitton, 66, said they were “shattered” by the announcement. Fitton was arrested at Baghdad airport in March for carrying fragments of pottery collected at a site in southern Iraq during an organised archaeology tour. His lawyers said the items had no material or archaeological value, and that they would be appealing the verdict.

Owo, Nigeria

Church killings: At least 38 people – many of them children – were gunned down in a church in the town of Owo in Ondo state on Sunday, as they attended Whitsunday mass. The final death toll may be upwards of 50. The gunmen arrived at St Francis Catholic Church on motorcycles and opened fire for some 30 minutes, with early reports suggesting that explosives were also used. The killings are especially shocking because Ondo state is one of the country’s most peaceful areas, which has been spared the inter-ethnic violence that has scarred much of the country, and the Islamist insurgency in the northeast. The attack is thought to be part of an ongoing conflict between farmers who want to till the land and herders who want it for livestock.

Sitakunda, Bangladesh

Shipping depot fire: At least 43 people were killed and more than 200 injured when a fire tore through a container depot in southeastern Bangladesh last week. The blaze broke out on Saturday night at the BM Inland Container Depot, a DutchBangladeshi joint venture in Sitakunda, 25 miles from the port city of Chittagong. Fire service officials said they suspected it may have originated in a container of hydrogen peroxide and spread quickly to other containers, causing several huge explosions and engulfing the area in toxic fumes. It took firefighters three days to contain the blaze, in the course of which nine were killed and 40 injured. The disaster was the latest in a series of devastating industrial accidents in Bangladesh in recent years, all blamed by campaigners on lax safety regulations and their poor enforcement.

Bangkok

Pride returns: Thousands of people marched through the streets of Bangkok last week in Thailand’s first official Pride parade for 16 years. It follows the appointment of the city’s new governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, an independent politician vocal in his support for LGBT rights. For all its reputation as a welcoming country for LGBT people, Thailand lacks basic protections against prejudice in the workplace, healthcare institutions and schools. This week, the cabinet approved a bill on civil partnerships that will allow same-sex marriage, though it falls short of granting full marriage equality.

Pyongyang

Disarmament farce: North Korea, a highly militarised state that has been conducting long-range ballistic missile tests in violation of international law, has taken over the rotating presidency of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, the world’s foremost multilateral disarmament forum. The presidency is handed on every four weeks to whichever member comes next in alphabetical order, and it’s now the turn of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Even so, around 50 of the 65 member states, including the US and UK, voiced outrage, demanding that supreme leader Kim Jong Un abandon his nuclear weapons. “My country is still at war with the United States,” was the reply of North Korea’s ambassador to the UN. The US has warned that Pyongyang is now preparing for its first nuclear test in five years.

Shanghai

Lockdown lifted: Shanghai sprang back to life as the two-month lockdown imposed on the city’s 25 million residents was lifted last week. Daily Covid case numbers have fallen below 100 from a peak of 30,000 in April. Prolonged isolation had fuelled public anger, provoking rare protests in China’s largest city, as well as battering its economy and slowing international trade. Although tight pandemic curbs have also been lifted in Beijing, the government shows no signs of ditching its controversial zero-Covid policy.

Canberra

Losing the Queen?: In a move seen as a forerunner to a referendum on whether the Queen should remain as head of state, Australia’s new Labor prime minister has created the role of “assistant minister for the republic”. Anthony Albanese did not include any such pledge in his election campaign, but he is a long-time opponent of keeping the monarchy and has declared it “inevitable” that the country would become a republic. Australians previously voted on the question in the referendum of 1999, with 55% in favour of maintaining constitutional ties with Britain.