June 21, 2022

*) Russian journalist auctions Nobel Peace Prize Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov has auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal for 103 million dollars to benefit children displaced by the conflict in Ukraine. Muratov donated all of the proceeds from the sale of the medal to UNICEF's Humanitarian Response for Ukrainian Children Displaced by War. The Nobel prize was snapped up by an as yet unidentified phone bidder according to Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale. *) Russian television broadcasting in southern Ukraine Television towers in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson have been reconfigured to broadcast Russian television as Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine enters its 118th day. The Russian armed forces said they had "reconfigured the last of the seven television towers to broadcast Russian television channels" for free. In Ukraine's southern Kherson region, the Russian army has already introduced the rouble and begun distributing Russian passports as well. *) Macron to host French opposition party leaders French President Emmanuel Macron will host political party chiefs in a bid to break the impasse created by the failure of his coalition to win a majority in parliamentary elections. In a rare encounter, Macron will host Marine Le Pen, his rival in presidential elections and leader of the far-right National Rally. He will also meet with right-wing, Socialist and Communist party chiefs, while the far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon is not scheduled to do so. The meetings are the first attempts by Macron to extract himself from a situation that risks wrecking his second-term reform plans. *) PKK supporters hold demonstration in Sweden A group of supporters of the PKK terror group has held a demonstration in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, calling on Sweden to impose an arms embargo on Türkiye. Reacting to the development, Mikail Yuksel, chairman of the Party of Different Colors in Sweden, said "the Swedish government says it considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, but implement