🌏 Pope Francis Apologizes To Indigenous People In Canada, Ukraine's First Lady Shares Powerful Message On Vogue And More

Hello and welcome to the Almost newsletter, a weekly email to help you stay updated and make sense of important stories happening around the world including:

• 🌏 This Week’s Top Stories
• 👩 Women To Know
• 🙌 Good News For Your Week

During a highly awaited trip to Canada, Pope Francis has issued an apology to the Indigenous people of Canada for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools that assimilated Indigenous children.

The schools, established in the 1890s under the leadership of the Roman Catholic church, were part of a Canada-wide network of residential schools set up to forcibly separate indigenous children from their families and assimilate them, according to Reuters.

A six year investigation into the system in 2015 found that it constituted “cultural genocide”.

The investigation revealed the physical abuse, rape, malnutrition and other atrocities experienced by at least 150,000 children who attended the schools between the 1840s and the 1990s.

The report also found that 4,100 children died while attending residential schools.

In recent years, hundreds of mass, unmarked graves containing the remains of Indigenous children have been discovered at the sites of various former residential schools across the country.

The Canadian government formally apologized for the system in 2008.

The Pope had apologized in April after meeting with Canadian Indigenous leaders and survivors who had traveled to the Vatican to press for an apology.

Speaking at the location of two former schools in Alberta on Monday July 25, Francis asked for forgiveness for the “evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples” and called for a “serious investigation”.

“Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples,” he said.

Survivors and Indigenous leaders have said that an apology is just the first step and that more action is needed.

Also Happening Around The World

🇲🇲 Myanmar’s military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021, has executed four pro-democracy activists accused of “carrying out terror acts” in the country’s first executions in more than 30 years.

🇬🇧 A debate between the candidates for the new UK prime minister on Tuesday July 26 was abruptly canceled when the presenter suddenly fainted on air.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is planning on building a sustainable 170 kilometer-long skyscraper mirror city in the middle of the desert and it looks unreal.

🇪🇸 Colombian singer Shakira is facing up to eight years in prison over alleged tax fraud in Spain.

🇨🇳 Roads and bridges in China are splitting due to the extreme heatwave sweeping the country.

🇮🇱 Massive swarms of jellyfish are appearing on Israel’s beaches due to rising sea temperatures from global warming.

Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, has graced the cover of Vogue, speaking about her marriage, being the first lady and the toll the war has taken on her country.

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Zelenska is seen sitting on the steps outside the Ukrainian parliament in the capital Kyiv, staring directly into the camera.

Sandbags line the columns behind her, intended to protect the building from the destruction of Russia’s invasion.

“These have been the most horrible months of my life, and the lives of every Ukrainian,” the 44-year-old former comedy writer said in the interview. “Frankly I don’t think anyone is aware of how we have managed emotionally.”

Zelenska shared the photos from the shoot on her Instagram, writing, “To be on the Vogue cover is a great honor and dream of many successful and prominent people of the world. The only thing I wish for all of them is that it is not because of war in their countries.”

“And now I would like you to see every Ukrainian woman here, in my place. Who fights, volunteers, settles in a refugee camp, does her job under the sound of a siren, holds on under the occupation,” she wrote. “She has the right and deserves to be on the covers of the whole world. Each of you, fellow Ukrainian women, is now the face and cover of our country.”

In the interview, Zelenska said that in spite of everything, she has been inspired by fellow Ukrainians.

“We’re looking forward to victory. We have no doubt we will prevail. And this is what keeps us going,” she said.

More Women You Should Know About

🇨🇳 A court in China has ruled against a single woman who sued for the right to freeze her eggs because she is unmarried.

🇯🇵 Satoko Kishimoto, a Japanese woman living in Belgium, has been elected the first woman mayor of a district in Tokyo.

A giant walrus named Freya is touring southern Norway, enjoying the sun and sinking boats.

The story of her adventures have not only spread across Norway but around the world.

Photos of Freya, who weighs 700 kilograms, lounging around unbothered on boats and by the harbor have gone viral, with one tweet gaining more than 14,000 retweets.

Per Ole Halvorsen, a 59-year-old retired firefighter and semi-professional photographer from the town of Kragerø, had the opportunity to photograph Freya during her trip to nearby Stabbestad.

Halvorsen told Almost that he had heard Freya had been spotted near his town around June 12 but stumbled upon her by accident.

“She was often resting or sleeping on docks and floating harbor installations and onboard small boats in the harbors. She also destroyed some boats,” Halvorsen said.

“Let’s hope the boat owners had good insurance,” he added.

Freya gained a lot of attention during her stay in Stabbestad, Halvorsen said, with people flocking to see and take photos with her.

“It’s exciting to see a walrus because it’s unusual for us,” he said. “Walruses are not a common sight around here at all.”

Freya, who is a bit of a social media icon, was first spotted laying on a submarine in the port of Den Helder, Netherlands, in October 2021.

Since then, she has been traveled to various other locations around Europe including Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom.

More Good News For Your Week

🇳🇿 An artwork involving a McDonald’s pickle thrown on the ceiling of an art gallery in New Zealand is currently on sale for NZ$10,000 (US$6,000).

Thanks so much for opening this email. If you think a friend would like this, you can forward it to them! You can also follow Almost on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. We also have a Chinese version.

Let us know your thoughts about this week’s news in the comments or by replying directly to this email ✨