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The 74th Cannes International Film Festival opened yesterday (06 July) after being cancelled last year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The festival, held in Cannes, France, previews films of all genres, including documentation from all over the world.  This year the festival had a remarkable Arab presence despite the pandemic both at the level of films participating in the official competition or at the level of competition juries.

Far right protestors tore down the European flag from in front of the Georgian parliament and burnt it on Tuesday night (6 July) amid ongoing tensions in Tbilisi as vigilantes attempted to violently disrupt Pride Week activities.

Oil prices jumped to a new high after a disagreement between Saudi Arabia and the UAE about oil production quotas. West Texas Intermediate crude advanced to $76.98 a barrel, the highest since November 2014, as the OPEC+ talks are postponed indefinitely. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global benchmark, maintained its three-year high of about $77 a barrel. 

Dozens of journalists attacked and injured; a peaceful civil march cancelled under government pressure; offices of a civil society organisation ransacked; outbursts of intolerance and homophobia; and a government that at best sat and watched as things unfolded – at worst itself abetted the outrage. This was Tbilisi on 5 July 2021, a day that will be remembered as a day of shame for Georgia.

On Saturday (3 July), the Yemeni army and allied tribesmen launched a new offensive in Al-Bayda governorate to recapture the area from the Houthis. Several state and local media shows footage of armed vehicles rolling into the governorate for the first time since the war started. Reports suggest the Yemeni government succeeded in capturing some villages. 

The European Union has indicated it is re-enforcing its engagement with the South Caucasus, including on the thorny issues of conflict resolution. Dennis Sammut argues in this op-ed that this is timely and necessary. The region needs more EU, less Russia and prospects for a better quality of life for all its people. For this to happen the EU needs to be more strategic in its approach to the region and there is no longer place for hesitation and ambiguity, he argues.