Karbala (Iraq) (AFP) – Fishermen in central Iraq have seen the quantity and variety of fish in Karbala’s Razzaza Lake dwindle in recent years. Since Saddam Hussein’s embankment system draining southern marshes, severe droughts and shortages of water have hit the once plentiful lake.
Baños (Ecuador) (AFP) – A muddy patch of land is the only thing thing left of where Danilo Paredes’s house once stood. A landslide devastated his neighborhood in Banos, in a tourist region of southern Ecuador, leaving at least seven people dead, including six members of his family.
(AFP) – Two beluga whales from an aquarium in Kharkiv, under frequent Russian shelling, are transferred to a centre in Spain’s Valencia. 15-year-old male Plombir and 14-year-old Miranda were driven from Kharkiv to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, before being loaded onto a plane in a multi-day, high-risk operation.
San Bernardo (Chile) (AFP) – A railway collision in San Bernardo has killed two people and injured several others. The accident between a freight train and a test train occured just south of Chile’s capital Santiago.
Kallakurichi (India) (AFP) – A batch of toxic illegal alcohol has killed at least 34 people in India, with more than 100 others rushed to hospital, according to state officials. Hundreds die every year in the country from cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries.
Abha (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) – Saudi taekwondo standout Donia Abu Taleb has become the first Saudi woman to qualify for the Olympics and is dreaming of bringing home the Gulf kingdom’s first gold medal when she competes in Paris. “This is a challenge for me, as the first Saudi woman to qualify for the Olympics… I’ve reached the point where I must achieve something,” she says.
Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Torrential rains in Bangladesh trigger landslides, burying alive at least nine people – eight of them Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar.
Grand Island (United States) (AFP) – Ukrainians, Afghans, and Mexicans are moving to Nebraska, a conservative bastion in the central United States — and despite Republicans’ heated political rhetoric, local businesses are welcoming the new arrivals with open arms. For President Joe Biden, the issue of immigration has become a political balancing act ahead of the November presidential election.
At sea (AFP) – The Philippine military says the Chinese coast guard rammed and boarded Filipino navy boats in a violent confrontation in the South China Sea on June 17 in which a Filipino sailor lost a thumb. China has defended its actions, with its foreign ministry saying that “no direct measures” were taken against Filipino personnel.
Nuseirat (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Walking up and down the shore near central Gaza’s crowded Nuseirat camp, 17-year-old Sojood Al-Harazin is selling tea and coffee to support her family. Originally from Gaza City, she was forced south by the conflict ravaging the territory. The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, according to an AFP tally. The militants also seized 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,300 people in Gaza, says the Hamas-run health ministry.
