San Miguel Petapa (Guatemala) (AFP) – “I was making some eggs for my grandchildren” says Zoila Gonzalez, “when the whole kitchen came down”. Zoila’s is one of many houses destroyed by heavy rain and flooding as Guatemala experiences a deadly rainy season. Running until November, this current season has left 29 dead and caused more than 10,000 to be evacuated.
Paris (AFP) – “Science is becoming a matter of belief, opinion and even ideology” says Francois Gemenne, political scientist and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “I see the Republican candidates in the United States who don’t accept the scientific reality of climate change” he adds, speaking during an interview with AFP. Gemenne worries that if “science and fact become a matter of belief… we can’t move forward in a democracy.”
Hong Kong (AFP) – Thousands of spectators pack the streets of Hong Kong’s Tai Hang neighbourhood to witness the resurrection of the city’s fire dragon dance, following a three-year break caused by the pandemic.
Washington (AFP) – A US State Department report warns that China is spending billions of dollars globally to spread disinformation, threatening to cause a “sharp contraction” in freedom of speech around the world.
Rankus (Syria) (AFP) – Years of fighting, severe drought and a gruelling economic crisis have left Syria’s beekeepers struggling to stay afloat.
Buenos Aires (AFP) – Hundreds of protesters march through Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires in favour of the decriminalization of abortion and access to sexual education, on the Day for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean. IMAGES
Khnatsakh (Armenia) (AFP) – Residents in the village of Khnatsakh, on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, live in fear of an invasion by Azerbaijani troops. Should an attack occur, a network of caves in the surrounding hills is ready to act as a shelter, as they did in 2020. Until the 2020 war, the village was controlled by Armenia as a “buffer” around breakaway Karabakh. Since Azerbaijan’s victory in 2020, Yerevan pulled back and Khnatsakh found itself surrounded by military outposts.
Erez (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Gazan workers gather on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel as they wait to cross. Israel has reopened the crossing after two weeks of deadly clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers.
Once Brewed (United Kingdom) (AFP) – The Sycamore Gap tree, a Northumberland iconic landmark and one of the UK’s most photographed trees was “deliberately felled” overnight, according to Northumberland National Park authorities. Located next to the Roman-era Hadrian’s Wall in northeast England, its picturesque setting was even featured in films.
Puerto Real (Spain) (AFP) – Since the time of the Phoenicians and for centuries afterwards, traditional salt production was the source of the Cadiz Bay’s fame and wealth, before it gradually disappeared. Of the 160 sea salt producers that existed at the beginning of the 20th century, only four are still operating. Among them is Juan Carlos Sanchez de Lamadrid, who believes that salt of Cadiz can “return to its former glory.”
