AFP Video

Belém (Brazil) (AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urges wealthy nations to fulfill their promises to fund developing countries’ fight against climate change, at a summit on saving the world’s tropical forests. “It’s not that Brazil needs money. It’s not that Colombia or Venezuela need money. Mother Nature needs money, it needs financing, because industrial development has destroyed it over the past 200 years,” Lula says at a news conference in Belem.

At sea (AFP) – Images published by the Hellenic Coast Guard on August 8 show the rescue of two different groups of migrants who were on drifting boats near the east coast of Greece.

Maui County (United States) (AFP) – A clip released by the County of Maui shows smoke from the wildfires in Hawaii engulfing a road. The fires whipped by hurricane winds triggered evacuations in parts of Hawaii on Wednesday with the Coast Guard rescuing some residents forced into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames, according to officials.

Jakarta (AFP) – Hundreds of workers from various labour unions in Jakarta and surrounding areas hold a demonstration to demand better wages and the improvement of social welfare, among other requests.

Cape Canaveral (AFP) – NASA’s Artemis II crew see the Orion spacecraft, which is set to fly them around the Moon, for the first time. “When we first stuck our heads in and you look around in there, you realize this can only be one thing: a spaceship” says Christina Hammock Koch, one of those taking part in the mission. Artemis II is scheduled to take place in late 2024, with the four astronauts completing a trip around the Moon ahead of Artemis III which, in 2025, aims to put humans on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

Lahaina (United States) (AFP) – A thick cloud of smoke rises as a wildfire breaks out in the town of Lahaina, on the west of Hawaii’s Maui Island. Fires in Hawaii have been whipped up by hurricane winds and have forced parts of the island state to be evacuated.

Belém (Brazil) (AFP) – Speaking at a meeting of eight South American countries in Belem, Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, says “there has been an agreement…an understanding on the issue of deforestation” after the nations in attendance vowed to prevent the Amazon rainforest reaching a point of no return. Despite the pledge, the summit of Amazonian countries fell short of environmentalists’ and Indigenous groups’ demands.

Romanel-sur-Lausanne (Switzerland) (AFP) – Wearing belted breeches and tussling in front of the crowd, women are increasingly taking part in Swiss wrestling, or schwingen. “It’s a man’s world, there’s no doubt about it” says Bob Blanchette, a judge at a schwingen festival in Romanel-sur-Lausanne, “but there’s no reason that women can’t participate in it”. Across the Alpine country, around 6,000 men are registered at formal schwingen clubs, compared with just 200 women and girls. Despite this disparity, Franziska Ruch, herself a wrestler, believes “it’s growing.”

Flying through thick plumes of smoke, firefighting planes drop water on a blaze in southern Portugal. More than 1,000 firefighters are working in the area, not far from the Algarve, a popular tourist destination. Southern Portugal has been sweltering in a heatwave for days, with temperatures peaking above 46 degrees Celsius earlier in the week.

The World Meteorological Organization’s Director of Climate Services warns that 2024 is likely to “be one of the hottest years”. Chris Hewitt’s comments come as July was revealed as the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, marked by intense heatwaves and wildfires around the world. “We don’t see any respite in the current warm conditions” Hewitt says.