San Bartolome de Pinares (Spain) (AFP) – In the central Spanish village of San Bartolome de Pinares, horsemen ride through a bonfire for the the traditional religious festival of “Las Luminarias”. The festival is held in honour of San Antonio Abad, patron saint of animals, and the ritual of riding through fire is mant to purify and protect the animal.
Melbourne (AFP) – Exclusive AFP images show Novak Djokovic walking through Melbourne Airport as he is deported from Australia after a failed last-gasp bid to avoid deportation, ending a sensational legal battle over his coronavirus vaccination status and dashing his dream of a record 21st Grand Slam.
Belgrade (AFP) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says Australian authorities have ‘no principles’ in its deportation of world number one tennis player Novak Djokovic over his Covid-19 vaccination status.
Auckland (AFP) – “Boats and large boulders washed ashore,” in Tonga, says New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, after a huge volcano eruption at the islands. The Tongan capital Nuku’alofa “is covered in a thick film of volcanic dust,” Ardern adds.
Jabalia (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Members of the Palestinian civil defence evacuate residents from inundated houses after torrential rains hit the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza strip.
Doel (Belgium) (AFP) – Doel has a reputation as Belgium’s best-known ‘ghost town’. But its few inhabitants — today numbering just 21 — now see a glimmer of hope of their village bouncing back to life.
Los Angeles (AFP) – Dozens of freight cars are broken into every day on Los Angeles’s railways by thieves who take advantage of the trains’ stops to loot packages bought online, leaving thousands of gutted boxes and products that will never reach their destinations.
Lyon (AFP) – France’s well-liked former justice minister Christiane Taubira officially launches her campaign for the presidential election, joining other leftist candidates.
Stockholm (AFP) – Scientists based in Stockholm say they have developed a new tool to target and kill mosquitoes. By isolating a molecule in the malaria parasite that only attracts mosquitoes, and mixing it in beetroot juice alongside toxins that kill the insects, the resulting mixture attracts the mosquitoes to feed and then kills them.
Mondovì (Italy) (AFP) – Deprived of a festival due to the pandemic, balloon enthusiasts are gathering in Mondovi, the ballooning capital of northern Italy, to get their balloons off the ground in the Piedmont town.
