Buñol (Spain) (AFP) – Spain’s Tomatina festival returns, drawing tourists to the town of Buñol in Valencia. Thousands of revellers splatter each other with tomatoes, celebrating the return of the giant food fight after a two-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vilanova de Sau (Spain) (AFP) – A centuries-old church and a huge megalithic complex are among the underwater monuments that have resurfaced in Spain as a severe drought causes water levels in reservoirs to plunge.
Jaffarabad (Pakistan) (AFP) – Floodwaters fill streets and houses in the Pakistani city of Jaffarabad, after relentless monsoon rains leave much of the country submerged underwater.
Los Angeles (AFP) – ‘Sk8er Boi’ singer and award-winning songwriter Avril Lavigne is honored with the 2,731st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Canadian singer released her seventh studio album, ‘Love Sux,’ earlier this year.
Baker (United States) (AFP) – The tallest thermometer in the world, an iconic monument in the middle of the California desert, shows 108°F as a heatwave strikes the Western United States. Ruben Garcia, a tourist from Nevada, says his family is “trying to stay cool, relaxing, looking at water, drinking.”
Mingora (Pakistan) (AFP) – A rescuer in Pakistan carries a cat across a river to safety in Kayal Badshagai, Pakistan. Monsoon rains have submerged much of Pakistan, unleashing powerful floods that have washed away vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.
Taipei (AFP) – A Taiwanese microchip tycoon unveils plans to train more than three million “civilian warriors” to help defend the island against a potential Chinese invasion, donating NT$1 billion ($33m) of his own money. Robert Tsao, founder of major microchip maker United Microelectronics Corp, says Taiwan should show that it will “annihilate” China in the event of an invasion.
Porto Velho (Brazil) (AFP) – Fires rage in the Amazon rainforest, near Porto Velho, state of Rondonia, northern Brazil. Experts say the fires are caused mainly by illegal farmers, ranchers and speculators clearing land and torching the trees.
Beijing (AFP) – China slams a United Nations report into human rights abuses of its Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region as a “political tool” being used against Beijing. Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claims the report was “manufactured by the US and some other Western forces”. The report said torture allegations were credible and cited possible crimes against humanity.
Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine) (AFP) – IAEA chief Rafael Grossi vows that UN inspectors will continue their visit to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine despite an earlier strike on the town next to the facility. “We are not stopping… so wish us luck!” he tells reporters.
