Porto Velho (Brazil) (AFP) – Aerial images of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon which increased by 8% in July 2022 compared to the same month last year, according to official data released on August 1st. Satellites of the National Institute of Space Research (INPE) detected 5,373 fire outbreaks in the Amazon last month, compared to 4,977 in July 2021.
Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden announces that the United States has killed the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in an airstrike in Kabul.
Redding (United States) (AFP) – Timelapse footage shows the rapid spread of the McKinney Fire, California’s biggest wildfire so far this year, which has killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes.
Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) – Female DJs are increasingly the stars of concerts and private parties across Saudi Arabia, an unthinkable phenomenon just a few years ago in the traditionally ultraconservative kingdom. Lujain Albishi, who performs under the name biirdperson, started experimenting on DJ decks during the pandemic. Her big break came last year when she was invited to perform at MDLBeast Soundstorm, a festival in the capital Riyadh that drew more than 700,000 revellers for performances including a set by superstar French DJ David Guetta.
La Teste-de-Buch (France) (AFP) – Helicopter images show the forest and campsites of the Gironde coastline, in southwestern France, which was ravaged by flames as well as the creation of a deforestation zone by firefighters to prevent the fire from spreading to the Landes. The wildfires burned nearly 21,000 hectares of forest in the region.
Manila (AFP) – The Philippines has no plan to rejoin the International Criminal Court, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr says, with the tribunal’s prosecutor seeking to resume a probe into the ex-president’s deadly drug war. “The Philippines has no intention of rejoining the ICC,” Marcos Jr told reporters, after previously indicating he would not cooperate with the investigation.
Saint-Aignan (France) (AFP) – The Beauval Zoo weighs panda twins Yuan Dudu and Huan Lili two days before their first birthday.
Arwād (Syria) (AFP) – Khaled Bahlawan hammers nails in a wooden boat he is building by hand, toiling in the scorching sun everyday to preserve an ancient Syrian craft his family is the last to master. The Bahlawan are the only manufacturers of traditional wooden boats on the Syrian coast, a Phoenician craft dating back thousands of years, now threatened by low demand in the age of technology.
Paris (AFP) – The fifteenth edition of the “Traversée de Paris” (“Crossing of Paris”) brought together 800 vintage cars on Sunday to criss-cross the streets of the French capital. “We can see great cars, a Citroën, the Mustangs and others, it’s wonderful” says Jean-Pierre Podevin, a tourist from Nantes.
Beijing (AFP) – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kicked off an Asia tour that has been shrouded in secrecy following an escalation in tensions with China over Taiwan. With no word yet if Pelosi will make a stop on the island, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, warned that a possible visit to Taiwan would be a “gross interference” that could lead to “very serious” consequences.
