Aveiro (Portugal) (AFP) – A car drives through a wildfire in central Portugal, where over 2,000 firefighters were battling four major fires across the country on Thursday morning. Portugal has been on alert for wildfires for days, bringing back memories of the devastating fires in 2017, which claimed the lives of more than 100 people.
Port-au-Prince (AFP) – Haitians protest in a week when at least 89 people have been killed in gang clashes in Port-au-Prince and prices continue to soar while fuel shortages worsen, threatening the humanitarian aid that is so crucial to the people. “We are facing misery and hunger and our children can no longer go to school. The government is useless… It has to go,” a motorcycle cab driver says.
Singapore (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president submitted his resignation shortly after reaching Singapore, the parliamentary speaker’s office said, days after the head of state fled protests triggered by his country’s worst-ever economic crisis. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka, after protesters overran his palace on the weekend, heading first to the Maldives and then Singapore.
Manila (AFP) – Less than a year after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to protect free speech, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa is fighting to stay out of jail while her news website Rappler faces possible closure. But the spirited veteran reporter — a vocal critic of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war — refuses to be cowed into silence. “I have seen some of my rights go by, but we’re still here. We’re doing the stories, we’re fighting for press freedom,” she says in an interview with AFP from Rappler’s office in suburban Manila.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Ukraine is making efforts to “restore the supply of food to the world market”, and says that progress in talks on allowing Ukraine’s grain to leave its blocked Black Sea ports is necessary to solve the global food crisis.
As they struggle to contain two fires which have burnt over 2,800 hectares of forest in Gironde, in the southwest of France, firefighters worry there is worse to come. “The weather forecast tomorrow says there will be a heatwave, which will make it easier for the fire to spread”, says the department’s fire and rescue service’s director Marc Vermeulen.
Nakhon Nayok (Thailand) (AFP) – A baby elephant had to be rescued from a manhole in central Thailand. Its mother stayed with the infant as it was unable to climb out, and had to be sedated to allow the rescue to go ahead. Unfortunately the mother then partially tumbled into the hole and had to be pulled out herself.
Vlorë (Albania) (AFP) – Beneath the crystal-clear water of the Albanian Riviera, shells and grenades dating back to World War II rust on the seabed, polluting the water and threatening lives. Divers have to go fishing for these corroded explosives – a tricky and potentially dangerous task.
Sloviansk (Ukraine) (AFP) – Maksym Sologub extinguishes the fire at his grandmother’s house following an airstrike in the suburbs of Sloviansk – with a little help from his friends. “In the village where I live, people have become closer to each other. We stick together, help each other,” he says.
New Taipei City (Taiwan) (AFP) – Taiwan conducts its largest-ever disaster preparedness drill with mock scenarios from the Ukraine war and an invasion from mainland China. More than 1,800 personnel participate in the annual exercise outside of capital city Taipei.
