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Santiago (AFP) – Chilean police arrest Alfredo Henriquez, known as “Gordo Alex,” an alleged member of the Tren de Aragua gang, accused of being involved in the kidnapping and murder of former Venezuelan dissident military officer Ronald Ojeda. Ojeda, 32, who was in Chile as a political refugee, was kidnapped in February 2024 by individuals posing as Chilean police officers, who took him from his apartment. Nine days later, his body was found inside a suitcase buried in a slum in Santiago. IMAGES

Kinshasa (AFP) – The news that one of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national dishes — liboke — is to be included in a top French dictionary has garnered mix reactions. Some are delighted by the potential interest in the speciality, banana-leaf parcels containing grilled fish, vegetables and spices. Others, however, resent what they see as a reductive definition that misses the full meaning of a work tied so closely to national identity. N°69AK9CQ

Anchorage (AFP) – Climbing onto the roof of her home with a huge DIY Ukrainian flag, Anchorage resident Lindsey Meyn is making her feelings plain ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “We don’t think that an international war criminal should be meeting in the United States on a military base in Alaska,” she says ahead of the meeting, in which the two leaders are expected to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, but without the direct involvement of Kyiv.

Tawila (Sudan) (AFP) – North Darfur is experiencing its worst cholera outbreak in years, according to medical NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has reported at least 40 deaths from the disease in the last week. Hundreds of thousands in the Sudanese region live in precarious conditions in displacement camps due to more than two years of fighting between the country’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Lampedusa (Italy) (AFP) – 58 out of 60 migrants brought to shore after their boats sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa are in “good general health,” says a spokesperson for Italy’s Red Cross, with the other two sent for treatment in Sicily. 27 people have been confirmed dead after the two boats sank, with rescue vessels resuming their desperate search for more survivors.

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The European Union says it is working “non-stop” to help countries battling the wildfires that are raging in parts of the continent. The EU’s civil protection mechanism — which provides coordinated assistance between the bloc’s members — has been “activated 16 times during the current season,” says EU spokesperson Eva Hrncirova, a figure that equals that reached across the whole season last year.

Uruma (Japan) (AFP) – As people globally commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, dozens of people living on the Japanese island of Okinawa renew their calls for American troops stationed there to leave. The US has around 54,000 military personnel in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, and a string of incidents over the years, including sexual assault cases, have angered residents.

La Paz (AFP) – Bolivia’s presidential candidate Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga holds his final campaign rally in La Paz, ahead of the August 17 election. Right-wing ex-president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga and center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina, both of whom are on their fourth attempts at the presidency, are neck-and-neck in opinion polls, trailed by six other hopefuls. IMAGES

El Alto (Bolivie) (AFP) – Bolivia’s presidential candidate Samuel Doria Medina holds his final campaign rally in El Alto, ahead of the August 17 election. Right-wing ex-president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga and center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina, both of whom are on their fourth attempts at the presidency, are neck-and-neck in opinion polls, trailed by six other hopefuls. IMAGES

Bogotá (AFP) – Miguel Uribe’s family, friends and collages accompany his coffin to the cemetery Gardens of the Apogee [Jardines del Apogeo in Spanish] in Bogota, where the burial takes place. The Colombian presidential hopeful died on August 11, two months after being shot in the head at a campaign event. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital Bogota by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. IMAGES

Kabul (AFP) – The day after the Taliban stormed into the Afghan capital in August 2021, Afghans desperate to evacuate clung to the fuselage of a departing American plane at Kabul airport — only to fall to their deaths. Four years later, their families still relive those desperate acts and endure wounds they say will never heal.

Bogotá (AFP) – Members of the honor guard transfer the coffin of Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe to the Primada Cathedral, on Plaza Bolivar, for a mass before his burial. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital Bogota by a suspected 15-year-old hitman.   Colombian and foreign politicians, friends and Miguel Uribe’s family paid their respects to Uribe on the final day of his wake in Congress. IMAGES