Beheira (Egypt) (AFP) – With just a knife, brush and pencil, 30-year-old Egyptian sculpture artist Ibrahim Belal is a master of his tools, creating miniature sculptures of the most prominent Pharaonic and Egyptian landmarks at his home in the city of Rashid, in the Beheira Governorate, some 300 kilometres south of Cairo. He dreams of creating one of the first first museum’s of miniature sculptures in the Middle East.
Washington (AFP) – Speaking to UK media in Washington D.C., British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that France should, in Franglais, “prenez un grip” (“get a grip”) and “donnez-moi un break” (“give me a break”) regarding the AUKUS submarine deal which saw France ousted from a strategic contract with Australia.
New York (AFP) – Heiko Mass, Germany’s Foreign Minister calls the AUKUS submarine deal “irritating” as he addresses reporters on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York. France was infuriated last week when Australia cancelled a multi-billion-dollar contract for conventional submarines, saying it wanted to upgrade to US-made nuclear versions as it entered a new alliance with the United States and Britain.
Hong Kong (AFP) – Images of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered Tiananmen Museum, showing what is left at the site after a police raid earlier this month. Hong Kong Police raided the museum commemorating Beijing’s deadly crackdown on Tiananmen Square in 1989, a day after they arrested four members of the group that ran the venue.
Montreal (AFP) – Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have won the Canadian legislative elections, a half-victory, however, for the incumbent Prime Minister who failed to gain a majority.
Vlorë (Albania) (AFP) – Warming sea temperatures, pollution and dynamite fishing are causing Adriatic marine forests to disappear, a worrying trend which prompted Albanian experts to join a Mediterranean programme to restore them with ‘good algaes’.
Managua (AFP) – Thousands of Nicaraguans over the age of 30 queue to receive the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as the Central American country sees an increase in coronavirus cases.
Perm (Russia) (AFP) – A gunman opened fire on a university campus and killed six people before being detained in the Russian city of Perm, around 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) east of Moscow.
Ingall (Niger) (AFP) – Two laps of 5 km and a winner aged only 10 years old: the Ingall camel race in the north of Niger is the flagship event of the “Salt Cure” festival, a great celebration of Saharan pastoralism trapped in the jihadist conflict in the region.
Kabul (AFP) – Women municipal workers will not be returning to work in Kabul, unless they occupy “positions that men could not fill or that were not for men”, says Molavi Hamdullah Nomani, the Taliban member who holds the post of Mayor of Kabul. The other women must “stay at home” and will be paid. In Kabul municipality, 27% of employees are women.
New York (AFP) – “We need to restore confidence,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says as about 100 world leaders are expected to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week in a hybrid format as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Guterres says the world is “in a very dangerous situation” and adds that discrepancies in the rates of vaccination against Covid-19 between richer and poorer countries are “absolutely unacceptable.”
Ciudad Acuña (Mexico) (AFP) – Migrants, many of them Haitian, cross the Rio Grande from Mexico heading towards the US border city of Del Rio, as Texas State Troopers watch on. Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano had told reporters there were over 14,000 migrants “waiting to be detained.” Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano had told reporters there were over 14,000 migrants “waiting to be detained.”
