Abou Dhabi (AFP) – Muslim worshippers gather at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi to pray on Laylat al-Qadr, or the “Night of Destiny”, one of the holiest nights during the fasting month of Ramadan.
Tijuana (Mexico) (AFP) – Images of a Toyota automobile manufacturing facility in Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with the United States. US President Donald Trump has announced steep tariffs on auto imports, in a move set to fuel tensions with trading partners ahead of further promised levies next week. IMAGES
Tecoluca (Salvador) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s homeland security chief visits El Salvador’s Terrorist Confinement Center [CECOT], a mega-prison housing Venezuelans expelled by his administration. El Salvador’s Minister of Justice and Public Security Gustavo Villatoro shows Noem the facility. IMAGES
Sorocaba (AFP) – Yoko, the chimpanzee, arrives at a sanctuary in Sorocaba, Brazil, to socialize with other chimpanzees. Yoko travelled to Brazil on March 23 from Colombia in the company of his veterinarian, Javier Guerrero. Kidnapped from his family as an infant, then raised by a drug lord before ending up in a Colombian zoo, Yoko the chimpanzee has lived the last two years of his life alone.
Bucha (AFP) – Orthodox priest Andriy Galavin hopes justice will be served three years after hundreds of people were shot during Russia’s occupation of Bucha, where his church served as a temporary burial ground. But his faith in justice is being tested by US President Donald Trump’s courting of the Kremlin in the hopes of a quick end to the war, leaving some Ukrainians fearful their concerns and demands — like seeing Russian officials stand trial — will be sidelined.
Jerusalem (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Israel would intensify its pressure on Hamas if the Palestinian militant group refused to release hostages still held in Gaza. “The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert,” says Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
(AFP) – Agence France-Presse calls for the “rapid release” of its photojournalist Yasin Akgul, who was arrested at his home before dawn on March 24 and remanded in custody on March 25 after covering protests against the detention of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on March 19. Vast crowds have since hit the streets daily, defying protest bans in Istanbul and other big cities.
Dhaka (AFP) – The Dharmarajika Buddhist Monastery, a beacon of interfaith harmony in a time of religious tensions, opens its doors to the needy during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. It provides free meals for hundreds of the capital’s poorest residents to break their fast each evening. Its work resonates in an environment of political upheaval marked by the ouster of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina last summer, which left religious minorities fearful of persecution in the Muslim-majority nation.
Chile (AFP) – Chilean fishermen clash with the police during a protest in Valparaiso against a proposed fishing law that aims to redistribute quotas between artisanal and industrial fishers. IMAGES
Seoul (AFP) – South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, says wildfires raging in the country’s southeast have become the worst in the nation’s history. The wildfire outbreaks have killed at least 24 people, according to officials.
Kabul (AFP) – Until Taliban authorities took power in Afghanistan, women like Fatima were able to freely sell their hair to be made into wigs, bringing in crucial cash. Last year Taliban authorities imposed vice and virtue laws regulating everyday life for men and women, including banning sales of “any part of the human body” including hair.
Denver (AFP) – On a wall of presidential portraits in the Colorado state capitol, an empty space sits next to the image of former president Barack Obama. The eastern US state has removed Donald Trump’s portrait after Trump deemed it “deliberately distorted” on his Truth Social platform.
