Kfar Aza (AFP) – Israel marks the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attack, as Hamas and Israeli negotiators hold indirect talks to end the two-year war in Gaza under a US-proposed peace plan.
Kolkhozobod (AFP) – Despite Tajikistan’s abundant water reserves, access to clean drinking water remains a privilege in this mountainous Central Asian country. The 25,000 mountain glaciers in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan mean the two countries control around two-thirds of the region’s water reserves, suggesting water should be abundant. But outdated infrastructure and funding difficulties complicate the supply of plentiful and reliable drinking water.
Nuseirat (AFP) – Gazans share their views as Israel marks the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attack, and Hamas and Israeli negotiators hold indirect talks aimed at ending the war in Gaza under a US-proposed peace plan. “When the world marks October 7, it should rather remember the motive behind the October 7 [attack]. 77 years of occupation over the Palestinian people, with injustice, oppression, prisons, killing, displacement, and destruction,” says one displaced Palestinian man.
Doha (AFP) – Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari says that Israel should have ceased operations in Gaza already, in line with US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Pjöngjang (AFP) – Figure skaters from Russia, China, and North Korea perform in the Pyongyang International Figure Skating Festival, held in North Korea’s capital, to celebrate the 80th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Caracas (AFP) – President Nicolas Maduro says Venezuela foiled a false flag operation by what he called local terrorists to plant explosives at the US embassy in Caracas and exacerbate a dispute between the two countries over drug trafficking. The incident comes as thousands take to the streets of the capital to call for peace.
Hongkong (AFP) – Waving a fire dragon adorned with burning incense sticks, volunteers pump up the festival atmosphere in Hong Kong ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the city’s Tai Hang neighbourhood. The ritual is said to have originated in the 1800s to ward off the plague.
Osaka (AFP) – Shimon Sakaguchi, the Japanese immunologist who won this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine, says he hopes the award will help further advance research and patient care. Sakaguchi has been jointly awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine alongside American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell for their research into how the immune system is kept in check by identifying its “security guards”, according to the Nobel jury.
Copiapó (AFP) – The Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, is covered in colorful flowers. The phenomenon, known as the ‘flowering desert,’ occurs in certain years when rainfall and temperatures coincide, awakening the desert’s dormant seeds.
Lagos (AFP) – Nigeria’s bustling metropolis of Lagos hosts a race in the UIM E1 World Championship, an all-electric powerboat racing series — the first time that such an event is held in Africa. The E1 Lagos Grand Prix — the penultimate round of the season — was held on Lagos’s lagoon, ahead of the season finale in Miami later this year. Africa is the fourth continent to host an E1 race during the series’ second season, as the championship has expanded from five to seven races.
Sidoarjo (AFP) – The death toll from an Indonesian school collapse has risen to 63, according to officials, as workers pull more remains from the rubble of the building that collapsed last week. Part of the multi-storey building on Indonesia’s Java island collapsed as more than 150 students gathered for afternoon prayers. Around half a dozen youngsters are still unaccounted for. The collapse was Indonesia’s deadliest disaster so far this year, says Budi Irawan, the deputy head of the national disaster agency (BNPB).
