AFP UK

Banteay Meanchey (Cambodia) (AFP) – Rows of green roofs stretch into the distance at a Cambodian “waiting village”, that houses thousands of people displaced during last year’s deadly border clashes with Thailand. For those who lived in tents for months in the wake of the fighting, the huts are a marked improvement, and residents have set up coffee shops, salons and grocery stores in an effort to rebuild their lives. But most just want to return home, to land now held by Thai forces. “I still miss my home,” says one of those living in the new settlement, “because what I built for 20, 30 years is all there.” Bangkok says it has merely reclaimed Thai land that Cambodians had been occupying for years.

Bristol (United Kingdom) (AFP) – In a Bristol basement, animators painstakingly reposition small clay models, preparing the latest frame of Aardman Animations’ latest stop-motion movie, a Halloween offering titled “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.” The company — also behind favourites Wallace and Gromit — has perfected the technique over five decades, during which time it has won four Oscars. “Essentially, the shot that you do is a live performance,” says the film’s director Steve Cox, “so the animators are like our actors, really.” The upcoming “Beast of Mossy Bottom” is the third full-length film starring the mischievous, savvy Shaun the Sheep, and is due to be released in the UK on 18 September.

Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Argentina’s President Javier Milei says that “any new advance on the Falkland Islands will be considered a threat to our national security.” Britain and Argentina fought a war over the South Atlantic archipelago, which Argentines refer to as Las Malvinas, in 1982. The fate of the islands hit headlines again in recent days, with US President Donald Trump threatening to wade into the dispute and an British-Israeli oil project near the islands causing anger in Argentina.

Baringo (Kenya) (AFP) – Wildlife officers have ramped up their efforts to capture and relocate crocodiles in Kenya’s Lake Baringo, where rising waters have pushed the creatures closer to homes. The lake has expanded by 70 percent since 2010, according to an AFP analysis of satellite imagery. Scientists attribute this to heavy rainfall linked to climate change, with authorities pushed to act on the crocodile problem by the impending El Nino weather pattern that threatens to create even more extreme conditions.

Rasuwa (Nepal) (AFP) – Two hydropower workers have been pulled alive from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal, a rare ray of hope on the tenth day of rescue efforts after catastrophic Himalayan flooding.

Indonesia (AFP) – Conservationists in Central Kalimantan province, on the Indonesian island of Borneo, have rescued a female orangutan and her baby from thick smoke created by a nearby wildfire. Last month, authorities in Borneo rescued at least seven orangutans from fire-affected areas, with smog threatening wildlife and nature on the island, as well as neighbouring Sumatra. The pair, named Raya and Rayu, were checked and found to be uninjured, before bring transported to a clinic for further observation.

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – US filmmaker George Lucas unveils his new Los Angeles museum that will open its doors to the public on 22 September. The acclaimed creator of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ recalls that the project took him almost two decades. “I don’t like to do things that people think can be done. I’m fascinated by doing things that people say can’t be done,” he says.

Issyk-Kul Region (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP) – Gathering near Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, athletes from 90 counties take part in the World Nomad Games, with sporting and intellectual events rooted in nomadic tradition. Among the disciplines on offer — alongside eagle hunting, wrestling and tug-of-war — is kok-boru, Kyrgyzstan’s national sport, which sees two teams on horseback battling for the headless carcass of a goat, vying to place it in the opposition goal. “It was hard,” says US kok-boru team member Afton Caldwell, after playing the host nation, “They are an amazing team.”

Accra (AFP) – A giant fish, shoe or bottle of Fanta probably won’t appear on many undertakers’ coffin catalogues. But in Ghana, particularly in Ga communities, these are just a select few of the eclectic creations set to breathe life into any funeral. Handcrafted to order, often over weeks, ‘fantasy’ coffins offer a loud telling of a person’s story, celebrating their profession or a passion. “Let’s say a fish or a canoe gets to a funeral ground,” says coffin maker Lawrence Odoe Anang, “everybody has the idea that this coffin is for a fisherman.”

Nuwakot (Nepal) (AFP) – Rescue workers in Nepal’s Nuwakot district have installed a 250-metre zipline across the swollen Trishuli river, pulling survivors of last week’s devastating floods to safety. The glacial collapse on 26 August released a tsumani-like wave of water and debris into the valley, wiping away entire settlements and leaving many others cut off, with bridges and roads also destroyed in the disaster. “We don’t have any choice,” says Krris Lama, one of those waiting to climb aboard the precarious lifeline and bring medicine to his mother.

Madrid (AFP) – Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his government has received no “solid proof” that the migrant rush into the Ceuta enclave in July was orchestrated by Morocco, following a police report that highlighted multiple failings by Moroccan security forces. Addressing parliament in Madrid, Sanchez says there is no evidence that the North African country “planned or carried out the incident,” which saw more that 70,000 migrants enter Ceuta over two days.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Members of Ukraine’s Azov military corps have adapted Homer’s Odyssey for the stage, finding new resonance in the ancient story of longing, waiting and return in a country where millions have been displaced and tens of thousands remain missing or held captive. “We are not doing Homer, that’s very important. Our Odyssey is about our heroes” says Darya Legeyda, who plays Penelope.