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Encroaching desert and climate change threaten medieval Mauritanian city

Oualata (Mauritanie) (AFP) – More than a thousand kilometres from the Mauritanian capital, the medieval town of Oualata has been devastated by the encroaching desert and recent heavy rains attributed to climate change. Many have left the crumbling town, leaving those who remain to try and preserve its historic buildings as well as its store of valuable manuscripts.

©AFP

Zelensky says Russia only holding talks to delay US sanctions

Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is only holding talks on ending the war to try to convince US President Donald Trump to delay fresh sanctions over its invasion. “They did it to demonstrate to the United States of America that they are constructive,” Zelensky tells reporters in Kyiv after both countries held direct talks in Turkey.

©AFP

Children mourn their mother killed as she went to collect aid in Gaza

Khan Yunis (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Children bid farewell to their mother Reem Al-Akhras after she was killed in the Al-Alam area of Rafah near an aid centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), where the Red Cross says at least 27 people were killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military says it is investigating the incident.

©AFP

Beauty treatments offer escape from war near Ukraine’s frontline

Kramatorsk (Ukraine) (AFP) – Even with Russian bombs raining down on her town in eastern Ukraine, nothing will stop Olena Sologub from taking care of her appearance. For Ukrainians like her living near the front, beauty offers an escape that prevents the war from engulfing their lives. “Let me be beautiful, even if they find me under the rubble,” says the 50-year-old crane operator in Kramatorsk, which lies less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from advancing Russian troops.

©AFP

Colombia pays farmers to uproot coca crops in fight against cocaine

Argelia (Colombia) (AFP) – With cocaine production at an all-time high, Colombia’s government is trying a new approach to its narcotics problem: paying farmers to uproot crops of coca, the drug’s main ingredient. Among the beneficiaries are Alirio Caicedo and his son Nicolas, who a decade ago planted an expanse of coca as they staked their future on the continued patronage of criminal gangs. Today, they are uprooting the crops and hoping for the best.

©AFP

Salvadorans carry pineapples and coconuts to celebrate abundant harvest

Santa María Ostuma (AFP) – Men carry bundles of fruit on poles on their shoulders during the Santa Cruz festivities in Santa Maria Ostuma, 65 km east of San Salvador, to celebrate the year’s abundant harvest. The celebration dates back almost a century and takes place every 31 May.

©AFP

Nationalist Nawrocki wins Polish presidential election

Warschau (AFP) – Nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election, according to official results, in a major blow for the country’s pro-EU government. The 42-year-old, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, scored 50.9 percent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff. His 53-year-old rival Rafal Trzaskowski, Warsaw’s pro-EU mayor and an ally of the country’s centrist government, won 49.1 percent in the highly polarised NATO and EU nation. The results followed a tense evening, as both candidates had claimed victory when an exit poll indicated they were neck and neck.

©AFP

Divided Poles cast their votes in a tight presidential election

Halinów (Poland) (AFP) – Voters in Poland head to the polls for the second round of a tight presidential election, with major stakes for the country’s role in the EU and its stance on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Rafal Trzaskowski, 53, the pro-EU mayor of Warsaw and ally of the centrist government, is up against Karol Nawrocki, 42, a nationalist historian backed by the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) of outgoing President Andrzej Duda.

©AFP

Muslim pilgrims in Mecca perform Tawaf ritual ahead of hajj

Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) – Thousands of Muslim pilgrims perform Tawaf, the ritual of circling the Kaaba at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, ahead of this year’s hajj pilgrimage. Over a million people are expected to join the pilgrimage, despite the intense summer heat, which has proven deadly in the past.

©AFP

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