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Damascus (AFP) – Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa renews his pledge to protect minorities, after sectarian clashes left more than 700 people dead in the Druze-majority province of Sweida.

Ha Long (Vietnam) (AFP) – Rescuers continue to search for more than a dozen people missing after their boat capsized in a storm in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay. According to state media, 34 people have died and the boat was carrying 48 passengers and five crew members. Most of those on board were families visiting from the capital Hanoi with more than 20 children among the passengers, the VNExpress news site said.

Lima (AFP) – Images released by the Peruvian National Police show a special squad, including an officer disguised as the popular character “El Chapulin Colorado”, raiding a house in northern of Lima and arresting five suspected members of a gang involved in drug trafficking.

Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Surfers ride the wave on the Eisbach (“ice brook”) in Munich’s Englischer Garten park as it reopens with new guidelines after two months of closure, following the drowning of a 33-year-old woman during a night-time winter surf.

Maiquetía (Venezuela) (AFP) – Venezuelan migrants, freed from a notorious Salvadoran prison where they had been sent by the United States, arrive in Caracas. IMAGES

San Luis Talpa (El Salvador) (AFP) – A plane carrying ten US citizens to be repatriated arrives in El Salvador from Venezuela, as part of a highly coordinated prisoner swap between Caracas and Washington. IMAGES

Maiquetía (Venezuela) (AFP) – A second flight from El Salvador with Venezuelan repatriated migrants arrives to Maiquetia’s Airport, as part of an exchange for US detainees. The 252 prisoners were sent in March to El Salvador’s feared CECOT prison for gang members after being accused, with no evidence, by Donald Trump’s administration of belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal group. IMAGES

Caracas (AFP) – A flight from the US transporting migrants lands at a Caracas airport. IMAGES

San Luis Talpa (El Salvador) (AFP) – Venezuelan migrants jailed in El Salvador get on a repatriation flight at San Oscar Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa. “Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele writes on X. IMAGES

Sao Paulo (AFP) – As US President Donald Trump threatens to impose 50 percent tariffs on Latin America’s largest economy, protesters in Brazil’s economic capital of Sao Paulo rally in defense of jobs, local businesses, and national sovereignty. The July 9 announcement, in which Trump vows steep tariffs as retaliation for what he calls a “witch hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, has drawn criticism in Brazil. Demonstrators stage a symbolic “arrest” of both leaders by dressing up as Trump and Bolsonaro, complete with police uniforms. IMAGES

Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Thirty-one years after the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, sirens sound at 9:53 a.m. local time (12:53 GMT), the exact time the attack occurred, in memory of the 85 victims. President Javier Milei attends the event alongside his sister, Karina Milei, Secretary General of the Presidency. A truck laden with explosives drove into the AMIA, a Jewish community center, and detonated on July 18, 1994, in the deadliest attack in the South American country’s history. Besides the 85 dead, more than 300 people were injured. IMAGES

Brasília (AFP) – Images outside the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat in Brasilia, where former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is expected to be fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet, in compliance with restrictive measures ordered by the Supreme Federal Court. IMAGES