Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) – Residents of Quetta in southwestern Pakistan struggle to recover after a powerful bomb attack targeting a train damaged homes across the city just days before Eid al-Adha, the Islamic festival of sacrifice.
Audregnies (Belgium) (AFP) – Hundreds of distinctively coiffured participants gather in a park in southern Belgium for the annual European Mullet Championship to celebrate the once maligned hairstyle. Eventually the overall champions for 2026 were selected: the duo of Berenice, 44, and Samuel, 46 — better known to their fans as BesaMulet.
Mexico City (AFP) – Activists display images of some of Mexico’s “disappeared” people near its main football stadium, hoping to raise awareness as the country prepares to co-host the World Cup next month. About 130,000 people have been officially recorded as missing in Mexico since 2006, when the government launched its controversial anti-drug operation.
Mexico City (AFP) – Activists display images of some of Mexico’s “disappeared” people near its main football stadium, hoping to raise awareness as the country prepares to co-host the World Cup next month. About 130,000 people have been officially recorded as missing in Mexico since 2006, when the government launched its controversial anti-drug operation.
Audregnies (Belgium) (AFP) – Hundreds of distinctively coiffured participants gather in a park in southern Belgium for the annual European Mullet Championship to celebrate the once maligned hairstyle. Eventually the overall champions for 2026 were selected: the duo of Berenice, 44, and Samuel, 46 — better known to their fans as BesaMulet.
Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) – More than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage. Worshippers head to the Masjid al-Haram Great Mosque in Mecca to perform Tawaf Al Qudum, the arrival circumambulation around the Kaaba, marking the beginning of the pilgrimage rites. The start of the hajj comes as US President Donald Trump continues to send mixed signals over a possible agreement to extend an uneasy ceasefire with Iran, after conflict in the Middle East which included Iranian strikes on Saudi Arabia.
Hong Kong (AFP) – At the stroke of midnight on Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau island, athletes speed-climb their way to the top of a 14-metre-high tower covered in plastic steamed buns as part of the annual bun festival. The winner must scale the tower and collect the most buns, all within a three minute time frame.
Angeles City (Philippines) (AFP) – Rescuers race to free two workers pinned under a building that collapsed in the northern Philippines, killing a Malaysian man and leaving 20 people missing. Twenty-six people have been rescued so far after the nine-storey building collapsed in Angeles City, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital Manila. The search for survivors is ongoing as night falls, with firemen shining small lights into the rubble for signs of life.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Russia launched a nuclear-capable Oreshnik medium-range hypersonic missile during massive overnight strikes on Ukraine. “They are genuinely deranged,” he says in a statement, adding that the strikes included “90 missiles of various types, many — 36 — of them ballistic.”
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Russia pounds Kyiv with a massive missile and drone attack that kills four people, authorities say, after President Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation for strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning in a barrage the air force said involved 600 drones and 90 missiles.
Sussex (Sierra Leone) (AFP) – Along the coastline of Freetown, the gradual disappearance of mangroves directly threatens the communities that depend on oyster farming to make a living. The activity, deeply rooted in local culture and which has enabled generations of women to make a living, is now under threat as mangrove forests deteriorate under pressure from human expansion. “In the past, the mangroves were full of oysters. There was no need to go into the water to get any,” osyter farmer Millicent Turay tells AFP. “But today, when you look at the river, you can’t see them anymore.” N°A8UE4WE
New Delhi (AFP) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the “objectives” of the military campagin have been “achieved.” The top diplomat’s comments come hours after he said the US and Iran could strike a bargain to end the regional war as early as Sunday.
