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Salima (AFP) – Ahamadi Assani is one of nearly 15,000 Malawians who have returned home from South Africa, after fleeing xenophobic violence and anti-immigrant hostility. “Even if the situation normalises, there is no way I can go back there, because we used to run away from the police, and some migrants ended up being hit by cars. I would rather die here in poverty than going back to South Africa,” he says.

Kyauktaw (Myanmar) (AFP) – More than 100,000 people have been killed across all sides in Myanmar since a military coup five years ago triggered civil war, a conflict monitor said Wednesday. Family members of those killed in the conflict spoke to AFP last month. One of them, speaking under a pseudonym, says: “Only the elderly and the very young children are left. The generation in between has been cut down.”

New Taipei City (Taiwan) (AFP) – Unfazed by the crashing waves, 72-year-old Wu Feng-chiao yanks fistfuls of brownish-purple seaweed she will process into jelly, one of the last women in Taiwan keeping the marine harvest tradition alive.

Monaco (AFP) – French and Monaco police are searching for the suspect behind a parcel bomb that wounded a businessman of Ukrainian origin and two others in Monaco, after the unprecedented attack rocked the super-safe principality. Dozens of officers have been deployed in Monaco, while two helicopters and some 30 gendarmes scour neighbouring France for a man who left a package in a residential building near the border, according to the police and gendarmerie.

Tehran (AFP) – Iran will respond to any US violation of the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in the Middle East, its foreign ministry spokesperson says, as delegations from both sides are expected in Qatar for indirect talks on the deal.

Mindelo (Cape Verde) (AFP) – With his striking looks, dressed in a pink top and short shorts, makeup artist Leonardo is wholly absorbed in perfecting a singer’s makeup amid the bustle of a music video shoot — free to be himself and live openly in his hometown of Mindelo in Cape Verde. In an Africa marked by increasingly repressive anti-LGBTQ laws, the island nation has become a haven of tolerance, but it hasn’t been without a struggle. “Now we’re living in almost a paradise here, but it was the result of a lot of hard work,” says Walter Pires. “Society is opening up, but there’s still a lot more to go.”

Asuncion (Paraguay) (AFP) – Paraguay sensationally send four-time champions Germany crashing out of the World Cup on Monday as Brazil and Morocco clinch dramatic victories to reach the last 16. Paraguay’s seismic upset was the highlight of another day of enthralling action as the knockout rounds got into full swing, with Brazil coming from behind to score an injury-time winner in a 2-1 defeat of Japan before Morocco edged past the Netherlands 3-2 on penalties in a classic duel in Monterrey.

Doha (AFP) – Mediator Qatar says that no high-level meetings or direct talks between the United States and Iran are planned in Doha after Washington said it had sent a top delegation for negotiations, adding that US envoys were meeting with Qatari mediators. Iran said a team would head to Doha this week but contradicted US President Donald Trump’s claim that direct talks will take place.

La Guaira (Venezuela) (AFP) – Drone images show widespread destruction in La Guaira, Venezuela, as rescuers search for survivors in the heavily damaged area. The death toll from last week’s devastating twin earthquakes has surpassed 1,700, with tens of thousands of people still reported missing. IMAGES

Venezuela (AFP) – During a protest by local residents, a group of soldiers are forced to take up pickaxes and shovels and help clear the rubble of a collapsed building, as it has now been four days since the earthquakes in Venezuela that have left nearly 1,500 dead. “They all come and sit over there to take pictures and then they leave at six, seven in the evening, and then we’re left here suffering, clinging to the hope that they’re going to help us, and they never help us,” an outraged man shouts at a soldier in the Tanaguarena area, in La Guaira state.