Oslo (AFP) – Norway’s Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store claims victory in Monday’s legislative elections, which also saw a record surge in support for the anti-immigration populist Progress Party. The election campaign in the wealthy nation of 5.6 million people had centred largely on domestic issues but was also influenced by geopolitics, including US President Donald Trump’s policies and the war in Ukraine.
Pjöngjang (AFP) – North Korea holds a flag-raising ceremony and an evening gala with dance and fireworks at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, on the eve of its 77th founding anniversary.
Mishima (Japan) (AFP) – As Nintendo’s iconic Super Mario turns 40, AFP meets the record-breaking Japanese mega-fan Kikai who has accumulated more than 20,000 items of memorabilia of the moustachioed plumber.
Gulu (Uganda) (AFP) – Twenty years after he was first indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, charges against notorious rebel commander Joseph Kony are set to be heard, giving hope to many who endured his crimes. Kony’s decades-long campaign of terror across central Africa, as the leader of Lord’s Resistance Army, killed more than 100,000 people with 60,000 abducted children forced to become sex slaves or child soldiers. Despite a long-running hunt, at times involving international forces, Kony remains at large — his hearing will take place in-absentia.
Geneva (AFP) – “Pro-war propaganda is everywhere,” says United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, decrying “the glorification of violence” and the “erosion of international law”. In his opening address to the UN’s Human Rights Council’s 60th session, Turk warns that “the long-established rules of war are being shredded”. The address comes just days after China hosted a massive military parade and after US President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to be renamed the Department of War.
Oslo (AFP) – Norwegian voters have begun casting their ballots in the Scandinavian nation’s election, with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s ruling Labour Party, along with its left-leaning allies, topping September polls. As a NATO member sharing a border with Russia, the war in Ukraine has weighed heavily on Norway’s politics in recent years, and with an economy dependent on exports, the imposition of US trade tariffs has also loomed large.
Jerusalem (AFP) – “We will intensify our operations,” vows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in the Israeli-annexed east of Jerusalem, killing five people. Speaking at the scene of the attack, Netanyahu says “we are fighting against terrorism… we are not relenting”. The shooting comes as Israel steps up operations in Gaza, levelling buildings in Gaza City, which it has vowed to capture, and killing 10 people in overnight air raids, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.
Madrid (AFP) – Spain’s prime minister announces that the country will implement nine measures aimed at stopping “the genocide in Gaza”. The announcement marks the latest escalation in Spain’s outspoken criticism of the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by Hamas’s 2023 attack. Included in the measures are an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on vessels carrying fuel for the Israeli military using Spanish ports. Pedro Sanchez says the the move is also so that the Spanish people “knows and feels that…their country, Spain, was on the right side of history.”
Sao Paulo (AFP) – Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro gather in Sao Paulo days before the Supreme Court decides whether the far-right leader is guilty of attempting a coup. Bolsonaro risks up to 43 years in prison if convicted of attempting to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. IMAGES
Lima (AFP) – On the order of an appeals court, former Peruvian president Martin Vizcarra has been released from prison, where he was held in pre-trial detention for 22 days. Vizcarra, 62, was sent to prison on August 13 by a judge who claimed he was a flight risk in the trial concerning alleged bribes received when he was governor of the Moquegua region 11 years ago. IMAGES
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinians inspect the damage to their tents caused by an Israeli strike on the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City. A strike hit a tent sheltering a a displaced Palestinian family, killing five people including three children, according to civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal. “What have these innocent children done to the State of Israel to be killed?” says one Gaza City resident.
Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Supporters and opponents of Argentine President Javier Milei scuffle outside a campaign rally. Tensions are high ahead of legislative elections amid public outrage over a Milei family corruption scandal. The president’s sister, Karina Milei, is accused of receiving a three-percent cut on the amount paid by the National Disability Agency (Andis) for the purchase of medicine from Argentine pharma firm Suizo Argentina. The Mileis maintain their innocence.
