Gifu (Japan) (AFP) – A missing fingertip offers a clue to Mako Nishimura’s criminal past as one of Japan’s few female yakuza. Now aged 58, she has clawed her way out of the underworld and now spends her days helping other retired gangsters reintegrate into society. “I’ve started thinking like a normal person,” she says, following three decades of on-and-off navigating of the yakuza’s patriarchal and brutal hierarchy.
Mae Sot (Thailand) (AFP) – An AFP investigation shows scam centres in Myanmar, blamed for swindling billions from victims across the globe, are expanding just months after a crackdown that was supposed to eradicate them. And they appear to be using Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service on a huge scale.
Addis Abeba (AFP) – Ethiopian dressmakers, who produce the East African nation’s popular long, white ‘habesha kemis’ dresses by hand, are pessimistic about the future of this centuries-old trade amidst economic woes and competition from cheaper, factory-produced dresses, including some imported from China.
Nairobi (AFP) – Kenya’s President William Ruto says that opposition leader Raila Odinga was “one of Africa’s greatest sons” and a “giant of democracy” during an address to the nation from State House, the official residence of the president. Odinga died at the age of 80 during a health visit to India, according to local police.
Poza Rica (AFP) – As the Mexican Navy begins cleanup efforts in Poza Rica, some residents of the town, which is completely blanketed in mud, worry that the scale of the disaster requires more assistance. “Even now, it’s a stretch to say they’ve ‘helped us,'” says Francisco Martinez, as he stands in his muddy house, adding, “Nothing can be salvaged.” Last week, torrential rains battered several Mexican states, leaving at least 129 people dead or missing.
Brüssel (AFP) – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says the Western alliance has become “more lethal” thanks to the leadership of US President Donald Trump and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, as defence ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump awards a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed in an attack in September as he addressed students on a campus in Utah. Handing the medal to Kirk’s widow, Trump hails Kirk as a “martyr for truth and freedom”. The US State Department said it had revoked visas of at least six foreign nationals who had “celebrated the heinous assassination” on social media.
Gyodong (South Korea) (AFP) – North Koreans who fled to South Korea’s Gyodong Island during the Korean war in the 1950s still pine for relatives in their former home. Unable to visit their loved ones’ graves, they perform funeral rites at a makeshift altar during the autumn harvest festival. N°78JG4NQ
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Bulldozers clear rubble in Gaza City following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. “The municipality of Gaza City immediately started working on its top priority for this period, which is to open roads,” says mayor of Gaza City Yahya Al-Sarraj, adding “we urgently need construction materials, especially cement, approximately one thousand tons.”
Harwich (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Crew members and researchers on board the UK polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough prepare the vessel for its upcoming trip to Antarctica. The research platform, named after the iconic British naturalist, is “at the cutting edge of polar technology”, says Peter Davis, a physical oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey.
Garoua (Cameroon) (AFP) – Cameroon’s opposition challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary claims election victory against incumbent President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 43 years, with official results from Sunday’s vote not expected for two weeks. “It is a clear sanction against the current regime and a plebiscite in favour of immediate change,” Bakary says in a statement.
(AFP) – Nicolas Maduro’s time is up but he can still leave power peacefully, Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado tells AFP in an interview from hiding. “Maduro currently has the opportunity to move toward a peaceful transition,” the opposition figurehead says.
