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Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that “decisions without Ukraine” would not bring peace and rules out ceding territory to Russia, hours after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit in a bid to end the war. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the far-north US state of Alaska, near Russia, on August 15, to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite multiple warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of the negotiations.

Nagasaki (Japan) (AFP) – Twin cathedral bells ring out in Japan’s Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment the atrocity took place. On August 9, 1945, at 11:02 am, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

Bickenbach (AFP) – In a German retirement home, residents can travel the world without ever leaving their seats —- thanks to virtual reality headsets. Once a week, they are transported to different countries and landscapes through the immersive technology. The initiative has been in place for a year and is overseen by care assistant Annette Keil. “I would say it’s important, yes, because then they also experience something different” she explains.

Al-Mawasi (AFP) – After being shot at an aid site in May, Gazan Ibraheem Saeed Abdel Nabi has built his own prosthetic leg out of a sewage pipe and an old window, hoping to be able to care for his family again. The 33-year-old says his leg had to be amputated at the hospital, where he stayed for more than a month, due to an infection. “My dream is to have a prosthetic limb and support my family,” he says back with his family in Al-Mawasi.

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israelis react with mixed views to the security cabinet’s decision to “take control” of Gaza City under a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One Israeli says “Israel will take good care of the land and maybe help to rebuild for whoever will be there,” while a fellow citizen says “the cabinet decision is not the right thing to do, because this could put the hostages’ lives at risk.”

Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse (AFP) – The sub-prefect of Narbonne, Remi Recio, says that the huge fire ravaging part of France’s Aude department is “considered contained”. The wildfire — the country’s largest in at least half a century — ravaged a vast area near the Mediterranean coast at the peak of the summer tourist season, killing one person and wounding several others.

Monemvasía (AFP) – Gale-force winds, reaching up to 88 kilometres per hour, batter Greece, whipping up heavy seas in the medieval fortress town of Monemvasia on the southern tip of the country’s mainland. The Greek coastguard says two Vietnamese tourists died at sea and that most ferries were unable to depart on schedule from Piraeus and other Athens ports.

Wonthaggi (AFP) – Police interrogation footage of recently convicted mushroom murderer Erin Patterson is released to the public for the first time. Patterson was found guilty in July of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023 by lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behaviour in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale on Friday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret.

Bogotá (AFP) – Supporters of Colombian ex-president Alvaro Uribe march in the capital, Bogota, after a court turned down his request to be granted temporary freedom while appealing his sentence of 12 years’ house arrest. Uribe, Colombia’s president from 2002 to 2010, was convicted of attempting to bribe witnesses in an investigation into his links with paramilitaries. The 73-year-old, who remains highly popular among Colombian conservatives and with the administration of US President Donald Trump, is the first former Colombian leader to be convicted of a crime. IMAGES

Moskau (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin names the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a potential location for an upcoming summit with US President Donald Trump. “We have many friends who are willing to help us organise such events. One of our friends is the president of the United Arab Emirates,” Putin says, standing next to UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he visits the Kremlin.

Al-Zawayda (AFP) – Palestinians watch as an aircraft drops aid parcels in the distance in central Gaza’s Al-Zawayda camp. Global criticism has soared over the suffering of the more than two million Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza, after the United Nations warned that famine was unfolding in the territory.

Gaza (AFP) – In a small plot outside his tent in Gaza City, Ibrahim Abu Jabal plants vegetables in the hope of providing daily sustenance for his children amid dire food shortages in the war-ravaged territory. Alongside his nine-year-old daughter — her head and torso wrapped in gauze after being burned while hustling in a crowd to obtain a hot meal from a charity kitchen — the displaced farmer harvests tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers to help his children “survive another day, or a little longer.”