Rabat (AFP) – During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, tables across the Maghreb region are adorned with “essential” traditional sweets. In Morocco, a table isn’t complete without shebakia. In Algeria, zlabia takes the spotlight, and in Tunisia, people travel for kilometres to buy makroud.
Belgrade (AFP) – Thousands of demonstrators disperse in a panic during a massive anti-corruption rally in Belgrade on 15 March. The crowd, holding a 15-minute silence during the incident, claim authorities used a type of sonic weapon, referred to in the video caption as: “Sound cannon used on citizens while they pay their respects to those killed.” Serbia’s police and defence ministries, the security agency, the president, and the prime minister all firmly deny the accusation and have announced an investigation. Several of the demonstrators have reported health problems since the incident.
Tbilissi (AFP) – A court in Tbilisi has sentenced former president Mikheil Saakashvili to an additional four and a half years behind bars for illegally crossing the border, bringing the pro-Western politician’s total sentence to 12.5 years. Saakashvili says the decision is meant to “intimidate” Georgian people and “send a threatening message” to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who has demanded that the Ukrainian national since 2019 be transferred to Kyiv.
Channapatna (Inde) (AFP) – The whirr of machines and smell of carved wood hangs in the air of the toy workshop in Channapatna, Indian town where around 2,500 artisans are employed in the industry. The centuries-old art form is still in the game despite the threat of cheaper plastic alternatives and replicas.
Bilytske (Ukraine) (AFP) – As soon as Raisa walks out of her house in eastern Ukraine, she is quickly joined by a pack of hungry dogs whose barking fails to drown out the sound of artillery. “I get up every day, make food for the animals, then go to work,” says the 65-year-old, refusing to leave the city without the 20 dogs and 50-something cats under her care.
La Havane (AFP) – Traffic lights remained off in most parts of Havana on 16 March as Cubans suffered through another days-long major blackout. “Let’s hope it will pass soon,” says Pedro Herrera, a constructor. Power is now slowly being restored across most of the island. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITE
Bangkok (AFP) – Wielding a cumbersome tattoo gun with his small hands swamped in surgical gloves, nine-year-old Napat Mitmakorn expertly inks the pattern of a fanged serpent on a man’s upper thigh, as he makes his public debut at the Thailand Tattoo Expo in Bangkok.
Rome (AFP) – The Vatican has released the first photo of Pope Francis since his hospitalisation over a month ago, showing the pontiff celebrating mass from the chapel in his hospital suite. Meanwhile, a steady stream of well-wishers continue to gather outside the hospital, including tango dancers.
Addis Abeba (AFP) – Ermias Haylay was 15 when he first touched a begena, one of Ethiopia’s oldest instruments, that has since become “an addiction” for the young musician. From his love for the “charismatic and knowledgeable” instrument was born the Eman begena school, which now regularly visits a nursing home to play for its residents as a form of therapy.
San Luis Talpa (Salvador) (AFP) – Over 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang arrive at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison on the edge of a jungle 75 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of San Salvador, after being deported from the US despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsions order.
Mavivi (RD Congo) (AFP) – Judith Kahindo makes her way through a tangled forest to harvest cocoa on her isolated plantation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s leading cocoa exporters and where the crop is coveted by armed groups. “We tend our fields with the fear of being massacred” she says.
Beit Lahia (Territoires palestiniens) (AFP) – Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia gather for a mass fast-breaking iftar meal amid the rubble of destroyed buildings, as the ravaged territory spends its second Islamic holy month of Ramadan amidst the war.
