Copiapó (AFP) – The Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, is covered in colorful flowers. The phenomenon, known as the ‘flowering desert,’ occurs in certain years when rainfall and temperatures coincide, awakening the desert’s dormant seeds.
Lagos (AFP) – Nigeria’s bustling metropolis of Lagos hosts a race in the UIM E1 World Championship, an all-electric powerboat racing series — the first time that such an event is held in Africa. The E1 Lagos Grand Prix — the penultimate round of the season — was held on Lagos’s lagoon, ahead of the season finale in Miami later this year. Africa is the fourth continent to host an E1 race during the series’ second season, as the championship has expanded from five to seven races.
Sidoarjo (AFP) – The death toll from an Indonesian school collapse has risen to 63, according to officials, as workers pull more remains from the rubble of the building that collapsed last week. Part of the multi-storey building on Indonesia’s Java island collapsed as more than 150 students gathered for afternoon prayers. Around half a dozen youngsters are still unaccounted for. The collapse was Indonesia’s deadliest disaster so far this year, says Budi Irawan, the deputy head of the national disaster agency (BNPB).
Paris (AFP) – Outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu says the conditions were not satisfied to allow him to stay in office, after resigning following less than a month in the post. Lecornu’s stint in office was the shortest ever for a prime minister in modern France. His resignation compounds a political crisis that has rocked France for over a year, after French President Emmanuel Macron called legislative elections in the summer of 2024, which ended in a hung parliament.
Tiflis (AFP) – Georgian police fire tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters trying to enter the presidential palace, as tens of thousands rally during local elections after the opposition urged a “last chance” protest to save democracy. The polls were the ruling populist Georgian Dream party’s first electoral test since a disputed parliamentary vote a year ago plunged the Black Sea nation into turmoil.
Kathmandu (AFP) – Clean-up operations are underway in Nepal after torrential rains triggered landslides and flash floods that blocked major roads connecting the capital, Kathmandu. At least 43 people have been killed, according to a disaster official, with parts of the country inundated since Friday.
Lqliaa (AFP) – A funeral is held for Abdessamad Oubella, a 25-year-old film student who was killed overnight on October 1 in Lqliaa, near Agadir in southern Morocco. Two other people were also shot dead by police amid protests led mostly by young people demanding reforms in the North African country’s struggling health and education systems. Authorities said a group had tried to attack the security forces to “steal” ammunition and weapons. Oubella was “going there to document the situation”, says his brother Ayoub Oubella during the funeral held in the village of Adouz Oussaoud, near Lqliaa.
Damaskus (AFP) – Members of Damascus’s local electoral committee cast their votes to select Syria’s new transitional parliament. The process has been criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa. The parliament’s formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose Islamist forces led a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.
Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli defence minister Israel Katz says that the military’s offensive in Gaza City has so far displaced approximately 900,000 Palestinians. Israeli forces have carried out a sweeping air and ground assault in recent weeks around the city.
Pjöngjang (AFP) – North Korean state media releases images of leader Kim Jong Un attending the opening ceremony of the Defence Development-2025 in Pyongyang on October 4. During his address, Kim reportedly said North Korea had deployed “special assets” in response to what he called Washington’s arms build-up in the South.
Mumbai (AFP) – Bulldozers are expected to soon rumble into Dharavi, in the heart of the Indian megapolis of Mumbai, flattening its labyrinth of alleyways to make way for a brand-new neighbourhood. The $8 billion reconstruction plan promises new homes and infrastructure, but it also runs the risk of uprooting hundreds of thousands of residents.
Luxor (AFP) – The tomb of Pharoah Amenhotep III, one of the largest in southern Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and Queens, is officially opened to the public, after years of restoration. Decades of deterioration had left the structure at risk of collapse. Carved into the hillside on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, the tomb is “decorated with wall paintings that are among the most exquisite of those surviving in the royal tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty”, according to Japan’s UNESCO mission.
