Montevideo (AFP) – Stargazers across the Americas are treated to a dramatic “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse. The celestial spectacle is the first of its kind since 2022, although this time the event is a “Micromoon”, with the moon at its furthest point from Earth, the opposite of 2022’s “Supermoon.” The awe-inspiring phenomenon was visible in some parts of Europe and Africa as well.
London (AFP) – Once boasting a social media following of more than 170,000, writer and artist August Lamm has ditched her smartphone and is urging others to downgrade to “dumb” phones to counter social media addiction. “When your whole social life is online, you can feel popular,” she says, adding that she “would never go back” to using a smart device. According to UK telecoms regulator Ofcom, Brits aged 25 – 34 spend on average more than four hours per day glued to their phone screens.
Naples (Italy) (AFP) – A 4.4-magnitude earthquake in southern Italy has left buildings damaged and sent several people to hospital with minor injuries, officials say. The quake struck in the early hours and was followed by several smaller tremors, sending residents fleeing into the street. The Campi Flegrei area around Naples is the caldera — or hollow — left behind by a massive eruption 40,000 years ago. Specialists say another full-blown eruption in the near future remains unlikely.
Kharkhorin (Mongolia) (AFP) – Mongolian herder Zandan Lkhamsuren lost all but two of his 280-strong flock of sheep in last year’s deep freeze — known as a ‘dzud’ — an extreme weather event that is becoming more frequent and more intense in a country badly affected by climate change. Across Mongolia, more than seven million animals were killed, over a tenth of the country’s total. The loss wiped out most of Lkhamsuren’s income, meaning his family couldn’t afford the tuition fees for his two daughters, who were both meant to start at Ulaanbaatar university.
Paris (AFP) – Kylian Mbappe will be back to captain France in the upcoming Nations League quarter-final against Croatia, confirms coach Didier Deschamps. Mbappe has not played for the national team for the last six months.
Bogotá (AFP) – Police investigate the site of a grenade attack that killed three people and wounded nine others in Bogota, the Colombian capital. The attack follows a similar incident in the same neighborhood three weeks ago, with police saying it was the result of a drug turf war between rival organized crime groups.
Sao Paulo (AFP) – More than 300 trees have fallen, leaving at least 74,000 people without electricity and causing one death due to heavy rains in Sao Paulo. IMAGES
Jujan (Ecuador) (AFP) – Vehicles navigate flooded streets in Guayas province, southwest Ecuador, following heavy rains. According to official reports, since January, the rains have left at least 19 dead and affected more than 100,000 people in the South American country. IMAGES
Buenos Aires (AFP) – Demonstrators clash with police during a protest of pensioners supported by football fans against the government of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires. IMAGES
Al-Hol Camp (Syria) (AFP) – A sixth group of Iraqis, including 160 families, are released from Syria’s northeast Al-Hol camp. Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish administration aims to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of jihadists, by the end of the year. More than 4,000 people have been returned to Iraq since the start of the year, according to the Al-Hol camp manager, with around 14,500 still inside.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Kyiv has no “trust” in Russia despite having agreed to put a US proposal for a 30-day truce to Moscow. “None of us trust the Russians,” Zelensky says during a press conference in Kyiv.
Chinese martial arts have long been considered a male-dominated sphere, but a group of Gen Z women are using the power of social media to promote girls’ participation. The nine-woman troupe Emei Kung Fu Girls have racked up more than 23 million views on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
