Alcublas (Spain) (AFP) – Spanish firefighters struggle to control the fires in Alcublas, located in the east of Spain and near Bejís, where several fires have ravaged more than 10,000 hectares and led to the evacuation of 1,500 people. The blazes have been curbed by the emergency services, helped by the arrival of rain.
Guwahati (India) (AFP) – Hundreds of Hindu devotees in northern India participate in an annual dance festival dedicated to the snake Goddess Manasa. People flock to the Kamakhya temple in the Assam region to see believers paint their bodies red and perform dances with sacrificial pigeons and goats. Those participating in the festival believe they will receive power from the goddess.
Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – After multiple Russian strikes hit the southern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing at least six and destroying numerous buildings, the city’s firefighters and emergency services get to work on cleaning up the damage. One of the strikes hit Palats Zaliznychnykiv (Palace of Culture for Railway Workers), an architectural monument constructed in 1932.
Putrajaya (Malaysia) (AFP) – Malaysian ex-premier Najib Razak arrives Friday at the Putrajaya court just outside Kuala Lumpur to continue his final appeal against his conviction over the 1MDB corruption scandal before the country’s top court.
Beijing (AFP) – A robotic arm built to collect human samples for Covid-19 screening, a barista robot and dozens of dancing cyber-dogs were among the highlights of the annual World Robot Conference that opened on Thursday in Beijing.
Hualien (Taiwan) (AFP) – In the wake of China’s unprecedented military drills, and with tensions in the region at a peak, Taiwan has put on its own show of force. This week, the island’s air force displayed its most advanced fighter jet, the US-made F-16V, as well as its own, domestically produced, air defence equipment.
Churchill (Canada) (AFP) – Every summer, a mass migration of Beluga whales takes place, from the Arctic to Canada’s Hudson Bay. The beluga population here is the largest in the world. But the decrease in ice due to climate change, in an area that is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the planet, is a cause for concern for researchers.
Lenguazaque (Colombia) (AFP) – Nine miners are rescued after being trapped 40 meters from the surface for more than 15 hours in an illegal coal mine in central Colombia.
Holywell (United Kingdom) (AFP) – The United Kingdom’s cost of living crisis is having an unexpected effect on its pet-lovers: soaring fuel prices are pricing many families out of individual cremations for their beloved animal companions, forcing them to opt for mass cremations instead.
Addis Ababa (AFP) – Ethiopian Girl Skaters is a female-only skateboarding group that brings together young girls from different backgrounds, building a community that challenges the stereotype that girls shouldn’t be involved in extreme sports like skateboarding. The project, founded by female skater, Sosina Challa, invites many young girls to spend their leisure time learning a new sport that helps them with their physical and mental health.
Bangkok (AFP) – An Indian man has been arrested at Thailand’s main airport attempting to smuggle out a menagerie of live creatures including a white desert fox and a raccoon. Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers — who often sell the animals to China and Vietnam, although recent months have seen an uptick in trafficking to India. Abilash Annaduri was found with 17 live creatures of six species, Thai wildlife officials said.
Hong Kong (AFP) – Overlooked by high-rises on the outskirts of Hong Kong, a group of students practise body-slam tackles and vicious ankle-wrenches at weekly training for an unlikely sport: the ancient Indian game of kabaddi. Though its professional league has a huge following in India and surrounding nations, kabaddi — a highly physical game where the object is to tag the rival team, often by brute force — is relatively unknown outside the region. But eight years ago two Chinese anthropologists set up a Hong Kong team to encourage integration in a city which, despite its status as an international hub, can be less than inclusive, especially when it comes to non-white and non-Chinese residents.
