Chiquitania (Bolivia) (AFP) – Fires sweep through a forest in Chiquitania, a transition zone between the Amazon and the Gran Chaco lowlands in eastern Bolivia, where large blazes have already ravaged at least 200,000 hectares, according to reports from local authorities.
Paghman (Afghanistan) (AFP) – Taliban fighters pose for selfies and take video at Paghman Hill Castle, a scenic site in northeast of Kabul days after taking power in Afghanistan. The Islamist hardliners are back in power after being ousted in a US-led invasion nearly 20 years ago.
Clearlake (United States) (AFP) – Little is left of abandoned residences at Creekside Mobile Home Park after the Cache fire ripped through the Californian city of Clearlake. Authorities had gone door-to-door urging people to flee the quickly developing blaze, one of several fires ravaging the western state. The last decade has seen a huge rise in the number of wildfires in the west of the United States. Climate change linked to the burning of fossil fuels has made the region dryer and hotter for longer, creating ideal conditions for the blazes to rage.
Les Mayons (France) (AFP) – Conservationists are trying to save the Hermann’s tortoise from wildfires. This rare and protected species lives in the National Nature Reserve of the Maures Plain in the Var region of France.
Karbala (Iraq) (AFP) – Millions of Shiite Muslim worshippers across the world gather for Ashura, an annual mourning ritual commemorating the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein who was killed in the battle of Karbala in modern-day Iraq, in 680 AD. It is one of the holiest days during the Islamic month of Muharram.
Saint-Tropez (France) (AFP) – A forest fire in France’s Var region, near the glitzy Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez, has left at least two dead and forced thousands of residents and tourists to flee. The flames have scorched some 5,000 hectares in a region known for its forests, vineyards and fauna since it broke out in the Plaine des Maures nature reserve on Monday evening.
Kabul (AFP) – A female news anchor with Afghan television has released a video saying she was refused access to her workplace as a result of the Taliban’s takeover of the country. Shabnam Dawran, a prominent anchor with the state channel RTA Pushto, says she went to her office and was told to return home, despite public assurances by the Taliban that women would be allowed to work under their rule.
Tatvan (Turkey) (AFP) – Underwear, an empty bottle and footprints betray signs of migrants sneaking around a new wall along the Turkey-Iran border and stirring worries in Europe following the Taliban’s rise in Afghanistan. The Afghans who make it this far spend days hiding from law enforcement and nights devising ways to get to big cities such as Izmir and Istanbul before finding smugglers to take them to Europe.
Brazzaville (AFP) – The risk of spread of the lethal Marburg disease, detected in Guinea, is ‘high’ according to Dr Matshidiso Moeti. West Africa’s first recorded case of the virus — which belongs to the same filovirus family as Ebola but is somewhat less deadly — was confirmed on August 9. The virus, which is carried by bats and has a historic fatality rate of up to 88 percent, was found in samples taken from a patient who died on August 2 in Guinea’s southern Gueckedou prefecture.
Herat (Afghanistan) (AFP) – Days after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Afghan Shiites commemorate the holy day of Ashura, with the Taliban sending representatives to ceremonies. Ashura is one of the most important periods of the year for Shiite Muslims – considered heretics by many hardline Sunnis, such as the Taliban. There are around three million Shiites in overwhelmingly Sunni Afghanistan and the majority belong to the Hazara ethnic group.
Wevelgem (Belgium) (AFP) – Teenage pilot Zara Rutherford has set off in her ultralight sports plane on the first leg of a 52-country, five-continent flight around the world. The first leg is a short hop across the Channel from her Belgian hometown of Kortrijk to England. Her three-month voyage will then take her over oceans, deserts and the vast Siberian wilderness.
Wellington (AFP) – New Zealanders say they are “gutted” by the announcement of the government of a snap lockdown. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed New Zealand is dealing with the highly transmissible Delta variant linked to the outbreak in Australia that authorities have so far been unable to contain.
