AFP UK

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Brazilian federal police patrol outside a building in Sao Paulo’s Faria Lima financial district, where security forces and tax authorities are carrying out a major operation against organized crime. Brazilian police launched a mega operation in several states to crush a criminal network that sold adulterated fuel to clients and concealed billions of dollars in earnings in cahoots with financial companies, according to officials. IMAGES

Al-Hol Camp (Syria) (AFP) – “Look at the children, look how happy they are,” says Umm Mahmoud, a 60-year-old leaving Syria’s Al-Hol camp. “It’s like a holiday.” A new group of 850 Iraqis has departed the Kurdish-controlled al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State group jihadists, in the latest repatriation with Kurdish authorities aiming to close the camps by the end of the year, according to an official.

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Massive clouds of smoke rise following Israeli bombardments on the outskirts of Gaza City, as Israel presses operations to seize the territory’s largest city. Gaza’s civil defence agency says that Israeli strikes and fire have killed at least 31 people across the Palestinian territory on 28 August, including six shot while waiting for aid in the south.

Würzburg (Germany) (AFP) – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte condemns a Russian missile and drone attack on apartment blocks in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which killed at least 17 people, including four children. The European Union mission and a British government cultural building were also damaged. “We cannot be naive about Russia. We cannot be naive about Vladimir Putin. And last night is evidence of that”, Rutte says during a presser in Germany with MPs from the country’s governing parties.

Chisinau (AFP) – The former Soviet republic of Moldova celebrates 34 years of independence, with French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz joining President Maia Sandu to mark the occasion as she fights for the country’s entry into the EU.

Mexico City (AFP) – Mexican senators Gerardo Fernandez Norona, of the ruling Morena party, and Alejandro Moreno, of the opposition PRI party, engage in a physical confrontation following a heated debate over alleged opposition calls for US military intervention against drug cartels. The brawl followed a debate in which opposition parties PRI and PAN were accused of calling for the intervention, which both parties deny.

Mexico City (AFP) – Members of the Mexico Clown Club set-off for the 25th annual pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. “A bunch of us clowns get together and have the opportunity to see each other,” says Moises Jimenez, aka Yom. “It’s really about the unity of clowns.”

Lomas de Zamora (Argentina) (AFP) – Argentina’s President Javier Milei drives off as protesters throw objects at his vehicle during a rally in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province, amid controversy over an alleged corruption case involving the government. IMAGES

(AFP) – US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg says during a National Prayer Breakfast in Kyiv that he hopes that, by the time the war-torn country celebrates its 35th Independence Day next year, fighting will be brought to “an end” and Ukraine will be “a different place to be”. The event was attended by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Western officials.

Garaño (Spain) (AFP) – Fire crews survey an area of northwest Spain where deadly wildfires are still burning. 14 wildfires are still classed as ‘category two’ fires – meaning they pose a risk to people and property. In recent days the number of category two’s has decreased by 4 from 18 wildfires. But authorities in Madrid still say the situation is precarious, and temperatures remain high.

Caracas (AFP) – Civil servants, housewives and retirees alike line up to volunteer to join the country’s civilian militia – dubbed the “Bolivarian Militia”. It comes after the U.S. stationed three warships off the country’s coast. The Trump administration has accused Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro of being involved in a cartel smuggling drugs into the United States. Maduro has declined the claims, and has called the U.S. deployment a “violation of international law”.

Vinh (Vietnam) (AFP) – Rain batters Vietnam’s coastal city of Vinh where Typhoon Kajiki — Vietnam’s fifth this year — has made landfall. More than 325,500 residents in five coastal provinces will be moved to schools and public buildings turned into temporary evacuation centres, authorities say.