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Kuala Lumpur (AFP) – The Iranian women’s football team arrives in Malaysia from Sydney after some members sought asylum in Australia over a pre-match protest. A presenter on Iranian state TV branded the players “wartime traitors”, fuelling fears they faced persecution, or worse, if they returned home. Iran’s governing football body has accused Australia of kidnapping the players and forcing them to forsake their home nation against their will.

Edinburgh (AFP) – Penguins at Edinburgh Zoo pick through coloured pebbles painted by children at a local hospital to mark start of the breeding season, when penguins often use pebbles to build nests for their families. The children at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People were then able to watch the penguins finding the stones via a live webcam, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland says.

San Fernando de Apure (Venezuela) (AFP) – About 200 competitors mount horses and try to chase a bull’s tail in a “coleo” competition in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela’s cowboy region located in the tropical grasslands. Despite opposition from animal welfare groups, bull-tailing remains an integral part of popular culture.

Mae Ai (Thailand) (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of people in northern Thailand have become collateral damage from the civil war in neighbouring Myanmar, turning to drugs as supply through the area rockets on the back of the conflict. ++ ALSO SEE VIDI_98VX8T3 ++

Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) – New strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs after the Israel military announces “wave” of attacks on Hezbollah targets, alongside new bombing on Iran. IMAGES

Porto Rafti (Greece) (AFP) – Beneath the surface of the flat, turquoise waters of Porto Rafti, a popular yachting harbour near Athens, hydraulic drills are hard at work as part of a project to protect a vital species of seagrass. Vital to the health of the Mediterranean, posidonia meadows have been destroyed by decades of boat anchors ripping along the seabed. Now, Greek maritime authorities are working to install new eco-moorings, giving boats somewhere to dock without dropping anchor.

(AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that his country is “not done yet” in its war against Iran, which it is fighting alonside the United States. Speaking a day after US President Donald Trump told reporters that the war would be over “very soon”, Netanyahu explains that Israel’s “aspiration is to bring the Iranian people to cast off the yoke of tyranny.”

Or Yehuda (Israel) (AFP) – CCTV footage from the central Israeli city of Or Yehuda shows the moment of a strike, which seriously injured one person. Israel has come under fire from Iranian drones and missiles since US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, which sparked the spiralling Middle East war.

Berlin (AFP) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz voices concern over the apparent lack of “a common plan” to bring the Iran war to a “convincing end.” Speaking during a press conference in Berlin, Merz says that “with every day this war continues, more questions arise.” His comments came with the Middle East war — triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February — now in its second week.

Namie (Japan) (AFP) – Not far from the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, soundtracked by meows and barks, Toru Akama tends to his house full of animals. The former power plant worker now dedicates his life to the pets left behind in the wake of the triple disaster in March 2011, which saw Japan’s strongest-ever earthquake, the resulting tsunami, and a devastating nuclear meltdown. “I felt the duty to protect these animals,” says Akama, who has successfully rehomed around 1,000 pets in the last 15 years.

Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Argentinians march a day after for International Women’s Day against Javier Milei’s government. They take the streets calling for equal rights and an end to violence against women. IMAGES

Washington (United States) (AFP) – Iran is “trying to hold the world hostage” through its retaliatory strikes across the Gulf, says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who accuses Tehran of being a “terrorist government.” Rubio’s comments came at an event at the US State Department, with the Middle East war — triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran — continuing into its second week.