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Batken (AFP) – In a remote town in southern Kyrgyzstan, a library, conference hall and sports centre for women are being built, with construction mostly funded by Kyrgyz emigrants sending money home from Russia. An all-time high of $3 billion flowed into Kyrgyzstan from migrant workers living abroad last year, accounting for around 25 percent of the country’s GDP. In neighbouring Tajikistan, the $6 billion made-up almost half its GDP — the highest level in the world.

Yangon (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta torches an estimated $300 million worth of seized narcotics, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the air over Yangon. Other drug burning ceremonies took place in Mandalay and Taunggyi and included more than 1,700 kilograms of heroin, 16,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and 281 million stimulant pills, police said. Despite the vast quantities, a senior police officer says drug hauls have in fact been plunging because of intensifying fighting in the country’s civil war.

(AFP) – “The Islamic Republic dealt a severe slap to the face of America,” says Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a video statement. Referring to US President Donald Trump, who had claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, Khamenei adds that Trump “exaggerated events in unusual ways”.

Paris (AFP) – Rain leaks through the roof of the lower house of parliament during French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s speech, forcing lawmakers to suspend talks on conflict in the Middle East. Storms have occurred across France after a sweltering heatwave with temperatures passing 35 degrees Celsius (95 F).

Sinchon (North Korea) (AFP) – North Korean held a mass rally in Sinchon County of South Hwanghae Province to mark the 75th anniversary of the Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950. The date is observed as “the day of struggle against US imperialism” in North Korea.

Rongjiang (China) (AFP) – Six people have died from floods inundating China’s Guizhou province, state media said Thursday, after more than 80,000 people were driven from their homes this week.

Manta (Equateur) (AFP) – Soldiers stand guard outside the Ecuadoran air base in Manta where the country’s most-wanted fugitive, Los Choneros gang leader “Fito,” has been transferred after being re-captured in a major military operation. Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, known as Fito, escaped custody in Ecuador in early 2024 and American prosecutors charged him, in absentia, with seven counts of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms-related crimes, including weapons smuggling. IMAGES

Paris (AFP) – Paris is hit by heavy rainfall and flash flooding as a violent storm breaks out. The current heatwave saw temperatures soar to 36 degrees Celsius. France has been experiencing its 50th nationwide heatwave since 1947, starting on June 19 — half of which have occurred in the 21st century, a consequence of climate change that is increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves. IMAGES

At Trestles Beach, a paradise for surfers in a Southern California state park, locals hope that the spotlight of the 2028 Olympic Games will help preserve it from threats of erosion. “Hopefully we can use that to compel more folks to understand we’ve created this problem and we can fix it,” says Julian Husbands of ‘Save Our Beaches San Clemente’.

“There is a feeling that we don’t talk about them anymore,” says Viki Cohen, whose son Nimrod has been held hostage by Hamas for more than 600 days. As a ceasefire takes hold after 12 days of war with Iran, the relatives of hostages hope that the Israeli government will “seize that opportunity” to make a deal with Hamas to bring them back from the Gaza Strip.

Deir el-Balah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Gazans inside Al-Aqsa Hospital’s morgue mourn over the bodies of their loved ones killed in an Israeli strike on their home in Deir al-Balah. “They took away [killed] the father, mother and brothers, only two girls survived. One of them is a baby girl aged one year and two months and the other one is five-years-old,” cries a relative.

The Hague (AFP) – Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he believes it would have been an “absolute mistake” for Spain to agree to spend five percent of GDP on defence. To keep Trump on board, NATO members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate 3.5 percent to core military needs by 2035 and 1.5 percent to broader security-related areas such as cybersecurity and infrastructure.