Melbourne (AFP) – The leader of Melbourne’s Victoria state, Daniel Andrews, comments on the current coronavirus outbreak, after the state returned to lockdown for the sixth time since the pandemic began. Australia’s three largest cities are in lockdown, as New South Wales records 319 community cases of the virus and five more deaths — a third straight day of record case numbers.
Unknown (AFP) – Macedonian firefighters, supported by their Austrian, Bulgarian and Slovenian colleagues, battle a wildfire near the town of Berova in the east of North Macedonia. The wildfires have been raging for several days in North Macedonia, particularly in the east of the country, destroying more than 3,000 hectares of land and forcing the government to declare a 30-day state of emergency.
VYDENIAI (Lithuania) (AFP) – Illegal migration to Lithuania has increased hugely in 2021, with Lithuania blaming Belarusian strongman President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime for encouraging the migrants to cross as retaliation against EU sanctions, calling it “hybrid aggression”. Lukashenko has denied the allegations, insisting instead that Lithuania triggered the migrant influx itself after Vilnius announced in July it would cut the asylum request process to 10 days.
Wuhan (China) (AFP) – Residents of Wuhan queue at a gym to get tested for Covid-19 as authorities roll out mass-testing for the city of 11 million people. This follows reports of Wuhan’s first local infections in over a year and concerns of Delta variant outbreaks across the country.
Kunheim (France) (AFP) – Pokaa, a two-year-old golden retriever with a keen nose for the coronavirus, works at a nursing home in France’s Alsace region. The first dog of his kind in France, Pokaa is able to pick up on positive Covid cases 48 hours before a PCR test would, according to the director of the charity HANDI’CHIENS.
Bormes-les-Mimosas (France) (AFP) – In a video posted on Tik Tok and Instagram, French President Emmanuel Macron answers a question about the health pass and says it allows businesses and places of culture to remain “open” in the face of the Delta variant, which he says is “even more formidable”.
Varympompi (Greece) (AFP) – People on the outskirts of Athens are left to grapple with the devastation caused by forest fires. More than 500 firefighters, a dozen water-bombing planes and five helicopters have been battling the blazes outside the capital which are now reportedly under control.
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis returns to work full-time following a colon operation, urging the international community to help a struggling Lebanon on the anniversary of the explosion that killed over 200 people.
Jalalabad (Afghanistan) (AFP) – Afghans in Jalalabad city chant “Allah-u Akbar” (God is greatest) in support of the Afghan security forces, as part of calls to gather on rooftops at 9 pm following similar scenes the night before in the western city of Herat, that is under siege, after government forces countered the latest Taliban assault.
Beirut (AFP) – Lebanese march towards Beirut port to mark a year since a cataclysmic explosion ravaged the city, protesting impunity over the country’s worst peacetime disaster at a time when its economy was already in tatters.
Fueled by hot and dry weather, the Dixie Fire in Northern California continues to grow, prompting more orders for residents to flee their homes. The blaze has swelled to almost 255,000 acres in size and is 35 percent contained, local authorities say.
Berdigestyakh (Russia) (AFP) – Russia’s Yakutia region, which has a border with the Arctic Ocean and sits atop permafrost on a territory nearly five times the size of France, is a canary in the coal mine for the global climate crisis. And with this summer being Yakutia’s driest in 150 years, according to local officials, the region became a tinderbox that has seen wildfires tear through more than 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of its swampy taiga forest.
