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Pittsburgh (AFP) – Residents in the US city of Pittsburgh, in the key presidential swing state of Pennsylvania, are split ahead of the first televised debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The debate will take place in Philadelphia, also in Pennsylvania, with both candidates recognising how crucial the state’s support is in securing the White House in November. Much has been made of the candidates’ different styles, with Trump under pressure to rein in his aggression and Harris needing to reach out to undecided voters with policy.

Thái Nguyên (Vietnam) (AFP) – Emergency workers in Vietnam are racing to evacuate thousands of people from severe flooding after Typhoon Yagi tore through the country’s north. Authorities say scores of people have been killed by the extreme weather, which has downed bridges, ripped roofs off buildings and triggered widespread flooding and landslides. Before hitting Vietnam, Yagi swept through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people.

Colombo (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s upcoming presidential election is being seen by many as an opportunity to vent their anger at established politicians who they blame for the country’s economic crisis. While the economy of the South Asian island shows “signs of stabilisation”, according to the World Bank, poverty rates rose for the fourth year in a row last year.

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Smoke from intense wildfires in the Amazon rainforest and other parts of Brazil are choking major cities, like Sao Paulo, and wafting into neighboring countries. The situation has been aggravated by the country’s worst drought in 70 years.

Bethesda (United States) (AFP) – Forget the polls, ditch the data, and stop sending journalists to swing state diners to interview undecided voters: historian Allan Lichtman already knows who is going to win the US presidential election. “Harris will win,” Lichtman confidently announces to AFP.

Dili (East Timor) (AFP) – Pope Francis meets youth with disabilities at the Irmas Alma School in Dili, East Timor. The 87-year-old is on a three-day visit to the capital as part of a wider Asia-Pacific tour. More than half of East Timor’s 1.3 million people are expected to attend one of the biggest masses of his papacy.

Dili (East Timor) (AFP) – Pope Francis is halfway through his longest, farthest, and most challenging tour of his pontificate. The wheelchair-bound octogenarian has travelled to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor, and is set to end his tour in Singapore.

Sao Paulo (AFP) – A gray shroud covers Latin America’s largest city, Sao Paulo, which tops Monday’s ranking of the world’s most polluted metropolises, according to Swiss-based air quality monitoring company IQAir. Several Brazilian states are being affected by smoke from forest fires in the country. IMAGES

Haridwar (India) (AFP) – A year after being forced from his home by extremist Hindu nationalists, Mohammad Salim, like many Indian Muslims, fears for his family’s future. The campaign that pushed Salim from his hometown hasn’t gone anywhere, with activists still seeking to drive Islam from what they consider a Hindu ‘holy land’. Critics say this Hindu-first ideology has been cultivated by India’s ruling BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

London (AFP) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has convened a coalition to stop young people from falling into knife crime, joined by actor and anti-knife crime campaigner Idris Elba. In the year ending March 2023, 41 percent of all homicides in England and Wales were knife-related and rates of knife crime have been steadily rising since 2012, despite being lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Ushiku (Japan) (AFP) – Emerging from the head of the world’s tallest bronze Buddha and climbing down to its right ear, two specialist cleaners blast the imposing Japanese statue with water guns. Kazuyoshi Taguchi and Kazumi Minowa have been cleaning the 120-metre-tall Ushiku Daibatsu monument – completed in 1993 – for nearly a quarter of a century, at the start of which neither had a background in climbing.

Geneva (AFP) – UN rights chief Volker Turk warns that the world needs to change direction if it is to avoid a future filled with military escalation, repression, disinformation, deepening inequality and rampant climate change. Opening a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk stresses that “we are at a fork in the road” and heading towards “a dystopian future.”