Reyhanli (Turkey) (AFP) – Malak, a three-year-old Syrian girl, hears for the first time in her life after receiving a cochlear implant. She is one of almost 1,000 deaf Syrian and Turkish children accepted onto a Saudi-funded initiative being implemented in Turkey’s southeast. “I experienced the most beautiful feeling”, says Malak’s mother, Feryal.
Bone Bolango (Indonesia) (AFP) – Rescuers remove the bodies after a landslide on Indonesia’s central island, Sulawesi. Triggered by unusually heavy rains for July, the landslide has killed at least 11 people and left a further 35 missing, according to authorities. The incident struck near an illegal gold mine, with similar unlicensed sites common across the country.
Belfast (AFP) – Newly elected UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says that his government thinks it can achieve “better” relations with the EU than the “botched” Brexit deal struck by former prime minister Boris Johnson. Speaking on just his third day in power, while on a tour of the country’s four devolved regions, Starmer says he has “a very strong mandate for change, for a different relationship with the EU.”
Pyongyang (AFP) – Dozens of people observe a three-minute silence in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Kim Il Sung, the country’s founder and former president.
Nairobi (AFP) – Hundreds of Kenyans gather in the capital Nairobi for a memorial concert following deadly protests over tax hikes that saw the country’s leader scrap a controversial finance bill.
Algiers (AFP) – Femicide and domestic violence against women in North Africa are increasingly reported online and by the media but rights groups say legal measures to protect the victims remain scant.
Paris (AFP) – An alliance of French left-wing parties beat the far-right and the centrist coalitions in an unexpected outcome to parliamentary elections that plunge France into new political uncertainty. The outcome of the legislative elections, called by Macron three years ahead of schedule in a bid to reshape the political landscape, leaves France without any clear path to forming a new government three weeks before the Paris Olympics. the election night after the announcement of provisional results
Sinj (AFP) – Croatia’s triple Olympic medallists, brothers Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic aim for gold at the forthcoming Paris Olympic Games as they make their final preparations at Peruca Lake in southern Croatia.
Nuseirat (AFP) – People search the rubble of a collapsed building in central Gaza, as the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a UN-run school. The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, according to an AFP tally. The militants also seized 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, says the Hamas-run health ministry.
Phnom Penh (AFP) – Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa visits the headquarters of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre in Phnom Penh, where she announces that the two countries will work together to help remove landmines in Ukraine. Cambodia was riddled with millions of mines during nearly three decades of conflict and is regarded as a world leader in the removal.
Mekka (AFP) – The Kaaba’s kiswah is changed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca to mark the New Islamic Year. The Kaaba is a large black cubic structure towards which all Muslims pray.
Paris (AFP) – French polling stations open as the second round of early legislative elections gets underway. The historic vote could see the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) emerge victorious, although there is still some uncertainty as to whether the far right will be able to obtain an absolute majority in the Assembly and form a government.
