BRAZIL — Reforestation programs celebrate indigenous native tribes: Apolima-Arara Indigenous men pose for a picture during the annual celebration recognizing the Ashaninka territory in the Apiwtxa village, Acre state, Brazil, Monday, June 24, 2024. The celebration also represents a victory in the indigenous people’s reclaiming their land from cattle ranchers, loggers and other developers and initiating a reforestation project. Eight years ago, an Ashaninka person was elected mayor of nearby Marechal Thaumaturgo, the first Indigenous to achieve this in Western Amazon’s Acre state.
The Apiwtxa village is situated in the western Amazon rainforest.
BRAZIL — Adapting to seasonal changes: Reis Santo Vieira paints a boat on a dry part of the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon River, during the dry season in Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. Being in the Southern Hemisphere — with the seasons opposite of the Northern Hemisphere — Brazil is currently in winter, which is the region’s dry and cool season. Brazil’s summers, running from December to February or March, are hot and humid.
However, there are regional variations in South America’s largest country: Brazil’s northeastern region is drier and less humid so that even typical 100-degree days seem cooler. Rio, by contrast, has a tropical maritime climate.
BUENOS AIRES — Whether it’s halls of government or struggles on the street, protest is often about money: Police detain a protester during a demonstration against President Javier Milei’s veto of a pension raise in front of Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Argentine protesters were denouncing Wednesday’s vote in the nation’s lower house of Congress to block a planned hike to pensions. The chamber of deputies voted 153 in favor of the pension hike with 87 against it, making the measure fall short of the two-thirds needed to approve it, Reuters reported.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei, whom many consider to be a right-wing libertarian, had previously vetoed the pension increase bill, claiming it would jeopardize the country’s plan for a fiscal balance.
KYIV — Nice setting for a grim meeting: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Meeting at a critical time for Ukraine’s ability to hold off Russia, Zelenskyy petitioned for the equipment needed for long-range strikes into his country’s eastern neighbor. He, Blinken and Lammy discussed Ukraine’s war goals and the support of the two Western nations during a meeting disrupted by air raid sirens.
Washington and some European governments worry that lifting the restrictions on long-range attacks could provoke Russia towards a direct conflict with the West, and they are trying to balance this prospect with the recognition that Ukraine needs more help to hold Russia back from possible incursions into eastern Europe.
CALIFORNIA — Nature’s revenge — wildfire season takes flight, igniting a trail of fiery turbulence: A reporter takes cell phone images of the devastation left behind by the Airport Fire, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in El Cariso Village, in unincorporated Riverside County, CA. The Associated Press reports that the Airport Fire in Orange County burned more than 35 square miles and by Wednesday night was 5% contained. Heavy equipment operating in the area was believed to have sparked this fire.
Although California is just now entering the most intense period of its wildfire season, the state has already seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023.
SINGAPORE — Singapore responds to Pope’s visit: The faithful follow Pope Francis presiding over a mass ‘In Memory of the Most Holy Name of Mary’ celebrated by the Archbishop of Singapore, Cardinal William Goh Seng Chye, at the Singapore SportsHub National Stadium, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Pope Francis has praised Singapore’s economic development as a testament to human ingenuity. But he’s urging the city-state to look after the weakest, too. Francis made the remarks Thursday on the final leg of the longest and farthest tour of his papacy.
While Pope Francis praised Asia’s financial power player for its innovations, he also urged Singapore to take care of its most vulnerable citizens.
MEXICO CITY — Affiliates and supporters of the ruling party, which appoints judges, protest reform requiring judges to be elected: Judicial workers protest the government’s judicial reform, which would make judges stand for election, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Critics of these reforms contend that they are meant to target and hurt foreign businesses operating in Mexico. Others are concerned that the judges would be more loyal to their particular constituents than to the stated law. And the fear exists that drug cartels would field their own judicial candidates.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, is trying to assuage fears, saying the judicial reforms are a pro-democracy measure.
MANHATTAN — An unforgotten day, still remembered with full devotion: Hagi Abucar places flowers for his former coworker Lindsey Herkness on the south reflecting pool during the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. During the annual ceremony, relatives of the 9/11 victims recite the names of each person who died on Sept. 11, 2001, before giving a reflection on their own family members.
Several dignitaries, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris, Donald Trump and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio (Trump’s vice presidential running mate), as well as former mayors Mike Bloomberg and Rudolf Giuliani, also attended. Television cameras showed that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was also present during a portion of the four-hour ceremony.
HANOI — Nature’s revenge, leaving entire villages drowning in grief: People wade in a flooded street in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. As of Thursday, nearly 200 people have died in Vietnam, and more than 125 are missing as flash floods and landslides take their toll, state media and CNN reported on Thursday.
A flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu in northern Vietnam’s Lao Cai province Tuesday, causing a sudden spike in the death toll.
SEOUL — Costumes from an early era as South Korea struggles for its identity: Two women dressed in traditional hanbok laugh as they pose for photos at Gyeongbok Palace, the main royal palace during the Joseon Dynasty, in Seoul, Thursday, May 23, 2024. The palace, in northern Seoul, was built in 1395 and is the largest of the Joseon Dynasty’s Five Grand Palaces. It served as the home of the royal family and the seat of government until a fire destroyed it two centuries later.
The palace has been destroyed in war and restored several times, particularly since the 1990s.