Our world in photos: September 18

September 18, 2024
Brooklyn Eagle Staff

BEIJING — A festival that gives Burning Man a run for its money: People watch an artist performing a fire kettle show during the Mid-Autumn Festival at a night market in Beijing, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival, is the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. China celebrates the festival as a reunion time, similar to the American Thanksgiving. Vietnam, by contrast, celebrates the festival more like a children’s day. The Fire Kettle show also called the Huohu (fire pot) performance, is a traditional art form that dates back centuries in Chinese culture.

The performer places hot charcoal into iron nets on both sides and shakes them to create a shower of sparks that resembles fireworks. The shower of sparks and the performance symbolize the dispelling of disease and misfortune, reinforcing the well-being of families.

SANTIAGO — Acrobatics adds a different layer to “getting back on the horse”: A man wearing traditional clothing performs acrobatics on a horse during Independence Day celebrations in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. Chileans commemorate Sept. 18, 1810, as the date that Chile began fighting for independence from Spain, although it took eight years before it was formally recognized as its own nation. Chileans refer to the official holiday as “dieciocho.”

Many American citizens forget that it also took eight years for the United States to be formally recognized as a nation. Although the Founding Fathers began signing the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, it wasn’t until all states had ratified the Paris Treaty on Jan. 14, 1784, that the road to independence was complete.

VATICAN — Now home again, thumbs up for a successful Asia tour: Pope Francis gives his thumbs up as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Earlier this month, Pope Francis, who turns 88 in three months completed his longest and farthest trip — to southeast Asia, visiting parts of Indonesia where he lived for many years, as well East Timor, which won its independence from Indonesia in 2002; as well as Papua New Guinea and Singapore.

East Timor has the highest Catholic population outside the Vatican. Half the nation attended the Mass he celebrated while there, reports Aleteia, an international Catholic news website.

SRI LANKA — Presidential rallies are all the rage: Supporters of National People’s Power cheer their leader and presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake during a public rally in Dehiowita, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.

Formed in 2019, the National People’s Power defines itself as “a dynamic political movement comprising 21 diverse groups, including political parties, youth organizations, women’s groups, trade unions, and civil society organizations,” according to its website. Anura Kumara Dissanayake is also the party’s leader.

Formerly called Ceylon, Sri Lanka is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, just off the southeasternmost coast of India. Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million consists of a wide group of ethnicities, the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils being the largest two.

KARACHI — Ain’t no party like a prophet’s birthday party: Supporters of the religious group ‘Jamaat Ahle Sunnat Pakistan’ take part in a rally in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The Mawlid al-Nabi holiday celebrates the birthday of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, born in the year 570, in Mecca. The group is a Muslim religious organization representing the Barelvi movement. While a Sunni organization, it has adopted many Sufi customs; the Sufis are considered the mystical branch of Islam.

However, several Islamic websites denounce the Barelvi for its doctrinal approach to venerating the prophet Muhammad and for its having become politicized. The Barelvi have historically maintained an anti-British stance towards its rule over India.

KASHMIR — The excitement of political participation: People queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Naira, south of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. This staggered election marks the first time since losing autonomy that residents are voting for their local elected officials.

Both India and Pakistan claim the region but administer different sections of it.

CZECH REPUBLIC — ‘Jeez, this is one nasty flood’: Geese stand on an outdoor table in a flooded neighborhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Romania have been especially hard hit, with a total of 23 deaths among these nations. Record rains hit the area around the Danube River, which flows through much of Central Europe.

The European Union pointed to the floods and the wildfires in Portugal as weather extremes that are symptomatic of a “climate breakdown” and warned that these patterns will “become the norm” unless nations take drastic measures to reverse it.

MILWAUKEE — Twisting like a pretzel in the air with a mustard fit: Milwaukee Brewers’ Joey Ortiz tries to make a play on a ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. Philadelphia won 5-1; that team’s winning pitcher was Zach Wheeler, a 6’4” 34-year-old who bats left-handed but throws right-handed. He currently has a 2.56 Earned Run Average.

As of this game, the Brewers and the Phillies each rank first in their respective National League Divisions, Central and East.