BURUNDI — African tradition kept alive by elders: Prudencienne Namukobwa, 85, left, entertains her guests with akazehe, a Burundian traditional form of musical greeting performed exclusively by women, outside her house in Ngozi, Burundi, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. Akazehe is performed on a range of occasions, from encounters in farmland to sudden meetings, but it’s fading, largely due to disease-prevention protocol in which people keep physical distance from each other.
Akazehe has a particular cadence and melodic form, accompanied by a prolonged embrace between persons, reports the Associated Press, which quoted Sandrine Kitonze, a culture advisor in the office of the governor of Ngozi province. Akazehe makes “you feel that the person who greets you loves you,” Kitonze said.
Many young Burundans are unfamiliar with the custom, but government officials, teachers and other interested parties seek to preserve and expand the practice of akazehe, particularly as a polyphonic way of conveying messages about domestic turmoil to a community that could help alleviate the tension.
PAKISTAN — Live action, airborne attempt: Pakistan’s Sajid Khan attempts to take a catch of England’s Jamie Smith on the boundary edge during day one of the third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
Jamie Smith’s fabulous 89 and a trio of late wickets gave England the upper hand on the first day of the third and deciding test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, reports BBC Sport.
GERMANY — Historic windmill stands out against a fallow field: An almost 200-year-old windmill is pictured on a field in Farve at the Baltic Sea, Germany, Wednesday, Oct.23, 2024. This particular windmill, within the municipality of Wangels, has been in operation since 1828 and was a house conversion. It is an example of a smock mill, named for the apron or frock that earlier-generation farmers wore. The smock mill’s architecture consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower and is typically in the shape of a hexagon or octagon. The roof rotates to enable the sails to travel the wind.
Smock mills can be found throughout Europe, including Great Britain and Denmark. In the United States, they can be found in Massachusetts and the eastern end of Long Island and were used in grain production. Dating back to the 18th century. The smock mills on Long Island have been preserved for history.
PARIS — Alliances, France and the Middle East: France’s President Emmanuel Macron hugs Lebanon’s Prime Minister caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, left, during an international conference for Lebanon in Paris, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. The conference raised $1 billion in pledges for humanitarian aid and military support to help the country to Israel’s north, where war between Hezbollah militants and Israel has killed over 2,500 people, displaced a million people, and worsened an economic crisis French organizers told the Associated Press. French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot reported that the United States has pledged $300 million.
More than 70 nations and international non-governmental organizations took part in the conference. However, many acknowledged that delivering the aid will prove more challenging than raising the funds, partly because of Lebanon’s dependency on an informal cash economy and its inability to elect a president because of conflict among political factions.
CAIRO — Attempting to enhance the timeless, classical pyramids — good luck next time: Visitors walk past “Padma/Pulse and Bloom” artwork of Indian artist Shilo Shiv Suleman during “Forever Is Now” contemporary art exhibition at the historical site of the Giza Pyramids, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. The Grand Egyptian Museum, which has been under construction for more than a decade, will open 12 halls with exhibits about ancient Egypt in its main galleries starting this week in a trial run before a grand opening date that has not yet been determined.
The museum is actually the fruit of a collaboration between Egypt and Japan and one of the foremost symbols of bilateral cooperation between these two nations, according to Egypt’s State Information Service. The Japan International Cooperation Agency “JICA” provided financial support through development aid loans totaling approximately $800 million.
MINNESOTA — A father and son moment experienced by few: Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, high-fives his son, Gus Walz, a first-time voter, as they cast their ballots during early voting at the Ramsey County Elections office in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. The governor reportedly stood with Gus as they fed their ballots into the tabulation machine. An election worker called out “first-time voter,” and the room erupted in cheers. The governor and son then high-fived each other.
Minnesota started early in-person voting on Sept. 20, but the governor has been on the campaign trail most of the time since Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate. Tim and Gwen Walz also voted early at the same office in 2022, when they were joined by their daughter, Hope, who at the time was voting for her first time.
COLOMBIA — Lower water levels in drought allow fishing the old-fashioned way: Marciano Flores, from the Cocama Indigenous community, fishes in the low levels of the Amazon River on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Fish is the Cocama community’s main source of food, so the Amazon’s low water levels could reach a crisis level. Flores told reporters that he had never seen the Amazon so low, and the men’s nets came up empty before they relocated downriver and were then able to catch a few small fish. A declining catch is forcing Flores to sense the sweet spots for fishing the river each day, costing him more fuel to get there.
The Cocama of Columbia, Peru and Brazil have participated in the Indigenous Cocama people Intercultural Bilingual Education Teacher Training Program, which seeks to remedy a balance between Western and local input to school curricula, according to the Peoples of the World Foundation. One accomplishment has been the trend toward a policy of teaching Cocama as a second language in many schools. Earlier generations have also been fluent in Spanish.
PHILIPPINES — Nature’s revenge — flooding brings volcanic mud: A resident walks beside a truck buried by volcanic mud that flowed down from Mayon volcano after heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Trami hit Guinobatan town, Albay province, Philippines on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Torrential rain from an approaching tropical storm swamped the eastern Philippines with widespread flooding that killed at least nine people and trapped others on their roofs. The storm’s wide rain band could dump up to 8 inches of rainwater in one day of extreme downpours in the most vulnerable provinces on its path, state forecasters told the AP.
Trami was forecast to hit Isabela’s coast Wednesday night to early Thursday, then barrel across northern Luzon before exiting to the South China Sea late Thursday.
RUSSIA — ‘Then it’s agreed — you’ll do the social media blitz in the American election in the next two weeks’: Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speak during Outreach/BRICS Plus format session at BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was the closing speaker, said that “time has come to stop the injustice” as he and other Arab leaders discussed the complex conflicts convulsing the Middle East. Before that, China’s President Xi Jinping, on Wednesday, emphasized the need to avoid an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. The three-day BRICS conference was a meeting of nations with developing economies, mostly part of the Global South.
NORTH CAROLINA — With 20 minutes left in the game, new Trump leads old Trump by two points: Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Greensboro Coliseum, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
Trump began by asking his audience if they’re better off now than they were four years ago. He also personally attacked Vice President Harris and expressed derogatory opinions about the work ethics of Black people.