Our world in photos: December 6
Brooklyn Eagle Staff
December 6, 2024
MASSACHUSETTS — ‘Yes, Virginia, cranberries do float’: Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. This bog is one of nearly 300 in Massachusetts that cover some 14,000 acres, reports the Associated Press. Farmers this year will be producing about 2.2 million barrels of cranberries (a barrel weighs about 100 pounds or 45 kilograms). That production reflects an increase of 12% over last year’s yield. The harvest runs from September through early November. Second-generation cranberry grower Steve Ward anticipates producing between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels, telling the Associated Press this is the best crop he has had in three years. About 80% of those berries will be sent to Ocean Spray, a major U.S. producer of cranberry products.
INDONESIA — Nature’s revenge — floods remind us of climate abuse, but also help expose our trash: A man wades through flood water following heavy downpours in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. Indonesian rescuers have recovered 20 bodies and are looking for two villagers who remain missing after flash floods on Sumatra island caused mud and rocks to tumble down mountainsides, officials told the Associated Press on Tuesday. Inadequate waste management is blamed on the sewage during flooding. Indonesia generates approximately 7.8 million tons of plastic waste annually, according to the World Bank Group. Only a small percentage of plastic is recycled, with much of it winding up in the archipelago nation’s waterways.
Rivers carry and discharge 83% of this plastic debris, which leaks into the marine environment from land-based sources; flooding worsens the debris and raises the risk of illness.
SEOUL — Tourism remains a key element in South Korean economy: Chan Yian from Taiwan holds her smartphone in the snow at the Gyeongbok Palace, one of South Korea’s well-known landmarks, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. According to the travel website VisitKorea, Gyeongbokgung Palace was built in 1395 as the official palace of the Joseon dynasty by Yi Seong-gye. He was the future King Taejo and founder of the new regime. Also known as the Northern Palace because it is situated in North Seoul, Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest of all five palaces.
The National Folk Museum of Korea, whose collection encompasses more than five millennia of Korean art, culture and history, makes its home at Gyeongbokgung Palace.
ISRAEL — Just hours before the ceasefire, rockets still flew: A rocket, fired from Lebanon during the night hours before the start of the ceasefire, sits wedged in the ground next to a damaged car in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. Israel’s intense bombing campaign killed more than 3,700 people, many of them civilians, including more than 200 children, Lebanese officials say. On the Israeli side, more than 130 people have been killed in the war.
The ceasefire deal, which the United States and France reportedly brokered and took effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, could end more than a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
JOHANNESBURG — Ahh, the occasional respite of childhood: A South African child plays along the banks of the Juksei river in the heart of Alexandra township in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. Schools in South Africa follow a year-round, four-term calendar starting January (which in the Southern Hemisphere is mid-summer). There is a four-week recess between Terms 2 and 3 (late June/late July) and between Term 4 and the new academic year’s Term 1.
One of the largest rivers in Johannesburg, the Juksei River, is the southernmost of the Crocodile River Basin. Although the predator reptile may have once dwelled in this body of water, the Juksei has become one of the most polluted, pathogen-infested rivers in South Africa. Environmental organizations like the Alexandra Water Warriors are working to mitigate the severity of the pollution.
BANGLADESH — Leader of minority Hindu population, approximately 8%, is led back to court: Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu shows a victory sign as he is taken in a police van after a court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. The country remains majority Muslim by more than 90%.
Prabhu, who is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Bangladesh, has fought for better security for Bangladesh’s Hindu minority and struck fear into Bangladesh’s government after crashing rallies.
BEIRUT — Human nature indicates ceasefire may be short-lived: A man celebrates carrying a picture of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. Nasrallah, who for three decades had been a dominant military and political force, was killed two months earlier (Sept. 28) in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon.
However, the ceasefire deal does not address the war in Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes overnight Tuesday to Wednesday attacked a school used as a shelter.
MUNICH — It’s popular, people pay to watch — why can’t sports replace war? PSG’s Marquinhos, right, tries to block a shot from Bayern’s Michael Olise during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between FC Bayern and Paris Saint Germain, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. Bayern Munich won the match 1-0, leaving Paris Saint-Germain precariously in danger of being eliminated, according to an analysis by the United Kingdom staff of The Athletic, The New York Times’ standalone coverage of sports.
PSG’s defeat in Munich leaves them 26th in the 36-team standings, not high enough in the top 12 to advance.
