Picture News
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AFP/File - Tue Aug 23,12:33 PM ET
Portuguese firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire in Carreira do Mato. Nearly 3,000 firefighters and soldiers battled dozens of wildfires which continued to rage in parched Portugal.(AFP/File/Francisco Leong) -
AFP/File - Tue Aug 23,12:33 PM ET
Canadair firefighting aircraft drops its load over a wildfire in Carreira do Mato, 180 Km north east of Lisbon. Nearly 3,000 firefighters and soldiers backed by aircraft from five European nations battled wildfires which raged in parched Portugal.(AFP/File/Francisco Leong) -
AFP/File - Tue Aug 23, 3:01 PM ET
A young girl waits for private water vendors to open the tap in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. As African nations grapple with long-neglected issues of sanitation and hygiene, their efforts are bogged down by cultural taboos, lack of government focus and stark poverty, an international water conference heard.(AFP/File/Marco Longari) -
Water-bombs away
A French water-dropping aircraft unloads over a burning forest in Portugal on Tuesday responding to the country's appeals for help to battle widfires that have already razed 140,000ha of land. EU states like Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have also sent help. -- AP -
Resisting removal
Some 10,000 Israeli troops stormed the settlements of Sanur and Homesh on Tuesday to evacuate the remaining extremists opposed to Israel's first dismantling of West Bank settlements. Security forces had expected resistance there to be the strongest as militants had infiltrated both strongholds. -- AFP -
Building down
A four-storey residential building in India's flood-hit city of Mumbai collapsed early on Tuesday killing 11 people and trapping more than a dozen others. Building collapses during the monsoon season are not uncommon in Mumbai, where more than 16,000 dilapidated buildings have been declared unsafe. -- AFP -
llama on the lose
Runaway llama, Bonnie, led Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Buxton on a mid-speed chase through a cemetery in Springfield, Ohio, on Monday morning. The llama was caught safely about two hours later. -- AP -
Industry in crisis
Africa's aquaculture industry, which employs some 10 million people, is facing a crisis. Over-fishing and lack of investment have threatened the survival of the industry as fish stocks there continue to dwindle even as numbers are increasing globally. -- AP -
Exotic finds
These snakes are two of the 39 reptiles confiscated from the luggage of a Japanese man at Brisbane International airport on Monday. He was charged with trying to smuggle exotic South-east Asian reptiles - including green tree pythons, albino pythons, iguanas, frilled-neck dragons, slider turtles and tree monitors - in his cabin bag, speaker boxes and food containers. -- AFP -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Jobseekers' drawcard
The town of Victoria Falls is known as one of Africa's top tourist attractions. But now, nearby Chinotimba township has become one of the places worst affected by the Zimbabwe government's crackdown illegal structures and informal traders.
Zimbabweans had come to Victoria Falls to look for jobs, believing that the tourist industry would keep the town afloat as the rest of the economy slowed down. Many had built houses which the government deemed to be illegal. -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Income lost
Sarah was among those who had built an outbuilding behind her house. The money that she raised from renting out rooms supplemented her income as a street trader. She used this money to support her unemployed husband, her own two children, and the three children of her sister who died last year after a long illness.
"They told us on Sunday that the demolition would start on Tuesday," Sarah says. "Then it started early on Monday morning so people didn't have time to pack their things." -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Destruction
"I had a three-room cottage destroyed, because they said we had no plans. The police told us to destroy the cottage while they stood there with baton sticks.
"In September the schools are opening – I don't know where we'll get the fees from. All five children need fees. My husband doesn't work – I used to sell vegetables and drinks but now I can't. The municipal police will stop me from selling if I try again. "We eat only porridge in the morning, and sadza (maize porridge) at night." -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Cramped
The family and their former lodgers are now squeezed into the one small two-bedroom house. President Mugabe's image can be seen on the television.
"I liked him when he got us independence but now he has dumped us," says Sarah's husband, Joshua.
"They are doing this to show their power and authority. In a poor country do you destroy first and then build – or first build new houses before you destroy.
"Human beings have failed us - we are looking to our creator." -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Tourism hit
Tourists are trickling back to Victoria Falls, but tourism has not yet recovered from the blow it took when foreigners saw television pictures of white Zimbabwean farmers being evicted by government supporters.
"In the past people saw Vic Falls as a good place to get a job," Sarah says. "Then there was a time when we had almost no visitors for two or three years."
It was the newcomers who were the worst hit by the demolitions, since they now have nowhere else to go. -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Out in the cold
Two months later, people still sleep in the open.
"I had lived here for five years," says Samuel. "We just came here to do a job. I worked for myself, selling fruits, onions and tomatoes. Now they say I am loitering, and if the police see me I have to pay.
"I have a wife and one child in Lupane (300 km away). There you can't even find soap to wash your hands."
What will happen when the rain starts?
"ItÂ’s going to be hard. IÂ’ll go under the trees." -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Hand-outs
Charities are helping out with blankets and clothes for those who lost their homes and possessions.
"Foreigners can help by sending things," Sarah says.
But, more important than hand-outs, she feels she deserves compensation from the government.
"I don't know if we'll get compensation but I don't think so. -
Demolitions hit Victoria Falls
Moving out
"So many of my friends were affected," Sarah says.
"So many left for villages. There they are working for those who own houses. Some used to send money back (to their home villages) but they can no longer do this." -
AFP/DDP - Tue Aug 23, 3:12 PM ET
Two women stand on a street flooded by the Alles river in Murnau, southern Germany. Heavy rains triggered severe flooding in southern Germany overnight and authorities warned that worse was still to come.(AFP/DDP/Joerg Koch) -
AFP - Tue Aug 23, 3:12 PM ET
A firefigher gets protection behind a wall during from a wildfire in Miranda do Corvo, near Coimbra, 200 Km north of Lisbon. Nearly 3,000 firefighters and soldiers backed by aircraft from five European nations on Tuesday battled wildfires which raged in parched Portugal, while police found the charred body an elderly woman near her rural home, emergency services said.(AFP/Francisco Leong) -
AFP/DDP - Tue Aug 23, 3:12 PM ET
A woman stands on a bridge and looks at the floodwaters of the Lech river in Schongau, southern Germany. Heavy rains triggered severe flooding in southern Germany overnight and authorities warned that worse was still to come.(AFP/DDP/Johannes Simon) -
AFP - Tue Aug 23, 3:12 PM ET
A fire-fighting aircraft drops water on a raging fire near the village of Bouleterne, in the Tet valley near Perpignan. Some 1,600 hectates (3,700 acres) of holm oaks and scrubland were already destroyed by the blaze.(AFP/Georges Gobet) -
AFP - Tue Aug 23, 3:26 PM ET
A crowd gather at the site of a collapsed building in Mumbai. At least 11 people were killed and some others believed to be trapped under rubble after a four-storey building in India's flood-hit city of Mumbai collapsed, police said.(AFP/Indranil Mukherjee) -
AFP - Wed Aug 24, 8:03 AM ET
A Portuguese villager uses a garden hose to fight a wildfire in Miranda do Corvo. Record flooding in central Europe claimed more lives and threatened to engulf further regions, as firefighters in Portugal and Spain battled forest blazes.(AFP/Francisco Leong) -
AFP/File - Wed Aug 24, 8:06 AM ET
Romanian villagers watch as a dam collapses after a flash flood of the Siret river in July 2005. Seven people died and eight were reported missing after heavy rains battered central areas of Romania overnight.(AFP/File/Daniel Mihailescu) -
AFP - Wed Aug 24, 8:10 AM ET
A fire-fighting helicopter fills its water tank during a wildfire in Miranda do Corvo. People watched in silence as helicopters and planes dropped water on an advancing wall of flames in Portugal.(AFP/Francisco Leong)