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MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - As dawn broke over Mosul on Thursday, worshippers knelt between piles of rubble while Eid al-Fitr prayers took place in the city’s oldest mosque for the first time since Islamic State was driven out of the area in 2017.
Groups of men entered silently and sat down to listen to Koranic recitals in the building, which dates back to the Umayyad period in the 7th century and remains largely in ruins following heavy fighting in Mosul’s Old City.
“The message is clear, the al-Masfi mosque is the Islamic epicentre and symbol of the area. It is not only Islamic, but also a symbol of the city,” said Ahmed Najem, a local academic, after prayers.
By Reuters Staff
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KAZAN, Russia (Reuters) - Mourners left toys and flowers on Wednesday in tribute at a Russian school where nine people, including seven children, were killed after a teenage gunman opened fire at a school.
The attack on Tuesday in the city around 450 miles (725 km) east of Moscow was the deadliest school shooting since 2018 when a student at a college in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 20 people.
“(I came here) because this is such a disaster . It’s impossible to just remain indifferent,” a woman who gave her name only as Albina said after coming to pay her respects at School Number 175.
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Pompoms rustle and silver shoes flash as “Japan Pom Pom” practices, moving to a lively cheer dance beat. With members ages 60 to 89, they’re no ordinary squad.
Fumie Takino, 89, founder of a senior cheer squad called Japan Pom Pom, and other members pose for commemorative photos before filming a dance routine for an online performance in Tokyo, Japan, April 12, 2021. It s dancing; moving your body is nice, Takino said. And the costumes are unbelievably showy. Some people join just so they can wear them. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
But don’t you dare call them grannies.
“Right at the start, we weren’t very happy about being called ‘granny cheer dancers,’” says Fumie Takino, the bubbly, energetic 89-year-old who founded Japan Pom Pom - average age, 72 years - more than 25 years ago.
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INDRAMAYU, Indonesia (Reuters) - Caked in mud up to their knees, a small group of Indonesian youngsters plant mangrove saplings along a stretch of exposed coastline next to the Java Sea under the watchful eye of local environmentalist Samsudin.
A former school teacher, Samsudin has now dedicated his life to conservation and uses puppetry and storytelling to spread his message to the young about the importance of protecting mangroves in an area suffering massive coastal erosion.
“To keep tides from hitting us, we plant mangroves, forests for animals and oxygen for us to live. I weave everything into my stories,” said Samsudin, 50, as he mused how some people in the area saw mangroves as a “nuisance” and would pull them out.
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FILE PHOTO: A relative wearing protective suit reacts while burying the body of a man who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a graveyard in Dhaka, Bangladesh, June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
DHAKA (Reuters) - The only graveyard dedicated to COVID-19 victims in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka is seeing a substantial increase in burials amid a fresh wave of infections that has forced the country into an extended lockdown.
The Rayerbazar graveyard, which sits on the outskirts of north Dhaka, is the only place COVID-19 victims have been buried since April 2020.
“Every day 15 to 20 bodies arrive at this graveyard for burial, and for these bodies we prepared all these graves in advance. Thousands of people are dying,” said Jasimuddin, the caretaker of Rayerbazar who goes by one name, after a burial on Wednesday.