🇮🇳 India's 'Tree Father' plants for a greener future Swami Prem Parivartan is known as India's 'tree father' for his decades-long mission to restore the country's vanishing green cover. His 'Give Me Trees' trust estimates it has planted or preserved 26 million trees, restoring vegetation across an area about 3.5 times the size of New York City.

🇳🇬 More than 80 people, mostly women, were missing Monday after being abducted by armed gangs in two separate weekend attacks in northern Nigeria, the latest mass kidnappings to rock the country. ➡️ u.afp.com/S9AQ

🌎 After 50,000 km, British round-the-world walker faces final hurdle After 28 years and 50,000 km, British adventurer Karl Bushby is facing one last hurdle in his bid to trek home from South America without using any form of transport -- the English Channel.

🏅 Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Carlos Alcaraz are all obsessed with it, and on Monday the fast-growing racquet sport of padel made its Asian Games debut with officials hoping a place at the Olympics is getting closer. ➡️ u.afp.com/S9QV

🇧🇹 Bhutan's solar push to help power new economic zone Bhutan has long relied on hydroelectric power to meet its electricity needs but the Kingdom is looking to solar energy to help power its development, including a new special economic zone known as the Gelephu Mindfulness City.

🇬🇧 British counter-terror police were probing whether Tehran was involved in a potential bomb threat near an air base used by the US military in its war against Iran, UK media reported Monday. ➡️ u.afp.com/S9AT

🇵🇪 Peruvian sculptors prepare giant monument for Leo XIV Sculptors and workers from a neighborhood in northern Lima are racing against the clock to finish a monument to Pope Leo XIV, which will be unveiled before the pontiff's visit to Peru, scheduled for November 11-16.

🇫🇷 🇻🇦 Pope Leo has arrived in the French border city of Metz to speak on the future of Europe, giving a distinctly political dimension to a landmark visit to France that has sparked scenes of spiritual jubilation. ➡️ u.afp.com/S9A5

🇪🇹 Ethiopian faithful celebrate Meskel festival with calls for end to conflict Thousands gather in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to mark the east African nation's Orthodox Church festival of Meskel.

🚕 Rebellious Afghan taxi drivers defy ban on music Taxi drivers in Afghanistan are turning on the tunes in their cars, defying a ban imposed by the Taliban government despite the fear of getting caught by morality police.

🇮🇩 Balinese villagers perform 'war of fire' festival The men of the village of Tuban in Bali, Indonesia, hurl burning coconut husks at each other during the annual 'Siat Geni' or 'war of fire' -- a long-standing tradition carried out to dispel spirits believed to bring misfortune.

Heavy rains have killed eight people in Thailand since mid-September, the government said Monday as Bangkok battled flooding for a fourth consecutive day, with at least eight more confirmed dead in neighbouring Myanmar u.afp.com/S9Qs

New Zealand police came to the rescue of a seal crossing a busy road, helping the perplexed pinniped pup back safely into the water. "When I joined police 15 months ago they said to be ready for anything, so I guess this demonstrates that's true!" said Constable Taylor, who escorted the pup u.afp.com/S9QJ

Three years after its first test flight, SpaceX's Starship rocket will attempt Monday to enter Earth's orbit. It is a key step in the development of the massive launch vehicle designed for future missions to the Moon and Mars u.afp.com/S9ME

'Pseudo-journalism': Partisan 'news' sites target US midterms 'Pink slime' outlets, many secretly backed by partisan groups, now outnumber US newspaper sites u.afp.com/S9MX

'Currently impossible': North Korea defections in freefall. The combined total of North Koreans to reach South Korea in the past six years is less than the number that typically defected each year for decades -- and appears to be declining further in 2026 u.afp.com/S9Q3

Pope Leo XIV calls on the Church to "heal the deep wounds, acts of unfaithfulness and painful mistakes committed within its ranks" during a large open-air Mass at the Lourdes sanctuary in France, without directly mentioning clerical sexual abuse. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 minors in France over 70 years

Taylor Swift is having another good year -- just months after her lavish wedding to Travis Kelce, the pop superstar made history by becoming the most awarded artist at the MTV Video Music Awards u.afp.com/S9Mz

Tense standoff over flashpoint Northern Ireland parade. Calls for calm as residents block a march by Protestant Orangemen through a Catholic area. It is one of the worst crises for Northern Ireland in recent years u.afp.com/S9Mx

South Korea demands apology from Ukraine for denying an agreement to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul confidential. Ukrainian President Zelensky disclosed last week that his country had sent two North Korean soldiers to South Korea, adding they were "not easy to capture alive" u.afp.com/S9MB