Pakistan, Madagascar, China.

Today's three stories you should know.

Pakistan

About 300,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province in just the last 48 hours after flood alerts issued by neighboring India. The region has been battered by torrential rain and flash flooding since the end of July, forcing a staggering 1.3 million from their homes. Entire villages have been submerged near the border with India and rivers have overflowed onto farmland. Thousands of rescuers are using boats and drones to locate people stranded on rooftops and the military has also been deployed in what is the largest rescue operation ever in Punjab, which straddles eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The floods are the worst since 2022 when climate change was blamed for flooding that killed nearly 1,700 people in Pakistan.

More from AP here.

Madagascar

Madagascar has held a ceremony to mark the return of three skulls belonging to people killed by French soldiers 128 years ago, including one believed to be the decapitated head of a king. President Andry Rajoelina received the skulls, carried in boxes draped with the Malagasy flag, at a mausoleum after they were driven through the capital Antananarivo. The skulls are thought to belong to King Toera of the Sakalava people and two of his soldiers. Later this week, they will take a four-day trip to the western area of Menabe, where they will be buried. The king’s skull is to join the rest of his skeleton, which lies in a tomb in Ambiky, where he was killed in 1897. It is the first such restitution from France since it passed a law in 2023 allowing the return of human remains plundered in colonial times.

More from France 24 here.

China

By now, you’ll have seen coverage of China’s mammoth military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. The guests of honor were Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an event widely seen as a signal that China wishes to create a new world order alongside its allies. So, given that, I thought it would be interesting to look at which other world leaders were there. With a deep breath, here is a list:

• Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

• Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

• Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni

• Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel

• Vietnamese President Luong Cuong

• Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian

• Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

• Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov

• Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith

• Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

• Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu

• Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh

• Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing

• Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli

• Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

• Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso

• Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

• Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico

• Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon

• Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdymukhamedov

• Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev

• Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa

And, exhale.

More from AP here.