Baghdad (AFP) – Twice a week, a small football pitch in Iraq offers the 25-member national squad of little people a chance to dream big. Omar Abdel Rahman’s team has set its sights on an ambitious goal: to travel to Argentina for their first international tournament.
Berlin (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who leaves office next week, makes a renewed plea for vaccination against Covid-19 in the latest in a series of more than 600 podcasts in which she has made a habit of addressing her fellow citizens directly.
Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) – Gambians are casting their ballots in the first presidential election in the tiny West African nation since former dictator Yahya Jammeh fled into exile. Jammeh ruled for 22 years after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994, before being forced into exile in January 2017 after Adama Barrow, then a relative unknown, defeated him at the ballot box.
Abidjan (AFP) – Changing the way society looks at disability is the challenge that some twenty disabled models in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, have taken up by stepping onto the podium.
Seoul (AFP) – An aquatic Santa swims with the fish and performs tricks for visitors at an aquarium in South Korean capital Seoul in a bid to bring festive cheer amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
Kiev (AFP) – During an address to parliament, Ukraine’s Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov says that Russia will likely be ready for a potential large-scale attack on the country in late January. Western powers have been sounding the alarm for weeks about Russia gathering troops along the border with Ukraine, further stoking tensions in an area where a long-running conflict has already left 13,000 dead.
Vienna (AFP) – Austria’s ruling OeVP party has nominated Interior Minister Karl Nehammer to lead the country, hoping to draw a line under corruption allegations that cost Sebastian Kurz the top job two months ago. The president is expected to accept Nehammer’s nomination and set a date for the swearing-in.
Lagos (AFP) – The dress code is plastic bottles and the dance floor is the street – welcome to a ‘slum party’, a yearly dance performance which seeks to bring cheer to Orowonshoki, one of the poorer districts of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital.
Pidgirtsi (Ukraine) (AFP) – Mountains of overflowing and noxious garbage at Landfill No.5 outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev are plaguing residents. Covering 63 hectares (156 acres), the sprawling dump outside Kiev is one of the largest in Ukraine and part of a network of more than 6,100 landfills.
Kabul (AFP) – Haji Mirzaman was just a teenager when he started taking photos using a homemade wooden box camera in his cousin’s studio in downtown Kabul. Now in his 70s, he says the instant camera has survived wars, invasions and a Taliban ban on photography, but is now in danger of disappearing due to the digital age.
Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli police commander Doron Turjeman hails the “sharp” reaction of the Jerusalem district police after a gunman opened fire in the Old City of Jerusalem, killing one person and wounding three others.
Riyadh (AFP) – Members of the Saudi national women’s team train with their coach at a Riyadh stadium as Saudi Arabia’s launch of its first women’s football league on Monday will clear the way for girls who dream of turning professional — and maybe even playing in a World Cup.
