Altadena (United States) (AFP) – Rampaging wildfires around Los Angeles have killed at least two people, officials said Wednesday as terrifying blazes leveled whole streets, torching cars and houses in minutes.
Damascus (AFP) – Syrians at Damascus airport greet relatives with tears of joy, while others dance and sing and carry balloons and flowers, as international flights resume at Syria’s main airport for the first time since the toppling of president Bashar al-Assad last month.
Altadena (États-Unis) (AFP) – Flames engulf houses in Altadena, north of Los Angeles, as multiple wildfires erupt around America’s second-largest city, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Las Vegas (AFP) – With no one in the driver seat, a Vay car resembles an autonomous robotaxi but is built around remote driving, where a human is sitting in an office using TV monitors to guide the car. The German startup is demonstrating its technology ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s most important tech show.
Paris (AFP) – When asked about the controversial rallies in France celebrating the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen, French government spokesperson Sophie Primas evokes words she says were used by the far-right figurehead himself: “In death, even the enemy has the right to respect”.
Vatikanstadt (AFP) – Pope Francis watches circus artists perform after giving a speech during his general audience at the Holy See. The show includes acrobatics, dance and a couple of elephant costumes.
Brüssel (AFP) – The EU rejects Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg’s charge that the bloc engaged in “censorship” with its tech regulations, a day after the online giant slashed its content moderation policies in the United States. “We absolutely refute any claims of censorship on our side,” European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho tells reporters in Brussels.
Brasilia (AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets crowds outside the Planalto presidential palace after the end of the ceremony held on the anniversary of the attack by supporters of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro on January 8, 2023. This was Lula’s first notable appearance since undergoing emergency brain surgery on December 2024.
Gurgaon (AFP) – Carterpuri, or the “village of Carter”, was abruptly renamed from Daulatpur Nasirabad after an hour-long visit by the late US president Jimmy Carter in 1978. The renaming was suggested by India’s then-prime minister Morarji Desai, who accompanied Carter on the visit to the small hamlet, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from New Delhi. As news of Jimmy Carter’s death reached the village, residents paid their respects by hosting a condolence meeting.
Panama City (AFP) – Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez Acha welcomes Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia at the Presidential palace in Panama City. Gonzalez Urrutia is due to hold a meeting with Panama President Jose Raul Mulino. Venezuela is on tenterhooks as it braces for pro- and anti-government protests — the eve of President Nicolas Maduro’s swearing-in for a third term rejected by the opposition and much of the international community as illegitimate. Exiled Gonzalez Urrutia is on an international tour to drum up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to step aside. IMAGES
Pacific Palisades (United States) (AFP) – A ferocious wildfire in the upscale Los Angeles suburb of Pacific Palisades burned buildings and sparked evacuations Tuesday, as hurricane-force winds tore through the region.
Caluire-et-Cuire (AFP) – To mark the tenth anniversary of the January 2015 attacks in France, cartoonist Lacombe talks to AFP about the “shock” of the deadly attack by Islamist gunmen on the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people died in the attacks, including eight editorial staff, while a separate but linked hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris by a third gunman on January 9, 2015, claimed another four lives.
