AFP UK

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (AFP) – Timelapse of the crescent moon passing by and superimposing over the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. IMAGES

Weltraum (AFP) – The first humans to take a spaceflight directly over Earth’s polar regions share images of Antarctica from an altitude of 460 kilometres. Mission commander Chun Wang shared the video on his X account after SpaceX launched “Fram2”, a days-long, privately funded orbital mission involving four astronauts.

Sagaing (Myanmar) (AFP) – Hundreds of people in Myanmar’s Sagaing line up for vital aid after the city was ravaged six days ago by a deadly earthquake. Sagaing lies just 14 kilometres (8.6 miles) from the epicentre of the quake, which flattened buildings across the country and killed at least 3,000 people.

Washington (AFP) – Countries have vowed to hit back at US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs onslaught, as markets tumble over fears his trade war would damage the world economy. Trump spared almost no nation on his “Liberation Day”, hitting friends and foes alike and reserving some of the harshest tariffs for major trade partners, including the EU and China.

Cannes (AFP) – Val Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original “Top Gun”, has died of pneumonia aged 65 after a career of memorable hits and on-set bust ups.

Nikosia (AFP) – The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Deputy Special Adviser on Cyprus, Colin Stewart, hosts a meeting for Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, in the buffer zone of the divided island. The meeting comes after talks on March 18 in Geneva that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said brought the first meaningful progress in years towards healing Cyprus’s divisions.

Paris (AFP) – Like the action in his widely acclaimed new film “Hard Truths”, veteran British director Mike Leigh swings between gratitude and despair as he reflects on his life and career. The 82-year-old is aware of the great fortune he has had to make more than a dozen films over a glittering five-decade run, including “Secrets and Lies” and “Vera Drake”.

Peking (AFP) – China warns Taiwan that “punishment will not stop” until its leaders stop pushing for what Beijing says is independence from the mainland. “We will never allow anyone, any force, in any way to separate Taiwan from China,” says foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun as China’s military holds a second day of drills around the island.

Tangail (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Bangladeshi Junayed Akter is one of 35 million children — around 60 percent of all children in the South Asian nation — with dangerously high levels of lead, leaving him with the diminutive stature of someone several years younger. The causes are varied, but his mother blames his condition on a now-shuttered factory that hastily scrapped and recycled old car batteries for profit, poisoning the air and soil of their small village in the process. As informal battery recycling thrives in Bangladesh, millions of people remain unaware of the risks of lead exposure.

Naypyidaw (Myanmar) (AFP) – Five days after a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar, rescuers pull a man alive from the ruins of a hotel in the capital Naypyidaw. The 26-year-old hotel worker was extracted by a joint Myanmar-Turkish team.

Grindavík (Iceland) (AFP) – Lava spews from a crater row on the outskirts of the Icelandic fishing village of Grindavik. The village in southwest Iceland was evacuated after the volcanic eruption, the eighth to hit the region since the end of 2023.

Dutse (Nigeria) (AFP) – Thousands come together for the traditional Durbar festival, recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in the city of Dutse, northern Nigeria. The festival is cancelled for the second time in a row in its origin city of Kano, due to a legal tussle between two rival royals contesting the emir’s throne. Nigeria’s traditional rulers have no constitutional powers but are important cultural custodians, wielding enormous influence that is crucial for politicians.