AFP UK

Moskau (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin announces the first permanent head of the country’s drone forces, during a meeting with top Defence Ministry officials.

Taipeh (AFP) – Taiwanese soldiers participate in the first day of the largest military drills of the year as the island democracy attempts to prepare its population for a potential Chinese invasion. The annual “Han Kuang” exercise, which runs from August 5-14, stages combat scenarios for troops and reservists to practise responding to an attack on the island, defence officials say.

Tangerang (AFP) – CCTV footage shows the moment Indonesian custom officials discover drugs in the suitcase of a Malaysian pilot after he flew a passenger plane to Jakarta on July 28. The pilot tested positive for meth, MDMA and cocaine — and is accused of smuggling more than 70,000 ecstasy tablets in his suitcase.

Dunedin (AFP) – Jo Galer, a local councillor in Dunedin on New Zealand’s south island, joins a high-stakes meeting from a bathroom, her laundry clearly visible in the background — prompting comments from the city’s mayor Sophie Barker.

(AFP) – Japanese product designer Satoshi Nakagawa has worked out a way to harness electrical current naturally present in everything from food to soil. While he knows that the dribble of power is too tiny to power anything more than a tiny LED, Nakagawa insists that the technology has a serious role to play. “As the population moves toward 10 billion, energy issues will become just as critical as food issues,” he tells AFP from his lab in Ibaraki. “In that kind of situation, even if it’s just a small contribution, I want people to be able to produce their own electricity.”

Prag (AFP) – At Prague Zoo, polar bears and gorillas nibble on ice cream and roll around in piles of snow as a second heatwave of the summer reaches its peak, with national temperatures hitting a near-record 41.5 degrees. Polar bear twins Gregor and Aleut receive up to three tonnes of ice on such days, while they munch on ice cream filled with apples, carrots, mackerel and salmon. The zoo’s gorillas, for their part, like their ice cream — also sweetened with fruit — to be suspended down to them on a rope.

Kathmandu (Nepal) (AFP) – Hundreds of Nepalis hold a candlelight vigil honouring 10 climbers killed in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, as rescuers battled treacherous conditions to recover the remaining bodies.

Miryang (AFP) – Cracks cover the bottom of Baeken reservoir in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, after the east Asian country recorded its hottest-ever temperatures over the weekend. The country’s summer heat has killed 19 people so far this year, a government health agency said on Tuesday.

Santiago (AFP) – Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who played a key role in Cape Verde’s fairytale World Cup run, receives a hero’s welcome in Santiago as he officially becomes a new player for Colo-Colo. “I’m really happy to be here. It’s a great honour to represent Colo-Colo,” Vozinha tells reporters. Vozinha starred at the World Cup with heroic displays in a 0-0 group-stage draw against eventual champions Spain and in a 3-2 extra-time loss to finalists Argentina in the knock-out rounds.

Tokio (AFP) – In the sweltering heat of Tokyo, Hiroto Uchida “keeps pushing through,” delivering parcels around the Japanese capital. “When I first started, I felt like I was going to collapse,” says the worker from Sagawa, one of Japan’s largest delivery companies, as he toils through the country’s hottest summer on record.

Cherson (AFP) – Footage released by Ukrainian police shows a civilian man being pursued by a drone in a marketplace in the southern city of Kherson. The images, which have not been authenticated by AFP, show a man in dark clothing running around a vehicle, trying to escape a remotely-piloted FPV drone, which follows him before detonating its explosive charge. According to police, the 52-year-old man survived, but suffered injuries and a concussion.

Gaza (AFP) – Palestinians in Gaza City hold a mass funeral for more than 100 people whose remains were recovered from the rubble after nearly three years of war. An October ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Hamas, but it has not halted the violence. At least 1,214 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.