Equateur (AFP) – Smoke billows from Ecuador’s main refinery, located in the city of Esmeraldas on the Pacific coast, which caught fire for the second time in eight months, with no casualties reported so far, according to state-owned company Petroecuador. IMAGES
Beijing (AFP) – Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer hails “real progress” on issues including visa-free travel and whisky tariffs during his visit to Beijing, where he met Chinese leader Xi Jinping the day before. Starmer says the delegation gained “really important access, symbolic of what we’re doing with the relationship,” while attending a UK-China Business Forum event in the capital.
Ksar El Kebir (Morocco) (AFP) – Residents are being evacuated in trucks and horse-drawn carriages as overflow from the Loukkos River floods a neighbourhood in northern Morocco. The flooding comes after heavy rains in Ksar El Kebir, a city about 160km northeast of the capital Rabat.
Washington (United States) (AFP) – Melania Trump premieres her new movie promising a behind-the-scenes glimpse at her husband’s return to power — a documentary funded by an extraordinary multi-million-dollar deal with Amazon. “It’s my life so you will see everything, a lot of emotions,” teases the first lady, alongside her husband, President Donald Trump, from the red carpet screening at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center in Washington.
Caracas (AFP) – Venezuelan lawmakers adopt a bill that throws its oil industry open to private investors, in line with US demands following the toppling of leader Nicolas Maduro. One hour after the law’s passing, the United States eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, expanding the ability of US companies to operate in the country which holds a fifth of the world’s oil reserves. Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez hails the reform as a “historical leap.”
Istanbul (AFP) – Speaking after bilateral talks in Turkey, Iran’s foreign minister says his country is “ready to begin negotiations if they take place on an equal footing, based on mutual interests and mutual respect.” Turkey, seeking to play a “facilitating” role between the US and Iran, urges the US to restart talks over a possible nuclear deal and to avoid attacking Iran as the US sends naval ships in its direction.
Santa Clara (United States) (AFP) – A man dressed in a Batman costume angrily confronts his city council in Santa Clara, California, over immigration enforcement, demanding they take concrete action to block cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ahead the Super Bowl in the city on February 8. “Batman” tells the court he is “not begging” but “demanding” the council to act, urging officials to put policies in writing to prevent local officers from cooperating with ICE or allowing the agency access to city resources and data.
San José (AFP) – Costa Rican right-wing candidate Laura Fernandez holds her final rally in San Jose ahead of the February 1st vote. Fernandez appears set to win Costa Rica’s presidential election in the first round, according to two opinion polls. IMAGES
Caracas (AFP) – Government supporters take part in a march called by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in support of the Hydrocarbons Law in Caracas. The hydrocarbons bill currently before the National Assembly stipulates that private companies located in Venezuela would be able to extract oil without having to enter a joint venture with the state oil company PDVSA, which insisted on a majority stake. IMAGES
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Volunteers from the Starenki foundation deliver food and essentials to the elderly while Russia steps up its strikes against Ukraine’s power and heating infrastructure, plunging Kyiv residents into darkness and cold as temperatures drop as low as -20C.
Minneapolis (United States) (AFP) – A core of Minneapolis activists is playing a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the federal agents deployed in force to the midwestern city to round up undocumented immigrants. Using encrypted messaging apps and mapping software, the volunteers — several of them military veterans — seek to shadow the federal officers as they comb the city for immigrants, to share their whereabouts and document arrests.
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (AFP) – Helicopters from the Spanish Air and Space Force’s ASPA patrol perform an aerial display over Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro to mark the centenary of the 1926 Plus Ultra flight, the first single-aircraft crossing of the South Atlantic from Spain to South America.
