Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Leo XIV thanks the people of the Canary Islands for welcoming a cruise ship carrying passengers infected with hantavirus, ahead of his planned visit to the islands next month.
London (AFP) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vows to stay on and “rebuild” after his ruling Labour party suffered a historic drubbing in local and regional elections. “I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos,” he says.
Budapest (AFP) – Large crowds gather outside the Hungarian parliament building to celebrate the official inauguration of Peter Magyar as prime minister. Attendees include the incoming Health Minister Zsolt Hegedus, who went viral for his dancing on the night of the country’s April election. Magyar’s Tisza party won April’s election by a landslide, winning 141 of parliament’s 199 seats, ousting nationalist Viktor Orban after 16 years.
Moscow (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin says the war in Ukraine is “heading to an end”, blasting Western countries for helping Ukraine. This comes after a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow, which saw security measured ramped up and celebrations downsized after a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks in recent weeks.
Granadilla de Abona (Spain) (AFP) – Everyone on the hantavirus-hit ship is a “high-risk contact” and must be monitored says Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director during a briefing in Geneva. However, “the risk to the general public is low. The risk to the people in the Canary Islands is low,” she says.
Moscow (AFP) – Police cordons and authorities block traffic with trucks near the Kremlin and Red Square hours before Russia’s annual Victory Day parade begins in Moscow. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to uphold a three-day ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump while Russia holds the parade on Saturday, though the event was set to be scaled back over security fears. IMAGES
San José (AFP) – The right-wing politician Laura Fernandez assumes the presidency of Costa Rica. At a mass event in the National Stadium in San Jose, the 39-year-old political scientist was sworn in for a four-year term after handily winning the February 1 elections, thanks to the popularity of her mentor, outgoing president Rodrigo Chaves. IMAGES
San José (AFP) – Costa Rica’s President-elect Laura Fernandez arrives to the National Stadium on her inauguration day. Fernandez, 39, is the political heir of outgoing president Rodrigo Chaves, who survived two impeachment attempts by Congress over corruption allegations. IMAGES
Houston (AFP) – In a Houston football league of big men shedding pounds, the five-a-side teams have names like OB City FC, Big Bananas and Heavy Touch FC. Originating in the United Kingdom, “Man v Fat Soccer” is a tongue-in-cheek league now thriving in Houston as the city prepares to host several World Cup matches.
Washington (AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he does not believe that US President Donald Trump — who is allied with Brazil’s far-right — would attempt to influence the presidential election in October.
Urtsadzor (AFP) – Bears Nairi, Aram and their cub Lola were kept in captivity in Armenia’s capital Yerevan and left living in their own faeces as their owners neglected them. After being rescued last year, they are now thriving at a wildlife refuge in the Caucasus country’s highlands, but others have not been so lucky. As many as 20 bears are thought to remain captive in Armenia — a post-Soviet country where oligarchs have been accused of keeping predators as status symbols.
Baabda (AFP) – More than half of Lebanon’s population depends on humanitarian aid, says EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib, as Israel continues its attacks on the country despite a ceasefire in the two-month-long war with militant group Hezbollah. “At present, more than three million people, meaning more than half of the population here in Lebanon, depend on humanitarian aid to survive,” Lahbib tells reporters after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.
