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Nairobi (AFP) – “There’s a strong indication” that the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have “committed large atrocities in El-Fasher and beyond,” says the UN’s Under-Secretary General and Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Chaloka Beyani. Speaking in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Beyani says both the RSF and Sudan’s army, alongside their allied militias, “have committed serious and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.” Since breaking out in April 2023, the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 12 million more, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presses the US for details on security guarantees to prevent another Russian invasion. Speaking in Brussels, at a crunch summit of EU leaders, Zelensky says “there’s a question I still can’t get an answer to… about all the security guarantees.” The EU is scrambling to bolster Kyiv, as US President Donald Trump pushes for a deal with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the fighting. A key focal point of the talks is the right to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, a move Belgium is opposed to.

Sydney (AFP) – Mourners gather in Sydney for the funeral of a 10-year-old girl killed in the Bondi Beach shooting. Matilda, whose family have asked for their surname to be kept private, was one of 15 people killed in the attack, Australia’s deadliest mass shooting since 1996. On Sunday, 14 December, two gunmen opened fire on crowds at a beachside Hanukkah festival. In the wake of the attack, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to crack down on extremism and eradicate the “evil of antisemitism.”

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Hundreds of tractors clog the streets of Brussels as European farmers protest against EU plans for a trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur. The agreement, if signed, would create the world’s largest free-trade area, but the EU’s farmers are worried that they could be undercut by the flow of cheaper products. Thousands of farmers were expected in the Belgian capital, some from neighbouring France, where opposition to the Mercosur deal is widespread. “We’re here to say no to Mercosur,” says Belgian dairy farmer Maxime Mabille.

Beijing (AFP) – China tells the United States to “immediately stop” arming Taiwan, after Taipei said Washington had approved the sale of $11 billion of weapons to the island. “China urges the United States to abide by the one-China principle,” says foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, adding that the move “gravely undermines China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

New Delhi (AFP) – New Delhi lies shrouded in smog, as cooler winter air keeps pollutants near to ground level in the Indian capital. The city, with its sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents, is regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals.

Kandahar (Afghanistan) (AFP) – On any Friday, when the Afghan weekend begins, dozens of drivers gather in the Kandahar desert to charge their SUVs up steep ochre dunes, kicking up rooster tails of sand to the delight of spectators.

Dhaka (AFP) – Police in Bangladesh stop a group of protesters marching towards the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. They’re angry about India’s influence in Bangladesh and demand the return of Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country after being overthrown in August 2024, ending her 15-year autocratic rule.

Brasília (AFP) – Brazil’s Senate passes bill to cut former President Jair Bolsonaro’s sentence from 27 to 2 years for coup plot attempt. Bolsonaro, 70, began a 27-year prison sentence in November, and under current rules was expected to serve at least eight years behind bars before becoming eligible for a looser regime. IMAGES

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is preparing to wage a new “year of war” on his country in 2026, after his counterpart Vladimir Putin said Moscow would “certainly” achieve its objectives. “Today, we heard yet another signal from Moscow that they are preparing to make next year a year of war,” Zelensky says in his regular evening address.

Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio (Italy) (AFP) – Hundreds of metres of dinosaur footprints have been discovered in the Italian Alps in a region that will host the 2026 Winter Olympics, according to authorities. The tracks, which are roughly 210-million-years-old, have been found in the Stelvio National Park, in an area between the towns of Bormio and Livigno. “They were bipedal with long necks and small heads, herbivores that walked in large herds,” says Cristiano Dal Sasso, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum of Milan, adding that they were up to 10 metres long and weighed as much as 4 tons.

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says the bloc must make a decision on financing Ukraine at a crunch summit this week, with leaders under pressure to agree on a plan to use frozen Russian assets. “There is no more important act of European defence than supporting Ukraine’s defence,” von der Leyen tells EU lawmakers.