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.
Sydney (AFP) – The coffin of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting, arrives at the Chabad of Bondi Synagogue in Sydney. Huge crowds are expected to pay their respects to Schlanger, the first of 15 victims to be laid to rest. IMAGES
Paris (France) (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain have been ordered to pay former star striker Kylian Mbappe around 60 million euros ($70.60 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses by a labour court in Paris. The footballer’s lawyers hail the outcome a “long-awaited victory”.
The Hague (AFP) – Addressing the Dutch parliament ahead of a Council of Europe summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian President Vladimir Putin “publicly lied” when claiming Moscow’s forces had captured the city of Kupiansk. Russia said it had captured Kupiansk in November but Ukraine later claimed it had retaken several areas of the city in a “breakthrough” operation, prompting Zelensky to publish a video of him visiting the city’s outskirts on Friday.
Yerevan (AFP) – The lights on Yerevan’s main Christmas tree are lit as the festive season begins in Armenia. The Christian South Caucasus nation celebrates both New Year, a secular tradition inherited from Soviet times, as well as Orthodox Christmas on January 6.
Sydney (AFP) – Bondi Beach hero Ahmed al Ahmed, who put his life on the line by wresting a gun from an attacker in Australia’s deadly mass shooting, has become a source of pride for his hometown in Syria. “He had no motivation for doing this other than heroism and bravery”, says his uncle, outside his nephew’s house destroyed during the civil war.
London (AFP) – Richard Knighton, the new head of Britain’s armed forces, warns that more Britons will need to be ready to fight for their country due to an increasingly dangerous world. “We should be under no illusions that Russia is a massive, increasingly technically sophisticated, and now highly combat experienced, military,” says Knighton, calling for policymakers to better explain the threat to prepare society to bear the costs of potential conflict.
