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.
Niscemi (Italy) (AFP) – Police are going door to door in the Sicilian town of Niscemi, making sure residents are not returning without authorisation, as the off-limits ‘red zone’ has been extended following a large landslide. “Today the unknown is how it will evolve,” says Luigi D’Angelo, emergency manager for the department of Civil Protection. “There are serious risks that it could continue to collapse.”
Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – EU foreign ministers are expected to agree to put Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the bloc’s “terrorist list” after a deadly crackdown on mass protests, says the EU’s foreign policy chief. “If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist,” Kaja Kallas tells journalists ahead of the ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
Washington (United States) (AFP) – Rap icon Nicki Minaj declares she is Donald Trump’s “number one fan,” adding that “hate” directed at the US president makes her support him more. Republican Trump calls the provocative singer-songwriter up on stage at an event in Washington, DC, after she announced her support for so-called “Trump Accounts,” which provide trust funds for children.
Beijing (AFP) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer takes a tour of China’s historic Forbidden City during a visit to the capital Beijing, following a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping. The Forbidden City was the heart of imperial China for more than 500 years and remains laden with symbolism of its powerful past. IMAGES
Chongqing (China) (AFP) – Quadriplegic and confined to a medicalised portable cabin in the Chinese countryside, 36-year-old Li Xia can only move one finger and one toe, which he uses to manage a high-tech farm. Li suffers from an incurable genetic disease that progressively weakens hismuscles, and he relies on an artificial respirator to survive. But despite his condition, he grows celery with the help of his 62-year-old mother.
Aboard Oceanxplorer (Indonesia) (AFP) – AFP reports from OceanXplorer, a high-tech marine research vessel owned by billionaire-backed non-profit OceanX, as it studies seamounts off Indonesia. The ship pairs advanced scientific research with high-end media content to make marine biology and conservation accessible. OceanXplorer boasts labs for genetic sequencing, a helicopter for aerial surveys and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of descending up to 6,000 metres (19,700 feet) under the ocean surface.
Deir el-Balah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Hamas has completed its preparations to hand over files to the national technocratic government as soon as it enters the Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem tells AFP during an interview in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. The 15-member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) is a team of Palestinian technocrats created as part of the US-sponsored ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on October 10.
