Cookie Settings AFP UK – Page 28 – Squid Videos

AFP UK

Kosovo lawyer shaves head over failure to constitute parliament

Pristina (AFP) – Renowned lawyer Arianit Koci shaves his head outside Kosovo’s assembly building in protest against MPs’ failure to elect a speaker and constitute a new parliament for the fiftieth consecutive time — continuing a political stalemate months after they were voted into office. The deadlock stems from the fact that outgoing Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s party Vetevendosje (VV), which topped the polls, did not win enough seats to have its choice for speaker installed. Observers fear the fractured political scene could result in a snap election if no government can be formed.

©AFP

Gentrification in Puerto Rico triggers displacement and anger

Rincon (AFP) – Gloria Cuevas thought she’d reside forever in Rincón, on Puerto Rico’s west coast, a destination favored by surfers and known for its gorgeous sunsets and beaches. But then, her landlord decided to transform the house into an Airbnb. Like many Puerto Ricans, she was forced out by the rising cost of living and an explosion of short-term rentals on the Caribbean island that’s also a hotspot for foreign investment and offers tax incentives to attract outsiders.

©AFP

EU has adopted ‘harshest’ Russia sanctions, says French FM in Kyiv

Kiew (AFP) – During a visit to Kyiv, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot says that the package of sanctions adopted against Russia last Thursday by the EU was “by far the harshest of the past three years”. The new sanctions include lowering the price cap on Russian crude oil exports which is now set at just over 45 dollars a barrel, 15% below the average market price of a Russian barrel.

©AFP

Syrian authorities evacuate Bedouin families from Sweida city

Busra al-Harir (AFP) – Syrian authorities evacuate Bedouin families from the Druze majority city of Sweida in the south after a ceasefire halted bloody clashes between the communities. The evacuees were headed for reception centres in neighbouring Daraa province and to the capital Damascus, in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The violence has left more than 1,100 dead, most of them Druze fighters and civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, whose toll also includes hundreds of government security personnel.

©AFP

Firefighters clear rubble after overnight Russian strike on Kyiv

Kiew (AFP) – Firefighters work to clear rubble the morning after Russian strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv that killed at least one person and left a shop and school on fire, according to city officials. “Rescuers have now completely extinguished the fire and are continuing to dismantle and cut away dangerous structures,” says Pavlo Petrov, a spokesperson for Kyiv’s state emergency service.

©AFP

Pope urges immediate end to ‘barbarity’ of Gaza war

Castel Gandolfo (Italy) (AFP) – Pope Leo XIV slams the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and urges for a “peaceful resolution of the conflict”, just days after a deadly strike by Israel’s military on a Catholic church. “I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war,” Leo says at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome.

©AFP

Ready. Steady. Slow: UK village hosts World Snail Racing Championships

Congham (United Kingdom) (AFP) – A village in Norfolk, England, hosts the 2025 World Snail Racing Championships during which dozens of entrants are seen off by a rented snail called Bilbo Sluggins. The tournament dates back to the 1960s with contestants sent off with the starting announcement of “Ready. Steady. Slow”.

©AFP

Downhill bike race takes over former violence hotspot in Caracas

Caracas (AFP) – Cyclists speed through the tangled alleys and staircases of one of Latin America’s largest slums, and Venezuela’s biggest. In Caracas’ Petare, home to 600,000 people and long plagued by gang violence, a downhill mountain bike race hopes initiatives like this will help the neighborhood shake off its reputation as a “dangerous” place.

©AFP

Berliners dance to iconic Kate Bush song on Wuthering Heights Day

Berlin (AFP) – Dozens of Kate Bush fans dressed in red dresses gather in a park in Germany’s capital Berlin to dance together to the British singer’s cult hit Wuthering Heights. This was just one of a number of similar events taking place across the world, a global tradition known as “The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever” which dates back to 2013.

©AFP

Close Bitnami banner
Bitnami