Quito (AFP) – Vehicles leave the Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry premises as officials hold a meeting with the Colombian delegation on the tariff dispute, which has intensified in recent weeks. IMAGES
La Paz (AFP) – Exterior of the United States Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, as both countries coordinate the reinstatement of their ambassadors “as soon as possible” after nearly two decades without top diplomatic representatives in either country, Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo tells the AFP. IMAGES
Narva (Estonia) (AFP) – Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River, separating Estonia from Russia on Europe’s eastern edge. Once a symbol of cooperation, the ‘Friendship Bridge’ connecting the two snow-covered banks has been reinforced with rows of razor wire and anti-tank obstacles. “The name is kind of ironic,” senior border official Eerik Purgel tells AFP on the Estonian side of the border crossing, adding, “Maybe there should not be a bridge at all.”
Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The EU has told TikTok it needs to change the “addictive” design of its platform after it was found in breach of the bloc’s digital content rules, says the European Commission. “TikTok did not properly assess how its addictive features can harm users, and they did not implement effective measures to mitigate such risks,” says Thomas Regnier, a European Commission spokesperson.
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (AFP) – A Brazilian man with a penchant for sporting records breaks a new one after tackling the most boring physical challenge he could dream up: running on a treadmill for 24 hours. Pepe Fiamoncini runs 188 kilometers (116 miles) on a manual treadmill, which works without electricity, at an open-air gym on Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema beach. Once validated by officials who watched the challenge via live stream, the feat will earn him a third Guinness World Record.
Alcácer do Sal (Portugal) (AFP) – A deadly storm has triggered floods and thousands of evacuations on the Iberian Peninsula. Storm Leonardo has left one dead in Portugal and lashed the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, where rescuers are searching for a missing woman and have evacuated thousands of people. Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the length, intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as the floods and heatwaves that have struck Spain and Portugal in recent years.
Geneva (AFP) – A senior US official criticises the last nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States for failing to include Beijing, a day after the New START deal expired. “In a nutshell, New START was flawed,” Thomas DiNanno, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, tells reporters in Geneva.
Sion (Switzerland) (AFP) – “We are devastated,” says Jacques Moretti, as he arrives to attend the hearing of a fire safety officer of the municipality of Crans-Montana. “Not a moment goes by that we don’t think about the victims, not a single moment,” adds the co-owner of the Swiss bar Le Constellation, where a fire killed 41 and injured 115 on New Year’s Day. Jacques and Jessica Moretti are under criminal investigation for “negligent homicide, negligent bodily injury, and negligent arson.”
Tokyo (AFP) – Danylo Yavhusishyn, who is known by his ring name Aonishiki, fled the war in Ukraine to become a sumo wrestler in Japan and his rapid rise has taken him to one step away from reaching the ancient sport’s highest rank.
Caracas (AFP) – The Venezuelan National Assembly begins debating amnesty bill that would scrap political bans such as the one that precluded opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado from running for president in 2024. “Disqualifications of public officials for acts occurring between 1999 and 2026 shall be rendered null and void,” except in cases of corruption, says the text, seen by AFP. IMAGES
Brasília (AFP) – President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during his visit at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia. IMAGES
Sarfannguit (Denmark) (AFP) – Some Inuit families in Greenland remain worried despite US President Donald Trump backtracking on a threat of using force to acquire the Arctic territory and beginning talks with Copenhagen and Nuuk. “We are scared and worried about what is going to happen,” says Camilla Olsen in the remote settlement of Sarfannguit.
