Radonvilliers (France) (AFP) – Belgian, Italian, Greek, and Spanish troops join French forces in France’s Aube region for river-crossing exercises as part of the Orion 2026 military training.
Geneva (AFP) – War-torn Gaza is heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance, which frequently kill and maim people and could threaten recovery efforts far into the future, the UN says. “There’s about explosive ordinance every 600 meters” in Gaza, explains UNMAS chief in the occupied Palestinian Territory, Julius Van der Walt. “Our own data suggests that, since the conflict started more than a thousand people were killed due to indirect conflict” he says, while acknowledging that this figure is severely underreported.
Lome (AFP) – French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot says during a trip to Togo that France abstained from voting for the UN resolution recognising the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity” because the country “refuses to create a hierarchy among crimes against humanity”.
Caracas (AFP) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro sits down with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who took over after the toppling of her former boss Nicolas Maduro in January. Petro is the first foreign leader to visit Venezuela since Maduro’s ouster. IMAGES
La Guaira (Venezuela) (AFP) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrives in Venezuela and is greeted by Foreign Minister Yvan Gil at Simon Bolivar International Airport, prior to his visit to the Miraflores Palace, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez. IMAGES
Cali (Colombia) (AFP) – Scene after an attack on a Colombian military base that left one person injured, one month before the first round of the presidential election. A bus was burned just a few meters from the military post in Cali. IMAGES
Lisse (Netherlands) (AFP) – Millions of tulips are in full bloom during the peak of spring at the famous Dutch floral park of Keukenhof in Lisse, thirty kilometres from Amsterdam. The tulip garden attracts tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world every day during the eight weeks it is open. “It’s amazing,” says one visitor. “I didn’t realise tulips were so many different shapes”.
New York (AFP) – Celebrities walk the red carpet for the TIME100 Gala, celebrating Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Among the honorees for 2026 are Claire Danes, Ethan Hawke, Zoe Saldana and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Arlington (United States) (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Europe should start “doing less talking and having less fancy conferences” and “get in a boat” to secure the Strait of Hormuz. “We are not counting on Europe. But they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do,” he says during a Pentagon briefing.
Brandenhusen (Germany) (AFP) – Rescue teams are deployed in the Baltic Sea to save a humpback whale that has beached itself again in shallow waters off the German coast. After being freed twice, the 13.5-metre (44-foot) long mammal became stranded again just a few hours after its last rescue.
Copenhagen (AFP) – Hot air balloons light up central Copenhagen as thousands of people gather at a free event in City Hall Square in celebration of the NightGlow Festival. “It’s very cool, there are massive balloons and it’s cool how they do everything… I just want them to lift at some point. Come on now!” says one spectator. While the balloons did not take off, they were lit up to the sounds of famous songs, such as the Star Wars theme tune and songs by Swedish producer Avicii.
Busuma (Burundi) (AFP) – More than 470 refugees, mainly from South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leave the Busuma camp in Burundi as part of a UN repatriation operation. The United Nations repatriated the first group of Congolese who fled to Burundi from the conflict in the DRC, among the thousands who fled a surge in violence last year.
