AFP UK

Florence (Italy) (AFP) – Amanda Knox arrives back in court in Italy for a slander case related to her infamous jailing and later acquittal for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007. The American was only 20 when she and her Italian then-boyfriend were arrested for the brutal killing of the 21-year-old student at the girls’ shared home in Perugia. The murder began a long legal saga where Knox was found guilty, acquitted, found guilty again and finally cleared of all charges in 2015. But she still had a related conviction for slander for blaming the murder on a local bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, during initial questioning by police.

Beijing (AFP) – China warns the US against stoking “ideological confrontation”, after Washington’s top diplomat Antony Blinken vowed to never stop promoting human rights in China 35 years after the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.

Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong was once the sole place on Chinese soil where public commemorations of Beijing’s 1989 bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square were allowed. The annual candlelight vigil was a symbol of the city’s unique freedoms, but commemorations have been banned since 2020, the year that Beijing imposed a national security law to quell dissent.

Muzaffarabad (Pakistan) (AFP) – For India’s 200-million-plus Muslim minority, an expected third term for the Hindu-nationalist ruling party brings renewed fears for their future in the constitutionally secular country. Meanwhile in neighbouring Pakistan, scores of people staged a small protest against the result, accusing Modi of being a “threat to peace.”

Washington (AFP) – The United States will temporarily close its Mexico border to asylum seekers from June 5, as President Joe Biden tries to neutralize his political weakness on migration ahead of November’s election battle with Donald Trump.

Ljubljana (AFP) – Slovenia’s parliament on Tuesday passed a decree recognising a Palestinian state, following last week’s recognition by three other European states.

Portsmouth (AFP) – World War II veterans gather in southern England ahead of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings into northern France at the site where Allied commanders set the stage for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. The landings on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, were one of the main military operations that led to the end of World War II.

Chan Yunis (AFP) – Shouting and screaming with glee and frustration, Gazan boys kick footballs around with their bare feet. Gaza has been ravaged by eight months of war triggered by the unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militants from Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,550 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

New Delhi (AFP) – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the headquarters of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters after claiming victory in the country’s election. Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, but the BJP failed to secure an overall majority of its own, figures from the election commission showed, meaning it would need to rely on coalition partners. IMAGES

Neu Delhi (AFP) – Vote counting is underway in India’s election on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies heading for election victory. Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, whose campaign wooed the Hindu majority to the worry of the country’s 200-million-plus Muslim community, deepening concerns over minority rights. But for the first time in a decade Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could fail to secure an overall majority of its own, figures from the election commission projected, meaning it would need to rely on its alliance partners.

Mexiko-Stadt (AFP) – Claudia Sheinbaum’s election as Mexico’s first woman president sparks hope for change in a country where gender-based violence has long been rife. Flag-waving supporters sang and danced to mariachi music late into the night after the former Mexico City mayor won Sunday’s election by a landslide.

Vovchans’k (AFP) – Smoke rises above destroyed buildings in the town of Vovchansk, which lies less than five kilometres (three miles) from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine and has recently faced intense fighting. Rare drone footage released by the Tsunami Assault Regiment, part of the assault brigade “Lyut”, shows the scale of devastation, with much of the town reduced to rubble and bombed-out residential buildings. Kyiv has been battling a fresh Russian land assault in the Kharkiv region since May 10.