Amiens (France) (AFP) – Zookeepers weigh and microchip two Sumatran tigers who were born in late March at a zoo in France’s Amiens, a rare event for the most endangered of all tiger species.
Chibok (Nigeria) (AFP) – Ten years have passed since Nigeria’s most infamous mass kidnapping when Boko Haram fighters seized 276 girls from their school in Chibok. AFP gained rare access to the town for the anniversary of the 14th of April 2014 attack, which sparked global outrage and rallied people around the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.
Austin (AFP) – Argentina’s President Javier Milei visits the Tesla factory in Austin, United States, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. IMAGES
La Canada Flintridge (United States) (AFP) – Set for take-off in October and with ten years of space travel ahead of it, NASA’s new Clipper spacecraft is unveiled in California. The five-billion-dollar probe will travel to Europa, one of Jupiter’s dozens of moons, to search for the conditions necessary for life, including liquid water, which scientists believe to be present. The Clipper is expected to be in orbit around Jupiter and Europa in 2031, with its mission lasting until 2034.
Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Keeping a city alive in the face of Russian attacks, young people in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv are going about their lives as normally as possible, despite regular power outages and increasingly frequent aerial bombardment. “If you stand in the street, you might die” says 25-year-old Kristina, who adds “we live a full life.”
Oslo (AFP) – “Norway is ready to make a decision on recogising a Palestinian state” says the country’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Speaking in Oslo, alongside his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez — a frequent critic of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war — Store says that coordination on that recognition “will intensify” in the coming weeks.
Gaza-Israel border (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Images released by the Israeli army on April 11 show what it says are aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip via the north for the first time since the conflict started on October 7, 2023. For months, aid groups and foreign governments, including the US, have urged Israel to open border crossings in Gaza’s north, where the humanitarian crisis is most severe.
Beijing (AFP) – The United States should “play a constructive role” in the Middle East, says China, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning calling on “all parties to the conflict to effectively implement UN Security Council Resolution 2728”, which calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Ho Chi Minh City (AFP) – A high-profile Vietnamese real estate tycoon has been sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history.
Langfang (China) (AFP) – At a dusty warehouse in northern China, Liu Wei feeds photos of beaming bridal couples into an industrial shredder — turning stories of heartbreak into a source of electricity. Wedding photos are big business in China, where parks, temples and historic sites often teem with newlyweds posing for elaborate shots capturing their supposedly unbreakable bond.
Manila (AFP) – Pet dogs in the Philippines are being trained to aid search and rescue operations as the country braces itself for a potential major earthquake. About 46 mongrels and pure-breeds are put through their paces every Sunday at a facility in Manila.
Ključ (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (AFP) – A fan of fast driving, dangerous bends and Michael Schumacher, Bosnian garage owner Himzo Beganovic recently fulfilled a childhood dream by buying a Formula 1 car replica painted in “Ferrari Red”, which he now drives along the dirt tracks around his rural home.
