Dakar (AFP) – Thousands join a protest in Senegal’s capital, calling for elections to take place before President Macky Sall’s term officially ends in early April. The demonstration comes two days after the country’s top court overturned the president’s decision to delay elections to the end of the year, which had triggered the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
Bangkok (AFP) – The former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrives back at his Bangkok home from a police hospital just six months after he was arrested following a dramatic return to the kingdom from 15 years of self-imposed exile.
Auf See (AFP) – The Philippines has accused Chinese coast guard ships on Saturday of “dangerous” manoeuvres after they repeatedly blocked a Filipino vessel delivering supplies to fishermen at a reef off the Southeast Asian nation’s coast. The incidents happened near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal on Thursday and Friday, several days after the Philippine Coast Guard made similar accusations against Chinese boats in the same area.
Kiew (AFP) – Ukraine has withdrawn troops from the besieged eastern stronghold of Avdiivka to save the lives of its soldiers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday, handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory since May.
Wilhelmina Bay (AFP) – Marine biologists collect skin samples from humpback whales and leopard seals in Antarctica to detect the presence of mercury in their bodies. The toxic heavy metal is believed to reach the ocean through rivers or rain. According to the UN environmental agency UNEP, if an animal consumes mercury, it may suffer “reproductive failure, behavioural changes and may even (die).”
Paris (AFP) – A Russian journalist in self-exile says he does not believe the death of imprisoned opposition figure Alexei Navalny was ‘a coincidence’. His death in an Arctic prison was announced on 16 February after three years in detention and a poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Washington (AFP) – Supporters of Alexei Navalny turned out across Europe and in the United States on Friday to pay tribute to the man widely acknowledged as Russia’s main opposition figure, even when he was behind bars.
Tokyo (AFP) – Wrapped in seaweed and stuffed with delicious fillings, “onigiri” rice balls are shaking off their reputation as a cheap and uninspiring snack in Japan, and enticing hungry converts abroad.
Paris (AFP) – An Israeli military offensive in Rafah could only result in “an unprecedented humanitarian disaster” and would be “a turning point” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, warns French President Emmanuel Macron. Nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians — more than half of Gaza’s population — are trapped in Rafah, seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.
Moscow (AFP) – “Navalny is a symbol… of opposition, a symbol of hope for some brighter future for Russia,” says one Muscovite on the death of Kremlin critic and opposition leader Alexei Navlny. “There’s a feeling that with his death, this hope dies.”
Berlin (AFP) – Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, and NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg react to the news of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death in a Russian prison. Zelensky calls it “obvious” that Navalny was killed by the regime of President Vladimir Putin. Scholz praises his “courage”, which he “paid for with his life”. Stoltenberg calls Navalny a “strong voice” for freedom and democracy.
Harlow (United Kingdom) (AFP) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he backs the Conservative party’s vision for the UK after his party lost two more parliamentary seats to Labour in by-elections ahead of a full national vote. The British leader tells media that the circumstances of the two polls in Kingswood and Wellingborough were “particularly challenging,” but says he will tell voters to “stick with our plan”.
