AFP UK

Liverpool (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has shocked the football world by announcing he will leave the club at the end of the season. Klopp has been at Liverpool since 2015 and in that time has propelled the club back to the top of European football. The German led Liverpool to their first league title for 30 years in the 2019/2020 season after achieving Champions League glory in 2019.

Following the UN’s top court ruling that Israel must prevent genocide in its war on Hamas and allow aid into Gaza, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation says “there would have to be a ceasefire” for the order to work. Naledi Pandor says she is “satisfied with the directives” but would have wanted the word “cessation” to be included. South Africa had brought the case against Israel, accusing it of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

Uk (Ukraine) (AFP) – Working under camouflage nets in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, servicemen are restoring damaged weaponry as quickly as possible before turning it back over to the infantry. With the war against Russia nearing its two-year point, many in Ukraine have had to apply their civilian skills — those of a builder or miner — on or near the front line.

Verviers (Belgium) (AFP) – Following demonstrations in several other European countries, Belgian farmers take their first action to protest against a decline in standards of living. Faced with rising input costs, falling incomes, fear of competition from imported products, notably those from Ukraine, there are many fears over the future of farming, particularly from the younger generation.

Geneva (AFP) – The UN condemns the execution of Kenneth Smith, who has become the first person in the United States to be executed using nitrogen asphyxiation. A spokesperson for the UN’s Human Rights Commissioner raises the organisation’s concerns that the “untested method…may amount to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”. Those present at Smith’s execution have said he began “writhing and thrashing” after the gas was administered.

Kobadani (Mali) (AFP) – A week on from a gold mine collapse that killed more than 70 people in southwestern Mali, search and rescue operations have been called off. The Sahel country is one of Africa’s top gold producers, while also being among the poorest nations in the world. In 2022, Mali produced 72.2 tonnes of gold, contributing 25 percent of the national budget, according to the mininster of mines at the time.

Beijing (AFP) – The Chinese Foreign Ministry says it jailed a British national in 2022 on spying charges. The case was first brought to light by the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Stones, a UK businessman, had gone missing in 2018, according to his family and other sources.

Beijing (AFP) – Xuan is one of an estimated 300 million Chinese people suffering from insomnia, the product of a high-stress, high-pressure culture. Through sound therapy sessions, she finally gets some decent sleep.

Pyongyang (AFP) – Chinese vice foreign minister Sun Weidong meets with North Korean vice foreign minister Pak Myong Ho at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang. A Chinese government delegation led by Sun arrived in Pyongyang this week, North Korea’s state media says, as the country intensifies its threats against Seoul and Washington. IMAGES

Sanaa (AFP) – Dubbed “Tim-Huthi Chalamet” by social media users, young Yemeni influencer Rashed Al-Haddad is gaining attention as he promotes certain causes: Iran-backed Huthi rebels and Palestinians in Gaza.

Bogotá (AFP) – A group of Indigenous people originally from Bogota perform rituals at the foot of a mountain where forest fires go on for a fourth day amid record temperatures.