AFP UK

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Thousands of Sao Paulo residents suffer a third day of power outages due to rain and wind storms, which have hit Latin America’s largest metropolis since last Monday. IMAGES

Sunderland (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Tucked away down an unassuming street in Sunderland, northeast England, in a room filled with super-powerful computers, students are being trained to play video games at the highest level. The kit is part of a new campus that aims to boost the country’s virtual sports sector in response to the global booming popularity of eSports – professional level competitive gaming – that officially became recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2017.

Port Moresby (AFP) – Buildings burn and looters target shops around Papua New Guinea’s capital after a pay dispute involving the nation’s security forces sparked angry protests. Soldiers, police officers and prison staff staged a lively but peaceful protest in the morning of January 10, after noticing their pay had been docked without explanation. But by the afternoon pockets of unrest had spread through the capital Port Moresby.

Vilnius (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine and will attack other neighbours unless allies join forces to stop him. Zelensky arrived in Lithuania on Wednesday on an unannounced visit to staunch Baltic allies as he seeks to bolster wavering support among other Western backers.

Thimphu (Bhutan) (AFP) – Bhutanese voters have elected Tshering Tobgay to become prime minister for a second time after his party won nearly two-thirds of seats. The January 9 poll was dominated by economic challenges threatening the Himalayan nation’s longstanding policy of prioritising “Gross National Happiness” over growth.

Seoul (AFP) – South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was stabbed in the neck by a man pretending to be his supporter, calls for an end to “warlike politics” as he is discharged from Seoul National University Hospital. Lee, chair of the Democratic Party, was victim of the near-fatal attack on January 2 in southern Busan city.

Las Vegas (AFP) – A robot equipped with artificial intelligence, a screen that analyses health risks … “CES Unveiled”, an event where start-ups present their innovations two days ahead of the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, offers a glimpse of an AI-centric world.

Guayaquil (Ecuador) (AFP) – Images of police surrounding a public television station outside in Ecuador’s drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil after armed men wearing balaclavas burst into the studio, taking hostage several journalists and staff members, live footage showed. IMAGES

Los Angeles (AFP) – American actor Willem Dafoe gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “It never crystalized as an ambition but now that I’m here, it feels beautiful,” he says. The 68-year-old is known for his roles in films including The Lighthouse, Platoon, Spider-Man, and more recently, ‘Poor Things’.

Paris (AFP) – Gabriel Attal, France’s new Prime Minister and the country’s youngest ever, sees his appointment as a symbol of “boldness and action”. The 34-year-old head of government speaks at the handover ceremony as he takes over from Elisabeth Borne, stepping down after serving less than two years in office.

Pikine (Senegal) (AFP) – Wrestling is enormously popular in Senegal — and the decisions that award victory or crushing defeat to the grapplers are now overseen by the same technology that is dividing opinion in football across the world: VAR.

Beijing (AFP) – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning congratulates Bangladesh’s ruling party on a ‘successful’ election after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured a fifth term. The United States has qualified the vote as not free or fair.