Zagreb (AFP) – “Croatia needs a peaceful life,” says Dragan Primorac, the presidential candidate backed by ruling conservative HDZ party, after casting his vote. He is polling second behind main rival and incumbent head of state, Zoran Milanovic. One of the two candidates is expected to be chosen in a runoff in two weeks. The election comes as Croatia deals with biting inflation, widespread corruption and a labour shortage.
Chester (AFP) – Conservationists in the UK and Portugal hail a pioneering snail breeding programme a success for saving two critically endangered species from extinction and spurring the release of 1,329 on a remote Atlantic island. The Desertas Island land snails were believed to be extinct. They had not been spotted for more than a century, until conservationists rediscovered a small population on Deserta Grande island, close to Madeira, in 2017.
Vatikanstadt (AFP) – Pope Francis sends his prayers to the victims of a plane crash in South Korea believed to have killed nearly 180 people. “My thoughts are with the many families in South Korea who are mourning today following the dramatic plane crash. I join in prayer for the survivors and the dead,” Pope Francis says after the Angelus prayer.
Muan (AFP) – Rescuers assess the wreckage at Muan International Airport after a Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok to South Korea crashed on arrival. The plane burst into flames after smashing into a barrier, killing everyone aboard except for two flight attendants plucked from the wreckage.
Seoul (AFP) – Hundreds of people gather in Seoul to protest against South Korea’s suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol two weeks after his impeachment. Rival protests from his supporters are also planned to take place around the country. Vast protests both for and against Yoon have rocked South Korea since he sought to impose martial law in early December, plunging the country into its worst political crisis in decades.
New Delhi (AFP) – Mourners in India’s capital gather to pay their respects to former prime minister Manmohan Singh ahead of a state funeral for the man key to the country’s economic liberalisation. Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, died at the age of 92, prompting seven days of state mourning.
Guatemala City (AFP) – The United States deports Guatemalan migrants from its territory. The migrants walk down the runway after arriving at the Guatemalan Air Force Base in Guatemala City, during the last deportee flights of the year. Guatemala closes 2024 with more than 61,000 deported from the US, say Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM).
Damascus (AFP) – Syrians carry crosses and copies of Koran as they rally in Damascus’ Umayyad Square in celebration of the ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad, nearly three weeks after he fled to Russia, in the presence of fighters from the new administration parading in the square.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says in an evening address from Kyiv posted on social media that “several” wounded North Korean soldiers have died after being captured by Ukrainian forces, as he accuses Russia of offering them “minimal protection”. Ukraine and its western allies say North Korea has sent thousands of soldiers to support Russia’s army, in what is seen as a major escalation in the nearly three-year war following Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
Douma (Syria) (AFP) – AFP photographer Sameer al-Doumy returns home after fleeing Syria in 2017 just one year before a horrific chemical weapons attack in April 2018 on his hometown of Douma, a rebel stronghold near Damascus. The 26-year-old award-winning photographer, who has spent the last few years covering the migrant crisis for AFP’s Lille bureau in northern France, said it felt “like a dream” to be able to return, following the fall of president Bashar al-Assad.
Baku (AFP) – The bodies of four people from the AZAL plane crash, together with seven more injured people, have been transported to Baku. A passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines flying Baku-Grozny crashed on December 25 near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. Thirty-eight of the 67 people on board died, with some reports suggesting the plane could have been accidentally shot at by Russian air defences.
Damascus (AFP) – Families of detainees and missing Syrians protest outside the Hijaz train station in Damascus, demanding accountability for perpetrators of crimes under Assad’s now-deposed government. “These people deserve to recover the remains of their relatives, at the very least. They deserve to know who killed and tortured them,” says Angelina jolie Nadour as she holds portraits of missing people during the protest.
