AFP UK

Tangail (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Bangladeshi Junayed Akter is one of 35 million children — around 60 percent of all children in the South Asian nation — with dangerously high levels of lead, leaving him with the diminutive stature of someone several years younger. The causes are varied, but his mother blames his condition on a now-shuttered factory that hastily scrapped and recycled old car batteries for profit, poisoning the air and soil of their small village in the process. As informal battery recycling thrives in Bangladesh, millions of people remain unaware of the risks of lead exposure.

Naypyidaw (Myanmar) (AFP) – Five days after a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar, rescuers pull a man alive from the ruins of a hotel in the capital Naypyidaw. The 26-year-old hotel worker was extracted by a joint Myanmar-Turkish team.

Grindavík (Iceland) (AFP) – Lava spews from a crater row on the outskirts of the Icelandic fishing village of Grindavik. The village in southwest Iceland was evacuated after the volcanic eruption, the eighth to hit the region since the end of 2023.

Dutse (Nigeria) (AFP) – Thousands come together for the traditional Durbar festival, recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in the city of Dutse, northern Nigeria. The festival is cancelled for the second time in a row in its origin city of Kano, due to a legal tussle between two rival royals contesting the emir’s throne. Nigeria’s traditional rulers have no constitutional powers but are important cultural custodians, wielding enormous influence that is crucial for politicians.

Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump has the world’s leading economies on edge as he prepares to unveil a promised raft of tariffs that critics say could trigger a global trade war. Trump has dubbed an announcement on tariffs expected on 2 April as “Liberation Day” for the US. “It’s tough to put together a concrete plan when you really don’t know what is going to happen and how long it will last for,” says Carrie McEachran, CEO of a chamber of commerce in a Canadian border town.

Laruns (France) (AFP) – Day or night, in the rubble, in the mountains, or by the river, civil security dogs sniff and search for victims during multi-day exercises in France and Spain to train for emergency response. Called upon particularly during natural disasters, Belgian Malinois, Border Collies, and German Shepherds rely on their sense of smell to quickly locate injured or unconscious individuals.

Beijing (AFP) – Efforts towards Taiwan independence are “doomed to fail”, China says, as it conducts large-scale military drills around the self-ruled island. China on Tuesday sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for large-scale drills Beijing says are aimed at practising for “precision strikes” and a blockade.

Mandalay (Myanmar) (AFP) – Four days after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake devastated Myanmar, killing more than 2,000 people and injuring nearly 4,000, Mandalay holds a minute of silence to honour the victims. Hopes are starting to fade that any more survivors will be found.

Paris (AFP) – Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzlement by a French court, handed a five-year ban on running for office with immediate effect and a four-year prison sentence. But Le Pen will not go to jail, with two years of the term suspended and the other two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet. Including 56-year-old Le Pen, 24 party officials or assistants from her National Rally (RN) party were convicted over a scheme where they took advantage of European Parliament expenses to employ assistants who were actually working for the party. The court estimated the scheme they were implicated in was worth 2.9 million euros.

Kafr Abū Shanab (Egypt) (AFP) – Egyptian merchants Mohamed Shabaan and Emad Mouawad recount the horrors of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ prisons in Sudan after the RSF arrested them and put them in detention centres for 20 months. The paramilitary group, locked in a brutal war with the Sudanese army since April 2023, has accused Egypt of military involvement in the war, a claim Cairo denies.

Bucha (Ukraine) (AFP) – The town of Bucha marks the third anniversary of its liberation by Ukrainian forces after being occupied by Russia, honouring the more than 400 people killed. “They were killed and tortured just because they were Ukrainians,” says Archbishop Lavrentiy.

London (AFP) – “For too long, the UK has been a soft touch” on irregular migration, says UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he hosts a major summit in London. Starmer is seeking to crack down on would-be asylum seekers arriving in England on flimsy small boats and has brought together delegates from more than 40 nations for a two-day meeting. “Since coming to office, I can announce today, we’ve returned more than 24,000 people who have no right to be here,” says Starmer. Starmer’s summit is designed to build on a plan that Britain, Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands signed in December to boost cooperation against irregular migration.