AFP UK

Kemijärvi (AFP) – A fighter jet roaring through the grey sky breaks the tranquillity of a boreal forest in northern Finland, one more sign of a growing military presence that is challenging the ability of reindeer herders to exercise their livelihood. Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, dropped decades of military non-alignment to join NATO in 2023 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reindeer herders worry that a large live-fire and combat exercise involving around 6,500 soldiers from Finland, Sweden and Britain in May would disturb the reindeer.

Dubai (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates exceeds its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius in Sweihan — which lies 97km (60 miles) west of Abu Dhabi. In Dubai, high temperatures in the mid-40 degrees Celsius were recorded. The desert nation, a top global oil exporter, lies in one of the planet’s hottest regions and one which is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Cannes (AFP) – Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi wins the Palme d’Or top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The latest film from the 64-year-old, ‘It Was Just an Accident’, tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail. Panahi, who was banned from making films in 2010 and has been imprisoned twice, used his own experiences in jail to write the screenplay.

Undisclosed (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Russia is giving grounds for new sanctions after Russian drone and missile strikes hit Kyiv Saturday. “Every day gives reasons for new sanctions against Russia. Every day proves that without pressure on Russia, the war will continue,” Zelensky says in his evening address.

Cannes (AFP) – A power substation and an electricity pylon were vandalised overnight in the region around France’s Cannes, which has been hit by a major blackout on the final day of its film festival, according to officials. Traffic was widely impacted, and festival goers and tourists scrambled for paper money after the power cut hit the town, leaving cash machines out of order and restaurants unable to process card payments.

Siem Pang (AFP) – A helicopter successfully herds 16 critically endangered banteng onto a truck in Cambodia for the first time. Conservation groups Rising Phoenix and Siem Pang said that the banteng found in the wild were herded over three days through a “mass-capture funnel trap” onto a truck before being relocated to a wildlife sanctuary. Banteng are a type of wild cattle native to Southeast Asia and listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species. Their natural habitat is forests and grasslands, but only a few thousand remain in the wild, and they are mostly threatened by hunting, logging and industry.

College Park (AFP) – Wearing a formal cap and gown, Kermit the Frog offers a graduation speech to students at the University of Maryland. “Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side,” says Kermit at the establishment his creator, Jim Henson, graduated from in 1960.

Undisclosed (AFP) – Ukrainian prisoners of war are welcomed by relatives and crowds with Ukrainian flags after being released in the first stage of a major prisoner swap with Russia on 23 May 2025. A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv wounded at least 15 people hours after Russia and Ukraine completed the first stage of the prisoner exchange agreed at talks last week in Istanbul and just before the second stage on Saturday.

Minneapolis (AFP) – The family of George Floyd will on May 25 mark five years since he was killed by a US police officer, in a political climate soured by President Donald Trump’s backtracking of reforms designed to tackle racism. Outrage over Floyd’s killing by police catapulted Black Lives Matter into one of the largest protest movements in US history. But five years on, the protesters are gone, and an iconic monument outside the White House has been erased, leaving many to wonder if the movement blew its chance for historic change by failing to win over the American public.

Paris (AFP) – American superstar Kim Kardashian is “satisfied” with the verdict handed down against a gang of robbers who stole $10 million in jewellery from her in a Paris hotel in 2016, says Kardashian’s lawyer. A French court convicted the gang, although they will not return to jail, and the verdicts were more lenient than requested by the prosecution.

Freetown (AFP) – Chained in a traditional healing hut or getting treatment at Sierra Leone’s first government-run rehab centre, addicts of the synthetic cannabis-based opioid kush seek to escape its hold. For those in recovery like Mariama Turay, it’s a chance at a normal life. “I have my daughter back,” says her father Ibrahim, after his daughter returned home from seven weeks of therapeutic treatment.

Paramaribo (Suriname) (AFP) – Images of electoral banners ahead of general election in Suriname. Suriname votes in parliamentary elections on May 25, to decide who will oversee output from recently discovered offshore crude deposits, which have the potential to transform South America’s smallest nation. The country of 600,000 recently discovered a vast oil field off the Atlantic coast that within years should be capable of producing 220,000 barrels daily. IMAGES