AFP UK

Bordeaux (AFP) – Passers-by in the centre of Bordeaux in South West France are greeted with a heavy snow.

Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) – Addressing the Davos World Economic Forum via videocall, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for speed in sending aid to his country, saying that “tyranny is outpacing democracy” and “the time the Free World uses to think is used by the terrorist state to kill.”

San Bartolome de Pinares (Spain) (AFP) – In the small Spanish village of San Bartolome de Pinares, west of Madrid, villagers put on an impressive show as they ride their horses through bonfires. The tradition meant “to purify them and get the saint to protect them for the whole year,” is part of a festival known as “Las Luminarias” held in honour of St. Anthony Abbot, the patron saint of animals.

Tokyo (AFP) – Tokyo’s High Court has decided to uphold the acquittal of three former executives from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) operating the Fukushima nuclear power plant, clearing them once again of any professional negligence over the 2011 disaster. Activists supporting the prosecution of the men gather outside the court to protest their renewed acquittal in the only criminal trial to arise from the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Washington (AFP) – Lisa O. Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, says authorities have arrested the owner of China-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato for alleged money laundering, saying the move has “disrupted a busy corner of this criminal ecosystem.” 

Saint Petersburg (AFP) – Victory is “guaranteed, I have no doubt about it,” Russian president Vladimir Putin tells workers at a military factory in Russia’s second largest city of Saint Petersburg. The statement comes despite military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive in Ukraine.

Talagante (Chile) (AFP) – Alhue and Mailen, two Andean condors, are the latest to be born in captivity at Chile’s Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey (CRAR) in Talagante, near Santiago. Their carers hope to one day release them as part of a project to boost Chile’s ailing population of the world’s largest flying bird.

Brovary (Ukraine) (AFP) – Emergency services and the Ukrainian Red Cross work outside a kindergarten next to the site of a helicopter crash that killed more than a dozen, including Ukraine’s interior minister. The helicopter crashed in Brovary, 20 kilometres northeast of Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Lützerath (Germany) (AFP) – Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is carried away by the police before being briefly detained on 17 January 2023. Greta was participating in a protest near the German village of Luetzerath, threatened to be demolished to make way for a coal mine expansion.

Brovary (Ukraine) (AFP) – Images of the aftermath of a helicopter crash in the town of Brovary, located around 20 kilometres northeast of Ukraine’s Kyiv. Ukraine’s interior minister Denys Monastyrsky was among 16 people, including two children, who were killed when the helicopter crashed near a kindergarten, according to officials.

Zurich (AFP) – US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Switzerland. Yellen said close communication between the United States and China on economic issues is vital, ahead of the meeting.

Bangkok (AFP) – As Lunar New Year approaches, calligrapher Wichian Buasaeng in Bangkok’s Chinatown is busy writing Chinese couplets, known as Chunlian, placed at the entrance of houses and shops to celebrate the traditional festival. But as Chinese traditions are absorbed into Thai culture, there is less demand for Chunlian. Wichian is among the few who still have the skills in the city.