AFP UK

Rovaniemi (Finland) (AFP) – A spectacular display of colourful lights illuminates the skies in Northern Finland caused by a powerful geomagnetic storm.

Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Newly-appointed Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel says being offered the position is an ‘honour’. Tuchel, 49, has replaced the sacked Julien Nagelsmann in charge of the six-time Champions League winners.

Siem Reap (Cambodia) (AFP) – A Cambodian airplane fanatic has built his house shaped like a private jet — despite never having been up in the air himself. Construction worker Chrach Peou spent his $20,000 life savings building the concrete plane.

Madrid (AFP) – Visitors are enjoying an up-close look at the history and innovation behind Formula 1 at the first official exhibition in Madrid. Among the exhibits are the remains of Romain Grosjean’s car that crashed and burst into flames at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020.

Lisse (Netherlands) (AFP) – Keukenhof, the world’s largest flower garden, opens its display of spring blooms to visitors, showcasing millions of blooming tulips, daffodils and other bulbs in the southern Netherlands.

Berlin (AFP) – A funeral has been held for thousands of human bone fragments found during excavations at Berlin’s Freie Universitaet, thought to have been part of “scientific” collections held by the Nazis. The site where they were found was once home to the notorious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics (KWIA). Experts concluded that the bones came from “criminal contexts” dating back to the colonial period in particular, but that “some of the bones may also have come from victims of Nazi crimes”.

Hong Kong (AFP) – Art Basel returns with its largest show in Hong Kong in three years after the city fully reopened and lifted Covid restrictions. The art fair features 177 galleries from 32 countries and territories.

New York (AFP) – After more than three decades in the classical music industry, British double bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku began grappling with the question that had troubled her for years: Why was she consistently the only black musician onstage? In 2015 she founded Chineke!, Europe’s first majority black and ethnically diverse professional orchestra, taking a leading role in creating a more diverse future for classical music.

Tunuyán (Argentina) (AFP) – In Argentina’s Valle de Uco wine region, at the foot of the Andes, frantic picking is underway to try and save what remains of what is predicted to be the worst grape harvest in decades. 

Chasiv Yar (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian servicemen take refuge from the constant shelling in cellars near the far edge of the eastern town of Chasiv Yar, while convoys of tanks and armoured personnel carriers speed along the road to and from the Bakhmut frontlines.

Farmlands in California’s Central Valley are inundated after heavy rainfall from a winter storm.

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinians mark the eve of the holy month of Ramadan street lighting ceremony and a night prayer, amid fears of escalating violence in the region.