London (AFP) – In London, a new exhibition of photographs opens, showing the intimate relationship between the late Queen Elizabeth II and her beloved corgis. “They chart her life” explains the exhibition’s curator and Wallace Collection Director, Xavier Bray, “you see her as a young girl, you see her as an eighteen-year-old, you see her in official state with her corgis”.
Paris (AFP) – Fuel deliveries and public transport were severely disrupted in France on Tuesday as unions kicked off a fresh day of protests against a pensions reform that would push back the retirement age for millions.
Paris (AFP) – A few hundred metres from tourists taking photographs in front of the Arc de Triomphe, dozens of migrant families are taking refuge in a car park in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. According to the association Utopia 56, “there is a political will to render rough sleepers invisible. A problem that is not seen is not a problem.”
Doradal (Colombia) (AFP) – Anibal Gaviria, governor of Antioquia Department in northwestern Colombia, where a herd of some 150 hippos — descendants of animals once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar — are breeding out of control says he hopes for the greenlight to send half of them to sanctuaries in India and Mexico.
Gaziantep (Turkey) (AFP) – Damage from the catastrophic earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last month has been estimated at over $100 billion for Turkey alone, the United Nations says. “Already it is clear that just the damages alone will amount to more than $100 billion,” Louisa Vinton of the UN Development Programme tells reporters via video link from Gaziantep in Turkey during a UN press conference in Geneva. SOUNDBITE
Hatay (Turkey) (AFP) – One month after a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake, the southeastern Turkish region of Hatay still bears the scars of the devastation. The catastrophic tremor and its aftershocks claimed more than 45,000 lives in Turkey and 5,000 in neighbouring Syria.
Hundreds of amateur athletes set off at dawn Sunday for an ultramarathon through a sun-bleached canyon in northwestern Mexico, hoping to take their measure against legendary Indigenous runners in one of the world’s most challenging distance events.
Hong Kong (AFP) – Identified as “female” on his Hong Kong ID, trans activist Henry Tse waged an arduous legal battle to have his real gender recognised. Six years later, he won the case to change his gender marker to “male” at the city’s top court — a victory he hopes will help make life easier for Hong Kong’s trans community as a whole.
Seoul (AFP) – Protesters, including labour victim Yang Geum-deok, gather in front of the National Assembly in Seoul holding anti-government placards after South Korea announced plans to compensate victims of Japan’s forced wartime labour. IMAGES
Tanegashima Space Center (Japan) (AFP) – Japan’s next-generation H3 rocket failed after liftoff on Tuesday, with the space agency issuing a destruct command after concluding the mission could not succeed. IMAGES
Bukovel (Ukraine) (AFP) – Far from the Ukraine war’s frontlines, only the whirring of generator-powered ski lifts disturbs the calm at Bukovel in the country’s west, a winter resort nestled in the pine-forested Carpathian Mountains. Bukovel is the largest ski resort in Ukraine that has remained open during the war, receiving guests for both relaxation and a respite from the conflict.
Vienna (AFP) – The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), holds its quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna. The meeting comes just days after the IAEA’s Director-General said that Iran has agreed to reconnect surveillance cameras at several nuclear sites and increase the pace of inspections, a “marked improvement” in talks with the Iranian government. IMAGES
