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Kawasaki (Japan) (AFP) – On a set outside Tokyo, Momoko Nishiyama sits by the director and watches as a man undresses a woman, guiding the love scene as one of just two “intimacy coordinators” in Japan. The country’s movie industry has been hit by a string of recent sexual abuse allegations that have led to apologies, an actor pausing his career and even films being pulled. While Hollywood has embraced intimacy coordinators in the wake of the #MeToo movement, they are still relatively new in Japan.

Fuminori Tsukiko was travelling around Poland when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The 75-year-old from Japan has since spent months living alongside Kharkiv residents in the subway, away from Russian strikes. Although Kharkiv has grown safer in recent months, the Japanese man decided to stay and help, rather than returning to his home country.

The Israeli army launched air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip at dawn on Thursday after rockets were fired from the territory into Israel about two hours earlier. Shortly after 6:00 am local time (0400 GMT), black smoke rose over one of the targeted locations north of Gaza City. In a statement sent to the press a few minutes later, the Israeli army said that it was “carrying out strikes in the Gaza Strip”. IMAGES

Nations unies (Etats-Unis) (AFP) – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world body’s General Assembly meets in a special session two days before the anniversary of Moscow’s attack. “That invasion is an affront to our collective conscience,” Guterres says, calling the anniversary “a grim milestone for the people of Ukraine and for the international community.”

Tunis, Tunisia (Tunisia) (AFP) – Camera in hand, young photographer Mourad Ben Cheikh Ahmed explores and documents buildings in the heart of Tunis’s UNESCO-protected Medina. His website ‘Lost in Tunis’ has caught the imagination of many in the North African nation. It has become a way to document the Tunisian capital’s rich architectural history, which spans centuries and has influences from across the Mediterranean.

Belgrade (AFP) – Novak Djokovic appears light on his feet as he hits balls and moves around the court with apparent ease at his tennis centre in the Serbian capital Belgrade. The top ranked tennis ace says he is close to 100 percent after battling through a hamstring injury during his winning sweep at the Australian Open last month.

Antakya (Turkey) (AFP) – Dozens of red balloons speckle the rubble of a destroyed building alongside a main road in Turkey’s quake-hit south. They are the final tribute to children killed by the earthquake that devastated Antakya, according to Ogun Sever Okur, who is behind the memorial. “The dominant feeling in me is grief” he says as he hangs the balloons. “I distribute toys to the surviving children and, for the other children who were here, this is the last toy I could give them”.

Ashbourne (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Thousands of people turn out for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football match, a game that takes over the streets of Ashbourne, a small town in northern England. The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are defined by which side of the small brook that bisects the town they were born on, and the aim is to score a goal, which are some three miles apart. “It’s just fighting tooth and nail” says Rowan Taylor, a player, who explains of the game’s rules: “don’t kill each other”. Sally Montague, one of those watching, says “it’s a great, unique game that is fabulous to watch as long as you keepy well away from the ball.”

Sao Sebastiao do Uatuma (Brazil) (AFP) – Aerial shots of Barra do Sahy in the municipality of São Sebastião, one of the areas hardest-hit by the flooding and landslides that killed at least 44 people in southeastern Brazil over the weekend.

Moscow (AFP) – Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov meets China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow.

New Delhi (AFP) – The muted coverage on Gautam Adani following the Hindenburg report that accused the tycoon of fraud has unravelled the nexus between big business and politics that dictates Indian newsrooms, journalists and commentators say. The US-based short seller, Hindenburg Research, in late January accused Adani group of engaging in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, plummeting the fortunes of the port-to-energy multinational conglomerate by $120 billion and pushing Adani to the 17th spot from the world’s third richest person.

Warsaw (AFP) – US President Joe Biden vows Russia will never see victory in Ukraine, delivering a major speech in Warsaw hours after Vladimir Putin said Russia would continue its nearly year-long military offensive.