Napier (New Zealand) (AFP) – New Zealand Defence Force delivers supplies to towns near the east-coast city of Napier, where it was hit hard by Cyclone Gabrielle. Four days of violent winds and lashing rains caused landslides and widespread flooding, lacerating the road network of the country’s North Island.
Moscow (AFP) – Dmitry, whose name has been changed, was among the first group of men to be called up to fight in Ukraine when President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilisation in September last year. But he ignored his summons. “I believe that taking part in this disgrace is a stigma for life,” he says. Dmitry has now been hiding for four months, trapped in his own country and living in fear of being stopped by authorities. Exceptionally, he agreed to tell AFP his story, on condition of anonymity and that his location is not disclosed.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Although Ukrainian president Zelinsky’s approval ratings had plummeted before the war, his unwillingness to leave Kyiv and his role in leading the country through the war have now propelled his popularity again. In the capital Kyiv, Ukrainians stopped by AFP are full of praise for President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian who quickly transitioned to wartime leader as Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. Even those who admit doubts about his competence appear won over: “I will tell you frankly I did not vote for him, I did not vote for Zelensky. But during the war he showed himself as a mature politician, which I didn’t expect him to,” financier Sergiy says.
Minsk (AFP) – President Alexander Lukashenko says if any country commits an aggression against Belarus, the response will be ‘most cruel’, after saying that his country would only join Russia’s offensive in Ukraine if attacked first by Kyiv’s army.
Antakya (Turkey) (AFP) – Aerial shots show the destruction wrought in Antakya by the catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Fourteen centuries of history crumbled in less than two minutes in Antakya, a fabled ancient Greek centre known throughout most of its history as Antioch.
Niger (Niger) (AFP) – In Soulefeta, a village in the remote Aiir Mountains of northern Niger, health care comes in the form of an empty building manned by a nurse with no equipment and no drugs. It lies about seven kilometres from Iferouāne, where there is a bigger health centre — but in this mountainous part of the Sahara, those few kilometres are long and gruelling.
Golbasi (Turkey) (AFP) – French doctors and first responders set up a field hospital in the Turkish town of Golbasi to take care of injured people in the wake of the February 6 earthquake.
Lviv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Father Taras Mykhalchuk celebrates the funeral service of two Ukrainian servicemen, Oleg Muzhkevych and Valery Dianov, killed during combat with Russian troops, at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in Lviv. Since the beginning of the war, Father Taras Mykhalchuk has been conducting servicemen’s funerals every day.
Ankara (AFP) – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says “the time has come to ratify both Finland and Sweden and to make them full members of our alliance ” during a press conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Pazarcık (Turkey) (AFP) – Aerial shots show the damage done to a road near Pazarcik, Turkey, by the deadly earthquake which struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria on February 6 2023. The fault line between two tectonic plates – the Arabian and the Eurasian – lays beneath Turkey’s southeastern provinces and passes through this road.
Pyongyang (AFP) – North Koreans lay flowers in front of giant bronze statues of former leaders in Pyongyang, as the country marks the anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong Il, the late father of current ruler Kim Jong Un.
New York (AFP) – The earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible, dating to the late ninth to early tenth century, is to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York. It is estimated at $30 to $50 million, making it the most valuable printed manuscript or historical document ever offered at auction.
