Tafraout (Morocco) (AFP) – Doctors are positioned in various strategic spots along the Marathon des Sables for a mission on one of the “toughest footraces on Earth”: to take care of runners. Doctors help participants with foot injuries, caused by the terrain of sand and stone, the duration as well as the heat during the race.
Beijing (AFP) – Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning says that a near-collision in the South China Sea between a Chinese coast guard ship and a Philippine patrol vessel carrying journalists was caused by the latter’s “premeditated and provocative action”.
Washington (AFP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the United States is working with Sudan’s warring generals to extend an expiring, shaky ceasefire that he helped broker. “We’ve had a 72-hour ceasefire, which like most ceasefires is imperfect but nonetheless has reduced violence. And that’s obviously created somewhat better conditions for people in Sudan,” he tells reporters at a briefing.
Taipei (AFP) – Dancers from the United Ukrainian Ballet are preparing for a two-day performance in Taiwan. The dance company, which was established after Russia invaded, consists of dancers from all over Ukraine and performs in various countries “to show our culture, to show that we exist.”
Upper Marlboro (United States) (AFP) – At 16, Morissa Hall is a first-generation Black cowgirl and rising rodeo star, against the sport’s stereotypical whiteness and masculinity. Her goal is to inspire new riders with the help of her father Morse Hall, who coaches her and takes her to competitions, where “95% of the time, she’s the only little girl of color there.” She is part of a growing community of African American female riders in Maryland, just an hour away from Washington, DC, with champions as young as 12-year-old twins Reagan and Ryan Jackson. For Brittaney Logan, a member of a Black cowgirl collective, riding is a lifestyle: “We go to McDonald’s on our horses!” she tells AFP. “I want Black women especially to see that this is here.”
Beijing (AFP) – China warns Washington and Seoul against “provoking confrontation” with North Korea on Thursday, after President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart said Pyongyang would face the “end” of its leadership if it uses its nuclear arsenal. “All parties should face up to the crux of the (Korean) peninsula issue and play a constructive role in promoting a peaceful settlement of the issue,” says foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis hosts Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in a private audience in the Vatican on Thursday morning. The two exchange gifts and Shmyhal shows the Pope a book containing images of the war in Ukraine.
New York (AFP) – Actors, athletes and activists walk the Time100 red carpet in New York, before a ceremony awarding Time’s 100 Most Influential People of the year. Each year, the news magazine selects and honors emerging leaders in their fields, from a large range of industries.
A Chinese coast guard ship cut off a Philippine patrol vessel carrying journalists in the disputed South China Sea, causing a near-collision, an AFP team on board another boat saw. The near-miss off the Spratly Islands on Sunday was the latest in a steady string of incidents between China and the Philippines in the contested waterway. AFP was one of several media outlets invited to join two Philippine Coast Guard boats on a 1,670-kilometre (1,040-mile) patrol of the South China Sea, visiting a dozen islands and reefs. The BRP Malapascua and BRP Malabrigo were shadowed by Chinese navy and coast guard ships, and ordered to leave the waters several times during the six-day journey.
Surfers brave the ‘Pororoca’, one of the world’s most feared waves in the river Mearim in the Brazilian Amazon. Pororoca, which means ‘great roar’ in the indigenous Tupi Guarani language, is a phenomenon that occurs twice a year, when the ocean waters of the Atlantic meet the currents of the Amazonian rivers at high tide and push them in opposite directions.
Brasília (AFP) – Hundreds of Indigenous groups from all over Brazil camp in Brasilia for the 19th “Terra Livre” gathering, asking Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government to create new reserves and protect ancestral resources.
Yangon (AFP) – Shwe Lei and her team wrestle writhing pythons into old rice sacks and load them into a van. It’s just another day in the life of Myanmar’s premier snake removal squad, prising pythons and cajoling cobras from dangerous entanglements with the human world before returning them to their natural habitat.
