Yaoundé (AFP) – From funeral wakes to recording studios, the Mbolé music genre has become the sound of the streets in the working-class neighbourhoods of Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. Emerging in the early 2000s and exploding in 2016, the genre’s upbeat rhythms have woven their way into the central African country’s cultural landscape by offering youth an outlet to dance and tell their stories.
Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Months of intense shelling has seriously damaged many residential buildings in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Without waiting for government assistance to arrive, residents of one building in the Saltivka district have mobilised to carry out the repair work themselves.
Brasília (AFP) – Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that rioters who sacked the presidential palace over the weekend likely had inside help. “Many people in the military police were complicit,” said Lula.
Los Angeles (AFP) – Avatar director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau take part in a handprint ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard. “I’m seeing a pattern of the type of film that people will go to see in a movie theater”, says Cameron as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ clings to top spot at the North American box office.
Juliaca (Peru) (AFP) – Relatives and friends in Juliaca, southern Peru, attend the burial of one of the 17 deceased during the violent attempt to take over the airport of the city of Juliaca on January 9.
Brasília (AFP) – Brazil has appointed its first Minister for Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, who will head the country’s newly created Ministry for Indigenous Affairs. The move comes after former president Jair Bolsonaro’s pursuit of policies hostile to both the climate and indigenous communities. The country’s new president, Luiz Inacio Lula, campaigned in part on promises to protect the Amazon rainforest, and Guajajara has vowed to hold him to them.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Gathering in Kyiv’s Maidan Square with pictures and banners, the relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war are trying to raise awareness for their loved ones in the hope that they could be returned. “I was looking and asking everywhere,” says Svitlana, whose son has been held for eight months, “I even wrote to the other side, DPR and LPR (the Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples’ Republics). I don´t know where my child is.”
Beijing (AFP) – For an equestrian sports industry pegged back by its reliance on expensive imported horses, Zhuang Zhuang, China’s first competition-approved clone, has presented an opportunity to break free. The popularity of equestrian competition in China has taken off in recent years, but horses costing “from a few million to 10 or 20 million yuan” has put the halters on it.
Lützerath (Germany) (AFP) – German police continue their operation to clear anti-coal protesters from the abandoned town of Luetzerath. 2,000 activists set up a camp in the village, which is set for demolition to enable the expansion of the neighbouring Garzweiler coal mine. Around 200 protesters still remain, clinging to trees or on the roofs of buildings, as police work to dislodge them.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister, Ganna Malyar, says the country’s forces are fighting to retain control of Soledar, a town in the eastern Donetsk region, but the situation remains “difficult”. Malyar describes the battle as “the fiercest and heaviest fighting” and says that Russian forces are “suffering heavy losses”.
Planada (United States) (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people were under evacuation orders in California on Tuesday as the state was ravaged by the latest in a barrage of storms that have left at least 17 people dead. Torrential downpours caused flash flooding, closed key highways, toppled trees and swept away drivers and passengers — including a five-year-old-boy who remains missing in central California.
Cairo (AFP) – Many Egyptians complain they can no longer afford food or find jobs as prices “change every day”, after the local pound lost half its value on January 11 compared to March, following a third central bank intervention as part of an International Monetary Fund loan agreement.
