Kabul (AFP) – Afghan women hold placards in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul in support of protests that have erupted in Iran over the death of a woman in the custody of morality police. Taliban forces fire shots into the air to disperse the rally.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns Russia’s plans to declare the annexation of occupied parts of Ukraine, calling it “a dangerous escalation” that “has no place in the modern world.”
Bogotá (AFP) – Colombian right-wing senator Alirio Barrera rides his horse into Congress, which recently admitted the entry of pets. “Some have their pets, their cats, their dogs, I have my horse”, says Barrera, “and if the law is for one, so be it for all”.
Helsinki (AFP) – Finland’s foreign minister says the Nordic country will bar Russians with Schengen tourist visas from entering the country at midnight (2100 GMT) following a surge in arrivals after Moscow’s mobilisation order.
Los Frailes Islas (Venezuela) (AFP) – A sculpture of the Virgin of the Valley, a Venezuelan title for the Virgin Mary, is protecting the seabed in the first underwater museum in Venezuelan waters. In the Los Frailes Archipelago, northeast of Margarita Island, fishermen have avoided casting their nets around the 2.3-metre-high statue as a mark of respect.
Ulaanbaatar (AFP) – On a bright morning in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, young Russians fleeing Moscow’s first military call-up since World War II reflect on their choice to leave. They are among thousands of Russians who have fled across the land border over the last week, after President Vladimir Putin ordered the partial mobilisation of fighting-age men for the Ukraine invasion.
Managua (AFP) – Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega calls the Catholic Church a “perfect dictatorship” for not allowing members to elect the pope and other authority figures. The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has been under increasing government pressure since Ortega accused it of backing the protests against his government in 2018. A crackdown against the demonstrators left hundreds dead.
Lima (AFP) – Women in Peru, Chile and Colombia hit the streets to protest in favour of legalising abortion on International Safe Abortion Day. “I have two daughters and I want them to have the future ahead of them to decide,” Gloria Fuentes, from Santiago, tells AFP. “I am here for the right of all to decide.”
Paju (South Korea) (AFP) – Images of the border between South and North Koreas from the Odusan Unification Tower in the South’s Paju. US Vice President Kamala Harris was in South Korea Thursday to tour the heavily fortified border with the nuclear-armed North, on a trip aimed at strengthening the security alliance with Seoul.
Beijing (AFP) – Scientists in China say they have discovered fish fossils dating back 440 million years and that their findings could change the “understanding of the whole evolutionary framework”. “This is actually a very precious fossil evidence for us to better understand the origin and earliest evolution of jaws,” says Min Zhu, a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Mexico City (AFP) – Pro-abortion rights activists demonstrate to demand the legalisation of abortion on the Global Day of Action for Safe and Legal Abortion in Mexico City. Eight of Mexico’s 32 states have decriminalised abortion, but in September 2021 the Supreme Court declared several state laws banning abortion unconstitutional, effectively allowing it throughout the country. IMAGES
Washington (AFP) – The United States will “never” recognize Russian attempts to annex parts of Ukraine and is preparing new economic sanctions on Moscow, the White House says. “We will never recognize these illegal and illegitimate attempts at annexation,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporters after Moscow said that Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine had voted to join Russia.
