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Jecheon (South Korea) (AFP) – If North Korea unleashes a nuclear attack on the South, architecture professor Lee Tae-goo has a plan: he’ll retreat to his purpose-built bunker and stay underground for at least two weeks to avoid radiation poisoning. With thick concrete walls, steel-reinforced doors and an air purification system, Lee says his shelter, buried under a metre (three feet) of earth, could keep him safe from a nuclear disaster and withstand a direct hit from a conventional missile.

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Methane concentrations in the atmosphere made their biggest-ever registered increase in 2021, the United Nations reports. The causes of last year’s rise are still being investigated, but analysis indicates that the largest contribution to the increase since 2007 comes from sources such as wetlands or rice paddies.

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Students from Brazil’s School of Santa Claus celebrate their graduation ahead of the Christmas season outside the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Washington (AFP) – The United States believes Russia may be advising Iran on how to conduct its crackdown against mass protests sparked by the death of a woman following her arrest by morality police. The White House is “concerned that Moscow may be advising Iran on best practices to manage protests, drawing on… extensive experience in suppressing” opponents, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporters.

Dehram (Iran) (AFP) – Amou Haji, an Iranian man nicknamed the “dirtiest man in the world” for not taking a shower for decades has died at the age of 94, state media reported on Tuesday.

Tokyo (AFP) – South Korea’s deputy foreign minister warns that a North Korean nuclear test would warrant an “unprecedentedly strong response”, vowing unity with Japan and the United States after a blitz of missile launches from the hermit state.

Nairobi (AFP) – Amnesty International says that atrocities and human rights violations committed during the conflict between the federal Ethiopian government and Tigrayan separatists amount to severe human rights violations and war crimes, according to the NGO’s researcher for the region Fisseha Tekle. Tekle blames the crimes on “all parties”, adding that there is “no innocent party which has not committed human rights violations”.

Santiago (AFP) – After a nine-year legal battle, activist and writer Shane Cienfuegos became the first non-binary person to receive a gender-neutral identity document in Chile. For Cienfuegos, it’s a victory over centuries of discrimination. In the section to indicate gender, the card is marked with an X instead of an “F” for female or an “M” for male.

Baghdad (AFP) – A partial solar eclipse caused by the moon passing in front of the sun makes its way across the Middle East after beginning over Iceland on Tuesday.

Berlin (AFP) – Health minister Karl Lauterbach says that Germany has paved the way to legalising the purchase and possession of recreational cannabis. If so, Germany would become just the second European country to legalise cannabis and its production, after Malta in 2021.

Donetske (Ukraine) (AFP) – Besides the constant shelling, the threat of trench foot and the looming Russian army, Ukraine’s army also has to face the biting cold of its eastern winters. One unit have come up with an ingenious solution: a makeshift sauna.

Tehran (AFP) – Amateur images show Iranian protesters marking 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini, by blocking traffic in a street in the capital Tehran and gathering at her burial place in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the morality police for allegedly violating the dress code.