AFP UK

Paris (AFP) – The stabbing at the Gare du Nord station left six people injured, including a police officer, says French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Coming up from the basement and returning to the mat, young Ukrainian gymnasts keep training despite the constant threat of Russian missiles. With dreams of becoming an Olympic champion, nine-year-old Eva Evstratenko is one of those whose ambitions are being constrained by the war, with the UN warning that seven million children at risk without sustained access to electricity, heating and water.

Chuzhou (China) (AFP) – Since China reversed its zero-Covid policy last month, a whirlwind of cases has crammed hospitals with elderly patients and sparked a free-for-all over limited supplies of medicine in Anhui province.

Dhaka (AFP) – Thousands of supporters from multiple opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have taken to the streets of the capital Dhaka to protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand new elections. IMAGES

Envigado (Colombia) (AFP) – Giant illuminated balloons in a variety of wacky shapes — animals, monsters and even Lionel Messi’s Argentina shirt — glow in the dark as crowds gaze from below at a festival in Colombia’s southern city of Envigado.

Los Angeles (AFP) – Aerial images show two cars inside a giant sinkhole that opened up on Tuesday during the relentless storms ravaging California. According to local media, the passengers were rescued and hospitalized with minor injuries. Torrential downpours in the US state have caused flash flooding, closed key highways, toppled trees, and swept away drivers and passengers.

Kharkiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Russian strikes hit eastern Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv late Tuesday, the regional governor said, just hours after a surprise visit by the German foreign minister with her Ukrainian counterpart.

Melbourne (AFP) – Mass is held at Melbourne’s cathedral after Cardinal George Pell died in Rome aged 81, Pell was convicted and later cleared of sexual abuse in Australia. Pell died of complications related to a hip surgery he had undergone in a Rome hospital on Tuesday, according to the Vatican’s official news website. IMAGES

Antwerp (Belgium) (AFP) – “It’s unheard of” says the head of Belgian Customs, Kristian Vanderwaeren, as the organisation announces it seized a record total of 110 tonnes of cocaine in 2022 at the port of Antwerp. Belgium’s main container terminal is now considered the main gateway for illegal drugs into Europe, with supply being plentiful enough to push prices down, according to Vanderwaeren.

Bucha (Ukraine) (AFP) – Volunteers and members of the Kazakh community in Ukraine distribute free tea, coffee, biscuits and Kazakh fried bread, or ‘baursaki’, to Bucha residents in the ‘Yurt of Invincibility’– a traditional Kazakh yurt that has been installed in the city to serve as a heating point for locals, amid the disruption to power and water supplies.

London (AFP) – People queue in London to buy Prince Harry’s much anticipated autobiography, “Spare”, as some bookshops opened their doors at midnight to cater for immense demand. Beyond the Channel, the biggest royal book since Andrew Morton’s biography of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, has also caused a stir, with eager buyers in Paris and Germany.

Juliaca (Peru) (AFP) – At least 12 people have been left dead after protestors in Peru tried to storm an airport in the southern city of Juliaca. The clash is another violent outburst in Peru’s ongoing, month-long, political crisis, as protestors demand the removal of President Dina Boluarte, who took power after her predecessor, Pedro Castillo, was ousted and arrested on December 7.