Moscow (AFP) – Images of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosting Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Moscow in order to develop bilateral cooperation. IMAGES
Beijing (AFP) – China’s foreign ministry defends its Covid measures saying that they have protected people’s lives and the country continued to ‘optimise and improve’ their policies ‘according to the development of the epidemic situation’. Businesses reopened and testing requirements were relaxed in Beijing and other Chinese cities on Monday as the country tentatively eases out of a strict zero-Covid policy that sparked nationwide protests.
Le Chenit (Switzerland) (AFP) – Switzerland’s Risoud Forest is filled with spruce trees which are hundreds of years old. Their wood is perfect for crafting acoustic guitars, violins and other string instruments, making it sought after by luthiers around the world. But climate change has brought drier, warmer weather, threatening the special tonal qualities of the wood.
London (AFP) – British sound artist Stuart Fowkes has launched an online project to save “disappearing” sounds, with audio submitted by users from around the world kept in the archives of the British Library.
Al Khor (Qatar) (AFP) – “Let’s bring on France”, “Jude Bellingham could take on Kylian Mbappé” say England fans leaving Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium after a 3-0 win over Senegal. The Three Lions will face reigning world champions France in the World Cup quarter-finals.
Sao Paulo (AFP) – Fans of Santos, the football club where Brazilian legend Pele played, pray during a vigil outside the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital entrance, where the 82-year-old is hospitalized in Sao Paulo. IMAGES
London (AFP) – British sound artist Stuart Fowkes has launched an online project to save “disappearing” sounds, with audio submitted by users from around the world kept in the archives of the British Library.
Lumajang (Indonesia) (AFP) – Indonesia’s Mount Semeru erupts and spews hot ash clouds a mile into the sky, prompting authorities to raise the volcano’s alert status to the highest level. The eruption of the highest mountain on Indonesia’s main island of Java around 800 kilometres southeast of capital Jakarta sparked evacuations of nearby villages.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – A $60 price cap set on Russian oil agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia is not “serious” because it is “quite comfortable” for Moscow, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Brussels (AFP) – EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says that the bloc must act to address “distortions” created by Washington’s $430-billion plan to spur climate-friendly technologies in the United States. The European Union must “take action to rebalance the playing field where the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) or other measures create distortions”, von der Leyen says in a speech at the College of Europe in the Belgian city of Bruges. SOUNDBITE
Lviv (Ukraine) (AFP) – As many cities experience both planned and unannounced blackouts in the aftermath of Russian strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, locals in Lviv carry on with life as best as they can.
Istanbul (AFP) – In October, Turkey’s parliament passed a contested 40-article ‘disinformation law’ as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who is often accused of muzzling the free press — faces his most challenging elections, in June next year, since he came to power two decades ago. Now referred to as the “censorship law” by the opposition and journalists’ groups, the sweeping legislation, that could see journalists and social media users locked up for three years for spreading disinformation.
