AFP UK

“The news shocked us,” says a Buenos Aires resident, reacting to Lionel Messi’s announcement that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will “surely” be the last of his career.

Lima (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells reporters that Washington is reviewing options on its relationship with Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and other OPEC+ nations agreed to large cuts in oil production.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Anna Trushova, communications manager at the Center for Civil Liberties, reacts after to the organisation was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. “When we found out the news, we were stupefied. It was a great start to our day,” says Anna Trushova.

The head of Norway’s Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, briefly profiles the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winners: Belarusian human rights activist, Ales Bialiatski; Russian human rights organisation, Memorial; and Ukrainian human rights organisation, The Center for Civil Liberties (CCL).

Kryvyi Rih (Ukraine) (AFP) – In Kryvyi Rih, an industrial Ukrainian town not far from the southern front, talented craftsmen and mechanics are helping the Ukrainian army by building equipment that was previously non-existent in the country’s military arsenal.

Na Klang (Thailand) (AFP) – Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha visits the nursery targeted in a deadly attack that left at least 36 people dead. Surrounded by officials, he lays flowers to pay respect to the victims of one of the kingdom’s worst mass killings.

Maseru (Lesotho) (AFP) – Voters in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho cast their ballots as polling stations open for its parliamentary elections. But hopes are low that the outcome will end Lesotho’s long-running political gridlock. The country has been governed for the past decade by a string of coalition governments that have proved fractious and frail, and no premier has served out a full five-year term. IMAGES

Melbourne (AFP) – Murong Xuecun was one of the brightest stars of China’s literary scene, his novels offering searing critiques of contemporary social issues that few other writers dared to imitate. But after a decade of tightening freedom of speech under the rule of President Xi Jinping, he could not publish in his own country and was eventually forced into exile.

Jakarta (AFP) – Prolonged torrential rain has caused flooding in different areas in Jakarta. At least three people have died in the Indonesian capital after a flood surged into a school and caused a wall to collapse.

Na Klang (Thailand) (AFP) – Weeping, grief-stricken relatives gather at the Nong Bua Lamphu hospital where the victims of the deadly shooting are being treated. A former police officer shot dead at least 37 people, most of them children, when he stormed a nursery in the northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province, in one of kingdom’s deadliest mass killings. IMAGES

Nong Bua Lam Phu province (Thailand) (AFP) – Grief-stricken families of loved ones killed at a childcare centre in northeastern Thailand gather alongside authorities wearing black arm bands. White roses and wreaths were laid outside the nursery where a former police officer shot dead at least 37 people, most of them children. IMAGES

Kampala (AFP) – The World Health Organization’s representative to Uganda, Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, confirms the death of another Ugandan health worker, bringing the total number killed by the Ebola virus in the country to 10.