Berlin (AFP) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tells the Bundestag that Russia’s “scorched earth” attacks against Ukraine are only strengthening the Western alliance against Moscow.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – In his nightly address on the 19 October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country’s forces shot down 233 Iranian Shahed UAVs in a month. The Kremlin and Iran have denied the use of drones in Ukraine, but EU foreign policy spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said the EU had “sufficient evidence” and would prepare fresh sanctions on Iran.
Zangilan (Azerbaijan) (AFP) – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives in Azerbaijan for a one-day working visit, where he is welcomed by his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. The two allies inagurate the Zangilan International Airport, the second to be built in territories recaptured from Armenia following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
London (AFP) – A Hong Kong protester says he was dragged into the grounds of China’s consulate in Manchester, where he was kicked and punched, in an incident that has drawn widespread condemnation in Britain and triggered an international row.
Kutupalong (Bangladesh) (AFP) – When hundreds of thousands of Rohingya muslims fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in August 2017, Bangladesh opened its border and tens of thousands of locals rushed to help the persecuted minority with food, medicine and cash. But public attitudes in Bangladesh have hardened after years of fruitless efforts to negotiate a safe return for the Rohingyas, with media outlets and politicians regularly condemning refugees as drug runners and terror threats.
Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden says Russian President Vladimir Putin is in an “incredibly difficult position” in Ukraine and has run out of options beyond trying to “brutalize” civilians into surrender.
Williamstown (United States) (AFP) – A full-sized model of Noah’s Ark sitting in rural Kentucky promotes a worldview that draws visitors from across the United States — that the theory of evolution is false. The Ark Encounter and the associated Creation Museum espouse the belief that God literally created the Earth in six days around 4,000 BC. Evangelical Christians flock to see the spectacular staging and sharp denunciations of scientific facts such as that dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago.
One of the poorest and most arid states in the world, the landlocked nation of Chad has been hit by exceptional floods that have affected hundreds of thousands of lives. In Walia, a poor neighbourhood to the south of the city, dozens of homes were ravaged last week after the Chari River burst its banks following torrential rains.
Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden says the United States should increase domestic oil production to tackle higher pump prices since energy exporter Russia invaded Ukraine. The energy crunch means Americans “need to responsibly increase” US oil production, Biden says at the White House, “without delaying or deferring our transition to clean energy,” he adds.
Al Khor (Qatar) (AFP) – Qatar has become the first Middle East country to receive Chinese giant pandas — Suhail and Soraya — who, in true Gulf fashion, have taken up residence in luxury air-conditioned quarters.
Undefined (AFP) – General Sergey Surovikin, the Russian commander in charge of operations in Ukraine, says that the “situation is tense” for the Russian army in Ukraine. In the same video, Surovikin, known widely as “General Armageddon” says the situation is “not simple” but that the Russian army will ensure the “safety of civilians” in the region.
Taunton (United States) (AFP) – American farmers growing cranberries, a quintessential component to Thanksgiving feasts, have had to adapt their traditional methods to combat climate change. The tart red berries, boiled with a heaping dose of sugar to make classic cranberry sauce, thrive only in the right environment — but climate change threatens to make conditions more unpredictable and extreme.
