AFP UK

Antakya (Turkey) (AFP) – Dozens of red balloons speckle the rubble of a destroyed building alongside a main road in Turkey’s quake-hit south. They are the final tribute to children killed by the earthquake that devastated Antakya, according to Ogun Sever Okur, who is behind the memorial. “The dominant feeling in me is grief” he says as he hangs the balloons. “I distribute toys to the surviving children and, for the other children who were here, this is the last toy I could give them”.

Ashbourne (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Thousands of people turn out for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football match, a game that takes over the streets of Ashbourne, a small town in northern England. The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are defined by which side of the small brook that bisects the town they were born on, and the aim is to score a goal, which are some three miles apart. “It’s just fighting tooth and nail” says Rowan Taylor, a player, who explains of the game’s rules: “don’t kill each other”. Sally Montague, one of those watching, says “it’s a great, unique game that is fabulous to watch as long as you keepy well away from the ball.”

Sao Sebastiao do Uatuma (Brazil) (AFP) – Aerial shots of Barra do Sahy in the municipality of São Sebastião, one of the areas hardest-hit by the flooding and landslides that killed at least 44 people in southeastern Brazil over the weekend.

Moscow (AFP) – Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov meets China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow.

New Delhi (AFP) – The muted coverage on Gautam Adani following the Hindenburg report that accused the tycoon of fraud has unravelled the nexus between big business and politics that dictates Indian newsrooms, journalists and commentators say. The US-based short seller, Hindenburg Research, in late January accused Adani group of engaging in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, plummeting the fortunes of the port-to-energy multinational conglomerate by $120 billion and pushing Adani to the 17th spot from the world’s third richest person.

Warsaw (AFP) – US President Joe Biden vows Russia will never see victory in Ukraine, delivering a major speech in Warsaw hours after Vladimir Putin said Russia would continue its nearly year-long military offensive.

Binche (Belgium) (AFP) – The carnival of Binche marks its first return after the Coronavirus pandemic with its main parade stars, the Gilles, wearing large hats made of ostrich feathers, and throwing oranges to the spectators. Several tens of thousands of people attend this event, which historians believe dates back to the 14th century.

Surat Thani (Thailand) (AFP) – As the world’s largest producer of natural rubber, Thailand supplies almost 40 percent of global stocks of rubber in 2021. But the industry boom roughly a decade ago also comes with massive deforestation, plummeting biodiversity and soaring soil erosion. Thailand is working with its farmers to reward sustainable practices for the country’s rubber industry.

New York (AFP) – “We are extremely disappointed in today’s verdict,” Cesar de Castro, the attorney for Genaro Garcia Luna, tells reporters after his client, a once-powerful Mexican government minister, was convicted of narcotics smuggling charges by a US jury.

Appiano Gentile (Italy) (AFP) – Inter Milan train on the eve of their Champions League last 16 first leg against Porto.

Athens (AFP) – At a meeting with Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “strategic failure” as Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “systematically” continue the offensive that began almost a year ago. “One year after President Putin attacked Ukraine, It’s clear that his war has been a strategic failure in every way,” Blinken says in Athens at the close of a five-day trip to the region.

Warsaw (AFP) – US President Joe Biden arrives at the airport of Poland’s capital Warsaw. He is met by a Polish delegation as well as the US ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski. Biden gets in a vehicle where he will be taken to his hotel in downtown Warsaw by motorcade.