AFP UK

New Delhi (AFP) – Delhi wakes up to a thick blanket of toxic smog after a night of Diwali fireworks despite government guidelines to shun the polluting explosives that make its air acrid every year.

Johannesburg (AFP) – To many they are just filthy-looking jumbo bags bursting at the seams with recyclable waste wheeled along the streets of South Africa’s largest city. But now graffiti artists are giving them a makeover, spray-painting them with bold and bright designs to encourage bystanders to look up and notice the unsung work of the impoverished workers who pull them.

Gothenburg (Sweden) (AFP) – Sweden is a step closer to getting its first woman prime minister as left-wing politician Magdalena Andersson, dubbed the “bulldozer”, has been elected head of the main ruling party. Despite Sweden being known as a bastion for gender-equality, it has yet to have a woman as its head of government. She succeeds outgoing leader and Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who announced his resignation in August, and now has to win a vote in parliament to be prime minister.

Chacaltaya (Bolivia) (AFP) – Once the highest ski resort in the world but now a crumbling relic to climate change in the Bolivian Andes, Chacaltaya was a popular family weekend retreat for inhabitants of La Paz, just 30 kilometers away. By 1998, the Chacaltaya glacier had been reduced to just seven percent of its size in 1940, while it disappeared entirely in 2009.

New Delhi (AFP) – Thick smog envelops India’s capital as its air quality plummets to hazardous levels. New Delhi is choked by deadly smog every winter because of it’s position and weather patterns. The Hindu festival of Diwali contributes to air quality problems as residents set off fireworks each year.

Stockholm (AFP) – Flamenco, circus, wildlife and cabaret… Owe Sandström, the designer behind ABBA’s costumes, explains the thought processes behind some of the Swedish band’s most iconic looks.

Glasgow (AFP) – Speaking at COP26 in Glasgow, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak says finance and business ministers at COP26 have developed a plan to deliver $100 billion of public capital and access to $130 trillion of private capital, especially to developing countries, to help them make the transition to net zero.

London (AFP) – After the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa in London, which highlighted the growing feeling of insecurity on the streets of the British capital, many women are signing up for self-defence classes.

Berlin (AFP) – German Health Minister Jens Spahn says the country is experiencing a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” at a press conference, as the number of Covid-19 infections rises in Germany. Germany, Europe’s most populous country with some 83 million people, has been grappling with a fourth wave of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks that has seen the seven-day incidence rate hit highs not seen since May.

Paris (AFP) – A coffee table that can be turned into a complete computer workstation is one of the winners of the 120th edition of Paris’ Concours Lepine, which for over a century has been awarding prizes for innovative inventions.

Kiev (AFP) – More than a thousand Ukrainians demonstrate in central Kiev against Covid-19 vaccination rules and restrictions aimed at the unvaccinated, as the country is hit hard by a new wave of the virus.

ON THE HENGILL VOLCANO (Iceland) (AFP) – At the foot of an Icelandic volcano, a newly opened plant makes rocks from carbon dioxide sucked from the air, trapping the main gas responsible for global warming. The Orca facility, whose name is based on the Icelandic word for “energy”, does its cutting-edge work at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant in southwest Iceland.