Havana (AFP) – Enthusiasts learn the art of Cuban cigar rolling in a master class in Havana, being hosted at the 23rd Habano Festival which celebrates the island nation’s tobacco industry. According to Habanos S.A, Cuba exported $568 million worth of cigars in 2021. However, since September 2022, the industry has been rebuilding after Hurricane Ian struck the island, decimating tobacco production.
Luxembourg (AFP) – Laura Kovesi, the EU’s first anti-fraud prosecutor, says her office — the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) — is ready to help investigate criminals circumventing EU sanctions imposed on Russia. “We have signed a working arrangement with the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office” she says, adding that “there is fraud everywhere in Europe.”
New Delhi (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, greeted by his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar. IMAGES
New Delhi (AFP) – US Secretary of State Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov are in the same room for the first time since July 2022, at a G20 ministerial meeting in India, where their Chinese counterpart is also attending. The delegates held a minute of silence in tribute to Turkey and Syria quake victims. IMAGES
New Delhi (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, greeted by his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar. IMAGES
New Delhi (AFP) – Chinese Foreign minister Qin Gang arrives at a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, greeted by his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar.
Jandairis (Syria) (AFP) – In a displacement camp surrounded by collapsed buildings, Firas al-Ahmed, dressed a clown, volunteers to entertain children who were left homeless by the February 6 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Jandairis, in an attempt to “alleviate their fears after the panic they went through”.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says the intensity of fighting was “only increasing” near the frontline city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine that has seen months of heavy battles. “Russia does not count the number of people it sends to constantly assault our positions at all. The intensity of the fighting is only increasing,” Zelensky says in his evening address to the nation.
Puno (Peru) (AFP) – Peruvian police officers and members of the Ministry of Culture find a pre-Hispanic mummy in the isothermal bag of an ex-delivery man in Puno, who refers to her as his “spiritual girlfriend”. The man will remain in detention while investigators look into the case, a government official told AFP.
Beijing (AFP) – Beijing accuses the United States of harming its own credibility after FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency believed the pandemic “most likely” caused by a laboratory incident in Wuhan, China. “The United States once again stirs up the laboratory leak theory, which will not discredit China, but will further lower its own credibility,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning tells a regular briefing.
Cedeño (Honduras) (AFP) – The coastline of Cedeno, a fishing village in southern Honduras, looks like it was hit by an earthquake – houses, businesses and clubs stand in ruins. But it was not a tremor, nor a tsunami. A much slower, but equally destructive force is at work in Cedeno and other villages on the Pacific Gulf of Fonseca: sea level rise, as climate change threatens the region’s coastal villages.
Beijing (AFP) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko tells his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping his country “fully supports” Beijing’s proposals for ending the Ukraine war. The visit to the Chinese capital by Lukashenko — a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — comes after Beijing published a position paper on Moscow’s war in Ukraine insisting it is a neutral party and calling for dialogue. The position paper was met with scepticism from Ukraine’s allies, who believe China may soon supply weapons to Russia.
