Simi Valley (United States) (AFP) – US Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy welcomes Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen outside the Reagan Presidential Library, in Simi Valley, California.
Karachi (AFP) – Hanging from a crane, 17-year-old Noor Jehan has just been seen by a team of international vets at Karachi Zoo. The 3.5-ton African elephant, who could barely walk across her enclosure due to a large growth between her back legs, caught the eye of Four Paws International after images of her were shared on social media. “It was a very risky procedure” says vet Amir Khalil, after knocking Noor Jehan to perform the diagnosis.
Lisbon (AFP) – Speaking at the 47th UEFA Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, Aleksander Ceferin says “football is, and will always stay, the sport of people”. The UEFA chief rails against the “privatisation” of football, citing clubs being “bought up by investment funds” the loss of “local identities” and the “reckless” spending of certain club owners. Ceferin’s comments come after he was re-elected for a third term as president of European football’s governing body.
Bentiu (South Sudan) (AFP) – It may be an invasive pest, known for choking waterways in many parts of the world, but water hyacinth is proving an unlikely source of fuel in flood-stricken South Sudan. The fast-growing aquatic weed is rich in biomass, organic material that produces energy, and is being harvested and turned into briquettes for use in heating and cooking. As a fuel, it’s cheaper than wood-based charcoal and safer to collect than firewood.
Kahramanmaras (Turkey) (AFP) – Two months after a deadly earthquake killed more than 50,000, and weeks before a presidential election, Kahramanmaras, in southeastern Turkey, has creaked back into life. Much of the fury directed at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in the wake of the disaster has begun to fade in a province that gave him three quarters of its vote in Turkey’s last election. One Kahramanmaras resident, shopkeeper Latif Dalyan, believes “we couldn’t have done better. It wasn’t easy.”
Beijing (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron says China can “play a major role” in resolving the war in Ukraine. Speaking in Beijing, at the beginning of a three-day trip, the French leader looks to China’s “close relationship with Russia” as a way to stop the fighting.
Moscow (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin tells new US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy that Washington’s foreign policy “in the end led to the current Ukrainian crisis”. The address comes as Putin swore in 17 international ambassadors in the Kremlin.
New York (AFP) – Pro and anti-Trump protesters rally outside the Manhattan Criminal Court where the former US president was arraigned in a hush-money payment case. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges.
Wellington (AFP) – Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers her final speech to parliament, using her last address to reflect on her leadership.
Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) – Donald Trump offers a defense of his conduct Tuesday in his first remarks since being charged over hush money payments to a porn star. “I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump tells an audience of several hundred donors, political allies and other supporters after returning to Mar-a-Lago, his beachfront mansion in southern Florida.
Mumbai (AFP) – Under the glow of a ring light in the spare bedroom of a Mumbai high-rise apartment, Indian make-up maven Debasree Banerjee has found fans across the world with a simple philosophy: brown is beautiful.
Los Angeles (AFP) – Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen arrives at the hotel in Los Angeles where she will be meeting US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.
