Bangkok (AFP) – When Phatsakon Kaewkla came home to his apartment in the Thai capital after a massive earthquake hit neighbouring Myanmar, he found gaping cracks in the walls of his home. The 23-year-old sales coordinator is now one of many Bangkok residents wondering if they should seek safer housing in a city where hundreds of residential buildings were damaged by the 7.7-magnitude quake that struck Myanmar on March 28.
Port-au-Prince (AFP) – Festival-goers in Port-au-Prince are turning out in force for the launch of the 18th edition of PapJazz, the Haitian capital’s international jazz festival. “We can’t just put up with what’s happening to us. We also need to have moments of conviviality like this, moments of creation, moments of resistance,” says Milena Sandler, the festival’s general manager.
Mexiko-Stadt (AFP) – Thousands attend a massive boxing class led by former professional boxers Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar de la Hoya in Mexico City’s Zocalo Square. The event, also joined by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, is part of a campaign to steer young people away from addiction and violent drug cartels.
Kairo (AFP) – President Emmanuel Macron says that France is “firmly opposed to any displacement of populations and to any annexation” in Gaza or the Israeli-occupied West Bank as he visits Cairo. Speaking during a joint press conference, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi adds that “stability and lasting peace in the Middle East will remain out of reach as long as the Palestinian issue is left without a just resolution”.
Dubai (AFP) – Nearly 200 dogs and their owners gather at Expo City Dubai to take part in the ‘Paw Power Challenge’, a 2.5-kilometre obstacle race where dog owners and their pups team up. “It’s obviously very important to always stay healthy, but we also need to ensure that our animals stay healthy as well because we both want to live a long life together,” says A.J. Amer, a participant, adding that “the race was perfect.”
Shanghai (AFP) – Asian and European equities collapse on a black Monday for markets after China hammered the United States with its own hefty tariffs, ramping up a trade war many fear could spark a recession. US President Donald Trump sparked a market meltdown when he unveiled sweeping tariffs against US trading partners for what he said was years of being ripped off. But after Asian markets closed on Friday, China said it would impose retaliatory levies of 34 percent on all US goods from April 10.
Peking (AFP) – China accuses the United States of serving “its own selfish interests” with its massive tariffs programme announced by President Donald Trump, adding, “This is typical unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying.” China on Friday said it would impose retaliatory levies of 34 percent on all US goods from April 10.
Sao Paulo (AFP) – Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro take part in a rally in Sao Paulo demanding amnesty for those convicted of an attack in Brasilia on January 8, 2023. That day, thousands of his backers stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court demanding the military oust President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — who had narrowly triumphed over Bolsonaro in the 2022 election. Bolsonaro plans to lead the demonstration, the first since the Supreme Court decided to try him on charges of plotting a coup. IMAGES
Saada (Yemen) (AFP) – Yemenis inspect the destruction of a building and a solar panel shop following airstrikes on the city of Saada, blamed on the US. Media aligned with Yemen’s Huthi rebels on Saturday said one person was killed and several others wounded.
El Amra (Tunisia) (AFP) – “We have nothing to do at the moment. We’ve got no choice. We don’t even have anywhere to go,” says Guinean migrant Amadou Sadio after Tunisian security forces cleared his tent. For nearly two years, olive groves around El Amra, a town south of Tunis, served as informal camps for thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. This week, authorities launched a sweeping operation to clear out the makeshift shelters located a few kilometres from Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast.
Pasto (Colombia) (AFP) – A dissident group of the Colombian guerrilla ELN that is negotiating peace with the government hands over almost 600 bombs, which President Gustavo Petro ordered to be destroyed during a public event. The handover of explosives is a gesture of goodwill towards the peace deal that the left-wing president is promoting with the so-called Comuneros del Sur, a small group with whom he has been negotiating since September as part of his ‘Total Peace’ policy.
Pyongyang (AFP) – North Korea holds its first post-Covid Pyongyang International Marathon, as hundreds of runners take to the capital’s streets and onlookers cheer for the first time in six years. Foreign athletes arrived in the city ahead of the running contest, held to celebrate the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung, in 1912. The marathon is the largest international sporting event in the reclusive country, offering a rare opportunity for visitors to run through the streets of the tightly controlled capital.
