AFP UK

Viéville-sous-les-Côtes (France) (AFP) – At the foot of the vineyards outside a sleepy village in northern France, Sabine Rouas and her steed Aston, a 1.4-tonne (3,000-pound) bull, make stately progress. A van pulls to a halt and the bemused driver takes out his phone to record the scene. Aston’s outings often trigger the same reaction, and give Sabine a chuckle. “Honestly, I didn’t invent this,” she says. “Look around the world, people ride all sorts of animals — ostriches, camels, elephants.” Aston is a local celebrity in the Meuse region, and now around the world.

Kabul (AFP) – Afghanistan’s women students are both dismayed and angered by the Taliban’s announcement that they are banned from attending university, the latest assault on women’s rights in the country. Wajiha Kazimi, a 19-year-old student who survived a suicide attack on her education centre in September, says the Taliban have “totally burnt the page on which we exist.” Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the hardline Islamists have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage.

Paris (AFP) – The man suspected of killing three people and wounding three others in Paris near a Kurdish cultural centre wanted to “obviously attack foreigners,” says Gerald Darmanin. The French Interior Minister went to the scene of the shooting in the 10th arrondissement.

Tokyo (AFP) – Seasonal lighting brightens Tokyo ahead of the Christmas weekend. Festive events are slowly returning to the capital for the first time in three years, although many people still wear surgical masks and the number of new coronavirus cases remains high.

Chongqing (China) (AFP) – Beds are full and patients are left on stretchers in crowded corridors in Chongqing hospital’s emergency ward, as the number of Covid cases soar across China. The southwest city was locked down for nearly a month in November. Since, Covid has swept through the city as China dismantled its strict zero-Covid policy in early December.

Beijing (AFP) – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning says that China has always released Covid-19 information in a “timely, open and transparent manner” after the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus raised concerns over the evolving situation in China. Over 26,000 new cases have appeared in China in the last 24 hours, according to the WHO.

London (AFP) – A miniature world made of gingerbread and sweets entirely designed, baked and installed by architects is on exhibition at the Museum of Architecture in London. The 2022 theme is climate change with visitors taken through five different climate zones from polar to desert.

Brussels (AFP) – Eva Kaili, the Greek MEP at the centre of an inquiry into an alleged attempt by Qatar to corrupt the European Parliament, “is actively participating in the investigation” and “denies any corruption on her part”, her lawyer Andre Risopoulos says.

Admont (Austria) (AFP) – Ancient monasteries in deepest provincial Austria do not normally feature on the bucket lists of the TikTok generation. Nor do libraries. But the Admont abbey library in the small Styrian town — which claims to be the largest monastic library in the world — is also the most Instagramable, with Baroque interiors so breathtaking they almost look like they have been Photoshopped.

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – To bring joy, environmental awareness, and Christmas spirit to the children who visit the Marine Aquarium of Rio de Janeiro (AquaRio), Brazilian diver Felipe Luna dressed as Santa Claus swims, feeds the fish, and plays with the visitors.

Hong Kong (AFP) – Assistants wielding multiple livestreaming mobile phones are now as crucial to Roshan Melwani’s tailor shop as the measuring tapes, needles and fabrics that have made his Hong Kong family business so famous.

Jerusalem (AFP) – In a video posted on his Twitter account, veteran politician and longest-serving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears talking on the phone to the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, informing him that he had formed a new Israeli government, returning to power as the head of the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.