AFP UK

Warsaw (AFP) – Eighty years after having stood up to the Nazis, Polish grandmother and Warsaw uprising fighter Wanda Traczyk-Stawska is now waging a new battle in defence of migrants and Poland’s presence in the European Union.

Wellington (AFP) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was busy telling the nation about important revisions to Covid-19 restrictions when an unexpected voice cut in: “mummy”? In a situation familiar to parents worldwide, the leader’s three-year-old daughter Neve had decided everything, even the affairs of state, could wait.

Kabul (AFP) – Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid says in a press conference that the Islamic State is “more or less under control” and “not a big threat”, claiming that almost 600 people affiliated with the group have been arrested since the new administration swept to power three months ago.

Netanya (Israel) (AFP) – Migrating great white pelicans, also known as the eastern white pelicans, feed on fish at a water reservoir as part of a project funded by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority which aims at preventing pelicans from feeding from commercial fish farms.

New Delhi (AFP) – One of India’s holiest rivers – the Yamuna – is coated with toxic foam, adding to the woes of New Delhi residents already enduring a blanket of thick smog over the capital. The city government has blamed the blight on “heavy sewage and industrial waste” discharged into the river from further upstream last week. But it didn’t stop several Hindu worshippers from taking a dip in the river to mark Chhath Puja, a four-day festival to offer prayers to the sun.

Tuvalu (Tuvalu) (AFP) – Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe calls for COP26 nations to urgently address climate change, standing mid-thigh in seawater, from one of the countries most threatened by rising water levels. Tuvalu is a pacific island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia.

Iquique (Chile) (AFP) – A mountain of discarded clothing including Christmas sweaters and ski boots cuts a strange sight in Chile’s Atacama, the driest desert in the world, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by fast fashion.

Rabat (AFP) – Law enforcement officers in the Moroccan capital Rabat disperse a demonstration against a Covid-19 health pass, which authorities now require citizens to carry in order to enter government offices, restaurants, shops and other venues.

Houston (AFP) – Images of emergency services rushing to the scene of a deadly accident at the Astroworld Festival in Houston and of an injured concertgoer being stretchered away. At least eight people died and several were wounded in a crush at the music festival in the southern US state of Texas.

Freetown (AFP) – Large fires blaze near a petrol station following a massive explosion in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown that has reportedly killed 92 people. According to witnesses, the blast happened when a fuel tanker caught fire at a petrol station after a road accident. The flames then spread, burning people in cars and on roads nearby.

Wellington (AFP) – Jacinda Ardern warns the Glasgow climate summit is “make or break” in the fight to curb global warming, saying the world is now paying the price for decades of procrastination. In an interview conducted in partnership with Covering Climate Now, the New Zealand Herald and NBC News, the New Zealand leader says the UN-brokered talks are “critical and I think everyone has recognised this juncture we’re at.”