Paso Canoas (Costa Rica) (AFP) – Marwa fled Afghanistan because she wanted to study, work, wear jeans, and go to the park without needing a male chaperone. Now, locked in a shelter in Costa Rica with a hundred deportees from the United States, she fears she will be sent back. “I will die there… The Taliban will kill me,” she says.
Kannur (India) (AFP) – Indians celebrate at the Theyyam dance festival at a local temple in the Kannur, a city in southern India. Theyyam dancers wear heavy make-up, flamboyant costumes and headgear to honour Hindu deities.
Newcastle (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Newcastle becomes a sea of black and white as 150,000 fans line the city’s streets to celebrate the Magpies’ League Cup success with an open top bus parade. A 2-1 victory over Liverpool on March 16 saw Newcastle win their first major trophy since 1969 and first domestic cup for 70 years.
Bangkok (AFP) – A construction worker tells AFP how he cheated death when a 30-storey Bangkok skyscraper collapsed in mere seconds after a massive earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand. Burmese worker Khin Aung, who is searching for his brother, is one of many tearful family members gathering at the remains of the crumbled building, clinging to shreds of hope that their loved ones who were working when it fell might be found alive.
Birmingham (AFP) – Leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK Nigel Farage says his party would create a UK version of the US’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) if elected. Farage was speaking at a rally to launch his party’s campaign ahead of local elections in parts of the UK and the first major by-election test for Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer since he was elected.
Ronda (AFP) – People gather to witness a partial solar eclipse in the southern Spanish town of Ronda. The partial eclipse, visible across swathes of the Northern Hemisphere, is the first of the year and the 17th this century.
Damaskus (AFP) – Syrian bartenders prepare drinks at pubs in Old Damascus’s Christian-majority Bab Sharqi neighbourhood, after Syrian authorities reverse a decision to shut bars and restaurants serving alcohol following public outcry. “What happened yesterday makes no sense, especially with the holiday season just around the corner,” says one bartender.
Ciudad Juárez (AFP) – A US eight-wheeled Stryker armored vehicle patrols the border area in Sunland Park, New Mexico. On his return to office in January, US President Donald Trump launched what he vowed would be the biggest migrant deportation wave in American history, and hundreds of migrants have been expelled to third countries in Central America.
Bangkok (AFP) – Rescuers dig through rubble for workers who were trapped when a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed in Bangkok during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand. IMAGES
Naypyidaw (Birmanie) (AFP) – Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing gives a speech on state-run TV confirming that 144 people have died and 732 are injured after a powerful earthquake hit the country. The junta has also declared a state of emergency while calling for international aid.
Naypyidaw (Birmanie) (AFP) – Hundreds of injured are taken to hospital in Myanmar’s capital of Naypyidaw, where the wounded are treated outside following damage sustained to the building in the deadly 7.7-magnitude earthquake. “I was afraid that the building would collapse so I went outside of the house. But I was hit by a wooden cabinet that fell on me and I was injured in the head and foot”, says Shwe Sin.
Jakarta (AFP) – At a smoke-filled warehouse in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, hundreds of young men and women throw their arms in the air, bouncing to British songs from the 1990s. The party, more than 7,000 miles from British shores, is inspired by the “Britpop” scene at the height of Cool Britannia, about 30 years ago.
