Paju (South Korea) (AFP) – A giant loudspeaker stands silently at a North Korean military outpost near the border with the South, as Seoul’s military says its neighbour appears to have stopped broadcasting strange and unsettling noises along the border, a day after South Korea ceased blaring its own loudspeaker propaganda northwards.
Ziway (Ethiopia) (AFP) – Lake Dembel, a vast lake in central Ethiopia which provides for wildlife and thousands of people, is being pumped dry, environmentalists say. The pumps irrigate farms all around the lake. “If things continue in this manner, we could indeed lose this lake in the long run,” says Desalegne Regassa, Project Officer at the Wetlands International NGO.
Ahmedabad (India) (AFP) – Firefighters and emergency response personnel are at the site of a plane crash in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. According to officials, Air India’s London-bound flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board, crashed shortly after takeoff.
Bogotá (AFP) – Maria Claudia Tarazona, wife of Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, greets Uribe’s supporters gathered outside a clinic to pray for the senator’s recovery after he was shot during a campaign event in Bogota at the weekend. The 39-year-old conservative senator is showing signs of improvement but remains in critical condition, doctors said Wednesday.
New York (AFP) – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are stationed inside a New York immigration court, prepared to detain undocumented immigrants immediately after their hearings, as President Donald Trump intensifies his crackdown on illegal immigration in his second term.
London (AFP) – Britain’s Foreign Minister David Lammy says the government is “working urgently with local authorities” to support those affected by a London-bound passenger plane that has crashed in India’s western city of Ahmedabad. The plane was carrying 242 passengers, of which 53 are British. Lammy announces that the Foreign Office has established a crisis team in the British and Indian capitals to support those affected by the crash.
Lelilief Sawai (Indonesia) (AFP) – Sitting deep in east Indonesia’s lush jungle, the Hongana Manyawa indigenous tribe once lived in a breathtaking kaleidoscope of nature that provided sanctuary and sustenance. But it is now being eaten away by one of the world’s largest nickel mining projects, as Indonesia seeks to exploit the area’s vast reserves of the metal used in everything from electric vehicles to stainless steel.
Ahmedabad (India) (AFP) – Footage shows a huge plume of smoke rising from where a plane crashed near Ahmedabad Airport in India. 242 passengers were on board the Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, that was bound for London’s Gatwick airport, India’s civil aviation authority has confirmed.
Seoul (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people are flocking to South Korea’s historic Blue House before the new president arrives. Ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol spurned the elegant compound but newly elected Lee Jae-myung plans to move the seat of power back.
Xingyi (China) (AFP) – Surrounded by the rubble of demolished homes, Chen Tianming has transformed his parent’s stone bungalow into a local spectacle. Authorities razed most of Chen Tianming’s village in Guizhou province in 2018 to build a lucrative tourist resort in a region known for its rice paddies and mountain landscapes. Chen refused to leave and, after the project faltered, defied a flurry of demolition notices to build his family’s home higher and higher.
Cochabamba (Bolivie) (AFP) – Police launch tear gas and supporters of Evo Morales throw dynamite and stones in a clash along a road near Bolivia’s Cochabamba, after President Luis Arce ordered police and military forces to break up a blockade on a vital road connecting western Bolivia with the centre of the country, 10 days after protests began by farmers loyal to Morales. IMAGES
Buenos Aires (AFP) – Argentine ex-president Cristina Kirchner greets supporters from her home’s balcony a day after the Supreme Court upheld her corruption conviction for the awarding of contracts while in office. This means Kirchner faces a six-year sentence and a lifelong ban on holding public office. IMAGES
