London (AFP) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells MPs that the suffering in Gaza is “utterly intolerable” as he repeats demands for a ceasefire and states his opposition to West Bank settlements. The UK government has paused free trade negotiations with Israel and slapped new sanctions on West Bank settlers to protest against Israel’s actions.
Kristiansand (AFP) – Lioness Kira tends to her five cubs, which were born at Dyreparken zoo in southern Norway on Monday. Kira and the cubs’ father, Mufasa, both 6 years old, already had two litters of cubs since they arrived at the zoo in 2022. The mother and cubs are now resting away from visitors.
Chan Junis (AFP) – Hundreds of Palestinian families in and around Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, are fleeing west, after the Israeli military issued an evacuation call ahead of what it describes as an “unprecedented attack”.
Peterborough (AFP) – Farmer Luke Abblitt hasn’t seen any rain fall on his farm in the east of England since March, leaving his crops stunted as summer approaches and the climate is only set to get harsher. “I’m just hoping, I’m just praying at the minute. I keep looking at the weather, hope it’s going to rain,” he says as Britain suffers its driest spring in 173 years.
Taipeh (AFP) – Taiwan is ‘willing’ to talk to China as equals, the island’s President Lai Ching-te says as he marks his first year in office. “While we have ideals in our pursuit of peace, we cannot have illusions,” Lai tells journalists in Taipei.
Bengaluru (India) (AFP) – Torrential rains have swamped parts of India’s tech capital Bengaluru, killing at least one person, an official said, and exposing long-standing infrastructure failures in a city that has expanded at breakneck speed.
Maiquetía (Venezuela) (AFP) – The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the revocation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has left hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the US facing uncertainty.
London (AFP) – King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the Chelsea Flower Show in London, with an eye on the show’s first ever dog garden, designed by celebrity Monty Dan. More than 140,000 visitors are expected to view the show’s 400 exhibitors over the next five days with this year’s focus being on innovation and climate-change adaptation.
East Flores (AFP) – A huge ash cloud rises above Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in eastern Indonesia after the volcano erupted, Indonesia’s volcanology agency reports. A series of recent eruptions has led authorities to raise their alert level to its highest.
Madrid (AFP) – The Eurovision song contest should exclude Israel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says in Madrid. The intervention by Sanchez, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s devastating war in Gaza, comes after protests against Israeli participation marked the weekend’s extravaganza in Switzerland. Russia has not been allowed to participate in Eurovision since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Landerneau (AFP) – The small Breton town of Landerneau sets a world record for the largest gathering of smurfs on Saturday, bringing together 3,076 people dressed as the blue characters, according to the organisers, after two unsuccessful attempts over the past five years. Landerneau has secured the spotlight from the German town of Lauchringen, which held the record since 2019 with 2,762 smurfs.
Vatikanstadt (AFP) – Pope Leo XIV receives US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican, ahead of a US-led push to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Chicago-born pope was elected as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on May 8.
