AFP Video

Paris (AFP) – After being unveiled earlier in the day, the steel Olympic rings installed on the Eiffel Tower light up for the first time, as the countdown to Paris 2024 passes the 50-day mark.

Everest Base Camp (Nepal) (AFP) – Footage released by Chinese drone maker DJI shows it has completed the world’s first successful drone delivery tests on Mount Everest, Nepal. The heavy drone carried oxygen bottles and food from Everest base camp to Camp 1.

Tel Aviv (AFP) – Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari says its troops has rescued four Israeli hostages alive from Gaza after a “complex mission”. Over 250 were taken on October 7, after Hamas’s unprecedented attack in Israel resulting in the deaths of 1,194 people, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 36,600 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Kabul (AFP) – Just after sunrise on the Afghan day of rest, Friday, an unusual spectacle gathers hundreds in Kabul. Puff-chested goldfinches belting out in song are pitched against each other in an age-old pastime.

Moscow (AFP) – A Moscow court on June 7 ordered Laurent Vinatier, a French citizen accused of gathering Russian military information, to be held in pre-trial detention until at least August 5, in the latest case of a Western citizen being detained in Russia.

Bratislava (AFP) – Slovakia on Saturday kicked off the final two days of voting in EU-wide elections, under the shadow of last month’s shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico. The May 15 assassination attempt on Slovakia’s populist premier rocked his nation of 5.4 million and spread shockwaves across the EU. IMAGES

Ras Jrabah (Israel) (AFP) – Plans to expand Israel’s desert city of Dimona are stoking fears among nearby Bedouin villagers in Ras Jrabah, an informal settlement of tin-roofed houses and a few concrete buildings, over their traditional way of life. “Every day when I look at this city, it’s getting closer and closer to us,” says Hassan Hawashla.

Santa Ana del Yacuma (Beni) (Bolivia) (AFP) – Recovery efforts continue on the Rapulo River in northern Bolivia after a bridge collapsed, leaving at least five dead and multiple injured, according to authorities. A heavy truck caused the bridge to collapse in the Indigenous town of about 18,500 people.

Paris (AFP) – “Unfortunately, we live in a time when Europe is no longer a continent of peace”, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech to French MPs at the National Assembly in Paris, as Ukraine continues to battle Russia’s invasion.

Skardu (Pakistan) (AFP) – In the mountainous valleys of Pakistan, 18-hour daily power outages have become a regular occurrence in the city of Skardu amid the country’s power crisis. A surge in mountain tourism, driven by climbers and Pakistanis looking to escape heatwaves, is rapidly depleting the region’s limited energy supply.