Paris (AFP) – Gabriel Attal, France’s new Prime Minister and the country’s youngest ever, sees his appointment as a symbol of “boldness and action”. The 34-year-old head of government speaks at the handover ceremony as he takes over from Elisabeth Borne, stepping down after serving less than two years in office.
Pikine (Senegal) (AFP) – Wrestling is enormously popular in Senegal — and the decisions that award victory or crushing defeat to the grapplers are now overseen by the same technology that is dividing opinion in football across the world: VAR.
Beijing (AFP) – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning congratulates Bangladesh’s ruling party on a ‘successful’ election after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured a fifth term. The United States has qualified the vote as not free or fair.
Kelowna (Canada) (AFP) – 2023 was the hottest year on record, with Earth’s surface nearly breaching the critical limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius above late 19th century temperatures, says the EU climate monitoring service. The Copernicus findings come one month after a climate agreement was reached at COP28 in Dubai calling for the gradual transition away from fossil fuels, the main cause of climate warming.
Paris (AFP) – Paris names a street after music icon David Bowie, a first in honour of the singer eight years after his death. “Rue David Bowie” was officially inaugurated in the French capital’s 13th district on the left bank of the city. Local mayor Jerome Coumet, himself a Bowie fan, launched the idea for the street in early 2020, winning approval from city authorities later that year.
Thimpu (Bhutan) (AFP) – Bhutan begins voting in general elections with parties vowing to tackle economic challenges, calling into question its longstanding policy of prioritising “Gross National Happiness” over growth.
Yeonpyeong (South Korea) (AFP) – On South Korea’s remote border island of Yeonpyeong, heavily armed soldiers locked up beaches at dusk — a reminder of the picturesque spot’s proximity to the nuclear-armed North.
Cuenca (Ecuador) (AFP) – Inmates stand on the roof of the Turi prison, in Ecuador’s southern city of Cuenca, as they hold prison guards hostage inside, while police forces gather outside the facilities. One of the country’s most feared gangsters is believed to have escaped from prison on January 7 before an operation at the prison where he was serving his sentence, according to authorities. Following the escape of the head of the Los Choneros drug gang, incidents have been reported in several prisons nationwide. IMAGES
Rheda-Wiedenbrück (Germany) (AFP) – Legend Franz Beckenbauer, who left a unique imprint on German football as player, captain and coach, has died at the age of 78, the German football association said Monday. Former captain of the German team in the 1970s, Beckenbauer had in the last years been suffering from health problems and lived mostly withdrawn from the public eye in Salzburg, just across from the German border. Franz Beckenbauer
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis condemns the “immense tragedy” and “useless slaughter” of civilians in conflicts such as in Gaza and Ukraine, and says those killed should not be considered “collateral damage”, in his New Year’s address to diplomats at the Vatican. In a speech dominated by calls for an end to conflicts around the world, the pontiff says people “need to realise more clearly that civilian victims are not ‘collateral damage’ but men and woman, with names and surnames, who lose their lives.”
