AFP Video

Santiago (AFP) – Santiago residents take photos with a giant ice sculpture in the shape of an Antarctic krill created to draw attention to the importance of protecting Antarctica. The melting block of sculpted ice was unveiled in the Chilean capital before a special meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources, where the 27 member states will discuss the future of the world’s coldest continent in the face of climate change.

Kabul (AFP) – In the kitchen of his Kabul restaurant, Waheed, stuffs chunks of mutton and fat into 200 or so tiny teapots to simmer for hours atop a clay stove. He took over the restaurant aged just 25 after his father died but he expects the family business may end when he calls it quits, as none of his 10 children wants to follow on.

Paris (AFP) – Extreme divers take part in the second edition of the Red Bull Cliff Diving competition, in front of the Eiffel Tower, 21 and 27 metres above the Seine, a few months ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Frontière Gaza-Israel (Territoires palestiniens) (AFP) – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip burn tyres near the border with Israel as they protest, after Israeli forces killed several Palestinians in a raid on West Bank’s Jenin on Monday, in a raid that saw eight Israeli security personnel wounded and rare helicopter fire. The sound of gunfire was heard across Jenin as wounded Palestinians continued to arrive by ambulance to the northern West Bank city’s Ibn Sina hospital.

Geneva (AFP) – The UN’s top expert on rights in Afghanistan urges countries to consider making “gender apartheid” an international crime. Speaking after the release of his latest report, UN Special Rapporteur, Richard Bennett, says “we have pointed to the need for more exploration of ‘gender apartheid’, which is not currently an international crime, but could become so”. Since ousting a foreign-backed government in August 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed austere sharia law, barring girls from secondary school, pushing women out of many government jobs, preventing them from travelling without a male relative and ordering them to cover up outside the home.

Nicosia (AFP) – Every week, the beat of African drums ricocheting through the streets of Nicosia allows Ibrahim Kamara to momentarily forget his arduous quest for asylum — even if just for the length of a song. Similarly, Isaac Yossi, who goes by “Big Yoss” on stage, created the music ensemble Skyband, wanting to bridge the gap he felt with locals after arriving on the island nation three years ago from Cameroon.

Berlin (AFP) – Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomes Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Berlin at a time when China’s policies on Russia, trade and human rights are receiving an increasingly hostile reception in the West. Li, who was named China’s prime minister in March, is on a two-nation visit which will also take him to France for a climate financing summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. IMAGES

Parikkala (Finland) (AFP) – In Finland’s east Karelia region, filled with boreal forests and wetlands, climate change is pushing local farmers into conflict with wildlife. Less than twenty years ago, no significant amount of the migratory Barnacle geese stopped in Finland to feed but now they number hundreds of thousands. “No one has the resources to keep chasing them away,” says farmer Kari Pekonen.

Quehue (Peru) (AFP) – Every June, communities in the Cusco region, capital of the Inca Empire, join efforts in making ropes out of q’oya plants to renovate the Q’eswachaka bridge, the last of its kind, keeping alive a work and testament of the ancient Inca knowledge.

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemns what he calls the “international silence” and “double standards” in the wake of a deadly Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin, during a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah.