Tel-Aviv (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Sunday’s strikes in Lebanon were “not the final word” in his country’s military campaign against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Kramatorsk (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian emergency services conduct search and rescue operations at the site of a hotel badly damaged by an overnight Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. The Reuters news agency said that one team member was missing and two others were wounded in the strike.
Solingen (Allemagne) (AFP) – German police are hunting a man suspected of killing three people in a knife attack at a street festival on Friday night, with prosecutors saying a terror motive is “not excluded”. One person has been detained in connection with the stabbings, which took place at a “Festival of Diversity” in the western city of Solingen. The attack killed three people and injured eight, four of whom are said to be in serious condition, according to a statement.
Stoke Mandeville (Royaume-Uni) (AFP) – Several days before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games begin, the Paralympic flame is lit next to the English hospital in Stoke Mandeville near London, where the idea for the competition was born. “Behind this flame, there is a powerful message of peace,” says Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 organising committee, who received the flame before it starts its journey to France.
Niamey (Niger) (AFP) – Heavy rain has caused severe flooding in the region around Niger’s capital, Niamey, submerging roads and cutting the capital off from parts of the rest of the country for several days. Worried residents fear that hastily reinforced dykes will not hold. “We are really scared,” says Mahamadou Abdourahamane Zongona, a resident of the Lamorde district in Niamey.
Madrid (AFP) – With temperatures of over 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) outside, the Snozone indoor ski resort in Spain offers a cool escape. An icy breeze in the lobby and a polar bear at the entrance plunge summer visitors into another world at the Xanadu shopping centre south of Madrid.
Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) – Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi shows reporters a massive 2,492-carat diamond — the second largest ever found in the world — that was discovered in the north east of the country by a Canadian mining company
Sydney (AFP) – A juvenile humpback whale entangled in ropes and buoys in the harbour of Australia’s largest city has been freed after 22 hours. For decades, humpback whale populations were hunted to the brink of extinction. Now, thanks to NGOs and conservation efforts there are an estimated 40,000 in waters around Australia alone.
Porticello (Italie) (AFP) – Divers and rescue workers bring ashore the final missing body after the sinking of a superyacht early on Monday. The British-flagged luxury yacht The Bayesian capsized in a storm off the coast of southern Sicily with 22 people aboard, sparking a days-long rescue and recovery effort. The daughter of UK tycoon Mike Lynch was the only body still unaccounted for. It brings the death toll from the incident to seven. Many questions remain about why the yacht sank, and so quickly, when other boats nearby were unaffected. Italian prosecutors have opened a probe and will hold a press conference on Saturday.
Warsaw (AFP) – The situation in Ukraine is a “matter of deep concern for all of us,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says ahead of his visit to Kiev – the first ever visit by an Indian premier to Ukraine. Modi speaks from Warsaw, alongside his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk.
