Stockholm (AFP) – Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, says a Russian strike on a residential block in Dnipro on Saturday the 14th of January, which killed at least 40 people, constitutes a “war crime”. “Innocent civilians, including children, lost their lives or were wounded in this horrific attack” he says, “let me be very clear, intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes”.
Pokhara (Nepal) (AFP) – Families of the victims of Nepal’s plane crash mourn outside a Pokhara hospital as they wait for the bodies of their loved ones to be released. The Yeti Airlines ATR 72 plummeted into a steep gorge, smashed into pieces and burst into flames with 72 people on board, as it approached the central city of Pokhara on Sunday. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
Palermo (Italy) (AFP) – Sicilian godfather Matteo Messina Denaro is escorted out of a police station by officers and transferred to a minivan. Denaro’s capture in Palermo ended a 30-year manhunt for Italy’s most wanted fugitive – a leading figure in Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted in the Godfather movies. The mobster was caught inside a health facility where he had gone for therapeutic treatment for his colon cancer.
Ruili (China) (AFP) – The Chinese city of Ruili on the southern border is slowly creaking back to life as the country ditches its zero-tolerance Covid strategy after years of strict lockdowns and other gruelling restrictions. Bordering Myanmar, the city was a key battleground in the fight to keep imported Covid cases out of China, with residents living through nearly a dozen lockdowns. Despite the harsh lockdowns, the residents are now optimistic that the city’s economy will recover, banking on the city’s famed jade and jewellery trade and closeness to Myanmar. Meanwhile in the Myanmar town of Muse, residents share their concerns over soaring Covid cases in China.
Tongi (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of Muslims gather to pray in the Bangladeshi town of Tongi for Biswa Ijtema, the world’s second largest congregation of Muslims after the Hajj in Mecca.
Ruili (China) (AFP) – Shop owners in Ruili, a city in China’s southwestern Yunnan province bordering Myanmar, display and prepare Lunar New Year decorations in their storefronts, as the country prepares for the annual holiday. Ruili was one of the cities under near-constant lockdown before China decided to dismantle its zero-Covid policy in early December.
Pokhara (Nepal) (AFP) – Rescue workers search through the wreckage of a plane that crashed in Nepal with 72 people on board and retrieve the bodies of victims. At least 67 people were confirmed dead in the incident, police said, in the Himalayan country’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.
Athens (AFP) – The casket of former Greek king Constantine II arrives at Athens Metropolitan Cathedral. Constantine’s body will lie from 6:00 am (0800 GMT) to 10:00 am so members of the public can pay their respects. Constantine was a divisive figure in the country’s history and the government has decided not to grant him the honour of a state funeral. IMAGES
Pan de Azúcar (Uruguay) (AFP) – In Uruguay, herdsmen buy horses at auction to fatten them up and sell them for slaughter. But a local nonprofit seeks to give them a second chance: Santuarios Primitivo has bought some 250 doomed horses it has given up for adoption over the last three years.
Pokhara (Nepal) (AFP) – Images showing fire and thick smoke moments after a plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal. At least 67 people are confirmed dead after the plane with 72 on board crashed, police say, in the Himalayan country’s deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.
