AFP Video

Russian sisters see father scarred by Ukraine fight


Pskov (Russia) (AFP) – Anastasia and Elizaveta Grigoryeva hold up a photo of their father faintly smiling, smartly dressed from head to toe in military uniform. It’s an image no longer recognisable to the 18-year-old twin sisters — not since their father left to fight in Ukraine some six months ago and returned “mentally hurt”. “He was there for the most intense fighting, under shelling, everything,” Elizaveta says from Pskov, near Russia’s border with Estonia. The psychological scars her father has brought home from the battlefield have built pressure on a family already at odds over whether the conflict is justified. And their story points to a broader issue, one uncomfortable for the Kremlin — that fighting in Ukraine is tearing apart some families.

©AFP

King Charles leaves St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast after prayer service


Belfast (AFP) – Britain’s King Charles III and his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, leave St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, following a prayer service in memory of Queen Elizabeth II. The new king is currently touring the country as it goes through a period of national mourning, after his mother, the UK’s longest-reigning monarch, died at the age of 96 last Thursday. IMAGES

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Preparations underway in Westminster ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral


London (AFP) – Preparations are underway in London’s Westminster, with media risers being built and barriers being put up, ahead of the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19. The Queen will first be driven to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, then transferred to Westminster Hall on Wednesday, where she will lie in state for four days ahead of the service, allowing mourners to pay their last respects. IMAGES

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Scene outside Northern Ireland’s Hillsborough Castle as King Charles III set to visit


Hillsborough (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Images of Hillsborough castle in Northern Ireland ahead of the visit of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla. In a show of national togetherness as he embarks on his kingship — a role for which he has spent a lifetime preparing — Charles has pledged to visit all four nations of the United Kingdom. IMAGES

©AFP

Thai pop-up wins fans with crunchless cricket burgers


Bangkok (AFP) – There’s no crunch or crackle, but crickets are on the menu at one Bangkok pop-up serving fusion bug burgers, demonstrating the latest way to incorporate the protein-rich meat into food — direct from Thailand’s farms.

©AFP

Huge queue as Hong Kongers mourn Queen Elizabeth II


Hong Kong (AFP) – Crowds of Hong Kongers queued in sweltering heat on Monday to pay tribute to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, some expressing nostalgia for the city’s colonial past at a time when China is seeking to purge dissent.

©AFP

Pope heads to Kazakhstan on Central Asia peace drive


Fiumicino (Italy) (AFP) – Pope Francis, warned by doctors not to travel to Ukraine in the immediate future, embarks on a three-day trip to Kazakhstan instead to bear a message of peace. Images of the Argentine pope in a wheelchair as he boards the plane at Fiumicino, Italy.

©AFP

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