AFP Video

Many still marooned in Bangladesh’s northeast as flood water gradually recedes


Sylhet (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Northeast Bangladesh’s worst floods in nearly 20 years have begun to recede, but many are still marooned. The extreme weather across the region has killed around 60 people and affected at least four million. Floods are a regular menace to millions of people in low-lying Bangladesh and neighbouring northeast India, but many experts say that climate change is increasing their frequency, ferocity and unpredictability.

©AFP

The new weapon against fires in Barcelona city


Barcelona (AFP) – Since April, Barcelona city hall has employed 290 sheep and goats to munch undergrowth at the Collserola National Park on the outskirts of Spain’s second-largest city. The aim of the pilot scheme is to reduce the risk of wildfires by clearing vegetation in an environmentally friendly way. It also helps educate the Mediterranean port city’s 1.6 million residents about the countryside.

©AFP

German FM Baerbock asks China to ‘explain itself’ over Uyghur abuse claims


Berlin (AFP) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says that China “must explain itself” after a media consortium published leaked documents which appear to show thousands of photographs from inside a system of mass incarceration, including many people from the Uyghur minority. “These images are horrific and disturbing and they confirm… that the most serious human rights violations are taking place in Xinjiang”, Baerbock says.

©AFP

China warns Biden’s Taiwan policy will affect China-US relations


Beijing (AFP) – Beijing warns that President Joe Biden’s Taiwan policy will have “irredeemable consequences” for the China-US relationship if the United States continues down “the wrong path”. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accuses the US of “covertly and secretly” supporting “Taiwan independence separatist activities”. President Biden said Washington’s “strategic ambiguity” policy on Taiwan remains unchanged.

©AFP

No water into wine: growing grapes in the world’s driest desert


San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) (AFP) – In the middle of Chile’s Atacama desert, Hector Espindola makes his living in an unexpected way: he runs a vineyard. Despite the harsh conditions, the desert remains home to a number of winemakers like him, making wines unique to their arid home.

©AFP

California helicopter crew rescues man stuck on 500-foot cliff


Daly City (United States) (AFP) – A helicopter crew rescues a man clinging to a vertical cliff wall, approximately halfway down a 500-foot cliff in Daly City, California and lands him safely on the ground. The incident was called into the Daly City Fire Department by a local fisherman, who spotted the trapped man.

©AFP

Hong Kong cardinal arrives in court over protest defence fund


Hong Kong (AFP) – Ninety-year-old retired Catholic cardinal Joseph Zen arrives at court Tuesday to face charges of failing to register a protest defence fund, after initially being arrested under Hong Kong’s national security law. Zen is one of Asia’s highest-ranking Catholic clerics. DURATION:01:00

©AFP

Japan, US, India, Australia leaders hold Quad meeting in Tokyo


Tokyo (AFP) – US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi take part in the summit of the so-called Quad grouping in Tokyo. The leaders are seeking common ground on countering China’s growing regional economic and military clout. DURATION: 00:40

©AFP

Close Bitnami banner
Bitnami