AFP Video

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel’s outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett makes a toast with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is set to become the Jewish state’s caretaker prime minister at midnight. The pair held a ceremonial event to hand over “the responsibility for the State of Israel”, after parliament voted to dissolve itself. Bennett spent a year as Prime Minister, but his unwieldy, eight-party coalition was ultimately undone by its ideological divisions.

Cairo (AFP) – Dozens of vibrantly coloured floating homes have for decades dotted the banks of the River Nile, rare havens of leafy seclusion in the Egyptian capital’s hustle and bustle — but maybe not for much longer. Residents of the 30 or so houseboats that remain moored on the banks of the Nile last week received eviction orders, giving them less than two weeks before their homes are taken away to be demolished.

Hong Kong (AFP) – “After weathering the storm, Hong Kong has been reborn of fire, and has emerged with bubbling vitality,” says Chinese President Xi Jinping after he arrives in in the city to attend celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of handover from Britain to China.

Hong Kong (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Hong Kong via high-speed rail for celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to China.

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the attack on the city of Mykolaiv, “with ten missiles at once, and all of them aimed at civilian targets”, proves that “the pressure on Russia is not enough.”

Hong Kong (AFP) – Images of barricades and police officers surrounding a high-speed railway station ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s expected arrival in Hong Kong on the eve of 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to communist China. IMAGES

Mexico City (AFP) – Women protest in the United States Embassy in Mexico City against the recent US Supreme Court verdict that revoked the constitutional right to abortion. Some say they fear the ruling may have an impact internationally.

Geneva (AFP) – Director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reaffirms the WHO’s support for women’s “right to choose when it comes to their bodies and health, full stop.” His comments come in the wake of a June 24 US Supreme Court decision revoking the constitutional right to abortion.

Mykolaiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Firefighters in the southern city of Mykolaiv clear rubble and search for people trapped in a 5-storey residential building that was hit by a Russian missile srike.

Rome (AFP) – Rome’s zoo distributes frozen fruit, meat and fish to animals to help them cope with the high temperatures in the Italian capital. Like much of westen Europe, Italy is in the grip of an earlier than usual heatwave, a phenomenon that scientists warn is likely to become more frequent, owing to climate change.