Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Kyiv residents get an unexpected boost after Ukraine swept to victory at the Eurovision Song Contest with an infectious hip-hop folk melody. The win has raised spirits in the embattled nation which fighting off a Russian invasion that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people.
Turin (Italy) (AFP) – ‘The victory is very important to Ukraine, especially this year,’ says Kalush Orchestra frontman, Oleh Psiuk, after winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine with an infectious hip-hop folk melody. The band received special authorisation from Ukraine’s government to attend Eurovision, since men of fighting age are prohibited from leaving the country, but that permit expires in two days. Psiuk said he was not sure what awaited the band as war rages back home.
Berlin (AFP) – NATO countries are ready to provide military assistance to Ukraine to help it repel Russia’s invasion for as long as it is needed, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says. of Annalena Baerbock
Santiago (AFP) – Images of a total lunar eclipse underway in the sky of Santiago in Chile.
Bangkok (AFP) – Thailand commemorates Visakha Bucha, which marks Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death, and is held on the full moon of the third lunar month. Monks and devotees lit candles at Bangkok’s Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram, also known as the marble temple.
Las Vegas (AFP) – SOUNDBITEN°9WP2K3″I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” says Grammy Award-winning superstar Adele in a video posted to Instagram a day before it was due to begin. Adele, who sobbed throughout the video, blamed “delivery delays and Covid” as the reasons for the adjournment of her Las Vegas residency initially due to start on January 21.
Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) – Eastern Ukraine has been dogged by fighting since 2014, when Moscow seized control of the Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed separatists launched insurgencies in regions around the eastern cities of Donetsk and Lugansk. Now residents fear what the future holds as troops amass at the border with tensions at a boiling point.
Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Former pope Benedict XVI has been heavily incriminated in a new report on the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Munich and Freising when he was the Archbishop Cardinal Ratzinger, says the law firm that carried out the probe.
Samburu (Kenya) (AFP) – An elephant has given birth to twins in Kenya’s north in a moment rarely witnessed among the endangered species. Just one-in-100 elephant births result in twins making the arrival of these calfs — one male and one female — a moment of nerves and celebration. Conservation group Save the Elephants said the twins were born to a mother named Bora and were first spotted by lucky tourists on a safari drive at the weekend in Samburu reserve.
Pyongyang (AFP) – Snow blankets the North Korean capital Pyongyang, leaving a layer of white over the city streets.
