bluesky_AFP English

🇰🇵 North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast towards Japan early on Wednesday, Seouls military said, days before the planned start of massive US-South Korea joint drills. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsa

🇨🇳 Beijing bar offers free AI tokens with beers Customers in Beijing enjoy free access to AI tools at a bar that has become popular among developers, start-up founders, and investors through the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

🇫🇷 French village hosts annual pig-squealing championship The French village of Trie-sur-Baise celebrates the 43rd edition of its Pourcailhade festival, an unusual event famed for its pig-squealing championship.

🇪🇸 The streets of typically quiet Spanish villages were clogged by skygazing tourists on Wednesday in anticipation of a rare total eclipse that would plunge areas into an eerie daytime darkness. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHei

🇨🇴 ⚠️ Colombia on Wednesday declared three days of mourning for victims of an earthquake that demolished buildings in the west of the country, killing more than 200 people ➡️ u.afp.com/SHeQ

🇬🇧 UK drought bakes London pond as new heatwave builds Aerial images show the dried-out banks of a pond in London, as the UKs Met Office says a new heatwave is set to hit southern and central England.

🕶️ Solar eclipse sparks scramble for protective glasses across Europe The scramble for protective glasses has reached fever pitch across Europe ahead of a rare total solar eclipse, as pharmacies, opticians and other shops struggle to keep them in stock.

🇺🇸 With billions of users around the world, Meta will defend itself against allegations of harming children in a new trial in the United States this week, which experts describe as social medias big tobacco moment. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsp

🇬🇹 Maya community celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day With flowers and candles, Indigenous Maya people conduct a thanksgiving ritual on an archaeological site near Guatemala City and honor their ancestral traditions on the UNs international Indigenous Peoples Day.

🇬🇧 Count Binface is stealing the show ahead of the Clacton by-election, with a manifesto that mixes smart political satire with comedic promises to cap croissant prices, improve WiFi on UK trains and conscript people using speakerphones on public transport. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsY

🌍 Millions of Europeans will contemplate the sky in awe on Wednesday as a rare total solar eclipse crosses part of the continent and plunges a swathe of Spain into eerie daytime darkness. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsm

🇿🇼 At least 15 people were killed and 27 remain missing when an overcrowded ferry on Zimbabwes Lake Kariba capsized, authorities said on Wednesday. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHse

⛏️ Afghanistans gold rush upends lives and landscapes In Afghanistans northeast Badakhshan province, dozens of excavators operate day and night to extract gold from the mountains where villagers and their livestock once roamed.

💒 Cristiano Ronaldo and his long-time partner Georgina Rodriguez married in a ceremony in the Portuguese resort of Cascais, the football superstars representatives told AFP. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsX

🕶️ Everything you need to know about the August 12th solar eclipse A solar eclipse will happen across parts of Europe on August 12. Heres everything you need to know, from how it works, to where and when to see it, and how to stay safe if looking at the sun. ▶️ u.afp.com/SHsJ

🇸🇩 Sudans paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched drone strikes on capital Khartoum and other army-controlled cities on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent, witnesses and an army source said, in what appeared to be their largest coordinated attack in months. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsB

🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to seize ships belonging to European countries in retaliation for plans to sell off cargo seized from Russian "shadow fleet" vessels. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsH

🇨🇳 Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, whose market reforms helped drive the countrys extraordinary economic rise, died from illness on Wednesday at the age of 97, state media reported. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHeo

🇨🇺 As Cuba marks 100 years since Fidel Castros birth, Cubans are questioning the promises of the socialist revolution he led for nearly half a century, and asking whether his successors are up to the job. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHeU

#BREAKING Death toll in Zimbabwe ferry disaster rises to 44: police

⚽ 🇦🇷 Argentina superstar Lionel Messi wrote in a social media post on Wednesday that he has "serious doubts" about continuing to play football for "much longer" after his father Jorge Messi died last week ➡️ u.afp.com/SHen

💉 The World Health Organization has warned that Donald Trumps bid to overhaul child vaccination in the United States went against "decades of evidence". ➡️ u.afp.com/SHe3

🇰🇵 North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast towards Japan early on Wednesday, Seouls military said, days before the planned start of massive US-South Korea joint drills. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsa

🇨🇳 Beijing bar offers free AI tokens with beers Customers in Beijing enjoy free access to AI tools at a bar that has become popular among developers, start-up founders, and investors through the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

🇫🇷 French village hosts annual pig-squealing championship The French village of Trie-sur-Baise celebrates the 43rd edition of its Pourcailhade festival, an unusual event famed for its pig-squealing championship.

🇪🇸 The streets of typically quiet Spanish villages were clogged by skygazing tourists on Wednesday in anticipation of a rare total eclipse that would plunge areas into an eerie daytime darkness. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHei

🇨🇴 ⚠️ Colombia on Wednesday declared three days of mourning for victims of an earthquake that demolished buildings in the west of the country, killing more than 200 people ➡️ u.afp.com/SHeQ

🇬🇧 UK drought bakes London pond as new heatwave builds Aerial images show the dried-out banks of a pond in London, as the UKs Met Office says a new heatwave is set to hit southern and central England.

🕶️ Solar eclipse sparks scramble for protective glasses across Europe The scramble for protective glasses has reached fever pitch across Europe ahead of a rare total solar eclipse, as pharmacies, opticians and other shops struggle to keep them in stock.

🇺🇸 With billions of users around the world, Meta will defend itself against allegations of harming children in a new trial in the United States this week, which experts describe as social medias big tobacco moment. ➡️ u.afp.com/SHsp