Photos: At least 10 people die as winter storm grips US
At least 20 states declare states of emergency as nearly a million people are without power due to snow and ice.
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People walk past destroyed vehicles following a ceasefire which ended several days of fighting between Syrian forces and SDF. [Bakr Alkasem/AFP]
People return home in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood, in the northern city of Aleppo. [Omar Haj Kadour/AFP]
An armed security officer stands outside the Khaled Fajr Hospital in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood. [Bakr Alkasem/AFP]
The battles were the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. [Ahmad Fallaha/EPA]
The United Nations said it was trying to send more convoys to the neighbourhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgently needed supplies. [Bakr Alkasem/AFP]
The clashes erupted after negotiations to integrate the SDF into the national army stalled. [Bakr Alkasem/AFP]
A Syrian security officer stands next to munitions strewn on the ground following the ceasefire, in Sheikh Maqsoud. [Bakr Alkasem/AFP]
A Syrian security officer inspects a vehicle destroyed in a storage facility in Sheikh Maqsoud. [Bakr Alkasem/AFP]
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A protester holds up a sign during a protests at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, US. [Octavio Jones/AFP]
Protesters hold signs as they march from Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [Octavio Jones/AFP]
People protest against ICE after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. [Charly Triballeau/AFP]
People wave flags and hold signs during a protest in Los Angeles, California. [Etienne Laurent/AFP]
People hold signs as they protest against ICE in Los Angeles. [Etienne Laurent/AFP]
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest in Houston, Texas. [Mark Felix/AFP]
Protesters gather outside the ICE field office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [Matthew Hatcher/AFP]
Demonstrators march through the streets during a demonstration in Boston, Massachusetts. [Joseph Prezioso/AFP]
People rally against ICE outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York. [Angelina Katsanis/AFP]
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Worshippers gather on the eve of Orthodox Christmas at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[Amanuel Sileshi/AP Photo]
Clergy prepare for the arrival of Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, to celebrate Christmas according to the Eastern Orthodox calendar, in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]
Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]
People attend an Orthodox Christmas service outside the Kashveti Church of St George in Tbilisi, Georgia. [Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP Photo]
A Coptic Orthodox bishop leads Christmas prayers at Archangel Michael Church in Cairo, Egypt. [Amr Nabil/AP Photo]
Iranian Christians attend a service celebrating Orthodox Christmas at St Sarkis Armenian Cathedral in Tehran. [Atta Kenare/AFP]
People burn dried oak branches, symbolising the Yule log, on Orthodox Christmas Eve in front of the Church of St Sava in Belgrade, Serbia. [Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo]
A woman lights a candle during a Christmas service at the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia. [Olga Maltseva/AFP]
Worshippers receive communion during a Christmas service at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Sulaimaniyah, a neighbourhood in Aleppo, Syria. [Kasim Yusuf/Anadolu]
Orthodox Christians attend a Christmas Eve service at the Church of St Clement of Ohrid in Skopje, North Macedonia. [Umeys Sulejman/Anadolu]
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Sunday’s flash flooding in Morocco's Safi is the deadliest such disaster in at least a decade [AFP]
Municipal workers clear debris from the streets of Safi. [AFP]
Schools have been closed as mud and debris continue to clog the streets. [AFP]
The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM), Morocco’s national weather forecaster, has warned that further storms are likely in the coming days. [AFP]
People use buckets to remove water and mud from the yard of their home. [AFP]
People walk past a market area filled with debris by the flood. [AFP]
Drought-hit Morocco often faces severe weather events. [AFP]
The Moroccan prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to determine whether anyone bears responsibility for the scale of the damage. [AFP]
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For Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, knowing the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, is off his coast can't be a good feeling. And while some would welcome the military overthrow of a man they consider an authoritarian, others see US imperialism at work, motivated by Venezuela having the largest proven oil reserves in the world.
In 2015, the Peace Research Institute Oslo noted how "oil-thirsty" nations are more than twice as likely to intervene in a civil war in an oil-producing state, than an oil-exporting country is likely to intervene in a country that lacks oil. And while oil isn't always the sole motivating factor for a military intervention, it often plays a big role.
In 1953, for example, the CIA and MI6 helped topple the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh. It followed Mossadegh's decision to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, now British Petroleum.
During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the US sided with Iraq and also protected oil shipments in the Gulf. The US saw the conflict as an opportunity to keep Iran in check, while it ensured the oil kept flowing.
With Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the US intervened in Kuwait to expel Iraq's occupying forces as well as defend Saudi Arabia. Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are major oil producers. Again, oil was widely seen as a US strategic interest.
In 2002, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez survived a coup. The US is accused of giving its tacit approval by failing to prevent the coup despite knowing about it in advance. Again, critics blamed an American thirst for oil.
A year later, in the wake of 9/11, the US invaded Iraq, citing Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. They were never found. While the US promoted the spread of democracy as a motive for the war, it was later revealed that the US had drawn up plans for Iraq's oil.
Then in 2011, the US and the UK launched the opening missile salvoes that would help NATO overthrow the leader Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. It was done under a UN resolution to protect civilians, but people like Dina Mansour-Ille, at the Royal United Services Institute, note it "raises questions as to why the international community responded so quickly and forcefully in the oil-rich nation".
Today, US forces are massing off the coast of Venezuela, with the Trump administration insisting it's about curtailing the flow of illegal drugs. Critics remain unconvinced. Instead, they see another oil-rich country about to be subjected to yet another US military intervention.
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Lionel Messi arrives at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
A poster of Messi hangs from the roof of Salt Lake Stadium. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
Security personnel try to control the crowd as Messi departs from Salt Lake Stadium. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
Frustrated spectators, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
A fan stands amid broken chairs at Salt Lake Stadium. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
Javed Shamim, a senior West Bengal police official, said the event’s “chief organiser” has been arrested. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was “disturbed” and “shocked” at the mismanagement of the event. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
The All India Football Federation said it was not involved in the “organisation, planning, or execution” of the “private event”. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]
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Emergency workers at the scene of the shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. [Saeed Khan/AFP]
Police and health workers gather after the shooting incident at Bondi Beach. [Saeed Khan/AFP]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident "shocking and distressing". [Saeed Khan/AFP]
About a dozen people were taken to local hospitals after the shooting, a New South Wales ambulance spokesperson said. [Mark Baker/AP Photo]
Armed police at the scene of the shooting. [David Gray/AFP]
One of the world's most famous beaches, Bondi is typically crowded with locals and tourists. [Mark Baker/AP Photo]
Emergency workers transport an injured person on a stretcher after the shooting at Bondi Beach. [Mark Baker/AP Photo]
Police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach. [Mark Baker/AP Photo]
Police on the street after the shooting incident at Bondi Beach. [David Gray/AFP]
People cross a street next to police vehicles after the shooting incident at Bondi Beach. [David Gray/AFP]
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Heavy rain floods the Abu Marhil Camp in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Rainfall began before dawn on Wednesday, submerging thousands of tents in several areas across the enclave. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Nearly 850,000 people, currently sheltering in 761 displacement sites in the Gaza Strip, face the highest risk of flooding this week, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Three days of cold thunderstorms are expected to hit Palestine starting from Wednesday, the Palestinian Meteorological Department has warned. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Previous storms have contaminated displacement sites with sewage and solid waste, swept away families’ tents, and forced them out of makeshift shelters. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Gusts will reach speeds of about 50km/h (31mph), accompanied by a drop in temperatures and heavy rain across most of Gaza, including occasional icy hail, with conditions continuing overnight, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Flooded tents in Abu Marhil Camp in the Zeitoun neighbourhood. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Gaza requires about 300,000 tents and prefabricated housing units to meet the most basic shelter needs of Palestinians after Israel destroyed infrastructure over two years of the genocidal war. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
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Displaced people take shelter at an evacuation centre in Thailand's Sa Kaeo province. [Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP]
The Southeast Asian neighbours dispute the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier, where competing claims to historic temples have spilled over into armed conflict. [Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP]
People take shelter inside a bunker in Sa Kaeo province, Thailand. [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]
Thai residents who fled their homes following the clashes rest at an evacuation centre in Surin province. [Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo]
Displaced residents evacuate with their belongings in their vehicle during clashes along the Cambodia-Thai border, in Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province. [Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP]
At least 13 people, including Thai soldiers and Cambodian civilians, have been killed in the latest spate of fighting, officials said. [Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP]
People fleeing from a disputed area travel along a street in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia. [Kith Serey/EPA]
People in a camp for the displaced in Srei Snam, Siem Reap province, Cambodia. [Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters]
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Travellers fill out their details to reclaim lost luggage after IndiGo flight cancellations at Bengaluru international airport, India. [Priyanshu Singh/Reuters]
Luggage sits on trolleys at Pune airport. [Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters]
Travellers sit with their luggage at Bengaluru international airport. [Priyanshu Singh/Reuters]
Passengers wait outside an IndiGo ticketing counter at Mumbai international airport. [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
A passenger naps on his luggage at Bengaluru airport. [Priyanshu Singh/Reuters]
Last-minute cancellations and multiple connecting flights to reroute passengers have resulted in thousands of suitcases and bags being misplaced. [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
The Indian government said it has ordered IndiGo to “trace and deliver all baggage separated from passengers due to disruptions within 48 hours”. [Priyanshu Singh/Reuters]
Travellers wait in a queue outside Bengaluru airport. [Priyanshu Singh/Reuters]
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