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5 Mar, 5 tweets, 3 min read
NEWS BULLETIN AT 1200 GMT

🇮🇶 Pope Francis embarks on a historic trip to war-battered Iraq, defying security fears and the pandemic to comfort one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities
▶️ u.afp.com/UGsM
[THREAD: 1/5]
🇨🇳 China unveils plans to grant itself veto powers over Hong Kong's lawmakers, part of a campaign to eliminate dissent in the city following huge democracy rallies in 2019
▶️ u.afp.com/UGW4
[THREAD: 2/5]
🇲🇲 UN Security Council prepares to meet on the escalating crisis in Myanmar as a protester is shot dead in Mandalay, in the latest round of bloodletting at anti-coup demonstrations
▶️ u.afp.com/UGWm
[THREAD: 3/5]
🇸🇳 Senegal bolsters security across Dakar as it braces for violent protests as opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is scheduled to face accusations of rape -- allegations that he denies
▶️ u.afp.com/UGsx
[THREAD: 4/5]
💇 The mullet is back! A hairstyle considered so obnoxious that for years it verged on being an arrestable offence, has made the unlikeliest comeback of the century
▶️ u.afp.com/UGdb
[THREAD: 5/5]

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More from @AFP

AFP News Agency Profile picture
6 Mar
#BREAKING Pope meets top Iraq Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani Image
#UPDATES Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top religious authority for most Shiite Muslims, hosts the head of the world's Catholics, Pope Francis, in the shrine city of Najaf
Sistani almost never holds meetings but made an exception for Francis Image
Pope Francis extends his hand to the world's Shiite Muslims, meeting top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in a landmark moment in modern religious history
The two met at Sistani's humble home in the shrine city of Najaf u.afp.com/UGXF Image
Read 11 tweets
AFP News Agency Profile picture
5 Mar
A protester was shot dead in Myanmar in the latest round of bloodletting at anti-coup demonstrations, as the UN Security Council prepares to meet on the escalating crisis
u.afp.com/UGWm
Despite an increasingly brutal crackdown that has seen more than 50 people killed, protesters took to the streets again in towns and cities around Myanmar to denounce the February 1 coup
#BREAKING 'The repression must stop,' envoy on Myanmar tells UN
Read 4 tweets
AFP News Agency Profile picture
5 Mar
Pope Francis starts a historic trip to war-battered Iraq today, defying security fears and the pandemic to comfort one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities.

The 84-year-old says he is making the first-ever papal visit to Iraq as a "pilgrim of peace"
Christians in the Middle East.

#AFPGraphic showing the geographic spread of Christians in selected Middle Eastern countries and the percentage of each country's population they represent in the region
Iraq's ancient Christian community, decimated by violence, fear.

Iraq's last two violent decades have hollowed out its Christian community which dates back two millennia.

Today, only 400,000 Christians remain in a mostly Muslim country of 40 million

u.afp.com/UGdU
Read 15 tweets
AFP News Agency Profile picture
5 Mar
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will address his nation on Friday, kicking off an annual legislative session that is expected to further tighten Beijing's grip on Hong Kong u.afp.com/UGQ7
#BREAKING China military budget to grow 6.8% in 2021: finance ministry
#UPDATE China's military budget -- the second largest in the world after the US -- is set to increase by 6.8% in 2021, finance ministry says.

Beijing plans to spend 1.36 trillion yuan ($210 billion) on defence, which is still less than a third of Washington's military budget
Read 6 tweets
AFP News Agency Profile picture
5 Mar
#BREAKING New Zealand cancels tsunami evacuation orders after Pacific quakes
Tsunami sirens rang out in coastal communities across the South Pacific Friday, as a cluster of powerful earthquakes struck near New Zealand's remote Kermadec Islands, triggering warnings for tens of thousands to flee to higher ground

#AFPgraphic on the Pacific Ring of Fire
#UPDATE New Zealand lifts tsunami evacuation orders covering large swathes of its coastline Friday, declaring "the largest waves have now passed" after a swarm of powerful offshore earthquakes.

"All people who evacuated can now return," says National Emergency Management Agency
Read 6 tweets
AFP News Agency Profile picture
4 Mar
#BREAKING Germany approves AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s: ministry Image
#UPDATE Germany's vaccine commission has now recommended the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 65, the health ministry said
u.afp.com/UGpj Image
#BREAKING Germany's Curevac says Novartis to help make Covid jabs Image
Read 4 tweets

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