The world began ushering in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead u.afp.com/wcUf
VIDEO: People crowd the Champs-Elysees in Paris on another Covid-stricken New Year's Eve, as celebratory fireworks were cancelled due to a surge in Covid cases
New Year: Asia.
- Police disperse a crowd celebrating in Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong area.
- People offer New Year prayers at Tokyo’s Kanda Myojin.
- Fireworks erupt over Bangkok’s Chao Praya.
- A lantern display marks the New Year in Yantai, China
New Year: Middle East.
A boy sells balloons labelled "2022" along the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra, Iraq.
Christmas and New Year decorations in the suburb of Shubra in Cairo, Egypt.
Fireworks erupt over the Ain Dubai in Dubai.
A man swings homemade fireworks in Gaza City
VIDEO: Big Ben rings in the New Year for Londoners once again.
Thousands of Londoners gathered to hear the sound of the newly renovated clock on Elizabeth Tower ring for the first time since New Year's Eve 2016/17
New Year: Europe
Fireworks erupt in the sky above the Kremlin in Moscow, outside the Colosseum in Rome and over the
Acropolis in Athens.
In Britain, drinkers gather in a near-deserted bar in Manchester
VIDEO: Brazil marks the New Year with fireworks displays on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, attracting thousands of spectators
New Year: the Americas.
Confetti flies in the air in New York’s Times Square.
New Year's parade in Quito, Ecuador.
Fireworks go off on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the port of Valparaiso in Chile
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#BREAKING 104 police, 30 journalists among injured in Bangladesh clashes: TV
#UPDATE Protesters in Bangladesh set fire to several government buildings during a day of deadly nationwide clashes between students and riot officers, a police statement said.
"The miscreants have already torched, vandalised and carried out destructive activities," on the offices of state broadcaster BTV and the national disaster management agency along with "various" police and government buildings, said the statement, issued after a nationwide internet shutdown
Bangladesh wakes to torched government buildings, internet blackout.
This week's unrest has killed at least 39 people including 32 on Thursday, with the toll expected to rise further after reports of clashes in nearly half of the country's 64 districts
#BREAKING Biden says still considers Xi a 'dictator'
#UPDATE US President Joe Biden said after a summit with Xi Jinping that he still considers the Chinese president a "dictator", after he sparked fury from Beijing by making the comparison earlier this year.
"Well look he is, I mean he's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who's running a country, a Communist country, that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," Biden said at the end of a news conference when a reporter asked if he would still use the term to describe Xi
#BREAKING China will not begin armed conflict with any nation, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday, after a high-stakes summit with US President Joe Biden.
"China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold or hot war with any country," he told a gathering of business leaders in San Francisco
#BREAKING Any compromise with Russia will 'destroy' Ukrainian statehood: presidential aide to AFP
#BREAKING Putin says West used grain deal for 'political blackmail'
VIDEO: Ukrainian firefighters battle flames after a Russian strike on Odesa.
Ukraine's president accused Russia of deliberately targeting grain export infrastructure in the city after Moscow ended a landmark deal and lifted security guarantees in the Black Sea
#BREAKING Putin says situation 'difficult' in Rostov in southern Russia
#UPDATE Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday acknowledged a "difficult" situation was unfolding in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where the Wagner mercenary group has taken control of key military sites in an effort to oust Russian military's top brass.
#UPDATE President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday he would not allow Russia to slip into civil war, after the leader of the Wagner mercenary force seized a key military headquarters overseeing the offensive in Ukraine.
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