A pictorial roundup of news around the world (April 21)

📸  PICTURE UPDATES AROUND THE WORLD

Presented by Joseph Kizza
(Source of pictures: AFP)
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5:50 pm

Good evening!

And that's it for today's around the world pictorial of news updates. Will be back on Friday. Thanks for joining us - and if you are just coming on this page, scroll back down for earlier updates.

It has been an engaging trip to India so far for Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson. So I will leave you with this picture of him performing the abhishek ceremony on the sacred image of Shri Neelkanth Varni during his visit at the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar.

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5:49 pm

US actor Johnny Depp arrives at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, for his defamation trial. Depp is suing ex-wife Amber Heard for libel after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.

Spectators have filled the courtroom at the start of the Depp vs Heard defamation trial.

Here, actress Amber Heard speaks to her attorney.

Judge Penney Azcarate speaks to attorneys during the Depp vs Heard defamation trial.

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5:41 pm

Also in Washington, DC, US President Joe Biden provides updates on the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the Roosevelt Room. Biden has announced a new package of $800 million in military aid for Ukraine, saying it will help Kyiv's forces in the fight against Russians forces in the Donbas region.

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5:30 pm

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets with Ukranian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC.

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5:23 pm

In the UK, the Band of the Coldstream Guards play the Happy Birthday music to mark the 96th birthday of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II during the Changing of the Guard at Windsor Castle.

Yep, that's how elaborately synchronized it has been!

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5:15 pm

It is just after 5pm here in Kampala and a quarter past 10pm in Shanghai, on China's central coast.

There, health workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) are pictured while people prepare to board cars next to the entrance of a neighborhood during a coronavirus lockdown in the Jing'an district.

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5:07 pm

In Honduras, security minister Ramon Sabillon delivers a press conference at the Honduran National Directorate of Special Forces, where former President Juan Orlando Hernandez is imprisoned pending his extradition to the US to face drug-trafficking related charges, in Tegucigalpa.

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4:55 pm

Meanwhile, a roadside barber in Bangladesh attends to a customer near the Buriganga river in Dhaka.

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4:42 pm

In Greece, empty sunbeds and umbrellas are seen on a beach at a resort of Aghia Marina, near the town of Chania on Crete island.

In Crete, the season begins with a lack of seasonal workers, who have changed jobs or left abroad due to the two years of COVID-19  pandemic.

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4:28 pm

In The Netherlands, leader of the PvdA party Lilianne Ploumen says goodbye after she announced her departure from the House of Representatives, in the Hague. Ploumen stops as leader of the Labour Party and also leaves the House of Representatives and national politics. 

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4:17 pm

British PM Boris Johnson poses with sadhus or Hindu holymen in front of the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, India.

At The Vatican, Metis politician and activist, President of the Manitoba Metis Federation, David N. Chartrand (Rear C-R) poses with members of the Manitoba Metis Federation at St. Peter's Square, following a meeting with the Pope.

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4:04 pm

In Russia's capital Moscow, President Vladimir Putin speaks with the president of pipeline mammoth Transneft, Nikolay Tokarev, during their meeting at the Kremlin.

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3:50 pm

And here is a general view of a Shiite Mosque after a bomb blast that reportedly killed 14 people in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

This wounded Afghan man being carried on a stretcher at a hospital got injured in the mosque bomb blast.

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3:48 pm

In Bangladesh, these workers are busy at work unloading watermelons from a boat in Buriganga river in Dhaka.

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3:43 pm

Today is Queen Elizabeth II's 96th birthday. Below, a gunner of the Honourable Artillery Company shows a blank cartbridge before loading and firing it during the fire of the 62 Gun Royal Salute for the Queen's birthday, from Tower Wharf, by Tower Bridge, in central London.

The gun salutes marks her 96th birthday, although the monarch herself is expected to mark the occasion with little fanfare after a troubled year hit by health concerns.

Members of the Honourable Artillery Company stand guard during the fire of the 62 Gun Royal Salute for the elderly queen of Britain.

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3:35 pm

Our cameras lenses are still on Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is in India for a two-day visit.

Below, he listens to a student as the chief minister of India's Gujarat state Bhupendra Patel (R) watches inside the laboratory of the Gujarat Biotechnology University in Gandhinagar

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3:23 pm

Meanwhile, French President and La Republique en Marche (LREM) party candidate for re-election Emmanuel Macron flashes the V sign as he arrives next to Saint-Denis Mayor Mathieu Hanotin (R) during a campaign visit in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris.

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3:16 pm

Over to France, French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) presidential candidate Marine Le Pen meets with truck drivers before a lunch at a truck stop restaurant in Roye ahead of the second round of France's presidential election. French voters head to the polls this Sunday (April 24).

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3:04 pm

In The Netherlands, Sjoerd Sjoerds (L) shakes hands with Ukrainian Member of Parliament Olena Khomenko next to Mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov as they attend a visit at the House of Representatives, in the Hague, to provide information about the current security situation in Ukraine. Ivan Fedorov was previously kidnapped by the Russian army when it occupied his city and was released as a result of a prisoner swap.

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2:47 pm

In Spain, Catalan regional president Pere Aragones talks to the press in front of the Palacio de las Cortes congress in Madrid. Catalan separatists have accused Spain's intelligence services of using spyware to snoop on their mobile phones, reviving tensions with the Prime Minister's minority leftist government, which relies on their support to pass legislation.

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2:41 pm

In Sri Lanka, Christian devotees pay respect to the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings at three churches and three deluxe hotels that killed almost three hundred people, on the day to mark the third anniversary of the attacks in Colombo.

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2:34 pm

In India, Leader of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) Kodihalli Chandrashekar (2L), who joined Aam Aadmi Party, presents a plough to Chief Minister of New Delhi, and senior leader of Aam Aadmi party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal (C) while, Karnataka state president of AAP Prithvi Reddy look on (2R) during a farmer’s convention  in Bangalore.

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2:29 pm

In Indonesia, this worker makes grass jelly known locally as Cincau to be used in drinks and desserts in Medan, which is the capital of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province.

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2:24 pm

In Russia, the country's president, Vladimir Putin (L), speaks with his defence minister Sergei Shoigu during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow.

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2:18 pm

In The Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima attend the presentation of the Four Freedoms Awards 2022 in Middelburg. The Four Freedoms Awards are presented annually to men, women and organizations whose efforts and achievements demonstrate great dedication to the ideals that US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic Four Freedoms speech in 1941.

Here, King Willem-Alexander (C), Queen Maxima (2ndL, second row), Princess Beatrix (4thR), Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (R) and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (C, right), leader of the democratic movement in Belarus, pose with the laureates during the presentation of the Four Freedoms Awards.

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2:13 pm

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (2nd R) and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (3rd L) attend a meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan.

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2:08 pm

Recognise him?

That's British Prime Minister Boris Johnson getting a traditional turban tied on his head upon arrival at the Gujarat Biotechnology University in Gandhinagar. This is part of a series of activities on his two-day visit in India.

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1:59 pm

In Bulgaria, US Army armoured vehicle take part in a NATO joint military tactical training exercise with Bulgaria's army at Novo Selo military ground.

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1:54 pm

Elsewhere in The Netherlands, Hugo de Jonge (Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning; State Secretary for Asylum and Migration), Dilan Yesilgoz (Minister for Justice and Security), Eric van der Burg (State Secretary for Asylum and Migration), Dennis Wiersma (Minister for Primary and Secondary Education) and Carola Schouten (Minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions) take part in a parliamentary debate on the reception of Ukrainian refugees in The Hague.

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1:49 pm

What you are seeing below is the damage at a building after a gas explosion in Bilthoven. This has happened in The Netherlands.

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1:45 pm

In France, employees of the Scopelec group, a subcontractor of France telecommunication operator Orange for the installation of optical fibre, stage a protest against the telecom giant in the French capital Paris.

The placard the protester below is holding reads "Orange, between us, the fibre is breaking".

Scopelec is suing Orange for "brutal termination of the commercial relationship" putting the future of Scopelec and its employees in danger.

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1:34 pm

BREAKING NEWS ⚽

We have some breaking news coming from Old Trafford, the home of English top-flight side Manchester United.

Erik ten Hag will leave Ajax to become the club's manager next season, the English giants have confirmed.

"Manchester United is delighted to announce the appointment of Erik ten Hag as men’s first team manager, subject to work visa requirements, from the end of this season until June 2025, with the option to extend for a further year," United has said in a statement.

The Dutch manager will take over from German Ralf Rangnick, who has been the interim manager.

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12:55 pm

Meanwhile, in the Pakistani city of Muzaffarabad, US congresswoman Ilhan Omar is seen speaking during a press conference.

In this zoomed-out shot, you can see Omar sitting next to the President of Pakistan-administered Kashmir Sultan, Mehmood Chaudhry during the press conference.

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12:39 pm

In Germany, check out this T-34 Soviet tank on display as part of The Soviet War Memorial dedicated to the fallen soldiers in WWII in Berlin‘s Tiergarten district.

If you look keenly, you will see the tank . . .

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12:24 pm

Over to The Vatican, where the Pope's gentlemen (R) greet Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his wife Aniko Levai, as Prefect of the Pontifical House, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza (L) looks on, as they arrive at San Damaso courtyard for a private audience with the Pope.

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12:13 pm

It has been a busy Thursday for Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is on a two-day visit in India.

Below, the high-profile guest is seen on a visit to the JCB factory in Vadodara.

And here, he goes for an interesting pose along with JCB chairman Lord Bamford.

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11:52 am

There is a mobile medical van of the Aster Volunteers Mobile Medical Services stationed on the outskirts of Hyderabad in India. It is targetting needy people who are living in remote areas.

Here, people are seen waiting for free medical checkup outside the van.

Well, this is a common reaction when a nurse collects a blood sample for a test.

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11:28 am

In Japan, people visit an azalea field at Nezu Shrine in Tokyo as part of the shrine's azalea festival, which runs until May 1.

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11:12 am

Still in India, Sikh devotees pay their respects on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab.

Here, Sikh priest Gurminder Singh (C) sits behind the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh holy book) during a 'Jalau', a display of Sikhism's symbolic items, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur.

Sikh devotees take a bath in the sacred pond on the same occasion.

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11:02 am

Back to Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson's India visit.

Here, he is seen boarding an Indian military's Chinook helicopter in Ahmedabad, for a flight to the JCB factory at Vadodara in India's Gujarat state.

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10:53 am

Christian Orthodox Holy Week

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III arrives to lead the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony in front of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, as part of the Christian Orthodox Holy Week. 

Greek Orthodox members of the clergy take part in the traditional Washing of the Feet ceremony.

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10:44 am

Queen Elizabeth turns 96

Today, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has turned 96 years old.  She will celebrate her birthday at her Norfolk estate, having been flown from Windsor Castle to her Sandringham home. Gun salutes will ring out today to mark her birthday, although the monarch herself is expected to mark the occasion with little fanfare.

In the photograph below released by The Royal Windsor Horse Show, the nonagenarian royal is seen standing with her Fell ponies, Bybeck Nightingale (R) and Bybeck Katie (L), to mark the occasion of her 96th birthday.

The picture below was taken on February 5, 2022. It shows the British queen cutting a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, the Queen's Norfolk residence. 

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10:31 am

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is telling India's environmental educator Kartikeya Sarabhai something. But you would only have to be within earshot to know what it is. I am not.

But what I can tell you is that this has been during Johnson's visit at the Sabarmati Ashram also known as Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad on his two-day trip to India. (See entry 9:58)

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10:21 am

But it is not rainy weather everywhere. For instance, if you happen to be in the north of Jerusalem, you will have noticed that the skies are opening up nicely for what promises to be a warm Thursday.

 And it the perfect weather for a Passover ceremony on top of Mount Gerizim, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Here, a Samaritan priest raises the Torah scroll during the ceremony.

The Samaritans are a community of a few hundred people living in Israel and in the Nablus area who trace their lineage to the ancient Israelites led by the biblical prophet Moses out of Egypt.

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10:11 am

If you thought it was only wet in Kampala today, think again.

Srinagar may be the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir in the world's biggest democracy (India), but that does not mean it does not have some dampening rainy days - like it has today.

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9:58 am

Boris Johnson in India

To put it more literally, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hit the ground running on his two-day stay in India, as the picture series below will show you.

The visiting leader is seen here writing in the visitors' book during his visit at the Sabarmati Ashram also known as Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.

Johnson has had to remove his shoes before entering the house of Mahatma Gandhi, flanked by the chief minister of India's Gujarat state, Bhupendra Patel.

Here, he scatters rose petals on the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

On an engaging visit, the UK PM spins khadi on a charkha or a spinning wheel. And he appears to be enjoying every bit of the moment!

He also also received a book from Minister Bhupendra Patel.

Johnson walks along with India's environmental educator Kartikeya Sarabhai (4L) and the chief minister Patel during his visit at the Sabarmati Ashram

On his tour, the high-profile visitor is seeing here looking over the Sabarmati river.

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9:36 am

In a different part of the world, Samaritan worshippers arrive to take part in a Passover ceremony on top of Mount Gerizim, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank.

The Samaritans are a community of a few hundred people living in Israel and in the Nablus area, who trace their lineage to the ancient Israelites led by the biblical prophet Moses out of Egypt. 

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9:27 am

Meanwhile, in East Timor, former leader and presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta is seen here gesturing during a press conference in Dili, after a landslide victory in the country's presidential election, according to preliminary results by the election secretariat.

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9:23 am

It is approaching midday in the Indian city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, where Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has arrived and has been welcomed by officials on his two-day visit to India.

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9:12 am

In China, it is a routine working day as people commute in the central business district in Beijing, the capital.

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9:10 am

In Japan, people visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on the first day of the spring festival in Tokyo.

Here, this man is seen praying in front of a wooden plaque showing the name of Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida seen with a "masakaki" tree that he sent as an offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe visited the shrine, and in the picture immediately below, he is seen leaving.

The controversial shrine honours 2.5 million war dead, mostly Japanese, who have perished since the late 19th century, but also honours senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal.

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9:07 am

Colombia will hold presidential elections at the end of next month - on May 29. So ahead of the polls, a presidential debate has been held for candidates interested in the top seat.

One of them, Federico Gutierrez for the Equipo Colombia coalition, is seen here posing for a photo with a supporter as he arrives for the debate at the International Book Fair in Bogota.

During the presidential debate: Candidates French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt (2-L), Enrique Gomez (3-L), Federico Gutierrez (4-L), Rodolfo Hernandez (4-R), Luis Perez (3-R) and John Milton Rodriguez (2-R).

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9:02 am

Just in case you missed Wednesday's pictorial, HERE YOU GO.

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9:00 am

Hello from a rainy Kampala!

Good morning everyone. It is a wet Thursday morning in Uganda's capital Kampala, with the early morning rain relentless. It is another day and of course another opportunity to take your around the world with our global pictorial of events happening in different parts of the world. As usual, I shall infuse some commentary into the picture updates.

Let me warm the stage up with this picture of reporters looking on at the Geo-Cosmos, the world’s first spherical display made using organic electroluminescent panels showing a high-resolution model of the Earth, updated with 10,362 new LED panels. This was during a media preview at the Miraikanon, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, in Japan's capital Tokyo.