24 hours in pictures, 18 March 2024

Retail and wholesale workers belonging to Retail Trade Unions Confederation blow horns during a protest in front of the Ministry of Labour, in Bucharest, Romania, 18 March 2024. Up to one hundred representatives of the Retail Trade Union Confederation, from all over the country, protested in front of Ministry of Labour headquarters to demand tax exemption of meal and holiday tickets, the indexation of wages in the private sector in accordance with unemployment and the legal minimum wage, the ranking and standardization of the specific wage compensations in the Labor Code, as well as the collective labor contract negotiated at national level. EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT People react as they display placards outside the Legislative Yuan building during the 10th anniversary of the Sunflower Movement in Taipei, Taiwan, 18 March 2024. On 18 March 2014, a large group of students and activists took over the Legislative Yuan, holding it for 24 days. They were protesting the decision of the then Kuomintang (KMT)-led Legislature to quickly proceed with the scrutiny and ratification of the Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement (CSSTA) with China. Placard reads 'Oppose the resumption of trade in services and goods, and reject China's political and economic coercion'. EPA-EFE/RITCHIE B. TONGO Pictures by various Russian artists are on display at the street military exhibition 'We bring Peace' in St. Petersburg, Russia, 18 March 2024. Later today, a rally and a concert will mark the tenth anniversary of the Crimea annexation in March 2014. And on 24 February 2022 Russian troops entered the Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared to be a 'Special Military Operation', starting an armed conflict that left thousands dead and millions displaced. EPA-EFE/ANATOLY MALTSEV A soldier manning a machine gun takes part in a military exercise of an armoured infantry brigade of the German armed forces 'Bundeswehr', in Klietz, Germany, 18 March 2024. Over 90,000 troops from all 32 NATO Allies, including 12,000 from the Bundeswehr, will be deployed in the large-scale NATO maneuver 'Steadfast Defender 2024', taking place from January to May 2024. The German contribution to the NATO large-scale exercise is the 'Quadriga 2024', a series of large-scale combined exercises taking place in Germany and abroad over a period of five months. EPA-EFE/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE Afghans Taliban stand in positions as they check people and vehicles at a checkpoint, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 18 March 2024. Pakistani fighter jets bombed several Afghan villages on 18 March killing at least five women and three children, the Taliban government said. The incident marks the latest episode of deadly violence amid growing tensions along the border between the two neighbouring nations, even as Pakistan has not confirmed the strike. EPA-EFE/QUDRATULLAH RAZWAN National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel and other rescue operations teams work on the site after an under-construction building collapsed in the Garden Reach area in Kolkata, India, 18 March 2024. According to the police, at least five people were killed and several injured after an under-construction five-storey building collapsed in the Garden Reach area in Kolkata. EPA-EFE/PIYAL ADHIKARY A general view shows delegates during a segment of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 18 March 2024. EPA-EFE/VALENTIN FLAURAUD Meals are prepared for people to break their fast during the fasting month of Ramadan in Karachi, Pakistan, 18 March 2024. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and it is believed that the revelation of the first verse in the Koran was during its last 10 nights. It is celebrated yearly by praying during the night time and abstaining from eating, drinking, and sexual acts during the period between sunrise and sunset. It is also a time for socializing, mainly in the evening after breaking the fast and a shift of all activities to late in the day in most countries. EPA-EFE/SHAHZAIB AKBER People gather on a street where several bodies were found in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 18 March 2024. Twelve bodies were found on 18 March in Petion-Ville, located in the hills of Port-au-Prince. The circumstances of the discovery of the bodies have yet to be clarified, including the identity of the victims and possibility that the victims were members of armed gangs who were killed by the National Police. The bodies were found scattered in the middle of the road, near an area where food and other products are informally traded. Haiti's Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, resigned on 11 March 2024 after weeks of crisis and gang violence in the country. EPA-EFE/JOHNSON SABIN A handout photo made available on 18 March 2024 by the Spanish Royal Household shows Spain's King Felipe VI (C-L) and his eldest daughter, Crown Princess Leonor (C-R), during a lunch break with the cadets taking part in maneuvers and combat exercises at the San Gregorio National Military Training Center, outside Zaragoza, northeastern Spain, 15 March 2024 (issued 18 March 2024). EPA-EFE/FRANCISCO GOMEZ/SPANISH ROYAL HOUSEHOLD View of sunrise from the pier in Havana, Cuba, 18 March 2024. EPA-EFE/ERNESTO MASTRASCUSA Mehar Bano Qureshi, daughter of former foreign minister and vice chairman of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, talks with journalists after the hearing of a case against the conviction of PTI's founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the party's vice chairman and former foreign minister, as the court adjourned the hearing until 19 March, in Islamabad, Pakistan, 18 March 2024. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his top aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years in jail for leaking official secrets. Khan and Qureshi are accused of leaking diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad during Khan's tenure as prime minister. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has challenged the decision in a higher court. The case has raised serious questions about the transparency of the trial and has been marred by allegations of rigging in the 08 February general elections, with Khan's party facing suppression. EPA-EFE/SOHAIL SHAHZAD Greta Thunberg and protesters from Fridays for future demonstrate during the airline SAS's general meeting at the company's headquarters in Frosundavik near Stockholm, Sweden, 18 March 2024. EPA-EFE/JESSICA GOW Iranian women walk next to a colorful decoration in the shape of Haft-Sin, a symbol of 'Nowruz', the Persian New Year, on display in a street ahead of Nowruz celebrations in Tehran, Iran, 18 March 2024. Nowruz, which this year falls on 20 March and has been celebrated for at least three thousand years, is the most revered celebration in the greater Persian world, which includes the countries of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and portions of western China and northern Iraq. EPA-EFE/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH Iranians walk next colorful decorations in the shape of eggs, and other symbol of 'Nowruz', the Persian New Year, on display in a street ahead of Nowruz celebrations in Tehran, Iran, 18 March 2024. Nowruz, which this year falls on 20 March and has been celebrated for at least three thousand years, is the most revered celebration in the greater Persian world, which includes the countries of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and portions of western China and northern Iraq. EPA-EFE/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH French soccer player Kylian Mbappe arrives at the national team's training complex ahead a training session in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, south of Paris, France, 18 March 2024. France will face Germany for a friendly match on 23 March 2024. EPA-EFE/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON

24 hours in pictures, 18 March 2024

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