This handout photo made available by NASA on April 9, 2021, shows the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft lauch, carrying three expedition 65 astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. – Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Expedition 65 NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft to ISS. (Photo by Bill INGALLS / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / NASA / Bill Ingalls” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
News in pictures
Activists from the Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement in disguise raise their fist as they take part in a protest to demand actions against climate change near the Binnenhof in The Hague on April 9, 2021. – The police announced the protest was banned by the mayor and asked protesters to leave. This action kicked off “the Earth Parade”, a series of actions that will take place through the Netherlands for a week. (Photo by Phil nijhuis / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT
Customers go on shopping as members of the grassroots organisation ‘Tchad D’Abord’ campaigning for voting participation in the Amin market in N’Djamena, on April 9, 2021. – Chad’s citizens are set to go to the polls for the first round of the Presidential election on April 11, 2021. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
An official notice announcing the death of Britain’s Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is seen on the gates of Buckingham Palace in central London on April 9, 2021. – Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip, who recently spent more than a month in hospital and underwent a heart procedure, died on April 9, 2021, Buckingham Palace announced. He was 99. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP)
Mounted police are seen as media and members of the public arrive in front of Buckingham Palace in central London on April 9, 2021 after the announcement of the death of Britain’s Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. – Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip, who recently spent more than a month in hospital and underwent a heart procedure, died on April 9, 2021, Buckingham Palace announced. He was 99. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP)
People take photos under blooming cherry trees at the Heerstrasse street in Bonn, western Germany on April 9, 2021. – The cherry blossom street in Bonn became famous after photographers started posting pictures of it on the web in the 1980s. (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP)
London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to journalists during a London mayoral election campaign visit to Kingstonian Cricket Club in south-west London on April 9, 2021. – Voters will go to the polls to elect a mayor for London on May 6. (Photo by Niklas HALLE’N / AFP)
Maintenance workers clean the monument of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Moscow on April 9, 2021. – Sixty years ago Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, marking it a new chapter in the history of space exploration. (Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)
This handout photo made available by NASA on April 9, 2021, shows the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft lauch, carrying three expedition 65 astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. – Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Expedition 65 NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft to ISS. (Photo by Bill INGALLS / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / NASA / Bill Ingalls” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
People lay flowers at a memorial for those killed at the Ridderhof shopping center in 2011, some 33 kilometers southwest of Amsterdam, on April 9, 2021. – In 2011, 24-year-old Tristan van der Vlis injured 17 people and shot dead six people, turning the rifle on himself afterwards. (Photo by Robin UTRECHT / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT
This handout photo taken and released on April 9, 2021 by the Indonesian Presidential Palace shows President Joko Widodo (C) interacting with a child at a relief centre while inspecting damage on Lembata Island after torrential rains from Tropical Cyclone Seroja – one of the most destructive storms to hit the region in years – killed more than 200 people, including victims in neighbouring East Timor, with dozens still missing. (Photo by Handout / INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
A vial of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Picture: AFP
Security personnel members stand as a secure transport arrives at an extra secure court known as the Bunker, in Amsterdam, on April 9, 2021 prior to the substantive handling of the mega murder case ‘Marengo trial’. – Seventeen suspects, including main suspect Ridouan Taghi, are on trial in the mega murder case. The gang is suspected of having committed multiple liquidations and attempts to do so. (Photo by Robin Utrecht / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT
A picture taken on April 9, 2021 in Saignelegier shows a horse being airlifted during a test by Swiss army forces on hoisting horses with a helicopter. – The scientific project, carried out by the Vetsuisse faculty of veterinary medicine and the Swiss army veterinary service, aims at transporting and rapidly evacuating injured horses to a medical veterinary infrastructure. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
People arrive to receive the dose of Covishield vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus at the Moti Lal Nehru Medical College in Allahabad on April 9, 2021, as India surged past 13 million coronavirus cases. (Photo by Sanjay KANOJIA / AFP)
A French Republican Guard of the cavalry regiment looks on as she stands guard as French President welcomes Republic of Togo’s President before a working lunch at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on April 9, 2021. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
A picture shows a view of the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut, on April 9, 2021, still reeling from the destruction due to a catastrophic blast in a harbour storage unit last August that killed more than 200 people and damaged swathes of the capital. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP)
Vets prepare a horse before it is airlifted during a test by Swiss army forces on hoisting horses with a helicopter in Saignelegier on April 9, 2021. – The scientific project, carried out by the Vetsuisse faculty of veterinary medicine and the Swiss army veterinary service, aims at transporting and rapidly evacuating injured horses to a medical veterinary infrastructure. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
This handout photo from Kawkareik Open News taken on April 8, 2021 and released to AFP on April 9, 2021 shows protesters pouring petrol on the Myanmar flag to burn with copies of 2008 constitution during a demonstration against the military coup in Kawkareik township in Myanmar’s Karen state. (Photo by Handout / KAWKAREIK OPEN NEWS / AFP) / —–EDITORS NOTE — RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / KAWKAREIK OPEN NEWS” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
A military officer emerges from the voting booth with his ballot paper at the Ras-Dika district polling station in the capital Djibouti on April 9, 2021. – Voting began on April 9, 2021 in Djibouti where incumbent Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh is seeking an all but assured fifth term as president of the small but strategically located nation he has ruled for 22 years.
Some 215,000 citizens are registered to vote in the ballot pitting Guelleh, 73, against a little-known businessman widely seen to pose little threat to the strongman, who inherited power in 1999. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)
Onlookers stand around a dead whale washed away at a beach in Cox’s Bazar on April 9, 2021. (Photo by Miraj Kateb / AFP)
This screengrab from Hantarwadi Media video footage taken on April 9, 2021 and provided to AFPTV shows a protester setting off fireworks from behind a makeshift barricade while a man at left holds a homemade rifle in a clash with security forces during a crackdown on demonstrations against the military coup in Bago. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP) / —–EDITORS NOTE — RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / HANTARWADI MEDIA via AFPTV ” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS