Swedish Ambassador to North Korea Practices Yoga on Streets

Swedish Ambassador Joachim Bergstrom practices yoga next to the Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo taken in early July, 2020. Joachim Bergstrom/Handout via REUTERS
Swedish Ambassador Joachim Bergstrom practices yoga next to the Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo taken in early July, 2020. Joachim Bergstrom/Handout via REUTERS
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Swedish Ambassador to North Korea Practices Yoga on Streets

Swedish Ambassador Joachim Bergstrom practices yoga next to the Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo taken in early July, 2020. Joachim Bergstrom/Handout via REUTERS
Swedish Ambassador Joachim Bergstrom practices yoga next to the Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo taken in early July, 2020. Joachim Bergstrom/Handout via REUTERS

Barefoot and blonde, Swedish Ambassador Joachim Bergstrom makes an unlikely sight in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, as he practices yoga poses near some of its most iconic landmarks. One of the few Western diplomats who has not evacuated from North Korea amid coronavirus restrictions, Bergstrom has relied on yoga to endure the deepening sense of isolation.

Bergstrom, who has been in North Korea as an ambassador since September 2019, came prepared to use the exercise regimen as a way to stay healthy and unwind in a country where foreigners and residents are under constant restraints. But the sense of isolation deepened when the coronavirus began to spread in neighboring China in January, prompting North Korea to shut its borders, cancel most flights and train service, and send foreign residents into more than a month of quarantine, Reuters reported.

North Korea says it has zero confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but has taken significant measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Bergstrom has stayed on, and teaches occasional yoga classes to a dwindling number of international diplomats and aid workers. Foreigners were allowed out of their compounds at the beginning of March, but still face restrictions on travel and movement around the city.

Occasionally, Bergstrom says, he rides his bicycle and practices yoga in parks or other public spots, often prompting smiles and stares from residents, who he says are curious and friendly.

He has posted photos on social media of him striking yoga poses in front of some of Pyongyang's landmarks, including the Juche Tower, the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel, and the Arch of Triumph. Above all, yoga has given him something to rely on during uncertain times that include power cuts, water shortages, limited communication, and now, coronavirus lockdown.

"A physical practice totally independent of all these factors is an amazing thing in a place like this. No matter what happens around me, I can do my thing," Bergstrom said.



Hundreds of Firefighters Battling Wildfire in Southern France

An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
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Hundreds of Firefighters Battling Wildfire in Southern France

An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)

Nearly 1,000 firefighters and helicopters battled a wildfire about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of France's second-largest city Marseille on Friday, but officials said lower temperatures and increased humidity had improved the situation.

The 240-hectare (593 acres) wildfire flared up a week after a separate conflagration reached the northwestern outskirts of Marseille, forcing people to evacuate or into lockdown and temporarily shuttering the area's airport.

Pierre Bepoix, the colonel of rescue operations and deputy director for the area's firefighters, said 150 people had been evacuated, but firefighters had managed to save 150 homes and portions of the area's forests.

"It was a fire that swept through relatively dense vegetation ... which made our work particularly complicated," Bepoix told Reuters. "Obviously, priority was given to the preservation and protection of these homes and the lives that could be in these buildings."

Local officials said in a statement that 120 homes had been threatened by the fire, adding that it was not possible yet to identify any possible damage to them, and that two firefighters had been injured.

Meanwhile in Spain, a wildfire that broke out on Thursday evening in the central Toledo province and could be seen from downtown Madrid, ravaged 3,200 hectares of woodland.

Regional emergency services said early on Friday firefighters had secured the perimeter, though there were concerns over strong winds and high temperatures forecast throughout the day.