A viral selfie allegedly showing Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi and other leaders together at the BRICS summit in New Delhi is AI-generated. A SynthID watermark shows it was created using OpenAI tools, while several leaders pictured, including Brazil’s Lula and Turkey’s Erdogan, did not attend. Another AI selfie features former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in 2024. Both images were widely shared online, including by official embassy accounts. Vedika Bahl fact-checks.
Read briefing Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Dr. Walaa-Eldeen Bakry, Principal Lecturer in Project Management and Finance and Director of Executive Education at Westminster Business School, says that "Carney is deliberately aiming to diversify the Canadian trade policy", explaining that it "can actually offer a more reliable route in terms of energy exports from Canada into the EU and we have seen last year a significant increase in oil exports to some European countries".
Read briefing The European Union accused Russia on Tuesday of the "reckless" firing of flares at a Danish frigate which, with the shooting down of a drone over Lithuania, heightened the continent's anxiety over the Ukraine-Russia war. Danish analysts are calling for NATO and the EU to step up their response to Russia, according to FRANCE 24's Copenhagen correspondent Trine Villemann.
Read briefing Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote launched the biggest-ever share sale on the African continent, listing 4.1 billion shares in his Lagos refinery on the stock exchange. He framed it as a "people's IPO" to give all Nigerians a chance to share the plant's wealth potentials. Trading is expected to start in November. Meanwhile, global oil prices continued to advance as attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels forced Saudi Arabia to shut down its East-West oil pipeline.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, Nigeria's Dangote refinery opens itself to public ownership with plans to raise 1.6 billion dollars from retail investors across the continent. Also, President Felix Tshisekedi calls on the National Service to clean up the streets of Kinshasa. And with a month and a half to go until the Youth Olympic Games begin, the Olympic flame begins its tour of Senegal, the tournament's host country.
Read briefing Turkish police fired tear gas at pro-LGBTQ demonstrators in the western city of Izmir on Monday, as activists protested a nationwide crackdown that saw dozens arrested over the weekend in a campaign authorities described as defending traditional family values.
Read briefing Yemen's Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets on Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country's revived civil war. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Dr H. A. Hellyer, Senior Fellow in Geopolitics, International Security, and Middle East Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, says that Iran and its non-state proxies "remain to be one of the more destabilising forces in the region alongside the Israeli project of regional paramountcy".
Read briefing Twelve European countries meeting in Finland on Monday urged the European Union to beef up its presence in the Arctic, a geopolitical battleground caught between Russia and US President Donald Trump. FRANCE 24's Eliza Herbert reports.
Read briefing Immediate France 24 analysis as polls close, and exit polls indicate how the country has voted in the 2026 election. France 24 Gavin Lee has been speaking to Scandinavia Correspondent Trine Villeman
Read briefing Who are the Houthis, what are their objectives for Yemen, and could the Iranian backed group how a significant chunk of world trade to ransom in the Bab el Mandeb Strait? Professor Thomas Juneau, a specialist on the Houthis & Iran, explains the intricate dynamics about the group, it’s repressive nature and the level of the threat to world shipping. He’s been speaking to France 24’s Gavin Lee
Read briefing Sweden's elections are too close to call as the centre-left opposition narrowly led on Sunday, with the far right seen losing ground after half of votes counted. Four opposition parties led by Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson held 49.3 percent against 49.1 percent for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing alliance.
Read briefing Ukraine and Poland on Sunday condemned Russian strikes close to the Polish border as an "escalation" in the war, after drones struck a Warsaw-bound train. Ukraine's rail operator said former British PM Boris Johnson and ex-US CIA director David Petraeus were at a border train station nearby around the time the train was hit.
Read briefing Jean-Emile Jammine is pleased to welcome Alessandro Stravato, a witness to the attacks of September 11th. His testimony offers a deeply personal account. He witnessed firsthand the second plane strike the World Trade Center from Arthur Ashe Stadium. Stravato’s first instinct was not to interpret the historical significance, just find his father, who was working at City Hall. He found him alive, covered in debris and soot, trekking dozens of blocks through Manhattan. And while his father did survive, his health seriously deteriorated over the years. By 2015, as Alessandro's dad was losing his battle with cancer, he told his son to "stay strong."
Read briefing Saudi Arabia on Saturday shut down the vital East-West pipeline after the conduit came under attack in the widening Middle East war, threatening to send energy prices soaring. The 1,200-km pipeline has served as the main route out for global supplies of Middle East oil for the past six months while the Strait of Hormuz has been largely shut by war.
Read briefing Beloved French Canadian singer Céline Dion on Saturday returned to the stage after years battling a rare neurological disorder with a sell-out concert in an arena west of Paris. The 58-year-old appeared visibly moved as she opened her first full concert in six years to a crowd of around 30,000 people.
Read briefing A Danish WWII drama about a woman trying to hide a wartime relationship with a Nazi was awared top prize on Saturday at The Venice Film Festival, while Gaza documentary NAZA snagged the special jury prize. "Unknown Woman" had been a major talking point of the festival due to its subject matter, which has rarely been explored in film, and because director May el-Toukhy was almost alone as a woman director in the event.
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Read briefing About 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets in around 20 cities across Germany on Saturday against the far-right AfD, after the party scored a crushing victory in a state election last week. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) topped the vote in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt, and is now seeking to form the first extreme-right state government in Germany since World War II.
Read briefing In tonight's programme we begin in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where children have died after a school fire broke out in the M23 rebel occupied city of Bukavu. Also, Senegal looks to the skies as it seeks to develop its home-grown satellite industry. And finally, we wonder about the future of African cities. How will they cope with the population boom and climate crisis? A question, the Kenya architecture biennale in Nairobi tried to answer.
Read briefing Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured the strategic Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, officials said on Friday. The lightning move opens a new front in the Iran war and threatens energy supplies, especially Saudi oil exports, from passing through one of the world's key shipping lanes.
Read briefing Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have seized control of the country's entire Red Sea coast, a government official said on Friday. The move inches the rebels closer to gaining near total control of the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital shipping corridor. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog.Iraq welcomed Saudi Arabia's decision to hold off on retaliation after Riyadh said drones launched from Iraqi territory struck its East-West pipeline.Iraq condemned any attack threatening Saudi security and said its prime minister had ordered an investigation into those responsible, according to a statement from its armed forces.Following a request from Iraq's prime minister, Saudi Arabia has chosen not to retaliate "at this stage".Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed regional developments and recent attacks targeting Saudi Arabia in a call with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Friday.Last month, NATO member Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a joint defense agreement that includes a mutual defense clause similar to NATO's Article 5.Saudi authorities shut the East-West oil pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina areas after it came under attack, injuring a number of people, an energy ministry official told state media on Friday."The East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions was subjected to several attacks on Thursday morning," the official told the SPA news agency, adding: "The pipeline was stopped as a precaution, and the attacks resulted in some injuries."Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured a strategic island at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, two officials said Friday, opening a new front in the Iran war and further threatening Saudi oil exports through one of the world’s key shipping lanes."It is a radical negative change for the US and for the West," said FRANCE 24 correspondent Noga Tornapolsky.Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have seized control of the country's entire Red Sea coast, a military official from the internationally recognised government told AFP on Friday, consolidating the group's control of the vital waterway.The official said that all territory under government control "on the western coast has fallen", after the Houthis seized the strategic Mayyun Island and the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands in the Bab al-Mandab strait as they seek to choke off Saudi oil exports.The Israeli military said it "categorically rejects" allegations made in a new documentary about Israel's AI-powered mass killing of civilians in Gaza, which received a 25-minute ovation at its premiere in Venice the day before.The Israeli-made film "NAZA" uses conversations with 24 different Israeli military or intelligence whistleblowers who spoke on condition that their identities be protected, with interviewees describing how they felt like they worked in a killing "factory" or a lethal video game.The Israeli military criticised the use of anonymous testimonies in the film which it said "cannot be verified", saying in a statement that it "makes unprecedented efforts to minimise harm to civilians" during its offensive in Gaza.Yemen's Houthis seized Greater and Lesser Hanish, the last two islands that were not under their control in the Bab al-Mandab strait, a military official in the internationally recognised government told AFP."Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen," the official said, hours after the Houthis seized control of the strategic Mayyun Island, part of its campaign to consolidate its control over the vital shipping corridor.Iran is planning a meeting of the foreign ministers of Iraq and other Arab states bordering the Gulf in Oman on Monday to discuss safe commercial shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said maritime navigation remained safe for all shipping companies except Saudi vessels subject to a previously announced ban, the group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Telegram on Friday."We will continue to enforce blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation until the aggression stops and the blockade on our people is lifted," he said.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that pressure on his country from the United States had reached a critical and dangerous stage, speaking in India ahead of a Brics summit."Iran has been subjected to heavy sanctions in recent years; this pressure has reached a critical and dangerous stage in recent months following the military aggression by the United States and Israel," he said, adding that "the world today is going through a period of unprecedented complexity".Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said on Friday that Mohammed Abdel Salam al-Yazouri, who served as part of the group's higher leadership council and commander of its Khan Younis Brigade, was killed by Israel on Thursday evening.
Read briefing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged US President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions on Russia over deadly strikes on Ukraine, as Kyiv and Moscow step up attacks and US-led efforts to end the war remain deadlocked.
Read briefing In a week that marks 25 years since 9/11, Americans paused to pay tribute. Six bells tolled to signify six fatal moments in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, with a seventh bell rung this year to commemorate those who later died from 9/11-related illnesses.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, a dramatic struggle for control of a throne in Uganda. Also, Rwanda shut down 101 alcoholic beverage factories last month and declared a public health crisis after at least 50 people were killed by contaminated illegal supplies. And Ethiopia celebrates its new year.
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