The White House on Monday said it’s partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners as part of President Donald Trump’s push to tap into Venezuela’s oil industry, setting up a deal that will give the Pentagon a stake over roughly a fifth of the country’s vast oil reserves. Venezuela's ruling party-dominated National Assembly backed the country's oil deal with the Trump administration in a vote on Tuesday. FRANCE 24's Carys Garland reports.
Read briefing President Donald Trump said Monday that the US would hit back against Iranian attacks on US targets in the Middle East, according to a Fox News reporter. The Iranian attacks were themselves a response to US strikes on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, the first flare-up in a month.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, a workers' strike at Kenya's main airport leaves travelers grounded. Also, Ghanaian cocoa farmers are ramping up their pushback against a new law preventing them from using their land for anything else without permission. And in Tunisia, Sidi Bou Said's been recognized by UNESCO as being important to global heritage.
Read briefing The National Rally plans to "penalize the wearing of the Islamic veil" with "a fine" if it comes to power, MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy, Marine Le Pen's lieutenant in the presidential election, stated on Sunday. "We will obviously fight Islamist ideology and we will penalize the wearing of the veil, also in solidarity with all the women around the world who are forced to wear it and who die for this freedom," the MP said. FRANCE 24's Monte Francis reports.
Read briefing As deadly floods hit the Nepal-China border, social media is being flooded with fake and misleading footage. In Truth or Fake, Vedika Bahl goes through viral videos falsely linked to the disaster, including AI-generated content and old recycled footage from India, Chile and Alaska. Some posts have racked up millions of views online, exploiting the tragedy to drive engagement for easy clicks or further perpetuate conspiracy theories.
Read briefing President Emmanuel Macron on Monday oversaw the signing of a 4.3-billion-euro ($4.9 billon) deal for Sweden to buy four French frigates as France and Sweden seek to tighten cooperation against a backdrop of growing Russian threats. Sweden is racing to boost its defences after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with the Nordic country becoming a NATO member two years later. FRANCE 24's James Vasina reports.
Read briefing US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz in the first military action in a month, a US official said Sunday. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the US attack on Larak island killed and wounded several Iranian fighters and civilians, and vowed to punish those responsible.
Read briefing President Donald Trump on Sunday said prominent NBC anchor Kristen Welker will be reported to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for "rebuke or punishment" after she reported theRepublican president had "mixed results" in his endorsement of candidates for the November midterm elections.
Read briefing Pierre Picave, a French police officer and head of an LGBTQ rights association, was hospitalised after a nighttime attack in the Marais district in central Paris, prosecutors said Sunday. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire denounced the "despicable homophobic attack".The suspected attacker has been taken into custody.
Read briefing Life returned to normal in Niger's capital on Sunday, a day after mutineers stormed the presidential palace and a military base at Niamey's main airport, resisting forces loyal to the ruling junta until Russia’s Africa Corps intervened. State TV reported that dozens of soldiers were killed or arrested, with some paraded in front of cameras live on television.
Read briefing NASA has successfully launched its newest space telescope from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The telescope reached orbit just 10 minutes after liftoff and is now beginning its mission to shed light on some of the universe’s biggest unsolved mysteries. Named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, the telescope is being hailed by scientists as a “discovery machine.”
Read briefing Rescuers in Nepal and China on Saturday continued to search for the nearly 3,000 people missing after devastating flooding along the border with China engulfed entire villages earlier this week. At least 682 bodies were recovered in both countries, including 675 in Nepal and seven in China.
Read briefing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned what he called "criminal acts of violence" perpetrated by Israeli settlers in two Palestinian villages. Earlier in August, a group of settlers blocked supplies from entering Palestinian houses on the outskirts of Qusra and attacked a Palestinian family and a foreign media crew in nearby Jalud.
Read briefing Beloved country star Dolly Parton was many things to her fans, including an actor, singer, philanthropist and entrepreneur. But after her death on Tuesday at the age of 80, some admirers are remembering her as something she never overtly claimed: feminist icon.
Read briefing After six months of war, Iran’s leadership has coalesced around a hard core of military generals and clerics long entrenched in the ruling theocracy. They are ready for a potentially long confrontation with the US and determined to prevent any unrest at home. It’s a far cry from US President Donald Trump’s initial hopes of toppling the Islamic Republic and his subsequent claims that “regime change” had brought more compromising officials to the fore. In an analysis, FRANCE 24's Philip Turle said the war had so far cost around 1,100 US dollars for each US taxpayer.
Read briefing Nearly 3,000 people remained missing on Saturday, while 682 deaths had been confirmed after flash floods and landslides hit the Nepal-Tibet border. Rescue operations remain risky as a lake formed upstream by the floods threatens to burst its banks. FRANCE 24's Shahzaib Wahlah reports.
Read briefing In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Félix Tshisekedi calls for a national dialogue to ease tensions, while excluding M23 rebels from taking part, as the government plans to suspend 11 public universities in rebel-controlled areas. Meanwhile, in Ghana, 23 people, including 11 children, have died after falling into abandoned illegal gold-mining pits, as the country faces an unprecedented surge in galamsey operations. Finally, in Cameroon, US deportees face uncertainty and fears of persecution as they await decisions on their asylum claims, following controversial deals by Washington with at least 30 countries to accept people it cannot legally deport directly to their home countries.
Read briefing Israel's military said it carried out an air strike in the Jenin area in the West Bank on Friday that killed a Palestinian it described as a Hamas militant operative as well as two of his accomplices, in a rare use of deadly Israeli air power in the occupied territory.
Read briefing Rescuers in Tibet reached the main area wiped out by a devastating mudslide this week, Chinese state media reported, as the search for missing people battled treacherous conditions. The devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet has claimed more than 580 lives and left more than 2,400 missing. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. The number of people missing in Nepal and China has surpassed 2,400, underscoring the scale of the disaster days after a tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept away villages and killed hundreds.Families continue to search hospitals and disaster zones in the hope their loved ones will be found alive, with nearly 2,500 people still missing.More than 3,700 people have been rescued so far, though destroyed roads, bridges and thick mud continue to hamper search efforts.Zoyal Ghale, who ran into a forest and climbed trees to escape Nepal's deadly floods, was reunited with his mother earlier today after she had begun to fear he and his brother had both perished in their school.A day earlier, 8-year-old Ghale had been airlifted alone from the devastated northern district of Rasuwa with a broken leg and cuts on his face, while his mother, Matti Maya Tamang, 28, moved from one shelter and collection point to another looking for her two missing children.Zoyal Ghale, 8, speaks with his mother inside a hospital in Kathmandu. Credit: Ranup Shrestha, Reuters"At the fourth place too, my children's names were not on the list, and they were not there," Tamang told Reuters. "I had come to accept that both my children were no more. All I could do was weep. I couldn’t hold myself together at all."Canada will provide CAN$5 million (US$ 3.6 million) in funding to help relief operations in Nepal, the government has said."We are announcing that Canada is providing $5 million in humanitarian assistance to support emergency relief efforts in Nepal," Randeep Sarai, Canada's secretary of state for international development, told reporters.We speak to David Fisher, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross for Nepal, about the scale of the disaster, the huge challenges faced by rescue workers, and the risk of further flooding from upstream lakes.Four French nationals are missing following the devastating floods in Nepal and China, the French Foreign Ministry has said, confirming a figure given the previous day by the Nepalese authorities."The French Embassy in Kathmandu is liaising with the local authorities in an attempt to locate them. Teams from the Crisis and Support Centre are in contact with the families of our nationals," added the ministry's deputy spokesperson, Glenn Salic.The number of people missing in Nepal and China has leapt to nearly 2,500, including close to 2,000 in Nepal alone, underscoring the scale of the disaster.Rescuers are battling through mud even as the threat of new floods looms, with emergency teams recovering 584 bodies so far -- and some of the dead swept downstream as far away as India.The new figures come as Nepal's disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash.The UN's agency for children says at least 17,000 children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.UNICEF says 18 schools have been destroyed and another 20 damaged, with remaining facilities turned into emergency shelters.A man walks past damaged structures after flash flooding in the Devighat area of Nuwakot district in Nepal. Credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh, APResidents salvage their belongings from damaged houses after flash flooding in the Devighat area. Credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh, APPeople look at photographs of people killed in the flash floods displayed outside a government hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Credit: Dar Yasin, APThe agency said the number of people reported missing has doubled to 1,924, as more local residents were added to the tally. Emergency services are rushing to find survivors and treat the wounded after a devastating flash flood on the border of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday killed more than 500 people, with over a thousand still missing.But the remote and rugged terrain, as well as the risk of further flooding from upstream lakes formed by piles of debris, make their work as delicate as it is dangerous.The European Union has promised two million euros ($2.3 mn) in aid for Nepal following the devastating flash floods.European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X that the "immediate humanitarian aid" would help "deliver life-saving assistance to families and communities hit hardest".Some survivors of the deadly floods on the Nepal-China border ran for their lives, others narrowly missed disaster, but all were eyewitnesses to a major calamity and its aftermath.Sivaranjani Muthunathan was travelling by bus with 56 others from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu when they became stuck in what they thought was a traffic jam.
Read briefing William Hilderbrandt is pleased to welcome David Fisher, Head of Delegation, Nepal International Federation of Red Cross. The scale of Nepal’s disaster cannot yet be fully measured. Entire communities remain difficult to reach, tens of thousands of people have been affected, and official assessments are only beginning. But the central challenge is already clear: this cannot be treated solely as an immediate humanitarian emergency. What happens to these communities in the years ahead depends heavily on what we do now. Emergency relief must be accompanied from the outset by planning, funding and action for long-term recovery, including rebuilding homes and livelihoods. If that work is postponed until international attention has moved elsewhere, many people may never fully recover. And signs suggest that the speed and destructive force of this extreme natural event could become more frequent.
Read briefing Nepal's confirmed death toll has risen to at least 538, but families are still searching hospitals and disaster zones in the hope their loved ones will be found alive, with nearly 1,000 people still missing. More than 3,700 people have been rescued so far, though destroyed roads, bridges and thick mud continue to hamper search efforts.
Read briefing Chinese authorities warned Friday that a lake formed by a mudslide on the China-Nepal border could breach and send floodwaters downstream, threatening further damage. Water levels are expected to rise over the next three days, with 499 residents and 555 tourists already evacuated from the disaster zone. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
Read briefing More than 100 organisations, including OpenAI and Anthropic, called Thursday for governments and technology companies to strengthen cyber defences against increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks. The open letter warned that these could become far more widespread in the coming months as artificial intelligence models grow more capable.
Read briefing Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents to leave the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday as Russian strikes damaged a district heating plant and threatened prolonged power and heating outages.
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