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.
Read briefing Iran-aligned Houthis on Thursday gained further leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important shipping routes. Meanwhile, price for Brent crude oil soared more than 5 percent to over $106 per barrel. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.Four unknown projectiles hit two vessels 4 nautical miles west of Oman's Khasab, causing a fire on one vessel and leaving the status of the second vessel unknown, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday.The master of another vessel reported seeing the projectiles hit the two vessels about 6 nautical miles north of his position, UKMTO said.Saudi authorities issued brief alerts warning of potential danger in two areas near the border with Yemen, after the Iran-backed Houthis said Riyadh launched dozens of airstrikes on Yemen.The warning alerts were issued for the city of Abha and the Khamis Mushait area -- both of which were targeted by the Houthis earlier this week -- before being lifted very shortly afterwards, the Saudi civil defence said.A 4.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded in southern Lebanon by the US Geological Survey (USGS) after the Israeli military announced that it had blown up tunnels belonging to Hezbollah.The explosion was felt by AFP journalists on the ground and footage released by the Israeli defense minister showed a fireball rising into the sky.Rising fuel prices due to the war in Iran have been a hot topic both in the US and Iran.Trump has conceded that prices will not fall before the midterm elections where the US voters could hold him to account.Meanwhile in Iran where many communities have been bombed since February 28th, there's now the added problem of incresing fuel prices.Huge explosions were heard in southern Lebanon, AFP journalists reported, after Israel said it had destroyed underground infrastructure built by Iran-backed Hezbollah beneath a strategic ridge.Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel carried out a "massive explosion" on the Ali al-Taher ridge in the Nabatieh region, "causing tremors and a powerful rumble that echoed loudly".Israel said Thursday it had completed the demolition of key underground infrastructure built by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in south Lebanon. "This is strategic terrorist infrastructure that was built over two decades, with Iranian funding and planning," said a joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, adding that its destruction "completes the achievement of operational control over the Ali al-Taher ridge -- above and below ground".Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday its navy targeted a US unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz."The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted a Saildrone Explorer-type unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz area," they said in a statement carried by their Sepah news outlet under the headline "Destruction of a US Saildrone in the Strait of Hormuz".The ideological arm of the Iranian military added that the sea drone had been used in the region by the US Fifth Fleet stationed in Bahrain.Iran on Wednesday said it captured an unmanned US submarine drone. The US military said one of its underwater drones had "malfunctioned".The UN nuclear watchdog's "political moves" will push countries to exit the Treaty on theNon-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Thursday.Mohsen Rezaei made his comments a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors passed a resolution reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for breaching its non-proliferation obligations.Iran has resumed producing ballistic missiles from existing components while working in underground facilities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing officials from the United States and the Middle East.The missiles are being assembled in more limited quantities than before the war, the report added.The lightning Houthi advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast this week came with direct guidance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Iran's war with the US, according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources.By seizing the southwestern port city of Mocha, the Houthis have strengthened their chokehold on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key waterway whose disruption further constricts global energy supplies after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.Six months into the wider regional conflict between the Houthis' Iranian allies and the United States, the group now looks focused on consolidating that grip on the strait even as opposing government forces backed by Saudi Arabia focus on an offensive in the north.Iran told the Houthis last week to escalate their attacks on Saudi Arabia, a close US ally, and promised more funding, weapons and senior officers to help them do so, two Iranian sources said.
Read briefing For the first time, French champagne producers are allowed to sell their bubbly with more than 13% alcohol, as record heatwaves and drought have resulted in grapes containing unusually high levels of sugar. They fear that climate change may eventually force them to permanently rewrite the rules governing winemaking. Also in the segment, the European Central Bank raised interest rates for the second time this year amid higher energy costs, as a potential new gas crisis looms over Europe.
Read briefing Meta is expanding its shift away from professional fact-checking. The tech giant announced it's trialling it's crowdsourced "Community Notes" system across 16 countries in Latin America. Meta says the system will only fully roll out once it is confident it works, but critics warn that with misinformation, manipulated images and AI-generated content spreading rapidly, crowdsourced checks may come too late to prevent false claims from reaching millions. Vedika Bahl explains the risks.
Read briefing Firefighters in France are on strike over a lack of funding for essential emergency services. Their dedication was pushed to the limit in the recent wild fire episodes south of Paris and near Bordeaux. Short comings in the current system were highlighted by these extreme cases. FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks with Yael Lecras, Vice-President of the National Union of Professional Firefighters.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, funding cuts are forcing dozens of health clinics in Sudan to close, aid groups warn. Also, an AI and Africa conference has kicked off in South Korea's capital. And we have a poke around the Rwanda Space Agency as Paris hosts its very first international space summit.
Read briefing Iran and the US on Wednesday traded their biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the war began, with Iran saying it struck 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after US forces sank five Iranian oil tankers. Brent crude oil surged above $100 a barrel as fears grew over global energy supplies.
Read briefing Key figures from Europe’s space industry and other international players have converged on Paris to discuss how to advance the continent’s ambitions in a global market dominated by the United States.
Read briefing The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Wednesday said the Iran-backed Houthis had launched fresh attacks on the kingdom's south, after the rebels launched an offensive seeking to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Adam Baron, Fellow at the New America Foundation, says that "if you have both groups able to disrupt maritime shipping both in the Red Sea and the Gulf, this would be a tremendous exercise of leverage to put pressure for a resolution".
Read briefing The EU on Wednesday said it was granting Spain 115 million euros ($130 million) in emergency aid to help bolster border security and assist returns after the massive migrant rush into the north African exclave. More than 70,000 migrants crossed into Spanish territory from Morocco on July 30 and 31 in an unprecedented rush that left scores dead, most by drowning as they tried to swim around a breakwater. FRANCE 24's Sarah Morris reports from Madrid.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, Hundreds of Burundians flocked to their embassy in Nairobi to get travel documents to return home. Also, in his first speech to the National assembly, Senegal’s Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo slams the rise of xenophobic rhetoric on the continent. And I speak to the founder of an AI surgical non-profit of the work being done in Tanzania to extend the reach of the country's 27 over burdened neurosurgeons.
Read briefing The mayor of Paris on Tuesday ordered investigations over the removal of women staff at the Eiffel Tower during a visit by a Hindu religious group which prompted an employee walkout and the one-day closure of the monument. The Eiffel Tower, which says it receives nearly seven million people a year, reopened on Tuesday morning after a furore resulted in the landmark being shut down on Monday. FRANCE 24's Monte Francis reports
Read briefing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said it was a shame that trade talks with the US collapsed but that he would continue to fight to protect Canada's sovereignty, as his government's promised counter-tariffs on $20 billion worth of US exports took effect. Also in the segment, Cuba says economic damage from decades of US trade embargo has risen to a record $8 billion.
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