Donald Trump shared an AI-generated map Monday appearing to show the US absorbing Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba and parts of the Caribbean into a giant “United States of America”. Shared with no context, the post sparked diplomatic backlash with Iceland summoning its ambassador and Mexico reiterating its sovereignty. Denmark also pushed back over Greenland. Online, the map has triggered widespread ridicule and questions about Trump’s fitness for office.
Read briefing Two thieves sliced through a fence, climbed through a window and stole four valuable Renoir paintings Tuesday from a small museum on the French Riviera, but abandoned two of the artworks as they fled, authorities said. FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks with Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International. He says that offering a reward for information could go a long way in recovering stolen artworks.
Read briefing François Picard is pleased to welcome Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, Director of King’s Brazil Institute at the School of Global Affairs, King’s College London and Associate Professor in Brazil and Latin American Studies. According to Aruska, Brazil’s approaching elections can be viewed through the following prism: macroeconomic performance and political confidence are moving on different tracks. While headline indicators may suggest an economy performing relatively well, she argues that many Brazilians experience a much harsher reality shaped by the cost of living and a volatile job market.
Read briefing Frequent water and power cuts, long queues for bottled water, poultry farms destroyed by the heat: these have been the scenes across Tunisia this summer as millions of people were affected by shortages in electricity and water. Our Observers say this is the result of years of underinvestment in infrastructure while the Tunisian president, for his part, blames "deliberate and planned acts of sabotage”.
Read briefing US envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday touted progress in weekend discussions with Ukraine and Russia, raising the prospect of reviving three-way peace talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. Ukrainian MP Lisa Yasko says that "we don't trust these talks", describing the US envoys' flattery towards Russian President Vladimir Putin as "disgraceful".
Read briefing Israel on Monday threatened a “full-scale war” against the Palestinian Authority if it believed the West Bank-based body was preparing an attack on Israeli forces or settlements resembling Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault. The warning was denounced by Palestinian authorities as an attempt to fuel the conflict during the Israeli election season.
Read briefing The Eiffel Tower was forced to close on Monday after staff went on strike to protest the “sidelining” and “replacement” of female employees during a recent visit by a Hindu delegation. The Paris landmark's operator said the group had requested that the private visit be organised in such a way as to limit “interactions with women”.
Read briefing “Everything is possible” is the election campaign slogan of the far-right Alternative for Germany, the leader in Saxony-Anhalt, where the polls have just closed. It talks of a seminal moment for the country. Ulrich Siegmund, who has been polling in pole position to become the state leader, knows he has history in his grasp.
Read briefing To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.Voting is underway in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday in a closely watched election. "If the AfD does form a government in Saxony-Anhalt, that would make it the first regional government headed by a far-right party since the end of the Second World War, since the dark days of Nazism", our correspondent Nick Holdsworth explains.
Read briefing Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party headed towards a landslide victory in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, with 44.5 percent of the vote, early results showed. But despite the scale of its projected win, it was not immediately clear whether AfD would be able to form Germany’s first far-right state government since World War II.
Read briefing Voting is underway in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday in a closely watched election. "If the AfD does form a government in Saxony-Anhalt, that would make it the first regional government headed by a far-right party since the end of the Second World War, since the dark days of Nazism", our correspondent Nick Holdsworth explains.
Read briefing The United States ranks second in the world in terms of the number of films produced. It produces between 500 and 700 films every year, which is just behind India. The Deauville Film Festival, with its stars, premieres and awards, aims to showcase the very best of what’s being made across the Atlantic. But on the other side of the screen, moviegoers also have their say. What’s your favourite American film? Is it one that shaped your childhood, or a recent discovery? Our reporter Gaëlle Fonseca hit the streets of Deauville to ask that very question.
Read briefing What did Steve Witkoff know about Russia when he was first sent to see President Putin in February last year?
Read briefing The closely watched case of the Massachusetts mother who killed her three young children was on the verge of being declared a mistrial Friday — but there was still one more dramatic moment to come.
Read briefing Crochet hook in hand, the animator slightly raises the eyelid of a clay model sheep in a filmmaking technique as old as cinema, perfected over five decades by Aardman Animations.
Read briefing The United Nations on Friday voted for a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map towards one more accurately reflecting countries' true size, a resolution sponsored by African states to counter perceptions that the continent is peripheral.
Read briefing Once so deeply unpopular he had to give up running for a second term in office, former French president François Hollande has slipped back into the conversation ahead of next year’s Élysée Palace race, hoping voters put off by squabbling candidates will come to see him as a safe – if unexciting
Read briefing In tonight's programme, a UN report says foreign fighters and support networks are fuelling Sudan’s war and worsening violence against civilians. Also, Uber is pulling out of Nigeria and Uganda, leaving thousands of drivers scrambling for new sources of income. And finally, we discuss the festival with co-director Diarah N’Daw-Spech and Laurence Cole, co-producer of the Nigerian film "Shadow of Greed".
Read briefing Gavin Lee is pleased to welcome Peter Geoghegan, an award-winning investigative journalist. He's the editor of the Substack Democracy for Sale and the author of the best-selling book "Democracy for Sale". Geoghegan explains the significance of the Channel 4 investigation not simply over the conduct allegedly captured on camera, but in the broader question of how political influence is financed and made visible, or invisible, within British democracy.
Read briefing German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Friday said the evidence in a recent spate of sabotage attacks on power grids across the country points to a militant climate activist.
Read briefing The UN General Assembly on Friday voted to shift away from the 16th-century Mercator map, designed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, for a more accurate one reflecting the true size of continents. The resolution, spearheaded by several African countries and co-sponsored by France, was backed by 164 countries. The US voted against and six other states abstained.
Read briefing The Ukrainian capital was hit by Russia’s most intense wave of air attacks on Kyiv, reportedly in four years, with Reuters describing air raid sirens, drones, cruise and ballistic missiles exhausting Ukraine’s defence system, with 12 people killed and the Ukrainian foreign minister making a direct appeal to Western allies for more Patriot interceptor missiles.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, legal loopholes and gaps about specialised medicine may be driving Illegal organ harvesting in Nigeria. Also, South Sudan may be moving closer to delivering on elections scheduled for December. And on the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, six colonial era plantation estates have just been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Read briefing The UN warns El Niño is a "supersized" phenomenon that will hit the global economy. UK cider producers are feeling the impact of drought. Plus, Nvidia buys Hugging Face for $12.9 billion.
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