Author: France24

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Ukraine’s president, saying Volodymyr Zelensky is prolonging the “killing field” after refusing to recognise Crimea as part of Russia. The proposal was part of a peace plan by the US, but Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out ceding territory to Russia in any deal. 

An overnight Russian combined missile and drone attack triggered fires, smashed buildings and buried residents under rubble in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, killing nine people and injuring more than 70, the State Emergency Service said on Thursday. “It is certainly the biggest attack on Kyiv since July,” FRANCE 24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg said, live from the site of the attack in Kyiv.

In April 1945, as Nazi Germany is on the brink of defeat, the Swedish Red Cross launches the largest rescue operation of World War II. The mission – arranged in secret between a Swedish aristocrat and Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, SS chief Heinrich Himmler – ultimately saves 15,000 prisoners from Nazi camps. One of the destinations is Ravensbrück, the main concentration camp for female prisoners, where thousands of women are evacuated onboard Sweden’s now-iconic “White Buses”.

Combined overnight missile and drone attacks by Russia on Thursday killed at least nine people and injured 63 in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, local emergency services said. The strikes were among the deadliest on the capital since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

New Delhi on Wednesday closed key land border crossings and suspended a key water-sharing treaty with Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen opened fire on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region on Tuesday, killing 26 people. The attack, which was claimed by the previously unknown Kashmir Resistance group, was the deadliest since 2000, and with the killer still at large, tourists have fled en masse and businesses have been forced to remain closed.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday was reportedly “frustrated” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of “moving in the wrong direction” and threatening to abandon talks on a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. US Vice President JD Vance said earlier that a “land swap” would be necessary to reach a deal, but Zelensky said Ukraine would not hand over Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed over a decade ago, to Putin in any agreement.

France 24 correspondent Jessica Le Masurier reports from New York, where disgraced Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault retrial opened on Wednesday. Prosecutors described in graphic detail how Weinstein wielded his show business clout to harass and abuse younger women, even when they explicitly rejected his advances. Weinstein denies all the charges, despite already serving a 16-year sentence for rape and assault.

Adding to South Korea’s political drama, the country’s prosecutors said on Thursday they have indicted former president Moon Jae-in for corruption, just weeks after Yoon Suk Yeol was stripped of his presidency for his failed martial law bid.

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault and rape retrial opened on Wednesday, with prosecutors describing Weinstein’s overwhelming sway over victims who tried to push back on his advances.

In a watershed joint statement, the warring Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 group released a joint statement on Wednesday pledging to an “immediate” cessation of  hostilities until talks reach their “conclusion”. This comes after months of escalated fighting in the decades-long conflict saw M23 take multiple Congolese cities.

The Beninese government said on Wednesday that suspected jihadists killed 54 soldiers stationed in a national park on April 17, the heaviest toll since jihadist attacks began in the northern part of the country. The al Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims claimed the attack.

FRANCE 24’s Yinka Oyetade speaks to Gavin Bade, Trade and Economic Policy Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, about Donald Trump backing down in the trade war with China. He says that that the Trump administration is “feeling the heat” not just from the stock and bond markets, but also from US major retailers who are warning about the effects of tariffs on sales.

President Donald Trump stirred up fresh controversy after he shared what users say is a digitally altered image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckle tattoos, in an attempt to show ‘evidence’ that the wrongfully deported man is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang. We explain in this edition of Truth or Fake.

Since Israel’s breach of the ceasefire on March 18, the Al-Mawasi zone in southern Gaza, home to at least one million displaced Palestinians, is no longer designated as a ‘humanitarian zone’ by the Israeli army. Nonetheless, they continue to direct civilians to this area, which has been targeted by several Israeli strikes in recent weeks. We explain in this edition of Truth or Fake.

In tonight’s edition, Kenyan President William Ruto arrives in Beijing for a five-day state visit at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Also, in a bold move, Uganda’s army chief meets DR Congo’s CODECO militia near Kampala, urging peace after deadly clashes. 

And opposition leader Tidjane Thiam vows to stay in the Ivorian presidential race after a court bars him over his former French nationality. 

Donald Trump’s trade policy and back-and-forth on tariffs are already impacting one of the most globalised industries, aviation. With airlines saying they’ll defer deliveries rather than pay for tariffs, Yuka Royer speaks with AirInsight Group’s President Ernest Arvai about the potential impact of the ongoing trade war on the sector. 

It took years of painstaking negotiations to reach the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. So can Washington and Tehran now really do a deal in weeks?

The European Union on Wednesday fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros for violating the Digital Markets Act, accusing both tech giants of stifling competition and limiting user choice. The penalties mark a major push by EU regulators to rein in Big Tech and open markets to smaller rivals.

Pope Francis’s body was transferred on Wednesday from the Saint Martha Chapel in the Vatican to Saint Peter’s Basilica during an emotional procession attended by a massive crowd gathered in the Vatican’s main square.

Hélène Perlant, the eldest daughter of France’s Prime Minister François Bayrou, became the latest person to speak out about suffering abuse at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school in southwestern France. Perlant attended summer camp at the school when she was 14 and said a priest beat her and “dragged [her] across the floor” by the hair.

In a surprising U-turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said he was willing to hold direct talks with Kyiv for the first time in years on a Ukrainian proposal to halt strikes on civilian infrastructure for 30 days. But his offer could be a trap for Ukraine.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, J. Brian Atwood, who was head of USAID under Bill Clinton, warned that US President Donald Trump’s deep foreign aid cuts are a “slow-running disaster” that would severely impact global health, food security and migration. “Many, many people are going to suffer,” he said, adding that “there’ll be a lot more migration”. Atwood said the Trump administration had a “transactional” and “narrow-minded” worldview that abandons long-term peace and prosperity in favour of short-term return for the US taxpayer.

Tal Barda’s latest documentary shines a light on a powerful voice calling for coexistence and peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as she follows Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish in his struggle with grief, his quest for justice and his lifelong campaign for an end to the violence that has characterised his home region. “I Shall Not Hate” looks back at his life and revisits the harrowing moment when his three daughters and niece were killed by Israeli air strikes. Its director tells us why Dr Abuelaish’s continued message of peace is more important than ever in the current geopolitical context.

The world’s largest auto expo kicked off Wednesday in Shanghai, where over 70 domestic and international carmakers are showcasing their latest models and innovations at a vast convention center. Among the highlights are new electric vehicles, unveiled despite growing trade barriers that threaten to hinder China’s global automotive ambitions. Yena Lee reports.