From bus driver to Russian soldier: The journey of an imprisoned Ivorian recruited by Wagner Group

04/02/2023 10:39 France 24

A video posted in early January 2023 showed the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner with a mercenary who was described as Ivorian. By analysing posts shared on social networks and talking to people who knew him at different times in his life, the FRANCE 24 Observers team managed to discover the mercenary's identity and retrace his journey. It all began as an Ivorian bus driver who came to Russia "to find a better life" and was sentenced to prison for drug trafficking, from where he was allegedly recruited by the Wagner Group.

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South Korea: The forgotten Jeju uprising and massacre

Nearly 80 years ago, a brutal crackdown on Jeju Island in southern Korea claimed tens of thousands of lives. In the aftermath of World War II, the Korean peninsula was drawn into the Cold War and divided in two: a Soviet-backed regime in the North, and a US-supported nationalist government in the S...

13/03/2026 10:08 France 24

Zelensky in Paris to discuss increasing pressure on Russia as US peace talks stall

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Friday to discuss ways to increase pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine. The meeting comes as US-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled and the US said on Monday it will waive...

13/03/2026 07:19 France 24

Middle East war live: Massive blasts heard in Iran after Israeli army told residents to evacuate

Massive explosions were heard in the Iranian capital on Friday morning after the Israeli military warned residents of two areas of Tehran to evacuate. The strikes come after a pro-Iranian group in Iraq warned that French interests "in Iraq and the region" would be "under targeting fire" after the...

13/03/2026 02:44 France 24

Macron says officer killed in Iraq as pro-Iran group vows to target French interests

A French officer was killed in a drone attack in Iraq, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Earlier the Iran-backed Iraqi group, Ashab Alkahf, warned that French interests in the region were now targets after the arrival of a French aircraft carri...

13/03/2026 02:29 France 24

French soldier killed in attack in Iraqi Kurdistan

A French soldier was killed in an attack in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, confirming the first French military death in the Middle East war....

13/03/2026 02:29 France 24

US allows sale of Russian oil at sea as Middle East war sends energy prices soaring

The United States will temporarily allow the sale of Russian oil already at sea, the Treasury Department said on Thursday, as energy prices surged after US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered war in the Middle East. The license permits cargoes loaded by March 12 to be delivered and sold until April 1...

13/03/2026 01:17 France 24

Cocaine bound for Europe increasingly routed through West Africa

In tonight’s edition: a new report warns that trafficking routes from Latin America to Europe are increasingly passing through West Africa. The new US ambassador to South Africa has backtracked on his criticism of the "Kill the Boer" chant. And more than a month after Cyclone Gezani devastated ea...

12/03/2026 21:34 France 24

Iran trolls Trump with AI-generated LEGO propaganda video

The war in Iran is not only being fought on the battlefield – it is also playing out online. Iran’s state media recently took a leaf out of the White House’s own social media playbook, mocking Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu with an AI-generated propaganda video styled like a LEGO animat...

12/03/2026 20:35 France 24

Moscow court sentences 15 men to life in prison for jihadist attack on concert hall

A Russian court sentenced four perpetrators and eleven accomplices to life imprisonment on Thursday for the March 2024 attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, which killed 150 people, making it the country’s worst jihadist attack in more than 20 years....

12/03/2026 19:30 France 24

Who gives the kill order? AI and the war in Iran

Warfare is always evolving, sometimes slowly: Napoleon’s armies travelled little differently from those of Julius Caesar. At other times, change comes faster than commanders can process, as the futile carnage of the First World War showed. The pace of change on the battlefield today? Fast – ver...

12/03/2026 19:11 France 24

Israel strikes central Beirut after threatening to expand Lebanon operations

Israel renewed its strikes on Beirut on Thursday, as it threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if Hezbollah did not stop its attacks. The Israeli military issued a call to evacuate ahead of the Beirut attack, after having also widened its evacuation warning for residents in...

12/03/2026 16:56 France 24

Iran's supreme leader issues first statement since his appointment

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has issued his first statement since his appointment as the war with the United States and Israel rages. The statement was read on state television Thursday by a news anchor. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert tells us mo...

12/03/2026 16:55 France 24

From Sudan to Lebanon: ‘Wherever we go, war follows us’

In Beirut, refugees from conflict zones like Sudan and Ethiopia have once again been caught up in war — the very thing they hoped to leave behind in their home countries. FRANCE 24's reporter spoke to families sheltering at a Jesuit church in the Lebanese capital, who have lost everything f...

12/03/2026 16:49 France 24

With Middle East in flames, Texan bunker maker sees business boom

Since the war in the Middle East began nearly two weeks ago, the phone at Ron Hubbard's bomb shelter company in Texas hasn't stopped ringing. Foreign and US clients are rushing to buy his bunkers, seeking refuge in case of air raids, nuclear fallout or apocalypse....

12/03/2026 16:43 France 24

Middle East war: Dubai targeted by fresh Iranian drone strikes

#Dubai was among the targets of fresh Iranian drone strikes early on March 12, alongside Kuwait's airport. This comes after #Iran denounced a #UN Security Council resolution that demanded strikes on the #Gulf countries stop. Eleven civilians have died since the start of Iranian attacks in the regio...

12/03/2026 16:15 France 24

France 'not sending any vessels to the Strait of Hormuz', Defence Minister Vautrin says

As Iran’s new supreme leader calls for the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed, France’s Minister of Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs, Catherine Vautrin, says Paris has no plans to send naval vessels to the strategic waterway. In an interview with FRANCE 24, she also stressed that France is not p...

12/03/2026 15:54 France 24

Trump says Iran shouldn't come to World Cup for 'own life and safety'

US President Donald Trump warned Iran's football team Thursday their "life and safety" would be at risk if they took part in the upcoming World Cup in North America....

12/03/2026 15:41 France 24

War in the Middle East: 'A sense of normality' back in Israel

The Israeli military said on Thursday that Hezbollah had fired around 200 rockets at Israel the night beforeFRANCE 24's Olivia Bizot reports from one of the buildings in Tel Aviv that was hit during the very first days of the war by an Iranian missile. Since then, "a sense of normality has returned...

12/03/2026 15:35 France 24

US targets Iran mine-laying as war causes oil market havoc

The United States said Tuesday it was striking Iranian ships capable of mining the crucial Strait of Hormuz and threatened escalation if Tehran presses ahead, as the Middle East war wreaks havoc on global oil markets. The US military posted video footage of Iranian boats blasted by missiles and ot...

12/03/2026 15:33 France 24

Novelist Dinaw Mengestu on the battle for freedom of expression

As he takes on the presidency of PEN America, Dinaw Mengestu explains why defending a plurality of voices is crucial at a time of censorship and revisionism. He also discusses how the organisation is working to rebuild its credibility after criticism over its failure to condemn the war in Gaza in 2...

12/03/2026 15:31 France 24

Two votes, two standards: UN resolutions on Iran war underscores diplomatic dilemmas

The UN Security Council held two votes on the Middle East war, the first since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran. A Bahrain-sponsored resolution condemning Iran -- but not the US and Israel -- was adopted. A second, Russian-sponsored one, condemning Iran and the US-Israel, was vetoed. FRAN...

12/03/2026 14:22 France 24

Israel pounds Lebanon: Grieving border village calls for peace

In the south Lebanon border village of Qlayaa, hundreds mourn parish priest Father Pierre al-Rai two days after he was killed by Israeli shelling while inspecting the site of an earlier attack. Amid the funeral procession, residents implore the army for protection from the latest war between Israel...

12/03/2026 14:07 France 24

Israel army says Hezbollah fired 200 rockets in 'biggest barrage' of war

Israel's military said Thursday that Hezbollah had fired around 200 rockets at Israel the night before, in what it described as the Lebanese armed group's "biggest barrage" since the war began. FRANCE 24's Olivia Bizot reports from Jerusalem....

12/03/2026 14:03 France 24

How Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy sites are shaping decision making in Washington

Sparking turmoil in global energy markets and undermining Gulf countries’ reputations for economic stability is all part of the Iranian regime’s strategy, according to a Middle East analyst. Speaking to FRANCE 24, Paymon Azmoudeh, senior consultant in the risk and compliance practice at Forward...

12/03/2026 13:55 France 24

Ireland’s deputy PM warns of ‘near-existential moment’ for EU amid global turmoil

The European Union is facing an “almost existential moment” as it seeks to weather global turmoil. That is the warning from Ireland’s Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris. He says the current conflict in the Middle East serves as “a stark reminder of how Europe must become much...

12/03/2026 13:06 France 24

Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has 'very good links with the IRGC'

Jean-Emile Jammine is pleased to welcome Dr H. A. Hellyer, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defence and International Security Studies in London. The succession process currently unfolding in Iran must be understood within the extraordinary context of wartim...

12/03/2026 12:22 France 24

Washington tracking if Iran has activated 'sleeper cells' on US soil

As the US-Israeli war against Iran escalates, fears are rising that covert agents lying low in Western countries could be activated to retaliate. US President Donald Trump said his administration is "on top" of the possibility of Iranian cells operating inside the United States, but has offered few...

12/03/2026 11:09 France 24

Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new Supreme Leader signals continuity to international community

Amid the political uncertainty surrounding Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new Supreme Leader, Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics. As the Islamic Republic navigates a moment of acute pressure, the elevation of Mojtaba Khamen...

12/03/2026 11:06 France 24

Middle East war: Oil tankers set ablaze in the Gulf in latest Iranian attacks

Two #oil tankers were hit by Iranian explosives off the coast of #Iraq, as Tehran continues its blockade on the region. The attacks follow strikes in the Strait of #Hormuz, bringing up the number of #ships hit in the strategic passage point to at least 16....

12/03/2026 11:05 France 24

On the ground: Iran attacks Gulf infrastructures

Dubai reported a drone attack and fallen debris in two locations on Thursday while Kuwait's airport was damaged in yet another strike on the facility during Iran's Gulf campaign in the Middle East war. Iran has taken aim at US assets and civilian infrastructure around the Gulf in retaliation for US...

12/03/2026 10:59 France 24

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