Paramount seals a $110 billion mega‑merger to take over Warner Bros

Paramount acquires Warner Bros. in $110 bn mega-merger

US media conglomerate Paramount Skydance announced Friday it will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal valuing the combined company at $110 billion, after beating Netflix in a bruising bidding war....

55 Ghanaians killed on the battlefields of Ukraine

First, dozens of Ghanaians have been killed on the battlefields of Ukraine, as Ghana's Foreign Minister makes a direct appeal to President Zelensky. Also, a new sleeping sickness pill receives the green light from European regulators, paving its way to Africa to protect over 60 million at risk fro...

Ukraine, The Clintons, El Mencho and Iran

It’s been a week that began in silence in Independence Square, where European leaders laid flowers for Ukraine’s war dead — even as the fighting grinds on in the east, across vast drone-dominated front lines in territory Russia now claims as its own....

Drone jammed near French aircraft carrier was Russian, Sweden's military confirms

Pakistan declares 'open war' against Afghanistan

#Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Kabul and three other Afghan provinces overnight between Thursday and Friday, authorities in #Afghanistan said, as the former's defence minister said that the countries were now in "open war"....

Civilians flee fighting after Pakistan bombs Afghan cities

After an Afghan cross-border attack on Thursday night, Pakistan carried out overnight strikes on Kabul and declared what it called an “open war” with Afghanistan, sending civilians in border areas fleeing to safety....

Femicide in France's Chechen community prompts protests

How the murder of a Chechen woman in the southern French city of Nice has resulted in local Chechen women speaking out against patriarchal traditions which normally force them to remain silent. Also amid the devastation in Gaza, a Palestinian coach is teaching women and girls to box to help them co...

Pakistan’s ‘open war’ on Afghanistan follows years of tensions

The Pakistani government declared “open war” on the Taliban authorities on Friday after an Afghan offensive launched on Thursday on its border led Islamabad to bomb Kabul in retaliation. But these tensions between the two neighboring countries are not new; they have been going on for years and...

What's behind Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict?

Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan including the capital Kabul on Friday, with Islamabad's defence minister declaring the neighbours at "open war". It comes after months of tit-for-tat clashes, with Islamabad accusing Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out att...

Pakistan-Afghanistan 'open war': How and why we got here?

Pakistan was once viewed as the sponsor and chief backer of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement. But when Islamabad declared “open war” on Kabul Friday, it marked a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two countries and underscored the regional security implications in a volatile zone....

Kenya declares war on snakebites

Some 2 million people worldwide are poisoned by snakebites every year, resulting in the deaths of around 130,000 of them. Yet these deaths are avoidable through preventive measures, first aid and public policies to make antivenom available. The World Health Organization has labelled snakebite a neg...

Sweden says jammed suspected Russian drone near French warship

Sweden says its armed forces spotted and jammed a drone near the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during a stopover in Malmo on Wednesday, with the country’s defence minister saying the drone was “probably” of Russian origin....

Signs of 'gradual progress' in Iran-US talks

Iran said Friday that in order to reach a deal, the United States will have to drop its "excessive demands", tempering the optimism expressed after talks seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war. Nevertheless there are signs of "gradual progress" being made towards a deal on Iran's nuclear enrichment...

Pakistan bombs targets in Afghanistan as it declares 'open war'

Pakistan bombed government targets in the Afghanistan capital Kabul and in Kandahar, where its Taliban leadership ​is based, officials from both countries said on Friday, with Pakistan's defence minister calling the conflict "open war"....

ICE releases Columbia student from custody after Trump-Mamdani talks

US President Donald Trump agreed to release a Columbia University student detained by immigration agents on Thursday after a direct appeal from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani at the White House. Elmina Aghayeva was arrested earlier that same day after federal agents entered one of the university's r...

Live: Pakistan strikes Kabul, declares ‘open war’ on Afghanistan after border clashes

Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Kabul and three other Afghan provinces Friday, according to Afghan authorities, as Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared "open war" after his country ran out of “patience” following cross-border attacks. Follow our liveblog for the latest up...

Anthropic CEO says AI company 'cannot in good conscience accede' to Pentagon's demands

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says AI company 'cannot in good conscience accede' to Pentagon's demands to allow wider use of its tech. Defense officials in the Trump administration warned they could designate Anthropic, which makes the AI chatbot Claude, as a supply chain risk — or invoke a Cold War...

Hungary steps up rhetoric over Russian oil disruption

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has asked the EU for a fact-finding mission over disruptions to a pipeline which delivers Russian crude oil. Hungary has accused Ukraine of "deliberately threatening" its energy security ahead of key parliamentary elections. The Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline is s...

Kenya administers HIV prevention drug

In tonight's programme: Kenya begins administering its first doses of Lenacapavir – a groundbreaking, long-acting HIV prevention drug. But first: DR Congo forces launch drone strikes on M23 rebels near Rubaya, a key coltan mine, as militias capture the village of Kazinga. And the tastes of Afric...

Denmark calls an early election following tense US-Greenland standoff

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Thursday that she had scheduled this year's general election for March 24, against a backdrop of tensions with both the United States and Russia. The vote comes at a time when Denmark's relationship with the United States -- which Copenhagen considers...

Pakistan bombs Kabul, declares ‘open war’ with Afghanistan after months of border clashes

Pakistan bombed major Afghan cities, including Kabul, on Friday, as Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the countries were in “open war” after months of escalating clashes. Afghan forces earlier attacked Pakistani border posts in retaliation for air strikes, while residents in Kabul and Kandahar...

US and Iran hold a third round of indirect talks in Geneva

Iran and the United States were holding another round of indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday (February 26) to try to reach a deal on Tehran's nuclear program and potentially avert another war as the United States gathers a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the Middle East....

Bill Gates admits affairs but denies involvement in Epstein crimes

Bill Gates has admitted making a "huge mistake" in associating with Jeffrey Epstein, telling staff at his charity foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women but denying involvement in the disgraced financier's crimes....

Record-high temperatures in France

France experienced record-setting temperatures this week during an unseasonal spell of warm weather that affected the entire country. The soaring mercury pushes some to worry about the implications of such hot winter weather against a backdrop of a warming planet....

Russia pounds Ukraine with missiles and drones

Russia fired a barrage of drones and missiles ​at Ukraine's energy sector and railway infrastructure overnight on Thursday (February 26), injuring dozens of people, damaging residential buildings and triggering fires, officials said....

Swastikas tagged at former Nazi transit camp near Paris

Two swastikas have been found spray-painted on buildings in a Paris suburb that served as a World War II transit camp for some 63,000 Jews deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau....

Swastikas spray-painted on former Nazi transit camp in Paris suburbs

Swastikas have been spray-painted on two buildings in Drancy, the suburb that once housed France’s principal wartime internment camp for Jews deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The graffiti, discovered by a municipal election candidate, has sparked condemnation and a formal complaint, highlighting...

On the front line with a Ukrainian air assault unit equipped with Caesar howitzers

In the Dnipro region of Ukraine, soldiers from the air assault forces are equipped with Ceasar self-propelled howitzers, the French defence industry's flagship weapon. But the work of Ukrainian gunners has changed since the first Caesers were delivered. With the proliferation of drones, the natu...

Iceland to hold EU referendum 'over the coming months', Prime Minister says

Iceland will in the coming months hold a referendum on ​joining ‌the European ⁠Union, Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir told a ‌press conference in Poland. Iceland in 2013 abandoned EU membership talks ​after four years of negotiations, ​but a rise ​in the cost of living and ​the...

Kenyan police arrest man accused of trafficking fighters for Russia’s war in Ukraine

Kenyan authorities on Thursday arrested and charged a man for trafficking 25 Kenyans to Russia last year to fight in Moscow's war in Ukraine. More than 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, the government revealed last week, after families began protesting the disappeara...