Rumen Radev, pro-Russia ex-pilot who wants to give Bulgaria wings

Bulgaria Kremlin-friendly ex-president wins parliamentary majority

Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev, an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia, took an absolute majority in parliamentary elections that could spell an end to the country's half-decade of political uncertainty, according to near complete vote results on Monday. The European Union's...

Bulgaria's former President Radev takes strong lead in election

Progressive ⁠Bulgaria, the ​party of Bulgaria's ​pro-Russian former President Rumen Radev was leading in ​Sunday's ‌parliamentary ⁠election with 44.59% ‌of votes, after 32% of ⁠votes were counted, official results ​showed. Radev, a eurosceptic ‌and former fighter pilot who oppos...

China warns joint US, Philippines and Japan drills risk regional trust

Military cooperation between ​countries should not undermine ​mutual understanding and trust among regional countries, the Chinese foreign ministry said ​on ‌Monday, when ⁠asked about the annual joint ‌military exercises hosted by the Philippines ⁠and the United States that will also...

Strong 7.5 earthquake hits off Japan, tsunami warning issued

A 7.5 magnitide earthquake struck northern Japan on Monday triggering tsunami warnings in the region, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The tremor was strong enough to shake large buildings as far as Tokyo, hundreds of kilometres away....

Strong 7.4 earthquake hits off Japan, tsunami warning issued

Bulgaria's Kremlin-friendly former president Radev wins parliamentary election

Bulgaria's former president and pro-Russian candidate Rumen Radev on Monday won a parliamentary majority in the country's elections according to near-complete results. Radev – an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia – hailed a "victory of hope"....

'Unprecedented since 1999': Radev secures absolute majority with reformist and eurosceptic coalition

Following the victory of Rumen Radev in Bulgaria's general election, Alison Sargent is pleased to welcome Dr. Petia Gueorguieva, Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. According to Dr. Petia Gueorguieva, there are broader implications for Bulgaria...

Middle East war live: Israel talks aim to end 'occupation', says Lebanon's Aoun

Lebanese ​President ​Joseph Aoun said Monday ‌that ⁠bilateral ‌negotiations with ⁠Israel would aim to end Israel's "occupation" of its northern neighbour. Aoun said the Lebanese delegation ​would be led by former ambassador to ​the ​United ​States Simon ​Karam. Follow our l...

Bulgaria's pro-Russian former president takes strong lead

Bulgaria’s ex-president Rumen Radev is on course to win a parliamentary election, according to exit polls,  but may fall short of a governing majority. His Progressive Bulgaria coalition leads with, in a vote marked by low turnout and deep political instability, the country’s eighth election...

Ukrainian best-selling author, Andrey Kurkov speaks to France 24

Andrey Kurkov is Ukraine's most prominent living novelist and one of the country's leading public intellectuals. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, he has remained in Kyiv and published three volumes of war diaries (Diary of an Invasion, The Year of the Locust, and Three Years on Fire). Sp...

Australia's most decorated serviceman vows to fight war crime charges

An Australian former soldier charged with committing war crimes in Afghanistan vowed on Sunday to clear his name, saying he had never "run from a fight" in his first public comments since his arrest. Ben Roberts-Smith was granted bail on Friday after a high-profile arrest on five counts of "war cri...

Food security under threat as Middle East war disrupts fertiliser supply

Around one-third of global fertiliser production comes from the Gulf region, making the area’s stability crucial for global food supply chains. With the Strait of Hormuz, an essential transit route for energy and commodities, facing repeated disruptions, concerns are growing over the impact on fe...

Iran: Prolonged conflict reshapes view of the regime, analyst says

FRANCE 24’s guest Mehran Kamrave, Director of the Iranian Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, analyses Iran’s strategy towards the United States, highlighting three key levers the regime can rely on: sanctions, the nuclear programme, and control over the Strait of H...

'They are stealing the election': How Armenia became the next Russia-EU battlefield

Armenians are set to head to the polls in June for their parliamentary elections, which the EU and Russia are closely watching. With support for joining the bloc at an all-time high, this could be a sign that the former Soviet country is moving away from Moscow, one of its closest allies. But forei...

What is UNIFIL? the UN mission in southern Lebanon explained

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has patrolled southern Lebanon along the border with Israel since 1978, acting as a buffer force following Israel’s invasion of the region. Expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the mission now monitors the ceasefire and sup...

Spain’s Sánchez leads progressive push as far-right gathers in Milan

On Saturday, Pedro Sánchez hosted left-wing leaders at rallies promoting democracy and progressive unity on Barcelona. A vocal critic of Donald Trump and the US-Israeli war in Iran, he called for peace and claimed far-right influence was waning, as a rival gathering of far-right leaders in Milan s...

Trump says US seized Iranian ship trying to evade blockade near Strait of Hormuz

The US Navy fired on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman and took control of it, US President Donald Trump said Sunday. French shipping company CMA CGM confirmed that one of its ships was “fired upon with warning shots” on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the crew was safe. Iran...

No signs of regime collapse as Iran weathers weeks of war

After weeks of US and Israeli strikes, Iranians are watching to see if ceasefire talks could lead to negotiations, while uncertainty over the future of the conflict persists. Despite foreign calls for regime change, analysts say Iran’s leadership remains entrenched, as economic pressure, repressi...

Turkey’s economy hit as Syrians return home

Since the end of the war in Syria last year, many Syrians have left Turkey to return home. Of the 3.6 million refugees living in the country, more than half a million are believed to have already gone back. These departures are weakening the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on low-cost labour,...

Middle East : Fragile US-Iran talks hinge on nuclear and Hormuz disputes

US-Iran negotiations show limited progress but remain tense, with disputes over enriched uranium and the Strait of Hormuz still unresolved. Donald Trump warns the conflict could resume if no deal is reached, while mediators say compromises may still be possible on nuclear restrictions....

Sudan’s war leaves thousands of children alone and displaced

Sudan is entering its fourth year of civil war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, a conflict the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with children among the main victims. In Darfur and beyond, thousands are displaced, many separated from their families, facing hunger, vi...

Sudan war enters fourth year as the humanitarian crisis deepens

Sudan has entered its fourth year of devastating conflict, after fighting broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The war has left millions displaced and, according to the UN, created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis....

Iran closes Hormuz Strait again over US blockade with ships mid-transit

Iran's military declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again on Saturday, its military command said, hours after reopening it and with more than a dozen commercial ships passing through the vital waterway. The toing and froing over the strait cast doubt on US President Donald Trump's optimism the day...

Southern Lebanon residents return home to devastation after ceasefire

After the ceasefire in Lebanon, displaced families are returning to heavily damaged towns like Nabatieh, where homes, businesses and essential services have been devastated by the war. Residents face a mix of relief and trauma as they begin to rebuild their lives, relying on aid for basic needs whi...

"We are just displaced and we have to go back" : Lebanese return to southern villages

Despite warnings from authorities about the fragility of the ceasefire with Israel, thousands of people are returning to their homes in southern Lebanon, as FRANCE 24's Cyril Payen reports from Beirut. Most do not see themselves as refugees, but rather as internally displaced people in their own co...

Hormuz domino effect: How the Middle East crisis affects food, flights and global supply chains

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz triggered by the war in the Middle East hasn't just affected oil prices. Despite a provisional reopening during the current 10-day ceasefire, global supplies of jet fuel, fertilisers, industrial CO2 and naphtha have already been affected, potentially leading to s...

US issues sanctions waiver on Russian oil sales again

The Trump administration on Friday issued a one-month sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products already loaded at sea, despite the treasury secretary indicating two days earlier that Washington would not renew the measure. The move comes amid efforts to ease global en...

Middle East war live: French UNIFIL soldier killed in Lebanon, Hezbollah responsible, says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that a French ​soldier who ​was part of international forces stationed in southern Lebanon ​was killed, adding that evidence suggests ⁠Hezbollah was responsible. Earlier, Iranian patrol boats fired at an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, acc...

Macron, Meloni, Starmer and Merz welcome Hormuz Strait reopening

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday hosted a video conference with their European allies to discuss the possible deployment of a multinational force to the Strait of Hormuz once the war in Iran is over. Macron welcomed Iran's announcement that the wate...

1.2 million people uprooted by war

More than a million civilians in Lebanon have been displaced since the war in the Middle East erupted at the end of February. Among them are thousands of young mothers and pregnant women, many forced to give birth in makeshift camps or other inadequate conditions. This report from our colleagues at...