Conflict Timelines

Footage of US President Donald Trump making fun of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte during a private lunch has sparked anger in France, prompting even some of Macron's fiercest critics at home to rally in his defence. The French president said the disparaging comments were "neither elegant nor up to standard".

Party also confirms it will keep pensions triple lock at press conference overshadowed by pressure to sack housing spokesperson over his comments about Grenfell Tower Q: Do you agree with the Tories about wanting more oil and gas drilling from the North Sea? Davey says Kemi Badenoch claims she can get an extra £2.5bn in tax revenue by allowing more exploration in the North Sea. He says she is “just lying”. He says everyone knows that that is not realistic. Continue reading...

Poland’s prime minister says prospect of an energy crisis in Europe and Viktor Orbán’s moves to block support for Ukraine also play into Russia’s hands Talking to reporters during his trip to South Korea, France’s Emmanuel Macron dismissed Trump’s mocking comments from last night saying they were “neither elegant nor appropriate” and “they do not warrant a response”. Instead, he pointed to the continuing impact of the war, including rising energy prices, saying that “what needs to be done is the word towards de-escalation, a ceasefire, and a resumption of negotiations, which are the only way to truly resolve what is happening in the region”. Continue reading...

The National Capital Planning Commission had previously delayed the vote after thousands of negative public comments Before Donald Trump declared “liberation day” on 2 April 2025 and shocked the world by raising import tariffs on nearly every country the US did business with, he had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington. The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge (the “department of government efficiency”) and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless. America is still home to the world’s largest economy and its reserve currency, as well as the globe’s largest equity and bond markets, but investors continue to reassess their exposure one year on from liberation day. House Republicans announced that they will pass a bill, advanced by the Senate last week, to end the record-breaking partial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown after previously rejecting the measure. Democrats quickly celebrated the win with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer saying “House Republicans caved” after previously “[derailing] a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction”. Nasa’s lunar rocket successfully launched and the astronauts on the first crewed lunar rocket in more than 50 years received praise from across the US. Attorney general Pam Bondi’s job with the Trump administration is reportedly at risk. The president is said to be unhappy with Bondi’s performance as the head of the justice department and the controversy surrounding the Epstein files, according to a New York Times report. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed legislation on Wednesday to require documented proof of citizenship to register to vote and to begin a process that will eventually unenroll voters who have not provided citizenship documentation. Supreme court justices appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s argument to restrict birthright citizenship for hundreds of thousands of children born to undocumented immigrants of temporary foreign nationals. Trump himself attended the hearing, widely considered to be the first time a sitting president has attended arguments at the supreme court. Continue reading...

Last April, the president unleashed a tidal wave of tariffs on ‘liberation day’. Analysts say the policy has failed, even by the Trump administration’s own terms Before Donald Trump declared “liberation day” on 2 April 2025 and shocked the world by raising import tariffs on nearly every country the US did business with, he had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington. The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge (the “department of government efficiency”) and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pressure intensifies for Gabbard after president’s displeasure with Iran war testimony Donald Trump has privately asked cabinet officials in recent weeks whether he should replace his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions. It is not clear that Trump will actually fire Gabbard over the episode. Currently, there is no standout candidate to take the job, and advisers have cautioned that creating a high-profile vacancy before a successor is ready could cause unhelpful political distractions. Continue reading...

Offer reportedly put forward by creditors hoping to save struggling firm from being renationalised temporarily Business live – latest updates Thames Water is said to be close to a deal with its regulator that would allow the company to avoid new fines for four years, as long as it commits to investing in the business. The controversial offer, reported by the Financial Times, has been put forward by creditors who are hoping to save the struggling utility from being temporarily renationalised. Continue reading...

When wildfires raged around Los Angeles last year, Rene Amy's home was razed to a pile of toxic ash. But his plot now shimmers with delicate orange blooms -- the California poppies he has sown throughout the charred town of Altadena as a symbol of hope.

Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years. Journalist and aerospace expert Frédéric Castel reports from Cape Caranaval, Florida, USA.

President Donald Trump sought Wednesday to explain his rationale for the war against Iran at a pivotal moment at home and abroad, but he offered few new details. Notably missing from Trump’s primetime address was his oft-repeated assertion that negotiations with Iran were underway. He did not indicate he was preparing to send in ground troops and gave no definitive end date for the conflict. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Kethevane Gorjestani tells us more.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the embattled Palestinian territories on Tuesday, a day after Israel's parliament passed a measure establishing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.

Critical aid supplies to Sudan are being disrupted by the 'ripple effect' of the Iran war, the World Food Program (WFP) warned on Wednesday. While gas, oil and fertilisers are stuck in the Persian Gulf due to the war, urgent food aid destined to Sudan and other countries are facing severe delays, according to the UN agency for hunger emergencies.

Iran on Thursday threatened "crushing" attacks on the US and Israel, firing missiles at Tel Aviv after US President Donald Trump vowed to bomb the Islamic republic "back to the Stone Ages". The war, which erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread throughout the Middle East and roiled the global economy, impacting hundreds of millions worldwide. FRANCE 24's Reza Sayah reports from Tehran, Iran.

PM says Farage should ‘do the decent thing’, after new housing spokesperson’s criticism of safety regulations UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to sack Reform’s new housing spokesperson after he described the Grenfell Tower fire as a “tragedy” but added that “everyone dies in the end”. Simon Dudley, a former head of Homes England, announced in February that he was joining Reform, as Nigel Farage said he was planning to bring more “experts” onboard to advise the party. Continue reading...

Brent crude rises 7% as US president vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over coming weeks Business live – latest updates Oil prices soared and stocks sank after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking investors hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East. Brent crude prices jumped by more than 7% on Thursday morning to pass $108.50 a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point. Continue reading...

Oil prices rose and stocks fell on Wednesday following US President Donald Trump’s speech in which he warned he would hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks. Meanwhile, Iran has reportedly begun collecting tolls from ships seeking safe passage through the Hormuz Strait. We’ll take a closer look at how this process is unfolding and whether it could be formalised. Also in this edition, SpaceX has filed for what could become the world’s largest ever Initial Public Offering.

Fake X account posing as his vet sparked global false reports of Jonathan’s death while soliciting crypto donations At 194 years old, Jonathan the giant tortoise was a youngster when Queen Victoria ascended to the throne – and has now lived long enough to fall victim to a crypto scam. News outlets including the BBC, Daily Mail and USA Today falsely reported his death after an X account posing as Jonathan’s vet broke the news. Continue reading...

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, April 2: Donald Trump hails what he calls the successes of the war in Iran in a televised address. Earlier, he once again threatened to pull the United States out of NATO – a move the Wall Street Journal has described as the “dumbest” in history. Also, Gizmodo celebrates “humanity’s epic return” to the Moon, as NASA’s Artemis II mission successfully lifts off from Cape Canaveral. And finally, an elderly dog fights off a hungry bear to save her family’s farm.

An advance contingent of police from Chad arrived in Haiti on Wednesday along with the new head of a UN-backed gang-suppression force tasked with helping Haitian security forces fight off powerful gangs that control most of the capital Port-au-Prince. Chad has pledged 800 officers, but it is unclear which other countries might contribute personnel.

🚀🌛 Four astronauts – 3 Americans and 1 Canadian – blasted off Wednesday on NASA’s Artemis II, humanity’s first lunar flight in over 50 years.

Jubilant scenes erupted from Kinshasa to Baghdad and Sarajevo as the final line-up for this summer’s 48-team showpiece in North America was officially confirmed.

Reversal of fortune comes just one week after she was dumped in favour of Dinesh Gourisetty, who then withdrew his nomination Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Moira Deeming will secure a top spot on the Victorian Liberal party’s upper house ticket unopposed – less than a week after members voted to dump her – after the withdrawal of candidates from a re-run ballot. Deeming was on Sunday ousted from the number one spot for the western metropolitan region by Dinesh Gourisetty. Continue reading...

President used speech to justify the war and offer a timeline for its completion, as he faces falling poll numbers and a global energy crisis ‘We have all the cards’: Trump says US war on Iran ‘nearing completion’ Israel hits Iran with waves of attacks and says it killed top Hezbollah commander Trump has claimed that Iran was “right at the doorstep” of gaining a nuclear weapon. Earlier on Wednesday the president said he did not care about Iran’s stock of highly enriched uranium (HEU), arguing it was deep underground and could be monitored by satellite. From the very beginning my campaign for president in 2015, I said I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This regime has been chanting death to America, death to Israel. Continue reading...

More than 1,800 civilians have been killed in violence-wracked Burkina Faso since 2023, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday that accuses the army and civilian militias of killing more civilians than jihadists do. The NGO called on prosecutors at the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes "perpetrated by all parties to the conflict".

Battlefield outcomes are connected by the sharing of weapons and intelligence as well as the damage to the global economy The Iran and Ukraine wars are becoming more intertwined with every passing week – to the point that some analysts argue the two conflicts are beginning to merge. Quite how each war will affect the trajectory of the other is hard to predict, but it is already clear that their interconnectedness is drawing more countries into both cauldrons, extending an arc of instability that straddles Europe and the Middle East. Continue reading...

Lawyers for accused had argued names of family members should be suppressed due to fears for their mental and physical safety Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The alleged Bondi attacker has been denied a suppression order over his family member’s names and home and work addresses after a collective of media organisations won a challenge against the bid. In the Downing Centre local court on Thursday, judge Hugh Donnelly decided to deny the request for a 40-year suppression order, ending an interim suppression order that was granted for Naveed Akram’s mother, brother and sister in early March which banned the publication of their names and addresses. Continue reading...

Exclusive: documents chronicle years-long campaign to make it easier to build intensive livestock units Ministers are rewriting planning rules to make it easier to build intensive livestock farms despite concerns about water pollution, air quality and local opposition. Documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act show that proposed changes to the national planning policy framework (NPPF) were discussed by ministers and officials in response to concerns of the country’s leading chicken producers, who have been lobbying on the issue for at least two years. Continue reading...

Follow live updates Track Australia’s fuel prices, service station outages and shipments in charts Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast ‘Might as well have told us what he was going to have for dinner’: shadow minister lambasts address to the nation The quips continue coming in thick and fast against Albanese’s address to the nation. The shadow minister for energy, Dan Tehan, tells ABC Radio: He might as well have told us what he was going to have for dinner last night. There was nothing new in it. He didn’t take the Australian people into his confidence. He made no commitments to transparency … there was no commitment from the prime minister to tell us whether ships have been cancelled, whether they’re being delayed, what our stock holdings are at the moment, where the shortages are, how many service stations are out of fuel, what they’re doing to make sure they’re getting fuel to those service stations – nothing. We will be participating in that. It’ll be a virtual meeting as I understand the next 24 hours and the foreign minister will be representing Australia at that meeting. It follows on from Australia signing up to the UK-led statement … all of those countries and very much Australia have an interest in seeing the straits of Hormuz opened as soon as possible. We will look to what Australia can do. Continue reading...

Powerful blasts destroyed homes and sparked panic in the city of Bujumbura on Tuesday night.

French authorities have charged four people, including three minors, over an apparent bid to ignite a homemade explosive device outside the Paris headquarters of Bank of America. Anti-terror prosecutors said the incident could be linked to a little-known Islamist group with possible links to Iran, though no firm link has yet been established.