Новости за 16.12.2025

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, December 16: French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Marseille to discuss the fight against drugs, one month after the murder of Mehdi Kessaci, the brother of a well-known anti-drug crime activist. Staying on the topic, a deadly new drug is spreading in Philadelphia. Also: polar bears are mutating to adapt to climate change. Finally, French burglars take a coffee break in the middle of their robbery. Plus, The New York Times shares "The 52 Best Breakup Lines".

The prosecution is to present its closing case in the trial of the French cement manufacturer Lafarge, accused of financing terorrism. Eight former executives are suspected of having paid jihadist groups in Syria until 2014 - including the Islamic State Group to keep the company's activity in the country running despite the ongoing civil war. FRANCE 24's James André tells us more from Paris.

Trump has followed through on his threat to sue the BBC over a misleading video edit of a speech he made on January 6th, 2021 and filed a lawsuit against the media corporation on December 15. He will be seeking 10 billion dollars in damages. The BBC apologised to the US president in November for the edit but has said it would refuse to pay compensation.

Australia is in mourning for the 15 people killed at the shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi beach on December 15, while the investigation into the shooting is making progress. A father and son are behind the shooting - one gunmen was killed at the scene while the other is in police custody. Authorities have tracked the gunmen's movements leading up to the attack, including a trip to Mindanao island in the Philippines, which has a history of islamist insurgency.

Strikes on three alleged narco-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean killed eight people on Monday, according to the US military, as part of an ongoing campaign that has ended more than 90 lives.

Rodgers, 52, left Celtic in acrimonious circumstances in late October after criticising the Hoops board and hitting out at their transfer market signings, leading the club's principal shareholder Dermot Desmond to describe him as "divisive, misleading and self-serving". Al Qadsiah, owned by Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco, are currently fifth in the Saudi league and sacked head coach Michel Gonzalez on Sunday. Northern Irishman Rodgers was recruited by the former CEO of Celtic's arch-rivals Rangers... Читать дальше...

Chile has just elected its first far-right leader, Jose Antonio Kast, since the fall of the dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1990. The arch conservative politician was elected on an anti-crime and anti-immigration platform, which won over 60% of voters. But "Kast has also been leading the fight against progressive values across the world" through his work, Javier Sajuria, Professor of Comparative Politics at Queen Mary University of London, tells FRANCE 24.

Hong Kong's M+ museum is hosting a collection of more experimental prints by the artist, who is considered a master of the lyrical abstraction movement and whose work regularly fetches vast sums at auction. Visitors can explore, in chronological and topical order, the artist's early figurative works and those inspired by Chinese calligraphy. These are followed by an explosively colourful series of abstract pieces based on the artist's vision of the elements -- earth, wind and water. Chinese inks and engravings... Читать дальше...

The total cost of insured losses from natural catastrophes is estimated at $107 billion, down 24 percent from the previous year, the Zurich-based reinsurance giant said in its preliminary estimates for 2025. The decrease was attributed to a much less severe hurricane season in the North Atlantic than in 2024, said Swiss Re, which serves as an insurer of insurance companies. "For the first time in 10 years, none of these hurricanes made landfall on the US coast, which explains why insured losses from this peril are set to be low in 2025"... Читать дальше...

M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, on Tuesday agreed to withdraw from the city of Uvira in eastern DRC following a request from US mediators. The group said its withdrawal was a gesture to give the ongoing peace process between Rwanda and DRC a chance to succeed.

Nearly three weeks since the massive deluge ravaged the island, 40-year-old Nurlela picked her way barefoot through uprooted trees and debris, as victims and civil society groups clamoured for international aid. The latest government figures issued on Tuesday put the death toll at 1,030 people. Another 205 remain missing in the aftermath of one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit Sumatra's resource-rich Aceh province, the scene of a killer tsunami in 2004. Nurlela said she had fled with her... Читать дальше...

Using witness testimony, amateur footage and official statements, AFP pieced together a timeline of Sunday's attack that killed 15 people and wounded dozens. Teenage IS supporter Naveed Akram, 24, first caught the eye of Australia's intelligence agency in 2019, when he was a teenager rubbing shoulders with supporters of the Islamic State group in Sydney. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday two of Naveed's associates were later jailed but he was not considered a serious threat and largely fell off the radar. Читать дальше...

Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach, entered the country on November 1 with the southern province of Davao listed as their final destination. The province on the southern island of Mindanao has a long history of Islamist insurgencies against central government rule. "Sajid Akram, 50, Indian national, and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025 from Sydney... Читать дальше...

The women know that mutilating young girls by removing their clitoris and inner labia -- framed as a rite of passage -- is still an entrenched practice in some remote villages of Narok county, around three hours from the nearest tarmac road. One local nurse told AFP some 80 percent of girls in the area are still affected, despite the practice being made illegal in 2011. "Why are you telling people that you have stopped, when we have teenage girls coming to the hospital who have been cut?" asked a woman in the crowd... Читать дальше...

The move brings the ATP into line with the women's WTA tour, which has a long-standing policy, and sports such as Formula One which has its own measures to protect drivers. In October, Danish tennis star Holger Rune called temperatures of more than 30C and humidity soaring past 80 percent at the Shanghai Masters "brutal". "Do you want a player to die on court?" Rune was heard to ask as he wilted in the fierce conditions. The ATP has now acted, saying on Monday it was "strengthening protections for players competing in extreme conditions". Читать дальше...

Manchester United failed to beat Bournemouth (4-4). The Red Devils remain sixth in the table.

US military strikes on three suspected narco-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific killed eight people on Monday, US Southern Command said, part of an ongoing campaign that has left more than 90 dead. The command said intelligence showed the vessels were operating along known trafficking routes.

But a year into President Donald Trump's trade war, some of those customers have been lost, with buyers unwilling to stomach higher prices forced by US tariffs on imported steel. "Adding an extra $500 (US$363) on the cost of a $10,000 plow, it's a huge hit," Schulz told AFP, as a heavy snow fell outside the company's factory in London, Ontario, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Toronto. "It's something we can't afford to just absorb and it's something that customers in the States don't want to pay," Schulz said on the factory floor... Читать дальше...

Yields on Japanese government bonds have risen in recent weeks on worries about Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's budget discipline, while the yen has weakened. Higher BoJ interest rates make Japanese bonds more attractive than other assets, pushing down their prices but sending yields -- which move inversely -- higher. "So far, US corporates have swallowed the burden of tariffs without fully passing (them) through to consumer prices," Ueda told the Financial Times. At the same time, inflation has... Читать дальше...

Pistons point guard Cunningham produced another potent offensive display in a back-and-forth duel that saw the lead change hands 15 times before Detroit pulled away in the final minutes. Cunningham, averaging just under 27 points this season, rattled in six three-pointers in 11-of-21 shooting from the field to help Detroit improve to 21-5 in the Eastern Conference. But Detroit were made to work hard for their fourth straight win after a dogged performance from Boston, who led by as many as 12 points... Читать дальше...

The figures are stark: nearly 1.3 million people are homeless across the 27-nation bloc -- more than the entire population of Brussels. Over the past 15 years, housing prices have surged by 60 percent, while rents have climbed almost 30 percent, according to Eurostat data. "For too many Europeans today, home has become a source of anxiety," European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in a recent speech addressing the challenge. Responding to a crisis that affects all EU member states, the... Читать дальше...

Carmakers and their backers have lobbied hard for Brussels to relax the ban over the past year -- in the face of fierce competition from China and a slower-than-expected shift to electric vehicles (EVs). The European Commission is expected to propose replacing it with a less ambitious 90-percent emission-reduction target, in a move critics say risks undermining the EU's green agenda and deterring investments in electrification. "This is a critical milestone for the future of the sector. There is a lot at stake," Sigrid de Vries... Читать дальше...

A father and son killed 15 people at Bondi Beach on Sunday, targeting a Jewish festival that marked the start of Hanukkah. Footage showed the fruit seller ducking between parked cars as the shooting unfolded and then wresting a gun from one of the assailant's hands. "He was trying to get a cup of coffee and found himself at a moment where people were being shot in front of him," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after a bedside visit with heavily bandaged Ahmed. "He decided to take action... Читать дальше...

British folk musician Emily Portman got a shock in July when she received a message from a fan congratulating her on her new album -- even though she hadn't released one since 2022. That's when she discovered "Orca" on numerous streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. The titles of the songs resembled something she might have created herself, but "very quickly I recognised it was AI-produced music", she said. According to the independent artist, the AI behind "Orca" was "trained" on her previous albums... Читать дальше...