Fighting plastic pollution: UN's landmark treaty in the making
05/08/2025
Ukraine: Several Dead in Strikes on Northeast Region and Railway Infrastructures
Europe
05/08/2025
Is the US 'complicit in the war crimes being carried out by Israel in Gaza'?
Middle East
05/08/2025
Israel reopens Gaza private goods trade
Middle East
05/08/2025
Swiss 'Mountain Tinder' sparks high-altitude romance
05/08/2025
UK to begin migrant returns to France under 'one in, one out' deal
France
05/08/2025
TikTok Tan line trend sparks health concerns
05/08/2025
More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger
Middle East
05/08/2025
'Contradictions in objectives' of Chinese Studies Dept & what China would like UK schools to project
UK
05/08/2025
East Asia Hit by Record-Breaking Torrential Rains and Mass Evacuations
Asia / Pacific
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France 24
8 minutes ago
- France 24
Nawrocki: nationalist historian becomes Poland's president
The 42-year-old Nawrocki won a June 1 election with the support of the populist right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023. Nawrocki campaigned under the slogan "Poland first, Poles first". While he has pledged to continue Poland's support for neighbouring Ukraine against Russia's invasion, he has denounced the benefits given to war refugees. He said in a campaign video in April that "social benefits will be above all for Poles" and that "in queues for doctors and clinics, Polish citizens must have priority". In May, he claimed Ukraine "has not shown gratitude for what Poles have done" and accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of "insolence". He opposes Ukraine's bid to join NATO. After speaking with Nawrocki last week, Zelensky said he looked forward to working together with the Polish leader. Photos with Trump Nawrocki is an admirer of Donald Trump and has said Poland should focus on shaping and leading Europe's relations with the US president. He met Trump at the White House in May and claimed Trump had told him: "You will win". The two were shown giving a thumbs up in photos released by the White House. Some lawmakers from the governing coalition at the time accused Trump of election interference. Nawrocki has called for controls on the border with Germany to keep out migrants, and would like Berlin to pay wartime reparations to Poland. While wooing voters during the campaign, Nawrocki signed an eight-point pledge prepared by far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen. The election campaign also saw Nawrocki embroiled in a series of scandals. While arguing against a property tax, he claimed to own one flat only. Later it was revealed he had acquired a second one through a convoluted deal with an elderly man. A bombshell news report also alleged he had arranged prostitutes for guests while working as a hotel security guard. Nawrocki called the accusations "a bunch of lies" and said he would sue the news site. Born in the Baltic port city of Gdansk, Nawrocki boxed and played football in his youth before earning a PhD in history and an MBA. He served as the director of the World War II museum in Gdansk from 2017 to 2021. Since then, he has led the Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates Nazi and communist-era crimes. His research focused on Poland's anti-communist opposition, organised crime during the communist era and sports history. Last year, Russia added Nawrocki to its wanted list for his alleged efforts to remove Soviet-era monuments in Poland. Nawrocki said he had obtained a gun licence and firearm after winding up in Russia's crosshairs. Dual identity Nawrocki has written several books, including one under a pen name that landed him in an unusual controversy. In 2018, he secretly published a book about the communist-era gangster Nikodem Skotarczak using the pseudonym "Tadeusz Batyr". That same year, a blurred and voice-altered Batyr appeared on state television claiming Nawrocki had inspired the book. Nawrocki later wrote on social media that Batyr had sought his advice and "thanked me with an interesting book, which I recommend". But Polish media recently uncovered that Batyr and Nawrocki were one and the same. Political opponents seized on the revelation. Nawrocki has also faced accusations of ties to gangsters and neo-Nazis, which he has rejected as "deep manipulation", insisting his contacts were for professional purposes. "No one has ever heard a good word from me about Nazism," he said. Nawrocki speaks English and still boxes in his spare time. He has said Poland needs "a strong president for tough times". He lives with his wife, Marta, and has two children and an adult stepson.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
US envoy Wikoff lands in Russia for talks with Putin ahead of sanctions deadline
US special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Moscow and was greeted by Russia's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a source told Reuters on Wednesday, after the Kremlin said it did not rule out Witkoff meeting President Vladimir Putin. US President Donald Trump, who warned that he would impose sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine before Friday, had said earlier that Witkoff might be travelling to Moscow this week in yet another diplomatic effort to bring the hostilities to an end. The Russian source, involved in the visit's preparation, did not say who Witkoff would meet in Moscow but a source familiar with the plan told Reuters in Washington on Tuesday that Witkoff would meet with Russian leadership on Wednesday and the Kremlin said on Monday that Witkoff's meeting with Putin might take place. Trump said that if Russia fails to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine by Friday, it will face new sanctions. The measures would include heavy tariffs on countries that buy its oil, of which the biggest are India and China. Will it work? But Putin is unlikely to bow to the ultimatum because he believes he is winning the war and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the US, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters. "The visit of Witkoff is a last-ditch effort to find a face-saving solution for both sides. I don't think, however, that there will be anything of a compromise between the two," said Gerhard Mangott, an Austrian analyst and member of a group of Western academics and journalists who have met regularly with Putin over the years. "Russia will insist it is prepared to have a ceasefire, but (only) under the conditions that it has formulated for the last two or three years already," he said in a telephone interview. "Trump will be under pressure to do what he has announced – to raise tariffs for all the countries buying oil and gas, and uranium probably as well, from Russia." The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin is sceptical that yet more US sanctions will have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war. The Russian leader does not want to anger Trump, and he realises that he may be spurning a chance to improve relations with Washington and the West, but his war goals are more important to him, two of the sources said. Witkoff, a real estate billionaire, has had several long meetings with Putin. He had no diplomatic experience before joining Trump's team in January, and critics have portrayed him as out of his depth when pitched into a head-to-head negotiation with Russia's paramount leader for the past 25 years. On his last visit in April, Witkoff – unaccompanied by diplomats or aides – cut a lonely figure when seated across the table from Putin, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Critics have at times accused Witkoff of echoing the Kremlin 's narrative. In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson in March, for example, Witkoff said there was no reason why Russia would want to absorb Ukraine or bite off more of its territory, and it was "preposterous" to think that Putin would want to send his army marching across Europe. Ukraine and many of its European allies say the opposite. Putin denies any designs on NATO territory, and Moscow has repeatedly cast such charges as evidence of European hostility and "Russophobia".
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Fire in southern France burns 11,000 hectares, injures nine
The blaze, which started on Tuesday afternoon, is still threatening several villages in the Aude department, where 1,500 firefighters have been battling to extinguish it. "The fire is advancing in an area where all the conditions are ripe for it to progress. We are monitoring the edges and the back of the fire to prevent flare-ups," said Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture. She said firefighters are expecting to receive aerial support at dawn, but warned "this fire will keep us busy for several days. It's a long-term operation". The fire's advance slowed overnight due to high humidity levels, she added. One person was seriously burned and another injured, the prefecture said, adding that seven firefighters were also hurt. Camping grounds and one village were partially evacuated, and several local roads have been closed. "All of the Nation's resources are mobilised," French President Emmanuel Macron said on X, while calling on people to exercise "the utmost caution". The Aude department has seen an increase in areas burnt in recent years, aggravated by low rainfall and the removal of vineyards, which used to help break the progression of fires. © 2025 AFP
