As deadly California wildfires continue to displace hundreds of thousands around Los Angeles, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the inferno was the "most widespread, devastating fire" in the state's history, while debunking unfounded claims made by incoming president Donald Trump.
A law signed by President Joe Biden in April would block TikTok from operating in the US unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells its stake in the company by January 19. The Biden aministration alleged that TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. TikTok argues the law violates free speech rights.
In his latest meddling in European politics, Elon Musk, a fervent ally of US President-Elect Donald Trump, wielded his influence to reaffirm his support of rising far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), backing on Thursday leader Alice Weidel on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter).
In this week's Across Africa, voodoo believers in Benin marry traditional faith with contemporary creativity to spread their heritage. The african manatee has come under pressure over the decades from poching and shrinking habitats but one Cameroonian biologist has been working to improve the chances of the freswater animal. Senegal's moving ahead with plans to put more of its own identity into key streets and has begun changing the name of landmarks named after french colonial figures.
France on Thursday put under formal investigation the founder of an adult website used to commit sexual offences, including by a French man who recruited dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife, prosecutors said. They say the site was used to commit numerous sex crimes such as paedophilia and rape, as well as murder.
FRANCE 24's Wassim Cornet reports from the site of the campus of the destroyed French International Lycée in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane has returned to Mozambique from two months of self-exile. He had left the country late last year after presidential elections that he says were fixed. Hundreds of people died in a police crackdown on protests that followed the vote. Mondlane says he was compelled to come back to stand with his supporters.
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was freed on Thursday after a brief detention, her Vente Venezuela movement said on social media. Machado was detained after an anti-government march in Caracas, her first public appearance in months, amid gunshots, the movement said, adding that during her detention she was forced to film several videos.
Lebanese lawmakers elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacancy and marking a step towards lifting the war-battered country out of financial meltdown. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Ayman Mhanna, executive director of the Samir Kassir Foundation. He says that the military defeat of Hezbollah has significantly weakened its ability to impose its will on other Lebanese political forces.
As Los Angeles battles one of its worst fires in all of its history, AI-generated viral images of the Hollywood sign engulfed in flames are going viral on social media. The iconic Hollywood sign remains untouched as of Thursday, as the wildfires continue to spread. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
The Carter family and former President Jimmy Carter’s casket are on the road home to Plains after touching down at Lawson Army Airfield in Georgia. Another military guard, band and 21-gun salute greeted the plane on a cold, sunny afternoon at the Fort Moore infantry base near Columbus, southwest of Atlanta. The Carter family stood on the tarmac as the casket was loaded into a presidential hearse. Former members of Carter’s Secret Service detail and their families also watched.
