PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - France will build a new aircraft carrier to boost its capacities as a maritime power, President Emmanuel Macron told French troops gathered at a military base in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
"The decision to launch this vast programme was taken this week," Macron said.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Hundreds of Colombian ex-soldiers have been drawn to Sudan with the promise of bumper Emirati paychecks. What many found instead was death in a faraway war marked by mass killing, rape, famine and child recruitment.
An AFP investigation has uncovered how Colombian mercenaries ended up on the other side of the world through a network of profit and silence stretching from the Andes to Darfur.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday he had given the official go-ahead to replace his country's flagship, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
That vessel, the only nuclear-powered carrier outside the US Navy, entered service in 2001 following more than a decade of construction.
"In line with the last two military programming laws, and after a thorough and comprehensive review, I have decided to equip France with a new aircraft carrier," Macron said, speaking during a visit to French troops in the United Arab Emirates.
Dec 20 (Reuters) - Lebanon is close to completing the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday, as the country races to fulfil a key demand of its ceasefire with Israel before a year-end deadline.
The U.S.-backed ceasefire, agreed in November 2024, ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and required the disarmament of the Iran-aligned militant group, starting in areas south of the river adjacent to Israel.
Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is set to be briefed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any expansion of Iran's ballistic missile program poses a threat that could necessitate swift action, NBC News reported on Saturday.
Israeli officials are concerned that Iran is reconstituting nuclear enrichment sites the U.S. bombed in June, and are preparing to brief Trump for options on attacking the missile program again, the NBC report added.
Reuters could not verify the report.
A Syria monitor said Saturday that five Islamic State jihadist group members had been killed in US strikes overnight as Jordan confirmed it participated in the raids, after a deadly attack on American troops last weekend.
US forces said they had struck more than 70 IS targets in what President Donald Trump described as "very serious retaliation" for the December 13 attack that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian.
Dec 20 (Reuters) - Iran executed a man on Saturday who it said was convicted of spying for Israel and having ties to Iranian opposition groups, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported.
Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has executed many people it accused of having links with Israel's intelligence service and facilitating its operations in the country.
SYDNEY, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Around 1,000 surf lifesavers returned to duty at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Saturday, restarting regular patrols six days after two gunmen killed 15 people and wounded dozens more at a seaside celebration of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.
The mass shooting, Australia's worst in nearly 30 years, is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community, while authorities have ramped up patrols and policing across the country to prevent further violence.
By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. military launched large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an attack on U.S. personnel, U.S. officials said.
A U.S.-led coalition had already been carrying out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria targeting Islamic State suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria's security forces.
President Donald Trump had vowed to retaliate after a suspected ISIS attack killed U.S. personnel last weekend in Syria.
US forces struck more than 70 Islamic State group targets in Syria on Friday in what President Donald Trump described as "very serious retaliation" for an attack that killed three Americans last weekend.
Washington said a lone gunman from the militant group carried out the December 13 attack in Palmyra -- home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by jihadist fighters -- that left two US soldiers and a US civilian dead.
