Weather
English
RocksNews

International news in seven languages

Advertisement
Advertisement

Topic

Wednesday

World

Like a 'rollercoaster': passengers describe harrowing flydubai flight

As flight FZ 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv approached the Jordanian border on Wednesday, passengers knew in an instant that something was wrong when the plane began plummeting from the sky in a rapid dive. It was like "we were having very big turbulence, but there was no turbulence", passenger Almog Italie told AFP, describing the sensation of losing thousands of feet of altitude in seconds as similar to riding a "rollercoaster". FRANCE 24's August Hakansson reports.

World

Paramount takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery clears legal hurdle

A federal judge on Wednesday approved a settlement clearing Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery after 12 US states challenged the deal on antitrust grounds. The agreement includes safeguards for CNN’s editorial independence and requires the merged studio to release at least 30 films a year for its first two years.

Politics

UK PM Burnham reopens divisive debate on rejoining EU

Andy Burnham put the idea of Britain rejoining the EU on the table on Wednesday, breaking a taboo for a UK prime minister and reopening the divisive Brexit debate. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Monte Francis, Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Law at the University of Cambridge, says that Burnham "is sending the message that actually it's been pretty cold being on the outside of the EU so we're now looking at the alternatives".

Entertainment

Alec Baldwin’s Claims Against ‘Rust’ Prosecutor Dismissed on Immunity Grounds

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out much of Alec Baldwin’s civil rights lawsuit against prosecutors in the “Rust” case, finding they are entitled to prosecutorial immunity. Baldwin sued last year, alleging he was the victim of an out-of-control prosecution that wrongly sought to convict him for the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in […]

Advertisement
Politics

British PM alleges there are 'strong indications' Iran was involved in Fairford airbase incident

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday insisted that there were "strong indications" that Tehran was involved in a security incident on Sunday near an airbase in England that the US military uses in its war against Iran. The British government has still not explained the nature of the incident – in which five British men were arrested only to be later released on bail – and no explosives were found at the scene.

World

Climate change reshaping the polar oceans, says report

Climate change is increasingly reshaping the polar oceans, with Arctic waters warming rapidly, sea ice shrinking and wildlife losing habitat at both ends of the planet, an annual report said Wednesday. The Copernicus Ocean State Report depicts profound changes across the world's seas, from record-breaking heatwaves in the Mediterranean and Black seas to shifts in marine ecosystems and increasingly acidic waters.

Politics

Israel PM says pilot of rerouted flight tried to crash plane

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the pilot of a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight had tried to crash the plane and kill its passengers, after the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Passengers gave a similar account of the incident on board, describing a fight for control after the plane suddenly plummeted, losing around 17,000 feet of altitude in the span of a minute, according to the Flightradar24 website.

World

UK-France 'one in, one out' migrant exchange deal is scrapped

A British-French agreement aimed at reducing the number of people trying to cross the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped, London said Wednesday. The pilot programme was intended to break the business model of "people smugglers" by exchanging undocumented migrants who had made the crossing for people who legally applied for asylum.

Advertisement
Politics

Macron says UK’s return to EU would be ‘excellent news’

Speaking alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that it would be "a good decision" if the UK decided to rejoin the European Union. The two leaders met at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid on the second day of Macron's two-day state visit to Spain.