Headline
Grandmother Of Dead French Teen Urges Calm As Mayor’s Home Attacked
Published
2 years agoon
By
Editor
The grandmother of the French teenager killed by police sparking riots called for calm Sunday as the home of the mayor of a Paris suburb was attacked with a burning car in a new eruption of violence. The government of President Emmanuel Macron has been battling five nights of violent protests since 17-year-old Nahel M. was shot dead in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday by an officer during a traffic check. The killing of Nahel M, who was of Algerian origin, has revived longstanding accusations of institutional racism within the French police, which rights groups say single out minorities during stops. Seeking to quell what has become one of the biggest challenges to Macron since he took office in 2017, the interior ministry said it would deploy 45,000 police and gendarmes nationwide overnight Sunday to Monday, the same figure as the previous two nights. The ministry said 719 people were arrested overnight, around half the figure of the previous night. Intense clashes were nevertheless reported in several places, including the southern city of Marseille. “Stop and do not riot,” Nahel’s grandmother, Nadia, told BFM television in a telephone interview, saying that the rioters were only using his death as a “pretext”. READ ALSO: France Riot: What I Expect From Nigerian Youths – Charly Boy “I tell the people who are rioting this: Do not smash windows, attack schools or buses. Stop! It’s the mums who are taking the bus, it’s the mums who walk outside,” she said. Adding she was “tired”, Nadia said: “Nahel, he is dead. My daughter had only one child, and now she is lost, it’s over, my daughter no longer has a life. And as for me, they made me lose my daughter and my grandson.” ‘Horror and disgrace’ – Politicians condemned the attack on the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, the right-wing mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses outside Paris, in which assailants rammed a burning car into his home with the aim of setting it on fire, prosecutors said. Jeanbrun’s wife and children, aged five and seven, were at home while the mayor himself was at the town hall to deal with the riots. The wife was “badly injured” sustaining a broken leg, prosecutors said. Prosecutors have opened an attempted murder investigation. “Last night the horror and disgrace reached a new level,” the mayor said in a statement. “The situation was much calmer” overall, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told reporters as she visited L’Hay-les-Roses. “But an act of the kind we saw this morning here is particularly shocking. We will let no violence get by” unpunished, she said, urging that the perpetrators be sanctioned with the “utmost severity”. READ ALSO: Tinubu Jets To London From France On Private Visit Some 7,000 police were deployed in Paris and its suburbs alone, including along the Champs Elysees avenue in the capital, a tourist hotspot, following calls on social media to take the rioting to the heart of the city. In Marseille, which has seen intense clashes and looting, police dispersed groups of youths Saturday evening at Canebiere, the main avenue running through the centre of the city, AFP journalists said. Paris police chief Laurent Nunez cautioned on BFM television that despite the calmer evening “no one is declaring victory”. ‘New crisis meeting’ – The protests present a fresh crisis for Macron, who had been hoping to press on with the pledges of his second term after seeing off months of protests that erupted in January over raising the retirement age. The unrest has raised concerns abroad, with France hosting the Rugby World Cup in the autumn and the Paris Olympic Games in the summer of 2024. READ ALSO: France Invests €600,000 To Boost French Language In Nigeria He postponed a state visit to Germany scheduled to begin Sunday, in an indication of the gravity of the situation in France. “We are of course looking at (the riots) with concern, and I very much hope, and I am certainly convinced, that the French president will find ways to ensure that this situation improves quickly,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told broadcaster ARD. Macron headed a crisis meeting Sunday with members of his government, according to the Elysee. In a bid to limit the violence, buses and trams in France have stopped running after 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) and the sale of large fireworks banned. Marseille has stopped all urban transport from 6:00 pm. Tour de France cycling race organisers said they were paying close attention to the situation as the race prepares to cross the border into France Monday after two days in the Spanish Basque country. Macron has urged parents to take responsibility for underage rioters, one-third of whom were “young or very young” and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said the average age of those arrested was just 17. A 38-year-old policeman has been charged with voluntary homicide over Nahel’s death and has been remanded in custody. “This man must pay, like everyone else. Those who are rioting, who attack the police must also be punished. I believe in justice,” said the grandmother.
You may like
US Ambassador To Paris Slams Macron Over Rising Antisemitism
Drivers Mount Handmade Cooling System On Top Of Taxi To Replace AC
France’s Top Court Annuls Arrest Warrant Against Syria’s Ex-president al-Assad
Britain, Canada, France Warn Israel Over ‘Egregious Actions’ In Gaza
France, Germany Push For More Aggressive Tariffs Response Against Trump
Shock in France After Teenager Fatally Stabbed For Phone
Headline
42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense
Published
1 hour agoon
August 24, 2025By
Editor
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.
Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.
READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.
“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.
“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.
READ ALSO:Russia Claims More Ukraine Land As Hopes For Summit Fade
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
AFP

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.
Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.
Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.
READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.
Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.
Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.
READ ALSO:US Ambassador To Paris Slams Macron Over Rising Antisemitism
The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.
“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.
AFP
Headline
Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
Published
2 hours agoon
August 24, 2025By
Editor
Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.
Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.
They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.
“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.
READ ALSO:Russia Returns Bodies Of 1,000 Ukrainian Soldiers
“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.
Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.
Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.
READ ALSO:Top Russian General Seriously Wounded In Ukraine – Officials
Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.
Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.
“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.
AFP
- 42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense
- Ekiti 2026: APC Aspirant Slams Oyebanji For Threatening Party Leaders
- Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders
- Colleagues, Fans Pour Tributes As Funke Akindele Marks
- Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
- AC Milan Scrap Victor Boniface Transfer Over Failed Medical Tests
- Youths Uncover Man Chained By Father For Five Years In Anambra
- UNIZIK Suspends Doctors, Nurses, Security Personnel Over 100-level Student’s Death
- Israeli Strikes In Yemen’s Capital Kill Two, Say Rebels
- US Ambassador To Paris Slams Macron Over Rising Antisemitism
Trending
- Headline4 days ago
UK Bans Sanex Advert For Calling Black Skin ‘Problematic’, White Skin ‘Superior’
- News4 days ago
Nigerians Call For Mandatory DNA Tests At Birth
- News4 days ago
Yoruba Elders Wade In As Alaafin, Ooni Feud Escalates
- Headline4 days ago
Why I Plotted President Trump’s Assassination – 50-yr-old Woman
- Metro3 days ago
Customs Seize N905m Rolls Royce, Other Contrabands In Ogun
- Headline4 days ago
JUST IN: Uganda Reaches Agreement With US To Take Migrants
- Headline4 days ago
Viral TV Judge Frank Caprio Is Dead
- Headline4 days ago
Trump Slams US Museums For Focus On ‘How Bad Slavery Was’
- News2 days ago
BREAKING: FG, State, Local Governments Share N2.001trn July Revenue
- News3 days ago
JUST IN: Okpebholo Nominates Another 5 Persons As Commissioner-designates