France to Withdraw Ambassador, Troops from Niger

French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)

Paris: Asharq Al Awsat

08:00-25 September 2023 AD ـ 11 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1445 AH

Paris: Asharq Al Awsat

08:00-25 September 2023 AD ـ 11 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1445 AH

France to Withdraw Ambassador, Troops from Niger

French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced that the country’s Ambassador to Niger will return to Paris in the next hours, and that French troops will fully withdraw from the west African country “by the end of the year.”

Macron’s announcement came two months after confrontation with the Niger military junta that ousted the president.

In an interview on France 2 television on Sunday night, Macron said, “Our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France,” also affirming that Paris will end its military cooperation with Niger.

He added that French troops would withdraw in “the months and weeks to come” with a full pullout “by the end of the year.”

France keeps about 1,500 soldiers in Niger, where military rulers seized power by overthrowing President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

Until Sunday, Macron had refused to heed calls by Niger’s new leaders to recall troops based in Niamey and his ambassador, insisting that Bazoum remains the country’s only legitimate authority.

On September 15, Macron announced that the Niger military junta is holding the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte. He said the diplomat and his staff were “literally being held hostage” in the mission, eating military rations with no food deliveries.

Also, Macron said the envoy “cannot go out, he is persona non grata and he is being refused food.”

Australia Sees No Threat to US Ties After White House Criticism of Social Media Reforms

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C-R) and Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells (C-L) speak to the media while surrounded by advocates during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, 08 September 2026. (EPA)

08:02-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Australia Sees No Threat to US Ties After White House Criticism of Social Media Reforms

Australia said ‌on Wednesday it sees no risk to its relationship with the United States after reports that the Trump administration criticized Canberra's plans to target social media algorithms, which critics say would curtail free speech.

On Tuesday Australia's center-left Labor government said social media users would be given the choice to opt out of algorithms under draft legislation, effectively allowing them to curate their own feeds.

Social media companies face fines of up to A$109.2 million ($79 million) for non-compliance with the law.

The Australian ‌Financial Review ‌reported on Wednesday, citing White House spokesperson ‌Kush ⁠Desai, that President Donald ⁠Trump had "unequivocally warned trading partners against imposing digital services taxes, fines, and other forms of extortion on America's leading technology sector."

Desai added, "The administration remains committed to raising these issues with our trading partners."

Communications Minister Anika Wells told News24 Australia on Wednesday that US officials had not contacted her office over the ⁠proposed law and rejected the suggestion that ‌her government's social media reforms ‌amounted to extortion.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that his government ‌decides its policies based on Australia's national interest, insisting ‌his relationship with President Trump is "very good" and that the two leaders would meet in New York later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Australia's efforts to regulate ‌mostly US-based tech firms have emerged as a flashpoint under the current Trump administration.

A US ⁠congressional committee ⁠has called for Australia's internet regulator to testify about what it has described as a regime of censoring American free speech, citing attempts to have Elon Musk's X remove certain posts.

The regulator has not yet indicated whether she will comply.

Trump also opposes digital services taxes on US tech giants and has threatened tariffs on countries that pursue them.

Under an Australian law passed this year, big tech companies can be taxed 2.25% on their local annual revenue if they fail to negotiate deals to pay local media outlets for news shared on their platforms.

World

South Korea Says Hormuz Talks with France Concern Contribution Options, Not Troop Deployment

South Korean military fighter jets (South Korean Air Force website)

Asharq Al Awsat

07:32-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

07:32-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

South Korea Says Hormuz Talks with France Concern Contribution Options, Not Troop Deployment

South Korean military fighter jets (South Korean Air Force website)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed cooperation on security and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz during a summit in Paris on Tuesday, but the talks did not concern troop deployment, Seoul's presidential office said.

Lee, who is on a state visit to France, said at a joint press conference that he had discussed the Strait of Hormuz with Macron as part of wider talks on international security ‌issues, reported Reuters.

"South Korea and ‌France agreed to continue close coordination so that freedom of ‌navigation ⁠in the Strait ⁠of Hormuz and the stability of global supply chains can be restored swiftly," Lee said.

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical energy transit route for South Korea, which relied on the waterway for 61% of its crude oil imports and 54% of its naphtha imports last year.

In a briefing after the summit, South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said discussions focused on how South Korea could contribute to international maritime security efforts in the strait rather than on troop deployment.

"We ⁠are still in the review stage," Wi said, regarding Seoul's contribution options. "No ‌decision has been made."

Wi said Iran had sought ‌explanations through diplomatic channels following media reports about a possible South Korean role in Hormuz security efforts.

He dismissed ‌suggestions that Seoul's review of Hormuz contribution options was linked to US investment discussions.

The presidential office separately denied reports that the US had set a deadline for Seoul to dispatch assets to Hormuz.

Seoul said last week it was reviewing various options, including military measures, to contribute to freedom of navigation in Hormuz, while denying reports a deployment decision had already been made.

The announcement followed US President Donald Trump's decision in August to scale back US-South Korea joint military exercises, which he said was partly because South Korea had declined to assist Washington in the US-Iran conflict.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned this week that any South Korean military participation in operations in the Gulf or Strait of Hormuz would be regarded as support for US "aggression" and would carry serious consequences.

World

North Korea Builds New Yongbyon Uranium Enrichment Facility, IAEA Says

A satellite image shows a nuclear material production factory, in Yongbyon, North Korea, September 4, 2025. (2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)

07:27-9 September 2026 AD ـ 27 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

North Korea Builds New Yongbyon Uranium Enrichment Facility, IAEA Says

A satellite image shows a nuclear material production factory, in Yongbyon, North Korea, September 4, 2025. (2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)

North Korea has built ‌a new uranium enrichment facility at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex that could house up to 28 centrifuge cascades, and started operating an expanded annex at its Kangson enrichment site, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said in a report the findings pointed to a steady expansion of North Korea's nuclear infrastructure at multiple locations.

In the report, dated August 28, the IAEA said it relied on satellite imagery and open-source material, including photographs published by North Korean state media, ‌to track Pyongyang's nuclear ‌activities. The agency has had no ‌inspectors in ⁠North Korea since ⁠2009.

It identified a new two-storey building at Yongbyon as the site's second uranium enrichment facility by comparing state media photographs of a June visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with satellite images taken during the building's construction.

Photographs from the visit indicate gas centrifuge cascades are installed on both the ⁠upper and lower floors of the main building, the ‌report said, adding the ‌building could accommodate up to 28 of the cascades shown in the ‌photographs.

The report also said there were indications that ‌operations began in January at a uranium enrichment facility in Kangson, near the capital Pyongyang, within an annex that had been constructed in 2024.

The IAEA said the developments in North Korea's nuclear program violated UN ‌Security Council resolutions.

"The ongoing operation of enrichment facilities at Kangson and Yongbyon and the reported ⁠further expansion ⁠of the DPRK’s production of weapons-grade nuclear material is a cause for serious concern," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement to the board of governors on Monday, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The report accompanied Grossi's statement.

Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected the agency's authority. North Korea's mission to the United Nations in Vienna said last September that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state had become irreversible and the IAEA had "no legal right ... to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear weapons state which exists outside the NPT", referring to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

France to Withdraw Ambassador, Troops from Niger

Most Viewed

Australia Sees No Threat to US Ties After White House Criticism of Social Media Reforms

South Korea Says Hormuz Talks with France Concern Contribution Options, Not Troop Deployment

North Korea Builds New Yongbyon Uranium Enrichment Facility, IAEA Says

لم تشترك بعد