Unexploded WWII bomb in Paris halts Eurostar travel to London and trains to northern France
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(PARIS) — Eurostar trains to London, including all trains heading to northern France, stopped abruptly on Friday morning after an unexploded bomb dating back to World War II was discovered near the tracks, officials said.
The unexploded ordinance was discovered approximately 1.5 miles north of Gare du Nord in Saint Denis, an area just north of Paris where the Stade de France – the national stadium of France – is located and where dozens of Olympic events were held, including the closing ceremonies, last year.
“Traffic is interrupted between Paris Gare du Nord and La Plaine Stade France in both directions and disrupted on the rest of the line. Traffic will not resume until mid-afternoon, after formal authorization from the authorities,” France’s national train operator SNCF said in a statement on Friday morning. “If possible, we invite you to postpone your trip.”
The reason listed was due to “intervention by law enforcement” following the discovery of an unexploded bomb from the second World War near the tracks at Paris Nord, SNCF said.
Gare Du Nord in Paris is the busiest railway station in Europe by passenger numbers and served over 211 million people alone in 2022.
Dozens of passengers could be seen waiting in the station with their luggage as they watched trains being canceled across the passenger information boards.
It is unclear how large the ordinance is or how long it will take authorities to clear the area before regular services resumes.
The investigation is currently ongoing.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Morgan Winsor and Tom Soufi-Burridge contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heat waves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
Millions of students are missing school because of extreme weather
A new analysis from UNICEF finds that nearly a quarter of a billion children worldwide had their education disrupted by extreme weather events in 2024 — exacerbating what the organization calls an “existing learning crisis.”
The report found that at least 242 million students across 85 countries experienced schooling disruptions last year because of extreme weather like heat waves, storms, floods, droughts and tropical cyclones.
“Children are more vulnerable to the impacts of weather-related crises, including stronger and more frequent heatwaves, storms, droughts and flooding,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said. “Last year, severe weather kept one in seven students out of class, threatening their health and safety, and impacting their long-term education.”
Heat waves were the most common weather disruptor for education. UNICEF found that over 118 million students were impacted by extreme heat in April alone, with South Asia seeing some of the most widespread impacts.
The report also found that September had the most frequent weather-related disruptions, with at least 16 countries suspending classes for a time due to extreme weather events like Typhoon Yagi in East Asia.
While the analysis found that almost three-quarters of the students impacted were in low and lower-middle income countries, UNICEF says no region was free from these effects.
“Education is one of the services most frequently disrupted due to climate hazards. Yet it is often overlooked in policy discussions, despite its role in preparing children for climate adaptation,” Russell said. “Children’s futures must be at the forefront of all climate related plans and actions.”
-ABC News climate unit’s Kelly Livingston
Climate funders say they will cover US climate obligations after Paris Agreement withdrawal
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, the U.N.-backed international climate treaty. Bloomberg Philanthropies announced Thursday that they, along with a coalition of climate charities, would step up and ensure that the U.S. meets its obligations under the Paris Agreement, including any financial and reporting requirements.
“While government funding remains essential to our mission, contributions like this are vital in enabling the UN Climate Change secretariat to support countries in fulfilling their commitments under the Paris Agreement and a low-emission, resilient, and safer future for everyone,” said Simon Stiell, United Nations climate change executive secretary, in a press statement.
This is the second time Trump has withdrawn the country from the Paris Agreement. During his first term, Trump justified backing out of the treaty by claiming that participating in the agreement would result in the loss of jobs and cost the U.S. trillions of dollars. In reality, in 2023, clean energy jobs grew at more than twice the rate of the overall U.S. labor market and accounted for more than 8.35 million positions, according to a Department of Energy report. In terms of spending, the U.S. has committed several billion dollars to the effort, not trillions.
Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and a U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, said he also plans to continue supporting a coalition of states, cities and businesses that are working to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 61-66% below 2005 levels by 2035.
“More and more Americans have had their lives torn apart by climate-fueled disasters, like the destructive fires raging in California. At the same time, the United States is experiencing the economic benefits of clean energy, as costs have fallen and jobs have grown in both red and blue states. The American people remain determined to continue the fight against the devastating effects of climate change,” Bloomberg said.
(LONDON) — Ukrainian authorities reported a major Russian missile and drone strike on targets across the country on Tuesday night, with a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanding an immediate end to Moscow’s barrages as a condition for any peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 181 strike drones and three missiles into the country in the latest attack. The air force said 115 drones were shot down and 55 lost in location without causing damage.
The barrage coincided with President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, in which he said a potential peace between the two nations would be “beautiful.” The strikes began before Trump entered Congress and continued into the morning, indicated by Ukrainian air force alerts.
“Russia must stop the daily shelling of Ukraine immediately if it truly wants the war to end,” Andriy Yermak — the head of Zelenskyy’s office — wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council — wrote on social media that “inflicting maximum defeat on the enemy” remains Moscow’s “main task.”
Authorities in the southern port city of Odesa reported a “massive” strike, with at least one person killed by drone shrapnel and parts of the city cut off from utilities.
“As a result of the attack in Odesa, critical infrastructure has been damaged and part of the city has been left without electricity, water and heat,” the city’s military administration wrote on Telegram.
“Private houses in the suburbs of Odessa were damaged by debris from downed enemy drones,” the statement said. Fires broke out and a missile hit “an empty sanatorium,” the administration said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces “hit the infrastructure of military airfields, an oil depot providing fuel to [Ukrainian military] units, production workshops and control points for unmanned aerial vehicles, the location of [Ukrainian] special operations forces’ boats.
The ministry said it also shot down eight Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes have continued as both sides jostle for advantage in renewed peace talks being facilitated by President Donald Trump’s administration. Last month, the effort began with a meeting between American and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian involvement. The two sides expressed their intentions to revive bilateral ties and explore areas for future economic cooperation.
U.S.-Ukrainian ties have frayed badly since Trump returned to office with a vow to rapidly end the war. Tensions came to a head in last week’s explosive Oval Office meeting between the two presidents and with Vice President JD Vance in attendance. The meeting devolved into a shouting match with Zelenskyy’s team being asked to leave the White House afterwards.
As European allies mobilized to back Zelenskyy and urge reconciliation, Trump announced a freeze on all U.S. aid to Ukraine. Administration officials demanded an apology from Zelenskyy and assent for a controversial deal to give the U.S. access to valuable Ukrainian natural resources.
During his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, Trump said he received a letter from Zelenskyy, reading part of it aloud and suggesting that tensions between the two camps had cooled.
“I appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago,” Trump said. “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”
In his first comments after the U.S. aid freeze was announced, Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals deal “in any time and in any convenient format.”
“None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”
“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this,” Zelenskyy continued.
Referring to the disastrous Oval Office meeting, the Ukrainian leader said it “did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The Kremlin on Monday said it was “very important” to push President Volodymyr Zelenskyy toward making a peace deal, echoing arguments made by President Donald Trump in Friday’s contentious Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
“He does not want peace. Someone should make Zelenskyy want peace,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, his remarks reflecting Russia’s long-standing false narrative blaming Kyiv for Moscow’s three-year-old invasion and more than a decade of cross-border aggression. “If the Europeans can do it, they should be honored and praised.”
The comments came shortly after Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for years of American backing in a statement ending a tumultuous week of transatlantic diplomacy that saw a dramatic and public break with Trump’s administration.
Zelenskyy framed this week’s outreach as the beginning of a longer process that may result in a peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion of his country. “There will be many meetings and joint efforts in the coming days and weeks,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted to the presidential website.
“There will be diplomacy for peace,” he added. “And for the sake of all of us standing together — Ukraine, the whole of Europe, and necessarily America.”
On Monday, Zelenskyy reacted to another night of Russian long-range missile and drone strikes, writing on Telegram, “Ukraine is fighting for the normal and safe life it deserves, for a peace that is just and reliable. We want this war to end. But Russia does not want it and continues its aerial terror.”
“Those who want negotiations do not deliberately hit people with ballistic missiles,” the president added. “To force Russia to stop the strikes, we need a greater joint force of the world.”
Zelenskyy’s fiery Friday meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance demonstrated the divergence in Ukrainian and U.S. visions of Russia’s war, blame for which Trump has repeatedly and falsely attributed to Kyiv while also seeking to undermine Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.
Russian officials celebrated the disastrous meeting. Peskov told state television on Sunday that Trump’s administration is “rapidly changing” American “foreign policy configurations,” putting them “largely in line with our vision.”
In his Sunday statement, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians “understand the importance of America, and we are grateful for all the support we have received from the United States. There hasn’t been a single day when we haven’t felt grateful. Because this is gratitude for the preservation of our independence.”
“We need peace, not endless war,” he added. “And that is why we say that security guarantees are the key to this.”
Zelenskyy attended a summit of European leaders in London on Sunday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had agreed with Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron that the U.K. and France would work with Ukraine to formulate a peace plan that will then be presented to the U.S.
Starmer outlined a plan including the continuation of aid flows to Ukraine and the maintaining of economic pressure on Russia. The prime minister said that any lasting peace agreement must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security, and that Kyiv must be at the negotiating table.
In the event of a deal, Starmer said Europe will continue to help Ukraine militarily to deter any future military action by Russia. He also said there will be a “coalition of the willing” to help defend Ukraine.
Starmer said the United Kingdom is ready to back the plan with boots on the ground and planes in the air. He said he also recognizes that not all countries will be able to make this kind of commitment.
Starmer stressed that any deal will need strong U.S. backing to succeed.
Zelenskyy said Sunday he had been given “clear support from Europe,” reporting “even greater unity, even stronger readiness for cooperation” from his weekend meetings.
“Everyone is united on the main point — for peace to be real, real security guarantees are needed,” the president said. “And this is the position of all of our Europe — of the entire continent.”
“In the near future, all of us in Europe will shape our common positions — the lines we must achieve and the lines we cannot compromise on,” Zelenskyy said. “These positions will be presented to our partners in the United States.”
“Robust and lasting peace, and the right agreement on the end of the war are truly our shared priority,” he added.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this article.
