French train networks partially restored after sabotage attack
(PARIS) — Services to the French rail networks have been partially restored following Friday’s sabotage attack ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony.
Crews worked through the night amid inclement weather to restore service to all the lines affected by the attack. The rail company is aiming to get service fully restored by Monday.
No arrests have been made nor have suspects been identified in the arson attack on the railway system.
Most train lines were running with delays after the fires and at least 800,000 people have been affected, according to a statement from France’s rail network, according to France’s state-owned railway network SNCF.
The fires started to be reported at 4 a.m. local time on Friday, SNCF said. Trackside signal boxes were set on fire and cables on the lines had been cut, which caused major disruptions in the north and east of France, according to SNCF.
SNCF said it had increased security along all lines with 1,000 workers and 50 drones.
(NEW YORK) — UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis sat down with ABC News’ Linsey Davis to talk about the dangers to global stability, from conflicts to climate change.
Since 1945, the United Nations has addressed issues that transcend borders, with the world’s problems being debated at the General Assembly Building in New York.
Francis, a diplomat from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, has served as his country’s permanent representative to the United Nations since 2021. He was elected to serve as the UN General Assembly’s 78th president in 2023.
ABC News talked to Francis at the General Assembly Building’s iconic hall about Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russia, climate change, South Sudan and his message to the next president of the United States.
ABC NEWS: Every president probably has had their own tumult.
FRANCIS: Yes.
ABC NEWS: But it just feels like on your watch, it’s especially busy. But do you feel that?
FRANCIS: Yes, I do. Folks who have been here for quite some time say they’ve never really seen it quite like this before. So many challenges emerging at the same time; peace and stability is under increased duress. I think there are 55 conflict situations in the world. 55.
ABC NEWS: The UN Security Council approved a ceasefire plan that was backed by the United States. And in the meantime, we’ve seen no change from Hamas or Israel. Does the Security Council have sufficient power?
FRANCIS: The question is power over whom? As critical as Hamas is as a player in the Middle East crisis, Hamas is not a state. The General Assembly, for example, had called long ago, in October of 2023, for a complete ceasefire in Gaza. We cannot police the world. The UN doesn’t have a police force. The UN speaks and tries to change behavior through its positions and principles, its values.
I would like to see, and I think the only one that is really credible, a two-state solution. Where Israel and the Palestinians live side by side in peace and security.
We’ve had wars in the Middle East, between the two sides, repeatedly. Are we going to continue this cycle of death, degradation, pain, suffering indefinitely?
ABC NEWS: UN-backed groups believe that maybe as many as 500,000 Palestinians are on the verge of famine. Do you think enough is being done to provide relief and aid to the Palestinians?
FRANCIS: We, as the UN, have a concern that more can and ought to be done. We’ve watched the people of Palestine suffer in the most heartrending way. And the hope is that those who have the capacity and the power to make a difference, in terms of the delivery of aid and support to those people, will step up and do the honorable thing, consistent with the requirements of international human rights and humanitarian law.
ABC NEWS: You mentioned that there are currently 55 conflicts going on globally.
FRANCIS: Yes.
ABC NEWS: Of course, top of mind: the war in Ukraine, which is now in excess of two years. What do you see as the likely outcome there and the responsibility of the UN?
FRANCIS: What really needs to happen is that the Russian forces need to pull back and remove themselves from the territory of Ukraine. That is the only credible outcome insofar as we at the United Nations are concerned.
ABC NEWS: Do you feel that Russia should have a permanent spot on the UN Security Council with veto power?
FRANCIS: That’s not a decision for me. That’s a decision for the membership of the United Nations.
ABC NEWS: But if it were up to you?
FRANCIS: It isn’t up to me because the president does not have those powers
ABC NEWS: I know you recently returned from Namibia. Namibia and Africa, in general, both extremely vulnerable to climate change.
FRANCIS: Yes.
ABC NEWS: And I’m wondering if you are concerned, with regard to the UN secretary general has described this as a highway to hell, that this is a moment of truth.
FRANCIS: I normally wear a pin, and for some reason today I forgot it. It’s a 1.5 degree pin. That’s the temperature at which we need to keep the increase in global temperature above pre-industrial levels. That is important, because for a number of countries in the global south, particularly small island developing states, low lying coastal areas, anything above that would be utterly cataclysmic.
ABC NEWS: Let’s talk about South Sudan. There are reports that 25 million people are in need of aid, famine is looming, 8 million people have been displaced from their homes. Do you feel that the world is paying enough attention to the atrocities going on there?
FRANCIS: No.
ABC NEWS: And why do you think that is?
FRANCIS: Insufficient attention has been paid to the conflicts in Africa and, in particular, what’s going on in South Sudan. It is in a very desperate situation. And I would urge, I would urge the international development community to pay greater attention and to be more forthcoming in the context of humanitarian aid. Not just for South Sudan, but there are other places as well, for Somalia, Mali, other places, because human suffering is going on at an alarming rate. And those of us who have the capacity to do something about it need to act.
ABC NEWS: How do you feel that the outcome of America’s presidential election in November will impact the UN?
FRANCIS: The UN does not have a political preference for governments. So whomsoever occupies the Oval Office come November, I’m sure the UN will be in a position to interact with, discuss policy with, and come to decisions that are in the best interests of the world in general.
ABC NEWS: Do you have a message for the future president of the United States?
FRANCIS: Let’s join together and take some bold decisions, bold decisions to begin in earnest to repair some of the problems that are daunting us in the international society – climate change, sea level rise, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence. Ensuring that we harvest the best benefits that can advance science and advance human society without necessarily importing the risks and threats that could unravel the social fabric of society.
(NEW YORK) — A woman classified by Guinness World Records as the oldest person in the world died on Aug. 19 at the age of 117, her family confirmed to The New York Times.
According to Guinness World Records, Maria Branyas Morera died in Spain at the Residència Santa María del Tura nursing home in Olot, Catalonia, where she has lived since 2000.
Guinness World Records passed on the title of “oldest woman living” to Branyas Morera when Lucile Randon, a nun also known as Sister André, died in 2023 at the age of 118.
Branyas Morera, according to Guinness World Records, was born March 4, 1907, in San Francisco but moved to Catalonia with her family and later called Barcelona home. She was married in 1931 to Joan Moret, a doctor, who preceded her in death in 1976. They had three children, two daughters and a son.
“Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain. A few days ago she told us: ‘One day I will leave here. I will not try coffee again, nor eat yogurt, nor caress the Fairy… I will also leave my memories, my reflections,'” her family wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Catalonia’s regional president, Salvador Illa, re-shared the post and expressed his condolences, adding in part, “We lose an endearing woman, who has taught us the value of life and the wisdom of the years.”
(LONDON) — At least 20 more people were killed and 450 injured in Lebanon on Wednesday after a series of new explosions of wireless devices rocked the South, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health and the Lebanese Red Cross.
More than 30 ambulances are providing treatment and evacuations to wounded people in Lebanon on Wednesday, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
The Lebanese Army command has asked citizens not to gather in places witnessing security incidents to allow medical teams to arrive.
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense are working to extinguish fires that broke out inside homes, cars and shops in the Bekaa, the South, Mount Lebanon and the southern suburbs due to the explosions, officials said.
All walkie-talkie devices were taken from security services members at the Rafiq Harir International Airport in Beirut after news of the devices exploding.
Pagers explode across Lebanon on Tuesday
At least 12 civilians were killed and at least 2,800 people injured in the explosions that took place Tuesday, according to Lebanese authorities. Around 460 of the injuries were critical and required surgery, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said. Most victims are suffering from eye and facial injuries, while others suffered injuries to hands and fingers, he said.
Israel was behind the deadly explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, sources told ABC News on Wednesday.
The Hezbollah militant group said it is conducting a “security and scientific investigation” into the explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said 11 of its members were killed on Tuesday, though — as is typical in its statements — did not specify how they died.
“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians and led to the deaths of a number of martyrs and the injury of a large number with various wounds,” Hezbollah said of the pager explosions in a Tuesday statement.
In a Wednesday morning statement, Hezbollah said it would continue operations to “support Gaza,” and vowed a “reckoning” for Israel for the “massacre on Tuesday.”
The dead and injured included people who are not members of Hezbollah. Lebanese officials said that an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy are among the dead.
Israel has not commented on explosions
Israel has not commented on its alleged involvement in the apparent attack, which prompted chaos in the capital Beirut and elsewhere in Hezbollah’s south Lebanon heartland.
Around 100 hospitals received wounded people, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said, with hospitals in Beirut and its southern suburb quickly filling to capacity. Patients were then directed to other hospitals outside the region.
The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who had one of the pagers and was injured in an explosion Tuesday, according to Iranian state TV. The diplomat said in a phone call that he was “feeling well and fully conscious,” according to Iranian state TV.
“I am proud and honored that my blood has become one with the blood of the honorable Lebanese people, as a result of the horrific terrorist crime that targeted our brotherly Lebanon yesterday. This noble country has stood with dignity and pride since the first day of al-Aqsa Storm,” Amani said Wednesday.
At least 14 people were also injured in targeted attacks on Hezbollah members in Syria, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Fears grow of Israel-Hezbollah escalation
The alleged Israeli operation has again piqued fears of escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ongoing since Oct. 8, when members of the Iranian-backed group began cross-border attacks in support of Hamas’ war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Frontier skirmishes, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket and artillery salvoes have been near-constant through 11 months of war in Gaza. Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to launch a new military operation against Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border. Tens of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in border regions due to the fighting.
The Israel Defense Forces said warplanes hit Hezbollah targets in six locations in southern Lebanon overnight into Wednesday. Artillery strikes were also conducted, it added.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to make a public address on Thursday afternoon to address the situation. In February, Nasrallah urged members to stop using their cellphones, describing the technology as “a deadly agent.”
Schools across Lebanon will be closed on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, citing the country’s Minister of Education. Schools and offices closed include public and private schools, high schools, technical institutes, the Lebanese University and private higher education institutions, Lebanese state media reported.
The Lebanese Council of Ministers collectively condemned “this criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime by all standards.”
It added that “the government immediately began making all necessary contacts with the countries concerned and the United Nations to place it before its responsibilities regarding this continuing crime.”
World reacts to pager attacks
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon condemned the attack on Lebanon, calling it an “extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context,” in a statement released by the U.N. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference in Egypt on Wednesday that the U.S. “did not know about and was not involved” in Israel’s pager attacks in Lebanon and Syria — but said that officials were still gathering information and did not directly blame Israel.
“Broadly speaking, we’ve been very clear, and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza,” Blinken said. Its spread to other fronts, he added, is “clearly not in the interest of anyone involved.”
A cease-fire deal in Gaza, Blinken added, would “materially improve the prospects of defusing the situation” on the Israeli-Lebanese border and allow thousands of people living near the area on both sides of the divide to return home.
The U.S. and the European Union have both designated the Hezbollah militant group a foreign terrorist organization.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Shannon K. Kingston, Ghazi Balkiz, Morgan Winsor, Anne Flaherty, Nasser Atta, Joe Simonetti, Jordana Miller and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.