The bill would have barred children younger ​than 15 from opening a social media account from ​September 1

International News via Reuters:

France’s top court on Friday blocked a bill banning social media access for under-15s, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression and delivering a setback for President Emmanuel Macron, who asked his government to rewrite the legislation.

The bill would have barred children younger ​than 15 from opening a social media account from ​September 1. Accounts already open would be closed within four months by social media platforms, which would also need to use age verification approved by the French privacy regulator.

But France’s Constitutional Council found that the bill, while requiring everyone to give proof of age, failed “to specify the conditions and limits” under which it should be provided, as well as infringing on freedoms and privacy.

“The Council holds that the contested provisions, on the one hand, disproportionately infringe upon the freedom of expression and communication and, on the other, fail to provide the legal safeguards necessary to ensure the right to respect for private life,” it said.

French lawmakers had approved the bill in July, becoming the first in Europe to follow Australia, whose world-first ban barred access to platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for under-16s in December. Lawmakers there are considering stricter penalties after data showed mixed success.

Countries around the globe, including China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, have either instituted measures intended to curtail or bar access to social media for young people, or have said they were planning them.

The European Union has said it was planning to seek stronger protections for children from harmful social media features.

Social media companies generally oppose blanket bans, saying they have measures already in place to protect younger users, including age restrictions, though they have also said they would comply with ​government bans. Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Macron, who in April urged teenagers to turn off their devices and read in order to become better citizens, has ordered Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to rework the draft legislation to take the Constitutional Council’s concerns into account, the Elysee said in a statement.

The Elysee said Macron was determined for the reform to take effect before spring 2027, when France holds a presidential election. Macron cannot run for a third term.

Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Writing by Makini Brice; editing by Richard Lough, Aidan Lewis

Residents were asked to leave their residences in the village of Gey at around 4:00 a.m

International News via Reuters:

More than 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes in western Germany on Friday, after a wildfire near the Belgian border spread towards a village, local authorities said.

Residents were asked to leave their residences in the village of Gey at around 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) and go to an assistance centre set up at a primary school in a nearby village, the authorities said in a statement. 

“At about four o’clock we got a message via the app saying we had to leave the place straight away,” resident Leo Braun told Reuters. “So we gathered our things – which we’d already packed beforehand – and then fled.”

They were urged to carry only essential belongings, identification papers and necessary medicines.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was being “kept constantly informed of developments,” adding that the federal police and the Bundeswehr were providing assistance where possible.

WWII ORDNANCE COMPLICATES CONTAINMENT

Stephan Cranen, mayor of Huertgenwald municipality which contains Gey, said the situation remained critical and the flames were now around 300 metres (1,000 ft) from the village, regional public broadcaster WDR reported.

Cranen was quoted as saying one of the wildfires that remain out of control had spread overnight towards a former munitions depot in the nearby town of Dueren.

There is unexploded World War Two munitions in parts of the surrounding forest because the hilly terrain prevented complete clearance of the area, and occasional detonations were heard during the wildfire, firefighters were quoted as saying.

About 300 hectares (740 acres) were burning as two German army tanks helped firefighters by clearing access routes through the forest area that were difficult to reach.

“If you look down from above, you can see that there are still a lot of fires – including smaller ones – that are still burning openly,” a local official told Reuters. “There are a lot of hot embers, so we’re far from done.”

Reporting by Friederike Heine in Berlin and Andi Kranz in Huertgenwald; editing by Clarence Fernandez, Sharon Singleton and Toby Chopra

Aerial pictures from a Sky News helicopter showed at least three properties ablaze close to the fire about 127 miles (204.4km) from London

International News via Reuters:

A major grass fire in Stourbridge, central England, has affected six properties and left two people suffering from the effects of heat and smoke, emergency services said on Thursday.

Aerial pictures from a Sky News helicopter showed at least three properties ablaze close to the fire about 127 miles (204.4km) from London.

West Midlands Fire Service said the fire was affecting a number of locations around Ounty John Lane, Racecourse Lane and Stourbridge Road and that it had increased resources at the scene.

Some local rail services were halted for safety reasons and a number of nearby properties were experiencing power issues, the fire service said. 

About 60 firefighters were tackling the blaze. There was no further information on injuries or the extent of the damage.

Reporting by Sam TabahritiEditing by James Davey and David Goodman

There have been more than 900 attacks between January and August this year, resulting in at least 900 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries

International News via Reuters:

Attacks on healthcare facilities, workers and patients in conflict zones including Ukraine and Gaza have continued to rise in 2026, reaching an average of more than four per day, the World Health Organization said on Friday. 

There have been more than 900 attacks between January and August this year, resulting in at least 900 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries, according to WHO data presented in Geneva by Altaf Musani, the agency’s director of humanitarian and disaster management.

Ukraine, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territory account for the largest share of reported incidents, although attacks have also been recorded in countries including Iran, Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Musani said.

“What we are witnessing are multiple forms of violence,” Musani said, citing the use of heavy weapons, destruction of health facilities and the detention or abduction of healthcare workers and patients. During this period 94 healthcare workers have been detained.  

In Gaza, all 36 hospitals have been damaged and only about half remain partially functional, while in Sudan 37% of health facilities are reported non-functional this year, he said. In Ukraine, the WHO has verified more than 3,100 attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion, including a recent strike affecting a WHO warehouse.

“An attack on healthcare does not end when an attack gets verified,” Musani said. “It is the patient who cannot receive healthcare tomorrow. It is the ambulance that cannot make the next referral.”

A WHO study of 69 attacks in northwest Syria found outpatient consultations fell by 51% immediately after an attack and remained depressed for more than a month. 

Attacks can also undermine responses to disease outbreaks, Musani said. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 verified attacks on healthcare since an Ebola outbreak was declared in May have disrupted surveillance, contact tracing, treatment and community outreach efforts. Such incidents make it harder to detect and contain outbreaks, he said.

The 156 verified attacks in Ukraine so far this year, out of a total of 3,100 since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, have affected hospitals, ambulances, warehouses and medical supply chains, Musani stated.

Since the WHO’s surveillance system began tracking such incidents in 2018, more than 10,400 attacks have been verified across 29 countries and territories, resulting in about 5,700 deaths and over 8,500 injuries, Musani said. 

Musani said not a single one of the more than 10,000 verified attacks had yet entered an accountability process.

Health facilities are protected under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, he noted.   

Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Saad Sayeed

The fire, which has razed 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres) after it began on Thursday, has spread to within 2 km (1.2 miles) of the centre of Luglon

International News via Reuters:

French authorities have evacuated 525 people from the village of Luglon after a wildfire broke out in the southwestern Landes region, not far from an area already devastated by major blazes this summer.

The fire, which has razed 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres) after it began on Thursday, has spread to within 2 km (1.2 miles) of the centre of Luglon, regional official Gilles Clavreul told reporters on Friday.

The Landes area is swathed in pine forests that become highly flammable when dry.

“The situation is unfavorable and the fire remains raging,” Clavreul said, adding that 500 firefighters were tackling the flames and six aircraft have been sent in to assist.

Roads to the north and south of the village have been closed.

Clavreul did not comment on the possible origin of the fire.

Luglon is about 100 km (62 miles) southeast of the tourist area of Arcachon Bay, where two major wildfires destroyed more than 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres), spurring the evacuation of as many as 220,000 people in late July.

French media reported on Friday that a 15-year-old has been arrested in connection with a July fire near Bordeaux airport, in the same region, that killed two firefighters.

The youth, who has been placed under judicial investigation, allegedly threw away a cigarette butt that sparked the fire, local newspaper Sud Ouest reported. The Bordeaux prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The French interior ministry said 474 people have been arrested on suspicion of starting a fire, whether that be intentional or not. Of that total, 183 are younger than 18. About 70% of the people detained are suspected of arson, the ministry has previously said.

Southwestern France has broiled in heatwaves this summer and temperatures are expected to soar to 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday afternoon.

The area burned so far this year exceeds that of the previous record year of 2022.

Reporting by Stephanie Lecocq; Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz; Writing by Inti Landauro and Jean-Stephane Brosse; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Edwina Gibbs

In Cali, the country’s third-largest city, crews shifted from a search-and-rescue effort to debris removal at most sites, a sign the disaster response was entering a grimmer phase after the crucial first 72 hours

International News via Reuters:

Hopes of finding more survivors of the powerful earthquake that rocked Colombia early this week were fading on Thursday as rescue workers narrowed their searches, while families in the worst-hit areas waited for news of missing relatives.

In Cali, the country’s third-largest city, crews shifted from a search-and-rescue effort to debris removal at most sites, a sign the disaster response was entering a grimmer phase after the crucial first 72 hours.

“Unfortunately, we are reaching a point where the likelihood of finding survivors is dwindling, but our mission is to keep searching and find all those people who are reported missing,” David Tamayo, head of Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, said on Thursday evening.

The 7.4-magnitude quake struck shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Monday, toppling apartment blocks, damaging homes, schools and hospitals, sending residents into the streets across western Colombia, home to the country’s coffee farms.

At least 281 people were killed — many in Cali and Pereira, a city in the coffee region — and more than 3,900 injured, according to government data on Thursday evening. The data indicated 379 people were still reported to be missing.

In Pereira, Enrique Marin said he drove more than 10 hours from Bogota after getting a call from a friend who told him Marin’s mother was trapped underneath the rubble of her home.

“My mother was rescued six hours after the earthquake. They pulled her out with vital signs, but she died on the way to the hospital,” Marin said as he stood in front of the debris clutching a bicycle from his childhood, the only item he said he was able to recover from the house.

He said his mother was found in her pajamas with the house keys still in her hand.

At the Torres del Limonar residential complex in southern Cali, work became frenzied for volunteers in bucket brigades, as a coordinator with a megaphone reminded them of the limited time and scolded two volunteers who approached without helmets.

Elsewhere in the rubble, crews carefully handed down gas tanks removed from the debris as workers called for silence for the more delicate rescue operations.

Monica Mina, a 38-year-old restaurant owner, said she and other chefs in the city were working almost around the clock to distribute about 1,000 meals a day — including scrambled eggs and pork — for rescuers, medics and volunteers.

Some 133 km (83 miles) north in Roldanillo Cemetery, Colombia’s disappeared persons unit said it was investigating camouflage-clad human remains exposed by the earthquake.

FIRST MAJOR TEST FOR NEW COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT

Outside major cities, rescue groups said smaller towns and communities were still struggling with little or no response from the Colombian government.

Nazly Lozano, the International Rescue Committee’s program assistant at the port city of Buenaventura northwest of Cali, said rescue workers had not reached some stricken areas until Wednesday night, leaving locals to dig through the rubble with their bare hands in a desperate search for survivors.

IRC workers said some neighborhoods in Buenaventura remained inaccessible due to armed groups, some of which seized food donations, vowing to distribute these items themselves.

Residents still lack basic services such as water, gas and electricity, the IRC workers said.

More than 150 aftershocks have been recorded since Monday, adding to the risks for rescue workers combing through the debris as well as people made homeless by the initial quake, which was one of the strongest felt in Colombia in several decades.

The government has estimated the quake destroyed more than 10,500 homes.

President Abelardo De La Espriella, who took office just days before the disaster, said on Wednesday he would declare an economic emergency and create a reconstruction fund to channel domestic and international aid toward rebuilding hospitals, schools, homes and infrastructure.

The disaster is shaping up as the first major test for the conservative president, who campaigned on cutting public spending and now faces the task of financing relief and reconstruction while showing his government can manage a national crisis.

Colombian officials have also pushed back against criticism over the handling of foreign assistance, saying the government has not rejected any country’s offer but will only accept international search-and-rescue teams that meet recognized certification standards.

Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in Pereira, Julia Symmes Cobb in Cali and Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota; Additional reporting by Sarah Morland; Writing by Kylie Madry and Sarah Morland; Editing by Paul Simao and Rod Nickel