Category: News

PARIS — France’s top diplomat Monday requested that U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government after he skipped a meeting to discuss comments by the Trump administration over the beating death of a far-right activist.

French authorities had summoned Kushner to the Quai d’Orsay, which houses the Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Monday evening but he did not show up, according to diplomatic sources.

Jean-Noel Barrot, the foreign affairs minister, moved to restrict Kushner’s access “in light of this apparent misunderstanding of the basic expectations of the mission of an ambassador, who has the honor of representing his country.”

The ministry, however, left the door open for reconciliation.

“It remains, of course, possible for Ambassador Charles Kushner to carry out his duties and present himself at the Quai d’Orsay, so that we may hold the diplomatic discussions needed to smooth over the irritants that can inevitably arise in a friendship spanning 250 years,” it said.

Kushner, who is the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy Jared Kushner, had been summoned following a statement by the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau. It posted on X that “reports, corroborated by the French Minister of the Interior, that Quentin Deranque was killed by left-wing militants, should concern us all.” The U.S. Embassy had posted that statement on social media.

Deranque, a far-right activist, died of brain injuries this month from a beating in the French city of Lyon. He was attacked during a fight on the margins of a student meeting where a far-left lawmaker was a keynote speaker.

His killing highlighted a climate of deep political tension ahead of next year’s presidential vote.

“We reject any instrumentalization of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” Barrot said over the weekend. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”

The State Department said in its post that “violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety. We will continue to monitor the situation and expect to see the perpetrators of violence brought to justice.”

Kushner was summoned in August over his letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism. France’s foreign officials met with a representative of the U.S. ambassador since the diplomat did not show up for that meeting.

WASHINGTON — The United States has ordered nonessential diplomats and their family members at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon, the State Department said Monday, as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike.

The department said in an updated travel alert for U.S. citizens in Lebanon that it “ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of government personnel due to the security situation in Beirut.”

The alert, which was formally released several hours after word began to circulate about the move, said U.S. personnel remaining in Lebanon would have their in-country travel restricted.

A department official said earlier that a continuous assessment of the regional security environment determined it was “prudent” to draw down the U.S. Embassy Beirut’s footprint so that only essential personnel remain at their posts.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the move was formally announced, said that it is a temporary measure and that the embassy will remain operational.

Lebanon has been the site of numerous Iran-related retaliatory attacks against U.S. facilities, interests, and personnel for decades given Tehran’s support for and influence with the Hezbollah militant group, which is held responsible for the deadly bombings of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and an embassy annex in 1984.

As such, changes in the staffing status of the embassy in Beirut have often been seen as a bellwether for potential U.S. or Israeli military action in the region, particularly against Iran. A similar ordered departure was imposed for Beirut and other embassies in the region, including in Iraq, shortly before President Donald Trump ordered military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last June.

It was unclear if other American embassies in the Middle East would implement similar orders.

Tensions have escalated between the U.S. and Iran as Trump has built up the largest military presence in the Middle East in decades and repeatedly threatened action if Tehran does not negotiate a deal to constrain its nuclear program. A second aircraft carrier is heading to the region to join a surge of other American warships and aircraft, offering the Republican president several options for a potential strike even as talks may continue.

Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said the U.S. and Iran plan to hold their next round of nuclear talks Thursday in Geneva. A U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the meeting.

Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, told CBS on Sunday that he expected to meet U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff then and said a “good chance” remained for a diplomatic solution on the nuclear issue.

Araghchi has said a proposed deal would be ready to share within days, and he told CBS that Iran was still working on it.

Asked Friday whether the U.S. could take limited military action as the countries negotiate, Trump said, “I guess I can say I am considering that.” He also told reporters later that Iran “better negotiate a fair deal.”

Indirect talks between the longtime adversaries in recent weeks have made little visible progress. Beyond the nuclear program, Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups.

A second State Department official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been formally announced, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio may delay his intended visit to Israel this weekend.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago launched Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, causing immense suffering for civilians and harrowing ordeals for soldiers while rewriting the post-Cold War security order.

The fighting entered its fifth year Tuesday, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

The U.S. has brokered talks with delegations from Moscow and Kyiv as part of the Trump administration’s yearlong push for peace. But reconciling key differences, such as the future of Russian-occupied Ukrainian land and postwar security for Ukraine, has thwarted progress.

Meanwhile, thousands of each countries’ troops have died on the battlefield, and Ukrainian civilians have been battered by Russian aerial strikes that have brought years of power outages and water cuts.

Here’s a look at the conflict, by the numbers, since the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

1.8 million

The upper end of the estimated number of soldiers killed, wounded, or missing on both sides, according to a report last month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

It estimated that Russia has suffered 1.2 million casualties, including up to 325,000 troop deaths, between February 2022 and December 2025 — what it said was the largest number of troop deaths for any major power in any conflict since World War II.

Russia has not released figures on battlefield deaths since January 2023, when it said more than 80 soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike, bringing the total military deaths Moscow has confirmed to just over 6,000.

CSIS estimated that Ukraine has seen 500,000 to 600,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that 55,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the war. Many are missing, he said.

Neither Moscow nor Kyiv gives timely data on military losses. Independent verification is not possible.

14,999

The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission’s count for civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s all-out invasion, though it says that is likely an underestimate. More than 40,600 civilians were injured over the same period, it said in a December report.

The war has killed at least 763 children, according to the U.N.

Last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022. The conflict killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 in the country in 2025 — a 31% increase in civilian casualties over 2024, it said.

19.4%

The percentage of Ukrainian land occupied by Russia, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Over the past year, Russia has gained just 0.79% of Ukraine’s territory in the grinding war of attrition, the Washington-based think tank said in calculations provided earlier this month to the Associated Press, underscoring the little progress Moscow’s forces have made despite huge costs in troops and armor.

Before Russia’s all-out invasion, it controlled nearly 7% of Ukraine, including Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east, as Moscow-backed separatists fought the Ukrainian army, according to Ukrainian officials and Western analysts.

13%

The percentage drop in foreign military aid to Kyiv last year compared with the annual average between 2022 and 2024, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks assistance to Kyiv.

U.S. President Donald Trump stopped sending American weapons paid for by the U.S. to Ukraine after he took office just over a year ago. European countries, striving to make up the difference, increased their military aid last year by 67% compared with the 2022-2024 period, the institute said in a report this month.

Foreign humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine fell by 5% last year in comparison with the average in the previous three years, it said.

5.9 million

The number of Ukrainian civilians who have left their country.

Some 5.3 million of those people have found refuge in Europe, according to a report this month from the U.N. office in Ukraine.

Additionally, around 3.7 million Ukrainians forced out of their homes have moved elsewhere within the country, the U.N. said in December.

Ukraine’s prewar population was more than 40 million.

2,881

The number of Russian attacks that affected the provision of medical care in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, according to a report from the World Health Organization on Monday.

There was a nearly 20% increase in such attacks last year compared with 2024, the U.N. agency said.

A report earlier in the month from the WHO documented at least 2,347 strikes on healthcare facilities, in addition to others that damaged vehicles and the storage of medical supplies.