The agency has flagged governance challenges and ballooning liabilities in its latest sovereign review
S&P Global has downgraded France’s long-term credit rating from AA- to A+, warning that rising debt and political tensions threaten the government’s ability to reduce its budget deficit. The agency also revised France’s outlook to ‘stable’ on Friday.
S&P expects France’s government debt to reach 121% of GDP in 2028, compared with 112% at the end of last year, the agency said. The country has struggled to rein in spending while dealing with political turbulence. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu recently survived two no-confidence votes in parliament after suspending a contested pension reform package.
S&P warned that uncertainty surrounding France’s public finances remains high, especially ahead of the 2027 presidential election. The agency cited the government’s decision to suspend the 2023 pension reform law as a sign of political fragility. It also projected economic growth of 0.7% in 2025, with only a muted recovery expected in 2026. S&P added that risks to the outlook remain significant, particularly if rising government borrowing costs spill over into broader financing conditions in the economy.
In reaction to the downgrade, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said it is now “the collective responsibility of the government and parliament” to pass a budget by the end of the year, ensuring that the deficit is on a path to the EU ceiling of 3% of GDP. S&P said France will likely meet its 2025 deficit target of 5.4% of GDP, but warned that “in the absence of significant additional budget deficit-reducing measures,” the pace of consolidation will be slower than previously projected. The agency added that France’s “policy uncertainty” and a weak record of delivering reforms further weighed on its decision.
This is not the first sign of trouble for France’s creditworthiness. Earlier this year, S&P lowered the country’s outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ due to weak public finances. Last month, Fitch also cut France’s rating from AA- to A+, citing similar concerns about debt and the lack of a credible fiscal roadmap. The downgrade could increase France’s borrowing costs. It could also trigger forced bond sales by institutional investors limited to holding high-grade sovereign debt.
The Ukrainian leader left Washington without promises on Tomahawk missiles, the outlet’s sources say
Friday’s White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky was “tense,” with the Ukrainian leader failing to secure deliveries of long-range Tomahawk missiles, Axios has reported, citing sources.
Trump told Zelensky he does not plan to provide Tomahawks “at least for now,” according to two people briefed on the meeting. The talks lasted around two and a half hours and were described by one source as “not easy,” and by another as “bad.” At times, the discussion “got a bit emotional,” the outlet said.
”Nobody shouted, but Trump was tough,” one source told Axios. The session ended abruptly when Trump reportedly said, “I think we’re done. Let’s see what happens next week,” possibly referring to upcoming Russia-US talks.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Zelensky declined to answer questions about Tomahawk deliveries, only saying the US “does not want escalation.”
Trump said “it’s not easy” for Washington to provide the missiles because it needs to maintain its own supplies for the nation’s own defense. He also acknowledged that allowing Kiev to conduct strikes deep into Russia could lead to an escalation.
Moscow has warned against supplying the missiles to Ukraine, arguing they would “not change the situation on the battlefield” but would “severely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement” and harm Russia-US relations.
Zelensky has sought Tomahawks – which have a maximum range of 2,500km (1,550 miles) – for weeks, insisting that Ukraine would only use them against military targets to increase pressure on Russia and move toward a peace deal. However, the Ukrainian leader has threatened Russia with blackouts in border regions and Moscow. Russian officials also suggested that Kiev is plotting to use the missiles for “terrorist attacks.”
The Trump-Zelensky meeting followed a phone call between Trump and Putin, after which both sides signaled plans for a summit in Budapest, Hungary, in the near future.
The cricketers were among five dead during overnight attacks in the Paktika border province, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has said
Overnight Pakistani airstrikes have killed five people, including three cricket players in the border province of Paktika, the Afghanistan Cricket Board said on Saturday.
The Asian neighbors had agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday and were invited by the Qatari authorities to negotiate a permanent truce and address mutual concerns in Doha.
“In this heartbreaking incident, three players (Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon) alongside 5 other fellow countrymen from Urgun District were martyred, and seven others were injured,” the Afghanistan Cricket Board said on X. “The players had earlier traveled to Sharana, the capital of Paktika province, to participate in a friendly cricket match. After returning home to Urgun, they were targeted during a gathering.”
The board added that it is withdrawing from an upcoming tournament involving Pakistan scheduled for late November.
Statement of Condolence
The Afghanistan Cricket Board expresses its deepest sorrow and grief over the tragic martyrdom of the brave cricketers from Urgun District in Paktika Province, who were targeted this evening in a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime.
Afghan cricketer Rashid Khan said he is “deeply saddened” by the strikes. “A tragedy that claimed the lives of women, children, and aspiring young cricketers who dreamed of representing their nation on the world stage,” he posted on X.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on the allegations, but Dawn newspaper reported that Islamabad targeted “terrorist hideouts” in Afghanistan on Friday. The paper said the “precision strikes” were conducted against hideouts of an outlawed group and killed dozens of fighters.
“The attacks came on the heels of an audacious gun-and-bomb attack, targeting a military installation in North Waziristan, and just hours after Islamabad and Kabul extended their two-day ceasefire,” the paper added.
Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad called Qatar an “honest broker” for peace between the Asian countries, but asked whether Pakistan is an “honest neighbor.”
In a post on X, Khalizad said the Afghan people face “enough challenges, trying to rebuild their country” after decades of war. “Pakistan has already heartlessly and abruptly expelled over a million Afghan refugees, which the country is struggling to absorb,” he wrote. “Is it so intolerable to them that a neighbor they have been trying to dominate and suppress for decade might finally enjoy a bit of peace and normalcy?”
The president earlier accused nearby Venezuela of “narcoterrorism”
The US military has destroyed a submarine in the Caribbean that was smuggling drugs, President Donald Trump said on Friday.
The statement came after the US struck at least five surface vessels since September, allegedly operated by cartels based in Venezuela, whose government Trump has accused of aiding “narcoterrorists.”
“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Just so you understand, this was not an innocent group of people,” he added.
US media reported earlier that, for the first time, the US Navy picked up multiple survivors and detained them on a warship.
Trump confirmed earlier that he had authorized covert CIA operations on Venezuelan soil but declined to say whether their goal is to topple left-wing President Nicolas Maduro. The US imposed sweeping sanctions on the South American country during Trump’s first term in office, and has recently raised the bounty for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
Maduro has rejected what he called “CIA-led coups” in the region and called for peace. “Until when will CIA coups d’état continue? Latin America doesn’t want them, doesn’t need them, and repudiates them,” he said on Wednesday, according to El Pais.
The Venezuelan government has denied having ties to cartels and vowed to repel any invasion.
The Moscow-proposed project envisages a direct 70-mile route under the Bering Strait to link the two countries
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has voiced his opposition to a Moscow-proposed project to build a rail tunnel under the Bering Strait between Russia and the US.
The idea, floated by Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev this week as a ‘Putin-Trump unity tunnel,’ envisages a 70-mile rail and cargo link which could unlock joint natural resource exploration.
Dmitriev, who also serves as head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), invited billionaire Elon Musk to offer his Boring Company, which builds underground “Loop” transport systems.
While meeting Zelensky at the White House on Friday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he found the idea of such a tunnel “interesting.” He then asked Zelensky for his reaction, who responded he was “not happy with it.”
The Russia-US tunnel project could cost over $65 billion, according to Dmitriev, who said that Musk’s Boring Company technology could cut it by 90% to under $8 billion and finish it within eight years. Dmitriev added that the RDIF, which helped build the first Russia-China rail bridge, was ready to take part.
BREAKING: President Trump says he finds the idea of a Putin–Trump tunnel between Russia and Alaska proposed yesterday “interesting.” Zelensky is “not happy with this idea.”
The Bering Strait, which is 51 miles wide at its narrowest point, separates Russia’s Chukotka Region from Alaska in the US.
Dmitriev’s proposal followed Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna’s release of declassified Soviet files on the assassination of JFK, shared by Moscow this week. In addition to documents on the killing, the 350-page trove included a “Khrushchev-Kennedy Bridge” project to link the two nations.
Dmitriev’s idea came shortly after Thursday’s phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart. The two leaders, who in August held a summit in Alaska, have signaled plans to expand economic cooperation, and are expected to meet again in Hungary within two weeks for further talks.
A Warsaw court has refused to extradite a Ukrainian suspect wanted by Berlin over the 2022 pipeline blasts
A Polish court has refused to extradite a Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage case to Germany, ordering his immediate release and ruling that the alleged actions can be seen as “rational and just” in the context of war.
The two Nord Stream pipelines, built to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were damaged in a sabotage attack in September 2022. German prosecutors have attributed the explosions to a small group of Ukrainian nationals, including a diving instructor, Vladimir Zhuravlyov, who was detained by the Polish authorities last month under a European arrest warrant. Berlin’s previous request for his arrest was reportedly obstructed by the Polish government in 2024.
On Friday, Polish media reported the Warsaw District Court found Germany’s extradition request “unfounded,” citing a lack of evidence linking Zhuravlyov to the sabotage.
“Blowing up critical infrastructure during a war – during a just, defensive war – is not sabotage but denotes a military action,” Judge Dariusz Lubowski said. “These actions were not illegal – on the contrary, they were justified, rational and just,” he added.
Lubowski also ruled that Germany lacks jurisdiction, as the explosions occurred in international waters. The decision may still be subject to appeal.
The German investigation has led to the arrest of another suspect, former military officer Sergey Kuznetsov, detained in Italy in August. Prosecutors allege that he coordinated a team that rented a yacht and planted explosives on the pipelines using commercial diving gear.
Moscow has rejected Berlin’s version, dismissing the claim that a small group of Ukrainians carried out the sabotage as “ridiculous.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the US likely orchestrated the operation.
Warsaw, which has been one of Kiev’s staunchest backers since 2022, allegedly considered granting asylum to the suspect, according to a September report by Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has also said he is ready to do so.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who earlier opposed extraditing Zhuravlyov, praised the ruling, writing on social media “The case is closed.”
Washington needs “a lot” of arms that it has been providing Kiev throughout its conflict with Russia, the president has said
It would not be “easy” for Washington to give Kiev Tomahawk cruise missiles, as the US needs them for its own protection, US President Donald Trump has said.
During a bilateral lunch alongside Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky before their official meeting in the White House on Friday, Trump acknowledged that the US would face certain difficulties if it were to send missiles to Kiev and found itself in a conflict of its own.
“That’s a problem. We need Tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we’ve been sending over the last four years to Ukraine… We gave them a lot,” he said.
“It’s not easy for us to give. You’re talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons,” he added.
Trump acknowledged that allowing Kiev to conduct strikes deep into Russia could lead to “an escalation,” adding, though, that he and Zelensky would discuss the topic. Tomahawks are “an amazing weapon,” he added.
“But they’re a very dangerous weapon… It could mean a lot of bad things can happen,” Trump noted.
Trump earlier stated that he would discuss his call on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin with Zelensky.
The Russian president told Trump that supplying Ukraine with the long-range missiles would not alter the course of the conflict, yet still harm relations between Moscow and Washington, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov.
It would also “severely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement,” Putin said, according to his aide.
Tomahawks, which have a maximum range of 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles), would be capable of reaching Moscow and cities beyond, if launched from Ukraine.
Trump is not expected to commit to supplies of the weapons, CNN wrote on Friday, citing two anonymous sources. The outlet, however, did not rule out that the president could change his mind during the talks.
Army standards are “uniform and sex neutral,” a spokeswoman for the Department of War has said
The Pentagon has accused Netflix of producing “woke garbage,” over the streaming service’s latest show centered around a gay man joining the US Marines. The series premiered amid a campaign by President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to end “woke culture” in the military.
US Department of War spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson told Entertainment Weekly that the Pentagon does not support Netflix’s “ideological agenda.”
The US military “will not compromise our standards, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children,” Kingsley said, adding that the Pentagon is currently focused on “restoring the warrior ethos.”
“Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight,” the spokeswoman stated.
Last month, Hegseth announced new personnel standards for the military, insisting on “male-level” fitness requirements to be able to face “life and death” situations on the battlefield. “Standards must be uniform, gender-neutral, and high. If not, they’re not standards,” he said at the time, arguing that any other approach would “get our sons and daughters killed.”
In February, the secretary of war also dismissed the motto “diversity is our strength” as the “dumbest” in military history. The Pentagon has faced recruitment shortages for years. 2023 marked the military’s deepest recruitment gap – of 15,000 – since the abolishing of the draft in 1973, according to a report in June.
Republican lawmakers previously blamed the problem on the department’s prioritization of diversity over military readiness, which allegedly drove would-be recruits away. A 2021 report commissioned by Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee found that the US Navy was focusing more on “wokeness” and diversity than winning wars.
Netflix has not responded to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.
The US president has acknowledged that allowing Ukraine to conduct strikes deep into Russia would be an escalation
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky have begun talks at the White House. The meeting is taking place after Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, in which the two leaders agreed to have a summit meeting in Budapest, Hungary.
The Ukrainian leader arrived in Washington on Friday at the head of a large delegation. After welcoming Zelensky, Trump told reporters that his call with Putin will be high on the agenda: “We had a big call yesterday, as you know, with President Putin, and we’ll be talking about it.”
Trump added that the two will discuss providing Ukraine with new weapons, while acknowledging that this could escalate the conflict.
“We’re going to be talking about that… It’s an escalation, but we’ll be talking about that,” he said.
Zelensky earlier asked Trump to supply Kiev with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking targets up to 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) away, meaning they could potentially reach Moscow and far beyond.
Russia earlier warned that supplying Tomahawks would “not change the situation on the battlefield,” but would “severely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement” and harm US-Russia relations.
Pivoting to a potential dialogue to end the conflict, Trump said there is a lot of “bad blood” between Putin and Zelensky, and this is holding up a settlement. He added that the Budapest summit would most likely be a “double meeting,” with Zelensky being in touch.
“[Putin] wants to get it [conflict] ended. President Zelensky wants it ended. Now we have to get it done,” Trump said.
Zelensky accused the Russian president of not wanting a ceasefire, adding that his goal in the negotiations with Trump is “to get what we need to push Putin” to negotiate. According to Zelensky, Ukraine is also seeking robust security guarantees. “NATO is the best, but weapon[s] [are] very important.”
Russia has denounced the Western weapons shipments to Ukraine, warning that they only prolong the conflict. It is also strongly opposed to Kiev’s bid to join NATO, describing it as one of the key reasons for the conflict.
An Ofcom investigation found the British state broadcaster to have been “materially misleading” in a documentary film on Gaza earlier this year
British communications watchdog Ofcom has ruled that state broadcaster the BBC breached journalistic code for failing to disclose that the narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official.
In a statement on Friday, the regulator announced that its probe into the BBC’s ‘Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone’ documentary found it to be “materially misleading.”
The film, which was originally released in February, was partly narrated by the 13-year-old son of the Hamas deputy agriculture minister. The Palestinian militant group is designated as a terrorist organization in the UK, US, and EU.
“The program’s failure to disclose that the narrator’s father held a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading,” Ofcom said on Friday, adding that this could have eroded audience trust.
“This represents a serious breach of our rules,” it said.
The watchdog has directed the BBC to publish a statement on the investigation’s findings during evening primetime, with an exact date to be determined later.
The BBC apologized for the incident on Friday, and accepted the regulator’s decision.
The broadcaster has been under intense scrutiny over its coverage of the Gaza war. It has recently faced backlash for airing an anti-Israeli musical performance from Glastonbury Festival.
Last year, more than 100 staff members complained to Director General Tim Davie of insufficiently covering the Palestinian side of the conflict.
Ofcom sanctioned RT and revoked its broadcasting license over its coverage of the Ukraine conflict, soon after the escalation in 2022. RT and other Russian media outlets have faced sanctions and outright bans in many Western European nations since.
Despite this, they have expanded their reach, while Western networks have scaled back their activities amid budget cuts and shifting foreign policy concerns, the BBC reported in August.
