Ighalo unveiled as National Principal’s Cup ambassador

France says it is sending its ambassador back to Australia to help "redefine the terms'' of the bilateral relationship after Canberra ditched a multibillion-dollar submarine contract.

The US president has voiced his concern over China's missile capabilities as his nominee to be the next ambassador to the country said "we certainly cannot trust the Chinese" over the issue of Taiwan.

The two countries have feuded intensely over fishing rights since the UK's decision to leave the EU. The move comes after France seized a British boat in French waters.

The Lebanese ambassador has been asked to leave Saudi territory within 48 hours. The move comes after Lebanon's information minister criticized the Saudi-led war against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Since August, a new British ambassador to France has been in post. Menna Rawlings has taken up the job at a time when the two countries have butted heads over various issues, from migration to Northern Ireland to fishing, while still bound together on other international issues – including the COP26 climate summit and as permanent members of the UN Security Council. Speaking to FRANCE 24 in a week when around 1,000 undocumented migrants crossed from France to England in small boats in a single day, she defended British border policy and spoke out about the ongoing disputes over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

FRANCE 24 spoke to Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to France. He insisted Beijing was prioritising "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, but said the Chinese authorities had "not ruled out the use of force" – not with the intention of targeting "the people of Taiwan", but rather to dissuade "separatists in Taiwan" and certain "foreign forces". The Chinese diplomat also said he was "sure" there would be no mass surge in Covid-19 cases during the Winter Olympics, which open in Beijing on February 4.

Police in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have detained members of a group allegedly linked to the killing of Italy's ambassador last year as well as more recent kidnappings of NGO workers, a provincial police chief said on Tuesday.

Relations between France and Mali take a dramatic turn for the worse as Bamako gives the French ambassador to the country just 72 hours to leave. Also, after a three-year freeze, Rwanda finally opens its border with Uganda. And we end in South Africa, where Kommetdieding or the "people's horse" is winning Cape Town's prestigious races.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union denied that the six Russian naval ships in the Black Sea have anything to do with Ukraine. Vladimir A. Chizhov also insisted that Moscow has no intention to make a move on Ukrainian territory and reiterated that the Kremlin is committed to a diplomatic outcome to the crisis.

Warsaw requested an explanation from the French ambassador over comments made by the French president. The French president strongly criticized Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in a newspaper interview.

Amid a growing food crisis sparked by disrupted grain exports from Ukraine and Russia, the EU's ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas told FRANCE 24 that exports by land more than doubled between April and May, from 600,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes.

Sudan says troops from neighboring Ethiopia executed seven Sudanese soldiers and one of its civilians, putting the bodies on public show. Relations between the two neighbors have soured over a border dispute.