military men from the presidential guard raised a riot and announced the removal of president mohammed bazoum. to govern the country , the so-called national council for the defense of the fatherland was formed, headed by the commander of the guard, abdurrahman tchani. in august he signed a decree on the formation of a government transition period. the rebels demanded the expulsion of the french ambassador and announced the denunciation of many agreements with france, including military ones. they demanded it from paris. by the end of the year, completely withdraw its entire military contingent. france initially refused, even preparing for a possible military operation in nigeria, but none of the neighboring african countries really supported it, and there were neither resources nor political will in paris for this, and macron had no choice but to give in. the french admit that the blow was painful. ta the system that the french have been building until now, it... one young lady got drunk on wine with the hussars, asked for fun to steal a cannon from the regiment and with her own hands shot a

it was a key demand of the junta that toppled president mohamed bazoum injuly — following coups in neighbouringger indefinitely. the embassy says it is "no longer able to function normally or fulfil its missions" due to restrictions imposed by niger�*s military government. france and niger had been allies in the fight against islamist militants in the region, but relations soured after the coup. our correspondent thomas naadi has more. it all started with the military coup injuly and had whipped up a lot of anti—french sentiment and a lot of very happy that the french are finally leaving but the damages been done in a well coordinated manner and we have about 90% of french forces and military assets out of niger and with french soldiers that are expected to move today. and we have seen attacks by majority groups, the french in and provided training and supported them in combat machines and intelligence in protecting civilians who had fled giardia tax in the country and increasing attacks by militant groups and americans remain in there at the moment and preparations are severely limited and the

it all started during the military coup injuly this year, which ousted president mohamed bazoum. niamey are very happy that the french are finally living. the withdrawal itself has been done in a very safe and well coordinated manner. we have about 90% of french forces and military assets out of niger to neighbouring chad at the moment. and they are only left with less than 200 french soldiers and they are also expected to leave today. millions of young christmas trees are harvested every year from plantations which, in most cases, are being treated with chemicals to encourage growth. in france, where the growing area is the burgundy mountains, local activists are demanding that we change our habits . hugh schofield reports. for some people up here in the hills, christmas trees are not an ancient festive symbol, but an ecological danger. in this small plantation, you can see the effects of chemical treatment. the ground beneath is dead. good for the trees — no competition, no predators — bad for wildlife, bad for rivers. for muriel, a local farmer and activist, the conclusion is

ongoing tensions between the two nations following the july military coup which ousted president mohamed bazoum. the french ambassador to niger left in september. around 150 french troops are departing niger today, the last of the soldiers to leave since the withdrawal started in october. but the military junta has not ordered u.s. military bases to close, where over 600 troops remain in the largely failed fight against jihadist groups. the biden administration has approved two more permits for the mountain valley pipeline, or mvp, which would carry 2 billion cubic feet of fracked gas through virginia and west virginia. on tuesday, the federal energy regulatory commission granted mvp's request to increase its gas transportation rates after the company's estimated construction costs ballooned to over $6.6 billion, nearly double its initial projection. the ferc also granted mvp more time to complete work on a proposed 75-mile extension into north carolina. indigenous environmental activist jason crazy bear keck said in a statement -- "ferc's decision to extend mvp southgate's certificate of 'publ