DECINES-CHARPIEU, France (AP) — French organizers of the 2030 Winter Olympics appointed an interim president Monday following the departure last week of Edgar Grospiron, a move that capped a period of intense turbulence.
The temporary appointment of Vincent Roberti was announced as an IOC delegation visits Lyon this week to inspect proposed venues following the relocation of ice sports from Nice.
Roberti was approved earlier this year as director general. French organizers said the project’s stakeholders adopted an amendment to ensure he can simultaneously perform his duties of interim president.
“This solution is intended to ensure the stability of the organization’s governance and the continuity of the organizing committee’s activities while awaiting the appointment of a new president,” they said.
Grospiron’s decision to step down was the latest setback for organizers of the French Alps Olympics. He had been appointed only last year — after French biathlon star Martin Fourcade withdrew his candidacy despite being seen as the front-runner for the job.
Instability continued under Grospiron’s leadership at the helm of an Olympic hosting project that started behind schedule when conceived in 2023. When the French Alps was formally picked on the eve of the 2024 Paris Summer Games, it already was on the tightest timeline of any modern Olympic host with essential government sign-offs still pending and taken on trust.
Before Grospiron’s exit, the 2030 French Alps Olympics had lost their chief executive officer following weeks of internal turmoil in February. Cyril Linette, who was replaced by Roberti, was at loggerheads with Grospiron when he left amid growing tensions and against a backdrop of several other resignations.
Since a formal handover from the International Olympic Committee in February in Milan, the next Winter Games also dropped Nice as the main host city amid a venue dispute when a far-right mayor was elected. Confirming a completely new host city — as Lyon was earlier this year by the IOC executive board — less than four years from the opening ceremony also is unprecedented.
The IOC last week maintained its confidence in the 2030 Games.
“The economic fundamentals of the project are solid, with the first sponsor onboard and others expected to join soon. The project also benefits from the development of a robust venue master plan,” the IOC said, adding that it will “continue working in close collaboration with the organizing committee.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - A view of the Bellevarde course, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Val d'Isere, France, on Feb, 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File)
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iranian-backed rebels' ability to control a key maritime shipping route.
Meanwhile, Iran says Saudi Arabia was behind Oman’s decision to postpone a meeting bringing together Iran with other regional countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz.
In Iraq, two people died and more than 100 others were injured after an ammonia gas leak at a fertilizer plant in the country’s south.
Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Houthi officials said Monday they had taken over the two islands just as Saudi-backed government forces tried to claw back territory from the rebels' swift advances around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transits in peacetime — in the opening days of the war. The Saudis have since used Bab el-Mandeb Strait that leads out of the Red Sea for crude oil exports.
The Houthis’ newest takeover, following the seizure of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week, puts more pressure on Saudi shipments and, in turn, global oil supplies and prices.
This could give Iran additional leverage in its war with the United States.
China, a major Middle East oil importer, on Monday called Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure “unacceptable” and said it was “deeply concerned” about further escalations by the rebels against Saudi Arabia.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said “attacks on civilian infrastructure that is important to people’s livelihoods are unacceptable.”
He called on all sides to exercise restraint and resolve disputes through dialogue.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday Saudi Arabia had “demanded" that a meeting bringing together Iran with other regional countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz be scrapped “for the time being.”
Baghaei called the meeting, which was to be hosted by Oman, a “proper opportunity” to restore security in the region.
The spokesman said an agreement between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz has been finalized and it will be announced later.
Saudi Arabia had submitted amendments to the agreement, citing concerns it could have lasting implications for the Strait of Hormuz, negatively impacting other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to a Gulf official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iran denounced on Monday Austria’s refusal to issue visas to the Iranian nuclear chief and other delegation members for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference in Vienna, calling the decision “completely unjustified.”
Esmail Baghaei, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Tehran summoned the Austrian chargé d’affaires, saying Austria was obligated as the host country to issue the visas.
Baghaei accused Western countries of denying Iran an opportunity to defend itself and blamed the U.S. for pressuring Austria to deny the visas.
The refusal is part of U.N. sanctions on Iran, reinstated last year, that include a travel ban on Iranian officials.
The B’Tselem human rights group said Monday Israel is carrying out a systematic and accelerated project aimed at “dismantling the foundations of Palestinian existence” in the occupied West Bank.
The group said in a new report that Israeli actions against Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers and the military are designed to undermine Palestinian collective life “while entrenching a permanent system of Jewish supremacy” across the territory.
Settler violence has surged under the ultranationalist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rights groups say the military frequently turns a blind eye to the violence, and that when it intervenes it often focuses on protecting the settlers.
The B’Tselem report also claims that Israeli actions rely heavily on open cooperation between state authorities and armed settlers who attack Palestinian communities using weapons and vehicles supplied by the state while the military either fails to prevent the violence or, in some cases, participates in it.
The report said that as of July, Israel had taken control of more than 264,402 acres (107,000 hectares) — nearly a fifth of the West Bank — through “armed settler militias.” Most of the international community views settlements as illegal.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Monday with Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, in the coastal city of Jeddah, according to the Saudi state-run news agency.
Bin Salman, who is the kingdom’s de facto ruler, discussed with Cooper “bilateral relations and the latest regional developments,” SPA reported without providing further details.
The meeting came as Saudi Arabia has been squeezed with attacks from the Iranian-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq. The Iranian proxies have recently struck oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, including an attack that shut down the country’s East-West pipeline.
Iraq’s Health Ministry said Monday an ammonia gas leak at a fertilizer plant in the southern province of Basra killed two people and injured 114 others.
Health Ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr said most of the injuries were minor, but 21 people remain hospitalized.
A crew of three were unhurt when their aircraft veered off the runway during landing at Misrata International Airport Monday morning, Libya’s Ministry of Transport said.
Authorities were working to put out a fire and secure the airport so it can resume flight operations, according to the National Unity government's official communications platform, Hokoumatna.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
A man walks in front of a mural symbolising restrictions on shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's key shipping lanes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
People chat at a coffee shop in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Displaced Yemenis, from Al Khawkhah city, 400 kilometers (249 miles) south west of Sanaa, wait to enter a temporary shelter in Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Yemeni civilians celebrate while riding in the back of a pickup truck in the Bani Matar district, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, as they follow a convoy carrying Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha on its way to Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city. (AP Photo/STR)
