Ireland has been accepted as a member of the international organisation of francophone nations amid concern that Brexit could leave its English-speaking diplomats out in the cold.

It may not be the land of “bonjour” but the country was authorised to become an observer member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie — the French equivalent of the Commonwealth — at a summit in Armenia attended by President Emmanuel Macron.

Dublin’s application came amid concerns it lacks clout in continents such as Africa, where France retains extensive links in French-speaking countries, notably in the West.

Joining the club, even as an observer, was part of an attempt to “double the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint in the period to 2025”, Helen McEntee, Ireland’s European affairs minister, told the summit.

Brushing off claims that the Irish are no more versed in le français than the British, she insisted her countrymen had a “passion” for French, reminding doubters that Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett wrote some of their works in French.

OIF figures suggest that 12 per cent of Irish citizens speak the language of Molière, which may not sound a lot but is a good deal higher than the 0.1 per cent of Ukrainians and Uruguayans who speak French and whose countries already enjoy observer status. 

Ireland hopes that membership will help it court ministers and strengthen economic ties around the world, as well as tightening links with France as Britain leaves the European Union.

Paris, which calls most of the shots at the OIF, paying almost half of its annual €80 million (£70m) budget, backed the Irish bid. 

Founded in 1970 to bring together French-speaking nations in the name of peace, democracy, human rights and sustainable development, the OIF has come under fire for turning into a tool for French soft power around the globe.

Those wishing to join only need show a “will to favour the development of the use of French".

That explains why at the summit in Yerevan, Gambia, Malta and Louisiana were also made observer members whilst Kosovo, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates became full members.

But one hopeful new entrant, Saudi Arabia, pulled out at the last minute after Canada cried foul over its human rights record.

The widening of its remit has irked a growing number of francophone purists. "The OIF is running a real risk of losing its cohesion," Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, a former French minister responsible for "francophonie" told AFP.

Mr Macron is facing further controversy at this summit over the choice of a successor to Michaëlle Jean, the Canadian of Haitian origin who has been its general secretary since 2014. 

The clear favourite is Louise Mushikiwabo, foreign minister of Rwanda, a nation which, in 2009, sparked Gallic criticism for making English an official language alongside Kinyarwanda, Swahili and French.

Mr Macron backed her candidacy in an attempt to mend fences with Rwanda after decades of frosty relations over France’s alleged role in the 1994 genocide.

That sparked fury among rivals back in France. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, said: “I am outraged that France should back a minister of (President Paul) Kagame, who is violently anti-French and from a country that has . . . turned its back on the French language.” 

Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee, overcame a major hurdle on Friday as a committee of congressmen approved his confirmation, but he now faces an FBI investigation before a final vote in the US Senate. 

In a dramatic day of backroom deal-making in Washington, DC, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which vets candidates, voted along party lines to progress Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination by 11 votes to 10. 

However Jeff Flake, a Republican senator on the committee, unexpectedly said he was only voting to support Mr Kavanaugh on the provision that sexual assault allegations the candidate faces are investigated by the FBI. 

He called for a delay in a vote of all 100 senators – the final step in Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation process – for up to a week while the FBI carries out its inquiries, insisting that “due diligence” must be shown. 

Mr Flake’s shock decision to support the Democrats’ call for the FBI to step came just hours after he had announced he would be voting for Mr Kavanaugh without conditions. It further pushes Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation into uncertainty.

The key moment in Mr Flake’s change of heart appeared to be when he was confronted in a lift by two victims of sexual assault who demanded to know why he was supporting Mr Kavanaugh. 

“Don’t look away from me. Look at me and and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me!” said one woman, speaking through tears as she kept the lift door open. The scene lasted around four minutes. 

The drama on Capitol Hill played out the day after Mr Kavanaugh, 53, and Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old California professor who accuses him of sexual assault, both gave emotional testimony about the allegations. 

On Thursday, Prof Ford said she was “100 per cent” sure that Mr Kavanaugh was the person who drunkenly pinned her to a bed and tried to take off her clothes at a high school house party in the summer of 1982. 

However Mr Kavanaugh categorically denied the claim and angrily lashed out at a flurry of allegations he has faced late in the confirmation process, saying the proceedings had become a “national disgrace”. 

Two other women – Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick – have also gone public to claim Mr Kavanaugh committed sexual misconduct during his student days. Neither woman has given public testimony. Mr Kavanaugh has denied both claims. 

Hanging in the balance is a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, which comes with the chance to shape American society for generations to come. 

After Thursday’s emotional hearing – which was broadcast live on television channels and watched by millions – it was time for senators on the committee to vote on Friday. 

Mr Kavanaugh faced two hurdles. First to get approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee, made up of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats, then to win a vote from the full US Senate. 

Mr Flake, the one Republican who was wavering on the committee, announced on Friday morning that he would be voting for Mr Kavanaugh, infuriating liberals and effectively confirming the committee would approve the nominee. 

However minutes after issuing a press release announcing the decision he was confronted by two women who said they had been sexually assaulted and were demanding an explanation for his stance. 

“You have two children in your family. Think about them,” said one woman, fighting back tears. “What are you doing sir? This is the future of our country.”

Another shouted: “Look at me when I’m talking to you! You’re telling me that my assault doesn’t matter, that what happened to me doesn’t matter and that you’re going to let people who do these things into power.”

Later that day, just moments before the committee was due to vote, Mr Flake left the room. He huddled with Democratic senators and appeared to be reconsidering his decision. 

Then he announced a change in position. Mr Flake said he would vote through Mr Kavanaugh at the committee stage but demanded a delay in the full Senate vote of up to a week while the FBI investigates – matching a key Democratic demand. 

Mr Flake said: “This country is being ripped apart here, and we’ve got to make sure that we do due diligence. … I do think we can have a short pause and make sure that the FBI can investigate.”

After the comments a vote was held and the committee approved Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination.  

Donald Trump, the US president, bowed to pressure and ordered the FBI investigation. Just days earlier he had said the FBI did not want to look at the claims. 

He said in a statement that the inquiry must be "limited in scope" and be completed in "less than one week". Mr Kavanaugh confirmed in a statement that he would "cooperate". 

All "credible" allegations are expected to be looked at. It is unclear whether that means all three women who have publicly made allegations will be interviewed. 

Ms Ford’s lawyer, Debra Katz, welcomed the FBI investigation and thanked the senators who pushed for it but decried the limits imposed on it. "A thorough FBI investigation is critical to developing all the relevant facts," Ms Katz said.

Before Flake’s move, committee Republicans voted down a Democratic motion seeking to subpoena Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ms Ford said witnessed the assault. Mr Judge had told the committee in a written statement he does not recall any such incident. He is likely to be central to any FBI probe.

Mr Judge’s lawyer said he would cooperate with the FBI or any other law enforcement agency.

Separately, the US president said that Ms Ford had been a “very credible” witness but also praised Mr Kavanaugh’s testimony as “incredible”. 

Mr Trump added: “I just want it to work out well for the country. If that happens, I’m happy."

Three volunteers from the Red Cross have been injured while trying to carry out a safe burial of a victim of the current Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Two of the volunteers were seriously wounded and are now receiving medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

The latest attack is a reminder of the challenges facing authorities as they struggle to contain the latest outbreak of the disease in the North Kivu part of the country. There have been 162 cases of Ebola, including 106 deaths since the outbreak was first declared in August.

 The Red Cross said that its teams have faced incidents of violence and aggression from communities resisting safe and dignified burials since the start of the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu.

In September, one Red Cross volunteer was injured when people threw stones at a vehicle transporting a burial team. However, the most recent attack is the most violent incident to date.

Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, the Red Cross regional director for Africa, said: “This is an awful reminder of the dangers that these volunteer safe and dignified burials teams face. While we categorically denounce the attack on our colleagues, we understand the fear and frustration that many communities in North Kivu feel right now.

"People are scared and there are many rumours circulating that only serve to heighten the sense of fear and distrust.”

When a patient dies from Ebola their bodies are still infectious so they must be covered, running counter to local tradition. Congolese burial practices usually involve close and intimate bodily contact, with the body cleaned and decorated in preparation for burial

Last week, Ebola response operations were suspended after an attack in the city of Beni killed 21 people. A period of mourning was declared and the city was effectively in lockdown.

Peter Salama, WHO’s deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response, said that the lack of security, pockets of resistance and exploitation of local people’s natural fears by politicians in the run-up to elections in December were creating a "perfect storm".

Earlier this week, WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , briefed the United Nations security council on the situation in DRC.

He said WHO staff had encountered mistrust, especially around a village called Ndindi, which is where many of the most recent cases have occurred.

"Small but significant numbers of people refuse active follow-up, or refuse to be treated in the Ebola treatment units. We are working closely with religious leaders, youth and women’s groups and with the families themselves to overcome this obstacle," he said.

Dr Tedros added that there was also danger of the outbreak spreading into neighbouring countries – particularly Uganda as there have been two cases on the shores of Lake Albert, near to the border with Uganda. 

The disease has also spread into inaccessible "red zones", which are occupied by armed groups.

"This spread is extending the long tail of the outbreak," he said. 

Dr Tedros said WHO was working around the clock to contain the outbreak.

And he added: "Finally, I would like to highlight the fact that this epidemic is occurring in the context of much wider humanitarian needs, in a country whose people have suffered enormously over several decades."

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Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has sued Sotheby’s auction house for $380 million (£292 million) in New York as part of his long feud with a Swiss dealer over the “largest art fraud in history”. 

The deeply personal dispute stems from former potash magnate Mr Rybolovlev’s purchases of 38 paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso, Gustav Klimt and Leonardo da Vinci for more than $2 billion.

A European-based big spender with an estimated net worth of $6.8 billion, Mr Rybolovlev owns the football club AS Monaco and previously bought a $95 million Florida home from Donald Trump. 

Swiss shipping scion Yves Bouvier, a backroom art dealer for the global elite and longtime advisor to Mr Rybolovlev, arranged the purchases over more than a decade, taking a commission for his work.

But the Russian billionaire contends that Mr Bouvier, who is also under investigation for fraud by Swiss investigators, swindled him out of more than $1 billion by charging him too much for the masterpieces.

He has sought his revenge on Geneva’s “freeport king” through what Mr Bouvier’s lawyers have called a “global terror campaign” involving legal action in several countries.

The complaint filed by two British Virgin Island companies of Mr Rybolovlev in the US district court in Manhattan on Tuesday alleged that London-founded Sotheby’s “lent a veneer of legitimacy” by providing Mr Bouvier with inflated appraisals of paintings’ values and omitting the previous prices from transaction histories.

“[Sotheby’s] knew the actual prices Bouvier paid to the sellers and the fraudulently inflated prices Bouvier induced Plaintiffs to pay to him,” the complaint said. 

Sotheby’s has disputed the claim that it knew Mr Bouvier was working for Mr Rybolovlev and said it would ask the judge to throw out the “desperate lawsuit”.

“The false allegations that Mr Rybolovlev is making are already being litigated in the Swiss courts, which is the appropriate venue for this case,” the auction house said in statements to media. 

Mr Bouvier and Sotheby’s jointly sued the Russian in Geneva in 2017 to pre-empt a lawsuit he threatened to bring against them in the UK. 

For his part, Mr Bouvier has argued that he was not officially Mr Rybolovlev’s agent but merely sold him paintings he had bought on his own. 

At the heart of the “Bouvier affair” lies a Leonardo painting of Christ, "Salvator Mundi", which the Swiss dealer sold to Mr Rybolovlev for $118 million after reportedly buying it for $75-80 million.

Ironically, the Russian billionaire made a handsome windfall on "Salvator Mundi" when a Saudi prince bought it for $450 million in a record-setting purchase. He sold other paintings, however, for a loss. 

The New York suit may bring to light documents related to the original purchase of "Salvator Mundi", which Sotheby’s and Mr Bouvier have asked the Swiss judge to forbid.

The new lawsuit alleged that in one case Mr Bouvier bought Amedeo Modigliani’s "Reclining Nude with a Blue Cushion" for $95 million but sold it on to Mr Rybolovlev for more than $120 million, giving a $5 million kickback to a family confidant.

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, on Sunday publicly warned administration staff that they needed to either work with the Trump agenda or leave their positions.

His comments came after reports that Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, discussed wearing a wire and recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment in the days following the firing of James Comey, the FBI director. 

The  25th amendment allows for the removal of the president from office if he or she was deemed unfit to carry out duties.

In a thinly-veiled attack raising further questions over whether Mr Trump would fire Mr Rosenstein, Mr Pompeo suggested that White House officials should find "something else to do" if they do not support President Trump’s agenda. 

"I’ve been pretty clear since my beginning of service here in this administration, if you can’t be on the team, if you’re not supporting this mission, then maybe you ought to find something else to do,” he said.

"I’ve told that to my senior colleagues, I’ve told it to junior folks at the CIA, and the State Department; we need everyone who’s engaged in helping achieve President Trump’s mission.

"And I hope that everyone in every agency: DOJ, FBI, State Department is on that mission.”

"If you’re not, you should take this time to do something more productive," he said.

Mr Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation, denied making the comments which were leaked from memos written by Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director.

“I never pursued or authorized recording the president, and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false."

According to reports, senior Republicans have convinced a furious Mr Trump not to axe Mr Rosenstein, at least until the midterms are over for fear of negative blowback from voters.

The GOP is also concerned firing him may further jeopordise the confirmation of  Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court which remains of a knife edge with news that Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexual assault, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Dr Ford’s lawyers last night confirmed the appointment on Sunday night.

“We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday September 27 at 10am,” Dr Ford’s attorneys said in a statement. 

A Fox News poll released on Sunday showed support for Mr Trump’s pick was wavering among the public with just 40 per cent of voters saying they would confirm, down five per cent from a month ago.

Donald Trump apologised "on behalf of the nation" to newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and said the judge had been "proven innocent" of sexual assault allegations.

In a swearing-in ceremony at the White House, following a torrid confirmation process that divided America, the US president slammed Democrat opponents for having waged a "campaign of personal destruction" against Justice Kavanaugh.

The new Supreme Court justice himself sought to leave the controversy behind, promising to be a "team player" on the nine-member court, and a "great justice for all Americans".

Justice Kavanaugh, who will be a conservative voice on the court, said he had "no bitterness," that he felt "gratitude" for eventually being confirmed, and that the Supreme Court was "not a partisan or political institution".

At the ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Justice Kavanaugh’s wife Ashley held the Bible as he took the oath, and his two daughters stood by his side.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the retiring judge whose place he is taking, administered the oath in front of the eight other serving members of the Supreme Court.

During his confirmation process Justice Kavanaugh faced an allegation that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl when he was in high school.

The alleged victim Christine Blasey Ford, now a university professor, gave evidence to the Senate judiciary committee, and Justice Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegation.

Addressing Justice Kavanaugh at the White House, Mr Trump said: "On behalf of the nation, I’d like to apologise to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you’ve been forced to endure.

"Those who stepped forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception."

He added: "In our country, a man or a woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. And with that, I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent."

As Mr Trump stood with the judge’s family, Justice Kavanaugh sought to play down the political maelstrom that surrounded his confirmation, and said he would serve "one nation".

He said: "The Supreme Court is a team of nine and I will always be a team player on the team of nine. The Senate confirmation process was contentious and emotional. That process is over.

"Although the Senate confirmation process tested me, as it has tested others, it did not change me. My focus now is to be the best justice I can be. I take this office with gratitude and no bitterness."