France 24
49 articles published on WSG News
🇺🇸Fresh protests over housing flare in Spain after lawmakers reject relief measures
Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Madrid and other cities in Spain on Saturday to demand affordable housing, fuelled by anger at lawmakers who narrowly rejected measures put forward by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to strengthen protection for tenants.
🇺🇸Flavio Bolsonaro: In the name of the father, sons, and holy ideology
The first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday pits two well-known names in the political ring: Lula vs. Bolsonaro. But it’s not former president Jair Bolsonaro facing off against the incumbent head of state – it’s his eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro. He’s less charismatic than his father but just as ideologically radical as the family patriarch.
🇺🇸Barricades & the blame game: the French school protests
In a week that’s seen the heroism of the captain, crew and passengers on board FlyDubai flight 1073 heralded, eye witnesses report seeing the co-pilot trying to kill the pilot and destroying the cockpit controls in order to crash the plane. Despite being stabbed repeatedly, Captan Smit Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to overwhelm the suspect and regain control of the aircraft after its rapid descent of more than 14,000 feet in 30 seconds. They prevented a 9/11-sty
🇺🇸No fairytale return for Zidane as Italy hold France at the Stade de France
The Stade de France was filled to capacity as the new French national team manager, Zinedine Zidane, prepared to make his home debut. The very side against whom he had ended his playing career in 2006 was once again the opponent he faced. Despite Michael Olise’s splendid free kick, the French were quickly overpowered by a clinical Italian side.
🇺🇸Ethiopia's Tigray rebels abandon regional capital of Mekelle as pro-government forces advance
Rebels from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia were abandoning their regional capital of Mekkele in the north of the country on Saturday, according to local reports. The TPLF has been fighting against federal forces and pro-government militias since September 23 and launching attacks into neighbouring states, raising fears of an all-out civil war similar to that of 2020-2022.
🇺🇸Russia strikes another major bridge across Kyiv's Dnipro river
Kyiv's Northern Bridge across the Dnipro river was hit by a Russian air attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Saturday, amid an escalation in strikes on infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital. The attack comes a day after the Southern Bridge was hit by several strikes that city officials said were "tearing Kyiv apart".
🇺🇸North Korea launches ballistic missile as tensions with Seoul grow over border mine blasts
North Korea launched a ballistic missile Saturday morning from the Wonsan area on its east coast into the Sea of Japan, according to Seoul's military. The launch comes amid renewed tensions between North Korea and South Korea, with the latter demanding an apology for a blast that wounded three South Korean soldiers inside the Demilitarized Zone last month.
🇺🇸French media react to M. Le Pen’s ‘Kevlar suit’ comments against investigative press outlet
The editorial committees of roughly 40 French media outlets, including FRANCE 24 and RFI, on Friday released a joint statement condemning National Rally (RN) party leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s recent comments targeting investigative outlet Médiapart as “violent attempts at intimidation” against press freedom in France, qualifying them as “particularly worrying for the right to information" that citizens of a democracy "are entitled to expect”.
🇺🇸Nations League: France held by Italy in Zidane's homecoming after Olise stunner
After two wins in two away games, Zinédine Zidane’s return to the Stade de France as coach was not exactly a success, as Les Bleus were held to a 1-1 draw by Italy on Friday in the UEFA Nations League.
🇺🇸Ethiopian army pushes back Tigrayan rebels
First, Ethiopia and Eritrea have severed ties and now with tensions spreading across the region, the African Union is urging all sides to show restraint. Meanwhile, Ethiopia's army is advancing toward the Tigrayan capital as fighting intensifies and new explosions rock Addis Ababa. Then, from boardrooms to cocoa fields, a growing number of urban Ivorians are turning to agriculture. On weekends, civil servants, entrepreneurs and traders leave Abidjan behind to tend farms in the countryside, seeki
🇺🇸On the run for 20 years, Ugandan warlord Kony still 'active' within the Lord's Resistance Army
In recent months, the eastern Central African Republic has been hit by several attacks attributed to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan militia infamous for its massacres and mass abductions of children in the 1990s and 2000s. The group's leader, Joseph Kony, wanted by the International Criminal Court for more than 20 years, remains at large. FRANCE 24 spoke to Leonie von Braun, the ICC’s lead investigator on the Kony case, about the group's resurgence.
🇺🇸French Unrest: Are we witnessing a new 'Yellow Vests' movement?
It's been 18 days since we first reported on isolated cases of schools protests at a high school in Rennes in Brittany, in Caen in Normandy and Villeneueve d'Asque on the suburbs of Lille. The complaints were similar in theme, overloaded timetables, staffing problems, poor facilities. It spread to Saint Denis and Creteil on the outskirts of Paris days later, one interview with the students was sen 1.4 million times on TikTok. It gathered pace, and morphed into what we've seen throughout the week
🇺🇸Brazil’s Lula gears up for ‘last dance’ with run for fourth presidential term
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand for re-election in Brazil on Sunday. At 80, the former steelworker hopes to capitalise on his popularity and economic successes to win a fourth term in office but is neck-and-neck in the polls with far-right rival Flavio Bolsonaro.
🇺🇸'We have to close defence gaps urgently': EU Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chief McAllister
We sit down with David McAllister, the chair of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. He talks to us about the security threats facing Europe, and what defence gaps the EU urgently needs to close. For McAllister, the EU is "not at war with the Russian Federation, but we are no longer at peace with Russia". He also believes that the EU is not, as yet, capable of making sovereign decisions in certain areas of defence "because we are too dependent on US capabilities."
🇺🇸Brazil: The craze for candidate merch ahead of elections
Nearly 159 million Brazilians will head to the polling booths on Sunday to vote in general elections. They will elect their new MPs, see two-thirds of the Senate change ranks and, most importantly, vote for their next president.Though the vote is held by secret ballot, people wear their support on their sleeve. Candidates and parties are brandished on flags throughout the streets of #RiodeJaneiro, and business is booming for vendors selling merchandise for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and
🇺🇸A grim winter ahead? EU states asked to prepare gas and electricity savings
Alarm bells are ringing about fuel prices across the EU. The average cost of diesel per litre is well above €2, whereas in October of last year it was around €1.50. Even before this latest spike, the cost of living was already biting, and it seems that the conflict in the Middle East is not going to give Europeans much respite as the winter draws closer. We review what EU member states have done to cushion the blow of rising energy prices for ordinary people, and whether those measures have been
🇺🇸Brazil: Who is presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro?
He was still relatively unknown in Brazil just a few months ago. The 45-year-old senator is now neck and neck with incumbent President Lula in the polls for the upcoming presidential election. Flavio Bolsonaro's victory would add Brazil to the long list of Latin American countries that have shifted to the right or far right in recent months.
🇺🇸'Make our streets safer!' Mass women's protests sweep India over sexual violence
In India, thousands of women have been taking to the streets calling for better protection of female students, following the suspected gang rape of a 17-year-old girl. The alleged incident in an upscale neighbourhood of New Delhi prompted authorities to beef up protective measures, but the women say limiting their access to public spaces is not the answer.
🇺🇸The Cornell 7: Allegations spark fury over gang rape culture
How allegations of a gang rape at an American Ivy League university have set social media alight, sparking widespread fury over the way colleges and universities handle sexual assault cases. Also the French parliament is currently debating a major new bill aimed at tackling violence against women and children. But does it go far enough? Annette Young asks Dr Andreea Gruev-Vintila, a social psychologist who assisted with the drafting of the legislation. Plus the king of Morocco names Marrakesh ma
🇺🇸France school protests 'rapidly becoming out of control'
French high school students lit fires outside schools and faced off with police on Friday as a protest movement that has forced the closure or disrupted education at more than 560 establishments showed no sign of abating. France 24’s Rochelle Ferguson Bouyahi takes a look at why the students are protesting, and how the demonstrations spiraled into violence.
🇺🇸Spain housing protests rage ahead of key government vote
Spanish lawmakers are due to vote on Friday on two government housing decrees drawn up after an outcry over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, with their passage in doubt. Several hundred people held raucous protests in Madrid and other Spanish cities ahead of the vote, with demonstrators rattling keys, blowing whistles, banging spoons against pots.
🇺🇸Paraguay, a tax and political haven for Brazil's far right
Over the past five years, applications for residence permits submitted by Brazilians in Paraguay have more than doubled. Many of them are Bolsonaro supporters who are afraid October's presidential election will be won by incumbent leader Lula – whom they accuse of plunging the Latin American giant into an unprecedented economic crisis. FRANCE 24's Fanny Lothaire and Valeria Saccone report, with Jan Onoszko.
🇺🇸What's real and what's fake? How AI is impacting Brazil's election race
With just two days to go before the first round of Brazil's presidential election, artificial intelligence is taking centre stage, whether it's a deepfake avatar of former president Jair Bolsonaro to support his son's candidacy, or an AI-generated working-class female voter criticising President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. According to the Brazilian intelligence agency, disinformation will be one of the main challenges of this election. Our correspondents report.
🇺🇸EU ‘fully rejects’ US threat to ban diesel exports unless bloc releases more fuel stocks
The European Union on Friday pushed back against a US threat to ban any diesel exports unless the 27-member bloc releases more of its fuel stocks, “fully” rejecting the move, an EU official said.
🇺🇸Brazil's election: Lula or Bolsonaro Jr?
PRESS REVIEW – Friday, October 2: We look at reactions in the French papers after high school blockades turned violent across France. We also look ahead to Brazil's two-round presidential election, which begins this weekend. The electoral campaign culminated with the cancellation of a presidential debate after both President Lula and his rival Flavio Bolsonaro pulled out. Finally, this year's Comedy Wildlife Awards finalists do not disappoint.
🇺🇸Nigeria rolls out digital postcodes
Nigeria’s Postal Service has launched a National Digital Alphanumeric Postcode System. The system is designed to help Nigerians find the postcodes of locations across the country. Before now, house identification in Nigeria was based on an unreliable house numbering system. Locating places was difficult, time consuming and sometimes even expensive. But there may challenges using the new system in a country with poor urban planning and illegal building constructions.
🇺🇸Eritrea cuts ties with Ethiopia over embassy closure
Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata on Thursday, prompting Asmara to sever all diplomatic ties with its neighbour after overnight blasts heard in Addis Ababa sparked fears about renewed conflict in northern Ethiopia spreading. France 24's Tom Canetti has more.
🇺🇸French pensioners set to feel pinch under belt-tightening budget
French pensioners will be among those expected to contribute to balancing the government's books, according to the 2027 draft budget unveiled on Thursday. Pensions exceeding 1,260 euros per month will be partially frozen and the cap on the 10% income tax deduction will be lowered, measures that received mixed reactions from pensioners.
🇺🇸French website publishes evidence for antisemitism claims against Bardella
French investigative journalism website Mediapart said Thursday it had been able to authenticate antisemitic messages from 2013 attributed to far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's de facto deputy Jordan Bardella. The allegations come just seven months out from the election where voters will choose a replacement for President Emmanuel Macron, with Le Pen leading opinion polls.
🇺🇸France closes 400 high schools as teens protests escalate
Almost 400 high schools were closed across France on Friday over a week-long protest movement by pupils over inadequate conditions at schools including overheated classrooms and a lack of teachers. The protests have seen students clash with police with some 2,000 people arrested, with pupils also blocking access to schools. France 24’s Olivia Bizot reports from outside a high school near Paris where she says many protesters are also decrying what they says is the use of police violence.
🇺🇸Can AI play a role in reducing inequality?
In the debate about how best to regulate artificial intelligence, what about its role in development and aid? Warnings about the potential for exacerbating inequality are rife – but the World Bank argues that the technology could be harnessed for good.
🇺🇸Flydubai hero pilot tells Modi 'I could not let all those people die'
Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain who was attacked by his co-pilot onboard the Flydubai flight 1073 in an apparent attempt to crash the plane, on Friday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that although he was severely injured in the altercation, “I could not let all those people die”. Although collapsed, he made a last-ditch effort and managed to push the door to the cockpit open.
🇺🇸Will AI write our books? Row over bestseller fuels fear over future of literature
France still very much takes its literary prize-giving season seriously. So when a Haitian-born Canadian writer was accused of infusing his best-selling breakout novel with artificial intelligence, it got ugly in a hurry. We wade into the Thélyson Orélien affair with its subsequent accusations of racism, previous plagiarism by the author and doubts over the accuracy of AI verification tool Pangram.
🇺🇸Hundreds of French schools remain closed as student protests turn violent
Some 400 French schools have been closed and will remain shuttered on Friday as the student protests that began in high schools in the Paris region last week have spread across France and grown increasingly violent. The students are protesting grievances including teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings. The government has blamed the hard left for initiating the movement.
🇺🇸Egypt warned Israel of 'major' Hamas attack: 'No world' where Netanyahu's not aware (Vivian Salama)
François Picard is pleased to welcome Vivian Salama from Washington. An attorney and staff writer at The Atlantic, Salama has reported from more than 85 countries. Her latest investigation takes us back to September 26, 2023. As Israel's national security establishment gathered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War and one of the country's greatest intelligence failures, Abbas Kamel, then Egypt's intelligence chief, made an exceptionally rare and discreet visit to Israel with
🇺🇸Nations League: Zidane returns to face Italy and the Stade de France
Twenty years after the 2006 World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane faces Italy again on Friday, this time as France manager, on matchday three of the Nations League. For his first match in France as manager, he also returns to the Stade de France, where he experienced several defining moments of his career.
🇺🇸Lula and Bolsonaro’s mudslinging heats up ahead of weekend vote
The mudslinging between Brazil’s incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his election rival Flavio Bolsonaro has heated up ahead of what is expected to be an extremely close vote this weekend. From stating loose rumours as facts, to taking comments completely out of their context, they are both doing everything they can to win a few more votes.
🇺🇸Saudi-led coalition accuses Houthis of striking Medina power station
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis struck an electricity distribution station supplying the Prophet’s Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Medina, the Saudi-led coalition said Thursday, drawing condemnation across the Muslim world. The Houthis denied involvement in the drone attack, which came as fighting intensified between government forces and rebels in Yemen.
🇺🇸More than half of Europe faced intense summer heat stress, EU monitor says
A record 52% of Europe faced intense heat stress this summer, the EU’s climate monitor said Friday, as climate change fuelled widespread heatwaves and tens of thousands of excess deaths. Europe recorded its third warmest summer, while western Europe experienced its hottest, with several countries setting national temperature records overall.
🇺🇸G20 trade ministers deadlocked over industrial overcapacity, says US trade chief
G20 trade ministers failed to agree on tackling excess industrial capacity and eliminating forced labour from supply chains, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday. Speaking during talks in Milwaukee, Greer highlighted overcapacity, a criticism often directed at China, which rejects it. The United States holds this year's rotating presidency.
🇺🇸Netanyahu says flydubai co-pilot was radicalised as UAE probes terror link
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the co-pilot accused of attacking a flydubai flight carrying mostly Israelis had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”, as UAE authorities investigated a possible terror link. The captain and passengers overpowered the suspect before the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
🇺🇸French investigative site says antisemitic messages tied to Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's ally
French investigative outlet Mediapart said on Thursday it had authenticated antisemitic messages allegedly sent by far-right politician Jordan Bardella in 2013. Bardella denied writing them and said he would sue for defamation and forgery. The allegations come seven months before France’s presidential election, with Marine Le Pen leading opinion polls.
🇺🇸Migration deal: 'Really a scheme around political diplomacy between UK & France in post-Brexit era'
Erin Ogunkeye is pleased to welcome Parvati Nair, Professor of Hispanic, Cultural and Migration Studies at Queen Mary University of London. She sees the UK-France migration agreement as a small but revealing element of a much wider post-Brexit relationship, in which questions of migration are intertwined with diplomacy, security, intelligence and surveillance. She warns that the scheme risks trivialising a complex human plight it into deterrence and a numbers game. She argues humans have always
🇺🇸US presses Europe to release 'immediately' diesel reserves as Trump threatens export ban
The United States on Thursday urged European allies to release strategic diesel reserves immediately to curb prices driven higher by the US war on Iran. EU states will discuss a coordinated response on Friday, as Washington increases pressure following President Donald Trump's suggestion that he could ban US diesel exports.
🇺🇸Fake BBC report falsely implicates Indian passenger and pilot in Flydubai hijacking attempt
False videos are circulating after the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv. One fake “BBC” report falsely claims an Indian passenger was behind the incident and links him to the stabbed pilot, Smit Machchhar. The video though, is an AI-generated deepfake: the BBC never broadcast it, and its footage and audio were doctored. A second clip was also misrepresented and filmed in Dubai, not over where the incident occurred. Vedika Bahl fact-checks in Truth or Fake.
🇺🇸UK police arrest dual UK-Iranian national over Fairford air base incident
British police on Thursday arrested a British-Iranian dual national in connection with the security incident at the Fairford airbase Wednesday. Five other men initially arrested over the incidence were later released without charge on bail.
🇺🇸France’s purchasing power crisis: Navigating the pinch
With looming elections and a draft budget that aims to address a €305.7bn financing requirement, French households are increasingly in the red. Will wages ever manage to outpace energy inflation?
🇺🇸'Guilty of all charges': Man City at centre of 'biggest scandal in football history', vows to appeal
François Picard is pleased to welcome our sports editor, James Vasina, and Andreas Evargora, sports journalist and commentator. Evargora describes the current Manchester City case as unprecedented in scale: “This is nothing of the scale that we’ve seen before.” The case brings together an explosive mix of pressures confronting modern sport like never before: the multibillion-euro business of football, the legal and regulatory mechanisms designed to govern it, and the increasingly complex relatio
🇺🇸Students face riot police as protests over school conditions escalate in France
French teenagers on Tuesday set fire to rubbish bins and threw projectiles at police who responded with batons and tear gas, as pupils kept up blockades and protests at hundreds of high schools, demanding better conditions. The movement in the lycees, attended by students aged 15 to 18 for their final three years of secondary education in France, has angered the government.