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Texas coast prepares for potential hit by Beryl, which is expected to regain hurricane strength

Tropical Storm Beryl is targeting the Gulf Coast of Texas after dealing a destructive blow to several islands in the Caribbean and the resort coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean islands

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Tunisia lawyer handed one-year sentence over critical comments on the country

Africa • 6:59 PM

Sonia Dahmani, a prominent Tunisian lawyer known for her criticism of President Kais Saied, has been sentenced to one year in prison, her legal representative said on Saturday. Dahmani's sentence comes as rights organisations say that Tunisian authoritie

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Girmay wins Tour de France stage eight as Pogacar retains overall lead

Eritrean sprinter Biniam Girmay won stage eight of the Tour de France on Saturday while Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.

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Dozens abducted in Kenya over anti-tax hike protests, human rights groups say

Africa • 3:44 PM

Dozens of Kenyans participating in the youth-led protests over a now shelved tax-hike bill have been abducted in the past two weeks, said human rights groups, who blame the extrajudicial arrests on Kenya's intelligence services. President William Ruto an

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A survival guide to Paris transport closures for the 2024 Olympics

Paris will be in the throes of Olympic fever from July 26 to August 11 for the 2024 Summer Games. Public transport routes will be revised and vehicle access will be restricted just as millions of visitors are expected in the city. Both residents and tour

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Sahel military leaders mark divorce from West Africa bloc

The military regimes of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso marked their divorce from the rest of West Africa Saturday as they signed a treaty setting up a confederation between them.

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Euro 2024 quarterfinals: Turkey face Netherlands and England face Switzerland

Turkey face the Netherlands in a Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday which has been overshadowed by a diplomatic row between the Turks and Germany, while earlier England face Switzerland. FRANCE 24's Leo McGuinn reports.

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Newly elected PM Starmer says aims to turn UK economy around

Europe • 2:21 PM

Newly elected UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Saturday who began his first full day in charge said he aims to turn the UK economy around. Starmer spent his first hours in Downing Street on Friday appointing his ministerial team, hours after securing hi

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New UK PM Starmer confirms end of Rwanda migration plan

Europe • 1:42 PM

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that he is scrapping a controversial Conservative policy to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda as he vowed to deliver on voters' mandate for change, though he warned it will not happen quickly. “The Rwanda s

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Pro-separatist SNP records worst performance since 2010 in UK poll

Europe • 11:56 AM

The pro-separatist Scottish National Party was virtually obliterated at the UK general election on Friday, suffering a devastating blow to its withering independence movement. Keir Starmer's Labour party overturned more than a decade of SNP domination by

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Biden may be forced to drop out of race, specialist says

President Joe Biden may be forced to drop out of the presidential race despite his interview Friday with ABC news where he dismissed concerns over his ability to carry out another term in office, UCL Director of the centre on US politics Thomas Gift told

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Beryl heads into Gulf of Mexico after battering Yucatan Peninsula

Beryl moved into the the Gulf of Mexico Friday and took aim at the south Texas coast after battering Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Texas officials issued disaster declarations and urge coastal residents to prepare as the storm headed their way. Beryl, the

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Hamas accepts US proposal on Israeli hostages in truce talks

Hamas has accepted a US proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday. The militant Islamist g

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Starmer kicks off plan to 'rebuild Britain' after landslide win

Europe • 9:26 AM

Newly elected Labour prime minister Keir Starmer will kickstart his plan to "rebuild Britain" on his first full day in charge Saturday, after his party's landslide election win ended 14 years of Conservative rule. He is expected to hold his first cabinet

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'Momentous day in British politics': Sunak step down as Starmer steps up

Europe • 8:42 AM

Friday was a "momentous day in British politics" that saw Rishi Sunak step down as prime minister and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer arriving at number 10 Downing Street, FRANCE 24's Bénédicte Paviot reports from London.

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Biden dismisses age questions in interview, vows to keep running

President Joe Biden in an exclusive interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on Friday dismissed concerns regarding his age and blamed his disastrous debate performance on a “bad episode”. With four months to go until Election Day, and with j

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Biden dismisses debate as 'bad episode' as he rejects calls to quit race

In an attempt to allay worries after a dismal debate performance that sparked demands for him to withdraw his reelection campaign, Joe Biden defended his electability and mental health in a TV interview on Friday. The 81-year-old president dismissed fear

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Masoud Pezeshkian, heart surgeon turned parliamentarian, elected president of Iran

Masoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister and long-time parliamentarian, was elected as the ninth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, securing 53.6% of the vote in a runoff election. His unexpected victory against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili

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Iranian reformist Masoud Pezeshkian wins presidential election runoff

Iran's reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won the runoff presidential election against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, receiving over 16 million votes compared to Jalili's 13 million, the interior ministry announced on Saturday. The election was calle

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Hamas drops key demand to accept phased US deal on ceasefire, hostages

Hamas on Saturday tentatively accepted a US-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire in Gaza, abandoning its demand for an upfront commitment from Israel to end the war entirely. This potential agreement, still under negotiation, could initiate a six-week

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Yesterday

France beats Portugal in penalty shootout in Euro 2024 to advance to semi-finals

Europe • 9:56 PM

France beat Portugal 5-3 in a penalty shootout to reach the European Championship semifinals on Friday, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s bid to win the title in his last appearance at the tournament.

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Host Germany crashes out of Euro 2024 as Spain secures spot in semi-finals

Germany’s Euro 2024 dream ended on Friday after Spain secured a place in the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over the tournament host thanks to a last-gasp Mikel Merino winner at the end of extra time.

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Can Labour repair the United Kingdom’s fragmented asylum system?

Europe • 6:04 PM

One of the challenges facing Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government is reforming a costly and dysfunctional asylum system. Rob McNeil, deputy director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, spoke to FRANCE 24 on the new govern

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We could have 'big difficulties in trade' if Trump returns, French former ambassador to US says

Europe • 4:43 PM

Talking Europe speaks to one of France’s most distinguished diplomats. Philippe Etienne, once dubbed “Macron’s diplomatic brain,” has been the French ambassador to Washington and Berlin as well as the permanent representative to the European Union. We po

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Evenepoel wins Tour time trial, Pogacar retains yellow jersey after stage seven

Remco Evenepoel won a thrilling 25.3km time-trial through the Burgundy vineyards In stage seven of the Tour de France, while Tadej Pogacar dug deep to keep the yellow jersey as the race's overall leader.

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French AI lab claims world's fastest voice bot, beating GPT-4o to the punch

A French AI lab has released a demo of a voice chatbot with practically immediate response times. OpenAI, the world's third most valuable start-up, has been teasing a similar feature for its own voice bot since mid-May.

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What caused the deadly stampede in India?

Pacific Asia • 2:40 PM

Authorities in India have arrested six people following a deadly stampede in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. 121 women and children were killed at a religious event where nearly 250,000 had gathered to listen to a guru. To understand what caused thi

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Desertification in Iraq: Multiplying sandstorms threaten local population

Water is running out in Iraq, a country where nearly more than half of the territory is considered at risk of desertification. Year after year, the situation is becoming worse and worse. Meanwhile the vast desertified areas create an environment prone to

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'I am running and I'm going to win again,' US President Biden says ahead of high-stakes interview

Ahead of a high-stakes interview with ABC News on Friday, US President Joe Biden reassured a campaign rally in Wisconsin that he was running and "going to win again”. The comments came after Biden’s presidential bid was called into question – even by som

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Keir Starmer names top cabinet posts after Labour's sweeping election victory

Keir Starmer replaced Rishi Sunak as prime minister after an audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on Friday, a few hours after the Labour party's landslide victory in the UK general election. Starmer later unveiled his new cabinet, which i

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Orban's meeting with Putin on Ukraine peace deal is 'appeasement', EU leaders say

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the most Russia-friendly of all EU leaders, met with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine. The trip, which comes just a few days after Budapest took over the rotating EU preside

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‘Unfair competition’: EU announces tariffs on Chinese electric cars

Europe • 9:53 AM

The EU has long talked about unfair competition from China. After a nine-month probe, Brussels announced additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, establishing that those cars have benefited heavily from “unfair subsidies”, which pose a threat ele

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Israel to send delegation to Doha for fresh Gaza ceasefire talks next week

Israel on Friday said it would send a delegation to Doha next week to negotiate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. "There are still gaps between the parties," Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman said after a first round of talk

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Several Palestinians killed during Israeli raid in West Bank city of Jenin

At least five people were killed on Friday during an Israeli military raid in a Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Authority health ministry. The clashes in Jenin came a day after the Israeli monitoring group Peace Now said the Israeli gove

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Playing crypto games for a living: Filipinos seek to escape poverty

Pacific Asia • 9:00 AM

Can you make a living from playing video games? Millions of Filipinos who earn cryptocurrency playing online games seem to think so. Players earn tokens they then trade in a virtual market for pesos or dollars. They can earn up to twice the minimum wage

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More than 50 candidates and activists assaulted in French election campaign, interior minister says

France's whirlwind legislative election campaign has been marred by assault and verbal attacks, with the interior minister reporting Friday that 51 candidates or political activists had been attacked during the campaign. The final round of the election w

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A deep dive into capitalism with Scene on Radio podcast co-host John Biewen

Scene on Radio, the Peabody-nominated podcast series produced by The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, has dedicated its latest season to exploring the history, failures and future of capitalism over the course of 13 episodes. John Biewen, c

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Hurricane Beryl makes landfall on Mexican coast near top tourist resorts

After leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean, Hurricane Beryl, now a Category 2 storm, made landfall in Mexico's popular tourist spots on the Yucutan peninsula Friday, prompting the country's authorities to issue a red alert. “We’re

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Polls open in Iran presidential election runoff amid declining voter turnout

Iranians began voting Friday in a runoff election to replace the late president Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month. Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, faces ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, a former nuc

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New PM Keir Starmer poised to bring a low profile to 10 Downing Street

The Labour Party won a landslide victory in the UK general election on Thursday, making Keir Starmer the country’s first Labour prime minister in 14 years. Starmer's victory caps a remarkable political rise for the former human rights lawyer and chief pr

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France take on Portugal, Germany face Spain in gripping Euro 2024 quarter-finals

Germany is going head-to-head with Spain in the first of two quarter-final matches at Euro 2024 on Friday, with France set to take on Portugal in the late match. On Saturday, England will face Switzerland while Turkey square off against the Netherlands.

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Indian activists challenge marital rape clause

Pacific Asia • 12:58 AM

We meet the Indian women campaigning to criminalise marital rape following the adoption of a new penal code which still does not prosecute husbands who rape their wives. A new report reveals how family laws in many African countries reinforce discriminat

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Thursday, july 4, 2024

Rishi Sunak says 'sorry' to public after Keir Starmer’s Labour wins UK election

Rishi Sunak on Friday apologised to the public after his Conservatives were trounced by Labour in the UK general election, saying he would step down as party leader. Prime Minister-elect Keir Starmer pledged to start a period of "national renewal" in the

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Junta-leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to hold first joint summit

Africa • 8:46 PM

The junta-leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will hold their first ever joint summit this weekend. The “Alliance of Sahel States” meeting will be held in Niger’s capital Niamey.

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Racism and xenophobia on the rise as French voters gear up for crucial election

France • 8:10 PM

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) has its best chance yet of clinching power in a second round of legislative elections on July 7, running on a platform that proposes restricting the rights of immigrants and dual nationals. The party’s surge is in s

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River Seine water quality improves with three weeks to go before Paris Olympics

In this week's edition of Destination Paris, there's good news for organisers as new data shows that pollution levels in the Seine have improved. We present you with several athletes to look out for in Paris including pole vaulter Armand Duplantis who is

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France's frenzied finale: Will last-minute deals thwart far-right win?

Europe • 6:13 PM

The ink on the campaign posters barely had time to dry. Yet, France’s frenzied snap legislative election races are nearly over. President Macron hoped to clear the air with his shock dissolution of parliament but after the far-right’s unprecedented surge

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Netanyahu to send Israeli delegation for Gaza hostage negotiations

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has informed US President Joe Biden that he is sending a delegation to negotiate a hostage release with Hamas. But there is still no indication where the delegation will go or when it will leave.

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EU imposes additional tariffs on China-made EVs

The European Union has sharply raised import duties on Chinese electric vehicles to address what it sees as unfair competition.Starting Friday, provisional tariffs of up to 37.6% will be imposed on China-made EVs coming into the EU, on top of the standar

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Dutch rider Groenewegen sprints to stage six win of Tour de France in Dijon

France • 5:09 PM

Dylan Groenewegen of the Netherlands won stage six of the Tour de France on Thursday in a mass dash for the Dijon finish line in which Belgian Jasper Philipsen was relegated for a swerve.

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Doubts over Biden: 'The evidence was there,' says Washington Post's David Ignatius

FRANCE 24 spoke to David Ignatius, a columnist for the Washington Post. In September of last year, he wrote an opinion piece entitled "President Biden should not run again in 2024". The 81-year-old Biden's performance in last week's presidential debate a

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Water quality in the Seine improves ahead of Paris Olympics, tests show

Europe • 3:42 PM

With just three weeks to go before the opening of the Paris Olympics, the water quality in the Seine river finally seems to have improved, with toxic bacteria coming down to acceptable limits, the Paris mayor’s office said in a statement Thursday, citing

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'Black sheep' embarrass the National Rally ahead of decisive parliamentary vote

Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) has worked hard to shed its far-right extremist roots, but the party's more respectable image has been tarnished by a series of controversies involving candidates who qualified for the final round of the legislative el

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Highlights from the world's biggest theatre festival

Culture • 2:06 PM

Culture reporter Olivia Salazar-Winspear speaks to Eve Jackson about the highlights from the Avignon Theatre Festival in the south of France, including Greek tragedy "Hecuba, not Hecuba" from the event's artistic director Tiago Rodrigues, and French dire

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Training in the shadow of war: Ukrainian athletes prepare for Paris Olympics

Europe • 11:27 AM

A total of 126 Ukrainian athletes will be competing at this year's Paris Olympics. With their country at war, their participation takes on particular importance. Ukraine's National Olympic Committee says more than 400 registered athletes have been killed

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Turkey’s Erdogan to attend Euro 2024 quarterfinals in Berlin amid diplomatic row

Turkey’s Erdogan is expected to attend the Euro 2024 quarterfinals on Saturday in Germany despite a recent row between Ankara and Berlin over a Turkish footballer, who signalled a nationalist gesture at a match. Germany condemned the behaviour, which dre

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Moscow court rules to keep French NGO worker Laurent Vinatier in pre-trial detention

A Moscow court ruled Thursday to maintain the pre-trial detention of French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who was arrested last month on accusations of gathering military information. Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, has been charge

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Hezbollah launches more than 200 rockets into Israel after senior commander's killing

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Thursday it launched more than 200 rockets at Israeli military positions in response to the killing of a senior commander the day before. Israel retaliated with strikes on southern Lebanon as cross-border exchanges continue to

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