News : France24

Today

Global plastic talks collapse as countries remain deeply divided

Global talks to develop a landmark treaty to end plastic pollution have once again failed. The UN negotiations, the sixth round of talks in just under three years, were due to end on Thursday but countries continued to negotiate into the night in the hop

Read the article

Paris Saint-Germain eyes crown as Ligue 1 season kicks off

Fresh from a historic Champions League and Super Cup double, Paris Saint-Germain will kickstart their Ligue 1 season after a gruelling summer this weekend, eyeing another European crown. Paul Pogba returns to the pitch with Monaco, Lyon is set to fight t

Read the article

Far-right Israeli minister taunts jailed Palestinian leader in prison visit

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir released a video on Friday showing him taunting Israel’s most prominent Palestinian detainee, Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure, in his jail cell. The Palestinian Authority's foreign min

Read the article

The Ukrainian land occupied by Russia at the heart of the Trump-Putin summit

Europe • 2:01 PM

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska today for critical talks on the war in Ukraine. Ahead of the summit, Trump alluded to a possible “swapping of territories” as part of a larger ceasefire deal, but neither

Read the article

Far-right Israeli minister taunts jailed Palestinian leader in prison visit

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir released a video on Friday showing him taunting Israel’s most prominent Palestinian detainee, Marwan Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure, in his jail cell. The Palestinian Authority's foreign min

Read the article

US aims, Russian demands, Ukrainian fears: what each side expects from Trump-Putin summit

Europe • 11:26 AM

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin head to Alaska with contrasting priorities on Friday as they prepare for high-stakes talks that Ukrainians fear could seal their country's fate after three-and-a-half years of devastati

Read the article

Putin praises Trump’s efforts to end Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin are set to meet on Friday in Alaska for a rare, high-stakes summit on Ukraine, marking Putin’s first visit to Western soil since the 2022 invasion. The summit comes as Moscow made fresh battlefield ga

Read the article

Fighting plastic pollution: Rwanda wants to lead by example

From August 5th to the 14th, UN member states, NGOs and scientists met in Geneva to negotiate a global plastics treaty. One country is positioning itself as a frontrunner in that battle — Rwanda. The East African nation banned plastic bags back in 2008…

Read the article

Flash floods kill at least 160 in Pakistan, scores still missing

Sudden floods and mudslides swept through Pakistan and the disputed region of Kashmir on Thursday, killing at least 160 people, injuring more than 100 and leaving 200 missing, as rescuers searched for survivors amid the debris.

Read the article

Trump says Putin will make deal on Ukraine as leaders prepare for Alaska meeting

According to the Russian state-owned news agency RIA, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and its ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, have arrived in Alaska for today’s high-stakes Russian-American summit. France 24’s International A

Read the article

Beijing’s first World Humanoid Robot Games open with hip-hop and martial arts

Humanoid robots danced hip-hop, performed martial arts and played keyboard, guitar and drums at the opening ceremony of the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Thursday evening. The competition begins Friday with more than 500 humanoid robots

Read the article

UN plastic pollution treaty talks extended by a day as no agreement reached

Widely rejected draft text does not limit plastic production or address chemicals used in plastic products. Yuka Royer explains.

Read the article

Trump, Putin to meet in Alaska for high-stakes Ukraine summit

US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin are set to meet on Friday in Alaska for a rare, high-stakes summit on Ukraine, marking Putin’s first visit to Western soil since the 2022 invasion. The summit comes as Moscow made fresh battlefield ga

Read the article

Authorities search for migrants missing after shipwreck in Italy

Italian authorities searched Thursday for migrants missing at sea after two crowded boats sank off the island of Lampedusa, killing at least 27 people. Caroline Baum reports.

Read the article

Israeli minister announces settlement plan to 'bury the idea of a Palestinian state'

Israel’s far-right finance minister on Thursday announced plans to revive a contentious settlement plan in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups fear will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state. The so-called E1 scheme linkin

Read the article

Countdown to high-stakes Alaska summit : Trump vows not to be intimidated by Putin

US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin are set to meet on Friday in Alaska for a rare, high-stakes summit on Ukraine, marking Putin’s first visit to Western soil since the 2022 invasion. The summit comes as Moscow made fresh battlefield ga

Read the article

Rival protester groups clash anew in Serbia amid escalating political crisis

Escalating anti-government protests in Serbia continued into late Thursday, as clashes between President Aleksandar Vucic's critics and detractors over corruption accusations led to a second night of violence and arrests. Simon Moritz tells us more.

Read the article

Hezbollah leader accuses govt of ‘handing’ Lebanon to Israel with disarmament plan

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday accused Lebanon’s government of “handing” the country to Israel by seeking the group’s disarmament, vowing to fight the move.

Read the article

Israel: Minister says plan will “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state

Israel’s far-right finance minister on Thursday announced plans to revive a contentious settlement plan in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups fear will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state. The so-called E1 scheme linkin

Read the article

Four years after the fall of Kabul, Taliban succeeds in near-total exclusion of women

Four years since Taliban forces seized Kabul and ended two decades of Western presence, Afghan women face near-total exclusion from public life. Nearly 100 edicts have stripped them of basic freedoms, while any dissent remains dangerous and international

Read the article

MSF: Children in Gaza facing displacement, starvation and death require 'much wider nexus of needs'

"A sense of purpose": MSF has struggled to care for children in war-torn Gaza, facing a "resource-constrained" setting, They are on the front lines each day, treating Gaza's youth suffering from immense physical and psychological trauma. These children r

Read the article

Live: Zelensky says Ukraine 'counting' on Trump to convince Russia to end war

Europe • 6:52 AM

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called on Donald Trump to press Russia to end its invasion during the US president’s high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. "It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps

Read the article

Football: Ligue 1 kicks off with Rennes - Marseille and Lens - Lyon

Olympique de Marseille head off to Rennes for the Ligue 1 football season opener.

Read the article

Invasive species thrive as Mediterranean Sea temperature hits record high

Europe • 5:31 AM

Rising sea temperatures are fuelling the rapid “tropicalisation” of the Mediterranean, with venomous Red Sea species like lionfish disrupting ecosystems from Turkey to Malta, scientists warn.

Read the article

Trump says won't be intimidated by Putin ahead of high-stakes summit

Ahead of his crucial meeting with Russian President Vladimir Zelensky on Friday, US President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that he won't let his Russian counterpart "mess around" with him over conditions for a peace deal in Ukraine, as Kyiv and its

Read the article

Rival protester groups clash anew in Serbia amid escalating political crisis

Europe • 3:10 AM

Escalating anti-government protests in Serbia continued into late Thursday, as clashes between President Aleksandar Vucic's critics and detractors over corruption accusations led to a second night of violence and arrests.

Read the article

Experts grapple with scale of plastic pollution in oceans

As 185 nations engage in talks on reaching a global treaty to curb plastic pollution, the increasingly unmanageable scale of plastic waste littering oceans and threatening the wildlife within them leaves experts concerned about the feasibility of an adeq

Read the article

Anchorage prepares for Trump-Putin meeting

France 24 correspondent Wassim Cornet reports from Anchorage, in Alaska, where US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to hold a highly anticipated meeting on Friday to discuss the possibility of achieving a ceasefire

Read the article

All 800 National Guard troops officially deployed in DC amid Trump's federal takeover

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that it had officially mobilised all 800 National Guard troops to help law enforcement officers in Washington DC in a move the US President Donald Trump has billed as a crackdown on crime.

Read the article

Sailing towards sustainability: France’s new wave of eco-friendly holidays

In France, many families and holidaymakers are trying out new ways of vacationing, including by boat or catamaran. Both family- and environmentally-friendly, this company’s ambition is to decarbonize passenger transport. Antonia Kerrigan takes a closer l

Read the article

Canada sees second-worst wildfire season

With hundreds of wildfires burning out of control, Canada’s 2025 fire season is already the second-worst on record, as scientists report climate change is prolonging and exacerbating the burning, leading to more destruction, evacuations and smoke-filled

Read the article

Trump and Putin set for high-stakes Alaska summit amid Ukraine tensions

Donald Trump is traveling to Alaska for high-stakes talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, marking their first one-on-one meeting in six years. Posting “HIGH STAKES!!!” on Truth Social, the U.S. president has amplified expec

Read the article

Trump leaves on Air Force One to meet Putin for Ukraine talks in Alaska

US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he would not be intimidated by Russia's Vladimir Putin ahead of a rare, high-stakes summit on Ukraine in Alaska on Friday that marks Putin’s first visit to Western soil since the 2022 invasion. The summit comes

Read the article

Palestinians condemn Israel’s Ben-Gvir over Marwan Barghouti threat

Palestinian officials have condemned far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s taunting visit to the jail cell of long-imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Footage of the visit shared on social media on Thursday showed the minis

Read the article

Macron pledges action over anti-Semitic 'hatred' after memorial tree vandalised

President Emmanuel Macron on Friday condemned the felling of a memorial tree for Ilan Halimi, a Jewish man tortured to death in 2006, calling it an anti-Semitic act and vowing to punish those responsible amid rising hate crimes in France.

Read the article

'We have missed a historic opportunity': Plastic pollution treaty talks end in deadlock

High level negotiations between 185 countries over reaching a global agreement to combat plastic pollution ended on Friday, as rival blocs clashed over prioritising a phase out of the material or bettering waste management systems.

Read the article

Yesterday

Mali junta accuses 'foreign states' of attempted destabilisation plot

Mali's ruling military junta said Thursday it had arrested a French national suspected of working for French intelligence services and at least 55 soldiers for allegedly attempting to "destabilise the institutions of the republic" with the help of "forei

Read the article

Oil producers resist as nations push for global plastics agreement

Africa • 9:06 PM

Negotiators in Geneva are scrambling to salvage a global treaty aimed at curbing plastic pollution, as talks enter their final day. Nearly 100 countries are pushing for an agreement, but opposition from oil-producing nations threatens to derail progress.

Read the article

Flash floods kill at least 56 and leave more than 200 missing in Kashmir

At least 56 people have died in a Himalayan village in Indian-administered Kashmir Thursday after torrential rain triggered flash floods, washing away a pilgrims' kitchen. Rescue teams struggled to reach the site, with soldiers deployed and more rain exp

Read the article

Alaska Summit: Behind all of the praise, is Putin simply luring Trump in?

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, more than three years after Moscow launched its invasion, as the two leaders prepared for a pivotal US–Russia summit in Alaska. For in-dep

Read the article

Putin hails Trump’s "energetic and sincere" efforts to end Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on August 14 that the United States was making "sincere efforts" to halt the war in Ukraine and suggested Moscow and Washington could agree a nuclear arms deal as part of a wider effort to strengthen peace. France 24

Read the article

War in Gaza: Vigil held for slain media workers

Protests and memorials have erupted worldwide with calls for accountability after six journalists were killed in Gaza. On August 10, an Israeli strike hit a media tent outside al-Shifa Hospital, killing prominent Al Jazeera correspondent, Anas al-Sharif,

Read the article

France: Brittany launches new sailboat service to Isle of Groix

In Brittany, sailing boat transport has continued to develop. Just recently, a new line has opened from Lorient to the Isle of Groix.

Read the article

Russia, Ukraine exchange 84 prisoners each on the eve of Trump-Putin summit

Russia and Ukraine swapped 84 prisoners each on Thursday, a day before President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump meet in Alaska for a high-level summit. Kyiv said the freed Ukrainians included long-held captives and "defenders of Mariu

Read the article

Grand Magal in Touba honors Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, attracts millions of pilgrims

Senegal is celebrating Le Grand Magal, one of Africa’s largest religious gatherings. Millions of worshippers are converging on the city of Touba, in the country’s central-western region, in response to the call of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mou

Read the article

Beijing: First world humanoid robot games kicks off

#Beijing will host the world’s first multi-sport competition for humanoid #robots, featuring events such as football matches, martial arts, and dance performances with coverage from more than 97 news outlets.

Read the article

Dozens killed, more than 200 missing after flash floods in Kashmir

At least 56 people died in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday after torrential rain triggered flash floods in India's second major deadly flooding disaster this month. Rescue teams struggled to reach the area as the region's weather department issue

Read the article

Spain arrests alleged arsonist as France sends planes to battle deadly wildfires

Spain was grappling on Thursday with one of its worst fire seasons in 20 years, with blazes fuelled by record heat forcing evacuations and prompting the country to seek help from European partners. France sent two Canadair water-bombing planes to help ta

Read the article

Israeli far-right minister backs contentious West Bank settlement plan

Israel's finance minister on August 14 backed plans to build 3,400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory's annexation in response to several countries' plans to recognise a Palestinian state. France

Read the article

Hong Kong court to hear closing arguments in mogul Jimmy Lai's trial

Jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai's national security trial, which began in late 2023, will enter its final stages on August 14 as lawyers present closing arguments. The 77-year-old founder of the Apple Daily newspaper is charged with foreign coll

Read the article

Serbia: Clashes erupt for a second day at anti-government protests

Clashes erupted between Serbian anti-government protesters and supporters for a second day on August 13 in a major escalation after more than nine months of persistent demonstrations against autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic.

Read the article

Wildfires kill at least 3 and displace thousands across southern Europe

Wildfires intensified across southern Europe on Wednesday with a round-the-clock battle to protect the perimeter of Greece’s third-largest city and at least three deaths reported in Spain, Turkey and Albania.

Read the article

DR Congo: US sanctions armed group, mining firms

The United States has imposed sanctions on an armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing it of profiting from mineral trafficking. Congolese and Chinese companies linked to this illegal trade have also been sanctioned. This decision co

Read the article

Last chance saloon for global plastic pollution treaty

Negotiators trying to secure a global agreement on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution have less than 24 hours to salvage a deal on August 14 after the talks plunged into total disarray.

Read the article

Spain: Deadly wildfires kill at least three people

In just a week, dozens of forest fires have burned through 60 000 hectares as record heatwaves, combined with strong winds and dry conditions, have ravaged the country. Wildfires have already devastated parts of Castilla y León, Extremadura, the Comuni

Read the article

Macron urges adoption of UN plastics treaty to address 'public health emergency'

French President Emmanuel Macron called on countries negotiating a UN treaty against plastic pollution in Geneva on Thursday to redouble their efforts, saying it was "our chance to turn the tide" against a "public health emergency". Tensions have arisen

Read the article