News : France24

Northvolt was a shiny new startup with a pretty logo that promised to “make oil history” by making the cleanest electric car battery the world had ever seen. The Swedish company founded in 2016 was seen as a huge driver for Europe’s dream to become carbo

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In Ukraine’s Lyman, printed press becomes vital link to outside world

Europe • 2:55 PM

1 min

Print media might be struggling in many parts of the world, but it has become a vital link to the outside world for isolated communities near Ukraine's front lines. In the battle-scarred Ukrainian city of Lyman, Russian bombardments frequently cut power

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Romania's agriculture sector devastated by drought, desertification

Europe • 9:52 AM

1 min

In Romania, extreme weather events are intensifying. While eastern parts of the country are slowly recovering from Storm Boris, the south is suffering from drought and desertification. Romania is one of the EU's main exporters of cereals, but heatwaves h

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Greenland extends detention of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

Europe • 2:39 AM

1 min

The founder of the envorinmental group Sea Shepherd was arrested in July when his ship docked in Greenland to refuel on the way to intecept a Japanese whaling vessel. He is being held on a Japanese arrest warrant pending a decision on his extradition.

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Spain welcomes record 21.8 million summer vistors as overtourism sparks protests

Europe • 12:47 AM

1 min

A record number of tourists travelled to Spain in summer 2024 amid protests from residents who blame tourists for degrading living conditions. Although the high figures were a boon for the economy, Spain should "transform" its model for the tourism secto

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The significance of Russia's capture of the Ukrainian stronghold of Vuhledar

Europe • 12:35 AM

1 min

Russian troops took control of Vuhledar in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Wednesday, opening the way for Russian forces to advance toward other towns in the region. Both sides value Vuhledar due to its position on elevated ground at the intersection

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Mark Rutte takes over as new NATO chief, dismisses Trump concerns

Europe • 9:02 AM

1 min

NATO's new chief Mark Rutte took over the leadership of the military alliance from outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday. In his acceptance speech, Rutte downplayed fears over the impact of a potential Donald Trump vic

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Wikileaks' Assange says he 'pleaded guilty to journalism' to secure his freedom

Europe • 8:39 AM

1 min

Wikileaks founder Julien Assange spent years living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid arrest and then in prison after he published hundreds of thousands of confidential US government documents. His contentious actions saw him labelled both a c

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Rwandan former doctor goes on trial in France accused of genocide

Europe • 2:49 AM

1 min

A former doctor, Eugene Rwamucyo, 65, goes on trial Tuesday for alleged genocide during Rwanda's 1994 massacre of Tutsis by the Hutu majority. Accused of aiding anti-Tutsi propaganda and mass murder, Rwamucyo is charged with genocide, complicity, crimes

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Russia plans to boost defence spending by a quarter for 2025

Europe • 9:38 PM

1 min

Russia will boost its defence budget by nearly 30% next year, surpassing welfare and education spending, a draft budget showed on Monday. The 2025 defence budget is set at 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion), up from 10.4 trillion in 2024. Military expen

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Venezuelan opposition figure Machado wins European rights award

Europe • 12:48 AM

1 min

Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado said Monday she was "honoured" to receive a European human rights prize for her efforts to defend democracy following Venezuela's presidential elections in July. Machado is now in hiding in Venezuela as m

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Britain becomes first G7 nation to end coal power with last plant closure

Europe • 12:00 AM

1 min

Britain's last remaining coal power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, will stop electricity generation on Monday after 57 years of operation. The closure aligns with the government's coal phase-out policy, initiated nearly a decade ago.

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Austria's far-right Freedom Party comes out ahead in legislative election

Europe • 7:45 PM

1 min

Vote projections showed that Austria’s far-right Freedom Party won national legislative election for the first time on Sunday. The far right has benefited from voters’ anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other concerns.

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Russia says it downed more than 100 Ukrainian drones in one of the war's largest barrages

Europe • 2:18 PM

1 min

Moscow said on Sunday that its air defences downed 125 Ukrainian drones overnight, in one of the largest barrages seen in Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In Ukraine, more than a dozen civilians were injured in an overnight barrage of Ru

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Kyiv says Russia hit a medical centre in Ukraine's Sumy, killing and injuring staff and patients

Europe • 10:57 AM

1 min

Russian forces hit a medical center in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday morning then struck again as the building was being evacuated, killing nine people and injuring 20 others, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian prosecutors said that at the ti

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Austrian far-right party hopes for its first national election win in a close race

Europe • 10:37 AM

1 min

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party could win a national election for the first time on Sunday, tapping into voters’ anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other concerns following recent gains for the hard right elsewhere in Europe. Story by

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Austria holds tight election with far right bidding for historic win

Europe • 10:33 AM

1 min

Austrians were voting on Sunday to elect a new parliament, with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) aiming to secure its first general election win in a close race with the ruling conservatives. More information with John Cummins, journalist in Vienna.

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Austria's far-right Freedom Party comes out ahead in legislative election

Europe • 7:26 AM

1 min

Vote projections showed that Austria’s far-right Freedom Party won national legislative election for the first time on Sunday. The far right has benefited from voters’ anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other concerns.

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Russia to formalise revised nuclear doctrine in warning to the West

Europe • 12:10 AM

1 min

Amendments to Russia's nuclear doctrine have been prepared and "will now be formalised", the Kremlin said Sunday, days after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles and would consi

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Putin’s nuclear threats: empty rhetoric or a shift in battlefield strategy?

Europe • 6:44 PM

1 min

President Vladimir Putin made a chilling declaration this week when he proposed changes to Russia’s nuclear war policies. One of the most concerning was the possibility of mobilising the country’s nuclear arsenal if another nuclear power supports a non-n

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Some 60 more women accuse Mohamed Al-Fayed, ex-owner of Harrod's and the Paris Ritz, of sex abuse

Europe • 6:18 PM

1 min

Some 60 women have come forward with new allegations since a BBC documentary aired last week detailing sexual assault claims against Mohamed Al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrod's department store and the Paris Ritz. A former executive assistant at the R

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Trump, Zelenskyy meet ahead of a US election with high stakes for Ukraine

Europe • 5:50 PM

1 min

Republican nominee Donald Trump on Friday sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York to discuss the war in Ukraine ahead of November’s US presidential election. The meeting came after Trump, an outspoken critic of US and Western su

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Ukraine war 'leading nowhere'; give diplomacy a chance: Ex-EU Commission chief Juncker

Europe • 2:56 PM

1 min

Talking Europe sits down with one of the most high-profile EU Commission presidents of modern times, Jean-Claude Juncker, who was in office from 2014 to 2019. He shares his thoughts on Ursula von der Leyen's second European Commission and the challenges

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People living with disabilities in the EU: The battle for inclusion

Europe • 2:28 PM

1 min

One in four adults in the EU have a disability, according to Eurostat. That's more than 100 million people. And while this summer's Paralympics no doubt drew attention to the issue in a visible way, the daily struggles of so many people remain largely in

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Climate activists sentenced to jail for throwing soup at Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’

Europe • 1:23 PM

1 min

Two climate activists who threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery in 2022 were sentenced to prison by a UK court on Friday. Another five members of the British environmental group Just Stop Oil were sentenced in June fo

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Oscar-winning British actress Maggie Smith has died at 89

Europe • 1:19 PM

1 min

British actress Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89, her publicist and family said on Friday. The two-time Oscar-winner won over a new generation of fans in recent years by starring in the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey.

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The role of tourism in fostering international peace

Europe • 9:41 AM

1 min

September 27th is World Tourism Day, a United Nations day of observance that aims to underscore the importance of tourism on a global scale. This year, the event is being hosted by Georgia, with the theme "Tourism as an instrument for peace." In celebrat

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Victims of clerical sex abuse demand justice on pope’s visit to Belgium

Europe • 9:27 AM

1 min

Pope Francis was set to meet Belgian victims of sexual abuse by clergymen on Friday as part of a three-day visit to the country – the first by a pontiff in almost 30 years. FRANCE 24 spoke to two of the victims of abuse, only one of whom was granted an a

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France’s debt rose to 112 percent of GDP in second quarter, data show

Europe • 7:37 AM

1 min

France’s public debt increased to near €3.23 trillion, or 112 percent of GDP, between April and June, official statistics showed Friday. The data was published as the country’s new government is looking to tackle the mounting debt pile, with Prime Minist

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Repeated crossing of Moscow's red lines shows Russia is bluffing, analyst says

Europe • 9:28 PM

1 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met his US counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday to present his wartime "victory plan", after the US announced an $8 billion surge in military aid for Kyiv's fight against Russia. FRANCE 24's Sharon G

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Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’: Is the war in Ukraine reaching its endgame?

Europe • 7:09 PM

1 min

The coming weeks could be decisive for the war in Ukraine: As President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for bold action from Western allies to achieve his “victory plan”, former US president Donald Trump has pledged that Washington will “get out” of the conflic

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Residents of Spain’s Menorca say ‘enough’ to overtourism

Europe • 3:26 PM

1 min

Venice, Barcelona, Marseille... For several summers now, these European cities have been sounding the alarm about overtourism. In Spain, the second most-visited country in the world after France, this came to a head when thousands of people protested acr

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Far-right lawmakers nominate Musk for top EU rights award

Europe • 1:49 PM

1 min

Far-right lawmakers have proposed Elon Musk for the EU's top rights prize for the second year in a row as a champion of "free speech", the European Parliament said on Thursday.

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Putin issues nuclear warning to the West over strikes on Russia from Ukraine

Europe • 9:19 AM

1 min

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.

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Putin calls for changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, widening net for ‘aggressor’ states

Europe • 6:51 PM

1 min

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday presented proposed changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, saying a nuclear power supporting another state’s attack on his country should from now on be considered as participating in the aggression. Although Putin did

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Can Ukraine convince? At United Nations, Zelensky talks up 'victory plan'

Europe • 6:06 PM

1 min

Winter is coming. So are the US elections. So how about diplomacy? It's UN Week in New York and before heading to Washington, Ukraine's president is trying to rally support for what he's branded his "victory plan". How much support and how much leverage

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‘Godless people’: Russia mulls ban on promoting childless lifestyles

Europe • 3:52 PM

1 min

A group of Russian MPs have put forward a bill that would ban any “propaganda” promoting childless lifestyles and the choice not to have children, including in the media, online advertising and in films. It comes as the country faces a demographic crisis

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REPLAY: Ukrainian president Zelensky addresses UN General Assembly, seeks global support

Europe • 3:01 PM

1 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the UN General Assembly, highlighting Russia's attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as winter is coming. He warned that further strikes could lead to a nuclear disaster and condemned what he said we

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Zelensky alleges Russian plan to attack Ukraine’s nuclear plants in defiant UN speech

Europe • 2:51 PM

1 min

Ukraine’s President Voldymy Zelensky on Wednesday told the United Nations General Assembly that he has received an “alarming” intelligence report indicating that Russia is planning to attack the country’s nuclear power plants, warning it could lead to a

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France’s new interior minister vows tougher immigration rules after student murder

Europe • 11:17 AM

1 min

France’s new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Wednesday vowed to toughen the country’s immigration rules after a Moroccan man was arrested in Switzerland, suspected of murdering a 19-year-old student and burying her body in a forest on the outskirts

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Exclusive: On the ground in Russian territory held by Ukrainian forces

Europe • 12:09 AM

1 min

Ukraine is still holding swathes of territory in the Kursk region of Russia, seven weeks after a lightning offensive designed to draw Russian troops away from eastern Ukraine and gain leverage in potential peace negotiations with Moscow. FRANCE 24’s Cath

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Sweden says Iran behind 2023 Koran burning hacker attack

Europe • 10:01 PM

1 min

Swedish authorities accused Iran on Tuesday of being responsible for thousands of text messages sent to people in Sweden calling for revenge over the burnings of Islam's holy book in 2023. Iran denies the accusation. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to

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Zelensky tells UN Security Council that Russia 'can only be forced into peace'

Europe • 8:18 PM

1 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday told a special UN Security Council session that Russia "can only be forced into peace", claiming that Moscow is insincere in its calls for dialogue and denouncing Iran and North Korea as “accomplices” in

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‘Restore order’: France's new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau signals rightward shift

Europe • 5:44 PM

1 min

Staunch conservative Bruno Retailleau has quickly shown his hardliner credentials as France’s new interior minister by taking a tough stance on immigration, crime and defending secularism.

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80 years on, French lake still polluted by World War II bombs

Europe • 2:47 PM

1 min

A French environmental group has found artillery shells dating back to World Wars I and II and even the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 in a lake in eastern France. Water samples from Gerardmer in the Vosges mountains show high levels of TNT explosive as wel

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Ukraine is ‘close to the end of the war’, Zelenskiy says on US visit

Europe • 7:21 AM

1 min

"We are closer to the end of the war" with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Monday in an interview with ABC News, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "afraid" because of Ukraine's ongoing incursion into the western Kursk r

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World's oceans close to becoming too acidic to sustain marine life, report says

Europe • 6:17 PM

1 min

A new report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research details how a crucial threshold for ocean acidification could soon become the seventh factor breached – out of of nine – considered critical for the planet's ability to regulate life-susta

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France's new govt convenes for first time and sets budget, migrant issues as top priorities

Europe • 4:42 PM

1 min

France's right-leaning new government convened Monday for its first formal meeting during which Prime Minister Michel Barnier vowed to address budget and migrant issues as the priority. Barnier is expected to submit a new budget bill to the European Unio

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Russian cosmonauts touch down in Soyuz capsule after record-breaking stay on ISS

Europe • 1:27 PM

1 min

A Russian space capsule with two Russians and one American on board landed Monday in Kazakhstan after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS). Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned after a record-breaking stay of 374 da

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Zelensky in US to explain war plan to Biden, Harris, Trump

Europe • 11:38 AM

1 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday arrived in the United States for a crucial visit to present Kyiv's plan to end two and a half years of war with Russia. Zelensky will present his proposals -- which he calls a "victory plan" -- to Presiden

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Six new defendants take the stand in France's Pelicot mass rape trial

Europe • 10:35 AM

1 min

The mass rape trial that has shaken France on Monday moved into its fourth week by hearing the cases against six new defendants. Among them was Joan K., who was 22 at the time of the alleged assaults, suspected of raping Gisèle Pelicot on two occasions u

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France's incoming interior minister vows to 'restore order' as new government takes over

Europe • 10:14 AM

1 min

France's new right-leaning government held its first meeting early on Monday, with Prime Minister Michel Barnier presiding over a working breakfast before a first official cabinet meeting at the Élysée Palace later in the day. Incoming Interior Minister

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Residents flee as Russian troops close in on Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk

Europe • 9:47 AM

1 min

Russian forces have been intensifying their attacks on the approach to the town of Pokrovsk in the Donbas, which used to be a key logistical hub far back from the front, crucial for supplying Ukrainian troops and towns in the east. But now, water, electr

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‘There’ll be nothing left’: Pokrovsk residents flee Russian advance

Europe • 8:34 AM

1 min

As the war in Ukraine rages on, weaknesses on its eastern frontline are the focus of major battles. Russian forces have been intensifying their attacks on the approach to the town of Pokrovsk, in the Donbas, which used to be a key logistical hub far back

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Zelensky in US to discuss Ukraine's 'victory plan' with Biden

Europe • 10:48 PM

1 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States on Sunday to present his war plan to President Joe Biden, as well as presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, as the US continues to oppose Ukraine's use of NATO weapons o

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French PM Barnier signals tax hikes on wealthy as new government takes over

Europe • 7:03 PM

1 min

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Sunday said he would avoid broad tax hikes, opting instead for tax increases for high earners, a day before his new government was set to take up its functions. Barnier's first major test will be to narrow the budg

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'It looks like the Social Democratic party has actually won in Brandenburg'

Europe • 5:16 PM

1 min

'It looks like the Social Democratic party has actually won in Brandenburg", said FRANCE 24's correspondent in Germany, Nick Holdsworth. "Exit polls have come out showing either 32 or 31% for the SPD (that's the Socialists) and either 29% or 30% for AFD

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Scholz's party fends off far-right AfD in German state vote

Europe • 5:08 PM

1 min

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) looked set to fend off the far-right in a state election in eastern Germany. The SPD scored 31.9% of the vote, ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) on 29.2% in a last-minute comeback.

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In Ukraine, the counter-drone system is critical in the war against Russia

Europe • 4:35 PM

1 min

A row of high-rise apartments in Ukraine's second city have been hit by air strikes, with at least 21 people reported wounded, including 3 children. Russia also launched 80 drones targeting Ukraine's infrastructure overnight, 71 said to have been stopped

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France's new government under pressure on multiple fronts

Europe • 2:11 PM

1 min

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's new government is already feeling the pressure from opposition politicians on both sides amid growing threats of a no-confidence vote in parliament. Barnier's first main task is to submit a 2025 budget plan that add

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