Author: France 24

British playwright Tom Stoppard, a dramatist who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love”, has died at the age of 88. Famed for his dazzling wit and depth, Stoppard was credited with reshaping modern theatre, combining intellectual subjects with comedy. 

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will take no further steps in indirect talks with Turkey as long as its founder Abdullah Ocalan remains imprisoned, said a senior commander. Since talks began last year, the PKK has complied with several peace process steps as Turkey prepares a legal framework for the group’s political integration.

Just three days after their spectacular Champions League win over Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain return to Ligue 1 action on Saturday with a tricky trip to Monaco. Unbeaten in the league for over two months, the Parisians aim to tighten their grip on top spot.

LinkedIn, the social media platform with which professionals connect and network, has found itself in hot water after a surprising experiment revealed signs of bias against women. Also competition is woven into nearly every part of our lives; but do we really need it at work or even in our daily routines? Annette Young talks to author, Ruchika Malhotra, whose latest book is entitled “Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success”. Plus the countdown is on for French female astronaut, Sophie Adenot, who will be heading to the International Space Station in the coming months.

With audiences dwindling and streaming on the rise, Paris’s iconic arthouse cinemas are racing to reinvent themselves or risk closing for good. One cinema in the Champs-Elysées area has adopted a “modular” economic model, enabling screening rooms to be rapidly transformed into reception spaces.

Israeli lawmakers on Monday are set to debate a new draft law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews amid fierce political battles between religious parties critical for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s survival and critics who denounce the new proposed exemptions as a “fraud” and “conscription on paper only”.

Lyon surged to the top of the Europa League on Matchday 5 after a dominant 6–0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday in Serbia, a victory powered by a hat-trick from captain Corentin Tolisso.

Stock markets were largely flat on Friday, ending a strong week fueled by expectations of further US rate cuts, while trading was thin due to the Thanksgiving holiday and a technical outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which was first reported at 02:40 GMT. Chief Analyst at online trading brokerage GTC, Jameel Ahmad joins us for more.

The Broadway classic “Chicago” now has a certain “je ne sais quoi” on stage at the Casino de Paris. Our reporters went to check out this new production of the musical famed for Bob Fossé’s choreography and its femme fatale, Roxy Hart. We also look back at the life of reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff, who has died at 81 years old and discover a new, luminous collection of paintings from British artist Christopher Le Brun. Plus we learn more about the micro-dramas hailed as the “soap operas of the digital age”, with one-minute episodes designed specifically for smartphone screens.

Pope Leo XIV will join the leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians Friday to celebrate 1,700 years since one of the early Church’s most important gatherings, on the second day of his visit to Turkey. Associate Professor of Church History and Specialist in Papacy history, Andrea Antonio Verardi, shares his insights.