Author: France 24

The US Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark interest rate at the current range of 4.25% – 4.50%, as it expects slower growth, higher inflation and slightly higher unemployment by the end of the year than it previously forecast. The move was widely expected, including by Donald Trump, who nonetheless insulted Fed Chairman Jerome Powell again. Plus, Nippon Steel has completed its takeover of US Steel after agreeing to let the US government have significant control in business decisions. 

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The UN has recently warned about the dangers of online misogyny, specifically in relation to the so-called ‘manosphere’ – a network of communities that claim to address men’s struggles, but often promote harmful advice and attitudes, as well as false narratives about gender equality. FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney speaks to sex counsellor and therapist Claire Ferrero. She says that online mysogynist influencers prey on the insecurities of young men for profit.

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For those suffering from mental health problems, the internet can be a door to getting help and finding a community, but it can also open a user to extremely damaging content that encourages self-harm. Adele Zeynep Walton is campaigning for a safer digital world after her sister Aimee took her own life in 2022, having spent time on a pro-suicide forum. Walton’s book “Logging Off: The Human Cost of Our Digital World” draws attention to a growing, insidious phenomenon.

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As one of a handful of Western photographers working in Afghanistan, Oriane Zerah has a unique perspective on daily life in the country. Her work is on show at the Fragonard museum in Grasse, in the south of France, in an exhibition entitled “Unveiled Women, Men with Flowers: A new face of Afghanistan”, with images that upend stereotypes about masculinity and femininity under the Taliban. She tells us about the place of beauty in Afghan culture, about her own experience during the Taliban takeover of 2021 and why art is even being prescribed to young women in Afghanistan who are…

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