Author: France 24

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said it was critical for the ceasefire deal in Gaza that an international stabilisation force be deployed “as soon as it possibly can”, with Israel potentially able to veto participants. Rubio is the latest high-profile member of US President Donald Trump’s cabinet to visit Israel in a bid to shore up the fragile ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

It is 25 years since the UN Security Council signed a historic agreement linking gender equality to the maintenance of international peace and security. But the world is now facing the highest number of active conflicts since 1946, creating unprecedented risks for women and girls. Yet only one in ten peace talks in the past year included female negotiators. Annette Young talks to Chris Coulter, Executive Director of the Berghof Foundation, who has more than 20 years’ experience in conflict resolution and is a former adviser to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, and Lyric Thompson, CEO of the Feminist Foreign Policy…

Tour de France organisers on Thursday revealed the 2026 route will see the men’s race starting in Barcelona and the women’s race in Switzerland, before both peletons tackle circuits heavy on mountain racing. The men’s race will once again include a final stage climb in Paris’s Montmartre neighbourhood.

US President Donald Trump has issued a pardon for the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.  Chanpeng Zhao spent four months in prison last year after pleading guilty to charges that he failed to implement measures to prevent money laundering while running the platform. We also take a closer look at the latest US and EU sanctions against Russia. 

His latest exhibition, Dedicated to the One I Love, reflects what Jeffrey Gibson describes as a journey much like a loving relationship — marked by ups and downs, moments of great joy, and times of difficulty. As the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, Gibson talks about bringing Native American practices and performances to his pedestals at the U.S. Pavilion, and about how the ideas of French philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jacques Derrida have found their way into his installations. We discuss the artistic and social realities of living under a Trump presidency,…

Israel is rejecting a ruling by the International Court of Justice that orders it to ease the passage of aid into Gaza. The UN aid agency has been effectively barred from operating in the enclave since January. The decision comes as humanitarian organizations scramble to scale up desperately needed aid to the territory. Meanwhile, funerals are being held for dozens of unidentified Palestinians whose remains were recently handed over by Israel.

Despite a valiant second half, Marseille were caught off guard by Sporting Portugal in the dying moments. “It’s scandalous,” said Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, OM’s Gabonese striker. Marseille had been on such a high after a first half that was almost perfect, but the turning point of the match came when Emerson Palmieri was shown a red card. This was Marseille’s second Champions League defeat. 

It’s been three years since Giorgia Meloni became Italy’s prime minister.  During her tenure, she has cut public deficit by more than half and brought unemployment down.  But beneath the surface, Italy’s economy is still struggling, with weak growth, persistent structural weaknesses and an aging population. We take a closer look.  Also in the segment, a row over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia and the Dutch government is starting to raise concern in Europe’s manufacturing sector. 

In this week’s film show, Manon Kerjean and Dheepthika Laurent look at Nadia Melliti’s performance as an Arab woman struggling with her sexual identity in “La Petite Dernière”, a film for which she won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival. We also look at François Ozon’s daring, bold adaptation of Albert Camus’ masterpiece “L’Étranger” and discuss the technical prowess of “L’Homme qui rétrécit”, a film starring Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin. Finally, we check out Isabelle Huppert’s new film, “La femme la plus riche du monde”, a biopic loosely inspired by L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

“If we can laugh together, we can live together.” The phrase serves as the leitmotif of the Styria Comedy Club stand-up collective. With the fall of the Assad regime last December, Styria comedians are enjoying newfound freedoms, touring the country to perform their shows. They are also staging Syria’s first-ever stand-up festival this October, with the goal of bringing Syrians together through humour. The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Malke Mardinali, one of the founders.