Author: France 24

Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem Wednesday. His presence on the site, which has long been a tinderbox in Israeli-Palestinian relations, drew widespread anger. Earlier, Israel said it would seize “large areas” of Gaza. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.

South African TV and film writers Amy Jephta and Sean Drummond join Dheepthika Laurent on set to talk about their upcoming projects. Sean was head writer on the second season of “Unseen”, a wildly popular crime thriller on Netflix. He also talks about his 2017 neo-Western, “Five Fingers for Marseilles”, a film that inspired one of the songs on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album. Amy wrote the play “A Good House”, which has just finished its run in the UK. The biting satire explores post-apartheid legacies in modern-day South Africa. She also wrote the true crime series “Catch Me a Killer”, which…

France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey was named Six Nations Player of the Championship on Tuesday after scoring a record eight tries to help his team win the tournament. The win means Les Bleus have won the best player award four times in the past six editions.

US trading partners scrambled on Tuesday to prepare for the latest round of Donald Trump tariffs, after the U.S. president left unclear who would be targeted but promised to be ‘very kind’ in addressing what he claims are unfair trade imbalances. France24 Business Editor Charles Pellegrin explains why global markets and investors are deeply concerned.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had testified in an ongoing investigation into whether his aides received payments from Qatar. He calls the investigation a witch hunt. However, political tension in Israel is rising, leading to growing anger towards the leader. Solange Mougin reports.

This week, Marjorie Hache chats to two up-and-coming musical outfits: Naya Mö, who comes from Bordeaux and has just released an EP, “Dealing With Ghosts”, full of layered lo-fi indie; and Oracle Sisters, a trio who formed in Paris but hail from Denmark, Finland and Northern Ireland. They have just released their second mystical album “Divinations”, full of psych-tinted folk. We also take a look at Elton John’s collaborative album with Brandi Carlile, “Who Believes In Angels?” 

In this edition, we find out why France is destroying its old stock of donor sperm, despite long waiting lists for help conceiving a child through IVF and other fertility treatments. Under the nation’s latest bioethics law, anonymous sperm donations are no longer allowed. We find out why and how the need for such donations has jumped.

The USGS has warned that the final death toll from the magnitude 7.7 quake in Myanmar could top 100,000 and economic losses may exceed the country’s GDP.  Since the 2021 coup, the nation of 51 million people has been facing an unprecedented “polycrisis” marked by economic collapse, civil war, climate hazards and deepening poverty.  Plus, France’s competition watchdog has imposed a 150 million euro fine on Apple over its App Tracking Transparency privacy feature. 

A top Hamas official on Monday called on “anyone who can bear arms” to rise up against US President Donald Trump’s plan to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, a day after Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu said he would let the militant group’s leaders leave the war-ravaged enclave if they lay down their weapons.

Emmy-nominated actor and 1960s heartthrob Richard Chamberlain, who rocketed to fame in the TV medical drama “Dr. Kildare” and starred in the mini-series “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds”, has died at the age of 90, publicist Harlan Boll said.