Author: France 24

France’s new ministers for finance and public accounts are meeting with top MPs to kick off talks aimed at getting a 2025 budget passed, this as concern grows over the country’s ballooning deficit and debt. Also, New York City rolls out America’s first-ever congestion pricing programme, aimed at funding repairs to the metropolis’ dilapidated subway system.

Born in Cameroon, Kelly Rose arrived in France when she was 12 years old. In recent years she developed songwriting skills which, combined with electronic beats and punky sass, gave way to Uzi Freyja, an artist who has played some of France’s biggest festivals and is set to release her debut album at the end of January. She tells Marjorie Hache how “Bhelize Don’t Cry” is a 12-track letter to her younger self. We also meet Judeline, an emerging Spanish singer-songwriter who is following the lead of artists like Rosalia, blending traditional beats to indie electro sounds. Finally, we take a…

Israel and Hamas dispute the details of a new hostage release deal, with Hamas saying it has approved a list of 34 hostages presented by Israel, and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office denying it has received the list. The dispute comes at the end of a weekend of intense Israeli airstrikes that have left more than 100 people dead.

Israel has confirmed the resumption of indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar aimed at securing a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza, where health officials say Israeli strikes killed more than 80 people over the past 24 hours. 

The Golden Globes will return on Sunday with drug thriller “Emilia Perez” leading with 10 nominations, putting it ahead of other contenders like musical smash “Wicked” and postwar epic “The Brutalist”. 

Israeli strikes killed at least 26 people, including eight children, across the Gaza Strip, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday. The ongoing Israel-Hamas war, now in its second year, has resulted in the deaths of some 45,717 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.

Alcoholic drinks should have labels warning consumers that they cause cancer, the United States’ top government doctor said on Friday. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the connection between cancer and alcohol has been known for decades, “yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk”.

Syria has restricted entry for Lebanese citizens, two security sources from Lebanon said on Friday, after Lebanese soldiers and armed Syrians clashed over the closure of a border crossing.

The next 12 months in the French capital are set to provide a wealth of cultural highlights, from an immersive Picasso exhibit at the Atelier des Lumières to a retrospective of the works of American director Wes Anderson and even a call to the dancefloor with the Paris Philharmonic’s exploration of disco.

On his first official visit to Saudi Arabia since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, Syrian Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shibani said he hoped to open a “new, bright page” in bilateral relations. Syria’s new leaders are focused on rebuilding their war-shattered country amid Saudi concerns over the trafficking of captagon, a narcotic produced under the Assad regime in large quantities.