Author: France 24

The EU and India have hailed their new free trade agreement as “the mother of all deals”.  While the pact eliminates or significantly reduces tariffs on a vast majority of goods traded between the two, it excludes politically sensitive farming products.  We’ll take a closer look.  Also in the segment, some Cypriot fishermen have taken their battle against invasive fish to the dinner table. 

Born in lockdown and watched by millions, the Orchestral Qawwali Project is transforming a 700-year-old sacred tradition for a global stage. Led by singer Abi Sampa and composer Rushil Ranjan, the project fuses the ecstatic poetry and trance-like repetition of Sufi qawwali with the sweeping power of Western orchestral music.

France, Britain, Germany and the ​US on Tuesday welcomed the 15-day extension of ​the ceasefire between ‍the Syrian government and ​Kurdish forces, and urged all ​parties to strictly adhere to the agreement.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, hoping for a record 25th Grand Slam crown, both made it through to the Australian Open quarter-finals on Sunday, along with women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka who continued her title charge with a second-set tiebreak – the 20th Grand Slam tiebreak she has won in a row.

India rolled out the red carpet, hosting top EU leaders as guests of honour at its Republic Day parade, a day before the two sides are expected to sign a free trade agreement at an EU-India summit. Negotiations had started long before US president Donald Trump started imposing new tariffs on the rest of the world, but had taken on a sense of renewed urgency amid rising geopolitical and trade tensions. 

Rhizomes are a five-piece based in France who have spent the last few years carving their psychedelic rock with oriental sounds. They popped by the arts24 studio to tell Marjorie Hache about their debut eponymous EP on which they sing in French, English, Arabic and Hebrew and whose aim is to unify and grow the same way as the subterranean horizontally growing roots that inspired their name. We also check out new releases by Californian pop metal artist Poppy, British rapper-producer Labrinth and Japanese-American indie darling Mitski.

Damascus has secured a significant victory with the capture of several newly controlled areas, previously held by Kurdish-led forces, including YPG and PKK. While the ceasefire is mostly holding, security forces have been deployed to prevent civilians from reaching the frontlines and to maintain calm, especially in Kobane, where there is concern over potential vendettas. Additionally, government envoys are working to convince local tribes to stay peaceful. One of the ongoing challenges for Damascus is managing the prisons holding ISIS prisoners. FRANCE 24’s Wassim Nasr has the latest.

As President Zelensky says today that peace talks are progressing and that a U.S. security guarantee is “100 percent there,” awaiting only formal approval from President Trump, there has so far been no confirmation from the White House, nor does it address President Putin’s continued insistence on claiming more Ukrainian territory; meanwhile, away from the front lines, civilians are bearing the brunt of the war, with some left without electricity for more than 16 days, prompting Ukraine’s foreign minister to describe repeated attacks on the energy grid as acts of genocide, as we now turn to the left bank to…

Manchester United dealt a major blow to Arsenal’s title hopes by becoming the first team to beat the league leaders in North London this season. Matheus Cunha’s late winner handed Michael Carrick a second win in as many games in charge.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to fast-track legislation to ban social media for teens under the age of 15, with parliament slated to vote on a draft proposal Monday.