Author: France 24

Israel deported activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday, the country’s Foreign Ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on with other activists was seized by the Israeli military. She left on a flight to France and was then headed to her home country of Sweden. Thunberg was one of 12 passengers on the Madleen, a ship carrying aid to Gaza that was meant to protest Israel’s ongoing war there and shed light on the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the journey.

Funk icon and pioneering multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, whose band Sly and the Family Stone remolded musical norms and challenged segregation along racial and gender lines, died at the age of 82 on Monday, his family said, leaving behind a legendary, genre-mashing discography which lifted Afrocentric music and hippie culture.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday dismissed all 17 members of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory panel, accusing them of conflicts of interest in his latest salvo against vaccines. Scientists have denounced the political meddling in public health policy.

Manchester City have agreed a €40 million fee to sign French wonderkid Rayan Cherki from Lyon. The 21-year-old will sign a five-year contract and join his new team for the upcoming Club World Cup.

As France hosted a UN conference on protecting the ocean, NGOs denounced the fact that large shipping companies were sponsoring the event, calling them some of the biggest polluters.  The maritime transport sector accounts for 3% of global CO2 emissions, as dry cargo shipments more than doubled since 2000. Plus, the US and China have started a new round trade talks in London, with Beijing’s export control of rare earths firmly in focus. 

Syria’s national unity plan aims to rebuild trust, governance, and social cohesion in the aftermath of years of civil conflict. Aleppo, once the country’s economic hub and a focal point of the war, serves as a key case study in this effort.

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with UK-based Nigerian musician Obongjayar. He’s just released his second album called “Paradise Now”, a danceable record inspired by partying. He even hosted a series of parties of the same name in London as he was producing the record. The Ivor Novello-nominated musician moved from Nigeria to London as a teenager and his music is infused with West African rhythms, pop, punk and dance. Aside from nightlife, “Paradise Now” also talks about love, religion, belonging and calling out political inaction – like on the diss track “Jellyfish”.

Carlos Alcaraz retained his French Open title after coming back from two sets down and saving three match points against Jannik Sinner in a 5-hour and 29-minute final, the longest in tournament history.

US import duties on steel and aluminium tariffs are now officially at 50 percent this Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump signed a directive bumping them up from 25 percent. The move has led some of the biggest exporters of metals to the US, such as Mexico, to ask for an exemption. Also in this edition: an iconic French glassware brand is celebrating its 80th birthday and going through a renaissance after it was transformed into an employee-owned co-op last year.

Four people were killed and others injured by Israeli forces on Sunday as Palestinians making their way towards an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics. It was the latest deadly incident near sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Palestinians have described areas around the sites as chaotic and dangerous, with dozens of fatal shootings over the past week.