Author: France 24

The French wheelchair tennis team takes centre stage Sunday at Roland Garros stadium in Paris as the men’s doubles gets underway. FRANCE 24 Sport Journalist James Vasina reports.

Could we be seeing a turning point for tech titans who reap huge profits for the “anything goes” content served up on their platforms? Free speech absolutists – including Elon Musk – are up in arms over the weekend arrest near Paris of the 39-year-old founder of Telegram. How strong is the case against the Russian-born Pavel Durov and his messaging app Telegram, which is popular among dissidents and pro-Putin milibloggers alike? Durov’s detention comes as online hate speech and disinformation continues to spiral, as evidenced with the false narrative spun on social media during the UK’s recent far-right riots.

The bodies of six hostages have been recovered in Gaza, the Israeli military announced Sunday, with FRANCE 24 correspondent Irris Makler reporting from Jerusalem that the six were “shot as their captors were fleeing” an advance by Israeli forces. The news sparked fresh calls for mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the families of those taken on October 7. 

All eyes are on French cyclist Alexandre Léauté who bagged a bronze medal Saturday in the Paralympics after coming third in the men’s 1000m time trial C1-3. Léauté secured a gold medal for France Friday in the men’s C2 3,000-meter individual pursuit. FRANCE 24 Sports Journalist James Vasina reports from Saint Quentin En Yvelines.

Elon Musk’s “Grok,” the AI chatbot reserved for premium members of X, has launched a new image-generation feature – but without the usual safety guardrails and stringent policies to prevent disinformation and abuse. Unlike other major AI image generators, Grok allows users to depict real-world violence, political or explicit content and religiously disrespectful images. In this episode of Truth or Fake, Vedika Bahl shows us what Grok is capable of, and how it could be used for fake news.

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel’s ongoing military offensives. A small number of children in Gaza began receiving vaccines a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the U.N. World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

Photojournalist Jérôme Gence has turned his lens on “The Screen Generation”, documenting the daily lives of young people immersed in a digital culture that englobes both the virtual and real worlds, often at the same time. As his exhibition goes on show at the 36th Visa Pour L’Image photojournalism festival, Jérôme tells us about what he discovered while making the series, including the psychological consequences of childhoods illuminated by the glow of tablets and smartphones. We also discuss the pros and cons of artificial intelligence in the art world and Jérôme explains why an extraordinary experience in the Himalayas put…

The first events of the Paris Paralympics kicked off early on Thursday, introducing many viewers unfamiliar with parasports to C4-5 track cycling races, SL3 badminton matches and S9 swimming heats. Based on the type and degree of impairment, the Paralympics’ classification system is designed to ensure fair competition between Paralympians. Here’s how it works. 

After a summer of Olympic fever, it’s back to business in France. But uncertainty dominates after snap elections earlier this summer returned a hung parliament. As suspense continues over who will be the country’s next prime minister, France’s largest employer federation, Medef, held its annual conference on the theme of ”power”. So after seven years of pro-business policies, what’s next for France’s business community? FRANCE 24’s Yuka Royer talks to Medef’s Vice President Fabrice Le Saché and asks business leaders what their top concerns are.

Israel has agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to allow health officials to administer polio vaccinations to children in the territory, the World Health Organization said Thursday. However, these pauses will not be enough to prevent a rapidly spreading health crisis in Gaza, says Bill Van Esveld of Human Rights Watch, as the root causes of polio and other diseases can only be addressed by an end to Israel’s “siege” of Gaza.