Author: France 24

The leader of a group that aims to unite Iranian students amid the violence in the country has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her belief that the Islamic regime cannot hold its power just through terror. Aïda Tavakoli is founder of the group We Are Iranian Students. She spoke to us after Iran’s supreme leader for the first time publicly admitted that thousands of his own people have been killed in the huge demonstrations there. She spoke to us in Perspective.

Senegeal defeated Morocco in the AFCON final (1-0). Senegal players boycotted the game for 15 minutes over a penalty decision.

Iran is 10 days into an internet blackout, which rights groups say is intended to prevent further protests and conceal the regime’s deadly crackdown. What happens now is unclear. Iranian digital activists are warning the blackout may become “permanent,” but local media report that the authorities are considering a gradual return to the internet.

Iran’s protests go international amid a deadly crackdown, ICE agents terrorise US citizens in Minnesota, far-right leader Marine Le Pen appeals her embezzlement conviction, French farmers protest with tractors in Paris and US President Donald Trump gets his long-coveted Nobel Prize – albeit second-hand. FRANCE 24 looks back at the week’s most striking images.

Kurdish-led forces withdrew from Syria’s largest oil field on Sunday, according to a conflict monitor, as government troops expanded their control over vast areas in the country’s north and east. As the Syrian army continues to advance into Kurdish-held territories, the Kurdish forces may resort to guerrilla warfare, potentially destabilizing the country, said Henri Barkey, Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University.

The Super Eagles have finished in third place for the ninth time beating Egypt on penalties after neither side managed to break the deadlock. Meanwhile, as they gear up for the final, Senegal filed a complaint following the reception of their squad in Rabat. Will it be one for Morocco to loose, as they attempt to lift the trophy for the first time in 50 years?

Elon Musk’s xAI says its Grok AI chatbot will be restricted from generating sexualised images of real people after it was used to create pictures of women and children in varying states of undress. Also in this edition: France’s traditional Epiphany cake gets subsidised for Celiac disease sufferers.

This week, Valérie Fayolle meets Pascal Obispo. His melodies have left their mark on the French musical landscape and he’s well known as an author, composer and performer. Now we meet his alter-ego, the painter! Pascal takes us to the Ange Basso gallery in Paris’s 6th arrondissement, where his artwork is on currently on show. We also discover Julie Depardieu’s one-woman show, “La Misérable” at the Marigny studio. Depardieu plays Juliette Drouet, the woman who was Victor Hugo’s mistress for almost 50 years. 

Syrian government forces entered two northern towns Saturday morning after the command of Kurdish-led fighters said it would evacuate the area in an apparent move to avoid conflict. Two soldiers were killed and others wounded in a clash as they entered the town of Maskana, state media reported. Meanwhile, troops made their way into the town of Deir Hafer.

It’s been a week marked by brutality, brinkmanship and political theatre. In Iran, a third week of protests spiralled into a nationwide uprising as the regime shut down the internet and phone lines. Graphic accounts of a violent crackdown emerged via Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, with human rights groups reporting thousands killed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in what they describe as an unprecedented massacre — even as President Trump urged protesters on, before appearing to shift his tone. Meanwhile, urgent diplomacy unfolded in the Arctic, as Denmark and Greenland pushed back against renewed US pressure to annex Greenland. President Trump…