Author: France 24

Cycling 206 kilometres from Florence to Rimini for a hot and hilly stage, French climber Romain Bardet crossed the line to claim the first yellow jersey. Britain’s Mark Cavendish struggled, finishing 39 minutes behind the peloton. Source link

A pair of strikes from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas for Switzerland knocked defending champions Italy out of the European soccer championship in the round of 16 after a sloppy, rudderless display by Luciano Spalletti’s side.  Source link

France is set to face Belgium in the UEFA European Football Championship knockout stage on Monday. Meanwhile defending champions Italy are taking on Switzerland Saturday, FRANCE 24’s Leo McGuinn reports. Source link

The sole reformist in Iran’s presidential election, Masoud Pezeshkian, will face the ultraconservative Saeed Jalili in a runoff, authorities said on Saturday, following a vote marred by historically low turnout. Pezeshkian, 69, secured 42.4 percent of the vote, while Jalili, a 58-year-old former nuclear negotiator, came second with 38.6 percent, according to voting figures announced by Mohsen Eslami, spokesman for Iran’s elections authority. Source link

The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees on Saturday denounced the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, saying that hundreds of thousands of people had been “deprived of adequate shelter, food, medicine and clean water”. The day before, UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge had described the situation as “the worst it’s ever been”. Source link

Iran’s sole reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili have qualified for a runoff presidential election after leading in the first round, an official said on Saturday. Turnout in Iran’s presidential election was about 40 percent, according to interior ministry data released on Saturday – the lowest on record since the 1979 revolution. FRANCE 24’s Andrew Hilliar reports. Source link

The 111th Tour de France kicked off from Florence on Saturday, with fan favourite Tadej Pogacar aiming for a historic Giro-Tour double in spite of a recent bout of Covid. Source link

Iran announced Saturday it will hold a runoff presidential election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi after an initial vote saw the top candidates not securing an outright win in the lowest turnout poll ever held in the Islamic Republic. The election this coming Friday will pit reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian against the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. FRANCE 24’s Andrew Hilliar reports. Source link

The pier built by the US military to bring aid to Gaza has been removed due to weather to protect it, and the US is considering not re-installing it unless the aid begins flowing out into the population again, US officials said Friday. While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard and that area is almost full.  Source link

Days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense phase” of the military operation in Rafah in southern Gaza was ending, enabling the redeployment of troops in the north, Israeli warplanes on Friday struck the Shujaiya district of Gaza City in northern Gaza.  Source link