Author: France 24

Japan won its first-ever gold medal in wheelchair rugby at Paris’s Champs-de-Mars Arena Monday night, surging ahead of the US team at half-time. It was an infuriating night for the US, which has failed to win gold in the fast-paced sport – once known as “murderball” for its full-contact play-style – since 2008.

A panel of five Supreme Court justices in Brazil has unanimously upheld the decision of one of its judges to block Elon Musk’s social media platform X in the country. The platform has already been suspended since Saturday for violating local rules. According to Brazil’s telecom regulator, only Starlink, the satellite operator controlled by Musk, says it will not comply with the order. Plus, German employers are worried after the anti-immigration AfD made a strong showing in state elections. 

Suspected attacks by Houthi militants targeted two ships in the Red Sea on Monday in an area where crews hoped to tow a Greek oil tanker damaged in an earlier strike by Houthi forces. The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October.

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…