Author: France 24

The French finance ministry says it will ban Chinese e-commerce giant Shein if child-like sex dolls reappear for sale on the site. Shein pulled the dolls after France’s consumer watchdog said it discovered them last week. Under French law, distributing child sexual abuse material online is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a hefty fine. We bring you that story and more in this Monday’s business news.

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Members of Iraq’s security forces, along with internally displaced citizens, began voting in the parliamentary elections on Sunday – the sixth since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Polls opened at 7 am for 1.3 million security personnel across 809 polling centers and will close at 6 pm before they are deployed to provide security on the main election day on Tuesday. France24 correspondent Lina Malers reports the latest from Baghdad, Iraq.

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It’s been a week that’s seen a remarkable political upset in New York, where 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani became the city’s youngest mayor in 130 years – and its first Muslim and immigrant leader in generations. The Democratic Socialist’s pledge to make New York more affordable galvanised young voters, though his call to tax the rich unsettled the party establishment. In Ukraine, fierce fighting continues for control of Pokrovsk, the fortress city key to Donetsk’s supply lines, as Russia claims to have encircled it and President Zelensky vows defiance on the front line. In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum – after being…

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