Author: France 24

Sigrid Haugset of Norway won the third stage of the Women’s Tour de France. She secured a solo victory following an 87-kilometre breakaway. 

U.S. President Donald Trump said new talks to wind down the war in Iran will start on August 3, after announcing he is holding off on new massive strikes he had threatened to unleash on the country. This is not a one-time occurrence: Trump has regularly announced ongoing talks after threatening agressive strikes on Iran. But this time, Iran seems to not have given into the strategy. FRANCE 24’s Kethevane Gorjestani tells us more.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is under pressure after abandoning plans to sell a stake in the World Cup to private ​investors. Infantino’s plans fell apart after UEFA’s 55-member nations agreed to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions. CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also said they opposed the plan. 

US President Donald Trump has pulled back from plans for major new strikes on Iran, in his latest climbdown after weeks of threatening to hit Tehran hard. The president said late Saturday that the US would hold off, provided a deal can be reached quickly. It follows a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who reportedly urged de-escalation, amid fears that Iran could retaliate against the Kingdom and other Gulf states. In announcing that he was calling off the strikes, Trump said Israel had “joined him in this commitment”. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet…

Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes claimed the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France Femmes on Saturday after winning the opening stage in Lausanne, finishing ahead of Mauritian Kim Le Court and European champion Demi Vollering in a sprint finish.

Spanish officials said more than 48,000 migrants had returned, after around 50,000 people crossed the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta by sea. Meanwhile, France and Italy bolstered border controls on Saturday, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announcing the suspension of Schengen free movement between Spain and Italy. According to Judith Sunderland, Senior Associate Director at Human Rights Watch, the return of many of those who reached Ceuta was chaotic, and the exact figures remain unclear. She says the borders are heavily fortified, making them extremely difficult and dangerous to cross, with 57 people reported to…

Locals in the West Bank say Israeli forces shot and wounded at least one Palestinian and arrested three others on Friday, as they protected Israeli settlers marching through a number of villages. One focal point was the village of Tell, near Nablus in the northern West Bank. Israeli troops sealed off the village on Friday, after carrying out near-daily raids and arrests there since last weekend. Peter O’Brien has more.

The lengthy absence of Cameroon’s long-serving President Paul Biya, who has been in Switzerland since early June, has reignited debate about government inaction, in a country where many crave change. Biya has made frequent trips to Geneva over the years and has faced waves of speculation and rumours regarding his health. FRANCE 24’s Indira Ayuk tells us more from Yaoundé.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s senior advisor has resigned in protest over his boss’s plan to seek private investment for the World Cup football tournament. Carlos Cordeiro said such a move would “mortgage football’s future.”His voice part of a growing opposition – which includes a potential boycott by Europe’s football associations – as well as CONCACAF – the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Asian Football confederation. FIFA is currently offering 40 million dollars to each country that backs its project.

Since Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” came out, it has generated over $300 million…  and a growing conversation about what is missing compared to the original poem. But what is that exactly? In a scathing review published recently, classicist and translator of Homer’s epic, Emily Wilson, had much to say about what differed from the original poem. Her translation, published in 2017, was widely acclaimed, and Nolan said she was one of the inspirations for his film in early publicity. FRANCE 24 spoke to her a few days before she published her review, and here’s what she had to say.