Author: France 24

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says he will step down as leader of the country soon as a successor is chosen. Issued on: 20/03/2024 – 13:39 Varadkar announced Wednesday he is quitting immediately as head of Fine Gael party, part of Ireland’s coalition government. He’ll be replaced as prime minister after a party leadership contest.He said his reasons were “both personal and political.”Varadkar, 45, has had two spells as taoiseach, or prime minister — between 2017 and 2020, and again since December 2022.He was the country’s youngest-ever leader when first elected, as well as Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister.…

Back to homepage / Shows / Business Issued on: 20/03/2024 – 11:15 05:02 BUSINESS © FRANCE 24 EU member states and lawmakers have reached an agreement on Ukrainian agricultural exports that seeks to strike a balance between the bloc’s obligations towards Kyiv and the demands of protesting farmers around the continent. We look at the details of the deal and why it won’t fully satisfy disgruntled farmers. Also in the show, as US senators consider a law that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the app, FRANCE 24’s Liza Kaminov looks at how American content producers could be affected.…

The healthcare system in Gaza has essentially collapsed, Western doctors who visited the Palestinian enclave in recent months told an event at the United Nations on Monday, speaking of “appalling atrocities” from Israel’s offensive. Issued on: 20/03/2024 – 09:34 1 min The four doctors from the United States, United Kingdom and France have been working with teams in Gaza to support its healthcare system, which has been reeling since Israel began its military assault there last October.The Israeli offensive has displaced nearly 2.3 million people, caused a starvation crisis, flattened most of the enclave, and killed over 31,000 people, according…

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published…

France’s competition watchdog on Wednesday said it fined Google 250 million euros ($271.73 million) for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers. Issued on: 20/03/2024 – 09:13 1 min Google has pledged not to contest the facts as part of settlement proceedings, the watchdog said, adding the company also proposed a series of remedy measures to certain shortcomings.The fine is linked to a copyright dispute in France over online content in a case triggered by complaints from some of France’s biggest news organisations, including Agence France Presse (AFP).The dispute seemed resolved in 2022 when…

Finland remained the world’s happiest country for a seventh straight year in an annual UN sponsored World Happiness Report published on Wednesday. Issued on: 20/03/2024 – 01:37 2 min And Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.For the first time since the report was published more than a decade ago, the United States and Germany were not among the 20 happiest nations, coming in 23rd and 24th respectively.In turn,…

A prominent DR Congo journalist was released from prison late Tuesday after spending six months behind bars, a colleague announced. Issued on: 20/03/2024 – 00:00 1 min Stanis Bujakera, 33, was sentenced Monday to six months in prison for allegedly incriminating in an article the country’s military intelligence in the murder of an opposition politician, Cherubin Okende.He was detained in September and held in pre-trial custody.The unsigned story was published in the Jeune Afrique magazine and based on an alleged confidential memo from a separate intelligence agency. Congolese authorities have said the memo is a fake.Although Bujakera’s lawyer earlier on…

Nvidia on Monday unveiled its latest family of chips for powering artificial intelligence, as it seeks to consolidate its position as the major supplier to the AI frenzy. Issued on: 18/03/2024 – 22:19Modified: 18/03/2024 – 23:11 2 min “We need bigger GPUs. So ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to a very, very big GPU,” said CEO Jensen Huang at a developers conference in California, referring to the graphics processors that are vital in the creation of generative AI.The event, dubbed the “AI Woodstock” by Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, has become a can’t-miss date on big tech’s…

Issued on: 19/03/2024 – 17:26Modified: 19/03/2024 – 18:49 05:07 Lawmakers in Gambia referred an attempted repeal of the 2015 ban on female genital cutting for further committee discussions on Monday, March 18. Gambian activists fear a repeal would overturn years of work to better protect girls and women. The legislation was referred to a national committee for further debate and could return to a vote in the weeks ahead. As Gambia lawmakers consider a repeal of the ban, under heavy pressure from powerful religious leaders, FRANCE 24’s Nadia Massih is joined by renowned Gambian activist Jaha Dukureh, Regional UN Women…

Issued on: 16/03/2024 – 10:33Modified: 16/03/2024 – 11:00 01:30 © FRANCE 24 The 200 tonnes of food provided by US charity World Central Kitchen and shipped by the Spanish aid group Open Arms had all been offloaded on the shores of Gaza Saturday. But although the aid offers a “glimmer of hope”, it will not be easy to distribute. FRANCE 24’s senior journalist Catherine Norris-Trent reports from Jerusalem. Read more on related topics: Source link