Author: France 24

After a long breakaway, Mathieu van der Poel found himself in front alongside Tadej Pogacar, before resisting the peleton’s comeback. Pogacar won his fifth Tour de France.

Stuart Norval is pleased to welcome Didier Rykner, Art Historian, Investigative Journalist and Founder / Editor in Chief of La Tribune de l’Art. Offering a forceful critique of the Louvre’s priorities, Rykner argues that the museum’s challenge is not a lack of resources, rather a misallocation of them. While acknowledging that security is a both necessary and inevitable expense, he contends that the greater threat to the Louvre lies in the deterioration of its historic fabric and the diversion of funding towards what he regards as an unnecessary, politically driven architectural expansion. 

Israel’s military said it detained over 70 suspects across the occupied West Bank overnight and on Saturday, a day after troops deployed across the territory following violence that left two Isrelisoldiers and four Palestinian villagers dead. Soldiers remained in the village of Tell, in the northern West Bank, where Friday’s clashes were centered. Palestinians described searches that included raids of a hospital in the city of Nablus, one of the territory’s most violent areas.

Tadej Pogacar is set to join cycling’s all-time greats after all but sealing a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title on Saturday as Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz won the 20th stage on Alpe d’Huez.

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Christopher Marinello, veteran lawyer, founder of Art Recovery International and one of the world’s foremost experts in recovering stolen, looted, and missing works of art. The reopening of the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre, nine months after one of the most brazen museum thefts in recent history, marks more than the restoration of a famous exhibition space. It exposes a broader tension between public access to cultural heritage and the growing vulnerability of museums in an era of increasingly sophisticated organised crime.

Giorgia Meloni made history in 2022 when she became Italy’s first female prime minister. She quickly signalled her ideological affinity with Donald Trump and positioned herself as a bridge between the MAGA movement in the United States and Europe’s radical right. She was also the only European leader invited to attend Trump’s second inauguration in 2025. Renaud Lefort examines how the relationship between Trump and Meloni has evolved since then, alongside Meloni’s changing role within the European Union. While she has sought to strengthen Italy’s influence in Brussels, critics argue that she has moderated some of her more hardline positions in order to remain politically influential. The report features an interview with Gianfranco Fini, founder of the post-fascist National Alliance, where Meloni began her political career more than two decades ago. Historian and Italian politics specialist Marc Lazar also assesses Meloni’s first three…

UNESCO added a major archaeological site in the West Bank and a group of historic castles in southern Lebanon to its World Heritage List, defying Israeli objections and reigniting a long-running dispute over the intersection of cultural heritage and politics in the region.

Slovenia’s four-time champion Tadej Pogacar on Friday further consolidated his overall lead by taking stage 19 of the Tour de France. He made the punishing climb up the Alpe d’Huez in 35 minutes and 27 seconds. 

UNESCO on Wednesday added Tyre, an ancient coastal city in southern Lebanon founded by the Phoenicians, to its list of world heritage sites in danger following months of Israeli bombardment. Founded around 4,700 years ago, Tyre is home to archaeological treasures including two protected UNESCO areas.  

Migration was at the heart of Giorgia Meloni’s successful 2022 election campaign. Promising a tougher approach to irregular migration helped propel her to power, but what has her government achieved since then? One of its flagship policies was the creation of a controversial migrant processing centre in Albania. Yet the plan has repeatedly run into legal obstacles in Italy, raising questions about whether it can deliver on its promises. At the same time, Meloni has had to balance her hardline rhetoric with economic realities. Faced with labour shortages and pressure from businesses, her government has authorised around half a million additional work visas for the 2026–2029 period. Has Meloni’s migration policy proved more pragmatic than her supporters expected? Whatever the answer, it has created political space on her right. One of the most prominent challengers is former army general Roberto Vannacci, who advocates an even…