Author: France 24

Iranian authorities have released a French citizen held since September 2022, France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday, urging Tehran to free three other French nationals “without delay”. Arnaud, a banking consultant in his 30s, was sentenced last year to five years in jail on national security charges after being arrested while travelling through Iran. Source link

Jerry West, an iconic 1960s star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers who inspired the NBA logo, died Wednesday at age 86, the Los Angeles Clippers announced. Source link

The co-director of an Israeli charity that sends food into Gaza to help Palestinians has told FRANCE 24 that he and his fellow workers cannot witness people starving and facing famine as if they themselves have nothing to do with it. This as far-right Israeli settlers are trying to block the aid from getting through. Alon-Lee Green is the co-director of the charity Standing Together, which takes humanitarian supplies into Gaza. For many he is a hero, for others a traitor. He spoke to us in Perspective. Source link

The US Federal Reserve has decided to keep its lending rate unchanged at the current 5.25-5.50 percent range and projected just one rate cut this year, despite soft inflation data. But first, the European Commission has informed China that it will impose new tariffs of up to 38 percent on Chinese-made electric cars from July 4 unless a solution is found. This comes following months of investigation into Chinese subsidies.  Source link

Hezbollah fired big barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday and vowed to ramp up its attacks in retaliation for an Israeli strike which killed a senior Hezbollah field commander, as the conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border escalated sharply. The killing of Taleb Abdallah “can be described as the most significant assassination” that Hezbollah has witnessed since the start of the war in Gaza October last year, FRANCE 24’s Rawad Taha said. Source link

One of France’s best-loved singer-songwriters, Françoise Hardy was a leading cultural icon of the Swinging Sixties and one of the biggest stars of the “yé-yé” boom that swept across Europe at the time. Hardy has died at the age of 80 after a battle with cancer. Renowned for her hits “Comment te dire adieu” and “Le Temps de l’amour”, she enjoyed a career that spanned more than six decades. Last year she was named one of the 200 best singers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine – the only French performer on the list. Music critic Jenny Ben Brahim and…

A ceasefire deal backed by the US to end the fighting in Gaza remains “confusing” after Hamas proposed amendments to the deal which include the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip, FRANCE 24’s Irris Makler said, reporting from Jerusalem. Source link

Several media outlets are reporting that the European Commission will notify carmakers this Wednesday that it will impose provisional import duties on Chinese electric vehicles next month. The move is based on a probe the EU has conducted amid accusations that Chinese carmakers benefit from an unfair advantage thanks to heavy state subsidies and tax breaks. Also in this edition, we look at the debt distress facing many African states at a time of high interest rates and inflation. Source link

French singer Françoise Hardy, who shot to international stardom with her 1962 debut single “Tous les garcons et les filles”, has died at the age of 80, her son announced in a post on social media Wednesday. Hardy became a pop icon and fashion muse of the 1960s and beyond. Mick Jagger described her as his “ideal woman”, Bob Dylan wrote a poem for her, and women around the world imitated her androgynous style and embraced her melancholic melodies. Source link

French singer Francoise Hardy, whose crystalline voice and melancholy lyrics shot her to international stardom in the 1960s, has died at the age of 80, according to her son. Source link