Author: France 24

Manchester United failed to beat Bournemouth (4-4). The Red Devils remain sixth in the table.

Despite logging record a trade surplus, economic data for November showed China’s domestic woes are deepening.  Retail sales grew at their slowest pace in three years and investment slowed sharply, signalling Chinese people and businesses are becoming increasingly cautious. Plus, Roomba maker iRobot has filed for bankruptcy after struggling with competition, debt, tariffs and Amazon’s buyout offer later being called off. It’s now being taken private by its main Chinese supplier. 

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with the frontman of British band The Spitfires, as well as French musician Gaspard Royant. The Spitfires are back after having split up three years ago. The indie rock, nu-mod band are celebrating their musical renaissance with their sixth album “MKII”. Meanwhile, Gaspard Royant has re-released his wildly successful festive record “All the Best for Christmas”: a soundtrack for a cool, classy Christmas.

In a phone call from prison, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nargis Mohammadi said she endured blows during her incarceration that were so “heavy, forceful and repeated” that she had to be hospitalised twice, the family-run Narges Foundation said Monday. Mohammadi was re-arrested in Tehran on Friday.

RC Lens beat Nice 2-0 and will spend the winter as league leaders. OGC Nice suffered their sixth consecutive defeat.

The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday. The move comes as the US economy deals with sticky inflation, slowing jobs figures and a lack of official data because of the government shutdown. Stock markets reacted favourably to the news initially, but were then weighed down by concerns related to the tech sector. Also in this edition: Donald Trump signals his support for a change of ownership at CNN. Plus, we bring you some data on Venezuela’s oil industry. 

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado receives her Nobel Peace Prize, AI is named Person of the Year 2025 by Time magazine, and another massive protest in Bulgaria leads to the fall of the government. FRANCE 24 looks back at the week’s most striking images.

Syria’s interior ministry said Sunday the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism. Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in what the Syrian government described as a “terrorist attack” on Saturday, while Washington said it had been carried out by an Islamic State group (IS) militant who was then killed.

A week on from his controversial public criticism of manager Arne Slot and his club, Mohamed Salah is set to be reinstated into the Liverpool squad,  according to media reports in England. The Egyptian, who was dropped from the squad entirely for the Champions League match against Inter Milan, was due to meet with Slot ahead of the Reds’ match game Brighton on Saturday.

They buy, hoard and sell the Earth’s resources. In this episode, journalist Javier Blas helps us shed some light on the shadowy realm of billionaire commodity traders. He co-wrote with Jack Farchy “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources”, about the power concentrated in the hands of a small number of commodity trading houses.