Author: France 24

A rare meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea has brought a 10 percent reduction in US tariffs and a one-year postponement of China’s rare-earth export controls, a limited de-escalation of the two countries’ trade war. Also in this edition: America’s central bank cuts interest rates for the second time this year, amid a lack of economic data due to the ongoing US government shutdown.

In this episode of arts24, we’re at Paris Games Week, where the hit French video game “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” has gone from digital epic to musical phenomenon. Composer Lorien Testard’s symphonic tour “A Painted Symphony” is taking sold-out audiences by storm across France. Next, we head to Paris’s newest cultural landmark as the Fondation Cartier unveils its spectacular new home opposite the Louvre – a Jean Nouvel-designed masterpiece blending Haussmannian charm with modernist flair. Finally, Hollywood’s love affair with the musical biopic continues. From Elvis to Bob Marley, we explore why rock legends’ real-life stories keep striking box office gold…

The Israeli army on Thursday said the remains of two hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza hours after Hamas’s armed wing said it would transfer their remains as demanded under the US-brokered ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

France drew (2-2) against Germany in the semi-final return leg and are out of the Women’s Nations League. Germany will face Spain in the final.

Israel’s military said Wednesday that the ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it carried out heavy airstrikes overnight across the Palestinian territory that killed 104 people, including 46 children, according to local health officials.  The strikes — the deadliest since the ceasefire was enacted on Oct. 10 — marked the most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date. 

The US Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates for the second time this year, despite having only partial data to assess the state of the economy because of the ongoing government shutdown. The quarter percentage point cut brings the Federal Funds Rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%. The central bank also announced it would stop reducing the size of its balance sheet in December.  Also in the segment, Boeing posted $5.4 billion in third-quarter loss weighed down by delays in its 777X rollout. 

Our film critic Emma Jones tells us why the Oscar buzz surrounding Dwayne Johnson’s performance in “The Smashing Machine” is deserved and how the film deviates from the average “in the ring” biopic. We also discuss Jeremy Allen White’s turn as Bruce Springsteen in director Scott Cooper’s “Deliver Me From Nowhere”, which zooms in on a difficult period in The Boss’s career. We then discover a new talent in Laura Carreira, who’s captured the precarity of the gig economy and the weight of loneliness in “On Falling”, a social study with shades of Ken Loach. Plus we check out Guillermo…

Israel’s military said on October 29 that the ceasefire is back on in Gaza following heavy Israeli airstrikes overnight. More than 100 people were killed across the Palestinian territory, including dozens of children, according to local health officials. It was the deadliest night in Gaza since the US-brokered ceasefire went into effect early October.

The San Antonio Spurs dominated the Toronto Raptors 121-103. Victor Wembanyama scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

A new survey shows a sharp slide in public concern for climate change, with war and conflict now dominating public worries well ahead of climate change. France 24’s Yuka Royer speaks with Subhra Batthachargee, Director General of the Forest Stewardship Council, who tells her that despite fewer people citing climate change as their top concern, consumers are still preferring to shop green. “We have to translate the impacts of climate change into what it means for day to day action”, she says.