Author: France 24

Pop superstar Taylor Swift set another record on Sunday, winning the Grammy award for album of the year for an unprecedented fourth time as women dominated the music industry’s top honors. Issued on: 05/02/2024 – 08:07 3 min Swift also announced from the Grammys stage that she would release a new album in April.The 34-year-old won album of the year for “Midnights,” eclipsing music legends Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, who each claimed the prize three times.Swift said she was thrilled by the honor and gushed about the fulfillment she feels from writing and singing songs. “It makes…

Australia’s government said Monday writer Yang Hengjun has been given a suspended death sentence in China, describing it as “harrowing news”. Issued on: 05/02/2024 – 05:44 2 min The Chinese-born Australian citizen has been in jail in China since 2019 on spying accusations and is said to be in ill health.”The Australian government is appalled at this outcome,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a news conference.Canberra understood that the death sentence could be commuted to life in jail after a period of two years, Wong said.”We will be communicating our response in the strongest terms,” the Australian minister said.The sentence…

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…

US senators on Sunday released the text of a much-anticipated deal that would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine and Israel while tightening US border laws — although its prospects for becoming law are unclear. Issued on: 05/02/2024 – 01:45 1 min The so-called national security supplemental legislation provides for $118.3 billion in total funding, including $60 billion to support for war-torn Ukraine, matching the White House’s request, and $14.1 billion in security assistance to Israel, according to a summary released by Senate Appropriations Committee chair Patty Murray.The deal also includes $20.2 billion for US border security and a…

The 2026 World Cup final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey, organisers FIFA announced on Sunday. Issued on: 04/02/2024 – 23:42 3 min The New York bid held off a strong challenge from Dallas to secure the July 19 game, the culmination of the expanded 48-team tournament being co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.The competition will kickoff with the opening game at Mexico City’s iconic Azteca Stadium on June 11.Atlanta and Dallas will host the semi-finals while the third-place game will be played in Miami.The quarter-final games will take place in Los Angeles, Kansas City,…

Polling stations opened in Paris on Sunday for a referendum on tripling parking costs for hefty SUV-style cars, a campaign that has drivers’ groups up in arms against city hall.  Issued on: 04/02/2024 – 07:21Modified: 04/02/2024 – 11:02 2 min Some 1.3 million Parisians are eligible to cast their ballot on the change, which would see cars weighing 1.6 tonnes or more charged 18 euros ($19.50) per hour for parking in central areas, or 12 euros further out.Fully electric cars would have to top two tonnes to be affected, while people living or working in Paris, taxi drivers, tradespeople, health…

New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) predict a 77% increase in cancer cases globally by 2050. The report points to air pollution as one of the factors driving the expected increase in cancer rates, even though it does not have the same effect on everyone. As a global health watchdog, the WHO rarely has good news. It stayed true to its mission ahead of World Cancer Day, when its International Agency for Research on Cancer released a report on February 1 predicting an increase of some 35 million new cases of cancer by 2050. This represents an increase of 77%…

Opposition parties prepared to demonstrate on Sunday after President Macky Sall announced the indefinite postponement of a presidential election set for February 25, sparking a wave of international concern. Issued on: 04/02/2024 – 16:27 3 min Just a day before official campaigning was due to start, Sall plunged the nation into the unknown saying he intervened because of a dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court over the rejection of candidates.Lawmakers are investigating two Constitutional Council judges whose integrity in the election process has been questioned.”I will begin an open national dialogue to bring together the conditions for…

Namibia’s President Hage Geingob died early Sunday in a hospital in Windhoek, his office said. He was 82. Issued on: 04/02/2024 – 07:46Modified: 04/02/2024 – 09:26 2 min Geingob, who was serving his second term as president and was his country’s first prime minister after independence, revealed last month that he was being treated for cancer.Most recently, he took a stand by supporting South Africa’s complaint against Israel under the Genocide Convention and by condemning Namibia’s former colonial ruler Germany for rejecting the case. “It is with utmost sadness and regret that I inform you that our beloved Dr. Hage G.…

There is an unfamiliar air of serenity in El Salvador’s capital, where voters head to the polls Sunday without the specter of gang violence and intimidation hanging over them for the first time in years.  Issued on: 04/02/2024 – 11:02 3 min Most of them will opt, they say, for incumbent President Nayib Bukele whose “war” on gangs they credit with improving the daily lives of a majority of Salvadorans almost overnight.”Now more than ever we are in a democracy because we have a president who thinks about Salvadorans, who is governing for Salvadorans,” Alvaro Perez, a 47-year-old carpenter in…