Author: France 24

Issued on: 09/01/2024 – 10:28Modified: 09/01/2024 – 10:36 01:54 Israel on Monday killed a top Hezbollah commander in a strike on south Lebanon, the Iran-backed group and a security official said, as regional tensions soar amid the Gaza war. Read more on related topics: Source link

South Korea’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to ban the eating and selling of dog meat, a move that will end the controversial centuries-old practice amid growing support for animal welfare. Issued on: 09/01/2024 – 10:32 2 min Eating dog meat was once seen as a way to improve stamina in the humid Korean summer. But the practise has become rare – largely limited to some older people – as more Koreans consider dogs as family pets and as criticism of how the dogs are slaughtered has grown.Activists say most dogs are electrocuted or hanged when slaughtered for meat,…

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…

Critics are deriding as a step backward a new French energy bill that favours the further development of nuclear power and avoids setting targets for solar and wind power and other renewables. Issued on: 09/01/2024 – 08:26 2 min France, like other EU countries, aims to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.The proposed text, which is slated to go before the cabinet early next month and then be submitted to lawmakers, reaffirms France’s commitment to nuclear power to ensure “energy sovereignty”.The country became a leader in nuclear power generation after the 1973 oil crisis, building over 50 such power plants that…

The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings that left at least 84 dead at a commemoration for slain Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday. FRANCE 24’s Wassim Nasr explains the roots of the deep animosity between the Sunni Islamic State group and the late leader of the Shiite state’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.  Issued on: 05/01/2024 – 17:52 Click on the player above to watch the video report. Source link

A historic private mission to land on the Moon faced near-certain failure Monday after the spacecraft suffered a “critical loss” of fuel, dealing a major blow to America’s hopes of placing its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades. Issued on: 08/01/2024 – 16:51Modified: 09/01/2024 – 05:03 4 min Fixed to the top of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket, which was making its first flight, Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander blasted off overnight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, then successfully separated from its launch vehicle.A few hours later, Astrobotic began reporting technical troubles, starting with an…

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…

United and Alaska Airlines both reported on Monday that loose hardware had been discovered on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections after a dramatic mid-flight incident last week. Issued on: 09/01/2024 – 05:22 3 min The disclosures come as US federal transportation inspectors continued to probe what caused a so-called door plug component to blow out last Friday on an Alaska Airlines passenger plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing.United said Monday it had “found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug — for example, bolts that needed additional tightening.”Hours…

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Friday that the group will “inevitably” respond to the assassination of Hamas’s deputy political leader in Beirut this week, saying it “cannot remain silent” to such an incursion on Lebanese territory.   Issued on: 05/01/2024 – 21:29 3 min “The response is inevitably coming. We cannot remain silent on a violation of this magnitude because it means the whole of Lebanon would be exposed,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech. Nasrallah appeared to be making the case for a response to the Lebanese public at the risk of escalating the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.…

When some French schools reopen in September this year, they will pilot a mandatory school uniform under a two-year trial period initiated by Education Minister Gabriel Attal. The initiative aims to tackle inequality among French students and reduce bullying and peer pressure. But some public school teachers, psychologists and experts remain sceptical, saying the uniforms are just putting a “plaster” on such issues.  Two navy blue polo shirts – one short-sleeved, another covered in a jumper – are draped over mannequins on a stage. Embroidered across the chest is a tiny, rectangular French flag on the right and the words “La…