Author: France 24

As wildfires ravaged central Chile, a number of posts have been circulating online claiming that buildings or objects painted blue are immune to the fires. Why? Well, these accounts claim the fires were actually set by powerful lasers that don’t work on anything colored blue. These claims are baseless.  If you only have a minute… A series of wildfires have been devastating the region of Valparaiso, Chile throughout February 2024. A number of posts have been circulating online claiming that buildings and objects painted blue have miraculously resisted the flames. Some of these posts claim that Chileans are starting to…

A New York judge ordered Donald Trump to pay $355 million over fraud allegations and banned him from running companies in the state for three years Friday in a major blow to his business empire and financial standing.  Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 22:21 3 min Trump — almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee this November — was found liable for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties to obtain more favorable bank loans or insurance terms.As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of jail time. But Trump said ahead of the…

Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 21:12Modified: 16/02/2024 – 21:13 Reacting to news of Alexei Navalny’s death in an interview with FRANCE 24 on Friday, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko blamed the Kremlin for the Russian opposition leader’s “killing”. He said: “In Russia, if you tell your opinion, and if it is different from Vladimir Putin’s, you will be put in prison or be killed.” Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Klitschko urged the West to continue backing Ukraine after two years of bloody war. “Everyone in the West has to understand we in Ukraine defend not just our home and our families, we…

The Kremlin placed Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and other Baltic officials on a list of wanted criminals on Monday in a move aimed at preserving Russia’s view of its glorious past from present-day challenges. The Kremlin said Kallas was put on the list for her efforts to remove WWII-era monuments to Soviet soldiers, moves seen by Moscow as unlawful and “an insult to history”. Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 19:37 4 min Russia has a track record of putting foreign officials on wanted lists, but this latest move makes Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas the first foreign head of government…

Our team has obtained rare footage from sailors abandoned by their employers years ago, leaving them far from their homes in ports or open water. During this three-month investigation, we looked at official documents and contracts provided by crewmembers as well as open-source data to trace the navigation history of these dilapidated vessels before their abandonment. The first part of this special edition, produced in partnership with independent Syrian investigators SIRAJ, reveals a complex set-up of shell companies used by a group of Syrian-Romanian ship owners to evade legal disputes and Western sanctions. When the East Express, a 97-metre general…

Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 14:53 As people continue to turn to artificial intelligence for romance, new research suggests that almost every romantic AI companion disregards your privacy, and could be selling your data. We take a closer look in this edition of Tech 24. AI chatbots have come a long way since the 2013 Spike Jonze film “Her”. As well as texting your artificial boyfriend or girlfriend, you can now customise them to look and behave as you desire, and even trade photos and voice call.Demand for these chatbots is voracious, with many lonely people seeing them as a solution…

Back to homepage / Shows / arts24 Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 15:55Modified: 16/02/2024 – 15:56 16:54 arts24 © FRANCE 24 Judith Godrèche has been in the headlines in France after the actress accused director Benoît Jacquot of rape and sexual abuse during their relationship which, she says, started when she was 14 years old and he was 39. She also levelled accusations of sexual misconduct at filmmaker Jacques Doillon. Both men deny the accusations. French prosecutors have now opened an inquiry and other actresses have also come forward accusing the two directors of sexual abuse. As French cinema icon Gérard…

Back to homepage / Shows / arts24 Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 15:55Modified: 16/02/2024 – 15:56 16:54 arts24 © FRANCE 24 Judith Godrèche has been in the headlines in France after the actress accused director Benoît Jacquot of rape and sexual abuse during their relationship which, she says, started when she was 14 years old and he was 39. She also levelled accusations of sexual misconduct at filmmaker Jacques Doillon. Both men deny the accusations. French prosecutors have now opened an inquiry and other actresses have also come forward accusing the two directors of sexual abuse. As French cinema icon Gérard…

Anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, whose death in a remote Arctic prison was announced on Friday, was long the most prominent face of Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Long a thorn in Putin’s side, Navalny was so loathed by the Kremlin leader that he refused to mention him by name.The 47-year-old was for over a decade Putin’s most vociferous critic, running against the long-time ruler in 2018 and frequently blasting what he perceived as rampant corruption under his watch.Part of a class of younger leaders seeking democratic change after years of post-Soviet oligarchy, Navalny leveraged fatigue with the Kremlin to…

Back to homepage / Shows / People & Profit Issued on: 16/02/2024 – 15:06 13:16 PEOPLE & PROFIT © FRANCE 24 In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank reaches the conclusion that we are in a “decade of wasted opportunity”, where instead of being on track to reach key development and climate goals by 2030, we have seen the slowest half-decade of growth in 30 years. This is having devastating consequences, especially in developing and low-income economies. For more, FRANCE 24’s Charles Pellegrin speaks to the World Bank’s Deputy Chief Economist Ayhan Kose.  Read more on related topics: Source…