Author: France 24

In the midst of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, new rounds of talks are due to take place in Washington to determine whether the truce can be extended. However, for Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, ceasefires in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, are often “meant to be broken”, reflecting a deeply pessimistic outlook. He also notes growing frustration from Donald Trump over Israeli military activity, and argues that the Israel–Lebanon and US–Iran dynamics are closely interconnected,

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A federal jury in New York finds for the plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit against concert giant Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster. We take a closer look. But first: the IMF warns on mounting public debt amid a global energy crisis, and China’s economy beats expectations as growth accelerates despite the Iran war.

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This week we’re taking our cameras over 6,000 km from Paris, to the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Visual artist Valérie John opens the doors of her “studio-artwork” in La Trinité, where indigo lies at the heart of everything she does. Far more than just a colour, it’s a way of connecting with memory, identity and cultural heritage. “My work is a factory for producing creolisation,” she tells us.

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They are known as “forever chemicals”: synthetic compounds that resist breakdown in the human body and the environment. Also known as PFAS, there are thousands of them, and you might not even realise that you are being exposed to them while doing simple everyday tasks like cooking. The EU does have a strict rulebook on chemicals, when compared to other parts of the world, but some say that industrial lobbying is holding back more stringent regulation. In this episode we look at how the EU is trying to tighten its rules on these pollutants.

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Hungary is preparing for a new era, after the centre-right Tisza party of Peter Magyar won a landslide victory over longtime nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Magyar says he’ll seek to repair Hungary’s confrontational relationship with the European Union, something that could unlock much-needed EU funding for Ukraine and for Hungary itself. Many voters said the stagnating economy was a major factor in their decision to turn against 16 years of Orban’s rule. 

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