Author: France 24

Mathieu van der Poel from the Netherlands won stage two of the Tour de France on Sunday ahead of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar in a tense sprint finish.

France’s antitrust agency said on Thursday it had fined fast-fashion retailer Shein €40 million ($47.17 million) over its deceptive business practices, including misleading customers on discounts and the company’s environmental impact. The competition regulator said Shein had accepted the fine.  

Israel has sent a delegation to Qatar for new indirect talks on a possible hostage and ceasefire deal despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the changes requested by Hamas to a previous proposal were “unacceptable”. Hospital officials in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 38 Palestinians in the enclave on Sunday. Catherine Viette tells us more.

Hard-rock’s “Prince of Darkness” and his Black Sabbath group wowed tens of thousands of fans at an emotional farewell concert in the English city of Birmingham on Saturday following a day packed with tribute sets from a star-studded lineup. 

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) qualified for the semi-finals of the Club World Cup on Saturday, beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in Atlanta, USA, despite two red cards in an action-packed match. 

For the first time, more Americans are getting their news from social media than from television, and the gap is closing in France and the UK. These findings and more came out of the 2025 Digital News Report by Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. In FRANCE 24’s media show Scoop, we talk to journalist Sophia Smith Galer about why the change is occurring; how more and more journalists want to become content creators themselves; and how her app Sophiana can help them make the leap.

U.S. President Donald Trump has put forward a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, intensifying efforts to secure an end to the conflict in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House next week to discuss the potential agreement. France24 International affairs journalist Andrew Hilliar explains.

Culture Editor Eve Jackson looks back on the career of the prolific star Michael Madsen, best known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs”, “Kill Bill: Vol. 2”, “The Hateful Eight” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. The American actor died suddenly on Thursday at the age of 67. Eve also covers the long-awaited Oasis reunion tour kicking off this Friday and celebrates musical icon Angélique Kidjo, who has become the first Black African singer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Family, friends and stars from the world of football are set to gather on Saturday for the funeral of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota who died with his brother on Thursday in a motor accident. The ceremony will take place in Jota’s hometown of Gondomar, near Porto. 

You might picture the stereotypical French person wearing a beret, with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other. But does France deserve its chain-smoking reputation? While many tourists say large numbers of smokers are one of the first things they notice in France, statistics show that their number is in fact dropping dramatically. So what steps has the government taken to get people to stop smoking? We take a closer look in this edition of French Connections