The EU laid out plans Thursday for strict age limits for children to access social media, games and AI assistants -- and on forcing companies to make platforms safe before minors use them. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Lisa Dittmer, Researcher, Children and Young People’s Digital Rights at Amnesty International, says that "the harms have come to outweigh the benefits of social media and it is time for the EU to regulate at the design level, not simply accepting that responsibility be pushed on to parents".
Read briefing India has warned Washington that new measures to levy tariffs over the purchase of Russian oil could impact bilateral ties, the South Asian nation's foreign ministry said on Thursday, hours after the U.S. made a new move to punish such buyers. Earlier in the day, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping sanctions and tariff bill intended to increase economic pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. FRANCE 24's Emerald Maxwell reports.
Read briefing US officials met representatives of Yemen's Houthis in Oman over the weekend, five sources familiar with the matter said, days after the Iran-backed militia seized a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast in a sweeping offensive that routed Saudi-backed forces. U.S. President Donald Trump has so far rebuffed pleas from the Saudis for military support fighting the Houthis. FRANCE 24's Fraser Jackson reports from Washington.
Read briefing Angela Diffley is pleased to welcome Dr Filippo Dionigi, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Bristol. According to Dr. Dionigi, the central obstacle to Hezbollah’s disarmament is not simply the military capacity of the Lebanese state, but the absence of a political settlement capable of making disarmament both legitimate and sustainable. While additional funding and weapons would strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces, they will not resolve the fundamental political dilemma.
Read briefing As the United States threatens Europe with more tariffs and eyes Greenland, as Russia tests the continent’s resolve over Ukraine, as the planet overheats, where do citizens sense the biggest threat? In her Wednesday state of the EU speech, the Commission president addressed Ursula von der Leyen going big on manning the borders, literally suggesting new tools to better deal with migration, particularly after July’s run on Ceuta, where over two days, tens of thousands of mostly Moroccans overran Spain’s North African enclave.
Read briefing Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity in the crackdown on 2022 protests that left hundreds dead, Amnesty International said Wednesday, adding Tehran's suppression of new demonstrations this year bore the "same hallmarks" but on an even wider scale. FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks with Amnesty International Iran Researcher Raha Bahreini. She calls for the establishment of an international criminal justice mechanism to prosecute those responsible for the crimes.
Read briefing Saudi Arabia accused Yemen’s Houthis on Wednesday of launching an attack on the holy city of Mecca, which the Iran-backed rebels denied. Saudi Arabia, a US ally which has been the target of large-scale Houthi strikes since early September, declared Mecca a “red line” as it slid deeper into the new front of the Iran war.
Read briefing Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described voter turnout in the upcoming parliamentary election as a barometer of public support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and urged voters to go to the polls. It will be Russia's first parliamentary election since the Kremlin launched its offensive in February 2022.
Read briefing Turkish courts have jailed more LGBTQ activists and supporters, raising to 62 the number remanded in custody following a weekend crackdown, a legal rights group said on Wednesday. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Koen Slootmaeckers, Reader in International Politics at City St George's, University of London, says that Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan wants to claim "the idea of a strong, masculine state and LGBTQ people are a threat to this ideal".
Read briefing Sweden's centre-left opposition has defeated the incumbent right-wing governing bloc by the slimmest of margins, public broadcaster SVT said on Wednesday, after 99% of the votes in Sunday's parliamentary election had been counted. FRANCE 24's Paul Rhys reports.
Read briefing NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace and Denmark accused a Russian frigate of firing flares at a Danish military helicopter on Tuesday, in incidents that heightened tensions along the alliance’s eastern flank.
Read briefing Céline Dion on Saturday fulfilled her dream of returning to the stage after years battling a rare neurological disorder with a sell-out concert in an arena west of Paris. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, vocal coach Elena Hurstel says that Céline Dion's performance in Paris has been defined by emotion, explaining that "we can really see the new Céline. It's not about being perfect, it's about being the woman she became, about being real".
Read briefing A viral selfie allegedly showing Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi and other leaders together at the BRICS summit in New Delhi is AI-generated. A SynthID watermark shows it was created using OpenAI tools, while several leaders pictured, including Brazil’s Lula and Turkey’s Erdogan, did not attend. Another AI selfie features former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in 2024. Both images were widely shared online, including by official embassy accounts. Vedika Bahl fact-checks.
Read briefing Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Dr. Walaa-Eldeen Bakry, Principal Lecturer in Project Management and Finance and Director of Executive Education at Westminster Business School, says that "Carney is deliberately aiming to diversify the Canadian trade policy", explaining that it "can actually offer a more reliable route in terms of energy exports from Canada into the EU and we have seen last year a significant increase in oil exports to some European countries".
Read briefing The European Union accused Russia on Tuesday of the "reckless" firing of flares at a Danish frigate which, with the shooting down of a drone over Lithuania, heightened the continent's anxiety over the Ukraine-Russia war. Danish analysts are calling for NATO and the EU to step up their response to Russia, according to FRANCE 24's Copenhagen correspondent Trine Villemann.
Read briefing Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote launched the biggest-ever share sale on the African continent, listing 4.1 billion shares in his Lagos refinery on the stock exchange. He framed it as a "people's IPO" to give all Nigerians a chance to share the plant's wealth potentials. Trading is expected to start in November. Meanwhile, global oil prices continued to advance as attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels forced Saudi Arabia to shut down its East-West oil pipeline.
Read briefing In tonight's edition, Nigeria's Dangote refinery opens itself to public ownership with plans to raise 1.6 billion dollars from retail investors across the continent. Also, President Felix Tshisekedi calls on the National Service to clean up the streets of Kinshasa. And with a month and a half to go until the Youth Olympic Games begin, the Olympic flame begins its tour of Senegal, the tournament's host country.
Read briefing Turkish police fired tear gas at pro-LGBTQ demonstrators in the western city of Izmir on Monday, as activists protested a nationwide crackdown that saw dozens arrested over the weekend in a campaign authorities described as defending traditional family values.
Read briefing Yemen's Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets on Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country's revived civil war. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Dr H. A. Hellyer, Senior Fellow in Geopolitics, International Security, and Middle East Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, says that Iran and its non-state proxies "remain to be one of the more destabilising forces in the region alongside the Israeli project of regional paramountcy".
Read briefing Twelve European countries meeting in Finland on Monday urged the European Union to beef up its presence in the Arctic, a geopolitical battleground caught between Russia and US President Donald Trump. FRANCE 24's Eliza Herbert reports.
Read briefing Immediate France 24 analysis as polls close, and exit polls indicate how the country has voted in the 2026 election. France 24 Gavin Lee has been speaking to Scandinavia Correspondent Trine Villeman
Read briefing Who are the Houthis, what are their objectives for Yemen, and could the Iranian backed group how a significant chunk of world trade to ransom in the Bab el Mandeb Strait? Professor Thomas Juneau, a specialist on the Houthis & Iran, explains the intricate dynamics about the group, it’s repressive nature and the level of the threat to world shipping. He’s been speaking to France 24’s Gavin Lee
Read briefing Sweden's elections are too close to call as the centre-left opposition narrowly led on Sunday, with the far right seen losing ground after half of votes counted. Four opposition parties led by Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson held 49.3 percent against 49.1 percent for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing alliance.
Read briefing Ukraine and Poland on Sunday condemned Russian strikes close to the Polish border as an "escalation" in the war, after drones struck a Warsaw-bound train. Ukraine's rail operator said former British PM Boris Johnson and ex-US CIA director David Petraeus were at a border train station nearby around the time the train was hit.
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