A researcher on animal behaviour has told FRANCE 24 how he and his colleagues have been mind blown by the story of the cow that uses a broom to scratch its back. Veronika the cow has been shown to pick up and use a broom. She even chooses the soft end or the handle, depending on whether she wants to scratch her thicker or more sensitive skin areas. The ...

Elena Rybakina battled past Jessica Pegula to reach the Australian Open final on Thursday, with the fifth seed setting up a repeat of her 2023 title match against Aryna Sabalenka, who earlier defeated Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in a politically charged semi-final.

The EUs top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, told journalists Thursday it was likely fresh sanctions would be put in place on the Revolutionary Guard, which has played a key role in suppressing the demonstrations. To do so, all 27 member states have to agree but France did not want to do it until then due to several of its citizens being imprisoned in Iran.

US Youtuber IShowSpeed is the latest member of the diaspora to be granted Ghanaian citizenship. The announcement that the 21-year-old American would become a national was made on January 28 as he wrapped up a wildly popular month-long tour of the continent. This is in line with Ghana's strategy; part of a programme launched in 2019 where it is aggressively ...

In this edition of French Connections, Genie Godula and Florence Villeminot continue their tour of Paris with a stop in the most central arrondissement of the French capital: the 1st. Le premier, as it's known in French, is absolutely packed with bucket-list attractions like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and Monet's water lilies in the Muse de lOrangerie. But ...

A jungle of weeds fills the Sudanese finance ministry's courtyard in central Khartoum, where the army-backed government says it plans a gradual return after nearly three years of war. Even as war rages in the southern Kordofan region, Prime Minister Kamil Idris has announced that the government will return to Khartoum after operating from the Red Sea city ...

Rwanda has said it is suing the United Kingdom in the Hague Court to seek payments over an aborted, controversial migrant deal under which it was to host deported asylum seekers from the European country. The migrant deal entered into force on April 25, 2024. In July 2024, shortly after taking office, the UKs new Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that ...

Nigerian police fired tear gas to disperse residents protesting in Lagos on January 28 over demolition work in one of Africa's largest floating slums, the Makoko slum, that has displaced thousands of people. Lagos state officials, with the help of armed police and excavators, have been demolishing homes arguing that residents illegally built their houses - ...

Support is growing in France for jailed journalist Christophe Gleizes. Condemned on appeal to seven years in prison in Algeria, the French sports reporter is now the focus of a high-profile support evening in Paris. Musicians, journalists and sports figures are set to gather in the French capital, as press freedom group Reporters Without Borders steps up ...

In Venezuela, the post-Maduro transition is underway. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently touted quick progress and opening communication channels between the countries. However, the level of US influence over the country's future leadership remains to be tested, with interim leader Delcy Rodriguez recently saying it's been "enough" orders from ...

As gang violence in Haiti surges, sexual violence is increasingly a problem. The number of victims being treated at one clinic in Port au Prince has tripled in the past four years. Doctors Without Borders said it was alarmed and outraged by the overwhelming level of sexual and gender-based violence. Gangs control an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince, with ...

It was a much-anticipated evening for football fans: 18 games, played simultaneously to close off the regular season of the Champions League. The matches brought surprise victories and upsets. PSG, Real Madrid and Inter Milan will all have to go through the playoffs, while Benefica eliminated Marseille at the last second. PSG and Real Madrid will have to ...

Since August 2025 Ukraine has stepped up its campaign of strikes against targets deep inside Russia. While the countrys Western allies have been reluctant to allow the use of long-range missiles for that purpose, they have not objected to Ukraine doing it with its domestically-produced weapons - principally drones with the Americans even helping with ...

Ivory Coast says it will start buying back thousands of tons of unsold cocoa that have been sitting in warehouses and around the country's ports since November 2026. The holdup has also seen the income of farmers stagnate in the worlds largest producer of the cacao. But many worry that the last-minute intervention maybe too little too late.

Both Meta Platforms and Microsoft shared their latest quarterly results on Wednesday and showed they are still planning on sustained spending on artificial intelligence. Similarly, Telsa posted a drop in annual revenue for the first time in its history and announced a shift away from electric vehicles and towards AI and robotics. Meanwhile, hardware ...

Mozambique and TotalEnergies on Thursday relaunched a $20 billion gas project that was halted nearly five years ago after a deadly jihadist attack killed an estimated 800 people.

Kai Havertz scored on his first start for nearly a year as Arsenal completed a flawless league phase campaign, making it eight wins out of eight in the Champions League with victory over Kairat Almaty (3-2).

The Sicilian town of Niscemi has been declared a "red zone" after a four-kilometre (2.5-mile) long stretch of the hillside collapsed on January 25, forcing the evacuation of some 1,500 people. The town, built on unstable terrain, was battered by a powerful storm which hit southern Italy a few days before. Though there were no deaths or injuries, experts say ...

Speaking with FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney, Lynette Ong, Distinguished Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Toronto, says that the removal of General Zhang Youxia, Senior Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, is just the latest in a long series of purges and calls into question President Xi Jinping's judgment. Zhang is being ...

Kai Havertz scored on his first start for nearly a year as Arsenal completed a flawless league phase campaign, making it eight wins out of eight in the Champions League with victory over Kairat Almaty (3-2).

The French Senate on Wednesday adopted a draft legislation to facilitate the return of artworks and other prized artefacts looted during the countrys colonial era. This new procedure could help address requests already submitted by various countries, including Mali, Algeria and Benin.

After noticing that attention deficit disorders had sharply increased among pupils in the past five years, a Cape Town high school decided to turn phone-free. Expecting a backlash, it got none. This comes as increasingly more countries are worrying about the impact of phone use and social media on children and teenagers' learning capacity and concentration. ...

Russia's oil giant Lukoil said on Thursday that it will sell its foreign assets to The Carlyle Group, a US investment firm. This comes as Russian drone strikes killed three people and wounded another person overnight in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia governor said. Follow ourliveblog for the latest updates.

The Confederation of African Football announced Wednesday a series of sanctions affecting both Senegal and Morocco following controversial incidents during the AFCON final, citing "unsporting" behaviour and conduct. Senegal coach Pape Thiaw was banned for five matches, and the Senegal Football Federation was fined $615,000.

Loud explosions and heavy gunfire were heard early Thursday near Niamey International Airport. The cause of the gunfire and whether there were any casualties in unclear. Like its neighbours, Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger is grappling with an armed insurgency by jihadist groups.