Author: News Desk

In this edition, we meet the Oprah Winfrey of China. Born a man and once crowned the country’s best male dancer, Jin Xing has gone on to become China’s first transgender icon and a star TV host. Now in Paris for her upcoming show, she shares her life story with FRANCE 24’s Yuka Royer. From Chinese army dancer to transgender icon: Jin Xing's extraordinary journey

An explosion damaged a canal supplying water to Kosovo’s two main coal-fired power plants on Friday, leading Prime Minister Albin Kurti to accuse neighbor and rival Serbiaof being behind what he called a “terrorist act.” “This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure”, Kurti said in a press conference. “The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it comes from gangs directed by Serbia,” Kurti said, without giving more details. Serbian officials are yet to publicly comment on the allegations. What do we know about the blast? The explosion occurred in Kosovo’s troubled northern region…

When it was built, in 1851, the Crystal Palace in London was a true pride of Victorian civilization, a prodigy of iron architecture. Completed in a few months of work in Hyde Park – and inaugurated by the Queen herself. After hosting the Great exhibition of 1851, (it was the reason why it was built) it was dismantled and reassembled in a park a little outside the city, in Sydenham Hill, around which an elegant neighborhood arose. For decades it continued to host exhibitions, events and concerts (under its glass vaults, for example, the first exhibition on dinosaurs took place).…

The Ipsos B&A poll released as voting ended at 23CET showed the centre-right party Fine Gael was leading with 21% of the, with its centre-right coalition partner in the outgoing government, Fianna Fáil polling at 19.5%. ADVERTISEMENTThe official exit poll in Ireland’s parliamentary elections suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares of the vote and the country is headed for another coalition government.The Ipsos B&A poll released as voting ended at 23CET showed the centre-right party Fine Gael was leading with 21% of the vote, with its centre-right coalition partner in the outgoing government, Fianna Fáil polling at…

Addressing the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at its 47th plenary Session, Parliamentary Assembly President Theodoros Rousopoulos highlighted the most pressing challenges the Assembly will face in the coming years.  He added that Congress both needed to face, including democratic backsliding, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the global environmental crisis, gender inequalities, the impact of AI on democracy and human rights, and the migration crisis. and working together with Cecilia Dalman Eek who was Elected President of Chamber of Regions to combat all these situations is paramount. “The direct access to citizens’ concerns and expectations regarding democracy, human rights and the rule of law…

A woman with a terminal degenerative condition has said “I hope we can send it back” after MPs voted to support Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.A majority of MPs, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, voted on Friday in support of a Bill that would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives.Supporters of the assisted dying Bill wept and hugged each other outside Parliament as the news came through that it had been passed by MPs.Actress Liz Carr (left) takes part in a demonstration at Old…

Years after the violent death of a loved one, the bereaved family will often get a letter informing them that the offender is about to be released. It’s never easy.Old wounds can be reopened, trauma retriggered. Thoughts will often dwell on the reality that the killer now has a chance to get on with his life while the victim lies in a grave.Sometimes there is more at issue than a raw interruption of the family attempting to move on.Earlier this week, Michael and Paula Loughlin received an email from an official in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) informing them that…

Five years after images of the Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire shocked the world, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the monument on Friday, November 29, and praised the efforts of over 2,000 craftspeople who helped restore it to its former glory. Speaking in front of the designers, builders and architects who helped restore Notre-Dame, he said workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. “The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound, and you have been its remedy through will, through work, through commitment,” he said, adding the cathedral’s re-opening will…

Mathias Pogba, Paul Pogba’s brother, on his arrival at a Paris court, November 26, 2024. ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP “What was planned was a meeting between friends, to have a good time.” On the second day of the trial of people close to Paul Pogba, on Wednesday, November 27, Machikour K., the first defendant to appear before the 16th correctional chamber of the Paris court for the attempted extortion of the football player, delivered a line of defense that would be echoed by several of his co-defendants. With a big black parka and short, trimmed beard, the man who introduced…

At the entrance to the Seville Congress Palace where the 41st PSOE congress began this Friday, there are two enormous red arches that mark the passage between the street and the interior with a sign that says “enter from the left”, a twist on the PSOE motto. PSOE are the Spanish workers socialist party, They have been in government longer than any other political party in modern democratic Spain. One after another, the leaders who passed through them made similar ironic comments: “How good it is in here and how hard what is out there.” While the audience applaud them,…