Browsing: Europe

Europe is a continent and is different to the European Union.

Switzerland’s non-membership of the EU means it is viewed as more neutral than countries like Austria, Ireland or Sweden.

The year 2024 may have only just begun but it looks set to be an action-packed one. With a number of pivotal political, environmental, cultural and athletic events on the horizon, it can be difficult to keep track of what’s to come. FRANCE 24 sets out a a timeline of a few major events that are certain to define 2024.

From a devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey to a march on Moscow and the war against Hamas in Gaza, 2023 was full of dramatic moments, from the heartfelt to the heartbreaking. FRANCE 24 takes a look back at 12 key events that defined the year in news. 

While wars are fought between armies or militant groups, conflicts have their keyboard warriors too. It is estimated that more than half of the world uses social media, and many people do not go to traditional media as a source of information at all. As social media use increases, unease has grown among EU decision-makers about the power of these platforms to potentially distort people’s view of the world. The EU has tried to regulate on disinformation through the Digital Services Act (DSA), but how successful has that effort been? Our panellists assess the impact of the DSA and raise other issues that are connected to disinformation, such as spyware and election interference.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, currently serving a 19-year prison sentence, has been transferred to a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle. The IK-3 penal colony, located in Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 km (1200 miles) northeast of Moscow, is considered to be one of the toughest prisons in Russia. Penal colonies are descendants of Soviet-era Gulags, the notorious Stalin-era labour camps where thousands of Russians lost their lives.

The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Tuesday, drawing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance. Sweden’s accession protocol will now need to be approved in the Turkish parliament’s general assembly for the last stage of the legislative process in Turkey. “Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s joining NATO is linked to the US Senate’s approval of Turkey buying 14 F-16 fighter bombers from America”, FRANCE 24’s Jasper Mortimer said, adding that the Senate’s approval is contingent on Turkey ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership.

Nearly 60 French actors and other prominent figures have denounced the “lynching” of disgraced film legend Gerard Depardieu, who is charged with rape and is facing a litany of other sexual assault claims. FRANCE 24 Reporter Clovis Casali said the signatories included, “actresses like Carole Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling; singers Carla Bruni, Jacques Dutronc; many of them long-time friends of Gerard Depardieu”. Casali added: “it’s not the young generations, it’s more the old guard, if I may.” 

Nearly 60 French actors and other prominent figures have denounced the “lynching” of disgraced cinema legend Gerard Depardieu, who is charged with rape and facing a litany of sexual assault claims. Last week French President Emmanuel Macron said Depardieu had become the target of a “manhunt”, while his family has denounced an “unprecedented conspiracy” against him. FRANCE 24’s Philip Turle brings you this analysis