'Coldplaygate': CEO's resignation sparks debate on workplace affairs
22/07/2025
Gaza: 'It's impossible to get food' says a resident to FRANCE 24
22/07/2025
Tour de France: What is the Tour caravan?
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'Our journalists might die of hunger': AFP press agency warns Gaza team risk starvation
22/07/2025
Kenya drops terror charge on activist Boniface Mwangi
22/07/2025
Inside Gaza: A journalist's account of famine and humanitarian crisis
22/07/2025
Senegal is going madd about the fruit
22/07/2025
Once a beacon of hope, Tunisia's civil society struggles to survive
22/07/2025
DRC and M23 rebels sign ceasefire deal in Doha
22/07/2025
Brazil's Bolsonaro risks arrest over breach of court restrictions in coup case
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France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Thailand says over 100,000 civilians flee clashes with Cambodia
A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later Friday. The Thai interior ministry said more than 100,000 people from four border provinces had been moved to nearly 300 temporary shelters, while the kingdom's health ministry announced that the death toll had risen to 14 -- 13 civilians and one soldier. In the Cambodian town of Samraong, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border, AFP journalists reported hearing distant artillery fire on Friday morning. As the guns started up, some families packed their children and belongings into vehicles and sped away. "I live very close to the border. We are scared because they began shooting again at about 6:00 am," Pro Bak, 41, told AFP. He was taking his wife and children to a Buddhist temple to seek refuge. "I don't know when we could return home," he said. AFP journalists also saw soldiers rushing to man rocket launchers and speeding off towards the frontier. Calls for calm The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours -- both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists -- over their shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier. Dozens of kilometres in several areas are contested and fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. A UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade, but the current crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash. Fighting on Thursday was focused on six locations, according to the Thai army, including around two ancient temples. Ground troops backed up by tanks battled for control of territory, while Cambodia fired rockets and shells into Thailand and the Thais scrambled F-16 jets to hit military targets across the border. Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket. Thursday's clashes came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy after five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine. Cambodia downgraded ties to "the lowest level" on Thursday, pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh. At the request of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the deadly clashes, diplomatic sources told AFP. The United States urged an "immediate" end to the conflict, while Cambodia's former colonial ruler France made a similar call. The EU and China -- a close ally of Phnom Penh -- said they were "deeply concerned" about the clashes, calling for dialogue. burs-pdw/tym © 2025 AFP
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Balancing act for pro-Trump influencers as Epstein furor spirals
Trump's core Make America Great Again base has erupted in anger over the White House's handling of the so-called "Epstein files," viewing it as a betrayal by the Republican and his allies who have long championed the unfounded theory that powerful elites orchestrated a massive child sex trafficking cover-up. Calls for the release of those files could intensify after a US media report on Wednesday said Trump's name was among hundreds found during an official review of documents on Epstein, a claim the White House has denied. Faced with a choice between alienating a base fervently demanding answers or defying Trump -- who has implored them to move on -- MAGA-aligned influencers and podcasters find themselves in a political bind. MAGA media are "definitely walking a fine line with the Epstein debacle," Mike Rothschild, an expert on conspiracy theories, told AFP. "Trump demanding that nobody talk about Epstein should be a betrayal for them. But they're so invested in supporting Trump, and have built their financial support around it, that they really can't do anything but make excuses and tie themselves in knots." Some MAGA influencers, however, turned sharply critical in recent weeks. Among them is Rogan O'Handley, who was invited to the White House in February alongside a handful of influencers and presented with binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1," only to find they offered little new information. "This is a shameful coverup to protect the most heinous elites," O'Handley told his 2.2 million followers on X earlier this month. "We were told multiple times the files would be released and now it looks like backroom deals have been made to keep them hidden." 'Fanatically loyal' Charlie Kirk, a Trump loyalist and podcaster, faced an avalanche of criticism from the MAGA base after he initially said he was "done talking" about Epstein, and added he was going to trust "my friends in the administration." "Trump's base has been fanatically loyal, and influencers are hesitant about opposing Trump directly if that threatens the size of their audiences," Matt Gertz, senior fellow at the watchdog Media Matters for America, told AFP. Fueling the MAGA base's anger were conclusions from the Justice Department and FBI that Epstein -- a disgraced financier who died in jail in 2019 -- did not maintain a "client list" as conspiracy theorists have contended. Attorney General Pam Bondi emerged as their key target for criticism after announcing no more information would be forthcoming. But Trump has defended Bondi, while claiming without evidence on Truth Social that the Epstein files were written by his political rivals "Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the losers and criminals of the Biden administration." That response prompted disbelief from Benny Johnson, a longtime Trump supporter and right-wing podcaster. " By admitting that the Epstein Files are real, and that you've read them, and you don't like their contents, and they were written by your enemies, it doesn't make the most compelling case as far as I'm concerned. Holy moly," Johnson said. 'Moving target' Seeking to redirect attention within the MAGA base -- an echo chamber fueled by constant grievance and outrage -- Trump has launched attacks on familiar enemies: former president Barack Obama and the media. The White House has promoted the unfounded claim that Obama led a "years-long coup" against Trump around his victorious 2016 election. The former president has rejected the claim. The White House has also barred The Wall Street Journal from traveling with Trump during his upcoming visit to Scotland, after the newspaper reported that he wrote a bawdy birthday message to Epstein. Trump on Friday sued the WSJ and its media magnate owner Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion over the allegation in the article, which Trump denies. Following those moves, Stephen Bannon, host of the influential "War Room" podcast, sought to rally influencers behind Trump, telling US media that the MAGA base was "completely unified because now we're on offense." "The MAGA media's take on the Epstein case is both fractured and very much a moving target," said Gertz. "Trump's recent attacks on The Wall Street Journal and new conspiracy theories about Obama seem to be refocusing their attention away from Epstein -- though it's unclear for how long, particularly given the new revelation that Trump himself is named in the files."
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Brazil top court rules out immediate arrest of Bolsonaro for violating social media ban
Brazil' s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that former president Jair Bolsonaro would not be taken into detention -- for now -- during his trial for allegedly plotting a coup. But the court warned the 70-year-old would be imprisoned immediately if he violated restrictions, including a ban on using social media that was imposed last week. The far-right politician is on trial for allegedly plotting a coup to cling to power after losing the 2022 election to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On Friday the court slapped restrictions on Bolsonaro amid suspicion he was trying to disrupt the trial. He is now forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and cannot use social media. And third parties are not allowed to retransmit his public remarks. But Judge Alexandre de Moraes considered it an "isolated irregularity" that social media accounts of one of Bolsonaro's sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, "were used in his favor." Bolsonaro made a speech Monday that went viral on social media, but he did not post the speech from his own account -- his sons and allies did. Moraes -- with whom Bolsonaro has clashed often -- cited posts from accounts on X, Instagram and Facebook with videos, images and text from Bolsonaro's speech. According to Moraes, the former president "delivered a speech to be shown on digital platforms." The former president appeared before the cameras this week to show the ankle monitor on his left foot. "This is a symbol of the utmost humiliation," he said. "What matters to me is God's law," he added, rejecting the court's rulings. The Trump factor US President Donald Trump, who counts Bolsonaro among his allies, has waded into the trial, accusing the Brazilian authorities of conducting a witch hunt. His administration has imposed visa restrictions on Moraes over his conduct in the case, and announced 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian imports unless the charges are dropped. Eduardo Bolsonaro stepped down from his position as a congressman in March and moved to the United States, where he is campaigning for the Trump administration to intercede on his father's behalf. Writing on X, Eduardo Bolsonaro said the new warning from Moraes was "a clumsy and desperate effort to censor me using my father as a hostage." "You are a cowardly tyrant, Alexandre. A washed up coward," he added. Moraes believes Bolsonaro and his son seek to "subject the functioning of the Supreme Court (of Brazil) to the control of the United States." Among the restrictions imposed on Bolsonaro is an order not to approach embassies or the governments of other countries. He must also remain at home at night and on weekends, although he denied any plans to flee Brazil.
