- FRANCE 24

1 hour 29 min ago - AFP

Bankia sells City National Bank for 683m euros

Spain's bailed-out lender Bankia on Friday announced it would sell City National Bank of Florida to Chile's BCI for around 683 million euros ($883 million).The bank said in a statement it had "made provisions in late 2010 to cover losses" of City ...

2 hours 40 min ago - AFP

Toulon dethrone champs to stay on course for double

Toulon ended Toulouse's reign as French Top 14 champions with a 24-9 semi-final success on Friday to remain on course to complete a double.The newly-crowned European champions took their time to hit their stride following last weekend's historic ...

3 hours 10 min ago - AFP

Bausch & Lomb near $9 bn sale to Valeant: source

Canadian pharmaceutical company Valeant is close to a deal to acquire US eye health company Bausch & Lomb for about $9 billion, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.A deal could come as soon as next week, the person said.Unless the deal ...

3 hours 26 min ago - AFP

Chile slaps $16 million fine on Canada mine company

Chile's environmental authorities slapped a $16.4 million fine Friday on Canadian mining company Barrick Gold for "serious" violations at its unfinished gold mine near the border with Argentina.Officials here said the fine was levied after a ...

3 hours 37 min ago - AFP

Weiner confuses skylines in NY mayoral campaign gaffe

Anthony Weiner, running for New York mayor two years after he became notorious for sending women sexually explicit photos, raced to fix his campaign website Friday after another pictorial faux-pas.The site had featured a banner image of a city ...

3 hours 44 min ago - AFP

In Stockholm's suburbs, unemployment stokes unrest

Behind the well-kept lawns and flowerbeds of Husby, the immigrant-heavy Stockholm suburb where riots have raged for five straight nights, unemployment is fuelling despair among the young residents.Nearly a week of unrest across the Swedish capital ...

4 hours 5 min ago - AFP

IMF chief Lagarde avoids charges in French payout scandal

IMF chief Christine Lagarde avoided immediate charges Friday but was named an "assisted witness" after French prosecutors grilled her for two days over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon when she was finance minister."My status as assisted witness ...

4 hours 9 min ago - AFP

US stocks flat as bulls get cautious

US stocks closed flat Friday, reeling in early losses but showing caution following Japan's Thursday plunge and ahead of the three-day US Memorial Day holiday weekend.At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 9.06 points (0.06 ...

4 hours 26 min ago - AFP

Tunisia's state of emergency must be extended: Sabbagh

The fragile security situation in Tunisia, where radical Islamists are blamed for a wave of violence in recent months, makes it necessary to extend the state of emergency, Defence Minister Rachid Sabbagh said on Friday."The current security ...

4 hours 35 min ago - AFP

Dortmund out to scale 'Everest' of Euro final

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has said his team face their "Everest" in Saturday's Champions League final, describing their showdown with Bayern Munich as the "perfect game in the perfect stadium".Bayern walked away with this season's ...

4 hours 48 min ago - AFP

Syria opposition demands 'goodwill gestures' from Assad

Syria's opposition called Friday on President Bashar al-Assad to prove it is working for a transition of power in the war-torn country, as they gathered in Istanbul to discuss a US-Russian initiative for peace."We want to stop the bloodshed.

5 hours 6 min ago - AFP

Google eyes emerging markets networks: report

Google has become deeply involved in a series of projects to build and operate wireless networks in emerging markets including sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, a report said Friday.The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported the ...

5 hours 33 min ago - AFP

Hummels fit for Champions League final

Borussia Dortmund centre-back Mats Hummels revealed on Friday that he is fit to play in the all-German Champions League final against Bayern Munich after overcoming an ankle injury.The 24-year-old former Bayern player had to go off in the 78th ...

6 hours 3 min ago - AFP

Dan Tan charged in Hungary football match-fixing probe

Hungarian prosecutors said Friday that Dan Tan, a notorious Singaporean alleged match-fixer wanted around the world, was charged in absentia along with 44 others suspected of manipulating football matches.The 45 including Tan Seet Eng, better known ...

6 hours 3 min ago - AFP

Prisoners to cycle Tour de France stage under heavy guard

Prisoners in France's southern island of Corsica are in for a treat next month when they will be allowed out of jail to cycle a Tour de France stage three weeks ahead of the professionals.The local government announced Friday that an undisclosed ...

6 hours 5 min ago - AFP

US worried Syrian war spilling into Lebanon

The United States expressed concern Friday that Lebanon could find itself dragged into Syria's civil war and expressed support for efforts by the country's army to halt an outbreak of fighting.

6 hours 13 min ago - AFP

Stalin police criticism sparks anti-Semitism row in Russia

An explosive comparison made by a liberal Russian politician between Stalin's agents and Hitler's secret police has provoked a storm of abusive criticism in Russia that has been tinged by anti-Semitism.The controversy erupted when anti-Kremlin ...

6 hours 27 min ago - AFP

Hitler's shadow looms over anniversary of VW hometown

Europe's number one carmaker Volkswagen is not keen on celebrating the 75th birthday of its German hometown of Wolfsburg on Sunday because of the long shadow cast by Adolf Hitler there."It was all just a bit of Nazi propaganda," a spokesman for the ...

6 hours 32 min ago - AFP

Peace efforts leave Syrian refugees in Jordan cold

International efforts to organise a Syria peace conference are at fever pitch, but in Jordan's Zaatari camp, Syrian refugees are more concerned with the misery of their daily lives than diplomatic manoeuvring."To be honest, we're fed up with these ...

6 hours 32 min ago - AFP

Heynckes at ease with pre-final pressure

A smiling Jupp Heynckes played down talk of pre-match nerves ahead of his penultimate assignment as Bayern Munich manager in Saturday's all-German Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.The 68-year-old will be succeeded by Pep Guardiola at ...

6 hours 46 min ago - AFP

Qaeda seizes territory in Yemen's Hadramawt

Fighters loyal to Al-Qaeda have seized control of villages near the Yemeni port city of Mukalla in an apparent bid to take over swathes of the southeastern province of Hadramawt, the interior ministry and residents said on Friday.The ministry ...

6 hours 55 min ago - AFP

Fashion brands say street crime threatens Paris tourism

The streets of Paris are getting a reputation of being unsafe for tourists and this is a threat to business by the great brand names of French fashion, a top body representing the luxury industry warned on Friday.A leading association that counts ...

7 hours 5 min ago - AFP

Journalism on verge 'of extinction' in DR Congo: media NGO

Journalists' lives are in danger and they are being prevented from reporting freely in areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that are controlled by armed M23 rebels, the NGO Reporters Without Borders warned Friday."In territory controlled by ...

7 hours 7 min ago - AFP

Mobile app to help fight against racism in France

A French anti-racism association is launching a mobile application it hopes will help eradicate racist graffiti by enabling users to take photos of offensive tags, geo-locate them and get them removed.Licra -- the International League against Racism ...

7 hours 9 min ago - AFP

Syria army says rebels trapped in Qusayr's north

Syrian troops have captured much of the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, in central Homs province, squeezing opposition fighters into the north of the strategic town, a military officer told AFP on Friday.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog ...

7 hours 15 min ago - AFP

Guatemala extradites ex-president to US: lawyer

Guatemala on Friday extradited ex-president Alfonso Portillo to the United States to face money laundering charges."Farewell, people of Guatemala," the former president said as he boarded a flight at a Guatemalan military air force base, an AFP ...

7 hours 26 min ago - AFP

Spanish king's daughter faces tax probe

A Spanish judge Friday ordered an investigation into the tax affairs of King Juan Carlos's youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, adding to the woes of the scandal-hit royal family.A judge in Palma de Mallorca demanded the tax authorities provide him ...

7 hours 34 min ago - AFP

Top Swazi judge in dog fight over dachshund

A Swaziland high court judge has become entangled in a messy battle over custody of a dachshund puppy, which he is accused of dognapping from a neighbour using a falsified court order.Judge Jacobus Annandale, an avid dog-breeder, allegedly sent ...

7 hours 41 min ago - AFP

Source of life running out: water scientists

The majority of people on Earth will face severe water shortages within a generation or two if pollution and waste continues unabated, scientists warned at a conference in Bonn Friday."This handicap will be self-inflicted and is, we believe, ...

7 hours 46 min ago - AFP

Monaco announce Moutinho, Rodriguez signings

AS Monaco have reached agreement with Porto to sign Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez, the club announced on Friday.The Portuguese champions revealed that the deal was worth a combined fee of 70 million euros ($90.6m).Monaco, who will be back in the ...

7 hours 49 min ago - AFP

US, Turkey, Qatar seek urgent UN rights debate on Syria

The United States, Turkey and Qatar called Friday for an urgent debate on Syria at the UN's top human rights body next week, citing the escalating conflict and the regime's assault on the central town of Qusayr."We ...

7 hours 58 min ago - AFP

Study reveals man's rocky road to upright walking

The rugged landscape created by volcanic eruptions and tectonic plate shifts in east and south Africa millions of years ago may be what prompted our human ancestors to start walking on two legs, a study said Friday.The research published in the ...

8 hours 24 min ago - AFP

Search for China's missing children goes online

It took dozens of volunteers half a year searching old Chinese maps and villages, but finally the online-organised group helped Luo Gang find where he was kidnapped 23 years ago -- and his birth family.The search for China's missing children -- ...

8 hours 24 min ago - AFP

Ivorian student anger over university revamp

Last year's reopening of Ivory Coast's universities was a grand affair, turning the page on a bloody leadership crisis that had forced their closure with new lecture halls, added student housing and sprawling sports fields.But two semesters in, ...

8 hours 24 min ago - AFP

China's Catholics show fervour in Shanghai celebration

Thousands of Chinese Catholics gathered in Shanghai on Friday for a celebration to honour the Virgin Mary, in a show of religious fervour permitted by the Communist-ruled state.China exercises strict control over religion, requiring followers to ...

8 hours 48 min ago - AFP

Japan's J-League still blazing trails at 20

Japan's J-League was a trailblazer for Asian football when it debuted in 1993 and now, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary, it is still pointing the way forwards for the region.Gone are the days when J-League clubs spent lavishly to recruit the ...

8 hours 50 min ago - AFP

At Cannes, pain and loss of migration come to fore

They set off with dreams of a new life only to find that peril, exploitation, loneliness and an aching rootlessness often await them.Migration, one of the great issues of globalisation but one that until now has been poorly explored at the movies, ...

8 hours 53 min ago - AFP

Iranian filmmaker makes it to Cannes amid secrecy

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, jailed in 2010 for anti-regime propaganda, told the Cannes Film Festival on Friday he knew his latest picture would also come under fire in his own country.

9 hours 15 sec ago - AFP

Mads Mikkelsen back after Cannes win with French role

Danish star Mads Mikkelsen fires crossbows, delivers a baby colt and speaks fluent French in the Renaissance drama "Michael Kohlhaas", which joined the competition Friday at Cannes.Mikkelsen, who picked up the festival's top actor prize last year ...

9 hours 15 min ago - AFP

Li visit raises landmark Swiss-China trade deal

China's Premier Li Keqiang was poised on Friday to sign a key accord with Switzerland bringing closer a free-trade deal seen as a touchstone for Beijing's growing global ties.After high-level talks, Li and the Swiss government were scheduled to ink ...

‘Darth Vader’ demands free land from Ukrainian government