The Latest Breaking News from Alison Sargent

The long wait for a new French prime minister

Saturday, August 31, 2024: In our first edition after the summer holidays, Alison Sargent is joined by French politics and history professor Andrew Knapp to discuss France's ongoing political deadlock. Nearly two months after snap parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron has yet to name a new prime minister, with the…

France 24 · Sep 1, 2024

Missak Manouchian: A stateless hero enters France's Panthéon

His life was worthy of a novel. An Armenian orphan who arrived in France as a stateless refugee and became a poet and Communist activist, Missak Manouchian was a figure of the French Resistance during World War II. Exactly 80 years to the day after his execution by the Nazis,…

France 24 · Feb 20, 2024

Special programme: Taiwan, a culture of freedom and diversity (part 2)

As Taiwan gears up for key January 13 presidential elections, FRANCE 24 takes you to Taipei for the second part of our special programme on the Taiwanese cultural scene. In this episode, we focus on the island's cultural diversity. Ranked as the world's tenth most successful democracy, we look at…

France 24 · Jan 12, 2024

Film show: Hearts melt in Anthony Chen's 'The Breaking Ice'

Set amid the snowy mountains of northern China, "The Breaking Ice" follows three young people over the course of several days as they form a brief and life-changing friendship. It's the latest film from Singaporean director Anthony Chen, whose first feature "Ilo Ilo" won the Camera d'Or at Cannes in…

France 24 · Nov 1, 2023

Soprano Jeanine De Bique on Cinderella and being a black opera singer

Born in the small Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago, opera singer Jeanine De Bique says it wasn't easy studying classical music growing up. But – much like Cinderella – De Bique pursued her dreams to the Manhattan School of Music and is now starring as the fairy tale princess…

France 24 · Oct 31, 2023

'Asterix and the White Iris': France's beloved Gallic hero returns in 40th volume

With his small stature, impressive moustache and clever quips, Asterix has been winning hearts both in and outside of France since his creation by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in 1959. This Thursday marks the release of the comic's 40th edition, "Asterix and the White Iris". The first written by…

France 24 · Oct 26, 2023

Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu on emboldening women to reclaim their value

Thandiwe Muriu discovered photography at 14, when she says her father put a camera in her hands and she never put it down. After breaking boundaries as Kenya's first female commercial photographer, she began developing her own personal work and burst onto the arts scene in 2020 with her "Camo"…

France 24 · Oct 13, 2023

British playwright Alexander Zeldin on using theatre to bring us closer to life

"A simple celebration of an ordinary life" – that’s how British playwright and director Alexander Zeldin describes his latest show, "The Confessions". Based on hours of conversations with his own mother, the play paints an intimate portrait of one woman's journey through her own life, from 1940s Australia to present-day…

France 24 · Oct 10, 2023

Norwegian writer Jon Fosse awarded Nobel Prize in Literature

His name had long been on the list of potential Nobel laureates. This Thursday, the Swedish Academy named Norwegian playwright and author Jon Fosse the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in 1959 on Norway's western coast, the 64-year-old's vast body of work includes plays, novels, poetry,…

France 24 · Oct 5, 2023

Nordic Noir master Ragnar Jónasson on his new thriller 'Reykjavik'

Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson is one of the masters of Nordic Noir. His best-selling thrillers have sold millions of copies in 36 different territories. His latest novel "Reykjavik" centres around the cold case of a missing teenage girl. It's a unique collaboration with none other than Iceland's sitting Prime Minister…

France 24 · Oct 5, 2023