France 24

Brazil vowed Thursday to fight new U.S. tariffs after President Trump imposed a 40% hike on Brazilian imports, citing what he called a “witch hunt” against ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, currently on trial for coup plotting. The move brings total trade duties to 50%. If last-minute talks fail, Brazil plans to appeal. For expert insight, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks with Dr. Christopher Sabatini, Senior Fellow at Chatham House and advisor to Harvard LASPAU, Human Rights Watch, and the Inter-American Foundation.

Léon Marchand dazzled once again on Thursday in Singapore, clinching his sixth swimming world championship crown — and his third in the 200m individual medley — just 24 hours after smashing the world record in the same event. 

Ukraine on Friday observed a day of mourning following one of the deadliest Russian attacks on the capital Kyiv since the 2022 full-scale invasion.  At least 26 people, including three children, were killed in Thursday's bombardment. US President Donald Trump, who gave Russia a "10 or 12" deadline this week to end the hostilities, said the attacks were “disgusting”.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to visit Gaza on Friday amid international criticisms of a US-Israeli aid distribution system as as the death toll of Palestinians waiting for food and other aid continued to climb. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments on the situation in Gaza.

El Salvador's Congress on Thursday approved a constitutional reform scrapping presidential term limits, allowing incumbent Nayib Bukele to seek re-election indefinitely. The changes, fast-tracked by his majority-controlled legislature, also extend terms from five to six years. The measure passed 57-3 amid criticism over democratic backsliding. 

Syria's new authorities have established a committee to investigate attacks on civilians during recent sectarian clashes in the south, officials said Thursday. July's violence in Sweida province killed hundreds, displaced tens of thousands, and risked destabilising the country's fragile postwar transition.

The African nation of Lesotho - the small, mountainous kingdom surrounded entirely by South Africa - once punched above its weight as the “denim capital of Africa.”  But that reputation is unraveling fast. In April, Donald Trump slapped the country with shock 50% tariffs, sending factories into freefall. Though those tariffs were paused, the uncertainty has been devastating. 

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday imposing reciprocal tariffs of 10% to 41% on imports from dozens of countries. India faces 25% duties, Taiwan 20%, and South Africa 30%, the White House said.

The head of Russia’s Roscosmos said Thursday he agreed with NASA to extend International Space Station (ISS) operations until 2028. The deal, struck during US talks, preserves one of the last areas of cooperation amid strained ties over Ukraine.

Innovative theatre auteur Bob Wilson died Thursday in New York after a short illness, his management said. His productions were hugely popular wherever they were shown, but he was best known in France, where he directed the inaugural show of the Opéra Bastille in 1989.

The US State Department on Thursday announced sanctions on officials of the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization for trying to "internationalise” their conflict with Israel, including by bringing cases to the International Criminal Court, and "undermining the prospects for peace". 

Frenchwoman Maeva Squiban made a perfectly-timed attack on the final climb to win the mountainous stage six of the Tour de France Femmes on Thursday. Mauritian rider Kimberley Le Court retained the leader's yellow jersey.

The 25% figure would single out India more severely than other major trading partners, and threaten to unravel months of talks between the two countries, undermining a strategic partner of Washington's and a counterbalance to China.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 31 in a bid to salvage Gaza truce talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine is unfolding.

Protests have turned violent at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, as residents rally against sharp cuts in food rations and dwindling aid from international donors. Local authorities report at least one death and two injured police officers. We speak with Olivier Sterck, author of a study on the impact of shrinking assistance in Kakuma.

Violent protests have erupted at one of Kenya’s largest refugee camps, as displaced residents in Kakuma protest steep cuts in food rations and reduced aid from the US and other donors.At least one person has been killed and two police officers injured, according to local authorities.We spoke with John Thomas Muyumba, founder of Youth Voice of Kakuma.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday after arriving in Israel to try to salvage Gaza truce talks and address the humanitarian crisis in the enclave. His visit came as Israel faces mounting international pressure over the widespread destruction of Gaza and constraints on aid in the territory.

President Volodymyr Zelensky restored the independence of Ukraine's two main anti-corruption agencies on July 31, moving to defuse a political crisis that has shaken faith in his wartime leadership and worried Western partners.

Last year, a quarter of all 18- to 29-year-olds in France reported having no sexual relations at all. That’s five times more than when the same question was asked in 2006. So, is France in a “sex recession”? ENTR took to the streets of Paris to find out.

In Gaza, mothers of very young children are running out of resources to keep their babies alive amid a deepening famine. With infant formula virtually impossible to find, severe malnutrition is spreading rapidly among children under the age of two. In a desperate race to keep their babies from starving, mothers are turning to whatever they can find—tea, lentil soup, herbs, or even tahini. But these substitutes are not enough.

A French nursery school assistant has been charged with the alleged rape and sexual assault of nine children, prosecutors said Thursday. The 59-year-old woman was arrested following complaints by the families of two children attending a nursery school in the southern village of Vic-La-Gardiole.

Russia and Syria signaled Thursday they would bolster ties and review agreements made under the previous pro-Moscow government of ex-president Bashar al-Assad amid uncertainty over the future of two Russian military bases in the country. Russia's top diplomat met with his Syrian counterpart in Moscow, marking the first time a high-ranking Syrian official visited Russia since Assad's ouster.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Thursday said the Israeli- and US-backed aid operation run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) “generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza" and “has to stop”. The UN estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food since May, most near militarised distribution sites of the GHF.

“The process to recognise a Palestinian state must begin now,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on July 31. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Noga Tarnopolsky, reports on the reactions in Israel.