Her career has seen her smash glass ceilings in classical music, first at the prestigious Bayreuth Festival and now at Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Oksana Lyniv is the first female director of an Italian opera house. The Ukrainian conductor spoke to FRANCE 24's Olivia Salazar-Winspear about her many achievements and how the war in Ukraine makes her public role even more important.

A new report from the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that more than 27 million people are engaged in forced labour around the world. This Tuesday, Brussels is announcing new rules to ban goods made with forced labour or those imported into the bloc. The ILO report also raised alarm over the working conditions of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

A court in the state of Arizona has upheld a century-old ban on abortions. In response, the White House said it would continue to press Congress to codify the right to abortion recently overturned at the Supreme Court.

France is bustling with classical music events this autumn. Paris's Opéra Bastille is performing Mozart's timeless "The Magic Flute", with Franco-Italian conductor Antonello Manacorda at its helm. He stopped by the FRANCE 24 studios to tell us more about how the themes of this Singspiel still apply in 2022.

The Popular Front of India (PFI) is a Muslim political association the Indian government says is behind violent protests. While many welcome the ban, critics say similar Hindu interest groups should be banned as well.

More judges on India's top court would now be asked to decide whether a ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in educational institutions stands. A lower court's ruling against the hijab already sparked an uproar.

Plastic waste has become a significant source of pollution in India. But the country is struggling to find an alternative to single-use plastics and establish an effective waste management system.

The first transgender singer to go number one in the US, German-born Kim Petras endured long rites of passage in her homeland before finding her voice abroad.

According to Hitler and Goebbels (Hitler's second in command), the three master composers that represented good German music were Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, and Anton Bruckner.

Gyms and public baths are now also off limits to Afghan women, the Taliban confirmed Sunday, days after banning them from parks and funfairs.

Humanitarian groups are warning that the situation in Mali risks deteriorating rapidly after Bamako announced a ban on NGOs financed by France. The move came in response to France's decision to cut off public funding to Mali because of its alleged involvement with the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

Russia's lawmakers backed amendments to an existing law to ban discussions of LGBTQ relationships and issues in public or online among adults as well as children.