Mother of George Floyd’s daughter makes first public comments

The death toll from heavy rains and mudslides in the city of Petropolis in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state has risen to 104, authorities said late Wednesday, Feb. 16. At least 54 homes have been destroyed and 370 people are being housed in shelters, according to a report by the Brazilian news portal G1.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia as a reaction to its invasion of Ukraine are beginning to bite. Everybody is likely to be affected, but some economic sectors will be hit harder than others.

Ahead of the first round of France's presidential election on Sunday, the death of Jeremy Cohen, a French Jewish man, is making headlines. A viral video shows Cohen being hit by a tram as he escaped a group of attackers. The tragedy is now stirring political controversy, since it was because of a tweet by far-right presidential hopeful Éric Zemmour that the case got propelled to the headlines. Plus, FRANCE 24 attends far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon's very modern hologram rally, as well as Communist challenger Fabien Roussel's more traditional "apéritifs".

Papers react to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to the UN, with some agreeing that the Security Council's veto power is preventing the body from fulfilling its mission. In France, the death of a Jewish man in a Parisian suburb is prompting reactions on the campaign trail, despite there being no evidence so far that it was provoked by anti-Semitism. Finally, we look at a call for candidates to count penguins at a post office in Antarctica.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to help the victims of devastating east coast floods on Wednesday, as the death toll rose to 259 from heavy rains that washed out roads and disrupted shipping in one of Africa's busiest ports.

A government official says flooding in KwaZulu-Natal province has caused the deaths of 259 people. Many people are still missing and thousands of others have been displaced.

A Franco-American journalist and filmmaker has told FRANCE 24 of the campaign launched to try to save the life of a Hispanic mother on death row in Texas. Melissa Lucio, 53, is due to be executed later this month after being found guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2007.

Located in the French Mediterranean, Corsica is often referred to as the "island of beauty". But it's also been the scene of recent tensions. Since last month's death of jailed assassin and independence figurehead Yvan Colonna, following an attack on him by a fellow inmate, a pro-autonomy movement has been gaining ground on Corsica. Thousands have taken to the streets to call for more autonomy, with young people particularly vocal. We take you from the seafront in Ajaccio to the university town of Corte to unpick the recent crisis and the calls for change.

Thousands have been displaced and scores are missing in what is considered to be one of the worst natural disasters on record. South Africa's weather service is warning of even more heavy rains.

Prosecutors in Germany accuse the man of crimes against humanity and murder in Gambia. Among the victims of the so-called "Junglers" death squad was a prominent journalist and AFP correspondent.

Wishma Sandamali, a 33-year-old Sri Lankan woman, died in a Japanese detention centre in March of last year. Her death sparked debate on the treatment of the 1,500 asylum seekers currently in detention in Japan. Many of them claim they are being treated inhumanely. Despite its economic might, Japan takes in few refugees. In 2020, it accepted less than 100 asylum seekers, while France, whose population is half the size of Japan's, took in 24,000. Our correspondents report from the city of Nagoya, where Wishma died.

A state probe following the 2020 killing of George Floyd found that Minneapolis officers engaged in a "pattern or practice of race discrimination." The findings come days after Floyd's convicted killer filed an appeal.