Russian FSB officer likely ‘assisted’ in 2019 Berlin murder: report

The Taliban will shut down Afghanistan's media and are fooling the West by promising to let journalists operate freely, an award-winning Afghan photographer says after fleeing Kabul over threats by the group.

Russian journalists say the "foreign agent" law is leading media organizations to shut down. But the Kremlin insists the label is necessary to protect Russia.

FRANCE 24 spoke to Saad Mohseni, the chairman and chief executive of the Moby Group, a conglomerate which owns several media outlets in Afghanistan. He believes the world should "engage with the Taliban", saying "there's an opportunity for them to moderate their policies". Mohseni noted that to his surprise, Afghanistan's new masters have so far let Moby Group's journalists carry on working.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, women's rights have been quashed. Women are being told what to wear, what to study and being segregated from men at universities. After a violent crackdown on female protesters, a demonstration has taken place in Kabul by women deemed supportive of the Taliban's ultra-hardline interpretation of Islam. Images of that rally have sparked considerable reaction on social media. FRANCE 24's Haxie Meyers-Belkin tells us more.

Critics say a plan to consolidate media regulatory agencies will further shrink press freedom in the country. Journalists and opposition parties have decried the law as "draconian" and unconstitutional.

Courting controversy at the outset of his third term, Albanian PM Edi Rama has set up a new state agency for media and information, or MIA. Skeptics decry it as a "propaganda ministry."

We take a look at how the press is covering the appointment of a new Tunisian prime minister-designate and how the "historic" choice of a woman could also be a savvy power grab. The French papers are wondering if they, and politicians, should be focusing on far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour. We also discuss extinct species, Joe Biden’s difficult week and a drunken night out gone awry.

The Kremlin has placed an independent media agency along with two rights organizations on a register of "foreign agents."

A months-long investigation by several European media partners included footage of Croatian police beating migrants trying to cross the EU border from Bosnia into Croatia. Such "pushbacks" are considered illegal.

Bild tabloid Editor-in-Chief Julian Reichelt was fired after The New York Times detailed misconduct toward female employees. The case is now making waves internationally.

A live broadcast video from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been removed from Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. In the video, the president falsely stated that UK citizens are developing AIDS after receiving two Covid-19 vaccine doses. After the video was posted, fact-checking and governmental entities scrambled to clarify that there is no evidence to demonstrate a link between Covid-19 vaccines and the development of viruses such as HIV.

Facebook began this week by announcing more than $9 billion in quarterly profits, an increase of about 17 percent. The social media giant also announced that it now has close to three billion users. But all is not well on the Facebook front as Mark Zuckerberg’s platform has been facing a deluge of scathing reports.