Spanish parliament approves direct rule over Catalonia

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as a rejuvenated Barcelona gave a football masterclass to inflict a humiliating 4-0 defeat on rivals Real Madrid on Sunday, thrashing Carlo Ancelotti’s LaLiga leaders on their own ground.

Sixty years ago, French and Algerian officials inked a peace deal, the Évian Accords, bringing an end to an eight-year war and paving the way for Algerian independence. Also, a 19-year-old woman says she was raped by Sudanese security forces on the sidelines of a protest. Rights groups fear sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war. And we bring you a report on Ugandan efforts to track down the Islamist ADF militia, an operation that takes them into neighbouring DR Congo.

Amid supermarket food rationing, a truck drivers' strike over petrol prices and rising inflation in Spain, the country's economy minister tells FRANCE 24 that it's "essential" for Madrid to be allowed to take measures to bring electricity prices down. "We're working with the Commission to have an authorisation to decouple our energy market and thus stop this price increase […] It doesn't make sense that Spanish and Portuguese citizens do not benefit from the fact that we have for instance at least 50 percent of our generation from renewables. This is very cheap and clean energy and our citizens should benefit from these low prices," Nadia Calviño explains.

Abortion is legal in Spain yet a number of doctors in the public system still refuse to carry out the procedure, calling themselves "conscientious objectors." Their stance forcing women to use private clinics. We also head to Kibera in the Kenyan city of Nairobi which is Africa's largest urban slum; and where women outnumber men, as they struggle to exit a life of poverty. Plus we meet the Lebanese gay female stand-up comic who has no fear when it comes to breaking taboos.

Security forces and the Spanish tax agency have seized a fishing boat south of the Canary Islands carrying more than 2,900 kilos of cocaine, with a market value of €90 million.

Middle Eastern countries are boosting their food independence to counter the coming wheat shortfall. But despite some encouraging initiatives, existing challenges make food sovereignty almost impossible — for now.

A new report suggests that the Spanish government used the controversial Pegasus software to monitor the phones of dozens of Catalan independence figures.

Catalan politicians and activists announced legal action in several countries, following reports that the government in Madrid used Pegasus spyware manufactured by the notorious Israeli firm NSO Group to monitor them.

Jorge Moreira has been charged with terrorism and murder in Lebanon over his role in bringing ammonium nitrate explosives into the country. The August 2020 blast killed over 200 people and devastated entire suburbs.

Barcelona to relocate to the Olympic Stadium while the Camp Nou undergoes renovations

Paz Esteban was replaced after a controversy over the use of the Pegasus spyware to hack top Spanish officials' cellphones, as well as spying on Catalan separatists.

We look at reactions to Finland and Sweden's imminent bid to join NATO. Spanish lawmakers will soon discuss a proposal to offer period pain leave to women, which, if passed, would make Spain the first Western nation to do so. Also, the US wins hosting rights to the Rugby World Cups in 2031 and 2033. We then look at Friday the 13th and why there's even a word for people who fear the day. Finally, Indian parents sue their son... for not giving them grandchildren!