Russia fully blocks WhatsApp, intensifying it's 'crackdown on free expression'

12/02/2026 16:06 France 24

WhatsApp has been fully blocked in Russia after authorities said the Meta-owned messaging app failed to comply with local laws. The Kremlin is now encouraging users to switch to a state-backed “national messenger”, a move widely seen as tightening control over online communication and free expression. FRANCE 24’s international editor Doug Herbert explains how this fits into a broader crackdown on digital freedoms in the country.

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Arctic Sentry: Europe takes the lead in NATO Arctic security mission

At Thursday's NATO meeting in Brussels, US Secretary of State Pete Hegseth was absent, highlighting concerns about America stepping back from the alliance. European allies announced Arctic Sentry, a new mission to strengthen Arctic security amid Russian and Chinese activity. While analysts see it l...

12/02/2026 16:45 France 24

NATO downplays Greenland dispute as US defence chief absent from summit

NATO allies say tensions over Greenland have eased after the launch of the Arctic Sentry mission aimed at boosting security in the Arctic and reassuring President Donald Trump, who had raised concerns over Russian and Chinese influence in the region. The dispute had briefly strained the alliance, m...

12/02/2026 16:10 France 24

Milano-Cortina: Ukrainian athlete disqualified over war tribute helmet

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Olympic race for wearing a “helmet of remembrance” honouring athletes killed since Russia’s invasion, breaching IOC rules banning political messages in competition. He can remain at the Games after a last-minute interv...

12/02/2026 16:02 France 24

Fractures in NATO exposed amid Ukraine and Greenland talks

NATO defence ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss Ukraine’s defence amid almost four years of war with Russia and to strengthen security in Greenland and the Arctic. Dafyyd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and international security at the University of Portsmouth, notes Russia’s...

12/02/2026 14:01 France 24

NATO defence ministers to meet on Ukraine weapons, Greenland security

NATO defence ministers hold a key meeting on Ukraine and Greenland this Thursday. Leaders discuss keeping weapons flowing to Ukraine while pressuring countries that haven’t contributed enough, and launch the ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission to strengthen security in Greenland and the Arctic. FRANCE 24...

12/02/2026 12:25 France 24

Trump wants to reopen coal era, rolls back key climate rule

Donald Trump plans to roll back a key climate rule linking greenhouse gases to health risks and is pushing coal, including for military use and AI data centres. His policies reverse progress on renewable energy despite warnings from scientists about environmental harm....

12/02/2026 12:24 France 24

Analyst Peter Zalmayev 'not very hopeful US tone has changed decisively' on Ukraine

On a day when NATO has promised new help for Ukraine, while thousands more people in the country have been left without power after Russian attacks, a Ukrainian analyst has offered his hopes to FRANCE 24. Peter Zalmayev, director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, says he is not very hopeful that...

12/02/2026 12:02 France 24

Russia blocks WhatsApp for failing to comply with local law, pushes state-backed alternative

The Kremlin said on Thursday said that US messenger app WhatsApp has been completely blocked in Russia for failing to comply with local law, suggesting Russians turn to a state-backed "national messenger" MAX instead. Critics say MAX is a surveillance tool, something the authorities deny. ...

12/02/2026 11:09 France 24

France's Duplomb law debate reignites over controversial pesticides

The controversial Duplomb law, which previously aimed to ease regulations on farmers but was blocked from reintroducing certain neonicotinoid pesticides, is back in the French National Assembly for debate. The revised bill could allow these pesticides for crops like sugar beets and hazelnuts, spark...

12/02/2026 10:42 France 24

France proposes bold measures to boost birth rate

France faces declining birth rates, with deaths outnumbering births for the first time since World War II. A parliamentary report proposes longer paid parental leave, interest-free housing loans, and a universal monthly child allowance of €250 to make it easier for families to have children....

12/02/2026 10:39 France 24

'The price of our dignity': Ukraine athlete disqualified from Olympics over memorial helmet

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Winter Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday for his insistance on wearing a helmet depicting Ukrainian sportsmen and women killed during the war with Russia. The IOC said that the athlete had not...

12/02/2026 08:45 France 24

Ukraine skeleton racer Heraskevych disqualified from Olympics over memorial helmet

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Winter Olympics on Thursday after refusing to back down over his banned helmet, which depicts victims of his country's war with Russia....

12/02/2026 08:45 France 24

Live: Russian attack leaves nearly 300,000 people without power, water supply in Odessa

Russia's attack on Ukraine's southern city of Odessa left nearly 300,000 people without electricity and water supply amidst below freezing winter temperatures. Close ‌to 200 buildings in the city were left without heating, while 10,000 consumers were also left without heating i...

12/02/2026 06:13 France 24

'If the Cuban government were to collapse, that would be a security threat to the United States'

For Spotlight, François Picard is pleased to welcome Emily Morris, live from Havana, Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London's Institute of the Americas. The fuel embargo has shifted from an abstract policy dispute into something felt in the grain of everyday life. This is...

11/02/2026 22:33 France 24

Ukraine war: Why is a teenager accused of burying his father 'eight times'?

Multiple social media users - many of them pro-Russian accounts - shared a photo montage of a teenage boy carrying portraits at multiple funerals, falsely claiming he'd buried "eight fathers" and that it was proof of Ukrainian 'wartime staging' to rack up sympathy from Western media. In reality, t...

11/02/2026 20:41 France 24

Ukraine will not hold elections until a ceasefire is in place, Zelensky says

Presidential elections in Ukraine will only happen once a ceasefire has been reached with Russia and Kyiv has received the security guarantees it needs, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday, rejecting a report suggesting he was considering calling Ukrainians to the ballots within the next th...

11/02/2026 18:53 France 24

UN's Albanese slams 'shameful and defamatory' anti-Semitism accusations against her

In an interview with FRANCE 24, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese dismissed recent accusations of anti-Semitism against her as "shameful and defamatory". She also warned that "the plan to fully destroy Gaza continues" and denounced Israeli measures in...

11/02/2026 15:47 France 24

Ukrainian athlete vows to defy IOC over banned helmet at Winter Olympics

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych vowed Tuesday that he would wear a helmet that carries pictures of Ukrainian sportsmen and women killed since Russian forces invaded in 2022 despite a ban imposed by Olympic chiefs. "I used it in all trainings I used it today, I will use it tomorrow...

11/02/2026 15:32 France 24

Anger and grief over Kenyans used as 'cannon fodder' by Russia in Ukraine war

Kenya's foreign minister has announced he's to visit Russia, as outrage grows over Kenyan nationals being lured by promises of lucrative jobs when in fact they're then being used as soldiers on the front in the war with Ukraine. Solange Mougin has more on the devastation of Kenyan families that hav...

11/02/2026 15:30 France 24

Solutions to climate change challenges: 'We have all the tools', just not the will

Eve Irvine is very pleased to welcome Glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre and Explorer Matthieu Tordeur. They made the treacherous journey across Antarctica using wind power only: “it’s nature who decides in Antarctica.” They recorded “thousands of kilometres worth of data” that can help ans...

11/02/2026 13:08 France 24

Yossi Mekelberg warns Israel's current measures intended to 'kill' peace and a two-state solution

Mark Owen is pleased to welcome Yossi Mekelberg, Senior Consulting Fellow for the MENA Programme at Chatham House. The “truce” in Gaza reads more like a reduction in intensity, while the conditions of civilian life remain precarious: Ongoing military operations, persistent hunger, inadequate sh...

11/02/2026 12:40 France 24

Canada's tighter immigration policy divides the country

Canada is undergoing a historic demographic shift: according to Statistics Canada, the country is experiencing its sharpest population decline since World War II. Behind this phenomenon is an unprecedented tightening of migration policy, after years of openness under former prime minister Justin Tr...

11/02/2026 10:56 France 24

UN declaration on Al-Fasher atrocities 'ridiculous: World knew how it would end, didn’t do anything'

Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Renaud Douci, Field Coordinator for Solidarité Internationale in Tawila in Sudan, on the edges of Al-Fasher. It was “impossible to reach” during the brutal 500-day siege. Mr. Douci argues that Al-Fasher was not an unforeseen tragedy. “Everybody knew” the...

11/02/2026 08:33 France 24

'Trump wants to reverse history,' professor says as oil blockade pushes Cuba to the brink

The island economy was already struggling under the burden of decades of US sanctions, but the situation in Cuba has rapidly deteriorated since Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to impose tariffs on countries that sell or provide oil to the Caribbean nation. As airlines suspend fli...

10/02/2026 22:06 France 24

Inside Iran's crackdown: Legacy of a bloodbath

Imagine having to mourn a loved one in secret. One month on, that seems to be the lot of many inside a shellshocked Iran, this after seeing the regime shut the internet and start shooting at unarmed protesters across the country in towns big and small. When the lights came back on, the Islamic Rep...

10/02/2026 19:11 France 24

UN decries 'preventable human rights catastrophe' in Sudan's El-Fasher

The atrocities unleashed on Sudan's El-Fasher last October were a "preventable human rights catastrophe", the UN rights chief said Monday, warning they now risked being repeated in Kordofan. Giving the UN Human Rights Council an update on the situation in El-Fasher, Volker Turk decried the horrific...

10/02/2026 16:12 France 24

Kenya FM slams Russia's use of its citizens as 'cannon fodder', announces visit to Moscow

Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi announced Tuesday that he would visit Moscow in March following the deaths of Kenyans who had fallen victim to recruitment networks and were promised lucrative jobs before being sent to Ukraine's front lines. ...

10/02/2026 15:57 France 24

Sudan has seen 'more than a thousand days of starvation': Norwegian Refugee Council

Charities and NGOs are urging the world to do more to prevent a looming catastrophe in Sudan. With the country in an almost three-year-long civil war, the Norwegian Refugee Council is amongst those saying the people of South Kordofan region are now at the centre of the fighting. Humanitarian groups...

10/02/2026 14:11 France 24

Cuba says airlines can no longer refuel on the island as US blockade deepens energy crisis

Cuban aviation officials have warned airlines that there isn't enough fuel for airplanes to refuel on the island, the latest step in its moves to ration energy as the Trump administration cuts the Caribbean nation off from its fuel resources. France 24's Kethevane Gorjestani takes a look at how the...

10/02/2026 12:12 France 24

‘Our families and homeland are there’: Palestinians return to a devastated Gaza

After a chaotic first week, the Palestinian Authority said on Monday that things were improving at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, with the highest number of Palestinians crossing since the reopening. Among the returnees in the past week are some who had been brought to Egypt for...

10/02/2026 11:39 France 24

BREAKING NEWS

12/02 16:53 - Ukrainian Olympian Is Disqualified Over Helmet Honoring War Dead 12/02 16:45 - Arctic Sentry: Europe takes the lead in NATO Arctic security mission 12/02 16:24 - Most Germans want dialogue with Russia – poll 12/02 16:10 - NATO downplays Greenland dispute as US defence chief absent from summit 12/02 16:06 - Russia fully blocks WhatsApp, intensifying it's 'crackdown on free expression' 12/02 16:02 - Milano-Cortina: Ukrainian athlete disqualified over war tribute helmet 12/02 15:57 - UK pledges to send £540m worth of weapons to Ukraine - Europe live 12/02 15:18 - Trump’s pick for top diplomatic role faces scrutiny over ‘white supremacist’ views 12/02 15:11 - Billions in funding wrongly released to Hungary, says EU court’s top adviser 12/02 14:50 - New Jersey governor bans immigration agents from some state property 12/02 14:36 - Russia bans WhatsApp, pushes state-backed alternative 12/02 14:36 - Russia bans WhatsApp, pushes state-backed alternative 12/02 14:21 - Six Republicans join Democrats in vote to block Donald Trump’s Canada tariffs - US politics live 12/02 14:03 - German govt ‘embezzling’ taxpayer money to fund Ukraine – veteran politician 12/02 14:01 - Fractures in NATO exposed amid Ukraine and Greenland talks 12/02 13:58 - 'Shocking' or correct - why a Ukraine skeleton slider was banned 12/02 13:51 - ‘Movies can change the world but not in a political way’ says Wim Wenders 12/02 13:40 - Portugal urged to adapt to climate emergency after series of deadly storms 12/02 12:42 - In Aleppo, art bridges Syria’s war divisions 12/02 12:42 - In Aleppo, art bridges Syria’s war divisions 12/02 12:25 - NATO defence ministers to meet on Ukraine weapons, Greenland security 12/02 12:24 - Trump wants to reopen coal era, rolls back key climate rule 12/02 12:22 - Call to make NATO 'more European' - as key figure misses alliance summit 12/02 12:18 - Susie Dent’s tips and tricks to add muscle to a child’s vocabulary 12/02 12:13 - Top Iran official accuses Israel of trying to sabotage US talks 12/02 12:13 - Top Iran official accuses Israel of trying to sabotage US talks 12/02 12:02 - Analyst Peter Zalmayev 'not very hopeful US tone has changed decisively' on Ukraine 12/02 11:46 - Children’s vocabulary shrinking as reading loses out to screen time, says Susie Dent 12/02 11:21 - UN begins clearing massive wartime waste dump in Gaza City 12/02 11:21 - UN begins clearing massive wartime waste dump in Gaza City 12/02 11:09 - Russia blocks WhatsApp for failing to comply with local law, pushes state-backed alternative 12/02 10:51 - Fyodor Lukyanov: The US wants a deal. Russia wants a system 12/02 10:47 - Locked Out, Locked In: Witnessing the Gaza War from afar 12/02 10:47 - Locked Out, Locked In: Witnessing the Gaza War from afar 12/02 10:42 - France's Duplomb law debate reignites over controversial pesticides 12/02 10:39 - France proposes bold measures to boost birth rate 12/02 10:30 - Ukraine skeleton athlete at Winter Olympics disqualified over helmet 12/02 10:30 - Ukraine skeleton athlete at Winter Olympics disqualified over helmet 12/02 10:15 - Russia orders block on WhatsApp in messaging app crackdown 12/02 10:06 - Why IOC has banned Ukraine's Heraskevych 12/02 09:44 - Ukrainian skeleton racer feels 'emptiness' after Olympic ban 12/02 09:23 - Ukrainian Olympian banned from competing over helmet honouring war dead 12/02 09:10 - News24 | Jeffrey Epstein wanted Russian help with woman blackmailing ‘powerful’ businessmen 12/02 08:45 - 'The price of our dignity': Ukraine athlete disqualified from Olympics over memorial helmet 12/02 08:45 - Ukraine skeleton racer Heraskevych disqualified from Olympics over memorial helmet 12/02 08:32 - 'Price of dignity' - Ukrainian banned by IOC over war dead helmet 12/02 07:18 - Iran’s Larijani accuses Israel of trying to sabotage US negotiations 12/02 07:18 - Iran’s Larijani accuses Israel of trying to sabotage US negotiations 12/02 06:43 - Anthony Albanese raises bulldozed Australian war graves with Israeli president 12/02 06:13 - Live: Russian attack leaves nearly 300,000 people without power, water supply in Odessa 12/02 05:49 - Russia attempted to ‘fully block’ WhatsApp, Meta-owned company says 12/02 05:22 - Snow and ice warnings issued for UK after relentless rain 12/02 05:10 - Epstein sought help of ex-Russian official linked to FSB, files show 12/02 05:10 - Epstein sought help of ex-Russian official linked to FSB, files show 12/02 03:52 - DNA technology used to catch Golden State Killer leads to NSW arrest over historic alleged sexual assaults 12/02 03:40 - Trump threatens US lawmakers with ‘consequences’ over tariff pushback 12/02 02:20 - Russia evacuates tourists from Cuba as US-engineered fuel crisis deepens 12/02 02:20 - Russia evacuates tourists from Cuba as US-engineered fuel crisis deepens 12/02 01:42 - Despite Trump’s threats, six House Republicans side with Democrats in effort to end tariffs on Canada – live 12/02 01:03 - Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,449 12/02 01:03 - Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,449 12/02 01:03 - US preparing to send second aircraft carrier toward Iran – WSJ 11/02 23:16 - Chaos and confusion in El Paso after airspace closed and quickly reopened 11/02 23:03 - Trump’s attempt to indict Democrats for video to troops an ‘alarm for democracy’ 11/02 22:33 - 'If the Cuban government were to collapse, that would be a security threat to the United States' 11/02 22:29 - Former top civil servant warns ‘more due diligence’ to be done over replacement of Chris Wormald 11/02 22:16 - PRE-QUIZ WARNING: This Timed Rom-Com Movie Quiz Is For The Mega Fans And The Mega Fans Only 11/02 22:10 - Weapons Used to Fight Drones Don’t Mix Well With Civilian Airspace 11/02 22:09 - AI safety researcher quits with a cryptic warning 11/02 21:41 - House Is Set to Vote on Canceling Trump’s Canada Tariffs 11/02 21:10 - Warsaw furious after Ukrainian official calls Volhynia Massacre ‘a myth’ 11/02 20:41 - Ukraine war: Why is a teenager accused of burying his father 'eight times'? 11/02 20:06 - Marwan Barghouti’s son calls on UK to put father’s release at heart of Palestinian renewal 11/02 19:39 - Social workers’ AI tool makes ‘gibberish’ transcripts of accounts from children 11/02 19:33 - Russian military adapting faster than NATO – admiral 11/02 19:30 - Iran Commemorates Revolution, With U.S. Warships Lurking Off the Coast 11/02 18:53 - Ukraine will not hold elections until a ceasefire is in place, Zelensky says 11/02 18:51 - Labour can win political argument for closer EU ties, says Rachel Reeves 11/02 18:45 - Federal Debt to Hit Record Levels, Budget Office Warns 11/02 18:18 - Michelin two-star chef in hygiene row hits out at ‘prehistoric’ inspectors 11/02 18:08 - Hidden passage linked to Underground Railroad found in New York museum 11/02 18:04 - NATO Is Expected to Step Up Arctic Security. Here’s Why. 11/02 17:57 - Russia says it will stick to limits of expired nuclear treaty if US does 11/02 17:57 - Russia says it will stick to limits of expired nuclear treaty if US does 11/02 17:19 - Russia not planning to attack NATO – Estonian intelligence 11/02 16:41 - Putin ‘trying to break the Ukrainian people – they will not be broken,’ says Nato’s Rutte - Europe live 11/02 16:14 - Moscow preparing to evacuate Russian tourists from Cuba amid US oil blockade 11/02 15:47 - UN's Albanese slams 'shameful and defamatory' anti-Semitism accusations against her 11/02 15:32 - Ukrainian athlete vows to defy IOC over banned helmet at Winter Olympics 11/02 15:30 - Anger and grief over Kenyans used as 'cannon fodder' by Russia in Ukraine war 11/02 14:43 - Briton shot by father in Texas after row about Trump was unlawfully killed, coroner rules 11/02 14:27 - Two maritime powers oppose EU bid to sink Russian oil trade – media 11/02 14:04 - The EU would rather eat bugs than be real about its energy problems 11/02 14:00 - Rejecting Muslim hostility definition sends message ‘your safety doesn’t matter’, peer says 11/02 13:08 - Solutions to climate change challenges: 'We have all the tools', just not the will 11/02 12:50 - Vance visits Armenia, Azerbaijan as Trump eyes deals in Russia’s sphere 11/02 12:40 - Yossi Mekelberg warns Israel's current measures intended to 'kill' peace and a two-state solution 11/02 12:26 - On Ukraine, ‘liberal’ war hawks make the far right look like peacemakers 11/02 12:26 - On Ukraine, ‘liberal’ war hawks make the far right look like peacemakers 11/02 12:16 - Brussels and Kiev have declared war on Hungary – Orban