To display this YouTube content, it is necessary to authorize audience measurement and advertising cookies.

An extension in your browser appears to be blocking the loading of the video player. To be able to watch this content, you must disable or uninstall it.

Published on: 02/17/2026 - 06:17

On the front page of the press, this Tuesday, February 17, the start, today, in Geneva, of new discussions between Iran and the United States, to try to avoid an American military intervention. European procrastination around Trump's "Peace Council". The heavy human toll of the dismantling of USAID. And Chinese New Year celebrations.

The +: Receive the France 24 Press Review every morning on your iPhone or any other mobile. And also always on your PC by becoming a fan on Facebook…

On the front page of the press, the start, today, in Geneva, of new discussions between Iran and the United States, to try to avoid an American military intervention.

"Iran's mission: diplomats in Geneva, and generals in the Strait of Hormuz". Tehran Times announces both the resumption of nuclear negotiations with Washington and naval exercises, since yesterday, in the Persian Gulf.

According to the opposition site Iranwire, these maneuvers led by the Revolutionary Guards aim to demonstrate Tehran's capacity "to disrupt global energy flows in the event of an American attack". On the diplomatic side, it is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, who will be responsible for discussing with the special envoy of the White House, Steve Witkoff - two men who are completely opposed, and both forced to make "concessions", according to The Guardian. The British daily underlines the very long experience accumulated by Araghchi in nearly 15 years of nuclear negotiations and author, moreover, of a book on the art of Iranian-style diplomatic negotiation, inspired, according to him, by negotiations in the bazaars, made of feints, patience and composure.

Gaza, future Doha?

“The art of negotiation”, which Donald Trump also boasts of, announcing 5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of Gaza. In an interview with the New York Post, the President of the United States specifies that these 5 billion constitute a "down payment" on the 70 billion devoted to projects approved by his "Peace Council", whose stated ambition is to transform the enclave into the Palestinian equivalent of Dubai or Doha.

Its first meeting is scheduled for this Thursday in Washington. The European version of Politico announces the participation of the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean as an "observer" - a participation "without membership", recalled the Commission.

Participation without membership, also, from Italy, represented by its Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani, according to La Repubblica. The Italian newspaper reports that this choice of the Meloni government is widely criticized by the opposition, who accuse the President of the Council of "selling" Italy to the interests of the White House. The communist newspaper Il Manifesto denounces the "bad turn" taken according to it by Giorgia Meloni, who hopes that this "new formula" of an "observer" country "will encourage other members of the EU", notably Germany, to participate in this self-proclaimed "Peace Council".

“Selfish strategy”

The Trump Administration, whose choice a year ago to dismantle the American Agency for International Development, USAID, has very serious consequences. Le Soir relays a study by Boston University, the calculations of which establish that this decision has already caused the deaths of more than 265,000 adults and 551,000 children.

These catastrophic figures revolt the Belgian daily, which denounces the "selfish strategy" of political decision-makers "advocating withdrawal into their national interests" - a strategy "which could quickly turn against them", to the extent that access to treatments against tuberculosis and HIV having been considerably reduced, "a global resurgence of these pathologies is to be feared, including in the West". According to another recent study, published by the medical journal The Lancet, if all programs financed by USAID remain suspended, the number of lives lost could rise to more than 14 million by 20"0, including 4.5 million children.

The international press also reports on yesterday's visit by the American Secretary of State to Hungary. The New York Times quotes Marco Rubio as saying that President Trump was "deeply committed" to the success of Viktor Orban, who boasted of having created an "illiberal state." A new mark of support that the daily attributes to the approach of "very contested" legislative elections next April.

In a long investigation, Mediapart details how Fidesz, the Hungarian Prime Minister's party, "mobilizes all state resources to restore its popularity and win a fifth mandate", a "propaganda without equivalent in the European Union". The French news site recounts, for example, how Index, a former leading independent media outlet until its "orbánization" in 2020, claimed at the beginning of autumn that the Tisza party, the main opposition party, was preparing "a brutal increase in income tax". A so-called revelation "based on the mysterious leak of a party document", which turned out to be a forgery.

Preserving family peace in China

We end this press review in China, which is celebrating the Lunar New Year today. The Financial Times announces two weeks of festivities to mark the start of this year of the horse, and the movement of hundreds of millions of people across the country.

Holidays as much awaited as feared by the youngest, faced with "harassment" from their parents about their future offspring; so much so that many of them share their tips on social networks to dodge indiscreet questions or avoid arranged dates that turn into a fiasco. According to The Financial Times, some single people go so far as to hire fake partners to preserve family peace, while others use artificial intelligence altogether. to create false x-rays of fractures, and thus have a valid excuse not to go to their parents. The newspaper observes that the pressure from Chinese parents is as clumsy as it is ineffective, since the birth rate continues to fall, despite their efforts and those of the State.

Do young Chinese people have the blues? Le Figaro sees in the success of a defective horse plush toy proof of “a certain pessimism”. The mascot, whose inverted smile is the result of a manufacturing error, a worker having inverted the mouth and nostrils of the creature, is sold every day in more than 15,000 copies. The "crying horse" has apparently become the star of this Chinese New Year, which is off to a good start in any case for the employees of the company that manufactures it, since its boss, having been unable to identify the person responsible for this error, has decided to give a bonus to everyone. Sinian kuaïle!

Find the Press Review every morning on France 24 (Monday to Friday, 7:20 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. Paris time). Also follow the Revue des Hebdos every weekend in multicast.

Related keywords

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.