President Donald Trump has announced he is banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the US. He told reporters he could sign an executive order as early as Saturday. ... The fast-growing app has up to 80 million active monthly users in America and the ban would be a major blow for ByteDance.

The CEOs of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple have defended their companies in front of a US Congressional committee considering how to adapt US antitrust laws for the digital age.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet will be the first European to fly on board the new SpaceX Dragon 2, which is due to blast off from Cape Canaveral for the International Space Station in the spring of 2021. Pesquet already spent six months on board the ISS from November 2016 to June 2017. He spoke to FRANCE 24 about training for his return to space, why his new mission is called "Alpha" and why he thinks a manned mission to Mars will happen within his lifetime.

NASA's next-generation rover, named Perseverance, has blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral to begin its journey to the Red Planet. The US spacecraft will scour Mars for signs of ancient life.

Scores of digital contract tracing apps have been developed around the world in an attempt to stem the pandemic. Many have floundered and for those that haven't, it's still not clear if they are that effective.

China launches a rover to Mars, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.

A UAE space probe aboard a Japanese rocket has blasted off to begin its seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The Arab world's first interplanetary mission aims to collect data about the Martian atmosphere and climate.

A dream was born when Sarah al-Amiri saw an image of the Andromeda Galaxy at the age of 12. In a region defined by turmoil, she never thought it would lead her country beyond Earth's stratosphere and toward Mars.

The FBI has launched in investigation after hackers hijacked a number of Twitter accounts in an apparent Bitcoin scam.

A start-up in West Africa has developed an app to help improve the efficiency of collecting and recycling waste. It connects homes and institutions with plastic and metal recycling collectors with the click of a button.

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the way many businesses work, pushing more transactions and communication online. What does that mean for data protection? We speak to CEO of data privacy specialists Ethyca, Cillian Kieran, about the issues that digitalisation, working from home and new regulations present for companies. Also in the show: how much are governments paying for their Covid-19 tracing apps? Plus, some hope for France's beleaguered tourist industry as more French people choose to holiday close to home.

We look at reactions in the French press after Emmanuel Macron's televised interview for Bastille Day celebrations. Also, a pro-independence Catalan politician demands an investigation over reports that Spanish authorities spied on his phone using Israeli-made spy technology. The New York Times says it'll be moving part of its operations from Hong Kong to Seoul in light of China's national security law. And a new scientific study shows that we're nearing peak human capacity of how many hot dogs can be consumed in 10 minutes!