The 46-year-old former tennis champion was accompanied by para-triathlete Alexis Hanquinquant, who will be France’s flag-bearer at the Paralympics opening ceremony on 28 August.

Weather permitting, the river will be the star of the opening ceremony of the Paris Games on 26 July and will then host the triathlon and the open water swimming.

Oudea-Castera, dressed in a body suit, slipped as she entered the Seine, but stole the thunder from Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, with whom she has notoriously poor relations.

Hidalgo had flagged up that she would swim on 17 July if the water quality was good enough.

• Paris mayor to take a dip in the Seine the week of 15 July

Oudea-Castera seized her opportunity – exclusively filmed by news channel BFMTV – a day after Paris city hall said the Seine has been clean enough to swim in for most of the past 12 days.

Swimming competitions ‘will take place’

The quality of the water met the required standard for “11 days or 10 days” of the past 12, city hall official Pierre Rabadan told RFI.

The Paris region has seen an unseasonably heavy amount of rain over recent weeks, which has raised the Seine‘s pollution levels as untreated sewage is washed into the river.

“We hope the weather will get a little better, but we are not worried about the possibility of holding the competitions,” Rabadan said. “They will take place.”

He added, however, that there may have to be “modifications”, without giving details.

French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros over the last decade in its Swimming Plan aimed at rendering the Seine clean enough to swim in.

Weather in Paris is forecast to be mostly dry over the final 14 days before the start of the Games.

France has a caretaker government since parliamentary elections failed to deliver a majority for any one party. President Emmanuel Macron asked the prime minister and his cabinet to remain “for the time being” for the sake of stability.

• Paris dream of swimming in the Seine part of its Olympics vision

(with AFP)

Despite opposition from environmentalists and rights activists, the French energy giant is pushing ahead with its Tilenga drilling project in Uganda and a 1,443-kilometre crude oil pipeline to transport its output to the Tanzanian coast.

The $10-billion project involves drilling more than 400 oil wells in western Uganda – many of them in Murchison Falls Nature Park, a biodiversity reserve and the country’s largest national park.

TotalEnergies, which is working with Chinese oil company CNOOC, insists it is “a responsible operator”, acting “transparently on social and environmental issues” surrounding the project.

Alleged rights abuses

But environmentalists say the project is already severely impacting wildlife and the fragile ecosystem in the park, just a year after drilling began and before production gets underway next year.

A report from the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) detailed obvious biodiversity loss, and found drilling vibrations were chasing elephants from the park.

“It has been devastating,” AFIEGO conservationist Diana Nabiruma told French news agency AFP in a recent interview.

AFIEGO was among NGOs and individual Ugandans who last year sued TotalEnergies in Paris for reparations over alleged rights abuses linked to the project.

• French court dismisses lawsuit against TotalEnergies pipeline in Africa
• Environmental groups sue TotalEnergies over ‘devastating’ East Africa oil pipeline

Maintaining that over 120,000 people had been displaced by the projects in Uganda and Tanzania, Nabiruma said she was “hoping for justice” in that case and lamented that many had been “unable to replace all or parts of their land”.

In a statement to AFP, TotalEnergies insisted that its projects in East Africa “certainly don’t involve moving hundreds of thousands of people”.

It insisted that many with land along the pipeline route would “be able to use it after the works”, adding that 775 households “will be rehoused in the vicinity and in better conditions”.

Disruption to wildlife

Meanwhile AFIEGO’s report, which relied on satellite image analysis and interviews with locals, tour guides, civil society actors and biodiversity experts, documented serious environmental issues.

It found that vibrations from the drilling rig were chasing elephants into surrounding communities, where they were destroying croplands and increasingly running into humans.

At least five people had been killed in such encounters since last year, it said.

The report also said lights mounted on the rig, which could be seen across nearly 14 kilometres, were negatively affecting nocturnal and light-sensitive wildlife like leopards and lions.

More paved roads and motorised traffic in the park was also exposing wildlife to higher risks of poaching, accidents and noise and air pollution, AFIEGO warned.

TotalEnergies insisted that it had carefully examined the potential environmental impacts prior to launching the project, aiming to rein in and compensate for any biodiversity loss.

It said its contracting partner had been tasked with observing the impact of the project on elephants in particular, and had seen “no significant change in elephant movement patterns”.

And it said that “warm” and inward-facing lighting had been mounted on the rig to limit light pollution.

Overall, it insisted, the projects aim to provide “a net gain for biodiversity and communities” and “will open up economic opportunities for the local population”.

• Total’s contested oil projects in Africa: The case of Uganda and Tanzania

‘Indebting’ Ugandans

AFIEGO’s Nabiruma flatly rejected that.

“These oil activities are indebting the Ugandan population forever,” she said, urging France and others to withdraw support and bring the project to a halt.

Campaign groups suggest TotalEnergies is struggling to secure the remainder of the financing needed to complete the project.

“Ugandans shouldn’t be burdened with biodiversity loss, with grave human rights abuses and with environmental risks, just so that other countries can benefit from the oil in the country,” Nabiruma said.

Funding should instead “flow towards renewables”, she said, pointing to the huge potential for solar power, especially in Uganda.

“It’s not enough to only stop funding for bad projects. Funding must flow to the good projects.”

(with AFP)

Dangers such as extreme heat, flooding and pollution constitute a “double sentence” for prisoners in France, says the environmental NGO Notre Affaire à Tous (“Everyone’s Business”).

A report released this week warns that all of France’s 188 prisons, detention centres and other penal institutions are at risk from heat waves. 

Extreme temperatures are made more dangerous by overcrowding and ageing facilities in disrepair. 

In one prison in the southern city of Nîmes, cells have been found to reach 39°C in summer, the report said.

Meanwhile many outdoor exercise yards are made “entirely of concrete, with no trees, and sometimes without shade or access to a working water source”, it highlights, making them little relief in hot weather.

Overcrowding in French prisons reaches all-time high

Floods, storms, pollution

Half of all institutions are located in areas at moderate to high risk of clay shrinkage and swelling, a phenomenon that affects soils when rainfall is low.

It can cause buildings’ walls to crack, window joints to buckle and pipes to rupture, the report says, further harming living conditions.

Meanwhile almost one in three prisons are at risk of storms and cyclones, and nearly one in four are in potential flood zones. 

Three institutions – in the overseas territories of New Caledonia, French Guiana and the Wallis Islands – even risk finding themselves “below sea level due to climate change”, the report warned. 

Often built at a distance from residential zones, many prisons are also located in areas exposed to pollution, it found. One in 10 lies near industrial or agricultural sites classified as potentially hazardous, while 70 percent stand on soil that may be polluted.

Almost one in four are located near airports, railways or motorways, exposing inmates, staff and visitors to air and noise pollution. 

Multiple risks

“Certain prisons in France are exposed to multiple risks,” said Chloé Lailler, a spokesperson for the NGO behind the report.

She pointed to the example of La Valentine juvenile detention centre outside Marseille on the south coast: not only is it at risk of extreme heat, but bordering as it does a nature reserve, it’s also threatened by forest fires. Further, a train line runs nearby. 

“And all that when you have an underage population that is particularly vulnerable in terms of health,” Lailler told RFI.

The most exposed prisons are mainly in the south of France, the NGO said, including in Marseille and Toulouse.

It is calling on the authorities to renovate or even close the prisons at highest risk, while taking environmental factors in account when planning future institutions – for instance, avoiding building in low-lying areas. 

Record prison population

It’s not the first alarm over the state of France’s prisons, which housed a record 77,880 inmates as of June. 

Overall prison density now stands at 126 percent, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice, with more than 3,300 inmates forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor for lack of beds.

In recent years, international watchdogs including Amnesty and the European Court of Human Rights have called on France to improve conditions for detainees.

France urged to drastically improve situation in overcrowded jails

In a statement to French news agency AFP, the prison service said it was undertaking efforts to study the impact of climate change on prisons and possible ways to adapt.

While extra ventilation and sunshades are not an option for security reasons, it said, new prisons are being designed with heat resistance in mind. 

The accused, Hugo Auradou, 20, and Oscar Jegou, 21, chose not to testify at a hearing in the city of Mendoza, where the rape is alleged to have occurred after a game between France and Argentina on Saturday.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement it had charged the pair with “the crime of sexual assault with penetration, aggravated by the participation of two people.”

If found guilty, the players face between eight and 20 years in prison.

The pair will remain in custody until a hearing scheduled in 10 days to determine if they will await trial in detention or under house arrest.

If granted house arrest, they will have to establish a residence in Mendoza and will not be permitted to return to France, a spokesman for the city’s judiciary said.

The two men were arrested Monday in Buenos Aires after a 39-year-old woman accused them of raping her multiple times and beating her in a Mendoza hotel room after the match, part of a tour of South America by the French national squad.

The men deny the accusation, saying they had consensual sexual relations with the woman.

Their French attorney Antoine Vey expressed concern over the “fairly considerable media hype” over a case that has caused shock in France and Argentina.

Vey said his clients deserved “the presumption of innocence, which is not an empty phrase.”

Raped ‘at least six times’

The players were transferred Thursday by car from Interpol‘s Buenos Aires headquarters to Mendoza, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west.

The 39-year-old woman’s lawyer, Natacha Romano, told AFP on Wednesday her client had suffered violence at the hands of her assailants in a hotel room, with injuries to her face, back, breasts, legs and ribs as well as bite and scratch marks.

The woman claims to have been raped “at least six times” by one of the men and once by the other, according to the lawyer.

She allegedly tried to escape several times.

The attack allegedly took place Saturday night at the Diplomatic Hotel in Mendoza, where France’s players and staff were staying after beating Argentina.

Romano said the woman had gone with one of the men from a nightclub to the hotel, where she alleges she was abused for several hours.

“The violence was fierce,” said Romano. “There is more than one crime to investigate.”

Romano said her client was hospitalised Thursday after feeling emotionally and physically ill “because of everything that happened.”

• French court postpones trial of five rugby players over alleged student rape

‘They are innocent’

Another defense attorney, German Hnatow, told journalists his clients would give a statement “quite different from what the victim has said.”

He said his clients were “sure of their version, they are calm because they know they are innocent, but of course they are worried about this whole situation that they have had to live through.”

Hnatow said he believed house arrest would be possible “as long as the risk of flight and the obstruction of evidence can be mitigated.”

Lawyer Rafael Cuneo Libarona, who also represents the players, said “sexual relations” had been “consensual.”

“There are witnesses who saw her leave (the hotel). There are cameras that saw her leave. Apparently, no injuries are seen in the footage,” Libarona — the brother of Justice Minister Mariano Cuneo Libarona — told journalists.

But Romano said “the overwhelming proof that there was no consent is the victim’s body” and the wounds she bears.

Auradou and Jegou have been replaced by lock Mickael Guillard and flanker Judicael Cancoriet for Saturday’s second match against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled alliance of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party and the Socialist, Green and Communist parties, unexpectedly won the most seats in Sunday’s vote, but not a majority.

The result left France rudderless at home, where it will host the Olympic Games in just over two weeks, and weakened abroad, where Macron was in Washington for a NATO summit.

In an open letter to voters, Macron said Wednesday that “nobody won” the ballot.

He has left his centrist prime minister, Gabriel Attal, in place and called on parties to find common ground for a broad coalition.

• Macron urges mainstream coalition after election, angering leftist alliance

Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure accused Macron of failing to “respect the vote of the French people”, while LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon blasted the “return of the royal veto”.

Sophie Binet, head of France’s biggest trade union federation, the CGT, also enlisted the image of the republic’s long-gone monarchy to attack the president.

“It’s like having Louis XVI locking himself away in Versailles,” she said, referring to the king guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution.

‘Bring people together’

The president’s letter appeared to rule out a role for either LFI – the largest player in the New Popular Front (NFP) left alliance – or the far-right National Rally (RN) in the new coalition.

Voters from different camps joined forces in the second-round run-off to shut the RN out of power in a “republican front”, allowing Macron’s followers to claim second place with 164 seats and leaving the far right in third at 143.

With each of the three blocs controlling roughly one-third of the chamber, it may be a long slog to find a government able to survive a no-confidence vote.

“We can’t form a national unity government with just one camp,” Macron ally Francois Bayrou told French news agency AFP.

The conservative Republicans (LR) party, now reduced to 40 seats, refuses to join a government, but could provide parliamentary support.

Three-time RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen meanwhile dismissed Macron’s letter as a “disgraceful circus”.

She now has her eyes on France’s next presidential election in 2027, when term limits will prevent Macron – who beat her twice in previous contests – from standing again.

Economic fears

Financial markets are anxious, with warnings this week from ratings agencies that uncertainty over government finances could lead to credit downgrades for France’s over three-trillion-euro debt pile.

On Thursday, Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned against the left’s economic programme without specifically naming the NFP.

The NFP has vowed to increase the minimum wage, raise taxes on companies and the wealthy and roll back Macron’s pension reform that raised the retirement age.

“In the economic competition, our small firms, our companies can’t be weighed down with excessive wage costs, including the minimum wage, and by taxes that are too heavy,” Villeroy told broadcaster France Info on Thursday.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday that France needed a total of 25 billion euros this year to keep its promise of getting its finances back under control.

• France needs to introduce 25 billion euros in cuts to tackle EU deficit

France is aiming for a deficit of 5.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, he said, smaller than last year’s 5.5 percent but still way above the eurozone’s three-percent deficit limit.

The possibility of the leftist bloc gaining power has weighed on France’s creditworthiness, with buyers of French government bonds demanding a substantial risk premium over benchmark Germany’s debt.

This means France now has to pay investors a higher return than Portugal, although still less than Spain.

(with AFP)

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr – tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment, and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine. And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry.  You can also write to us at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr, and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes on 12 September, but you know how “time flies”, so get to work now! We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write RFI English in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI”  has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bi-lingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our staff of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. NB: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Tahmidul Alam Orin from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Welcome,Tahmidul! So glad you have joined us!

You too can be a member of the RFI Listeners Club – just write to me at english.service@rfi.fr and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number. It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you’ll receive a premium prize.

This week’s quiz: On 15 June, I asked you a question about the European Parliament elections, where the far-right National Rally party trounced President Macron’s centrist bloc. Macron then preceded to dissolve and call snap elections for France’s lower house of Parliament, which was a surprise to us all – even his Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, it seems.

You were to refer to Jessica Phelan’s article “Why did Macron call snap elections and what does it mean for France?”, and send in the answer to this question: What percentage of the votes did Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party win, and what percentage of the votes did Macron’s centrist bloc win in the European Parliament elections?

The answer is, to quote Jessica’s article: “With 31.4 percent of the vote to the Macronists’ 14.6 percent, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella called the results a “stinging rejection” of the president.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Father Steven Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon: “What do you do to help others have a secure and happy life?”   

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Jayanta is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Jayanta!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are two RFI Listeners Club members from Dhaka, Bangladesh: Monzurul Alam Ripon and Atikul Islam, who is also the president of the Narshunda Radio Listeners Family Club, and hailing from Hedehusene, Denmark, Hans Verner Lollike.

Last but not least, there’s RFI English listener Nizhom Yeasmin Kona from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The James Bond Theme written by David Arnold; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “I Love to Laugh” from the film Mary Poppins, music and lyrics written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman with George Stiles, and sung by Ed Wynn, Julie Andrews, and Dick Van Dyke, and John Coltrane’s “Naima”, performed by Eric Dolphy.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “What are the next steps now that France finds itself with a hung parliament?”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 26 August to enter this week’s quiz. The winners will be announced on the 31 August podcast. When you enter be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here. 

. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated these cuts are necessary to reduce the deficit to 5.1% of GDP, revised from an earlier 4.4% target.

This announcement comes in the wake of France’s recent parliamentary elections, which resulted in no single party winning an outright majority. A left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), gained the most seats but falls short of a majority.

The European Commission has criticized France for its financial state, with debt exceeding 110% of GDP – nearly double the EU-authorized level. While the Commission can theoretically fine EU members for excessive deficits, it has never done so.

The NFP’s economic plans, including reversing pension reforms and increasing the minimum wage, could further increase deficits. This prospect has affected France’s creditworthiness, with investors demanding higher returns on French government bonds compared to some other European countries.

Standard & Poor’s recently downgraded France’s sovereign debt rating to “AA-” due to growth concerns. Despite these challenges, Le Maire has pledged to bring the deficit below 3% by 2027, in line with EU requirements that were temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war’s economic impact.

EU members have agreed to gradually realign their deficits with these requirements in the coming years.

• EU agrees plan to overhaul spending rules for more flexibility
• French budget deficit widens but government promises no tax hike

Labour unrest

Meanwhile, France’s largest union federation, CGT, has announced nationwide protests by its railway workers’ branch on July 18, coinciding with the first session of the newly elected parliament

This call to action follows President Macron’s open letter urging “republican forces” to form a “solid majority” for governance. The union contends that the left-wing New Popular Front coalition should lead the new government instead.

Elsewhere, unions at state-controlled ADP group, which runs Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, announced a one-day stoppage on 17 July to press for bigger Olympics bonuses and staff recruitment.

“The fact that we are forced to call for a strike is because of the obstinate refusal of management and in particular the CEO of the company,” unions said in a joint statement on Monday.

The stand-off with management could impact the Paris Games, with athletes set to start arriving  from 18 July and hundreds of thousands of ticket holders flying in ahead of the 26 July opening ceremony.

The first batch of American-made F-16s are already being transferred to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands and will be flying over Ukrainian skies this summer, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

Denmark has committed to donate 19 jets in total, while the Netherlands has promised to deliver 24 aircraft. Both countries have been driving forces behind an international coalition to supply Ukraine with F-16s.

Norway also said on Wednesday that it would donate six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and that the deliveries were planned to start this year.

French President Emmanuel Macron has already promised that France will deliver its own fighter jets to Ukraine.

Speaking on 6 June, he said that France would send Mirage-2000 fighter jets made by French manufacturer Dassault and train Ukrainian pilots to fly them as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv.

Russian response

Moscow, which blames the current war on NATO and accuses it of engaging in unprovoked expansion, said it was planning “response measures” to contain the “very serious threat” from the alliance.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on Thursday that the Western military alliance was now “fully involved in the conflict over Ukraine”.

• Did NATO’s expansion drive Vladimir Putin to war?

In a joint declaration after the NATO summit this week in Washington DC, which was also attended by President Zelensky of Ukraine, the alliance declared: “Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security.”

It also said that Russia and China, with “their mutually reinforcing attempts”, were undercutting and reshaping “the rules-based international order”, leading to “biggest reinforcement of our collective defence in a generation”.

(with newswires)

Orban’s meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago is expected to further strain relations with Hungary’s allies, coming on the heels of Orban’s controversial encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, which drew widespread criticism from European leaders.

The right-leaning Hungarian Prime Minister, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has been an outspoken advocate for Trump. Their previous meeting occurred in March, and Trump is now vying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Following Thursday’s rendezvous, Orban shared on social media, “We explored avenues for achieving peace. The day’s highlight: he’s committed to resolving the situation!” The post was accompanied by an image of the two leaders in conversation.

The post did not elaborate further.

Trump reciprocated on his Truth Social platform, stating: “Gratitude, Viktor. PEACE is imperative, and urgently so. This conflict, which should never have begun, has claimed far too many lives!”

Orban recently stirred controversy within the EU by traveling to Moscow for discussions with Putin. The Hungarian leader characterized this visit as a “peace mission” regarding the Ukraine conflict, a move that followed his earlier trip to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The EU, comprising 27 member states, has consistently denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and implemented unprecedented sanctions against Moscow.

At the NATO summit in Washington, Orban appeared marginalized, maintaining a notably low profile with minimal media engagement.

• EU, Kyiv condemn Orban for meeting Putin

‘No mandate”

At the NATO summit, Finnish President Alexander Stubb stated, “Viktor Orban lacks authorization from either the alliance or the European Union to engage in any negotiations. He may act independently, but I fundamentally oppose such action and fail to see its purpose.”

US President Joe Biden, Trump’s likely opponent in November, addressed reporters Thursday, saying, “I currently see no valid reason to engage with Putin. He shows little willingness to modify his behavior.”

Orban, echoing Trump’s stance, has expressed reservations about NATO’s support for Ukraine and refuses to supply Kyiv with weapons, arguing it would escalate the conflict.

The Hungarian leader’s meeting with Trump, a vocal critic of the US’s central role in NATO, followed Biden’s efforts to rally the alliance at the Washington summit.

Biden also aimed to reassure NATO allies and US voters about his leadership capabilities and fitness for office, following a poorly received televised debate performance against Trump last month that reignited age-related concerns.

During a highly anticipated press conference at the NATO summit, Biden acknowledged the need to “address concerns” among Democrats but affirmed his determination to remain in office.

Biden’s attempt to project leadership was compromised by two verbal missteps. Earlier in the day, he mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian President Vladimir Putin. Later, during the news conference, he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” These gaffes undermined his efforts to convey a sense of control and competence.

(With newswires)

Ruto said the move, announced on Thursday, affects all ministers including the attorney-general.

Only Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi have held onto their posts, the president said.

The East African nation was left reeling after peaceful rallies last month over steep tax increases flared into deadly violence with police firing at crowds who stormed parliament.

Led largely by young, Gen-Z Kenyans, the protests plunged Ruto’s administration into the most serious crisis of his presidency, forcing him to abandon the tax hikes and scramble to contain the damage.

‘Extensive transformation’

Ruto said his decision was taken “upon reflection, listening keenly to what the people of Kenya have said and after a holistic appraisal” of the performance of his cabinet, he told reporters from State House Nairobi.

“Even with the progress we’ve made, I’m acutely aware that the people of Kenya have very high expectations of me, and they believe that this administration can undertake the most extensive transformation in our nation’s history,” he said.

• Kenya’s Ruto withdraws finance bill after anti-tax protest deaths

Human rights organisations have denounced what they say is “excessive repression” by the government.

According to The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR), 39 people have died in the protests since they began on 18 June.

A probe was opened in June to investigate the violence.

Ruto also said he will “immediately engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations, with the aim of setting up a broad-based government”.

This government would, he said, help him to develop “radical programmes” to deal with the country’s huge debt burden, increase job opportunities, eliminate government waste and “slay the dragon of corruption“.

(with AFP)

The vote, which Macron unexpectedly called after losing to the far-right National Rally (RN) in European elections, has plunged France into uncharted waters, with three politically divergent blocs and no obvious path to forming a government.

In a letter to regional newspapers published Wednesday, the deeply unpopular Macron urged mainstream parties with “republican values” to form a governing coalition and said he hoped to pick a prime minister from such a grouping.

“Let us place our hope in the ability of our political leaders to demonstrate sense, harmony and calm in your interest, and that of the country,” he wrote. “It is in the light of these principles that I will decide on the appointment of the prime minister.”

Left denounces ‘machinations’

The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled alliance of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party and the Socialist, Green and Communist parties, unexpectedly won the most seats in Sunday’s vote, but not a majority.

Macron’s centrist camp came second and the RN third after 215 third-placed candidates from the left and centre withdrew from the run-off to avoid splitting the anti-RN vote, scuppering the far right’s hopes of winning a majority and forming a government.

It would be customary for Macron to call on the biggest parliamentary group, in this case the left-wing bloc, to form a government, but the constitution does not oblige him to do so.

Macron did not explicitly call for the RN or France Unbowed to be excluded from a governing coalition, but his mention of “republican values” is typically understood to exclude parties on the far left or the far right.

Several France Unbowed lawmakers reacted to Macron’s letter by saying that he should accept the left-wing alliance’s pick for prime minister, when it has agreed on one, and allow the bloc to form a government.

“The best he can do for the country at this stage is to allow the group that won the most seats, the New Popular Front, to govern. Any other machinations would be truly problematic and dangerous for democracy,” said one of them, Eric Coquerel, on LCI television.

Centre-left Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure told France 2 television that Macron must “respect” the choice of French voters and nominate a prime minister from the NFP.

Sophie Binet, head of France’s biggest trade union federation, the CGT, invoked the image of France’s long-defunct monarchy to attack the president.

“It’s like having Louis XVI locking himself away in Versailles,” she said, referring to the king guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution.

If Macron “doesn’t respect the result of the polls, he risks plunging the country into chaos once again,” she said.

• What is the New Popular Front, surprise winner of France’s election?

Political paralysis

Financial markets, the European Commission and France’s euro zone partners are all watching closely to see whether the impasse can be broken.

Options include a broad coalition, a minority government or a technocratic government led by a non-politically affiliated person, which would seek to pass laws in parliament on a case-by-case basis.

But any government – of the left, centre, or a broader coalition – could quickly be toppled by a vote of no confidence from the opposition if it had not secured sufficient support.

RN leader Jordan Bardella said Macron was to blame for the political paralysis.

“And now his message is: ‘sort something out’. Irresponsible!” he posted on X, referring to Macron’s letter.

• French election leaves far-right National Rally down but not out

Tone hardens

Bardella’s mentor, the long-time RN leader Marine Le Pen, has spent the last few years cleaning up the image of a party once known for racism and antisemitism, and must now decide what strategy to adopt to win the 2027 presidential election.

She has framed the tactical withdrawals as an establishment plot to keep her party from power.

On Wednesday her tone hardened, when she drew parallels between a hard-left politician’s call for a march towards the prime minister’s office and the assault on Capitol Hill by supporters of former US President Donald Trump.

She said the NFP has almost “subversive attitudes since they are calling for Matignon to be taken by force,” referring to the prime minister’s office. “It’s their assault on the Capitol.”

She was reacting to a social media post by France Unbowed lawmaker Adrien Quatennens, who accused Macron of wanting to “steal” the left’s victory after he asked centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to stay on for now, for stability. Quatennens had called for “a big popular march” on Matignon.

Responding to Le Pen, Quatennens said she was “nuts” to liken his suggestion to a call for insurrection.

• Macron under fire over ‘civil war’ comments ahead of French legislative elections

(with Reuters)

The quality of the water met the required standard for “11 days or 10 days” of the past 12, city hall official Pierre Rabadan told RFI.

Weather permitting, the river will be the star of the opening ceremony of the Games on 26 July and will then host the triathlon and the swimming marathon.

The Paris region has seen an unseasonably heavy amount of rain over recent weeks, which has raised the Seine’s pollution levels as untreated sewage is washed into the river.

“We hope the weather will get a little better, but we are not worried about the possibility of holding the competitions,” Rabadan said. “They will take place.”

He added, however, that there may have to be “modifications”, without giving details.

Weather in Paris is forecast to be mostly dry over the final 14 days before the start of the Games.

The Seine is set to be used for the swimming leg of the triathlon on 30-31 July and 5 August, as well as the open-water swimming on 8-9 August.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo also told France Inter radio on Wednesday that she will swim in the Seine next week “to prove its cleanliness.”

• Paris mayor to take a dip in the Seine the week of 15 July
• River boats carry out successful Paris Olympics opening ceremony rehearsal
• Huge River Seine stormwater basin opens ahead of Paris Olympics

E.Coli bacteria levels

On 4 July, city hall had already reported that E.Coli bacteria levels at the Olympics swimming spot in central Paris had fallen to within acceptable limits for four days.

But the previous week, levels of E.Coli – a bacteria indicating the presence of faecal matter – had been above the upper limits used by sports federations every day at the Alexandre III bridge location in central Paris, which is set to be the jumping off point for the swimming.

At one point, E.Coli levels were 10 times the upper limit of 1,000 colony-forming units per 100 millilitres (cfu/ml), with heavy rain over the previous two months leading to fears for the Olympic events.

French authorities have spent 1.4 billion euros in the last decade trying to clean up the river by improving the Paris sewerage system, as well as building new water treatment and storage facilities.

A famous Gothic cathedral in Rouen, Normandy, was evacuated on Thursday after its spire caught fire.

Images posted on social media platform X by the prefecture, show black smoke billowing from beneath a canopy and scaffolding at the top of the building, which is about 150m tall.

The fire’s “origin is unknown at this point,” mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol posted on X, adding that “all public resources are mobilised” to fight the fire.

Local fire service SDIS76 said the alarm was raised around midday and that 33 vehicles and 63 firefighters were on the scene.

Firefighters told French television channel BFM that the fire has since been contained.

 “Fire broke out at the tip of the spire, which isn’t made of wood, but rather metal,” the prefecture of the local Seine-Maritime department told AFP.

 The monument is “currently undergoing restoration work,” it added.

Memories of Notre-Dame

A jewel of French medieval gothic architecture, the Our Lady of the Assumption cathedral dates to the 12th century and was repeatedly painted by the impressionist artist Claude Monet in the 19th century, lifting its worldwide fame.

A fire in the wooden frame of the roof was behind the massive 2019 damage to the world-famous Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, where repairs are only now nearing completion.

• Paris’s fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral to reopen at the end of 2024

Construction began on Rouen‘s cathedral in the 12th Century, according to its website, with work lasting several centuries until it achieved its present form.

(with AFP)

For a party that came top of the first round of voting, third place can only be a disappointment. 

The National Rally (RN) took an early lead in snap parliamentary polls, as it had in EU elections three weeks earlier.

Then its opponents mustered their supporters to vote for anyone but the RN in the second-round runoff, denying the party a chance to dominate parliament in a result widely hailed as a triumph for France’s so-called “Republican front”.

French left-wing alliance wins big in unexpected snap election result

But it all depends how you look at it, says Félicien Faury, a sociologist and political scientist who specialises in the French far right. 

“On the one hand, the Republican front, the blocking vote, worked very effectively. On the other, the National Rally got more than 140 seats, which is truly historic for the party – it has never before reached that level,” he points out.

The party now claims 143 members of the National Assembly, France’s lower house, 126 belonging to the RN itself and 17 of them allies from a breakaway bloc of the conservative Republicans party.

That’s compared to the 89 deputies the RN had in the outgoing parliament – which was already a record tally.

Some 37 of them, including party figurehead Marine Le Pen, were elected outright in the first round, more than any other movement achieved.

And while both the left and the centre owe their success to alliances – sometimes strained – between multiple parties, the RN is the single largest party in the French parliament.

Political professionals

That not only gives it more sway in parliamentary debates, it comes with material advantages – such as the public funding France allocates to political parties in proportion to the number of seats and votes they win.

After the RN’s latest performance, the party calculates that this funding will rise from around €10 million a year to around €15 million.

That’s not to mention the salaries and hiring budgets that each of its 126 members of the French parliament and 30 members of the European Parliament are entitled to.

Faury believes the extra resources will contribute to what he calls the “professionalisation” of the RN. Its deputies stand to gain concrete experience of legislating, while the special advisers, assistants, researchers and other staff they hire will constitute a new generation of trained political operatives. 

That’s especially significant given that the RN blamed its failure to win a majority, in part, on a lack of qualified candidates.

Party leader Jordan Bardella referred to “casting mistakes” that led the RN to field candidates subsequently revealed to have made unmistakably racist, antisemitic or otherwise offensive remarks.

Far-right candidate exits French elections after Nazi cap controversy

More political experience will make RN members slicker, Faury predicts. While they won’t renounce the discriminatory ideas that continue to underpin the movement’s project, he says, they will at least learn how to dog whistle.

“Once we no longer have these candidates who allow themselves to be caught out by journalists, once we only have people who know how to couch the ideas of the far right in respectable terms, will we see the same effect?”

No longer off-limits?

The controversies that emerged during this campaign don’t seem to have put many RN voters off.

The party got just under 9.4 million votes in the first round and around 8.7 million in the second – not much of a drop-off considering that dozens fewer candidates were standing in the runoff, having either been eliminated or elected outright.

“The RN, as it has managed to do for several years now, has broken through the glass ceiling with certain voters for whom it was previously off-limits,” says Hugo Touzet, a sociologist who studies voting patterns.

For instance, early analysis suggests the party scored well among professionals earning more than €3,000 a month, he told RFI. “The RN is picking up a section of the electorate that used to vote for the traditional right.”

It’s the latest step towards a scenario the RN’s opponents have long feared: that one day, the party will successfully convince the electorate that it’s no longer a fringe movement but a respectable part of mainstream politics.

How far has France’s far-right National Rally come in 50 years?

Opposition energised

That day is still some way off, according to Faury.

He points out that the latest election repeated a pattern that’s become familiar: the RN manages a strong performance in the first round, followed by a second-round result that “puts them back in their place and demonstrates that so-called normalisation is a process, one that remains far from complete”.

That the RN’s opponents were able to mobilise so many people against it, including some who might not otherwise have voted at all, is proof that the electorate sees through its claims to respectability, agrees Ulysse Rabaté, a political scientist and co-founder of Quidam, an association that seeks to engage young, working-class people in politics.

“There was a ‘detoxification’ that came from above and now a ‘retoxification’ that came from below,” he says.

Lacklustre opposition and disillusionment with politics in general have aided the RN’s rise, Rabaté argues – but by uniting the left and foregrounding the RN’s racist roots, this election has gone some way towards countering both.

He’s optimistic that the new current of resistance will continue to check the party as France heads towards a presidential election in 2027.

“What’s interesting here is that ultimately the political landscape has shifted and people who didn’t think politics really concerned them have decided, with the anti-racism argument, to get involved – and that won’t be inconsequential in the future.”

Winds of change?

What happens next also depends on other parties setting another agenda.

“The RN’s success can’t just be attributed to its own victories or failures, it’s also a question of the broader climate,” says Touzet.

He suggests that the political discourse of recent months – dominated by immigration – left the party “playing with a home advantage” of sorts.

The advantage is also geographic. Mapping the election results shows the RN further consolidated its hold on rural areas and the heartlands of the north and south-east, while its main opponents on the left drew their support from cities.

In the Mediterranean region in particular, the party is becoming the dominant force, according to Faury.

“The wind can change,” he says, “but in certain areas it’ll have to blow hard.” 

Three main blocs emerged from the snap election runoff on 7 July: left, centrist and far right.

While the left-green New Popular Front (NFP) alliance came out on top with 182 seats, Macron’s centrist Ensemble! (Together) coalition came close behind on 168, and the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) and its allies secured 143.

The final numbers could vary slightly with individual MPs choosing to join different groupings before the Assembly’s opening session on 18 July.

But so far the picture is as follows:

Breakdown by party

The largest group – NFP – is made up of the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists, Communists and Greens.

France Unbowed has 75 seats, the Socialists 65, Greens 33 and Communists nine.

It means that France Unbowed has less weight than before, the other three parties, notably the Socialists, having performed better in these elections than in the last polls of 2022.

• What is the New Popular Front, surprise winner of France’s election?

President Macron’s Ensemble! coalition has 168 seats, 80 fewer than in the previous Assembly.

His own Renaissance party won 99 seats, the centrist Modem 33, Horizons – a centre-right movement created by former prime minister Edouard Philippe – won six, and other unaffiliated centrists have five.

The far-right RN won 126 seats, 38 more than in 2022, making it the largest single party to sit in the lower house.

Its ally LR-RN, a breakaway bloc of the conservative Republicans (LR) party, won 17 seats, bringing the combined score for RN and its allies to 143. 

The main LR faction won 39 seats. When their allies UDI (three) and unaffiliated right (27) are added on, it gives France’s mainstream conservative bloc 68 seats, similar to the previous Assembly. 

• What are the next steps now France finds itself with a hung parliament?

Breakdown by geography

RN did well in rural areas and particularly in the formerly industrial north and east of France, in the south-east and on the Mediterranean coast.

Left-wing MPs won big in urban areas, with more than 40 percent of NFP lawmakers from France’s 10 largest cities.

All the MPs returned in Lyon, Nantes and Strasbourg are from the left.

NFP won 12 out of the 18 seats in the capital; the other six went to Ensemble, which also also secured a constituency in Bordeaux, Toulouse, and two in Lille.

RN won just seven seats in urban areas and all were in the south-east – three in Nice, three in Marseille and one in Montpellier.

• Why did Macron call snap elections and what does it mean for France?

Breakdown by gender, age, profession

Le Monde has crunched the numbers regarding the new Assembly’s sociological profile.

It’s less female than before. Only 208 out of the 577 MPs are women – 36 percent – down from 37.3 percent in 22. 

NFP has the highest number of female MPs – 41.7 percent, with Ensemble! on 38.7 percent and both RN and LR on 32.2 percent.

• Drop in the number of female MPs shows ongoing battle for gender parity in French politics

Some 74 percent of the MPs who have kept other jobs are managers or professionals – a socio-professional category to which just 21 percent of France’s working population belong. 

The average age of MPs is 49 years and two months, only six months older than the previous Assembly. The oldest deputy is 81 and the youngest 22. Both are from the RN.

In line with tradition, the eldest, José Gonzalez, will chair the Assembly’s opening session on 18 July when the president of the house – the equivalent of a speaker – will be elected.

“The government decided to lift the suspension that barred political parties and the activities of political associations,” said a statementon Wednesday from the council of ministers, which is dominated by the military leaders who took power in a 2020 coup.

The head of the military government, Colonel Assimi Goita, had justified the suspension by citing the political parties’ “sterile discussions” and “subversion”, which he said posed a danger to an ongoing national “dialogue” on Mali’s political future. 

The parties at the time were protesting the colonels’ decision to stay in power beyond a March 2024 deadline for returning to civilian rule. 

The main parties and what remains of the opposition boycotted the “dialogue”, which went ahead anyway with supporters of the regime.

• Mali political parties to challenge junta’s order suspending political activities

“Untenable” situation

In May, pro-junta figures issued “recommendations” that the military remain in power “for two to five additional years”, and that the current head of the junta be allowed to run in any future presidential elections.  

Late June, 11 members of the opposition were arrested after calling on the junta to return power to civilians. 

Mali’sSahel Tribune website welcomed the lifting of the ban. “A new page is being turned for Mali (…] political leaders are now called upon to return with a new vision, one in which the national interest takes precedence over personal ambitions,” it wrote.

But Burkina Faso daily Aujourd’hui au Faso said Assimi Goita had little choice but to “ease off” because the situation was “untenable”.

“Keeping politicians in a straitjacket was a constant source of trouble and minor setbacks,” it said.

Mali has been under military rule since a first coup in 2020. In September the junta indefinitely postponed elections promised for February 2024, citing technical reasons.

• Mali opposition declares transition government in exile

(with newswires)

Unions at state-controlled ADP group, which runs Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, announced a one-day stoppage on 17 July to press for bigger Olympics bonuses and staff recruitment.

“The fact that we are forced to call for a strike is because of the obstinate refusal of management and in particular the CEO of the company,” unions said in a joint statement on Monday.

The stand-off with management could impact the Paris Games, with athletes set to start arriving  from 18 July and hundreds of thousands of ticket holders flying in ahead of the 26 July opening ceremony.

Along with train stations, Charles de Gaulle and Orly are set to be the main gateways into France for foreign Olympics fans, as well as athletes and equipment.

The ability of ADP’s unions to mobilise workers next week is uncertain, however, with a previous stoppage called on 19 May having little effect on operations.

The country’s air traffic controllers, despite winning large pay increases last year, went on strike again on 25 April, causing thousands of flight cancellations.

• CGT union says it will stage strike during Paris Olympics
• Paris train drivers join strike action over Olympic bonuses

‘300,000 travellers on the same day’

Charles de Gaulle and Orly will be the first glimpse many foreign visitors and athletes have of the French capital when they arrive for the Games.

As a result, ADP has spent 50 million euros upgrading its infrastructure and French authorities are deploying extra resources to make the experience as smooth and safe as possible.

“We know that there are some days that will be really intense and we will maybe have 300,000 travellers on the same day at Charles de Gaulle,” Julien Gentile, director of border security forces at Paris’s airports, told reporters last week.

That number is well above the daily summer average of 200,000 at the airport and is far beyond the record 250,000 daily fliers reached in the summer of 2019.

For the duration of the Games, 250 border posts will be open – 100 more than normal – and they will be staffed almost round-the-clock thanks to 2,000 reinforcements, including from the EU’s border force Frontex.

“It’s like if your supermarket had all of its tills open from the start of the day to the close,” Gentile added.

Automated passport control machines, which can be used by EU travellers, as well as crowd-monitoring technology that alerts managers to the arrival of passengers, are also part of the efforts to avoid bottlenecks.

• River boats carry out successful Paris Olympics opening ceremony rehearsal

Oversized baggage terminal

The busiest days are expected to come after the closing ceremony on 11 August when spectators, officials and most of the 10,000 athletes will head home.

This coincides with a big changeover period during the French school summer holidays.

“Athletes and delegations arrive in a fairly dispersed manner and will leave in very concentrated fashion,” ADP deputy chief executive Edward Arkwright told reporters in April this year.

Athletes will also arrive and depart with an estimated 47,000 pieces of luggage, many of them large and cumbersome, containing items such as kayaks, bikes or polevaulting poles.

A large, specially designed temporary oversized baggage terminal has been built at Charles de Gaulle, measuring 8,000 m2, with a smaller version constructed at Orly.

As well the strike threats, the unusual baggage, and the spikes in demand, the city’s airports will also have to contend with the arrival of thousands of VIPs, journalists and officials from the International Olympic Committee.

The opening ceremony – to be proceeded by a summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron – will draw more than 100 heads of state and government, all of whom require protocol services and parking space for their jets.

(with AFP)

The suspect was killed during a gun battle in the Mont-Dore district outside New Caledonia’s capital Noumea, where police were deployed to clear roadblocks.

Police under fire

When the police came under fire, members of the GIGN elite tactical unit covering the operation shot back, killing the man, a source close to the case told French press agency AFP.

A second source familiar with the case said police had been deployed to arrest people behind gun attacks that have become common in the area, only to come under fire themselves as they cleared a major road.

Unrest broke out in mid-May in New Caledonia, almost 17,000 kilometres from Paris, over a planned expansion of the electoral roll that indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their hopes for independence.

• Deadly unrest in New Caledonia tied to old colonial wounds

Some barricaded roads and burned or looted cars, businesses and public buildings, prompting Paris to send thousands of troops and police in response.

The electoral change, which requires altering the French constitution, is effectively in limbo since President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament for new elections that on Sunday produced a lower house with no clear majority.

Pro-independence arrests

But unrest has again been stoked by the arrests of pro-independence figures on June 19.

Of 13 people accused of helping orchestrate the riots, five have been jailed in mainland France awaiting trial.

The most prominent of them is Christian Tein of the pro-independence group CCAT, which Paris accuses of being behind the violence.

Last weekend, gatherings were banned this weekend in New Caledonia during the second round of France’s parliamentary polls.

• New Caledonia elects pro-independence candidate in French elections

(With newswires)

The Aston Villa attacker entered the fray in the 81st minute with Cole Palmer in place of skipper Harry Kane and Phil Foden as the England coach Gareth Southgate attempted to dynamise a front line that had lost its zip and verve.

At the time of their arrival, the Netherlands seemed the likelier of the sides to grab the winner before extra-time.

Wout Weghorst, who had come on at the start of the second-half for Donyell Malen, was a thorny presence among the England backline using his brawn – and his elbow as John Stones’ face could testify.

The Dutch, seeking their first title since winning the 1988 European crown, took the lead in the sixth minute when Xavi Simons muscled Declan Rice off the ball 35 metres from the England goal. The midfielder advanced and unleashed a shot that flew past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

But 10 minutes later, England were level. 

Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries was adjudged to have fouled Kane in the penalty area.

The Bayern Munich striker dusted himself off after the collision and swept his penalty into the net to the right of the Netherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

With parity restored, England appeared intent on an advantage. They hogged possession and, in contrast to their previous outings at the 2024 tournament, were incisive. Foden curled a shot which hit the outside of Verbruggen’s right hand post. Verbruggen had to be alert to get down smartly to another snap shot from Foden.

In one of the rare excursions into England territory, Dumfries’ header from a corner grazed Pickford’s crossbar before going out for a goal kick.

Change

After the pause, the Netherlands gradually started to exert some authority on proceedings. But it was England who scored. But Bukayo Saka’s goal was disallowed for offside. 

That dud marked the end of Kane and Foden’s involvement. Enter Watkins and Palmer for the duo.

It could have been the dream switch had Palmer kept his strike down two minutes from time. The miss was merely ecstasy deferred.

Palmer made up for his lack of precision a few minutes later threading a simple ball into Watkins in the area.

Though Stefan De Vrij was close by, Watkins took a quick touch to his left, turned and rifled a low shot through the defender’s legs and past Verbruggen into the far corner. 

England’s bench flooded the pitch to engulf the striker as the Dutch stood desolate.

“Amazing achievement, I am so proud of every player and all the staff,” Kane told journalists after the match.

“It’s been a really difficult tournament. There is one more game left and we need to turn up on Sunday.

“We have one more game to make history, 90 minutes, penalties, whatever it takes.”

Bruni-Sarkozy, 56, a former supermodel turned singer, was placed under judicial supervision which included a ban on contact with all those involved in the proceedings with the exception of her husband, said a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Preliminary charges against Bruni-Sarkozy include witness tampering. She is suspected of taking part in a plot to deceive magistrates who were investigating allegations that her husband had received illegal funds during his 2007 presidential election campaign.

Bruni-Sarkozy’s lawyer did not respond to requests on Wednesday for comment.

After she was questioned by police in May, her legal team said she had provided useful clarifications and explanations.

Sarkozy, 69, was charged in October 2023 with illegal witness tampering, as part of an inquiry into whether he took money from the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi to fund his 2007 election campaign.

Key player

The witness involved, Ziad Takieddine, is central to accusations that Sarkozy received millions in illegal payments from Gadhafi’s regime. 

The Franco-Lebanese businessman had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to five million euros cash from Kadhafi to Sarkozy and his chief of staff in 2006 and 2007.

But in 2020, Takieddine suddenly retracted his incriminating statement, raising suspicions that Sarkozy and close allies may have paid the witness to change his mind.

Sarkozy is set to stand trial in 2025 over the allegations that he conspired to take cash from the Libyan leader to illegally fund his subsequently victorious 2007 bid to become French president.

In February, an appeals court in Paris upheld a guilty verdict against the former president for illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid.

He was accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros on the re-election bid that he lost to Socialist candidate Francois Hollande.

Sarkozy was sentenced to a year in prison, of which six months were suspended. Sarkozy’s lawyers have appealed to France’s highest court. With the appeal pending, Sarkozy can not be imprisoned.

In a separate case in 2021, Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling.

He’s the first former French president in modern history convicted and sentenced to prison for actions during his term.

Sarkozy retired from active politics in 2017.

(with newswires)

A probe was opened on 2 July to examine allegations of embezzlement, forgery, fraud, and that a candidate on an electoral campaign accepted a loan, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, giving no further details.

The National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP), in charge of monitoring candidates’ expenses, had alerted the prosecutor’s office last year.

Marine Le Pen, then head of the far-right National Rally (RN) party, had invested around 11.5 million euros in her third bid for the presidency in 2022 – the second time she faced Macron in the run-off and lost to him.

In December 2022, the CNCCFP had objected to expenses linked to putting up and taking down campaigning material on 12 buses, describing it as “irregular”.

The RN leader appealed but then dropped the case.

In her 2017 campaign against Macron, the commission had rejected 873,576 euros in spending, most of which had been a loan from the then Front National – as the RN was called under her father, far-right firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen. She did not appeal.

Last month, the country’s top court upheld a conviction against the RN for overcharging the state for the campaigning kits used by its candidates during the 2012 parliamentary polls.

• Far-right Le Pen to stand trial on EU embezzlement, fraud charges
• Jean-Marie Le Pen declared ‘unfit’ to stand trial over misuse of EU funds

Separately Le Pen, who was re-elected to parliament on Sunday, is to stand trial later this year alongside 27 others over alleged misuse of European Union, charges that Le Pen’s party has said it contested.

That investigation, opened in 2016, aimed to ascertain whether the then National Front had used money destined for EU parliamentary assistants to pay staff who were working for the party.

(with newswires)

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr – tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment, and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine. And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry.  You can also write to us at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr, and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes on 12 September, but you know how “time flies”, so get to work now! We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write RFI English in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI”  has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bi-lingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our staff of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. NB: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Tahmidul Alam Orin from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Welcome,Tahmidul! So glad you have joined us!

You too can be a member of the RFI Listeners Club – just write to me at english.service@rfi.fr and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number. It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you’ll receive a premium prize.

This week’s quiz: On 15 June, I asked you a question about the European Parliament elections, where the far-right National Rally party trounced President Macron’s centrist bloc. Macron then preceded to dissolve and call snap elections for France’s lower house of Parliament, which was a surprise to us all – even his Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, it seems.

You were to refer to Jessica Phelan’s article “Why did Macron call snap elections and what does it mean for France?”, and send in the answer to this question: What percentage of the votes did Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party win, and what percentage of the votes did Macron’s centrist bloc win in the European Parliament elections?

The answer is, to quote Jessica’s article: “With 31.4 percent of the vote to the Macronists’ 14.6 percent, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella called the results a “stinging rejection” of the president.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Father Steven Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon: “What do you do to help others have a secure and happy life?”   

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Jayanta is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Jayanta!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are two RFI Listeners Club members from Dhaka, Bangladesh: Monzurul Alam Ripon and Atikul Islam, who is also the president of the Narshunda Radio Listeners Family Club, and hailing from Hedehusene, Denmark, Hans Verner Lollike.

Last but not least, there’s RFI English listener Nizhom Yeasmin Kona from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The James Bond Theme written by David Arnold; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “I Love to Laugh” from the film Mary Poppins, music and lyrics written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman with George Stiles, and sung by Ed Wynn, Julie Andrews, and Dick Van Dyke, and John Coltrane’s “Naima”, performed by Eric Dolphy.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “What are the next steps now that France finds itself with a hung parliament?”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 26 August to enter this week’s quiz. The winners will be announced on the 31 August podcast. When you enter be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here. 

The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Almaty, Kazakhstan, provided a platform for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet in person.

Their encounter was marked by a display of cordiality, with both leaders appearing at ease and Putin emphasizing the significance of their bilateral relationship.

Active engagement

Putin, standing alongside Erdogan, stated, “We continue to actively engage on crucial matters of international politics.” He further added, “Our communication is constant, and our respective ministries and departments regularly share information and align our stances on key issues.” Erdogan was observed nodding in agreement with these remarks.

• Turkey set on rebuilding bridges with China to improve trade
• How Turkey’s support for Ukraine is a double-edged sword

According to reports, a notable topic on the leaders’ agenda was Turkey’s aspiration to join BRICS, an economic alliance comprising Russia, China, and several nations from Asia, Africa, and South America. This potential membership represents a significant shift in Turkey’s international alignments.

Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst at GlobalSource Partners, explains, “A core principle of BRICS is reducing the dollar’s role in mutual trade, which aligns with Turkey’s interests.” He argues that BRICS membership complements Turkey’s broader foreign policy objectives, stating, “The concept of a new platform fostering trade among geographically distant countries naturally appeals to Turkey and fits its foreign policy stance.”

Yesilada suggests that Turkey’s BRICS bid serves an additional purpose: “It signals to Putin that Turkey intends to maintain and strengthen its growing commercial ties with Russia.” This comes despite Putin’s recent cautions to Turkey regarding its efforts to improve relations with its traditional Western allies.

The Russian leader strongly supports Turkey’s BRICS membership bid. Ceren Ergenc, a China specialist at the Centre for European Policy Studies, posits that Moscow views Turkey’s potential BRICS membership as a strategic move to balance Beijing’s increasing influence within the group.

Turikey and BRICS

Putin strongly supports Turkey’s BRICS membership bid. Ceren Ergenc, a China specialist at the Centre for European Policy Studies, suggests this support is part of Moscow’s strategy to counterbalance Beijing‘s growing influence within BRICS.

Ergenc explains, “BRICS has become China’s domain, with recent membership invitations primarily extended to countries China seeks closer ties with, effectively sidelining Russia and India as the group’s other major powers.”

Turkey’s pursuit of BRICS membership coincides with its stalled EU accession process, hampered by Turkey’s non-compliance with the EU’s Copenhagen Criteria on human rights. This impasse is reportedly affecting Turkey’s trade relations with the EU. Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst, notes, “Erdogan’s frustration with the EU’s lack of progress on Turkey’s accession and customs union update contributed to the BRICS bid.”

However, Yesilada argues that Turkey’s interest in BRICS transcends Erdogan’s presidency, reflecting a broader foreign policy strategy. He states, “This aligns with Turkey’s overarching policy goal, widely supported by the country’s policy establishment, of maintaining independence from any single political bloc, be it Western or Eastern.”

As Erdogan prepares to attend the NATO summit in Washington, where he’s expected to reaffirm Turkey’s Western security commitments, analysts view the BRICS bid as a clear indication that Ankara is diversifying its international partnerships beyond its traditional Western allies.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr – tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment, and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine. And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry.  You can also write to us at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr, and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes on 12 September, but you know how “time flies”, so get to work now! We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write RFI English in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI”  has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bi-lingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our staff of journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. NB: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Tahmidul Alam Orin from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Welcome,Tahmidul! So glad you have joined us!

You too can be a member of the RFI Listeners Club – just write to me at english.service@rfi.fr and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number. It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you’ll receive a premium prize.

This week’s quiz: On 8 June, I asked you a question about an article we had written earlier that week about the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, China. On 4 June 1989, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army broke up protests by pro-democracy students in the Square. According to various reports, anywhere from hundreds to thousands of students were killed.

One of the student leaders, Wang Dan, after two periods of imprisonment in China, was allowed to emigrate to the US. He currently lives in San Francisco, where he leads the Dialogue China think tank.

He was in Paris recently and came to RFI for an interview, which you read in our article “Tiananmen Square at 35: top Chinese dissident looks back”.

In the interview, we asked Wang Dan: “How did the 4th of June 1989 change China?”  What does he answer? That was your question.

The answer is, as Wang Dan explained: “June 4th is a turning point in China’s contemporary history. There are two Chinas: the China of before 1989 and the China of after. The main difference is [that] before 1989, the state and the society cooperated. That’s why we took to the streets: we as, a representative society, go to the street and ask to cooperate with the government to promote democracy. There’s no difference between “us”. We think we are all “us”. We all take responsibility for this country.

But after 1989, many Chinese people gave up on this idea. “You” are the government. “We” are the normal Chinese people. There’s no more “us”. It’s just “you” and “me”. After 1989, the Chinese people gave up the responsibility for the country’s future because they thought that they could not do anything and that it is the government’s responsibility to change China, not the people’s.” 

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What is the ideal human relationship?” It was suggested by Debashis Gope from West Bengal, India.

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Karuna Kanta Pal from West Bengal, India. Congratulations, Karuna.   

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Nafisa Khatun, the president of the RFI Mahila Shrota Sangha Club in West Bengal, India, and RFI Listeners Club member Kashif Khalil from Faisalabad, Pakistan.   

Last but not least, there are RFI English listeners John Yemi Sanday Turay from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Rafiq Khondaker, the president of the Source of Knowledge Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Take the A Train” by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, performed by Duke Ellington and his orchestra; “El Bueno y El Malo” composed by and performed by the brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez (Hermanos Gutiérrez); “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra) by John Adams, performed by Edo de Waart and the San Fransisco Symphony. 

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Jessica Phelan’s article: “The three-way factor that makes France’s election results so unusual”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 19 August to enter this week’s quiz. The winners will be announced on the 24 August podcast. When you enter be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here. 

Keir Starmer has pledged to “make Brexit work” and seek “an ambitious” security pact with the the European Union.

But contrary to the hopes of many in the UK who may have hoped that London would return to the EU mainland fold, Labour is careful not to offend its pro-Brexit constituencies.

Over the years, especially in the north of England, many voters shifted to the pro-Brexit ideas of the Conservative party, afraid that EU immigrants would take away their jobs.

RFI talks to political scientist John Barry, of Queens University in Belfast, about how he thinks Brexit affected the UK economy, and if London will ever rejoin the common market.

This interview was carried out online.

Hemp farming nearly died out in France in the 1970s but is making a comeback in textiles and the construction industry. Fast-growing, pesticide-free, and a good absorber of CO2, the plant is proving to be an ally in the fight against climate change. Franck Barbier, head of Interchanvre, talks about cannabis sativus’s bright future on a tour of the Planète Chanvre mill in Aulnoy. And Jean-Michel Morer, mayor of Trilport, shows us how his town is using hemp in buildings as part of its commitment to sustainability and the circular economy. (Listen @3’10”)

Romance literature has long been looked down on for its undemanding language, basic story tropes and steamy sex scenes. But French publishers are taking note as a new generation of authors, inspired by English-language best-sellers, are writing for a growing audience of young women, many of whom are newcomers to books. Publisher Benita Rolland, of Hugo publishing, talks about developing the genre for the French market, and CS Quill, who started out as a reader before becoming a popular romance author, talks about connecting with her fans. (Listen @21’50”)

As Paris prepares to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, a look back on the last time the city held the Games in 1924. Those Olympics were a smaller, more eclectic and more masculine event, which nonetheless marked a turning point and brought the Games closer to what they are today. (Listen @14’30”)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

In the heart of Istanbul, onlookers gather around taking selfies of the police’s latest addition to its carpool: a Ferrari. City police now boast some of the world’s flashiest supercars, not only Ferraris but also Bentleys and Lexuses.

They’re the pickings of a nationwide crackdown on international organised crime involving narcotics smuggling and money laundering.

Turkey‘s unique geography straddling Europe and Asia makes it an ideal centre for international crime.

“Turkey is in between the continents. So once you want to transfer a commodity which is illegal, it may be drugs, etc, you must have a step here,” says Murat Aslan of the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, a think tank in Ankara.

Gang links

“Most criminal gangs in Europe or the United States or South America have links to the ones here in Turkey – and that is why police have started operations, especially focusing on the ones who have warrants or arrest warrants by Interpol.

“It’s a process, and Turkey is currently in the middle of it.”

Interior Ministry videos show heavily armed police breaking down doors in the middle of the night at luxury addresses usually associated with Istanbul’s high society.

Vast quantities of cash and guns are invariably recovered. Among those arrested are some of the world’s most wanted criminals from Europe, Asia, and the United States, most connected to the illicit drugs trade, underlining Turkey’s status as a hub for the European narcotics trade.

Last week, Turkish police, with their Spanish and French counterparts, broke up a European Central American drug cartel, resulting in dozens of arrests.

“According to Interpol and the Turkish police’s narcotics department, Turkey has become a transshipment hub for Europe and the Middle East,” says Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst for Global Source Partners, another think tank.

“There are huge amounts of money floating around here.”

• Turkey set on rebuilding bridges with China to improve trade

Crime hub

Yesilada says Turkey became a hub for international crime not only because of its geography but also because of the government’s recent efforts to attract foreign currency to prop up the Turkish lira with a wealth amnesty.

“Look at our wealth amnesty, bring cash, bring diamonds, we don’t really care. Just check it at the border or deposit it in a bank, and we’ll never ask questions. This never-ask-questions part is, of course, completely in violation of the spirit of the global anti-money laundering legislation,” Yesilada says.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, at a recent press conference on the crackdown, announced that over 1,000 arrests – including 50 people wanted by Interpol – had been made this year, along with over 3 billion dollars in seized assets.

Yerlikaya says he’s committed to ending Turkey’s reputation as a haven for drug kingpins.

“Thirty-eight mafia-type organised crime gangs, seven of which were international and 31 of which were local, were broken up,” Yerlikaya says.

“We consider drugs a global disaster in the Turkish century. Our main goal in the fight against drugs is to ensure that Turkey becomes an inaccessible and Prohibited Zone for drugs. We consider drug crime equivalent to terrorism.”

• Turkey cuts trade with Israel but seeks role in resolving Gaza conflict

Turkey grey-listed

The crackdown follows the international anti-money laundering organisation the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) putting Turkey on its grey list of countries failing to combat global money laundering.

“Commercial banks and global funds are reluctant to do business with a country that’s still on the grey list because, you know, too many sanctions,” warns Yesilada.

Turkey‘s crackdown on organised crime and tightening of its financial controls are part of efforts to remove itself from the grey list and escape its damaging economic impact.

• Interpol fights crime and controversial image, 100 years on

“If we remain on the FATF grey list again, from the top of my head, 20 percent of the institutions that would otherwise be interested in investing in Turkey probably won’t be able to do so because of compliance fears,” Yesilada says.

“It is going to be a significant concern when this extensive due diligence work is undertaken, whether to make a particular investment in Turkey.”

The Turkish government sees increasing international investment as key to solving the country’s economic woes, which means the raids on wanted international crime figures seem set to continue, along with confiscating their valuable assets.

For the Istanbul police, the supply of fancy cars looks set to continue.

Madhya Pradesh is often referred to as the Heart of India. Located right in the middle of the country, the Indian region shows everything India has to offer through its abundant diversity. The IFTM trade show, which took place in Paris at the end of September, presented the perfect opportunity for travel enthusiasts to discover the region.

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board, sat down to explain his approach to sustainable tourism.

“Post-covid the whole world has known a shift in their approach when it comes to tourism. And all those discerning travelers want to have different kinds of experiences: something offbeat, something new, something which has not been explored before.”

Through its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Shukla wants to showcase the deep history Madhya Pradesh has to offer.

“UNESCO is very actively supporting us and three of our sites are already World Heritage Sites. Sanchi is a very famous buddhist spiritual destination, Bhimbetka is a place where prehistoric rock shelters are still preserved, and Khajuraho is home to thousand year old temples with magnificent architecture.”

All in all, Shukla believes that there’s only one way forward for the industry: “Travelers must take sustainable tourism as a paradigm in order to take tourism to the next level.”

In partnership with Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board.

Also known as the Land of the Beautiful Islands, Malaysia’s landscape and cultural diversity is almost unmatched on the planet. Those qualities were all put on display at the Malaysian stand during the IFTM trade show.

Libra Hanif, director of Tourism Malaysia, explained the appeal of the country as well as the importance of promoting sustainable tourism today: “Sustainable travel is a major trend now, with the changes that are happening post-covid. People want to get close to nature, to get close to people. So Malaysia being a multicultural and diverse [country] with a lot of natural environments, we felt that it’s a good thing for us to promote Malaysia.”

Malaysia has also gained fame in recent years, through its numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which include Kinabalu Park and the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley.

Green mobility has also become an integral part of tourism in Malaysia, with an increasing number of people using bikes to discover the country: “If you are a little more adventurous, we have the mountain back trails where you can cut across gazetted trails to see the natural attractions and the wildlife that we have in Malaysia,” says Hanif. “If you are not that adventurous, you’ll be looking for relaxing cycling. We also have countryside spots, where you can see all the scenery in a relaxing session.”

With more than 25,000 visitors at this IFTM trade show this year, Malaysia’s tourism board got to showcase the best the country and its people have to offer.

In partnership with Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. For more information about Malaysia, click here.