True to the rumours, Tom Cruise performed a “death-defying stunt”, abseiling from the Stade de France roof – a sure highlight of the night.

After taking the flag from gymnast Simone Biles, Cruise then “transported” it to Los Angeles, host of the 2028 Games, in a pre-filmed sequence that traversed the streets of Paris and the hills of Hollywood.

All this while the Red Hot Chili Peppers played in the background, their performance beamed live into the Stade de France from Los Angeles.

The band’s performance was swiftly followed from a very sunny California by performances from Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre.

Cauldron extinguished

The ceremony began in the Tuileries Gardens where French quadruple gold medallist swimmer Leon Marchand — one of the home heroes of the Games — extinguished the cauldron and took the flame in a lantern to the stadium.

An estimated 9,000 athletes were in attendance, along with 270 performers, for the final act directed by Thomas Jolly, the mastermind of the spectacular opening ceremony that took place on the River Seine.

The spectacle kicked off with a golden figure at the centre of the show – lowered from the roof of the Stade de France before gliding across the stage on the pitch.

The so-called “Golden Voyager”, the IOC told us, landed “in a world that is deserted and mysterious, ready to explore”.

In a choreographic ballet, the figure discovers the Olympic rings, which are excavated out of the floor and hoisted into the air.

At the same time, French pianist and opera singer Benjamin Bernheim sang the Hymn to Apollo, while Alain Roche played on a piano while being suspended vertically in the air.

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‘Stade de Dance’

Paris organisers nickname the stadium the “Stade de Dance” as French band Phoenix get the music started with their rendition of Lisztomania, before as tearing into their second song, 1901 with the help of Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.

French artists Angèle and Kaminsky, and Cambodian rapper Vannda also made appearances.

In a speech, president of the Paris organising committee, the three-time canoe Olympic champion Tony Estanguet said: “To you, athletes, what can I say? We knew you would be brilliant, but you were magic.”

France finished fifth in the medal table, with 16 gold, 26 silver and 22 bronze for an overall tally of 64.

“You made us happy, you made us feel alive. On behalf of billions of sport lovers across the five continents, thank you very much,” Estanguet added.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee and 1976 fencing Olympic champion, carried on the speech fanfare.

“Millions of people celebrating the athletes in the streets of Paris and all across France,” he told the crowd.

“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 were a celebration of the athletes and sport at its best. The first Olympic Games delivered fully under our Olympic Agenda reforms: younger, more urban, more inclusive, more sustainable. The first ever Olympic Games with full gender parity.

Olympic flag lowered

The Olympic Anthem was performed by the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau and the Orchestre Divertimento while the Olympic Flag was lowered.

It was passed from Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to Bach and then to Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, which will hosting the next Olympics in 2028.

Before the end of the night, French swimmer Leon Marchand featured once again at the Stade de France to raptuous applause.

That was followed by French singer Yseult brining the show to a close with a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way.

Marie, ensconced on a stool a few metres from Le Mondial’s counter and awaiting a drink, readily conceded she had been an Olympics doomsayer. “Well, I am a Parisienne,” she added with un petit soupcon of self-mockery to justify the default cycnicsm.

“Nothing was ready. There was political turmoil and I was sceptical that it would be a success.”

Céline Dion’s first apperance after a four-year battle with a voice-threatening illness to belt out Edith Piaf’s song “L’hymne à l’amour” from the Eiffel Tower had turned her back from the dark side of the discourse.

“I was in tears,” Marie admitted. “And I don’t even like Céline Dion. It was the same for all my friends.”

Converted since that explosion of emotions at the opening ceremony, the 44-year-old was in  café with her former London flatmate Dejan, who was visiting Paris from the Slovenian capital Ljubliana.

The duo had acquired last minute tickets at 170 euros apiece to go to the boxing at Roland Garros and the athletics at the Stade de France.

“It was worth it,” said Dejan. “I tried to get tickets before but could not manage it.

Chance

“I normaly wouldn’t go to watch athletics but it was the Olympics and that makes it worthwhile. We had good weather and it was brilliant.”

On the other side of the road, Le Chateau d’Eau was doing a brisk trade with non Olympics junkies. The Sunday evening vibe distinctly chilled.

Jose Abadia and his friend, Guillaume, were among the early arrivals at Le Mondial to establish a prime position slap bang in front of the screen.

“I’m a fan of the Olympic Games,” said Jose who had been to the football, taekwondo and volleyball.

“I would have liked to have gone to the BMX riding. The volleyball was great. It’s a sport that I like.”

Guillaume, a nurse, added: “I’ve watched the Games whenever I could. I work on night shifts and I haven’t been able to go to any events because of that.

Like Marie a few metres away, he had been impressed by the opening ceremony.

“I was very proud to be French which is something that hadn’t happened to me like that. It was a very inclusive ceremony and it was really good.

Familiarity

“The Games have been in a city we know and it was heartwarming to see it in all of the places we know. It’s certainly not the end of the problems but it was nice.”

President Emmanuel Macron and the politicians will return to the Sturm and Drang of political life with French athletes basking in the glow of their haul of 16 gold medals among the 64 acquired since the Games started along the river Seine in torrential downpours on 26 July.

Just over a fortnight later of a balmy August evening, songs from Phoenix, Kavinski and Air helped the Paris extravaganza move into legend as thousands of athletes milled around the centre of the field filming and taking selfies while the 2024 supremos went through the formalities of passing on the show to Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles who was accompanied by the American gymnast Simon Biles.

“A wave rose and it has taken over the country and the entire world,” said Tony Estanguet, the boss of the Paris Olympics organising committee.

“We ave seen images that will stay with us in the history of Olympism.”

Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committe, which oversees the Games, quipped: “These were sensational days from the beginning … dare I say it “Seine” sational.”

Such rapier wit from the German gold-medal winning fencer.

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Compatriot Valerie Haenol watched Bach’s slick stream intently. The 71-year-old physiotherapist had arrived on the Eurostar train in Paris from Cologne on Friday afternoon without tickets to see any of the events.

“I couldn’t get time off work before and I just wanted to be in Paris,” she beamed. “I’ve just been trying to get a bit of the atmosphere.”

A trip on Saturday morning to watch the marathon runners pass led into a spot of sightseeing and mingling among the amateur athletes who had taken part in Saturday night’s Marathon for All along the Olympic marathon course.

“I was last here in Paris with my son in 2006,” she added. “I came because it was Paris.”

Olympics over, she said a few more days of visiting the tourist hotspots ensued before returning home to Bruhl on Thursday.

“I was talking to a man who lives in Saint Denis, she added. “He talked about the traffic and not being able to get around.

“I know it has been difficult for people who live here but for us as foreigners it is great.”

The French women’s basketball team delivered the delegation’s 64th medal when they took silver after their final defeat against the US, the highest number since the 1900 Games – also held in Paris – when fewer nations competed, and some events were only contested by French athletes.

With 16 golds, France also beat their tally from Atlanta 1996 of 15 gold medals, and their 64 medals overall easily eclipsed their Beijing 2008 tally of 43.

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“This result is an exceptional result,” Claude Onesta, High Performance Manager at the French National Sports Agency, told a news conference on Sunday as France finished fifth in the medals table.

“I wanted share our big satisfaction, with results that reflect the structural strength of our nation,” sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera added.

On X, the sports minister expressed her pride in the French women’s basketball team’s achievement, saying: “Well done girls for your exceptional tournament. You were giants!”

Marchand and Riner shine

Two athletes in particular shone and gave the host country a huge boost in confidence, as swimmer Leon Marchand and judoka Teddy Riner claimed four and two golds respectively, and sent the crowds wild across the capital.

Team sports also contributed with seven medals – one more than in Tokyo – although the handball defending champions, women and men, lost their titles.

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Although expectations were not high, the major disappointment came from the athletics, where France only managed one medal.

“It’s a disappointing result, but there are still glimmers of hope behind it,” Romain Barras, High Performance Director at the French Athletics Federation, told a news conference without elaborating.

A’ja Wilson scored a game-high 21 points for the Americans who won the title for the 10th time overall, surviving a buzzer-beating shot from France’s Gabby Williams.

The hosts needed a three to force overtime in Paris but Williams’ foot was on the three-point line as she let go of the ball, so her shot counted for just two points in a dramatic finale.

“It’s all a blur right now,” said Wilson, who also registered 13 rebounds and four blocks.

“We were just resilient and when we needed to we just kept going.”

Kelsey Plum and Kahleah Copper both scored 12 points off the bench for the US. Williams led France with 19.

An eighth straight triumph gave the US women the record for most consecutive gold medals in any team sport at the Olympics, breaking a tie with the US men, who won seven basketball titles in a row from 1936 to 1968.

“That was an absolutely incredible basketball game. Two teams that left it all out there,” said US coach Cheryl Reeve.

“Coming home with gold, I can’t think of anything greater in life than what we just did together.”

For the 42-year-old Diana Taurasi it was a record sixth Olympic gold, moving her one ahead of Sue Bird.

The US women got support from LeBron James, who sat courtside wearing his gold medal and was joined by team-mates Bam Adebayo and Derrick White, after they won the men’s gold by beating France 98-87 in Saturday’s final.

It was the first time in Games history the men’s and women’s finals featured identical match-ups.

Frantic finish

A low-scoring first quarter saw a cold-shooting France muster just nine points, but the US only fared marginally better and led by six after 10 minutes.

Nevada-born Williams, who qualifies to play for France through her mother, trimmed the gap to a point with a three early in the second period before a basket from Valeriane Ayayi tied the game at 20-20.

Marine Fauthoux drained a three from near midcourt with the shot clock expiring to send the Bercy Arena crowd wild, but Napheesa Collier’s putback ensured the teams headed into the break level at 25-25.

France strung together a 10-point run to start the third period as Fauthoux and Ayayi both nailed threes.

The US hit back to lead 45-43 going into the final quarter, with Plum connecting on a pair of threes, one after Marine Johannes took a nasty blow from Wilson that went unpunished, to France’s fury.

Wilson belatedly found some rhythm offensively after a difficult first half, but France had an answer each time and went back in front, 51-49, on Marieme Badiane’s layup.

The US nudged back ahead, Wilson getting a kind bounce off the backboard and Plum sinking a pair of free throws to leave them leading by three with two minutes to play.

Williams’ jumper made it a one-point contest before Copper drove to the basket to keep the US on top.

A travelling call against Wilson gave the ball back to France with around 45 seconds left, but Fauthoux’s desperation three came up well short under pressure from Breanna Stewart.

Wilson then made a free throw to extend the lead to four and Plum looked to have clinched the win with a pair of foul shots, but Williams kept France alive with a clutch three.

Copper held her nerve to sink two more free throws for the US to restore their cushion to three.

They needed every point as Williams nearly pulled off a miraculous escape act as the buzzer sounded, only to be denied by a matter of centimetres.

The unique version of the Olympic flame, located in the Tuileries Gardens between the Louvre Museum and Concorde obelisk, has been one of many innovations for this year’s Games.

The seven-metre ring of flame is not actually fire, but is made up of clouds of mist lit by LED rays, built by French energy firm EDF and powered by 100-percent renewable.

Each night at sunset, it is drawn up into the sky for two hours by a 30-metre helium balloon, coated in light-reflecting satin paint.

All 10,000 daily slots to watch it rise up-close have been booked out until the end of the Games on Sunday, and it will return for the Paralympics at the end of the month.

The “real” Olympic flame – transported from Greece to France – is installed a few steps from the cauldron in a lantern sheltered by a display case.

Now, many politicians are talking about making the cauldron a permanent addition to the Paris skyline. 

The decision lies with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

He told reporters last week that the idea “would be a dream for many people” and that his team would “look at all that in due time”.

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‘Long-term destiny’

It was an idea first floated by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, who told France 2 television she was “very keen” on keeping it.

“I’m not the one who decides since it is on the site of the Louvre, which belongs to the state. So I wrote to the president,” she said.

That has already sparked some competition, with the head of the wider Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, suggesting it could be shifted to the Parc de La Villette on the edge of the city if it cannot stay in the Tuileries. 

The huge popularity of the new landmark – with thousands coming daily for selfies – has been a surprise for its designer, Mathieu Lehanneur.

“It touches me deeply, which I had not expected, or at least not to this extent,” he told reporters. 

“It’s an inverted sunset: the ritual and daily elevation of the Olympic sun. The support was immediate. We had thought about it and designed it to be absolutely recyclable after the Games and now we are considering a long-term destiny for it,” he added. 

Tom Cruise, who is currently filming the latest episode of the “Mission Impossible” franchise in Europe, is expected to play a starring role at the closing ceremony this Sunday evening.

He is reportedly set to perform a spectacular stunt sequence to mark the passing of the Games from Paris to Los Angeles which will involve the handing of the Olympic flag from one city to the other.

Cruise has been a regular feature at Olympic events in Paris.

On Saturday, he watched the United States women’s team win a fifth football gold medal.

Also confirmed on the cast list are California A-list acts Billie Eilish and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, performing from Los Angeles.

The closing ceremony at the Stade de France will be directed by Thomas Jolly, the mastermind of the spectacular opening ceremony which took place on the River Seine.

“On August 11, the Olympic Games will be over, and the Olympic flame will be extinguished,” said Jolly. 

“That moment will remind us just how precious are these Olympic Games.”

Before the curtain comes down, the women’s marathon completed the 11-day athletics programme.

Sifan Hassan, the Ethiopian-born Dutch runner – who has already pocketed bronze medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m – won gold in the race, which went through Paris to Versailles before finishing at Invalides in the heart of the French capital.

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‘Kind of hell’

“I’ve done in my life, the 800m, the 1500m, 10,000m, everything. But endurance on Sunday, that’s not a joke,” said Hassan. 

“To finish the marathon is a kind of hell. It’s not easy”.

The all-conquering US women’s basketball team won an historic eighth straight gold, beating the French team by one point in a nail-biting finish, 67-66.

The US women have won basketball gold at the past seven Olympic Games, starting at Atlanta in 1996.

This eighth straight triumph gives them the record for most consecutive golds in any team sport at the Olympic Games – breaking a tie with the US men, who won seven basketball titles in a row from 1936 to 1968.

“I think the gold medal is the standard,” US forward Alyssa Thomas said. “No matter where we are in the world, it’s our goal and that’s what we came here for”.

• Laurin lifts France’s first Olympic crown in taekwondo to take gold count to 16

The final competitions

China’s Li Wenwen eased to victory in the women’s heavyweight class this Sunday to give her nation a fifth gold in the Olympic weightlifting competition in Paris – hoisting her coach in the air to celebrate.

In the men’s handball final, Denmark beat Germany 39 to 26.

The Germans were in their first gold medal match for 20 years, while the Danes were champions at Rio in 2016 but runners-up to France in Tokyo three years ago.

Grand Palais, hey hey

The partisans were giving it a right go for the local heroine Althéa Laurin who was competing in the women’s +67kg category. Up and down they stomped and rompedbellowing: “Qui ne saute pas n’est pas français, hey! hey!” And if even if you initially don’t understand the words, things become clear viscerally. And the Grand Palais was the apt venue for the grand moment: Laurin winning at the expense of Svetlana Osipova from Uzbekistan. It was France’s first gold medal in the sport. Also the country’s 16th gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games. That eclipsed the haul of 15 at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Everyone stuck at around to see 22-year-old Laurin go up onto the podium and get a chance to sing the national anthem. 

Kingpins

Well, at 22, Laurin could be around for a while. So too Britain’s Caden Cunningham and Ariane Salimi from Iran. At 21 and 20 respectively, they fought out the Olympic final for the men’s +80kg category. Salimi won the battle 2-1. Could we be seeing a rivalry à la Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in tennis? “Perhaps more Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo,” Salimi smiled. 

Double wonders

Before Althéa Laurin took France to gold medal number 16, the men’s volleyball team had pushed the tally to 15 following a straight sets win over Poland at the South Paris Arena to retain their title. Men’s and women’s volleyball was introduced at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Not surprsing really since the Japanese women’s volleyball team was quite extraordinary. Les Sorcières de l’Orient was made a few years back highlighting their 1964 Olympic title-winning feats and the techniques of their coach Hirofumi Daimatsu. The Soviet Union won the inaugural men’s competition and also four years later. The United States repeated the double in 1984 and 1988. France can join that pantheon.

Long way to go

Still some way to go for the men’s vollyball team when compared to say the Chinese men’s table tennis team (five on the trot) or the United States men’s basketball side who beat France 98-87 at the Bercy Arena to extend their hold to five consecutive titles. The American team, to be fair to the rest, is packed with operators from the NBA like Steph Curry and Lebron James. Men’s basketball entered the Olympic realm in 1936 in Berlin. The United States won that one and overall have taken 17 of the 21 competitions contested. France are taking on the US in the women’s basketball final on Day 16. Now if the French were to win and stop an eighth consecutive American victory and clock up a 17th gold … they’ll be singing La Marseillaise into next week.

Play it anyway

Worrying times for supremos at the French athletics federation. Cyrena Samba-Mayela won silver in the women’s 100m hurdles to register the only French success in track and field events at the 2024 Games. At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, French athletes also won one medal – that too was silver and came in the men’s 4x400m. At least it’s not deteriorating. With French medals flying around in other sports, questions are bound to be asked of the athletics bosses. Really, what are those noises at the Chateauroux shooting range?

Gone are the harbingers of doom and gloom who forecast the 2024 Paris Olympics would turn the French away from cinemas in their droves.

One can consign the poor figures at from start of the year to history, which were particularly hampered by the Hollywood scriptwriters’ strike.

According to figures released this week by the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée or CNC, the number of French cinema-goers for July 2024 is the best on record since 2011.

Some 18.71 million admissions were recorded last month, an increase of 2.2 percent on July 2023, which was itself boosted by the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer – the so-called “Barbenheimer” phenomenon.

Great news for exhibitors

According to Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas, nobody saw it coming.

“Over the whole of 2024, we expected to do at least as much as in 2023 [almost 183 million admissions],” he said.

“We suffered a lot in the first few months,” Patry adds, as receipts were down by 17 percent over the January-to-March period, compared with the same period in 2023.

“It’s great to see that we’re back on track, after the Covid crisis and the writers’ strike in Hollywood.

“And if the film gods continue to smile on us, we could reach 190 million tickets sold. We’re going to bring France another medal.”

The Fête du Cinémathat took place from 30 June to 4 July set the tone from the outset, smashing attendance records with over 4.6 million admissions over four days – the highest figure since the event was launched in 1985.

The impact of the Olympics was also, unexpectedly, limited.

“It’s true that some of our Parisian colleagues who are next door to the Olympic events are suffering because of the large crowds,” Patry explains adding “it’s still very much a sector-based operation and a minority”.

“If the public want to see a film, they’ll find a time to go, Olympic Games or not”.

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Stormy weather

Another factor could have been the gloomy weather at the start of July, that may have pushed people in front of cinema screens.

“Bad weather can be a positive factor, but it’s not a decisive one,” says Patry.

Historically, it has little impact in the south of France and more in the north.

“The gloomy weather may have played a part, but when it’s very hot too, air-conditioned cinemas can be attractive. With attractive films, it works,” says French film producer Éric Marti.

According to him – over the last fifteen years or so – summer has become the biggest season for cinema after Christmas, and a prime time for blockbusters.

“Distributors have realised that people are available at this time,” he says. “Not everyone leaves. And in France, even on holiday, a cinema is never far away”.

The final list was announced at the end of a session by the Committee hosted by India last week.

Among the five new African sites, two are in South Africa, one in Burkina Faso, one in Ethiopia and one in Kenya – choices in line with Unesco Director-General, Audrey Azoulay’s promise to prioritise African heritage.

The 26 new inscriptions on the list are made up of 20 cultural properties, five natural properties and one mixed site.

These properties will now benefit from the highest level of heritage protection in the world.

Their managers will now have access to new opportunities for technical and financial assistance from Unesco.

As part of a push to safeguard African sites and developing island nations in Asia, India announced a contribution of $1 million (€917,000) to Unesco’s World Heritage Centre, to provide training programmes and support.

Honouring Mandela’s South African struggle

“The inscription by Unesco of 14 sites linked to the history of the late South African President Nelson Mandela is “a significant recognition of the struggle for human rights, freedom and reconciliation in South Africa,” local authorities said.

“By erasing the legacy of apartheid, this move aims to preserve the historical heritage of this iconic nation and pass on its inspiring message to future generations.” 

Azoulay stressed the importance of this symbolic inscription which recalls Nelson Mandela’s courage and determination in his quest for justice and equality.

The sites honoured, such as the Union Buildings in Pretoria and the town of Sharpeville, bear witness to defining moments in South African history, marked by struggles and sacrifices for freedom.

They include for instance the village of Mqhekezweni, crucial in Mandela’s training but often neglected.

The move also encourages South African authorities to redouble their efforts to preserve and promote their own heritage, thus ensuring the sustainability of the values ​​of freedom and tolerance embodied by Mandela.

Royal Court of Tiebele in Burkina Faso

The Burkinabe royal property is an earthen architectural complex, established in the 16th century, that bears testimony to the social organisation and cultural values of the Kasena people in Burkina Faso.

Enclosed by a protective compound wall, the Royal Court consists of a set of buildings arranged in distinct concessions separated by walls and passageways leading to ceremonial and gathering places outside the compound.

Built by the men of the Royal Court, the huts were adorned with decorations of symbolic significance by the women, who are considered the sole guardians of this knowledge and still ensure this tradition is kept alive.

Ethiopia’s High Plateaux region

Located in the Upper Awash Valley in Ethiopia, these archaeological and paleontological sites represent a cluster of prehistoric sites that preserve records – including footprints – that testify to the area’s occupation by the ‘hominin’ groups from two million years ago.

They are situated about 2,000 to 2,200 metres above sea level, and yielded homo erectus, homo heidelbergensis and archaic homo sapiens fossils.

The cultural sequence includes four consecutive phases of the Oldowan, Acheulean, Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age techno-complexes.

Fragments of palaeo-landscapes, preserved buried under volcanic and sedimentary deposits with fossil fauna and flora, allow reconstruction of the high-mountain ecosystem of the Ethiopian Highlands during the Pleistocene.

They show the adaptation of hominin groups to the challenges and climatic conditions of high altitudes at the time.

Gedi ruins in Kenya

The historic ruins of Gedi is a 13th to 17th-century Muslim Swahili settlement on Kenya’s coast, near Malindi, an already prestigious designation and now Kenya’s eighth World Heritage Site, underscoring its outstanding universal value.

It was constructed with rock and coral, and carefully arranged, including water wells, advanced sanitation and drainage systems.

The city’s buildings included a palace, mosques, mansions and houses, tombs and grounds for burial.

Known as the ‘Swahili City in the Forest’, Gedi seems to have been a city of importance with a significant presence, with evidence of extensive trading activities. It remains unknown which goods the citizens were trading with and who were the customers.

This Muslim city grew prosperous and flourished until the 16th century, then an exodus occurred for reasons unknown, and Gedi was finally abandoned in the early 17th century.

The city remained lost to the forest until 1894 when a British resident of Zanzibar investigated the site.

In 1927, the ruins were then declared a National Monument of Kenya.

Kenya also announced its desire to host an international conference in Nairobi, in May 2025, to enable an in-depth reflection on the concept of authenticity in African heritage, and to increase African sites’ representation on the World Heritage List.

Good news for Senegal

This session of the Committee also saw the removal of the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal from the List of World Heritage in Danger.

This is thanks to the joint efforts to reduce threats to the site, made by the Senegalese authorities in collaboration with local communities, and with the support of Unesco.

The Te Henua Enata-Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia

The Pacific islands, known as the Marquesas, have also been added to Unesco’s World Heritage list. 

“Through its selection of the Marquesas Islands, the World Heritage Committee recognises the exceptional universal value of this archipelago, where we find evidence of a civilisation intimately linked to its unique geological and marine environment,” the spokesperson for the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said.

“Its inclusion on the list sends a message of support for preserving the Pacific’s terrestrial and marine biodiversity and for recognising the richness and diverse cultures of our overseas territories.” 

France added it was to reaffirm its “commitment to Unesco’s mission of preserving our world’s heritage and to the 1972 World Heritage Convention”.

Laurin, 22, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics while she was in her teens, bettered that exploit with an impressive array of victories throughout the day in front a fervently patriotic fanbase at the Grand Palais in central Paris.

She did not lose a round in her three matches in her surge to the final against Svetlana Osipova.

And she took the first round against the Uzbek with a three-point headkick.

As a Mexican wave rippled around the arena to countdown the end to the second round, Osipova pierced Laurin’s defence to score three points. But just before the buzzer sounded for the end of the round, Laurin also registered a head kick.

Following a review, she was awarded the round and with it the Olympic title.

“Osipova let her guard down a bit at the end,” said Laurin.

“It’s just incredible what’s just happened especially in Paris, in front of all the French fans, I don’t think I could have done better.

“I feel a lot of joy, a lot of gratitude to the public who cheered me on all day and all the people I’ve worked with all these years. So I hope I’ve made everyone proud.”

Pride

Osipova, 24, the first woman from Uzbekistan to win a medal in taekwondo, said she was delighted with her achievement.

“Five months ago, I broke ligaments in my knee. It took me a while to recover. This silver medal is worth its weight in gold,” she added.

Laurin’s was the 16th gold harvested by French athletes since the start of the Games on 26 July.

The haul surpasses the collection of 15 golds from Atlanta in 1996 where France won 37 medals overall.

The only higher medal count in French Olympic history dates back to 1900 and more amateur times when France won 102 medals, including 27 golds.

Those Games in Paris featured only 26 nations, with some events exclusively involving French athletes.

With one day of competition left at the 2024 Games, France has amassed 62 medals to lie fifth in the medals table. 

China leads the way with 39 golds.

Earlier on Saturday, the men’s volleyball team beat Poland in straight sets to retain the title they won against Russia in Tokyo.

Feat

Only two other nations have successfully defended their title. The Soviet Union won the inaugural men’s volleyball competition in 1964 in Tokyo and four years later in Mexico City.

The Americans emulated them in 1984 and 1988.

“It’s just crazy to win in front of the fans, our family, our friends, it’s amazing,” said France player Trévor Clévenot.

The 33rd Olympic Games will close on Sunday night with a lavish ceremony at the Stade de France in Saint Denis.

According to an exclusive by Variety, citing “multiple sources”, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are expected to be part of the show.

According to the magazine, the three artists will be seen from Los Angeles in a mix of pre-taped and live performances.

The opening ceremony took place along the river Seine and though it was marred by torrential downpours, it was deemed to have been an artistic and televisual success.

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Speaking to reporters on the penultimate day of the Games, head of the Paris 2024 organising committee Tony Estanguet said: “France has shown itself to the world in a very, very good mindset: confident, united, warm, welcoming”.

Estanguet repeatedly voiced his “pride” at organising what he had promised would be an iconic Olympics, which have seen record ticket sales and packed fanzones around the country.

“It’s an absolutely incredible collective success. France has made these Games successful, and I am extremely proud,” he said.

He added: “We’ve seen a happy France, happy French people, and you shouldn’t underestimate that in terms of the legacy of these Games,” he added.

Posting on X, Estanguet remarked that the world has shared “15 days of happiness and emotion”.

Paralympics begin, ‘political truce’ ends 

The Paralympics will start on 28 August and the former triple gold medal-winning canoeist said he was aware the end of the Olympics and the summer holidays would spell a change in atmosphere.

“We will be in a different period, the back-to-work time, the restart of political life,” he said. “We will need to adapt to that.”

French President Emmanuel Macron had called for a “political truce” during the Olympics following inconclusive parliamentary elections that he called on the eve on the Games.

It has been largely respected, but the country has been without a permanent government since July and the country’s bickering political parties remain sharply divided.

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Weather concerns

Estanguet said the weather had been his biggest cause for concern, while the run-up to the start also saw a global IT outage and an attack on the French railways.

“The weather in the final phase was our main difficulty,” said Estanguet.

Heavy rains washed out the opening ceremony on the River Seine – the first time a Games had begun outside the main stadium – while other events had to be postponed because of storms in the first week.

“I was stressed until the very end of this [opening] ceremony,” Estanguet added, saying many parts had to be changed at the last minute. “I didn’t know how the artists were going to adapt.” 

French church leaders and conservatives were left outraged by a scene in the ceremony involving drag queens and lesbian DJ Barbara Butch that appeared to parody Jesus’s Last Supper.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly has denied any such intention.

Table tennis manners

Gary Lineker, the British former footballer turned broadcaster, once quipped that football was a simple game in which 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end the Germans win. Ach ja, the British sense of humours. But apply the sentiment to table tennis and at the end … the Chinese win. Since the introduction of the team event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China have lifted the men’s title. The women have snaffled the top prize too and were set to play Japan on Day 15 to try and emulate their male compatriots. The men, who beat Sweden 3-0 to make it five in a row, contained a team with Long Ma – considered to be one of the greatest players – as well as the world number one Chuqin Wang and Zhendong Fan, the world number two.

Kristian spirit

Valiant were the Swedes. The master of ceremonies at the South Paris Arena was doing his level best to big up the Scandinvians as dark horses. Really? Swedes? Dark? Should have gone with the line of blonde ambition. Tally-ho, ho, ho. That would have been quirky and maybe a bit controversial. The Chinese, hunting for a fifth straight title, didn’t start the team competition well. The duo of Long Ma and Chuqin Wang lost the opening game to Anton Kallbert and Kristian Karlsson before winning the encounter 3-2. Karlsson came back later to face Wang, the world number one, in a singles match with China needing victory to retain the title. The 33-year-old Swede saved a match point in the third game before winning it, the fourth game and forcing a decider where he was routed. Cue the Chinese celebrations. Karlsson’s analysis was wry. “It’s not real – those three guys. There should be rules against having people like that in the same team.” 

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And it is just not a Kristian Karlsson thing. The France team of Simon Gauzy and the Lebrun boys Felix and Alexis, lost to the Chinese in the semi-finals before going on to beat Japan to take the  bronze. “It’s a dream come true to win an Olympic medal and to be on the podium,” said Gauzy. “The Chinese were extraordinary. We knew they were extremely strong, but even when they have periods of playing a little less well, they’re still performing at a level above the rest of us. Quite simply, they have the three best players in the world together and they’ve shown it as a team.”

Comebacks and setbacks

So very close for the France men’s football team against Spain in the final. France were seeking a first Olympic football title since 1984. And they took the lead at the Parc des Princes before experiencing  the Spanish inquisition into their defensive abilities. Spain led 3-1 with 11 minutes to go only to allow the French to level at 3-3 and force extra-time. Cue Sergio Camello who scored twice to give the Spaniards the crown to add to their victory in Barcelona in 1992. That Spanish team contained Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique. Whatever happened to those two?

Tracking down

The testosterone overload moment or the men’s 400m hurdles final was presented as the clash between the supreme beings of the discipline. Defending champion Karsten Warholme from Norway, Rai Benjamin from the United States – who won silver in Tokyo – and Alison dos Santos from Brazil. Benjamin and Warholm swapped places. Dos Santos, as in Tokyo, took bronze. After three silver medals in races at the Olympics and world championships, it was a somewhat relieved Mr Benjamin. “I got it done,” said the 27-year-old. ”It has eluded me so long. … I don’t think I ever doubted it. It was more just staying patient and keep showing up every day and something has to shake. I told myself: ‘This has got to go my way at some point.’ And it went my way today.” 

The maintenance worker with several vineyards in the prestigious Beaune wine producing region was unmasked by a surveillance camera that filmed him stealing four bottles in February 2024.

The man’s house was searched when he was arrested.

Investigators discovered several cellars, including one at his mother’s house, and thousands of bottles accumulated over a period of 15 years.

The value of the bottles – some of which were grands crus – may exceed over €1,000 each.

According to the 56-year-old defendant, who will also have to pay a €10,000 fine: “It was more mechanical than anything else”.

‘Nice cellar’

In all, nearly 1,300 bottles and almost 200 magnums of Burgundy were stolen between 2017 and 2024, with a total value of more than €640,000.

“I’m under medical supervision. It appears that I am suffering from depression and that this would be palliative,” the frail-looking defendant told the court.

French court confiscates Bordeaux wine chateaux from Chinese magnate

Claiming not to have sold “any” of the stolen bottles, the accused said he had “no idea” of the damage.

“It was to have a nice cellar. To make it look pretty”, he told investigators when being interviewed.

The court acknowledged that his bank accounts did not show any enrichment.

Kleptomania

The deputy public prosecutor, Pascal Labonne-Collin, denounced the accused as a “compulsive thief”, but stressed that he knew that he was “not stealing wine” and called for an 18-month suspended sentence and a €10,000 fine.

The defendant’s lawyer pleaded her client suffered from “kleptomania” – a compulsive disorder that manifests as an inability to resist the urge to steal – that was diagnosed by a psychiatrist.

“His wife will say that he is always afraid of running out [of things] … he’s a hoarder”, she added, but “he has no notion of business … he buys wine to meet his friends and doesn’t even take the ones from his cellar”.

The case ranks among the largest of its kind – on a par with the theft in 2019 from the home of a Bordeaux wine broker of around a hundred cases of Petrus and Mouton-Rothschild – as well as a bottle of the highly prestigious Romanée-Conti, a Burgundy that prides itself on being the most expensive wine in the world.

According to an exclusive by Variety, citing “multiple sources”, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are expected to be part of the 2024 Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday.

According to the magazine, the three artists will be seen from Los Angeles “in a mix of pre-taped and live performances”.

Coordinating the event with the French producers of the closing ceremony is Ben Winston, who was responsible for the Grammy Awards and CBS’s 2021 “Adele: One Night Only” special.

Earlier this week, information was leaked that movie star Tom Cruise was to engage in a death-defying stunt on the roof of the Stade de France.

• Tom Cruise rumoured to perform stunt at Olympics closing ceremony

The closing ceremony will be a much shorter affair and will take place, in more traditional fashion, at France’s national stadium.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly has revealed it will combine “wonder” with “dystopia”, suggesting some darker elements than the joyful and impertinent tone of the opening ceremony that drew a record audience of more than a billion worldwide.

The Paris Games closing ceremony continues the tradition of lush and star-studded events that were stopped temporarily by the Covid pandemic, causing the the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to be postponed one year, while performances were done via screens and without public.

The Rio 2016 closing ceremony ended with a carnivalesque dancing party, while London closed its 2012 games with performances by artists such as the Pet Shop Boys, the Spice Girls, The Who and One Direction.

(with newswires)

Classified as a “priority quarantine pest” within the European Union, the Japanese beetle attacks several hundred species of food, forest and ornamental plants – including vines, fruit trees and lawns.

The warning comes as a significant population of Japanese beetles was detected on 20 June in Switzerland near the city of Basel.

The Swiss authorities discovered a second infestation some 3 kilometres from the French border.

As the harmful beetle is approaching French territory, alerts were issued by the Doubs and Haut-Rhin departments in particular, following a notification on 21 June from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty to raise awareness of the risk to crops and plantations and the potential impact on the economy.

Posting on X, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, ANSES, explained: “The Japanese beetle is a plant pest already present in Italy and Switzerland. It is highly likely to enter France, and environmental conditions are favourable”.

Traps set across Alsace

Originally from Asia, this plant-eating beetle first established itself in the United States and then in Europe.

It has been present in Italy since 2014 and in Switzerland since 2017.

According to the Doubs prefecture, adult specimens “measure around 10 to 12 millimetres in length and can be confused with other beetles present in France, in particular certain chafer beetles“.  

The Japanese beetle spreads by traveling on trains and lorries.

Since June, at least 39 traps have been set throughout Alsace near “sites at risk of introduction“, such as customs platforms, rail freight stations, airports, motorway service stations, road centres and markets. 

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“The discovery of the outbreaks in Basel led to the introduction of enhanced surveillance in France at the Swiss border [in the commune of Saint-Louis in particular], where traps have been set up at the rate of one every kilometre,” the prefecture of France’s Grand Est region said.

A prefectoral decree prohibits the transport ofsoil, plants rooted in soil, rolls of pre-cultivated turf, plant debris and compostoutside a defined area.

Several communes close to the Swiss border have been affected by this ban and the French authorities are keen to raise public awareness.

The most effective way of combating the proliferation of the Japanese beetle remains surveillance to stop any outbreaks.

According to Sudanese authorities: “The Sudanese government has decided to send a delegation led by the minister of minerals, Mohammed Bashir Abu Namo, to discuss with the United States its invitation for negotiations set to take place on August 14,” said a government statement.

This comes as the United States invited Sudan’s warring sides to hold ceasefire talks last month, more than a year after fighting broke out between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The delegation arrived in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Friday to “discuss the government conditions with American officials to take part in Geneva talks“, a Sudanese diplomat based in the kingdom told the AFP news agency.

The RSF – vying for control of Sudan – swiftly accepted the US invitation.

‘More discussions’

However, Sudan’s foreign ministry, which is loyal to the army, said negotiations must be preceded by “more discussions”.

Any peace initiative “must recognise, invite and consult the Sudanese state”, the country’s de facto ruler and army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said in late July, referring to his government.

“We will not lay down our guns until we clean this country of every conspirator and every rebel,” he vowed.

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Humanitarian crisis

The Geneva talks will be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and include the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations as observers.

Alessandra Velluci, a Geneva-based spokeswoman for the United Nations, said it was “not a UN initiative, but of course, we welcome all initiatives that can be helpful in solving the crisis in Sudan”.

Since April 2023, the war between Burhan’s forces and those loyal to paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions, and triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of famine.

Previous negotiations in Jeddah have failed to put an end to the fighting.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes – including deliberately targeting civilians – while the fighting has dealt severe blows to Sudan’s already frail healthcare system and caused many humanitarian organisations to cease operations in the country.

Both the army and the RSF have also been accused of looting humanitarian aid.

Belgium’s Bashir Abdi finished 21 seconds later to take the silver medal and Benson Kipruto from Kenya was third.

“Thank you, Paris!” said Tola, who won the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 10,000m.

“I’m happy today. I’m Olympic champion. It’s the greatest day in my life. This was my goal.”

Tola was a late cal up for Sisay Lemma who had to pull out of the Olympics team. “I was the reserve in the Ethiopian team but when Sisay had injuries, then I had a chance to represent him,” Tola said.

“I was fully prepared and knew I could fulfil my dream. This is the Olympics and it is not easy to win the Olympic Games, not at all. I am very proud, very happy.”

Defending champion Eliud Kipchoge pulled out towards the end of the race.

The 39-year-old, who won golds in the 2016 Rio Games and in Tokyo in 2021, dropped out just after the 30km mark when he was more than eight minutes off the pace.

Tola’s teammate Kenenisa Bekele, who won three Olympic and five world golds over 5000m and 10,000m before turning to the marathon, finished 39th.

Pride

“It is fantastic that Ethiopia won the race,” said the 42-year-old. “Tola is very strong and I am happy for him.

 “People have been talking about me and Kipchoge, but you see it was the young generation today. These guys are stronger than us.

“These days there are many younger and stronger athletes, so it was tough to challenge them.”

The marathon course headed out of central Paris on a loop to Versailles, copying a key moment from the French Revolution: the Women’s March on Versailles, on 5 October 1789 which led to French King Louis XVI agreeing to ratify the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens.

The route included a 436m climb and 438m descent. The maximum gradient on the route was 13.5 percent.

“The weather was hot and the course featured a lot of ups and downs,” said Abdi.

“Actually, I expected going uphill would be most challenging but I found going downhill most difficult.

“It was very steep and you don’t have control of your body. That was very scary, especially after 29km. We had almost 2km of running downhill and it was just going more down and down, and I was really afraid of falling.

“This is the hardest marathon course I’ve ever run.”

In a ceremony attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s BYD car company signed an agreement to build a billion-dollar factory in Turkey.

The factory will produce 150,000 vehicles annually, mainly for the European Union market.

Analysts say the July deal marks a turning point in Turkish-Chinese relations.

“The significance of this deal is Turkey would be considered as a transition country between China and the EU,” Sibel Karabel, director of the Asia Pacific department of Istanbul’s Gedik University told RFI.  

“This deal has the potential to reduce the trade imbalance, the trade deficit, which is a detriment to Turkey,” he adds, “Turkey also wants to reap the benefits of China’s cutting-edge technologies by collaborating with China.”

Sidestepping tariffs

China’s pivot towards Turkey, a NATO member, is also about Beijing’s increasing competition for global influence, especially with the United States.  

Karabel says the planned BYD factory offers a way for China to avoid the EU’s new tariffs on vehicles.

Turkey is already a part of China’s global investment strategy through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Beijing has shown interest in Turkey becoming a trade route from China to Europe through Ankara’s Middle Corridor Intiative.

But until now, such collaborations have until been just empty words, claims Ceren Ergenc a China specialist at the Centre for European Policy Studies.  

Turkey set on rebuilding bridges with China to improve trade

“When you look at the press statements after meetings, you don’t see Chinese investments in Turkey, and the reason for that is because China perceives Turkey as a high political risk country in the region,” Ergenc explains.

One of the main factors widely cited for Beijing’s reluctance to invest in Turkey is Ankara’s strong support of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.

Ankara has been critical of Beijing’s crackdown on Uyghurs, offering refuge to many Uyghur dissidents. Their Turkish supporters fear Beijing’s billion-dollar investment in Turkey could be part of an extradition deal struck during Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent visit to China.

“There are rumors, of course, that the Chinese side is pressing for the ratification of this extradition agreement, that they would want Uyghurs in Turkey, some of them at least, to be returned to China to be tried in China,” warns Cagdas Ungor of Istanbul’s Marmara University, referring to people China considers to be dissidents or “terrorists”.

Common ground over Gaza

Elsewhere, Ankara and Beijing are finding increasing diplomatic common ground, including criticism of Israel’s war on Hamas.

“If you take, for instance, the Gaza issue right now, Turkey and China, and even without trying,” observes Ungor, “they see eye to eye on this issue. Their foreign policies align, overlap, and their policy becomes very much different from most of the other Western countries.”

Carmakers unhappy after EU hits China with tariffs on electric vehicles

For example, Ankara welcomed last month’s decision by Beijing to host Palestinian leaders amid an escalation of threats and bombardment by Israel.

Such a move can provide common ground, Ungor suggests, and this could be the basis for future cooperation.

“There are certain issues at a global level, at the regional level, that China seems to be a much better partner(to Turkey) than the Western countries,” he concludes.

At a press briefing in Geneva during the week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that given the increasing spread of mpox cases beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo, he has decided to ask independent experts to advise WHO “as soon as possible.” 

Last week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that mpox – also known as monkeypox – has now been detected in 10 African countries this year including the DRC, which has more than 96 percent of all cases and deaths.

Compared with the same time period last year, the agency said cases are up 160 percent and deaths have jumped by 19 percent.

On Thursday the Africa CDC said it was “likely” to declare a public health emergency next week over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent. 

The decision will unlock funding to combat the outbreak, including the procurement of much-needed vaccines, and trigger a coordinated continental response to the virus.

Following the meeting of experts, it will be decided if the WHO should declare a “public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, which is the highest alarm the organisation can sound.

In a statement to the journal Science, Tedros added: “This virus can and must be contained with intensified public health measures including surveillance, community engagement, treatment and targeted deployment of vaccines for those at higher risk of infection”.

• WHO urges swift response as DRC hit by mutated mpox strain

Different strain

Formerly known as monkeypox, mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals that can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

It was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

There are two subtypes of the virus: the more virulent and deadlier Clade I, endemic in the Congo Basin in central Africa, and Clade II, endemic in West Africa.

In May 2022, mpox infections surged worldwide, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men, due to the Clade IIb subclade.

The outbreak led the WHO to declare a PHEIC, which lasted from July 2022 to May 2023. That outbreak has now largely subsided.

Since September 2023, a different strain of mpox, the Clade Ib subclade, has been surging in the DRC.

On 11 July, Tedros said more than 11,000 cases and 445 deaths had been reported in the DRC this year, with children the most affected.

• Despite deaths, Africa left to fight monkeypox without vaccine

Emergency funds

This comes as the African Union said it had “urgently approved $10.4 million from Covid funds to support Africa CDC’s efforts to continue to combat the mpox outbreak across the continent”.

This will help increase monitoring, laboratory testing, regional and national data collection, case and infection management, and access to vaccines, the AU added.

In late July, Burundi reported three cases and Kenya registered a single case.

Last weekend, Uganda announced that its first two cases had been detected, with indications that the infections took place in the neighbouring DRC.

The International Health Regulations are the framework defining countries’ rights and obligations in handling public health events that could cross borders.

The IHR are legally binding on 196 countries.

Under the IHR, the WHO chief can declare a PHEIC, triggering emergency responses under the regulations.

A PHEIC has only been declared seven times since 2009: over H1N1 swine flu, poliovirus, Ebola, Zika virus, Ebola again, Covid-19 and mpox.

“The war in Gaza must stop,” Macron wrote on X. “This must be clear to everyone.”

An end of hostilities was “crucial for the people of Gaza, for the hostages, and for the stability of the region, which is at stake today”, he wrote.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks on 15 August  at the request of US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

The three countries have endeavoured to secure a second truce in the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented 7 October attack on Israel.

In a joint statement on Thursday, they invited the warring parties to resume talks on 15 August in Doha or Cairo “to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay”.

A framework agreement was “now on the table, with only the details of implementation” left to conclude, and the mediators were “prepared to present a final bridging proposal” to resolve remaining issues, they said.

French support

Macron said the American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators had “full support from France”.

Netanyahu’s office said later Thursday Israel would send a negotiating team on 15 August “to the agreed place to conclude the details of implementing a deal”.

A prospective cessation of hostilities also involving the release of hostages held in Gaza and scaled-up aid deliveries has centred around a phased deal beginning with an initial truce.

UN Security Council approves US proposal for ‘immediate and total ceasefire’ in Gaza

Recent discussions have focused on a framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May which he said had been proposed by Israel.

“It’s not like the agreement’s going to be ready to sign on Thursday. There’s still a significant amount of work to do,” a senior Biden administration official said of the talks that come after calls between Biden and the Egyptian and Qatari leaders this week.

Israel had been “very receptive” to the idea of the talks, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, rejecting suggestions that Netanyahu was stalling on a deal.

New Hamas leader

The announcement of the talks came after Hamas named Yahya Sinwar – the alleged mastermind of the 7 October attack – as its new leader, sparking fears the torturous negotiations have become even more difficult.

The naming of Sinwar to lead the Palestinian militant group came as Israel braced for potential Iranian retaliation over the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.

Hezbollah, Iran condemn Israeli killing of Hamas leader in Tehran strike

Meanwhile, on the ground in Gaza, the Hamas-controlled civil defence agency said Israeli strikes hit Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people.

Senior agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said 60 people were wounded and more than 40 still missing.

“This is a clear targeting of schools and safe civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

The Israeli military said the schools housed Hamas command centres.

 At least 13 people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, rescuers and medics reported, as the Israeli military issued its latest evacuation order, for parts of the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

(with AFP)

Their fifth straight title came courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Sweden in front of  predominantly Chinese fans in the arena.

But even the triumphant Chinese troika conceded they had been given a scare.

“The Swedish team was very strong,” said Ma, who will retire from Olympic competition after the Games in Paris.

“We took note when they beat Germany in the quarter-finals and then eliminated Japan in the semis,” added the 35-year-old.

Success

There was other evidence too. Truls Moregard had battled with Fan in the final of the men’s singles competition.

“The entire Swedish team has strong abiltiies,” added Ma.”Each of the games finished 3-2. We need to respect them alot.”

High praise from a man acknowledged as one of the greatest players to have graced the sport.

The doubles started off the encounter just after 3pm.

Ma and Wang took on the Swedish duo of Anton Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson.

Surge

To the chagrin of the Chinese assembled, the Swedes had the impertinence to win the first game 11-4.

To their delight, the Chinese pair surged into a 6-0 lead in the second game and wrapped it up 11-4.

And just to prove the six-point rush was no fluke, they went on an eight-point streak in the third game to waltz through that 11-3.

Some Swedish resistance came at the start of the fourth game and the Scandanavians clinched it 11-6.

But the Chinese took the decider. And it was the same scenario in the rematch between Fan and Moregard.

Karlsson had the task of keeping his side in the contest against the world number one Wang.

Change

While the first game was tight at 11-9, Wang romped through the second game 11-5.

In the third Karlsson opened up a 7-3 lead but Wang came back and held a championship point at 10-9 but Karlsson saved it and took the game 12-10.

“I was standing there at one point trailing by two games to the world number one,” Karlsson told RFI.

“It’s a difficult situation, of course, but I told myself that I had beaten him once before.”

Karlsson took the fourth game also by 12-10.

But the effort left him diminished. From 4-2 up in the decider, Wang ripped through to 10-2 and team gold medal number five.

Pressure

“China has never been that pressured in this tournament,” said Karlsson. “So I think we should be super proud with our performance.

“Especially against that kind of a team,” he added. “If you just look at those three guys, it feels like surrealistic that they should be allowed to be in a team together. It’s just hats off to them.”

The medal presentation ceremony was a din. The handful of France supporters mustered a few lusty rounds of “Allez les Bleus” for Felix Lebrun, his brother, Alexis, and Simon Gauzy who beat Japan 3-2 to collect the bronze medal for France.

“The French have a young team,” said Sweden’s head coach Jörgen Persson, a former Sweden international player.

 “Sweden’s team is also young and we took the silver. So I hope Europe can challenge the Chinese with these two strong countries.”

In a ceremony attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s BYD car company signed an agreement to build a billion-dollar factory in Turkey.

The factory will produce 150,000 vehicles annually, mainly for the European Union market.

Analysts say the July deal marks a turning point in Turkish-Chinese relations.

“The significance of this deal is Turkey would be considered as a transition country between China and the EU,” Sibel Karabel, director of the Asia Pacific department of Istanbul’s Gedik University told RFI.  

“This deal has the potential to reduce the trade imbalance, the trade deficit, which is a detriment to Turkey,” he adds, “Turkey also wants to reap the benefits of China’s cutting-edge technologies by collaborating with China.”

Sidestepping tariffs

China’s pivot towards Turkey, a NATO member, is also about Beijing’s increasing competition for global influence, especially with the United States.  

Karabel says the planned BYD factory offers a way for China to avoid the EU’s new tariffs on vehicles.

Turkey is already a part of China’s global investment strategy through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Beijing has shown interest in Turkey becoming a trade route from China to Europe through Ankara’s Middle Corridor Intiative.

But until now, such collaborations have until been just empty words, claims Ceren Ergenc a China specialist at the Centre for European Policy Studies.  

Turkey set on rebuilding bridges with China to improve trade

“When you look at the press statements after meetings, you don’t see Chinese investments in Turkey, and the reason for that is because China perceives Turkey as a high political risk country in the region,” Ergenc explains.

One of the main factors widely cited for Beijing’s reluctance to invest in Turkey is Ankara’s strong support of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.

Ankara has been critical of Beijing’s crackdown on Uyghurs, offering refuge to many Uyghur dissidents. Their Turkish supporters fear Beijing’s billion-dollar investment in Turkey could be part of an extradition deal struck during Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent visit to China.

“There are rumors, of course, that the Chinese side is pressing for the ratification of this extradition agreement, that they would want Uyghurs in Turkey, some of them at least, to be returned to China to be tried in China,” warns Cagdas Ungor of Istanbul’s Marmara University, referring to people China considers to be dissidents or “terrorists”.

Common ground over Gaza

Elsewhere, Ankara and Beijing are finding increasing diplomatic common ground, including criticism of Israel’s war on Hamas.

“If you take, for instance, the Gaza issue right now, Turkey and China, and even without trying,” observes Ungor, “they see eye to eye on this issue. Their foreign policies align, overlap, and their policy becomes very much different from most of the other Western countries.”

Carmakers unhappy after EU hits China with tariffs on electric vehicles

For example, Ankara welcomed last month’s decision by Beijing to host Palestinian leaders amid an escalation of threats and bombardment by Israel.

Such a move can provide common ground, Ungor suggests, and this could be the basis for future cooperation.

“There are certain issues at a global level, at the regional level, that China seems to be a much better partner(to Turkey) than the Western countries,” he concludes.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Hossen Abed Ali, Karuna Kanta Pal, and Jayanta Chakrabarty.

Be sure you send in your music requests! Write to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “How Long”, written and performed by Jackson Browne; “Top of the World” by John Bettis and Richard Carpenter, performed by The Carpenters, and “Mademoiselle Chante le Blues” by Didier Barbelivien, sung by Patricia Kaas.

Be sure and tune in next week for a “This I Believe” essay written by RFI Listeners Club member Rodrigo Hunrichse.   

In this episode we hear from the artist and from Hoor Al-Qasimi, director of the Sharjah Art Foundation and the president of the Africa Institute, Sharjah, UAE, who helped organise the London retrospective.

Jantjes’s formative years in Cape Town coincided with the early years of South African apartheid, an his journey has since embodied a quest for artistic emancipation, with a freedom not bound by the Eurocentric gaze or expectations of black creativity.

For Jantjes, this quest has meant a life of itinerant exile manifesting in multiple careers.

Structured into chapters, To Be Free! explores his engagement with anti-apartheid activism from the 1970s to the mid-1980s, his transformative role at art institutions in Europe, his compelling figurative portrayals of the global black struggle for freedom, and his recent transition to non-figurative painting.

This retrospective also provides insights into Jantjes’ curatorial initiatives, written contributions, and wider advocacy, which had a significant impact on both African and African diaspora art on the global contemporary art scene.

It coincides with the 30th anniversary of the end of apartheid in South Africa.

The exhibition is at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (12 June – 1 September 2024), after opening at the Sharjah Art Foundation from 18 November 2023 to 10 March 2024, and was organised in collaboration with The Africa Institute, Sharjah.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome. 

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale. 

July saw major military drills in Armenia between Armenian and United States forces.

“Politically, it is exceptionally relevant; they are four or five times larger than last year,” explains Eric Hacopian, a political analyst in Armenia, who notes the range of US divisions mobilised for the drills. “It’s not about peacekeeping.”

The military exercise, dubbed “Eagle Partner“, is part of Yerevan’s wider efforts to escape its Russian neighbour’s sphere of influence, Hacopian believes.

“These are serious exercises, and they were followed up with the news that there is going to be US permanent representation in the Ministry of Defence of Armenia as advisors to join the French who are already there,” he noted.

“Essentially, there is no other play but to join the West.”

France, Russia stand on opposite sides of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

Armenia is also seeking to reduce its economic dependence on Russia, pressing Turkey to open its border and providing a new gateway to Western markets for the landlocked country.

Ankara closed the frontier in 1993 after ethnic Armenian forces seized the contested Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, with Azerbaijani forces recapturing the enclave last year, analysts say the opening of the border could now align with Turkey’s goals to expand its regional influence.

“The normalisation of the relationship with Armenia would allow Turkish policy in the Cacasus to acquire a more comprehensive dimension today. That’s the missing element,” said Sinan Ulgen, an analyst with the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, a think tank in Istanbul.

“Turkey obviously has very strong links to Azerbaijan and very good relations with Georgia, but not with Armenia,” he explained. “And that’s a predicament, as we look at Turkey’s overall policy in the Caucasus.”

Leverage

Washington is working hard to broker a permanent peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “A deal is close,” declared US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of July’s NATO summit in Washington.

Last week, Turkish and Armenian envoys held their fifth meeting aimed at normalising relations. However, with critical issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan unresolved, Baku sees Turkey’s reopening of the Armenian border as important leverage.

In principle, both Azerbaijan and Turkey are in favour, claims Farid Shafiyev, an Azeri former diplomat and now chair of the Centre of Analysis of International Relations in Baku.

“However, we believe at this stage, as we have not signed a peace agreement, it might send a wrong signal to Yerevan and Armenia that we don’t need to come to an agreement about the core issues – the mutual recognition of territorial integrity,” he said.

Can Turkey tip the balance of power in the Caucasus conflict?

Meanwhile Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has developed close ties with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, and is ruling out opening the border until Baku’s demands are met.

Turkish arms were key to Azerbaijan’s recent military successes against Armenian-backed forces. “Azerbaijan is where it is, in good part because of Turkey’s military assistance, intelligence assistance and all that,” argues Soli Ozel, who teaches international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

But Ozel says Baku is dictating Ankara’s Caucasus policy. “It is befuddling to me that Turkey cannot open the borders with Armenia, which Armenia both needs and wants, because of Azerbaijan’s veto,” he said. “Especially if indeed Azerbaijan, for one reason or another, believes that its interests are once more in turning toward Russia.”

With Azerbaijan’s Socar energy company Turkey’s biggest foreign investor, Baku retains powerful economic leverage over Ankara – meaning any hope of reopening the Turkish-Armenian border appears dependent on the wishes of Azerbaijan’s leadership.

Hello everyone!

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear a “My Hero” essay by listener Bidhan Chandra Sanyal from West Bengal, India.  I hope you’ll be inspired to write an essay for us, too!

If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from The Sound Kitchen. Write in about your “ordinary” heroes – the people in your community who are doing extraordinarily good work, quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. As listener Pramod Maheshwari said: “Just as small drops of water can fill a pitcher, small drops of kindness can change the world.”

I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write about a book that changed your perspective on life, a person who you admire, festivals in your community, your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement. If your essay is chosen to go on-the-air – read by you– you’ll win a special prize!

Send your essays to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Or by postal mail, to:

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Here’s Bidhan Chandra Sanyal’s essay: 

Hello, I am Bidhan Chandra Sanyal from West Bengal, India. Today I would like to share with you the story of a man whom I greatly admire, Kailash Sharma.

Kailash Sharma was born on January 11, 1954, in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, India.  He is an electrical engineer by profession, but he did not work as an engineer – instead, he engaged in social service work.

Appalled by the plight of child slavery across South Asia, in 1980 Sharma founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan – the Save Childhood Movement – to fight against the evil of child labor and slavery which has been socially accepted and widely practised in the region for generations.

As the saying goes: “The farmer’s child or the king’s potter all have work in this world.”  But a child’s work should be tailored to children, in the home.

Far too often, harsh reality takes them on another path. Disrespect, neglect or severe rule towards children are not right. When a child is forced to take the lead in financial hardship, to meet the family’s food needs, he frequently endures inhuman torture through child labor. They become the victims of malnutrition, illiteracy, and poor education. They cannot enjoy what should be a normal childhood – instead, childhood is a burden.

The goal of Kailash Sharma’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan movement is to create a child-friendly society, where all children are free from exploitation and receive a free and quality education. It aims to identify, liberate, rehabilitate and educate children in servitude through direct intervention, child and community participation, coalition building, consumer action, promoting ethical trade practices and mass mobilisation.

It has so far freed close to 100,000 children from servitude, including bonded labourers, and helped in their re-integration, rehabilitation and education.

Due to Sharma’s hard work, the Child Protection Act came into effect in India in 2012.  India’s Supreme Court ordered that any complaint of torture against child laborers be registered immediately.  Kailash Sharma has received many awards in recognition of his work: the Achina National Peace Prize, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Prize, the Alfonso Comin National Prize and a medal from the Italian Senate.

And then, in 2014, he received the world’s highest award: The Nobel Peace Prize.

There is hope: Light can come from darkness. A total of 365 villages in our 11 states in India are now child labor free.  Kailash Sharma’s work has inspired and created change not just in India, but all across the globe. 

Kailash Sharma is my true hero.

Thank you for listening.

The music chosen by Bidhan is “Brishtir Gaan”, written and performed by Aditi Chakraborty.

Be sure and tune in next week for a special “Music in the Kitchen”, featuring your musical requests. Talk to you then!

Under controversial legislation currently passing through parliament, local authorities would be responsible for rounding up stray dogs, which would be killed after 30 days if an owner can not be found for them.

Opponents claim as many as eight million street dogs could be at risk.

“They are planning to round them up into shelters, which we call death camps,” said Zulal Kalkandelen, one of the animals rights activists taking part in a recent protest against the plan in Istanbul.

“For some time, there has been a campaign to fuel stray animal hatred,” she declared.

“Our people, who have been living with street dogs for many years, in fact for centuries, are now being brought to the point where all these animals will be erased.”

Street dogs have been a part of Istanbul life for centuries. The proposed legislation evokes memories of a dark chapter in the city’s past when, in 1910, street dogs were rounded up and left on a nearby island to starve.

It has provoked emotive arguments in parliament, with MPs jostling one another and exchanging insults – opening another deep divide in an already fractured political landscape.

But President Erdogan insists something must be done to control stray animals that, he argues, have become a menace to society, causing traffic accidents and spreading disease.

Humane alternatives

Addressing parliament, Erdogan claimed he was answering the call of the “silent majority”.

“The truth is that a very large part of society wants this issue to be resolved as soon as possible and our streets to become safe for everyone, especially our children,” he declared.

“It is unthinkable for us to remain indifferent to this demand, this call, even this cry. Our proposals are no different from those of other countries in Europe.”

Mixed reactions as France prepares to simplify wolf culling rules

Lawyer Elcin Cemre Sencan, who has helped organise protests against the proposed legislation, argues there are more humane ways to address people’s concerns.

“There is a group of people who are disturbed by these stray animals or who are afraid even to touch them,” she acknowledges. “But even if there are these concerns, the solution is not to put the dogs to sleep.

“Scientific studies have shown that sterilising animals, especially dogs, reduces not only their numbers but also attacks on people.”

Veterinary organisations have also pointed out that the cost of euthanising a dog is many times higher than sterilisation and vaccination.

Diversion tactic?

Some critics suggest politics could be behind the move.

With Erdogan’s conservative AK Party suffering heavy defeats in local elections this spring and Turkey grappling with near 100 percent inflation, opponents claim the Turkish president could be calculating that objections to his street dog legislation comes mainly from the secular opposition and hoping the issue will consolidate his religious base.

“We know our problems in this country; the world knows our problems. There is an economic crisis, and we have human rights problems everywhere. But they want to change the main topics to these animals,” said Eyup Cicerali, a professor at Istanbul’s Nisantasi University, at a recent protest against the legislation.  

“They want to kill them all,” he claimed. “We are here to protect our values, values of respect and dignity for human and animal rights. Life is an issue for all groups.”

According to one recent opinion poll, less than 3 percent of the Turkish public support the culling of street dogs.

Some of Erdogan’s MPs have even started speaking out against the law in the media, albeit anonymously. “This law makes us dog killers,” one unnamed deputy was quoted as saying.

Despite such misgivings, the legislation is expected to pass parliament later this month.

But with the protests drawing together secular and religious animal lovers, and opposition-controlled local authorities declaring they won’t impose the law, the stray dog legislation could prove a risky move for Erdogan.

Where will Gaza stray dogs find shelter?

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.