Barnier was not an obvious candidate for the post, but after weeks of discussions with leaders of all the major French parties, he emerged as a more viable pick than either Socialist former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve or conservative regional president Xavier Bertrand – the two names most often floated.

A veteran politician from the conservative Republicans (LR) party, 73-year-old Barnier becomes France’s oldest prime minister under the current Fifth Republic, founded in 1958.

He replaces Gabriel Attal, who became France’s youngest ever prime minister when he was appointed in January at the age of 34.

Macron names ex-Brexit negotiator Barnier as French PM

From the Alps to Brussels

Born in France’s Alpine region of Haute-Savoie, Barnier went into local politics aged just 22. He was elected to parliament five years later in 1978, becoming its youngest MP aged 27.

In 1981 he voted against the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

During his more than 50-year political career, he has served as France’s minister of foreign affairs, European affairs, environment and agriculture, as well as an LR senator, and twice as a European commissioner.

A staunch pro-European, Barnier was the EU’s chief negotiator from 2016 to 2021, during which time he piloted the difficult talks with Britain over its Brexit departure from the bloc.

He drove a hard bargain during the negotiations, infuriating Brexiteers but winning praise from Brussels. According to Le Monde, he was even applauded at the time by the 27 member states, who praised his “art of consensus, his patience and tenacity”.

Dear Brexit diary: Barnier book recounts EU-UK divorce

A moderate for most of his career, he took a hard line on immigration in his campaign to become the LR candidate in France’s 2022 presidential election.

Claiming immigration was “out of control”, he proposed a three- to five-year moratorium on people arriving in France from outside the EU.

His position, seen as a bid to garner support from the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, surprised and disappointed some. He ultimately lost out as candidate to Valérie Pecresse.

Daunting task

Barnier is now faced with the daunting task of forming a government that will not collapse in the event of a no-confidence vote, and working with the bitterly divided, hung parliament that emerged from parliamentary elections that Macron called in June.

While the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) alliance came out on top after the final round of voting on 7 July, no one party won an outright majority.

Breaking that political stalemate is a matter of urgency and parliament has to get down to business fast, notably in submitting a draft 2025 budget by 1 October.

Government finances are under considerable strain and outgoing finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday that the French deficit would be higher than predicted, at 5.6 of GDP this year – well over the 3 percent limit fixed by Brussels.

As a former EU commissioner, Barnier will likely take EU compliance seriously, but convincing the left to rein in the budget while not raising taxes will not be easy.

Mixed welcome

Jean-Luc Mélénchon, the influential head of the hard-left France Unbowed party that dominates the NPF, immediately came out against Barnier’s appointment. 

In a social media post, he said Macron had officially denied the parliamentary election results in naming a member of the party that had “come last in the legislative election”.

Mélénchon predicted Barnier would not get a majority backing in the fractured National Assembly.

Left-wing alliance calls for street protests after Macron rules out leftist PM

The Socialist Party also said it would vote against Barnier’s appointment as PM.

“Michel Barnier has neither political legitimacy nor republican legitimacy. The Socialist Party will vote against Michel Barnier’s appointment and his government,” it posted on X.

The far-right RN, whose parliamentary group is headed up by Marine Le Pen, was more conciliatory.

Le Pen said she was willing to give Barnier a chance, but that the RN wouldn’t take part in his government because the new premier “does not share our ideas”.

However, fellow MP Sebastien Chenu told BFM TV that while Barnier “was not a dream come true for France”, his party would wait and see what the premier had to say on immigration and on changing the voting system to proportional representation for parliamentary elections – a measure the RN has longed pushed for.

As Africa’s biggest trading partner, China has tapped into the continent’s vast reserves of natural resources, including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

At the same time, Beijing has loaned billions to African nations, helping to build critical infrastructure but also sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Since the 2000s, China-Africa relations have become more structured with the launch of Focac, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. This week marks the ninth Focac summit.

• China pledges to give Africa $51 bn in fresh funding over next three years

So what can we expect from this latest event?

RFI put the question to China-Africa relations specialist Daniel Large, author of China and Africa: the New Era, who is affiliated with the Vienna-based Central European University.

Daniel Large: There are four high-level meetings around key themes that we’re going to watch closely at this Focac: state governance, industry and agriculture, peace and security, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

But overall, this Focac has attracted far less media and public attention across large parts of Africa than previous summits.

China’s large-scale financing for development has decreased in recent years due to domestic economic problems and global challenges facing African economies.

I think expectations are perhaps lower this time, in keeping with China’s efforts to scale back and recalibrate its investments on the continent.

RFI: The last Focac in 2021 issued the Dakar Action Plan, including Chinese imports worth $300 billion. What came of that plan, and how do you see it being followed up?

DL: It’s still difficult to measure the success of Focac commitments because of unreliable or non-existent data.

Focac is usually very good at making declaratory statements and setting ambitious goals, but it often struggles to provide concrete evidence of actual achievements. There’s often a gap between what’s promised and then what’s achieved.

RFI: Focac was created in 2000 under then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin and his successor, Hu Jintao. What was the rationale behind its creation?

• China to seek more influence in Africa at crucial Beijing summit

DL: The rationale was really proceeded on the back of a rekindling of China’s Africa relations after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.

The economic ties between China and Africa really begin to take off over the 1990s, setting the scene for the creation of Focac in 2000.

Jiang Zemin also emphasised that China and Africa shared not only economic but also political interests.

RFI: One of the reasons for China’s involvement in Africa was to reduce the number of African countries that recognised Taiwan. In 2000, seven countries had ties with Taipei – now only one remains, Eswatini. Is this issue now off the agenda?

DL: Taiwan has effectively lost its diplomatic competition with China in Africa. Eswatini is the only African country that retains diplomatic links with Taipei. Somaliland also faced condemnation from Beijing when it set up a Taiwan office, but as Somaliland isn’t a fully recognised sovereign state, it doesn’t really count.

The unstated ghost at the Focac is probably America in the context of geopolitical competition. But there’s no doubt that the issue of Taiwan is not entirely over, but perhaps it has been superseded by China’s other foreign policy objectives instead.

• Chinese tech, ignored by the West, is taking over Africa’s cyberspace

RFI: Chinese loans and investments in Africa peaked in 2016, then scaled down. What caused this, and how has it affected African economies?

DL: There was a long economic boom, with expanding trade and investment between China and Africa. The Belt and Road Initiative, formally announced in 2013, became linked with large-scale, unsustainable infrastructure financing deals.

It will be interesting to see how China repositions the Belt and Road Initiative now, with less available funding but more pressing needs.

There’s definitely a learning curve as China integrates lessons from past experiences and pushes for a new development cooperation going forward in which the new language of sustainability as well as green development is very prominent.

RFI: Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, global politics have shifted significantly, with China backing Russia and the Wagner Group gaining influence in African countries like Mali and Niger. How does this impact the relationship between China, the US/EU, and Africa?

DL: There’s been a lot of talk about a new Cold War in Africa, involving not just China and the US, but other powers like Russia.

African leaders are very wary of becoming trapped in a new type of cold war scenario they just don’t want that.

The key mantra has been not taking sides and there are good reasons why most African states don’t want to take sides.

African states are increasingly trying to diversify their partnerships, aiming to do business with everyone while remaining independent from any single external power.

Instead they want to pursue their own more independent agenda.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

The World Health Organization declared mpox a health emergency last month, but efforts to curb the spread of the disease have been hampered by a lack of vaccines.

DR Congo is Africa’s worst affected country, with more than 19,000 suspected cases of mpox and more than 650 deaths recorded since the start of the year, according to health authorities. Sixty-two percent of infections are among children.

The first shipment of vaccines – manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union – will arrive in DRC from Denmark on Thursday, with another delivery of 100,000 doses on Friday.

The 200,000 doses will then be distributed between Goma, Lubumbashi and the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

“There’s a distribution plan and a vaccination plan, which includes all those who have been infected, as well as contact cases and contacts of contacts,” Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told RFI.

Priority will be given to health workers and immunocompromised people such as those suffering from malnutrition or HIV-positive.

Negotiations for the vaccines, secured through Europe’s Health Emergency Preparedness Response Authority (HERA), have been finalised and the aim is to acquire 10 million doses quickly.

“The vaccines are expensive but the technology will be transferred to African from 2025,” Kaseya said. “They will be produced in Africa with a cost reduction of around 85-90 percent.”

Hefty challenge

Health authorities face a tough challenge launching the vaccination campaign across a country the size of western Europe.

The doses must be kept in cold storage and communities can be wary of participating.

“The vaccine will not be distributed as soon as it is received,” Cris Kacita, head of Congo’s mpox outbreak response told Reuters news agency, explaining why it would take around a month from delivery to launch the campaign.

“We need to communicate so that the population accepts the vaccination,” he said, adding that the six targeted provinces had capacity to store the doses at the required temperature.

While children are at high risk from mpox, Bavarian Nordic’s shot is not licensed for children.

However, the WHO‘s acting director of epidemic and pandemic prevention Maria Van Kerkhove said the WHO recommends its use in outbreaks for children when the benefits outweigh the risks, and this is currently under discussion in Congo.

Mpox – previously known as monkeypox – typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and can kill.

It spreads through close contact, including sexual contact.

Barnier, 73, the oldest premier in the history of modern France, has been tasked with forming “a unifying government in the service of the country”, it said.

Since Wednesday, politicians and media in France had raised expectations that a new head of government would finally be announced to succeed Gabriel Attal, after the elections in July resulted in a hung parliament.

A left-wing coalition emerged as France’s biggest political force but with not enough seats for an overall majority. Macron’s centrist faction and the far right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly.

Conservative ex-minister Xavier Bertrand and former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve had been seen as the initial favourites.

But both figures fell by the wayside with the mathematics of France’s new parliament stacked against them.

In France, the president names the prime minster, who can then be censured by parliament.

Both Bertrand and Cazeneuve risked facing a no-confidence motion that could garner support from both the left bloc and the far right.

Barnier, a right-winger and the European Union‘s former negotiator on Brexit, was seen emerging from talks at the Elysee with Macron to make a return to frontline politics as premier.

He has been all but invisible in French political life since failing to win his Republicans (LR) party’s nomination to challenge Macron for the presidency in 2022.

The veteran former foreign minister and EU commissioner is “Macron-compatible” and would not be immediately voted out by parliament, an advisor to the president told AFP, asking not to be named.

A minister in the outgoing government, who also asked not to be named, said he was “very popular with right-wing members of parliament without being an irritant on the left”.

‘Marine Le Pen decides’

Macron appears to be counting on the far-right National Rally (RN) of three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen not to block the appointment of Barnier.

The party’s deputy leader Sebastien Chenu, speaking to BFM TV, appeared to indicate the RN would not automatically back a vote of no confidence against Barnier, as it would for Bertrand and Cazeneuve.

RN party leader Jordan Bardella said Barnier would be judged “on evidence” when he addresses parliament.

Greens leader Marine Tondelier countered: “We know in the end who decides. Her name is Marine Le Pen. She is the one to whom Macron has decided to submit.”

Macron’s decision comes under the gun of a deadline to submit a draft 2025 budget for France’s strained government finances before October 1.

It also marks his attempt to acknowledge rejection of his seven-year rule without giving up on hard-fought reforms, chief among them last year’s widely resented increase to the official retirement age to 64 from 62.

After the July election deprived Macron of his relative majority in parliament, the centrist president has drawn out the appointment of a new prime minister for a period unprecedented since World War II, through the July-August Olympic Games and beyond.

Throughout the chaos, Attal, who made history this year as France’s youngest and first openly gay head of government, has stayed in office as a caretaker.

Speaking to Le Figaro daily and using rugby parlance, he expressed hope his successor could “convert the try” of the policies whose implementation he could not complete.

Sevda Altunoluk scored four goals and Fatma Gul Guler was on target three times in the rout which enabled the team to eclipse Canada’s back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2004 and become the sport’s most successful female side.

“We are so proud and so happy,” said Seydanur Kaplan who was in the squad that won gold in Tokyo in 2021. “It is a big victory.

“But it wasn’t easy because it was a final,” added the 24-year-old. “It was so hard but we are family.

“I think this is our secret. It is our special quality. We are a band of sisters because, you know, we live everything together … crying, happiness.”

Goalball, along with boccia, are the only two sports exclusive to the Paralympics.

Before the game, as the Turkish and Israeli players limbered up for their showdown, a spry young man whirled around the court perimeter brandishing a placard bearing the twin legends: “Get loud!!!” and “Ambiancez vous!!!” 

The 3,000 fans duly responded to both exhortations.

But within minutes of satisfying his commands, a somewhat sterner usher was suggesting another pitch.

Silence

“Quiet please,” match referee Raquel Aguado beseeched the frenzied throng.

Cheerily came the compliance.

For silence is golden during goalball. Noise will prevent the three players stretched out along the nine-metre width of the court from hearing the approach of the 1.25kg rubber ball which contains bells.

The game of two 12-minute halves consists of hurling the ball into the opposing team’s goal which lies at the other end of the 18-metre court.

Players – who all have various levels of visual impairment – wear opaque goggles to ensure parity.

To score, a player must ensure the ball bounces on their side of the pitch and also in the opponents’ half before it enters the net.

Altunoluk bagged a brace and Guler was also on target as Turkey raced into a 3-0 lead in the first four minutes of the final.

Lihi Ben David pulled one back for Israel. But three more goals from Guler and another from Altunoluk underlined Turkish authority.

Ben David’s second of the match just before half-time suggested Israel had a chance.

But they were unable to make an early strike in the second-half. Turkey scored again to effectively kill off the match. Ben David’s third was a mere consolation.

Surge

“There was pressure on us to win,” Kaplan admitted. “There is a tension and a different feeling in every tournament.

“But we have this third one and we want to be champions again in Los Angeles in four years.”

A third title looked far from obvious at the start of the competition. Turkey drew their opening game on 29 August with Brazil 3-3. They lost the next day to China and beat Israel 5-4 on 31 August to finish the group stages second behind China.

But they began to show form with victories over South Korea in the last eight and Brazil in the semis to set up the final with Israel who beat Canada and China in the knockout stages.

“We learned so much during those early games,” said Kaplan. “We didn’t make the same mistakes again … so now it looks like it is easy.”

The men’s gold medal match between Japan and Ukaine was a closer affair.

Japan took a 2-0 lead before Ukraine pulled back to 2-2. Japan nudged 3-2 ahead mid way through the second-half.

But Ukraine levelled with two minutes remaining. That brought a tense finale but neither side broke through.

The deadlock produced three minutes of “golden goal” overtime 

Yuto Sano scored with 90 seconds left to give Japan their first crown since the introduction of the sport at the 1976 Paralympics in Montreal. Brazil and China took the men’s and women’s bronze medals respectively.

In a statement released on Wednesday, France’s Ministry of the Economy announced: “This State aid will enable us to finance the operation of public services [health, electricity] and the payment of social benefits in September”.

The payment is conditional “on the adoption of reforms to improve New Caledonia’s economic and social model”.

In addition to this latest aid package, State support for New Caledonia since the riots that ravaged the Pacific territory and destroyed its economic fabric amounts to over €400 million.

However the figure doesn’t include a bailout for the archipelago’s failing nickel industry.

• Embattled New Caledonia nickel mine to lay off 1,200 staff

‘Conditions’ for State aid

In detail, the ministry has stipulated that “if the conditions set by the State are met”, France will pay over €48 million to New Caledonia in the form of repayable advances, including almost €42 million euros to finance the local health insurance system and just under €5 million to prevent the electricity system operator Enercal from defaulting on its payments.

While €100 million had already been paid to the New Caledonian government at the end of July to fund short-term unemployment, a further €61 million will be released for that purpose from September to October.

According to local government figures, the destruction, looting and fires have caused over €2 billion in damage, and almost one employee in five is either totally or partially unemployed.

‘Rebuilding and reconstruction’

At the end of August, the Congress of New Caledonia assembly adopted a resolution calling for massive state support of 500 billion Pacific francs – just over €4 billion – to rebuild the archipelago.

At the same time, the local government launched public consultations ahead of a “safeguarding, rebuilding and reconstruction” plan aimed at changing New Caledonia’s economic and social model.

• Can France solve the economic collapse and unrest plaguing New Caledonia?

On Tuesday, Sonia Backès, the loyalist leader and President of the territory’s Southern Province – the richest and most populous province in New Caledonia – was received at the Elysée Palace by Emmanuel Macron.

“On the economy, we discussed the need to move very, very quickly to a phase of massive public investment to restart the economic machine. [The Head of State] told me that he shared this vision,” she said after the meeting.

At some 200 “colleges” – the middle schools French children attend between the ages of 11 and 15 – a scheme is being trialled to ban the use of mobile phones during the entire school day.

The trial of the “digital pause” – which encompasses more than 50,000 pupils – is being implemented ahead of a possible plan to enforce it nationwide from 2025.

Right now, pupils in French middle schools are obliged turn off their phones.

This latest experiment takes things a step further, requiring children to hand in their phones upon arrival.

Taking to social media site X this Wednesday, France’s minister for education posted: “When you arrive at school, just put your phone down: that’s the new rule for the start of the new school year. And it’s being tested in over 200 schools. 

“We’re introducing a real digital break, for the well-being of our pupils. That’s what schools are all about!”

‘Arrested development’

The project is part of a move by President Emmanuel Macron for children to spend less time in front of screens, which the government fears is arresting their development.

The use of “a mobile phone or any other electronic communications terminal equipment” has been banned in nurseries, elementary schools and middle schools in France since 2018.

In high schools – which French children attend between the ages of 15 and 18 – internal regulations may prohibit the use of a mobile phone by pupils in “all or part of the premises”.

Bruno Bobkiewicz, general secretary of SNPDEN-Unsa – France’s top union of school principals – said the 2018 law had been enforced “pretty well overall”. 

“The use of mobile phones in middle schools is very low today”, he said, adding that in case of a problem “we have the means to act”. 

• French lawmakers ban mobile phone use in public schools

Improving ‘school climate’ 

The experiment comes after Macron said in January he wanted to “regulate the use of screens among young children.” 

According to a report submitted to Macron, children under 11 should not be allowed to use phones, while access to social networks should be limited for pupils under 15.

The French education ministry hopes that the mobile-free environment will improve “school climate” and reduce instances of violence, including online harassment and dissemination of violent images. 

The ministry also wants to improve student performance because the use of mobile phones harms “the ability to concentrate” and “the acquisition of knowledge”. 

The experiment also aims to “raise pupils’ awareness of the rational use of digital tools”. 

• France applies school mobile phone ban

‘Complicated to implement’ 

According to the education ministry, “it is up to each establishment to determine practical arrangements”, with the possibility of setting up a locker system.

Pupils will have to hand in their phones on arrival, putting them in boxes or lockers.

They will then collect them at the end of the school day.

The ban also extends to extracurricular activities and school trips.

However, the enforcement of the measure across all schools in France from January 2025 could be expensive.

According to local authorities, the roll-out of the ban could cost “nearly €130 million” for the 6,980 middle schools across France.

For the leading middle and high school teachers’ union Snes-FSU, the ban raises too many questions about how will things work.

Sceptics believe extra staff will be needed to manage arrivals, drops-off and departures – as well as the collection of mobile phones.

Bobkiewicz of SNPDEN-Unsa principal’s union underlined he did not want to rummage through pupils’ bags to look for their phones, adding: “It’s going to be complicated to implement”.

Wheels 

Sarah Storey, who won the C5 time trial, branded as “appalling” the 14.2km distance of the women’s course. “It’s the shortest Paralympic time-trial we’ve ever done, and I think it’s a real shame that we don’t showcase para-sport as we should,” said the 46-year-old Briton who won her 18th title at the Paralympics. To the delight of the partisans, the local heroine Heidi Gaugain came second in the race for athletes with amputated or unilaterally affected upper limbs. “I hope this will be the last time the time trial is less than 20 kilometers,” added Storey. “There was plenty of time in the day to do two laps like the men. To have fought so hard for parity in women’s cycling only to not have it in para-cycling is a real disappointment.”

Storied Storey

Sarah Storey was born with a malformation of the left hand and was only 14 when she competed in the swimming at the Paralympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 where she won two gold medals in the 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle as well as three silvers and a bronze in the S10 category. Three more titles came in Atlanta in 1996, in the 100m backstroke. Fast forward to Paris and the veteran boasts another shiny medal from her ninth Paralympic Games after switching to the bicycle.

Out of Sight

Much has been made about the deployment during the Paralympics of the venues used during the Olympics. Grand Palais. Hey. Bercy. Oui. Paris La Défense Arena. Yowser. For the Olympic time-trials, the cyclists whizzed past picture postcard image after iconic building and lavish backdrop. Paralympic time trial? Clichy-sous-Bois, Coubon, Courtry, Clichy-sous-Bois. All very charming, but not Pont Alexandre III.

Joining the dots

On the day that the organisers undermined all their stuff about inclusiveness boast, we see that at least one part of the PR complex is thinking blue skies. Word reaches The Review of a chance on Day 8 to join a spectator with a disability on their journey from site entrance to the stands. One fan with a motor handicap can  be followed at the Arena Porte de la Chapelle and another with a visual handicap can be surveyed as they make their way to their seats at the Arena Paris Sud. To be a part of either experience, we were urged to book early to avoid disappointment. Stage and management are the words that fly around our head. But at least this wing of the Paralympic PR complex is trying to do a right thing. 

Far, far away 

Palesha Goverdhan, winner of Nepal’s first medal at the Paralympics or Olympics, returned home to a rapturous welcome in Nepal following her bronze in the taekwondo. “I am filled with immense pride for having achieved this victory for our beloved nation,” 21-year-old Goverdhan said before heading back to Kathmandu. “The countless hours of hard work and dedication have truly paid off, and the feeling is simply overwhelming.” And how the authorities repaid the architectural engineering student’s dedication and fortitude. Traditional music and the army band played as Goverdhan emerged to loud cheers draped in the national flag, marigold garlands and scarves. Many young taekwondo athletes were among hundreds gathered to welcome back Goverdhan, who beamed a wide smile and held up her medal. Goverdhan, who won bronze in the women’s K44 under 57kg category, was born with a congenital limb deficiency on her left hand. “She has made us so proud,” said her father Pradeep Goverdhan. “As parents, you are worried when your child is born with a deficiency like that. But we always encouraged her. As a child, she was always very determined, worked hard and achieved anything if her heart was set on it.”

“The police saved my life by investigating Mister P.’s computer”, Gisele P. told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband – one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial.

Gisele P., now 71, had remained stoic and silent through the three first days of the high-profile case, communicating only through her lawyers.

But she revealed her emotion on the stand on Thursday when she recounted the moment in November 2020 when investigators first showed her the images of a decade of sexual abuse orchestrated and filmed by her husband Dominique P.

“My world is falling apart. For me, everything is falling apart. Everything I have built up over 50 years,” Gisele P. said.

“Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me,” she said of the pictures, while her husband listened with his head bowed.

“I’m lying motionless on the bed, being raped,” added the woman of the “barbaric” footage.

“They treat me like a rag doll,” she told a panel of five judges, adding that she had only plucked up the courage to watch the footage in May 2024.

“Don’t talk to me about sex scenes. These are rape scenes,” she said, stressing that she had never practised swinging or any other form of libertine sex.

Lawyers for some of the defendants questioned on Wednesday whether the couple had had a libertine relationship, or whether it was credible that Gisele P. had noticed nothing for the entire decade of the abuse.

The line of questioning appeared to upset the plaintiff, although she stayed put when her three children briefly left the courtroom in disgust.

“Of course she was offended,” said her lawyer, Antoine Camus.

“She wanted to respond. We felt her bobbing up and down behind us, saying, ‘I want to answer. I just have to answer’ and we told her, ‘Tomorrow!'”

Gisele P. has insisted that the trial take place in public so the full facts of the case can emerge.

Nevertheless, there will be “extremely difficult moments” for her as she testifies, said Stephane Babonneau, her other lawyer.

Detailed records

Gisele P.’s husband, Dominique, is accused of abusing his wife between 2011 and 2020, drugging her with sleeping pills and then recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her, lead investigator Jeremie Bosse Platiere told the court on Wednesday.

Dominique P. was exposed by chance when he was caught filming up women’s skirts in a local supermarket.

On Tuesday, he answered “yes” when asked if he was guilty of the accusations against him.

The 71-year-old father of three documented his actions with meticulous precision on a hard drive with a folder labelled “abuse”.

That enabled French police to track down more than 50 men suspected of raping Gisele P. while she was drugged.

A third of them were identified using facial recognition software, Bosse Platiere said.

The senior police chief for the Hautes-Alpes region said he had hand-picked investigators “who had the stomach” to face videos and images of abuse.

Police drew up a list of 72 individuals suspected of abusing Gisele P.

The investigators counted around 200 instances of rape, most of them by Dominique P., and over 90 by strangers enlisted through an adult website.

The assaults took place between July 2011 and October 2020, mainly in the couple’s home in Mazan, a village of 6,000 people in the southern region of Provence.

Most of the suspects face up to 20 years in jail for aggravated rape if convicted.

Eighteen of the 51 accused are in custody, including Dominique P.

Thirty-two other defendants are attending the trial as free men.

The last suspect, still at large, will be tried in absentia.

The trial is expected to last four months until December 20 – “a totally awful ordeal” for Gisele P., Camus said.

“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes to which she was subjected for 10 years”, of which she has “no memory”, he told AFP.

A court in Nuuk ruled on Wednesday that Watson must remain in detention in Greenland until 2 October, while Denmark’s justice ministry considers Japan’s request for his extradition.

Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Japan.

Watson, the founder and former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), has become notorious for his high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels. He is a well-known figure in France, where he has lived on and off for several years.

He was arrested under an Interpol “red notice” in Nuuk on 21 July when his ship docked to refuel on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific.

Japan issued a warrant for his arrest in 2012 over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship two years earlier.

Accused of causing damage to the ship and injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers’ activities, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Greenland court extends detention of anti-whaling activist Watson

‘Travesty of justice’

Watson’s lawyers insist he is innocent and say they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown, but the Nuuk court refused to view it at the last custody hearing on 15 August.

The decision to extend his custody for another month therefore came as little surprise.

“It went as we had feared,” said Lamya Essemlali, head of Sea Shepherd France.

“The judge refused to look at the evidence we have, which would allow Paul Watson to be cleared. It’s surrealist,” she told RFI.

“The prosecutor refused to let us broadcast our video, saying it was not up to the court in Greenland to decide on extradition and therefore the evidence was not useful. But it is up to the Greenland court to decide on maintaining Paul Watson in custody.

“It’s a travesty of justice, they want Paul Watson to be guilty and don’t want to see the evidence.”

Wednesday’s custody hearings related only to Watson’s detention, not the question of his guilt nor the extradition request, which will be ruled on independently.

The judge therefore argued that the question of extradition belongs to the Ministry of Justice and that his role was not to study the evidence.

“But custody is based on guilt and we’re capable of showing he’s innocent. It’s nonsense,” Essemlali insisted.

Anti-whaling activist Watson says Greenland arrest ‘political’

French protests

Watson has garnered considerable support in France since moving here in 2015.

President Emmanuel Macron’s office has called for Watson’s release and the outgoing Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, has been pulling out the diplomatic stops with his Danish counterpart.

A petition has gathered signatures from more than 190,000 people, including animal rights activist and former actress Brigitte Bardot.

Rallies in support of Watson have been held in the cities of Strasbourg, Caen and Toulouse in recent weeks and several hundred people gathered in Paris on Wednesday.

“I’m very sensitive to what’s happening to Paul Watson in defending the environment, ocean and whales in particular,” one protestor told RFI. “We’re imprisoning someone who’s never done anything bad in fact.”

A former Sea Shepherd crew member said that given the international moratorium on whaling, Watson was just doing his duty.

“For 50 years he’s been at sea just to make sure the law is respected,” he commented.

For Michel Blazy, head of Sea Shepherd’s Paris branch, “this is a highly political trial” and the charges exaggerated and unjustified.

At the time of Watson’s arrest, Essemlali told RFI that “Japan was in a logic of revenge since they consider he humiliated them”.

“The arrest warrant shouldn’t even exist,” she argued. “He’s accused of throwing butyric acid – it’s rancid butter, less acidic than orange juice. When you dig into the accusations, it’s completely crazy.”

French icon Bardot lashes out at Japan over arrest of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

Keeping up the pressure

Watson’s lawyers say they will appeal the decision to extend his custody, but Essemlali says they have little hope anything will come of it.

“We’ve understood that Greenland will not take the risk of releasing Paul. Japan is applying a lot of pressure to obtain his extradition and the Greenland judge clearly does not want to be the one that releases him and risks angering Japan.”

She insists there is not much more to be done for the moment other than “claim Paul’s innocence, sign petitions and demand justice, keep the case in the spotlight”.

William Bourdon, a member of Watson’s legal team, said “it would be a stain in Denmark’s history” to extradite him and expressed concern about the “criminalisation of citizen militants who stand against the impunity of those committing crimes against the environment”.

If someone with Watson’s notoriety and support could be the victim of “such a travesty of justice”, Essemlali said, it was “terrifying for all the whistleblowers and activists who are not as well known as he is”.

“We can assume they will have no chance faced with such a system.”

Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou arrived at Buenos Aires airport on Tuesday evening and headed for passport control without speaking to the press.

The players boarded a flight to Paris shortly before midnight and were expected to arrive on Wednesday at 15h45 UT.

Earlier in the day a court in Mendoza, about 1,000 kilometres west of the capital Buenos Aires, ruled that the pair can leave the country “from this moment”.

The prosecution had recommended that the players be allowed to travel because the accusation had “lost its initial force”.

Jegou and Auradou, both 21, were arrested in July, just two days after winning their first international caps against Argentina in Mendoza.

Hearing date to be set

They were charged with the aggravated rape of a 39-year-old woman who alleged they viciously assaulted her in a hotel room after a night out following the match.

The men deny the accusation, saying sex with the woman had been consensual.

They were released from detention into house arrest on 17 July and freed under supervision last month.

The two players were allowed to travel from Mendoza to Buenos Aires last week pending a hearing into a request for the charges to be dropped.

A date for that hearing has yet to be set.

Tuesday’s ruling requires the both men to “appear if they are summoned to the Argentine consulate in France,” to report virtually “as often as required,” or return “to appear in Mendoza if requested”.

A judge also rejected a request from the accuser for further psychological examinations of the rugby players.

‘Like a brute’

Late Tuesday, the plaintiff gave an account to the press of what she said happened the night she met Auradou in a nightclub in Mendoza.

“When he asked me to go and have a drink at his hotel, I said yes,” she told journalists from France 2’s television programme Envoyé Special, in clips released ahead of the programme’s 12 September broadcast.

Once in the hotel room, she said she asked to leave, but alleged the rugby player prevented her from doing so. 

“He grabbed my neck. He put me on the bed. He stripped me like a brute,” she said, before choking her “so that I had no oxygen left”.

“I tried to react by slapping him. Instead of stopping him, this slap only encouraged him to carry on.”

According to the complainant, Jegou then entered the room. 

But instead of helping her as she believed he would, she alleges he went on to assault her as well.

Lack of objectivity

The French Rugby Federation welcomed Tuesday’s ruling, and underscored the men must be considered innocent until proven otherwise.

Auradou’s club in the French city of Pau expressed “joy and relief” at the news that he would be returning home.

According to the complainant’s lawyer, Natacha Romano, her client suffered injuries to her face, back, breasts, legs and ribs, as well as bite and scratch marks.

Defense lawyers have pointed to witnesses and cameras allegedly detecting no injuries on the woman as she left the hotel.

The plaintiff’s lawyers filed a motion on Monday for the recusal of the prosecutors in charge of the case, alleging a “lack of objectivity” on their part.

The woman, her representatives say, recently tried to commit suicide and would continue to suffer “irreparable harm” while the men she accuses resume their lives in France.

The world saw record average temperatures in August for the second year running, according to preliminary data from the EU’s climate monitor, seen by French news agency AFP.

Australia, Japan, parts of China and Norway all experienced their hottest August on record, according to meteorological agencies.

“It’s clear that the temperatures are rising… above what we would like,” said Celeste Saulo, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

“And it is because the action is not enough.”

While the exact average global temperature for August 2024 is not yet known, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has established it will be above the record 16.82 degrees Celsius (62.28 Fahrenheit) measured in August last year.

• Global warming accelerating at ‘unprecedented’ pace, study warns

More resources needed

“Thresholds are all the time being beaten,” Saulo said, speaking in Singapore at a regional climate forum of local meteorological services.

Saulo also called for better monitoring and support for meteorological agencies, adding that “we need more resources”.

The forum comes days after the WMO released its latest assessment on the impacts of climate change in Asia and the Pacific, warning that sea-level rise is above average in many areas.

• ‘Too hot to handle’: 2024 likely to be warmest year on record

And the record August continues a near-unbroken 15-month streak, where each month eclipsed its own temperature record for the time of year, according to the C3S.

The climate forum also announced the designation of Singapore as a regional hub for monitoring pollution caused by vegetation fire and smoke.

One of only two such centres in the world, the facility will offer better quality information on fires and pollution forecasts, plugging a gap in regional data, officials said.

(with AFP)

Coutya secured his first Paralympic crown 15-7. His success in category B for fencers whose coordination is affected in the trunk and leg followed powerful displays throughout the sessions at the Grand Palais in central Paris.

“It has been a tough day emotionally and mentally,” said the 26-year-old who won bronze in the foil in a five medal haul in Tokyo in 2021 and also competed at the Rio Paralympics in 2016. “But that’s always the case with the Paralympic Games.

“The environment is incredibly stressful so handling that and being as consistent as possible was the biggest challenge. But I feel I handled it well enough.”

Coutya, who sustained a spinal injury at the age of two after being knocked over by a car, initially played wheelchair basketball but switched to fencing in 2009 when he was 11.

Chance

Medal-winning performances at the UK School Games brought him to the attention of coaches in the British paralympics committee and an invitation to train with the squad competing at the Paralympic Games in 2012.

He attended the event in London as part of a programme aimed at inspiring potential Paralympians.

Moments after his victory, Coutya hailed the scheme. “It was an invaluable experience for me because it gave me a real taste of one of the most incredible Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was really brilliant.”

Just over a decade on from that first contact, Coutya entered the Paris Paralympics as the reigning European champion in the epée and foil events. 

His bid as the first man from Britain to pull of a triple crown of sabre, foil and epée ended early.

He went down to Dmytro Serozhenko in the sabre event on Tuesday in round three of the repechage.

But on Wednesday in the foil, after sweeping past Visit Kingmanaw from Thailand in the quarter-finals, he exacted revenge on Serozhenko in the semi-final. Coutya outlcassed the 34-year-old Ukraininan 15-4.

Dominant

In the final against Feng, Coutya surged into a 5-1 lead. Feng briefly threatened a revival but from 8-5, three consecutive points effectively killed off Feng’s challenge and Coutya surged on to glory.

“I told myself not to get too excited just because I was one or two hits away,” Coutya said.

“Because that’s when people really, really mess it up.”

Coutya will return to the Grand Palais on Thursday for the men’s team foil competition before taking part in the individual epée on Friday and the team epée on Saturday.

Thai fencer Jana Saysunee took the category B women’s foil for her second gold of the Games.

The 50-year-old year old, who won gold in Athens in 2004 in the category, saw off Rong Xiao from China 15-11 a day after she beat the same opponent to brandish gold in the women’s individual sabre.

China was supreme with the foil in category A – the class for fencers with good trunk control.

Gang Sun annihilated the Italian Matteo Beo 15-3 to retain the men’s gold and Xufeng Zou won the battle of his female compatriots.

Zou overcame Haiyan Gu 15-12.

Several were injured after their boat carrying dozens ran into trouble off Wimereux, a town some five kilometres from Boulogne-sur-Mer on the northern French coast.

A source close to the investigation said the dead included three minors.

According to the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor, Guirec Le Bras, the migrants who died were mostly from Eritrea. Ten of them were female and two male, he said. Half the total were minors.

Crew on a French government-operated ship, the Minck, were the first to become aware of the emergency and to respond, naval officer Etienne Baggio told French news agency AFP.

French navy helicopters, fishing boats and military vessels were mobilised for the operation, he said.

“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid post was set up to treat survivors.

Money alone can’t fix the problem

Darmanin, who rushed to the site of the tragedy Tuesday, told reporters that the EU and Britain needed to negotiate a new treaty on migration.

The European Union should seek to “re-establish a traditional migration relationship with our British friends and neighbours”, he said, adding that British payments to France to prevent irregular migration covered only “a third of what we are spending,” he said.

• UK accused of not doing enough to stop Channel migrant crossings

Under the deal, negotiated by former British prime minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron, London agreed to step up funding to France to total €541 million ($575 million), allowing the deployment of “hundreds” of extra French law enforcement officers along the Channel coast.

But Darmanin said Tuesday that “the tens of millions of euros that we negotiate every year with our British friends” were not sufficient to stem the flow of migrants, many of whom he said wanted to reach Britain to reunite with families or “to work in conditions that would not be acceptable in France”.

He listed criteria which, according to him, make the United Kingdom attractive: “often, you can work without having papers” and “as there is no common immigration policy with the EU (… ), people try a lot to go to Great Britain because they know that they are probably not deportable from British territory.”

Crackdown on smuggling

The numbers of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats from France to England have been a major bone of contention in post-Brexit relations between Paris and London.

Earlier this summer, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron pledged to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.

UK interior minister Yvette Cooper called the latest deaths “horrifying and deeply tragic”.

She criticised the “gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives”, adding they “do not care about anything but the profits they make”.

This year has already seen 25 people die in migrant crossings, up from the 2023 death toll of 12.

On Monday alone, 351 migrants crossed in small boats, with 21,615 making the journey this year, according to UK government statistics.

(with newswires)

Macron has been struggling to find a prime minister since losing a gamble to bolster his centrist party’s relative majority with early elections in July.

The defeat opened an unprecedented political deadlock, with a left-wing alliance now the National Assembly’s largest block in a hung parliament, followed by Macron’s centrists and their allies, and the far right.

As talks continue to end the impasse, Philippe confirmed his widely expected candidacy to succeed Macron, who cannot stand again in 2027 after a two-term limit.

His announcement complicates the calculus for Macron as he seeks a prime minister who could survive any no-confidence votes in the deeply fractured parliament.

Massive proposals

“I’m preparing to propose things to the French. What I propose will be massive. The French will decide,” Philippe told Le Point magazine.

He reiterated the issues he would prioritise, such as education, public order and the budget.

Philippe is especially critical of the management of the outgoing government and its objectives of stabilising the deficit at three percent in 2027 which he says “no one believes”.

• Macron rules out left-wing government for France, political deadlock continues

But his decision to announce his candidacy now has not been appreciated across the political sphere.

President of the Macronist group in the Senate, François Patriat says the timing is inappropriate, given the unprecedented political deadlock.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented moment, difficult for everyone,” he told LCI television on Wednesday.

“Demonstrating individualism, while the urgency, is to find stability, does not seem really appropriate today,” he said.

Urgency for reforms

Marylise Léon, secretary general of the CFDT union says its a form political manoeuvring which doesn’t take into account the priorities of French people today.

“Is not helpful in understanding what is happening and it does not meet the expectations of workers,” she told Franceino on Wednesday.

“[Their] issues are not in 2027, they are right here, right now. It is more urgent than ever to already have a prime minister to lead reforms and meet social expectations.”

Philippe, a right-winger who was Macron’s first prime minister after his 2017 election upended France’s political landscape, has remained a popular figure since resigning in July 2020. 

Since then he returned to his job as Mayor of Le Havre and has formed his own party, Horizons, that has largely supported Macron’s government despite reports that relations between the two men have soured. 

Negotiations

“It’s often said that in a presidential election, you have to want nothing else. I agree,” Philippe said in the interview, saying he was ready even if Macron were to surprise the country again by announcing his resignation which would prompt an early presidential vote.

The President, meanwhile, is trying to revive negotiations over a new government for France, with the leftist alliance refusing to take part after he rejected its candidate for prime minister.

Macron said Tuesday that he was meeting “anyone who wants to come and work for the overriding national interest” after several rounds of talks over the weekend and Monday failed to produce a breakthrough.

Philippe for his part said he would support “any prime minister picked from a political space ranging from the conservative right to social-democracy”.

(with AFP)

Beijing announced that this week’s China-Africa forum, dubbed Focac 2024, will be its most significant diplomatic event since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leaders from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and other nations are confirmed to attend, along with dozens of delegations.

African countries will be looking for “connectivity projects, networking infrastructure, a lot of new energy projects, solar panels and green mobility initiatives”, according to Eric Olander, CEO of the China Global South Project (CGSP).

He added that this aligns with “what China refers to as its ‘Small and Beautiful’ initiative,” the newest iteration of the expansive Belt and Road initiative. Launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, this multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project spans the globe.

China, currently the world’s second biggest economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $167.8 billion (€152 billion) in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, research from the Boston University-managed Chinese Loans to Africa Database revealed that Beijing’s loans to African countries last year reached their highest level in five years. Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya were among the top borrowers.

• Europe counters China’s Belt and Road strategy with plans for €150 billion investment in Africa

According to researcher Yan Liang, writing for economics website IDEAs, China’s estimated cumulative lending to Africa from 2000-2022 reached $170.08 billion (€154 billion) – the equivalent of 64 percent of the World Bank’s lending and almost five times the total of African Development Bank’s sovereign loans.

However, since 2016 Beijing has gradually scaled back its involvement in Africa due to a slowdown in its domestic economy, the Covid pandemic and a shifting geopolitical landscape, while the US, EU, Japan and India have intensified efforts to expand their influence on the continent.

China has also declined to provide debt relief to struggling countries, despite the fact that certain African nations face difficulties repaying their loans, which in some cases has led to cuts in essential public services.

Olander points out that “China currently accounts for just 11 percent of Africa’s debt”, emphasising that Africa’s debt challenges are more centred on eurobond obligations and multilateral development finance institutions, which hold the majority of the debt. He describes China as “a relatively minor player” in this context.

Still, “right now it is a high priority of the Chinese government to regain influence in Africa”, according to Michael Dillon, a China watcher attached to London’s King’s College. 

Beijing is “clearly competing with the United States and Europe, which have… existing long-term relationships with Africa”, he said, adding that the increasing presence of Russia in the continent may also trigger China’s eagerness to re-engage. 

Belt and Road and beyond

Meanwhile, China continues working on its ambitious plans.

Currently, China’s biggest Belt and Road projects in Africa is Kenya’s $5 billion (€4.5 billion) Standard Gauge Railway, built with finance from Exim Bank of China. Connecting Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa, the line has cut journey times from 10 hours to four since opening in 2017.

However, a second phase that would extend the line to Uganda never materialised as both countries struggled to pay their debts. Kenya alone owes China more than $8 billion (€6.5 million).

Another significant investment is located in Djibouti, where China established its first overseas naval base in 2016 and assisted in developing the nearby Doraleh multi-purpose port.

Additional projects include Africa’s longest suspension bridge, which connects Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, to the suburb of Katembe. This $786 million (€711 million) project is funded 95 percent by Chinese loans.

China has also invested approximately $7.8 billion (€6 billion) in mining projects across Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Empty promises?

But it is not clear if Beijing will commit to more, and it remains uncertain what will come of whatever promises are made during this week’s summit, as no mechanisms have been put in place that would verify if commitments are actually carried out.

“Focac risks becoming irrelevant if in the end people cannot see what actually comes out of it,” according to Olander.

Under the Dakar Action Plan set out at the last summit, held in Dakar in 2021, China promised $300 billion worth of imports – but “we don’t know how much, or if any of the pledges have ever happened”, he says.

“Ultimately there is less enthusiasm for this Focac because a lot of constituents are not sure how all of this will translate into something that trickles down to the average person on the streets of Kampala or South Africa or any African city,” he says.

The EU’s $150 billion (€135 billion) “Global Gateway” and similar US plans to gain more access in Africa through massive infrastructure projects covered money that was committed before, according to Olander.

“People are understandably quite jaded about these big promises that come from these big governments,” he says.

‘Neo-colonialism’

Whatever the outcome, China, much like the US, is behaving like Britain, France and Belgium did in earlier centuries when they colonised Africa, according to researcher Dillon.

Beijing does what “Americans did when they first became a world power. They are trying to say that they are not behaving like a colonial power,” he argues.

“China did support the anti-colonial resistance and liberation movements in Africa” during the 1960s and 1970s, he notes.

However, when Chinese companies began entering Africa in the 1980s, they often operated in ways similar to those of American, British and other European powers in the region, he said.

The 2024 African Youth Survey,  based on interviews with 5,604 young individuals from 16 countries between the ages of 18 and 24, is the third iteration of the biennial study targeting African young people.

According to the Johannesburg-based Ichikowitz Family Foundation, Africa’s youth have recovered from the impacts of COVID-19, but are dissatisfied with the direction their respective governments are heading.

It also reveals that Africa’s young people are not afraid to voice their opinions and believe that corruption is the biggest threat to their future. 

“This body of data is starting to become very valuable because it shows us a trend that is very positive,” the founder and director of the foundation, Ivor Ichikowitz, told RFI.

“Most people look at Africa as a hopeless case, but the truth is that it’s not, and African youth, who are the next generation of leaders, see the continent as having huge opportunities – they’re very optimistic about the future of the continent.”

However, they have recognised that there are several significant challenges and issues to address.

Fighting corruption

Corruption has consistently ranked among the top three issues identified by this demographic as obstacles to the continent’s growth and development, hindering this generation’s pursuit of prosperity, Ichikowitz said.

However, this year, it has surpassed job creation, which has traditionally been the foremost concern.

“This tells us that not only that corruption is now being felt in many fields of life –  government, business, civil society, in communities in general – and they’re done with it,” Ichikowitz said.

“They have every intention of speaking out about it, and holding their government to account in terms of dealing with it. This is what we’re seeing in this survey.”

Significant differences

The survey identified some very significant differences across the continent.

“In a place like Cameroon, 88 percent of the respondents raised corruption as the biggest issue,” Ichikowitz said. “At the other end of the scale, only 22 percent of the youth in Rwanda see corruption as a major problem.

“The average is about 65 percent to 70 percent of the youth who have a common, massive issue around corruption.”

But young people remain optimistic because they  believe that something can be done about it.

Although 60 percent of African youth indicate a desire to leave their countries, they also demonstrate a strong commitment to improving political and economic conditions.

Ichikowitz cites the example of South Africa, where, during the latest elections this year, people voted to punish the ANC for not doing something about corruption.

“I think you’re going to find more and more of that happening all over the continent.”

• Corruption a big worry for young South Africans voting in key elections

Expectations

The survey also shows that North America is the favourite destination for emigration for young people followed by Western European countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Spain.

This generation of people still values the West, the director said, and wants to work with the West, sees the West as having “a great deal of value to add, but the West need to show up”.

What is becoming clearer is that Africans realise that their continent is being used as a proxy battleground between China, the United States, Europe, and Russia. 

“It is an economic battleground, a battleground for influence, and for markets,” he said.

“The African youth in the next decade is going to become the biggest consumer population in the world, and whoever owns the hearts and minds of these consumers is going to have a massive economic advantage,” he added. 

Western culture is still very dominant in Africa, but from a commercial, economic,  and investment perspective, China has absolutely trumped the West at every single level, according to the survey.

The Chinese have invested in telecommunications infrastructure, roads, sports stadiums among others.

And there’s a perception that Western investment in Africa is absent, or not automatically visible.

“In my view, the vacuum that is created by a lack of investment by the United States and Europe is giving China this massive advantage.” 

He believes there still remains “a huge opportunity” for the West to make up this lost ground, but it has to do something about it fast, because while the West is talking about investment in Africa, China is maxing it out in a big way.”

He concluded: “We can talk about a Pan-African youth, despite their economic circumstances, despite their language divides. We are starting to see a real collective that we can call the African Youth.”

Alejandro Cegarra inititated his project called “The Two Walls” in 2018 and spent six years documenting it.

“There is the wall we already know in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana that separates Mexico and the United States. But there’s also a wall that is Mexico itself,” he told RFI at France’s annual Visa pour l’Image Festival, in Perpignan.

The 35-year-old photographer says that Mexico once had a reputation of welcoming asylum seekers but since 2019 immigration policies have completely shifted.

“Mexico has thousands of officers trying to stop the flow of migrants towards the United States.”

“When I realised that Mexico was part of the ‘organisation’ to deny asylum and to stop migrants going to the United States, I started this project,” he explains.

Over the last six years, Mexico has cooperated with the US to tighten up the immigration measures.

Immigration remains a hugely divisive issue for many Americans ahead of November’s presidential election, in which former leader Donald Trump is running against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump, who is running as the Republican candidate again, made the border wall with Mexico a major element of his first campaign.

“I would like to call on Mexicans, on citizens to vote for authorities that actually defend the rights of migrants, because I feel the borders right now are so far away from human rights,” Cegarra says.

Migrants pursue ‘Paths of Desperate Hope’ for better life across Americas’ Darién Gap

For Cegarra, documenting his project was a process of learning, empathy and humanity.

“It was incredibly hard when I started to hear my own Venezuelan accent in the people I was photographing,” adds Cegarra, who left his native Venezuela to Mexico in 2017.

Cegarra won the 2024 World Press global award for long-term project for North and Central America.

► Visa pour l’Image runs from 31 August to 15 September 2024.

The US has the fourth largest delegation at the Paris Paralympics with 220 athletes (110 men, 110 women), just behind China, Brazil, and France.

A crucial part of preparing for the Games is having a dedicated base where athletes and staff can train and interact, away from the media spotlight and the buzz surrounding the Athletes’ Village.

Athletica, a complex catering for both indoor and outdoor sports 15kms away from the Stade de France, fitted the bill perfectly according to its president, Xavier Haquin.

He says the centre, which has undergone a major overhaul to make it completely wheelchair accessible, resembles a “mini Olympic village” and has a “great atmosphere”.

Blue and red banners with the American slogan “One for All” have been pinned to the fences around the athletics tracks and on the walls and doors of the numerous indoor gyms, where athletes in goalball, sitting volleyball, and fencing are busy training.

Long partnership

In charge of Olympics and Paralympics for the Val d’Oise region, Haquin says Athletica has ample accommodation for staff, medical and well-being facilities, a spacious new canteen, and is close to a main train station.

“Being motivated is clearly one of their secrets to winning medals,” he told journalists, adding that the successful first two weeks of Olympics (26 July – 11 August) left Team USA suitably impressed. 

“They have staff with them, they’re looked after, and they are prepared,” he says, adding that American and French representatives had worked hand in hand for the past six years to ensure everything goes smoothly during the Games.

• Paris seeks to make athletes’ village an accessible ‘paradise’ for Paralympians

Sydney Satchell plays sitting volleyball and is thrilled to be competing in her first Paralympics.

The young woman, who lost her left leg in a car accident some years ago told journalists she was grateful to have a few days to get used to Paris time.

Having a dedicated hub for training means getting to know the rest of the team, especially when you’re new to the Paralympic circuit, she says.

“I get to talk to people I’ve only ever seen in commercials and on billboards and make new friends,” she said.

She appreciates having unlimited court space as well as having access to health professionals such as chiropractors, massage therapists among others.

“I’d never played organised volleyball before so to be here at the ripe age of 32, playing on the world stage – it does not compare to anything that I’ve ever experienced. Being here today is a dream come true,” she added.

• Paralympians head to Paris to set sporting standards and show need for change

Justin Phongsavanh from Iowa, is one of the 150 para-athletes using the facilities at Athletica. Paralysed below the waist after being shot in 2015, the 27-year-old throws the javelin from his wheelchair.

Having already competed in the Tokyo Olympics, where he earned a bronze medal, he’s accustomed to the logistics of traveling long distances for such events.

“The dining hall is very spacious, one of the biggest I’ve ever seen,” he told journalists. He is also impressed with the wide range of foods on offer from different cultures. “France has some of the best bread I’ve ever had,” he adds.

Taste of home

Nutrition is taken very seriously by Team USA, who have brought two of their own chefs from the national headquarters in Colorado Springs to Paris, assisted by some local chefs.

Chief nutritionist Brian Knutson says it’s a step up from the Tokyo Games, where they were not able to cater the meals themselves.

“Bringing familiarity and home comfort” through food for athletes is key to their well-being, he says.

On the topic of food, Haquin says he noticed that the Americans had developed a certain fondness for croissants at the local bakery, which has run a roaring trade since the arrival of Team USA.

He suggested this ‘je ne sais quoi’ may even contribute to their heightened performances on the field.

Jokes aside, Haquin says Athletica and the local community will continue to profit from this unique legacy and enthusiasm connected to the Olympics.

But for him, the centre will continue to function as it always has done: providing high-level training and competition venues throughout the year for French and international sports clubs and schools.

“Athletica represents the same spirit that we had instilled before the Games,” he says.

No one meddles with gold

Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. For the first time, there were no gold medals for France leaving the gang with 11. Still there were two silvers and two bronze to take the overall tally up to 38.

Silver daze

After the brothers in larmes act of Alex and Kylian Portal following their silver and bronze in the SL13 400m freestyle,  Alex was back in the Paris La Défense Arena to try and hack away at Ihar Boki in the men’s 200m individual medley – SM13. Not this time.

Industrial sample

The review’s taken back to the gold medal match in the table tennis at the Olympics between China and Sweden. China, comprising Chuqin Wang, Zhengdong Fan as well as the living legend Ma Long, mashed up Sweden to  keep hold of the prize their illustrious predecessors first acquired in Beijing in 2008 when the event was introduced at the Olympics. Kristrian Karlsson, one of the conquered Scandinavians told RFI: “It’s not real – those three guys. There should be rules against having people like that in the same team.” Well after Ihar Boki won his fifth gold medal of the 2024 Games to notch up his 21st gold medal, Kristian’s spirit seems apt.

Life is a Minestrone

There haven’t been too many musical references in The Daily Review. What? Is The Review feeling sad, depleted and lugubrious? Under attack? No, we can confide that we are vibrant and happily remembering the 10CC song during which they sing: “I’m leaning on the Tower of Pisa, had an eyeful of the tower in France …” And that Parisian landmark may well be getting a new look after the creative whizzes in City Hall say they want to display the Olympic logo permanently on the Eiffel Tower. “The idea is to make permanent the events that Paris has lived through,” deputy mayor Pierre Rabadan, told the French news agency AFP.

And therefore

Not going to be happy times as the idea has been criticised by descendants of the tower’s designer Gustave Eiffel. A petition on Change.org against the idea had gathered 34,000 signatures. The Association of Gustave Eiffel’s Descendants says that it is against the idea of the tower becoming an advertising outpost. Don’t want to get that lot riled. They can be a real handful.

The athletes’ village has been tried, tested and given the thumbs up by para-athletes from around the world, who have converged on Paris for 10 days of stiff competition.

It’s not easy accommodating the needs of over 4,000 athletes and their staff and each country tends to have a few specificities.

Michael Perry, team leader for the Australian para-athletics contingent, arrived a week before the athletes to check that everything was in order and was thrilled with what he found.

He says any issues are usually ironed out during the two weeks of the Olympic Games, which this year took place from 26 July to 11 August. Everything is running smoothly, he reports – with a few minor adjustments.

“The Paralympics team have invested in buying the athletes bed-toppers to make the beds a little bit softer, a little bit more what we’re used to back at home,” he tells RFI.

As well as arranging to have their very own supply of McDonald’s McCafé coffee, “they’ve found different catering companies for certain dietary needs like gluten free”, Perry adds, explaining that not everyone travels well when it comes to food and managing allergies.

‘Loyal, proud, fierce’

Staff have decorated the Australian building in the country’s green and yellow colours, as well as personalising the entrance with a giant image of Uluru and a life-size emu.

The institutional flag is draped next to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags from the balconies under the words “Loyal, proud, fierce” and “Merci Paris”.

Along with a 25-member staff, Perry takes care of the 32 para-athletes competing in track and field events this year – 17 women and 15 men.

He explains that the Australian delegation is slightly smaller for these Paralympic Games, 160 down from 179, in part due to the difficulty of getting to competitions during the post-Covid period.

Paris Paralympics fans get in the game with up-close look at parasports

Australia is competing in 17 of the 22 disciplines, and 61 of the athletes will be making their Paralympic debut.

Bets are being placed on the wheelchair racing, one of Australia’s specialities, which grabbed the spotlight in Sydney in 2000 thanks to homegrown champs Louise Sauvage and Kurt Fearnley.

They have become role models for new generations of athletes here in Paris, Perry says.

Visibility

Parasports are benefitting from better visibility, Perry says, even though it’s been a long, slow process.

He points to the fact that for the first time a major media channel in Australia, the Nine Network, snapped up the rights to broadcast both the Olympics and Paralympics across all its platforms.

Paris seeks to make athletes’ village an accessible ‘paradise’ for Paralympians

It’s a testament to the rising profile of parasports in general, spearheaded by the Paralympics.

With greater prestige have come better services for para-athletes, says Perry – starting with uniforms, which are now individually tailored rather than “one size fits all” as in previous years.

He and the team are already looking forward to continuing the momentum beyond Paris 2024 and on to Los Angeles in 2028 – and especially at home in Brisbane in 2032.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan described August’s second round of indirect talks in Ankara between his Ethiopian and Somali counterparts as constructive and positive.

“We were able to focus on the details and technicalities of concrete steps that are important convergences on some major principles and specific modalities”, Fidan said.

“This constitutes notable progress.”

While there was no breakthrough, all sides agreed to meet again in September.

Controversial deal 

Ethiopian-Somali tensions have escalated since January, when Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland, a breakaway state from Somalia.

Under the agreement, Ethiopia would secure sea access in exchange for recognising Somaliland, a deal condemned by Somalia as an infringement on its territorial integrity.

“Ethiopia needs access to a coastline”, said Dubai-based geopolitical consultant Norman Ricklefs.

“It’s the second-largest country in Africa. It’s a booming economy. And, somehow, that deal needs to be made, but it’s not going to be easy because of the previous deal earlier this year with Somaliland.”

Ricklefs predicts that finding a solution will require considerable diplomatic finesse.

“It’s not going to be easy to convince the Somalis to grant that [Ethiopian demands], feeling that they’re under pressure right now because of the deal that was previously done with Somaliland,” he said.

“But I think Turkey is probably best placed, as they have a very close relationship with both Ethiopia and Somalia.”

Somalia recently threatened to block access to Ethiopian Airlines in the latest bout of diplomatic tensions. Meanwhile, Egypt could reportedly deploy soldiers to Somalia, a move that threatens to further escalate and broaden tensions, given existing Ethiopian-Egyptian conflicts.

Ethiopia and Somalia move closer to resolving Somaliland dispute

Deepening influence

The situation between Somalia and Ethiopia is expected to be discussed during Wednesday’s summit in Turkey, where Egyptian President Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to meet.

Africa expert Elem Eyrice-Tepecikoglu from the African studies department of Ankara’s Social Sciences University said Turkey’s historical and deepening economic and military ties with both Somalia and Ethiopia give it an advantageous position in its mediating efforts.

“Somalia has a very important place in Turkey’s Africa policy. Turkey has established its largest embassy in Somalia’s capital, and it also established its largest military training facility, again in Somalia,” said Tepecikoglu.

“But Turkey also has old and established relations with Ethiopia as well. There are several investments of Turkish companies in the country, and Turkey also signed a military cooperation agreement with Ethiopia. Reportedly, Turkish drones were used against the Tigray rebel forces.”

Growing military buildup in Azerbaijan and Armenia a concern for peace talks

Economic, military stakes

Earlier this year, the Somali parliament ratified a naval agreement with Turkey to protect its territorial waters and a deal to search for hydrocarbons. Turkey is second only to China in investment in Ethiopia, including selling its military-proven drones.

Analysts suggest that there is more than diplomatic prestige at stake for Ankara in resolving Ethiopian-Somali tensions, given the region’s potential and geostrategic importance as a critical world trading route.

“There’s a reason why the Horn of Africa has American military bases and Chinese military bases. The Japanese even have a base in that area. All of them think the Horn of Africa is a pretty significant region for global shipping,” Ricklefs said.

“It’s a region that has not been developed. It has hydrocarbon resources and other resources like agricultural resources that have not been developed and would need networks and infrastructure that a country like Turkey could provide if there was security and stability.”

Ethiopian and Somali talks are set to resume in September. Success would underline Turkey’s growing influence in a region of increasing international competition, while failure could threaten two decades of Turkish investment in the region.

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 12 September. We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

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

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 counseled 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.  Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our excellent 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. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 6 July, I asked you a question about France’s snap legislative elections, called by President Emmanuel Macron after his centrist party was severely trounced by the far-right National Rally Party in the European legislative elections.

The first round of voting was on 30 June; voter turnout was quite high. You were to consult RFI English journalist Jessica Phelan’s article “The three-way factor that makes France’s election results so unusual” and send in the answer to these two questions: What was voter turnout on Sunday 30 June, and in which year was it last that high? 

The answer is: As Jessica wrote in her article: “The last three parliamentary elections have seen turnout of roughly 48 percent (2022), 49 percent (2017) and 57 percent (2012) in the first round, which effectively meant parties had to win a higher share of ballots cast to get across the threshold.

On the 30th of June turnout reached almost 67 percent – its highest since 1997.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “Given unlimited resources, what scientific or medical problem would you investigate, and why?”

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Lata Akhter Jahan from Bogura, Bangladesh. Lata is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Lata, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ras Franz Manko Ngogo, the president of the Kemogemba RFI Club in Tarima, Tanzania, and Nirupa Bain, a member of the RFI Pariwer Bandhu Shortwave Club in Chhattisgarh, India.

Last but not least, two RFI Listeners Club members: Sakawat Hossain from Sylhet, Bangladesh, and Solomon Fessahazion from Asmara, Eritrea.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Polovtsian Dances” from the opera Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, arranged for marimba ensemble by Fumito Nunoya and performed by the Nunoya Marimba Ensemble; “I’ve Got Rhythm” by George Gershwin, performed by Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and  “Un jour tu verras” by Georges van Parys and Marcel Mouloudji, sung by Mouloudji.

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 “Paralympic torch arrives in France ahead of opening ceremony”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 23 September to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 28 September 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.

Click here to learn how to 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,  

Azerbaijan showcased its military might in a grand parade in Baku last year to celebrate its victory in recapturing the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave from Armenian-backed forces.

Azerbaijan, buoyed by its oil wealth, is continuing its aggressive rearmament programme, heavily relying on Turkey for military support.

“The Turkish defence industry and Turkish military equipment will be providing further arms to protect Azerbaijan,” predicts Huseyin Bagci, a professor of international relations at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.”

However, Bagci noted that Azerbaijan is also turning to another ally for advanced weaponry.

“Israel is much better in this respect. Azerbaijan buys the highest technology from Israel, and Israel is providing it.”

Turkish and Israeli arms played a crucial role in Azerbaijan’s recent military successes, overwhelming Armenian-backed forces that relied on outdated Russian equipment.

Armenia’s response

In response to its loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia is also ramping up its military capabilities, with France leading the supply of new, sophisticated weaponry.

Paris argues that this support helps Armenia shift its focus away from Russian reliance and towards Western alliances.

Yerevan maintains that its rearmament is purely for self-defence.

“Right now, there is no military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” says Eric Hacopian, a political consultant in Armenia.

“The goal is to create deterrents to make any aggression against Armenia more costly. In the medium term, we aim for equality, and in the long term, superiority.”

Stalled peace talks

The rearmament comes amid stalled peace talks, with Baku concerned that Yerevan’s military buildup might indicate ambitions to retake Nagorno Karabakh.

“The truth is our territory was under occupation, so we worry that in five, 10 years, Armenia will rearm its military, strengthen military capacities, and will come back,” warned Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Baku-based Centre of Analysis of International Relations.

Yerevan maintains that its rearmament is purely for self-defence.

“Right now, there is no military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The goal is to create deterrents in the short run to make any aggression against Armenia far more costly than it has been in the past,” says Eric Hacopian, a political consultant in Armenia.

“Two is to create equality in the middle term and in the long term superiority. You can’t have any other goal when your country is constantly under threat, or attack is the only way to respond to it.”

Hacopian also notes: “The moment Armenia can defend itself, then the game is up because Ilham Aliyev is not going to risk a war that he is not guaranteed to win; Armenia rearming means he is not guaranteed to win a war which he means he won’t launch one.”

However, Hacopian acknowledges that the coming year will be dangerous for the region as Yerevan seeks to close the military gap with Azerbaijan.

“Next year is the year of living dangerously because next year is the last year that they can do a major aggression against Armenia without having to face the consequences because the gap is closing. Once it closes, the game will be up,” he says.

Ongoing tensions

Earlier this month, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire in a border skirmish, underscoring the ongoing tensions between the two nations.

Both Baku and Yerevan insist their military enhancements are for defensive purposes.

However, Bagci warns that the arms race is turning the region into a potential flashpoint.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan are like two children; they play with fire, and the house is burning, and everybody is asking the big powers why the house is burning and who has done it. They have done it together,” he says.

Despite their rearmament, both Armenia and Azerbaijan claim to remain committed to the US-backed peace process.

Analysts, however, warn that the escalating arms race could deepen mutual suspicions and further complicate efforts to achieve lasting peace.

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 12 September. We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

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

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 counseled 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.  Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our excellent 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. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 29 June, I asked you a question about France’s snap elections for the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly. President Emmanuel Macron had just dissolved the Assembly after his party was rather severely trounced in the European Parliament elections by the far-right National Rally party.

The first round of voting was on 30 June, and the candidates were, as I noted then, promising the moon to voters … you were to listen to Sarah Elzas’ report on her Spotlight on France podcast, and send in the answer to this question: What did the National Rally party say they would do in July to decide what they can or cannot do, as far as their economic promises to the voters?

The answer is: As Romeric Godin told Sarah on the podcast: “Many of the spending proposals put forward by Bardella and the RN are predicated on an audit of the country’s finances, planned as of July, which would determine what can (and cannot) be done.

“That’s a traditional way to say ‘We can’t implement some promises we made before, because public finances are not in order’,” says Godin, skeptical that the RN will be able to deliver.

For Godin, the economic audit offers a way out: “They can say that if the report on France’s public finances is very bad, they will not do it in the autumn, or at all.”

The fiscal information is all there, no audit is necessary.  France’s Cour des Comptes, the country’s independent and supreme audit institution, publishes a monthly report on the country’s finances. It’s not a secret document. It’s online, and everyone can read it.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What do you remember about your first day at your first job?”, which was suggested by Mokles Uddin Mollahis from Bogura, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Rafiq Khondaker, the president of the Source of Knowledge Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Congratulations, Riaz, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, and RFI Listeners Club member Hans Verner Lollike from Hedehusene, Denmark. Last but not least, there are RFI English listeners Liton Ahamed Mia, from Naogaon, Bangladesh, and Malik Muhammad Nawaz Khokhar from the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. 

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Sous le ciel de Paris” by Hubert Giraud and Jean Dréjac, sung by the one and only Edith Piaf; the traditional valse-musette “A Happy Day in Paris” performed by AccordionMan; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Hymne à l’Amour” by Marguerite Monnot and Edith Piaf, sung by Céline Dion.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate.

You have until 16 September to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 21 September 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.

Click here to learn how to 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,  

In a world increasingly dominated by Western beauty standards promoted through pop culture and the global beauty industry, the Decolonising Beauty campaign seeks to challenge narrow perceptions and showcase the multifaceted beauty traditions in Africa.

The campaign uses a multi-platform approach to reach a broad audience of English and French speakers in Africa and around the world.

A series of initiatives from the campaign will be announced until the end of the year involving photographers, artists, poets, media makers and content creators.

Zikora Media & Arts founder Chika Oduah tells us more.

• Read also: French lawmakers vote in favour of bill to ban hair discrimination

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompéani

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale

Abbas received a standing ovation in the Turkish Parliament on Thursday, where he addressed an extraordinary session. Deputies wore scarves adorned with Turkish and Palestinian flags as a show of solidarity.

With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watching from the balcony, Abbas praised Turkey’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.

“We highly appreciate Turkey’s pioneering role under the leadership of President Erdogan for its courageous and unwavering positions in defense of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence,” declared Abbas.

Increasing isolation

Erdogan is attempting to position himself at the forefront of international opposition to Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, even as Turkey finds itself increasingly sidelined from global efforts to resolve the conflict.

China’s recent hosting of Palestinian faction leaders highlights Erdogan’s diminishing influence.

“Erdogan was hoping to reconcile Palestinian factions, but China stole the spotlight and acted preemptively. China had more political clout over the parties,” Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics contemporary Turkish studies department, told RFI.

Abbas’s visit to Russia on Tuesday further underscores the growing importance of other nations in efforts to address the Gaza conflict.

Domestic message

Erdogan’s invitation to Abbas also serves as a way to reinforce his pro-Palestinian credentials with his domestic conservative base.

“He’s trying to keep his base intact domestically,” Sezin Oney, a commentator on Turkey’s Politikyol news portal, told RFI.

“Once upon a time, Erdogan resonated with the Arab public in general.

“The Arab Street, as it was called back then, and the Muslim population in general saw him as connected with international grassroots movements. But he doesn’t have that appeal anymore; he’s lost that appeal.”

Turkey a bridge?

Erdogan has long claimed to be a bridge between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

“This is an issue that Erdogan personally invested a lot of time and energy in,” said Selin Nasi.

However, Erdogan’s influence with Hamas has waned, particularly after the assassination of its leader Ismail Haniyeh last month, and his replacement by Yahya Sinwar, who is relatively unknown in Turkey.

“They cannot host [Sinwar], they cannot contact him, nor do they have the kind of relations that they had with Haniyeh. So they have to settle with Mahmoud Abbas at this point,” Oney said.

Abbas, however, appears to show little interest in Turkey’s playing a larger role in resolving the conflict, and Erdogan’s strong support of Hamas and his fiery rhetoric against Israel is increasingly isolating him from countries seeking to end the fighting.

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.