According to the Elysée Palace, Tuesday’s meeting – which takes place in the context of Hungary’s current rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union – “provides an opportunity to prepare two summits”.

During the working dinner, the two leaders “will also exchange views on the various aspects of bilateral relations, particularly in the fields of energy, defence and transport,” the Elysée Palace added.

The French president regularly meets the nationalist Hungarian prime minister – a difficult partner within the EU – before major European meetings.

The two leaders met for a working lunch at the Elysée in June, just before Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council. 

• Hungary assumes EU presidency amid controversies and corruption concerns
• Hungary’s Orban clashes with EU leaders over Ukraine, migration policies

Orban’s migration plans

This Tuesday’s meeting comes as Orban announced earlier in the day, that migrants seeking asylum must have their applications assessed before being allowed to enter the European Union. 

The Hungarian Prime Minister maintains that this model – which is in use in Hungary – is the only one that works against illegal migration.

Hotspots set up in the last safe countries for migrants – for example in Africa – could be a mass solution, Orban said after meeting the Slovak and Serbian leaders at a meeting in Komarno, Slovakia.

Follwoing the summit, Orbán, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico outlined a plan for stricter migration policies they’d like to see adopted by the EU, including more effective deportation measures and greater funding for member countries on the bloc’s external borders. 

(With newswires)

Vinatier, who worked with the Swiss NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), is one of several Westerners to have been arrested in Russia since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.

“The appeal against the verdict was registered on 21 October,” the Zamoskvoretsky court said on its website, a week after Vinatier’s sentencing.

Vinatier has admitted guilt and said he was unaware that he should have registered as a “foreign agent” – a tag that has been almost exclusively used against Russia’s domestic critics of the Kremlin.

The 48-year-old was arrested in Moscow in June and was also accused of gathering information on Russia’s military.

French researcher sentenced to three years in Russian penal colony

French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded that Russia release Vinatier, whose arrest came as tensions between Paris and Moscow mounted over the Ukraine conflict.

Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since the start of the war.

In early August, Russia and the West held the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. After this massive swap, France called on Moscow to free all people “arbitrarily detained in Russia”.

(with AFP)

In an official decree, the prefecture of Martinique stated that “all movement of individuals in public spaces is prohibited between midnight and 5.00 am until 28 October.”

The curfew is part of broader measures that also restrict the sale and transportation of gasoline and the use of fireworks.

The latest wave of unrest occurred Sunday night into Monday, marked by reports of around a dozen roadblocks, the looting of a gas station, and injuries among law enforcement officers. This unrest follows a brief period of relative calm in previous nights.

The escalation in violence comes as the French Caribbean island prepares for a day of protests against high living costs, organised by the Assembly for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC).

The citizen collective, which has been at the forefront of the movement against rising prices, refused to sign an agreement aimed at reducing the prices of approximately 6,000 food products by an average of 20 percent.

Martinique strikes deal with distributors to cut soaring food prices

This agreement had been negotiated by the police chief, local distributors, and the territorial collectivity of Martinique.

The RPPRAC deemed the number of products included in the agreement insufficient, highlighting that food prices in the region are about 40 percent higher than in mainland France.

The group has called for continued mobilisation, with around 2,000 participants expected at upcoming demonstrations.

This curfew follows an initial partial lockdown from 18 to 26 September, aimed at curbing riots, and a subsequent nighttime movement ban that began on 10 October, which was set to expire on Monday morning.

(with AFP)

This Tuesday’s appeal at the French Supreme Court will examine in particular “the decision by the judges in Nouméa to exile the defendants without any adversarial debate, and the conditions under which the transfer was carried out,” according to François Roux, one of the defendants’ lawyers.

“Many of them are fathers, cut off from their children,” the lawyer explained.

The decision from France’s highest court is expected to be handed down quickly.

• New Caledonian activists transferred to France to face charges over deadly riots

The transfer of the five activists to mainland France at the end of June was organised overnight using a specially chartered plane, according to Nouméa public prosecutor Yves Dupas, who has argued that it was necessary to continue the investigations “in a calm manner”.

Roux has denounced the “inhumane conditions” in which they were transported: “They were strapped to their seats and handcuffed throughout the transfer, even to go to the toilet, and they were forbidden to speak”.

Left wing politicians in France have also slammed the conditions of detainees, who they underline were deported more than 17,000 km from their home for resisting “colonial oppression“. 

Ongoing investigation into violence

A total of seven activists from the CCAT separatist coalition are accused by the French government of orchestrating deadly riots earlier this year and are currently incarcerated – five in various prisons in France and two in New Caledonia itself.

Among those detained in mainland France is Christian Tein, the CCAT leader who was named president of the FLNKS independence movement at the end of August. 

They are under investigation for, among other things, complicity in attempted murder, organised gang theft with a weapon, organised gang destruction of another person’s property by a means dangerous to people and participation in a criminal association with a view to planning a crime.

Two CCAT activists who were initially imprisoned have since been placed under house arrest in mainland France.

• New Caledonia’s pro-independence alliance names jailed activist as leader

Christian Tein, imprisoned in the Alsatian city of Mulhouse, is suspected of having orchestrated the violence – on a scale not seen since the 1980s – which broke out on 13 May against an electoral reform the pro-independence movement believes will  marginalise the indigenous Kanak population.

Thirteen people – including two gendarmes – were killed and the damage is estimated at several billion euros.

The Kanak leader, born in 1968, has always denied having incited violence, claiming to be a political prisoner.

The visit reflects the depth of bilateral relations based on a deep-rooted and solid partnership, thanks to the common desire of the two Heads of State to strengthen the multidimensional ties uniting the two countries, the Moroccan royal palace said in a statement.

The monarch has described the visit as an opportunity for “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors”.

It will be Macron’s second since 2018. 

Tensions

Tensions between Paris and Rabat have risen in recent years for a number of reasons including France’s ambiguous stance on the disputed Western Sahara and also because of Macron’s attempts at rapprochement with Algeria.

A statement by the European Parliament in 2023 condemning a rollback in the kingdom’s freedom of the press also ramped up tensions, with some blaming Paris.

The two countries were also at odds after France in 2021 halved the number of visas it granted to Moroccans, a decision revoked the following year.

Macron in July initiated efforts to ease tensions with Rabat, saying at the time that Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory was the “only basis” to resolve the decades-old conflict.

“The present and future of Western Sahara are part of Moroccan sovereignty,” Macron said in a statement.

France’s diplomatic turnabout had been long awaited by Morocco, whose annexation of Western Sahara had already been recognised by the United States in return for Rabat’s normalising ties with Israel in 2020.

Morocco’s king praises French support, diplomatic gains over status of Western Sahara

But the statement, made during the Olympic Games, didn’t please Sahrawis, Algeria, or the United Nations.

While Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco, it is also claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which in 2020 declared a “self-defence war” and seeks the territory’s independence.

The UN considers Western Sahara a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991. Its stated aim is to organise a referendum on the territory’s future.

But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.

After Macron’s statement endorsing Morocco’s autonomy plan, the Polisario Front and Algeria promptly withdrew their ambassadors from Paris and have yet to replace them.

Algeria recalls ambassador after France backs Moroccan plan for Western Sahara

Economic ties

The Moroccan monarch has also called the visit an opportunity for “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors”.

Rabat and Paris are old partners and now hope to pave the way for renewed economic deals, including in Western Sahara.

French engineering company Egis is set to extend the high-speed rail line between the Moroccan cities of Kenitra and Marrakesh.

In Western Sahara, French energy company Engie has been contracted to build a water desalination plant and a wind farm.

 (with AFP)

On October 11, Fitch’s decision to downgrade France’s economic outlook to “negative” serves as a warning to Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who is struggling to push his 2025 budget through parliament. The credit agency’s assessment signals a potential downgrade if the government fails to take swift action to improve public finances.

France’s fiscal situation appears increasingly precarious. The deficit, now at €167 billion (5.5 percent of GDP), could  surpass 6 percent  by year’s end. With national debt projected to hit €3.5 trillion, or 114.7 percent of GDP, France is far beyond EU limits.

France braces for economic judgment amid political turmoil and record debt

EU rules require member states to keep budget deficits below 3 percent of GDP and debt under 60 percent of GDP.

Fitch predicts that the deficit will hover around 5.4% in both 2025 and 2026 due to ongoing political uncertainty and the challenges in implementing fiscal reforms. The agency believes the budget could pass before the year’s end, but the government may need to make concessions to win support from opposition parties. 

All eyes are now on Moody’s which will reveal its judgement on France’s economy and credit-worthiness on 25 October. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Antoine Armand emphasised the government’s commitment to improving the economy following Fitch’s assessment, but will that be enough?

RFI spoke to Erik Norland, Chief Economist with the Chicago-based CMEGroup about the possible scenarios France’s economic planners are facing.

PSG won the encounter at the Parc des Princes 4-2 and a similar result at the same venue against the Dutch champions would be a welcome boost for Luis Enrique’s side in the competition following a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in their second game.

“PSV are a very high-level team, there’s no doubt about it,” said Enrique on the eve of the tie.

“They won the Dutch league with incredible figures last season,” the 54-year-old Spaniard added.

“It’ll be a complicated match, no doubt about it. It’ll be similar to the Strasbourg game. PSV put you under pressure high up the field. They play very well on the ball and defend well.”

Win

PSG’s victory over Strasbourg took them top of Ligue 1 with 20 points from eight games.

But the fixture was marred by a deluge of homophobic chanting aimed at Marseille – who PSG play on Sunday night – and the former PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot who moved to Marseille after five years at Juventus.

Bosses at the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which organises the top two divisions in France, launched an investigation into the incident.

“These latest discriminatory chants made by Paris Saint-Germain supporters are unacceptable when, at the same time, the whole of professional soccer has been working to ban homophobic behaviour and chants from stadiums,” the LFP added.

The French government also weighed into the controversy. Othman Nasrou, the interior minister in charge of reducing discrimination, said his department and the sports ministry would meet club executives to thrash out ways to stop the outbursts.

“We will be uncompromising,” Nasrou added.

PSV will play in the French capital aiming to relaunch their Champions League campaign without their fans who were barred from travelling.

“Despite the fact that PSV had no penalties outstanding, French police are citing past disturbances with supporters … there are also some domestic security issues at play,” the club said.

PSV boss Peter Bosz added: “It’s a shame not to have our supporters in Europe’s best competition. We wanted our fans with us. It’s not right that they’re not here.”

With or without the backing of the PSV faithful, Bosz’s players need a win. They lost their opening game on 17 September and drew 1-1 at home with Porto on 1 October to lie 24th in the 36-team league. 

In the revamped format of the Champions League, the top eight sides qualify automatically for the last-16 knockout stages while teams between ninth and 24th take part in a play-off for the eight other spots.

Bosz, who was head coach at Ligue 1 club Lyon for a season, admitted his players faced a challenge.

“PSG play a really offensive brand of football,” said the 60-year-old Dutchman. “Enrique loves to send out sides that dominate and even though the PSG teams that I faced during my time at Lyon were good, I think it will be more difficult to beat this one.”

Leaders and delegates from 200 countries meeting in the south-western city of Cali are under mounting pressure to protect the planet’s remaining biodiversity. 

The 12-day event will serve as the first major checkpoint on commitments made a year ago to safeguard 30 percent of the planet’s land and seas by 2030. Other key targets include restoring degraded ecosystems, reducing pesticide use, cutting destructive farming subsidies, and tackling invasive species. 

The stakes are especially high for Colombia – the world’s second most biodiverse country after Brazil – which is seeking to position itself as a conservation leader despite battling severe environmental destruction of its own. 

Rampant deforestation, notably for coca plantations, has surged since Colombia made a peace deal with Farc rebels in 2016. 

South America has been grappling with multiple crises, including devastating wildfires that have fuelled the destruction of critical ecosystems like the Amazon. Illegal mining and agriculture, meanwhile, are accelerating environmental degradation and exacerbating climate change. 

Underscoring the importance of regional leadership, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad described the event as “a Latin American moment”.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will host the Cop30 climate conference a year from now, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will be among the key leaders present.

‘Last chance’ deal to save world’s biodiversity agreed at Cop15

Indigenous rights 

Indigenous peoples, recognised as key guardians of nature, are expected to play a central role at Cop16, though their demands for more influence and direct funding remain unmet. 

While they account for only about 5 percent of the world’s population, indigenous peoples protect 80 percent of biodiversity, according to the World Bank.  

Despite this, they continue to face threats from land dispossession, illegal mining and violence.  

Dario Mejia Montalvo, former president of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and a leader of Colombia’s Zenu people, will be among those pushing for stronger rights and more direct access to funding. 

“Money in itself is not the objective, but recognising indigenous rights and strengthening their governance structures will require resources,” Montalvo told Mongabay, an environmental news site.

“International structures were created without indigenous inclusion. They were designed to exclude us.” 

The real test, Montalvo added, would be whether indigenous rights are genuinely respected and integrated into global biodiversity plans. “It’s about recognising that biodiversity is not just a landscape issue but a relationship between people and nature.” 

Why land rights for indigenous people could prevent future pandemics

Funding gaps

With species disappearing at an unprecedented rate, the window for action is closing. As things stand, only 17 percent of land and about 8 percent of oceans are protected. 

Talks at Cop16 will focus on pressuring wealthy nations to deliver the promised $30 billion annually to support biodiversity protection in developing countries.  

So far, pledges to a new biodiversity fund have fallen far short, with only about $400 million secured – and even less disbursed. Countries like China may also be called on to play a larger financial role. 

“This will be an implementation and financing Cop,” said Hugo-Maria Schally, the European Union’s lead negotiator at the summit.  

The headlining “30 by 30” target agreed at Cop15 in Montreal, to conserve 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030, is lagging behind schedule. 

The UN has warned that without urgent and coordinated global action, the goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2030 could slip out of reach.

Dual crises

But the summit isn’t just about money. Aligning climate and biodiversity goals is critical, with growing recognition that the two crises are inseparable. Biodiversity loss weakens nature’s ability to store carbon and support ecosystems vital for human survival. 

“The linked crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are increasingly tormenting our lives,” said Patricia Zurita of Conservation International, citing recent catastrophic wildfires and floods. 

Meanwhile, fewer than half of the world’s countries have aligned their climate plans with their nature commitments. This misalignment continues to hamper global efforts to address the twin environmental crises. 

The summit, which runs until 1 November, will test whether world leaders are prepared to bridge the gap between pledges and action on biodiversity, or risk allowing the ongoing destruction of ecosystems to continue unchecked. 

Hallal Bilal, chair of the Roots Wild Foundation, talks to RFI about the dwindling elephant population in his native Côte d’Ivoire and efforts to ensure the country’s emblematic animal does not become extinct.

RFI: What do you expect from the Cop 16 biodiversity summit? 

Hallal Bilal: That concrete and, above all, binding measures will be taken to force governments to invest much more in protecting biodiversity … and wildlife.

RFI: The previous Cop in Montreal set the goal of protecting 30 percent of the earth’s surface by 2030. Is this achievable?

Hallal Bilal: It’s achievable if everyone really does their bit. Governments alone can’t do everything, so we also need to get people much more involved. Civil society too, because these days we tend to run into problems with populations. So we need to work on raising awareness. 

RFI: For the past two years, many environmental scientists have been insisting that this 30 percent figure should be applied on a country-by-country basis. Can we ask each nation to commit to that?

Hallal Bilal: You can’t just ask, you have to demand each nation protect at least 30 percent of its territory, because the figures are pretty catastrophic. It’s an obligation.

RFI: In your opinion, which African countries are in the worst situation?

Hallal Bilal: My own country of Cote d’Ivoire has seen almost 80 percent of its forest and wildlife cover disappear.  The government and members of civil society are pulling out all the stops and things are beginning to change. So Côte d’Ivoire, and then the whole of West Africa.

RFI: Is this due to urbanisation or the development of agriculture?

Hallal Bilal: Urbanisation obviously plays a role; unemployment plays a very important role; agriculture plays a role.  Whether it’s cocoa, oil palm, rubber  – all crops contribute to deforestation.

Cocoa-producing countries call on EU to delay anti-deforestation law

RFI: Ivorian authorities hope to increase tree cover from 3 million to 6.5 million hectares by 2030. Is this objective possible?

Hallal Bilal: I think it’s possible because the government is doing a lot to promote reforestation throughout the country. The Ministry of Water and Forests has created National Tree Day and has opened up classified forest concessions to the private sector. Category 3 forests are therefore eligible for concessions, with private funding, to help the state restore its forests.  

RFI: Côte d’Ivoire’s emblematic animal is the elephant but it’s threatened with extinction

Hallal Bilal: The number of elephant specimens in Côte d’Ivoire has fallen dramatically. I think we currently have a population of between 200 and 500 elephants maximum.

RFI: How many were there 20 years ago?

There were over a thousand. I’d say the elephant is practically on the brink of extinction in Cote d’Ivoire. That’s why it’s vital to take action to protect them and help them reproduce. The government has taken important measures. A few months ago, the National Assembly passed a bill to create two elephant sanctuaries – one in the north and one in the south.

Deforestation has unfortunately been a major factor in the decline of elephants. They end up roaming in villages because they’re completely disoriented since there are no forests left. It’s a disaster.

RFI: Are these wandering elephants killed by villagers?

Hallal Bilal: No. As soon as the Ministry of Water and Forests receives any information, we immediately dispatch a team to protect the elephant and raise public awareness. People are amazed to see elephants. So they might get close to the animal, which can be risky or the elephant may panic. But otherwise, people don’t kill animals. In fact, we recently supported the Ministry of Water and Forests in moving two elephants to safety.

RFI: Is there still poaching?

Hallal Bilal: There is still poaching – for ivory, skin, meat. We still have a culture of eating bushmeat in Africa.

Gabon takes down international ivory trafficking network

RFI: Aren’t you worried that, behind the official rhetoric, deforestation will continue and some species will disappear?

Hallal Bilal: We won’t let that happen because we’re committed and passionate people. We’ve dedicated our lives to protecting nature. 

RFI: But if people agree with the way things are going, you won’t be able to do anything about it?

Hallal Bilal: In all honesty, we’re conducting a huge number of awareness campaigns, calling on the spirit of conservation that drives every Ivorian to take action. It’s our heritage and people understand that. Since 2023 we’ve recovered a huge number of animals.

Every day we take animals into our refuge. It’s transitional. We recover all the animals from the fight against poaching and species-trafficking. We care for them and prepare them to return to the wild, in safe areas.

And we’re continuing our awareness-raising campaigns, even in schools. Just yesterday, the foundation’s vice-president met with Adrienne Soundélé [head of the Soundélé Konan foundation fighting deforestation] and an official from the Ministry of Education, with a view to including this subject in the school curriculum.

Endangered elephants ‘eavesdrop’ on poachers in Republic of the Congo

This interview is adapted from the original conducted in French by RFI’s Christophe Boisbouvier. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

“What keeps me going is that right now, the world is a mess,” Goodall told RFI. “I care really passionately about the natural world, the environment, not just the chimpanzees, but all the other animals, but I also care about children. I care about the people around the world who are suffering so much today.”

Goodall has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2002 and has used this platform to raise awareness about the damage done to nature.

At 90, she is still crisscrossing the globe in a bid to help defend the chimpanzee, who she first went to Tanzania to study more than 60 years ago.

“I was given a gift, and when I speak, people listen.  And people who are losing hope, I seem to be able to give them more hope, to enable everyone to roll up their sleeves and take action,” she told RFI ahead of her talk at Unesco in Paris on Saturday.

Her visit to the French capital comes just two days ahead of the Cop16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia.

Reverse species destruction

 About 12,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including 140 government ministers and a dozen heads of state are due to attend the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, running until 1 November.

Themed “Peace with Nature,” it has the urgent task of coming up with monitoring and funding mechanisms to ensure that 23 UN targets agreed in 2022 to halt and reverse species destruction can be met by 2030.

The delegates have their work cut out for them, with just five years left to achieve the UN goal of placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.

Goodall told RFI that she hopes that promises made will be followed up “because the time for words and false promises is past”.

Thankfully, more people are aware of climate change now and these types of conferences lead to more networking behind the scenes and this “can lead to very positive results,” she says.

Wildlife populations plunge 73 percent amid warnings of biodiversity crisis

When asked about a recent World Wide Wildlife Fund report (WWF) that shows wildlife has fallen by 73 percent in the last 50 years, Goodall pointed out the obvious connections between climate change and the worsening biodiversity crisis.

One of the dangers, is that people don’t truly understand the issues at hand. “Scientific reports are a bit too scientific,” she says. That’s why she made a point of writing her own reports in an accessible language that “even the average 16 year-old could understand”.

“The trouble is everything, all the problems that we face… they’re all interrelated.”

One of the major issues is industrial agriculture, the use of pesticides and herbicides, and the significant quantity of water needed to change vegetable in animal protein, she points out. This results in a lot of CO2 produced with the use of heavy machinery, added to the methane gas produced by the animals themselves.

Stop greenwashing

Desperate measures are necessary, she says. Government and big companies really need to start “pulling in their belts and take action, not just greenwashing”.

“You may solve one problem, and if you’re not thinking holistically, that may create another problem.”

Besides biodiversity, Cop16 organisers have said Indigenous peoples will take an active part in the talks.

Even if Indigenous peoples have been all too often disappointed by the final decisions taken at biodiversity summits, that progress and increased presence was hailed by Goodall.

“Fortunately, we’re beginning to listen to the voices of the Indigenous people. We’re beginning to learn from them some of the ways that they’ve lived in harmony with the environment,” she told French news agency AFP.

Goodall also urged nations to tackle poverty to help protect the environment.

EU reaches ‘historic’ deal on contested biodiversity law

“We need to also alleviate poverty because very poor people destroy the environment in order to survive,” she said.

Preaching the importance of keeping alive the hope humanity can save the world, Goodall came with the message: “Realise every day you make a difference.”

“Each individual matters. Each individual has a role to play, and every one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day, and we can choose what sort of impact we make,” she said.

“It’s not only up to government and big business. It’s up to all of us to make changes in our lives.”

Goodall insisted that the world had just “five years in which we can start slowing down climate change”.

(with AFP)

The letter brands the contract worse than an own goal and hits out at Saudi Arabia’s record on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people as well as the impact of Aramco’s oil and gas production on climate change.

“Fifa’s announcement of Saudi Aramco as its ‘major’ partner has set us so far back that it’s hard to fully take in,” said the letter issued through the environmental and social campaign group Athletes of the World.

“Saudi Aramco is the main money-pump for Saudi Arabia, and is 98.5% state-owned. Saudi authorities have been spending billions in sports sponsorship to try to distract from the regime’s brutal human rights reputation, but its treatment of women speaks for itself.”

In April, Fifa, which organises tournaments such as the men’s and women’s football World Cup, agreed a 200-million euro sponsorship deal deal which would run through the 2026 men’s World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States as well as the 2027 women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Cases

Citing several cases of women imprisoned for campaigning for social justice, the letter adds:  “The Saudi authorities trample not only on the rights of women, but on the freedom of all other citizens too.

“Imagine LGBTQ+ players, many of whom are heroes of our sport, being expected to promote Saudi Aramco during the 2027 World Cup, the national oil company of a regime that criminalises the relationships that they are in and the values they stand for?”

Three up-and-coming French players – Emmy Jézéquel, Zalie Chaine and Elisa Rambaud – were among the names on the letter that was also endorsed by seasoned internationals such as Denmark’s Sofie Junge Pedersen, Dutch international midfielder Tessel Middag and 39-year-old Becky Sauerbrunn, who won two World Cups with the United States and led the campaign for equal pay for male and female American players.

The letter calls on Fifa to to give players a voice on the ethical implications of future sponsorship deals and adds: “We urge Fifa to reconsider this partnership and replace Saudi Aramco with alternative sponsors whose values align with gender equality, human rights and the safe future of our planet.”

Fifa bosses though appear determined to maintain their stance over the deal.

“Fifa values its partnership with Aramco and its many others commercial and rights partners,” said a Fifa statement.

“Fifa is an inclusive organisation with many commercial partners also supporting other organisations in football and other sports. Commercial revenue is reinvested into developing women’s soccer.”

(With newswires)

According to Sanofi, the sale of a controlling 50 percent stake in Opella to Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has valued the maker of France’s leading painkiller, Doliprane, at €16 billion. 

“Sanofi and CD&R announce today a plan to join forces to fuel Opella’s ambitions as a French-headquartered, global consumer healthcare champion,” it said Monday, after French officials approved the deal over the weekend. 

French Economy Minister Antoine Armand said on Sunday: “Our demands on employment, production and investment will be respected”.

The proposed sale had turned into a major political issue in France. 

The coordinator of the hard-left France Unbowed party Manuel Bompard has called for the sale if Sanofi’s Opella subsidiary to be blocked.

Memories are still fresh of shortages of the painkiller during the Covid pandemic and government pledges to boost domestic pharmaceutical production.

Trade unions had also expressed concern it would put 1,700 jobs in France at risk.

• France could block sale of ‘best-selling’ drug if production doesn’t stay local
• Drugs shortage sees France restart local production, target antibiotics use

‘Growth strategy’

For its part, Sanofi insisted the sale would help Opella expand by bringing in a partner willing to invest in a market that has more in common with the consumer goods market than pure pharmaceutical drugs.

Opella employs over 11,000 workers and operates in 100 countries.

Sanofi said it is the third-largest business worldwide in the market for over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements.

Doliprane is the brand under which Opella sells paracetamol, a non-opioid analgesic to ease mild to moderate pain and fever.

It also owns the antihistamine brand Allegra and the laxative Dulcolax.

“Together, CD&R and Sanofi will support Opella’s growth strategy as a pure-play, global and fast-moving consumer healthcare company,” said Sanofi, which will focus on innovative treatments and vaccines going forward.

French public investment bank Bpifrance is expected to take a two-percent stake in Opella at the end of the exclusive sale talks between Sanofi and CD&R.

The deal, however, is not expected to go through before the second quarter of next year.

(With newswires)

Police clamped down on the opposition demonstration in central Maputo on Monday morning, RFI’s correspondents report.

As presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane spoke to the press, police targeted his campaign headquarters with tear gas, forcing the opposition leader to flee, Lusa news agency has also reported.

The opposition had called for the strike and demonstrations on Saturday, the day when Mozambique learned that gunmen had killed the opposition lawyer and the party official after firing multiple rounds at a car in which they were travelling, rights groups said.

“They were brutally assassinated (in a) cold-blooded murder,” Adriano Nuvunga, CDD director, told Reuters by telephone.

“The indications that around 10 to 15 bullets were shot, and they died instantly,” he added, describing it as a “message” to opposition protesters planning to convene on Monday.

Mozambican civil society election observer group More Integrity said the attack happened in the Bairro Da Coop neighbourhood of the capital Maputo, killing Podemos lawyer Elvino Dias and party representative Paulo Guambe.

Human Rights Watch and the Mozambique’s Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD) also issued statements confirming the attack.

Rising tensions

The killings raised tensions ahead of protests against a disputed election result.

New opposition party Podemos and its presidential aspirant Venancio Mondlane reject provisional results showing a likely win for Frelimo – the party that has ruled Mozambique for half a century – and its candidate Daniel Chapo.

“The Mozambican defence and security forces committed this,” Mondlane said. “We have the proof. The blood of two young men flowing now! All of us, we’re going down the street. We will demonstrate with our placards.”

Africa programme director at London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House, Alex Vines, called the killing a “serious escalation” that raised tensions ahead of Monday’s strike.

The European Union and Mozambique’s former colonial ruler Portugal condemned the killing and called for an investigation.

Later, in the evening, Frelimo’s candidate Chapo condemned the attack as an “affront to the principles of democracy that we must all defend”.

Mondlane’s rise to become Mozambique’s main challenger was a threat to Frelimo, but also to former official opposition party Renamo – once a rebel outfit backed by racist white regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the Cold War.

Lack of credibility

Western observers have cast doubt on the credibility of the poll, noting reports of vote buying, intimidation, inflated voter rolls and poor transparency in collation – problems that have marred most polls since Frelimo introduced democracy in 1994 after two decades in power.

Full results are expected this week, on 24 October, but many fear Monday’s protest could turn bloody.

Mozambique’s security forces have previously opened fire on protesters, including after last year’s local elections, rights groups say.

For the president of Podemos, Albino Forquilha, the fight for electoral justice will continue.

“We are pressing effectively, using social media to convey our message,” Forquilha told RFI Portuguese service, “in order to make it clear that we will win these elections and deserve exactly that victory.”

To try to appease people’s anger, the Mozambican interior minister, Pascoal Ronda, called for calm and ordered the opening of an investigation.

“The government requests the relevant institutions, in particular the National Criminal Investigation Service and the police, to conduct rapidly throwing light on these matters and of translating the authors to justice,” he said. 

 (with newswires) 

Teenager Senny Mayulu scored his first Ligue 1 goal for the senior team as PSG won 4-2 to go top with 20 points after eight games.

But the match was punctuated during the second-half by abuse aimed at rivals Marseille – who PSG play next weekend – and the former PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot who joined Marseille in September.

Despite repeated pleas over the public address system for the chanting to stop, a section of PSG fans continued and jeered the requests.

“These latest discriminatory chants made by Paris Saint-Germain supporters are unacceptable when, at the same time, the whole of professional soccer has been working to ban homophobic behaviour and chants from stadiums,” said Ligue 1 organisers, the Ligue de Football Professionnel.

PSG, who play PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday night at the Parc des Princes, condemned the abuse.

“Paris Saint-Germain reaffirms its firm commitment against all forms of discrimination, including homophobia,” said a club statement.

“The club takes all necessary measures, before and during matches, to ensure that the Parc des Princes remains an inclusive place for all. We are actively working to ban discriminatory behaviour and promote a respectful environment, where every fan can enjoy soccer in complete safety.”

Behaviour

Last season, four PSG players received a one-match suspended sentence from the LFP’s disciplinary committee for offensive chants aimed at Marseille after a home league match.

Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi, Randal Kolo Muani and Layvin Kurzawa were filmed singing insults during celebrations at the end of a 4-0 victory over Marseille. The four players issued apologies.

That match was also marred by homophobic chanting by sections of PSG fans targeting Marseille players.

As a result, the LFP ordered the closure of a stand behind one of the goals at the Parc des Princes for two matches, including one that was suspended.

The French government on Monday also condemned the incident and promised tough action to stamp out the abuse.

Sports minister, Gil Avérous, convened a meeting with LFP supremos next week to discuss measures to prevent reoccurrences. PSG fans have also been banned from travelling to Sunday’s match in Marseille.

Othman Nasrou, the minister in charge of reducing discrimination, told BFMTV:  “This kind of homophobic chanting is completely unacceptable.

“It is outrageous that these kind of things can be heard in our country in football stadiums.

“Homophobia does not have a place in football stadiums just like it has no place in wider society. We will be uncompromising in the fight,” Nasrou added.

Ban

On Sunday night, Rabiot was one of the stars in Marseille’s 5-0 waltz at Montpellier to set up an intriguing tie next Sunday night against PSG at the Vélodrome.

Victory for Marseille in front of their faithful would take them level on points with PSG and emphasise their title credentials under new boss Roberto de Zerbi.

The enmity between the clubs has been one of the most intriguing in French soccer since the 1990s, when Marseille was enjoying its heyday and PSG started to become more ambitious with the backing of the French TV broadcaster Canal Plus.

However, since 2011, the rivalry has melted into mythology. PSG, bankrolled by wealthy Qatari investors, has won the Ligue 1 title 10 times in 12 seasons to become the most successful French club domestically with 12 league titles — two more than Marseille and Saint-Etienne.

Although Marseille has not secured the top flight crown since 2010, its fans still claim bragging rights over their PSG counterparts as the only French outfit to win the Champions League, European club football’s most prestigious trophy.

Thomas Tuchel steered PSG to the 2020 Champions League final but his side lost to Bayern Munich.

The close vote is a setback for President Sandu, who managed to top the first round of presidential elections held at the same time on Sunday but will face a tough second round.

The referendum had been widely expected to pass in the country of 2.6 million people which neighbours Ukraine.

Sandu had applied for Moldova to join the European Union following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

With more than 98 percent of the votes counted, the “yes” vote was slightly ahead at 50.08 percent, while the “no” camp – which had been ahead – stood at 49.92 percent early Monday.

Sandu said late Sunday that Moldova had witnessed  “an unprecedented assault on our country’s freedom and democracy, both today and in recent months,” blaming “criminal groups, working together with foreign forces hostile to our national interests”.

In the presidential election, Sandu garnered almost 42 percent of the votes, according to the results, and so will face her closest competitor, Alexandr Stoianoglo, in a second round on 3 November.

Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor backed by the pro-Russian Socialists, had picked up a higher-than-expected result of more than 26 percent in the race with 11 competitors in total.

• France says it will support Moldova amid fears of Russian destabilisation

‘Weakens pro-European image’

According to Florent Parmentier, a political scientist at the Paris-based Sciences Po university, the referendum result – even if it results in a slim victory for the pro-EU camp – “weakens the pro-European image of the population and the leadership of Maia Sandu”.

Describing the result as a “surprise”, he said it would not impact the accession negotiations with Brussels, which began this June, though a clear “yes” would have been “a clear positive signal”.

Parmentier added the results “did not bode well for the second round” for Sandu, noting many of those who supported the nine other candidates on Sunday were more likely to vote for Stoiagnolu in the second round.

A former World Bank economist and Moldova’s first woman president, 52-year-old Sandu beat a Moscow-backed incumbent in 2020, had been the clear favourite in the race, with surveys also predicting a “yes” victory in the referendum.

Sandu’s critics say she has not done enough to fight inflation in one of Europe’s poorest countries or to reform the judiciary.

In his campaign, Stoianoglo – who was fired as prosecutor by Sandu – called for the “restoration of justice” and vowed to wage a “balanced foreign policy”.

The 57-year-old abstained from voting in the referendum.

• EU chief’s visit a boost for Moldova’s hopes of joining bloc

‘Unprecedented’ vote-buying scheme

Fears of Russian interference have been looming large.

Washington issued a fresh warning recently about suspected Russian interference, while the EU passed new sanctions on several Moldovans.

Moscow has “categorically” rejected accusations of meddling.

Police made hundreds of arrests in recent weeks after discovering an “unprecedented” vote-buying scheme that they say could taint up to a quarter of the ballots cast in the country of 2.6 million.

Police said millions of dollars from Russia aiming to corrupt voters were funnelled into the country by people affiliated to Ilan Shor, a fugitive businessman and former politician.

Convicted in absentia last year for fraud, Shor regularly brands Moldova a “police state” and the West’s “obedient puppet”.

“You have crushingly failed,” Shor posted on social networks after the vote.

In addition to the suspected vote buying, hundreds of young people were found to have been trained in Russia and the Balkans to create “mass disorder” in Moldova, such as using tactics to provoke law enforcement, according to police.

(With Wires)

In addition to the loss of these forts, several coastal communities are also at risk of disappearing due to powerful tidal waves and other natural events.

It is estimated that Ghana loses an average of two meters of coastline annually to coastal erosion, with some areas having experienced as much as 17 meters of losses in all, according to a study by the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies.

Rising sea levels, driven by climate change, are not only threatening the livelihoods of low-lying communities but also posing a significant threat to the country’s historic slave forts and castles.

Historic Forts at Risk

The 240-year-old Fort Prinzenstein in Keta, Volta Region, once stood as a resilient fortress.

However, it now tells a different story after a decade of destruction by powerful tidal waves from the Atlantic Ocean. According to James Ocloo Akorli, the fort’s caretaker, about two-thirds of the fort now lies beneath the ocean.

“Eight of its ten dungeons, originally built to hold enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, were completely submerged before a sea defense wall was erected to protect what remains of the monument,” Akorli said.

Just over 100 -kilometers west of Fort Prinzenstein, the 18th-century Fort Kongenstein in Ada, Greater Accra Region, could not withstand the relentless assault of tidal waves either.

Today, where the former slave post once stood is now open ocean, with no trace of the fort remaining. Similarly, Fort Fredensborg in Old Ningo, now 289 years old, has been reduced to a small remnant of what was once the armory of the fortress.

According to Joyce Ayorkor Guddah, the Tourism and Culture Officer in Ningo Prampram district, “Fort Vernon has become a death trap, as the tidal waves have severely damaged it.”

Communities on the brink

In addition to the forts, coastal communities from the Western Region to the Volta Region are facing extinction due to the encroaching sea.

 Akorli Simon, a former resident of Fuveme, recalls, “the Sea began swallowing our community. We were devastated and had to abandon Fuveme in 2016 after a powerful tidal surge washed away the land.”

The displaced residents relocated to the nearby coastal village of Dzakplagbe, but Simon now fears that Dzakplagbe may suffer the same fate as Fuveme.

In the Western Region, the once-thriving Anlo village has been reduced to a narrow strip of land, trapped between rising tides and the swelling lagoon fed by the River Pra. The village has shrunk to a stretch of land only 60 to 100 meters wide between the sea and the lagoon.

The story is no different at Ghana’s capital Accra, in Glefe a suburb of the capital where many people have deserted their homes following the destruction from the tidal waves.

Ongoing Interventions

Efforts to combat this coastal erosion include the construction of the 8.3-kilometer Keta Sea Defence Wall, a project that began over a decade ago with funding from the United States Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) at a cost of $94 million (90 million euros).

In addition, the West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience Investment Project, Ghana 2, has been launched. This initiative aims to strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s coastline while restoring and protecting critical coastal ecosystems.

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Ophelia Mensah Hayford, noted that, “the $155 million project (151 million euro), funded by the World Bank, will be implemented in key areas such as the Korle Lagoon, Densu Basin, and Keta Lagoon. These areas have long faced challenges from tidal waves, flooding, pollution, and erosion.”

“Their tablets have to stay in their bags,” says Christophe, who teaches management and economics at a private Catholic high school west of Paris, where every student receives a tablet.

The tablets are funded by the Ile-de-France region, which oversees high schools, public and private, and which in 2020 introduced digital textbooks.

Today about half of general high schools in the region use them.

At first, Christophe said, he was open to the idea: “Traditional books are not perfect. Sometimes they are heavy and sometimes students forget them, so at first I thought it could be a good solution.

“But I was very disappointed with the screens.”

Find more on this story on the Spotlight on France podcast:

First, there were technical problems – WiFi connectivity issues, students who couldn’t find their login codes, tablets that weren’t charged.

Then, once the students actually got onto the devices, they were distracted.

“We are here to develop their concentration, to develop their attention and these skills are very important. And when you give a screen to a teenager you can be sure that he doesn’t hear you and doesn’t listen to you – he’s focused on the screen,” says Christophe.

Screen break

Students themselves admit to wanting a break from screens, especially when they already take up much of their leisure time.

Charles, a first-year student who is in an elective management course with Christophe, says he spends hours on his computer at home playing video games, to the point of forgetting to do homework. He tries to avoid his tablet at school.

“It’s my screen-free time. I just don’t want to have a screen around me for school, so I can be more focused,” he says.

His classmate Carlette says he realised several years ago that his phone was taking up too much of his time, and tried to limit himself.

“I kind of put myself on a screen-time control,” he said. “And I noticed it’s better, in the way I socialise.”

He finds he manages to use his time better with less time on his phone.

Using tech mindfully

In the class, teacher Christophe leads a vocabulary exercise, where students fill in words from a scene they have watched from a television show – projected onto a shared screen at the front of the room – on a piece of paper.

“When they work in class, they do it on paper. They have to focus on the document,” he explains. “It’s easy for me to check they are doing the exercise, and to help students who have trouble.”

Christophe co-founded a collective a year ago calling for a joined-up approach to using technology in schools, amid mixed messages coming to students, parents and teachers.

Then and still today, lawmakers were grappling with the issue of screens – both in and out of education.

To ban or to back?

At the end of 2023, then Education Minister Gabriel Attal started talking about the serious health risks of screens and social media to young people.

More than once, he called young people using screens at home a potential “health catastrophe”.

Such caution resulted in a trial ban on personal smartphones in several schools at the start of the latest term.

Yet schools have equally been encouraged to embrace technology, even as uptake has proved variable.

While broad frameworks are set by the Ministry of Education, decisions about material, including screens and textbooks, are made locally – by French regions for middle and high schools, and by cities for primary schools.

This means there are vast differences across the country. Statistics show that there were 24 tablets and other mobile devices per student in high school classrooms in 2022, which suggests many regions do not have any.

In primary school, there is an average of four desktop computers per hundred students, and no mobile devices.

Defining a balance

In April, President Emmanuel Macron received an expert report he had commissioned on the use of screens by young people, which recommended limits on screens, smartphones and social media.

It highlighted the fact that decentralised policy-making undermines a unified approach to screens in schools. And it warned that consistency in and out of school is key.

“The strategies used in schools must be coherent with the messages sent from elsewhere to parents,” the report said.

Christophe, the high school teacher, agrees. “Parents say, ‘don’t use your screen’, and at school, ‘use your screen’,” he says. “It’s not logical, it’s hard to understand. We need a clear message.”

For him and his collective, the key is to strike the right balance between helping students focus on schoolwork and learning how to use computers responsibly.

Students “need digital skills and we think it’s necessary to have a class with computers so they can learn how to use Word, to use how to organise their files, how to use the internet”, he says.

“We want classes with digital tools, to learn digital abilities. But we don’t want the use of digital tools as a way to study other subjects.”

More on this story on the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 117. Listen here.

“It started off as ‘Mama’, and now as the years have gone by, it’s ‘Mamie’ (grandma),” Lips tells RFI.

Now a 68-year-old retiree, she has been helping migrants who come to Calais in the hope of crossing the English Channel for the past 24 years.

Living in a modest house opposite what was once part of “the Jungle“, the informal camps that housed thousands of people at a time, Lips remembers that the crisis showed up literally on her doorstep.

“People would ring my doorbell asking for water. I said to myself, ‘why me?’ Well, because no one else on the street opened their door to give out tap water,” she recalls.

“And then, as the months went by, other people started arriving with the little Nokia phones you used to get at the time, and I started charging these little Nokias in my house. And over the months, there came bigger telephones, batteries…”

Communication lifeline

Mobile phones are even more important for displaced people than most, those working on the ground point out.

“It is too often forgotten, and cannot be repeated often enough, that the mobile phone is the primary source of autonomous information: to translate, to call, to search, to find your way around, to call for help,” notes Techfugees, a non-profit that has assisted projects to provide migrants in Calais with chargers, power, SIM cards and WiFi.

“Everything requires a charged phone.”

Lips sees the demand for herself. So many people come to her house to top up that she has created an informal charging station in her garage, with rows of numbered power sockets and a gamut of cables.

People dropping off their phones are handed a handwritten ticket that they must bring back to exchange for their device, remembering to respect her opening hours.

“I open from 8 to 9 in the morning, from 11.30 to 12.15 in the afternoon and from 5 to 6 in the evening,” Lips explains.

“I close on Saturday and Sunday in order to keep time for my family,” she says, though she admits she has been known to relax those rules.

Painful stories

Lips also offers simple food, paid for out of her own pocket, and used clothing. 

While she’s got to recognise many of the people who stop by, over time, she says, she learned not to push the relationship.

“At first I would ask dumb questions like, ‘are you still in touch with your mother?’ And I’d get the answer: ‘my mother was killed in front of my eyes,'” Lips says.  

“Once I said, ‘have you ever seen the sea before?’ Absolute nonsense, because they’ve crossed the Mediterranean. And the guy told me: ‘yes, I’m one of the survivors from the boat that sank.’

“So after that, you stop asking. You wait, and if there’s a conversation, you listen. You wait for them to feel free. But for them to feel free, they need to be welcomed. You don’t just unburden yourself like that from the very first day. If they stay a while, they’ll start to tell a little bit of their story.

“So some of them, I know their stories. But it takes a very long time.”

Podcast: Human side of Calais Jungle shared on social media

Shadow of shipwreck

The accounts Lips hears are shocking, especially lately. At least 50 people are reported to have died attempting to cross the Channel on small boats this year so far.

In one incident earlier this month, four people died on overcrowded boats in one day, including a two-year-old child. The victims are believed to have been trampled by panicked passengers, with some drowning in water that accumulated in the bottom of their dinghy.

“That mother who lost her child of two years old – what a tragedy, what pain, honestly, to come so far and lose your child in the bottom of a boat,” Lips says. “These things are just horrible.”

Soon after that, she recalls, “one guy came to me and said: ‘Mamie, we didn’t make it over.’ And I said to him: ‘no, but you didn’t die.'”

Unstoppable

Lips understands why politicians are keen to show they’re taking action – including France’s new right-wing government, which has promised to table the country’s 33rd immigration law in 44 years by early 2025.

But after nearly a quarter century observing migration up close, she’s doubtful new measures will make a difference.

A heavy-handed approach by the authorities hasn’t stopped her own activities.

“The local police, national police, riot police, they’ve all come round to intimidate me, saying that the neighbours are complaining about the migrants flowing in and out of my property – as if these guys were coming all the way from the Horn of Africa to charge their phones at my house,” she says.

“Rubbish. I’ve never sent a message to Sudan saying, ‘come to my house, if you’re in Calais you’ll be welcomed with open arms’.”

Lips, who says her Catholic faith drives her to try to help, remains defiant about her own small contribution.

“The way I see it, I’m in my own home and I do what I like there.”

This story is adapted from an interview in French by RFI’s Charlotte Idrac.

Upon arriving at the fair, visitors are immediately confronted with a huge mass of mixed materials in the shape of a head. The eye sockets are computer screens filming people passing by. The face has a plastic toilet seat for the nose and a car bumper for a mouth.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure? Yes and no, explains Cameroonian artist Malam, one of nearly 100 artists represented at the 9th edition of AKAA – ‘Also Known as Africa’ art and design fair, which wrapped up after three days on Sunday.

“I call this piece ‘Emergency Therapy’ because the way I see it, there’s an urgent need to reconsider our habits, our daily routines with regards to consumerism,” Malam told RFI.

Two companion sculptures, slightly smaller, were placed at different locations within the fair. “We’re watching you,” the large faces seemed to be saying.

Originally from Douala, Malam has been working for many years in a workshop in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris and is represented by the 193 Gallery. His works have been displayed at numerous art fairs over the years, including the Dakar Biennale, Johannesburg art fair and Art Basel in Switzerland.

His creative approach gives the notion of “collection” a whole new meaning. His works are made of junk that was left out for the garbage trucks. Sadly, the supply is endless, he says.

Everyday objects fill the space in between the long, coloured tubes that twist around the whole piece, providing the ears, chin and back of the head. Barbie dolls and trucks peek out from the chaos. Toys, Malam says, make up a sizeable quantity of discarded objects.

“I don’t choose the objects, they choose me,” he says, adding that the works are by nature “evolutive” and that “any object can find its place in this piece. There’s no rule”.

He says incorporating screens into the work is a way of provoking a form of self-awareness, which is sorely needed in today’s world.

Instead of filming selfies, it might be time to really look at our relationship to ourselves and our earth, he suggests.

African feminism pumps the heart of Benin’s debut at Venice Biennale

“We’re being scrutinised for our behaviour, what we buy and how we see ourselves. This installation addresses the fact that we need to get back to our core values.”

For Malam, artists have the freedom to create works that express universal messages, regardless of their country of origin. “Inspiration is global, there are no borders,” he says.

His works seem to be saying that in the same way, there are no borders when it comes to climate change. The environmental impact of pollution and overproduction affects us all.

In terms of representing the African continent and its multiple diasporas, AKAA has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings, according to its founder and director Victoria Mann.

As an arts student she was shocked to hear people say “contemporary African art doesn’t really exist” and so she set out to rectify that.

South African artist Gavin Jantjes on his major retrospective

With 41 exhibitors of art sourced from 29 countries, the 2024 event has confirmed its ambition to be “a platform of discovery”.

After a focus on African-American artists in 2023, visitors were this year treated to a special focus was on the Caribbean region and French overseas territories such as Guadeloupe and Reunion Island.

The event is also gearing up to expand, with a special AKAA for Los Angeles on the horizon.

He spoke the same day Russian forces announced they had captured another village in eastern Ukraine as they continued their steady advance.

Barrot’s two-day visit, aimed at underlining Paris’s unflinching support for Ukraine, comes at the end of a week in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled his “victory plan” to defeat Russia, again calling for beefed-up Western backing.

“A Russian victory would consecrate the law of the strongest and precipitate the international order towards chaos,” Barrot said alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga.

Asked by a Ukrainian journalist whether Paris supported Zelensky’s “victory plan”, Barrot said: “We support the victory plan because we have been alongside Ukraine for nearly 1,000 days.”

Peace plan

During the rest of his remarks, Barrot only used the more general expression “peace plan” when referring to the possibility of bringing about an end to the conflict.

Paris, like Ukraine’s other Western backers, has not outlined an official position in response to Zelensky’s proposals and is studying the details.

After meeting Barrot in Kyiv, Zelensky said he was “grateful to France for its support of the victory plan” which can “bring real diplomacy and a just peace closer.”

“The meeting was exactly what we needed,” he said in his evening address.

The central plank of Zelensky’s plan is for Ukraine to be given an immediate invitation to join the NATO military alliance.

Barrot said Paris was “open” to the idea and was discussing it with other members of the alliance.

Zelensky defends ‘victory plan’ before EU leaders and NATO defence chiefs

Zelensky’s blueprint also rejects territorial concessions and calls for allies to lift restrictions on using donated long-range weapons against military sites inside Russia.

It also proposes deploying a “non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” on Ukrainian territory.

Since Russia invaded in February 2022, Kyiv has outlined several proposals, initiatives and principles that it says should underpin any end to the conflict.

In June, almost 80 countries endorsed a 10-point “peace formula” proposed by Ukraine that said its territorial integrity must be respected.

Ahead of Barrot’s visit, France’s foreign ministry said Paris welcomed the objectives that underpinned the latest initiative, which details how Kyiv believes it can win the war.

Zelensky last week undertook a whistlestop tour of Europe to brief key leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, before outlining some details of the plan publicly.

US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Germany, France and Britain on Friday voiced their “resolve to continue supporting Ukraine in its efforts to secure a just and lasting peace”.

North Korea involvement

For Ukraine, Sybiga also warned Saturday that the involvement of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia carried a “huge threat of further escalation”. There was a risk of the war “going beyond the current borders and boundaries”.

Seoul’s spy agency said Friday that North Korea had decided to send “large-scale” troops to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, reporting that 1,500 special forces were already in Russia’s Far East and undergoing training.

Russia on Saturday claimed its latest territorial advance, saying it had taken the village of Zoryane in eastern Ukraine.

Biden calls on European allies to maintain backing for Ukraine

Moscow’s forces have been steadily advancing across the eastern Donetsk region, even as Kyiv continues to mount its own cross-border offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region.

Russia has been concentrating its offensive on Kurakhove, home to about 20,000 people before Russia invaded, and the strategic prize of Pokrovsk, some 30 kilometres to the north.

Ukraine has struggled with manpower and ammunition shortages in the face of Moscow’s better-equipped military.

France’s armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said separately that Paris was ordering new equipment for Ukraine’s army using 300 million euros of interest recovered from frozen Russian assets.

The new delivery will include 12 Caesar cannons, Lecornu told the Sunday edition of La Tribune.

(with AFP)

While India does not permit “active” euthanasia, which involves use of substances such as lethal injections or external force to end life, court rulings have permitted clinicians to withhold life-prolonging treatment in certain cases.

Now the government has drafted guidelines to standardise such decisions and is seeking expert feedback on the proposals. 

According to the Health Ministry’s draft, published on 30 September, doctors must take considered decisions in a patient’s best interest in cases involving an incurable condition from which death is inevitable in the foreseeable future.

Life support may be forgone or discontinued at the request of terminally ill patients themselves, including through advance instructions for how they would like to be medically treated after losing decision-making abilities.

Alternatively, doctors may judge treatment more likely to cause suffering than benefit. In that case, the draft said, they must refer the case to a panel of other physicians for review.

If the board agrees, there will be another multi-disciplinary meeting with family and a shared decision will be made. In some circumstances, a second board of doctors must approve too.

Medical, religious opposition

India’s Supreme Court in 2018 ruled a terminally ill patient can seek passive euthanasia through a “living will”. Five years later, judges simplified the order and asked the government to prepare permanent rules.

The Indian Medical Association, which has 350,000 doctors on its rolls, said it would study the draft and advise the government to tweak its provisions if needed.

Association president RV Asokan warned that “the guidelines could expose doctors to legal scrutiny and increase stress in their decision-making”.

“The perception and assumption that machines are unnecessarily used to prolong lives is wrong. It exposes doctors to legal scrutiny,” he told news agency PTI.

India struggles to confront its mental health problems

Meanwhile many Christian activists are opposed to any form of euthanasia, which they argue is ripe for abuse.

“Relatives may want to get rid of an old patient who they take to be a burden on them and their freedom,” John Dayal, former president of the All India Catholic Union, told RFI.

“In a land where kidneys are stolen from beggars and rickshaw-pullers when they have been drugged into sleep, can we trust the medical profession and the law and justice system to be the watchdog guardian?”

Regulatory gap

But others involved in frontline care said the guidelines would help close a regulatory gap.

“We have been doing this for years,” said Sushma Bhatnagar, a professor of palliative care at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, whose experts helped formulate the guidelines.

“Once we know that a patient is terminal, we counsel them and their family members to withdraw care. They are usually made comfortable and sent home. However, there was no guideline or legal procedure for the same,” she told the Indian Express.

Except in cases of medical emergency, she said, many patients prefer to spend their final days with their family rather than in intensive care.

By next year, 189 million people will be over 60 years of age and fuel demands for 175 million additional hospital beds in India, where 32 million people fall below an official poverty line every year because of medical bills.

Thwarted by Covid, India re-emerges as a medical tourism hotspot

On October 11, Fitch’s decision to downgrade France’s economic outlook to “negative” serves as a warning to Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who is struggling to push his 2025 budget through parliament. The credit agency’s assessment signals a potential downgrade if the government fails to take swift action to improve public finances.

France’s fiscal situation appears increasingly precarious. The deficit, now at €167 billion (5.5 percent of GDP), could  surpass 6 percent  by year’s end. With national debt projected to hit €3.5 trillion, or 114.7 percent of GDP, France is far beyond EU limits.

France braces for economic judgment amid political turmoil and record debt

EU rules require member states to keep budget deficits below 3 percent of GDP and debt under 60 percent of GDP.

Fitch predicts that the deficit will hover around 5.4% in both 2025 and 2026 due to ongoing political uncertainty and the challenges in implementing fiscal reforms. The agency believes the budget could pass before the year’s end, but the government may need to make concessions to win support from opposition parties. 

All eyes are now on Moody’s which will reveal its judgement on France’s economy and credit-worthiness on 25 October. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Antoine Armand emphasised the government’s commitment to improving the economy following Fitch’s assessment, but will that be enough?

RFI spoke to Erik Norland, Chief Economist with the Chicago-based CMEGroup about the possible scenarios France’s economic planners are facing.

Over 405,000 people – both Lebanese and Syrian – have crossed into Syria from Lebanon since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to figures from UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Approximately 60 percent are under 18, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Thursday, and most are struggling to meet basic needs.

The returnees are mainly people who had sought sanctuary in Lebanon from the civil war in Syria, now in its 13th year. “In Lebanon, there have been nearly one million Syrian refugees just since 2011,” says Metin Corabatir of the Research Centre on Asylum and Migration, an Ankara-based NGO.

He warns this could be just the beginning of the exodus if the fighting in Lebanon continues, threatening to overwhelm Syria.

“We are not talking only about Syrian refugees going back to Syria, but the Lebanese population is moving, crossing the border to Syria. And Syria would either try to close the borders or force them to go north to the Turkish borders,” Corabatir told RFI.

“This really would lead to a catastrophic situation for people, for countries and may pull Turkey into more tensions with Israel.”

Anti-refugee backlash

People fleeing Lebanon have been arriving at refugee camps in north-east Syria, close to the Turkish border. But Turkey, already hosting an estimated five million refugees, including over three million Syrians, is facing growing public backlash over their presence.

“Turkey basically cannot handle more refugees,” warns Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, head of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an international think tank.

Earlier this year, tensions spilled over into violence against refugees in the provincial city of Kayseri. The issue has become a significant political liability for the government, with opinion polls routinely finding large majorities wanting refugees to leave.

Even if the country has the practical capacity to take more people in, “I don’t see Turkey accepting a massive new wave of refugees”, predicts Unluhisarcikli. 

Turkey’s Syrian refugees face local hostility as economic problems mount

Border barricades

In the last couple of years, Ankara has constructed a wall along its border with Syria in a bid to prevent more refugees from entering Turkey. 

Murat Aslan, of the pro-government Seta Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, believes such efforts will only continue as the war in the Middle East threatens to trigger a new exodus.

“Turkey does not want any further waves coming from another region because Turkey is just experiencing and mending an economic crisis,” he says. “Inflation is currently under control, and we expect a decrease in it.

“What does another wave of refugees mean? A lot of spending, a lot of inflation, and other than this, societal insecurity. That’s why Turkey will not tolerate another wave.”  

But such a stance will likely be tested if Israel continues its offensive, creating more refugees and with them, the risk of Turkey facing a humanitarian crisis on its border.

Turkey continues to host more refugees than anyone else, but for how long?

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.

It’s time for you to start thinking about your New Year’s resolutions for our annual New Year’s Day show. If you’ve already made up your mind about what you’ll aim for in 2025, go ahead and send it to us … if not, be sure you send us your resolution – or resolutions if you are really ambitious! – by 15 December.

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!

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 bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

Remember, podcasts are radio, 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 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 21 September, I asked you a question about a gender equality plan at France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  We reported on that plan in our article “France’s foreign ministry unveils two-year gender equality strategy”.

You were to re-read the article and send in the answer to this question: What is the Foreign Ministry’s goal for promoting women to important posts? What is the percentage they are aiming for?

The answer is, to quote our article: “According to the ministry, this year more than 45 percent of ambassadors appointed for the first time will be women, while among newly-appointed consuls-general, over 40 percent will also be women.” 

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “How would you define a truly happy person?”, which was suggested by Sabah Binte Sumaiya from Bogura, Bangladesh:

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Hans Verner Lollike from Hedehusene, Denmark. Hans is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Hans, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Samir Mukhopadhyay from Kolkata, India; Mizanur Rahman from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Faiza Zainab – who’s also a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Last but certainly not least, RFI English listener Tafriha Tahura from Munshiganj, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Mazurka no. 4″ by Frédéric Chopin, arranged by Serge Forté and performed by the Serge Forté Trio; “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” by Krzysztof Penderecki, performed by Antoni Wit and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra; “La Grande Galerie de la Zoologie” by Philippe Hersant, performed by the Ensemble Bestiaire Fabuleux; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin, performed by McFerrin.

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 Paul Myers’ article “Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich sets women’s world record at Chicago Marathon”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 11 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 16 November 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,  

Ghana is being swamped by millions of unwanted clothes from the West, creating an environmental disaster as textile waste piles up across the country.

The scale of damage to public health and the environment has been laid bare in a new Greenpeace report that exposes the devastating impact of discarded clothing on communities and ecosystems in Ghana. 

About 15 million items of second-hand clothing arrive in Ghana each week. Nearly half cannot be resold.

The unsellable clothes end up in informal dumps or are burned in public washhouses, contaminating the air, soil and water.

“The situation is catastrophic. These clothes are literally poisoning our communities,” said Sam Quashie-Idun from Greenpeace Africa, speaking to RFI.

The report shows how Ghana has become a dumping ground for the world’s unwanted textiles, with devastating consequences for local ecosystems.

“What we’re seeing is environmental racism. The Global North is using Ghana as its trash can,” said Hellen Dena of Greenpeace Africa.

The flood of cheap, disposable fashion reflects broader problems with global waste management and environmental justice.

To explore this issue further, RFI spoke to Sam Quashie-Idun and Hellen Dena from Greenpeace Africa.  

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale.

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!

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 bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

Remember, podcasts are radio, 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 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 14 September, I asked you a question about Algeria’s presidential elections. Held on 8 September, the incumbent, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, was reelected.

RFI English reporter Melissa Chemam followed the race closely; the day after the election she wrote an article for us, “High expectations as Algeria’s President Tebboune begins new mandate”. Her article is about what’s on Tebboune’s presidential plate economically and socially for his next mandate.

There are several worries in civil society, as Melissa noted: “The first mandate of President Tebboune saw a clampdown on civil liberties and seen the army take on a more important role.”

Your question was about the army, and its, as Melissa noted, “more important role”. In August, a few days before Tebboune declared his candidacy, a decree was issued involving the army. You were to tell me what was in that decree.

The answer is, to quote Melissa’s article: “A few days before Tebboune’s declaration of candidacy, in August, a decree was published to legalise the transfer of the senior civil administration under the direct authority of the army.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “red”? The question was suggested by Ashik Eqbal Tokon from Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State in India. Radhakrishna is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Radhakrisha!  

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Father Stephen Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon; Shadman Hosen Ayon from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, and Atikul Islam – who is also the president of the Narshunda Radio Listeners Family in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Last but certainly not least, RFI English listener Jahangir Alam from the Friends Radio Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Autumn” from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Carla Moore and Voice of Music; Traditional Chaabi music from Algeria; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Mr. Bobby” by Manu Chao, performed by Chao and the Playing for Change musicians.

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 “Algeria’s Tebboune refuses France visit in snub to former colonial ruler”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 4 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 9 November 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,  

The Paris Olympic Games and Paralympics gave French-language songs huge exposure, adding new fans to the global audience already growing on streaming platforms. But what kind of music are non-French-speakers listening to and why? A new exhibition at the recently opened International Centre of the French Language asks the question. Its curator, the music journalist Bertrand Dicale, based the exhibit on the idea that songs reveal who were are, and he talks about what popular songs reveal about France. He also highlights some surprising differences between French and foreign audiences, which have allowed stars like Aya Nakamura and Juliette Gréco to enjoy huge success abroad despite being scorned at home. (Listen @0’00)

France lags behind many countries in the use of technology in classrooms and there is no clear policy from an ever-changing education ministry. But the disorganisation may be buying educators time to consider the consequences. A report commissioned in the spring by President Emmanuel Macron advised placing limits on young people’s use of smartphones and social media, and some schools are testing a smartphone ban this year. Founded by concerned educators, the collective Pour une éducation numérique raisonnée (“For a sensible digital education”) has raised its own concerns about the push to digitise textbooks and get students learning on screens. We visit a class taught by one of its members, and see how technology is – and is not – used. (Listen @22’00)

In the midst of Nobel season, a look at some of France’s 71 prizes, from the first ever Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 to the five won by members of the Curie family for physics and chemistry. (Listen @15’00)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

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

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.