The Caucasus country – rocked by mass protests earlier this year – has been plunged into political uncertainty following this weekend’s parliamentary vote, with both Brussels and Washington denouncing “irregularities”. 

For months, the ruling Georgian Dream party has been accused by the opposition of steering Tbilisi away from its goal of joining the EU and back into Russia’s orbit.  

According to results announced by the electoral commission, Georgian Dream won 54.08 percent of the vote, compared with 37.58 of the votes taken by the pro-EU coalition. 

The opposition has said the vote was unfair and has refused to concede defeat to a party it accuses of pro-Kremlin authoritarianism. 

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday called for an independent probe into “irregularities” in Georgia’s weekend election, insisting that Georgians had a “right to know what happened”.

“For so many years now, the people of Georgia have been striving and fighting for democracy. They have a right to know what happened this weekend. And they have a right to see that electoral irregularities are investigated swiftly, transparently and independently,” von der Leyen said in a speech at the College of Europe in the Belgian city of Bruges.

Opposition politicians have said they would renounce their mandates and will not enter the newly elected parliament.  

“We are witnesses and victims of a Russian special operation, a modern form of hybrid war against the Georgian people,” President Zourabishvili said Sunday. 

She joined opposition calls – including from jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili who led mass protests 20 years ago that first set Georgia on a pro-EU path – for protests.  

International observers said Saturday’s election was “marred by an uneven playing field, pressure and tension”. 

An EU parliament mission also expressed concern about “democratic backsliding”, saying it had seen instances of “ballot box stuffing” and the “physical assault” of observers.

• Georgia thrown into political turmoil after disputed vote

‘Time for mass protests’

Several opposition groups called for mass protests in the capital Tbilisi, already rocked by massive demonstrations earlier this year over several repressive laws passed by Georgian Dream.    

Saakashvili, who spearheaded the bloodless Rose Revolution in 2003, said on Facebook that opposition lawmakers should renounce their parliamentary seats.

“Now is the time for mass protests. We must show the world that we are fighting for freedom and that we are a people who will not tolerate injustice,” he said.

The result announced by the electoral commission gives Georgian Dream 91 seats in the 150-member parliament – enough to govern but short of the supermajority it had sought to pass a constitutional ban on all main opposition parties. 

“Our victory is impressive,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said in a statement, accusing the opposition of “undermining the country’s constitutional order” by questioning his party’s victory.

US Secretary Anthony Blinken, however, blasted the “misuse of public resources, vote buying, and voter intimidation” which he said “contributed to an uneven playing field.”

But as the US and EU said they were concerned about how fair the vote was, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban defied the calls and was due to begin a visit to Tbilisi to show his support to Georgian Dream.    

• Hungary’s Orban clashes with EU leaders over Ukraine, migration policies

Orban expected

The EU’s bete noire who has retained ties to Moscow despite the Ukraine invasion, Orban is an ally of Georgian Dream and current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency. 

He congratulated Georgian Dream for an “overwhelming victory” on Saturday, after one exit poll showed the government in the lead and before preliminary results were published.

The Hungarian leader is expected to spend two days in the country. 

As Orban prepared to go to Tbilisi, other EU leaders condemned the vote – with some backing the call of the opposition. 

“The President of Georgia has announced that the parliamentary elections were falsified. Europe must now stand with the Georgian people,” Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X Sunday.  

• Macron, Scholz voice ‘deep concern’ at Georgia foreign influence law

‘Constitutional coup’

Opposition parties have lined up to denounce the vote. 

“This is an attempt to steal Georgia’s future,” said Tina Bokuchava, leader of Saakashvili’s United National Movement.

Nika Gvaramia, leader of the liberal Ahali party, called the way the vote was held “a constitutional coup” by the government.

Huge demonstrations took place in May against a law on “foreign influence”, that critics said mirrored Russian legislation used to silence Kremlin critics. 

The US imposed sanctions on Georgian officials following the protests. 

Georgian Dream’s oligarch founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is highly critical of the West. 

He has described the West as a “global war party” that seeks to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.  

In a report released ahead of the Cop29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, the WMO said the peak in greenhouse gas levels already locks in future temperature rises, even if emissions are cut to net zero. 

Carbon dioxide climbed to 420 parts per million (ppm), a concentration that has not existed for three to five million years. During that era, temperatures were 3C warmer and sea levels up to 20 metres higher than today. 

“Another year. Another record. This should set alarm bells ringing among decision makers,” said WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo. “We are clearly off track to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2C.”  

Last year’s rise of 2.3ppm in atmospheric CO2 marked the 12th consecutive year with an increase above 2ppm – bringing overall levels to 151 percent higher than pre-industrial times.

Ecosystems hang in the balance as Colombia hosts crucial biodiversity talks

Wildfires and El Nino

Natural phenomena like El Nino, combined with large vegetation fires and persistent fossil fuel emissions, helped drive up CO2 levels, the WMO report found.  

The effectiveness of carbon sinks such as forests and oceans has been reduced, creating what scientists call a “vicious cycle”. 

“Climate change itself could cause ecosystems to become larger sources of greenhouse gases,” said WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett.  

“Wildfires could release more carbon emissions into the atmosphere, whilst the warmer ocean might absorb less CO2. Consequently, more CO2 could stay in the atmosphere to accelerate global warming.” 

Global fire carbon emissions were 16 percent above average in 2023, including record-breaking wildfire seasons in Canada. Australia experienced its driest three-month period on record from August to October, with severe bushfires. 

The report showed methane levels reached 1,934 parts per billion – 265 percent above pre-industrial levels. Nitrous oxide hit 336.9 parts per billion, up 125 percent. 

Analysis reveals that just under half of CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere, with about one quarter absorbed by oceans and just under 30 percent by land ecosystems.  

However, this varies yearly due to El Nino, which reduces carbon uptake by plants, and La Nina, which can increase it. 

Ice loss and plant growth mark new era for warming Antarctica

Long-term warming impact

Greenhouse gases are warming the Earth 51.5 percent more than they did in 1990, with CO2 driving four-fifths of that increase, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Scientists emphasised that CO2’s extremely long lifetime means temperature increases will persist for decades, even with rapid emissions cuts.  

Carbon dioxide accounts for approximately 64 percent of climate warming, mainly from fossil fuel burning and cement production. 

With the concentration of CO2 at its highest in millions of years, the WMO emphasised the urgent need for global action.  

“Every part per million and every fraction of a degree temperature increase has a real impact on our lives and our planet,” Saulo said. 

The WMO’s findings serve as a key publication ahead of next month’s discussions at Cop29 in the Azeri capital Baku. 

Depardieu’s trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot begins this Monday, with numerous further complaints and a possible second court case already lying in wait.

75-year-old Depardieu was expected to appear at the criminal court hearing starting at 1:30 pm, however his lawyer Jeremie Assous has said he will be absent for health reasons and will ask for a postponement.

Speaking on French radio this Monday morning, Assous said his client will not be present, but “wants the truth to come out”.

“[Depardieu] is extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors have forbid him from being present at the hearing, which is why he will ask for a postponement to a later date so that he can attend,” Assous explained. 

The actor is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema’s version of the #MeToo movement, triggered in 2017 by allegations against US producer Harvey Weinstein.

The names of the two women accusing Depardieu of abuse during a 2021 film shoot have not been made public.

• French screen star Depardieu to go on trial for sexual assault in October

‘False accusations’

One of the plaintiffs – a set dresser now aged 55 – reported in February that she had suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults while filming director Jean Becker’s Les Volet Verts (The Green Shutters) in a private house in Paris.

“I expect the justice system to be the same for everybody and for monsieur Depardieu not to receive special treatment just because he’s an artist,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt told reporters.

The second plaintiff in Monday’s case – an assistant director on the same film – also alleges sexual violence.

Assous said that Depardieu’s defence would offer “witnesses and evidence that will show he has simply been targeted by false accusations”.

He accused one of the plaintiffs of attempting to “make money” by claiming €30,000 in compensation.

• Anger over Macron’s defence of French actor Depardieu, accused of rape

‘Hiring an assaulter’

Anouk Grinberg, an actor who appeared in The Green Shutters, has said that Depardieu had used “salacious words … from morning till night”.

“When producers hired Depardieu to work on a film, they knew they were hiring an assaulter,” she added.

Grinberg said that in her experience, Depardieu had “always used sexual, smutty language” – but that his behaviour had become “much, much worse, with permission from his profession, that pays him for it and covers up his offences”.

Around 20 women have now accused Depardieu of various sexual offences.

Actor Charlotte Arnould was the first to file a criminal complaint.

A judge has yet to rule on a request from prosecutors in August for Depardieu to stand trial for raping and sexually assaulting her.

An investigation is also underway in Paris after a former production assistant accused Depardieu of a sexual assault in 2014.

“Never, but never, have I abused a woman,” Depardieu wrote in an open letter published in conservative daily Le Figaro in October last year.

Weeks later, President Emmanuel Macron shocked feminists by complaining of a “manhunt” targeting Depardieu, who he called a “towering actor” who “makes France proud”.

Macron’s remarks followed the broadcast by an investigative TV show of a recording of Depardieu making repeated misogynistic and insulting remarks about women.

(with newswires)

According to the government and local sources, an attack by the jihadist group Boko Haram on the Chadian army killed around 40 people overnight Sunday near the Nigerian border. 

In a statement, the Chadian presidency said the attack struck near Ngouboua in the west of the country, “tragically leaving about 40 people dead”.

President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited the scene early on Monday – a garrison housing more than 200 soldiers – and launched an operation “to go after the attackers and track them down in their furthest hideouts”, the statement added.

The attack reportedly struck at 10:00 pm local time, when Boko Haram members took control of the garrison, seized weapons, burnt vehicles equipped with heavy arms, and left. 

Jihadist insurgency

A vast expanse of water and swamps, Lake Chad’s countless islets serve as hideouts for jihadist groups, such as Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State in West Africa, who make regular attacks on the countries’ army and civilians.

Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria in 2009, leaving more than 40,000 people dead and displacing two million, and the organisation has since spread to neighbouring countries.

In March 2020, the Chadian army suffered its biggest ever one-day losses in the region, when around 100 troops died in a raid on the lake’s Bohoma peninsula.

The attack prompted then-president Idriss Deby Itno – the current president’s father – to launch an anti-jihadist offensive.

• Dozens of Chadian soldiers killed in Boko Haram surprise attack
• Boko Haram and ISWAP are kidnapping children to train as soldiers and merciless killers

Epicentre of terrorism

In June, the International Office for Migration recorded more than 220,000 people displaced by attacks from armed groups in Lake Chad province.

Chad is an important ally for French and US forces aiming to fight jihadists in the Sahel, which has become the epicentre of global terrorism under attack by factions loyal to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have ended military operations with the US and France in recent years and have turned to Russia for support instead.

(with newswires)

Speaking to journalists at the Palace of the Republic ahead of the launch of electoral campaigns, Faye said: “I invite all Senegalese people, and in particular political players from all sides, to avoid any excesses in their speeches and actions”.

“Over the past few days, we have observed comments and behaviour that smack of communalism, as well as verbal and physical threats in the public arena and in the media on social networks. This is not the way to express our differences,” he added.

The Senegalese president called on those involved to show “responsibility, restraint and moderation,” assuring that the “elections will be free, democratic and transparent”.

• Senegal’s president dissolves parliament, calls snap November election
• Senegal unveils 25-year development plan aiming for economic sovereignty

A break with the past

The people of Senegal will elect a new parliament on 17 November, just eight months after the presidential election in which Faye won the first round with 54 percent of the vote.

Campaigning got underway on Sunday.

Faye, elected on the promise of a break with the past, social justice and the fight against corruption, and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, have been battling for months with a hostile parliamentary majority following legislative elections in 2022.

In order to secure a new majority, Faye dissolved the national assembly in September – as soon as the constitution allowed him to do so – paving the way for early elections.

The president also affirmed that Senegal was on the road to recovery, saying: “The fruits of our reforms are beginning to be felt in the form of concrete results”.

(with AFP)

The 2023 Cup of Nations runners-up were due to land at Benghazi airport for the Group D encounter in the city but the pilot of their aircraft was instead told to head for Al Abraq Airport in Bayda, some 200km to the east.

After landing, Nigerian players and members of their technical staff remained in the departures lounge for more than 16 hours before returning to Nigeria and boycotting the game.

Players posted videos on social media of the conditions in the lounge.

Regret

The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) said it regretted the flight diversion. “It is essential to note that such incidents can occur due to routine air traffic control protocols, security checks or logistical challenges that affect international air travel,” a spokesperson added.

But the Nigerian federation lodged a complaint for what it called inhumane treatment with the Confederation of African Football, (Caf) which organises the biennial Cup of Nations.

Africa Cup of Nations bosses investigate Nigeria squad’s Libyan airport debacle

Its disciplinary committee ruled that Libya had breached several articles of the Caf code.

“The Libya-Nigeria match is declared lost by forfeit by Libya (with a score of 3-0),” Caf added.

The decision to award the game to Nigeria extinguishes Libya’s slim hopes of reaching the continent’s most prestigious national team tournament.

Libya have not taken part in the finals since the 2012 competition in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. 

Macron – who was invited by King Mohammed VI in September – will be accompanied by his wife Brigitte and the new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

This marks Macron’s second visit since 2018 and offers what the Moroccan royal palace described as “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors”.

Morocco, a former French colony, has maintained economic ties with France since gaining independence in 1955. However, tensions have escalated in recent years, particularly over France’s stance on the Western Sahara region.

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

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

Moroccan ‘sovereignty’

In July, Macron sought to ease tensions by backing Morocco’s autonomy plan for the region, calling it the “only basis” for resolving the conflict.

“The present and future of Western Sahara are part of Moroccan sovereignty,” Macron said at the time.

Morocco welcomed this diplomatic shift, having already gained US recognition of its claim over Western Sahara in exchange for normalising ties with Israel in 2020.

Despite Morocco’s stance, the United Nations still considers Western Sahara a “non-self-governing territory” and has maintained a peacekeeping mission there since 1991 with the aim of organising a referendum on the territory’s future.

However, Rabat has consistently rejected any vote that includes independence as an option.

Economic opportunities

Macron’s visit is expected to open the door to future economic deals. Morocco is a major destination for French investment in Africa, with over 900 French subsidiaries operating there.

Of the 40 companies listed on France’s CAC 40 stock market index, 33 are active in Morocco.

French engineering firm Egis is set to extend Morocco’s high-speed rail line from Kenitra to Marrakesh, while French energy company Engie is building a seawater desalination plant in Dakhla, in partnership with Moroccan firm Nareva.

Engie is also constructing a wind farm in the region.

The Moroccan Sahara, which has vast solar and wind energy resources, is a strategic area for economic growth in Morocco, which is moving towards renewable energy and hopes to find a place in the green hydrogen market.

Morocco names woman former journalist as ambassador to France

Immigration

Macron’s visit could also help to address ongoing issues, particularly around immigration and visa policies. In 2021, France reduced the number of visas issued to nationals from several Maghreb countries, including Morocco, but lifted these restrictions in December 2022.

Morocco recently expressed readiness to accept the return of its citizens who have migrated illegally to Europe, though it criticised host countries for delays in repatriation.

French lawmakers have called for stricter migration policy after a Moroccan irregular migrant was arrested on suspicion of killing a 19-year-old French student last month.

The suspect had been ordered deported after a prior rape conviction, but his return was delayed due to issues with paperwork. Rabat later stated that the deportation request was not correctly issued.

“Morocco is ready, but is the other party ready?” Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said at a press conference on 8 October, adding that Rabat did not “need to receive lessons” on combating irregular migration.

“Morocco is ready, but is the other party ready?” Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told a press conference on 8 October, adding that Rabat did not “need to receive lessons” on the fight against irregular migration.

(with AFP)

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is set deep inside a mountain on Norway’s Spitsbergen island, about 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole, where it can withstand disasters ranging from nuclear war to global warming.

Often referred to as the “Noah’s Ark” of food crops, it acts as a backup for gene banks around the world that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.

Launched in 2008 with funding from Norway, the three cold chambers are today home to some 1.3 million varieties of seeds that their owners can withdraw at any moment.

Since its launch in 2008, funded by Norway, the vault’s three cold chambers have housed around 1.3 million seed varieties that can be withdrawn by their owners at any time.

The vault plays a critical role in preserving plants needed to feed a growing global population facing the impacts of climate change.

On Tuesday, more than 30,000 samples from 23 organisations in 21 countries were deposited, the Crop Trust, a partner in the project, said in a statement.

“This marks the largest number of depositors since the Seed Vault received samples from a record-breaking 35 genebanks in 2020, underscoring the urgent global effort to conserve crop diversity in the face of escalating climate change, conflict and other crises,” the statement read.

Among the latest deposits are seeds from vegetables, legumes and herbs sent by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The trust also expects new seed samples from Sudan in February – another country suffering from war and famine.

Why reviving old crops is key to saving Africa’s degraded soils

‘Protecting culture’

Bolivia made its first contribution to the vault through the Universidad Mayor Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca, a 400-year-old institution. The seeds were collected by 125 farming families from local communities.

“This deposit goes beyond conserving crops; it’s about protecting our culture,” said the project coordinator for the Norway-funded Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development in Bolivia.

Chad, also making its first deposit, sent 1,145 samples of sesame, rice, maize and sorghum, crops crucial to the country’s food security and adapted to withstand high temperatures and unpredictable rainfall.

“Climate change and conflict threaten infrastructure and impact food security for over 700 million people in more than 75 countries worldwide,” Crop Trust director Stefan Schmitz said.

The vault’s chambers are only opened two or three times a year to limit exposure to the outside world.

Even if the refrigeration system were to fail, the vault would maintain its cold temperature thanks to the permafrost around it.

(with newswires)

The battered book and Saint-Exupery’s passport, issued by the French culture ministry, will go on sale at the Abu Dhabi Art 2024 fair which opens on 20 November, with an expected price of at least $1.25 million.

It was acquired earlier this year for an undisclosed sum by rare books specialist store Peter Harrington.

The typescript also contains numerous drawings by the author as well as his famous phrase “One only sees clearly with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes”.

Sammy Jay, of Peter Harrington Rare Books, said it was one of three known versions of the transcript, one of which is held by the National Library of France (BNF).

“Unlike the other two which were given to people, he kept this one and it was his own working copy of the typescript so that’s what makes it extra special,” Jay said.

In addition to the handwritten corrections, the version due to be sold includes passages that were later edited out.

Unusual offering

Such a book is extremely unusual in the rare books market, where sky-high prices are not the norm.

“You don’t usually get something of this status,” Jay said, citing the example of the scroll typescript for Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road”, which sold for $2.4 million in 2001.

“The market for rare and ancient books is very different from any other market in the sense that you don’t often sell for millions,” he said.

“The Little Prince” remains one of the world’s best-selling books having sold more than the first “Harry Potter” and “The Hobbit” combined, according to Jay.

Love story set in fascist Italy wins France’s top literary prize

The typescript, he said, had generated a lot of interest and was expected to be snapped up by a museum or private collection, possibly in Asia or the Arab world.

Saint-Exupery wrote his tale about an alien prince and his interstellar travels while in exile in the United States in 1942, having fled France after the Nazi invasion.

The pilot-explorer left the United States in 1943 to fight on the north African front and the book was published the same year in the United States only.

Saint-Exupery disappeared during a flying mission over the Mediterranean in July 1944, and never saw his book’s worldwide success.

October and November are peak months for art fairs worldwide, especially in France.

On the weekend of 19-20 October, most art galleries gathered in Paris for Art Basel and regional events like AKAA, which focuses on African arts, and Asia Now.

However, curators Jenn Ellis and Emie Diamond chose Beaune, in Burgundy, to launch Terra, with help from producer Milena Berman, who has lived in the region for years.

Around 50 international artists are participating, including renowned German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, Mariana Hahn, British painters Rebecca Halliwell Sutton and Jodie Carey, New York-based German-American artist Nick Mauss, South African artist Mia Chaplin, and French artists Emmanuelle Rosso and Antoine Langenieux-Villard.

Singaporean artist Wyn-Lyn Tan also features in the exhibition.

The exhibitions offer a variety of visual interpretations of territory, space and beauty.

Displayed in villas, châteaux and heritage sites in and around Beaune, Terra invites artists to reflect on the history of the locations, combining French tradition with an international perspective on nature and culture.

Terra is on view until 17 November.

He says mining has spoilt the town which lies in South Kivu province, polluting rivers and destroying fields.

Hundreds of foreign companies, most of them Chinese-owned, mine gold in the mineral-rich province often without permits and without declaring profits, according to local authorities.

For a long time, civil society groups and members of the church in Kitutu, have been the only people taking a stand against the powerful mining businesses, who often have friends in high places.

“From the deputies, to the village chief, everyone receives something (from the companies), money or shares (in businesses),” Marcheselli told AFP.

In July, South Kivu governor Jean-Jacques Purusi suspended “illegal” mining activity in the province until companies could comply with Congolese mining laws.

Under the legislation, companies would have to renew their mining permits, some of which have been expired for decades.

Since the ban, firms, which normally operate in the shadows, have come in hordes to the governor’s office in an attempt to get authorisation to resume business.

“In place of the 117 illegal companies we invited, 540 showed up here overnight”, Purusi said.

DR Congo seeks justice and reparations for Rwanda’s role in conflict

Access denied

In the town of Kamituga, some 40 kilometres from Kitutu, gold mining is in full throttle.

In one site mined by Congolese cooperative Mwenga Force, around 400 people delve into vast open pits hoping to make a few dollars a day.

The president of an association for artisanal diggers, Felicien Mikalano, says local operators “don’t have the same means” as Chinese firms, such as machinery and cash.

Artisanal mining refers to small-scale mining, carried out by individuals without big machinery and not employed by big businesses.

The practice is forbidden to foreigners by the country’s mining code, but Chinese companies use local cooperatives as “partners” to circumvent the ban.

Around half of the Congolese cooperatives in the province are partnered with Chinese companies, according to the bureau of scientific and technical study (BEST), a Congolese NGO specialising in mining governance.

A few kilometres from Kamituga, at the end of a dirt track, access to a mine operated by one of these cooperatives is controlled at three checkpoints.

AFP was not allowed to pass them.

Officials employed to control and inspect mining sites are also refused entry.

“It is difficult to monitor these companies,” said inspector Ghislain Chivundu Mutalemba.

“These Chinese partners mine (and) the cooperatives sell the product over the counter. We don’t know what percentage the Chinese take, or how much they produce”, he said.

“All that I know is that the bosses take the gold and bring it to Bukavu, I don’t dare ask questions,” says gold buyer Siri Munga Walubinja.

“But I have never seen a Chinese person, it is uniquely the Congolese buying,” he adds.

Gold bought in Kamituga is transported to South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu by “big traders”, most of them Congolese.

Once they arrive in the provincial capital, some declare only a fraction of their merchandise and sell the rest illegally in DRC, which is then transported by smugglers to Rwanda, according to BEST.

In December 2022, the government granted a monopoly on gold exports from South Kivu to Congolese state-owned business Primera Gold.

The move aimed to “break the ore export routes to Rwanda”, and “to target political opposition business”, according to a note from the French Institute of International Relations published in February 2024.

Gold exports out of South Kivu have boomed from 42 kilograms (92 pounds) in 2022 to more than five tonnes (11,200 pounds) in 2023 — about a sixth of the officially declared national production.

But Primera Gold now lacks the liquidity to buy the mineral and has failed to curb the black market, according to BEST.

The channels used by the Chinese companies, none of which responded to AFP’s requests for comment, remain unknown to the authorities and NGOs.

Even Purusi is having trouble getting answers from businesses.

“Their representatives put you through to this general (telephone line) or a minister in Kinshasa on the phone, to tell you not to bother them,” says the provincial governor.

Kwoyelo was convicted of dozens of war crimes in August, the first time an officer of his seniority had been tried by Uganda‘s judiciary.

Founded in the late 1980s with the aim of overthrowing the government, the LRA brutalised Ugandans under the leadership of Joseph Kony for nearly 20 years as it battled the military from bases in northern Uganda.

The insurgents carried out horrific acts of cruelty, including rapes, abductions, hacking off victims’ limbs and lips and using crude instruments to bludgeon people to death.

“The convict played a prominent role in the planning, strategy and actual execution of the offences of extreme gravity,” Justice Duncan Gasagwa, one of the four judges, said.

“The victims have been left with lasting physical and mental pain and suffering.”

Kwoyelo avoided the death sentence because he was recruited by the LRA at a young age, was not one of the top-ranking commanders, and has expressed remorse and a willingness to reconcile with the victims, Gasagwa said.

Kwoyelo had denied the charges during the trial. His lawyer, Caleb Alaka, told the court he would appeal against both the verdict and the sentence.

In around 2005, under military pressure, the LRA fled to the lawless jungles of South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, where it also unleashed waves of violence against civilians.

Splintered elements of the group, including Kony, are believed to still live in those areas, although attacks are now infrequent.

The Ugandan military captured Kwoyelo in 2009 in northeastern Congo and his case crept through the Ugandan court system until he was convicted in August.

He was found guilty on 44 charges, 31 were dismissed as duplications of others while he was acquitted on three.

An arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) against Kony in 2005, making him the court’s longest standing fugitive.

The LRA’s original aim was to create a state based on Kony’s interpretation of the Ten Commandments.

 (Reuters)

Libya resumed oil exports this month after a pause caused by a dispute over control of the country’s central bank, which oversees oil exports.

“This was a serious crisis,” said Jalel Harchaoui from the Royal United Services Institute. “And while it’s partly fixed, there are still issues that need attention.”

The row between Libya’s two rival administrations which led to the temporary halt, was only resolved by intense negotiations, but Harchaoui claims the conflict’s repercussions continue.

Newly reconciled, Turkey and Egypt could be a force for stability in Africa

“A lot of players, including armed groups in Tripoli, are trying to take advantage of whatever has happened over the last several weeks. So I’m not describing a scenario of war, but I’m describing a more volatile environment,” he said.

Turkish-Egyptian relations

However, a recent rapprochement between Egypt and Turkey could offer hope of easing Libyan tensions.

“We agreed to consult between our institutions to achieve security and political stability,” pledged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at a press conference last month in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

Libya once was a point of Turkish-Egyptian rivalry, with Cairo backing the eastern Libyan administration in Benghazi of Khalifa Haftar and Ankara supporting the western Tripoli-based Government of National Unity. Now, Egyptian-Turkish collaboration is key to resolving the latest Libyan crisis.

“Both countries can push the Tripoli-based government at least to accept something or come to the least terms that they can agree,” said Murat Aslan of the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, a pro-Turkish government think tank. “So it’s a win-win situation for both Egypt and Turkey.”

Economic crises

With both the Turkish and Egyptian economies in crisis, the economic benefits of cooperating in Libya are seen as a powerful force behind the country’s rapprochement and Libyan collaboration.

Fighting between rival militias in Libya kills dozens

“These two countries are very important to one another,” said Aya Burweila, a Libyan security analyst

“They’ve figured out a way to divide spheres and work together. Even in the east now, Turkish companies have cut lucrative deals, infrastructure deals, just as Egypt has.

“So economy and money drive a lot of these political friendships and reapportionment.”

Ankara is looking to Cairo to use its influence over Hafta to support an agreement it made with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity to explore widely believed energy reserves in Libyan waters.

Libya’s stability at greater risk with turmoil in Niger and Sudan, UN warns

At the same time, Cairo is pressing to remove Ankara-supported Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh of Libya’s Government of National Unity. Despite differences, Harchaoui says Cairo and Ankara are committed to cooperation.

“What has already been decided is that they are going to speak and they are going to speak on a daily basis,” said Harchaoui.

“And then at every crucial moment, they are going to make sure and Turkey, specifically, is going to make sure that Egypt is on board.

“But we need more tangible results from the dialogue that has already been in place,” he added.

“Across Europe, people have to pay to get into the most remarkable religious buildings,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati told conservative daily Le Figaro in an interview on Wednesday.

She proposed “a symbolic charge for all tourist visits to Notre-Dame with the money totally dedicated to a major plan for conserving religious heritage” in a conversation with the Catholic archbishop of Paris.

Notre-Dame, gutted by a fire in 2019, is set to reopen on 7 December following an extensive reconstruction. A €5 entrance fee could generate around €75 million annually, Dati estimated.

“That way, Notre-Dame would be saving every church in Paris and across France. It would be a magnificent symbol,” she said.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau supported the idea, noting that visitors are charged €5 to enter the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

“If for five euros we can save religious heritage that people cherish, whether they believe or not… it’s just part of the French landscape,” Retailleau told France Inter.

Criticism

However, not everyone agrees. Historian Alexandre Gady, a member of the National Commission for Architecture and Heritage, called the proposal “a money-making plan in the wrong place”.

Gady suggested increasing the tourist tax slightly instead, pointing out that charging for entry clashes with the principle of “cultural democratisation” initiated by Culture Minister André Malraux in 1959.

Parisians also have mixed feelings. Christine, in her 70s, called it “a very big disappointment” but added: “If we can maintain the church, why not, but it’s still shocking.”

Vincent, another local, said the idea was acceptable as long as the money goes directly to repairing the cathedral and not into the state coffers.

Five years after devastating fire, race to rebuild Notre-Dame gains pace

Non-EU visitors to pay more?

Dati also proposed charging higher fees for tourists from outside the European Union to visit French national monuments and museums.

“The French public shouldn’t have to pay for everything by themselves,” she said.

Tourists near Notre-Dame mostly welcomed the idea, saying they were used to paying for church visits in countries like Italy and England.

However, what bothers Anna, a German tourist, is the idea of ​​having a fixed price: “You shouldn’t force people to pay, it would be better to let them choose what they give. If you can give two euros, you give two euros, and if you can give 10 euros, you give 10.”

France was the world’s most visited country in 2023, according to the UN’s World Tourism Organisation, with around 100 million arrivals – beating out Spain, the US, Italy, and Turkey in the top five.

(with AFP)

Slavery and the threat of climate change were major themes for representatives of the 56 countries in the group, most with roots in Britain’s empire, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that began in the Pacific Islands nation on Monday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose country has long rejected calls for financial compensation for nations affected by slavery, said summit discussions were not “about money”.

On slavery, the leaders said in a joint statement they had “agreed that the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity”.

The push for ex-colonial powers such as Britain to pay reparations or make other amends for slavery and its legacies has gained momentum worldwide, particularly among the Caribbean Community and the African Union.

The statement also made reference to “blackbirding”, a term for people from places including the Pacific Islands being deceived, coerced or kidnapped to work on plantations in Australia and elsewhere.

Remorse over slavery grows in Europe, but reparations are slow to follow

Those opposed to reparations say countries should not be held responsible for historical wrongs, while those in support say the legacy of slavery has led to vast and persistent racial inequality.

The joint statement did not mention what form reparations should take.

Global South amplifies calls for compensation for historical injustices 

Starmer told a press conference the joint statement did two things: “It notes calls for discussion and it agrees that this is the time for a conversation.

“But I should be really clear here, in the two days we’ve been here, none of the discussions have been about money. Our position is very, very clear in relation to that,” he said.

Professor Kingsley Abbott, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, said the statement was a sign of a potentially historic breakthrough on the issue.

“The commitment to conversations on reparatory justice wedges open the door for dialogue, and now the hard work really begins,” said Abbott, who attended the summit.

The joint statement also referred to concern about “the severe consequences of the climate crisis, including rising temperatures and sea levels”.

More than half of the Commonwealth’s members are small nations, many of them low-lying islands at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change.

New Chief

The Commonwealth members selected Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey as the group’s new secretary-general.

Botchwey, a supporter of reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonialism, takes over from Britain’s Patricia Scotland, who has been in the job since 2016.

King Charles and Queen Camilla, who both attended the summit, flew out of Samoa after a visit in which the monarch acknowledged the Commonwealth’s “painful” history.

Before leaving, the royal pair attended a farewell ceremony in heavy rain in the village of Siumu.

Charles said in a speech to the summit on Friday that he understood “from listening to people across the Commonwealth how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate”.

“It is vital, therefore, that we understand our history, to guide us towards making the right choices in future,” he said.

The king and queen’s time in Samoa followed a six-day tour of Australia, where a large crowd turned out to see them at the Sydney Opera House.

Charles also met with Indigenous elders in Sydney, after being heckled by an Indigenous senator in Canberra.

 (Reuters)

Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate, faces Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump, who’s been busy energising his supporters with populist rhetoric.

The outcome of the election will influence the political landscape far beyond US borders.

“Just under 2 percent of the world’s population have the right to go to the polls in November to decide who will be the next US president,” said Misha Glenny, rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

He adds that with an average 60 percent voter turnout in US presidential elections since 2004, about 96 million people will make a choice with far-reaching consequences for the remaining eight billion around the globe.

The election carries stark implications for US foreign policy.

“We are in an incredibly dangerous moment, whoever wins the election,” says David Vine, a political anthropologist and author of The United States at War.

“The choice between Harris and Trump includes a choice between a future where the United States remains an empire with bases and troops encircling the globe and an empire that is engaged in multiple wars,” he added.

Domestic concerns

While the world watches, American voters are focused on issues like immigration, education and the economy. Rising prices are hitting households hard, with 56 percent of Americans reporting financial strain, up from earlier this year.

Polls, like those from Pew Research, show that voters trust Trump more on economic issues than Harris, which could hurt her candidacy.

Politically, there are fears about authoritarianism, especially if Trump wins a second term.

This sentiment has led to what Business Insider calls the “great Trump diaspora” as some to consider leaving the country altogether should their preferred candidate lose.

A Scripps News/Ipsos poll this week found that 62 percent of people think violence after Election Day is “very likely” or “somewhat likely”, with fears of unrest shared by 59 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Democrats.

Harris holds a slight lead in the polls, but by no more than 3 percent, and her advantage has been shrinking in recent days.

Abortion rights have become a key concern for voters, with 8 percent identifying it as a top issue – the highest percentage recorded by Gallup. LGBTQ+ rights, particularly for transgender individuals, are also a focus, with many fearing their safety could be at risk depending on the election outcome.

The Civil Liberties Union reported that during Trump’s previous term, his administration “initiated a sustained effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people.”

• US elections: Who are the running mates for the key candidates?

Electoral college doubts

Another point of concern is the US electoral system itself. Established in the 18th century, it relies on 538 electors who formally cast votes for the president based on their state’s popular vote. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win, but this system doesn’t always align with the national popular vote.

“You could theoretically win the Electoral College with about 35 percent of the total popular vote,” said Mark Herman Schwarz, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, explaining that the system disproportionately favours rural states with smaller populations.

Abolishing the Electoral College would be difficult, as it’s enshrined in the constitution and would require approval from two-thirds of Congress and at least 38 states.

“The only way I could see change is if Republicans consistently lost elections to Democrats who won fewer popular votes but more electoral college votes,” said Schwarz, though he sees this as unlikely given the current system’s advantages for Republicans.

“The fight for the right to vote for women was a 50-year-long battle,” said Susan Boser, social policy director at the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania – a non-partisan group promoting women’s political participation.

“And since then, any efforts to restrict it or to deny equal access under the law have been battles we’ve fought for a long time. We’re not going away now,” she told RFI.

One of the most divisive issues ahead of the 5 November vote is the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that had guaranteed women’s constitutional right to an abortion.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation case that the constitution “does not confer a right to abortion” – giving individual states the power to regulate or ban abortions.

Boser, who had grown up knowing abortion was legal and safe, said she was appalled and angry when she heard the ruling.

“I am fearful for the women whose lives are affected by this,” she added, underlining that after the Dobbs ruling, many southern states banned abortions.

An abortion-ban tracker by The New York Times shows that 21 states now “ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v Wade”.

As a result, women seeking abortions are travelling to states like Pennsylvania, where it is legal up to the 23rd week of pregnancy.

“We’ve seen a large influx of people coming here for abortions,” Boser said.

To protect those seeking abortions, Pennsylvania is preparing legislation to prevent judges, courts and medical facilities from sharing information about abortion seekers and their helpers with other states that could prosecute them.

But the issue remains unresolved. While Democrats control the State House of Representatives and support the bill, the Republican-led Senate is opposed.

“It’s a very hot issue now,” Boser said.

Cornerstone

Reproductive rights have become a cornerstone of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s campaign, with her often sharing personal stories that highlight the dangers of restricted access to abortion.

Her vocal advocacy contrasts sharply with the mixed messages of her Republican opponent Donald Trump. he wants to appeal to his conservative anti-abortion base, while also trying to reach moderate and undecided voters.

Polling data shows Trump trailing Harris by nearly 13 points among women voters nationwide.

However, women voters are not united on abortion. Many conservative women, especially in rural areas, support Trump’s anti-abortion stance, seeing the end of Roe v Wade as a victory.

This reflects a broader divide, with some women prioritising issues like the economy and healthcare over reproductive rights.

But the abortion issue may be a gamechanger, Boser said.

“On the issue of reproductive choice, you will see that’s a factor in who they vote for,” she added.

“And they’re more likely to lean Democrat, not just for president, but also in the down-ballot races for governor and candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate.”

Hours later the Israeli military said it had completed the strikes and achieved its objectives, warning Iran not to respond. A semi-official Iranian news agency vowed a “proportional reaction” to the Israeli moves against Tehran.

Iranian media reported multiple explosions over several hours in the capital and at nearby military bases, starting shortly after 2AM (2230 GMT on Friday).

Before dawn, Israel’s public broadcaster said three waves of strikes had been completed and that the operation was over.

Iran said its air defence system successfully countered Israel’s attacks on military targets in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam with “limited damage” to some locations.

The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s retaliation for a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on 1 October, in which it fired around 200 missiles at Israel, killing one person in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Tensions between arch rivals Israel and Iran have escalated since Hamas, the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group based in Gaza, attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.

Hamas has been supported by Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants, also backed by Iran.

Fears that Iran and the US would be drawn into a regional war have risen with Israel’s intensifying assault on Hezbollah since last month, including airstrikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and a ground operation, as well as its year-old war in Gaza.

“In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel – right now the Israel Defence Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran,” Israel’s military said in a statement announcing the attack.

‘Obligated to respond’

The Israeli military said later it had completed its “targeted” attacks in Iran, striking truck missile manufacturing facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays, adding its planes had safely returned home.

“If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond,” the military said.

Targets did not include energy infrastructure or Iran’s nuclear facilities, a US official said.

US President Joe Biden had warned that Washington, Israel’s main backer and supplier of arms, would not support a strike on Tehran’s nuclear sites and had said Israel should consider alternatives to attacking Iran’s oil fields.

Iranian authorities have repeatedly warned Israel against any attack.

“Iran reserves the right to respond to any aggression, and there is no doubt that Israel will face a proportional reaction for any action it takes,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Saturday, citing sources.

A senior Biden official said Israel’s “targeted and proportional strikes” should be the end of direct exchange of fire between the two countries, but the US was fully prepared to once again defend Israel if Iran should choose to respond.

US informed ahead of strikes  

Videos carried by Iranian media showed air defences continuously firing at apparently incoming projectiles in central Tehran, without saying which sites were coming under attack.

Tasnim reported Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bases that were attacked were not damaged and said Iran was resuming flights from 9AM (0530 GMT) after a suspension during Israel’s attack. Neighbouring Iraq was also resuming flights, its state news agency said.

Israel targeted some military sites in Syria’s central and southern parts with airstrikes early on Saturday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. Israel has not confirmed striking Syria.

Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other security officials closely followed the operation at the military’s command and control centre in Tel Aviv.

Gallant spoke to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin shortly after Israel’s strikes began. Austin emphasised the enhanced force posture of the United States to defend U.S. personnel, Israel and its partners across the region, the Pentagon said.

Israel notified the United States before striking, but Washington was not involved in the operation, a US official told Reuters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the Middle East for another attempt to broker a peace deal, said on Wednesday Israel’s retaliation should not lead to greater escalation.

Saudi Arabia condemned the attack on Iran as a “violation of its sovereignty” and international laws. It urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and called on the international community to take action towards de-escalation and ending conflicts in the region.

Even as it sought to convince Israel to calibrate its strikes, the United States moved to reassure its closest Middle East ally that it would aid in its defence should Tehran stage a counterattack.

This included Biden’s decision to move the US military’s THAAD anti-missile defences to Israel, along with about 100 US soldiers to operate them.

 (Reuters) 

The shift reflects “increasing risk that France’s government will be unlikely to implement measures that would prevent sustained wider-than-expected budget deficits and a deterioration in debt affordability,” said Moody’s Ratings.

It changed France’s outlook from “stable” to “negative.”

In the same statement, the agency affirmed France’s credit rating at Aa2, saying this was supported by its “large, wealthy and diversified economy.”

In lowering the outlook, Moody’s said the fiscal deterioration it has seen is “beyond our expectations and stands in contrast with governments in similarly rated countries that are tending to consolidate their public finances.”

France’s new finance minister Antoine Armand noted the decision Friday but maintained that the country is able to carry out “far-reaching reforms.”

France faces credit downgrade as Moody’s readies verdict on €3.2 trillion debt

He said some have already produced results and added that the country has economic strength, while vowing to restore its public finances.

Armand had told AFP on Thursday that France must take “credible” steps to tackle its high deficit.

For now, Moody’s said risks to France’s credit profile are heightened by its political and institutional environment.

It noted the situation is “not conducive to coalescing on policy measures that will deliver sustained improvements in the budget balance.”

“As a result, budget management is weaker than we had previously assessed,” it added.

New French Prime Minister Michel Barnier is hoping to bring public sector deficit to below five percent of gross domestic product next year, from an expected 6.1 percent in 2024.

The government hopes that in 2029 it will drop to below three percent, the agreed deficit ceiling for EU members.

This month, he unveiled a deficit-slashing budget.

France’s annual budget debate has often triggered no-confidence motions and Barnier’s plan sparked vocal opposition even before its full details were known.

France’s debt is expected to rise to close to 115 percent of GDP next year, compared to an EU debt target of 60 percent.

In absolute terms, France’s debt stood at over 3.2 trillion euros, having risen by about one trillion since President Emmanuel Macron took power in 2017.

French PM vows more taxes and spending cuts to reduce ‘colossal’ debt

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings also affirmed France’s rating at AA- but revised its outlook from “stable” to “negative,” pointing to heightened fiscal policy risks.

On Thursday, Armand said “the work we’ll be doing over the coming months will be to monitor and fine-tune our public spending” to make savings.

Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin added that the strength of the French economy continued to be recognised, although noting that the country should pursue a structural reform agenda.

 (AFP) 

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

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.

Mark your calendars now for 12 December, 6 PM Paris time – that’s when the winners of the ePOP video competition will be announced, live on the ePOP Facebook page. My good pals Max Bale and Gaël Flaugère, who run the Planète Radio department that sponsors ePOP, invited me to come on the show and talk to you for a few minutes, in English. So plan to stay up late or get up early on 12 December, beloved listeners!

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 Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. 

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 Alison Hird and Sarah Elzas’ Spotlight on France podcast no 115, Alison produced a piece on France’s current governmental crisis, and the lack of an ability in the French political landscape to compromise – as Alison noted: “France does not have the tradition of coalition building more commonly found in Germany, Switzerland and the Nordic countries.”

As social scientist Loïc Blondiaux told Le Monde: “The idea of deliberation – organised, reasoned debate in the form of an exchange of arguments – has never had the force and legitimacy in France that it has in other countries … a specific trait of our political culture is, on the contrary, contempt for consensus. Compromise is often seen as synonymous with giving in and weakness.”

I asked you to re-listen to Alison’s report, and send in the answer to this question: How many political groups are there in France’s National Assembly?

The answer is: As Laure Gillot-Assayag, a researcher in political science and philosophy told Alison: “There are 11 political groups in the National Assembly, it’s a record … a culture of compromise is more necessary than ever if the government is to function in such a deeply divided political landscape.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What is the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen in a museum?”

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

The winners are: Saleem Akhtar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Radio Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan. Saleem is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Saleem!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Sakirun Islam Mitu, a member of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh; also from Rajshahi, RFI English listener Sumaiya Akter, a member of the World Dx International Radio Fan Club.

Rounding out this week’s list of lucky winners are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, and finally, RFI English listener Abdul Rehman, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Take a Hike” by Rik Carter and Phil Brown; “Galerie” by Bruno Letort; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Identité” by Gaël Horellou, performed by Horellou and his ensemble.

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 Amanda Morrow’s article “Ecosystems hang in the balance as Colombia hosts crucial biodiversity talks”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 18 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 23 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

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Click here to learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

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

In March and April, France deported three Kurdish activists to Turkey – Firaz Korkmaz, 24, Mehmet Kopal, 37 and Serhat Gultekin, 28.

All were suspected of having close ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been in conflict with the Turkish state for 40 years. France, along with its Western allies, considers the PKK a terrorist organisation.

The Kurds are a stateless people spread across the Middle East, with about one third living in  Turkey. Around 150,000 Kurds reside in France.

The Kurdish Democratic Council of France (CDKF), an umbrella group of 27 Kurdish associations, has condemned the deportations and warned that more cases are under investigation.

In late April, eight Kurdish men were arrested in Paris and southeast France, accused of extorting funds from the Kurdish community to support PKK activities, which is seen as financing terrorism.

French authorities also raided exiled Kurdish broadcasters Sterk TV and Medya Haber TV in Belgium at the request of the French judiciary.

The CDKF says this level of action is unprecedented. Prior to April, no Kurdish activists had been handed over to Turkey since 2019, when diplomatic relations between Paris and Ankara hit a low point.

The friction was partly due to France’s support for the Kurdish YPG, which was fighting the Islamic State in Syria, but is viewed by Turkey as an extension of the PKK.

Turkey opens another ‘Kafkaesque’ trial against scholar exiled to France

Not safe to return

Since April, French authorities have revoked refugee status from 50 Kurdish militants, according to the CDKF, and deported the three activists. The case of Serhat Gultekin has drawn particular concern.

A member of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP party, Gultekin had been tortured and persecuted in Turkey before fleeing to France in 2017. He applied for political asylum and continued his activism in exile.

In April 2023, Gultekin and 10 others were found guilty of extortion and financing terrorism.

He was sentenced, but in a highly unusual move the anti-terrorist state prosecutor specifically warned of the dangers of sending him and the others back to Turkey “in view of the danger they had faced” and “the risks that an expulsion would expose them to”.

The court agreed, but French authorities took a different view. On 12 April, the day before the judge was set to rule on Gultekin’s asylum claim, the Interior Ministry issued a deportation order.

“Plainclothes police officers put him in a truck, handcuffed him, tied him up and took him to the airport,” Gultekin’s lawyer, David Andic, told RFI.

“In the truck, they told him: ‘Serhat, we’re going to send you to Turkey. Whether you like it or not’.”

When Gultekin landed, members of Turkey’s MIT secret services were waiting. He is now serving a six year and three month sentence in an Istanbul prison.

Prosecutor seeks prison terms for alleged PKK members on trial in Paris

Violation of human rights

On 26 September, the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal declared Gultekin’s deportation “illegal”, stating it violated article 3 of the European Charter of Human rights, which prohibits torture.

The CDKF is also fighting to prevent the deportation of Idris Kaplan, another activist sentenced in absentia to life in Turkey as an alleged PKK leader.

“Mr Kaplan faces at least 25 years in prison in Turkey, a country where Kurdish rights are systematically violated, and where political persecution, repression and torture are commonplace,” a CDKF statement said.

They criticised France for ignoring these facts and deporting Kaplan despite the risks, citing article 3 and the principle of non-refoulement from the Geneva Convention.

“You can’t hand your allies over to their enemies in the name of security or diplomatic agreements. That’s a basic moral principle,” argued CDKF spokesperson Agit Polat in Le Monde, pointing to Kaplan’s role in fighting the Islamic State armed group alongside French special forces in Iraq.

On 8 October, a court in Cergy-Pontoise, northwest of Paris, suspended Kaplan’s expulsion order.

Who are the Kurds?

Kurdish activists as bargaining chips?

So why have French authorities taken a tougher stance on Kurdish activists? One theory is that economic interests are now outweighing human rights concerns.

Kostas Pikramenos, co-author of a book on Turkey’s MIT intelligence service, says Kurdish activists may be used as bargaining chips in intelligence negotiations.

The expulsion of the three Kurds is most likely part of a “seduction operation by France to sign commercial contracts” with Turkey, he told Marianne news magazine, pointing to a $40bn order of 200 Airbus aircraft by Turkish Airlines in late 2023.

The CDKF believes France may be paying Turkey for its intelligence cooperation.

In March, after a Moscow attack claimed by ISIS-K, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the group had attempted several attacks on French soil in recent months.

Ankara reportedly shared information on planned ISIS-K attacks during the upcoming 2024 Olympics, according to an anonymous French intelligence source cited by Marianne magazine.

France foiled three terror plots targeting 2024 Paris Olympics

Contacted about the deportation cases, France’s Ministry of the Interior declined to comment, telling RFI it was classified information.

Meanwhile, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) emphasised that it “independently assesses” Interior Ministry requests to revoke refugee status. These decisions can be appealed in the National Asylum Court.

The CDKF has warned that five more Kurdish activists could face deportation in the coming months.

Libya resumed oil exports this month after a pause caused by a dispute over control of the country’s central bank, which oversees oil exports.

“This was a serious crisis,” said Jalel Harchaoui from the Royal United Services Institute. “And while it’s partly fixed, there are still issues that need attention.”

The row between Libya’s two rival administrations which led to the temporary halt, was only resolved by intense negotiations, but Harchaoui claims the conflict’s repercussions continue.

Newly reconciled, Turkey and Egypt could be a force for stability in Africa

“A lot of players, including armed groups in Tripoli, are trying to take advantage of whatever has happened over the last several weeks. So I’m not describing a scenario of war, but I’m describing a more volatile environment,” he said.

Turkish-Egyptian relations

However, a recent rapprochement between Egypt and Turkey could offer hope of easing Libyan tensions.

“We agreed to consult between our institutions to achieve security and political stability,” pledged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at a press conference last month in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

Libya once was a point of Turkish-Egyptian rivalry, with Cairo backing the eastern Libyan administration in Benghazi of Khalifa Haftar and Ankara supporting the western Tripoli-based Government of National Unity. Now, Egyptian-Turkish collaboration is key to resolving the latest Libyan crisis.

“Both countries can push the Tripoli-based government at least to accept something or come to the least terms that they can agree,” said Murat Aslan of the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, a pro-Turkish government think tank. “So it’s a win-win situation for both Egypt and Turkey.”

Economic crises

With both the Turkish and Egyptian economies in crisis, the economic benefits of cooperating in Libya are seen as a powerful force behind the country’s rapprochement and Libyan collaboration.

Fighting between rival militias in Libya kills dozens

“These two countries are very important to one another,” said Aya Burweila, a Libyan security analyst

“They’ve figured out a way to divide spheres and work together. Even in the east now, Turkish companies have cut lucrative deals, infrastructure deals, just as Egypt has.

“So economy and money drive a lot of these political friendships and reapportionment.”

Ankara is looking to Cairo to use its influence over Hafta to support an agreement it made with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity to explore widely believed energy reserves in Libyan waters.

Libya’s stability at greater risk with turmoil in Niger and Sudan, UN warns

At the same time, Cairo is pressing to remove Ankara-supported Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh of Libya’s Government of National Unity. Despite differences, Harchaoui says Cairo and Ankara are committed to cooperation.

“What has already been decided is that they are going to speak and they are going to speak on a daily basis,” said Harchaoui.

“And then at every crucial moment, they are going to make sure and Turkey, specifically, is going to make sure that Egypt is on board.

“But we need more tangible results from the dialogue that has already been in place,” he added.

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.

Mark your calendars now for 12 December, 6 PM Paris time – that’s when the winners of the ePOP video competition will be announced, live on the ePOP Facebook page. My good pals Max Bale and Gaël Flaugère, who run the Planète Radio department that sponsors ePOP, invited me to come on the show and talk to you for a few minutes, in English. So plan to stay up late or get up early on 12 December, beloved listeners!

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 Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. 

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 Alison Hird and Sarah Elzas’ Spotlight on France podcast no 115, Alison produced a piece on France’s current governmental crisis, and the lack of an ability in the French political landscape to compromise – as Alison noted: “France does not have the tradition of coalition building more commonly found in Germany, Switzerland and the Nordic countries.”

As social scientist Loïc Blondiaux told Le Monde: “The idea of deliberation – organised, reasoned debate in the form of an exchange of arguments – has never had the force and legitimacy in France that it has in other countries … a specific trait of our political culture is, on the contrary, contempt for consensus. Compromise is often seen as synonymous with giving in and weakness.”

I asked you to re-listen to Alison’s report, and send in the answer to this question: How many political groups are there in France’s National Assembly?

The answer is: As Laure Gillot-Assayag, a researcher in political science and philosophy told Alison: “There are 11 political groups in the National Assembly, it’s a record … a culture of compromise is more necessary than ever if the government is to function in such a deeply divided political landscape.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What is the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen in a museum?”

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

The winners are: Saleem Akhtar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Radio Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan. Saleem is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Saleem!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Sakirun Islam Mitu, a member of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh; also from Rajshahi, RFI English listener Sumaiya Akter, a member of the World Dx International Radio Fan Club.

Rounding out this week’s list of lucky winners are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, and finally, RFI English listener Abdul Rehman, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Take a Hike” by Rik Carter and Phil Brown; “Galerie” by Bruno Letort; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Identité” by Gaël Horellou, performed by Horellou and his ensemble.

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 Amanda Morrow’s article “Ecosystems hang in the balance as Colombia hosts crucial biodiversity talks”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 18 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 23 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

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.   

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.

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.