“I thought he was going to beat me up,” says Ben. Sporting a bright red jacket and holding a gigantic blue hand with the index finger pointing upwards, he was standing next to 5th Avenue, a central artery in Philadelphia that passes in front of the iconic town hall.

A motorist had driven close to him, he says, and made an obscene gesture. But in the end he just sped away in his pick-up, and nothing happened.

Ben is approached by an elderly man. “Finally somebody normal here,” he says.

“This town is full of liberals.”

A discussion follows about the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney, the daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney

“Harris is a drunk,” says the older of the two men. “She’s cooperating with that traitor Liz Cheney.

Claims

“She’s a warmonger,” he adds. “Look at all the wars her father got us into. Iraq, Afghanistan. The list is endless.”

Cheney, who worked with George W Bush between 2001 and 2009, belonged to the same Republican party as Donald Trump.

At the other side of the town hall, half a dozen people have gathered. “Do you notice that Republicans are the only ones with the American flag?” one scowls.

“Democrats just have the rainbow flag.”

Their leader, a Chinese-American woman, who gives her name as Stephanie, says that they are here to “wake up America.”

“Why?” she asks the few passers-by who look rather shocked. “Because too many people are still sleeping while Trump is fighting for them.

“They hate him. But that is because they don’t know the truth.”

Reason

The reason, according to Stephanie: they follow the mainstream media who have been bought by globalists and the deep state which she deems the enemies of the people.

Her words echo the standard rhetoric of the Trump campaign.

John, an older white man who is holding a large, American flag, declares: “Trump is going to win the elections. This will bring some changes in the country that will affect the vast majority of the American people.”

Ben is optimistic too. “This is supposed to be Dems country, but I feel it is a little less so now.”

Stephanie says she is convinced that Trump is going to win in a landslide.

“But only if they are not going to rig the elections,’ she says.

“If they rig, we won’t know the result,” she adds. “But I think that this time, it is too big to rig.”

The third seed won 6-2, 6-2 in 74 minutes to lift a seventh crown at a Masters event considered the most prestigious on the men’s circuit after the four Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne Paris London and New York.

“First of all sorry,” said Zverev drily after receiving the trophy from the French former Olympic swimming champion Florent Manadou.

“To win this title here in Paris means the world to me,” he added.

“I know that 99.9 percent of the people here wanted another result but even still it’s such fun to play here and at the French Open.”

Humbert received raucous cheers from the 16,000 fans in the stadium as he strode onto centre court ahead of his first final at a Masters tournament.

Goal

In theory, he had nothing to fear after dispatching the world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the last-16.

But within 10 minutes, the facts offered a different narrative.

Serving for a 2-1 lead, Humbert’s forehand went wayward. A cross court drive landed in the tramlines to offer Zverev a break point and another ended in the net after a 17-stroke rally to cough up the game to the German.

The 27-year-old, the runner up at the French Open in Paris in June, powered on to lead 3-1 after 17 minutes.

Humbert’s next attempt to cut the deficit failed too. In a revealing vignette of his faltering abilities, after a forehand slumped into the net to give Zverev a break point, he saved it with a sumptuous backhand cross court winner.

Inconsistency

A double fault was followed by an ace

But eventually two errors off the forehand wing in the next two points sealed his fate and Zverev, playing with languid ferocity, rolled on to pocket the opener after 36 minutes.

Humbert returned from a toilet break to encounter the same savagery.

Zverev broke the 26-year-old in the opening game and held his own serve easily to take control of the match.

After Humbert lost his serve for a second time to give Zverev a 3-0 advantage, ELO’s ultimate feel good tune Mr Blue Sky boomed out over the weapons-grade public address system.

Dark clouds hovered for Humbert after another lightning service game from Zverev.

Though Humbert eventually got on the board, Zverev cruised to the title.

“I’d like to congratulate Ugo,” said Zverev who will rise to number two in the world in the ATP rankings after his week at the tournament.

“He really does the work off the court and if he continues that way, it won’t be long before he is lifting trophies like this.”

Humbert conceded that Zverev was too strong. “He served really well and gave me nothing. Sometimes with him you can get something off his second serve or his forehand but there was nothing going.

“I tried my best but he dominated.”

“I’m not surprised to see myself in a final,” said the 26-year-old matter-of-factly just over an hour after Zverev deconstructed him 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday afternoon.

During the week at the Accor Arena in Bercy, south-eastern Paris, Humbert underlined his status as the country’s number one talent with solid wins over lesser ranked adversaries Brandon Nakashima and Marcos Giron in the opening two rounds and the scalp of the world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the last-16.

The 15th seed accounted for Jordan Thompson in the quarter-final and the 2018 champion Karen Khachanov in the semis. 

“I’m not shocked that I beat Carlos and then reached the final,” added Humbert. “I’ve always felt myself capable of such things.

“I work seriously, I can construct my points and I have a solid game. I’m happy it was all on display this week at Bercy but I’m really not surprised to see myself at this level.”

Rise

Humbert, who was born in Metz in eastern France in 1998, turned professional in 2016.

In January 2020, he won his first title on the senior circuit in Auckland, New Zealand. A second championship followed in October in Antwerp.

Four more trophies including two from ATP500 tournaments in Halle and Tokyo have been added.

A victory in Paris would have made him only the fourth Frenchman after Guy Forget, Sebastien Grosjean and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to have triumphed at Bercy.

For the moment though, after his fifth trip to Bercy, he can savour the accolade of becoming the first Frenchman since Tsonga in 2014 in Toronto to have reached the final at a Masters 1000 event.

Conceived in 1990, the nine Masters tournaments are considered as the most prestigious on the circuit after the four Grand Slam championships in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

Progress

“I’ve really surpassed myself in all areas, whether physically or mentally,” Humbert said.

“I’ve also beaten Alcaraz and those are the kind of things I need to hold on to. I’ve played at a high level which shows I’m on the right path.

“I just need to stay on it and I hope that it won’t be long before I’ll be winning these kind of tournaments.”

Zverev, who claimed his seventh Masters title with the win, agreed.

“Ugo really does the work off the court,” Zverev told the fans during his on-court interview after the match.

“And if he continues that way, it won’t be long before he is lifting trophies like this.”

Crowd pleasing compliments for the 15,000 partisans and Humbert’s coaching team which include former players Jérémy Chardy and Fabrice Martin.

Praise

An hour or so after the triumph, Zverev resumed the paean.

“From the first moments of the match, I felt as if I was striking the ball well. When I have this feeling, I feel good on the court and confident, perhaps a little more aggressive than usual. It’s important to feel this way when playing Ugo.

“He is one of the best players when he is attacking but he still has a little trouble when he has to defend.

“When I got him on the run, it was comfortable for me and not so good for him. I was feeling good from the back of the court and I think that was the key to the match.”

It was all over in 74 chastening minutes for Humbert. “It’s been a good week despite the defeat,” Humbert reflected.

“I came to Bercy when I was a kid growing up and that made me want to become a tennis player. I’m really happy to have been in the final in Bercy. It will remain a wonderful memory.”

The tournament will move to Paris La Défense Arena on the western fringes of the French capital from next year ending a 38-year association with the venue.

“I wanted to be really intensely involved in this very last Bercy,” said Humbert. “And that’s exactly what happened.

“Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” shouted several in the crowd in Paiporta as King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were forced to take cover behind bodyguards.

Mud hit the king and queen in the face and on their clothes as they tried to calm the crowd.

King Felipe said after his visit that Spain had to understand the anger and frustration of people affected by the floods.

In a video released on social media, he called on the public to support the victims. “We need to give them hope and the guarantee that the state in its entirety is present.”

On Tuesday, a year’s amount of rain fell in eight hours in the eastern part of the country. Road and rail links were severed in the resulting floods.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was also forced to cut short his visit to the area.

On Saturday, he ordered the deployment of 10,000 extra soldiers and police into the region to help the rescue and clear-up operation.

The move came as Sanchez and the regional leader Carlos Mazon faced increasing fire over the lack of warnings and slow response to the disaster.

“I understand the anger and, of course, I am here to receive it,” said Mazon on social media. “This is my political and moral obligation.”

Response

However, even though power has been restored to many home, thousands remain without drinking water nearly a week after the floods swept through the towns.

Stores and supermarkets lie in ruins in Paiporta where wrecked cars and layers of mud litter once bustling streets.

“I want to express all my government’s solidarity and its acknowledgement of the anguish, suffering, uncertainty and the needs of the residents of Paiporta and the region of Valencia,” Sánchez said.

On Friday morning, Spanish football authorities said games taking place this weekend would publicise a Red Cross fundraising campaign over the public address systems.

“Spain’s professional football joins the condolences and expresses its solidarity with the families of the victims and the missing,” La Liga said in a statement.

Real Madrid, which came under fire for poor sportsmanship for boycotting the Ballon d’Or award ceremony in Paris on Monday night, announced it would offer one million euros to the Red Cross.

“Real Madrid has decided to support this campaign to help the many families who are in a critical situation and need all our help and solidarity,” Madrid said in a statement.

Under pressure to reduce France’s mammoth deficit, the new government is looking for ways to save billions of euros on social security – and raising duties on potentially unhealthy food and drink looks set to be part of the plan. 

Members of parliament have proposed amendments to the funding bill that would target alcohol and processed sugar, and specifically high-strength, sweetened beers. 

The farthest-reaching proposal would expand the “social security contribution” levied on certain products and allocated to funding national health insurance. Currently applied only to drinks with an alcohol content of 18 percent or more, the revised tax would be collected on all alcohols, including wine and beer. 

Another amendment would see a new duty introduced on beers stronger than 5.5 percent, while a further proposal seeks to tax flavoured, sweetened beers containing the equivalent of at least 20 grams of sugar per litre. 

What’s in France’s belt-tightening budget and can it win support?

Brewing backlash 

Parliament’s social affairs committee has already approved the proposals, which MPs are now debating before a vote on the budget bill next week. 

Proponents argue they would help prevent excessive alcohol consumption – especially among young people drawn to sweet, strong drinks – as well as financing the health system that treats the fallout.  

Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq has expressed support for a sugar tax, telling La Tribune that manufacturers have “a collective responsibility, and I would like to see them find solutions to change their recipes”.  

She stressed, however, that “it’s not about penalising craftspeople”. 

The brewing industry disagrees, with unions warning that extra taxes could drive up costs and put hundreds of companies out of business. 

Jérôme Gervais, who runs micro-brewery Brewbaix in the northern city of Roubaix, estimated that the extra levies would add 70 cents to the retail price of its bottled lager, taking it to 6 euros for 75cl.  

Speaking to BFMTV, he questioned: “Will consumers be prepared to pay that much to enjoy their beer?” 

Podcast: Is craft beer competing with wine in France?

Industry protests 

A levy on stronger beers would “protect and promote industrial beers” at the expense of craft brews, which tend to contain more alcohol, said Jean-François Drouin, president of the National Union of Independent Breweries (SNBI). 

Industry association Brewers of France argued the combined new taxes would “definitively compromise the economic viability of breweries” throughout the country.  

In an industry already struggling to absorb higher energy prices and raw material costs, one brewery shuts down every week on average, the group said, and added tax “would amplify this phenomenon”. 

If the lower house of parliament approves the proposals, they will next be reviewed by the Senate. Some brewers told the press they were urging their local MPs to vote against them, warning of the impact on local jobs. 

Makers of non-alcoholic energy drinks, chocolate, ice cream and other products that risk being affected by any new levies on processed sugar have also protested, while Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard cautioned against placing extra burdens on French companies competing in global markets. 

“This guy is going to win,” screams the man. He is wearing a black baseball cap with the inscription: “Trump 2024 – Make America Great Again.” Loud rock music blasts from a loudspeaker in his backpack. He is carrying a Trump-lookalike puppet, wearing a read cap and a shirt with “45” and “47” pointing at Trump being the 45th US President, and, so he hopes, the 47th as well.

But it won’t be without a fight, says the Trump-fan, who does not give his name. He stands out in the cheerful Halloween crowd of witches, pirates, Darth Vaders and zombies that populate the streets of central Philadelphia.

“They’re gonna play with us. There’s gonna be a cyber attack. The internet may go down. It’s bad.”

But the passers-by in this predominantly Democrat-voting stronghold hardly pay attention to him.

Most of them probably don’t care. Pennsylvania was one of the US states where early voting was encouraged.

Swing states

According to CBS news, as many as 65 million Americans had voted before 31 October – five days ahead of Election Day.

An array of opinion polls show Trump and Harris running neck and neck, with the outcome hinging on who manages to win across the seven “swing states”.

“People become obsessed with these polls,” warns J. Wesley Leckrone, a political scientist with Widener University located south of Philadelphia. “It is almost like a sporting event,” he told RFI. “We treat elections like sporting events nowadays.”

But he added that leading news organisations have “polling trackers” which give a summary of sometimes dozens of surveys by different opinion polling stations. “It gives an idea what the general trend is within a state.”

In Pennsylvania, one of the seven “swing states,” where any prediction about a winner is too close to call, the combined polling surveys indicate that Trump surpassed Harris in the last couple of days and leads now with 47.9 percent against Harris with 47.7 percent.

“We’ve seen this over the last month,” says Leckrone, who calls Pennsylvania probably the most important “swing state”.

“It is pretty much a dead heat,” he says. The red and blue lines on the polling charts represent the massive divide in US society.

The increasing polarisation in US politics worries political scientists. “We have a ‘duopoly,’” says Leckrone.

Different from European countries where elections can result in coalition governments with sometimes up to four different parties, the two major US parties have set the rules of the game, leaving no place to third players, who sometimes try, but always fail, to gain a solid foothold in the political arena.

According to Daniel Hopkins, chair of the political science department of the University of Pennsylvania, the two parties have dominated the landscape since 1870.

“Those two parties are moving apart from each other to try and satisfy their core base voters especially today when Republicans and Democrats really disagree on a whole lot of issues,” he explains.

Traditionally, the most contentious issue, he says, was the racial divide and how to deal with it.

“In the 1950s and 1960s, the south went through an arduous process of desegregation. And while, on paper, equal rights were granted to everybody, significant divisions remained.

“Today issues on race are just part of a growing gap of opposing opinions about same-sex marriage, firearms and immigration.”

• Abortion debate puts women voters at the centre of US election race

Divisive media

Meanwhile, voters who already decided their camp seem to be stuck in their own universe.

Democrats watch MSNBC and CNN and read the New York Times, while Republicans stick to Fox News, read the New York Post and listen to Talk Radio and right-wing influencer Tucker Carlson.

“The media reflect such a divided society,” says Leckrone. “Politics in many ways has become a form of entertainment.

“So I pick the news channels that I watch on the basis of what my ideology is. People want to hear things that confirm their own, personal bias, they are watching the news to confirm the things that they already have beliefs about,” he adds.

On Friday, both Trump and Harris campaigned in Milwaukee, the most populous city of another “swing state”, Wisconsin.

Trump held a rally at the same venue where he celebrated the Republican Party nomination over the summer, delivering a triumphant acceptance speech just days after the 78-year-old had narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

And as the battle reaches its final days, Trump has stepped up his provocative attacks on Harris in a bid to draw more voters to the ballot boxes.

On Thursday, at an event with Tucker Carlson – fired by Fox News in ….. for his extreme opinions, Trump called Harris, a “sleaze bag” and Biden a “stupid bastard,” while claiming, that polls are already being rigged in the biggest swing state Pennsylvania.

He reserved his harshest attacks for Liz Cheney, daughter of the former Vice-President under Republican President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney. She is one of the rare Republicans who is openly critical of Trump.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face,” Trump said.

Cheney responded. “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death.”

“Election-related violence”

While rhetoric is reaching a boiling point, Michael Wahid Hanna, the US program director for the Brussels-based NGO International Crisis Group said: “Warnings that Trump could again foment election-related violence are not idle speculation.

“It remains possible that Trump will encourage supporters to sow chaos around vote counting and certification processes, thus attempting to call the results into question and create a pretext for extraordinary procedures to resolve a disputed election in his favour.”

In anticipation of potential unrest over the upcoming elections, some businesses and offices in downtown Washington have boarded up windows.

The capital witnessed violence four years ago when then-president Trump whipped up a crowd of supporters who stormed Congress in an attempt to halt certification of Biden’s victory.

• Trump tells Capitol storming mob of supporters to go home peacefully

According to the New York Times, five people died during the 6 January 2022 Capitol Hill siege, an officer was beaten, a rioter was shot, and three others died of heart failure.

Around the streets of economically depressed North Philadelphia, such savagery has become routine fare, says Jessica Beard, a gun trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital which takes in the largest number of shot wound cases in Pennsylvania.

“We’re not on extra alert for the next few days,” she says. “Violence and shootings are common around our hospital. It’s sad to say, but because of gun violence, American trauma centres are always prepared for mass casualty events.”

Erdogan has avoided commenting on the US election, but Ankara sees the outcome of the 5 November vote as key for Turkish-US relations.

Each of the contenders, Vice-President Kamala Harris and Trump, are expected to take significantly different approaches to Turkey’s long-time leader.

“During the past Trump presidency, the political relationship at the highest level between Erdogan and Trump was a strong one,” says Sinan Ulgen, head of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, an Istanbul think tank.

Ties with President Joe Biden have been notably less friendly, however, if Harris were to win the relationship with Erdogan is likely to be a much more shallow one, Ulgen believes.

Face-to-face time

Erdogan met Trump nine times during his 2017-21 presidency, including on a state visit to Washington.

In contrast, he met Biden only briefly on the sidelines of international summits, with US-Turkish relations mainly conducted at foreign-minister level.

“Erdogan has been in power for more than 20 years and Biden is the only US president who has refused to meet him in an official capacity, either in the US capital or in the Turkish capital,” says international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

“For Erdogan, leader-to-leader talks are key to achieving his goals. And probably, he thinks deep down that he can sort out many things through personal contact, connections or personal engagement.”

Such interaction, especially with the most powerful person in the world, is also seen as vital to Erdogan’s status at home.

“It’s very important for his domestic standing and legitimacy,” says Asli Aydintasbas, a political commentator and visiting fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“He has built a personalised system but also convinced voters, particularly his base, that he is a consequential leader, that Turkey is rising, that he is very important, he is on par with the US president and the Russian president, that everybody is looking up to Erdogan.”

Turkey and Russia closer than ever despite Western sanctions

Lack of chemistry?

Aydintasbas questions how easy it would be for Erdogan to develop a relationship with Harris, even if she were ready to engage more directly than Biden.

“I cannot imagine what type of chemistry Harris and Erdogan would have. They don’t come from similar backgrounds. It’s difficult to imagine the two developing a very close personal relationship, to be honest,” the analyst says.

Erdogan has often spoken warmly of his relationship with Trump – despite the fact he got hit by sanctions during his time in the White House over the detention of an American pastor, prompting the Turkish lira to crash in 2018.

Trump once even vowed to “totally destroy and obliterate” the Turkish economy over Turkey’s threats to attack US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces.

“We have memories of the threats and sanctions,” warns Murat Aslan of the pro-government Seta Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research in Ankara.

Invoking the 2018 crisis, Aslan said: “Rather than words, I think deeds are important.”

Erdogan hopes a U-turn can salvage Turkey’s floundering economy

High-risk candidate

The Middle East is another potential sticking point.

Trump is calling for more support for Israel in its wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, and analysts say differences could again emerge between the US and Turkish leaders.

“Trump’s approach to the Middle East and the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel could actually escalate the tension in the Middle East to the extent that a regional war could be unavoidable,” warns Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, who directs the German Marshall Fund’s office in Ankara.

“So yes, a Trump presidency has many opportunities for Turkey – but at a very high risk.”

Meanwhile, though there has been little direct contact between Biden and Erdogan, Turkish-US relations have shown signs of improvement in recent months.

With the two Nato allies increasingly cooperating and better managing their differences, Aydintasbas suggests, there are merits for Ankara to both candidates.

“A Kamala Harris administration would mean more continuity, but the promise of stability in Turkish-US relations,” she says. “Whereas Trump is so unpredictable that it could be very good one day, very bad one day.”

With the Middle East war continuing to rage, Trump’s unpredictability remains a risk to Ankara – but Erdogan will likely still covet the opportunity to renew his relationship with the US strongman.

In August, Indian textile tycoon S.P. Oswal, chairman of the Vardhman Group, paid €770,000 to scammers posing as federal agents who accused him of money laundering.

The 82-year-old was placed under video surveillance at home and threatened with arrest until he paid the ransom.

This “digital arrest” scam has ensnared other high-profile victims, including court judges, doctors and army officers.

Between January and March alone, victims transferred roughly €1.3 million to scammers despite campaigns against the fraud.

Deadly toolkit

According to Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at technology consultancy firm Techarc, the scam appears to be evolving.

“The government and regulatory bodies have come up with measures to make it difficult for scammers to use traditional means such as phishing, so they have found this new technique,” Kawsoosa told RFI.

“But these have limited shelf-life as everybody eventually comes to understand that a scam like this exists,” he added.

A report from May found that 46 percent of cyber attacks targeting India originated from Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, prompting Indian officials to engage in talks on cross-border cybercrime in Southeast Asia.

State-run Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC) estimates Indians who endured various forms of online attacks lost 18 billion rupees – approximately 2 billion euros – in four months at the beginning of this year. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged students to back state campaigns under hashtag #SafeDigitalIndia.

“No government agency threatens you on the phone like this, neither inquires nor demands money on a video call like this…” Modi said in a radio interview on the subject of digital arrest.

According to ICCC, India registered some 741,000 cybercrime complaints in the first four months of 2024 – a jump of 113 percent from 2021 to 2023.

• India wages war on online scammers with new cybercrime centre
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‘Held hostage’

TV journalist Richa Mishra – who was a victim of digital arrest – conceded she was bewildered and anxious during her hours-long ordeal on 5 October.

“At one point I was thinking of ending my life,” said Mishra, who was accused of drug trafficking when she was held hostage by online imposters.

Mishra later said it took her several hours to register a complaint with portals set up as security beacons.

Police recently arrested a man in a Delhi suburb for allegedly laundering €100,000 on behalf of scammers.

The role of banks in facilitating these transactions has come under scrutiny, with revelations that while scammers funnel billions of rupees through banks, less than 2 percent of stolen funds is recovered.

Online financial fraud has surged 1,000 percent over the past five years in India, with 955 million internet users and 536 million WhatsApp subscribers – key targets for cybercriminals.

From January to April this year alone, India registered over 700,000 cybercrime complaints following 1.5 million reports in 2023.

From the Bounty to the Soleil Royal and Superbe, these legendary ships – which once carried admirals, merchants and kings across the world’s oceans – are now recreated in exquisite detail by the Village’s 30 skilled model makers. 

With his scraper in hand, Rafah Ralahy meticulously smooths the hull of the Soleil d’Orient, a 17th-century French merchant vessel that belonged to the French East India Company.  

His fingers glide over the rough wood, searching for imperfections.  

“My work is about being completely faithful to the plan. At each stage, we make adjustments to ensure the model we create is identical to the ship designed centuries ago,” says Ralahy, his eyes fixed on the enormous plan spread across his workbench. 

Across the room, Tovo-Hery Andrianarivo shapes the balustrades of an 18th-century warship’s sterncastle, his chisel moving with careful precision.  

Like most of his colleagues, Andrianarivo brings three decades of experience to his craft.  

“I love my job because it’s art. I’m proud to see our models travel around the world,” he explains. 

“Once, my former boss showed me a documentary about the ship Hermione returning to sea. Behind the museum curator who was speaking, there was our model. The feeling I had that day was incredible.” 

Porridge is staving off child malnutrition in Madagascar – for nine cents a bowl

A family tradition 

The Village is more than a workshop – it’s a clan. Its employees come from about 15 different families living in the same neighbourhood.  

Most were trained in-house by the founder, a French naval model maker who has since sold the business. The youngest artisans are often children of the “old hands”. 

Despite Madagascar‘s repeated economic and social crises, the workshop has weathered the storms.  

“It’s thanks to the unique quality of our artisans’ work,” said Grégory Postel, who has owned the Village since 2023. 

“We’re among the best in the world, and we’re not afraid to say it. It’s our trademark. There are other competitors who make beautiful pieces, but none as refined as ours.” 

In the trade, this exceptional standard is known as “museum finish” – a level of excellence that demands painstaking attention to detail. 

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Royal clientele

“I think that’s what attracts the royal families, who are really looking for the pure, perfect product that resembles what their ancestors owned when they were kings of their countries in the 1600s and 1700s,” Postel says.  

The workshop’s list of prestigious clientele includes Prince Albert of Monaco, the Spanish royal family and Pope Francis. 

Special orders come alongside catalogue offerings, such as the Soleil Royal. At 1.2 metres long, this particular model is in its final stages, with four rigging workshop artisans completing the installation of 10 metres of beeswax-hardened cordage and hoisting the miniature flags.  

This exceptional piece, sold to a private collector in France for €5,300 plus shipping costs, represents more than 800 hours of work by 15 people. 

The detailed craftsmanship and historical accuracy of its miniature fleet have earned the Village, an otherwise modest Malagasy workshop, a reputation among foreign collectors as a guardian of maritime heritage. 

This story was adapted from the original article reported in French by RFI correspondent Sarah Tétaud.

Rosselli is one of these discreet, soft-spoken artists who prefers to let her artworks do the talking.

“To be an artist, you need to exist in silence. In a silent world,” she says quoting French painter Louise Bourgeois.

But her latest shows in Europe this summer have required exactly the opposite of her and she admits to be a little out of her comfort zone.

Her first adventure has been sharing her work with an inquisitive, international audience at the Venice Biennale, where she is one of six artists (and the only white woman) chosen to represent Zimbabwe pavilion, open until 24 November.

“I see it as such a privilege that my story is interesting and matters as well,” she told RFI.

Born in 1962, Rosselli studied at the University of Cape Town, and her work combines figurative and abstract elements to explore socio-political issues, nature and the legacy of colonialism.

Breaking down barriers

For the pavilion’s theme of “Undone”, she explored the concept of walls – both physical and metaphorical.

During a three-month Vienna residency, she created four large acrylic panels: “Heritage is a Pattern”, “Interfering Memories”, “Mapping Memories” and “Yesterday Aligns Tomorrow”.

“I wanted to break down barriers, break down walls,” she said, incorporating wall segments seen across Europe.

“The wall pieces are metaphors for inclusivity,” said Rosselli, noting that these “non-tangible” barriers represent discrimination based on factors like sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and economic inequalities.

Rosselli’s other European journey brought her to Paris for the AKAA art fair in October, where she exhibited a series titled “After the Rain”, represented by Cape Town’s THK Gallery.

Her voice fills with emotion as she evokes the inspiration behind her the work. “There hasn’t been any rain for six months. And the first rains fell on Zimbabwe two days ago. There’s tremendous excitement,” she recounts.

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Painting from memory

Rain holds deep meaning for her because “the majority of people depend on agriculture and sustainable living,” Rosselli explains. The drought has led to widespread hunger and a national disaster declaration.

She points to a large painting called “Light in Landscape” that stands out due to its array of vivid pink and brown shades.

It captures the dramatic moment when the force of the rain sprays the blossoms of the jacaranda trees onto the ground, forming a carpet of petals – and the parched ground begins to soak up the water.

French-Algerian artist Kader Attia explores colonial wounds, creative restoration

Rosselli spends a lot of time outdoors, walking, observing, in communion with nature. Then she paints from memory, her brush strokes recreating a vision, an emotion, even a smell. One of her works is called “Petrichor”, in other words “the smell of rain”.

Climate change and its impact are central concerns for Rosselli, who has documented the seasons’ shifts in her artwork over many years.

Even natural beauty, she says, can hide a dark side. She points to a painting inspired by Mutirikwi Lake, near her home, which is now threatened by the invasive Kariba weed.

While the hyacinth looks beautiful, Rosselli says, it is slowly choking the lake and damaging the ecosystem.

When asked how Zimbabwe has influenced her beyond her attachment to the land, Rosselli emphasised her connection to her country’s artistic community.

Zimbabweans are warm, friendly, generous people, she says – a “close-knit community”. Even in Vienna, when she felt a little homesick, she came across a community of Zimbabwean artists who helped her settle in.

“I guess with so much hardship, you all come together in this very close community and that is amazing to be part of,” she says. “A community that really helps each other.”

Rosselli is deeply inspired by Zimbabwean resilience and creativity.

“Incredible artists come out of Zimbabwe. We have amazing painters, sculptors…Zimbabweans are just so creative. They are all really like sponges. If there’s any opportunity to be creative, in whatever way, they do so, even with such limited resources.”

The Venice Biennale is open to the public until 24 November, 2024

The report, released this week by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, exposes the alarming scale of sexual violence gripping Sudan’s 18-month-old conflict.

Abductions for sexual slavery have reportedly become common, with victims ranging from girls as young as eight to elderly women.

“There is no safe place in Sudan now,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the mission, highlighting the pervasive insecurity that has swept the country since the conflict erupted in April 2023.

Sudan’s army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been locked in a bitter struggle with the RSF, commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The violence has created one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with more than 25 million people – over half of Sudan’s population – facing acute hunger.

War crimes and atrocities

The UN investigation accuses both the Sudanese Army and RSF of severe human rights abuses, including acts that qualify as war crimes.

While both factions are charged with torture and blocking humanitarian aid, the RSF is mainly responsible for documented cases of sexual violence.

Allegations include gang rapes, sexual slavery and child recruitment, with brutal methods involving firearms, knives and whips.

Some attacks reportedly take place in front of victims’ families, underscoring the violence’s intent to terrorise civilians and crush opposition.

Othman, a former Tanzanian chief justice, called the scale of violence “staggering”, noting the systematic use of terror, especially in Darfur.

• UN mission calls for peacekeeping force in Sudan, suspects war crimes
• Sudan rejects UN’s call for ‘impartial’ force to protect civilians

Millions displaced

UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned this week that worsening violence in eastern al-Jazira state risks further atrocities.

Turk’s office has documented at least 25 cases of sexual violence during RSF raids on villages south of Khartoum, including the death of an 11-year-old girl and the abductions of women and girls.

The UN migration agency reported that over 11 million people are now internally displaced, with another three million having fled to neighbouring countries.

Amy Pope, head of the agency, described the situation as “catastrophic” and one of the most neglected globally, adding that funding shortages are hampering relief efforts.

The teenager, who has not been named, was hit in the head on Thursday night during a shootout linked to control for drug trafficking networks.

Four other youths aged 15 and 16, who were also shot in mass brawls involving up to 600 people in the city’s Les Couronneries district, were recovering from their injuries in hospital on Saturday.

“It started off with a shooting at a restaurant and it ended up with a clash between rival gangs which involved several hundred people,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told BFM TV.

Retailleau dispatched hundreds of extra police to the city on Friday after the violence.

He has vowed tougher action as part of an effort to undermine the rise of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party.

Fears

Concerns over delinquency and insecurity have been cited as reasons behind voters choosing Le Pen’s group which says it will do more than other parties to tackle crime.

Jean-Marie Girier, the top police commander for the Vienne region where Poitiers is located prefect, described the Les Couronneries quarter as the home of several major drug-dealing spots.

“What happens there means that police have to go in on a daily basis but it it remains relatively calm,” he said. “It’s not run by drug dealers, even if there can be tensions.”

On 26 October in Rennes, a five-year-old was hit by bullets in a spat between drugs gangs and is still in hospital.

“These shootings aren’t happening in South America, they’re happening here in France,” Retailleau told the French broadcaster RMC.

“We are at a tipping point and the choice we have today is between a general mobilisation against this kind of thing or the Mexicanisation of the country.”

“What was useful for me was learning how duties are divided between local councillors and mayors,” says Marie Rosalie Rahelisoa, who is seeking a seat on the city council in Morondava, on Madagascar’s west coast, when the country votes on 11 December.

She is one of 60 women who completed a recent training course in the capital, Antananarivo, organised by the National Women’s Council of Madagascar (CNFM).

Held over two days last week, it aimed to give participants – all candidates in the approaching elections – a grounding in electoral regulations, the roles of different public officials, campaign management, political communication and leadership.

“It gave me extra skills,” Rahelisoa told RFI.

Like many of the trainees, Lala Rasanjison – standing for mayor in the central city of Antsirabe – is a relative newcomer to politics.

“It’s my first time running for mayor,” she said. “You have to know what you’re getting into.”

Sierra Leone passes gender law reserving 30 percent of jobs for women

Gender gap

Like many countries, Madagascar has a long-standing gender gap when it comes to politics.

Just 26 of the country’s 163 members of parliament are women – the equivalent of 16 percent – down from an all-time high of 64 in 2011.

No seats are reserved for female MPs, nor is there a quota obliging parties to field a minimum percentage of women candidates – measures that several other countries in Africa have introduced in a bid to boost participation.

Podcast: Is Africa leading on women’s representation in parliament?

In Madagascar’s local elections, women make up 6 percent of candidates topping municipal lists, around 320 out of a total of nearly 5,400. 

“In Malagasy society, women’s place has always been considered inferior to men’s,” according to Estelle Andriamasy, president of women’s council CNFM.

“There isn’t really this culture of equality in the community. Decisions belong to men.”

While society continues to pressure women to stay out of public life, Andriamasy says, the belief that their place is at home ends up “somehow ingrained in women’s mentalities”.

The ultimate purpose of the CNFM’s politics training is to counteract such ideas and give female candidates the confidence to seek office, she explains.

Trainee Rahelisoa has taken the lesson on board. “The country’s future depends on us,” she told RFI. 

“We women have to feel responsible and take an active part in public life if we’re to make a difference.” 

This story is adapted from the original reported in French by RFI correspondent Guilhem Fabry.

With the help of artificial intelligence, cameras could detect other traffic offences including using a phone at the wheel, not wearing a seat belt or driving too close to another vehicle. 

The new government’s draft budget, now being debated in parliament, proposes equipping “several hundred” cameras to spot such violations.

It comes as part of a broader plan to maintain and modernise France’s roughly 4,000 traffic cameras, at a proposed cost of some 46 million euros.

Most of those in operation now are only capable of catching out drivers who speed or go through red lights – though the most advanced can also distinguish between vehicles or count the number of passengers to check that drivers aren’t misusing lanes reserved for car-sharing, for instance. 

What’s in France’s belt-tightening budget and can it win support?

Fines of €135

Each of the extra offences that could be automatically detected carries a 135-euro fine, as well as the deduction of three points from the driver’s licence.

Drivers’ association 40 Million Motorists denounced the move as a cash grab. 

“These new speed cameras aren’t really about road safety, they’re just about making money,” it said in a statement, arguing that trusting machines to identify offences risked resulting in wrongful fines for law-abiding drivers. 

Traffic penalties brought just over 2 billion euros into the government’s coffers last year, an increase of 7 percent compared to the year before.

Nearly 750 million euros of that came from violations picked up by cameras, according to France’s court of auditors, up from 707 million in 2022.

Recent changes in the law have made it easier for local officials to add new traffic cameras on their roads.

France has also opted to extend the use of AI-driven video surveillance introduced for the Paris Olympics, raising concerns that more and more public space will be subject to automatic monitoring.

Privacy fears grow as France extends AI surveillance beyond Olympics

An updated Red List of Threatened Species published this week at the UN’s Cop16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, downgraded the hedgehog’s status from “least concern” to “near threatened”.

The next level on the list kept by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is “vulnerable,” then “endangered”.

The European hedgehog, expert Sophie Rasmussen told AFP, “is very close to being ‘vulnerable’, and it will likely go into that category the next time we evaluate it”.

Numbers of the tiny mammal have plunged by more than half in countries including Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.

The estimated decline was between 35 and 40 percent of populations measured in Britain, Sweden and Norway in the last decade or so, said Rasmussen, a researcher with the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit.

In the Netherlands, it is already considered endangered.

The main killer of hedgehogs is cars – which the animals encounter more and more as they lose their natural habitat to human expansion.

“Humans are the worst enemies of hedgehogs,” said Rasmussen.

Cote d’Ivoire has lost ‘nearly 80 percent of its forest and wildlife cover’

‘Hedgehog highways’

To protect itself from predators such as badgers, foxes and owls at night, the hedgehog uses the strategy of standing completely still as it assesses the threat.

If the menace approaches, it runs as far as its little legs can carry it. But if there is no time, it rolls up into a ball – protected by as many as 8,000 spines, sharp to the touch.

“In front of a car, it is not a really good strategy,” Rasmussen, who calls herself Dr Hedgehog and speaks with great passion about the spiky mammals, told AFP in a video interview from Lejre in Denmark.

Other threats include pesticides used by farmers and gardeners, and a decline in the insects that make up a large part of the hedgehog’s diet.

Hedgehogs generally live for about two years, though some as old as nine or 12 have been documented.

They can start breeding from around 12 months of age, usually giving birth to three or five hoglets at a time.

“This means that many hedgehogs get to breed once, or twice perhaps if they’re lucky, on average before they die,” said Rasmussen – just enough “to keep the population going at some level.”

Soon, this may not be enough.

Zoologist Jane Goodall warns: ‘The world is a mess’ ahead of COP16

Rasmussen, whose research went into the Red List update, said the fight to save hedgehogs “is actually going to take place in people’s gardens” as forests and other wild areas are torn down.

She suggested people build “hedgehog highways” – basically a CD-sized hole in the outer fence to allow the animals to get in off the road, with bowls of water and nesting materials such as garden waste placed inside.

“The best thing you can do is to let your garden grow wild to attract … all the natural food items of the hedgehog” such as insects, worms, snails and slugs,” said Rasmussen.

She concedes: “It’s not like the world is going to end tomorrow if the hedgehogs are not there.”

However, “for a species so popular and so loved, can we really accept the fact that we are causing their extinction?

“And if we let it get so bad with a species we actually really care about, what about all the species we don’t care about?”

The new, updated Red List has evaluated 166,061 species of plants and animals in all, of which 46,337 – more than a quarter – are threatened with extinction.

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! And we are so pleased that “one of our own” has made it into the running: Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listeners Club, is one of the 10 nominees in the RFI Clubs category! 

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 30 September, Marine Le Pen – the leader of the French far-right party the National Rally – along with her father and 25 colleagues went on trial over alleged misappropriation of European funds.

They’re accused of using European parliamentary funds to pay for assistants, who actually worked for her National Rally party, formerly called the National Front, rather than on European affairs.

If found guilty, Le Pen could face a maximum of ten years behind bars and a 1 million euro fine – and a possible five-year ban on standing for public office. 

You were to re-read our article “French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on trial for misuse of EU funds”, and send in the answer to this question: How many euros has the European Union Parliament estimated that Le Pen and her colleagues in the National Rally party allegedly embezzled?

The answer is, to quote our article: “The EU Parliament estimated in 2018 that 6.8 million euros had been embezzled. Marine Le Pen has always denied any wrongdoing.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “Can you remember the first time you received new clothes from your parents?”, which was suggested by Ratna Shanta Shammi from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Deepita Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Deepita is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Deepita, on your double win!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Hasina Zaman Hasi, a member of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club members Nasyr Muhammad from Katsina State, Nigeria, as well as Sakawat Hossain from Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Last but assuredly not least, RFI English listener Bidhan Chandra Sanyal from West Bengal, India. 

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Hadouk” by D. Malherbe and L. Ehrlich, played by Kosinus; “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin, performed by the composer; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “We Swing (The Cypher)” by Jean Baylor, Marcus Baylor, Eric Scott Reed, Keith Loftis, and Dezron Douglas, performed by The Baylor Project.

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-listen to Melissa Chemam’s 18 October Spotlight on Africa podcast, “Ghana grapples with crisis caused by world’s throwaway fashion”, or re-read her article of the same name, both of which will help you with the answer.

You have until 25 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 7 December 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.   

More than 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing extremely critical levels of hunger, according to the UN. Seventy percent of crop fields and livelihoods have been destroyed during the Israeli military offensive.

The war, which has claimed 42,000 lives in Gaza and left hundreds of thousands wounded, has also spread to the West Bank and Lebanon. Civilians as well as UN peacekeepers have been targeted by Israel’s forces.

“I used the word ‘catastrophe’ for the first time back in October 2023,” Albanese told RFI, “when Israel had killed 8,000, 6,000 people in the first weeks of the conflict and destroyed entire neighbourhoods, bakeries, churches, and targeted UN buildings and universities.

“This is not the way wars are conducted.”

Albanese was speaking as she prepared to launch her latest report on the situation in Gaza and the other Palestinian territories, which she presented to the UN General Assembly earlier this week.

In it, she takes a long view of the current conflict, arguing that Israel’s military actions form part of a systematic attempt to displace Palestinians that goes back decades – and which she calls a genocide.

“Israel occupies that land, according to the International Court of Justice, unlawfully,” Albanese said. 

“So Israel unlawfully occupies a territory, oppressing its people, who of course retaliate. Then they wage a war against them. It doesn’t work that way.”

Hamas attack, one year on – a view from Gaza

‘Emptying the land’

Albanese acknowledges the deadly violence inflicted on Israelis by the attacks of 7 October last year, and she has advocated for the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed against civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

But she warns that the trauma of 7 October has deepened Israeli animosity towards Palestinians and spurred calls for vengeance, providing the government with an opportunity to escalate its actions in the occupied territories with the goal of making them unliveable.

“As we speak, Israel is running extermination raids neighbourhood per neighbourhood in the areas that were already forcibly evacuated, ethnically cleansed of nearly 1 million people in northern Gaza,” Albanese told RFI.

“Only 400,000 people remained, who have been starved, abused and bombed. What the people in Gaza have gone through is really unspeakable, and now it is emptying the land completely.”

Hamas attack, one year on – a view from Israel

Israel and UN at odds

The war has brought Israel’s already tense relations with the United Nations to a low point, with the Israeli parliament this week approving a controversial bill to ban the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA – considered a lifeline for Gaza – from operating on Israeli territory.

Israel claims many of the agency’s staff belong to Hamas or other terrorist groups, and accused some of them of involvement in the 7 October attacks.

The UN says it investigated the allegations and identified problems with neutrality, but no proof of terror links. It warns that restricting UNRWA will have a devastating effect on aid supply chains into Gaza.

More broadly, UN leaders have called for a ceasefire and denounced starvation, mass displacements, atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Albanese has proved an especially controversial figure, calling for the UN to consider suspending Israel as a member state over its actions. 

Her stance has drawn accusations of bias and antisemitism from Israel’s allies, notably the United States, which cancelled a briefing she was due to give the US Congress this week.

Washington and others argue that Israel has the right to defend itself – though Albanese questions whether its military operations are truly making it safer.

“Is it protection?” she asked. “How is what Israel is doing going to make its citizens protected? This is the question. And the blindness at the political level is mind-blowing.”

Azerbaijan’s role as host marks the second consecutive year a country heavily reliant on fossil fuels will hold the world’s most prominent climate talks.

According to a report published by Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective, Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel interests, entrenched levels of corruption and autocratic government put the UN-led climate process at risk.

The report emphasised that this risk isn’t unique to Azerbaijan, citing past and future Cop hosts with similarly strong fossil fuel ties.

“This report finds that in its current form, Cop – as the main global forum for setting the climate policy agenda – is at risk of being undermined by undue corporate influence and fossil fuel industry capture,” the report said.

“Corruption and kleptocracy, too, threaten the integrity of climate conferences, including the upcoming Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijan under scrutiny

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic bordering Russia and Iran, has faced criticism over its Cop29 hosting rights.

Last week, the European Parliament condemned Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses, calling them “incompatible” with the summit.

In October, dozens of US lawmakers demanded the release of political prisoners ahead of the climate talks in Baku, where President Ilham Aliyev has ruled since 2003.

Azerbaijan’s plans to increase fossil fuel production also challenge the global transition away from oil and gas set out in Cop28 in Dubai.

Aliyev has publicly called the nation’s gas reserves a “gift of the gods”.

• Azerbaijan names former oil executive to head Cop29 climate talks
• Cop28 draft climate deal drops mention of fossil fuel ‘phase-out’

‘Fossil fuel diplomacy’

Cop29 president Mukhtar Babayev, a former executive of Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR, has come under scrutiny, with the report alleging that SOCAR officials may be using the conference to negotiate oil and gas deals.

The watchdogs noted that COP29 risks becoming “another forum for fossil fuel diplomacy and dealmaking”.

The United Arab Emirates, which hosted COP28 in November 2023, faced similar accusations, with the summit president also director of the Emirates national oil company ADNOC.

Azerbaijan, alongside the UAE and Brazil – the next Cop host – forms a “troika” promoting climate action, yet all three countries are moving ahead with new oil and gas ventures.

The report argued that “some members of this troika can use Cop events as diplomatic showcases to support their domestic oil industries, sign new fossil fuel deals and sanitise their records of human rights abuses and environmental harms”.

It also raised concerns that certain members of the Cop29 organising team have been implicated in “high-profile corruption scandals” and that the event may be used to promote companies linked to Azerbaijan’s ruling family.

The Self-Determination Act was passed in the German parliament in April.

It allows over-18s to change official records to reflect their preferred names and genders without the need for psychiatric assessments or court hearings.

Under the legislation, anyone aged between 14 and 18 can ask for the changes to be made at a registry office with the agreement of their parents or legal representatives. In cases where there is a dispute, the applicant can seek legal help.

For children under 14, guardians would need to submit the paperwork.

No medical certificates or outside opinions will be required. The applicant can choose from several gender markers – male, female or “diverse” – or opt not to enter a gender at all.

“As populist politicians in Europe and beyond try to use trans rights as a political wedge issue, Germany’s new law sends a strong message that trans people exist and deserve recognition and protection without discrimination,” commented Cristian Gonzalez Cabrera, an LGBTQ+ rights researcher at campaign group Human Rights Watch, when the law was passed.

“Germany has joined a growing list of countries that are abolishing pathologising requirements for gender recognition which have no place in diverse and democratic societies.”

Thousands of applications

From 1 November, there will be a three-month wait between applying for the new status and making a personal declaration.

More than 1,200 people in the capital Berlin have already submitted applications, according to German press agency DPA, while thousands more are expected to do so nationwide.

Under Germany’s 1980 Transsexuals Law, medical reports and court approval were needed before someone could change their gender entry in official documents.

In 2017, a report for Germany’s Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, highlighted the cumbersome procedures.

Applicants said that to secure the necessary approvals, they had to provide details from their childhood and their sexual past. Some said they had to undergo physical examinations.

The ministry found that the legal steps could take up to 20 months to negotiate and cost an average of 1,900 euros.

Gay marriage brought equality to France while giving rise to homophobia

Polarising issue

Nearly eight years after those findings, the Self-Determination Act will radically simplify bureaucracy.

It comes into effect as activists warn of an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ violence in Germany. The interior minister said in June 2023 that police registered more than 1,400 such hate crimes during 2022.

Gay and transgender rights have become a polarising topic in Germany, where a centre-left government took over in 2021 with a vow to promote inclusion.

The alliance of Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats included the change to the gender recognition law in their coalition treaty.

The move was opposed by the largest opposition bloc, the Christian Democrats and Christian Socialist Union, as well as the far-right Alternative for Germany.

The reform was ultimately passed after a heated debate that resulted in various restrictions being added to the original bill.

The negative arguments made by opponents of the change have since contributed to the stigmatisation and harassment of trans people, activists told public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. 

HRW’s Gonzalez said: “German authorities should continue to push for full equality to eliminate acts of anti-LGBT violence in Germany and to promote anti-LGBT legislation overseas.”

Protesters in Bulgaria slam bill to ban LGBTQ+ ‘propaganda’ in schools

Between midnight and 3am, French-ruled Algeria was shaken by around 70 coordinated attacks, leaving 10 settlers dead. French authorities were caught off guard and initially dismissed the assaults as a “tribal uprising”, possibly “fomented in Cairo” by Pan-Arabist movements.

The next day, the FLN issued a manifesto, the “Proclamation of 1 November”, urging local Muslim Algerians to join an armed resistance.

The events, later known in France as the Toussaint Rouge (Red All Saints Day), revealed an organised and determined movement among Algeria’s indigenous population to end colonial rule.

At first, French political leaders and media downplayed the seriousness of the FLN threat.

Roots of anger

The conflict, now recognised as the Algerian War – a term only formally adopted in 1999 – stemmed from decades of growing grievances among Algerians.

French settlers, or pieds-noirs, held the exclusive label “Algerians” for themselves, while indigenous Algerians were sidelined.

Many Muslim Algerians had fought for France in both world wars, expecting equality in return, but their calls went unanswered.

Historians have shown that the roots of Algerian anger date back to France’s conquest of the country in 1830, which met immediate resistance from leaders like Emir Abdelkader.

By the 1930s a rising Muslim population faced extreme poverty, low wages and limited political power, according to French historian Bernard Droz. One European’s vote counted for as many as 10 Muslim votes under the 1947 status.

France and Algeria revisit painful past in battle to mend colonial wounds

Initially, Algerian leaders sought assimilation.

Figures like Ferhat Abbas, a moderate nationalist, called for autonomy under French oversight. But efforts to grant citizenship to some Muslims, like the 1937 Blum-Violette bill, were blocked.

The defeat of France in 1940 and the impotence of the Vichy state in the face of Nazi Germany encouraged Algerians to demand stronger nationalism, historian Charles-Robert Ageron wrote.

In May 1945, expectations for equal treatment boiled over. During a celebration of the Allied victory, a peaceful protest in Sétif escalated into deadly riots after police intervention.

As protests spread to the countryside, European militias joined in a brutal crackdown. Some historians estimate up to 45,000 indigenous Algerians were killed.

By 1946, widespread electoral fraud convinced Muslim activists that the ballot box was a dead end.

Leaders like Messali Hadj gained popularity with the Algerian People’s Party, which promoted the slogan: “Neither assimilation nor separation, but emancipation.”

National liberation day

While 1 November 1954 became known in France as “Red All Saints Day”, for indigenous Algerians it symbolised the start of their liberation war.

The FLN demanded “the restoration of the Algerian state, sovereign, democratic and social, within the principles of Islam”.

Yet France saw Algeria as an integral part of its territory – “Algeria is France!” said then interior minister François Mitterrand, who chose to increase repression.

Among the first casualties on 1 November were two French Algerians, four soldiers, a police officer, a forest ranger, a pro-colonisation Algerian and a young teacher killed by mistake.

The war that followed was brutal, with massacres on both sides.

The French army, supported by Muslim Algerian Harkis who sided with the colonisers, employed extreme measures, including torture under the guise of government authority.

The conflict would drag on until 1962, resulting in more than a million deaths among both the colonisers and the colonised.

60th anniversary of the Evian peace accords between France and Algeria

The Evian Accords on 18 March 1962 established a ceasefire, bringing an end to 132 years of French rule over Algeria.

However, the trauma of the war has continuously strained ties between the two countries with disputes around archives, immigration policies and political disagreements. 

In July, Algeria recalled its ambassador from Paris after French President Emmanuel Macron openly supported Morocco in a dispute over the territory of Western Sahara.

Seventy years after the Toussaint Rouge, the legacy of the Algerian War endures, with debates around access to archives and historical accountability.

Historians are still working to unravel the complexities of a conflict that cast a long shadow over both nations.

Amid murmurs that the talks may drag into an extra day, summit president Susana Muhamad said Friday’s programmed closing session promised to be “heart-stopping” given the number of unresolved issues.

“It’s a very complex negotiation, with many interests, many parties… and that means everyone has to cede something,” Muhamad, who is Colombia’s environment minister, told reporters Thursday.

With some 23,000 registered delegates, the 16th Conference of Parties (Cop16) to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which opened in Cali on October 21, is the biggest meeting of its kind ever.

The event is a follow-up to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed upon in Canada two years ago, where it was decided that $200 billion per year must be made available for biodiversity by 2030.

This must include $20 billion per year going from rich to poor nations to reach 23 UN targets to “halt and reverse” nature destruction by 2030, and by placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection.

COP16 was tasked with assessing, and ramping up, progress towards the targets.

But negotiations on funding mechanisms have failed to progress, observers and delegates say, even as new research this week showed more than a quarter of assessed plants and animals are at risk of extinction.

‘Chance to act’

Developing countries have called for more money.

They also want a brand new fund under the umbrella of the UN biodiversity convention, where all parties – rich and poor – would have representation in decision-making.

Rich countries insist they are on track to meet their funding targets, and many are opposed to yet another new fund.

European officials pointed Thursday to deadly flooding in Spain as a reminder of the harm that comes from humans’ destruction of nature, and urged delegates at the deadlocked talks to “act.”

European Commission envoy Florika Fink-Hooijer said the “catastrophe” in eastern and southern Spain this week, with at least 158 people dead and dozens still missing, highlights the link between biodiversity destruction and human-caused climate change.

Ecosystems hang in the balance as Colombia hosts crucial biodiversity talks

Droughts and flooding worsened by global warming cause the loss of plant species, including trees which absorb planet-warming carbon, in a vicious cycle of human-wrought Earth destruction.

“If we act on biodiversity, we at least can buffer some of the climate impacts,” Fink-Hooijer, who is the European Commission director-general for environment, told reporters.

“At this Cop we really have a chance to act,” she added.

‘Clock is ticking’

Another point of contention among delegates is on how best to share the profits of digitally sequenced genetic data taken from animals and plants with the communities they come from.

Such data, much of it from species found in poor countries, is notably used in medicines and cosmetics that make their developers billions.

Cop15 had agreed on the creation of a “multilateral mechanism” for benefit-sharing of digital information, “including a global fund.”

Window to save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is closing fast, report warns

But negotiators still need to resolve such basic questions as who pays, how much, into which fund, and to whom the money should go.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, who stopped over in Cali for two days this week with five heads of state and dozens of government ministers to add impetus to the talks, reminded delegates Wednesday that humanity has already altered three-quarters of Earth’s land surface, and two-thirds of its waters.

Urging negotiators to “accelerate” progress, he warned: “The clock is ticking. The survival of our planet’s biodiversity – and our own survival – are on the line.”

Representatives of Indigenous peoples and local communities held demonstrations at COP16 to press for more rights and protections, as delegates inside wrangled over a proposal to create a permanent representative body for them under the CBD.

On this, too, no final agreement has been reached.

Cop16 parties voted Thursday to have Armenia as the host for their next summit in 2026.

Erdogan has avoided commenting on the US election, but Ankara sees the outcome of the 5 November vote as key for Turkish-US relations.

Each of the contenders, Vice-President Kamala Harris and Trump, are expected to take significantly different approaches to Turkey’s long-time leader.

“During the past Trump presidency, the political relationship at the highest level between Erdogan and Trump was a strong one,” says Sinan Ulgen, head of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, an Istanbul think tank.

Ties with President Joe Biden have been notably less friendly, however, if Harris were to win the relationship with Erdogan is likely to be a much more shallow one, Ulgen believes.

Face-to-face time

Erdogan met Trump nine times during his 2017-21 presidency, including on a state visit to Washington.

In contrast, he met Biden only briefly on the sidelines of international summits, with US-Turkish relations mainly conducted at foreign-minister level.

“Erdogan has been in power for more than 20 years and Biden is the only US president who has refused to meet him in an official capacity, either in the US capital or in the Turkish capital,” says international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

“For Erdogan, leader-to-leader talks are key to achieving his goals. And probably, he thinks deep down that he can sort out many things through personal contact, connections or personal engagement.”

Such interaction, especially with the most powerful person in the world, is also seen as vital to Erdogan’s status at home.

“It’s very important for his domestic standing and legitimacy,” says Asli Aydintasbas, a political commentator and visiting fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“He has built a personalised system but also convinced voters, particularly his base, that he is a consequential leader, that Turkey is rising, that he is very important, he is on par with the US president and the Russian president, that everybody is looking up to Erdogan.”

Turkey and Russia closer than ever despite Western sanctions

Lack of chemistry?

Aydintasbas questions how easy it would be for Erdogan to develop a relationship with Harris, even if she were ready to engage more directly than Biden.

“I cannot imagine what type of chemistry Harris and Erdogan would have. They don’t come from similar backgrounds. It’s difficult to imagine the two developing a very close personal relationship, to be honest,” the analyst says.

Erdogan has often spoken warmly of his relationship with Trump – despite the fact he got hit by sanctions during his time in the White House over the detention of an American pastor, prompting the Turkish lira to crash in 2018.

Trump once even vowed to “totally destroy and obliterate” the Turkish economy over Turkey’s threats to attack US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces.

“We have memories of the threats and sanctions,” warns Murat Aslan of the pro-government Seta Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research in Ankara.

Invoking the 2018 crisis, Aslan said: “Rather than words, I think deeds are important.”

Erdogan hopes a U-turn can salvage Turkey’s floundering economy

High-risk candidate

The Middle East is another potential sticking point.

Trump is calling for more support for Israel in its wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, and analysts say differences could again emerge between the US and Turkish leaders.

“Trump’s approach to the Middle East and the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel could actually escalate the tension in the Middle East to the extent that a regional war could be unavoidable,” warns Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, who directs the German Marshall Fund’s office in Ankara.

“So yes, a Trump presidency has many opportunities for Turkey – but at a very high risk.”

Meanwhile, though there has been little direct contact between Biden and Erdogan, Turkish-US relations have shown signs of improvement in recent months.

With the two Nato allies increasingly cooperating and better managing their differences, Aydintasbas suggests, there are merits for Ankara to both candidates.

“A Kamala Harris administration would mean more continuity, but the promise of stability in Turkish-US relations,” she says. “Whereas Trump is so unpredictable that it could be very good one day, very bad one day.”

With the Middle East war continuing to rage, Trump’s unpredictability remains a risk to Ankara – but Erdogan will likely still covet the opportunity to renew his relationship with the US strongman.

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! And we are so pleased that “one of our own” has made it into the running: Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listeners Club, is one of the 10 nominees in the RFI Clubs category! 

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 30 September, Marine Le Pen – the leader of the French far-right party the National Rally – along with her father and 25 colleagues went on trial over alleged misappropriation of European funds.

They’re accused of using European parliamentary funds to pay for assistants, who actually worked for her National Rally party, formerly called the National Front, rather than on European affairs.

If found guilty, Le Pen could face a maximum of ten years behind bars and a 1 million euro fine – and a possible five-year ban on standing for public office. 

You were to re-read our article “French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on trial for misuse of EU funds”, and send in the answer to this question: How many euros has the European Union Parliament estimated that Le Pen and her colleagues in the National Rally party allegedly embezzled?

The answer is, to quote our article: “The EU Parliament estimated in 2018 that 6.8 million euros had been embezzled. Marine Le Pen has always denied any wrongdoing.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “Can you remember the first time you received new clothes from your parents?”, which was suggested by Ratna Shanta Shammi from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Deepita Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Deepita is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Deepita, on your double win!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Hasina Zaman Hasi, a member of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club members Nasyr Muhammad from Katsina State, Nigeria, as well as Sakawat Hossain from Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Last but assuredly not least, RFI English listener Bidhan Chandra Sanyal from West Bengal, India. 

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Hadouk” by D. Malherbe and L. Ehrlich, played by Kosinus; “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin, performed by the composer; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “We Swing (The Cypher)” by Jean Baylor, Marcus Baylor, Eric Scott Reed, Keith Loftis, and Dezron Douglas, performed by The Baylor Project.

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-listen to Melissa Chemam’s 18 October Spotlight on Africa podcast, “Ghana grapples with crisis caused by world’s throwaway fashion”, or re-read her article of the same name, both of which will help you with the answer.

You have until 25 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 7 December 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.   

October and November are set to host a series of events celebrating African art across the continent, in Europe and even farther afield.

Spotlight on Africa dives into perspectives from diverse African cultures, focusing on the voices and visions of the diaspora.

RFI journalists Ollia Horton and Melissa Chemam take us to the heart of two major art fairs: Paris’s Also Known As Africa (AKAA) and London’s 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.

Listeners will hear from Victoria Mann, founder and director of AKAA, and artist Christelle Clairville, whose work brings Caribbean influences to the dialogue around African identity.

French-Belgo-Congolese artist Tiffanie Delune, exhibiting in London, shares her journey through the art world.

Curators Grada Kilomba and Helio Menezes weigh in from the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil. Meanwhile, ahead of the Dakar Biennale, French-Algerian artist Dalila Dalleas Bouzar discusses her preparation and the importance of the event to her work.

Episode mixed by Hadrien Touraud and Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale.

More than 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing extremely critical levels of hunger, according to the UN. Seventy percent of crop fields and livelihoods have been destroyed during the Israeli military offensive.

The war, which has claimed 42,000 lives in Gaza and left hundreds of thousands wounded, has also spread to the West Bank and Lebanon. Civilians as well as UN peacekeepers have been targeted by Israel’s forces.

“I used the word ‘catastrophe’ for the first time back in October 2023,” Albanese told RFI, “when Israel had killed 8,000, 6,000 people in the first weeks of the conflict and destroyed entire neighbourhoods, bakeries, churches, and targeted UN buildings and universities.

“This is not the way wars are conducted.”

Albanese was speaking as she prepared to launch her latest report on the situation in Gaza and the other Palestinian territories, which she presented to the UN General Assembly earlier this week.

In it, she takes a long view of the current conflict, arguing that Israel’s military actions form part of a systematic attempt to displace Palestinians that goes back decades – and which she calls a genocide.

“Israel occupies that land, according to the International Court of Justice, unlawfully,” Albanese said. 

“So Israel unlawfully occupies a territory, oppressing its people, who of course retaliate. Then they wage a war against them. It doesn’t work that way.”

Hamas attack, one year on – a view from Gaza

‘Emptying the land’

Albanese acknowledges the deadly violence inflicted on Israelis by the attacks of 7 October last year, and she has advocated for the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed against civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

But she warns that the trauma of 7 October has deepened Israeli animosity towards Palestinians and spurred calls for vengeance, providing the government with an opportunity to escalate its actions in the occupied territories with the goal of making them unliveable.

“As we speak, Israel is running extermination raids neighbourhood per neighbourhood in the areas that were already forcibly evacuated, ethnically cleansed of nearly 1 million people in northern Gaza,” Albanese told RFI.

“Only 400,000 people remained, who have been starved, abused and bombed. What the people in Gaza have gone through is really unspeakable, and now it is emptying the land completely.”

Hamas attack, one year on – a view from Israel

Israel and UN at odds

The war has brought Israel’s already tense relations with the United Nations to a low point, with the Israeli parliament this week approving a controversial bill to ban the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA – considered a lifeline for Gaza – from operating on Israeli territory.

Israel claims many of the agency’s staff belong to Hamas or other terrorist groups, and accused some of them of involvement in the 7 October attacks.

The UN says it investigated the allegations and identified problems with neutrality, but no proof of terror links. It warns that restricting UNRWA will have a devastating effect on aid supply chains into Gaza.

More broadly, UN leaders have called for a ceasefire and denounced starvation, mass displacements, atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Albanese has proved an especially controversial figure, calling for the UN to consider suspending Israel as a member state over its actions. 

Her stance has drawn accusations of bias and antisemitism from Israel’s allies, notably the United States, which cancelled a briefing she was due to give the US Congress this week.

Washington and others argue that Israel has the right to defend itself – though Albanese questions whether its military operations are truly making it safer.

“Is it protection?” she asked. “How is what Israel is doing going to make its citizens protected? This is the question. And the blindness at the political level is mind-blowing.”

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.   

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.