The hard-line farmers’ union Coordination Rurale (CR) lifted its roadblock for heavy trucks on the A9 motorway on Wednesday, which links south-western France with Spain’s northeast.

Organisers had earlier said that they intended to maintain the barricade, designed to provoke shortages of produce in French supermarkets.

Barnier also spoke with another CR branch from the western Lot-et-Garonne region by phone.

“Your Prime Minister knows and respects farmers. I will do everything I can … uphold the very many commitments that have been made,” said Barnier – a former agriculture minister – in comments captured by multiple media cameras.

Taking to social media, Barnier posted on X: “I hear the anger, the tension and the incomprehension of farmers about the proposed EU-Mercosur agreement. France is firmly opposed to it.”

Concessions ‘not honoured’

So far the French political class –  including President Emmanuel Macron – has echoed rural opposition to the Mercosur deal.

Barnier’s office stated that he had also spoken to Arnaud Rousseau – head of the heavyweight FNSEA farmers’ union – by phone.

In early 2024, farmers launched massively disruptive demonstrations including blockading many motorways across France and Europe, over issues including low prices for their produce and environmental regulation.

French protesters secured concessions from the government – but delivery was interrupted by President Emmanuel Macron’s call for new elections in June.

Resistance has been reinflamed by the prospect of an EU deal with the Mercosur bloc – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – that would create the world’s largest free-trade zone.

“The aim is to again put on the pressure to speak out against things that cannot be accepted. And, as I keep saying, always while respecting property and people,” Rousseau told Franceinfo on Wednesday.

• French farmers protest EU-Mercosur deal, block motorways in southern France
• Farmers warned of ‘zero tolerance’ as France braces for week of protest

‘Unacceptable’ methods of protest

The FNSEA chief was looking to set his outfit apart from CR, some of whose members have this week dumped waste outside regional government offices, broken into the French biodiversity authority and set up the motorway blockade.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard told broadcaster France 2 that such methods were “unacceptable” and risked wearing down widespread public sympathy for farmers.

The latest farmers’ protests come weeks before elections to regional Chambers of Agriculture, at which smaller unions CR and Confederation Paysanne hope to loosen the FNSEA’s tight grip.

On Wednesday, Confederation Paysanne targeted the Rouen headquarters of Haropa Port – a state-owned firm that runs the Le Havre, Rouen and Paris ports.

“The only people who benefit from free trade are the food industry, large-scale farms, traders, chemical manufacturers and finance that speculates on all of it,” said Mathieu Grenier, one of around 20 farmers demonstrating at the offices.

“For farmers, there will be a lot more losers than winners,” he added.

In a rare joint press conference on the side-lines of the 106th Congress of Mayors, local councillor associations reiterated their strong opposition to what they described as cuts amounting to between €10 and €11 billion in the proposed 2025 budget, which the government has labelled as “five billion euros of savings”.

David Lisnard, President of the Association of French Mayors (AMF), said Wednesday, “We are united not to contest the principle of savings, but to say that what are presented as savings on the local authority bloc are in reality essentially deductions.”

He emphasised that local authority debt has remained “stable for 30 years” at “just under 9 percent of total GDP” and warned, “The measures proposed are recessionary measures which – in the end – will have a recessionary effect on State budget revenues.”

Posting on X, the AMF wrote: “The associations representing local authorities are calling on the government and parliament to amend the finance bill so as to re-establish the trust and dialogue with mayors and presidents of inter-municipal bodies that are essential if our country is to overcome the crisis in public finances.”

Negative impact

Joining him were representatives from seven other local elected associations, all voicing their rejection of the government’s plans.

Gilles Leproust, president of Ville et Banlieue, highlighted the serious concerns within working-class towns, stating: “In our working-class towns, there are a lot of concerns about this budget. It’s going to have a huge impact on the residents, but also on the associations that are … the lifeblood of democracy and social life in our towns.”

Meanwhile, Christophe Bouillon, president of the Association des petites villes de France, warned of the potential consequences: “We are often described as social shock absorbers. When the shock absorbers are removed, when there is a democratic crash … that’s the risk we face, and it hurts a lot.”

• Wave of strikes brewing as French budget cuts anger unions
• French PM launches budget plan in test for new government

Communities ‘penalised’ 

Jean-François Debat, acting president of Villes de France, also criticised the government’s approach, saying, “This levy will result in a drop in investment and a deterioration in public services,” describing the method as “brutality” and “totally excessive and violent.”

The associations issued a joint motion opposing the proposed ‘€11 billion in levies, underlining, “It is today’s residents who are going to be penalised by the withdrawal of local public services.”

They added, “It is their children who will suffer from a slowdown in investment to combat global warming.”

The elected representatives are calling for the removal of three planned measures – including a €3 billion ‘precautionary’ fund – from the upcoming draft budget.

The French foreign ministry said Tuesday’s move to call in the Azeri ambassador came in the wake of “unacceptable remarks made about France and Europeans” which led France’s Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher to cancel her trip to the UN climate summit.

Aliyev lambasted Paris for colonial “crimes” in its overseas territories, and accused Europe of “corruption” and lecturing other countries about human rights while turning a blind eye to the “killings of innocent people” in the France’s overseas territory of New Caledonia in May.

France had previously accused Baku of interfering in its domestic affairs by stoking tensions in the Pacific archipelago, where 13 people died in unrest over voting reforms that indigenous Kanak people fear could leave them in a permanent minority.

Posting on X last week, minister Pannier-Runacher wrote: “Direct attacks on our country, its institutions and its territories are unjustifiable”. 

• French minister shuns Cop29 over Azeri comments on New Caledonia, colonialism
• Azerbaijan accused of stirring unrest in New Caledonia as tensions persist

French support for Armenia

Relations between Paris and Baku have long been tense over France’s support for Azerbaijan’s arch-rival Armenia. 

A lightning offensive launched by Azerbaijan last year retook the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh – leading to an exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians.

Aliyev has ruled his oil and gas-rich country with an iron fist for more than two decades since the death of his father, Azerbaijan’s Soviet-era Communist leader and former KGB general Heydar Aliyev.

In the run-up to Cop29, Azerbaijan was widely denounced for its human rights record and repression of the opposition.

(With newswires)

“The fact is, while children are the least responsible for environmental damage, they are the most exposed to it and are the first victims”, France’s Defender of Rights chief Claire Hédon said in the  report published on Wednesday.

“These risks are in their immediate environment – ​​their home or place of life – in all the places that welcome them and in outdoor spaces.”

The report titled  Annual Report on the Rights of the Child 2024, which focuses on children’s right to live in a healthy environment, outlines the actions the Defeder’s office believes are necessary to ensure this.

To guarantee these rights, Hédon is calling on public authorities to introduce “a legally binding international treaty for the protection of the environment”.

On a global scale, “more than 99 percent of children are exposed to a climatic and environmental risk factor” and “a quarter of the deaths of children under five are directly linked to pollution”, Hédon said.

The report adds that current policies do not sufficiently take into account the particular vulnerability of children.

“The worsening consequences of the environmental crisis underline the growing burden that future generations will have to bear,” it reads.

Hédon has called on public authorities to act in order to “guarantee present children and future generations the satisfaction of their essential needs: breathing, drinking, eating healthily and living in safety”.

In all, the report puts forward 20 recommendations, including speeding up the renovation of school buildings and improving all venues that accommodate children.

French children living near large vineyards at higher risk of leukaemia: study

Myriad of crises

The Defender of Rights also calls for “rethinking public spaces” to reduce children’s exposure to pollution, such as planting trees, expanding pedestrian areas near schools and developing alternative transport.

Another proposition is to adapt the school day and the school holiday calendar to “better take into account climatic changes and their effects on the national scale”.

Consultations for prenatal exposure to pesticides should also be accessible to parents, the report said.

In a further push to integrate children’s rights into policymaking, Hédon proposed creating “a children’s college within the National Energy Transition Council”, or expanding the composition of the Children’s Parliament in the National Assembly, made up of several classes each year who are responsible for drafting legislative proposals.

‘Myriad of crises’

Unicef sounds alarm over child poverty in French overseas departments

The recommendations come as the United Nations agency for children also issued warnings in its annual report, released Tuesday.

“Children are experiencing a myriad of crises, from climate shocks to online dangers, and these are set to intensify in the years to come,” Catherine Russell, executive director of Unicef, wrote in a statement.

This year, Unicef has projected forward to 2050 identifying three “major trends” that in addition to unpredictable conflicts that pose threats to children unless policymakers make changes.

The first risk is demographic change, with the number of children expected to remain similar to current figures of 2.3 billion, but they will represent a smaller share of the larger and ageing global population of around 10 billion.

While the proportion of children will decline across all regions, their numbers will explode in some of the poorest areas, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

This offers the potential to boost economic growth, but only if the new young population has access to quality education, health care, and jobs, Unicef notes.

The second threat is climate change.

If current greenhouse gas emission trends continue, by 2050 children could face eight times more heatwaves than in 2000, three times more extreme flooding, and 1.7 times more wildfires, Unicef projects.

(with AFP)

While Cop29 has entered its second week of negotiations, most participants expect little progress until the very last day, Friday 22 November.

Greenpeace Africa activists are intensifying their campaign, vowing on social media to “keep fighting” until “all polluters are held accountable for their climate injustices!”

The NGO delivered a petition to the Chair of the Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN), Ali Mohammed. The petition underscores the importance of the collective power of supporters, volunteers, and partners, they said in a statement on social media. 

Juma Ignatius from Kenya is a senior advisor to the office of the AGN at the UN, and is in Baku to focus on climate adaptation.

“Adaptation remains a key priority for the African continent for many people in Africa,” he told RFI from Azerbaijan.

He says the main focus now is ensuring that financing, technology, and capacity-building are in place to scale up adaptation efforts in Africa, enabling people to lead better lives.

“This is primarily why we’re here,” he said.

While he believes the negotiations are progressing, he thinks they are moving very slowly.

“There are some tactics employed on purpose here, especially wait-and-see tactics, to see what happens in what room and then how can other rooms [will] respond to this…” Ignatius said. “We believe this is what is really slowing down the process of the negotiation.” 

He views the G20 commitments made so far, particularly on adaptation funding, as encouraging signs.

G20 backs climate finance deal but faces fossil fuel backlash

“We’ve seen reports from the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), saying that we need money, that is a lot. But… the fractions we are receiving here are very, very small,” he also told RFI.

“The adaptation needs are increasing every day. The gap is increasing between what is really required and what’s being pledged. So, we need to see more action.”  

Double burden

Dean Bhebhe Bhekhumuzi is the intelligence and campaigns advisor at Power Shift Africa, and the lead coordinator for the Don’t Gas Africa movement. Originally from Zimbabwe, he’s working with the Kenya-based organisation remotely from Johannesburg, in South Africa. 

He expects that any breakthrough will likely occur only at the very end of this round of negotiations, most likely on the final day.

But he also thinks that what’s important is to understand the relationship between developing and developed countries.

“When we look at the type of finance that Africa needs to tap into, it becomes important to mention the debt crisis,” he said. “Nigeria, Senegal, for example, need to pay off their huge debt.”

These two countries use up to 67 percent of their GDP to pay off debt, leaving only 33 percent to tackle energy, healthcare, infrastructure, education, and all the other essential building blocks for development.

“Developing countries are asking developed countries to essentially manage and pay for emission reductions, and to implement a strategy,” Bhekhumuzi explains. 

He points out that Africa bears the brunt of the climate crisis, yet they are the least responsible for it, and the mechanisms to change this situation are not there.

“Surely we cannot be expected to also contribute financially, despite the debt burden,” he said.

Africa is battling plastic pollution and waste crisis, activists say

No room for pessimism

Both activists say they need to remain optimistic as they say they cannot give up on the multilateral processes.

“We must reckon that some of the benefits have been achieved,” Juma Ignatius, the senior advisor to the office of the AGN, told RFI. “For example, the Paris Agreement.”

Africa and the G77 at the UN, representing 77 developing economies,  have called for a total of $1.3 trillion last week. 

For Ignatius, this is achievable this week at Cop29, despite a huge presence of fossil fuel lobbies. So he insists that African negotiators should not be defeated or focus on what’s not working. 

“We can encourage ourselves [with the] that something greater is coming,” he said.  

Bhekhumuzi agrees. “I think what is important is actually uploading Global South countries,” he told RFI, and get their voices heard.

“The Africa group of negotiators is pushing for an act that is people-centred, one that will empower Africa. Because we’re having those critical discussions, this is already a small win,” Bhekhumuzi said.

“We are not against social networks, we are simply asking for the application of the law” on X, Francois-Xavier Lefranc, chairman of the board of Ouest-France, told French news agency AFP on Tuesday.

He added that the decision was taken “fairly unanimously internally”.

The daily, which is targeted at France’s vast western region and still sells over 600,000 paper copies a day, is the first French daily to quit X after Britain’s The Guardian, La Vanguardia in Spain and Dagens Nyheter in Sweden.

Sports clubs have also begun turning away from the platform.

On Tuesday, German football club Werder Bremen joined fellow Bundesliga side St Pauli in leaving X, citing an “incredible” increase in “hate speech” since it was bought by Musk in 2022.

Top French newspapers sue X for unpaid use of their content

Several users had already wondered back then whether they should remain on Twitter when Musk – a businessman best known for running car company Tesla and space company SpaceX – rebranded it as X, and drastically reduced content moderation in the name of free speech.

The question has flared up again since Donald Trump won this month’s US presidential election, actively supported by Musk.

“Unless it becomes a regulated space that respects people”, Ouest-France “will not return”, Lefranc said. “This decision is final. We are not doing this just to change our minds in two weeks.”

On its X account, Ouest-France posted what it said was a “last tweet, for the moment”.

Harsh, extreme climate

Several news outlets have begun quitting X, once a favourite of global media but now accused of enabling the spread of disinformation under Musk.

Citing a “harsh and extreme” climate, Sweden’s newspaper of reference, the left-liberal Dagens Nyheter (DN), last Friday became third major media outlet to stop publishing its articles on the social media platform.

“Since Elon Musk took over, the platform has increasingly merged with his and Donald Trump’s political ambitions,” said editor-in-chief Peter Wolodarski.

Last Wednesday, Britain’s centre-left daily The Guardian announced it would no longer post content from its official accounts on X, which it called “toxic”.

EU concerned by high disinformation rate on Musk’s X platform

The Guardian has nearly 11 million followers on the platform, but it said “the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives”.

 It said “often disturbing content” was promoted or found on the platform, singling out “far-right conspiracy theories and racism”.

Spain’s Vanguardia said it would rather lose subscribers than remain on a “disinformation network”.

Stephen Barnard, a specialist on media manipulation at Butler University in the US said he expected more publishers to part ways with X in the coming months.

“How many do so will likely depend on what actions X, Musk, and the Trump administration take with regard to media and journalism,” he said.

Invent alternatives 

Musk, who is the world’s richest man, has been named by Trump’s team to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.

One beneficiary of disenchantment with X appears to be Bluesky, a decentralised social media service offering many of the same functions as X.

On Friday, it said it had added one million subscribers within 24 hours. But its 16 million subscribers are still dwarfed by those of X, estimated at several hundreds of millions.

“Strictly speaking, there are no alternatives to what X offers today,” Vincent Berthier, head of the technology department at RSF (Reporters Without Borders) told AFP.

“But we may need to invent them.”

Berthier called departures from X “a symptom of the failure of democracies to regulate platforms” across the board.

Musk may represent “the radical face of this informational nightmare”, said Berthier. “But the problem goes much deeper.”

(with AFP)

The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at €90 million, and the previous record for a work by Magritte (1898-1967) was €75 million, set in 2022.

After a nearly 10-minute bidding war on Tuesday, “Empire of Light” – L’Empire des lumieres – was sold for €114 million “achieving a world-record price for the artist and for a surrealist work of art at auction”, according to auction house Christie’s.

The painting – depicting a house at night, illuminated by a lamp post, while under a bright, blue sky – is one of a series by the Belgian artist showing the interplay of shadow and light.

It inspired American director William Friedkin to make his famous horror film “The Exorcist”(1973).

“Empire of Light” was part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who fled communist Romania to settle in the United States where she became an influential figure in the arts world.

She died in late 2023 and was married to the late Ahmet Ertegun, the music magnate who founded the Atlantic Records label.

Art market slowing down

The sale of the Magritte painting was an expected highlight of this week’s autumn sales season in New York, at a time when the art market has seen a slowdown since last year.

Christie’s – which is controlled by Artemis, the investment holding company owned by the Pinault family – said sales totaled €2 billion in the first half of this year.

That is down for the second straight year, after a peak of €3.8 bllion in 2022 as the world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

During the same Christie’s auction on Tuesday, a celebrated 1964 painting of a gas station by 86-year-old Ed Ruscha, titled “Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half,” sold for €65 million, setting a new auction record for the American pop artist.

(AFP)

“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Lecornu said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“Both in the central role they play in welfare matters, and in the security aspect. We will have to think about more operational support on the military side.”

Lecornu’s appeal came following talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.

Diplomatic efforts are intensifying to secure a ceasefire based on United Nations Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Paris hosts Lebanon conference amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict

The resolution called for the deployment of Lebanese government forces and United Nations peacekeeping force Unfil in areas south of Lebanon’s Litani River near the Israeli border.

Security

“There isn’t a better solution at this stage than to respect Resolution 1701 and to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Lecornu said.

“To secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.

Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon in September, vowing to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of people displaced by cross-border fire to return home.

Since the clashes began with Hezbollah attacks on Israel, more than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to authorities, with most fatalities recorded since late September.

Last month, a conference in Paris raised $200 million (€188 million) to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million (€755 million) in humanitarian aid for the country.

Macron promises €100m for Lebanon at aid conference in Paris

The Lebanese army, which plays a crucial role in maintaining stability in the deeply divided country, struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers.

It has previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the United States to pay salaries.

Next month, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, will travel to Saudi Arabia. His visit is expected to focus on defence contracts and investment in new technologies.

(With newswires)

French Europe minister Benjamin Haddad said he organised the gathering in Brussels with his Dutch counterpart to tackle a resurgence in anti-Semitic violence since the start of the war in Gaza.

“I wanted us to have… a frank conversation about the causes of the rise in antisemitism and the best ways to address it and really make it a priority for the European institutions,” Haddad told French news agency AFP.

The meeting was arranged after supporters of an Israeli football team were attacked in Amsterdam this month, in an incident condemned by Dutch and Israeli authorities as antisemitic.

Israeli fans ‘welcome’ at France-Israel clash, French Europe minister says

It was attended by about a dozen ministers from other EU countries.

Dutch officials said Israeli fans were targeted in “hit-and-run” attacks by men on scooters on 7 November, after a Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and local team Ajax.

Five Maccabi fans were briefly hospitalised.

Tensions were high before the match after Israeli fans chanted anti-Arab slogans, vandalised a taxi and burnt a Palestinian flag in Amsterdam’s main square, according to police reports.

Speaking after the talks, Haddad said however that Europe was witnessing “one of the worst outbreaks of anti-Semitism” since World War II.

“When we talk about anti-Semitism, it is not just the defence of European Jewish communities that is at stake, it is the preservation… of our fundamental values,” he said.

(AFP)

After several years in which France became the number one European destination for new headquarters, research centres and factories, the tide, according to the findings of the consultancy firm EY, appears to be turning.

A barometer of France’s attractiveness – carried out between 3 and 21 October – found that 118 of the bosses said the fractious political landscape following last summer’s snap parliamentary elections was making it difficult for them to build a business plan.

Nearly half of them feared the political skirmishing would lead to a slowdown in reforms to cut red tape and they were also worried about whether it would cost more to employ people.

“Executives are still counting on France, particularly for investment in innovation and services,” said the report. “But they are more reserved about locating factories and headquarters in France.”

Importance

In France, according to the government statistics agency Insee, 17,500 companies are under foreign control and employ 2.2 million people, some 13 percent of the salaried workforce.

“Foreign-owned companies are one of the major driving forces of our economy and that of our regions,” the report says.

However, survey researchers discovered that even though the vast majority of bosses were not planning to invest any more money in schemes in France this year, more than half planned to fund research and development projects in the country until 2027.

The business leaders warn that as France has become politically brittle, the recently elected Labour government in Britain with its huge parliamentary majority, offers a more stable environment for investment.

Eighty-four bosses said Britain seemed more attractive than France while 58 disagreed. However, they were all united in their negativity about Germany.

Confidence

“After a period of constancy that had restored confidence, France has to show sensitivity to criticism of its stability, tax system, labour costs and its ecological ambitions,” the report said.

The EY report comes just six months after the Choose France forum in Versailles yielded a record amount of investment of 15 billion euros, for 56 projects.

But the report adds: “Since then, and in light of the profound changes in political governance and the resulting uncertainties, questions about France’s attractiveness are regularly asked by companies, public players and the media.”

The bosses say they want the government to maintain the drive to cut business tax and reduce the bureaucracy involved in setting up a business.

They also want authorities to simplify the rules and speed up the time for allocating industrial sites. There is also a call for clearer guidelines on environmental schemes around factories.

The report adds: “Executives also point to four long-term challenges – innovation, energy, support for small and medium-sized businesses and reindustrialisation – which indicate a desire for continuity in the economic course of recent years.”

Nadal, 38, went down in straight sets to Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening match at the José María Martín Carpena Arena before Carlos Alcaraz levelled proceedings with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Talon Griekspoor.

However, Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof – also bidding farewell to the ATP circuit – combined to see off Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers 7-6, 7-6.

“I tried my best. I tried to enjoy and play with the right energy and the right attitude,” said Nadal after his defeat to the world number 80.

“It just didn’t work. There was a possibility that that would happen.”

Nadal last played competitively at the Paris Olympics in August. He lost in the second round of the singles and then later in the quarter-finals of the doubles.

“I knew it could be my last match as a professional and the emotions were difficult to manage,” Nadal admitted.

Time

“I wasn’t able to read the game quickly enough to feel in control. When you’ve spent so much time out of competition, everything is decided by small details and I’m not in the same form as players who are on the circuit. Today won’t be the day for me to criticise myself.”

During 23 years on the ATP circuit, Nadal was dubbed “the king of clay” for an 81-match unbeaten streak that started at the Monte Carlo Masters in April 2005 and ended at the Hamburg Masters in May 2007.

Roger Federer terminated the sequence but Nadal gained revenge the following month at the French Open in Paris where he became only the second man since tennis was opened to professional players in 1968 to win three championships on the trot.

In the 2008 final, Nadal annihilated Federer 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to brandish his fourth title at the only Grand Slam event to be played on clay courts.

Honour

By 2021, Nadal was guest of honour at the unveiling of his statue at the Stade Roland Garros to hail his 13 crowns.

A 14th followed in 2022 when he swept past Casper Ruud in straight sets.

Nadal also claimed eight titles at the three other Grand Slam events in Melbourne, London and New York.

He won Olympic singles and doubles gold and helped Spain to four Davis Cup titles, most recently in 2019.

Before the swansong, Federer hailed Nadal for forcing him to rethink his style.

“You made me reimagine my game,” Federer conceded. “Even going so far as to change the size of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.”

But it was to no avail. Nadal emerged the victor in 24 of their 40 encounters.

“What an incredible run you’ve had.” added Federer. “Including 14 French Opens – historic! You made Spain proud … you made the whole tennis world proud.”

The deal, which would establish the world’s largest free trade zone, has become a flashpoint for growing dissatisfaction in the farming sector.

On Tuesday morning, more than 100 farmers set off from Beziers, a town in southern France, heading towards the French-Spanish border near Perpignan. 

Their goal is to block traffic along major highways for several days. 

As the convoy made its way along the A9 motorway, the procession included around 100 vehicles, among them six tractors. In Narbonne, they were joined by a dozen more cars.

Meanwhile, in Bordeaux, about 30 tractors gathered outside the regional authority’s headquarters, a symbol of the growing unrest in rural areas.

Despite the French government’s vocal opposition to the deal, farmers say President Emmanuel Macron and his administration are not doing enough to address their concerns. 

The protests, which began earlier this year, are now gaining momentum, with many in the agricultural community accusing the government of failing to deliver promised support.

Farmers warned of ‘zero tolerance’ as France braces for week of protest

Blocking food freight

The FNSEA farming union and Jeunes Agriculteurs (“Young Farmers”), which together represent most farmers in France, backed the protests.

Hardline farmers’ union Coordination Rurale threatened to step up pressure later this week and start blocking food freight, if no progress is made. The demonstrations are a continuation of broader frustrations within the agricultural sector. 

On Monday, farmers staged more than 80 protests across the country, setting up mock gallows and wooden crosses to symbolise the death of French agriculture.

They also blocked the Bridge of Europe, which links France and Germany to protest against the European Commission’s plan to conclude the Mercosur treaty following two decades of talks.

In Bordeaux, on the banks of the Garonne, several dozen farmers burned uprooted vines on Monday evening.

“Today, we are reigniting the flame of our fight,” said Jerome Freville, a 60-year-old winegrower. “Be careful. We will not back down.”

Low income, bureaucracy

French farmers complain about excessive bureaucracy, low incomes and poor harvests.

They say they have been waiting for the authorities to deliver on the promises of support made by the government before Macron dissolved parliament’s lower house in the summer, sparking a political crisis.

The proposed EU-Mercosur free trade agreement has provoked fresh anger.

Farmers fear the deal would flood European markets with cheaper South American products that do not meet the same strict standards on pesticides, hormones, and environmental protections required of European producers. 

Despite these concerns, Macron has reiterated that France is not alone in opposing the agreement. 

Speaking in Brazil on Monday at the G20 summit, the French president stated that several other EU countries were joining France in its resistance to the deal. 

Macron described the Mercosur accord as outdated, saying it was “based on preconditions that are now obsolete.”

(with AFP)

The leaders of the world’s 20 richest economies were under pressure during their summit in Brazil to break the impasse over climate finance at the deadlocked COP29 talks in Azerbaijan.

A statement issued by G20 leaders in Rio de Janiero overnight reiterated support for a deal to be reached in Baku, where the first week of negotiations ended in bitter stalemate.

“We needed to see a strong signal from the G20, and we got that on finance,” said Mohamed Adow, a Kenyan climate activist and founder of the Power Shift Africa group.

Jasper Inventor, from Greenpeace, described the support for a finance deal as “a positive signal”.

“This momentum must now be translated into concrete outcomes in Baku,” he said.

Climate, trade top the agenda as Macron visits Argentina ahead of G20 summit

Action against climate change

Rich nations are being urged to significantly raise their pledge of $100 billion (94 billion euros) a year in finance for poorer countries to take action against climate change.

But efforts to finalise the deal in Baku have been glacial, with rows over how much the deal should entail, who should pay it, and what types of finance should be included.

The chair of the G77 + China, a grouping of developing nations, told French news agency AFP that the Rio statement was a “good building block” for the climate talks as G20 leaders acknowledged that the needs were in the “trillions” of dollars.

However, Adonia Ayebare, the group’s Ugandan chairman, said that the G77 was “not comfortable” with vague wording saying the money should come from “all sources”.

“We have been insisting that this has to be from public sources. Grants, not loans,” Ayebare said.

Climate crisis takes centre stage as G20 summit opens in Brazil

Harjeet Singh, an activist from India, said the G20 “displayed a stark failure in leadership”.

“Their rehashed rhetoric offers no solace for the fraught COP29 negotiations, where we continue to see a deadlock on climate finance,” he said.

The statement did not explicitly repeat a pledge made last year at COP28 to transition the world away from fossil fuels, a flashpoint issue that has caused tensions in Baku.

G20 leaders made reference to phasing out “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” but the key language enshrined to much fanfare in the commitment made in late 2023 was absent.

“Silence on the new climate finance goal and mutism on fossil fuel phase out are unacceptable coming from the biggest economies and emitters,” said Rebecca Thissen from the Climate Action Network.

(AFP)

Patrice Douret, president of the organisation, revealed plans to significantly strengthen their aid for young children, single-parent families, and others struggling with poverty. 

The initiative will focus not only on providing food and material resources, but also on fostering social connections and helping families integrate into society.

Douret emphasized that the charity is responding to an increasing demand, particularly from single-parent families, which now make up a quarter of the charity’s beneficiaries.

“This is a reality we can no longer accept,” Douret said, calling on the French government to provide more support to organisations fighting poverty, especially in light of the ongoing economic challenges.

At the launch of the new winter campaign, Douret was joined by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who visited the charity’s temporary headquarters in Gennevilliers, north of Paris. 

Barnier reassured that efforts to reduce France’s national deficit would not come at the expense of vulnerable populations. 

“We must reduce the debt, but I do not want these efforts to impact the most fragile,” he said, stressing that the budget for solidarity programs would not be cut.

Finances stabilised

The Restos du Cœur has long been a cornerstone of France’s social safety net, providing 35 percent of the country’s food aid. 

After experiencing a severe financial crisis earlier this year, the charity has managed to stabilise its finances. The organisation reported a surplus of 22 million euros for the 2023-2024 campaign, a remarkable turnaround from the expected 35 million euro deficit.

The charity had sounded the alarm in the fall of 2023 about its precarious financial situation, struggling to meet the needs of an increasing number of people facing food insecurity. 

French charity forced to cut number of beneficiaries as winter food drive begins

Rising operating costs, combined with a surge in demand, had forced Restos du Cœur to cut the income threshold for eligibility for food aid for the first time in its history. As a result, 110,000 people were turned away during the 2023-2024 campaign.

Over one million beneficiaries

Despite these challenges, the food bank was able to assist 1.3 million beneficiaries, maintaining the same number of people served as the previous year. 

The charity distributed 163 million meals, just shy of the 171 million served during the 2022-2023 campaign. 

“What will happen in the future as all indicators show that the situation has worsened since 2020?” Douret expressed concern, as rising poverty and inflation continue to impact vulnerable communities.

The most recent figures from France’s National Institute of Statistics (INSEE) reveal that more than nine million people in the country live below the poverty line, defined as earning less than 1,216 euros a month. 

This accounts for 14.4 percent of the population. 

For many, the Restos du Cœur provides not just food, but a lifeline to escape from the cycle of poverty.

(With newswires)

The whale shark, the largest fish on Earth, can grow up to 20 metres long and weigh over 30 tonnes, yet despite its awe-inspiring size, the species is facing an escalating risk of extinction. Overfishing, accidental bycatch, and collisions with ships are some of the major threats contributing to its endangered status.

In an interview with public broadcaster franceinfo on Sunday, Hugues de Kerdrel, founder of the marine conservation group Over The Swell, described the whale shark as a majestic creature.

“You see a huge mass, with a peace and tranquility that is extraordinary. It swims very slowly,” he said, highlighting the gentle nature of the giant fish.

Founded in Brittany, Over The Swell has taken up the cause of protecting whale sharks, now calling for the creation of an international protected zone in the South Atlantic. 

The campaign was sparked by de Kerdrel’s own encounter with a whale shark near Saint Helena island, located in the heart of the South Atlantic. This experience deepened his commitment to safeguarding the species, which is increasingly threatened by human activity.

Offshore corridor

According to a study published last month in Nature Climate Change, the risks to whale sharks are rising due to climate change, which forces the animals to migrate to areas with denser maritime traffic.

“We won’t be able to stop illegal fishing or industrial fishing,” de Kerdrel acknowledged. “But we can start by working on international marine protected areas.”

French fishing ban great news for dolphins, less so for industry

His organisation is pushing for the creation of the world’s first offshore corridor specifically for whale sharks, stretching between Cape Verde and Saint Helena island. 

By better understanding the sharks’ migration routes, de Kerdrel believes international bodies can be persuaded to protect the area.

Support from sailors

Last week, Over The Swell’s project received an official support from the Vendée Globe Foundation, which was created this year to promote the protection of oceans and marine biodiversity. 

Fabrice Amedeo, a sailor currently competing in the 10th edition of the annual Vendée Globe round-the-world race, voiced his backing for the project. 

40 skippers leave France to embark on gruelling ‘Everest of the Seas’

Amedeo emphasised the need for a shift in the approach to marine conservation, calling for an end to the silence surrounding the issue. He also stressed the importance of viewing sailors as “whistleblowers” rather than perpetrators when it comes to collisions with marine life.

Amedeo also pointed out that four of the 40 boats in the Vendée Globe unintentionally kill a whale every four years by striking the animals.

“What about the global commercial fleet?” he asked, urging a broader awareness of the devastating impact of ship collisions on marine wildlife.

In a move decried by Tehran, the 27-nation bloc said it prohibited the export, transfer, supply or sale from the EU to Iran of components used to make missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

It also banned any transaction with ports “owned, operated or controlled” by sanctioned individuals and entities, or otherwise used to supply Russia with drones, missiles, related technology and components.

“This measure includes the access to facilities of the ports and locks, such as Amirabad and Anzali, and the provision of any services to vessels,” the EU said in a statement as the bloc’s foreign ministers met in Brussels.

Amirabad and Anzali are two Iranian ports on the Caspian Sea.

Assistance could still be provided to vessels in need under certain circumstances such as for reasons of maritime safety, the EU added.

Shipping firms targeted

The bloc also adopted restrictive measures against Iran’s state-run shipping company IRISL, its director Mohammad Reza Khiabani, and three Russian shipping firms accused of ferrying weapons across the Caspian Sea.

Brussels had already imposed sanctions on prominent Iranian officials and entities, including airlines, accused of aiding Russia’s war effort against Ukraine.

Acting in parallel, Britain also announced fresh sanctions against Iran Monday, freezing the assets of IRISL as well as national airline Iran Air for transporting ballistic missiles and military supplies to Russia for use in Ukraine.

EU sanctions Iran over ballistic missiles transferred to Russia

The British foreign ministry also said the Russian cargo ship Port Olya-3, sanctioned for carrying missiles from Iran to Russia, would not be allowed to enter any UK port.

The British measures build on initial steps announced by the so-called E3 powers of the UK, France and Germany in September over Tehran’s alleged supply of short-range missiles to Russia.

Iran rejects Western accusations it has transferred missiles or drones to Moscow for use against Kyiv.

Boomerang effect

Ahead of the new sanctions’ announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday the EU was using the “non-existent missile pretext” to target its shipping lines.

“There is no legal, logical or moral basis for such behaviour. If anything, it will only compel what it ostensibly seeks to prevent,” Araghchi wrote on X.

EU leaders to consider using profits from Russian assets to arm Ukraine

“Freedom of navigation is a basic principle of the law of the sea. When selectively applied by some, such shortsightedness usually tends to boomerang.”

Iran’s economy is already reeling from biting US sanctions following the unilateral withdrawal of Washington in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

On Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran would decide how to respond.

 (AFP)

Washington has lifted restrictions on Ukraine using long-range US missiles to strike inside Russia.

Its policy shift – long demanded by Ukraine – apparently came in response to Russia allowing North Korean troops to help Moscow’s war effort, US officials have said.

On Monday, some European leaders expressed their support for the call.

Outgoing EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said:  “I’ve been saying once and again that Ukraine should be able to use the arms we provided to them, in order to not only stop the arrows but also to be able to hit the archers.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that French President Emmanuel Macron had already indicated in May that Paris was open to the idea of greenlighting the use of its missiles to strike on Russian soil. 

“We openly said that this was an option that we would consider if it would allow the striking of targets from where Russia is currently aggressing Ukrainian territory. So nothing new on the other side,” Barrot told reporters in Brussels on Monday. 

Biden answers missile pleas from Ukraine as clock ticks down

Missiles ‘will speak for themselves’

Washington’s lifting of the missile ban has not been formally announced, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “the missiles will speak for themselves”.

Zelensky has long pushed for authorisation from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia.

But US officials had previously worried about the danger of escalating the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, as well as the risk of depleting Washington’s own stocks of the valuable munitions.

France and Britain have provided Ukraine with their long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, but have held back from authorising their use inside Russia without American approval for ATACMS.

Ukrainian soldiers get crash course in combat at French military base

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Joe Biden was “fuelling the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions,” by allowing Kyiv to use US long-range weapons in Russia.

German drones

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Germany on Monday said that it was delivering 4,000 AI-guided drones to Ukraine, but remains opposed to sending Kyiv the long-range Taurus missile system.

Berlin has been the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters at an event in Bavaria that the drones being provided “were directed and supported by artificial intelligence” and that they could “take out the enemy’s electronic drone defences”.

The drones “can be delivered very quickly” and could be “deployed 30-40 kilometres behind the front line and hit combat posts, logistics hubs among other targets”, Pistorius said.

Along some parts of the front line in Ukraine, such a distance would reach into Russian territory.

Berlin had announced in June its intention to deliver drones to Ukraine but had not given details on their specifications.

(with AFP)

The three men were arrested earlier this month after travelling to the capital Bamako for what they thought were routine negotiations with the ruling junta.

Instead, British chief executive Terence Holohan and two of his colleagues were “unexpectedly detained” for questioning.

Resolute said it would pay the Malian government $80 million (€75 million) from “existing cash reserves”, with a further payment of $80 million in the “coming months”.

Since seizing power, Mali‘s leaders have vowed to claw back gold mining revenues from foreign companies operating in the country.

It was not immediately clear when Holohan and his two unnamed colleagues might be released.

Resolute said it was now “working with the government on the remaining procedural steps for the release of the three employees”, adding that they remained “safe and well” in the meantime.

It was the second time in recent months that employees of a foreign mining firm were detained.

Major export 

Gold contributes a quarter of the national budget and three-quarters of export earnings.

The $160 million (€151 million) payment is a significant hurdle for Resolute, which according to financial statements currently holds $157 million in cash.

Resolute holds 80 percent of a subsidiary that owns the northwestern mine of Syama, with the Malian state controlling the remaining 20 percent, according to the firm’s website.

UN experts call for global system to trace critical minerals

The Australian company also owns a gold production site in Mako in neighbouring Senegal, and has other exploration operations in Mali, Senegal and Guinea.

The arrest of the Resolute team came soon after four employees at another foreign mining firm, Canadian company Barrick Gold, were detained in Mali for several days in September before being released.

Barrick Gold said it had reached an agreement with the state and in October paid 50 billion CFA Francs (€76 million).

Provisional results showed 91.8 percent of voters had backed the new constitution, the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) said in a statement.

An estimated 860,000 people in Gabon were registered to vote. The interior ministry said 53.54 percent turned out to cast their ballot.

National broadcaster Gabon TV said there were no serious incidents reported during voting across 2,835 polling stations nationwide.

The junta on Saturday extended a night curfew by two hours to midnight “during the whole electoral process”, according to a decree read on state television.

 Constitutional proposals

The proposed new constitution sets out a vision of a presidency with a maximum of two terms, but increases the length from five to seven years.

It also abolishes the post of prime minister and stops family members from succeeding a president.

Presidential candidates would have to be exclusively Gabonese – with at least one Gabon-born parent – and have a Gabonese spouse.

This would eliminate toppled ruler Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is married to a French woman, and his children.

His replacement, transitional president Brice Oligui Nguema, declared the referendum a “great step forward” as he cast his vote at a Libreville school. 

Who is General Brice Oligui Nguema, Gabon’s new transitional leader?

“All Gabonese are coming to vote in a transparent fashion,” the junta chief told the press, having ditched his general’s uniform for a brown civilian jacket over jeans.

Oligui has vowed to hand power back to civilians after a two-year transition but has made no secret of his desire to win the presidential election scheduled for August 2025.

Opponents of the proposed text had dismissed it as tailor-made for strongman Oligui to remain in power.   

“We are creating a dictator who designs the constitution for himself,” lawyer Marlene Fabienne Essola Efountame said. 

Gabon junta sets August 2025 as ‘indicative’ election date

The interior ministry said it had done all it could to ensure Saturday’s referendum was transparent, including inviting international observers – who were not present in Gabon’s presidential election in August 2023.

The final tally will be announced by the constitutional court.

(with newswires)

Voting took place peacefully across the West African country, where governing Pastef party said 90 to 95 percent of ballots had already been counted.

Local media reported that Pastef had emerged as the winner in the majority of the first polling stations to give their provisional results, projecting Faye’s party would get between 119 to 131 seats in the 165-member parliament.

Pastef’s win comes just a few months after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye secured the presidency and now clears the way for him to carry out ambitious reforms.

“I pay homage to the Senegalese people for the large victory that it has given to Pastef,” government spokesman Amadou Moustapha Ndieck Sarre told TFM television.

Official provisional results will be announced on Tuesday, but the two main opposition parties have already conceded.

“I would like to congratulate Pastef, the winner of the election,” said Barthelemy Dias – head of SAMM Sa Kaddu, one of the opposition coalitions. His colleague Bougane Gueye Dany encouraged Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko “to look into the needs of the Senegalese people”.

Former President Macky Sall, who leads an opposition grouping from abroad called Takku Wallu Senegal, claimed the vote was marred by “massive fraud organised by Pastef”, but without providing details.

Former rivals Sonko and Macky Sall face off again in Senegal’s parliamentary elections

No major incidents

Various actors reported that the turnout on Sunday was typically lower than in the presidential election.

Pastef supporters headed onto the streets of Dakar on Sunday evening to celebrate their party’s victory.

“We’ve come to party,” Mamie Manga told RFI, among a crowd of young people on motorbikes trailing the vehicle of Pastef candidate Abass Fall. “Two victory in a year!” she said referring to the presidential and legislative elections.  

Senegal’s roughly 7.3 million registered voters were called to elect 165 MPs for five-year terms.

Voters have historically confirmed their presidential choice during parliamentary elections, say analysts.

RFI correspondents said the vote went off smoothly overall, with no major incidents apart from the huge queues that formed given the large number of electoral lists. 

Faye secured victory in March pledging economic transformation, social justice and a fight against corruption – raising hopes among a largely youthful population facing high inflation and widespread unemployment.

But an opposition-led parliament hampered the government’s first months in power, prompting Faye to dissolve the chamber in September and call snap elections as soon as the constitution allowed him to do so. 

Heads of state who arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday for the G20 summit will spend Monday and Tuesday addressing issues from poverty and hunger to the reform of global institutions.

However, the ongoing UN Cop29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan have thrown a spotlight on their efforts to tackle global warming.

While the Cop29 summit is tasked with agreeing a goal to mobilise hundreds of billions of dollars for the climate, leaders of the Group of 20 major economies half a world away in Rio are holding the purse strings.

G20 countries account for 85 percent of the world’s economy and are the largest contributors to multilateral development banks helping to steer climate finance.

They are also responsible for more than three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

G20 ‘must lead’

“All countries must do their part. But the G20 must lead,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Cop29 last week.

“They are the largest emitters, with the greatest capacities and responsibilities.”

Reaching such an accord may only get tougher with the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly preparing to again pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.

Trump is also planning to roll back landmark climate legislation passed by the outgoing Joe Biden, who will become the first US president to visit the Amazon rainforest when he makes a stop there on Sunday on his way to Rio.

• Climate, trade top the agenda as Macron visits Argentina ahead of G20 summit

Climate financing

UN climate chief Simon Stiell wrote a letter to G20 leaders on Saturday imploring them to act on climate finance, including boosting grants for developing nations and advancing reforms of multilateral development banks.

However, the same fights that have plagued Cop29 since it began last week are spilling over into G20 negotiations, according to diplomats close to the Rio talks.

Cop29 must set a new goal for how much financing should be directed from developed countries, multilateral banks and the private sector to developing nations. Economists told the summit it should be at least $1 trillion.

Wealthy countries – especially in Europe – have been saying that an ambitious goal can only be agreed if they expand the base of contributors to include some of the richer developing nations, such as China and major Middle Eastern oil producers.

• Macron seeks to stall Mercosur deal on visit to South America

‘Mission 1.5’

On Saturday, discussions of a G20 joint statement in Rio snagged on the same issue, with European nations pushing for more countries to contribute and developing countries such as Brazil pushing back.

The success of not only Cop29 but also the next UN climate summit – Cop30 hosted in Brazil next year – hinges on a breakthrough on climate finance.

A centrepiece of Brazil’s Cop30 strategy is “Mission 1.5” – a drive to keep alive the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

The UN estimates that current national targets would cause temperatures to rise by at least 2.6°C.

Developing countries argue they can only raise their targets for emissions reductions if rich nations, who are the main culprits for climate change, foot the bill.

Turkey’s media regulator, RTUK, revoked the station’s licence, claiming it had failed to comply with an earlier fine and suspension.

That order came after a guest earlier this year referred to the 1915 killings of Armenians by Turkey’s then-Ottoman rulers as a genocide.

RTUK ruled that the comment incited public hatred. While Acik did pay the fine, it didn’t come off air, saying it was appealing the initial ruling in court.

The revocation of its broadcasting licence has drawn international condemnation and alarm. “Acik Radio has always adopted a moderate language, reflecting various political views,” Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey representative for Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) told RFI. 

Onderoglu warns that banning Acik is part of a wider trend in the country of “eliminating media pluralism and weakening remaining minority voices”. He continued: “It is in line with a political mission to impose a single official view on society, what they call national and patriotic journalism.”

‘Cultural hub’

In Istanbul’s Kadikoy district, listeners have been chanting in protest over Acik Radio’s removal from the airwaves.

Elif Unal, an avid listener, said the station has been an important part of everyday life for a long time. “They ban everything that makes us smile, that makes us feel happy,” she said. “Most of the people in Istanbul, across Turkey, open their eyes listening to Acik Radio. Acik Radio is important because it’s a cultural hub and also a political supporter of many organisations, NGOs and activists.”

Armenians warn ethnic cleansing risks being forgotten – again

Protestor Mete Atature said he grew up listening to Acik. “Whichever programme you are listening to, you’ll learn something. Not like a lecture, not like an education programme, but there’s always something it leaves you with, and I miss that.”

He added: “From one side, of course, it’s a shock. From another side, it’s not unexpected, given the way the whole country is going. There is less and less free speech, and there’s more oppression, and this is another example.”

Diverse voices

Since its launch in 1994, Acik Radio has sought to bridge Turkey’s deep cultural and political divides. Volunteers produce and present social and cultural programmes that represent the country’s diverse population, including minorities.

Yetvart Danzikyan hosted Acik’s show “Radio Agos,” a programme aimed at Turkey’s Armenian minority.

“We tried to make the unheard voices of not only the Armenian community but also all the other minorities, the Greek, Jewish, and Suryani communities,” he said, adding that they were trying to bring even more unheard voices to the station’s programmes.

Turkey’s embattled civil society fears worst as foreign funding dries up

Turkey’s main opposition parties are supporting the station, and say the closure is a government attempt to further tighten its grip on the country’s media.

For now, Acik has returned to broadcasting via the internet, securing a licence under the new name of APACIK Radio. 

But those who run the station feel they are fighting an uphill battle. “The general atmosphere is getting towards more repression in Turkey,” Acik’s co-founder Omer Madra said wearily. “But we are very determined to fight on, and we’ve had some magnificent support from all the regions of the country.”

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 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: In mid-October, our beloved sportsman Paul Myers wrote about yet another speedy Kenyan: Ruth Chepngetich. Chepngetich not only won the Chicago Marathon on 13 October, she set a world record, too. She finished the 42-kilometer course in two hours, nine minutes, and 56 seconds – beating the previous long-distance record set by almost two minutes. That record was set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa at the 2023 Berlin Marathon. 

Chepngetich also became the first woman to win the Chicago Marathon three times, since its inception in 1977.

You were to re-read Paul’s article “Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich sets women’s world record at Chicago Marathon”, and send in the answers to these questions: What are the names and nationalities of the women who took second and third place in the 2024 Chicago Marathon race?

The answer is: Ethiopian Sutume Kebede came second in two hours, 17 minutes and 32 seconds. Irine Cheptai from Kenya was third, with two hours, 17 minutes, and 52 seconds.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “How do you describe real friendship? Give an example.” The question was suggested by Lata Akhter Murshida from Bogura, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Pradip Chandra Kundu from West Bengal, India. Pradip is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Pradip, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ali Shahzad, a member of the RFI Seven Stars Radio Listeners Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan, and RFI Listeners Club members Shaira Hosen Mo from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh as well as Samir Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal, India.

Last but assuredly not least, RFI English listener Tesha Akhter from Rajshahi, Bangladesh.  

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Sanoftob” by Thierry David; “Virtual Lifestyle” by Jean-Paul Merkel; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and In the Steppes of Central Asia by Alexander Borodin, performed by Evgeny Svetlanov and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

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 Isabell Martinetti’s article “Paris Photo fair focuses on photo books and their publishers”, which will help you with the answer.

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

Zitouni Ould Dada, representing the FAIRR Initiative – a network raising awareness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks in the food sector – underscores the need to transform global food systems.

“Since Cop15 in Paris and Cop26 in Glasgow, good progress has been made towards building sustainable and resilient agri-food systems,” he said. “Cop29 is a key moment to accelerate the transformation of food production.”

He calls on policymakers to strengthen climate commitments, integrate agriculture into national plans, and create policies to attract sustainable investment.

Financing green energy and addressing climate disasters are key issues at this year’s summit.

Seyni Nafo, spokesperson for the African negotiators group and chair of the Green Climate Fund, coordinates the African Union Adaptation Initiative. He shared his perspective with RFI’s Christophe Boisbouvier.

Speaking from Baku, Nafo explored the question of responsibility for funding climate recovery in the most affected regions.

The negotiations come during what is expected to be the hottest year on record, underscoring the urgency of Cop29’s agenda.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale.

Erdogan, who congratulated Trump as a “friend” on social media, sees this as a chance to reshape US-Turkey relations.

During Biden’s presidency, engagement was largely limited to foreign ministers – marking a stark contrast to the “strong leader-to-leader relationship” Erdogan and Trump had enjoyed, says analyst Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, of the German Marshall Fund in Ankara.

Trump and President Erdogan met face to face about nine times, compared to only two “brief encounters” with Biden, he adds.

Chemistry

Erdogan often speaks warmly of his dealings with Washington during Trump’s first term in office.

“The chemistry is the same. Two charismatic leaders, two leaders who are unpredictable,” notes Turkish presidential adviser Mesut Casin, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Yeditepe University.

He believes their personal rapport could set the stage for greater bilateral and regional cooperation, including efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Erdogan has long sought to play a role in ending the Russia-Ukraine war, given his close ties with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and, more controversially, with Vladimir Putin – a relationship that drew criticism and suspicion from some of Turkey’s NATO partners.

“Trump will push for negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine war. And I think that’s something that Turkey has always preferred,” predicts Asli Aydintasbas a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Turkey eyes US presidential race that stands to shake up mutual ties

YPG policy

Erdogan will also look to Trump for changes in US policy toward the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara views as linked to the PKK, a group fighting the Turkish state.

The YPG’s alliance with Washington against the Islamic State has strained US-Turkey relations, with Biden resisting Erdogan’s calls to end support for the group.

Former Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen predicts Erdogan will hope Trump might be open to a deal.

“Erdogan thinks that, like himself, Trump too is a pragmatic leader. So leaving aside principles or other such in brackets, the two sides can reach an agreement by giving and taking something between the two,” says Selcen.

Unpredictability

While Trump has often spoken positively about Erdogan, he nonetheless remains unpredictable.

“Can you rely on him?” asks Murat Aslan of SETA, a Turkish pro-government thinktank.

Tensions between Turkey and Israel could also complicate relations.

Erdogan has expressed hope that Trump will succeed where Biden failed in ending Israel’s war on Hamas and Hezbollah, but with Trump’s strong support for Israel and Erdogan’s backing of Hamas, a clash could be looming.

“What happens if there is an escalation in the Middle East with the polarisation of Israel and Turkey, as it currently is, and the attitude of Trump, it’s very clear that the Trump administration will threaten Turkey,” says Aslan.

With conflicts raging across the region, Erdogan views a new Trump presidency as an opportunity for Turkey and the region.

But given the leaders’ unpredictability, that opportunity doesn’t come without risks.

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 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 12 October, I asked you a question about the troubled relationship between France and Algeria.

Algeria’s recently re-elected president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, accused France, its former colonial ruler, of “genocide”.

Tebboune has postponed trips to Paris to meet with Emmanuel Macron several times; the latest was scheduled for late September or early October, and that trip was also postponed.

You were to re-read our article “Algeria’s Tebboune refuses France visit in snub to former colonial ruler”, and send in the answer to this question: What happened last July that sent the Algeria/France relationship into a nosedive – even provoking Algeria to recall its ambassador to France?

The answer is, to quote our article: “… relations nose-dived in July after Macron sent a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco voicing support for the Kingdom’s autonomy plan in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “How do you remember things?”

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Bushra Nawaz, who’s a member of the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Bushra is also the winner of this week’s bonus question.

Congratulations, Bushra, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian – Marxist – Leninist – Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India, and Father Steven Wara, who lives in the Cistercian Abbey in Bamenda, Cameroon.

Last but assuredly not least, RFI English listeners Amara, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan, and Jahangir Alam, the president of the World DX International Radio Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Soul Bossa Nova” by Quincy Jones, performed by the Quincy Jones Ensemble; “Aghan” by Mohammad Rouane, performed by the Rouane Ensemble; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Asa Branca” by Luiz Gonzaga and Humberto Teixeira, performed by Rosinha De Valença.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re- read our article “Tributes roll in for beloved musician and producer Quincy Jones, who died at 91”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 9 December to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 14 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.   

France produces 2.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging a year, most of which does not get recycled. In the ongoing battle to reduce waste, a 2021 law is intended to phase out single-use packaging by 2040. We go to a packaging expo to see how this might happen and meet people being pushed to the front lines of waste reduction. (Listen @3’45”)

Bouchot mussel farmers in northern France are sounding the alarm about spider crabs devastating their crops. Warming waters have led to a four-fold increase in crab numbers, a prized marine resource, but which threatens the future of the industry. A mussel farmer talks about the impact, and a marine scientist presents possible solutions. (Listen @19’47”)

A hundred years ago this month, women and girls working in sardine canning factories in Brittany launched a six-week strike that has gone down in history as one of the earliest examples of women successfully organising to defend their labour rights. The granddaughter of one of the strikers describes its legacy. (Listen @12’20”) 

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

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

Madhya Pradesh is often referred to as the Heart of India. Located right in the middle of the country, the Indian region shows everything India has to offer through its abundant diversity. The IFTM trade show, which took place in Paris at the end of September, presented the perfect opportunity for travel enthusiasts to discover the region.

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board, sat down to explain his approach to sustainable tourism.

“Post-covid the whole world has known a shift in their approach when it comes to tourism. And all those discerning travelers want to have different kinds of experiences: something offbeat, something new, something which has not been explored before.”

Through its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Shukla wants to showcase the deep history Madhya Pradesh has to offer.

“UNESCO is very actively supporting us and three of our sites are already World Heritage Sites. Sanchi is a very famous buddhist spiritual destination, Bhimbetka is a place where prehistoric rock shelters are still preserved, and Khajuraho is home to thousand year old temples with magnificent architecture.”

All in all, Shukla believes that there’s only one way forward for the industry: “Travelers must take sustainable tourism as a paradigm in order to take tourism to the next level.”

In partnership with Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board.

Also known as the Land of the Beautiful Islands, Malaysia’s landscape and cultural diversity is almost unmatched on the planet. Those qualities were all put on display at the Malaysian stand during the IFTM trade show.

Libra Hanif, director of Tourism Malaysia, explained the appeal of the country as well as the importance of promoting sustainable tourism today: “Sustainable travel is a major trend now, with the changes that are happening post-covid. People want to get close to nature, to get close to people. So Malaysia being a multicultural and diverse [country] with a lot of natural environments, we felt that it’s a good thing for us to promote Malaysia.”

Malaysia has also gained fame in recent years, through its numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which include Kinabalu Park and the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley.

Green mobility has also become an integral part of tourism in Malaysia, with an increasing number of people using bikes to discover the country: “If you are a little more adventurous, we have the mountain back trails where you can cut across gazetted trails to see the natural attractions and the wildlife that we have in Malaysia,” says Hanif. “If you are not that adventurous, you’ll be looking for relaxing cycling. We also have countryside spots, where you can see all the scenery in a relaxing session.”

With more than 25,000 visitors at this IFTM trade show this year, Malaysia’s tourism board got to showcase the best the country and its people have to offer.

In partnership with Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. For more information about Malaysia, click here.