On Christmas Eve, two services were held in the late afternoon and early evening. A music vigil and a midnight mass were also scheduled.

“Last year, I spoke to you in our building site clothes, in our cathedral that was still under construction,” Paris archbishop Laurent Ulrich said in a message on Tuesday before the services.

“And now we’re back in Notre-Dame, which has just been opened to worship and visitors. Our hearts are in celebration! ‘We’ve come home’. That’s what the priests and faithful I’ve met have been saying to me over the last few days.

“And indeed, the talents deployed on the Notre-Dame restoration site, like the meticulous care taken in the preparations for this reopening, have allowed the pain of the fire and the five years of separation to be erased, leaving only the joy of the reunion.”

On Christmas Day, there will be a mass at 8:30am and Ulrich will preside over a mid-morning service which will be broadcast on France 2.

The Paris diocese warned that no reservations will be possible for any of the masses, and only 2,700 people will be allowed in at any time. 

People hoping to be part of the congregation have been warned they might have to queue. “There is a risk of not being able to get to the cathedral.” said a diocese spokesperson.

Visitors have flocked to Notre Dame since it reopened on 8 December.

Ulrich led the inaugural mass with 150 bishops and more than 100 priests from the capital in attendance. French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed the cathedral would be restored after the fire on 15 April 2019, was also in the congregation.

On the eve of the inaugural mass during a re-opening service, Macron saluted the thousands of artisans who worked to rebuild the cathedral. 

“We have rediscovered what great nations can do – achieve the impossible,” he told a congregation that included the US President-elect Donald Trump,

Since it resumed full operation on 16 December, some 270,000 people have visited the cathedral.

.

New Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s team, which he unveiled Monday, is under pressure to pass a budget to cut soaring public spending and reduce a deficit expected to end the year at above six percent of gross domestic product.

Bayrou appointed Eric Lombard to lead the charge, as Economy minister. He has extensive experience in the public and private financial institutions.

The head of Caisse des Depots, the investment arm of the French government, he has had a career as a banker. But he may be vulnerable to accusations that he leans too far left politically, and that he is too close to the deeply unpopular Macron.

He will work with Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin, a long-time Macron supporter who was elected to parliament in 2017, along with four other ministers.

They will prepare a draft budget that will be presented to the National Assembly when it comes out of its recess on 13 January.

While the National Assembly passed a special law to avoid a government shutdown on 1 January, it is only a temporary measure and does not provide long-term funding, and leaves aside promises for farmers, and New Caledonia, among others.

A budget also sets income and corporate tax rates for the year, and addresses a public deficit that France has promised its European partners it would reign in.

The Moody’s rating agency has already downgraded France’s sovereign credit rating, and that of seven of the country’s largest bank, which adds to the debt burden.

Just over an hour after details of his first cabinet were announced, Bayrou went on live national television to explain the logic of recalling several names from previous administrations such as former prime ministers Elisabeth Borne, Manuel Valls.

“I think we’re in the most difficult situation we’ve been in since the second world war,” Bayrou told journalists Apolline de Malherbe and Benjamin Duhamel on BMF TV.

“It is a country that has no budget, no majority, in which a large number of French people think and believe that they are being left out, that no attention is being paid to them.”

Bayrou said that Borne, who was premier between May 2022 and January 2024, would be his de facto number two. 

“The country’s number one challenge is education,” Bayrou added.

During the 90-minute interview, Bayrou attempted to present himself as a centrist, unifying figure. “If we want to fight the immense problems France is facing at the moment, we cannot let disagreements rule,” he said.

The return of Valls came as a surprise. The 62-year-old served as François Hollande’s premier between April 2014 and December 2016 and will take over as overseas territories minister after nearly a decade away from the white heat of power.

His priority will be to implement the rescue package for the battered Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte where Cyclone Chido left at least 35 dead and more than 2,500 injured.

“One of the most pressing issues for this country are overseas territories,” Bayrou insisted. “They are very fragile, very destabilised societies, which feel that no one is looking after them.”

France’s Prime Minister Bayrou names new cabinet

The 73-year-old, who heads the liberal Democratic Movement (MoDem) party, denied he had succumbed to any influence from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally on the composition of his government as claimed by the former minister Xavier Bertrand.

But there were acknowledged hard line operators at the interior and justice ministries. Gérald Darmanin, who served as Interior Minister between July 2020 and September 2024 under three prime ministers, returned to the government as Justice Minister – the post that had seemed destined for Bertrand. 

Bruno Retailleau, a conservative who has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, retains his post as Interior Minister. 

Bayrou also promised to not use the controversial 49.3 article of the French Constitution which allows the  government to bypass MPs in parliament unless he was completely blocked. He told the interviewers that he did not want to slap new taxes on businesses but conceded the country’s deficits had to be addressed.

Named by President Emmanuel Macron on 13 December to replace Michel Barnier, Bayrou will head the fourth government of the year.

Criticisms

The leader of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, accused him of having formed the coalition of failure.

Marine Tondelier, the Green Party chief, condemned him for placing himself in the hands of the far right.

The leader of the France Unbowed (LFI) MPs, Mathilde Panot, said: “It is a government filled with people rejected at the ballot box who have contributed to sinking our country … with the support of Marine Le Pen and the National Rally.”

Right-wing LR members of parliament have said they will not rule out withdrawing their support for Bayrou’s government. “We will be very demanding,” added LR’s Laurent Wauquiez.

The government will meet for the first time on 3 January and Bayrou is expected to give a policy speech to parliament on 14 January.

LFI MPs say they will table a motion of no confidence against Bayrou and his government as soon as possible.

Former prime minister Elisabeth Borne was named as Education Minister in the reshuffle. Gerald Darmanin, who served as Interior Minister between July 2020 and September 2024 under three prime ministers, returns as Justice Minister.

Bruno Retailleau, a conservative who has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, retains his post as Interior Minister. Rachida Dati keeps the culture portfolio while Jean-Noel Barrot and Sebastien Lecornu maintain their jobs leading the foreign affairs and defence ministries respectively.

The composition of the cabinet was unveiled just before 7pm following a frantic weekend of negotiations. 

Xavier Bertrand, who had been offered the Justice Ministry, stated that he would not join Bayrou’s government, because it had been formed with the approval of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN).

Bayrou drafted Manuel Valls back into government as minister for overseas territories. The 62-year-old served as prime minister under President François Hollande between April 2014 and December 2016. His first assignment will be to implement a recovery programme for Mayotte which was devastated after Cyclone Chido swept through the Indian Ocean archipelago on 14 December.  At least 35 people have been confirmed dead and more than 2,500 injured. The death toll is expected to rise due to the number of undocumented migrants in Mayotte.

Other appointments include Éric Lombard as Minister of the Economy and François Rebsamen as minister in charge of decentralisation.

Repeated delays

The Elysee presidential palace said on Monday morning the new cabinet would not be announced before 6pm Paris time due to the day of mourning in France for the victims in Mayotte.

Macron returns to political uncertainty after Mayotte, East Africa visit

Bayrou, 73, who heads the liberal Democratic Movement (MoDem) party, promised to present a government last week.

But his delay reflected the chaos swirling over the French body politic since President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections last summer. The move backfired spectacularly. No party or alliance secured a majority.

After weeks of bickering and manoeuvring, Macron named former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier prime minister on 5 September 2024.

His reign ended ignominiously earlier in December when the far right and left joined forces to oust him and furnish him with the infamy of being the premier with the shortest tenure since the start of the Fifth Republic  in 1958.

French lawmakers oust Prime Minister Barnier after just three months in office

Macron appointed Bayrou on 13 December, hoping that his new administration would be presented before Christmas”.

“The length of this auditioning process … is unbearable,” far-right National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy told French broadcaster BFMTV-RMC.

Bayrou says he wants to make sure his government can pass a budget for next year.

But many commentators predict his premiership will rival Barnier for rapidity: many of the names adorning his cabinet featured in the past two governments that failed.

Outgoing French government to present ‘special’ budget to avoid shutdown

 (with newswires)

As France grapples with the topic of immigration in its political chambers, on a cultural level there is a current push to embrace diversity, and put names and stories to faces.

This is the aim of the exhibition “Every Life is History”, on display at the National Museum of Immigration History in Paris – to celebrate this collective experience. It brings together 13 contemporary artists from different horizons, each tasked with creating new pieces.

Meanwhile, in parallel, curators have selected 200 items from the museum’s permanent collection on the theme of personal stories: a mix of artefacts, testimonials, multimedia pieces, artworks and photographs.

From international journeys taken by choice, to forced exile and economic migration, the exhibition aims to weave a comprehensive historical tapestry.

‘The more you know, the less you are afraid’

“The role of this collection is to show that these people are like you and me, in fact,” co-curator Elisabeth Jolys-Shimells told RFI.

As director of the museum’s heritage collection, she oversees the gathering of testimonials and documents that pertain to ordinary people and their experiences. These range from telephone cards and letters to a suitcase used as a symbol at a protest, to video interviews with child migrants and the NGOs who help them.

The museum’s role is not to pass judgement or make political statements, but to let the documents speak for themselves. However, by bringing the personal into the mix, Jolys-Shimells says it broadens the scope of stories that are heard, in the hope that empathy will emerge.

“Obviously, it is from a positive perspective in the sense that knowing each other better means living together better,” she said. “It’s about saying the more you know, the less you are afraid and the less you tend to judge by this fear.”

Shared experience

The museum is housed in the Palais de la Porte Dorée – “the palace of the golden gate” – and has had a long and varied history. Built for the 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition, the elegant, sand-coloured Art Deco structure with its imposing columns was designed by Alfred Janniot.

Museum dedicated to history of immigration in France reopens

Inside, rooms are adorned with giant frescoes depicting France’s colonies and their inhabitants – a testament to another time.

Among the artists taking part in the exhibition are Nge Lay and Aung Ko from Myanmar, who were forced to flee their home when a military junta seized power in a coup in 2021.

African displacements and the search for refuge, in life and art

Both have created interactive spaces which invite museum-goers to share in the artistic experience and create a “home away from home”. 

Lay’s semi-transparent black, silk tents, suspended from the ceiling, are embroidered with poems in golden silk thread. There are cushions on the floor, encouraging people to sit and take a moment with the artwork and meditate on its meaning.

The name of her work, “Anchoring”, refers to the importance of ancient banyan trees in her culture. Their roots latch on wherever they may be, just as migrants try to make new homes for themselves.

History in the making

Aung Ko has created two works for the exhibition, one a temporary shelter in the shape of a traditional Burmese house, built from recycled clothing. He invites the public to add a piece each time they pass by, adding new layers of memories to what thus becomes a collective home.

The other is a giant fresco he is adding to each day, with portraits of passersby. He began with the faces of museum staff and curators and hopes to paint the faces of children and their parents coming to see the exhibition, allowing them to become a part of it.

The museum began its permanent collection in 2005, and in 2008 opened a public donation fund so that people could hand over artefacts or personal objects they felt would augment its archives. Combined with acquired pieces by contemporary artists, the collection is a perpetual work in progress – history in the making.

Constance Rivière, director of the museum, says that in the 20 years since the permanent collection was started, questions of migration have become increasingly central to contemporary creation, regardless of the medium.

The question of climate change and how it has affected the global movement of people is also being addressed more widely by artists, not only in this collection but in other art shows in France and around the world, she said. The theme of this year’s Venice Biennale, for example, is “Foreigners Everywhere”.

“What artists teach us is to what extent immigration is an opening to the world, to other points of view.”

This story was first published on 24 November 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

“Every Life is History: 200 Views on Immigration” (Chaque vie est une histoire) runs until 9 February, 2025.

In a resignation letter addressed to Louis Mapou, New Caledonia’s pro-independence Kanak president, seen by French news agency AFP, Caledonia Together cited disagreements with the head of government, particularly regarding the financing plan for New Caledonia’s reconstruction following the violent events that began on May 13.

Caledonia Together, which is affiliated with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, also criticizes Mapou’s government, in place for three years, for having transformed into an independent body.

For several weeks, other groups – Pacific Awakening, Rally-The Republicans and the Loyalists – have been critical of government’s post-riot reconstruction policies.

“Since the events of May 13, (the) country has sunk into deep economic and social distress. In such circumstances, unity between … the government and the Congress of New Caledonia, is an urgent need,” says the letter.

“I can only note that this has not been the case, and I regret it,” writes Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier, who resigned as member of the Caledonian government.

This government was the 17th in the South Pacific archipelago since the 1998 Noumea Accord, which enacted transfer of certain state powers to local politicians.

The Caledonian government is appointed by members of Congress through a list-based vote. When an individual government member resigns, the next person on the list takes their place. Only a collective resignation leads to the fall of the government.

Headache for Valls?

New Caledonia is one of France’s overseas possessions. As such, it will be under the responsibility of Manuel Valls, who took over the portfolio of France’s overseas territories in the Monday night’s cabinet reshuffle.

Prime Minister François Bayrou announced that the former Socialist turned Macron supporter was chosen for his expertise on New Caledonia and, more broadly, for his experience in crisis management.

In the line-up of the new government, Valls was presented as number three, after Bayrou and Education Minister Elisabeth Borne.

It is understood that Vall’s position will send a strong signal to the overseas territories of their importance.

Macron has come under fire for neglecting the regions and slow responses to crises. The violence in New Caledonia last spring was followed by Cyclone Chido ravaging the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte.

“Manuel Valls is a bit of a kamikaze personality, I like bold personalities,” said Bayrou during an interview with BFM-TV just after announcing the composition of his new cabinet.

• New Caledonia separatists in Paris court over alleged role in deadly riots

The demand followed a night of protests in which police stations, bank branches and toll booths were attacked and set ablaze. Trade routes to South Africa were also targeted as police in armoured vehicles patrolled the centre of the capital Maputo.

On social media, Mondlane, the Podemos candidate, who has been in hiding abroad since the election, denounced the regime as illegitimate and illegal.

“We must carry on the fight, stay united and strong,” he declared.

The central hospital in Maputo is operating under critical conditions, with more than 200 staff members unable to reach the site, Mouzinho Saide, the hospital’s director, told AFP.

He reported receiving nearly 90 injured individuals, 40 of whom were wounded by firearms and four by bladed weapons.

The Constitutional Council, the highest court in Mozambique, confirmed on Monday the disputed 9 October election results that extended the Frelimo party’s 50-year grip on power.

Daniel Chapo, Frelimo’s presidential candidate, who was declared winner, immediately called for dialogue to overcome differences,. But his appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Ossufo Momade, the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), also rejected the results and  called on the population to mobilise to save democracy.

Chapo secured 65 percent of the vote, the seven-judge bench ruled, revising down the initial results of nearly 71 percent, announced in November by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

Mondlane remained in second place with 24.19 percent of the votes (compared to around 20 percent according to the CNE results).

Mozambique’s highest court confirms Frelimo election victory

More fears

Political scientist Justino Quina told RFI that there has been an escalation of tensions on both sides. However, he warns that the country cannot endure periods of cyclical instability.

Maputo-based political and security risk analyst Johann Smith told AFP that he was convinced that there would be violence.

“The whole game changes on Monday,” said Smith. “It will be a lot more intense and bloody.

“It’s almost like the Southern African Spring,” Smith added, in a reference to the Arab anti-government protests in North Africa in the early 2010s.

Call for calm

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) on Tuesday urged the parties involved in Mozambique’s electoral process to act with calm and responsibility. It said it was willing to support initiatives promoting peace and stability.

“We appeal to all parties involved to act with calm and responsibility, prioritising constructive dialogue as the most effective way to overcome differences and promote stability.”

In its statement, the CPLP’s rotating presidency, held by São Tomé and Príncipe, stated it is monitoring the definitive results announced by Mozambique’s Constitutional Council.

On Sunday, Pope Francis also called for dialogue and goodwill to prevail over mistrust and discord in Mozambique.

Mozambique has been rocked by unrest since the election commission said Chapo won the vote. More than 130 people have died in protests, according to civil society organisations.

Mozambique violence fuelled by historical grievances and civil war politics

 (with newswires)

The Amsterdam district court on Tuesday found the men them guilty of a range of crimes from kicking Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.

One man, identified as Sefa O, was jailed for six months for playing a leading role in the violence. He was filmed kicking a person on the ground and chasing down and punching others.

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans came under attack in the early hours of 8 November after their side lost 5-0 in the Europa League match against Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Police arrested 62 people and five people were taken to hospital following the skirmishes on the streets.

Prosecutors told the court the beatings had little to do with football. The violence, they insisted, was not anti-Semitic, as claimed by Israel and other observers.

“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by anti-Semitism,” said the prosecutor, referring to Israel’s war against Hamas.

The attacks followed two days of skirmishes in which Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab songs, vandalised a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag.

Police said they were investigating at least 45 people, including fans of the Israeli club.

(with AFP)

Security at the Christmas market in Strasbourg – France’s oldest and biggest, attracting some three million visitors last year – has been strict each year since 2018 after a gunman who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State armed group killed five people and wounded 11 others.

Measures have been reinforced since the deadly car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, north-eastern Germany, on Friday.

Every single bag is searched and the few vehicles allowed in the market are carefully inspected.

Anti-terror law applied

Authorities have also been monitoring at least a dozen people using an anti-terror law used during Paris Olympic Games this summer, according to the Reuters news agency, which identified at least 12 cases of people being monitored during the Strasbourg market.

The measures, known by the French acronym Micas, were authorised by a 2017 anti-terror law that allows police to strictly limit the movements of individuals.

The legislation was part of a toughening of French security laws in response to deadly attacks and a growing political threat from the far right, and until recently, it was mainly used to monitor people after prison sentences.

But according to Reuters, of the 12 people monitored during the Strasbourg market, at least 10 had no terror-related convictions, although one person had been barred from the market before.

Expanding surveillance

During the Paris Olympics, which also saw a trial of AI-driven monitoring, at least 547 people were placed under an individual measure of administrative control and surveillance, according to a parliamentary report.

Some had never faced criminal charges. Lawyers and activists are concerned that the wider use of Micas could become the norm for other major public events.

An intelligence source, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said in November that Micas orders had proven effective during the Olympics, and authorities would take the same no-risk approach toward those who might target Christmas markets.

As the use of Micas orders has increased, challenges to them have also become more successful, perhaps because the profile of those targeted has been expanded.

As of November, judges across the country had cancelled or suspended 50 Olympics-related Micas orders, or about 9 percent, according to the parliamentary report.

There have also been at least five successful appeals against measures issued for the Christmas market, according to records from the Strasbourg court.

In the first five years after the orders were introduced, 13 out of 1,203 orders were successfully appealed, according to the interior ministry’s 2023 report.

(with Reuters)

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is due to publish a survey on Tuesday that shows  famine affecting five areas. The shortages could expand to 10 by May, the report says.

“This marks an unprecedented deepening and widening of the food and nutrition crisis, driven by the devastating conflict and poor humanitarian access,” says a briefing document seen by the Reuters news agency.

But authorities in Sudan accuse the IPC of bias.

“Sudan is withdrawing from the IPC system because the IPC is issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and dignity,” the agriculture minister said in a letter.

Sudan’s withdrawal could undermine humanitarian efforts to help millions of people suffering from extreme hunger.

The IPC, an independent body funded by Western nations, and overseen by 19 large humanitarian organisations and intergovernmental institutions, is designed to sound the alarm about food crises so organisations can respond and prevent famine and mass starvation.

But the IPC in Sudan has struggled to function since a civil war broke out in April 2023, with fighting between the army-backed government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary disrupting data collection in areas controlled by both sides.

Pointing fingers

The agriculture minister’s letter was addressed to the IPC and its Famine Review Committee, which vets and verifies a famine finding, as well as to diplomats. 

It says the report lacks updated malnutrition data and assessments of crop productivity during the recent summer rainy season.

The growing season was successful, the letter says. It also notes serious concerns about the IPC’s ability to collect data from territories controlled by the RSF.

Reuters found evidence that the government obstructed the IPC’s work earlier this year in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced people, where some have resorted to eating tree leaves to survive.

Beyond Sudan

The IPC faces challenges elsewhere, with authorities in Myanmar and Yemen also blocking or falsifying data or suppressing its findings, according to Reuters.

In Ethiopia, after the government disliked a 2021 IPC finding that 350,000 people were experiencing catastrophic acute food insecurity, it stopped working with the IPC.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ main food-aid distributor, the World Food Programme (WFP), is struggling in Sudan.

An internal report, based on an assessment in July and August identifies a range of problems, including an inability by the WFP to scale up its operations, missed funding opportunities and what it describes as “anti-fraud challenges.”

(with Reuters)

At the core of Haiti’s struggle lie predatory interventions by powerful nations, principally France and the United States.

Speaking recently to RFI, Haitian author, playwright and former politician Gary Victor said that the international community is making the same mistakes in 2024 as it has done in the past.

“I wonder how – after all the time spent in Haiti – the international community doesn’t understand what’s going on,” Victor said.

“When we talk about a foreign force for Haiti … first of all, there has to be political will within the country to resolve the security issues. That’s why [previous UN missions] totally failed in Haiti, because the force was co-opted by corruption and delinquency in Haiti.”

• France to evacuate vulnerable citizens from Haiti as unrest rages

The cost of revolution

Haiti’s present turmoil traces its genesis back to the colony of Saint Domingue – ruled by France in the 17th and 18th centuries – where the exploitation of African slaves fuelled a trade in coffee and sugar.

The vast wealth created by slave labour on the plantations was matched by the brutality of their colonial owners, who kept their slaves in line using violence.

The struggle against colonial rule came to a head in 1791 with a slave rebellion that ultimately led to the creation of the Republic of Haiti in 1804. Slavery was officially abolished in Haiti on 1 January, 1804.

France, enraged by the loss of its colonial prize in the Caribbean, demanded exorbitant reparations from Haiti, pushing the newly formed nation into a cycle of debt that hindered the country’s development.

The “Double Debt” scheme was a key part of the problem shackling Haiti to “independence debt” owed to Paris banks along with extortionate loan fees with repayments equivalent to an overwhelming percentage of its annual revenue.

• Kenya confirms security mission to Haiti as transitional administration plans collapse

US fears

As the first, liberated Black nation, the neighbouring United States saw Haiti’s independence as an existential threat to its own, slave-based economy, and bears much of the blame for the country’s ills.

After French colonisers left Haiti, the United States worked to isolate the country diplomatically and strangle it economically.

American leaders feared a newly independent and free Haiti would inspire slave revolts back home and did not officially recognise Haiti until 1862 during the Civil War that abolished American slavery.

As Haiti grappled with the burdens of emancipation, the United States seized upon the turmoil in the era of “gunboat diplomacy”, orchestrating a military occupation from 1915 to 1934 under the guise of safeguarding American interests.

US President Woodrow Wilson sent an expeditionary force that would occupy the country for two decades to collect unpaid debts to foreign powers – a period marred by coerced labour and economic subjugation.

• UN launches emergency appeal for Haiti as Benin mulls joining multinational security mission

The Duvalier dictatorships

The subsequent decades of the 20^th Century witnessed Haiti’s descent into an abyss of political instability, natural catastrophes, and the relentless spectre of foreign debt.

Estimates suggest that the legacy of coerced payments to France – that Paris has repeatedly downplayed – ensnared Haiti in an economic quagmire, depriving it of resources crucial for development, ushering in an era of gang violence coupled with brutal dictatorships.

François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” employed the ruthless militia dubbed the “Tontons Macoutes” to crush opposition during their rule between 1957 and 1986.

While subsequent leaders also forged alliances with armed groups, the gangs have now risen above the politicians that empowered them.

Armed gangs now control large parts of the capital Port-au-Prince, where they kidnap people off the street for ransom and spread fear by sharing gruesome pictures and videos on social media of people being tortured, raped or killed.

Impunity and ‘persistent’ human rights violations

According to Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International, this crisis is the result of decades of political instability, extreme poverty, natural disasters, weakened state structures and a lack of strong commitments from the international community, all of which have exposed the population to violence.

“Military solutions or external interventions have failed to address the causes of the crisis and – far from promoting lasting stability – have left in their wake persistent human rights violations and impunity,” she said.

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Haiti has been plunged into another humanitarian, political, and security crisis, with the emergence of powerful criminal gangs who have seized control over vast swathes of territory, including critical infrastructure like ports and airports.

In early March of this year, one such gang orchestrated the escape of more than 3,600 prisoners, instigating widespread terror across Haiti and prompting Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation.

“The images of violence that this crisis has given us are terrifying. The criminal gangs that are currently sowing terror must know that the seriousness of their actions makes them accountable and that they can be prosecuted for crimes under international law and serious human rights violations. The suffering of so many people cannot go unpunished,” according to Amnesty International

• Aid agencies in Haiti call for 120 million euros to feed starving population

Anarchy or order?

Prime Minister Henry was last seen in Puerto Rico, negotiating his return to a homeland gripped by extreme violence while a UN-backed security force is still waiting to be deployed to challenge the heavily armed gangsters.

With his fate in the air and the situation in Haiti deteriorating by the day, the world has been left to wonder whether the country will descend into anarchy or whether some semblance of order will be restored.

 “We don’t have the impression that the international community is our friend,” author Gary Victor told RFI.

This story was first published on 29 April 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

The government launched a one-stop shop in February, aiming to simplify export permits after a review of the gold mining sector.

But only 12 kilograms of gold have passed through the system. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Mines estimates that one tonne of gold is being smuggled out of Madagascar every month.

Insiders at the ministry blame the new system’s failure on a tax having to be paid on the gold. That levy was abolished in August in amendments to the finance bill for 2024.

Slow renewal of licences for the gold counters – the intermediaries between the gold collectors and the one-stop shop – has also been given as the reason for the initial hiccups.

‘Encouraging people to use legal channels’

Nevertheless, Ernest Lainkana Zafivanona, Madagascar’s director general of customs, believes the new set-up will prevail.

“I think that the one-stop shop should be an incentive for people who want to export gold,” he told RFI. “It simplifies procedures.

“It’s always costly when you’re caught, because you lose all the gold, which means that smuggled gold is systematically seized by the state. The controls should encourage people to return to the legal channels.”

A 2022 report by the U4 anti-corruption resource centre identified systemic issues in Madagascar’s gold sector. These include corruption, illegal resource exploitation, gold laundering and poor coordination among state institutions.

“Some links in the chain are not playing their role,” said the report. “Corruption, illegal exploitation of natural resources and gold laundering … are identified as drivers of the increase in illicit practices in the gold sector.

“A lack of communication between state institutions, the poor distribution of roles between institutions, the practice of exploiting gold outside of authorised locations and counterfeiting in the gold sector were also identified,” the report added.

Clean-up

Clément Rabenandrasana, national coordinator of the Extractive Industries Civil Society Organisation, was one of the authors of the report along with Ignace Harris and Daniel Rabemazava.

“The one-stop shop is a first step towards cleaning up the industry,” Rabenandrasana told RFI. “But there is still a lot to be done.

“There are authorities and influential people behind the traffickers so showing political will mean fighting corruption in the gold sector.

“We need to identify the perpetrators of all the trafficking and punish them, and apply the law severely.”

Rabenandrasana suggests setting up local smelting facilities near artisanal mines to improve traceability and ensure miners receive fair prices.

“This will enable better control of gold flows, to the benefit of gold miners, who don’t even know the international price of gold,” he added.

“It will also benefit the local authorities because if the industry is organised illegally, they won’t collect any taxes. It’s very important to trace the chain so that they can collect royalties and contribute to local development.”

This story has been adapted from the original version in French by Guilhem Fabry in Antananarivo

Since the start of the year, French media have been reporting on violent crimes involving teens including, most recently, the stabbing death of a 15-year-old in Chateauroux.

This came after another 15-year-old was beaten to death in April by young people outside his Viry-Châtillon school, days after a 14-year-old girl was left unconscious after being attacked outside her school in Montpellier.

The crimes led Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to announce a “public consultation” on youth violence in France.

But despite these heavily publicised events, actual statistics do not back claims that youth violence is on the rise.

“The trend over more than 20 years is overall stability,” sociologist Laurent Mucchielli told RFI, adding that the current focus on young people can be boiled down to political rhetoric. 

More in the Spotlight on France podcast, listen here: 

Although police statistics show younger people as overrepresented in violent crimes, numbers have dropped by a third since 1993.

For Mucchielli, who has long studied youth delinquency in France, a media focus on such crimes gives the impression of an increase.

“There has not been a single year when I haven’t heard this theme in the mouth of politicians in the media,” he said, attributing the current uptick to upcoming European parliamentary elections.

“Youth violence is a classic topic of French public debate. It constitutes a resource for political power. The general messages are always the same,” he continued, saying these include declining teacher authority and a lax justice system.

“I have been hearing this for 27 years.” 

‘Ultra-violence’?

During the summer of 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron decried what he said were “very young” people in the riots following the police killing of a teenager at a traffic stop.

Macron requested the public consultation on youth violence in April  to put an end to what he called a “surge of ultra-violence”.

When introducing the consultation, Attal announced new measures aimed at middle-school students, including sending troublemakers to military-style boarding schools for a few weeks.

• French PM says boarding school key step in preventing juvenile violence

Immigration links

The consultation came as the far right had been calling for more crackdowns on youth violence and linking it with immigration – a key issue for its supporters.

And though the political focus is on young people in general, Mucchielli argues it is young people with immigrant backgrounds actually being referred to. 

“Since the end of the ’80s, this term of ‘youth violence’ has been really linked to the term of drugs, to that of riots, and to that of what we call now, religious radicalisation, which obviously concerns Islam in France.”

Gang influence

While statistics do not show an increase in violence committed by young people, there is growing influence and power of gangs running criminal activities which attract young people from lower socioeconomic areas around the country.

Mucchielli says getting involved is a “way of life” for these youth, adding that addressing the problem involves more than sending kids to boarding schools or imposing school uniforms.

Many young people involved in gangs are growing up in unstable homes, and have poor school performance and few opportunities in their often disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

“Therefore if a politician really wants to change the situation, they have to work on those social and generational determinants, which are very heavy,” he said.

This story was first published on 4 May 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

For more on this story, listen to the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 110.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses.

“We anticipate that if this integration comes to fruition, we will be able to deliver even greater value to a wider customer base,” Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.

Automakers in Japan have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.

News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month, with unconfirmed reports saying that the talks on closer collaboration partly were driven by aspirations of Taiwan iPhone maker Foxconn to tie up with Nissan, which has an alliance with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi.

Behemoth

A merger could result in a behemoth worth more than $50 billion based on the market capitalization of all three automakers.

Together, Honda and the Nissan alliance with Renault SA of France and smaller automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. would gain scale to compete with Toyota Motor Corp. and with Germany’s Volkswagen AG. Toyota has technology partnerships with Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp.

Even after a merger Toyota, which rolled out 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, would remain the leading Japanese automaker. If they join, the three smaller companies would make about 8 million vehicles.

In 2023, Honda made 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million.

Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi announced in August that they would share components for electric vehicles such as batteries and jointly research software for autonomous driving to adapt better to dramatic changes centered around electrification, following a preliminary agreement between Nissan and Honda set in March.

Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, is widely viewed as the only likely Japanese partner able to effect a rescue of Nissan, which has struggled following a scandal that began with the arrest of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn in late 2018 on charges of fraud and misuse of company assets, allegations that he denies. He was eventually released on bail and fled to Lebanon.

“Desparate move”

Speaking Monday to reporters in Tokyo via a video link, Ghosn derided the planned merger as a desperate move.

From Nissan, Honda could get truck-based body-on-frame large SUVs such as the Armada and Infiniti QX80 that Honda does not have, with large towing capacities and good off-road performance, Sam Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions, told The Associated Press.

Nissan also boasts years of experience building batteries and electric vehicles, and gas-electric hybird powertrains that could help Honda in developing its own EVs and next generation of hybrids, he said.

But the company said in November that it would slash 9,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global work force, and reduce its global production capacity by 20 percent after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen ($61 million).

It recently reshuffled its management and Makoto Uchida, its chief executive, took a 50 percent pay cut to take responsibility for the financial woes. He said Nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes.

“Worsening profitability”

Fitch Ratings recently downgraded Nissan’s credit outlook to “negative,” citing worsening profitability, partly due to price cuts in the North American market. But it noted that it has a strong financial structure and solid cash reserves that amounted to 1.44 trillion yen ($9.4 billion).

Nissan’s share price also has fallen to the point where it is considered something of a bargain.

On Monday, its Tokyo-traded shares gained 1.6 percent. They jumped more than 20 percent after news of the possible merger broke last week.

Honda’s shares surged 3.8 percent. Honda’s net profit slipped nearly 20 percent in the first half of the April-March fiscal year from a year earlier, as sales suffered in China.

(With newswires)

Three children, aged six, 11 and 12, have been living since 2019 in an orphanage in Damascus, whose director was prohibited from having direct contact with their family in France by the regime of Bashir al-Assad.

With the change in regime, there is hope that the children could be brought to France.

“Before she died, the mother had contacts with the childrens’ aunt, but I was not allowed to have any [contact],” the director of the orphanage, who asked to remain anonymous, told RFI.

“If I said anything, I would have ended up in the Saydnaya prison. The only way I was allowed to contact the childrens’ family was through the Red Crescent, which was risky.”

Nevertheless, the children were able to speak to their aunt every week.

They were brought to the orphanage in 2019 by Syrian intelligence officers, which gave little information about what happened to them.

Raids

The orphanage director learned, through the children themselves, that their parents, French jihadists, had been killed during the bombings of the Islamic state in the Deir Ezzor region.

“The children came here with an intelligence service document. The mother’s name was false,” explained the director.

“The children themselves told me their mother was dead, that there were bombings and many killed. Their father was also dead.”

The director wanted to keep a link with the aunt of the children even if it was forbidden by the Assad regime.

The orphanage has not had any contact with French authorities, according to the director, who is determined to get the children repatriated.

France has been reluctant to repatriate women jihadists and their children being held in Syria, and until 2022 only allowed children on a case-by-case basis whose mothers agreed to give up their parental rights.

However, policy changes have accelerated the return, and France has always promised to care for orphans.

Since the collapse of the Islamic State in 2019, 170 women have returned from Iraq and Syria, and more than 350 children are being followed by child services around France.

This article was adapted from an article by Murielle Paradon and Boris Vichith which appeared in French on www.rfi.fr

Djedje aims to confront “German colonial ignorance” with the work, explaining that Germany’s colonial history in Africa is rarely discussed, even largely unknown, in the country.

RFI met with him at the Centquatre-Paris cultural centre, where the actor and director – born in Paris to Ivorian parents – presented Vielleicht (meaning “perhaps” in German) as part of the Impatience theatre festival.

RFI: As a Franco-Ivorian born in France and educated in Switzerland, what led you to a project confronting Germany’s colonial past?

Cédric Djedje: Basically, nothing. But I moved from Lausanne to Geneva and the city of Geneva has artists’ residencies, particularly in Berlin. As it happens, the year before I moved I went to Berlin and fell in love with it. I didn’t really have any plans, but I came across this story about the African quarter in Berlin, in the Wedding district. It spoke to me straight away. I got this residency thanks to this project.

The African quarter in Berlin is not the same as African neighbourhoods in Paris, London or Brussels, though …

The difference is that these are street names linked to African [colonial] history. This is not at all the case in Paris, where the African quarter has no street names that have anything to do with Africa. It just so happens that in Berlin’s African quarter, there is an African population, but it’s much smaller than the African districts in Paris, London or Brussels. Berlin’s African district is really a German colonial fantasy.

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Your play Vielleicht tells the story of the 40-year struggle by Afro-descendants to change the names of three streets in Berlin. What is the colonial history behind these street names?

The three people [that these streets are named for] – Adolf Lüderitz, Gustav Nachtigal and Carl Peters – founded German colonies in Africa, they were founders of colonial empires. Unlike in other places, they were really private companies. In fact, that’s one of the main differences with German colonisation, which was colonisation by private individuals and companies.

Lüderitz arrived in Namibia and was one of the first to found a German colonial empire there, thanks to Bismarck who supported him. The story of Lüderitz is important because, unlike the others, he signed a treaty – well, it wasn’t him directly, but one of his emissaries. A treaty that resulted in spoliation, hence his nickname “Lügen-Fritz” [The typical German name “Fritz” was often used pejoratively, and the verb lügen means “to lie”].

He signed this treaty in Namibia, which gave him seven times more land than the Namibians thought they were selling. Can you imagine that?

You’ve been working on the show since 2018, when you felt that collective imaginations were struggling to decolonise. However, the three streets in question were recently renamed (in December 2022 and August 2024). Has your show become outdated now?

No … or maybe. In fact, that’s not for me to say. The idea of the show is also to get feedback on the question of techniques used to achieve a political victory. The idea is to dissect the different techniques used by activists. And even more important than the techniques is the emotional impact this has on people’s lives. Political battles are often completely disconnected from the emotional impact on everyday life.

And I think that whatever happens, even if the streets have been renamed, we don’t realise that 40 years of struggle are not just 40 years. It’s 40 years of daily struggle: the fatigue of the body and the mind also means taking your time, voluntarily.

For example, in the show, we say that even managing to have the Lüderitz Straße renamed in 2022 and dedicated to Cornelius Fredericks [Fredericks was one of the resistance leaders of the Nama rebellion in Namibia against the Germans, and was imprisoned in a concentration camp. His body was decapitated after his death in 1907 and his skull sent to Berlin for “research into the racial superiority” of the Germans], took time.

That alone was 10 years of struggle and that has an impact on things. Also, even if the streets have been renamed, it’s still important to say what the consequences were and what it took for people to rename these streets.

Germany marks 1989 Berlin Wall fall with ‘Preserve Freedom’ party

At the time, Otto von Bismarck, the Imperial Chancellor of Germany, wanted to hide the reality by saying that these African countries were not colonies, but “protectorates” – in other words, “protected” territories. In your show, you say that it’s important to stop talking about “colonialism” and use the word “Maafa” instead.

Maafa means “the great destruction”. Because “colonialism” can also mean “taking care”, and for me that’s already a misnomer. The idea conveyed [in the play] by Marianne Ballé Moudoumbou [co-founder of the Central Council of the African Community in Germany] is that decolonising also means decolonising words.

You can’t use just any word to open up imaginations. If we use words that mean “taking care” when it’s not a question of taking care, but of people being murdered, tortured, kidnapped … it doesn’t make sense. Maafa, “the great destruction”, makes it clear that it was a destruction. This makes it possible to rename reality and history more precisely.

What’s the difference between presenting this show in Switzerland, a neutral country that has never owned any colonies, or showing it here in France, where colonial history is very present, and showing it in Germany, where, to this day, very little is said about German colonial history?

Yes, very little is said about this in Germany. As far as Switzerland is concerned, it doesn’t have a direct colonial history. In fact, it hasn’t had any colonies, but there is a colonial imagination that is shared with other countries. So the play can speak to them. There are also activists in Switzerland who have been campaigning for some time to rename certain streets bearing the names of people who had links with colonial companies – Swiss, French, German … So Switzerland isn’t completely neutral either.

And this is beginning to appear on the [cultural] agenda. In Zurich, there’s a big exhibition on colonialism in Switzerland [Colonial, at the Landesmuseum]. There’s also an exhibition at the MEG [Museum of Ethnography] in Geneva on colonialism and the private impact on people [entitled Remembering].

And for us, it’s really important to always link this story to the place where we’re performing. That’s why we always bring in a local activist at the end. Here in Paris we invited Reha Simon, who co-hosts on the Histoires Crépues channel, so that people wouldn’t think: ‘No, but this is Germany, the Germans are colonialists, but we’re much more open.’

Performing the show in Berlin was very special. People were very sceptical and doubtful, in the sense that it’s a story they don’t know. Strangely enough, I think people in Switzerland and France are perhaps more familiar with this story than in Germany. In Berlin, people were a bit taken aback. The craziest thing was that Berliners who were born in Berlin or had lived there for a long time didn’t even know this district. That says a lot about German colonial amnesia or ignorance, at least in Berlin.

Is Vielleicht a play, an activism performance, an anti-colonial event or community activism?

I’d say it’s a documentary show that retraces the life of a person who is interested in what it means to be an activist and what activism is … I could say that it’s a show that questions what militancy is. To say that it’s a militant show would be to say that it’s a successful show.

French documentary wins top prize at Berlin film festival

At the end of the show, you display a kanga, an emblematic Tanzanian fabric known for carrying messages. What message does your piece carry?

There’s the idea that many small fish have managed to find the fisherman’s net, that collective strength can bring about change. It’s not just because there are a lot of us. Collective strength means we can support each other emotionally and financially too. It’s that strength that counts.

Vielleicht is directed by the collective Absent.e pour le moment, designed by Cédric Djedje and performed by Safi Martin Yé, Cédric Djedje and Reha Simon. It will be presented in 2025 at the Mantsina Sur Scène festival in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.

This article has been adapted from the French version of the interview, and lightly edited for clarity.

On 25 April 1974 – after almost half a century of dictatorship – the military coup opened a new era.

Led by low-ranking officers within the Portuguese army and backed by widespread public support, the so-called Carnation Revolution not only toppled Portugal’s authoritarian regime but signalled the end of its colonial wars in Africa.

The dictatorship established by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar had been at war with national movements demanding freedom from the Portuguese empire for more than 10 years.

In the aftermath of the revolution, all five of Portugal’s African colonies – Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Angola and Sao Tome and Príncipe – swiftly gained independence. 

Those countries’ heads of state were in Lisbon to join in the 50th anniversary celebrations – tribute to a struggle for freedom that spanned two continents.

Rebellion in Guinea-Bissau

By the spring of 1974, the battle for decolonisation was furthest advanced in Guinea-Bissau. 

The country had unilaterally declared independence from Portugal in September 1973 after 10 years of conflict that helped drive Portugal’s own push for freedom.

“Many [officers] had passed through Guinea-Bissau. There were more deaths in Guinea-Bissau than anywhere else,” says Mario Cissoko, who was then part of the PAIGC rebel group. 

“We had a radio station in Conakry – Radio Libération. We communicated in Creole, Portuguese and the vernacular languages to raise awareness among all the people in areas controlled by the colonial forces,” he told RFI.

“And even the Portuguese troops – we convinced them through the radio.”

Young Portuguese recruits no longer wanted to do four years of military service in the country at the risk of dying in the name of a dictatorship, Cissoko says – and there were many deserters. 

“We freed them ourselves and handed them over to the International Red Cross. All that played a part in the political mobilisation of Portuguese soldiers.”

• Lisbon street plaques tell story of Portugal’s forgotten slave trade

Wind of change

In Mozambique, an independence agreement was signed just months after Portugal’s military revolted, in September 1974, and took effect the following year.

Joaquim Chissano, who would go on to be president of Mozambique, was a guerrilla fighter with the pro-independence Frelimo movement at the time.

“We heard about the coup in Portugal on the radio,” he told RFI.

He and his fellow rebels were at a training camp in neighbouring Tanzania, and soon realised the events in Lisbon could create an opening for their fight to decolonise.

At the time, Chissano recalls, “we took the attitude that the coup d’etat would be the end of fascism – perhaps – but we couldn’t assume that it was the end of colonialism.

“So we had to continue the struggle until we had the conditions to have our independence.”

• Podcast: Germany’s dark past in Africa

Catalyst effect

The events of April 1974 also catalysed Angola’s journey to freedom.

The country had been engaged in a gruelling war for independence since 1961. After the revolution, negotiations between the Portuguese government and Angolan liberation movements gained momentum and led to the signing of independence agreements in 1975.

Angola proclaimed independence on 11 November the same year.

Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe, where the movement for decolonisation had been slowest to advance, also obtained their independence under Portugal’s new leaders in 1975.

While decolonisation would probably have occurred even without the Carnation Revolution, the change in regime helped accelerate the process. 

In the decades that followed, several of the newly independent countries faced a difficult transition through civil wars, corrupt leaders and proxy conflicts.

They remain some of the world’s poorest countries today – while in Portugal, the far right is gaining ground for the first time in decades.

This story was first published on 27 April 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

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

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

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

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

“But I was very disappointed with the screens.”

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

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

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

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

Screen break

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

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

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

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

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

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

Using tech mindfully

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

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

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

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

To ban or to back?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defining a balance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This story was first published on 20 October 2024 and appears as part of our review of the year.

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

France’s highest appeals court on Wednesday confirmed a verdict against Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year – a first for a former head of state.

In 2021, the former president was found guilty of having attempted – with his lawyer Thierry Herzog – to obtain information from a high-ranking magistrate on an appeal to the Supreme Court that he had lodged in the so-called Bettencourt affair, in exchange for a judicial position in Monaco.

In May 2023, Sarkozy was sentenced on appeal to three years’ imprisonment, including one year to be served wearing an electronic tag, for corruption and influence peddling.

Ex-president Sarkozy to wear electronic tag as court upholds corruption conviction

And heading into the new year, Sarkozy’s legal challenges are far from over, as he faces trial over the accusations around Libyan financing of his successful 2007 presidential campaign.

It is alleged that Libyan dictator Muammar Kadhafi, who was assassinated in 2011, bankrolled the campaign, allegedly forging a clandestine pact with Sarkozy when he was then minister of the interior.

This alleged agreement promised Gaddafi diplomatic leverage in exchange for electoral support – “a fable” according to Sarkozy.

Despite investigations going back more than a decade, concrete evidence of such financing – estimated at several million euros – has remained elusive.

Yet, the prosecution has suggested that external contributions, primarily from Libya, could have similarly inflated Sarkozy’s 2012 election campaign fund.

The trial, scheduled from 6 January to 10 April, 2025, involves Sarkozy and 12 others, including former ministers Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux.

If found guilty, he faces 10 years in prison, a ban on holding office for five years and a €375,000 fine.

Bygmalion, Libya, Bismuth: the trials and tribulations of Nicolas Sarkozy

‘Saving Sarkozy’

Allegations of fraudulent manoeuvers in order to have the accusations of Libyan financing retracted add another layer to Sarkozy’s judicial woes.

Dubbed the “Saving Sarkozy” operation, these allegations involve several suspects, including media figures and intermediaries known for previous fraudulent activities.

Investigations are also probing Sarkozy’s consultancy business with Russian oligarchs and suspected influence peddling, alongside a controversial meeting concerning the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Despite these legal challenges, Sarkozy has seen certain inquiries closed, such as those concerning private jet trips and financial irregularities in the 2012 campaign. 

Bruni-Sarkozy charged with witness tampering in cash for husband’s campaign case

Excessive expenses

On 14 February this year, the former head of state was sentenced on appeal for illegal campaign financing to one year’s imprisonment, including six months under electronic monitoring, in the Bygmalion affair, over the excessive expenses of his failed 2012 presidential re-election campaign.

Here too, the former president appealed to the French Supreme Court in November, but a date for hearing the has not yet been set.

PSG and Espaly needed penalty shoot-outs to progress to the tie. PSG, who beat Lyon in May to claim the 2024 crown, came from behind to overcome top flight Lens after the match ended 1-1.

Gonçalo Ramos cancelled out M’Bala Nzola’s 66th minute opener for the hosts at the Stade Denis-Bollaert.

And goalkeeper Matvey Safanov provided the heroics during the spot kicks. The Russian, vilified for his clumsiness during the Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich, saved two shots to keep PSG on track for a record-extending 16th Coupe de France crown. 

“When the team shows the character to come back from a goal down and win on penalties, I’m very happy,” PSG boss Luis Enrique told the French broadcaster beIN Sports. “It was a difficult game but wins like this strengthens the team’s spirit. I definitely like the team’s attitude. It’s a good way to end the year.”

On Friday night, at the Stade du Viouzou Espaly saw off third division Dijon 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out after the game ended 1-1.

The standout tie in the last-32 features top flight sides Marseille and Lille. Other all-Ligue 1 clashes pit Reims against Monaco and Brest against Nantes.

Friday evening’s attack in the central city of Magdeburg shocked the country and stirred up tensions over the charged issue of immigration.

The suspect, who was in custody, is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric who has lived in Germany for almost two decades.

The motive for the attack remains unclear.

There were scuffles and some “minor disturbances” at a far-right demonstration attended by around 2,100 people on Saturday night in Magdeburg, police said.

They added that criminal proceedings would follow, but did not give details.

Protesters, some wearing black balaclavas, held up a large banner with the word “remigration”, a term popular with supporters of the far right who seek the mass deportation of immigrants and people deemed not ethnically German.

Other residents gathered to pay their respects to the dead.

A magistrate has ordered the suspect – identified in German media as Taleb A. – into pretrial custody on charges of murder on five counts as well as multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, police said in a statement.

Those killed were a nine-year-old boy and four women, the police statement said.

Among the wounded, around 40 have serious or critical injuries.

Authorities said the suspected attacker used emergency exit points to drive onto the grounds of the Christmas market, where he picked up speed and ploughed into the crowds, hitting more than 200 people in a three-minute attack.

He was arrested at the scene.

German authorities have not named the suspect and German media reports have given his name only as Taleb A. in keeping with local privacy laws.

France ‘shares the pain of the German people’ as death toll from Christmas market attack rises

Motive unclear

As authorities investigated a possible motive, the Magdeburg prosecutor, Horst Nopens, said on Saturday that one possible factor could be what he called the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees.

The suspect had been strongly critical of Islam in the past and had appeared in a number of media interviews in 2019 reporting on his work helping Saudi Arabians who had turned their back on Islam to flee to Europe.

He had also voiced support on social media platform X for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and for US billionaire Elon Musk, who has backed the AfD.

The AfD has strong support in the former East Germany where Magdeburg is located. Opinion polls put it in second place nationally ahead of elections in February.

Its members, including the candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel, planned a rally in Magdeburg on Monday evening.

Saudi Arabia had repeatedly flagged to Germany concerns over posts on the suspect’s social media, according to a Saudi source and a German security source.

The Christian Democrats, Germany’s main opposition party, and the Free Democrats, who were part of the coalition government until its collapse last month, called for improvements to Germany’s security apparatus, including better coordination between federal and state authorities.

“The background must be clarified. But above all, we must do more to prevent such offences, especially as there were obviously specific warnings and tips in this case that were ignored,” Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the leftist BSW party, told the Welt newspaper.

The BSW, a new political party with far-left roots, has also condemned unchecked immigration and has gained considerable support ahead of the 23 February election.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose Social Democrats are trailing in opinion polls, attended a service for victims in Magdeburg’s cathedral on Saturday.

The Syrian National Army, supported by Turkish air power, is pushing against the US-supported People’s Defense Units (YPG), which Ankara claims is linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for decades. 

The YPG controls a large swathe of Syria bordering Turkey, which Ankara says poses a security threat.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan says Turkey is determined to prevent the YPG and its affiliate the PKK from exploiting a power vacuum following the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

As Erdogan celebrates Turkish role in ousting Assad, uncertainty lies ahead

“We are in communication with the groups to make sure that terrorist organisations, especially Daesh [Islamic State] and the PKK, are not taking advantage of the situation,” he said. “Turkey is committed to continuing the fight against terrorism. All minorities – non-Muslims, Christians, non-Arabs, Kurds – should be treated equally.”

Opportunity for Ankara

Ever since the YPG took over control of the Syrian territory at the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Ankara has been seeking to remove it. 

With the ousting of the Assad regime and the withdrawal of its Iranian and Russian backers, which had in the past blocked Turkish military interventions, analysts say Ankara now sees an opportunity to finally remove the YPG threat.

“The current situation creates an opportunity for its [Turkey’s] fight against PKK and YPG because there is now no Russia, there is no Iran,” explains Bilgehan Alagoz, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Marmara University.

“Turkey was facing the Russian forces, the Iranian forces, and Assad’s regime forces while it was combatting the PKK and YPG,” she added. “We can name it as an opportunity for its fight against PKK and YPG.”

Success of rebel groups in Syria advances Turkish agenda

However, the YPG is still being supported by a small US military force, as part of the war against the Islamic State (IS). The YPG is also detaining thousands of IS militants.

‘The Euphrates is a line’

With the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army now approaching the Euphrates River, analysts say further eastward advances could put Ankara on a collision course with both Washington, and Syria’s new rulers – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. 

“The Euphrates now is like a line perhaps for the US military,” explains Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat who served in the region and is now a foreign policy analyst for Turkey’s independent Medyascope news outlet.

“If that [military advance] goes on as such, it could bring Turkey indirectly head to head with the US, with even perhaps HTS, and it could put Ankara in a delicate diplomatic position again,” warned Selcen.

Tensions with Israel

The Israeli military’s advance into Syria is adding to Ankara’s concerns over the threat posed by the PYG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar last month described the Kurds as a “natural ally” of Israel, a comment that came amid growing Israeli-Turkish tensions.

Turkey seeks Gaza ceasefire role despite US criticism over Hamas ties

“Israel is now carving out a corridor [in Syria] between the PKK/PYD-controlled territories, and its own territories,” explained Hasan Unal, a professor of international relations at Ankara’s Baskent University.

“That suggests that this is what they [Israel] are trying to do – [to create] a Kurdish puppet state east of the Euphrates. And this is something that is likely to create lots of problems with Turkey,” he added.

With Israel’s presence in Syria, Ankara is likely to step up pressure on the YPG, and on the incoming Trump administration to end US military presence in Syria.

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.

The RFI English team is pleased to announce that Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan, won the RFI / Planète Radio ePOP video contest, in the RFI Clubs category. Bravo Saleem! Mubarak ho!

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!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Himangshu Mukharjee from West Bengal, India. Welcome, Himangshu! So glad you have joined us!

This week’s quiz: Paris Photo – the largest international art fair dedicated to photography – is held every November at the magnificent Grand Palais. RFI English journalist Isabelle Martinetti wrote an article about it: “Paris Photo fair focuses on photo books and their publishers”.

You were to re-read Isabelle’s article and send in the answers to these questions: What is the name and nationality of the photographer who won the First Book prize at this year’s Paris Photo fair?

The answer is, to quote Isabelle: “The first book prize was awarded to Taiwanese photographer Tsai Ting Bang for “Born From the Same Root”, a self-published work, awarded with a $10,000 cash prize.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question:  “What do you like to eat in the winter? Why?” The question was suggested by Liton Hissen Mia from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

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

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

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, and Zaheer Ayiaz, a member of the Naz Radio France and Internet Fan Club in Faisal Abad, Pakistan. There’s also RFI Listeners Club member Shaira Hosen Mo from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, and last but not least, RFI English listener Sadman Shihabur Rahaman, from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, performed by Johnny Bregar; “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, performed by the Dexter Gordon Quartet; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle”, attributed to Nicolas Saboly and Emile Blémont, performed by Les Petits Chanteurs de Mont-Royal.

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, listen to Melissa’s 15 December International Report podcast – “Gaza’s powerful war narratives make their way to the Oscars”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 27 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 1 February 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.   

Tibetans and Tibetan scholars are alarmed at how Paris’ Guimet museum of Asian art has categorised its art and artefacts from Tibet. Tenam and other Tibetans in exile, who have been demonstrating regularly outside the museum, talk about the importance of using the name Tibet, and scholar Katia Buffetrille questions the role of China in putting pressure on a French public institution. (Listen @2’48”) 

Like many residents in the town of Malakoff, just south of Paris, Vincent Chévrier had an olive tree in his garden but wasn’t doing much with it. So he federated a group of fellow local olive tree owners and together they’ve made Born to be Olive – the first olive oil “made in Ile de France”. Their collective project isn’t just about making a locally grown, organic product, it’s brought people together in a unique way. (Listen @17’37”)

On 22 December 1974, the people of the Comoros in the Indian Ocean voted overwhelmingly for independence from France. But the island of Mayotte did not, and became France’s 101st department. It’s created an immigration conundrum, straining the island’s already sparse resources  which were laid bare by Tropical Cyclone Chido last week. Listen @13’40”)

Episode mixed by Hadrien Touraud. 

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).

The project, overseen by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, includes 22 short films spanning documentary, animation, and drama.

The films aim to share the voices of people living through the conflict in Gaza, offering a glimpse into their fears, dreams and hopes.

“The idea for From Ground Zero came immediately, in the second month of this ongoing war, to try to pick up films and stories from Gaza,” Masharawi told RFI.

He explained that the goal was to give filmmakers in Gaza the chance to make their own films.

As a recent report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) underlines the toll of the war on Palestinian journalists, RFI spoke with him and his team in Paris.

RSF says Israel responsible for one-third of journalist deaths in 2024

The shorts, ranging from three to six minutes, are “a mix between fiction, documentaries, video art and even experimental films,” he said.

“We are filmmakers, we are dealing with cinema. Even if it’s a catastrophe, it’s very tough with all the massacres. But we were also trying to make cinema, to add life, to be optimistic and to add hope.”

The 112-minute collection is presented as a feature film in two parts. Contributors include Reema Mahmoud, Muhammad Al Sharif, Tamer Nijim and Alaa Islam Ayou.

From film festivals to the Oscars

After premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in September, From Ground Zero toured film festivals across Europe, North Africa and South West Asia in November and December.

Screenings have taken place at the French Arab Film Festival near Paris, the Bristol Palestine Film Festival and in London. Additional showings are scheduled for Morocco and Egypt.

Earlier this year, Masharawi held an outdoor screening of the film during the Cannes Film Festival to protest its exclusion from the event.

Now, the collection has been selected to represent Palestine at the Oscars in March 2025, with hopes of a wider release in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

UN rapporteur says Israel’s war in Gaza is ’emptying the land completely’

Emerging voices

The project was made possible by the Masharawi Fund for Gaza Filmmakers, launched in November 2023 to support creative talent from the territory.

Masharawi, who is from Gaza, is one of the first Palestinian filmmakers to have directed cinema projects in the occupied Palestinian territories.

His first film, Travel Document, was released in 1986, followed by The Shelter in 1989 and Long Days in Gaza in 1991.

The executive producer of the film, Laura Nikolov, who is French and based in France, is travelling with Masharawi to promote the film around the world.

“It’s a very unique project,” she told RFI. “We have now translated it into 10 different languages. We made this to allow the voices of the Gazan people [to be heard] and it’s working. I think we’ve reached more than 60, perhaps 80 screenings and festivals.”

With its selection for the Oscars, Nikolov is hopeful that the film will reach even wider audiences.

“This means it will be shown in cinemas in the United States,” she said, adding that they hope to expand its reach across Europe and the Middle East.

This dramatic end to the Assad family’s half-century rule over Syria marks a significant shift in the region’s balance of power, with analysts predicting that Turkey’s influence in Syria could now grow at the expense of its regional rivals.

“Turkey emerged… by proving its relevance, importance and its strength… out of these latest developments in Syria… as the clean, clear winner,” says Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat who served in the region and is now a foreign policy analyst for Turkey’s independent Medyascope news outlet.

“And Iran is definitely the loser. And Russia also is pushed aside.”

Success of rebel groups in Syria advances Turkish agenda

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army played a role in the overthrow of Assad. However, it was the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahir Al Sham – or HTS – that led the offensive. And that, analysts say, will be a cause for apprehension in Ankara.

“Despite all the jubilation of the Turkish press and the government and the circles that support the government about the collapse of the Assad regime in general, I would think there is some uneasiness,” says Hasan Unal, professor of international relations at Ankara’s Baskent University.   

“I can see it through lots of problematic issues that would be coming out of what’s going to happen,” he added, “because of the ideological Islamist leanings of the incumbent government and… the Islamic jihadist terrorist groups associated with it.”

Support and protection

However, Turkey may not be entirely without influence over Syria’s new Islamist leaders. For years, it provided support and protection to the Idlib region of Syria, where HTS was based. 

Analyst Aydin Selcen suggests Ankara could retain significant influence if recent statements by HTS leadership calling for an inclusive Syrian government are honoured.  

“If pragmatism prevails, that’s perhaps where Turkey and Ankara may come in. And also Ankara definitely will be viewed as a positive outside contributor by these new Syrian rulers, because of the fact that we here in Turkey are hosting over 5 million Syrians and also that Turkey helped protect Idlib.”

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, addressing an international conference in Doha last Sunday, 8 December, said that Turkey is committed to helping secure a politically inclusive new Syria. 

Turkey’s Syrian refugees 

A stable Syria is also key to Ankara’s goal of sending home millions of Syrian refugees now living in Turkey. Public resentment over their presence has grown, as the country has grappled with an economic crisis over the past few years.

However, such a return may not be simple, predicts Sezin Oney, a commentator on Turkey’s independent Politikyol news site.

“The refugees, the Syrians you have in Turkey, are mostly women and children. So it has to be a [new Syrian] government, an administration, friendly to women and children, especially women.”

“But we don’t know if these Islamic jihadist groups will be really friendly towards these groups,” he added.

“There might be a Taliban 2.0 arising just across the border; we don’t know what kind of administration HTS and surrounding groups will be. It’s a big security risk; I don’t see Syria settling down to become a safe clash-free place.” 

‘Imperative’ to work against IS in Syria, Blinken tells Turkey

For now, Erdogan is celebrating the overthrow of Assad as a Turkish triumph, with European leaders and Washington queuing up to speak to him as Turkey positions itself as a key player in shaping Syria’s future.

But the sudden demise of the Assad regime underscores how quickly fortunes can change in the region, and the future of Syria – and Turkey’s role in it – are today more uncertain than ever. 

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 winners’ 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.

The RFI English team is pleased to announce that Saleem Akhtar Chadhar, the president of the RFI Seven Stars Listening Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan, won the RFI / Planète Radio ePOP video contest, in the RFI Clubs category. Bravo Saleem! Mubarak ho!

There are just two days left for you to be a part of our New Year’s Day show – get your New Year’s resolutions and/or wishes to me by this coming Monday, 16 December. Send them to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

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!

We have a new RFI Listeners Club member to welcome: Zahurul Islam Joy from Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Welcome, Zahural!

This week’s quiz: On 9 November, I asked you a question about the American composer and musician Quincy Jones, who died earlier that week.

You were to re-read our article “Tributes roll in for beloved musician and producer Quincy Jones, who died at 91”, and send in the answer to this question: What is the name of the legendary Frenchwoman with whom Jones studied in Paris in 1957?

The answer is: Nadia Boulanger, arguably the single most important composition teacher of the 20th century.  

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: What is the best way to flatter a mother-in-law?

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Pradip Chandra Kundu from West Bengal, India. Pradip is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Pradip!

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 Ataur Rahman Ranju, the president of the Alokito Manush Cai International Radio Listeners Club in Rangpur, Bangladesh. Rounding out the list of this week’s winners are RFI English listeners Shatrudhan Sharma from Rajasthan, India, and Mahfuz from Cumilla, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Tamasha” by Aamer Shafiq, Farhan Bogra, Shiraz Khan, and Sparlay Rawail, performed by Khumaariyan; “No Bones at All” by Quincy Jones, performed by the Quincy Jones Ensemble conducted 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 the traditional Mexican huasteco “La Huasanga”, performed by Xochicanela.

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 “France’s support for Syrian transition hinges on respect for minority rights”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 20 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 25 January 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.