Macron, who came to power in 2017 promising radical change, will step down in 2027 after serving the maximum two terms allowed under the constitution.

On occasion over the last year, Macron has appeared as a lame duck especially after his decision to hold snap legislative elections backfired, leaving the far-right as the biggest party in parliament and his own party a diminished, minority presence.

But recent months have seen a newly energised Macron, boosted by his presence on the international front as he seeks to bring an end to the three-year-war sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We must help Ukraine defend itself but we do not want to unleash a Third World War,” Macron said in an interview on Tuesday night that lasted more than three hours.

“The war must cease and Ukraine must be in the best possible situation to go into negotiations.”

France insists on ceasefire as Russia agrees to direct talks with Ukraine

Weapons on the table

But Macron said France was ready to start discussing with other European countries deploying French warplanes armed with nuclear weapons on their territory, as the United States does.

“The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey,” Macron said.

“We are ready to open this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come.”

Those who put their points of view in front of Macron ranged from the head of the hardline CGT union, Sophie Binet, to Tibo Inshape, a muscular and massively followed fitness influencer.

Amid concern about some 600 jobs in France, Macron told Binet that the French operations of steelmaker ArcelorMittal would not be nationalised but vowed to save its two plants in the country.

In a key announcement, he said he favoured holding several referendums on the same day for voters to decide on French social and economic “reforms”.

Ukraine, US sign minerals deal, marking shift from military to economic support

Popular votes

“I want us to organise a series of consultations,” Macron said, adding that the votes would take place on one day in coming months and address “major” economic and social reforms.

While he would not go into details, he was open to a suggestion by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who has proposed holding a referendum on a plan to reduce France’s debt.

However, Macron rejected the idea of putting immigration issues to a popular vote despite repeated requests from the right and far right.

Tackling delicate social issues, the French president spoke out against the wearing of religious symbols, such as the Islamic veil, in sports competitions, but he added that for non-competitive sports practice it was up to sports federations to decide.

While Macron, 47, must step down in 2027 after serving two consecutive terms, he could in theory return in 2032, something no French leader has ever done before.

But he said at the end of the TV marathon he had not yet thought about his future after 2027 and was only thinking of France in his daily work.

France has taken the lead in rallying European Union partners to prepare new sanctions on Russia as hopes for a breakthrough in Ukraine peace efforts hinge on a proposed 30-day ceasefire.

Following a high-stakes weekend of diplomatic talks, French officials are pushing for “massive” penalties that would target Russia’s oil and financial sectors should President Vladimir Putin reject the terms of a ceasefire and refuse to engage in peace negotiations.

French Minister for European Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed Monday that EU leaders had formally asked the European Commission to prepare further sanctions beyond the 17th package already in development.

Speaking in Normandy after a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and European counterparts, Barrot said: “What we are preparing are additional sanctions which target the energy and financial sector. We asked this weekend for the European Commission to prepare new more important sanctions to force Russian President Vladimir Putin into a peace logic”.

France insists on ceasefire as Russia agrees to direct talks with Ukraine

Unconditional ceasefire

This diplomatic effort follows a key visit to Ukraine by leaders from France, Germany, the UK and Poland, who subsequently held a video conference with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other world leaders.

The group called for an “immediate, complete and unconditional” ceasefire to pave the way for direct peace talks.

Despite the united front, Russia has yet to respond to an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet in Istanbul on Thursday.

The proposed talks would also include potential participation by US President Donald Trump, who has offered to travel to Turkey in a bid to support negotiations.

Barrot underscored that for talks to move forward, hostilities must cease: “For serious discussions to happen, there needs to be a ceasefire. It is not possible to negotiate amid air strikes and drones.” He issued a stark warning: “We are preparing powerful and massive sanctions if [Putin] doesn’t accept a ceasefire”.

Putin proposal for direct talks with Kyiv ‘not enough’ says France’s Macron

Russian assets remain frozen

These new penalties – coordinated with a US sanctions bill proposing 500 percent tariffs on countries importing Russian oil – are designed to significantly tighten the economic screws on Moscow.

Foreign ministers from across Europe echoed the urgency in London this week, issuing a joint statement with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas demanding “unimpeachable progress” from Russia towards a “just and lasting” peace.

“So far, Russia has shown no serious intention to make progress. It must do so without delay,” the ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK said.

They reiterated their support for Ukraine’s ceasefire call and warned of “ambitious measures” to cut off Russian war financing, including disrupting the so-called ghost fleet used to bypass sanctions and enforcing stricter price caps on oil exports.

The ministers also reaffirmed their resolve to keep Russian sovereign assets frozen until the Kremlin ends its aggression and pays reparations.

Kallas said: “We must put pressure on Russia because it is playing a game. And to put pressure on them, we must use the tools at our disposal”.

Ukraine and allies call on Russia to accept 30-day truce

Putin ‘has a path’

France’s Minister for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, also attending the London talks, said the precondition for any peace process is “an unconditional truce in the air, at sea and on land for 30 days.” Time, he warned, is running out.

The upcoming EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on 20 May is expected to formalise the 17th sanctions package, which will expand measures on Russia’s shadow oil fleet.

“If Putin wants peace, he has a path. If not, he’ll face the full weight of our economic response,” Barrot said.

The opening ceremony at the Palais de Festivals, to be broadcast live on Tuesday evening, will see host Laurent Lafitte bring together Juliette Binoche and her jury members, as well as Robert de Niro for his honorary Palme d’Or.

Enigmatic pop singer Mylène Farmer will perform at the opening ceremony, and there are rumours she could reveal a new song.

This will be followed by the opening film Partir un jour (“Leave One Day”) – a debut feature by Amélie Bonnin, starring another French singer, Juliette Armanet.

A total of 22 films are in the running for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, to be announced on 24 May.

Cannes Film Festival unveils diverse line-up of veteran stars and fresh talent

Focus on Ukraine

Festival organisers have made it clear that, as is customary, the event will not shy away from world tensions – as global issues directly impact filmmakers, crews and audiences.

The opening day has been dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine, with the screening of three documentaries back to back.

“This programme serves as a reminder of the Cannes Film Festival’s commitment and its ability to tell the story of the world’s challenges, which are those of our future, through cinema,” organisers told the press this week.

Zelensky, made by Yves Jeuland, Lisa Vapné and Ariane Chemin, retraces the childhood and youth of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – from actor and comedian to head of the military, defending his country against Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Notre Guerre (“Our War”) by Bernard-Henri Lévy and co-director Marc Roussel follows the Anne of Kyiv brigade, as well as gathering testimonies of civilians caught up in the conflict.

2,000 metres to Andriivka by Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko shows soldiers on the front line trying to liberate a strategic village.

In the Directors’ Fortnight, the documentary Miliantropis by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi pieces together everyday lives transformed by war – those who flee, those who have lost everything, and those who stay to fight.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa returns to Cannes, with his legal drama Two Prosecutors in competition. Set in the Soviet Union in 1937, it’s the story of a young prosecutor doing everything he can to help a victim of corrupt secret service agents.

Inside Gaza

While Israel continues to ban international media from entering Gaza, the war in the Palestinian territory will feature at the Cannes festival this year, including in a documentary whose protagonist was killed in an Israeli strike.

Fatima Hassouna, a 25-year-old Gazan photojournalist, features in Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi’s documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.

An Israeli air strike killed Hassouna, along with 10 of her relatives, in her family home in Gaza on 16 April, the day after she heard the film had been selected for ACID, one of the festival’s sidebar sections. Only her mother survived.

‘I want a loud death’: Cannes Film Festival to honour slain Gaza journalist

Gazan twin brothers Arab and Tarzan Nasser will screen Once Upon a Time in Gaza, a tale of two friends peddling drugs from a falafel shop in 2007, the year Islamist group Hamas began tightening its grip on Gaza.

The film – being shown in the Un Certain Regard section – is the latest from the exiled duo to show at the festival, with several of their earlier works set in Gaza but filmed in Jordan.

Meanwhile, Israeli director Nadav Lapid, a critic of his government’s policies, will be showing Yes in the Directors’ Fortnight programme. 

The film follows a jazz musician tasked with setting to music a new national anthem in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks.

‘Endemic abuse’

The problem of sexual violence in the film industry is also expected to make waves at the festival. 

Festival director Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch have made it clear that Cannes should play a key role in the fight against gender discrimination and sexual violence.

In April, French MPs criticised “endemic” abuse in the entertainment industry after a six-month inquiry.

Cannes to unveil film selection under pressure over industry abuse

A Paris court on Tuesday found actor Gérard Depardieu guilty of sexual assault on a 2021 film set, handing him an 18-month suspended sentence.

The actor, 76, was convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser during the filming of Les Volets Verts (“The Green Shutters”). The panel of judges will deliver a verdict regarding another plaintiff and pronounce a sentence later on Tuesday.

The case is widely viewed as a key test of how French society and its film industry address allegations of sexual misconduct involving prominent figures, in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

The star of Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women, but this is the first case to come to trial.

Gérard Depardieu: the rise and fall of France’s global film star

(with newswires)

Follow all the excitement of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival here with RFI English.

Judges at the Paris Criminal Court convicted the 76-year-old of groping a 54-year-old set dresser – identified as Amelie – and a 34-year-old assistant director during the filming of Les Volets Verts (“The Green Shutters”).

Depardieu’s lawyers said they will appeal the decision.

During the trial in March, Amelie told the court that Depardieu’s entourage of dresser, make-up artist and bodyguard were absent when she was in charge of escorting him from the dressing room to the set.

“We left the dressing rooms, it was dark and at the end of the street, he put his hand on my buttock, he put it down quietly.” 

She said she was then assaulted twice: touched on the buttocks and the breasts. On the last two occasions, she told the court: “I said no!”

The assistant director, named as Sarah said that Depardieu groped her buttocks and her breasts during three separate incidents on the film set.

Sympathy

After the verdict, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, Amelie’s lawyer, told reporters: “I hope that this is the end of impunity for an artist in the film industry.

“With this decision, we can no longer say [that Gérard Depardieu] is not a sexual abuser. My thoughts are with the other victims who are under the statute of limitations and with the victims who took the stand.”

Tuesday’s decision coincides with the start of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. In 1990, Depardieu was bestowed with the festival’s best actor prize for his towering performance in Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”.

He went on to act in Peter Weir’s Hollywood movie “Green Card” and featured in other international productions such as Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet” in 1996 and Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” in 2012.

Depardieu is the highest-profile figure caught up in France’s response to the #MeToo movement.

He has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women, but this is the first case to come to court.

He has also been indicted in another case following a rape complaint filed by actress Charlotte Arnould. He has denied the allegations.   

Ahead of the first semi-final on Tuesday night, the contest announced its arrival in host city Basel on Sunday with a parade – mixed with protests over Israel’s participation – to kick off a week of revelry building up to the grand final on Saturday, 17 May.

The Eurovision Song Contest was launched in 1956 (with Switzerland the inaugural host) to foster European unity in the wake of the Second World War. A campy yet heartfelt celebration of diversity, national pride and the power of pop, it has gone from seven participating countries to 37, and is now the world’s biggest annual live televised music event, reaching 163 million viewers in 150 countries in 2024.

The final on Saturday will see 26 of the 37 entrants compete for the grand prize, the rest having been eliminated in two semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday. As the host, Switzerland is guaranteed a place in the final, as are the so-called Big Five – France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom – who contribute the most towards the cost of staging the contest.

A history of controversy

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises Eurovision, insists it is a strictly non-political event but, as they do most years, organisers will have their hands full containing tensions over culture wars and conflicts – this year, those being waged in Gaza and Ukraine.

“It’s impossible to depoliticise the event,” Dean Vuletic, a historian and the author of Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest, told French news agency AFP.

“It is completely impossible,” agreed Jess Carniel, an associate professor at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. “With everyone competing under their national flag… there is always an undercurrent of politics.”

The Palestinian who almost represented Iceland at Eurovision

This has previously manifested as an Austrian protest over Franco’s dictatorship in Spain in 1969 and Greece submitting a song in 1976 slamming Turkey over its invasion of Cyprus.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the event in 2022 – which Ukraine won and from which Russia was (and still is) barred – while last year saw protests over Israel’s war in Gaza and its inclusion in the contest cast a long shadow in the host city of Malmo, Sweden.

‘A message of healing’

Demonstrations are already planned against Israel’s participation this year and security has been stepped up. The event will see 1,300 police officers on duty, with specialists drafted in from the military alongside cyber security experts.

Isreal’s entrant Yuval Raphael survived the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival on 7 October, 2023, and will perform a song entitled New Day Will Rise, which she describes as a message of healing and solidarity. 

More than 70 former Eurovision competitors last week signed an open letter calling for Israel to be banned from the event over the war in Gaza, including France’s 2023 entrant La Zarra, the UK’s Mae Muller and Iceland’s Da∂I Freyr.

Last year’s winner Nemo has joined calls for Israel to be ejected, saying: “Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold – peace, unity, and respect for human rights.”

Spain’s public broadcaster has also asked the European Broadcasting Union, which organises Eurovision, to open a “debate” on whether Israel should be allowed to take part, a move also backed by Iceland and Slovakia, while a protest took place outside the offices of Irish broadcaster RTE on Friday calling for it to withdraw from the contest in protest at Israel’s inclusion.

Spain public broadcaster calls for ‘debate’ over Israel’s Eurovision participation

RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst said it would not pull its entry – Laika Party, an ode to the first dog in space, performed by singer Emmy (who is Norwegian) – out of the competition.

However, he said he had written to the EBU, chaired by Irishman and former RTE director general Noel Curran, to ask for a “discussion” on Israel’s inclusion in the contest.

In response to the criticism, Eurovision director Martin Green said: “As a reminder, the EBU is an association of public service broadcasters, not governments, who are all eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest every year if they meet the requisite requirements.

“As part of its mission to secure a sustainable future for public service media, the EBU is supporting our Israeli Member KAN against the threat from being privatised or shut down by the Israeli government.”

Ukraine singer’s home destroyed

The EBU has also faced criticism over what some have called double standards, given that Russia has been barred from the event since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while Israel has not faced similar sanctions in the wake of the war in Gaza. 

Ukraine’s 2025 contestant Khrystyna Starykova posted on Instagram last week that her home has been destroyed by Russian shelling in the city of Myrnograd, while she has been in Switzerland rehearsing. 

She posted photos of her damaged apartment block in the Sviltly neighbourhood, with the caption: “Home. And I dreamed so much of returning home.”

Eurovision winners auction trophy, give 850,000 euros to Ukraine army

In an interview with Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne, she vowed to carry on and perform “for the sake of our country” and “to show what a strong people we are”.

In response to Russia’s expulsion, President Vladimir Putin has ordered the revival of a Soviet-era alternative to Eurovision, named Intervision – with the aim of “developing international cultural and humanitarian cooperation”, the Guardian reported.

Presidential envoy Mikhail Shvydkoi has said that countries including Brazil, Cuba, India and China had already agreed to take part in the event, planned for the autumn. 

Swiss referendum

This year’s event has also sparked debate in the host nation Switzerland, where the conservative Federal Democratic Union (EDU) party waged a campaign to block public funding for it – based on what it called the contest’s promotion of a “woke agenda”. 

“It has become like a freak show,” Samuel Kullmann, a member of the Bern cantonal parliament, told Reuters, accusing Eurovision of pushing queer identity narratives at the expense of traditional values.

Last year’s winner Nemo won the 2024 contest with The Code, a song about their journey of non-binary gender identity self-discovery.

There were also objections from evangelical Christian groups, who claim performers regularly sing about satanism and the occult. 

But in a referendum – a regular feature of Swiss democratic life – on 24 November last year, 66.6 percent of voters gave approval to Basel’s budget for the event of $40 million.

Basel backs splashing the cash to host Eurovision

Flying the flag

The organisers have also adopted a new flag policy this year, following a row last year.

In a tightening of rules, contestants will now only be allowed to display the flag of the country they are representing, while restrictions for audience members have been loosened – they can now wave any flag they like in the arena, including Palestinian flags and all iterations of LGBTQ+ flags. 

This was in contrast to last year’s event, where only the flags of competing countries and the standard six-stripe rainbow Pride flag were permitted in the arena. Non-binary acts Bambie Thug from Ireland and Switzerland’s Nemo were not allowed to wave the non-binary flag on the Eurovision stage.

The decision to ban Pride flags from the stage this year has been a controversial one, given Eurovision’s legendary LGBTQ+ fanbase.

The Netherlands’ national broadcaster Avrotros appealed to organisers to relax this rule in the run-up to this year’s live final, following a request from an LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group in the country.

After discussions, the EBU decided against a rule change so close to the contest, with event director Green saying: “Eurovision needs no flag to demonstrate its alliance and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. You only have to see the show, see the people that are taking part, hear what they’re singing about.”

Lyrics under the spotlight

While the EBU said it was too late to rewrite the rules on flags, one entrant was asked to change their song title and lyrics, after the organisation deemed the original version too reminiscent of an offensive English word.

Maltese singer Miriana Conte was to sing a song called Serving Kant – a play on the Maltese word for “singing” and a well-known phrase in drag culture that uses an English term for female genitalia. 

The request was reportedly prompted by a complaint from the BBC, according to the Times of Malta, although the UK broadcaster has declined to comment on this.

Meanwhile, some in Italy have taken offence at Estonia’s entry, Espresso Macchiato by singer Tommy Cash – who has previously dubbed himself “Kanye East” and is known for his provocative and tongue-in-cheek parodies. 

The song is sung in a mock Italian accent, and some have said it perpetrates stereotypes, with lines such as: “It keeps me sweating like a mafioso.”

Codacons, the Italian association for consumer rights, has called for the song to be disqualified, as has Gian Marco Centinaio, a senator with Italy’s far-right League party, who said: “Those who insult Italy should stay out of Eurovision.”

The bookies’ choice

While rumours swirl of an appearance by Canadian singer Celine Dion – who won the contest for Switzerland in 1988, launching her career in the process – France’s hopes this year are being carried by Louane, a superstar in the country who rose to fame aged 16 when she appeared on TV singing competition The Voice. Since then she has sold more than 3 million albums.

She’ll be singing a ballad entitled Maman, a conversation with her late mother, who died when Louane was 17 – a track she debuted during half-time at the Six Nations rugby match between France and Scotland in March, performing on a platform 20 metres above the pitch.

Bookmakers predict France will finish in third place, with Austria in second and Sweden’s entry KAJ (a band from Finland) the hot favourites to win – with a catchy ditty about the joys of a having a sauna.

(with newswires)

According to Amnesty International, Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency has hastened trends already unfolding over the past decade.

Just one hundred days into his second term, President Trump has demonstrated a complete disregard for universal human rights, making the world both less safe and less just, the organisation’s latest report claims.

“His all-out assault on the very concepts of multilateralism, asylum, racial and gender justice, global health and life-saving climate action is exacerbating the significant damage those principles and institutions have already sustained and is further emboldening other anti-rights leaders and movements to join his onslaught,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, wrote.

While Africa’s armed conflicts caused relentless civilian suffering, including increasing levels of sexual and gender-based violence, and death on a massive scale, international and regional responses remained woefully inadequate.

The NGO also denounces global failures in addressing inequalities, climate collapse, and tech transformations that imperil future generations, especially in fragile zones. 

To discuss the implications for Africa in detail, this week, Spotlight on Africa’s first guest is Deprose Muchena, senior director for regional human rights impact at Amnesty International. 

Meanwhile, in South Africa, experts reflect on a recent visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as the country leads the G20 this year and tries to become a platform for peace talk.

Did Zelensky’s South Africa visit signal a diplomatic pivot by Pretoria?

We talked to the French business and veteran diplomat, Jean-Yves Ollivier, founder of the Brazzaville Foundation, who was a key actor in organising Zelensky’s meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Finally, we hear from Djiby Kebe, one of the founders of  Air Afrique magazine, created by and for young members of the African diaspora in Paris and Abidjan. Inspired by the once-successful Pan-African airline of the same name, the publication centres on culture and travel.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.

Ten suspects have been on trial since late April over the armed robbery in 2016, which saw jewellery worth some 10 million dollars stolen from Kim Kardashian.

The trial has attracted huge media attention, with close to 500 reporters accredited, and crowds flocked around the courthouse on Paris‘s historic Ile de la Cite early Tuesday with fans hoping for a glimpse of the celebrity.

“We are fans of Kim and we want to support her,” said Clement Treboutte, waiting for access with a group of friends. “Let justice be done.”

Leo, another fan who gave only his first name, said the trial “is a great occasion to see Kim in the flesh, so we thought why not”.

The American reality TV star and influencer, 44, is ready to “confront” her Paris attackers, her lawyers said last week.

She is due to take the stand at 2.00 pm (1200 GMT) and is expected to speak to the press afterwards.

Trial opens in Paris over 2016 robbery of Kim Kardashian

‘Heist of the century’

On the night of 2-3 October, 2016, Kardashian was robbed while staying at an exclusive, discreet hotel in central Paris.

She was threatened with a gun to the head and tied up with her mouth taped.

In the robbery, dubbed by the French press as the “heist of the century”, the masked men walked away with millions of dollars’ worth of jewels.

They included a diamond ring given to Kardashian by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West, and valued at 3.5 million euros.

The theft was the most valuable to target a private individual in France in 20 years.

Those on trial are mainly men in their 60s and 70s with previous criminal records. They have underworld nicknames like “Old Omar” and “Blue Eyes” that resemble those of old-school French bandits of 1960s and 1970s films noirs.

“They’re quite a team,” said investigator Michel Malecot. “But they made some mistakes”, he said, notably by leaving DNA that allowed investigators to identify them.

Ageing suspects

Sixty-eight-year-old Aomar Ait Khedache, known as “Old Omar”, has admitted to tying up Kardashian but denies being the mastermind behind the robbery.

Another suspect in the dock, 71-year-old Yunice Abbas, later wrote a book about the heist.

In it he describes how his bag became caught in the wheel of his escape vehicle, a bicycle, causing him to fall off and have to scramble to shove the loot back in the bag.

Investigators said a man called Gary Madar, the brother of Kardashian’s driver in Paris, tipped the suspects off that Kardashian was “in French territory”.

This allegation has been ridiculed by Madar’s lawyer, who remarked that 350 million online followers were already aware of the star’s whereabouts.

The night of the robbery could have gone very differently had Kardashian joined her sister Kourtney and gone clubbing, an idea she entertained before deciding to stay in the hotel, the court heard last week.

Her designated driver had been working non-stop for 21 hours and asked a colleague to replace him for the trip to the night club.

The replacement, Mohammed Q., and a Kardashian bodyguard, Pascal D., rushed back to the hotel after Kardashian tried to call them and then failed to pick up her phone when they called back.

“I saw that the lift was on the first floor, where Kim was staying,” Pascal D. told the court.

When he found her, Kardashian “was in a terrible state. She was crying hysterically”, he told the court.

“I asked what had happened, and she said she’d been robbed.”

The trial is set to end on 23 May.

(with AFP)

One of the most prolific actors in film history, Depardieu has appeared in more than 200 films and television series since his on-screen debut in 1967, working with directors including Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott and Bernardo Bertolucci.

A national icon in France – Depardieu is a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and of the Ordre national du Mérite – he has made the rare crossover to stardom in the anglophone world, with his Hollywood hits including Green Card (1990), for which he won the Golden Globe for best actor, as well as Hamlet (1996), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), La Vie en Rose (2007) and Life of Pi (2012).

The 76-year-old is known for his portrayals of towering historical figures including Joseph Stalin, Auguste Rodin, Christopher Columbus and Rasputin, as well as heroes of French literature – characters and their creators alike – such as Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean Valjean, Obélix and the Count of Monte Cristo.

Origins

Born Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu on 27 December 1948 to an impoverished family in Châteauroux, central France, he was one of six children.

By the age of 13 he had left school, barely literate, and was dabbling in crime. According to his 2014 autobiography, Ça s’est fait comme ça (“It just happened like that”), he worked as a prostitute as well as robbing graves, selling black market cigarettes and alcohol at a nearby American air base and stealing cars.

Acting proved his salvation, with money the motivating factor by his own admission. He left his hometown for Paris at the age of 16 to pursue it. There he met director Agnès Varda, the first to cast him – in a short film that was never completed.

He made his screen debut in Roger Leenhardt’s 1967 short film Le Beatnik et le minet (“The Beatnik and the Twink”). But it was his performance as a young thug in 1974’s Les Valseuses (“Going Places”) that was to be his big break.

Leading man

In 1981 he won his first César Award for best actor, for his performance in François Truffaut’s The Last Metro (1980), set in Nazi-occupied Paris and co-starring Catherine Deneuve.

This kicked off two decades as France’s premier leading man, a period in which he appeared in his biggest hits, including Maurice Pialat’s Police (1985), 1986’s Jean de Florette, which raised his international profile, and the 1993 adaptation of Emile Zola’s Germinal.

Ten years on from his first, he won his second César best actor award, for his career-defining role in Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he also received an Oscar nomination.

French celebrities distance themselves from Depardieu, accused of rape

Flops have been a rarity in Depardieu’s career, but two notable box office failures were Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) in which he played Columbus. The film took just $3 million on its opening weekend, for which Scott blamed US audiences’ difficulty in understanding European accents.

In United Passions, the story of the origins of football federation Fifa, Depardieu played its founder Jules Rimet. The film lost $26.8m worldwide and was blasted by critics as propaganda, as its release coincided with Fifa’s 2015 corruption case.

It was only shown at Cannes after Depardieu lobbied the director of the festival directly, who eventually agreed to an open-air public screening on the beach.

Courting controversy

Depardieu is no stranger to the headlines – famously once declaring that he drinks up to 14 bottles of wine a day, being banned from driving for six months after crashing his scooter while four times over the legal alcohol limit, and urinating into a water bottle on an Air France flight, which he then spilled on the floor.

He is currently under investigation for alleged tax fraud. French tax investigators suspect him of falsely declaring his tax residency as Belgium since 2013 to avoid paying taxes in France. This followed a vocal dispute with the French government over the wealth tax introduced by then-president François Hollande, in which he referred to his home country as a “filthy mess”.

Cancel Depardieu? French cinema split over film icon

Financial crime prosecutors opened a probe in February, which resulted in raids in France and Belgium as well as police interviews, although the actor has not been questioned.

He acquired Russian citizenship in 2013 from President Vladimir Putin, who Depardieu has praised, calling him “the man Russia needs”. In 2015, he was banned from entering Ukraine for five years after apparently supporting the Russian annexation of Crimea.

In December 2023, after a documentary aired that included footage of Depardieu making sexually suggestive comments about a young girl in North Korea, President Emmanuel Macron defended the actor on national television, saying: “Gérard Depardieu makes France proud.”

A few weeks later, Macron expressed his regret over the comments, saying that it was important “for women who are victims of abuse to speak out”.

Sexual assault allegations

On Tuesday, Depardieu was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on the set of a movie in which he starred and was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence by a Paris court.

He was also fined a total of €29,040 and the court requested that he be registered in the national sex offender database.

Depardieu was convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of Les Volets Verts (“The Green Shutters”) in 2021.

The actor, who denied the accusations, did not attend the hearing in Paris. His lawyer said that his client would appeal the decision.

Depardieu is the highest-profile figure in French cinema to face such accusations in the wake of the country’s #MeToo movement, and his trial has been viewed as a test of France’s willingness to confront sexual violence and hold influential men accountable.

The actor is facing allegations of sexual harassment and assault from more than a dozen other women, and a Paris court is still deciding whether to go ahead with a second trial for his alleged rape and sexual assault of Charlotte Arnould, the first woman to file a criminal complaint against him in 2018.

Depardieu denies all the allegations. “Never, but never, have I abused a woman,” he wrote in an open letter in French newspaper Le Figaro in 2023. “I have only ever been guilty of being too loving, too generous, or having a temperament that is too strong.”

(with newswires)

A group of 30 left-wing French politicians travelled to Algeria this week to take part in commemorations and call on France to acknowledge its responsibility.

“It’s important on this symbolic date to have a French delegation to show that in France there are not only enemies of Algeria, as we have seen with the heated debates of the past few months,” greens MP Sabrina Sebaï told RFI, referring to the degradation of diplomatic tensions between France and Algeria.

She said the visit aimed “to send a message also to say that there is a deep work to do on issues of memory and reconciliation”.

But for the French right, such a visit is a provocation.

“The day of 8 May, which is a day of national pride, you have French elected officials who go to Algeria to participate in self-flagellation and humiliation,” said Laurent Wauquiez, the president of the right-wing Les Republicains.

Listen to a history of what happened in Algeria on 8 May 1945 in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 128: 

The events being commemorated began on 8 May, 1945. As people gathered in the northern Algerian city of Sétif to celebrate the Allied victory, some brought out Algerian flags and banners calling for independence.

French authorities ordered the banners be removed. When some refused, troops opened fire on the crowd.

News of the shootings spread to nearby towns, including Guelma and Kherrata, where rioting broke out. Around 100 French settlers were killed.

In response, French authorities launched a brutal crackdown.

Charles de Gaulle, who led France at the time, gave the green light for “all necessary measures to repress all anti-French acts”.

Backed by army troops and the air force, colonial forces bombed villages and carried out summary executions across the region. Civilians – men, women and children – were killed throughout May and June.

France’s official silence

There is still no agreed figure for how many people died. Algeria says 45,000 were killed. Historians have estimated between 15,000 and 20,000.

“Eighty years later we do not know exactly the number of people who died in May and June 1945 because there was a code of silence,” said filmmaker Mehdi Lallaoui, who made a documentary on the Sétif massacre.

“The survivors of the killings were thrown in prison, and the state wanted to hide this event.”

De Gaulle reportedly said to “bury the whole affair”, and officials referred to it only as “the events”.

But in Algeria the Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata massacres helped spur on the emerging movement for self-determination – energising, perhaps even uniting, what had been a fractured independence movement until then. 

Over the next few years, resistance groups became more organised. On 1 November 1954, Algerians started their revolution against the French, who were eventually forced to grant the colony its independence in 1962.

Recognition and reconcilliation

Algeria made 8 May an official day of commemoration in 2020. Some in France want the same – a move that would involve officially acknowledging France’s role in the killings. So far, that has not happened. 

“Algeria’s independence remains a trauma in the French public opinion,” historian Nils Andersson told RFI.

“There is an anti-Algerian feeling in France – the colonising country – and I think the role of political leaders is to have the courage to recognise the facts about colonialism, which is neither an act of contrition of repentance, but just a moral and truthful act.”

In 2005, France’s ambassador to Algeria called the massacre an “inexcusable tragedy”. A decade later, a French minister visited the massacre’s commemoration site.

This week, a group of left-wing MPs submitted a proposal to officially recognise the massacres as a “state crime perpetrated against an unarmed civilian population”.

The MPs’ visit and the proposed resolution come at a time of high tension between France and Algeria. Interior Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio on Tuesday that relations were currently “blocked”.

For the centrist Senator Raphaël Daubet, a member of the delegation, reopening dialogue with Algeria involves “the recognition of these massacres” that happened in Sétif, Guelma et Kherrata.

Geoengineers at the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), could try to thicken the Arctic ice pack by injecting seawater into the frozen blocks, under the programme Exploring Options for Actively Cooling the Earth.

Another project could see them attempt to make clouds more reflective by pumping reflective particles into the upper reaches of the skies to limit solar radiation.

“Climate change, largely caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, could cause the global temperature to increase by several degrees by the end of the century, precipitating climate tipping points with serious consequences,” said the programme’s director Mark Symes.

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“The solution to this problem is to cease the burning of fossil fuels and to eliminate excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. However, lowering atmospheric greenhouse gas levels – even under the most aggressive scenarios – may not happen fast enough to prevent the onset of tipping points.”

Aria proposes small-scale, controlled, geographically confined outdoor experiments on approaches that might help reduce global temperatures, and could give mankind more time to adapt to the consequences of climate change.

“[The experiments] are not meant to be stepping stones to deployment,” Symes added. “The research conducted in this programme should allow us to provide critical – and currently missing – real-world data to scientists and society on what the options are for actively cooling the Earth, how such approaches might work, and what the consequences of their use might be, allowing better-informed assessments of their risks and benefits.”

Experiments

As well as thickening Arctic sea ice blocks to make them more reflective, projects which could lead to field experiments include marine cloud brightening (MCB) and stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI).

One proposed MCB experiment is to spray a fine mist of natural sea water into the atmosphere from a coastal location in the UK and then analyse whether this brightens clouds and increases their reflectivity.

An example of an SAI project is putting a small amount of natural mineral dust in a weather balloon and sending it high into the atmosphere to see how it responds in that environment.

Aria researchers say that no outdoor experiments will be conducted before the public has been consulted. And when they are held, they will be closely supervised and limited.

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Controversy

However, Aria’s planned projects have coincided with a burgeoning campaign for an international agreement not to use solar geoengineering.

“Conducting small-scale experiments risks normalising highly controversial theories and accelerating technological development, creating a a slippery slope toward full-scale deployment,” said Mary Church, geoengineering campaign manager at the Centre for International Environmental Law.

“Solar geoengineering is inherently unpredictable and risks breaking further an already broken climate system,” she added.

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As the 79th United Nations general assembly and New York Climate Week drew to a close last September, countries across Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific joined more than 500 academics and 2,000 civil society organisations to signal their support for bans on tampering with the atmosphere.

“Solar geoengineering deployment cannot be fairly governed globally and poses unacceptable risk if implemented as a future climate policy option,” reads an open letter calling for a ban on such experiments. 

“An international non-use agreement on solar geoengineering would be timely, feasible, and effective,” the letter added. “It would inhibit further normalisation and development of a risky and poorly understood set of technologies.”

“The UK government risks triggering a costly, dangerous and distracting race to develop technologies that should never be used,” Church echoed. “Even experimenting with these technologies could further destabilise an already tense geopolitical context.”

Global average temperatures in 2024 were 1.6C above pre-industrial levels, temporarily exceeding the target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Current trajectories show the world passing 1.5C of long-term warming by the end of the early 2030s.

At stake with the election of a new pope is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-year-old institution with huge global influence but which is battling to adapt to the modern world, and to recover its reputation after the scandal of child sexual abuse by priests.

The process of this election – the conclave – however, is one element not in line for modernisation. Shrouded in secrecy, its name is derived from the Latin cum (with) and clavis (key) – meaning a “room that can be locked”.

This secrecy has seen the conclave enshrined in the popular imagination. The film Conclave, based on the bestselling novel by British author Robert Harris, picked up an Oscar, four BAFTAs and a Golden Globe during this year’s awards season.

‘Princes of the Church’

The 133 cardinals – the so-called “Princes of the Church” – who will vote will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.

A cardinal (from the Latin cardinalis or principal) is a high dignitary of the Catholic Church chosen by the pope to assist him in his government. They form the top echelon of the Catholic Church, with their scarlet robes representing the blood of Christ.

The creation of cardinals reflects the political views of the pontiff, who normally uses this power to shape the selection of his own successor. The current College of Cardinals is a diverse group, thanks to Pope Francis appointing figures from far-flung diocese, some gaining a cardinal for the first time – such as Brunei, Mongolia and South Sudan.

This diversity means some observers are predicting a protracted process. Vatican affairs specialist Marco Politi told French news agency AFP that, given the unknowns, this conclave could be “the most spectacular in 50 years”.

Oath of secrecy

During the conclave, the cardinals are forbidden from contacting the outside world. They will stay at the Santa Marta guesthouse – although prior to 1996 they slept on camp beds in the Apostolic Palace, which is connected to the Sistine Chapel.

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All windows in the conclave zone are darkened to guarantee privacy. Ahead of the vote, technicians deactivate all technological devices installed in recent years in the Sistine Chapel and sweep for secret recording devices.

The day before the conclave they will install “approximately 80 lead seals at all entrances to the perimeter”.

The extreme secrecy required extends to these technicians too, and all support staff – cleaners, cooks, doctors and nurses, drivers and elevator operators. All took an oath of secrecy on Monday. The punishment for breaking it? Automatic ex-communication.

Twelve technicians and maintenance craftspeople will remain inside the Sistine Chapel for the duration of the conclave, maintaining temperature, lighting and electrical systems, and assisting with ceremonial logistics such as operating the famous stove – which is now activated by remote control. 

The vote

On Wednesday, the day the conclave begins, the cardinal electors take part in a morning mass in St Peter’s Basilica. They will then gather in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace at 4:15pm and invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit in making their choice.

They proceed at 4:30pm to the Sistine Chapel, where the election will be held, and take an oath vowing secrecy and promising that, if elected, they will conduct the role faithfully.

The master of ceremonies gives the order extra omnes (“everybody out”) and all those not permitted to vote leave the chapel.

The masters of ceremonies then distribute ballots to the electors. Lots are drawn to select three to serve as “scrutineers”, three infirmarii to collect the votes of cardinals who fall ill and three “revisers” who check the ballot counting by the scrutineers.

Cardinals are given rectangular ballots inscribed with the words Eligo in Summum Pontificem (“I elect as supreme pontiff”), with a blank space underneath. They write down the name of their choice for future pope, preferably in handwriting which cannot be identified, and fold the ballot paper twice.

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Each cardinal takes turns to walk to the altar, carrying his vote in the air so that it can be clearly seen, and says aloud the following oath: “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.”

The electors place their folded paper on a plate, which is used to tip the ballots into a silver urn on the altar, in front of scrutineers. They then bow and return to their seats.

Once all ballots are collected, scrutineers shake the urn to mix the votes up, transfer them into a second container to check there are the same number of ballots as electors and begin counting them.

Two scrutineers note down the names while a third reads them aloud, piercing the ballots with a needle through the word Eligo and stringing them together. The revisers then double-check that the scrutineers have not made any mistakes.

If no one has secured two-thirds of the votes, there is no winner and the electors move straight on to a second round. There are two pairs of votes per day, morning and afternoon, until a new pope has been elected.

The ballots and any handwritten notes made by the cardinals are then destroyed, burnt in a stove in the chapel. It emits black smoke if no pope has been elected and white smoke if there is a new pontiff.

The smoke is turned black or white through the addition of chemicals – potassium perchlorate, anthracene (a component of coal tar) and sulfur to produce black smoke, or potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke.

If voting continues for three days without a winner, there is a day of prayer, reflection and dialogue. If after another seven ballots there is no winner, there is another day of pause.

If the cardinals reach a fourth pause with no result, they can agree to vote only on the two most popular candidates, with the winner requiring a clear majority.

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In 2013, the conclave lasted 27 hours, and in 2005 it was 26 hours. The shortest on record took place in 1503, when it took cardinals just 10 hours to elect Pope Pius III.

As for the longest, in the 13th century it took almost three years, beginning n 1268 – 1,006 days to be exact – to choose Pope Clement IV’s successor.

From late 1269 the cardinals allowed themselves to be locked in to try to reach a decision.

When they still hadn’t managed this by June 1270, frustrated locals tore the roof off in a bid to speed things along – inspired by a quip by an English cardinal that without the roof, the Holy Spirit could descend unhindered.

When a cardinal is elected pope, the masters of ceremonies and other non-electors are brought back into the Sistine Chapel and the cardinal dean asks the winner: “Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?”

As soon as he gives his consent, he becomes pope – and is free to celebrate, as John Paul II did in 1978, reportedly walking around pouring Champagne for the cardinals and singing Polish folk songs.

Controversies 

Conclaves have seen their share of controversy over the centuries. This year, United States President Donald Trump last week posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the pope on his Truth Social platform, after joking that he would be his own first choice for the next pontiff, drawing the ire of the Church. 

The New York State Catholic Conference wrote in a post on X: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us.”

Last week, France’s President Emmanuel Macron was accused by Italian media of attempted interference in the conclave, after he held a series of meetings with cardinals and Church officials while in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral. 

Wait for Vatican white smoke fires up social media

In 2013, so convinced were they of his success, upon sight of the famous white smoke signal the Italian bishops’ conference sent out a press release congratulating Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola – when Pope Francis had just been elected.

In the days leading up to the conclave, Italian newspapers openly promoted Scola as the next pope, appearing to have missed the warning contained in a traditional Italian saying that front-runners at a papal conclave are often disappointed: “He who enters a conclave as a pope, leaves it as a cardinal.”

In 1241, when the conclave was dragging on, the head of Rome’s government locked the cardinals into a dilapidated building and refused to clean the lavatories or provide doctors for those who fell ill.

According to Frederic Baumgartner in his Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections, the cardinals only reached a decision – electing Celestine IV – after one of them died and the Romans threatened to exhume his corpse and have it make decisions.

(with newswires)

The three-year expedition will take Plastic Odyssey around Africa, South East Asia and South America. 

Its current four-month mission in the Indian Ocean is part of a partnership programme led by the Indian Ocean Commission (COI) – an intergovernmental project involving France, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Comoros and Mauritius, with support from France’s development agency, the AFD.

“The main goal is to empower more local entrepreneurs and accelerate their plastic waste recycling programme,” Alaric de Beaudrap, stopover coordinator for Plastic Odyssey, told RFI.

For this, the Plastic Odyssey crew – mostly made up of engineers – holds an intensive three-day training session called “On-board laboratory”.

More than 25 Malagasy entrepreneurs have already applied for the programme, beginning on 30 April in the Tamatave harbour, 300 kilometres away from the capital Antananarivo.

Local engagement

One company Plastic Odyssey is in touch with is Andao, which makes school tables from recycled plastic bottle caps. 

“There is a huge problem of school furniture in Madagascar. They’re doing it locally at their own level. They would love to produce more of those recycled plastic tables for schools,” explains de Beaudrap.

Plastic Odyssey is a 40-metre vessel equipped with low-tech machines used to recycle plastic waste.

Once collected and processed, this recycled plastic can be used for building structures, irrigation for agriculture, flooring and furniture. 

The idea is to create local jobs with machines that can be built on-site. “All those machines are easy to operate and to maintain, and can be easily replicated,” explains de Beaudrap.

“We have been in more than 30 countries so far, where we stopped with the boat and we can exchange knowledge and good practices.”

Plastic Odyssey sets off on round-the-world mission to fight marine pollution

Plastic Odyssey also runs an education programme, with children aged between eight and 15 invited on board for a lesson on plastic pollution. “The main goal is to promote a plastic-free world to young people,” says de Beaudrap.

Waste mismanagement

According to a report published in 2020 by the COI, “it seems that 92 percent of waste is mismanaged in Madagascar,” says de Beaudrap, “and less than half of this plastic waste is collected”.

There are several illegal dumping sites on the Indian Ocean island, most of them near residential areas.

“We are not yet talking about recycling in Madagascar, only collecting,” he added. “There is an urgent need to prevent this waste from reaching the rivers and the sea because, in the end, this waste will pollute the Malagasy coastlines and ecosystems.”

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The second major component of the stopover in Madagascar is a five-day mission around the Sainte-Marie coastal area, during which the vessel will be made available to scientists from the oceanographic institution Ifremer and the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, as well as universities of the Comoros and Madagascar.

“Our vessel will allow them to carry out surveys and observations of micro and macro plastics off the coast, and also to study the drift of these plastics, and what we call the link between plastics and megafauna,” explained de Beaudrap.

“This scientific approach will provide a foundation for policymakers and research centres to better identify and understand the role of plastic pollution on ecosystems – as well as its sources.”

After Madagascar, Plastic Odyssey will sail to Seychelles and the Comoro Islands, reaching Kenya in August, before its expected return to France in April 2026.

“They are at the end of their strength. Jacques’s face is more and more marked by the detention – you can feel he is dying slowly in that cell,” Noémie Kohler told RFI. “Cécile and Jacques are increasingly desperate and are less and less optimistic.”

Kohler, 40, and Paris, who is in his seventies, were arrested on 7 May 2022 at the end of a tourist trip to Iran. They are accused of spying – charges they strongly deny.

They are being held in section 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, an area reserved for political prisoners. They are the last known French citizens still detained in Iran and are considered “state hostages” by the French government.

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Conditions ‘equivalent to torture’

France’s foreign ministry says the couple are being held in conditions that “amount to torture under international law”.

They have no furniture and continue to sleep on the floor. The lights remain on 24 hours a day and they are allowed outdoors just two or three times a week, for no more than 30 minutes at a time.

Whether they are allowed out depends on prison guards and weather. Phone calls are rare, short and tightly monitored. The most recent, on 5 May, lasted just eight minutes.

“She told us she writes poems in her head,” Noémie said. “She repeats them every night so she doesn’t forget them, because after three years, she still has nothing to write with.”

Noémie also described the mental pressure her sister and Jacques are under.

“For several months they have been told that a verdict is imminent, that it will be extremely severe. They are given deadlines each time and nothing ever happens,” she said. “It’s psychological torture.”

A few months after their arrest, Iranian state television broadcast “confessions” by the pair, which France said were forced.

Their lawyers have still not been granted access to their case files. “Their right to a defence has been completely denied,” Noémie said. “We have no reliable information about the legal process.”

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Campaign for freedom

French President Emmanuel Macron marked the anniversary with a message on social media, saying France was working “tirelessly” to free them.

“I assure their families that our support is unwavering,” Macron posted on X.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also posted a video message describing Kohler and Paris as “hostages” and “victims of the Iranian regime”.

“They are kept in inhumane conditions that amount to torture,” Barrot added. He also urged French nationals not to travel to Iran.

France has said it will file a formal complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. While the move has been welcomed by the families, it is not expected to lead to a breakthrough in the short term.

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Diplomatic tensions

The case comes amid worsening ties between Paris and Tehran.

In February, an Iranian woman was arrested in France on terrorism-related charges. A Franco-Iranian influencer is also due to go on trial on similar accusations. France has threatened new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.

The couple are among several Europeans held by Iran. Some European governments say these detentions are politically motivated.

One of the others still in prison is Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was sentenced to death in 2017 on spying charges his family says are false.

Dozens of rallies were planned across France on Wednesday to draw attention to Kohler and Paris’s case.

“They’ve become pawns in something far bigger than them,” Noémie said. “We just want them home.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has voiced his support for reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, amid growing concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

Speaking to France Inter on Sunday, Barrot described the situation in Gaza as dire, with residents facing starvation and a severe lack of essential supplies due to the ongoing blockade.

He emphasised that the relationship between the EU and Israel is rooted in respect for human rights and democratic principles, as outlined in Article 2 of the agreement.

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Barrot’s remarks come after the Netherlands also called for an urgent review, stating that the current Israeli blockade of aid to Gaza violates the principles enshrined in the agreement.

“This is a legitimate request, and I invite the European Commission to examine it,” Barrot stated, urging a critical evaluation of Israel’s compliance with Article 2.

He stressed the importance of holding Israel accountable, particularly in light of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Palestinian enclave, stating: “The Gaza Strip is now on the brink of chaos, collapse and famine: everyone can see that”.

Trade and the occupied territories

The European Union and Israel have maintained trade and political cooperation since the EU-Israel Association Agreement came into force in 2000.

This deal facilitates economic collaboration while binding both parties to respect human rights and democratic principles.

Article 2 of the document specifically asserts that the relationship must be based on these values.

The agreement explicitly excludes products originating from occupied Palestinian territories from benefiting from preferential tariff treatment under EU law.

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This was included to reflect the EU’s stance on the legal status of the territories, ensuring that goods from areas such as the West Bank and Gaza do not receive the same benefits as those from within Israel’s internationally recognised borders.

The escalation of conflict in Gaza has intensified calls for a reassessment of the agreement.

In addition to France and the Netherlands, other EU countries – including Spain and Ireland – have raised concerns about Israel’s adherence to human rights standards.

The Dutch government, in particular, has taken a firm stance, pushing for a comprehensive EU review.

Earlier this month, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp expressed that frustration among EU member states is growing as Israel’s blockade continues to restrict humanitarian aid.

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Internal EU divisions

While some member states like Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia are advocating for stronger measures, others – including Austria, Germany, and Hungary – maintain their support for Israel.

This division has highlighted the EU’s struggle to present a unified response, particularly in the face of the humanitarian crisis and alleged genocide taking place in Gaza.

Revising the agreement could either lead to suspension or significant amendments.

If Israel is found to be in violation of Article 2, the EU might halt trade privileges, which could significantly impact Israel’s economy and diplomatic relations with Brussels, as the European Union is Israel’s biggest trading partner.

Speaking after informal talks between the bloc’s foreign ministers in Poland, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas underlined: “The frustration among the [EU] member states – that we can’t stop this – is tremendous”.

Last year, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia also tried to press their EU partners to examine whether Israel has broken the rules, without success, and Kallas did not appear optimistic about success on 20 May, when EU foreign ministers are due to reconvene in Brussels.

“You know very well that on certain issues we have very divergent views,” she said.

In the capital, Nouméa, some neighbourhoods are still struggling to recover. But a year after the riots, new initiatives are emerging to bring life back to these areas and rebuild social ties.

Still struggling

A bit of music drifts from an open restaurant, where mothers are running a small market. Nothing extraordinary – and yet, the scene is exceptional in Kaméré.

In this working-class neighbourhood of Nouméa, the only supermarket was burned down in May 2024, along with the pharmacy, part of the middle school, and the public library.

So, the opening of Yasmine Goulamhoussen’s restaurant six weeks ago came as a surprise to the locals. “Having a little bit of music at the restaurant lifts everyone’s spirits,” Yasmine told RFI. “I feel like they felt abandoned. They’re even asking themselves: how come someone dared to come here when everyone said no one would?”

The tensions of 2024 have left their mark – above all, they’ve deepened a huge divide between the working-class neighbourhoods, which were at the forefront of the pro-independence movement, and the rest. 

Ariane notes with regret that it’s becoming difficult for New Caledonians to connect with one another.

“People don’t want to go to each other’s places anymore. ‘Let’s meet up over here.’ ‘No, I’m not coming, because if I leave too late, something might happen.’ All I ask of New Caledonians is discernment, the ability to separate things. What’s done is done; what’s to come, we must build. So we really need to look toward the future.”

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The broken ties also affect the youth of the neighbourhood. For months, they were active at the roadblocks. Some are still out on the streets, torn between lingering anger and the struggle to return to normal life, explains Élise:

“It’s still hard for the young people. I invited a bunch of them to come, but none showed up – only the two from this morning came. Still, no one. They promised me they would come this afternoon, but they’re afraid of being judged. Many are scared of what others think, especially if there are outsiders here. They feel very self-conscious.”

Return to normal?

Virginie, one of the elders of the neighbourhood, wants to believe that everything will return to normal – and according to her, it’s already begun:

“I think things have changed a lot, it’s better now. It’s not like before […] Now the neighbourhood is calm. There’s no need to be afraid – come talk to the young people.”

This hope is shared by many New Caledonians, despite the failure of negotiations over the archipelago’s political future, that risks plunging it back into uncertainty.

This report was adapted from RFI’s podcast Reportage en France produced by Charlotte Mannevy.

“The decision is incomprehensible and brutal,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Monday at a press briefing about Algeria’s request Sunday for staff at the French embassy in Algeria to leave.

On Sunday the Algerian Foreign Affairs Ministry notified the French charge d’affaires of the expulsion of 15 people temporarily stationed at the French embassy in Algeria.

Algeria’s justification

Algiers said the diplomatic agents did not have the right documents and had failed follow the proper procedures to enter the country, and it denounced the “flagrant and repeated failure of the French side to respect procedures”.

The French foreign ministry did not indicate how many staff members are concerned, but it disputed Algeria’s justification.

France argues that the agents, who hold diplomatic passports, did not need to follow any particular procedures because they were on temporary missions of less than 90 days.

“The expulsion of agents on temporary missions is unjustified and unjustifiable, and as I did last month, we will respond immediately, firmly and proportionately to the attack on our interests,” Barrot said.

In April, France recalled its ambassador to Algiers and expelled 12 Algerian diplomatic agents in response to Algeria’s expelling 12 employees from the French embassy, following France’s arrest of an Algerian consular agent in a case involving the kidnapping of a TikTok influencer critical of the Algerian government.

Barrot said the decision to expulse more agents is “neither in the interests of Algeria nor in the interests of France”.

(with newswires)

The trial of Gisele Pelicot’s husband, who put drugs in her food and drink to sedate her in order to rape her, made global headlines and “created an electric shock”, MP Sandrine Josso, who co-authored the report, told the AFP news agency.

“All of society is looking to us,” she said. “We can no longer close our eyes or plug our ears, we cannot have a ‘low cost’ approach to these victims.”

Date rape drugs

Josso and Senator Veronique Guillotin were asked in April 2024 by then Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to report on the use of drugs that incapacitate a person, and makes them vulnerable to sexual assault.

Josso filed a complaint against Senator Joel Guerrieau, accusing him of using such drugs on her in November 2023 in order to sexually assault her.

For the report, the lawmakers spoke to more than 100 people and came up with 50 recommendations for the government, 15 of which should be implemented – and funded – as of this year, they said.

The report recommends launching a yearly national awareness campaign, and to add funding to add education about the use of these drugs as part of the sexual and relational education required for students, which has caused controversy in recent months.

Chemically facilitated violence

The national platform that compiles statistics about chemically facilitated violence (CRAFS) analysed 1,229 crimes involving drugs in 2022.

The crimes are primarily committed by men against women, including girls under the age of 18, at school, at parties, at work or within families.

The report recommends that France’s criminal code should include intoxication or being under the influence of narcotics as an aggravating circumstance for crimes of rape and sexual assault.

It also calls for an update of regulations on gathering evidence, to allow hospitals to preserve evidence of crimes involving such drugs for future prosecution.

(with AFP)

Lawmakers begin debates on Monday on a bill first proposed in the spring of 2024, but delayed by the dissolution of parliament.

The legislation – backed by Macron’s supporters and most of the left and opposed by the right – would allow people suffering from terminal illnesses to receive or administer a lethal substance to end their lives.

A first debate focused on who would be allowed to go through with assisted suicide: adults, aged 18 or older, who are French or French residents, who suffer from a “serious and incurable, life-threatening, advanced or terminal illness”.

Defining end-of-life

The disease must cause “physical or psychological suffering” that cannot be addressed by treatment.

As part of the proposed legislation, the patient must be capable of expressing freely, in an informed manner, his or her wish to end their life.

This definition differs from what was proposed in the bill introduced by the government in 2024, which said the patient’s prognosis had to be “short or medium term”.

Health Minister Catherine Vautrin, who authored the initial bill, said the government would introduce amendments to clarify the wording.

“The government will be tabling an amendment to define the ‘advanced phase’, or ‘entering into an irreversible process marked by a worsening of the state of health that affects the quality of life’,” she said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper Sunday.

Debates, amendments

The government will also introduce an amendment to reinstate a mandatory 48-hour reflection period after a doctor’s approval.

Lawmakers in commission on Friday approved allowing patients to choose between administering the lethal substance themselves, or having a doctor or nurse do so. The original bill only allowed a practitioner to administer the substance if the patient is not physically able to do so.

The right, which vehemently opposes the right to euthanasia, rejected this change, saying it widened the scope of the bill.

The commission rejected amendments that would have allowed a practitioner to end a patient’s life based on advance directives, if the patient was no longer able to express him- or herself.

Palliative care part of the question

Lawmakers in commission also unanimously adopted a separate bill on palliative care, which was had been included in the original end-of-life bill, before it was controversially split off by the new government.

The bill introduces an “enforceable right” to palliative care and the creation of “support structures”, to provide services for people outside of a hospital setting.

Debates on the two bills will last two weeks, with two formal votes scheduled for 29 May.

(with AFP)

Viginum, the French government body responsible for monitoring foreign digital interference, published a detailed report uncovering a large-scale Russian influence operation that used TikTok to sway Romania’s presidential race in December last year.

The campaign, backed by Russian-linked networks, boosted fringe candidate Calin Georgescu and ultimately led Romanian authorities to annul the vote.

The decision triggered protests and political instability, fuelled in part by US Vice-President JD Vance, who questioned the state of European democracy, after Romania’s Constitutional Court cancelled the December run-off.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in February, Vance said European values were under threat if “European courts cancel elections”.

But Romanian authorities published proof of interference after the court struck down the 8 December vote, citing evidence that a Russian influence operation had distorted the outcome.

French cyber experts reveal vast network of Russian disinformation sites

Algorithm exploited

Viginum’s report revealed how TikTok’s algorithm was exploited to artificially inflate Georgescu’s visibility online. The agency detailed a  false advertising campaign – called astroturfing – involving over 25,000 coordinated TikTok accounts, many of which had been inactive for years.

“The explosive increase in the candidate’s visibility on the platform seems to have been achieved thanks to a sophisticated astroturfing campaign, consisting in the coordinated manipulation of the recommendation algorithm by massively publishing videos and comments containing certain hashtags and keywords,” said Viginum.

The hashtag #calingeorgescu alone recorded more than 73 million views in just one week.

According to Viginum, Georgescu – a little-known candidate – managed to secure nearly 23 percent of the vote in the first round, following the sudden online push.

More than 130 influencers were involved, many of them with no political background, who were recruited – often unknowingly – by obscure companies linked to Russia, Sergiu Miscoiu of Babes-Bolyai University told RFI.

“The report shows how influencers from different parts of the world connected with some very fuzzy companies, all of them having roots in Russia, or in the Russian sphere, on the internet, and intervened in the support of Georgescu by multiplying tens of thousands of accounts in his support,” Miscoiu said.

The manipulation extended beyond TikTok to Facebook and Instagram. Romanian authorities also reported more than 85,000 cyberattacks traced to Russia’s SVR intelligence agency.

Far right candidate takes the lead in Romania’s presidential race

‘Perfect mastery’

Viginum’s report, which was corroborated by Romanian intelligence and independent observers, warned that the architects of the campaign demonstrated “perfect mastery of methods for circumventing moderation policies”.

The agency noted that the operation had taken advantage of TikTok’s dominant role in Romania, where the platform has around 9 million users.

Viginum is now calling on France and other EU countries to increase oversight of digital advertising and influencer activity ahead of upcoming elections.

“The absence of transparency about the origin of funding and advertisements allowed the foreign network to move while remaining virtually invisible, directly reaching a gigantic electoral pool,” the report said.

Romania’s elections this month will be followed by votes in Albania and Poland, raising concerns that similar campaigns could target those countries next.

Eroding confidence

Miscoiu said Russian disinformation efforts across Eastern Europe are rarely designed to promote Russia directly. Instead, they aim to erode confidence in democratic institutions.

“They will try just to seed doubts about the European Union, about liberal democracy, to create alternative narratives, and through fake news and disinformation, to weaken the trust in the authorities,” he said.

One recent example is a false campaign claiming that young Europeans would be forcibly sent to fight in Ukraine. The rumour spread widely among Romanian and Bulgarian communities, stoking fear and distrust.

Other operations target everyday frustrations.

“There would be a report on ‘Eastern countries getting the rotten apples, the expired bananas, the second-hand services, and so they remain second-hand Europeans, while all the good products are reserved for the Western Europeans’,” said Miscoiu.

Viginum had already issued warnings last year about Russian attempts to meddle in European elections. Its latest findings suggest that while the Romanian vote was re-run, the tactics used to disrupt it are still in play.

Dembélé was chosen by his peers in the Union National des Footballeurs Professionnels for the accolade ahead of PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi and Lyon’s Ryan Cherki.

The 27-year-old Frenchman, who has played in a more central role this season under boss Luis Enrique, was hailed for his performances in which he has scored 33 goals and laid on the pass leading to 13 goals in competitions including Ligue1, the Champions League, the Coupe de France and the French Super Cup.

“With this slight shift I’m more at the heart of the game, and I’m more in front of goal too,” Dembélé said as he received the trophy from France coach Didier Deschamps.

“It has helped me score goals and be more lucid in the box. I’m happy in this position.”

Gesturing to Deschamps, he quipped: “He still puts me on the right.”

“This season, the genie came out of the bottle and we saw the real @dembouz [Dembélé],” the UNFP said on social media to announce the prize.

“High-performing, decisive, consistent, always a genius dribbler, the best prospect of 2016 has been exceptional and he’s getting the plaudits he deserves.”

PSG high

Dembélé’s teammate Désiré Doué won the best young player in Ligue 1 and the two were among a record nine PSG players who featured in the Ligue 1 team of the year.

In front of Lille’s Lucas Chevalier – the goalkeeper of the year – Hakimi formed the defence with his PSG teammates Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes and Willian Pacho.

Doué, Joao Neves and Vitinha were named as the midfield troika while Bradley Barcola joined Dembélé in attack along with Cherki.

The collection surpasses the eight PSG players who were named in the 2015–2016 Ligue 1 team of the year.

Enrique, who has led PSG to five trophies since taking over from Christophe Galtier in July 2023, was anointed coach of the year by his counterparts.

Marseille’s Amine Gouiri claimed the goal of the season in Ligue 1 for his strike against Brest.

In Ligue 2, Lorient swept the awards. Éli Junior Kroupi won best player,  Yvon Mvogo was deemed the best goalkeeper and Olivier Pantaloni, the top coach.

Clara Mateo of Paris FC won the best female player in the Première League and Lyon’s Christiane Endler was voted best goalkeeper.

Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé, who won the UNFP best player prize a record five times during his time at PSG, was saluted as the best French player operating in a foreign championship.

The prize came hours after the France skipper scored a hat trick but still ended up on the losing side as Barcelona beat Madrid 4-3 to go seven points clear at the top of La Liga with three games remaining.

The 26-year-old, who was runner-up in the 2024 competition, succeeds Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and joins a pantheon containing Nicolas Pepé, Victor Osimhen and Seko Fofana.

“It’s a source of pride for me to join the circle of great players who have won the award,” said Hakimi as he received the Marc-Vivien Foé Award trophy.

“It’s fitting recompense for the season I’m having and for the season PSG are having too.”

Last Wednesday at the Parc des Princes in Paris, Hakimi scored PSG’s second goal in the 2-1 victory over Arsenal that gave them a 3-1 aggregate success and progress to the final of the Champions League on 31 May against Inter Milan in Munich.

A week before that showdown, PSG will take on Reims in the final of the Coupe de France attempting to complete a second successive domestic treble.

In January, they beat Monaco to lift the 2025 French Super Cup and in April PSG claimed the 2025 Ligue 1 title.

Move

Hakimi joined PSG from Inter Milan in 2021 but operated in the shadows of stars such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. 

But since the break up of the troika and Mbappé’s departure, PSG boss Luis Enrique promoted him to vice-captain.

“He is better defensively, more focused and more effective,” said Enrique. “He’s one of those young players with experience and a reference point for his teammates.”

Morocco boss Walid Regragui, who appointed Hakimi skipper of the squad, hailed him as a driving force for the players.

“He’s a champion, someone who likes to win,” he told RFI. “He played at a very high level at a very young age, so he has the ability to understand that results are important and to pass that on to his team-mates.

“He doesn’t mince his words, so he’s capable of being a good relay and saying things that some people would hesitate to say to their team-mates. With Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco, Achraf is moving into another dimension.”

Members of al-Qaeda-linked Group for the support of Islam and Muslims, (Jnim), carried out simultaneous attacks on Sunday on a military detachment and police posts in the northern town of Djibo, as well as other towns in the north of the country.

Assailants arrived “by the hundreds” on motorcycles and vehicles, encircling the town, security and local sources told the French news agency AFP.

Extreme violence

While there is no official death toll, witnesses told RFI that the attack was of an extreme violence, and several dozen people were killed. At least twenty civilians were buried Sunday, and others were to be buried Monday.

The jihadists took over the camp and looted it, and attacked parts of the town, burning houses and parading through the streets.

The military junta that took over in 2022 has not reacted to the attacks, which occurred as junta leader Ibrahim Traoré was on his way back to the capital Ouagadougou after a visit to Moscow to discuss cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The junta rarely communicates about attacks and regularly claims to have taken back territory from jihadists.

The country has long endured attacks by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State armed group, and more than 26,000 civilians and soldiers have died since 2015, more than half in the past three years, according to the NGO Acled, which tracks victims of conflict.

(with newswires)

In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said “a historic turning point” had been reached, after Russia agreed to direct talks with Ukraine next Thursday in Istanbul, and that the opportunity should be seized to once again negotiations, according to Erdogan’s office.

Macron stressed the “necessity” for Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, his office said of the call.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin read a televised statement in which he proposed “direct negotiations without any preconditions” talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the war.

This came just hours after the Macron and other European leaders were in Kyiv to demand that Russia agree to a ceasefire starting Monday or face “massive” new sanctions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had agreed to talks if Moscow agreed to the 30-day ceasefire, later said he was ready to meet Putin after US President Donald Trump told him publicly to immediately accept the proposal.

“I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”

Erdogan told Putin in a phone call that Turkey was ready to host the negotiations, but that a comprehensive ceasefire would create the necessary environment for peace talks, a readout from their call said.

Turkey hosted talks between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022, just after Russia’s invasion. 

The draft agreement discussed then would have required Ukraine to give up its Nato ambitions and accept permanent neutral and nuclear-free status in return for security guarantees from the five permanent United Nationsl Security Council members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after Putin’s statement that the talks must take into account that draft agreement and the current situation on the ground.

Ukraine has said agreeing to the terms of the 2022 draft would be tantamount to capitulation.

(with Reuters)

An international team of scientists from France, the United States, Mexico, and Spain has made a groundbreaking discovery on Mars: the detection of the longest carbon-based molecules ever found on the planet’s surface.

The discovery was made using NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Gale Crater since 2012. In 2013, Curiosity drilled into a rock sample known as “Cumberland” located in Yellowknife Bay, an ancient lakebed within the crater.

From The Lab: France’s SOLEIL synchrotron shines light on secrets of matter

Organic molecules

Although initial analyses of the “Cumberland” rock sample yielded no significant results, a recent re-examination using an enhanced heating technique revealed the presence of long-chain organic molecules—specifically alkanes with up to 12 consecutive carbon atoms.

On Earth, such long-chain alkanes are often linked to fatty acids, which are essential components of cell membranes in living organisms.

Their discovery on Mars suggests that complex organic chemistry may have taken place on the planet billions of years ago.

While these molecules can form through non-biological processes, their structural complexity and preservation in 3.7-billion-year-old Martian rock point to a planetary environment once capable of sustaining the formation and stability of organic compounds.

This groundbreaking detection was made using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has been exploring the Martian surface since 2012

. Jointly developed by French and American scientists, the SAM instrument analyzes Martian samples with its gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer, allowing it to identify and characterize organic molecules with remarkable precision.

From The Lab: Paris Observatory’s role in building the world’s biggest telescope

International Collaboration

This discovery was the result of a collaborative effort involving researchers from multiple countries. Caroline Freissinet, an analytical chemist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), led the study.

The team also included scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the U.S., as well as institutions in Mexico and Spain. 

Caroline Freissinet spoke to RFI English about the significance of this discovery. 

The new pope called for an “authentic and lasting peace” in the war in Ukraine, a ceasefire in Gaza, and the release of all Israeli hostages held by militant group Hamas.

He also welcomed Saturday’s ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan and said he was praying to God to grant the world the “miracle of peace”.

The Pope also recited the Regina Caeli prayer, in honour of the Virgin Mary, to the tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square and on the Via della Conciliazione leading to the Vatican.

Call for peace

Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he said: “I would like to address the powerful people of the world, repeating the always-current call: ‘no more war’,” echoing a frequent call of the late Pope Francis.

He noted the recent 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in which some 60 million people were killed.

Leo said today’s world was living through “the dramatic scenario of a Third World War being fought piecemeal,” again repeating a phrase coined by Francis.

The crowds broke into applause at his call for peace.

The Pope said he carries in his heart the “suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine“.

Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the bloody three-year war, Leo appealed for negotiations to reach an “authentic, just and lasting peace”.

He also said he was “profoundly saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip”, calling for an immediate ceasefire, the delivery of humanitarian aid and release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

Israel has stopped all humanitarian aid entering Gaza and resumed strikes following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement.

Pope Francis calls for Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages in Easter address

Continuing predecessor’s “precious legacy”

Pope Leo was chosen as the new leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday, after a two-day conclave in Vatican City.

He is the first US-born pontiff and was a relative unknown on the world stage before his election.

Formerly known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, he said he had chosen the name Leo after a 19th-century Pope known for his teachings on social justice.

He held his first Mass as Pope in the Sistine chapel on Friday. During a meeting with cardinals on Saturday he described himself as an unworthy choice for Pope and vowed to continue his predecessor’s “precious legacy“.

Leaders and believers around the world pay tribute to ‘everyone’s pope’

Leo cited one of Francis’s key priorities of making the Catholic Church more attentive to lay people and inclusive.

In all of his appearances since his election, the new pope has made no mention of the country of his birth, angering some US conservative commentators.

Before becoming pontiff, he was not shy about criticising President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, notably their clampdown on immigration. 

In February, Prevost reposted an article headlined, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

In his first address on Thursday evening he told the crowds he wanted “to walk together with you as a united Church searching all together for peace and justice”.

Leo will be formally inaugurated on 18 May at a mass in St Peter’s Square.

(with newswires)

The latest report by Conflict Armament Research (CAR) found that Salafi jihadist groups had no unique weapon supply sources and rely on local, predatory acquisition methods just like other regional armed actors.

At least 20 percent of the weapons used by Salafi jihadist groups in the Sahel had been seized from regular armies of eight North and West African countries, researchers found.

The weapons were seized during attacks on national forces, particularly in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, the European research body found. Researchers also identified weapons that originally belonged to forces in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Libya, Nigeria and Chad.

This kind of military looting, the report says, is the main source of weapons for groups like JNIM (the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the support of Islam and Muslims) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).

Researchers describe the tactic as a “key element” of the jihadists’ dual strategy of undermining state authority while arming themselves through direct confrontation.

JNIM regularly promotes such a method in its propaganda, publishing videos showcasing its captured “war trophies”.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso to launch anti-jihadist force

Researchers analysed more than 700 weapons – including rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars – recovered during counterterrorism operations between 2015 and 2023.

Nearly all the weapons and ammunition were acquired locally due to geographic and logistical limitations.

Older weapons, when not seized from state forces, were often passed between illicit actors in the region while newer arms were acquired “mainly, if not exclusively,” through direct attacks on Sahelian armed forces.

Little evidence of foreign arms pipelines

The report found “no evidence that the groups are able to access weapons directly from outside of the central Sahel, or that they have established supply sources distinct from those available to other illicit armed actors in the region”. 

This debunks the idea that either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State are supplying weapons to Sahel-based jihadist groups directly. It also undermines online conspiracy theories claiming that foreign powers – particularly France – are arming the fighters.

Should Niger’s coup heighten fears over terrorism in the Sahel?

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have all experienced military coups since 2020, as well as the associated withdrawal of international security forces, including the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in 2023.

The three countries all severed military ties with longstanding partners, including France, to form a cooperation pact in September 2023 known as the Alliance of Sahel States. In January this year they officially withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

While protests continue over the jailing of the Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, his account on social media platform X has been cancelled.

X, formerly Twitter, claims it was in response to a Turkish court order. Dozens of Imamoglu supporters have also had their accounts suspended, drawing widespread condemnation.

The controversy is stoking broader concerns over the stance of the world’s tech giants towards Turkey.

“These international tech companies find it well to keep good relations with the Turkish authorities because their only evaluation is not just on the side of democratic standards,” said Erol Onderoglu of the Paris-based Reporters without Borders.

“But there is another challenge which is based on financial profit. The country’s advertising market is very vibrant regarding social media participation,” he added.

Google is also facing criticism. The US tech giant was recently accused of changing its algorithms, resulting in a collapse in people accessing the websites of Turkey’s independent media and therefore depriving the companies of vital advertising revenue.

Turkish radio ban is latest attack on press freedom, warn activists

Fewer alternative voices

Until now, the internet has provided a platform for alternative voices to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who controls around 90 percent of the mainstream media.

“Google has a very big effect when you search the web for news, the most visible ones are always from pro-government media or state media. But the omission of independent media from results is just a mystery right now,” said Volga Kuscuoglu editor of Bianet English edition.

Turkey’s independent media is battling arrests and fines by the Turkish authorities. Reporters Without Borders’ latest index on press freedom saw Turkey slip further down the rankings to 159 out of 180 countries.

Koscuoglu fears the government is seeking to extend its control over the media to the internet.

“We don’t know whether there was any political pressure as no reports have been made about that,” said Koscuoglu. “But the government has passed several laws in recent years and those were aimed to bring large social media under control in Turkey.

“You wouldn’t expect Google to be excluded from this control; so yes, there could be political influence on that decision.”

How Turkish voters are beating internet press clampdown before polls

Threat to reduce bandwidth

Duvar, one of Turkey’s largest and most prominent independent news portals, closed its doors in March, citing a loss of revenue following the collapse in internet hits, which it blamed on Google’s change to algorithms.

Google was approached to comment on the accusations but did not reply.

However, a spokesperson speaking anonymously to Reuters news agency said that any algorithm changes were simply aimed at enhancing the search facility.

Internet experts believe the Turkish government has controlled the world’s tech giants by making them liable to Turkish law.

“The government, in addition to warnings, financial penalties and an advertisement ban, was going to impose a bandwidth restriction,” said Yaman Akdeniz, a co-founder of Turkey’s Freedom of Expression Association.

“The government was going to throttle the social media platforms that didn’t comply…up to 50 percent of their bandwidth access was going to be reduced, and that was going up to 90 percent of their bandwidth being restricted from Turkey.

“Social media providers didn’t want to risk that,” he concluded.

Press freedom concerns as Ankara forces internet giants to bow to Turkish law

‘Extinction of pluralism’

With some of Turkey’s independent media organisations claiming their web activity has dropped by as much as 90 percent in the past few months, many are struggling to survive and are laying off journalists.

The experience of Turkey could well be the canary in the mine.

Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders claims the plurality of the media is at stake.

“Extinction of pluralism within the media, which means that you’ll have just one echo from a country which is the official line, is extremely dangerous,” he warned.

“This is the main concern not only in Turkey but in dozens of countries around the world,” he added.

“Journalists are trying to make viable another view within society, another approach from the official one.”

Questions over Google’s power as effective gatekeeper to the internet and what critics claim is the lack of transparency over the search engine’s algorithms are likely to grow.

Meanwhile, the algorithm changes leave Turkey’s besieged independent media, already battling arrests and fines, fighting for financial survival.

According to Amnesty International, Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency has hastened trends already unfolding over the past decade.

Just one hundred days into his second term, President Trump has demonstrated a complete disregard for universal human rights, making the world both less safe and less just, the organisation’s latest report claims.

“His all-out assault on the very concepts of multilateralism, asylum, racial and gender justice, global health and life-saving climate action is exacerbating the significant damage those principles and institutions have already sustained and is further emboldening other anti-rights leaders and movements to join his onslaught,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, wrote.

While Africa’s armed conflicts caused relentless civilian suffering, including increasing levels of sexual and gender-based violence, and death on a massive scale, international and regional responses remained woefully inadequate.

The NGO also denounces global failures in addressing inequalities, climate collapse, and tech transformations that imperil future generations, especially in fragile zones. 

To discuss the implications for Africa in detail, this week, Spotlight on Africa’s first guest is Deprose Muchena, senior director for regional human rights impact at Amnesty International. 

Meanwhile, in South Africa, experts reflect on a recent visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as the country leads the G20 this year and tries to become a platform for peace talk.

Did Zelensky’s South Africa visit signal a diplomatic pivot by Pretoria?

We talked to the French business and veteran diplomat, Jean-Yves Ollivier, founder of the Brazzaville Foundation, who was a key actor in organising Zelensky’s meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Finally, we hear from Djiby Kebe, one of the founders of  Air Afrique magazine, created by and for young members of the African diaspora in Paris and Abidjan. Inspired by the once-successful Pan-African airline of the same name, the publication centres on culture and travel.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.

While protests continue over the jailing of the Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, his account on social media platform X has been cancelled.

X, formerly Twitter, claims it was in response to a Turkish court order. Dozens of Imamoglu supporters have also had their accounts suspended, drawing widespread condemnation.

The controversy is stoking broader concerns over the stance of the world’s tech giants towards Turkey.

“These international tech companies find it well to keep good relations with the Turkish authorities because their only evaluation is not just on the side of democratic standards,” said Erol Onderoglu of the Paris-based Reporters without Borders.

“But there is another challenge which is based on financial profit. The country’s advertising market is very vibrant regarding social media participation,” he added.

Google is also facing criticism. The US tech giant was recently accused of changing its algorithms, resulting in a collapse in people accessing the websites of Turkey’s independent media and therefore depriving the companies of vital advertising revenue.

Turkish radio ban is latest attack on press freedom, warn activists

Fewer alternative voices

Until now, the internet has provided a platform for alternative voices to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who controls around 90 percent of the mainstream media.

“Google has a very big effect when you search the web for news, the most visible ones are always from pro-government media or state media. But the omission of independent media from results is just a mystery right now,” said Volga Kuscuoglu editor of Bianet English edition.

Turkey’s independent media is battling arrests and fines by the Turkish authorities. Reporters Without Borders’ latest index on press freedom saw Turkey slip further down the rankings to 159 out of 180 countries.

Koscuoglu fears the government is seeking to extend its control over the media to the internet.

“We don’t know whether there was any political pressure as no reports have been made about that,” said Koscuoglu. “But the government has passed several laws in recent years and those were aimed to bring large social media under control in Turkey.

“You wouldn’t expect Google to be excluded from this control; so yes, there could be political influence on that decision.”

How Turkish voters are beating internet press clampdown before polls

Threat to reduce bandwidth

Duvar, one of Turkey’s largest and most prominent independent news portals, closed its doors in March, citing a loss of revenue following the collapse in internet hits, which it blamed on Google’s change to algorithms.

Google was approached to comment on the accusations but did not reply.

However, a spokesperson speaking anonymously to Reuters news agency said that any algorithm changes were simply aimed at enhancing the search facility.

Internet experts believe the Turkish government has controlled the world’s tech giants by making them liable to Turkish law.

“The government, in addition to warnings, financial penalties and an advertisement ban, was going to impose a bandwidth restriction,” said Yaman Akdeniz, a co-founder of Turkey’s Freedom of Expression Association.

“The government was going to throttle the social media platforms that didn’t comply…up to 50 percent of their bandwidth access was going to be reduced, and that was going up to 90 percent of their bandwidth being restricted from Turkey.

“Social media providers didn’t want to risk that,” he concluded.

Press freedom concerns as Ankara forces internet giants to bow to Turkish law

‘Extinction of pluralism’

With some of Turkey’s independent media organisations claiming their web activity has dropped by as much as 90 percent in the past few months, many are struggling to survive and are laying off journalists.

The experience of Turkey could well be the canary in the mine.

Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders claims the plurality of the media is at stake.

“Extinction of pluralism within the media, which means that you’ll have just one echo from a country which is the official line, is extremely dangerous,” he warned.

“This is the main concern not only in Turkey but in dozens of countries around the world,” he added.

“Journalists are trying to make viable another view within society, another approach from the official one.”

Questions over Google’s power as effective gatekeeper to the internet and what critics claim is the lack of transparency over the search engine’s algorithms are likely to grow.

Meanwhile, the algorithm changes leave Turkey’s besieged independent media, already battling arrests and fines, fighting for financial survival.

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.

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Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 12 April I asked you a question about the drop in air pollution in Paris. That week, Airparif, an independent group that tracks air quality, reported that between 2005 and 2024, levels in Paris of the two most harmful air pollutants – fine particles and nitrogen dioxide – fell by 55 percent and 50 percent respectively.

You were to re-read our article “Air pollution in Paris region ‘cut in half’ over the past 20 years” and send in the answer to this question: According to Airparif, what are the policies that led to the reduction in Paris’ pollution? What are some of the concrete steps that were taken?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Antoine Trouche, an engineer at Airparif, told France Inter radio that several concrete steps had made a difference.

These included ‘the Euro emissions standards, taxation of industrial pollutant emissions, and increased public transport and cycling infrastructure’.

He also pointed to ‘the replacement of diesel vehicles with petrol and electric vehicles.’”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India: “Suppose you find an old magical lamp which when rubbed a genie appears and tells you he will fulfill one wish. What would your wish be?”

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Malik Allah Bachaya Khokhar, the president of the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Malik is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Malik.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ramu Reddy, a member of the RFI Pariwar Bandhu SWL Club in Chhattisgarh, India, and RFI Listeners Club members Sardar Munir Akhter from Punjab, Pakistan, as well as Deekay Dimple from Assam, India.

Last but not least, RFI English listener Ataur Rahman Ranju, the president of the Alokito Manush Cai International Radio Listeners Club in Rangpur, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Free Wheelin’” by Thierry Durbet and Laurent Thierry-Meig; “Arc en Ciel 3” by Philippe Bestion; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Un Nuit à Paris” by Kevin Godley and Lol Cream, performed by 10cc.

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 hosts summit to lure scientists threatened by US budget cuts”, which will help you with the answer.

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

Relations have been turbulent since Donald Trump took office in January. Cooperation on trade, health, defence and diplomacy has suffered after several of Trump’s executive orders.

The US is South Africa’s second largest trading partner, but exports to America now face 30 percent tariffs.

On 7 February, Trump issued an executive order to resettle white South African refugees, saying the country’s leaders were doing “some terrible things, horrible things”.

US media say the first group of Afrikaner (white South Africans) “refugees” is due to arrive as from 12 May. South Africa expressed its “concerns” to the United States on 9 May and reiterated that “allegations of discrimination are unfounded”.

On 14 April, South Africa named former deputy Finance Minister Mcebesi Jonas as its special envoy to Washington after ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was expelled.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Rasool was “no longer welcome” in America, calling him “a race-baiting politician who hates America” and Trump.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump spoke on the phone on 24 April in what was described as a cordial exchange. Trump invited Ramaphosa to Washington and suggested he “bring the golfers over”.

South Africa unites against Trump as US freezes aid over land reform

RFI: Where are we at today with the relationship between South Africa and the United States?

Ronald Lamola: The relationship has always been dynamic and evolving, obviously with more challenges since the election of President Trump, particularly with the number of executive orders that are not based on any facts or truths.

In South Africa, the expropriation bills are aimed at redressing the imbalances of the past to ensure there is equitable distribution of all the resources of our country. This is done in line with the constitution, which has got sufficient safeguards against any arbitrary use of power by the executive or by the state.

It is in that context that we continue to engage with Washington because the relationship remains important. Washington is our strategic trading partner, the second biggest after China.

RFI: Is there more going on behind the scenes than we can see? Are relations improving despite the tensions?

Ronald Lamola: Indeed, there are still challenges, but we continue to engage at a diplomatic level.

International Court of Justice hears South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

RFI: Is South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice being used as a bargaining chip?

Ronald Lamola: No, it cannot be used as a bargaining chip. This is a matter of principle.

Our history is linked to that of Palestine and, as Nelson Mandela said, the struggle of South Africa is not complete until the Palestinian people are also free. There has been propaganda that Iran or Hamas is paying for these legal fees.

You can check the departmental websites where all reports are recorded. It is the South African government tax money that is paying for this case. There is no other hidden hand paying for the case.

RFI: Can you imagine a scenario where the United States might ask South Africa to drop the case against Israel in order to continue enjoying good relations with Washington?

Ronald Lamola: Unfortunately, I cannot imagine things that I don’t know.

RFI: What would South Africa’s position be if that were to happen?

Ronald Lamola: I don’t want to speculate about anything or any scenarios. We deal with what is in front of us.

As you are aware, in one of the executive orders, this issue of the case has been raised and, also in some of the bills that are before Congress. But this is a matter of principle. It’s based on the Genocide Convention. Principles cannot be negotiated.

RFI: Where does the case at the ICJ stand now?

Ronald Lamola: We are waiting for Israel to respond. As you are aware, we filed a memorial last year in June. The case has to take its normal course. The court must decide because the future of the world is dependent on certainty, on a rules-based international order, which is based on international law.

We have to ensure that international law is respected by all. The might cannot always be right.

RFI: South Africa says it will not cut ties with historic allies. President Ramaphosa said that South Africa will not be bullied. Is there a price to pay for standing by your principles?​​​​​​

Ronald Lamola: Nations must respect and abide by the rule of law. We are signatories to the Genocide Convention. We will respect and live by the UN Charter. Obviously, there will be pain that may come with it, but this is the pain we need to pay for the people of the world.

South Africa is a product of solidarity. We would not be free if it was not for the people of the world who suffered and stood in solidarity with us. So, we owe it to the people of the world to ensure that the UN Conventions and the UN Charter are protected and defended.

EU flags stronger partnership with South Africa with €4.7bn investment

RFI: The US is South Africa’s second largest trading partner. How can your country absorb the blow of 30 percent tariffs, if they go through by mid-July?

Obviously, it is going to be very difficult and damaging to our economy. We see it also as an opportunity for us to engage in bilateral agreements with the US that are mutually beneficial.

There are South African businesses invested in the US, and also US businesses invested in our country. About 601 companies from the US have invested in South Africa, responsible for more than 150,000 jobs in our country.

It is an important dynamic relationship, which has also brought a lot of technology in our country and improved our economy.

But, we also have to diversify markets. We are glad that the EU is opening its market to work with us and trade with us. We are also looking at other countries to trade with us.

We will, however, continue to engage with the US because we believe the relationship is mutually beneficial and we have to continue to nurture it for the benefit of our two nations.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity

Ever since US President Donald Trump started defunding and dismantling US scientific institutions, France has made a push to get scientists to move. In March the French minister in charge of research asked universities to fund programmes to attract American scientists. In 2017, after Trump first pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accords, Macron launched a recruitment drive aimed at climate scientists working in the US. Two of those grantees, Ben Sanderson and Philip Shulz, talk about the experience of leaving the US for France, and what the current environment is like for climate scientists today. (Listen @1’10)

With 87 percent of France considered a “medical desert”, lawmakers and the government are looking to tackle doctor shortages. But the proposals – to regulate when specialists can open their private practices and require health professionals to work two days a month in areas with chronic shortages – have met with strong opposition from GPs, trainee doctors and students. Yassine Bahr, vice-president of the French junior doctors union (ISNI), and Anna Boctor, president of France’s Jeunes Medecins (young doctors) union, talk about why the proposals won’t solve the problem and the sense of injustice at being held responsible for a situation that is not of their making. (Listen @20’20)

On 8 May 1945, during a celebration of the end of WWII in Europe in the Algerian city of Setif, French colonial authorities shot at Algerians holding pro-independence signs. The ensuing riots then spread to neighbouring cities where the authorities  unleashed a campaign of reprisals to crush the unrest – indiscriminately killing tens of thousands of Algerian men, women and children. France has yet to officially acknowledge its role in the massacres. (Listen @15’00)

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani

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).

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.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner!

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write “RFI English” in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

Would you like to learn French? RFI is here to help you!

Our website “Le Français facile avec RFI” has news broadcasts in slow, simple French, as well as bilingual radio dramas (with real actors!) and exercises to practice what you have heard.

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 3 April I asked you a question about Marine Le Pen, the president of the far-right French party the National Rally (RN). She, along with eight other RN Parliament members, was judged guilty of embezzling 4.4 million euros in European Union funds to pay France-based RN party staff who worked only for the RN and not on EU issues.

Le Pen and her fellow lawmakers have been banned from running for office for five years. This ban, which had previously been a rare sentence, has become commonplace since the Sapin 2 law was adopted in 2016, which made it the standard sentence for cases involving the embezzlement of public funds and was roundly supported by RN lawmakers – until now.

You were to re-read our article “RN leader Le Pen battles for political future after embezzlement conviction”, and send in the answer to this question: Aside from the ban on running for office, what else was included in Le Pen’s sentence?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Le Pen was also sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, two of which will be served under an electronic bracelet, and a fine of 100,000 euros.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by the late Muhammad Shamim who lived in Kerala State, India: “Would you rather be rich but not famous, or famous but not rich?”   

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Lata Akhter Jahan, the co-president of the Sonali Badhan Female Listeners Club in Bogura, Bangladesh. Lata is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Lata, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Shaira Hosen Mo from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh; Nasyr Muhammad from Katsina State, Nigeria; John Yemi Sanday Turay from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and last but not least, Saleha, who is also a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Les Jardins de L’Alhambra” by Gérard Torikian; “Stacatto” by René Aubry; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Aýa döndi” by Nuri Halmamedov and Mahtumkuli, performed by baritone Atageldi Garýagdyýew.

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 “How French women won, and used, their right to vote in 1945”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 2 June to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 5 June 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.