France has joined Britain and the European Union in unveiling a fresh round of sanctions against Russia, targeting the Kremlin’s efforts to dodge existing restrictions through shadowy oil shipments and financial networks.

The new measures, announced on Tuesday, come as European leaders ramp up pressure on the United States to follow suit after a recent call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce any breakthrough on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot struck a defiant tone, urging collective resolve: “Let us push Vladimir Putin to put an end to his imperialist fantasy”.

France has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts, with President Emmanuel Macron and his counterparts from Britain, Germany, and Poland recently visiting Kyiv, underlining Europe’s united stance.

‘Sanctions matter’

The new sanctions are focused on curbing Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, which has helped Moscow circumvent a $60-a-barrel price cap imposed by the G7.

Brussels and London announced plans to tighten enforcement and lower the cap further in light of declining global oil prices.

Financial firms that have facilitated these operations are also in the crosshairs.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the move, writing on Telegram: “Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war”.

The sanctions package was rolled out without immediate participation from Washington, despite strong lobbying by European leaders.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy made clear that the lack of American action would not derail Europe’s momentum.

“Delaying peace efforts will only redouble our resolve to help Ukraine defend itself and to restrict Putin’s war machine,” he said.

EU approves new sanctions package targeting Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’

No agreement after Trump-Putin call 

The transatlantic divergence follows Monday’s phone call between Trump and Putin, which yielded no agreement on halting hostilities.

Trump later told reporters in Washington, “We’re looking at a lot of things, but we’ll see,” offering no specific commitment.

European leaders have been actively pushing for US alignment, with several contacting Trump ahead of his call with Putin, urging him to support new sanctions should Russia continue rejecting a ceasefire.

So far, their appeals have not swayed the White House into action.

Meanwhile, the diplomatic impasse continues as talks between Russia and Ukraine – facilitated at Trump’s request – took place last Friday for the first time in over three years, but ended without a deal. Kyiv expressed willingness for an immediate ceasefire, while Moscow insisted on preliminary talks.

Ukrainian negotiators described Russia’s conditions as “non-starters”.

France leads EU push for tougher Russia sanctions amid ceasefire stalemate

Additional sanctions

Meanwhile, EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, echoed a hardening stance, with Germany’s Johann Wadephul stating: “We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing from Russia – an immediate ceasefire without preconditions”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also announced that an additional sanctions package is in the works.

“It’s time to intensify the pressure on Russia to bring about the ceasefire,” she posted on X after speaking with President Zelensky.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia “will never bow to ultimatums,” adding that the ball is now “in Kyiv’s court”.

The extraordinary stunt turned the usually staid diplomatic setting of the Oval Office into a stage for Trump’s contention that white South African farmers are being persecuted.

With the media standing by and Ramaphosa at times unable to get a word in, Trump had staff put the video on a large screen, saying it showed black South Africans discussing genocide.

“You do allow them to take land, and then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer, and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them,” Trump said.

Trump, who had set the tone in his opening remarks when he introduced Ramaphosa as “controversial” in some quarters, said it would be the “end of the country if it’s not resolved.”

He also showed news clippings that he said backed up his claims.

The South African president denied that his country confiscates land from white farmers under a land expropriation law signed in January that aims to redress the historical inequalities of white minority rule.

“No, no, no, no,” Ramaphosa responded. “Nobody can take land.”

He also insisted that most victims of South Africa’s notoriously high crime rate are black.

Awkward exchange

The visit by the South African leader had been billed as a chance to smoothen relations following unfounded genocide claims by Trump and his billionaire, South African-born ally Elon Musk.

Musk, who was also in the Oval Office, has been a key driver of the “white genocide” claims.

“We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa,” Ramaphosa said.

But Ramaphosa was left repeatedly trying to speak as the video played, even as Trump drowned him out. “Where is this?” added the South African president as he shuffled awkwardly in his seat.

In the video, firebrand far-left opposition lawmaker Julius Malema was shown singing “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” — an infamous chant dating back to the apartheid-era fight against white-minority rule.

The video finished with images of a protest in South Africa where white crosses were placed along a rural roadside to represent murdered farmers, but which Trump falsely said showed their graves.

At one point, Ramaphosa pleaded that they “talk about it very calmly.”

“We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around the table and talk about them. And this is precisely what we would also like to talk about,” he said.

Golf diplomacy

Ramaphosa had arrived at the White House with two of South Africa’s top golfers, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in a bid to woo the golf-loving US president.

The support of the high-profile Afrikaners in Ramaphosa’s delegation came days after around 50 Afrikaners arrived in the United States to take up Trump’s offer of “refuge.”

Trump made the offer despite the United States having halted arrivals of asylum seekers from most of the rest of the world as he cracks down on migration.

The Oval Office stunt revived memories of the notorious Oval Office incident in February when Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But Ramaphosa appeared to be better prepared, staying calm and pushing his calls for improved relations.

The two golfers also sought to calm the waters when Trump asked them to speak.

“We want to see things get better in our home country. That’s the bottom line,” said four-time major winner Els.

The South African president was also expected to come bearing gifts, with reports that of offering Musk a deal to operate his Starlink satellite internet network in the country.

Trump’s administration has torn into South Africa since the US president began his second term in office.

It has slammed South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, cut foreign aid, announced 31 percent tariffs, and expelled Pretoria’s ambassador after he criticised Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

 (AFP)

The 73-page document was commissioned in May 2024 to examine “political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood movement”. 

Prepared by two senior civil servants, the report remains classified at the lowest level of French national security, confidentiel-défense – however excerpts were published on Tuesday by the rightwing daily Le Figaro.

According to the extracts, about 7 percent of France’s 2,800 Muslim places of worship are linked to the movement. On Fridays, roughly 91,000 people attend prayers across all sites.

The report also raises concern about the spread of radical Islam in around 20 departments and expresses concern about a more conservative or rigid approach to religious practice.

“Things are very clear,” Retailleau told journalists on Tuesday. “There is a quiet Islamism spreading, notably by trying to enter and infiltrate sports, cultural, social and other associations.”

Retailleau said he first received the report when he took office at the Interior Ministry in September 2024.

Muslim worshipper’s murder in mosque raises concern over Islamophobia in France

Pushing political Islam

The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928.

While it began as an anti-colonial and religious reform group, today it promotes a form of political Islam that seeks to influence society through religious, educational and charitable networks.

The movement has no central leadership and operates differently around the world. It has been banned in several countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Officials in Europe say the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to influence society through quiet or indirect means.

Retailleau on Tuesday said the Brotherhood’s “ultimate goal is to push all of French society towards sharia law”, which he called “unacceptable”, and “incompatible with the principles of France and the goals of national cohesion”.

The report is now at the centre of a Defence Council meeting on Wednesday called by Macron.

Focused on “separatism and entryism” – the latter referring to attempts to quietly gain influence within institutions – the meeting brings together senior ministers including those responsible for defence, foreign affairs, the economy and the interior.

French Senate backs move to ban headscarf in sport

Links to French institutions

The report names several organisations in France it says are linked to the Brotherhood. They include the Averroès high school in Lille, the Al-Kindi school group near Lyon and two European Institutes of Human Sciences, which focus on teaching Arabic and the Quran.

It also identifies a broader “ecosystem” in several French cities, with Brotherhood-linked structures in education, charity work and religion. These organisations reportedly cooperate with one another. The report points to attempts to influence local councils.

Outside France, the document names the Brussels-based student group Femyso, which promotes anti-racism and campaigns against Islamophobia. A financial network called Europe Trust, based in London, is also mentioned.

“This report corroborates real facts and will allow us to act,” government spokesperson Sophie Primas told Europe 1, describing it as an “awareness of the reality of the danger”.

Officials at the Élysée said some decisions would follow Wednesday’s meeting, though certain measures would remain classified. A redacted version of the report is expected to be released later.

The High Seas Treaty, adopted in June 2023 by 193 countries, aims to protect international waters that cover nearly half the planet.

These areas lie beyond any country’s control and remain largely unregulated, despite being vital for marine biodiversity, carbon storage and climate stability.

But the treaty cannot take effect until it is ratified by 60 countries. So far, only 21 have done so.

“What’s the point of negotiating a historic treaty if we leave it in a drawer? A signed treaty protects nothing, but a ratified treaty changes everything,” Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, France’s ambassador for the poles and oceans, told reporters this week.

Once the 60-country threshold is reached, a 120-day countdown begins before the treaty enters into force.

It would then allow countries to set up marine protected areas in international waters and require environmental checks on potentially harmful activities, such as fishing or deep-sea mining.

Spain and France were the first two European Union countries to ratify the treaty, doing so in early February 2025.

Other major maritime nations – including the United States, Australia, Russia, the United Kingdom and Japan – have signed the treaty but have yet to ratify it.

Poivre d’Arvor urged these top maritime powers to “take responsibility” and help bring the agreement into force.

Climate-driven changes to ocean colour fuel urgency ahead of UN summit

Why the treaty matters

The high seas cover more than 60 percent of the world’s oceans, but just 1 percent is currently protected.

A 2021 UN report estimated that 3 billion people rely on the ocean for their livelihoods. Ocean-based industries are worth $2.5 trillion a year and employ some 40 million people.

The treaty provides legal tools for protecting marine ecosystems, regulating access to genetic resources and boosting scientific cooperation.

It also supports the global target of protecting 30 percent of the world’s land and sea by 2030 – known as the “30×30” goal, adopted in 2022 under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The UN Ocean Conference opens in Nice on 9 June. It is expected to bring together dozens of heads of state and 2,000 scientists from over 100 countries.

France hopes the event will generate political momentum and persuade more countries to ratify the deal.

A ceremony on the opening day will be “a unique opportunity to reaffirm our collective political commitment” Sandrine Barbier, head of the French delegation, said.

France has been clear that visibility alone won’t be enough. Even if more European countries ratify the treaty before the summit, Poivre d’Arvor warned that failure to reach the 60-country threshold by the end of the year would “signal a major failure”.

New Caledonia bans ‘dangerous’ seabed mining for half a century

A test of political will

Two weeks of talks in New York earlier this month saw movement on how the treaty would function once in force.

“There was a lot of love in the room,” said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 NGOs working to protect international waters.

She called the agreement “one of our best opportunities to deliver action to protect the ocean”.

Others also noted signs of progress. Nichola Clark, of the Pew Charitable Trusts – a US-based research and policy organisation – said negotiators had moved “one step closer to shaping the institutional backbone” of the deal.

Still, the absence of the United States raised concern.

Washington signed the treaty during Joe Biden’s presidency but has not ratified it. It was also absent from talks in New York.

At the same time, opposition to stricter ocean protections has resurfaced. President Donald Trump this month issued an executive order backing commercial deep-sea mining in international waters.

“This is a clear sign that the US will no longer be a global leader on protecting the oceans,” said Arlo Hemphill, who leads Greenpeace’s campaign against deep-sea mining in the United States.

France sees the treaty as a building block for the first UN Ocean “Cop” and a chance to show leadership in global ocean governance.

“This is not just a treaty,” Poivre d’Arvor said. “It’s a test of our collective commitment to the ocean.”

“We affirm that Khartoum state is completely free of rebels,” military spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), locked in a brutal conflict with the regular army since April 2023.

In its biggest victory since the war began in April 2023, the army in March recaptured central Khartoum, pushing the RSF to retreat to two holdout positions: Salha, south of Omdurman, and Ombada to the west.

The army said it launched on Monday a “large-scale offensive” to push the RSF out of both, with explosions from the clashes heard across the city, an AFP correspondent reported.

The RSF did not immediately comment on the military’s latest announcement, which would cement army control over central Sudan, pushing the paramilitaries back towards their stronghold in the vast western region of Darfur.

The war in Sudan, now in its third year, pits the military, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 13 million and created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

It has also effectively split Africa’s third-largest country in two, with the army holding the centre, north and east while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.

NGOs call on Europe to act as Sudan war hits grim two-year mark

Rebuilding governance

This announcement comes as both sides seek to install rival governments.

On Monday, Burhan named former UN official Kamil Idris as prime minister, in what analysts see as an attempt to present a functioning civilian-led administration amid the ongoing war.

The African Union and the Arab League welcomed the appointment, calling it “a step toward inclusive governance” and expressing hope the move would “restore constitutional order and democratic governance”.

Burhan also appointed two women as members of the ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council and stripped the body of powers to oversee the cabinet.

The moves were aimed at showing progress and appealing to the African Union after Sudan’s membership was suspended in 2021, said analyst Kholood Khair.

Burhan wants to “maintain power but share liability… because everything is now blamed on him”, as he seeks to consolidate control as he was still reeling from attacks on his wartime capital, Port Sudan, Khair said.

In April, the RSF said it would form its own government in territory under its control, though analysts say it is unlikely to win international backing.

Sudan’s paramilitary chief declares rival government as war enters third year

‘Lives at risk’

Since it began in April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also effectively carved Africa’s third-largest country in two, with the army holding the centre, north and east while the RSF controls nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.

After a major battlefield victory in March, when the army recaptured most of Khartoum, the RSF this month launched deep attacks into army-held territory.

Long-range drone strikes blamed on the paramilitaries have targeted key infrastructure in army-held northeastern Sudan, including Port Sudan and power stations supplying electricity to millions.

Relegated to their last major bases in Salha, south of Omdurman, and Ombada to the west, the RSF has launched attacks across Khartoum, including drone strikes on three power stations that knocked out electricity in the capital last week.

New dangers

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported the local water network around Khartoum and Omdurman had been forced out of service, risking the spread of cholera in the city as residents “will turn to different water sources”.

Health ministry officials reported Tuesday 51 people have died from more than 2,300 cases reported in the past three weeks, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state.

MSF on Sunday said the electricity blackout had disrupted healthcare at the city’s major hospitals, amid fears of heightened civilian suffering.

“The recurrent attacks on critical infrastructure place civilian lives at risk, worsen the humanitarian crisis, and undermine basic human rights,” UN human rights expert Radhouane Nouicer warned on Monday.

Meanwhile, families coming back to Khartoum find a new danger in Sudan’s battered capital: unexploded shells. 

More than 100,000 people have returned since the army took back control of Khartoum, and most of central Sudan. 

Sudan’s National Mine Action Centre said more than 12,000 devices have been destroyed over the course of the war. Another 5,000 have been discovered since operations expanded into newly re-taken territory, director Major General Khaled Hamdan said.

 (with newswires)

The move, announced on Tuesday, marks the most serious warning yet from Brussels. EU foreign ministers said Israel may have breached the terms of its cooperation deal by restricting aid and intensifying its military campaign.

“It is clear from today’s discussions that there is a strong majority in favour of a review of Article 2 of our Association Agreement with Israel,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels.

Seventeen of the EU’s 27 member states backed the decision. Article 2 commits both sides to respect human rights and democratic principles.

Kallas said the situation in Gaza was “untenable” and urged Israel to allow the immediate and large-scale delivery of humanitarian supplies.

“What we want is to unblock the humanitarian aid,” she said.

Meanwhile, Britain announced tougher measures against Israel, suspending free-trade negotiations, summoning the Israeli ambassador, and imposing sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank.

“Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in parliament.

Gaza’s ancient past revealed as artefacts survive destruction and exile

Aid still restricted

After a total blockade lasting more than two months, a limited number of aid trucks began entering Gaza this week. Israel’s defence ministry body COGAT on Tuesday said 93 UN trucks carrying flour, baby food and medical supplies were allowed in.

But UN officials said deliveries remained difficult.

“One of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to… collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the nine trucks cleared on Monday were “a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed”. He told the BBC that 14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time.

Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and France have called for stronger action. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares urged the EU to impose sanctions, and Sweden said it would press for measures targeting individual Israeli ministers.

“Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard.

However Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic have defended Israel’s right to self-defence and resisted punitive steps.

France ‘determined’ to recognise Palestinian state

Israel rejects pressure

Israel dismissed the EU’s announcement, defending its actions in Gaza as necessary for national security and accusing Brussels of failing grasp to the situation on the ground.

“We completely reject the direction taken in the statement, which reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing,” foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a post on X.

Responding to Britain, Marmorstein said “external pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security”.

Gaza’s health ministry said at least 3,427 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, bringing the total death toll to 53,573.

The war began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,218 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel says 57 hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 it believes are dead.

La leçon de musique – The Music Lesson – is an annual event at the festival organised by Sacem, the French authors’ rights company, to promote the talent and contribution of composers in the film industry.  

In her opening remarks, Sacem director Cécile Rap-Veber said she was shocked that there is still no official prize category for music at Cannes and urged the film festival’s chief Thierry Frémaux, who was present at Sunday’s event, to create one.  

Moderated by music specialist Stéphane Lerouge, Desplat and del Toro shared highlights of working together, such as The Shape of Water (2017), for which they both won Oscars – del Toro for directing and Desplat for the soundtrack. 

Both men cited Hollywood cinema and famous musical scores such as those from Jaws, Planet of the Apes and The Godfather as inspiration.

For Desplat, born in France with Greek heritage, he knew from an early age that he wanted to write for images and “tell characters’ stories with sound”.  

“I learned that music could bring an extra dimension to some films, a new act, a new space, and that it could be really beautiful,” he told the audience. 

Audacious musical Emilia Perez brings accolades for French composers

Desplat, who studied the flute and plays the piano, says that his musical inspiration comes from all around the world, be it Brazil or Africa. 

“The ability to develop a musical narrative in response to an image that inspires you is derived from everything that has fuelled you since childhood,” he said.

Synergy

For his part, del Toro said that growing up in Mexico in the 1960s he listened to film scores on vinyl – something he continues to do today.  

For the director, the camera is the first “note” of the film. He edits a silent version and then sits down with the composer. “The film tells you what it’s going to be and how the music will fit in,” he said. “The director’s job is to listen a lot.”

The pair said their natural synergy stems from their eclectic musical tastes, their mutual open-mindedness and a willingness to experiment, and even to disagree. 

Who are the 2025 Cannes Film Festival jury members?

Desplat likened himself to an actor who, with each new film, must immerse himself entirely in the role. “It’s the film that carries me away,” he explained.

Music for film needs to be “simple but not simplistic” according to Desplat, who said that despite his illustrious career finding the right melody takes practice and repetition – trying and trying again, experimenting. 

His determination and talent have seen him work with some of the world’s most sought-after directors. He pointed to 2003’s Girl with a Pearl Earring by Peter Webber and Birth by Jonathan Glazer (2004), starring Nicole Kidman, as being instrumental in unlocking the gates to Hollywood for him.

Desplat composed the soundtrack for two films in competition at Cannes this year – Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme and Tarik Saleh’s Eagles of the Republic. 

“A good composer doesn’t underline, he reveals,” said del Toro, who has also worked with Desplat on his films Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth and Pinocchio.

‘Emotion is the new punk’

For the Mexican director, music must “propel the film”. There needs to be a flow and room for emotion, he said, comparing the process to jazz musicians “riffing” on a theme. “Even silence has its place,” he added, which is “worth 10 tracks”.

Both artists agreed that sound design is an important aspect of a film, rather than a question of pasting sections of music together, or an afterthought.  

Film music in Cannes: Jeanne de Barry – 2023

Music shouldn’t be there to “help” a scene, it needs to be an essential choice, del Toro stressed.

“I believe emotion is the new punk,” Del Toro insisted. “I’m Mexican, I get emotional… people don’t take risks like we do.”

Del Toro and Desplat are working on a new project together – bringing the story of Frankenstein to life, again, but this time not in the horror genre. They said it would instead be a film full of heart.  “It’s as personal as everything else I’ve done. It’s about being a father, being a son,” del Toro told the audience. 

At the end of the event, the pair were presented by Sacem’s directors with lifetime achievement awards.

Filmmaker Agnès Varda’s photographic legacy emerges from family archives

Desplat was given a medal named for French New Wave composer Georges Delerue, as well as an original handwritten letter from director François Truffaut to Delerue thanking him for his work. 

Del Toro was awarded a framed page of the original score by Delerue from the American film Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983). 

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.

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)

Promised the Sky opens Un Certain Regard

Franco-Tunisian director Erige Sehiri returns to Cannes with Promised the Sky, which opens the Un Certain Regard section. Her previous film, Under the Fig Trees, drew wide acclaim for its focus on women’s lives and quiet resilience.

Sehiri’s new story centres on Marie, an Ivorian pastor living in Tunis, who opens her door to two young women – Naney, a mother seeking a better life, and Jolie, a determined student. Their fragile household is shaken when they take in Kenza, a young girl who has survived a shipwreck.

Set against a backdrop of growing hostility towards sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia, the film explores themes of solidarity, migration and the search for identity.

Aisha Can’t Fly Away shows life in the margins

Morad Mostafa’s debut feature, Aisha Can’t Fly Away, also screens in Un Certain Regard. It follows Aisha, a 26-year-old Somali care worker living in Ain Shams, a working-class neighbourhood in Cairo with a large migrant population.

Violence between local gangs and different communities is a constant threat, with the authorities turning a blind eye. Based on Mostafa’s own experience growing up in the area, the film offers an intimate and sometimes unsettling view of daily life for migrants in Egypt.

Mostafa’s earlier short, I Promise You Paradise, was shown at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2023 and went on to win the Poulain d’Or prize at this year’s Fespaco festival. Aisha Can’t Fly Away marks Egypt’s first return to the Croisette since Clash in 2016.

Postcard from Cannes #1: Honouree De Niro unleashes attack on ‘philistine’ Trump

Indomptables brings Cameroonian noir to Cannes

French-Cameroonian actor and comedian Thomas Ngijol surprises audiences with Indomptables, a gritty thriller selected for the Directors’ Fortnight. The film follows Commissioner Billong as he investigates the murder of a police officer in Yaoundé.

Inspired by A Crime in Abidjan, a documentary by Mosco Levi Boucault, the story explores justice, corruption and personal limits in a violent and fractured society. Ngijol plays the lead role himself, and the film was shot entirely in the Cameroonian capital.

“The ensemble of the cast is perfect,” the selection team said. “Thomas Ngijol is absolutely extraordinary, not only as a director, but also as an actor.” The team described the film as a powerful and unexpected addition from Cameroon.

My Father’s Shadow marks a first for Nigeria

For the first time, a Nigerian film is part of the official competition at Cannes. My Father’s Shadow, by Akinola Davies Jr, is set during Nigeria’s 1993 presidential election – the country’s first attempt to return to civilian rule after years of military leadership.

That vote, widely seen as the fairest in the nation’s history, was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida, triggering mass protests. Around 100 people died in the unrest that followed.

In the midst of that chaos, the film follows two brothers spending the day together in Lagos. Blending fiction and autobiography, Davies reflects on family, power and the weight of political memory.

Tom Cruise returns to Cannes with Mission Impossible finale

L’mina reveals Morocco’s hidden miners

In the Moroccan town of Jerada, coal mining never truly stopped despite the official closure of pits in 2001. In L’mina, French-Moroccan visual artist and filmmaker Randa Maroufi reconstructs the reality of this underground economy in a 26-minute short.

The film features Jerada residents who play themselves, acting out scenes drawn from their daily lives. This collaborative approach offers a raw and authentic glimpse into the community’s resilience and resourcefulness.

L’mina is screening in Critics’ Week and is Maroufi’s fifth short film.

Life After Siham explores grief and memory

Life After Siham, by Franco-Egyptian director Namir Abdel Messeeh, is an emotional documentary selected by ACID – a group that supports independent filmmaking at Cannes.

Following the sudden death of his mother, Siham, Abdel Messeeh revisits family archives, old home videos and childhood memories. Through an investigation into his family history between Egypt and France, the film becomes both a tribute and a personal journey into grief, memory and identity.

Messeeh’s earlier film, The Virgin, the Copts and Me, combined humour with cultural reflection. This new work strikes a more introspective tone.

Ukraine, Gaza and #MeToo in the spotlight as Cannes Film Festival opens

This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Yann Le Ny

Assembled in just four and a half months, the exhibition, entitled “Treasures Rescued from Gaza – 5,000 Years of History”, at the Institut du Monde Arabe honours Gaza’s rich past and looks to protect what’s left of a cultural legacy that has endured empires, invasions and now war.

“More than ever, especially since 7 October and the destruction that followed, Gaza deserves to have its history told,” said museum president Jack Lang, a former French culture minister.

His words resonate in the low-lit basement gallery, where the rescued artefacts are displayed beneath the building’s 240 ornate mashrabiyas, or screens.

A civilisation under siege

The exhibition features some 130 rare pieces spanning from the Bronze Age to the present.

The artefacts were placed in storage at the Geneva freeport in 2007, following an exhibition at the Museum of Art and History in Switzerland.

They were meant to be returned to Gaza for display in a planned 20,000-square-metre museum backed by Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural agency, but the project was abandoned as the situation in Gaza deteriorated.

Their lengthy exile may have saved them – unlike so much left behind in Gaza, these artefacts survived the Israeli airstrikes.

Long before the destruction seen today, Gaza was a thriving port and a key stop on caravan routes, linking Asia, Africa, Arabia and the Mediterranean. For thousands of years, it was a crossroads of civilisations and ideas – a place where cultures met and flourished.

Rescued treasures

Displayed on wheeled trolleys in a space that evokes a storage depot, the rescued artefacts are shown in a setting that reflects their fragility and displacement.

One section maps the destruction of archaeological sites in Gaza damaged in Israeli bombing raids, using satellite images and research compiled by several groups. Alongside it is a record of recent discoveries, offering a glimpse of what has been lost – and what remains.

These are not symbolic treasures: they were physically rescued from Gaza and nearly lost.

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

“Nothing is worse than abandonment and forgetting,” said Lang. “This exhibition, which I would describe as a matter of public salvation, pays tribute to Gaza – vibrant and wonderfully young.”

The collection is brimming with extraordinary pieces: a tilted marble Aphrodite, a royal oil lamp that spent more than 2,000 years underwater, a bronze Osiris, an alabaster vase from Egypt, small figurines, a cavalryman’s head from the 5th century BCE, and a vast Byzantine mosaic alive with animals and people.

Layers of history

Excavations in Gaza began in the mid-19th century before gaining pace under the British Mandate (1922–1948). They were then further expanded after the Oslo Accords in 1993.

That’s when a Palestinian Antiquities Service was created, later teaming up with the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem to document and protect sites across the enclave.

At the Institut du Monde Arabe, a cultural centre dedicated to Arab civilisation and heritage, visitors can browse early 20th-century photographs showing digs and ruins across Gaza’s 365 square kilometres – visual proof of a land layered with history.

In January 2024, three months into the latest Israeli offensive, the Saint Hilarion Monastery was added to the Unesco World Heritage List under an emergency procedure – the first site in Gaza to receive that status.

By 25 March, 2025, Unesco had identified damage to 94 cultural sites using satellite imagery: 12 religious buildings, 61 historic or artistic structures, seven archaeological sites, six monuments, three collections of cultural artefacts and one museum.

A personal mission

Much of the exhibition draws on the collection of Jawdat Khoudary, a Palestinian builder who began saving artefacts found during construction work in Gaza. In 2008, he opened a private museum that housed more than 4,000 pieces.

Only the ones stored in Switzerland survived. The rest have been destroyed.

Now a refugee in Egypt, Khoudary donated the surviving objects to the Palestinian Authority. They form the heart of the Paris exhibition – remnants of a collection that was almost entirely wiped out.

His donation ensures that at least part of Gaza’s archaeological heritage is preserved.

The idea that cultural memory shapes national identity runs throughout the exhibition, echoing the words of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the January 1999 issue of Dossiers d’Archéologie, a French archaeology magazine.

“However great the suffering and however long the road to freedom and dignity, a people exists only through an awareness of being the heir to a history that gives it identity, places it in the world and ensures its survival,” Arafat wrote.

At a time when Israel is blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza and denying the existence of a humanitarian crisis, this exhibition offers a different message: one of memory, identity and survival.

“Some of its treasures will survive this war – and ensure that Gaza is not completely wiped off the map,” said Lang.

► “Treasures Rescued from Gaza: 5,000 Years of History” is on display until 2 November, 2025 at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.

This story was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Anne Bernas

The kataklè is a three-legged royal chair from Dahomey, a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from 1600 until 1904. 

It was discovered to be at the National Museum of Finland, the Kansallismuseo, thanks to a lengthy investigation by art historian Marie-Cécile Zinsou, of the Zinsou foundation, one of the museum’s curators, Pilvi Vainonen – and RFI journalist Pierre Firtion.

The kataklè was returned to Benin by Finland on Tuesday, with Finnish minister of culture Mari-Leena Talvitie handing it over to the Beninese authorities during a ceremony at the Marina Palace, the presidential residence in Cotonou, Benin. 

A whispered clue

The first 26 pieces of the treasure were returned to Benin in November 2021 by the Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly.

The museum, along with the French Ministry of Culture, had announced the restitution of 26 works from the royal treasury in Abomey in 2018, as approved by President Emmanuel Macron.

These pieces were looted in 1892 by French Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds during the sacking of the city of Abomey, after the Second Franco-Dahomean War, taken from the royal place.

Despite housing approximately 70,000 African objects, the Quai Branly returned this limited restitution of 26 pieces thanks to a specific French law, passed in December 2020, which allowed for exceptions to the principle of inalienability of public collections for them and for a separate item, returned to Senegal.

Among them were anthropomorphic royal statues, recades (a type of sceptre associated with Dahomey), the gates of the royal palace of Abomey, thrones, seats, and a first kataklè.

‘Dahomey’ film invites colonial past to speak through Benin’s stolen treasures

RFI’s Firtion was in Cotonou in November 2021 covering the restitution of the 26 royal objects, when a source whispered to him: “There aren’t 26, but 27 treasures.”

“What if it was true?” he asked himself, as he recalls in a French-language podcast series on the story.

Soon after, Firtion joined forces with Zinsou and Vainonen, delving into texts on Beninese art and the restitution of works of art to Africa.

Lost in storage

He discovered that this kataklè had arrived at the Trocadéro Museum of Ethnography in Paris at the end of the 19th century.

Then in 1939, the museum, by then renamed the Musée de l’Homme, agreed to an exchange with the National Museum of Finland – a common practice at the time.

The Musée de l’Homme wanted to enrich its collection of Finno-Ugric objects from everyday life, and in exchange sent around 40 objects to Helsinki, mainly from Africa and Asia. Among the lot was the kataklè.

It was never exhibited, instead ending up in the storage rooms of the National Museum of Finland, where it remained for decades. Over time, curators lost track of it, as it was listed as belonging to Dahomey. 

In the online inventories of the Musée du Quai Branly, Firtion identified a piece donated by Colonel Dodds to the Trocadéro Ethnography Museum, which was not returned to Benin… a three-legged stool, called a kataklè.

The journalist also travelled to Marseille’s Mucem museum in 2024, where the pieces potentially exchanged with Finland for the kataklè in 1939 were being stored – and where he learned that the exchanged pieces still belonged to the museum originally owning them.

After intensive research on her side, Vainonen got back to Firtion and told him it had been found in Finland.

A wider debate on restitution

Benin’s request for restitution is not an isolated one.

As early as 1973, the president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC), Mobutu Sese Seko, was the first to speak at the United Nations General Assembly, calling for the country’s cultural heritage to be returned to it.

Since then, a growing number of African countries – including Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and Nigeria – have called for works of art and priceless artefacts to be returned.

In 2021, Belgium handed the government of the DRC an inventory of 84,000 Congolese artefacts dating from the colonial period – although their return hasn’t taken place yet.

Netherlands agrees to return 119 Benin statues to Nigeria

Germany handed 22 artefacts looted in the 19th century back to Nigeria at a ceremony in the capital, Abuja, in December 2022. In February this year, the Netherlands agreed to return 119 Benin bronze statues to Nigeria.

Two British universities began returning pieces to Nigeria around the same time: the University of Aberdeen, which returned Benin bronzes in 2021 and Cambridge University, in 2022.

“President Ramaphosa will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest,” South Africa’s presidency said last week in a statement. Ramaphosa is in the US on a working visit from 19 to 22 May.

“The president’s visit to the US provides a platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries,” the statement added.

Ramaphosa has been trying to come to the US for several months, as the trouble between the US and South Africa has been brewing, according to Cameron Hudson, senior fellow at the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“And it has obviously spilled over in the last few weeks to a real crisis moment,” he told RFI.

South Africa faces HIV crisis as Trump’s aid freeze halts treatment and research

Since the start of the second Trump administration, US aid to South Africa has been suspended and South Africa’s ambassador to the US has been declared persona non grata.

Tensions have been mounting since the day Trump took office, Hudson said. “Ramaphosa has been trying to come [to the US] since then. He’s been trying to get the president on the phone. So this visit comes perhaps too late, frankly.”

‘Lowest point since apartheid’

Trump has cited his disapproval of South Africa’s land reform policy and of its genocide case brought against Washington’s ally Israel at the International Court of Justice as reasons for the downturn in the relationship.

“Certainly, relations are at their lowest point since the end of apartheid,” according to Hudson.

“There has been… annoyance with many South African policies, including their relationship with Russia, with China, their position in support of Russia [and the lack of] ability to speak out on Ukraine, and of course on Israel, Gaza. So, all of this has built [up] over the last few months with the Trump administration.”

Even prior to Trump’s resuming office, the Biden administration had been angered by these South African policies, says Hudson – but with one important difference.

“I just think that there was more of an acceptance of South Africa’s positions and a willingness to engage South Africa, because South Africa is an important partner in the Global South, and represents a lot of influence with Global South countries. And picking a fight with South Africa probably undermines American interests in trying to engage with a wider swath of the Global South,” he explained.

US is a key partner but principles aren’t for trade, South African FM tells RFI

Now however, he believes, Ramaphosa is unlikely to find much sympathy for his positions in Washington.

“Unless and until South Africa decides to change its policies, its laws with respect to white farmers, to change its policy on Gaza, to remove its ICJ case against Israel, maybe even to withdraw from the BRICS and to cut its ties to Russia and to China, it won’t get back in the good graces of the Trump administration,” Hudson said, adding that he does not believe Ramaphosa is prepared to do any of these.

“They are not interested in bending to the United States. And what we have seen from the Trump administration is the only way to get back into their good graces is to accept the conditions that Trump lays out. And if South Africa is not willing to do that, then I think the prospect of an improving relationship is very low.” 

The White House last week also banned all US government agencies from working on this year’s G20 summit, to be hosted by South Africa, the Washington Post reported – more cause for pessimism about this week’s visit, said Hudson.

Natural resources as leverage

Ramaphosa is accompanied on his trip to the US by his ministers for international relations, trade and agriculture, and by his special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas.

The priority for South Africa is securing trade relations with the US, in order to “protect jobs, grow the economy and expand employment opportunities”, agriculture minister John Steenhuisen said before Ramaphosa arrived in the country.

Despite the souring of relations, the US remains South Africa’s second-largest bilateral trading partner, after China.

South Africa’s government also plans to offer a workaround of local black ownership laws for Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service to operate in the country, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Musk, who is South African-born, has previously claimed Starlink was barred from operating in South Africa because he is not black – an allegation South African officials refuted. South Africa’s telecoms regulator said in March that Starlink had not applied for a licence.

Ramaphosa has some further leverage, according to other analysts in South Africa, including Ivor Ichikowitz, founding director of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and keen observer of South Africa’s foreign affairs.

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

“This visit could be a turning point for South African–US relations, if not South African relations with the West in general,” he told RFI.

“President Ramaphosa could be going to Washington to make it clear to the world that South Africa is returning to a status of neutrality and wanting to be friends with everybody, like President Mandela did before him.” 

Despite a shaky domestic economy, the country still holds minerals that are key to the global economy, controlling more than 80 percent of global platinum reserves and ranking among the top producers of vanadium and manganese — all essential to battery technology, defence systems and the green energy transition, as well as gold.

According to Ichikowitz, Ramaphosa could use this leverage well. “People must not underestimate President Ramaphosa. He is a very accomplished negotiator.”

The wing will form part of a $450 million prison announced in 2017, which is expected to be completed by 2028 and hold 500 inmates.

The prison is to be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town bordering Suriname that once received prisoners shipped by Napoleon III in the 1800s, some of whom were sent to the notorious Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana.

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced plans to build the high-security wing during an official visit to French Guiana on Saturday, saying: “I have decided to establish France’s third high-security prison in Guiana.”

Drug trafficking

Darmanin was quoted by French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche as saying that the prison also aims to keep suspected drug traffickers from having any contact with their criminal networks.

French prison attack probe shifts from terrorism to drug gangs

“We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,” he told reporters. “My strategy is simple – hit organised crime at all levels. Here in Guiana, at the start of the drug trafficking route. In mainland France, by neutralising the network leaders. And all the way to consumers. This prison will be a safeguard in the war against narcotrafficking.”

Darmanin, who forged a reputation for a tough stance on drugs in his previous role as interior minister, added that the prison’s location “will serve to permanently isolate the heads of drug trafficking networks” since “they will no longer be able to contact their criminal networks”.

He also said in a Facebook post that 15 of the wing’s 60 spaces would be reserved for Islamic militants.

French media, quoting the Justice ministry, reported that people from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories would be sent in priority to the new prison.

‘Astonishment and indignation’

The announcement has angered many across French Guiana, a French overseas territory situated north of Brazil.

Jean-Paul Fereira, acting president of French Guiana’s territorial collective, an assembly of 51 lawmakers that oversees local government affairs, said the announcement came as a surprise, as the plan had never been discussed with them.

“It is therefore with astonishment and indignation that the elected members of the Collectivity discovered, together with the entire population of Guiana, the information detailed in Le Journal Du Dimanche,” he wrote in a statement posted on social media on Sunday.

France to seize drug users’ phones in crackdown on prison attacks

Fereira said the move was disrespectful and insulting, noting that the agreement French Guiana signed in 2017 was for the construction of a new prison meant to alleviate overpopulation at the main prison.

“While all local elected officials have long been calling for strong measures to curb the rise of organised crime in our territory, Guiana is not meant to welcome criminals and radicalised people from [mainland France],” he wrote.

Also decrying the plan was Jean-Victor Castor, a member of parliament in French Guiana. He said he wrote directly to France’s prime minister to express his concerns, noting that the decision was taken without consulting local officials.

“It’s an insult to our history, a political provocation and a colonial regression,” Castor wrote in a statement issued on Sunday, as he called on France to withdraw the project.

A spokesperson for France’s justice minister did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Cocaine use in France doubles as workplace pressures drive demand

Guiana has the highest crime rate of any French department relative to the size of its population, with a record 20.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, nearly 14 times the national average.

Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is a strategic hub for so-called drug mules, mainly from Brazil, who attempt to board flights to Paris’s Orly Airport carrying cocaine originating from neighbouring Suriname.

(with newswires)

The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called “safe third country” concept, which allows member states to “consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection” elsewhere.

The new proposal would expand this definition, giving governments greater flexibility in redirecting asylum seekers to safe non-EU nations.

Italian court rules outsourced migrant detentions in Albania illegal

“EU countries have been facing substantial migratory pressure for over a decade,” said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as “another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient and coordinated way”.

The move, while welcomed by some as a practical solution, has drawn sharp criticism from rights groups concerned about the implications for vulnerable individuals.

What constitutes a connection?

The suggested changes would lower the bar for what constitutes a “genuine connection” to a safe third country.

At present, applicants are generally required to have lived or worked or to have family ties in such a country.

Under the new framework, simply passing through a country deemed safe could be grounds for removal.

Furthermore, bilateral agreements between EU countries and third nations could allow removals even in the absence of any connection or transit, with appeal processes no longer halting deportations.

France and UK find common ground on tackling illegal Channel crossings

The revised approach could dramatically increase the number of asylum claims deemed inadmissible, as many people arriving in Europe have travelled through several countries en route to the EU.

According to the EU’s Frontex border agency, of the nearly 20,000 people who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe in April alone, many originated from Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria.

This latest move comes after EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns, and for the commission to assess “innovative” ways to counter irregular migration.

In response, Brussels in March unveiled a planned reform of the 27-nation bloc’s return system, which opened the way for states to set up migrant return centres outside the EU.

And in April it published a list of countries of “origin” it considers “safe”, making it harder for citizens of those nations to claim asylum by introducing a presumption that such applications lack merit.

Featured on that list are Morocco and Tunisia, which are among the main points of departure for migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean by boat.

Source of tension

The debate around asylum and migration remains politically sensitive across the bloc – and beyond.

In France, the issue has become particularly charged, fuelling domestic political tensions and influencing relations with the United Kingdom.

The ongoing challenge of irregular Channel crossings has sparked repeated disputes between Paris and London, with both sides trading blame over how to curb people trafficking and improve border cooperation.

As right-wing political forces gain traction across Europe, asylum policy has become a lightning rod for wider questions of security, sovereignty and solidarity.

Smuggling networks thrive as Channel crossings expose migrant perils

Human rights concerns

The Commission’s proposal will need approval from both the European Parliament and member states before it can become law.

It also relies on the cooperation of third countries willing to take in applicants rejected by the EU.

Human rights advocates, however, have already sounded the alarm.

Estrella Galan, an EU lawmaker with the Left group, called the proposal “a lethal blow to the right to asylum”.

“It seeks to legalise forced deportations to third countries where refugees have never been, and where they have neither ties nor any guarantee of protection,” she said.

Sarah Chander, director of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, accused the EU of “cynically distorting the concept of ‘safety’ to meet its own repressive ends”.

“It is paving the way for migrants to be removed and deported basically anywhere, putting people in danger,” she warned.

Nearly 1 million people applied for asylum in the EU last year and around 440,000 were granted protection.

(with newswires)

Five years on from Brexit, the United Kingdom and the EU have marked a new chapter in their often-fraught relationship, following Monday’s landmark summit in London that unveiled a significant shift from estrangement to engagement.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen hailed a series of new agreements as a “win-win” for both sides – slashing trade red tape, boosting defence cooperation, and paving the way for smoother people-to-people ties.

Describing the moment as “historic,” von der Leyen praised the tone of renewed cooperation, while Starmer declared, “Britain is back on the world stage”.

The upbeat mood reflected not only a thawing of relations but a pragmatic reset aimed at tackling shared challenges – from global security to economic recovery.

Trade and an end to ‘sausage war’

At the heart of the summit was a breakthrough on trade. Under the new deal, many of the cumbersome checks on animal and plant products that have disrupted UK-EU trade since Brexit will be scrapped.

British businesses, long frustrated by paperwork and delays at borders, will now find it easier to export key goods – including sausages, seafood, and even raw burgers – to EU markets.

The move also offers relief to traders in Northern Ireland, where post-Brexit arrangements had led to significant logistical headaches.

Though critics argue that aligning with EU rules edges the UK closer to Brussels’ orbit once again, proponents insist the benefits are clear.

“Good for jobs, good for bills and good for our borders,” Starmer said, summing up the government’s stance.

EU and UK reunite in London for talks on diplomacy and defence

Youth mobility

In a nod to the younger generation, both sides announced plans to develop a youth mobility scheme, potentially restoring some of the freedom of movement lost after Brexit.

Although the details remain sketchy, officials suggested it could mirror similar UK arrangements with Australia and Canada, allowing limited, temporary stays for work and study.

Also on the cards is a measure that will allow British passport holders to use fast-track e-gates at European airports – a small but symbolic change likely to be welcomed by holidaymakers fed up with long queues since the UK’s departure from the EU.

Five years on, has Brexit put Britain at a disadvantage in EU talks?

Security partnership

Defence featured prominently in the summit’s agenda, with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirming that British troops could participate in EU-led missions in the Western Balkans.

The new pact allows UK forces to join military exercises and even attend select EU defence meetings – moves that underscore Britain’s desire to remain a key European security player.

Significantly, British defence firms will gain access to a proposed €150 billion EU fund currently under negotiation, unlocking investment potential and strengthening the UK’s role in collective European defence.

Lammy pointed to continued instability in the Balkans as an example of where British troops can play a complementary role alongside NATO.

EU and UK clash in first post-Brexit legal battle over North Sea fishing ban

Fishy business, choppy waters

Monday’s deals included a 12-year extension to EU fishing rights in UK waters – a controversial move at home, particularly in Scotland – but one viewed as necessary to facilitate broader gains in trade and diplomacy.

While the fishing industry voiced anger, the deal helped resolve one of the last symbolic holdouts from the Brexit era.

Unsurprisingly, the political fallout was swift. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of turning Britain into a “rule-taker” once more, while the pro-Brexit Reform UK party dismissed the agreements as a betrayal.

But Starmer held firm, insisting that the UK would not rejoin the single market or customs union and would not accept unrestricted freedom of movement.

Lammy, for his part, took a pragmatic tone: “The British people have moved on,” he said. “This is a deal that delivers prosperity and security”.

For all the noise, the summit marks a tangible shift from isolation to engagement – as Starmer put it: “We’re not going back. We’re going forward”.

(with newswires)

Agathe Habyarimana, 82, who has been living in France since 1998 and whose extradition has been repeatedly requested by Kigali, will not face trial by a French court at this stage, the sources said, asking not to be named.

The former first lady fled Rwanda with French help just days after her husband’s plane was shot down in April 1994, triggering the genocide which saw around 800,000 people slaughtered in one of the 20th century’s worst atrocities.

Remembering Rwanda’s genocide

The investigation has been under way since 2008, when a French-based victims’ association filed a legal complaint against Habyarimana who was questioned over suspicions that she was part of the Hutu inner circle of power that planned and orchestrated the killings of mainly ethnic Tutsis.

In the investigation she had the status of assisted witness, which in France’s legal system is between being a witness and being charged.

The investigating magistrates in charge of the case said in a ruling delivered on Friday that “at this stage, there is no serious and consistent evidence that she could have been an accomplice in an act of genocide” or could have “participated in an agreement to commit genocide”.

“While the rumour is persistent, it cannot serve as proof in the absence of detailed and consistent evidence,” they added, emphasising that the “incriminating testimony appears contradictory, inconsistent, and even false”.   

Rwanda marks 1994 genocide amid tensions over M23 rebellion in DRC

‘As quickly as possible’   

The decision could mean that the case against her will be dismissed in the coming months and formally classified as dropped.

But French anti-terror prosecutors, who wanted her to be charged, in September already filed a case with the Paris court of appeal, with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

“Mrs Habyarimana is awaiting with great serenity the outcome of the proceedings,” said her lawyer Philippe Meilhac, welcoming the new ruling.

“It is time for the necessary dismissal of the case to be delivered as quickly as possible.”

Her case has added another element to tensions between Paris and the post-genocide authorities in Kigali under President Paul Kagame, which has accused France of being complicit in the killings and then sheltering the perpetrators.

French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Rwanda in 2021, recognised France’s “responsibilities” in the genocide and said only the survivors could grant “the gift of forgiveness”.

But he stopped short of an apology and Kagame, who led the Tutsi rebellion that ended the genocide, has long insisted on the need for a stronger statement.

A historical commission set up by Macron and led by historian Vincent Duclert also concluded in 2021 that there had been a “failure” on the part of France under former leader Francois Mitterrand, while adding that there was no evidence Paris was complicit in the killings.

 (AFP)

Upon hearing the news that the PKK was ending its war and disarming, Kurds danced in the streets of the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. The region bore the brunt of the brutal conflict, with the overwhelming majority of those killed being civilians, and millions more displaced.

From armed struggle to political arena

“It is a historic moment. This conflict has been going on for almost half a century,” declared Aslı Aydıntaşbaş of the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

“And for them [the PKK] to say that the period of armed struggle is over and that they are going to transition to a major political struggle is very important.”

The PKK, designated as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and most of Turkey’s Western allies, launched its armed struggle in 1984 for Kurdish rights and independence. At the time, Turkey was ruled by the military, which did not even acknowledge the existence of Kurds, referring to them as “Mountain Turks.”

Nearly fifty years later, however, Turkey is a different place. The third-largest parliamentary party is the pro-Kurdish Dem Party. In its declaration ending its armed struggle and announcing its dissolution, the PKK stated that there is now space in Turkey to pursue its goals through political means.

However, military realities are thought to be behind the PKK’s decision to end its campaign. “From a technical and military point of view, the PKK lost,” observed Aydın Selcan, a former senior Turkish diplomat who served in the region.

“For almost ten years, there have been no armed attacks by the PKK inside Turkey because they are no longer capable of doing so. And in the northern half of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, there is now almost no PKK presence,” added Selcan.

Selcan also claims the PKK could be seeking to consolidate its military gains in Syria. “For the first time in history, the PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG, has begun administering a region. So it’s important for the organisation to preserve that administration.

“They’ve rebranded themselves as a political organisation.” Turkish forces have repeatedly launched military operations in Syria against the YPG. However, the Syrian Kurdish forces have reached a tentative agreement with Damascus’s new rulers—whom Ankara supports.

Kurdish leader Ocalan calls for PKK disarmament, paving way for peace

 Erdoğan’s high-stakes gamble

For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is trailing in opinion polls and facing growing protests over the arrest of his main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, on alleged corruption charges, this could be a golden opportunity. “This is a win for Erdoğan, no doubt,” claimed analyst Aydıntaşbaş.

Along with favourable headlines, the PKK’s peace announcement offers a solution to a major political headache for Erdoğan. The Turkish president wants to amend the constitution to remove term limits, allowing him to run again for the presidency.

The pro-Kurdish Dem Party holds the parliamentary votes Erdoğan needs. “Yes, Erdoğan, of course, will be negotiating with Kurds for constitutional changes,” said Aydıntaşbaş.

“Now we are entering a very transactional period in Turkish politics. Instead of repressing Kurds, it’s going to be about negotiating with them. And it may persuade the pro-Kurdish faction—which forms the third-largest bloc in Turkish politics—to peel away from the opposition camp,” added Aydıntaşbaş.

However, Aydıntaşbaş warns that Erdoğan will need to convince his voter base, which remains sceptical of any peace process with the PKK. According to a recent opinion poll, three out of four respondents opposed the peace process, with a majority of Erdoğan’s AK Party supporters against it.

For decades, the PKK has been portrayed in Turkey as a brutal terrorist organisation, and its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, is routinely referred to by politicians and much of the media as “the baby killer.” Critics argue the government has failed to adequately prepare the public for peace.

“In peace processes around the world, we see a strong emphasis on convincing society,” observed Sezin Öney, a political commentator at Turkey’s PolitikYol news portal. “There are reconciliation processes, truth commissions, etc., all designed to gain public support. But in our case, it’s like surgery without anaesthesia—an operation begun without any sedatives,” added Öney.

Turkey looks for regional help in its battle against Kurdish rebels in Iraq

Political concessions?

Public pressure on Erdoğan is expected to grow, as the PKK and Kurdish political leaders demand concessions to facilitate the peace and disarmament process.

“In the next few months, the government is, first of all, expected to change the prison conditions of Öcalan,” explained Professor Mesut Yeğen of the Istanbul-based Reform Institute.

“The second expectation is the release of those in poor health who are currently in jail. And for the disarmament process to proceed smoothly, there should be an amnesty or a reduction in sentences, allowing PKK convicts in Turkish prisons to be freed and ensuring that returning PKK militants are not imprisoned,” Yeğen added.

Yeğen claimed that tens of thousands of political prisoners may need to be released, along with the reinstatement of Dem Party mayors who were removed from office under anti-terrorism legislation.

Turkey’s Saturday Mothers keep up vigil for lost relatives

Erdoğan has ruled out any concessions until the PKK disarms, but has said that “good things” will follow disarmament. Meanwhile, the main opposition CHP Party, while welcoming the peace initiative, insists that any democratic reforms directed at the Kurdish minority must be extended to wider society—starting with the release of İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s chief political rival.

While the peace process is widely seen as a political victory for Erdoğan, it could yet become a liability for the president, who risks being caught between a sceptical voter base and an impatient Kurdish population demanding concessions.

In recent years the Swiss food and drinks conglomerate has been under pressure over its Perrier and other brands as EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as natural mineral water.

“In addition to Nestle Waters’ lack of transparency, it is important to highlight the state’s lack of transparency, both towards local and European authorities and towards the French people,” said the report by a commission of inquiry of the French Senate.

The report follows a six-month-long Senate inquiry involving more than 70 hearings.

“This concealment is part of a deliberate strategy, addressed at the first interministerial meeting on natural mineral waters on October 14, 2021,” said the report.

“Nearly four years later, transparency has still not been achieved,” said the report.

Perrier  – one of the most famous mineral waters in the world, obtained from a spring in southern France and traditionally served on ice with a slice of lemon — was acquired by Nestle in the early 1990s.

Perrier could lose ‘natural mineral water’ label after contamination found

‘Highest level of the state’

In late 2020, new management at Nestle Waters claims to have discovered the use of prohibited treatments for mineral water at its Perrier, Hepar and Contrex sites.

The company reached out to the government to submit a plan to tackle the problem in mid-2021, and the Elysee Palace afterwards.

Eighteen months later, a plan to replace prohibited ultraviolet treatments and activated carbon filters with microfiltering was approved by the authorities.

The method can be used to remove iron or manganese but the producer has to prove that the water has not been altered.

European law stipulates that natural mineral waters cannot be disinfected or treated in any way that alters its characteristics.

The report said that “despite the consumer fraud represented by water disinfection”, the authorities have not taken legal action in response to the 2021 revelations.

“It was at the highest level of the state that the decision to authorise micro-filtration below the 0.8-micron threshold was taken,” the report said.

Troubled waters: French government under pressure over Nestlé revelations

 ‘Known since 2022’ 

“We understand better why the French government did not inform the European Commission — it was clearly too busy covering up a massive fraud,” said Ingrid Kragl of the NGO Foodwatch, claiming the cover-up “allowed Nestle to sell fraudulent products and deceive consumers”.

The independent food monitor has filed a complaint against Nestle Waters, accusing it of deceiving consumers. An investigation has been launched by a Parisian judge.

During her hearing before the committee on March 19, Nestle Waters chief executive Muriel Lienau stated that “all” of the group’s waters were “pure at the source”.

But on Monday senator Antoinette Guhl announced that she was taking legal action over this comment for “possible perjury”.

In a statement, Lienau said she acknowledged the report, which “recognises the importance of sectoral issues requiring regulatory clarification and a stable framework applicable to all.”

Nestle Waters also insisted that it had “never contested” the legitimacy of the Senate‘s work.

Nestlé and Sources Alma face inquiry over methods used for French mineral water

Nestle under pressure

Nestle has already been under pressure in France after its French subsidiary was charged in a case involving contaminated Buitoni-branded pizzas that are suspected of having led to the death of two children in 2022.

The move to allow microfiltration was in line with decisions taken by the authorities, including the office of then-prime minister Elisabeth Borne, even though she did not appear to have been informed, the report added.

The commission also charged that President Emmanuel Macron‘s office “had known, at least since 2022, that Nestle had been cheating for years”.

Alexis Kohler, then secretary general at the Elysee who stepped down earlier this year after eight years in the post, had met with Nestle executives.

Macron in February denied any acknowledgement of the case.

In 2024, Nestle Waters admitted using banned filters and ultra-violet treatment on mineral waters.

The company paid a two-million-euro ($2.2-million) fine to avoid legal action over the use of illegal water sources and filtering.

It said at the time though that the replacement filters were approved by the government and that its water was “pure”.

(with newswires)

The two-time Oscar-winning actor was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or by festival chiefs Thierry Fremaux and Iris Knobloch before the screening of Highest 2 Lowest, with co-star A$AP Rocky and his partner Rihanna among the VIPs in the audience.

Before handing over the prize to Washington, Fremaux introduced a montage of the actor’s memorable performances – including in Malcolm X and Mo’ Better Blues, both directed by Lee.

Clips were also shown from Glory, which earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1989, and Training Day, for which he won the best actor Oscar in 2002 – the same year Halle Berry won best actress for Monster’s Ball, making it the first year that both leading performance awards went to black actors.

“It’s a total surprise, I’m so emotional,” Washington said, a member of the audience told French news agency AFP.

Cannes film shines light on secret life of migrant maids

Scuffle on the red carpet

The cast of Highest 2 Lowest put on a show on the Cannes red carpet, with Spike Lee in an orange pinstriped suit and an orange and blue hat, and A$AP Rocky showing off a gold dental piece.

However, Washington’s first appearance at the festival was marred by a testy encounter with a photographer as he entered the Grand Lumière Theatre.

The photographer was seen grabbing the actor by the arm as he posed in front of a bank of cameras. Washington shook him off and then pointed his finger at him and appeared to say “Stop it” a number of times, videos showed.

Iran’s Panahi pokes fun at Iran’s jailers in Cannes comeback

His mood was no doubt lifted by rave reviews of him and Lee’s film. Loosely adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low, the Hollywood Reporter said the film has “wit, high style and kinetic energy to burn”.

The Guardian praised Washington’s “magnificent form” in the movie, saying he played a music mogul with “grinning monarchical assurance”.   

Long history 

Lee has a long history at Cannes, having brought several films to the festival including his groundbreaking first film She’s Gotta Have it (1986) and Do the Right Thing in 1989.

He won the Grand Prize for BlacKkKlansman in 2018 and was president of the jury in 2021.

Besides the screening of Highest 2 Lowest (in the out of competition category), Lee is also promoting Talk Me, a short film on which he was the executive producer. It premieres on Thursday and is in the running for La Cinef category prizes.

Postcard from Cannes #1: Honouree De Niro unleashes attack on ‘philistine’ Trump

Although Cannes usually hands out honorary awards in dedicated ceremonies, it is not unusual for actors to receive them unexpectedly – as happened with Harrison Ford at the premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023.

This year’s planned honorary Palme d’Or went to 81-year-old Robert De Niro, who gave a rousing speech on the opening night of the festival, slamming US President Donald Trump’s attack on the arts.

(with AFP)

France is gearing up for a major economic boost as this year’s “Choose France” summit, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to draw a record €20 billion in new investments.

The annual event, held at the majestic Palace of Versailles, has become a hallmark of Macron’s campaign to transform France into a magnet for global business.

Now in its eighth edition, the summit showcases the French President’s proactive charm offensive aimed at courting top international companies.

Macron’s commitment to fostering a more business-friendly environment has helped reframe France’s image from a sluggish, high-tax economy into one that’s dynamic and open for investment.

Posting on X, a visibly elated President Macron announced that social media platform Snapchat “chooses France!”

“The new office and augmented reality centre in Paris clearly demonstrate how attractive France is to foreign investors. Thank you!” he added.

Wave of investment 

Speaking on RTL radio this Monday, Finance Minister Eric Lombard confirmed that €17 billion worth of deals had already been pledged ahead of the summit’s start, with further announcements expected during the event, bringing the total amount of direct investment to €37 billion.

That figure marks a strong leap from the €15 billion secured at last year’s gathering.

Among the headline investments is a €6.4 billion commitment from US logistics giant Prologis, which plans to build four data centres in the Ile-de-France region.

Meanwhile, UK-based fintech Revolut has announced a €1 billion expansion plan for its French operations over the next three years and will also be applying for a French banking licence.

The summit will also feature investment pledges from major players like Amazon, the UAE’s MGX, and Britain’s Less Common Metals Limited, which is active in the strategically vital rare earth sector.

Portuguese tech firm Tekever is set to build a drone assembly plant in southwest France – a €100 million project that will contribute to the country’s growing industrial capabilities.

AI showcase pays off for France, but US tech scepticism endures

Challenging times

This latest wave of investment comes at a crucial time for Macron’s government, which is under increasing pressure to safeguard industrial jobs amid global economic headwinds.

Challenges such as ongoing trade tensions and sluggish growth across the Eurozone have made foreign direct investment even more vital.

“Faced with global competition, France is stepping up and showing it has the tools to succeed,” said Lombard during his radio interview. He reaffirmed the government’s confidence in meeting its 2025 economic growth target of 0.7 percent.

Despite a slight dip in the number of projects across Europe, France has remained the continent’s top destination for international investment for six consecutive years, according to EY’s latest European Investment Monitor.

Choose France summit kicks off with big hopes for foreign investment

Macron’s team sees this continued leadership as proof that their mix of pro-business reforms – such as tax cuts and streamlined regulations – is paying off.

Still, the picture isn’t entirely rosy. While foreign firms are increasingly investing in France, some major French companies are looking abroad.

Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi recently revealed plans to invest over €18 billion in manufacturing operations in the United States, sparking criticism from French lawmakers.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau emerged as the undisputed leader of Les Républicains (LR) on Sunday, after securing a landslide victory in the party’s internal election with over 74 percent of the vote.

The win, over his rival Laurent Wauquiez, not only solidifies his control over the party but also propels him to the forefront of potential right-wing candidates for the 2027 French presidential election.

Retailleau’s triumph was comprehensive, with more than 120,000 party members casting their votes – an 80 percent turnout that signals renewed interest and momentum within a party that was on political life support just a year ago.

Posting on X, Retailleau thanked party members for voting for “the return of a proud and sincere right-wing”. 

Since taking up the post of Interior Minister in September 2024, the 64-year-old has breathed new life into the centre-right.

His message of unity and firm right-wing values clearly resonated with members hungry for direction and purpose.

Annie Genevard, the party’s secretary general, struck a hopeful tone after the results were announced: “Unity is more necessary than ever, a guarantee of our credibility and the effectiveness of our action in the service of France”.

The call for cohesion comes after years of infighting that have plagued the right, weakening its impact on national politics.

Interior Minister Retailleau launches leadership bid for Les Républicains party

Retailleau for 2027?

Retailleau’s defeated opponent, Laurent Wauquiez, conceded gracefully, warning against the “poison of division” that has often splintered the right.

Yet he remained firm on distancing the party from Macronism, insisting the right must remain a distinctive force of change, not one blurred into the political centre.

Retailleau’s success was backed by key party figures, including Senate President Gérard Larcher, Xavier Bertrand, and former presidential contender Valérie Pécresse.

This broad support cements his role as the dominant figure on the right – a fact not lost on political observers eyeing the 2027 presidential race.

Although speculation is growing, Retailleau insists he’s not abandoning his ministerial duties. “I think that if I am elected … the president of LR will strengthen the minister. And conversely, having this visibility will give strength to LR,” he remarked confidently.

His dual roles, he argues, are mutually reinforcing, enabling him to advance the party’s agenda from within the government while also shaping its future.

French conservatives in chaos after leader ousted over far-right pact

Immigration and national identity

Retailleau’s campaign – firmly focused on immigration and national identity – set a resolute tone.

He has championed tougher naturalisation rules and challenged Algeria to accept repatriations – positions that helped energise the party’s base.

However, challenges remain. The wounds from former president Éric Ciotti’s flirtation with the far-right RN are still fresh, and the relationship between Retailleau and Wauquiez – now weakened but still influential – must be carefully managed.

And not everyone in LR agrees on how their next presidential candidate should be selected, with some calling for a broad open primary stretching from Renaissance to Les Républicains.

Sudan’s army chief and de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has appointed former United Nations official Kamil Idris as the country’s new prime minister, offering a potential turning point more than two years into a devastating conflict.

Idris, a seasoned diplomat and former presidential contender, previously led the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization. He also represented Sudan at the UN through its permanent mission, bringing a wealth of international experience to his new role.

A statement from the country’s ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council confirmed the appointment, reading: “The chairman of the Sovereignty Council issued a constitutional decree appointing Kamil El-Tayeb Idris Abdelhafiz as Prime Minister”.

International Court of Justice throws out Sudan genocide case against UAE

Humanitarian crisis

Idris is no stranger to Sudanese politics. In 2010, he stood in the presidential election against long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir, a figure synonymous with decades of Islamist-military dominance.

His appointment comes as Sudan continues to reel from a civil war that erupted in April 2023 between Burhan’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has caused immense human suffering, with tens of thousands killed and an estimated 13 million people displaced.

The United Nations has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Sudan’s paramilitary chief declares rival government as war enters third year

A country divided

Idris takes over from veteran diplomat Dafallah al-Haj Ali, who served as acting prime minister for less than three weeks after being appointed in late April.

Burhan had earlier pledged to establish a technocratic wartime government to “complete what remains of our military objectives, which is liberating Sudan from these rebels.”.

In a counter-move, the RSF announced plans to form its own government in April, shortly after signing a charter in Kenya with a coalition of military and political allies.

The announcement has fuelled concerns among international observers that Sudan could face permanent fragmentation.

The country is already effectively split: the army controls the north, east and central regions, while the RSF and its partners hold sway over most of Darfur and parts of the south.

Near complete official results showed Montenegro‘s centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) had boosted its tally in the 230-seat parliament to 89 in Sunday’s poll, short of the 116 seats required for a ruling majority.

Chega, led by former television sports commentator Andre Ventura, and the Socialist Party (PS) tied in second place with 58 seats each.

There are still four seats left to be assigned representing Portuguese who live abroad.

Ventura said he was confident Chega would pick up a couple as it did in the previous general election in 2024 to overtake the PS, making it Portugal’s main opposition party for the first time.

“We didn’t win these elections but we made history,” Ventura told his supporters, who chanted “Portugal is ours and it always will be”.

“The system of two-party rule in Portugal is over,” he claimed.

Even with the backing of the recently formed business-friendly party Liberal Initiative (IL), which won nine seats, the AD would still need the support of Chega or the PS to pass legislation.

But Montenegro, 52, a lawyer by profession, has refused any alliance with anti-establishment, far-right Chega, saying it is “unreliable” and “not suited to governing”.

His previous minority AD government was able to pass a budget because the PS abstained in key votes in parliament.

However, relations between Portugal‘s two mainstream parties have soured during the campaign and it is unclear if a weakened PS — which had its lowest score in decades, losing 20 seats — will be willing to allow the centre-right to govern this time around.

Little incentive to cooperate

Montenegro said he expected a “sense of state, a sense of responsibility” from other parties so he could “continue to work”.

But Portugal will stay in campaign mode, with local elections later this year and a presidential election in January.

This could reduce the incentive for parties to cooperate while they focus on highlighting their differences to sway voters.

Montenegro will be shielded from the threat of fresh polls in the near future since the constitution prohibits snap elections within six months of a vote, as well as during the final six months of a presidential term.

Sunday’s election — Portugal’s third in three years – was triggered when Montenegro lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in March after less than a year in power.

He called for the confidence vote following allegations of conflicts of interest related to his family’s consultancy business, which has several clients holding government contracts.

Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing, saying he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the firm.

“It is not clear that there will be increased governability following these results,” University of Lisbon political scientist Marina Costa Lobo told AFP;

She said Chega was “the big winner of the night”.

Support for Chega has grown in every general election since the party was founded by Ventura in 2019, advocating tougher sentences for criminals and restrictions on immigration.

It won 1.3 percent of the vote in a general election in 2019, the year it was founded, giving it a seat in parliament.

That was the first time an extreme-right party had been represented in Portugal’s parliament since a coup in 1974 toppled a decades-long far-right dictatorship.

Chega became the third-largest force in parliament in the next general election in 2022.

It quadrupled its parliamentary seats last year to 50, cementing its place in Portugal’s political landscape and mirroring gains by extreme-right parties in other parts of Europe.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has made a strong appeal to Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza, calling for an “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of assistance to the besieged Palestinian territory.

His statement on Sunday followed Israel’s announcement that it would permit only a “basic amount” of aid to enter the Strip, where conditions have deteriorated significantly since the imposition of a blockade in early March.

“After three months of diplomatic efforts, the Israeli government finally announces the reopening of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Barrot wrote on social media platform X. “It must be immediate, massive and unhampered. It must put an end to the catastrophic humanitarian situation and definitively end the famine”.

European and Arab leaders call on Israel to stop the attacks in Gaza

Israel expands ground operations

Israel’s announcement came hours after its military began expanded ground operations across northern and southern Gaza, and amid renewed indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that the limited aid entry was intended to prevent a full-blown hunger crisis, though the move falls far short of international demands.

Since the blockade began on 2 March, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached crisis levels.

United Nations agencies, Gaza’s health ministry, and multiple foreign governments have warned of famine, with growing shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.

According to Gaza health officials, 57 children have already died due to starvation – a number that is expected to rise.

France urges EU to reassess Israel trade partnership over Gaza rights abuses

‘Collective punishment’

Netanyahu’s government has insisted that the blockade aims to exert pressure on Hamas and prevent the militant group from seizing humanitarian aid.

However, critics argue that the continued restrictions amount to collective punishment and exacerbate civilian suffering.

Barrot’s statement underscores France’s increasing impatience with Israel’s stance, reflecting broader international frustration as eports from Gaza describe extensive airstrikes, displacement, and mounting casualties.

On Sunday alone, over 50 Palestinians were reported killed, including 22 in an attack on tents sheltering displaced families in Al-Mawasi.

Survivors described harrowing scenes, with entire families wiped out.

France blasts Israel’s Gaza offensive, condemns civilian displacement ‘very strongly’

Talks remain deadlocked

Meanwhile, diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict remain deadlocked as Israel insists on Hamas’ total disarmament and the release of hostages as prerequisites for any ceasefire.

Hamas, for its part, has expressed willingness to release all hostages in exchange for a comprehensive, permanent ceasefire – an offer Israel has yet to accept.

While negotiations continue in Doha, with involvement from Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, hopes for a breakthrough remain slim.

On the ground, Israeli forces are intensifying their operations, with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stating the military would provide “flexibility” to support any potential hostage deal.

The vote was seen as crucial for the direction of the EU and NATO member bordering war-torn Ukraine.

The ballot came five months after Romania’s constitutional court annulled an election over allegations of Russian interference and a massive social media promotion of the far-right frontrunner, who was not allowed to stand again.

Dan, who campaigned for an “honest” Romania, gained more than 54 percent of the vote, while US President Donald Trump admirer Simion secured close to 46 percent, according to near complete results.

Turnout was close to 65 percent, compared to 53 percent for the May 4 first round, in which Simion was the leading candidate.

Both candidates claimed victory.

Dan, 55, told jubilant supporters gathered in a Bucharest park that Romania’s “reconstruction” would begin on Monday, calling it “a moment of hope”.

“In today’s elections a community of Romanians who want a profound change in Romania won,” Dan said.

Far-right leader Simion, 38, said “I am the new president of Romania,” as he addressed cheering supporters in front of parliament.

He called on people at polling stations “not to allow any electoral fraud”.

‘Hallmarks of Russian interference’

Romania’s government said it had detected a “viral campaign of fake news” bearing the “hallmarks of Russian interference” after the founder of the Telegram platform, Pavel Durov, indicated that France had asked for Romanian conservative voices to be silenced.

France’s foreign ministry said it “categorically” rejected Durov’s allegations.

Simion and Dan both campaigned on a platform of change in the country of 19 million amid anger over politicians deemed corrupt who have ruled one of the EU’s poorest countries since the end of communism 35 years ago.

“I voted thinking about a better life,” Catalin Birca, 57, a pensioner in Bucharest, told AFP, adding that he wanted his country to remain pro-European.

“What are we doing otherwise? Going back to where we started from?” he added.

Dan has promised a country that is “honest”.

Pledging to put “Romania first”, Simion had vowed to “restore the dignity of the Romanian people.

He criticised what he called the EU’s “absurd policies” and proposed cutting military aid to Ukraine.

The president has significant sway in foreign policy, including holding veto power at EU summits.

‘Georgescu for president’

Simion voted in Mogosoaia, just outside Bucharest, together with far-right Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu was the front-runner in last year’s cancelled presidential election and was barred from taking part in the rerun.

As the duo arrived, dozens of people, some holding flowers, shouted: “Calin Georgescu for president.”

The election campaign took place in a tense atmosphere.

The cancellation of last year’s vote and subsequent barring of Georgescu drew tens of thousands onto the streets to protest in sometimes violent rallies.

Top US officials also criticised the decision to scrap last year’s ballot.

The surprise resignation last week of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the collapse of his pro-European government coalition — after their candidate failed to make the runoff vote — further raised the stakes.

The new president will have the power to appoint a new prime minister and Simion’s nationalist AUR party could enter government after negotiations on the formation of a new parliamentary majority.

The election turmoil has increased economic uncertainty in the EU’s most indebted country, which has grappled with high inflation.

“The stakes of these elections are huge because there is widespread chaos in Romania right now after the annulment,” voter Runa Petringenaru told AFP.

Upon hearing the news that the PKK was ending its war and disarming, Kurds danced in the streets of the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. The region bore the brunt of the brutal conflict, with the overwhelming majority of those killed being civilians, and millions more displaced.

From armed struggle to political arena

“It is a historic moment. This conflict has been going on for almost half a century,” declared Aslı Aydıntaşbaş of the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

“And for them [the PKK] to say that the period of armed struggle is over and that they are going to transition to a major political struggle is very important.”

The PKK, designated as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and most of Turkey’s Western allies, launched its armed struggle in 1984 for Kurdish rights and independence. At the time, Turkey was ruled by the military, which did not even acknowledge the existence of Kurds, referring to them as “Mountain Turks.”

Nearly fifty years later, however, Turkey is a different place. The third-largest parliamentary party is the pro-Kurdish Dem Party. In its declaration ending its armed struggle and announcing its dissolution, the PKK stated that there is now space in Turkey to pursue its goals through political means.

However, military realities are thought to be behind the PKK’s decision to end its campaign. “From a technical and military point of view, the PKK lost,” observed Aydın Selcan, a former senior Turkish diplomat who served in the region.

“For almost ten years, there have been no armed attacks by the PKK inside Turkey because they are no longer capable of doing so. And in the northern half of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, there is now almost no PKK presence,” added Selcan.

Selcan also claims the PKK could be seeking to consolidate its military gains in Syria. “For the first time in history, the PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG, has begun administering a region. So it’s important for the organisation to preserve that administration.

“They’ve rebranded themselves as a political organisation.” Turkish forces have repeatedly launched military operations in Syria against the YPG. However, the Syrian Kurdish forces have reached a tentative agreement with Damascus’s new rulers—whom Ankara supports.

Kurdish leader Ocalan calls for PKK disarmament, paving way for peace

 Erdoğan’s high-stakes gamble

For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is trailing in opinion polls and facing growing protests over the arrest of his main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, on alleged corruption charges, this could be a golden opportunity. “This is a win for Erdoğan, no doubt,” claimed analyst Aydıntaşbaş.

Along with favourable headlines, the PKK’s peace announcement offers a solution to a major political headache for Erdoğan. The Turkish president wants to amend the constitution to remove term limits, allowing him to run again for the presidency.

The pro-Kurdish Dem Party holds the parliamentary votes Erdoğan needs. “Yes, Erdoğan, of course, will be negotiating with Kurds for constitutional changes,” said Aydıntaşbaş.

“Now we are entering a very transactional period in Turkish politics. Instead of repressing Kurds, it’s going to be about negotiating with them. And it may persuade the pro-Kurdish faction—which forms the third-largest bloc in Turkish politics—to peel away from the opposition camp,” added Aydıntaşbaş.

However, Aydıntaşbaş warns that Erdoğan will need to convince his voter base, which remains sceptical of any peace process with the PKK. According to a recent opinion poll, three out of four respondents opposed the peace process, with a majority of Erdoğan’s AK Party supporters against it.

For decades, the PKK has been portrayed in Turkey as a brutal terrorist organisation, and its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, is routinely referred to by politicians and much of the media as “the baby killer.” Critics argue the government has failed to adequately prepare the public for peace.

“In peace processes around the world, we see a strong emphasis on convincing society,” observed Sezin Öney, a political commentator at Turkey’s PolitikYol news portal. “There are reconciliation processes, truth commissions, etc., all designed to gain public support. But in our case, it’s like surgery without anaesthesia—an operation begun without any sedatives,” added Öney.

Turkey looks for regional help in its battle against Kurdish rebels in Iraq

Political concessions?

Public pressure on Erdoğan is expected to grow, as the PKK and Kurdish political leaders demand concessions to facilitate the peace and disarmament process.

“In the next few months, the government is, first of all, expected to change the prison conditions of Öcalan,” explained Professor Mesut Yeğen of the Istanbul-based Reform Institute.

“The second expectation is the release of those in poor health who are currently in jail. And for the disarmament process to proceed smoothly, there should be an amnesty or a reduction in sentences, allowing PKK convicts in Turkish prisons to be freed and ensuring that returning PKK militants are not imprisoned,” Yeğen added.

Yeğen claimed that tens of thousands of political prisoners may need to be released, along with the reinstatement of Dem Party mayors who were removed from office under anti-terrorism legislation.

Turkey’s Saturday Mothers keep up vigil for lost relatives

Erdoğan has ruled out any concessions until the PKK disarms, but has said that “good things” will follow disarmament. Meanwhile, the main opposition CHP Party, while welcoming the peace initiative, insists that any democratic reforms directed at the Kurdish minority must be extended to wider society—starting with the release of İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s chief political rival.

While the peace process is widely seen as a political victory for Erdoğan, it could yet become a liability for the president, who risks being caught between a sceptical voter base and an impatient Kurdish population demanding concessions.

The impact of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is being felt far beyond US borders. Observers say this ripple effect can be seen across Europe, not just in policy but in the continent’s political culture itself.

For Dr Célia Belin of the European Council on Foreign Relations, the stakes are nothing less than the future of European liberal democracy.

In her latest ECFR report, MAGA Goes Global: Trump’s Plan for Europe, Belin warns that what might appear to be chaotic decisions from the Oval Office are, in fact, part of an ideological project.

“There’s actually a strong direction, a clear destination,” Belin told RFI. “Trump, surrounded by loyalists and MAGA Republicans, is ready to implement his plan – to push back on liberal democracy, and to push back on Europe.”

According to her, he sees Europe as “an extension of his political enemies – liberals and progressives” and views its institutions as bureaucratic hurdles rather than allies in global leadership.

Culture wars without borders

Trump’s administration – bolstered by figures including Vice President JD Vance and media mogul Elon Musk – has also made overtures to Europe’s far right.

They have voiced support for Germany’s far-right AfD party and France’s Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, including on Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) – helping to disseminate nationalist and populist rhetoric across the continent.

“We’re seeing a systematic attack on the liberal model that Europe represents,” said Belin. “This ‘Trumpian wave’ has fired up nationalist opposition in Europe, even if it hasn’t created a united front.”

‘Free Le Pen’: US conservatives rally behind French far-right leader

Non merci to MAGA

However, some of the European political parties that share Trump’s scepticism of liberal institutions are treading carefully when it comes to embracing his brand of politics.

While leaders such as Viktor Orbán in Hungary openly welcome MAGA-style backing, others see it as a double-edged sword.

Following her recent legal conviction, Le Pen received support from MAGA-aligned figures. But her party responded with conspicuous silence.

“They don’t want or need this Trumpian support,” Belin noted. “Their political strategy is not about aligning with MAGA America – it’s more French, more sovereignist.”

Embracing Trump too openly could risk undermining years of effort to mainstream the National Rally’s image. “Nationalists are realising that now – it brings fuel to the fire, yes, but it also complicates their own domestic positioning,” said Belin.

Trump’s first 100 days: Revolution or destruction? The view from France

Europe responds

French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first European leaders to sound the alarm on the changing nature of the US-European alliance. 

“I want to believe that the United States will stay by our side but we have to be prepared for that not to be the case,” he said in a televised address to the nation in March.

I January, in a speech to French ambassadors, he said: “Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz followed suit, criticising Musk’s decision to give the AfD a platform just weeks before Germany’s federal elections.

However, Belin points out that the European response is still taking shape. “It’s brand new as a phenomenon,” she said. “Europeans were prepared to be challenged on trade, on security – even on Ukraine. But this cultural challenge is unprecedented.”

Meloni positions herself as Europe’s ‘trump card’ on visit to White House

Still, as Belin notes, Trumpism is not a winning formula everywhere. “Turning fully Trumpist would derail Marine Le Pen’s strategy. It’s not a winning strategy in France,” she said. “But in more insurgent political systems, it might be.”

And there is concern too that Trumpism could outlive Trump himself.

“There’s been a transformation in the perception of America’s global role,” Belin said. “And that will stick around. It will be pushed by some of the nationalist parties in our countries. That is the Trumpist legacy”.

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” and 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: Brother 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 Brother 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 19 April, I asked you a question about Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel Prize-winning author from Peru. You were to re-read Paul Myers’ article “Nobel prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa dies aged 89”, and send in the answers to these questions: In which year did Llosa win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and what did the Nobel Committee write about his work?

The answer is, to quote Paul’s article: “His Nobel Prize in 2010 came 51 years after The Cubs and Other Stories. The Nobel committee said the accolade was an award for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, “What are the obstacles that impede your happiness?”, which was an idea from Erwan Rome, who suggested we look at the philosophy questions asked on the French baccalaureate exams, the French leaving-school exam. This one was for the 2018 students.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Father Stephen Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon. Father Steve is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Father Stephen,on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Samir Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal, India – who noted Vargas is one of his favorite Latin American writers; Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh; Niyar Talukdar from Maharashtra, India, and last but not least, RFI English listener Tanjim Tatini from Munshiganj, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “En route à Bengal” inspired by traditional Bengali folk music, arranged and performed by the Hamelin Instrumental Band; Traditional Peruvian Cumbia; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “The Loud Minority” by Frank Foster, performed by the the Loud Minority Big Band.

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 Ollia Horton’s article “Ukraine, Gaza and #MeToo in the spotlight as Cannes Film Festival opens”, which will help you with the answer.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 12 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.   

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.