United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 27 May ordered embassies and consulates to pause scheduling appointments for foreign student visas, pending new guidelines on vetting applicants’ social media activity – to be issued in the “coming days”.

Rubio has also revoked visas from students who led demonstrations critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, under a law that allows the removal of individuals deemed to go against US foreign policy interests.

These moves come as part of a wider slew of unprecedented actions by Trump over the past few months against international students, which experts warn are likely to decrease enrolment in US institutions and could trigger a brain drain.

They also come despite Trump’s proposals on the campaign trail last year to automatically give US residency cards to international students when they earn their diplomas, bemoaning that these graduates were leaving the US to build successful companies in China and India.

‘I have an opinion on things’

“What worries me most is not so much not having my visa, but that it will be revoked during the year,” Hadrien Coccoluto-Roussel, a second-year student at Sciences Po Paris, who is due to study in Washington next year, told French news agency AFP.

“We’ve seen students and researchers arrested and expelled… without any real reason, without any real access to the rights of defence,” said the 19-year-old, who has previously participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

He says that if he had anticipated a political offensive in the US against foreign students, he would not have requested it as the destination for his academic year abroad – a mandatory part of his course.

French pro-Palestine student protests not just a mirror of US

Martin, a student at Essec Business School, near Paris, has been accepted to a master’s programme at the Ivy League school Columbia University, in New York.

Although he would find it hard to give up his “American dream,” recent events have prompted him to ask himself whether he should. 

“I’m still politicised, I have an opinion on things,” he said, adding that the idea of living in a country that “muzzles freedom of expression” worries him a lot.

Sciences Po, one of France’s most prestigious high education institutes, which specialises in social and political sciences, told AFP that its management is working “on all possible scenarios based on the status of the students concerned”.

In 2023, 8,543 French students went to study in the US – up 24 percent compared to 1999 – according to the Open Doors report by the US-based Institute of International Education (IIE).

Harvard in the firing line

Over the past week, the Trump administration has sought to bar all foreign students from Harvard University.

The court filing gave Harvard 30 days to produce evidence showing why it should not be blocked from hosting and enrolling foreign students – who made up 27 percent of its student body in the 2024-25 academic year.

Trump’s first 100 days: Trade, diplomacy and walking the transatlantic tightrope

The White House has also stripped Harvard, among other elite institutions, of federal funding for research.

Harvard is the wealthiest university in the US, with an endowment valued at $53.2 billion (€46.7 billion) in 2024.

Trump has claimed the university is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.

China ‘agressively’ targeted

On 28 May, Rubio heaped pressure on China, saying Washington will “aggressively revoke visas” for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

Beijing reacted in fury at the announcement, describing Trump’s crackdown on international scholars as “political and discriminatory”.

Young Chinese people have long been crucial to US universities, which rely on international students paying full tuition.

China sent 277,398 students to the US in the 2023-24 academic year – although for the first time more Chinese students went to India than the US, according to a State Department-backed report of the IIE.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing had lodged its opposition with Washington.

Contingency plans

In light of the uncertainty, international schools and organisations have begun preparing contingency plans.

Jean-Bernard Adrey, director of TJ Global Services, an international education consulting agency which establishes partnerships between European and American universities, urged his contacts “not to panic” for the time being.

He said there is plenty of time left before the start of the next academic year in the US and that he hoped the problem will be resolved by then.

He added, however, that these “anxiety-inducing” decisions for students and their families risk tarnishing the reputation of American universities in the longer term and encouraging young people to turn to other destinations, such as the United Kingdom or Canada.

First US ‘refugee scientists’ to arrive in France in weeks, university says

The French Minister of Higher Education Philippe Baptiste also sought to reassure French and European students, promising “fallback solutions” for those who had planned to study in the United States next year and were unable to obtain a visa.

Meanwhile, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce encouraged prospective students to continue seeking visa appointments and said: “I would not be recommending that if this was going to be weeks or months.”

On the legal front, US judge Allison Burroughs said on 30 May that she would issue a preliminary injunction that “gives some protection” to international students, while the legality of Trump’s decision is debated.

(with newswires)

In a marked departure from Germany’s stance on defence, Merz this week announced that Berlin will help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems – free from the restrictions that have limited Western-supplied weaponry.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, Merz declared that Germany would “strive to equip the Ukrainian army with all the capabilities that truly enable it to successfully defend the country”.

This includes boosting domestic Ukrainian missile production – without the constraints on range and targeting that have dogged Western weapons shipments.

A turning point

Until now, many of the advanced systems delivered to Ukraine have come with caveats, reflecting fears that strikes deep inside Russian territory could provoke direct retaliation and potentially pull NATO into open conflict.

Merz’s pledge marks a significant turning point. By backing Ukraine’s independent missile development, Germany is not only bolstering Kyiv’s self-reliance – it’s also the first time a German leader has so directly supported the development of Ukrainian weapons with no operational strings attached, and marks a sharp escalation in German military support.

“Ukraine will be able to fully defend itself, including against military targets outside its own territory,” Merz said.

France and Germany to launch new security council amid Ukraine war

However, Berlin’s continued refusal to supply Kyiv with its powerful Taurus long-range cruise missiles remains a sore point.

The Taurus system has long been on Ukraine’s wish list, and Merz’s own party colleagues – including senior CDU member Roderich Kiesewetter – voiced disappointment at the lack of clarity.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Kiesewetter wrote: “There is no sign of Germany finally delivering Taurus cruise missiles, because I still see no unity in the coalition and no political will to respond appropriately and with strength and consistency to Russia’s massive escalation … Such statements are therefore not helpful overall because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia.”

Still, Merz’s initiative may offer a strategic workaround: if Ukraine can build its own systems with German backing, the issue of direct exports may become less urgent, as the focus shifts from short-term shipments to long-term defence capacity – exactly what Zelensky has been asking for.

Europe tightens sanctions on Russia as pressure builds on Washington

Germany is already Europe’s biggest individual supplier of military aid to Ukraine, second globally only to the United States.

Merz’s move aligns Germany more closely with the stance taken by Washington, especially after last year’s decision by then-President Joe Biden to allow limited Ukrainian strikes into Russia using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

This comes as the Trump administration notified Congress of a planned $50 million arms sale to Ukraine following a new US-Ukraine minerals deal, signed at the end of April.

Russia slams missile pledge

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticised Germany’s missile production pledge as a threat to peace negotiations. He was quoted by Russian news agency Interfax as saying: “These potential decisions, if indeed such decisions have taken place, are absolutely contrary to our aspirations to reach a political settlement.”

At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has extended an invitation for direct peace talks in Istanbul on 2 June – an offer Ukraine says is undermined by Moscow’s continued military escalation and the lack of a concrete negotiating framework.

On 29 May, Zelensky accused Russia of stalling peace talks by failing to deliver a promised negotiations memorandum ahead of the proposed meeting in Istanbul.

While diplomatic manoeuvres continue, however, the war on the ground is intensifying.

Last weekend, Russia launched its largest drone attack to date, while Ukraine’s own growing drone fleet continues to strike deep into Russian territory.

Zelensky has repeatedly emphasised the need for sustained defence investment, urging European nations to help build up Ukraine’s domestic capabilities – from drones to cruise missiles and beyond.

The new ban, which will enter into force on 1 July, will cover all spaces where children could be present, including “beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues”, the minister Catherine Vautrin said on Thursday.

“Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.

The freedom to smoke “stops where children‘s right to breathe clean air starts,” she said.

The ban will also extend to schools, to stop students smoking in front of them.

Offenders face a fine of up to 135 euros, Vautrin said.

Cafe terraces escape ban 

The ban will not extend to France’s iconic cafe terraces however, the minister said.

Electronic cigarettes, which have boomed in France in recent years, are also not covered.

France already forbids smoking in public spaces such as workplaces, airports and train stations, as well as playgrounds.

Anti-smoking groups had been fighting for a broader ban.

The fight over vaping: Lobbyists, campaigners clash before summit

An estimated 23 percent of France’s population are daily smokers, according to the latest official figures, the lowest rate since the late 1990s). The average rate worldwide is 21 percent, according to the World Health Organization.

Around 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.

A recent opinion poll showed six out of 10 French people (62 percent) favour banning smoking in public places.

France becomes second European country to ban disposable e-cigarettes

‘Tobacco-free generation’ 

The government’s National Anti-Tobacco Programme for 2023 to 2027 proposed a smoking ban similar to the one announced by Vautrin, calling France to “rise to the challenge of a tobacco-free generation from 2032”.

But anti-tobacco organisations had voiced concern the authorities were dragging their feet on implementing the measures.

More than 1,500 cities and villages had already imposed their own bans on smoking in public spaces such as parks, beaches and ski slopes.

Vautrin said there were no plans to place additional taxes on cigarettes “at the moment”, citing the thriving black market that emerged after existing taxes were introduced in a bid to discourage smoking.

(with AFP)

Officially opened on Wednesday 28 May in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan, the exchange began formal trading on Friday, with the aim of bringing transparency, structure, and improved income to the region’s agricultural producers.

The exchange’s symbolic launch was swift and promising: in just ten minutes, 89 tonnes of goods were traded, valued at nearly 31 million CFA francs – just under €50,000.

For now, the platform lists three key products – raw cashew nuts, cola nuts, and maize – chosen for their strategic importance to the national economy.

To mark the launch this week, the West African Economic and Monetary Union posted on X that the exchange “marks an historic turning point for the Ivorian agricultural sector.”

Transparent, regulated marketplace

The BMPA replaces informal trading practices with a regulated platform that reflects real-time supply and demand dynamics.

Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s top producer of both raw cashews and cola nuts, with over 1 million tonnes of cashews and 250,000 tonnes of cola nuts produced annually.

Maize also plays a central role in domestic food security.

Farmers deliver their crops to approved warehouses near production areas and receive warehouse receipts, which serve as transaction documents on the exchange.

Speaking to RFI, Raoul-Alex Zouzou, head of African Commodities Brokerage House (ACBH), explained: “With this receipt, producers will come and meet brokers to sell their produce online.”

“From the exchange platform, the broker – who is also in contact with manufacturers, processors and exporters – will offer these products to buyers.”

This system aims to stabilise seasonal supply fluctuations, especially in crops like cashews.

“Cashew nut production takes place over a short period,” Beh Soro told RFI, who heads the Ivorian inter-professional cashew nut organisation.

“As a result, we have an abundance during the harvest period. Capturing the stock during a period of abundance allows us to regulate the market and therefore sell later, when demand is more attractive for producers.”

How drones are transforming agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire

Infrastructure and operation

The BMPA is underpinned by certified warehousing regulations, overseen by the Warehouse Receipt Regulatory Authority (ARRE), offering a total storage capacity of 500,000 tonnes.

Financial transactions are managed by the National Investment Bank, acting under an affiliated Agricultural Settlement Bank.

Trading sessions are held Monday to Friday – from 10 am to midday GMT – with price changes per session limited at 10 to 15 percent, as a safeguard against market volatility.

Authorised brokers include West Africa Commodities Market, Raw Material Trading, and the ACBH, with participants ranging from smallholder farmers and cooperatives to exporters and investors.

African agriculture economies ‘bright spot’ in disappointing global economy

A regional milestone

The BMPA is not only a national achievement for Cote d’Ivoire, but a regional first within the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

It joins about 15 commodity exchanges across Africa – including those in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya.

Globally, there are approximately 125 exchanges, with South Africa’s being the largest, trading over €72 billion annually.

By providing transparent pricing, better access to markets, and a formal platform for transactions, the BMPA hopes to reduce dependency on international price-setting hubs like London or Kuala Lumpur and improve farmer incomes.

Challenges remain, however, including limited infrastructure, finance access, and awareness among stakeholders.

Yet the BMPA is a bold step forward – part of a broader strategy to modernise agriculture and empower local producers through market inclusion and economic resilience.

(This article was adapted from an original report on RFI’s French service)

“The humanitarian blockade is creating an untenable situation on the ground,” Macron said on Friday in Singapore, on the last day of an official visit to southeast Asia.

“If there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position,” Macron said, adding that France may consider applying sanctions against Israeli settlers.

On Thursday, Israel announced it would create 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank accelerating its ongoing expansion into the Palestinian territory. The settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Macron said he still hoped Israel would “change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response”.

Israel partially ended an 11-week long aid blockade on Gaza 10 days ago. It has allowed a limited amount of relief to be delivered via two avenues –  the United Nations or the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

France pressures Israel to resume full humanitarian aid to Gaza

New ceasefire proposal

Meanwhile, a US ceasefire proposal reviewed by Reuters on Friday outlines a potential breakthrough in stalled negotiations.

The plan, guaranteed by President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, proposes a 60-day ceasefire with the release of 28 Israeli hostages – both alive and dead – in the first week, in exchange for 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and remains of 180 dead Palestinians.

Humanitarian aid would flow immediately through the UN, Red Crescent and other channels. 

The White House announced Thursday that Israel had accepted the proposal.

Hamas told Reuters it was reviewing the plan and would respond by Saturday.

Israel approved Trump’s Gaza truce plan: White House

Two-state solution

Macron also reiterated France‘s committment to working towards a political solution and support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The French leader is leaning towards recognising a Palestinian state, diplomats and experts say – a move that could infuriate Israel and deepen Western splits.

French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.

France ‘determined’ to recognise Palestinian state

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to a Hamas attack on 7 October, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

At least 54,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health authorities figures deemed credible by the UN.

(with newswires)

Ratification of the treaty’s text – first adopted in June 2023 after years of negotiations – was a “historic step towards protecting the world’s oceans and preserving the delicate balance of our planet’s ecosystem,” said Costas Kadis, the European Union oceans commissioner.

Along with the EU, Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal and Slovenia submitted their instruments of ratification to the United Nations, the European mission to the UN said in a statement.

France and Spain ratified the text earlier this year.

With the number of ratifications now standing at 29, Kadis called on all countries to follow suit – as the treaty is still far short of the 60 required for it to come into force.

Land pollution is drowning the oceans in plastic, French experts warn

Political pressure

The NGO High Seas Alliance hailed the ratifications as a “major step forward”.

But treaty supporters “need to up the political pressure to reach 60 ratifications,” its director Rebecca Hubbard said in a statement.

France is hosting the UN Ocean Conference from 9 to 13 June in Nice, and its “number one” priority is to obtain the ratifications needed, Jerome Bonnafont, the French ambassador to the UN, said this week.

France pushes for action as high seas treaty hangs in the balance

The landmark treaty aims to protect marine ecosystems, which are vital to humanity but under threat from multiple forms of pollution – in international waters covering almost half the planet.

It provides for the creation of marine protected areas where certain activities could be restricted, including fishing and mining – a move which will depend on other international organisations.

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

(with AFP)

The decrees, published in the Journal Officiel – the official government gazette, which publishes laws, decrees and regulations – revise the rules for so-called PADHUE – health professionals with non-EU medical degrees, many of whom have been working in understaffed French hospitals for years.

The move fulfils a promise made by President Emmanuel Macron in January 2024 and affects around 5,000 healthcare professionals, including doctors, midwives, dentists and pharmacists.

France admits more foreign doctors than ever before, but inequalities remain

Many of these doctors have been working in France full-time in understaffed hospitals for years, often earning a third of what their EU-trained counterparts make.

They have repeatedly criticised the existing framework as deeply inequitable.

PADHUEs have until now only been able to gain full professional recognition by passing a highly selective equivalency exam known as the EVC – a process which excluded many experienced practitioners.

“In my specialty, anyone scoring below 14.7 out of 20 was rejected,” said Redha Kettache, a PADHUE doctor who protested against this earlier this year, noting that the exam jury also awarded fewer slots than initially planned.

Less rigid system

The new process introduces a less rigid internal evaluation – including a multiple choice test and a formal opinion from the candidate’s department head, provided the practitioner has at least two years of experience working in France.

French doctors protest ‘medical desert’ reforms they say threaten independence

“This new route is for those already in place,” said Abdel Mechouar of the National Union of Non-EU Practitioners. “It’s essentially a [multiple choice questionnaire], but with input from department heads for those who meet the criteria.”

In 2024, France created 4,000 new slots for foreign-trained doctors under a standardised procedure, replacing the previous patchwork of inconsistent hospital-based rules. Of those, 3,235 candidates were accepted outright, with another 638 placed on a waiting list.

Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn was on a high-speed train in November 2022 when his phone rang. The 71-year-old retired economist had no idea he was about to join what he would later describe as “the best social experience of my life”.

The caller invited him to join France’s citizens’ convention on end-of-life care – President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to involve the public in a national conversation about assisted dying.

France’s current 2016 law allows for “deep and continuous sedation” for terminally ill patients, but assisted suicide – where a patient takes a lethal drug themselves – and euthanasia – where a third party administers it – remain illegal.

The convention was asked to answer one question: “Is the way we accompany those approaching the end of life adapted to the different situations which emerge, or do we need to introduce changes?”

Strauss-Kahn was curious to explore a topic that concerns everyone. “We’re all going to die at some stage,” he says.

He was also intrigued by the novel format. “How can you make so many people work together when they don’t know each other and they have so many different backgrounds?”

What followed was an intensive four-month process spanning 27 days of deliberation across nine weekends – backed up by online chats and virtual meetings. The participants – diverse in age, gender, region, and education level – were united by their willingness to engage.

“I met people that I might never have met or talked to before,” the retired economist and senior civil servant explains. He sat alongside people who “had difficulties understanding all the words” and needed help with some concepts.

Rather than creating division, the range of backgrounds became a strength. “The importance, the intimacy of the topic helped us to respect the views of the other, because there is no right or wrong,” he says.

Listen to a conversation with Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn in the Spotlight on France podcast

France begins citizens’ debate on end-of-life care

For and against

Another participant was 35-year-old Soline Castel, who runs a day centre for people with mental disabilities in rural Sarthe. Unlike Strauss-Kahn, who came in broadly in favour of assisted dying, Castel’s family background meant she leaned more towards opposing it.

Still, she was determined not to make up her mind in advance. “I let myself be guided by the convention to form an opinion,” she says.

Over the four months, the 184 participants sat through 60 hearings with health professionals, philosophers, lawyers and religious figures. They also heard from terminally ill patients and workers in palliative care.

By the end, their positions had crystallised in opposite directions. Strauss-Kahn became more supportive of assisted dying, calling it “the ultimate freedom”.

His conviction was strengthened by discovering the “many obstacles to be overcome”, including a lack of medicine, knowledge and information, and poor training for healthcare professionals.

“I have to confess that several times I cried,” Strauss-Kahn admits, reflecting on the testimonies he heard.

He remembers a particularly striking moment during a hearing with religious leaders from six different faiths, who all referred to the commandments “you shall not kill” and “you shall not steal”.

“A philosopher said in response: ‘When it’s your own money, you are not robbing yourself; when it’s your own life you’re not killing. It’s your own liberty to decide what you want.’ That helped me understand better the differences of views.”

‘My life, my death’: French woman battles for right to die with dignity

Castel, however, emerged “firmly opposed to any form of active assistance in dying”, believing it would be impossible to guarantee protection for vulnerable people.

“It’s extremely difficult to put sufficient safeguards in place to guarantee the safety of my fellow citizens, especially those who may be vulnerable,” she explains. “I work in the field of disability, and I’m also thinking of the elderly.”

Castel was raised a Catholic, though she does not believe faith should influence a country’s laws. However, she said the testimonies raised serious concerns about subtle pressure on elderly people from their families. They may have been influenced, she says, “but no one will know”.

Despite the 2016 law, 19 of France’s 101 administrative departments still do not have palliative care units, according to a health ministry report. Castel argues that if the existing law were properly applied, most cases would be resolved.

“Studies have shown that people who ask for help dying often do so because they are alone or in pain,” Castel says. These two factors can be resolved, she adds, while conceding there are also rare cases where no pain relief is possible.

Macron’s euthanasia bill prompts anger from health workers, church

Respecting diversity of opinion

The convention’s final recommendations reflected the range of views in the room.

A large majority – 95 percent – backed expanded palliative care. Some 76 percent supported medical assistance in dying, but only as a last resort and in strictly defined cases. Those in the 23 percent minority who opposed any form of assisted dying were given equal time to speak – a courtesy that stood in stark contrast to debates in parliament.

“At the same time, the so-called representative democracy, our elected members in parliament, were shouting and the contrast made us very proud of our respect for each other,” Strauss-Kahn notes.

He says the convention has already had an impact. A 10-year strategy for palliative care is being implemented, bringing total investment in the sector to around €6 billion by 2034. Arguments from the citizen panel – both for and against assisted dying – are now often cited by MPs and in the media.

Breathing life into death: a filmmaker’s tribute to palliative care

In a country like France, where political compromise is rare, the convention showed that deliberative democracy can handle divisive issues with nuance and respect.

Rather than seeking false consensus, the participants focused on clearly stating the arguments on both sides.

“We realised it was better to clarify any consensus, express the arguments for and against and assess how many were in favour,” Strauss-Kahn says. “We’re living through a crisis of representative democracy and the idea is not to replace representative democracy by deliberative democracy, but just to involve the citizens more as a complementary approach.”

Castel says of her minority stance: “I really felt I’d been heard. The arguments of those who were against were said, reiterated and written down.”

French citizens group in favour of allowing euthanasia, assisted suicide

Life after the assembly

Strauss-Kahn and Castel are now part of a broader group known as “The 184”, created after the convention to promote deliberative democracy and better end-of-life care. Although they disagree on assisted dying, they continue to work together to ensure the convention’s work stays part of the national debate.

The idea was also to ensure a life after the assembly. “I like to say that we thought about end of life but not the end of life of the convention,” Strauss-Kahn says. “For some people it really was a form of social inclusion.”

They are also advising the next citizens’ assembly – which will focus on school hours and children’s wellbeing – on what could be improved.

Strauss-Kahn says they are trying to improve ties with parliament, since some MPs viewed the convention as a threat. He also warns about the need to fight misinformation.

“Some were saying that up to a million people would be able to access assisted dying, this is false. We encourage the new convention to do fact-checking from the very beginning.”

Citizen panels ‘still useful’ despite disappointment after climate convention

Whether France’s lawmakers follow the convention’s recommendations or not remains to be seen, but both Strauss-Kahn and Castel are convinced the process was important.

Strauss-Kahn encourages anyone who can to take part.

“If there’s a phone call that is not clearly a commercial, take it and try to participate because it’s a unique chance in your life,” he says.

There aren’t many 136-year-old metal cylinders tucked away in Paris basements that can claim global fame.

Yet “Prototype 35” – a shimmering iridium-platinum artefact – quietly changed the course of modern life.

At just 39 millimetres high and wide, this unassuming 1 kilogram weight helped anchor the world’s understanding of mass – and with it, the uniformity of measurement that underpins everything from baking a cake to building a bridge.

This week marked the 150th anniversary of the Metre Convention, signed in Paris on 20 May, 1875 by 17 nations eager to bring order to a chaotic patchwork of global measurements.

The treaty established a universal system of units – ushering in consistency, accuracy, and international cooperation in science, industry and daily life.

As the French national metrology institute posted in celebration on X: “This international convention laid the foundations for scientific cooperation to harmonise measurements across the world”.

Revolutionary beginnings

Before the Convention, the world was a confusing place.

A pound of wheat in Marseille didn’t weigh the same as one in Brest, and a yard in one city might be a foot in another.

The French Revolution, with its rallying cry for equality, prompted scientists to invent the metric system, based not on arbitrary traditions but on nature itself, with the metre originally defined as a fraction of Earth’s meridian.

Louis de Broglie’s quantum leap that changed physics forever

What began as a revolutionary idea soon gained traction beyond France. The 1875 Convention established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and marked the beginning of a truly global system.

Today, more than 150 countries use the International System of Units, which comprises seven base measurements: the metre, kilogram, second, kelvin, candela, ampere and mole.

Far from being stuck in the past, this system is constantly evolving.

Gone are the days of relying on physical objects such as Prototype 35 as ultimate standards. Instead, modern definitions rest on fundamental constants of nature. The metre, for example, is now linked to the speed of light and the kilogram to Planck’s constant, a cornerstone of quantum physics.

International cooperation

These definitions require practical application, and that’s where national metrology institutes such as France’s LNE come in.

At its laboratory in Paris, scientists including Florian Beaudoux meticulously calibrate masses, lasers and gauge blocks, ensuring precision across industries. “Even a microscopic miscalculation can affect everything from engineering to medicine,” he explained to French news agency AFP.

Their work ensures that a litre of petrol in Lyon matches one in Lagos, that an aircraft part built in Toulouse fits seamlessly with another from Hamburg, and that a blood test result is identical whether processed in Tokyo or Toronto.

Towering Scientists: Foucault’s pendulum and Earth’s rotation

International cooperation is at the heart of what they do. As Maguelonne Chambon, director of research at LNE, said: “We need to compare ourselves, understand differences and agree on how to resolve them.”

With climate, altitude and even gravity varying across the globe, collaboration is not a luxury but a necessity.

(with newswires)

The annual Prix Angénieux prize, now in its 12th year, was established to bring image experts – without whom cinema would not exist – into focus. 

Many films released recently have benefited from the high-quality lenses made by the French company, named after Pierre Angénieux, who founded it 90 years ago. 

These include the 2024 Palme d’Or winner Anora by Sean Baker, and Jury Prize Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard, among many others.

The 2025 recipients are Australia’s Dion Beebe, who won the Prix Angénieux tribute award and South Korea’s Eunsoo Cho, who won the Prix Angénieux Encouragement Award. 

They were invited to the Cannes Film Festival to attend an award ceremony and a gala dinner on Friday.

Known for stylised, highly saturated colour palettes and an experimental approach to high-speed digital video, Beebe has collaborated with top names in Hollywood from Jane Campion (Holy Smoke) to Michael Mann (Collateral and Miami Vice). 

One of his key artistic partnerships over the years has been with American director Rob Marshall, who he credits with having “taught” him so much about camera work and the “language of movement”.  

Postcard from Cannes #4: Call for music prize as Desplat and del Toro talk synergy

Their first project together was the film musical Chicago, released in 2002.

It was the first musical in 34 years to win the Academy Award for Best Movie, along with awards for Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and four technical Academy awards. 

“Rob is an amazing storyteller and has a wonderful sense showmanship and spectacle,” Beebe tells RFI in Cannes. 

Language of movement

“Every time an actor walks in a room and the camera is in the room with them, there’s choreography. The movement for him is crucial. When actors pick something up, he looks at the height of that table they pick it up from, because that affects movement.”

When asked about how he works with actors, he said that is an important part of the cinematographer’s work. 

“Protecting and looking after the actors is really such an important part of the cinematographer’s role. There really has to be a lot of trust,” Beebe told RFI. 

He recounts the rumours about working with a “difficult” Christian Bale, with whom he worked on Equilibrium by Kurt Wimmer (2002). 

Compassion

He says that more compassion is needed on set to help the actor get to “a vulnerable place” in order to be convincing in their role. 

“The truth is for an actor in a role, it’s incredibly tough to create this sort of belief that you’re in their world. Everything we see, of course, as the viewer, as the cinematographer is the perfect view of this movie, but what the actor sees is just a mess. It’s not as immersive as we might think for the actor.”

Tom Cruise returns to Cannes with Mission Impossible finale

Winner of numerous awards over the past thirty years; he received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and a BAFTA in the same category for his work on Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006. 

He is currently finishing a film with Antoine Fuqua, Michael, a biopic about Michael Jackson. 

Eunsoo Cho is a graduate of the Korean National University of Arts and the University Of Southern California School Of Cinematic Arts.

She has shot numerous fiction and documentary shorts in Africa, Asia, and North America. 

Inspired by Tim Burton growing up – she says she decided to be a cinematographer because she wanted to “have the director’s ear”.  

“I didn’t know what they really did besides standing behind the cameras. Later on, I gradually learned what it is and it was even more fascinating,” she told RFI. 

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Although animal documentaries were her first preference, she has loved filming people and helping them tell their stories, such as her most recent project – The Last of the Sea Women – by Sue Kim (2024). It profiles the Haenyeo, a community of female divers on South Korea’s Jeju Island who have harvested seafood without oxygen tanks for centuries. 

Her work beside acclaimed documentary cinematographer Iris Ng for this film won the Best Cinematography award at the 9th Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. 

‘Art of emptiness’

For her, cinematographers are the “shadows that complete the existence” of a film – always present but never seen. 

She says that her Korean cultural heritage has guided her in her filmmaking approach, particularly when it comes to using space. 

“I’m not sure I can speak for Koreans or Korean culture in general but I think we naturally try to do less. We don’t try to fill every corner and every space,” Cho says, adding this is concept comes from Korean paintings. 

“I try to do less. I try not to use many lights. I try not to use many objects in the frame. I try to concentrate on a few and emphasise them.”

Cho’s encouragement prize includes a special endowment allowing her to use optimal Angénieux technologies to capture the images of her next project, which is about to be signed off – but for now – Mum’s the word.

Insee, France’s national statistics agency, examined migration trends between 2006 and 2023. The number of people moving to France rose steadily in that period – from 234,000 in 2006 to 347,000 in 2023.

The research also found that for the first time, Africa has overtaken Europe as the main region of origin for people immigrating to France – with 45 percent of new arrivals in 2023 coming from African countries.

Half of those were from the Maghreb – North African countries such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The rest were mostly from the Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

European immigration, once dominant, has fallen sharply.

Insee data shows that in 2006, 44 percent of immigrants came from Europe. By 2023, that number had dropped to 28 percent.

There has also been a slight shift in the gender balance, with Insee finding that women made up 53 percent of new arrivals in 2006. In 2023, they made up 51 percent.

France accused of failing migrant teens trapped in legal limbo

More diplomas

The biggest change observed was in education levels. Among immigrants aged 25 and over, 52 percent had a diploma in 2023 – up from 41 percent in 2006.

The share of those arriving without any qualifications also fell, dropping from 30 percent in 2003 to 22 percent in 2023. Insee included the 2003 figure to provide a longer-term comparison beyond the 2006 baseline used elsewhere in the study.

The strongest gains were seen among African immigrants.

In 2006, fewer than one in three held a higher education diploma. By 2023, that figure had risen to one in two.

One in three immigrants was able to find work within a year of arriving in France. Europeans were the most likely to enter the workforce quickly, with more than half employed within 12 months of arrival.

This article was adapted from the original version in French.

Despite the thousands of languages, just 20 or so dominate the global linguistic landscape. Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, Javanese, German, Wu, Korean, French, Telugu, Marathi, Turkish, Tamil, Vietnamese and Urdu are the mother tongues of more than 3 billion people.

The vast majority of languages on Earth – 95 percent – are actually spoken by just 5 percent of the world’s population. And these are the ones that are in danger – threatened with extinction because they are often based solely on oral tradition and struggle to spread or survive beyond their region or ethnic group of origin.

The most alarming studies say that a language disappears every fortnight, while others, more measured, estimate it to be one every three months.

Unesco, the UN agency for culture and education, estimates that if nothing is done, half of all languages could vanish by 2100.

This warning comes from its World Atlas of Languages. The atlas is based on data from national governments, universities and language communities. It shows the type, structure, situation and usage of every known language.

The scale of the problem

Unesco considers a language to be “endangered” when it is “no longer taught to children as a mother tongue at home” and the youngest speakers are their parents.

It is “seriously endangered” when it is only spoken by grandparents, and parents understand it “but no longer use it with their children or among themselves”.

The last stage before extinction – what Unesco calls the “critical situation” stage – is when “the last speakers are from the great-grandparents’ generation” and the language is “not used in everyday life”.

The research centre for linguistic intelligence, Ethnologue, uses another tool in its research – the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, which uses 13 stages to determine the status of a language.

But its conclusions are similar to those of Unesco: 3,170 languages (44 percent of those in use) are currently endangered. It says a language is under threat as soon as “users begin to transmit a more dominant language to the children of the community”.

The Asia-Pacific region is the most affected, with Indonesian and New Guinean languages at the top of the list, followed by Aboriginal languages in Australia. The Americas too rank high, with many indigenous languages in danger of extinction in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

Africa is the third most affected continent, particularly Nigeria and Cameroon. But Europe is not immune to the phenomenon, with Russia notably affected.

Hundreds take to the streets to protest in support of French regional languages

Linguistic domination

European colonisation is one of the major factors that explains the trend, having “led to the deaths of millions of indigenous people, disrupting the transmission of languages from one generation to the next,” says linguist Evangelia Adamou, senior researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Massacres and epidemics led to the disappearance of entire peoples, and colonial policies added insult to injury by “devaluing indigenous languages” and “forcing children to move away from their families”, she continued.

The residential schools set up by colonisers – such as those in Canada, the United States and Australia – were designed to separate indigenous children from their parents and cut them off from their mother tongue.

Local languages found it very difficult to withstand the pressure from colonial languages and racist and discriminatory policies.

The formation of nation states has also contributed significantly to these disappearances. The idea of a single people speaking the same language, united under the same flag and the same values, has led in many countries “to monolingual mass education, usually in the national language,” said Adamou, leading to “the linguistic displacement of minority languages towards the dominant languages”.

This is how Breton, Basque and many of the languages of New Caledonia and French Guiana have come close to disappearing.

In France and elsewhere, the lack of recognition of traditional languages has led and continues to lead to their abandonment in favour of languages considered more “prestigious” – synonymous with academic and professional success.

Climate change

The other major factor, according to Adamou, is any period of crisis which “profoundly disrupts the use and transmission of languages”. During conflicts, pandemics and natural disasters, “people are fighting for their survival, so the traditional organisation of their society suffers greatly”, she explained. 

Climate change is having a major impact in this regard. Untenable living conditions are pushing people to leave their home regions, often to move to urban areas where they are forced to integrate, losing their traditions and language in the process.

The issue of climate change is all the more important because its consequences are felt most acutely in the regions of the world where there is the greatest linguistic diversity.

Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are under threat from rising sea levels. The Amazon is increasingly affected by deforestation. Nigeria, with its 500 languages, is facing rising temperatures, pollution and coastal erosion. All of these factors are leading to the displacement of populations and threatening the survival of local languages.

Senegal launches English lessons in nursery and primary schools

‘A major impact on health’

This loss has far-reaching consequences. With every language that disappears, cultural identity and traditional knowledge are extinguished.

“A language, through its words, etymology and syntax, conveys a philosophy. Toponyms [place names derived from a topographical feature] carry the characteristics of the region. And cosmology – how the universe was conceived – is conveyed through myths in the ancestral language,” said Adamou.

The extinction of a language takes this heritage with it, impoverishing the heritage of humanity. But it also has very real consequences for the speakers.

Being cut off from one’s language means a reorientation of one’s relationship with the world, losing one’s bearings. This can lead to difficulties functioning in mainstream society, isolation, depression and alcoholism, often compounded by racism and social pressure.

“Studies show that not speaking one’s own language has a major impact on health. People need this traditional framework to be healthy, both physically and mentally,” Adamou explained.

Alsatian dialect taught in French state schools for the first time

Reclaiming identity

Several initiatives are attempting to preserve languages in danger of disappearing, as awareness of the issue and its consequences grows. Unesco has proclaimed 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, in order to promote preservation and rehabilitation programmes.

Institutions are making available archives of information on endangered languages – such as the CNRS’s Pangloss website and the catalogue of the Endangered Language Project. This is material that is invaluable for local communities embarking on language revitalisation projects.

“There is currently a real movement to reclaim one’s culture and identity, often driven by young indigenous people, who are stepping up their efforts and attempts to revitalise their language all over the world,” said Adamou. These young people, she says, are railing against the pessimism engendered by statistics and the use of expressions such as “the last speakers”.

“We can act before it’s too late and, even when a language is no longer spoken, there is always hope,” Amadou insists. She feels it is more accurate to talk about “dormant” languages rather than “dead” ones  – after all, languages can be revived. 

This phenomenon has been witnessed, for example with Wampanoag in the United States and Livonian in Latvia. But the most striking example is undoubtedly Hebrew. After disappearing for centuries, it is now the official language of a state and the mother tongue of several million people. We haven’t necessarily heard the last of those languages in danger now. 

This article was adapted from the original version in French.

More than 10,000 square metres of solar panels have been installed across the area. Along with energy upgrades and new technologies, the project has turned this working-class part of central France into a model for sustainable living.

Around 8,000 people live in Fontaine d’Ouche, with some 1,100 residents in the main renovation zone where social housing units are now fitted with solar panels.

The energy produced is shared and partly owned by the community.

“We produce 118 percent of our energy needs,” says Massar N’Diaye, deputy mayor in charge of social economy and jobs, who grew up and still lives in the neighbourhood. “So we’re producing more than we consume and the rest can be sold on.”

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Officially inaugurated on Friday, Fontaine d’Ouche is France’s first positive energy neighbourhood (PED).

The pilot project is being co-led by Dijon and the Finnish city of Turku. It forms part of the European Union’s Green Deal and long-term goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

“We’re proving that a human-scale city can be at the forefront of ecological innovation,” said François Rebsamen, head of Dijon Métropole and the city’s former mayor.

“This is not just about technology, it’s about giving every neighborhood a stake in the energy transition,” he told FranceInfo.

A €36m green investment

The overhaul of Fontaine d’Ouche cost €36 million. This includes €6.2 million in EU subsidies, €13.8 million in public investment and €16.7 million from social housing providers.

In total, 4,500 solar panels have been added to rooftops – not only on social housing, but also on schools and sports centres. These generate 2 megawatts of power, N’Diaye told RFI.

Buildings have been retrofitted to be more energy efficient and homes equipped with smart thermostats, sensors and automated heating systems. This has cut energy use by up to 38 percent  improving comfort all year round.

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Local residents are already feeling tangible benefits.

“The increase in purchasing power exists. Residents live in homes that have been renovated and that gives them better protection from the cold,” said N’Diaye, whose mother lives in one of the renovated buildings. 

The innovation goes far beyond solar panels. The neighbourhood now boasts a district heating system fuelled by 83 percent renewable energy. Surplus electricity is stored in recycled EV batteries and hot water tanks. 

“Residents can control their energy consumption remotely via applications and people are teaching them how to use these new tools,” he adds. “When a project like this finally becomes concrete, you say to yourself ‘I’m the pilot of what  may affect others tomorrow’.”

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Positive energy all round

N’Diaye says there’s a sense of local pride that a working-class community like theirs is at the forefront of the ecological transition.

“When you live in a priority urban district, you are often stigmatised but now we’re being watched by Europe as an example of positive energy production.”

He continued: “In the end we also produce positive energy in the community and we’re showing that we too, as residents of the city’s priority zones, are at the heart of the fight against global warming and respect for our planet.”

Altogether, 30,000 square metres of buildings in Fontaine d’Ouche are energy positive, resulting in a 75 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, making Dijon a pioneer in France’s climate transition.

The EU is aiming for 100 positive energy districts by 2025. 

On 26 May, pro-EU centrist Nicușor Dan was sworn in as President of Romania, having vowed to oppose “isolationism and Russian influence.”

Earlier, Dan had emerged victorious in a closely contested election rerun, widely viewed as pivotal for the future direction of the NATO and EU member state of 19 million people, which shares a border with war-torn Ukraine.

The vote followed a dramatic decision by Romania’s Constitutional Court five months prior to annul a presidential election, citing allegations of Russian interference and the extensive social media promotion of the far-right frontrunner—who was subsequently barred from standing again.

Although nationalist and EU-sceptic George Simion had secured a commanding lead in the first round, Dan ultimately prevailed in the second-round run-off.

RFI speaks with Claudiu Năsui, former Minister of Economy and member of the Save Romania Union, about the pressing challenges facing the country—from economic reform and political polarisation to the broader implications of the election for Romania’s future, including its critical role in supporting Ukraine amid ongoing regional tensions.

This decision “comes as a real relief,” said Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot, after the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal’s decision on Wednesday.

“The judge recognised as serious the argument in favour of the existence of a compelling reason of major public interest for the project.”

Tabarot said work on the 53-kilometre section could resume gradually from mid-June, and that vigilance would remain “to take environmental protection issues into account.”

Stunned by decision

Julie Rover, one of the lawyers representing the opponents of the A69 motorway, expressed her “stunned” attitude immediately after the administrative court’s decision was announced.

“The risk today is that work will resume and then in eight or ten months, the cancellation will be confirmed,” the lawyer warned.

The project leader and future concessionaire Atosca announced in a press release that it is “already working on a plan for the gradual resumption of activity.”

But it will miss its deadline of opening by the end of 2025. Atosca must now repatriate a thousand employees and numerous construction machines to the Tarn region.

Protests across France

Between 100 and 150 protesters gathered late Wednesday in front of Toulouse’s Matabiau train station to protest the decision, and around fifteen other demonstrations were held elsewhere in France, including Paris, Lyon, Lille, Nantes, and Bordeaux.

Environmental groups are concerned that the motoway will lead to a loss of farm land and endanger biodiversity.

“The administrative court made a very courageous and informed decision in a somewhat complicated power struggle, since the work had already begun (…) and now that decision has been trampled on,” Rita Di Giovanni, a 65-year-old retiree, told French news agency AFP. “It deeply offends me.”

Thomas Brail, a leading figure in the protest movement who had perched in trees several times to prevent them from being cut down was furious.

“Do these politicians have children, those who are driving us straight into a wall today? Can they look at themselves in the mirror? I’m ashamed,” he told AFP.

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The environmental activist announced that he would begin a hunger and thirst strike as soon as work resumes, “because at some point, we’re not heard, we’re not listened to.” 

A large-scale demonstration is also planned for 4 – 6 July near the construction site.

Financial ‘waste’

MP of the Tarn department, Philippe Bonnecarrère told AFP that the resumption on works was “eagerly awaited by our fellow citizens” .

The National Assembly is expected to debate the next step on Monday, he said, during the examination of a so-called “validation” bill adopted by a large majority in the Senate in mid-May.

This bill, contested by opponents who consider it unconstitutional, plans to authorise the continuation of the construction site, without waiting for the administrative appeals court to rule on the merits, which will take several months to complete.

Welcoming the decision, Castres Mayor Pascal Bugis deplored “a financial waste.”

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In the future, “appeals must be resolved when (a construction site) begins, so that there are no further uncertainties later on,” he added.

On 27 February, to everyone’s surprise, the Toulouse Administrative Court halted construction of this highway, which began in 2023, due to the lack of a compelling reason of overriding public interest (RIIPM) justifying the environmental impact.

Violent clashes

Since the start of work in March 2023, opponents have occupied trees to prevent them from being cut down, attempted to set up protected areas along the route, and organised gatherings of thousands of people, sometimes marked by violent incidents with law enforcement.

French police disperse demonstrators from port blockade over reservoir construction

In recent months, supporters of the A69 have also made their voices heard, notably by demonstrating en masse on 8 March in Castres with the slogan: “A69, we’re done!” They see the motorway as a solution to opening up the Castres-Mazamet population area, which has around 100,000 inhabitants.

However, opponents argue that this area is not landlocked, and even if it were, a motorway would certainly not guarantee access to the area and maybe even push people away.

(with AFP)

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France’s minister for ecological transition, is slated to meet counterparts on Thursday and Friday in the first visit to China by a French environment minister in five years.

A member of her team said the visit came at a “pivotal moment” on three key themes: the year-end COP30 climate summit in Brazil, the UN Ocean Conference in Nice 9 – 13 June, and negotiations in August in Geneva to forge an international treaty to combat plastic pollution.

“The idea is to see how – given the US withdrawal (from climate leadership) – we can try to build a new convergence between the EU and China on climate,” the source said.

The US pull-out from the 2015 Paris Agreement – the second time Trump has taken this step – “leaves these two key players with the responsibility of taking climate leadership,” the source added.

The broad-based multilateralism that has driven progress in climate talks to date is under strain, and could fray as other countries review their commitments to curb carbon pollution in light of the Trump administration’s position, according to analysts.

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Send strong message

“It is extremely important that China and the European Union send a very strong message,” the source said.

A bilateral Sino-US accord in April 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is widely credited with paving the way for the landmark Paris climate treaty signed later that year.

The French minister’s visit comes in advance of a Beijing-Brussels summit in China in July, which France has identified as “a good opportunity” to publicly affirm Sino-European leadership on climate issues.

At COP28 in Dubai in 2023, countries committed to transition away from fossil fuels, a promise that saw little progress at COP29 in Baku the following year.

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Pannier-Runacher, who will talk with the Chinese environment and natural resources ministers, as well as former special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua, will discuss how to “push this issue” when nations meet in Brazil in November at the COP30 summit, the source said.

(with AFP)

Von der Leyen was honoured with the 2025 International Charlemagne Prize on Thursday in Aachen, Germany, in recognition of her steadfast leadership during a period of profound transformation for Europe.

Accepting the award, she called for a “truly independent Europe” and envisioned a “new form of Pax Europaea for the 21st century” – referring to the period of relative geopolitical peace and stability following the Second World War.

The Charlemagne Prize, established in 1950, celebrates individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to European unity.

Von der Leyen joins a distinguished list of recipients, including Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Collective response

In her address, von der Leyen highlighted the urgency of European self-reliance in a world marked by growing instability.

She pointed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a wake-up call, noting that decades of reliance on the “peace dividend” had led to complacency.

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“The world is again marked by imperial ambitions and imperial wars,” she warned, adding that adversaries of democratic societies have “rearmed and remobilised”.

She praised the EU’s collective response, including significant increases in defence spending, and emphasised the need for Europe to shape the emerging international order.

“History does not forgive either dithering or delaying,” she said. “Our mission is European independence.”

‘The embodiment of European spirit’

Speaking at the ceremony, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took office earlier this month, affirmed Germany’s commitment to a strong, united Europe.

“We will not stand on the sidelines when it comes to preserving and strengthening freedom and democracy, the rule of law and human dignity on our continent,” he said.

Merz also said that Germany was “ready to take far-reaching decisions at the NATO summit in June, decisions that do justice to Europe’s responsibility for its own security”.

Berlin had earlier signalled it supports a plan to raise defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP.

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The award’s board of directors also praised von der Leyen for her leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as her support for Ukraine and her commitment to the European Green Deal.

They described her as “the embodiment of the European spirit” and a powerful voice for Europe on the global stage.

(with newswires)

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, this Wednesday morning,” Wanjiku Wa Ngugi wrote on Facebook. “He lived a full life, fought a good fight.”

Messages of support and respect quickly poured in for the celebrated author, whose decision to stop writing in English and start using only his native Kikuyu made him a powerful symbol of post-colonial African identity.

“My condolences to the family and friends of Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a renowned literary giant and scholar, a son of the soil and great patriot whose footprints are indelible,” wrote Martha Karua, an opposition leader in Kenya, on social media.

“Always courageous, he made an indelible impact on how we think about our independence, social justice as well as the uses and abuses of political and economic power,” she added.

Kenya’s president William Ruto paid tribute to Ngugi, writing on his X (formerly Twitter) account that “the towering giant of Kenyan letters has put down his pen for the final time”.

‘Freedom writer’

“Thank you Mwalimu [teacher] for your freedom writing,” wrote Amnesty International’s Kenya branch on Wednesday in a statement. “Having already earned his place in Kenyan history, he transitions from mortality to immortality.”

A global campaign, in which Amnesty named him a prisoner of conscience, secured his release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in December 1978, after he was jailed in 1977 without charge for staging one of his plays – a harsh critique of post-colonial Kenyan society.

Born in 1938 in Kamiriithu, near the capital Nairobi, Ngugi grew up under oppressive British colonial rule, and witnessed the armed Mau Mau struggle for independence.

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The exploitation, dispossession and repression of independence fighters, which affected the writer’s close circle and family, formed the fabric of his writing – as seen in Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir, published in 2010.

He had begun his literary career in 1964 with Weep Not, Child, the first major English-language novel by an East African author, followed by A Grain of Wheat and The River Between.

A novelist and post-colonial theorist, his considerable body of work includes novels, short stories, essays and plays, and reflects his political commitment.

Sharp critic

Ngugi took aim in his writings at colonialism but also at the Kenyan elites who inherited many of its privileges. This is why he was arrested in December 1977 and detained for a year, without charge, after peasants and workers performed his play Ngaahika Ndeenda (“I Will Marry When I Want”).

Ngugi went into self-imposed exile in 1982 after a ban on theatre groups performing his work in Kenya, moving first to the United Kingdom then to the United States, where he became a professor in New York, then at the University of California-Irvine. He later gained American citizenship.

He continued to write plays and essays, developing a virulent critique of the post-independence bourgeoisie and the oppression of the African working classes. Influenced by Marxist theory and Frantz Fanon, he was also a proponent of Pan-Africanism and African emancipation.

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In 1986, he published one of his best-known works, Decolonising the Mind, a collection of essays about the role of language in forging national culture, history and identity. The book analyses the violence and “mental enslavement” that the imposition of European languages ​​represented in colonial societies. This led him to abandon English for some time to write in his native language, Kikuyu – a radical but crucial choice.

After more than 20 years of exile, he returned to Kenya in 2004 with his family, after Daniel arap Moi (president from 1978 to 2002) had left power. But he and his wife were soon after the victims of a violent attack in their home, leading them to leave Kenya again. He ended his life living in California.

Family controversy

In 2024, Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, one of his six children, accused his father on social media of having physically abused his mother, Ngũgĩ’s former wife, the late Nyambura.

“Some of my earliest memories are me going to visit her at my grandmother’s where she would seek refuge,” the son, who is also a writer, said. “It is the silencing of who she was that gets me.”

Many were shocked by the accusations, particularly given the feminist slant of his famed work The Perfect Nine.

“The reality of the situation is that powerful men are often protected by those around them,” columnist Malaika wa Azania wrote in South African newspaper The Herald. “Men and women who know the extent of the damage they are causing on their wives and children but who, in a quest to maintain proximity to power, say and do nothing.”

“No man, not even Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, is beyond being an abuser,” she added.

Kenya’s silent tragedy: a woman killed every two days but justice is nowhere in sight

Literary legacy

In one of his interviews with RFI, Ngugi said: “I am committed in the sense that I campaign for the economic emancipation of the working classes.

“Coming from a peasant background myself, I worked as a young boy in the pyrethrum fields. My brothers and sisters worked on tea plantations belonging to European settlers.”

He added it was therefore natural for him to be interested in the economic and social empowerment of the marginalised sections of society. “For me,” he said, “it is the only path to a more just world.”

 (with newswires)

The health ministry for Khartoum State said it had recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths on Tuesday.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement it was “gravely concerned by the alarming resurgence of cholera in Khartoum State and across Sudan”, as the country continues to reel from what is already a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. 

War on people and infrastructure

With conflict raging and health infrastructure in collapse, the Ministry of Health has reported over 60,000 cholera cases and more than 1,600 deaths since August 2024. In the past month alone, hundreds of cases have been reported in Khartoum state, the statement from the IRC added.

“Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale public health disaster,” Eatizaz Yousif, IRC’s Sudan Country Director said.

“The combination of conflict, displacement, destroyed critical  infrastructure, and limited access to clean water is fuelling the resurgence of cholera and other deadly diseases. With the rainy season fast approaching, the need for immediate, coordinated action could not be more urgent.” 

The cholera outbreak has piled further pressure on an already overwhelmed healthcare system.

The federal health ministry reported 172 deaths in the week to Tuesday, 90 percent of them in Khartoum State.

Authorities say 89 percent of patients in isolation centres are recovering, but warn that deteriorating environmental conditions are driving a surge in cases.

Millions at risk

The surge in cholera infections comes weeks after drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) knocked out the water and electricity supply across the capital.

The army-backed government announced last week that it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last positions in Khartoum State two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries.

Greater Khartoum had been a battleground for much of the previous two years, and suffered massive damage to housing and infrastructure.

The war between the paramilitaries and the regular army has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million in Sudan, in what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Up to 90 percent of hospitals in the conflict’s main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting.

 (with AFP)

The research comes from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent group based in Finland.

It warns that another 8,000 preventable deaths could occur in France by 2040 if the affected vehicles remain on the road.

The study, published Wednesday, estimates the scandal will cost France €146 billion in healthcare, lost productivity and early deaths.

Across Europe, including Britain, CREA projects 205,000 premature deaths linked to the excess pollution, with total economic losses reaching €1.2 trillion.

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Hidden pollution

The Dieselgate scandal erupted in the United States in 2015, when it was revealed that carmakers had fitted diesel vehicles with software that made them appear cleaner during official lab testing.

In real driving conditions, the cars emitted far higher levels of nitrogen dioxide.

The affected cars were widely sold in Europe, including France. More than 200 models sold between September 2009 and August 2019 were affected, including vehicles made by Volkswagen, Peugeot, Renault and Fiat.

According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, around 19 million of these vehicles are still on the road in Europe.

The study links the excess emissions to a rise in respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes. In France alone, CREA found the tampered engines will have caused 26,000 new cases of childhood asthma by 2040.

“These excess emissions add to ‘legal’ emissions and should never have polluted the air we breathe,” the researchers said.

More killer heat and rising seas likely in next five years, UN warns

Push for recalls

Anne Lassman-Trappier, who works on air quality for the environmental group France Nature Environnement, said the deaths were avoidable.

“The state must force car manufacturers to bring these vehicles up to standard,” Lassman-Trappier told France Inter.

“This is what was done in the United States as soon as the scandal broke, to save thousands of lives. We’re talking about thousands of asthma cases, hundreds of thousands of days not worked for the economy. It’s worth it. We must act.”

France Nature Environnement argues that French authorities should have required manufacturers to recall the vehicles or offer compensation.

“The government’s inaction following the Dieselgate scandal is still causing daily suffering, causing deaths and costing the economy dearly,” Lassman-Trappier said.

“Thousands of lives can still be saved and billions of euros spared if France finally forces manufacturers to bring the millions of vehicles with toxic emissions into compliance or reimburse harmed consumers.”

Cleaner shipping fuel mandatory as Mediterranean becomes low-emissions zone

Legal fallout

On 26 May, four former Volkswagen executives were sentenced to prison in Germany for fraud, receiving terms of up to four and a half years.

In 2023, former Audi boss Rupert Stadler received a suspended sentence of 21 months.

The CREA study found that acting now could prevent 8,000 premature deaths, 8,000 new childhood asthma cases, 800,000 sick days and €45 billion in economic losses in France by 2040.

Sinner won 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in 91 minutes to set up a meeting with Jiri Lehecka.

Before the match, Gasquet admitted that playing the world number one on centre court in his 22nd French Open at the Roland Garros Stadium would be a fitting way to end his career.

The 38-yar-old Gasquet, who was given an invitation into the main draw by the French tennis federation, realised his wish after he defeated Térence Atmane in the first round and Sinner dispatched Arthur Rinderknech.

Sinner’s mission was to successfully continue his own quest for a first French Open title and set the fuse for the explosion of tributes to a man tipped nearly 30 years ago to occupy top spot in the tennis world.

The 23-year-old Italian fulfilled the former efficiently and the latter with elegance.

Salute

“Congratulations to you, your team and your family,” said Sinner at the start of a 25-minute centre court homage to the former world number seven in which he was presented with a trophy by French tennis federation chief Gilles Moretton and tournament director Amélie Mauresmo.

“It’s not possible to make such a career without good people around you,” Sinner added.

“You played in an incredible era and we hope that you can come back to the tennis courts as it’s nice to have you around. All the best for your new chapter.”

At the start of Gasquet’s old chapter, he claimed the prestigious Les Petits As international junior tournament in France.

Two years later, aged 15, he won his first match on the ATP Tour at the 2002 Monte Carlo Masters.

Becoming the world’s top junior player a year later underlined his potential.

Support

Gasquet first broke into the ATP’s top 100 in September 2003 shortly after his 17th birthday and for the best part of two decades he roamed in that sphere.

“I started playing tennis very young in the south of France,” said Gasquet to cheers from the centre court crowd.

“And no matter the club where I played, I always had an extraordinary welcome. I would like to thank them all and also the tennis federation for the support.”

Gesturing to the stands, he added: “Thank you for your support over the years. I want you to know that my passion for tennis will remain with me for the rest of my life.”

During his two decades on the circuit, Gasquet amassed 16 titles and was revered for one of the most aesthetic single-handed backhands but he never reached the projected highs.

Childhood rival Rafael Nadal was among the players who blocked the major honours in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York along with Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic who was among several players who sent video messages.

“Everybody talks about the Gasquet single-handed backhand,” said Djokovic. “And I’m sure there are lots of young players who try to copy it.

“There’s no better of fitting place for you say goodbye,” the Serb added.

A court in Vannes, Brittany, found Le Scouarnec guilty of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults, committed between 1989 and 2014.

He was sentenced to 20 years in jail – the maximum penalty for rape.

The abuse is considered France’s worst case of pedocriminality to go to trial. Many of his victims were under anaesthesia or waking up from surgery. Of the 299 victims, 256 were under the age of 15.

Le Scouarnec had admitted the charges during a closed-door session in March.

Wednesday’s verdict concludes a three-month trial that has shaken France and highlighted systemic failings in the public health system.

Le Scouarnec stood emotionless in court while judge Aude Burési delivered the sentencing. His lawyers said he would not appeal the verdict.

Burési said the court had taken into account the fact that the former surgeon had sought out unwell, vulnerable and sedated victims.

While he will not be able to ask for parole until two-thirds of his sentence is served, the court rejected a rare demand from prosecutors that he should be held in a centre for treatment and supervision on his release, citing his age and “desire to make amends”.

At the start of the trial in February he said: “I’m aware that the harm I’ve caused is beyond repair. I owe it to all these people and their loved ones to admit my actions and their consequences, which they’ve endured and will keep having to endure all their lives.”

‘They knew’: Victims of paedophile French surgeon blame systemic failure

No lessons drawn

Le Scouarnec is already serving jail time for earlier rape convictions. In 2020, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of a child neighbour, as well as his two nieces and a 4-year-old patient.

Victims and their families have publicly asked why French health authorities allowed Le Scouarnec to get away with the abuse for so long. Despite a conviction for downloading child pornography in 2005, the surgeon continued to treat children in public hospitals.

Victims of the Joel Le Scouarnec Collective were angry that the trial had not drawn much attention from politicians or the public at large.

“No lesson has been drawn from this, neither from the medical world nor from politicians,” the group said in a statement.

Several dozen members of the collective gathered outside the courthouse ahead of the verdict, holding a banner made of hundreds of pieces of white paper with black silhouettes, one for each victim. Some of the papers bore a first name and age, while others referred to the victim as “Anonymous”.

Survivors decry failures exposed in France’s biggest paedophilia trial

Decades of abuse

The extent of Le Scouarnec’s abuse was revealed after his re-arrest in 2017 on suspicion of raping his 6-year-old neighbour.

Police uncovered a cache of sex dolls, wigs, and child pornography at his home, along with electronic diaries in which he had meticulously detailed nearly three decades of alleged rapes and sexual assaults on hundreds of young patients across various hospitals.

“I am a paedophile and a child rapist,” Le Scouarnec said during his final statements to the court last week.

“What I’ve witnessed [in court] is the suffering for which I am responsible,” he said, adding that he neither wanted nor expected to be given any leniency.

In a statement in March, the National Order of Doctors, which has also filed a lawsuit against Le Scouarnec, expressed its “profound regret” that the surgeon had not been “prevented from practicing”.

The local prosecutor has opened a separate investigation to establish if there was any criminal liability by agencies or individuals who could have prevented the abuse.

The trial took place at a time of reckoning around sex crimes in France after the conviction of Dominique Pelicot, who was found guilty in December of drugging his wife unconscious and inviting dozens of men to their home to rape her.

Some victims rights groups expressed frustration that the Le Scouarnec case had not received the same attention or had the same impact as the Pelicot trial.

(with newswires)

For many survivors, the case is not just about one man, but about the institutions that failed to protect them.

“If a trial with 300 victims doesn’t change this blind society, then what will?” said one survivor in April, standing on the courthouse steps in Vannes, Brittany.

The trial has exposed the crimes of France’s most prolific known child sex offender – and the gaps in the systems meant to stop him.

Le Scouarnec, now 74, is already serving a 15-year sentence for abusing four children, including two of his nieces.

This second trial, which began three months ago in Brittany, covers abuse committed between 1989 and 2014.

Most of his victims were children in hospital, either unconscious or sedated. The average age was 11. There were 158 boys and 141 girls.

Prosecutors have called for the maximum sentence of 20 years, describing Le Scouarnec as “a devil in a white coat”.

They are also seeking preventive detention – a rarely used legal measure in France – which could keep him locked up even after his sentence ends.

French surgeon jailed for 15 years in child sex abuse case

‘Failures’ in medical profession

The case has raised serious questions about how both the medical and legal systems responded to warning signs.

In 2005, Le Scouarnec was convicted of possessing child pornography. Yet no one suspended his medical licence. He continued working in hospitals and abusing children until his arrest in 2017.

“More could have been done,” said prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger in his closing remarks. “Even within the notorious layers of French bureaucracy… that responsibility is lost, and hits innocent lives.”

Marie Grimaud, a lawyer for around 30 of the victims, said “society missed the point”.

She criticised the medical profession’s lack of self-reflection.

“The medical world remains a domain of expertise and authority,” she told RFI. “We’ve tried to dissect and autopsy the failures revealed by this trial. The court has provided some momentum… now it must leave the courtroom. It all depends on the will of the medical profession.”

‘They knew’: Victims of paedophile French surgeon blame systemic failure

‘Didn’t see them as people’

Some of the most disturbing evidence came from Le Scouarnec’s own notebooks, where he described his actions in graphic detail.

Many survivors only found out they had been abused when police discovered their names in the journals. Others connected the dots later by reviewing old medical records. Two victims died by suicide before the trial began.

Le Scouarnec admitted to all the charges, but his behaviour in court has appeared detached.

“I didn’t see them as people,” he told the court. “They were the destination of my fantasies.” He also confessed to raping his five-year-old niece in 1985, and sexually abusing his granddaughter – a statement he made in front of her distraught parents.

Survivors and support groups have criticised the lack of official response.

“This trial, which could have served as an open-air laboratory to expose the serious failings of our institutions, seems to leave no mark on the government, the medical community, or society at large,” a group of victims said in a statement.

“We’re deeply disappointed… we shouldn’t have to be the ones opening people’s eyes, but here we are,” says Manon Lemoine, one of the victims and a member of the newly formed collective pushing for reform.

So much to learn

Lemoine said the group was formed after officials appeared unwilling to act.

On 6 May, a centrist MP asked Health Minister Yannick Neuder what steps he planned to take to stop institutional failures, pointing out that Le Scouarnec kept working in hospitals even after his 2005 conviction.

Lemoine said the minister’s reply was that the question was “off-topic”.

“The minister said that the predator had made numerous appeals, and when there are appeals the conviction is removed from the criminal record.”

However, Le Scouarnec never appealed his 2005 conviction for possession of child pornography.

“It shocked us to see such a lack of understanding of the case, it was unacceptable to all the victims,” Lemoine said.

French paedophile surgeon’s wife knew and ‘did nothing’, his brother tells court

Calls for reform

Lemoine said the trial has revealed how much there is still to fix.

“This case gives us a wealth of material to make this country fairer to its victims, to protect its children,” she said. “There is so much to be learned from this trial.”

The 50-member collective has sent a letter to several ministries, listing 10 proposals aimed at improving child protection.

Neuder has agreed to meet the group in June.

The report, by the World Meterological Organisation (WMO) in tandem with UK’s Met Office, says global temperatures are likely to keep rising over the next five years – increasing risks for people, economies and ecosystems.

It follows a separate WMO report released in March, which found that 2024 was likely the first calendar year where the global temperature was more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

“We have just experienced the 10 warmest years on record,” WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett said.

France unveils its first ‘positive energy’ neighbourhood, powering local pride

Breach likely

There is an 80 percent chance that at least one year between 2025 and 2029 will be hotter than 2024 – the warmest year ever recorded.

There is also an 86 percent chance that one of those years will go above 1.5C compared to pre-industrial levels.

Across the full five-year period, there is a 70 percent chance that the average warming will exceed 1.5C. That’s up from 47 percent in last year’s forecast.

The 1.5C target in the Paris Agreement refers to a 20-year global average, so it has not yet officially been passed. But the WMO’s earlier report said 2024 saw an annual temperature of 1.55C above the pre-industrial baseline, based on observational records.

For the first time, there is now a one percent chance that a single year before 2029 could exceed 2C of warming. That risk is still low, but scientists say it is growing.

“It is shocking,” UK Met Office climate scientist Adam Scaife said. “That probability is going to rise.”

France pushes for action as high seas treaty hangs in the balance

Arctic warming surges

The Arctic is heating much faster than the rest of the world. The report says winter temperatures in the region will rise by about 2.4C compared to the 1991-2020 average – more than three and a half times the global rate.

This is likely to drive further sea ice loss in the Barents, Bering and Okhotsk seas, which could affect weather patterns around the world.

From May to September over the next five years, wetter than average conditions are likely in the African Sahel, northern Europe, Alaska and northern Siberia. The Amazon could face more drought.

South Asia is also expected to stay wetter than normal, though not in every season.

Africans less likely to blame rich nations for climate crisis, survey shows

Key thresholds

The WMO says the 20-year average warming from 2015 to 2034 is likely to be about 1.44C above pre-industrial levels.

The forecasts are based on more than 200 computer simulations from 15 scientific centres and were compiled by the UK’s Met Office.

Every fraction of a degree makes extreme weather more likely – including heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas.

The findings come ahead of this year’s COP30 climate summit, where countries are expected to present new action plans to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

The Jakarta stop, following a visit to Vietnam earlier in the week, is the second leg of a broader regional tour designed to promote Macron’s so-called “third way” – a middle path between the growing influence of the United States and China.

As Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia has become a key partner in this vision.

During Macron’s visit this Wednesday, the two countries signed a series of agreements across defence, trade, agriculture, energy, and disaster management.

Macron champions ‘rules-based order’ as France courts Vietnam

Defence cooperation

Defence cooperation took centre stage in the talks, with Macron confirming a letter of intent that could lead to new Indonesian orders for French Rafale fighter jets, Scorpène submarines, and light frigates – building on a €7 billion deal in 2022 for 42 Rafales.

While France has yet to deliver any Rafales, the planned arrival of the first six in 2026 signals a steady shift in Indonesia’s procurement strategy.

Jakarta, once reliant on Russian military equipment, is now turning increasingly to French suppliers.

President Prabowo Subianto, formerly defence minister, has called France a key partner in Indonesia’s defence modernisation, citing joint production and technology transfer.

Macron heads to Vietnam as France seeks bigger role in Indo-Pacific

Recognition of Palestine

The visit also had a strong diplomatic dimension, particularly on the Israel-Palestine issue.

Macron and Prabowo issued a joint statement calling for progress towards a two-state solution and condemned Israeli plans to take control of Gaza or forcibly displace Palestinians.

In a rare policy shift, Prabowo stated that Indonesia would be prepared to recognise Israel – but only if it first recognised Palestinian statehood.

This conditional offer is a notable departure for a country that has long maintained no diplomatic ties with Israel.

Macron, who has increasingly signalled a willingness to recognise a Palestinian state, is working with Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to co-host a UN conference next month aimed at reviving the peace process.

He described the upcoming event as an opportunity to set out a “credible roadmap” for mutual recognition and a lasting resolution.

Macron urges trade cooperation with China ahead of South East Asia tour

French business interests

Beyond defence and diplomacy, Macron also looked to secure new trade deals.

Executives from French companies such as Eramet, TotalEnergies, and Danone joined Macron in Jakarta. France is targeting Indonesia – home to the world’s largest nickel reserves – to secure critical minerals for its energy transition technologies.

The Eramet delegation is reportedly pursuing talks around operating permits and investment in battery supply chains, especially following the company’s withdrawal from a previous joint venture with BASF.

Macron’s push for closer economic ties is aimed not just at securing contracts, but at reinforcing long-term French engagement in the region.

Macron continues his Southeast Asian tour with a final stop in Singapore, to underline that France wants to be seen as a reliable, independent partner – not just a counterweight to the US or China. 

Kabila has been holding meetings with his staff in Goma for three days, according to his associates and the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement rebel coalition (AFC-M23), and plans to begin what he calls consultations.

While government spokesman Patrick Muyaya has accused Kabila of wanting to wage war, the former president’s supporters insist he is not in Goma to lead the AFC-M23.

Kabila’s immunity as former president has recently been lifted, and the Senate has authorised his prosecution for treason and participation in an insurrection, among other charges.

Former DR Congo president Kabila loses immunity over alleged M23 rebel ties

Talks in North Kivu

Kikaya Bin Karubi, a former ambassador and former minister, and a close collaborator of Kabila’s, told Patient Ligodi of RFI’s Africa service that Kabila “is ready to work with anyone who passionately loves [Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC]”.

“So, if the AFC-M23 proves that it passionately loves [DRC], as President Kabila wishes, why not speak to them? The AFC-M23 wants to put an end to the dictatorship and this is one of the objectives, one of the first conditions for the situation to return to normal in the DRC,” he added.

Three people also told new agency Reuters that Kabila would begin holding consultations on Wednesday with citizens in Goma.

The city fell under the control of M23 in January, in an advance that saw the group seize more ground than ever before.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of the rebel alliance that includes M23, has also confirmed on social media that Kabila is in Goma. People close to Kabila said he had arrived in the city on Sunday night.

Kabila himself has not spoken or posted on his whereabouts, and no images of him have been published from Goma.

Peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda in progress, US says

Kabila denies M23 support

The DRC’s government had refrained from commenting on rumours of Kabila’s presence in Goma, but on Tuesday the minister of communication and media, and government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, said in a briefing aired on state television on Tuesday that Kabila was “positioning himself as the rebel leader”, along with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

“We must tell our compatriots who are in Goma or who are in other parts of the country under occupation the message: get ready, we are going to war,” Muyaya told RFI.

The former governor of North Kivu and minister of foreign trade, Julien Paluku, also told RFI that Kabila “should not have ended up in Goma” and accused him of having been “subjected to Rwandan pressure” during the 18 years he was in power.

Kabila has denied the accusations coming from Kinshasa that he supports the M23 insurgency.

From 1960 to present day, 11 dates that explain the conflict in the DRC

Kabila came to power in 2001 after his father’s assassination, then clung to office following DRC’s disputed 2018 election for almost two years through an awkward power-sharing deal with President Felix Tshisekedi.

In January 2019, he agreed to step down following protests and external pressure and has been out of the country since late 2023, mostly in South Africa.

“The reasons that pushed the M23 to take up arms in 2012 are not the same as those that push it to take up arms today,” Bin Karubi told RFI. “Today, the M23 is allied with Mr. Tshisekedi’s government.”

The visit could complicate the United States-backed bid to end the rebellion by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group in eastern DRC, where valuable minerals are being eyed by US President Donald Trump’s administration.

The United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda has provided arms and troops to M23. Rwanda denies backing M23 and says its military has acted in self-defence against DRC’s army and a militia founded by perpetrators of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

 (with Reuters)

Between 1904 and 1908, German troops massacred tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people who rebelled against Germany’s rule in the southern African country.

Genocide Remembrance Day was declared a national holiday in Namibia earlier this week, however the date of the commemoration – 28 May – chosen by the central government, is a source of dispute, with communities saying they were not consulted and choosing not to attend the official event marking the genocide.

Historians have also questioned the limited recognition by Germany of its crimes, as the former colonial power has not offered to pay official reparations.

‘Colonial amnesia’

A commemorative ceremony held in the gardens of Namibia’s parliament in the capital Windhoek featured a candlelit vigil and a minute of silence. Members of the diplomatic community were expected at the event, where President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah delivered an address.

It is the first event to commemorate the victims of crimes committed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by what was then the German Empire in South West Africa. An estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed.

Germany ruled the country as a colony between 1884 and 1915. It was then declared a mandated territory by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

French director Cédric Djedje shines light on Germany’s African colonial history

When first the Herero and then the Nama revolted against the colonial administration, the response from Germany was brutal. An extermination order was sent by the Second Reich, and several concentration camps were built across the country.

Between 1904 and 1908, approximately 80 percent of the Herero people and half of the Nama were exterminated by German forces.

It is a chapter of African history that is still little known worldwide, while German historians specialising in the period have referred to a “colonial amnesia” around it.

A controversial date

The decision to designate a date for a commemoration came after years of difficult negotiations between the German and Namibian governments concluded in December 2024, with the release of a joint declaration recognising the genocide.

The date of 28 May was chosen to mark the closure of the concentration camps by German authorities, following international criticism over barbaric conditions and high death rates – although historians dispute whether this occurred in 1907 or 1908.

Historian Henning Melber of the Nordic Africa Institute, who is affiliated to the University of Pretoria and the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein in South Africa, says that while the announcement of an official Namibian Genocide Memorial Day has been long overdue, the chosen date of 28 May remains controversial.

Roma push France to recognise Holocaust-era genocide

“It shows a little bit of competition among the descendants of victim communities, because from a Nama perspective, they would have preferred another date, while the Herero perspective would also have suggested another date,” he told RFI.

“The 28th of May was selected because this was the day in 1908 when the last concentration camps were closed by the German colonial regime. So, to that extent, it’s a unifying date, but it does not really reflect the desires and the traumatic experiences of the individual descendants of the victim groups, which also include the Damara.”

Organisations representing the Nama, the Herero (also called the Ovaherero) and the Damara communities announced that they would not participate in the official event at the parliament.

“Part of that is due to the fact that they have not been involved, not been consulted,” said Melber. “Some of them even claim they have never been informed. Some [also] point out that during the 45 minutes put aside for the event, there are speakers [but] only two represent the affected communities.”

“So [from] their perspective,” he added, “this is another centralised government event which does not give the due respect and voice to the descendants of the main victim communities.”

‘Not good enough’

Controversy also surrounds Germany’s recognition of the massacres, as this has not included official reparations.

Germany agreed to pay Namibia €1.1 billion when it officially recognised the Herero-Nama genocide in 2021, in what Angela Merkel’s government said was a gesture of reconciliation.

According to the BBC, this is to be paid in development aid over 30 years, with no mention of the terms “reparations” or “compensation” in the agreement.

France faces pressure at home to admit 1945 colonial massacre of Algerians

Melber believes that in Germany’s opinion, Namibia’s acceptance of its apology effectively “freed” the former from any obligation to pay official reparations. 

“The document signed between the two countries declares that with the signing of the declaration, the issue is settled once and for all, meaning you close the chapter of the trauma,” he told RFI.

Furthermore, Melber added, while the document says “that the German government apologises for the atrocities committed, and the Namibian people accept the apology,” it does not state which Namibian people are being referred to. 

“Neither the Ovaherero nor the Nama nor the Damara have been asked if they accept any apology,” he said. “It’s simply not good enough for the communities.”

On 26 May, pro-EU centrist Nicușor Dan was sworn in as President of Romania, having vowed to oppose “isolationism and Russian influence.”

Earlier, Dan had emerged victorious in a closely contested election rerun, widely viewed as pivotal for the future direction of the NATO and EU member state of 19 million people, which shares a border with war-torn Ukraine.

The vote followed a dramatic decision by Romania’s Constitutional Court five months prior to annul a presidential election, citing allegations of Russian interference and the extensive social media promotion of the far-right frontrunner—who was subsequently barred from standing again.

Although nationalist and EU-sceptic George Simion had secured a commanding lead in the first round, Dan ultimately prevailed in the second-round run-off.

RFI speaks with Claudiu Năsui, former Minister of Economy and member of the Save Romania Union, about the pressing challenges facing the country—from economic reform and political polarisation to the broader implications of the election for Romania’s future, including its critical role in supporting Ukraine amid ongoing regional tensions.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with Donald Trump in Washington last Wednesday.

The meeting took place amid tensions over several issues, including the United States’ resettlement of white Afrikaners – whom President Trump has controversially described as victims of “genocide” – and South Africa’s ongoing land reform.

South Africa’s Ramaphosa to meet Trump on high-stakes White House visit

However, the US President defied all expectations of diplomacy by repeating allegations against Ramaphosa and accusing South Africa of the alleged killing of white farmers.

President Ramaphosa remained composed, however, and the visit continued the following day with further discussions on bilateral relations and trade.

To discuss, the recent evolution of the relations between the two countries, Spotlight on Africa has two guests this week:

• Cameron Hudson, senior fellow at the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Washington DC
• Ivor Ichikowitz, founding director of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and keen observer of South Africa’s foreign affairs.

We also visit the Paris Noir exhibition, currently on display at the Pompidou Centre  in central Paris. It showcases the largest collection ever assembled of works by Black artists who created art in the French capital from the 1950s onwards.

Paris Noir is at the Pompidou Centre in Paris until 30 June, 2025.

‘Paris Noir’ exhibition showcases work made in French capital by black artists

Finally, we go on a tour with the black British photographer, writer and broadcaster Johny Pitts, who has himself documented the black and Afropean communities all over Europe for over ten years. 

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

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

The pledge was made during a meeting of the US-Turkey Working Group in Washington, where diplomats committed to “increasing cooperation and coordination on the security and stability of Syria”.

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, who heads the German Marshall Fund office in Ankara, said this signals progress.

“I think it shows us that Turkey and the US can get on the same page when it comes to Syria,” he said. “Disagreements in Syria were part of the problem between Turkey and the United States. There are other issues, but this one was one of the core issues.”

Unluhisarcikli believes the good chemistry between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Donald Trump is playing a role.

“I think it’s significant President Erdogan is one of the leaders that President Trump likes working with and trusts. But of course, this is the case until it’s not,” he said.

Macron urges Syrian leader to protect minorities after deadly clashes

Israeli pushback

The move comes despite a warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told Trump during his February visit to Washington that Turkey was a security threat in Syria.

Both countries have troops in Syria and see each other as rivals.

Trump appeared to dismiss Netanyahu’s concerns, speaking to the international media from the Oval Office with the Israeli leader at his side.

“I told the Prime Minister: Bibi, if you have a problem with Turkey, I really think I can be able to work it out,” Trump said. “I have a really great relationship with Turkey and its leader.”

Erdogan, along with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is credited with helping persuade Trump to lift sanctions on Syria. Israeli foreign policy analyst Gallia Lindenstrauss said the decision went against Israel’s position.

She explained that Israel wanted any easing of sanctions to be linked to concessions by Damascus.

“I think the fact the US ambassador to Turkey has been appointed as the envoy to Syria also means the Turkish position will get more attention from the US side,” Lindenstrauss said.

“That in itself makes some concern in Israel. Because here Israel has its priorities with regards to Syria, it wants someone pushing Turkey to be more flexible and not, of course, to build bases throughout Syria. That would be a very threatening scenario regarding Israel.”

Turkey’s rivalry with Iran shifts as US threats create unlikely common ground

Turkish airbases

Israeli warplanes recently destroyed a Syrian airbase that Turkish forces were preparing to take over. Turkey says its growing military presence, including control of airbases, is aimed at helping Syria’s new rulers fight insurgent groups like the Islamic State.

“For Turkey, Syria’s security and stability are of the utmost importance, and Turkey is devoting resources to keep Syria stable because Syria’s stability is so important for Turkey’s security, and that’s what Israel should understand,” Unluhisarcikli said.

But Turkish airbases equipped with missile defences would restrict Israel’s freedom to operate in Syrian airspace.

“Israel has just found an opportunity, an air corridor towards Iran (via Syrian airspace), which it can use without asking for permission from any third party,” Unluhisarcikli said. “If Turkey takes over the bases, then Israel would need to get permission from Turkey, which it doesn’t want to, and I think that’s understandable.”

Azerbaijan has been mediating talks between Israel and Turkey to reduce tensions. The two sides have reportedly set up deconfliction systems, including a hotline.

“There has been progress between Israel and Turkey over Syria. There have been at least three announced talks in Azerbaijan which is positive,” Lindenstrauss said.

PKK ends 40-year fight but doubts remain about the next steps

Iran and the F-35s

Iran’s nuclear programme is another source of friction between Israel and Turkey.

Unluhisarcikli said Trump seems to be leaning more towards Erdogan’s view than Netanyahu’s.

“For Turkey, military conflict with Iran is a very bad scenario. I am not entirely sure that’s how Trump feels, but for him, any conflict should be just a second choice because conflict is not good for business,” Unluhisarcikli said.

“It seems Israel has made the judgment that it is time for military action, the time for talking is over. There should be military action. Trump disagrees. He thinks he does have a chance of negotiating.”

US and Iranian negotiators met in Rome on Friday for the fifth round of talks. Erdogan supports the talks and has also claimed that Trump is open to lifting the US embargo on selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. That would remove Israel’s technical advantage in the air.

Trump’s increasingly close relationship with Erdogan comes amid reports that he is uneasy about Israel’s war in Gaza. But Lindenstrauss warned that Israel is counting on Trump’s unpredictability.

“We know that Trump has a basic favourable view towards Erdogan. This was already in his first term, and it is continuing now. But we also know that Trump can be tough towards Turkey, and he did implement sanctions against Turkey in his first term,” she said.

“So this good relationship depends on whether Turkey is in line with US interests. But of course, Israel is watching.”

However, with Israel’s war in Gaza showing little signs of ending, threatening further diplomatic isolation, Erdogan for now appears to have Trump’s ear, with the two leaders sharing similar agendas.

“Trade, not aid, is now the pillar of our policy in Africa,” said United States ambassador Troy Fitrell, from the Bureau of African Affairs, in a speech on 14 May at business summit in Abidjan.

The declaration settles any doubts over the Trump administration’s position on aid towards Africa. The US – the world single largest aid donor in the world, according to the United Nations – no longer wants to disburse billions in foreign aid, despite the fact that it represents a small percentage of its entire budget.

In 2023, the US spent $71.9 billion in foreign aid, which amounts to 1.2 percent of its entire budget for that fiscal year.

President Donald Trump repeatedly stated that aid is a waste. For years, Africa has been the region receiving more funding from the United States than any other.

Across the African continent, Trump’s executive orders were initially met with shock, anger, and despair — but also with a renewed determination to change course and place African resources at the heart of African healthcare.

In February, at an African Union summit, Rwandan President Paul Kagame announced that the AU’s health institutions, including the Centres for Disease Control, would take the lead in seeking alternatives to US funding.

“Africa now finds itself at a crossroads. The health financing landscape has shifted dramatically.

“I propose that, over the next year, we work together to define new mechanisms for concrete collaboration on healthcare among governments, businesses, and philanthropies,” he told African leaders.

“The work of building our continent, including our healthcare systems, cannot be outsourced to anyone else.”

To untangle what is going on, for this edition of Interntional Report, RFI interviewed Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project; Chris Milligan, former foreign service officer at USAID, in Washington; Mark Heywood, human rights and social justice activist in South Africa, co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC); Onikepe Owolabi, vice president of International research at the Guttmacher institute in New York; Monica Oguttu, founding executive director of KMET, Kisumu Medical and Education Trust, in Kenya.

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 26 April, I asked you a question about the late Pope Francis, who’d died earlier that week. As the Vatican prepared to elect a new pope, we published an article about the men who were responsible for electing the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.

You were to re-read our article “What happens now after the death of Pope Francis?” and send in the answer to this question: What are the nationalities of the 135 cardinal electors who will elect the next pope?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Currently there are 135 so-called cardinal electors, 108 of whom were appointed by Francis. Of these, 53 are from Europe, 20 are from North America, 18 are from Africa, 23 from Asia, four from Oceania, and 17 from South America.”

As you know, the cardinals elected Robert Francis Prevost, the first American to hold the post. He took the name Leo XIV as his papal name, and he was formally inaugurated to serve the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics on 18 May.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, which was inspired by the long-running BBC program “Desert Island Discs”. You were to write in with the names of the three records, or audio recordings, that you would take with you to an uninhabited island.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Christian Ghibaudo from Tende, France. Christian is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Christian,on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are A. K. M. Nuruzzaman, the president of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and Paresh Hazarika, a member of the United RFI Listeners Club in Assam, India, as well as RFI Listeners Club members Shadman Hosen Ayon from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, and Hans Verner Lollike from Hedehusen, Denmark.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Mother” by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd; “A Mighty Fortress is our God” by Martin Luther, played by Kaleb Brasee; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements by Astor Piazolla, performed by the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leonardo Garcia Alarcon.

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 “EU and UK reunite in London for talks on diplomacy and defence”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 23 June to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 28 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.   

French MPs are shortly to vote on whether or not to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia. The draft legislation draws heavily on the work of the Citizens’ Convention on end-of-life care – a group of 184 people, randomly selected in late 2022 to reflect France’s diverse population. Though strangers to each other and to the subject, they spent four months in thoughtful debate, building a spirit of mutual respect despite deep differences of opinion. Economist Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn, one of the participants, talks about why this exercise in deliberative democracy was so enriching and valuable to society. Along with others, he’s helped launch an association to ensure the dialogue, and the social inclusion it fostered, continues beyond the convention itself. (Listen @0′)

This year’s Cannes film festival is taking the issue of sexual harassment in the movie industry more seriously than ever, just weeks after actor Gerard Depardiee was convicted for sexual assault. Ollia Horton talks about what’s changing. She also introduces a film about the life of Marcel Pagnol – one of France’s most cherished writers and a former Cannes jury president. (Listen @20’15”)

The annual fête des voisins, held on the last Friday of May, is an opportunity for neighbours to get to know each other. Launched 25 years ago in Paris by local councillor Atanase Périfan, it was aimed at bringing more solidarity into everyday life and it seems to be working. (Listen @14’10”)

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani

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

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.