The Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) is one of three high-level events leading into next week’s critical UN Ocean Conference in Nice (UNOC). 

It brings together governments, investors and oceanographers to unlock new financing solutions to protect and restore ocean health and coastal livelihoods. Experts warn that without urgent action to close a multi-billion-dollar funding gap, these efforts could collapse. 

Of the $175 billion needed each year, the forum’s organisers say, only $25 billion has been mobilised so far. That shortfall has made SDG 14 – the UN goal to conserve oceans – the least funded of all its Sustainable Development Goals. 

Leaders from the Pacific, a region on the frontlines of ocean diplomacy, are among those pushing to get the cash flowing.  

“We’ll be calling for more investment and more partnerships to fund the commitments we’ve all made to SDG 14,” Pacific Ocean Commissioner Filimon Manoni told a press briefing by National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, a global marine conservation programme.  

“We also want to share our success stories, especially the ones led by communities.” 

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

From pledges to finance 

Monaco has assembled a solid coalition to host BEFF. In charge are the government, the Prince Albert II Foundation and the Oceanographic Institute, with backing from France and Costa Rica. Global partners include the UN Global Compact and the World Economic Forum. 

“Together, we will mobilise the necessary investments – both public and private – for a sustainable blue economy,” Prince Albert promised ahead of the event, which has drawn some of the most influential voices in finance and ocean policy. 

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde will deliver a keynote address on financing ocean health, while International Maritime Organisation secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez will speak on decarbonising shipping and building more resilient ports. 

The closing remarks will come from French President Emmanuel Macron and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles – co-hosts of next week’s UN Ocean Conference in Nice.

Panels will examine topics from blue bonds and biodiversity credits to venture capital and public-private partnerships. The forum also features a Blue Innovation Hall showing the latest advances in ocean technology, including tools for renewable energy, waste reduction and marine monitoring. 

The forum’s timing is crucial, said Kristin Rechberger, founder of the non-profit Revive Our Ocean and CEO of the green consulting firm Dynamic Planet. 

“We’re at an inflection point right now at the midpoint of this decade, where we can make conservation businesses the norm instead of the exception,” she said.  

“There’s a really exciting opportunity through the Blue Economy Finance Forum and UNOC to close the gap between the funding that’s actually available – it’s just misaligned – and the needs that are really hungry for a regenerative blue economy.” 

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

Pacific leading the way 

The Pacific region is widely credited as a leader in ocean protection. Manoni said the region had been “walking the talk” for years, pointing to large marine sanctuaries now in place in countries including Palau, the Cook Islands and the Marshall Islands.  

“The Pacific has not been sitting idle,” he said. “The Pacific has been at work.” The western and central Pacific, Manoni added, now supply more than half of the world’s tuna, helping to secure global food security. 

But experts say efforts like these need to be scaled up dramatically. Countries have pledged to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 – a target known as 30×30 – yet vast areas remain unmanaged or open to damaging activities. 

Enric Sala, founder of Pristine Seas, said more protection must go hand in hand with better enforcement and long-term funding. 

“We have only 8 percent of the ocean in protected areas, and only 3 percent in zones where damaging activities are banned,” Sala told journalists. “We need to quadruple protection in the next five years.”  

He said destructive practices like bottom trawling must also be banned – pointing to the “crazy situation” in Europe, where such activities continue even in many so-called protected areas. 

Sala cited research estimating the societal cost of bottom trawlingin Europe at up to €11 billion a year, largely owing to carbon emissions from churning up sea floor sediment.  

“The abundance of vulnerable species like sharks and rays is lower inside these areas than outside,” Sala added. 

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

Investing in change

As harmful fishing practices continue to undermine conservation efforts, BEFF is also zeroing in on how improved financing can drive change. 

Key financial tools under discussion include debt-for-nature swaps and blended finance models that combine public and private investment. Twenty side events called “Solution Hubs” will explore everything from marine algae to sustainable aquaculture. 

“We need to make sure finance directly reaches the coastal communities working to safeguard our ocean,” said Rita El Zaghloul, director of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People – a group of more than 100 countries pushing to protect biodiversity and expand access to conservation funding. 

Some of that is starting to happen. The coalition has launched a fast-track fund to provide small grants for marine-protected area planning.  

“A community marine reserve doesn’t need a giant World Bank loan,” added Rechberger. “It needs the right money, at the right time, and the right amount.” 

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

Awareness through storytelling 

The economic stakes are huge. The ocean feeds 3.2 billion people and contributes $2.6 trillion to the global economy. Yet destructive practices continue to erode these benefits. 

The forum is also taking place against growing pressure to resolve the disconnect between bold conservation pledges and the persistence of harmful practices at sea. 

To help raise awareness, a special screening of the documentary Ocean, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, will close Saturday’s programme. The film features the first underwater footage of bottom trawling in action. 

“Now, for the first time, people can see what bottom trawling does underwater,” said Sala. “People can see what this practice does and can make up their minds.” 

As the countdown continues to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, from 9 to 13 June, organisers hope BEFF will help shape the tone of the week. With only five years left to quadruple ocean protection, the window for action is rapidly closing. 

“This is not only about conservation,” Rechberger said. “It’s about building a thriving, regenerative ocean economy that works for people and the planet.” 

Excavations at the Thiaroye military cemetery began in early May. These are aimed at shedding light on the events of 1 December, 1944, when African riflemen who had fought for France during the Second World War – known as tirailleurs – were shot dead after protesting against unpaid wages.

The episode marks one of the worst massacres during French colonial rule, and questions remain concerning the number of soldiers killed, their identities and where they were buried.

French authorities at the time said 35 people had been killed, but historians say the real death toll could be as high as 400.

“Human skeletons were discovered with bullets in their bodies, some in the chest,” a source close to the matter told France’s AFP news agency, adding that the bullets were of different calibres. 

Visual retelling of Thiaroye massacre sheds new light on French colonial atrocity

Only a small section of the cemetery has been excavated so far, the source said, adding that forensic analysis is now required to determine the type of bullets and weapons used and to identify individuals buried at the site.

Léa-Lisa Westerhoff, RFI’s correspondent in Senegal, said the operation “has been carried out in near-total secrecy” and there has been no official disclosure of the archeological surveys’ findings.

“Some say it’s ‘too early to talk about it’ while others mention a report that is currently being drafted and will be submitted to Senegalese authorities before being made public,” she said.

This would most likely be after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, known as Tabaski in Senegal, she added.

Uncovering the ‘whole truth’

Around 1,600 soldiers from West Africa arrived at the Thiaroye camp in November 1944, having been captured by Germany while they were fighting for France.

Discontent soon mounted over unpaid wages and demands to be treated on a par with white soldiers. Some protesters refused to return to their home countries without their due. 

The French forces opened fire on the soldiers on 1 December of that year.

Researchers have long called for excavations at the Thiaroye cemetery and the nearby military camp.

Senegal mourns Thiaroye war heroes slain by French troops 80 years ago

In February, the Senegalese government, which accuses France of withholding archival documents which would shed light on the death toll, announced the excavations as a means to “uncover the whole truth”.

Last November, France acknowledged the massacre the day before commemoration of its 80th anniversary, which Senegal marked on an unprecedented scale.

The tirailleurs unit was formed in 1857 in Senegal and troops were recruited from throughout Central and West Africa to defend the French colonial empire.

During the First World War around 200,000 were transported to Europe to fight in the trenches, and nearly 30,000 died there in decisive battles such as Verdun.   

(with newswires)

The complaint relates to the deaths of Janna and Abderrahim Abudaher, aged 6 and 9, who were killed when their family home in northern Gaza was struck by two missiles on 24 October 2023.

The missiles were allegedly fired by Israeli F-16 jets.

The airstrike occurred 17 days after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil. 

The 48-page lawsuit was lodged by lawyer Arié Alimi on behalf of Jacqueline Rivault – the children’s maternal grandmother.

The children are French nationals, which means the case could fall under the jurisdiction of French courts.

Israeli leadership targeted

Rivault accuses the Israeli authorities of murder, crimes against humanity, genocide and complicity in those crimes.

Although filed against unnamed persons – “X” – the complaint explicitly names Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government and the country’s military (IDF).

For Rivault, the case also highlights France’s failure to protect its own citizens. The French government “should have evacuated French nationals living in the Gaza Strip,” she told France Info public radio.

The complaint argues that the strike was not an isolated event but part of a broader campaign to “eliminate the Palestinian population and subject them to conditions intended to bring about the destruction of the group” – a core element in the legal definition of genocide.

According to the filing, the Abudaher family fled their apartment due to heavy bombing, seeking refuge in two other locations before settling in a house in northern Gaza, near Fallujah and Beit Lahia.

The house was hit by two missiles – one piercing the roof, the other striking the room where the family had gathered.

Abderrahim died instantly, Janna died shortly after being taken to the hospital. Their brother Omar survived with serious injuries. Their mother, Yasmine Z, was also wounded.

Yasmine Z, previously convicted in absentia in France for financing terrorism, remains in Gaza and is subject to a French arrest warrant.

What is genocide and is it happening in Gaza?

Seeking accountability

Rivault’s lawyer Alimi said the case aims to ensure accountability beyond Israeli borders. “It is necessary that those who were involved, in one way or another, in acts that could be classified as crimes against humanity or genocide, know that when they leave Israel’s borders they can be arrested anywhere,” he told France Info.

Responsibility lies not only with leaders, he said, “but anyone who will have participated in one way or another”.

The lawsuit joins a growing list of international efforts to hold Israeli officials accountable for alleged war crimes and genocide – charges Israel strongly denies, calling them “scandalous”.

Israel hits back at ‘distorted’ genocide case amid ongoing Gaza conflict

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The International Federation for Human Rights was the first to declare Israel’s actions as genocidal in December 2023. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch followed suit in 2024.

In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent acts of genocide. In mid-May, the UN’s top humanitarian official called on world leaders to act to prevent a genocide in Gaza.

France points to Netanyahu immunity from ICC war crimes warrant

Similar legal actions have been initiated in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

In France, three complaints have recently been filed against dual French-Israeli citizens or IDF soldiers, accusing them of genocide or complicity in genocide – although none have gained traction so far.

(with AFP)

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 3 May, I asked you a question about women’s right to vote. Frenchwomen were granted the right to vote in 1944; the first election they voted in was in 1945. This is long after many of their sisters in other countries.

You were to re-read our article “How French women won, and used, their right to vote in 1945”, and send in the answer to this question: Which country was the first to grant women the right to vote, and in which year? I also asked you to send in the names and dates of the countries that followed the ground-breaker.

The answer is, to quote our article: “New Zealand was the pioneer, granting women the right to vote in 1893, followed by Australia in 1901, Finland in 1906, Denmark in 1915, Uruguay in 1917, Germany in 1918, the United States in 1920, and the United Kingdom in 1928.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, which was suggested by Father Stephen Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon. Father Steve wanted to know: What big anniversary do you have coming up? A birthday? A wedding? Something else? How will you celebrate it? How many guests will you invite?

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Mr. M. Ganesan from Goa, India, who is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Mr. Ganesan.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week – all women, to celebrate our big sister suffragettes who opened the door for us – are Hasina Zaman Hasi, a member of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club members Jocelyne D’Errico from New Zealand; Jahan Ara Hussain from Odisha, India, and Shaira Hosen Mo from Kishoreganj in Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Eid Al-Adha Mubarak” by Babu and Shahnawaz, sung by Nawal Khan; Duet for Viola and Violoncello and Obligato Eyeglasses WoO 32 by Ludwig van Beethoven, performed by Keith Hamm and Julie Hereish; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Oi! Altas undas que venetz sus la mar” by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, performed by the Eduardo Paniagua Spanish-French-Moroccan Ensemble.

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 Amanda Morrow’s article “The big blue blindspot: why the ocean floor is still an unmapped mystery”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 30 June to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 5 July 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

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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.   

The two sides said they would consult their leaders before resuming talks, a source briefed on the negotiations told French news agency AFP on Thursday.

However, sources from both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government and M23 camps cast doubt on whether there had been significant progress in the talks so far, speaking to Reuters on Thursday.

“The draft is not recent and has not been updated for over a month,” an M23 source, who insisted on anonymity, said. “The draft has nothing to do with what we proposed and takes more into account Kinshasa’s expectations.” 

The source who had been briefed on the negotiations had a more positive take, saying the talks had “entered a deeper phase, with both sides engaging on the core issues underlying the conflict”.

Stalled progress 

Negotiations between the government and the Congo River Alliance and March 23 Movement rebel alliance (AFC/M23) have stalled in recent weeks, despite the involvement of not only Qatar, but also African countries and the United States.

Fighting in eastern DRC has escalated since January, as the M23 militia advanced to seize the region’s two largest cities, raising fears of a wider regional war.

Podcast: The crisis in the DRC and the African Union response

Qatar successfully brokered a surprise meeting in March between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Both leaders called for a ceasefire after the meeting.

An encouraging joint statement was issued on 23 April in Doha, Qatar, which raised the prospect of a truce, but no progress has been made since.

A third round of talks was held in early May, again in the Qatari capital, without any tangible results. AFC/M23 representatives eventually left Doha and returned to Goma.

African leaders and Washington have also been trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to the conflict, which has roots in the Rwandan genocide, more than three decades ago.

US President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to strike a peace accord between DRC and Rwanda – and facilitate billions in Western investment in the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.

Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos, last month said he had spoken with the presidents of both countries and was “awaiting final feedback from both parties”.

Rwanda and DR Congo hopeful for peace talks this week under US mediation

‘A dialogue of the deaf’

RFI’s correspondents in the DRC have reported that at least four direct meetings were organised in Doha over the past two months, with discussions also taking place through mediation.

However, one diplomat who is closely following the case told RFI: “It’s almost a dialogue of the deaf.”

Some DRC delegates are demanding the withdrawal of the AFC/M23 from the towns it controls before there can be further talks.

The AFC/M23 delegates, for their part, are demanding the release of their officials.

The climate remains tense in eastern DRC, with former president Joseph Kabila’s presence in Goma creating additional tensions.

Former DRC president Kabila visits rebel-held Goma for controversial talks

Kabila arrived in the rebel-held city of Goma last weekend for talks with locals, according to sources close to him, after declaring he wanted to help end the crisis in the war-ravaged region.

He is suspected by authorities in Kinshasa of wanting to reactivate his networks, particularly in security and regional circles, to further weaken the government of Tshisekedi.

 (with newswires)

Sinner beat the three-time champion 6-4, 7-5, 7-6.

“It’s a dream to be in the final on Sunday,” Sinner told on court interviewer Alex Corretja after battling with Djokovic for three hours and 16 minutes.

“I had to show my best tennis,” Sinner added. “It’s always a privilege to play against Novak.”

Sinner entered the fray having won his past three encounters with the Serb.

He engineered the first break point of the tie in the fifth game and clinched it when the ball bounced and reared up over Djokovic’s racquet.

Sinner maintained his advantage to take the opener 6-4 after 45 minutes.

Second set chance

Around 40 minutes later, the 23-year-old Italian had the chance to claim the second set by the same score. But he fluffed his opportunity and rekindled Djokovic’s hopes.

But those were rapidly extinguished. Djokovic squandered two game points on his way to handing the initiative back to Sinner.

At 6-5 up, a fifth ace brought Sinner a second set point and a strong serve forced the error from Djokovic to put Sinner in the driving seat.

Even then Sinner said her did not feel comfortable.

“If I lose the third set, of course I’m up two sets to one, but things can change. The mental side can give you so much strength or also the opposite – the negative part of it.

“I’m very happy that I closed it out in three.”

That brevity was down to Sinner’s resilience in the third set. He saved three set points before levelling at 5-5.

Moment of danger

That was essentially the last moment of danger. Sinner rolled through the shoot-out seven points to three to sew up the semi and move into his first French Open final.

“Congratulations to Jannik for another very good and solid performance,” said Djokovic.

“I think mentally he deserved big credit for hanging in there in the tough moments when the whole stadium was cheering for me and he was set points down. He managed to find some really good shots. He showed why he’s number one in the world. He was just too solid.”

Sinner will take on Alcaraz who came through his semi-final when Lorenzo Musetti retired at the start of the fourth set with a injury to his left leg.

“Carlos is a player who makes me a better player,” said Sinner. “He pushes me to the limit and I try to understand where I have to improve for the next time I play against him.

“I believe that tennis or every sport needs rivalries. This could be potentially one of these but there are amazing players coming up or one player drops. You never know.”

Christophe B., the suspect in the killing of 42-year-old Hichem Miraoui, was charged with murder as an act of terrorism on Thursday and held in custody, France’s national anti-terror prosecutor’s office (PNAT) announced.

PNAT took over the case – the first time a far-right racist attack has been treated as a “terrorist” offence since the unit was created in 2019.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Tuesday that the killing of Miraoui was “clearly a racist crime”, “probably also anti-Muslim”.

“My client regrets the events,” Christophe B.’s lawyer, Reda Ghilaci, said in a written statement. He contested the classification of the crime, arguing that “the terrorist label, like the racist intent, is highly debatable from a legal standpoint and is being challenged”.

Christophe B., a French national in his 50s, shot and killed Miraoui, a Tunisian man in his 40s, on Saturday evening in the southern town of Auget-sur-Argens. He then shot and wounded another neighbour, a Turkish national.

Prosecutors said the suspect fled the scene by car and was eventually arrested by special forces.

Allegiance to French flag

Christophe B. posted racist videos on social media both before and after the attack, according to regional prosecutor Pierre Couttenier.

In one video he addressed “French people” and called on them to “wake up” and “go get them where they are”. He also pledged allegiance to the French flag and declared his intent to “put a stop to the Islamists”.

Between the attack and his arrest at 5 a.m. Sunday morning, he uploaded four more videos, in which he denounced the French state as “incapable of protecting us or sending them back where they came from,” and boasted about having “wiped out the two or three scumbags near [his] home”.

The suspect’s social media accounts, investigators say, were filled with posts about terrorism, immigration, Islam, the far-right, and frequent attacks on French government institutions.

“People often say that the normalisation of racist ideas and remarks is due to social media platforms, but platforms are above all tools,” said Dominique Sopo, head of the anti-racism group SOS Racisme.

“What we need to look at is who is speaking on these platforms: who incites, who amplifies, who echoes the words of hate that can be found there. And it’s clear that that political parties whose goal is to promote racism and xenophobia obviously have responsibility (for this),” he told RFI.

“The National Rally, Reconquest and the traditional far right come to mind, but also the rest of the political class, which, far too often, chases after far-right ideas and ends up validating them.”

Court allows controversial ultra-nationalist rally in Paris

Rise in anti-Muslim acts

Political and religious leaders have sounded the alarm over growing anti-Muslim acts in France, which increased by 72 percent in the first quarter, with 79 recorded cases, according to interior ministry figures.

The shooting followed the murder of a Malian man in a mosque in April, also in southern France, and the burning of a Koran near Lyon at the weekend.

Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, called on French President Emmanuel Macron to speak out.

“It is time to hold accountable the promoters of this hatred who, in political and media circles, act with complete impunity and incite extremely serious acts,” said Hafiz. “Remind people of the reality that we are citizens of this country,” he added.

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

Tributes poured in from shocked neighbours and friends mourning Miraoui’s murder. More than a dozen bouquets were placed outside the barbershop where he worked in the quiet town of Puget-sur-Argens.

France has also seen a rise in reported attacks against members of its Jewish population since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, 2023 and the Israeli military responded with a devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip.

France’s Holocaust memorial and three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalised with paint on Saturday.

Just 26.1 percent of the global seafloor – including both shallow and deep areas – has been mapped using modern sonar, according to the Seabed 2030 project, which aims to chart the entire ocean floor by the end of the decade. 

But mapping from above is not the same as seeing it up close. Scientists estimate that humans have directly observed less than 0.001 percent of the deep seafloor – defined as depths below 200 metres. That’s an area roughly one-tenth the size of Belgium. 

That figure comes from a study published this month in Science Advances led by explorer and scientist Katy Croff Bell who, along with colleagues, compiled data from more than 43,000 deep-sea dives carried out since the 1950s.  

The results show how lopsided ocean exploration has become. Nearly two-thirds of all observations happened within 200 nautical miles of just three countries: the United States, Japan and New Zealand. Five nations conducted 97 percent of all dives. 

This leaves entire regions of the ocean floor completely undocumented – particularly in waters around poorer countries that lack the tools and funding for deep-sea research. 

“As we face accelerated threats to the deep ocean – from climate change to potential mining and resource exploitation – this limited exploration of such a vast region becomes a critical problem for both science and policy,” Bell, founder of the non-profit Ocean Discovery League, told Scientific American. 

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

Charting the unknown 

Some of those gaps are starting to close thanks to new tools. 

NASA’s SWOT satellite – short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography – was launched in December 2022 to track changes in water height across oceans, rivers and lakes.

By measuring tiny shifts in sea surface elevation – sometimes just a few centimetres – it helps scientists detect what lies below, including underwater mountains, ridges and deep-sea trenches. 

A study published in the journal Science last December found that SWOT delivered clearer images of the seafloor in a single year than earlier satellites achieved in three decades. 

“In this gravity map made from merely one year of SWOT data, we can see individual abyssal hills, along with thousands of small uncharted seamounts and previously hidden tectonic structures buried underneath sediments and ice,” said Yao Yu, a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

“This map will help us to answer some fundamental questions in tectonics and deep ocean mixing.” 

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

Why mapping matters 

But maps like these do more than fill scientific gaps. They help pinpoint safe sites for offshore wind farms, guide where to lay submarine cables and flag areas at risk from tsunamis or underwater landslides. 

These kinds of insights are becoming central to marine policy – especially as countries look to balance economic development with protecting the ocean. 

Still, many scientists say there’s no substitute for a direct look. Visual dives don’t just show topography – they reveal entire ecosystems, offering clues about what species live there, how they interact and how fragile they may be. 

“Being able to explore, or at least accelerate, the exploration of the other 99.999 percent of the deep ocean is really going to give us an amazing opportunity to ask new questions we’d never even thought of before,” said Bell. 

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

Eyes on the deep 

New expeditions are already pushing into the deep.  

This year, the research vessel Nautilus, operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, is exploring the Mariana Islands – a region dotted with more than 60 underwater volcanoes.

Scientists are using remotely operated vehicles to study hydrothermal vents and collect biological and geological samples from depths of up to 6,000 metres. 

Further north, teams led by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are surveying the Aleutian Arc off Alaska, where only 38 percent of the seafloor has been mapped. They’re studying deep-sea coral habitats, volcanic formations and possible mineral deposits.

These missions are part of a growing global effort to unlock the secrets of the deep – an environment that helps regulate climate, store carbon and sustain biodiversity. 

Plastic Odyssey on sea-faring mission to target plastic waste in Madagascar

High-stakes summit 

The ocean feeds 3.2 billion people and generates an estimated $2.6 trillion in economic value each year. Yet just 8 percent is formally protected – and only a fraction of that is off-limits to damaging activities. 

That disconnect will be centre stage in Nice, where world leaders, scientists and campaigners are meeting for the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) from 9 to 13 June.  

Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the summit follows a string of high-level events already under way. 

More than 2,000 scientists are taking part in the One Ocean Science Congress this week, while the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco this weekend will bring together investors and policymakers to address the multi-billion-dollar funding gap in marine protection. 

A public exhibition area called La Baleine has been open since Monday at Nice’s Palais des Expositions, while the Ocean Rise and Coastal Resilience Coalition summit on Saturday will focus on coastal communities affected by rising seas. 

The goal in Nice is to secure new voluntary commitments under the Nice Ocean Action Plan – pledges from governments, businesses and civil society to protect marine life and support the sustainable use of the seas. 

But for many researchers, it starts with something more basic: actually knowing what’s down there. 

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.

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‘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.

For more than 10 years, Lucia has been the closest thing to a doctor many here have seen.

She is a Community Health Worker, or CHW – part of a vast but often overlooked network of women who quietly sustain Kenya’s rural healthcare system.

Every day before sunrise, she walks up to 20 kilometres on dusty paths and rocky hills to visit people in their homes – checking on pregnant mothers, tending to sick children and referring emergency cases to distant health centres.

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In places where clinics are scarce and roads barely exist, CHWs like Lucia are a lifeline. People know her, and they trust her – some owe their lives to her.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Lucia says. “I’m not paid much, but I do it because these are my people. They have no one else to rely on.”

A life-changing gift

Lucia used to spend hours walking between homes, which meant fewer visits and longer days. Then she received a gift that changed everything: a bicycle.

It was given to her by World Bicycle Relief, a global charity working to empower remote communities through mobility. It has distributed more than 24,000 bicycles across Kenya to support health workers, schoolchildren and displaced individuals.

With her new bike, the time Lucia once spent trekking between appointments could now be spent reaching more patients, and getting to them faster.

“This bike is a lifesaver,” she says. “Before, I could visit maybe five homes a day. Now I can reach 15, sometimes 20. Every minute counts.”

“A good quality bicycle means a health worker can serve more patients, and it requires almost no maintenance,” Maureen Kolenyo, regional director of World Bicycle Relief in  East Africa, told RFI.

Goats for healthcare –  an initiative for pastoralists in Kenya

Government support in Kenya is often lacking, leaving organisations such as World Bicycle Relief to step in and fill the gaps.

Esther Mwangi, a county health official, knows how crucial such interventions are. “People often underestimate how transformative a bicycle can be, especially in developing regions where the infrastructure supports it,” she said.

“We’re working closely with Kenya’s Ministry of Health to identify high-need areas. The pressing question now is: who will invest, and help scale up the solution?” Kolenyo added.

‘I carry my people’

Lucia’s relationship with her community is intimate, born of countless hours spent listening, checking and comforting.

“We can always count on her. She saved my baby,” Nthenya, a mother of four, said

An elderly man who receives weekly check-ups calls her “more reliable than the dispensary”, while one young woman in her final trimester of pregnancy said she sees Lucia as “a second mother”.

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At the end of another long day, she mounts her bicycle and begins the steep, uneven ride home. The light is fading and the road is rough, but she is still smiling.

“Before, my legs would be shaking by now,” she says. “But this bicycle – it’s like my partner. It carries me, and I carry my people.”

The French buy an average of 48 items of new clothing per year per person, but two thirds of those garments remain in the wardrobe, while others are thrown away and pollute the environment. Thirty-five garments are thrown away every second, according to Ademe – France’s environmental agency. 

On Monday, lawmakers in the upper house begin debating a proposed law to “reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry” – estimated to be responsible for 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide

In March 2024, MPs voted unanimously to define and regulate imports of low-cost, high-turnover clothing – known as ultra-fast fashion – embodied by Chinese online retailers like Shein and Temu. 

“Today, these giants of ultra-disposable fashion are invading the market without any oversight. We need to set rules and hit them as effectively and as hard as possible,” said Sylvie Valente Le Hir, a senator with the conservative Republicans and rapporteur of the bill.

Under the legislation, the legal definition of “fast fashion” would be based on factors such as production volume, product lifespan and repairability.

Companies falling under this definition would face new obligations, including environmental transparency and potential penalties through a bonus-malus system indexed to environmental labelling. It would reward virtuous production methods and penalise companies that adopt wasteful, fast-fashion practices.

Advertising for fast fashion would also be limited. 

French parliament votes to slow down fast fashion

Weakened proposals

However, following amendments by a Senate commission in February, the text put before senators is weaker than the original.

The proposed ban on advertising will now apply only to influencers, after senators argued it could infringe on economic freedom. 

Environmental labelling as the basis for the bonus-malus system has also been dropped. 

For Impact France, an NGO that spearheaded advocacy efforts for the law, the latest version is no longer aligned with France’s ecological transition goals.

“What made the first version of the text so strong was that it contained two measures that worked well. The first was a ban on advertising, and the second was a bonus-malus system based on the environmental impact of clothing,” said Impact’s co-president Julia Faure.

“The combination of these two measures made it possible to change the paradigm of the textile industry. If you take away half of the measures, you halve the effectiveness of such a text,” she told RFI.

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Protecting France-based business

The amendments follow Shein’s intense lobbying of the French parliament. The Chinese giant hired former minister Christophe Castaner as a consultant. French media reported that Castaner had presented himself to MPs as a defender of low-income consumers.

The bill now targets mainly Asian ultra fast-fashion giants such as Shein and Temu. Critics such as the Stop Fast Fashion coalition fear this could turn the legislation into “an empty shell with no deterrent effect” by letting large European and French fast fashion platforms off the hook.

However, senator Sylvie Vallin, of the conservative Republicans party, defends the idea of excluding European fast fashion chains.

“Ephemeral fashion brands such as Zara, H&M and Kiabi are found in our shopping centres and city centres. And these brands and shops pay their taxes and employ people,” she told RFI. “I’m not going to green the entire textile industry with a bill like this one. However, we are seizing this opportunity to have an impact on the biggest Chinese giants, and then we are working at European level.”

The European Commission is considering introducing a tax on small parcels entering the EU – most of which come from China. In late May it urged Shein to respect EU consumer protection laws and warned it could face fines if it failed to address the EU’s concerns over the sale of unsafe and dangerous products sold on the sites of both Shein and Temu.

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Impact France is calling for four key provisions to be reinstated in the fast fashion legislation – environmental labelling, inclusion of multi-brand platforms, a comprehensive ad ban, and extending producer responsibility on an international level.

“The fashion industry needs rules that reflect the scale of its impact,” Faure said. “We have an opportunity to set a global standard, France shouldn’t miss it.”

While the Senate opposes a blanket ban on fast fashion advertising, the government has said it will try and reintroduce it into the bill, with backing from the left.

The French state has recently filed an appeal against the decision of a Paris court of 11 March, which ruled that the state should compensate people who have been exposed to chlordecone.

The move has angered victims in the French overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

“I used to make boxes to pack bananas and stick the labels on,” said one woman, who has always lived among the banana plantations in Martinique, a few steps from the warehouse where she worked.

5 questions about chlordecone pesticide use in French Antilles

Every day she handled bananas treated with chlordecone by the hundreds, she told RFI.

“My fingers swelled up, my fingers and thumbs became deformed. It was after the occupational doctor came and I showed him my hands. He told me I couldn’t continue working.”

She continued: “And then one day, when I was going shopping with my children, I said to my daughter ‘I can’t see anything at all’. And the doctor said I needed immediate surgery.”

An emergency operation prevented the damage from spreading to her brain, but she lost her sight. Today, she is demanding accountability from those responsible and asking for further treatment.

“I want to get my eyes back and for justice to know that it was the chlordecone that did this to me,” she said.

Thousands protest in Martinique against ‘insecticide impunity’ in chlordecone case

Workers say no one spoke to them about the dangers of chlordecone.

Another woman remembers her years working in the banana plantations. She says that workers were given a bucket to spread fertiliser and pesticides by hand, without any protection or explanation.

“One day, I arrived in the middle of the fields, and I felt something was really wrong. Dizziness, weakness, trembling. And I collapsed with the bucket,” she recalled.

“They need to admit that they poisoned us. When I call all my friends, all my aunts, all my cousins, everyone is dying because of that poison they used. I’m asking for justice.”

Paris court dismisses probe into mass poisoning of French West Indies

“I carry all the rage of the people from Martinique, and this rage is directed at the state and at the poisoners… because they did this intentionally, they already knew,” said Yvan Sérénus, president of the group of agricultural workers poisoned by pesticides.

Chlordecone has been classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization since 1979 and was banned in the United States in 1977.

In the French Caribbean, it continued to be used until 1993, despite being officially banned in 1990 in mainland France.

Today, more than 90 percent of the adult population in Guadeloupe and Martinique has been contaminated by chlordecone, according to France’s public health body.

This report was adapted from RFI’s podcast Reportage France, produced by Jeanne Richard.

The move, led by President Brice Oligui Nguema, was announced at the weekend as part of a broader national strategy to industrialise Gabon’s economy and add more value to its abundant natural resources.

Eramet, the main shareholder in Comilog – Gabon’s leading manganese mining firm – said it has acknowledged the government’s decision and will continue to engage with officials “in a spirit of constructive partnership and mutual respect”.

The French firm also committed to preserving the 10,460 local jobs sustained by Comilog and its transport arm, Setrag.

Gabon military leader Oligui Nguema elected president by huge margin

‘Upskilling’ Gabon’s workforce

President Oligui, who took power following a 2023 coup and was elected in April 2025 with nearly 95 percent of the vote, is seeking to reshape Gabon’s economic model.

Manganese – a key ingredient in steelmaking and increasingly in electric vehicle batteries – is one of Gabon’s top export earners alongside oil and timber.

The export ban on unprocessed manganese, which will take effect from 1 January 2029, is designed to encourage local processing, upskill the workforce, and boost tax revenues.

“Gabon is giving the mining sector three years to prepare,” the government said in a statement on Saturday, outlining plans to support the transition with a new public-private investment fund.

Push for domestic refining

The policy shift echoes a growing trend across Africa, with countries such as Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania also moving to retain more value from their mineral wealth by restricting raw material exports and encouraging domestic refining and processing.

Eramet – which operates the world’s largest manganese mine at Moanda – processes some ore locally in Gabon but still relies heavily on exports to international markets including China, Europe, and the United States.

The company had temporarily suspended operations in Gabon during the 2023 coup and scaled back production targets in 2024 amid market headwinds.

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Stock market turbulence

Shares in Eramet fell by over five percent in Paris on Monday following news of the ban, before recovering slightly to trade 4 percent lower by mid-morning.

Analysts say the impact of the export restrictions will depend on how quickly Gabon and its partners can develop local processing capacity.

Despite its natural wealth, around one-third of Gabon’s 2.3 million people live in poverty.

The government hopes that keeping more of the value chain within the country will change that.

While the path ahead presents challenges, there are signs of optimism, as  Eramet has already shown its willingness to adapt in Indonesia, where it recently signed a memorandum of understanding to invest in local nickel processing – a similar transition, after Jakarta banned raw nickel exports.

The European Union already has some of the world’s most stringent digital rules to rein in Big Tech, with multiple probes ongoing into how platforms protect children – or not.

There are now demands for the EU to go further as a rising body of evidence shows the negative effects of social media on children‘s mental and physical health.

Backed by France and Spain, Greece has spearheaded a proposal for how the EU should limit children’s use of online platforms as fears mount over their addictive nature.

They will present the plan on Friday to EU counterparts in Luxembourg “so that Europe can take the appropriate action as soon as possible”, Greek Digital Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said.

The proposal includes setting an age of digital adulthood across the 27-country EU, meaning children will not be able to access social media without parental consent.

Porn sites go dark in France over new age verification rules

Since the proposal was published last month, other countries have expressed support including Cyprus and Denmark – which takes over the rotating EU presidency in July.

Danish officials say the issue will be a priority during their six-month presidency.

France has led the way in cracking down on platforms, passing a 2023 law requiring them to obtain parental consent for users under the age of 15.

But the measure has not received the EU green light it needs to come into force.

France also gradually introduced requirements this year for all adult websites to have users confirm their age to prevent children accessing porn – with three major platforms going dark this week in anger over the move.

Also under pressure from the French government, TikTok on Sunday banned the “#SkinnyTok” hashtag, part of a trend promoting extreme thinness on the platform.

Real age verification

Greece says its aim is to protect children from the risks of excessive internet use.

The proposal does not say at what age digital adulthood should begin but Papastergiou said platforms should know users’ real ages “so as not to serve inappropriate content to minors”.

France, Greece and Spain expressed concern about the algorithmic design of digital platforms increasing children’s exposure to addictive and harmful content – with the risk of worsening anxiety, depression and self-esteem issues.

The proposal also blames excessive screen time at a young age for hindering the development of minors’ critical and relationship skills.

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They demand “an EU-wide application that supports parental control mechanisms, allows for proper age verification and limits the use of certain applications by minors”.

The goal would be for devices such as smartphones to have in-built age verification.

The European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, wants to launch an age-verification app next month, insisting it can be done without disclosing personal details.

The EU last month published draft guidelines for platforms to protect minors, to be finalised once a public consultation ends this month, including setting children’s accounts to private by default, and making it easier to block and mute users.

Those guidelines are non-binding, but the bloc is clamping down in other ways.

EU investigations

It is currently investigating Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok under its mammoth content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), fearing the platforms are failing to do enough to prevent children accessing harmful content.

In the Meta probe, the EU fears the platform’s age-verification tools may not be effective.

And last week, it launched an investigation into four pornographic platforms over suspicions they are failing to stop children accessing adult content.

Separately, the EU has been in long-running negotiations on a law to combat child sexual abuse material, but the proposal has been mired in uncertainty, with worries from some countries that it would allow authorities to access encrypted communications.

The legal proposal has pitted proponents of privacy against those working to protect children – and despite repeated attempts, it has failed to get EU states’ approval.

It will be their 11th confrontation on the WTA circuit since 2020 but their first at the French Open.

“Winning is going to mean everything to me and my team,” said Sabalenka who beat the defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-final on Thursday.

“I have to say that almost like the whole of my life I’ve been told that clay is not my thing and then I didn’t have any confidence.”

The 27-year-old has given the lie to that barb. Three of her 20 titles have come on clay, most recently the Madrid Open crown where she beat Gauff in straight sets.

“We’ve been able to develop my game so much,” she added on the eve of her clash with Gauff on centre court at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.

“So I feel really comfortable on this surface and am actually enjoy playing on clay.

Game with variation

Sabalenka has added slices and drop shots to her devastating power off both flanks. The first set she lost in the competition came against Swiatek and she remedied that second set blip with a 6-0 mauling in the decider.

“I’m ready to go into the final and to fight, fight for every point and give everything I have to give to get the win,” she added.

Gauff was still in her teens when Swiatek carved her up in the 2022 French Open final. The 21-year-old American says she has matured.

Proof of that evolution came on Thursday afternoon in the semi-final where she displayed commendable composure to silence the raucous partisans as she obliterated the hometown heroine Lois Boisson 6-1, 6-2.

The match against the world number 361 was all over in 69 minutes.

Gauff says she expects a sterner examination against Sabalenka.

Arsenal of shots

“She can come up with some big shots and big winners pretty much from all areas of the court,” said Gauff of Sabalenka who she beat to win the US Open in September 2023.

“Her ball striking, her mentality, she’s a fighter as well. She’s going to stay in the match regardless of the scoreline.”

Victory would give Gauff her second crown from one of the four Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

A win would furnish Sabalenka with a fourth major and leave her just a Wimbledon title away from a career Grand Slam – wins at all the major venues.

“Obviously Aryna is someone who has great big shots and she’s going to come out aggressive and she’s going to come out swinging.

“I think I just have to expect that and do my best to counter that.”

Alcaraz was leading 2-0 when the 23-year-old Italian threw in the towel.

“It’s never easy to win like this,” Alcaraz told on-court interviewer Lucas Pouille.

“He has had an incredible clay court season and is one of the few players who’ve achieved at least semi-finals in the biggest tournaments on clay.

“I wish him all the best for the recovery. I am sure he will be back pretty soon.”

First semi-final

Musetti, playing in his first semi-final at the French Open, kept pace with Alcaraz and, leading 5-4, profited from a couple of wayward forehands to take the Spaniard’s serve and the set 6-4.

The second followed a similar pattern: Alcaraz unable to exploit his break points and Musetti showing, grit, guile and style to remain competitive.

But he faltered when serving to take a 6-5 lead offering Alcaraz the chance to serve for the set.

But Alcaraz was in equally munificent mood and coughed up his own serve to take the set into a tiebreak.

Alcaraz claimed it seven points to three. And he raced through the third set 6-0 against a wilting Musetti who called the trainer at the end of the third set to massage his left leg.

He returned to the court in spirit but the body had departed. After losing the second game of the set, Musetti advanced to the net to offer his congratulations. 

French Open history

Alcaraz will attempt to become only the sixth man and the first player since his hero Rafael Nadal to win back-to-back titles at the French Open since tennis was opened up to professional players in 1968.

He will play either the top seed Jannik Sinner or the sixth seed Novak Djokovic who is seeking a fourth French Open crown and a record 25th singles title at the four Grand Slam tournament venues in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

“I will watch the match for sure,” said Alcaraz. “It’s one of the best matches of the year.

“I will watch it and enjoy it and look out for possible tactics for the final.”

Seven of the 12 countries targeted by Trump’s travel ban, announced on Wednesday, are on the African continent.

As of Monday, 9 June, citizens of Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and Sudan will no longer be allowed entry to the US.

Burundi, Sierra Leone and Togo are among seven further nations subjected to partial restrictions.

In a statement released on Thursday, the African Union (AU) said it “remains concerned about the potential negative impact of such measures on people-to-people ties, educational exchange, commercial engagement, and the broader diplomatic relations that have been carefully nurtured over decades”.

The AU, which represents all 55 nations on the African continent, called on Washington to “consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned,” while appealing for “transparent communication” to address underlying issues.

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Terrorism and visa overstays

The Trump administration has justified each country’s inclusion on the list in a presidential proclamation. Equatorial Guinea and Republic of Congo have been targeted due to visa overstays, while Somalia and Libya face restrictions over terrorism concerns.

In a video posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump said an analysis of “high-risk regions” had found “the large-scale presence of terrorists, failure to cooperate on visa security, inability to verify travellers’ identities, inadequate record keeping of criminal histories and persistently high rates of illegal visa overstays”.

Trump linked the decision to a recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, which he said “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas – we don’t want them”.

Somali authorities have pledged to work with the US to resolve security issues, after the US described the country as a “terrorist safe haven”. Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said in a statement: “Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised.”

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Residents in Mogadishu were less diplomatic. “I totally disagree with the president of the United States’ decision,” Salad Abdullahi Mohamed told France’s AFP news agency. “Somali immigrants reached there after a long hazardous trip to get a better life.”

Ali Abdullahi Ali, another Mogadishu resident, argued that Somali migrants were simply looking “to make a better living and help their parents,” adding: “I would call on the president to make this decision null and void and also give necessary documents to stay and continue living and working there.”

US-Africa tensions

The travel ban is the latest blow to US-Africa relations under Trump’s second administration. The president introduced travel restrictions during his first term, which he claimed were “one of our most successful policies” and had prevented terror attacks on US soil.

Earlier this year, Trump imposed tariffs on scores of African countries as part of his “Liberation Day” trade overhaul, with Lesotho facing a 50 percent tariff, Madagascar 47 percent, and Mauritius 40 percent. These have been temporarily reduced to a 10 percent universal levy, pending negotiations. 

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Relations were further strained in May, when Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a meeting at the Whitehouse, pushing theories about a “white genocide” in the country.

In its statement, the AU emphasised that “Africa and the United States share mutual interests in promoting peace, prosperity, and global cooperation,” while acknowledging “the sovereign right of all nations to protect their borders and ensure the security of their citizens”.

However, it appealed to the US to “exercise this right in a manner that is balanced, evidence-based, and reflective of the long-standing partnership between the United States and Africa”.

Trump said that the strength of the restrictions depends on the “severity of the threat posed” and that the list could be revised depending on whether targeted nations made “material improvements”.

France has staunchly opposed ratifying the so-called Mercosur agreement, a trade deal between the European Union and four South American nations including Brazil, over fears a flow of lower-cost agricultural goods would outcompete Europe’s farmers.

“Open your heart a little to this opportunity to finalise this agreement with our dear Mercosur,” Lula said during a state visit to Paris.

“This agreement would be the strongest response our regions could offer in the face of the uncertainty caused by the return of unilateralism and tariff protectionism,” he added, referring to sweeping tariffs imposed or threatened by US President Donald Trump.

Trump, who argues his tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, has hit the EU with multiple waves of levies.

For his part, Macron reiterated his concerns about the deal’s impact on French farmers, citing differences in environmental regulations between the EU and Mercosur countries.

French lawmakers reject Mercosur free trade deal as farmers continue protests

“I don’t know how to explain to my farmers that, at a time when I am asking them to comply with more standards, I am opening up my market on a massive scale to people who do not comply at all,” Macron said.

“Because what will happen? It won’t be better for the climate, but we will completely destroy our agriculture,” he added.

“That is why I said earlier we must improve this deal.”

Germany, Spain, Portugal and others have welcomed the accord with Mercosur bloc members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, but France has said from the start it is not acceptable in its current form.

To be approved, the deal must receive the backing of at least 15 of the 27 EU states, representing a minimum of 65 percent of the population.

The demand comes amid escalating military operations and mounting concerns over the safety of local journalists and the suppression of information from the besieged territory.

Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza—a move that media organisations describe as unprecedented in the context of modern warfare.

With access tightly controlled, the global media has been unable to independently verify events on the ground, raising serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and the public’s right to information.

Palestinian journalists killed

Local journalists have borne the brunt of the conflict. According to press freedom monitors, nearly 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the start of the war, with many more injured or operating under constant threat.

French journalists’ collective appeals for solidarity with colleagues in Gaza

Reporters inside Gaza are working amid widespread displacement, food shortages and communication blackouts, often risking their lives to document the unfolding crisis.

Journalist safety and press access are protected under international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, which classify journalists in conflict zones as civilians and prohibit targeting them.

Advocates are urging Israel to comply with these legal obligations and to open its borders to international media.

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

“At this pivotal moment, with renewed military action and efforts to resume the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the letter reads, “it is vital that Israel open Gaza’s borders for international journalists to be able to report freely and that Israel abides by its international obligations to protect journalists as civilians.”

Independent reporting essential

The call for access comes as renewed military actions take place in the region and humanitarian agencies struggle to deliver aid to civilians.

Media organisations say that independent reporting is essential to understanding the scope of the crisis and ensuring global awareness of its human impact.

Despite the dangers, local journalists in Gaza continue to report from the ground, often using limited tools and under severe threat. Their work, say advocates, underscores the urgent need for global media presence to amplify their efforts and ensure accountability.

The international community is being urged to pressure Israeli authorities to lift restrictions and allow journalists to enter Gaza freely. Until then, concerns over censorship, misinformation, and the erasure of on-the-ground realities are likely to intensify.

The hard-left CGT union representing dockworkers and port personnel at Fos-sur-Mer says the the cargo contains 19 pallets of ammunition belt links manufactured by Eurolinks – a Marseille-based company which produces components for automatic weapons.

The container, which is scheduled to be shipped from the southern French port to the Israeli port of Haifa on Thursday, is currently blocked.

The union said it was able to locate the container after being alerted by several activist networks.

“We will not load it on to the vessel bound for Haifa,” the CGT said in a statement.

Eurolinks produces metallic links used to connect rounds in machine guns, allowing them to be fired in rapid succession.

“These Eurolinks links are spare parts for machine guns used by the Israeli army to continue the massacre of the Palestinian population,” the CGT stated. “The port of Marseille-Fos must not be used to supply the Israeli army… dockworkers and port employees at the Gulf of Fos will not be complicit in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government.”

UN committee says Israel warfare in Gaza ‘consistent with genocide’

The French Armed Forces Ministry rejects the union’s claims. “France is not supplying weapons to Israel,” it told public radio FranceInfo.

In line with the licence given to Eurolinks, the links are assembled in Israel, but the final product is then re-exported back to other countries, including France, the ministry said, adding that Israel remains “a partner”.  

“We’re not going to deprive ourselves of either its technology or its skills,” it stated. 

France’s Macron urges halt to arms exports destined for Israel’s use in Gaza

Third delivery this year

This is the third shipment of this type to Israel this year, according to an enquiry by investigative websites Disclose and The Ditch, which had access to maritime data.

The first took place on 3 April, with 20 tonnes of war material, and the second, with 1 million M9 and 1 million M27 bullets, was on 22 May.

“The buyer of these parts is an Israeli arms manufacturer, one of the main suppliers to the Israeli army,” Ariane Lavrilleux, a journalist at Disclose, told RFI.

In March 2024, Disclose and another online media outlet Marsactu, claimed the arms were “likely to be used against civilians in the Gaza Strip”.

French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed at the time that Eurolinks had sold similar parts to IMI Systems – an Israeli defence firm that identifies itself as a “sole supplier” to the Israeli military.

Lecornu stated that the parts could only be “re-exported” by Israel.

“France has no way of checking whether or not the Israeli manufacturer is re-exporting them,” Lavrilleux insists. “There is no absolute proof that these links are being used in Gaza, but there is a serious risk insofar as we know that they are compatible with weapons used against civilians in Gaza.”

‘Disclose’ wins Visa d’or for probe into French arms in Yemen

Left-wing support

The dockers’ action has received support from the left.

“Glory to the dockers in the port of Marseille-Fos… everywhere in the world, the fight is being organised against the genocide in Gaza,” Manuel Bompard, an MP with the hard-left France Unbowed party, posted on X (formerly Twitter).

The party’s leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, posted a similar message, calling for an “embargo now on the weapons of genocide”.

Olivier Faure, head of the Socialist Party, also congratulated the dockers, posting on X that: “Humanism is not for sale.”

The civil case stems from a March 2022 lawsuit by three environmental groups accusing the French energy giant of “misleading commercial practices” for saying it could reach carbon neutrality while continuing oil and gas production.

Starting in May 2021, TotalEnergies advertised its goal of “carbon neutrality by 2050” and touted gas as “the fossil fuel with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions”.

At the time, the company had also changed its name from Total to TotalEnergies to emphasise its investments in low-carbon energy, such as electricity.

The plaintiffs have logged around 40 “false advertisements” in their lawsuit.

The ads “don’t sincerely reflect the reality of TotalEnergies’ operations”, Apolline Cagnat, a legal counsel at Greenpeace, told AFP.

Cagnat said the NGOs want the court to send a “strong signal” to fossil fuel companies by ordering “an immediate stop, under penalty, of the misleading commercial practices”.

TotalEnergies disputes the charges, insisting the messages are part of its institutional communication, regulated by financial authorities — not consumer law.

It argues no consumer organisation is party to the case, and that the NGOs are misusing consumer protection rules to challenge its corporate strategy.

TotalEnergies scales back on low-carbon investment as profits slump

String of court cases

Environmental groups in recent years have turned to the courts to establish case law on companies misleading consumers by appearing more eco-friendly than they are.

In Europe, courts ruled against Dutch airline KLM in 2024 and Germany’s Lufthansa in March over misleading consumers about their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of flying.

In Spain, utility Iberdrola failed to secure a conviction against Spanish oil and gas company Repsol over similar allegations of “false” environmental claims.

A greenwashing case against Australian oil and gas producer Santos, challenging its claim to be a “clean fuels” company, has been ongoing since 2021.

Based on a European Union directive targeting unfair commercial practices, the TotalEnergies lawsuit is the first time a French court has heard such a case against a fossil fuel company.

The NGOs said the Paris court will rule, for the first time in the world, on the legality of ads presenting gas as essential to the energy transition.

Climate experts say methane leaks from the gas industry have a powerful warming effect on the atmosphere.

TotalEnergies maintains it has not engaged in misleading commercial practices.

The company says it plans to show that its messages “about its name change, strategy and role in the energy transition are reliable and based on objective, verifiable data”.

Despite hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people, the situation in the country has received limited international attention, insufficient humanitarian funding and minimal political engagement, according to the NGO.

“It’s a case study in global neglect,” Laila Matar, NRC’s director of communications, told RFI. “There’s little media coverage, no meaningful diplomatic engagement and chronic underfunding. People are really struggling to survive.”

Cameroon is grappling with humanitarian emergencies driven by three distinct situations – violence in the far north, ongoing conflict in the anglophone regions, and an influx of refugees from neighbouring Central African Republic.

These crises have left the country’s services overwhelmed and under-resourced.

Uprooted and forgotten, Cameroon’s climate refugees living in despair

According to the NRC’s report, covering 2024, 11 percent of Cameroon’s population now faces acute food insecurity.

“1.4 million children are crammed into poorly maintained and overcrowded classrooms,” said Matar. “There’s simply no meaningful investment coming in from the global community.”

Cameroon’s 2024 humanitarian response plan was only 45 percent funded, leaving a gap of more than $202 million (almost €178m).

Alongside Cameroon, the NRC’s report highlights nine other displacement crises suffering from similar neglect and lack of aid funding, including those in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Burkina Faso, each grappling with ongoing conflict.

‘Inward-looking policies’

To explain this reduced support and lack of engagement, Matar says: “Donor fatigue is certainly a factor. But more worrying is the shift we’re seeing from international solidarity to more inward-looking, security-focused policies in countries that used to be generous donors.”

Several developed countries have made significant cuts to their overseas aid budgets.

France announced it would reduce public development assistance by more than €2 billion – nearly 40 percent of its annual allocation.

The United Kingdom has cut its overseas development assistance from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of gross national income, while Germany and the Netherlands are amongst others to have announced substantial reductions in foreign aid.

France’s proposed budget cuts set to slash overseas development aid

This comes as the United States – formerly the worlds largest contributor to overseas relief funding – has shut down or drastically reduced several aid programmes, including USAID, amid accusations of inefficiency from the Trump administration. 

These decisions carry serious consequences for the humanitarian work of NGOs such as the NRC.

“We’re layering compromise upon compromise,” Matar told RFI. “And those compromises are deadly.”

Global aid in chaos as Trump proposes to slash funds and dismantle USAID

The NRC report also makes an impassioned plea for a shift in priorities, with the organisation’s secretary-general Jan Egeland saying: “Displacement isn’t a distant crisis. It’s a shared responsibility. We must stand up and demand a reversal of brutal aid cuts which are costing more lives by the day.”

While governments and institutions must lead the charge, Matar stressed that ordinary people also have a role to play.

“Humanitarian aid works. It helps people start to dream of a future again,” she said. “We can write to our MPs, speak out, and demand that our governments stop cutting aid in our name. We don’t need these crises to come to our borders to care about them.”

The crushing defeat for the French at Dien-Bien-Phu in Vietnam in 1954 brought an end to France’s century-long colonial presence in Indochina, which included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

The Geneva Accords of 21 July of that year opened the door to the repatriation to mainland France of nearly 40,000 people of Asian and European heritage, between 1954 to 1965. 

From 1954, around 5,000 people were accommodated in camps in Noyant-d’Allier (Auvergne), Sainte-Livrade (Lot-et-Garonne), or in Bias (Lot-et-Garonne), in difficult conditions, under a special status which did not give them the same rights as the rest of the population.

They included many women with mixed-race children who had been forced to flee the risk of reprisals in their native region, as well as those married to French officials. A great number were from Vietnam.

Forced into oblivion

Just over 70 years later, France’s National Assembly on Tuesday passed a law recognising the country’s “commitment to those repatriated from Indochina” who had been housed in “undignified conditions”. It would compensate them, along with their families.

The bill – brought by Socialist Party MP and general secretary Olivier Faure – takes into consideration the “deprivations and violations of individual freedoms”, sources of exclusion, suffering, and trauma felt across generations.

Vietnam invites France to remember Dien Bien Phu defeat after 70 years

“Even for those who had chosen France as their homeland, it behaved like a colonial power, forcing those who had served it into oblivion,” Faure told fellow MPs.

Beyond a lump sum for reparations, the bill would extend a national day of remembrance on 8 June to these repatriates, as well as the designation of memorial sites.

The proposed legislation still has to be voted by the Senate.

Culture shock

Guy Dauchat, deputy mayor of Noyant-d’Allier, is coordinating a museum project dedicated to this little-known part of France’s history.

“In 1943, when the mines closed, dozens of miners’ houses (known as ‘coron’) were emptied,” he told RFI’s Marie Casadebaig.

The vacant dwellings transformed part of this Auvergne village into a camp for the Indochina repatriates.

Living conditions were very primitive, he explains. “But they were more dignified than at the other main reception centre in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot, where they were housed in a former German prison camp.”

France to bring back remains of colonial soldiers from Vietnam

Specific laws governed the daily lives of these families. They couldn’t leave the camps without authorisation and many lived solely on family allowances. “They were housed for free, so in return, the state considered that they should live in modest conditions,” Dauchat says.

“They weren’t allowed to have television in the 1960s, for example, or to own their own car. Such things were considered outward signs of wealth.”

Accustomed to living in Southeast Asia, the repatriates also faced a culture shock. The few surviving witnesses recall the cold of the first winter and their ill-adapted, traditional clothing.

Does France’s colonial past hold answers to today’s problems of national identity?

Preserving family stories

The National Assembly vote follows decades of campaigning by several citizens’ groups for France to both officially acknowledge what happened and formally conserve those stories for future generations.

Julien Cao Van Tuat, the president of ARINA (Association of Repatriates of Noyant-d’Allier) arrived in France in 1960, at the age of 3.

He told public radio Franceinfo that living conditions were terrible and families were broken up.

“Men had to leave to look for work immediately, in Lyon, Paris, and the larger cities,” he recalls. “After living in Marseille and Vienne, my mother arrived alone with her five children in Noyant-d’Allier on 21 June, 1962. She was lost.”

Marie Dietrich Adiceam, co-president of ARINA remembers the dilapidated state of the miners’ house she lived in.

The floor was “made of earth, with terracotta tiles. It was very rustic. We were allowed a stove and a blanket per person,” the 70-year old told Franceinfo.

France to compensate more Harki families for mistreatment after Algerian War

Similar stories came from the Bias and Saint-Livrade camps, with reports of children working for a pittance in nearby farms to supplement their parents’ meager incomes.

“When our parents arrived in France, they had a lot of hope. France was idealised”, Cao Van Tuat continues. 

“When they saw how they were treated, even as French citizens, they understood that they were second-class citizens. Our parents bowed down and sacrificed themselves so that their children could get ahead through education and assimilation.”

Similiarity with Harkis’ story 

Parliamentary recognition comes after a similar law, passed in 2022, recognised France’s responsibility in the treatment of Harkis repatriated from Algeria.

These soldiers, who fought on the side of the French during the Algerian war, were housed with their families in deplorable conditions in camps like Bias, which until 1962 had accommodated families from Indochina.

Adiceam says it’s only fair to be considered for reparations.

“From our generation, two or three have committed suicide, many have sunk into alcoholism”, she says. “So these people deserve reparation. And above all not to be forgotten because otherwise, afterwards, there will be nothing left for us.”

The Noyant-d’Allier camp officially closed in 1966. But Adiceam’s parents stayed on, and like many families bought cottages from the town hall. “Where else could they go?” she wonders.

Her story of life is one of hundreds carefully archived on association websites like the CAFI (Centre d’Accueil de Français d’Indochine), with the hope that younger generations won’t forget.

Christian Tein, 57, from the indigenous Kanak group, has been held in custody in eastern France since June 2024.  

He was charged over rioting on the Pacific archipelago that left 14 people dead, including two gendarmes, and caused more than two billion euros in damage. 

Tein heads the Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT), an organisation that prosecutors suspect was behind the unrest that broke out on 13 May 2024.

He has denied any role in organising violence and considers himself a political prisoner. 

Nouméa’s poorest neighbourhoods struggling to rebuild, a year after riots

Insufficient evidence

The investigating judges questioned Tein in late May and on Tuesday ruled he should be released under judicial control.

A source close to the case told the French news agency AFP that the conditions include a ban on returning to New Caledonia and on contacting other individuals involved in the case. 

The judges concluded that, at this stage, there is no evidence Tein was preparing an armed uprising against the French state. They also found no incriminating material during searches of his devices. 

Prosecutors opposed the decision, arguing that Tein played a central role in planning violent action against the government. Prosecutors said he could try to flee with the help of supporters if released. 

A Paris court of appeal is expected to decide within 48 hours whether the release order should be suspended. 

France fails to broker deal on New Caledonia’s future after three-day ‘conclave’

Lawyers welcome decision 

In a statement, Tein’s lawyers welcomed what they called the judges’ “new reading of the case”. They also said the Paris prosecutor’s office was “totally out of touch” with the evidence of the proceedings. 

“The freedom of Mr Tein must now be recovered so that the judicial battle continues to convince of his absolute innocence,” they said. 

The defendants, who are linked to the extreme-right group Les Natifs (“the Natives”), are on trial for unveiling a banner in March 2024 that read: “No way Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market” – a reference to Mali’s capital, where the singer was born – in response to rumours the singer would perform at the Olympic Games opening ceremony that summer.

Nakamura’s performance at the ceremony on the Seine that July, accompanied by the musicians of the Republican Guard, sparked a firestorm amongst far-right politicians and commentators that President Emmanuel Macron described as “racist” and “shocking”.

Aya Nakamura’s Olympic song proposal sparks French far-right backlash

The 13 defendants, aged between 20 and 31, face charges of publicly inciting hatred or violence, or complicity in such incitement, on the grounds of ethnicity, nationality, race or religion.

Les Natifs subscribe to the far-right, white nationalist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, according to which white Europeans are being deliberately supplanted by non-white immigrants.

Nakamura responded to the group’s stunt on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “You can be racist, but you’re not deaf… and that’s what really bothers you! I’m suddenly the number one topic of debate – but what do I really owe you? Nothing.”

Both the singer and anti-discrimination NGOs filed complaints with the Paris prosecutor’s office over the incident, which was investigated by France’s anti-hate crime division.

Six billion streams

The 30-year-old singer was born Aya Danioko in Mali, and arrived in France as a baby. She grew up on a housing estate in Seine-Saint-Denis, north-east of Paris, with her four siblings and her mother – who was a griotte, a traditional Malian poet and singer.

She applied for French nationality as an adult and was granted it in May 2021

Nakamura is the most listened-to Francophone artist in the world, with more than 6 billion streams of her songs and more than 9 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

But when rumours began circulating in March 2024 that she would perform at the Olympics opening ceremony, far-right politicians and groups vehemently criticised the decision.

An appearance by Nakamura, who sings in a mix of French and Arabic and Malian slang, would “humiliate” the country, said National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who took aim at what she called the singer’s “vulgarity” and “the fact that she doesn’t sing in French”.

Nakamura’s performance at the ceremony was widely viewed as a riposte to such criticism, with her singing a medley of her hits in front of the Académie Française – the institution responsible for the protection of the French language.

It became one of the most-watched moments of the opening ceremony.

Aya Nakamura: the unstoppable queen of streaming

Shock tactics

The hanging of the banner by Les Natifs was one of a series of provocative stunts by the group, which it shares with thousands of followers on social media.

In March, the group covered portraits of veiled women on display in a church in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with black sheets. One of the 13 defendants set to stand trial on Wednesday, Stanislas T, 24, will also face charges over that incident on Thursday.

In February, they plastered an Air Algeria office in Paris with posters showing pictures of a suitcase with the words “Re-migrate ‘light’ from France to Algeria, for a one-way ticket with no return”.

The goal for these type of groups is to “provoke massive reactions and shock public opinion so we have no choice but to talk about them,” said Marion Jacquet-Vaillant, an expert on far-right movements in France.

Court finds seven guilty of bullying Paris Olympics choreographer

In April, one of Les Natifs’ roughly 50 members described the group’s identity as “civilisational, European; national, French; and local, Parisian”.

The so-called fight against the “great replacement” is the “mother of all battles” said Gabriel, 25, who works in finance.

Nakamura’s complaint is not the only one stemming from last summer’s opening ceremony to head to trial.

A French court in May found seven people guilty of cyberbullying Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the opening ceremony, who is openly gay – including sending a death threat.

And five people are due to stand trial in September over similar complaints from Barbara Butch, a French DJ and lesbian activist who starred in a controversial scene during the event, which right-wing critics interpreted as a mockery of the Last Supper. 

Her lawyer said she had been “threatened with death, torture and rape”.

(with AFP)

Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), was struck from the voter roll in April after a court ruling cast doubt on his Ivorian nationality at the time of registration.

Ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude and exiled former prime minister Guillaume Soro have been barred for years over past convictions and were not reinstated.

None of the four will be able to run in the October 25 presidential race or vote.

President Allassane Ouattara, 83, who has been in power since 2011, is included on the electoral register but has yet to announce if he will seek a fourth term.

In 2015 and 2020, Ouattara won with more than 80 percent of the vote.

Electoral commission head Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly had announced on Monday that no revision of the electoral register would take place before the vote.

“My elimination from the electoral list by the independent electoral commission is a sad but eloquent example of Côte d’Ivoire’s drift towards a total absence of democracy,” Thiam said in a statement on Wednesday.

Côte d’Ivoire opposition figure reclaims party leadership ahead of court ruling

The former international banker, who has been away from Côte d’Ivoire for more than two months, has appealed to the UN Human Rights Committee, his party said.

His lawyer Mathias Chichportich said in a statement sent to French press agency AFP that depriving the opposition leader of “his political rights” was “a serious violation of Côte d’Ivoire’s international commitments”.

For its part, Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI) complained that the authorities “did not choose to listen to the advice, the calls for discussion, for reason”, its secretary general Jean-Gervais Tcheide told AFP.

“It’s a shame they chose to force their way through,” he said, adding: “We’re not going to let them do it.”

‘End all disagreement’

Other opposition figures who have announced they will run for the presidency are featured on the final electoral list.

They include former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, who, speaking on behalf of an opposition coalition, said that the conditions were not met for a “peaceful, calm election”.

Kuibiert Coulibaly, the electoral commission chief, has called for court decisions to be respected to “put an end to all disagreement” and to make Côte d’Ivoire “a state governed by the rule of law”.

Côte d’Ivoire’s voter roll reaches 8.7 million amid opposition demands for revision

Previously, during the 2020 presidential election, a revision of the electoral list took place in June ahead of the October polling day.

The final electoral register for this year’s ballot includes the names of 8.7 million voters, in a country with a high immigrant population and where nearly half of the 30 million inhabitants are under the age of 18.

Authorities deny any political interference in the electoral process, insisting that they respect decisions made by an independent judiciary.

(With newswires)

Croisille died in Paris on Tuesday night, “following a long illness” her agent Jacques Metges announced on Wednesday.

The unforgettable voice on the film soundtrack of Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman, she won the prize for “most beautiful voice” in 1975.

She was also loved in France for other hits during the 1970s, including Telephone-moi , Parlez-moi de lui and Une femme avec toi .

“I have only sung love songs and I know what I have brought to people,” she told Paris Match in 2017.

“She was the voice of my life, a friend, a confidante, a muse,” Lelouch said on Wednesday. “She was a wonderful woman, behind the microphone and in life. She knew how to do everything! Singing, dancing, bouncing around all the time, an incredible sense of improvisation… I feel widowed.”

Multi-talented

Croisille often said she had achieved everything she ever wanted in her career – hardly surprising given the breadth of her accomplishments.

Born in 1936, she was just eight when she began dancing on stage at the Paris Opera School. She would later join the company’s corps de ballet.

In the mid-1950s, after auditioning for Marcel Marceau’s mime school, she joined him on a tour of the Americas. She discovered a passion for jazz while in Chicago and began singing in local clubs.

On her return to France, she immersed herself in the jazz scene of Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés, performing in the city’s famed cellars.

She continued dancing, performing notably in Paris mes Amours – a revue led by Josephine Baker – and appearing in 1957 alongside Jean Marais in the musical L’Apprenti Fakir.

Chabadabada

Her recording career kicked off in the early 1960s, with a series of jazz-influenced singles and an album featuring a cover of Ray Charles’s Hallelujah I Love Her So.

However, she struggled to compete with the rise of the yé-yé pop movement and while she opened for Jacques Brel at the Olympia in Paris in 1961, she remained relatively unknown to the general public.

Passionate about American musicals, she returned to the United States in 1964 to perform as a lead showgirl, appearing in Broadway numbers adapted from the Folies Bergère.

1966 marked a turning point when she recorded the soundtrack of Un homme et une femme (A man and a woman) with singer-songwriter Pierre Barouh for Claude Lelouch’s eponymous Oscar-winning film. Composed by Francis Lai, the song with its breathy “chabadabada” refrain, became a global hit and was the first French single to be certified gold in the US. 

How France’s songs keep world dreaming of French freedom and glamour

Chart success 

Mainstream success came in the 1970s, after signing with Philips Records.

Collaborations with prominent lyricists like Pierre Delanoë and Claude Lemesle allowed her to develop a more contemporary chanson-pop style. She released a string of successful singles including Parlez-moi de lui, Une femme avec toi, Téléphone-moi and J’ai besoin de toi, j’ai besoin de lui . Her version of Le Blues du businessman, from the musical Starmania, was a radio hit in 1985.

Croisille performed to sold-out audiences at major French venues including the Olympia, the Bataclan and the Casino de Paris.

Despite embracing pop, she continued in jazz. In 1987, she worked alongside violinist Didier Lockwood and saxophonists Manu Dibango and Steve Grossman on the album Jazzille, culminating in a national tour with 180 concerts.

In 2008, she released the album Bossa d’hiver, inspired by her love of Brazilian music.

Jane Birkin, an English chanteuse who left her mark on French pop

‘Time of my life’

Croisille was also an accomplished actress. She appeared in several of Claude Lelouch’s films, including Les Uns et les Autres (1981), Il y a des jours… et des lunes (1990), and Les Misérables (1995), as well in numerous television productions. In 1992, she realised her dream, playing the lead role in the American musical Hello, Dolly!.

In 2006, two years after the death of fellow French artist Claude Nougaro, she paid tribute to him with the stage show and album Nougaro, le jazz et moi.

Croisille remained active on stage into her 80s.

After playing, in her own words, a “wanton old lady” in a play about the porn industry in 2018, she acted the role of ex-mistress of a rich antique dealer in Sacha Guitry’s gritty comedy N’écoutez pas, Mesdames! in 2019.

“I’m having the time of my life! At my age, all I like is a good laugh”, she told AFP just before her 83rd birthday.

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

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

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level” 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 3 May, I asked you a question about women’s right to vote. Frenchwomen were granted the right to vote in 1944; the first election they voted in was in 1945. This is long after many of their sisters in other countries.

You were to re-read our article “How French women won, and used, their right to vote in 1945”, and send in the answer to this question: Which country was the first to grant women the right to vote, and in which year? I also asked you to send in the names and dates of the countries that followed the ground-breaker.

The answer is, to quote our article: “New Zealand was the pioneer, granting women the right to vote in 1893, followed by Australia in 1901, Finland in 1906, Denmark in 1915, Uruguay in 1917, Germany in 1918, the United States in 1920, and the United Kingdom in 1928.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, which was suggested by Father Stephen Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon. Father Steve wanted to know: What big anniversary do you have coming up? A birthday? A wedding? Something else? How will you celebrate it? How many guests will you invite?

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Mr. M. Ganesan from Goa, India, who is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Mr. Ganesan.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week – all women, to celebrate our big sister suffragettes who opened the door for us – are Hasina Zaman Hasi, a member of the RFI Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club members Jocelyne D’Errico from New Zealand; Jahan Ara Hussain from Odisha, India, and Shaira Hosen Mo from Kishoreganj in Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Eid Al-Adha Mubarak” by Babu and Shahnawaz, sung by Nawal Khan; Duet for Viola and Violoncello and Obligato Eyeglasses WoO 32 by Ludwig van Beethoven, performed by Keith Hamm and Julie Hereish; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Oi! Altas undas que venetz sus la mar” by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, performed by the Eduardo Paniagua Spanish-French-Moroccan Ensemble.

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 Amanda Morrow’s article “The big blue blindspot: why the ocean floor is still an unmapped mystery”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 30 June to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 5 July 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.   

On Wednesday, a suburb of Istanbul witnessed the latest demonstration in support of the city’s detained mayor. Despite the protest taking place in a traditional electoral stronghold of President Erdoğan, tens of thousands attended.

İmamoğlu masks

In a recent attempt to quell the unrest, Istanbul’s governor’s office issued a decree ordering the removal of all images, videos, and audio recordings of İmamoğlu from state buildings and public transport across the city. Within hours, social media was flooded with footage of people wearing İmamoğlu masks while riding public transport.

Turkey’s youth rise up over mayor’s jailing and worsening economy

“Up to 75% are against İmamoğlu’s arrest, as the aversion to Erdoğan’s attempt to sideline his opponent with foul play was widely distributed by all parties,” claimed political analyst Atilla Yeşilada of Global Source Partners, citing recent opinion polls.

Yeşilada argues that the poll’s findings underscore the opposition’s success in winning over public opinion.

“There is a strong reaction. This is not a temporary thing. It’s a grievance that will be held and may impact the next election whenever they are held,” he added.

Recent opinion polls also show İmamoğlu enjoying a double-digit lead over Erdoğan in a prospective presidential race, with a majority of respondents believing the corruption charges against the mayor are politically motivated—a claim the government denies.

Erdogan’s jailed rivals

Political analyst Sezin Öney of the independent Turkish news portal Politikyol suggests Erdoğan may have expected İmamoğlu to follow the same fate as other jailed rivals, whose influence faded once imprisoned. “The government is counting on the possibility that İmamoğlu is jailed, is out of sight, out of mind, and the presidency will have his ways,” explained Öney.

Further arrests as Turkey cracks down on protests over jailed Istanbul mayor

Turkish authorities have persistently sought to curtail İmamoğlu’s presence on social media. His accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky have been frozen following court rulings.

The fate of opposition journalists

Similar actions have been taken against opposition journalists and their supporters. “The operation goes deeper and deeper in recent months; it’s just a very concerted policy to create a blackout in this vibrant society,” claimed Erol Önderoğlu, Istanbul representative of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

The legal crackdown on the Istanbul municipality continues, with further waves of arrests extending even to İmamoğlu’s personal bodyguard. His party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is also under investigation for alleged irregularities at its party congress.

Analyst Öney predicts that further crackdowns are likely, given the potential implications for Erdoğan’s political future. “I am sure this is being calculated and recalculated every day—whether it’s beneficial to throw more cases at him (İmamoğlu), by weakening his party, the Republican People’s Party, weakening him personally, or whatever is convenient. But the sky is the limit,” explained Öney.

Nevertheless, each new crackdown appears only to fuel the momentum behind opposition protests, which continue to attract large crowds across the country—including in Erdoğan’s own political bastions.

Protest movement

The leader of the main opposition CHP, Özgür Özel, has earned praise for his energetic performances and has won over many former sceptics. However, analyst Yeşilada questions whether Özel can sustain the protest movement.

“I feel in the summer months, it’s very difficult to keep the momentum; the colleges are closed, and people are shuffling through the country, so if that (protests) is the only means of piling the pressure on Erdoğan, it’s not going to work,” warned Yeşilada.

Istanbul’s mayorial elections mean more than just running the city

Yeşilada believes the opposition leader must elevate his strategy. “Özel needs to find new tricks. It will take two things: A) hearing what the grassroots are saying, in particular the younger generation, and B) being able to reshuffle the party rank and file so true activists are promoted—so they can energise the base,” he added.

In 2013, Erdoğan weathered a wave of mass protests which largely dissipated with the closing of universities and the arrival of the summer holidays. This year, he may again be relying on summer to quieten dissent. For the opposition, the challenge is to ensure that Erdoğan’s summer is anything but peaceful.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India, Alan Holder from Isle of Wight, England, and Karuna Kanta Pal from West Bengal, India.

Be sure you send in your music requests! Write to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all.  

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “A Million Roses” by Raymond Pauls and Leon Briedis, performed by L’Orchestre Dominique Moisan; “Anak” by Freddie Aguilar, performed by Aguilar and his orchestra, and “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira, Wyclef Jean and Archie Pena, performed by Shakira and Wyclef Jean.

The quiz will be back next Saturday, 7 June. Be sure and tune in! 

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.

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.