Southern France is already feeling the burn, with temperatures in Marseille nudging 40°C as the first heatwave of the northern hemisphere summer sweeps across southern Europe.

In response, local authorities in the Mediterranean port city have thrown open the doors to public swimming pools, offering free access to help residents cool off.

Elsewhere across the country, schools on the sun-drenched French Riviera have received nearly 250 electric fans in the past fortnight, with Nice also grappling with the early onset of summer heat.

This weekend marks the start of what forecasters say will be an intensifying heatwave across southern Europe, fuelled by climate change and already sending thermometers surging well into the red on what scientists call the world’s fastest-warming continent.

According to Météo France on X, temperatures will exceed 35°C across the southern two-thirds of the country on Monday.

By Tuesday, 38 to 40°C are expected in many regions, including Île-de-France.

One in three French homes becomes ‘a boiler’ during heatwaves

Southern Europe swelters

Rome is expected to hit 37°C, sending throngs of tourists and pilgrims scurrying to the Eternal City’s 2,500 public fountains in search of a splash of relief.

Further south, Sicily and Naples are set for highs of 39°C, prompting the regional government to ban outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day – a move echoed by Liguria in the north.

Italian trade unions are now calling for the measure to be rolled out nationwide.

Over in Portugal, two-thirds of the country will be on high alert by Sunday, with Lisbon forecast to swelter at 42°C.

Spain, too, is bracing for extreme heat, particularly across the Guadalquivir, Guadiana, and Tagus river valleys, where similar scorching highs are expected.

The Spanish meteorological agency has warned that the country – which has endured a series of deadly wildfires in recent summers – is set for another punishing spell.

Venice, hosting Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s wedding on Friday, was no escape either.

Locals and guests alike baked under the Italian sun, with tourists describing sticky nights and relentless humidity.

“There’s no wind, the air’s heavy with moisture, and I can’t breathe at night,” said Alejandra Echeverria, a tourist from Mexico told AFP.

“I try not to think about it, but I drink lots of water and keep moving – if you stop, you risk heatstroke,” added Sriane Mina, an Italian student.

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

Global warming to blame

Scientists have long warned that burning fossil fuels is accelerating global warming, with increasingly fierce summer heatwaves across Europe a direct consequence.

This summer is already on track to be one of the hottest, following a year of broken climate records.

The EU’s Copernicus climate service reported Europe’s hottest March on record earlier this year, and 2024 could end up being the hottest year globally to date.

The toll is not just environmental – some estimates suggest weather-related disasters cost the world over $300 billion last year.

(With AFP)

French MPs from seven political parties want to fix the problem. They plan to submit a bill to the National Assembly to tackle what the Foundation calls a “social, ecological and health emergency”.

In the northern suburbs of Paris, Yasmine and her husband live on the 13th floor of an 18-storey building. Their flat is like a “boiler” because it is badly insulated.

“It’s very hot in here. We sweat a lot, so we take at least five showers a day,” Yasmine told told RFI.

“The sun comes directly into the apartment and we don’t have shutters, so we’re forced to put up blackout curtains to get a bit of shade inside,” she said.

She added that the air is very stifling. “Right now it’s 30C. But if it’s 40C outside, it’ll be 42C or even 43C inside.”

A heatwave in Europe last year killed nearly 50,000 people, the study found.

The foundation says it has warned for three years about homes that become uninhabitable for weeks each year because of extreme heat.

Heat caused nearly 50,000 deaths in Europe last year, study finds

New bill

Maïda Olivier, who works on climate and housing policy at the foundation, said many buildings do not have proper shutters.

“The building is part of the 40 percent of housing in France that doesn’t have proper shutters,” Olivier said.

“With this law, this woman, if she is a tenant, will be able to demand that her landlord install sun protection, whether it’s a private or public landlord.”

“And the law will also provide financial assistance to encourage landlords to implement these types of solutions,” she said.

People living in low-income neighbourhoods are among the most exposed to overheating homes.

The proposed law includes a year-round ban on cutting off electricity so no one is left unable to use a fan. It will also require the “summer comfort” score from the energy performance certificate to be shown in all housing ads.

Iran held an emotional and patriotic state funeral in central Tehran this Saturday for around 60 people, including high‑ranking military commanders, scientists and several civilians killed during the recent 12‑day conflict with Israel.

The ceremony, which began at 08:00 local time, was marked by public mourning and speeches.

Government offices and businesses observed closures for the occasion, as mourners clad in black lined the streets, some waving Iranian flags and holding portraits of the deceased.

Among the attendees were President Masoud Pezeshkian, Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani and senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Shamkhani – who appeared using a walking cane, a visible reminder of the conflict’s toll.

Relatives of slain figures, including Major General Mohammad Bagheri – second‑in‑command of Iran’s armed forces – and nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, walked in the procession alongside decorated coffins draped in national flags.

The funeral also remembered those less often honoured at such events: among the interred were four women and four children. 

France says ‘spiral of chaos must end’ amid fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire

Tehran defiant

Despite the sombre atmosphere, the tone of the ceremony reportedly felt unified and optimistic.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself had described US strikes on three Iranian nuclear installations as having “achieved nothing significant” – underscoring Tehran’s defiant stance.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s recent claims about Iran seeking sanctions relief were sharply rebuffed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

He condemned the tone of Trump’s remarks about Khamenei as “disrespectful and unacceptable,” suggesting that attempts at diplomacy would falter so long as Iran’s Supreme Leader remained insulted.

Iran nuclear sites suffered ‘enormous damage’, IAEA chief tells RFI

Diplomacy takes centre stage

Meanwhile, Paris has continued to voice concern over the broader regional tensions.

Reflecting on the fallout from an Israeli airstrike on Tehran’s Evin prison on X earlier this week, France’s Foreign Minister Jean‑Noël Barrot described it as “unacceptable”, especially as it endangered two French nationals detained there, although fortunately they were unharmed.

Earlier in the conflict, France also confirmed it intercepted several Iranian drones destined for Israel, a move orchestrated in coordination with regional allies.

Moreover, France’s diplomatic tone has remained firm yet hopeful.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently called on all sides to “refrain from any action that could destabilise the wider region” and emphasised that diplomacy should be the first port of call.

President Macron has further urged “maximum restraint,” underscoring Israel’s right to self‑defence – and insisting strikes on civilian or non‑nuclear targets must cease immediately.

“We welcome the news that an agreement has been reached on the establishment of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which came late last night,” Erdogan said before departing for the NATO summit in The Hague.

Israel’s war on Iran had put Erdogan in a tricky spot – maintaining his hostility towards Israel without damaging his ties with Trump.

On Saturday, Erdogan slammed Israel, calling it a “terrorist state”, while warning that the war on Iran threatened to plunge the region into chaos. The speech, delivered in Istanbul at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, was just the latest in what has become an almost daily verbal assault on Israel.

But the United States bombing of Iran just a few hours after Erdogan spoke drew little reaction from Ankara beyond a short statement expressing its “concern” over the attack.

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

Words versus actions

Erdogan’s actions have also not always matched his rhetoric.The Turkish leader resisted opposition calls to close the US-operated NATO Kurecik radar base near the Iranian border.

“Turkey is not interested once again in going into conflict with America because, if you close Kurecik, then it is a NATO issue, and Israel has close relations also with NATO,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

The Kurecik radar station, Bagci said, is important to Israeli security.

“Turkey signed the acceptance (agreement) that Israel should take information from Kurecik,” Bagci added. “There is no in an article in the case of war that Turkey would not provide the information. So, this is why Erdogan, based on this fact, is not undertaking any steps against Israel.”

Earlier this month, Erdogan lobbied Baghdad not to follow Tehran’s calls to intercept Israeli warplanes using Iraqi airspace to strike Iran. All moves that are likely to play well with Trump. Erdogan values what Trump has called a “great friendship”.

The two leaders are expected to meet for the first time since Trump’s re-election on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, where Erdogan will likely be seeking an invitation to Washington.

With Turkey and Iran long-time regional rivals, competing for influence from the Caucasus to Central Asia and the Middle East, Ankara also shares the West’s concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“Turkey definitely doesn’t want a nuclear-armed Iran, because that is going to trigger a proliferation process in the Middle East,” said Serhan Afacan, head of the Center for Iranian Studies, a research organisation in Ankara.

Interim president Sharaa weighs up Ankara and Riyadh in power struggle for Syria

Refugee fears and regional risks

The United States bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities – which Washington claims has ended Tehran’s atomic programme – drew no condemnation from Ankara. But the risk of a wider conflict has raised fears of growing instability and the possibility of a refugee wave into Turkey from Iran.

Trump’s surprise move to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Israel will come as a relief to Ankara, said regional expert Professor Zaur Gasimov of the German Academic Exchange Service in Istanbul. He warned the ceasefire came just as signs were emerging of a refugee exodus.

“What we see now is already now is the mobility of people within Iran, leaving Tehran and other bigger cities, going to different directions, that is a challenge for the entire region. And maybe Turkey is a country that is about to observe a refugee influx coming from Iran by the border,” said Gasimov.

He warned Ankara is likely not prepared for such an exodus.

“That is a challenge. So, Turkey is currently observing the situation with great attention, and certain answers to this challenge is not ready yet,” said Gasimov.

Azerbaijan and Turkey build bridges amid declining influence of Iran

Economic toll

Turkey, which borders Iraq and Syria, has struggled for decades with chaos on its southern frontier. It currently hosts as many as five million refugees and has paid a heavy economic price through the loss of valuable regional markets.

Ankara will likely be eyeing the potential rewards of a weakened Tehran in the long-running competition for regional influence.

“A weak Iran is good for Turkey always, but not a dead Iran,” said Bagci.

“Iran is important for connectivity. They [Iran] have many neighbours like Turkey. They are close to Russia, Central Asian republics, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, you name it. And the destabilisation of the region is in nobody’s interest.

“That is why China and Russia are very careful in their statements, and everybody is trying now for a diplomatic solution.”

How long Trump’s brokered ceasefire will last remains to be seen. But for Ankara, the hope is that wider regional chaos has been avoided – and that it has managed, at least for now, to balance its competing interests.

The game will reunite PSG boss Luis Enrique with several players from his time at Barcelona between 2014 and 2017.

As well as Messi, Enrique coached Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano to wins in the Champions League and La Liga.

Inter Miami are the only one of three Major League Soccer teams featuring in the Club World Cup to reach the last-16.

On 31 May 31, PSG lifted the Champions League for the first time after thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in the final at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

In the prelude to claiming European club football’s most prestigious trophy, they won the Coupe de France, the Ligue 1 title and the French Super Cup.

“Look, it’s football,” said Alba. “The game will last 90 minutes, maybe more and things can happen. So why not believe we have a chance?”

‘Playing the best football’

“It’s obvious that PSG are playing the best football in Europe at the moment and it will be a difficult match for us but we will fight.

“We know the quality of their players. They’re all phenomenal. They can do everything. The back line can play the ball out from defence and the midfielders can hold on to the ball and construct. chances. They’re all very good.”

Enrique took over at PSG from Christophe Galtier in July 2023 and steered the side to a domestic treble of French Super Cup, Ligue 1 title and the Coupe de France in 2024. 

He repeated the feat a year later and added the Champions League pot to the trophy cabinet at the Parc des Princes.

“He must be among the best coaches in the world,” Alba added. “Not only as a coach but as someone who manages the resources of the team.”

Enrique, as well as his present charges, will be aware of Messi’s prowess even at 38.

Reunion with Messi

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner arrived at PSG in 2021 to great fanfare. His departure in 2023 was rather more muted as his disaffection and ill-disciplined antics came to the fore.

“It will be a pleasure to see Lionel again,” said PSG defender Achraf Hakimi, who arrived at PSG during the same summer as Messi.

“There were a lot of great moments on pitch together, but during the match there aren’t any friends. He’s going to try and win with Inter Miami and we’re going to try and do the same thing.”

Inter Miami finished second in Group A. After a draw against Al Ahly, they beat Porto 2-1. Messi curled in a trademark free-kick from just outside the box. They drew their last game with Palmeiras, who topped the group on goal difference.

On Saturday night at Lincoln Field in Philadelphia, they will take on their fellow Brazilians Botafogo who beat PSG 1-0 in their second game in Group B but lost to Atletico Madrid 1-0 to finish runners-up in the pool ahead of Atletico on goal difference.

“We have to look at ourselves and see that there are times when we are not at the level and we have to resolve that,” said Antoine Griezmann who scored Atletico’s winner.

The former France international added: “We have to focus on what we have to improve and on what we have to do to win these games. It takes work.”

As Atletico’s players file out for their summer holidays, dozens of their counterparts will be toiling in the high temperatures through the knockout stages where extra-time and penalty shoot-outs kick in.

On Saturday, after Palmeiras and Botafogo clash, Porto, who topped Group C, take on the Group D runners-up Chelsea.

Following PSG’s encounter with Inter Miami, Flamengo face Bayern Munich at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

A group calling themselves “gay patriots” said they plan to march at Paris Pride with police protection. Their announcement sparked backlash from LGBTQI+ activists, artists and lawmakers.

In a letter published in Le Monde, a collective of LGBT organisations and public figures – including Communist senator Ian Brossat and writer Virginie Despentes – condemned the presence of Eros, the group led by Yohan Pawer.

Pawer has ties to the far right National Rally and became known in 2023 for targeting drag queen events.

The authors of the letter argue the state is compromising the core ideas behind the march by protecting the group – similar to when far right groups were allowed to join feminist events earlier this year.

“Imposing the far right in LGBTQIA+ or feminist marches is more than just an affront: it is offering reactionary forces the means to appropriate spaces built by and for those they have always marginalised in order to annihilate them from inside,” they wrote.

Gay rights still uncertain

France has strong anti-discrimination laws and legal gay marriage – unlike Hungary, where the government recently banned pride events.

Still many LGBTQI+ people in France say they do not feel safe or accepted. In its annual report, the rights group SOS Homophobie said attacks had remained high in 2024.

Trans people remain particularly vulnerable. SOS Homophobie reported a rise in open transphobia, systemic discrimination and online hate campaigns.

More than 80 percent of trans people said they had faced public discrimination in the last year – targeted by far right groups in France and abroad, who link anti-trans rhetoric with anti-immigrant views.

Pride poster backlash

Tensions grew earlier this month over the Paris Pride poster.

Titled Facing the International Reactionary: Queers of all Countries Unite, the poster shows a diverse group – including a woman in a headscarf and a person with a bag in the colours of the Palestinian flag – restraining a white male figure.

InterLGBT, which designed the poster, said the colours were not meant to be Palestinian but a nod to Hungary and Bulgaria, where pride events are banned.

Still, several LGBTQI+ organisations distanced themselves and far right politicians criticised what they saw as a political message.

Far right courting LGBTQI+

Yet the far right appears to be actively using LGBT identity to push nationalism while rejecting migrants and radical activists.

Groups like Eros portray homophobia as imported by migrants or coming from Muslim communities.

Eros says it wants to “really represent homosexuals in our country, who are today the main victims of LGBTQI+ excesses, of massive – very often homophobic – immigration and of the islamisation of our country”.

The Le Monde open letter said that by giving Eros police protection, the government is directly involved.

“This interference must be named for what it is,” it said. “This decision compromises the organisation of an essential event, and acts as a warning to all minority organisations.”

The result is a growing crisis for West African coastal communities, where fish is both a staple food and a way of life. 

“The ocean is not just about livelihood – it’s part of people’s identity,” Gambian journalist and researcher Mustapha Manneh told RFI at last week’s UN Oceans Conference in Nice. 

Manneh has spent years documenting how industrial fishing – much of it European – is depleting Gambia’s waters and destabilising lives. 

“Fishermen go out and come back with almost nothing,” he said. “They have no other skills. If you take away the fish, you take away their future.” 

Feeding fish, not people 

Each day, Gambian fishermen cast their nets in search of sardines and bonga – small, oily fish that have fed families for generations. Now they return empty-handed, after being forced to venture further out to sea and burn more fuel for ever-dwindling catches. 

“You used to need just 20 litres of gasoline to get a good catch. Now it takes 60 to 80 litres just to find enough fish,” Manneh said. 

Three fishmeal factories in Gambia process hundreds of tonnes of these fish each day, grinding them into powder and oil used to feed farmed fish in Europe and China. 

Manneh has seen the process up close. Inside the factories, he watched fresh, edible fish – still fit for local markets – dumped into grinding machines and transformed into fish feed. He described the experience as deeply confronting. 

Outside the factories, locals often complain about pollution, noise and a powerful stench. 

“The most troubling thing is seeing fresh fish that’s supposed to be on the plate of local people being processed and sent to countries that don’t even know where it’s coming from,” Manneh said. 

“You’re processing raw fish that’s meant for human consumption just to feed another fish.” 

The big blue blindspot: why the ocean floor is still an unmapped mystery

Depleted stocks 

A report by the advocacy group FoodRise estimates that nearly one million people in west and southern Africa could eat a 200-gram weekly portion of fish using the same catch that is currently diverted to fish farms in Greece alone. 

It often takes several kilograms of wild fish to produce one kilogram of farmed fish because the farmed fish aren’t efficient at converting the fishmeal into body mass. 

FoodRise found that, globally, if wild fish were eaten directly by people instead of fed to farmed fish, more than 300,000 tonnes could be kept in the ocean to support ecosystems.  

Those extra fish stocks would then go on to feed a quarter more people. 

A poisoned coast 

Fishmeal factories in Gambia release untreated wastewater and fish processing waste directly into the Atlantic Ocean. This pollution has turned once-pristine coastal waters toxic, damaging marine ecosystems that local fishers depend on.  

“The sea used to treat skin conditions. Now people are getting rashes. Even the fish porters are affected,” Manneh said. 

But the pollution is only one threat among many. With local fish stocks plummeting, fishermen must venture further offshore, risking dangerous encounters with industrial trawlers.

Their nets and boats are often damaged or lost in these clashes – gear they cannot afford to replace. For some, the struggle is too much and they give up fishing altogether.  

How the Tunisian sun is turning red algae into food industry gold

Fishers forced into smuggling 

As fishing incomes collapse, an increasing number of fishermen are using their boats for human smuggling – a risky but more profitable alternative.  

Manneh has spoken with young fishers who say a single smuggling trip can bring in more money than years spent struggling at sea. 

One man told him: “Mustapha, my one trip is more than my entire life of fishing.” 

Weathered wooden fishing boats are being packed with hundreds of migrants – mostly young men risking everything for a chance at a better life – who embark on a perilous journey across the Atlantic toward uncertain futures.

Migrants pay between €600 and €1,000 each for the trip, Manneh said – adding that more than 200 people can be packed into a single vessel. 

This means one smuggling trip can generate roughly €200,000. 

Women pushed aside 

The crisis is hitting women hard too. Across West Africa, women are at the heart of fish processing – smoking, drying and selling fish at local markets. It’s gritty, hands-on work that puts food on tables and money in pockets. 

But with more and more fish going to industrial fishmeal factories, women’s stalls and ovens are sitting empty. Losing this catch doesn’t just cost jobs – it breaks long-standing traditions. 

Fish-smoking centres built with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation now sit abandoned.  

“The fish women used to smoke is now diverted to the fishmeal factories,” Manneh said. “They [commercial companies] promote their farmed fish as sustainable but never say where the feed comes from.” 

The rise of fishmeal factories has left many women without work – making life even harder for coastal communities.  

Plastic-eating mealworms found in Kenya offer hope for waste crisis

Communities fight back 

But the pressure is also fuelling resistance. Young Gambians are now challenging the traditional power structures that have allowed the fishing industry to expand unchecked. 

“Young people are demanding change,” Manneh said. 

In some places, frustration has boiled over and fishmeal factories have been set on fire. Others are calling for Gambia to cancel its fisheries agreement with the EU. 

“It may line the pockets of a few, but it does nothing for the country as a whole,” Manneh said.  

‘Time for transparency’ 

Fish farming in the EU – especially in Greece – has surged in recent decades, turning quaint Mediterranean coastal towns into hubs for industrial-scale aquaculture. 

FoodRise reports that seabass and seabream production in Greece has increased by 141 percent since 2000.  

But this growth, the group warns, is far from the sustainable solution it is often presented as – particularly since it depends on wild fish taken from communities thousands of kilometres away, like those in Gambia, which are already struggling with food insecurity. 

“People believe they’re eating sustainable salmon or seabass,” Manneh said. “But they don’t know what it really costs.”  

He’s calling for full transparency in global seafood supply chains – with a sharp focus on the origins of fish feed. 

“If you stole my job, you stole my future,” Manneh said. “The only option I have is to struggle – even if it costs me my life.”  

In 2024, widespread protests erupted across Kenya in response to a proposed bill that sought a significant increase in taxes, culminating on 25 June. These demonstrations were met with a forceful and violent response from the police.

At least 60 people were killed during protests in June and July 2024, and dozens more were illegally detained by security forces in the aftermath.

This year, the country’s youth are back on the streets protesting against that violence.

Although the government had called for calm since last summer, the death of Albert Ojwang in police custody – arrested for publishing a blog post criticising a police officer – sparked a new wave of protests in early June this year.

Douglas Kivoi, a policy analyst at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), told RFI that he was not surprised by the events, as they reflect the typical conduct of police officers in the country.

Kivoi has been studying the role and behaviour of the police in Kenya for many years.

“They are used in settling political scores and silencing any dissent that the powers are not comfortable with. So that is just one of the few that made it to the public domain. Many of those cases hardly make it to the media. If the family keeps quiet or is threatened with dire consequences,” he told RFI.

“We have a progressive constitution but our police officers have refused to change and transform themselves and align themselves with best international practices,” Kivoi added.

Protesters and counter-protesters

Counter-protesters are also marching and supporting the police, raising fears of new violence, especially in Nairobi.

Addressing the crisis last Tuesday, Kenya’s President William Ruto promised to put an end to abductions, but was unapologetic in his latest speech, vowing to “stand by” the police. 

“You cannot use force against the police or insult or threaten the police. You are threatening our nation,” he warned protesters. 

Kivoi, however,  points out that shooting someone at point-blank range, as has happened in a recent incident, cannot be justified in any circumstances.

“Someone who is just selling masks in the streets and then is shot at point blank range –  I mean, how on earth would anybody do that knowing that the institution that they work for is under scrutiny for another murder of an individual who was arrested for a misdemeanour offense and then tortured to death in the police detention facilities?,” he asks

He believes this demonstrates that impunity within the police service and related policing agencies runs deeper than is apparent to the public.

Spotlight on Africa podcast – Justice and art: Kenya’s fight against police brutality; Africa’s bold new art fair in Basel

Problems in police agencies

Kivoi believes that violence within Kenya’s police force has been an issue since before the country’s independence.

He points out that even the most well-considered recommendations from police reviews and his own research have yet to be implemented.

“We take one step forward and then we take five steps backwards,” Kivoi told RFI.

“Since independence in 1963, the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, used police to silence any dissent. And when the second president (Daniel arap Moi) took over, it was the same story,” he said. “Assassinations, torture, detention.”

Later, when Mwai Kibaki assumed the presidency in 2002, he attempted to reform the police. However, the post-election violence of 2007-2008 marked a turning point, with numerous accusations directed at police officers for their actions. Many victims lost their lives either due to police gunfire or the failure of the police to act.

In 2010, Kenya drew-up and implemented a new constitution, which is progressive according to many including Kivoi.

The country also put in place institutions like the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, in an attempt to delink police from the office of the president.

“I believe the problem lies in our policing agencies. It’s not the resources,” he said. “So, if you carry out reforms in the name of changing institutions’ names and changing uniforms from the Kenya Police Force to National Police Service, that doesn’t change the attitude of these officers as they approach their work and in the way they interact with communities.”

To solve this problem he argues that the training of police officer must change.

“We need to change the way our officers are trained, then to depoliticise the policing, because police officers, since independence, have been used by the government of the day to settle political scores, arrest people without any justifiable reason, like Ojwang, who was tortured and killed in a police facility.” 

Kibera residents fear repetition of Kenyan election violence

System change

Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said on Monday said it would press murder charges against six people, including three police officers, for their role in killing Ojwang. The six suspects were arraigned on Tuesday.

Kivoi thinks that it is still difficult to highlight issues of police excesses and punitive actions because the media in Kenya “sometimes goes to bed with the government”, and doesn’t denounce police brutality.

“But the fact that we have got social media, and then we have got a young population that has embraced technology, makes it more difficult for police to think that they will behave the way they have been behaving and get away with it.”

The protests, and the technology helping reporting them, are playing a critical role in highlighting cases of police excesses when they are interacting with the civilians.  

Kenya rights groups have counted more than 80 disappearances of government critics since last year’s protests, with dozens still missing.

“I come from a region that has been deeply affected by war and displacement, but I wanted to use my body, my legs, my bike to send a message of peace across Africa,” said Masaisai, speaking to RFI from the Zambian capital Lusaka, where he arrived after 26 days on the road.

The triathlete, coach and lifeguard left Goma on 17 May and has completed around 2,700km of his journey.

Goma fell to Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in January but Masaisai’s “Pedals for Peace” project was planned in 2023, long before the latest crisis. It aims to showcase a different side of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – the one hidden behind the headlines.

Bringing the overlooked impact of DR Congo’s displacement crisis into focus

“I wanted to show the world that in our region, in our country, there isn’t only war, we also have very strong, very dynamic young people. And I want to say to them, use your talent to look for peace, not for war or violence.”

He hopes to unite youth across Africa, saying: “Everywhere I pass, that’s the message I carry.”

So far Masaisai has travelled through Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. He’s travelling alone, sporting a jersey in the colours of the DRC, with a backpack weighing around 20kg.

Whenever he sees young people along the route he stops to try and start a conversation. In Tanzania he went to a high school to share his project with the students. “I tried to talk with them, to inspire them. And many, when they hear my story, they’re curious,” he says.

Masaisai was unable to find sponsorship for his project but decided to go ahead regardless – another message he wants to spread. “People say to me, oh we thought you need to have millions or sponsorship to start a project like this, but your project is successful, you inspire us.”

‘Beauty exists everywhere’: Ballet builds hope for future in Nairobi slum

The kindness of strangers

The challenges have been immense. He spoke of dangerous roads shared with massive trucks speeding by with little regard for a cyclist, and the scorching sun in Zambia and Tanzania – a shock compared to the milder climes of his native Goma.

He recalls six hours spent crossing 120km of wildlife park in Tanzania – a long and risky stretch, especially when one of your tyres bursts. “It was very difficult, there was no one to help me, you could meet wild animals or bad people.”

“Tanzania changed me,” he wrote on Instagram. “Its tough roads, long distances and heat taught me perseverance. That country made me stronger.”

What’s kept his spirits up is the goodwill he’s encountered along with way. Without sponsorship, relying entirely on the kindness of strangers, he’s discovered that African hospitality is alive and well.

“I arrive in villages, try to talk to people in Swahili, Lingala, Bemba, French or English. I explain my situation and even if they don’t know me, they give me a place to sleep, food to eat. When I see that, I realise my project is successful. I see there is this unity, this other image of Africa.”

He remembers a particularly joyful moment when, approaching Lusaka, young people who had been following his journey on social media came out to meet him and escort him into the capital.

The women carrying the burden of Kenya’s rural healthcare on their backs

‘I cannot give up’

Pedalling an average of six hours a day can be a lonely business. But he takes heart from all the messages of encouragement he receives on social media. And he keeps in mind the reason he’s on his bike.

“I think of the pain of the place I’m coming from, from Goma. I have all my sweat, my fatigue, but I remember that all my pedalling is for peace, for the displaced mothers and children. It’s for them. I cannot give up.”

As Masaisai continues south into Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, to reach his final destination in around a month’s time, he is seeking support to complete his mission.

For him, every kilometre pedalled is one more toward proving that Africa’s youth can unite, across borders, whatever the language and despite conflicts.

---

Follow and support Miguel Masaisai and his Pedals for Peace project on Facebook and Instagram.

With Israel and Iran exchanging fire for a fifth day, and planned talks on Iran’s nuclear programme called off, there is growing concern about the potential impact beyond the Middle East.

Benjamin Augé, a researcher with the Africa and Climate programme at the French Institute for International Relations spoke to RFI about the practical and diplomatic consequences for Africa.

Benjamin Augé: I think it’s important to recall the historical context of Israel’s and Iran’s relationships with Africa. Israel had extremely strong ties with many African countries during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s – until the Yom Kippur War, when most of them severed diplomatic relations with Israel.

Since [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in 2009, his objective has been to rebuild those relationships. Currently, more than 40 African countries have diplomatic ties with Israel. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Israel wields significant influence in Africa.

Since the 7 October, 2023 attacks [by Hamas on Israel] and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, many of its normally pro-Israel partners – Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Rwanda – have kept their distance. Rwanda even began delivering aid to Gaza as early as 20 October, 2023. So we’re already seeing Israel’s diplomatic position in Africa under significant strain.

The conflict in Gaza further weakens these already fragile ties – which are, in many cases, quite weak or practically non-existent in political and economic terms. So I think the conflict with Iran is not going to have a dramatic impact, given that Israel’s relationships with Africa are already weak and its exchanges with the continent are extremely limited.

Iran hails African countries’ resistance to ‘colonialism’

RFI: What about Iran?

BA: Iran’s relationships with Africa are also extremely weak. The most significant recent development was Niger opening an embassy in Tehran [in January 2024] after its coup against President Bazoum, and negotiations related to uranium – a move that raised alarm in the United States.

But aside from a few embassies with limited diplomatic staffing, mainly in predominantly Sunni areas in East Africa or the Sahel, Iran’s influence is very weak.

Tehran’s main objective in these areas is often related to spreading Shiism, for instance in Nigeria with Imam Zakzaky – a politically controvesial Shiite cleric. Apart from that, Iran, much like Israel, is not putting many resources into its Africa policy or even developing a policy for the continent. So whatever happens in the Middle East, its effects on Africa will be limited due to this weak diplomatic presence.

Nigerian cleric held since 2015 regains freedom

RFI: Are we likely to see any African governments responding to the escalating conflict with policy statements?

BA: It’s not impossible that some governments may view Israel’s actions against Iran as aggression and may speak up – framing their criticism in terms of international law. Iran didn’t attack, Israel did, and that’s a violation of international law. But I don’t think they’ll go much further than that, because there’s nothing for these countries to gain by strongly taking sides.

This is a peripheral conflict for them, and Israel’s image in Africa is already quite poor – not just in predominantly Sunni or Muslim countries, but more broadly. So if there’s a response, it’s likely to be a diplomatic note from the foreign ministry, emphasising international law, and that’s it. Some may align with Iran, but it would be a small and marginal number.

RFI: What about oil and gas? Could the continent be impacted economically?

BA: Yes, there might be a ripple effect for the continent, just as there will be for the rest of the world. The price of oil might increase temporarily due to the conflict. But we shouldn’t forget that the price per barrel is currently quite low and the market is well-stocked. So I think the impact will be limited and short-lived. The main consequence for Africa might be a slight increase in petrol prices in the months ahead – but it would be a small variation, especially when we compare it to periods when tensions were much greater.

Oil prices drop, stocks climb as Iran-Israel war fears ease

Q: What happens if the conflict persists?

BA: If it continues, there might be some upward pressure on prices. But the reality is that the market is well-stocked and geopolitical tensions are not affecting production or delivery. Iran, in particular, is a small oil producer. Because of longstanding sanctions, it produces about 3 million barrels per day and exports roughly 2 million. The global market is currently at 100 million barrels per day. So the conflict’s long-term impact, both in price and in volume, is likely to be limited.

---

This interview, adapted from the original in French, has been lightly edited for clarity. 

The Paris Court of Appeal said Thursday it would issue its ruling on 17 July in what is Abdallah’s umpteenth request for release.

Abdallah was arrested in 1984 in connection with the killings of US military attaché Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. While he was not the gunman, he was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for complicity in their murders.

The assassinations were claimed by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF) – the Marxist-Communist pro-Palestinian militant group Abdallah founded in 1978 after he was wounded during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

LARF had ties to other leftist guerilla movements such as Italy’s Red Brigades and Germany’s Red Army Faction.

Abdallah, a former guerilla with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has never denied his political motivations, calling himself a “fighter” rather than a “criminal”.

Neither has he expressed remorse. “The path I followed was imposed on me by the human rights abuses perpetrated against the Palestinians,” he said at his 1987 trial.

Conditional release denied

Most convicts serving life sentences in France are freed after less than 30 years. Abdallah has now been imprisoned for 41.

A 2021 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights stated that life sentences with eligibility for parole only after 40 years were incompatible with European law.

While Abdallah has been able to apply for parole since 1999, his 11 bids have been denied.

In November 2024, a French court ordered his release, providing he left France. But France’s anti-terror prosecutors, arguing he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision and it was suspended.

Ahead of another appeal court hearing in February this year, 11 Lebanese MPs called on France to immediately release him. But the trial was postponed until 19 June after the court said it needed more time.

Abdullah’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, argued his client was being singled out. “The stance of the court risks creating a de facto life imprisonment,” he said.

He accused the judiciary of “pettiness,” after it insisted Abdallah pay the victims’ families around €16,000 in compensation.

Abdallah has refused to pay compensation directly to the United States. “I will never indemnify the country that drops bombs on Palestinian and Lebanese children,” he reportedly told the court.

Chalanset also insisted on the fact that other extremist groups active in the 1970s and 1980s – including “politicial prisoners” with the French group Action Directe, or Corsican and Basque militants – have been released.

French court orders release of Lebanese militant held since 1984

US interference

Abdallah’s case has become a cause célèbre among some left-wing MPs, activists and human rights defenders. In October 2024, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux said in a piece in communist daily L’Humanite that his detention “shamed France”.

A number of his supporters claim the real reason for his continued detention lies not in the courts, but in Washington.

“The Americans have interferred in French sovereignty since the beginning,” said Lebanese journalist Pierre Abi Saab. “It’s an imperialist mindset, a kind of revenge. Georges Abdallah is paying for all peoples who have resisted US hegemony,” he told RFI.

US interference is well-documented. In a 1986 declassified US memo, diplomats warned of potential attacks on American interests if Abdallah wasn’t prosecuted.

Former US diplomat Steve Kashkett, who handled anti-terrorism at the US embassy in Paris in the 1980s, confirms Washington’s deep involvement. “When I arrived at the embassy in 1986, Abdallah became my top priority,” he told RFI. “At that stage, it was clear to us that the French government, which was seeking to avoid Middle Eastern terrorism against French targets, had absolutely no intention of aggressively prosecuting Abdallah.”

Washington therefore decided to intervene directly, with the US becoming a civil party in the case and hiring renowned French lawyer Georges Kiejman to represent its interests.

While the second diplomat assassinated by LARF was Israeli, Tel Aviv never formally joined the case as a civil party. “I remember Israel considering it,” Kashkett noted, “but it wasn’t necessary because we were doing it. Israel counted on the US to do the job.”

‘Unique case’

From 1986, the American government took an active role in blocking Abdallah’s release. Another declassified document noted that attacks against US targets were “possible given America’s major role in securing Abdallah’s trial”.

In 2013, WikiLeaks revealed that then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton sent a direct message to France’s foreign minister Laurent Fabius, urging him to find a way to prevent Abdallah’s release, even after a court had approved it. That same year, then-interior minister Manuel Valls refused to sign the expulsion order that would have allowed Abdallah to return to Lebanon.

Despite this, Kashkett insists that America’s actions should not be seen as interference given the US was a civil party during the trial. “Since the French invited the Americans to give our opinion, I don’t think we can speak of interference or pressure,” he said. 

Others disagree. One of Abdallah’s early lawyers, Jean-Paul Mazurier, later revealed he was working for French intelligence at the time.

“We bowed down to the United States, which opposed his release,” Mazurier told France Inter radio in 2024.

The late Jacques Vergès, another of Abdallah’s lawyers, referred in court to an “intolerable American diktat”, describing France as “America’s whore” in court documents.

Does Macron’s pledge on Palestine signal a return to France’s ‘Arab policy’?

Awaiting his release

After more than four decades, France may be growing tired of the case, says Abi Saab.

“France wants to get rid of this embarrassing case but it’s unclear whether they have the political will. There’s intimidation, interference. Since 1999, Georges Abdallah has been held hostage outside the rule of law. It’s a unique case.”

A small but vocal group continues to advocate for his release. There were demonstrations in Toulouse in February, near the prison where he is held.  A protest planned in Paris was, however, banned due to concerns over “a tense social and international context”, notably in Gaza.

While Abdallah refuses to compensate the US himself, he has agreed to Lebanon paying damages.

Chalanset, his lawyer, confirmed this week that the funds are now available should the court demand them. “The conditions of the court are met,” he said on 17 June. “We await his release.”

At the UN Ocean Conference in Nice this week, 37 countries led by Canada and Panama signed the first global declaration devoted solely to reducing human-caused ocean noise.

The effort targets the growing din from ships and industrial activity that is disturbing marine life around the world.

“We’re aware of about 130 different marine animals that are negatively impacted by underwater noise,” Mollie Anderson, senior campaign strategist at Canadian NGO Oceans North, told RFI in Nice.

“In some instances, they’re leaving areas altogether where noise is sustained and consistent.”

Sound travels more than four times faster in saltwater than in air, reaching vast distances and interfering with how marine animals communicate, hunt and navigate.

The big blue blindspot: why the ocean floor is still an unmapped mystery

Arctic under pressure

The problem is especially acute in the Arctic, where melting sea ice is opening new shipping lanes in waters that were once among the quietest in the world.

“In the Northwest Passage alone, there’s been a 30 percent increase in ship traffic since 2016,” Anderson explained. “That is having a significant impact on the marine ecosystem in the Arctic.”

Species like belugas and narwhals, which rely on sound to survive, are already changing their behaviour.

“These specied are having a hard time communicating with each other, performing bottom dives and other essential functions to feed themselves and to take care of their babies,” she said.

The disruption is not only ecological – it’s also affecting people. As noise drives marine mammals away from their usual habitats, indigenous communities are finding it harder to hunt the animals they have long depended on.

“Many indigenous people, particularly Inuit in the Canadian Arctic, are reliant on marine mammals for food security and cultural continuity,” Anderson said.

Niue, the tiny island selling the sea to save it from destruction

Simple steps, urgent need

The new declaration – known as the High Ambition Coalition for a Quiet Ocean – is voluntary, but calls for quieter ship design, noise limits in marine protected areas and shared access to sound-monitoring technology.

It also aims to help countries with fewer resources to monitor and manage ocean noise.

Some of the most effective changes are also the simplest, Anderson said. “Even a reduction in speed of a few knots can make a big decibel difference.”

Other measures include re-routing ships away from sensitive zones, using more efficient propellers and switching to electric or hybrid engines.

In a recent pilot project, Oceans North measured the sound of an electric vessel using hydrophones – underwater microphones – and found it was significantly quieter than a conventional ship.

Ocean’s survival hinges on finding the billions needed to save it

From promises to policy

While some ports have introduced voluntary guidelines, regulation is needed. “There’s lots of voluntary measures that procurement and ports can adopt, but there’s no real regulation right now,” Anderson said.

“We regulate the roads that we drive on. I don’t see why it should be different for ships in certain areas. They should go faster or slower … That just seems like practical and good public policy to me.”

Panama Environment Minister Juan Carlos Navarro said the issue has been “sidelined in global environmental discourse” for too long.

The coalition, he said, signals a commitment to “act decisively” to protect marine biodiversity from what he called an “invisible yet powerful threat”.

Under a marine spatial plan adopted in 2022, Niue’s entire economic zone is divided into five areas – balancing strict conservation with sustainable fishing and tourism.  

“We are the astronauts of the Pacific,” says Coral Pasisi, president of the local nonprofit Tofia Niue and one of the architects of the move to sell 20-year conservation pledges for individual square kilometres of ocean.  

“Our culture is shaped by the ocean around us.” 

Pasisi is in Nice this week in her capacity as a scientist and regional leader. She is also director of climate change and sustainability at the Pacific Community (SPC), where she works with island governments on long-term strategies to manage the impacts of climate change and protect ocean resources. 

The big blue blindspot: why the ocean floor is still an unmapped mystery

Identity and survival

Niueans depend on the sea not just for food – which supplies more than 70 percent of their protein – but for stories, identity and survival.  

“We are surrounded by the ocean. We live off the ocean,” Pasisi told RFI. 

When a scientific expedition with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas team filmed the abundance of life beneath their waters in 2016, it brought many residents face to face with their marine heritage for the first time.  

The result was a groundswell of support to protect the island’s 127,000 square kilometre exclusive economic zone. 

Longevity blueprint

Niue’s conservation model is designed not just to protect the ocean, but to fund its guardianship for a generation.

It centres on Ocean Conservation Commitments, which are 20‑year sponsorships that help cover the costs of monitoring, enforcement and local stewardship. 

Within its waters lies the Moana Mahu Marine Protected Area – a zone covering 40 percent of Niue’s waters, where all fishing and extractive activity is banned. 

Ocean’s survival hinges on finding the billions needed to save it

At its heart is Beveridge Reef, a submerged coral atoll teeming with life: schools of grey reef sharks, singing humpback whales and the katuali – a rare venomous sea snake found nowhere else on Earth. 

“On every dive at Beveridge Reef, we saw sharks – up to 80 grey reef sharks at a time,” said Alan Friedlander, chief scientist at Pristine Seas. 

According to the organisation, the reef has “some of the highest densities of this species found anywhere in the world”. 

Generational wisdom

The conservation sponsorships treat the Moana Mahu sanctuary as a shared global asset, absorbing carbon dioxide and preserving biodiversity. 

“What we basically did was democratise that area into square kilometres … to help make sure that this is not a paper park – that we can actually protect it robustly,” Pasisi says.  

Behind Niue’s ocean strategy is a deeper legacy – one rooted in lived experience and generational wisdom.  

“When I take my children out to fish and spearfish, when I teach them what to shoot and what not to shoot, what to take and what not to take, it’s not my Western system of education and learning that taught me that,” Pasisi explains.  

“It is the knowledge that was passed down to me from my father, my mother and their parents. And that’s 4,000 years of knowledge. 

“The ocean made us who we are. Now we’re making sure it’s there for those who come after us.” 

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. 

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 24 May, I asked you a question about our article “EU and UK reunite in London for talks on diplomacy and defence” – that week, talks were held between France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer – after five years of rather tense relations between the two countries, following Britain’s exit from the EU in 2020.

I asked you to send in the answer to this question:  Which three issues – aside from defense and security partnerships – were also discussed – issues which are still quite politically sensitive?

The answer is: Fishing rights, food checks, and youth mobility.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Rafiq Khondaker: “What is your favorite animal, and why?”

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Nasyr Muhammad from Katsina State in Nigeria, who is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Nasyr.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Debakamal Hazarika, the president of the United RFI Listeners Club in Assam, India, as well as RFI Listeners Club members Sharifa Akter Panna from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh; Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian – Marxist – Leninist – Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India, and last but assuredly not least, RFI English listener Rodrigo Hunrichse from Ciudad de Concepción, Chile.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The overture to L’Italiana in Algerie by Giacchino Rossini, performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic; “Round Midnight” by Thelonius Monk, performed by the Thelonius Monk Quartet; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and the Act I finale of L’Italiana in Algerie by Giacchino Rossini, sung by Marilyn Horne and Paolo Montarsolo with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted by James Levine.

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 Alison’s article “From Goma to Cape Town, the young Congolese athlete pedalling for peace”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 21 July to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 26 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.   

The European Union has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and claims to have already reduced emissions by 37 percent compared to 1990, the reference year for its climate targets.

Last year, the European Commission announced its intention to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent relative to 1990 levels by 2040.

Brussels must now reach agreement on interim targets for the period between 2030 and 2040, with proposals expected to be unveiled on 2 July. However, striking the right balance will prove a significant challenge.

Finding a compromise on this will be an important step ahead of this year’s global Cop30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil in November.

France falling short of climate targets as emissions dip slows

The gathering comes as average global temperatures in the past two years exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark set under the Paris climate accord a decade ago.

Nations are currently divided between keeping the bloc’s ambitious emission targets. Some want to separate the 2035 and 2040 goals, scale them down or have more flexibility to meet them.

Even Brussels has come under pressure to switch focus to boosting European industry confronted by fierce competition from the United States and China.

Unrealistic goals?

For countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy, the 90 percent target of cutting emissions by 2040 is unrealistic.

Denmark, which will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU from Poland next week, insists in its program that it will push for a “2035 target derived from the EU’s 2040 target.”

But France has warned that Brussels should refrain from setting overly ambitious targets without detailing how to meet them.

Speaking after a one-day EU summit on Thursday evening, Macron said he was “in favour of having these targets by 2040,” but warned that “we must give ourselves the means to do so and make them compatible with our competitiveness.”

Macron takes stock of France’s nuclear projects with focus on energy transition

In his view, this implies validating the concept of “technological neutrality,” meaning including renewable energies such as nuclear power, which France favours, in the effort.

Prior to the summit the French Ecological Transition Ministry denied that it wants to decouple the two targets. But five officials speaking under anonymity told Politico website that France has been raising that position behind closed doors.

The 2035 goals, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are required under the Paris Agreement and must be submitted to the United Nations by the end of September.

The Commission has suggested a 55 percent emissions reduction in 2030 and 72.5 per cent in 2035, which would be a midpoint between the 2030 and 2040 targets.

But France appears to be pushing for a lower target for 2035 in line with the longer-term objectives of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Democratic debate

Prior to the summit, one of Macron’s advisors told journalists that another important aspect is “the fight against carbon leakage”, referring to the situation where climate rules in one region result in lower emissions there but a spike elsewhere, as companies seek out less stringent jurisdiction.

Macron has also rejected the adoption of a target “on the sly” with only a short technical debate. “It must be a democratic debate among the 27 [members],” he argued.

He also insisted that the EU should not impose itself on setting this target before Cop30, as it is not an international obligation. “If it’s going to take longer, let’s take more time to do it right!” he said.

‘Building trust’ key to solving climate crisis, Cop30 president tells RFI

The commission is considering greater flexibility in its calculations for 2040, including through the purchase of carbon credits on international markets.

But the move is opposed by green groups that say it would allow the EU to outsource part of its climate effort, and worry about a lowering of the bloc’s mid-term goals.

“President Macron risks derailing Europe’s climate ambition,” Sven Harmeling, head of climate at Climate Action Network Europe (CAN), an environmental organisation told French news agency AFP.

Setbacks at home

French branch of the CAN network, Réseau Action Climat criticised French politicians in particular for not defending climate change goals closer to home.

It accused MPs of procrastinating and even contributing to setbacks – with 43 measures suspended in the space of the last six months. These include suspending subsidies for climate-related home renovation and electric vehicles and allowing industrial farming methods.

According to surveys the NGO carried out, these choices are at odds with the expectations of the French public.

For example, 84 percent of French people are in favour of adopting measures aimed at limiting the presence of highly industrialised farms and 84 percent have a positive image of renewable energies, a figure that rises to 94 percent among those living nearest the installations.

(with AFP, newswires)

The national statistics office INSEE said debt had gone up by €40.5 billion since the end of 2024. France now has the third highest debt in the EU after Greece and Italy.

The current debt level is double what it was in 1995, when it stood at 57.8 percent of GDP. The rise has been fuelled by financial shocks, the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent spike in inflation.

Last year, France’s deficit – the yearly shortfall in government revenues versus expenditures – was 5.8 percent of GDP, the worst in the eurozone.

Prime Minister François Bayrou has pledged to bring it down below the EU target of 3 percent by 2029. The government forecasts 5.4 percent in 2025 and 4.6 percent in 2026.

The plan is to keep spending in check without raising taxes. Officials say the cost will be shared between the state, the social security system and local governments.

Covid-19 to cost France nearly half a trillion euros over three years

€5bn in extra cuts

But reaching the 2025 target will only be “achievable” if another €5 billion in savings is made, the Economy and Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

Of that, €3 billion will come from unspent government funds and €1.7 billion from health insurance savings, the ministry said.

Finance Minister Eric Lombard said the country’s finances would “require the efforts of the entire nation in the coming weeks”.

He said a special meeting would take place on 4 July to make sure the new measures are put in place.

This latest round of cuts comes on top of €5 billion in savings already announced in April, and a further €40 billion planned for 2026.

The challenge is political as well as financial. The country is still facing fallout from last year’s dissolution of parliament.

France has ‘one of the worst deficits’ in its history, minister says

Pension crisis, political tensions

Bayrou’s government is under pressure from the left, which has filed a no-confidence motion over failed pension reform talks. He survived a similar vote in January.

He has promised to publish a financial “roadmap” by mid-July, before presenting the 2026 draft budget in September.

“Given the disastrous budgetary situation, the 2026 budget involves unpopular austerity measures, making its adoption as difficult, if not more so, than the 2025 budget,” Bruno Cavalier, chief economist at Oddo BHF, told French news agency AFP.

Government spokesperson Sophie Primas told Franceinfo on Wednesday that “all options are being explored, without taboos”.

One possibility, she said, is a “gap year” – a spending freeze that ignores inflation.

Moody’s downgrades France to ‘negative’ credit outlook

Lombard said more consultations with political and social groups would be held before 11 July.

The drive to cut spending comes as France faces slower growth and growing uncertainty in global markets.

The government still expects GDP to grow by 0.7 percent this year, but the Banque de France has cut its forecast to 0.6 percent – a sharp drop from 1.1 percent in 2024.

There are also external risks, including rising US tariffs and tensions in the Middle East.

Cavalier said many MPs are “preoccupied with satisfying their electorates”, with municipal elections coming up in 2026 and a presidential vote in 2027.

Sources close to the talks said the agreement, due to be signed by the Rwandan and Congolese foreign ministers, covers the two main pillars of security and economic cooperation.

This is the most ambitious plan yet to end an ongoing crisis that has killed millions and forced many more from their homes.

At the heart of the deal lies a pledge by Kinshasa and Kigali to cease all hostilities – direct or indirect – and to resolve disputes through peaceful means.

Both sides also commit to ending support for armed groups, with particular reference to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the March 23 Movement (AFC/M23).

The deal builds on an earlier agreement signed in Luanda in October 2024. It sets out steps to find and disarm FDLR fighters. Options include voluntary returns or joint operations by Congolese and Rwandan troops.

While the AFC/M23 is not included in the main text, officials emphasise that its fate will be handled through a parallel political dialogue already under way in Doha, Qatar.

A joint monitoring team with members from the DRC, Rwanda and the mediators will track whether both sides stick to the deal.

Thousands without lifesaving aid in DRC, says UN agency

Economic integration and US interests

On top of the security plan, the draft deal lays out a three-part economic strategy to help stabilise the region and tie it closer to US interests.

First, it calls for more cooperation between Kinshasa and Kigali on hydro power, national parks and the legal trade of minerals. The aim is to build clear supply chains “from the mine to the refined metal”.

Second, the deal pushes for stronger regional links through groups like the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

These bodies should help boost trade, draw in investors and stop smuggling. Audits will check that things stay transparent.

Third, the United States is expected to step up its role to secure access to critical minerals for green and tech industries. This includes resources not just in North Kivu and South Kivu but also other provinces.

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

‘Fundamentally an economic war’

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi welcomed the American role in an interview this week and praised the involvement of President Donald Trump..

“There’s nothing magical about this agreement,” Tshisekedi said. “It is the result of a realisation within the American administration about a conflict that has lasted for nearly 30 years and caused millions of deaths.”

He underscored the dual nature of the conflict: “First, we must end the war and obtain the unconditional withdrawal of armed groups. But beyond that, this is fundamentally an economic war.”

Tshisekedi also acknowledged Trump’s direct role, including the appointment of Dr Massad Boulos as lead envoy and the backing of both Qatar and the African Union.

Qatar offers proposal in stalled peace talks between DRC and M23

Fragile steps forward

Despite the hopeful tone, Professor Tshibangu Kalala, an expert in international law at the University of Kinshasa, doubts Rwanda’s commitment.

“Rwanda does not respect its own signature,” he said, recalling a failed 2004 agreement. “Today, Rwanda is doing exactly the opposite of its commitments from 2004.”

He further criticised the agreement’s failure to address justice for past atrocities, pointing to the unresolved issue of reparations for victims of Rwandan military operations in Kisangani and other parts of eastern DRC.

“A peace agreement is being sought. But we are not talking about massacres, about the destruction of human lives, of material goods caused by Rwanda,” he told RFI.

“Do these victims have the right to reparation, to compensation or not? We are not talking about it. There is no peace without justice.”

Political analyst Christian Moleka said US involvement gives the deal more weight.

“The particularity is the involvement of the United States and its capacity to impose this roundtable, which African solutions couldn’t achieve,” he said.

He pointed to the diplomatic and economic clout of the US and Qatar, which succeeded where African-led talks failed.

“Previous solutions did not emphasise the economic elements. We know that the US is interested in securing the supply of critical materials and so this economic interest dimension gives weight to American diplomacy,” he said.

---

This article was adapted from the original version in French.

“The city is unusually quiet,” a witness in the capital, Lomé, told RFI on Thursday evening. Shop shutters are down, traders in the central market have not opened their stalls, and traffic is almost nonexistent.

But tensions were reported for two days, particularly in the southeast of the capital, according to RFI’s correspondent in Togo, and law enforcement officers used tear gas in several neighbourhoods, including Bè, Bè Kpota, and Adakpamé.

Alongside the police, witnesses noted the presence of numerous militiamen in unmarked vehicles, their faces uncovered, carrying cords, batons, and rifles.

Power grab

The gatherings were organised this week by bloggers and activists and highlighted persisting political strife in Togo.

Last month, President Gnassingbé was given a powerful new role: President of the Council of Ministers, which has no fixed term limit.

Gnassingbé’s family has ruled the West African nation since 1967.

He himself has previously served for two decades as president, and opposition parties have described his new appointment as a “constitutional coup” that could extend his rule for life.

Protest organisers called for three days of gatherings, although participants on Thursday were quickly scattered by soldiers, Reuters witnesses said. Many shops remained closed as clashes continued into the afternoon, they said.

Hodabalo Awate, Togo’s minister of territorial administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on security forces’ response to the protests.

Togo heads to polls amid claims of power grab by President Gnassingbé

Hunger and anger

In the suburbs of the capital Lomé, some protesters burned wooden furniture and tyres used for makeshift barricades, sending black smoke billowing above the streets.

“We’re hungry. Nothing works for Togolese youth any more, that’s why we’re going out to protest this morning,” said Kossi Albert, a 30-year-old unemployed man, adding that he was planning to turn out again on Friday.

Togolese authorities had already arrested dozens of people on 5-6 June during protests against Gnassingbé’s new role as well as what critics described as a crackdown on dissent and a cost-of-living crisis, according to Amnesty International.

Many were quickly released, the rights group said.

Last week, Togo’s authorities also suspended broadcasts of French state-funded international news outlets RFI and France 24 for three months, accusing the media of a lack of impartiality and rigour.

Camille Montagu, from the independent organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Sub-Saharan Africa Desk told RFI that the decision “constitutes a serious attack on press freedom and the right to information”.

The move to censor foreign media outlets is seen by Gnassingbé‘s critics as another part of his “constitutional coup”.

(with Reuters)

Gbagbo and Soro petitioned the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2020, arguing their rights had been violated by the Ivorian justice system, which has barred them from standing in the 25 October presidential election.

The Tanzania-based court ruled Thursday that Gbagbo had provided insufficient evidence to challenge his ban and was not the victim of discriminatory treatment.

It threw out Soro’s case, ruling he had not exhausted his appeals in Cote d’Ivoire.

Gbagbo was the west African country’s leader from 2000 until he was forced from power in 2011 in a bloody civil war that brought current President Alassane Ouattara to power.

Gbagbo, 80, has declared his candidacy for the October poll. While he was acquitted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, a conviction in Cote d’Ivoire stemming from the violent post-election crisis that ended his rule means he is ineligible to run. 

Soro, 53, a former prime minister and one-time rebel leader, was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in 2021 on charges of plotting a coup against President Alassane Ouattara. He lives in exile in Niger.

What now for Côte d’Ivoire’s Laurent Gbagbo?

Opposition leaders excluded

Several prominent opposition figures have been excluded from the October election, including Gbagbo, Soro and Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Cote d’Ivoire (PDCI). 

In 2020, the same court had issued provisional orders ruling both men must be allowed to run in that year’s elections.

Cote d’Ivoire has however withdrawn recognition of the court’s jurisdiction.

Four Côte d’Ivoire opposition figures barred from October presidential election

The African Court was established by member states of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) – the African Union’s predecessor – in 1998. Its mission is to protect human rights and provide an avenue for redress when national judiciaries are unable to dispense justice.

The Protocol establishing the court entered  into force on 25 January 2004. While It’s been ratified by 34 Member States, only 8 of them have filed a Declaration by which they accept the competence of the Court to consider applications filed by individuals and NGOs, the court’s website states.

(with newswires)

RFI: After 12 days of war between Israel and Iran, can you tell us if Iran’s nuclear programme has been destroyed?

Rafael Mariano Grossi: I don’t know. I think “destroyed” is going too far. But the programme has taken serious damage. The attacks that began on 13 June caused major physical destruction at three sites – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow.

Iran had focused most of its uranium enrichment and conversion activities at those places. So yes, very serious damage. There are other nuclear sites in Iran that were not hit. I know there’s a lot of talk about whether this is total destruction or not.

What I can say – and I think everyone agrees – is that the damage is very significant.

RFI: The US president said the programme has been set back by decades. Do you think that’s credible?

Grossi: These kinds of claims about timelines in nuclear matters have not always worked out well. You might remember back in 2003, when during the Iraq war, the UK and US said Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes.

These statements always need context. It depends on what you’re measuring. Maybe it’s decades compared to certain goals. With reduced capabilities, it will clearly be harder for Iran to continue at the same pace. But what the president said suggests a military aim – and that’s about intention.

We don’t guess people’s intentions. We look at what we can actually see.

US asked France to speak to Iran before Israel truce

RFI: So right now, is it impossible to say exactly what’s left of Iran’s nuclear programme?

Grossi: We know a lot. We know these sites very well – that’s what makes us different from others. We were on the ground, inspecting these facilities regularly. So we can draw some clear conclusions from satellite images and other tools about the type of damage and what it means.

In those sites, we have a good idea of what’s happened. Of course, we still need to go there, which isn’t easy. There’s rubble. These places are not functioning anymore.

RFI: Can you already do a “preliminary assessment” based on satellite photos?

Grossi: Yes – plus the deep knowledge we already have of these sites and what they were capable of. I’ll give you an example: Fordow is a major site underground. It’s like something from a movie.

We’ve seen images showing bombs that can pierce deep underground. We can’t fully measure the damage, but with that kind of force, and knowing how delicate centrifuges are, it’s clear they’re no longer working.

These machines are very precise – even small vibrations can destroy them. So yes, we can make a fairly confident technical conclusion. I know the Fordow site well. It’s a network of tunnels with different activities. From what we saw in the images, the damage matches the main enrichment hall.

RFI: Do you know where the 408 kilos of enriched uranium Iran had are now? You had just confirmed that number before the war.

Grossi: Actually it was a bit more than that, but we rounded it to 400. Enrichment activity continued up until 12 June. In fact, the day before the US strikes, IAEA inspectors were still on site. We didn’t know attacks were coming, but we were doing daily checks.

The important thing is that Iran said it would take steps to protect its stock.

US strikes on Iran open up ‘new chapter’ in the Middle East: analyst

RFI: So it tried to put the uranium somewhere safe?

Grossi: That’s what we assume. Then the military strikes began. Naturally, everything stopped – we couldn’t inspect, and that’s normal in a conflict. As soon as I heard there was a ceasefire, I wrote to the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi – I know him well. I said: “There’s a ceasefire, things may calm down, let’s meet.” I didn’t say: “I want to come and inspect right now.”

RFI: So you made a polite, diplomatic request…

Grossi: Exactly. You need to show respect. I suggested we meet to start discussing how inspectors can return to the sites.

RFI: Have you received a reply?

Grossi: Not yet.

RFI: Is communication between your agency and Iran still open?

Grossi: Yes, we’re still in contact. But there’s some tension. Some political voices in Iran now say the agency has not been neutral.

RFI: Because the agency didn’t condemn the Israeli attacks? That led to a vote in the Iranian parliament yesterday to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. Is that a concern for you?

Grossi: A huge one. I hope to speak with my Iranian colleagues soon and understand what this vote really means. But I want to be clear – the IAEA being in Iran is not a favour or a nice gesture. It’s an international obligation.

Iran is part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which means it must allow inspections. This is international law. You can’t just walk away from that. I hope Iran doesn’t do that – otherwise, we’d be heading into a major new crisis.

Israeli strike on Tehran jail was ‘irresponsible’: French prisoner’s sister

RFI: If Iran blocks inspectors from going to the sites, what can you do?

Grossi: That would put Iran outside international law. I would then have to call a meeting of the IAEA board. But I don’t want to jump ahead. I don’t want to assume that will happen.

RFI: But the consequences could be serious…

Grossi: Very serious. It would mean Iran is stepping away from the Non-Proliferation Treaty. I don’t think that’s what Iran wants – and I don’t think it’s in Iran’s interest.

RFI: Just before the war, was Iran cooperating properly with your agency?

Grossi: Not really. They were cooperating, but I had already said publicly – and in my last report to the IAEA board – that cooperation was limited. There were many questions Iran was not answering clearly. We had found traces of uranium in places where they shouldn’t be, and Iran’s explanations didn’t make technical sense. There was no transparency.

RFI: Was Iran close to making a nuclear bomb – the reason Israel gave for launching the war?

Grossi: Iran had enough material to maybe make around 10 bombs or a bit fewer. And Iran had the related technology. But I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – Iran did not have a nuclear weapon.

RFI: So the war wasn’t necessary?

Grossi: That’s not for me to decide. I’m a man of peace. I believe that through inspections and dialogue, which is what the IAEA was made for, we can avoid these situations. Political decisions are not my job. I don’t judge them. But I do prefer peace.

RFI: Are you still optimistic?

Grossi: A calm and realistic kind of optimism.

RFI: So it’s possible that dialogue and inspections could restart?

Grossi: It’s not just possible – it’s essential.

---

This interview was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Arnaud Pontus

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said a “new era” of instability is fuelling organised crime and pushing drug use to “historically high levels”.

In 2023, an estimated 6 percent of people aged 15 to 64 used drugs – up from 5.2 percent in 2013. Cannabis remains the most commonly used.

Cocaine use, production and seizures all hit record highs in 2023, making it the fastest-growing illegal drug market.

There were 25 million users last year, up from 17 million in 2013.

“Cocaine has become fashionable for the more affluent society,” said Angela Me, chief researcher at UNODC. She warned of a “vicious cycle” of growing use and supply.

Production hit 3,708 tons – up nearly 34 percent from 2022 and more than four times higher than a decade ago. UNODC links the surge to a larger area under coca bush cultivation in Colombia and new yield data.

Cocaine use in France doubles as workplace pressures drive demand

Crime groups expanding

Global cocaine seizures also reached a record 2,275 tons – a 68 percent rise in four years.

Colombia remains the main producer, but crime groups are expanding into Asia and Africa. New trafficking routes now pass through countries such as Brazil and Ecuador.

Martinique and Guadeloupe are major gateways for drugs entering mainland France.

In 2024, 33 of the 52 tons of drugs seized nationwide – mostly cocaine – came from this region, according to the courts.

Meanwhile the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre have become key European hubs.

Africa is also a growing transit zone for drugs moving from South America to Europe. In the Sahel, drug seizures grew from 13kg in 2015 to nearly 1,500kg in 2022.

Supply and demand are rising everywhere – especially in Europe, where seizures have outpaced North America’s for five years in a row.

Cocaine use is also increasing in areas once seen as marginal, including Africa and Asia – up 84 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.

“The north-south dichotomy no longer really works, with the south producing and the north consuming,” said Michel Gandilhon, a security and defence expert. “We are seeing an explosion in cocaine consumption in the countries of the south.”

Expansion of synthetic drugs

Synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, cathinones and nitazenes are reshaping the drug trade.

Made in labs with chemicals that are often legal or semi-legal, these drugs are easier to make and transport than plant-based substances.

“With synthetic drugs, there’s no longer any need for poppy and opium fields,” said Gandilhon. “It’s an emancipation from the constraints of nature and crops.”

In 2025, the UNODC tracked over 1,100 new psychoactive substances (NPS) worldwide.

Their rapid spread is outpacing the ability of governments to ban or detect them. In 2023, 34 countries reported 44 new substances – mostly synthetic cannabinoids.

In Europe, synthetic drug seizures now surpass those of herbal drugs. Substances like 3-MMC and nitazenes – up to 500 times stronger than morphine – are raising alarms among health authorities.

Because their formulas often change, the risks are hard to predict. They are also fuelling new sales channels through the dark web and social media.

“The rapid expansion of the illicit synthetic drug industry represents a major threat to global public health with potentially disastrous consequences for humanity,” said the head of the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board.

Morocco extradites head of notorious Marseille drug gang to France

Opioids, a crisis with many facets 

In the US, the opioid crisis began in the 1990s after widespread overprescription of painkillers pushed by pharmaceutical companies.

Millions became addicted. Now many users have turned to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin.

Fentanyl is made in illegal labs in Mexico using chemicals imported from China.

It caused 75,000 deaths in the US in 2023, the CDC said. The number fell to 48,000 in 2024 – the lowest in five years.

Europe has largely avoided a fentanyl epidemic, though some trafficking cases have been found.

Heroin remains the dominant opioid in Europe and is still a major cause of drug-related deaths – 1,800 in 2022.

There are around 900,000 heroin users in Europe, compared to 23 million for cannabis and four million for cocaine.

After the Taliban banned poppy farming in Afghanistan in 2022, European authorities warned of a shift to synthetic opioids.

“This hasn’t happened yet because stocks of opium, a non-perishable commodity, were enormous after years of record production,” said Gandilhon.

But health agencies are on alert. Nitazenes – an even stronger class of opioids – now account for half of newly identified opioids and have caused deadly overdoses in several European countries.

France to boost police and courts in fight against rising drug scourge

All levels of society 

Drug use has spread beyond marginalised groups and parties, reaching all areas of society – from large cities to small towns, and from working-class districts to the upper middle classes.

The French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT) said more availability, lower prices and easier access through home delivery and social media have expanded the market.

UNODC said drug use is spreading both “horizontally” across social backgrounds and “vertically” to younger people.

Use is growing in high-pressure jobs like finance, logistics and healthcare, as well as among students and teenagers – especially in Europe.

Drugs are now often used for function, not just fun – to boost performance, improve sleep or regulate mood.

But the health risks of using drugs like cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines or microdoses of LSD for these purposes remain poorly understood.

Cartels gain ground

The drug market now generates tens of billions of euros each year. With that, organised crime groups have gained major power.

The UNODC 2025 report describes them as “non-state entities with territorial, economic and political influence”.

In Ecuador, cocaine trafficking has triggered deadly violence, prison riots and even the assassination of a presidential candidate.

Similar patterns are seen in Colombia, Mexico and parts of Central America, where cartels have had deep political links for decades.

Some cartels now operate from within the EU – using it as a base for money laundering, production and logistics.

Labs for making cocaine paste and synthetic drugs have been found in the Netherlands and Poland, some run by Latin American chemists.

France calls on drug users to ‘grow a conscience’ over deadly turf wars

In May, French police uncovered a meth lab tied to Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel in southern France.

Meanwhile the “Mocromafia” – a Moroccan-led network – has spread fear in Belgium and the Netherlands with violent attacks and assassinations.

Tensions over the fentanyl crisis have also strained relations between the US and China, and the US and Mexico.

While France has not faced the same levels of cartel violence, criminal networks are active in cities like Paris, Lyon and Marseille, and even in rural areas.

The government recently launched a national anti-mafia prosecutor’s office, known as Pnaco.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the aim is to “free France from the trap of drug trafficking”.

---

This article has been adapted from an original report by RFI in French and slightly edited for clarity.

In its judgment published on Thursday, the court said there was a “presumption of discriminatory treatment” against Karim Touil and that “the government failed to rebut it”.

The judges said they were “well aware of the difficulties faced by police officers who must decide quickly and sometimes without clear internal guidelines whether there is a threat to public order or safety”.

But in Touil’s case, they concluded there was no “objective and reasonable justification” for the stops.

France was found to have violated Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination, taken together with Article 8, on the right to private and family life.

The state must now pay Touil 3,000 euros in moral damages.

Thirteen on trial over ‘racist’ stunt targeting French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura

Five claims rejected

The case dates back more than a decade and involved six French men of African or North African origin, who said they were victims of racial profiling during identity checks in 2011 and 2012.

The men – from cities including Marseille, Roubaix and Besançon – first brought their cases before French courts but lost. In 2017, they turned to the ECHR, which ensures respect for the European rights convention in 46 countries.

They argued the stops violated their rights to privacy and freedom of movement and called on the court to push France to introduce safeguards against discriminatory policing, such as written receipts for every identity check.

The six were part of a larger group of 13 men who launched legal action more than a decade ago, claiming they were unfairly targeted during police stops – sometimes accompanied by pat-downs, rude language or disrespectful behaviour.

Five of the six applicants lost their ECHR case. The court ruled that the police checks they experienced were not proven to be discriminatory and said it found no evidence of a broader structural failure.

Tens of thousands in France protest against racism and far-right

Previous rulings

French courts had partially agreed with the plaintiffs in earlier proceedings. In 2015, the Paris court of appeal found in favour of five men and ordered the state to pay them 1,500 euros each in compensation.

In 2016, France’s highest court, the Cour de cassation, upheld three of those rulings – marking the first time the state had been definitively condemned over identity checks of this nature.

Six of the men whose claims were not upheld decided to escalate the matter to the Strasbourg court.

Increase in identity checks

The decision comes days after new figures showed a sharp rise in identity checks in France over the past eight years.

A study by the French rights ombudsman, Claire Hédon, revealed that 26 percent of people surveyed in 2024 had been stopped at least once by police or gendarmes in the previous five years – up from 16 percent in 2016.

Young men perceived as Arab, black or North African were four times more likely than the rest of the population to be stopped and 12 times more likely to face a more intrusive check involving searches or orders to leave an area.

More than half of those stopped said they were not given a reason. Nearly one in five described inappropriate behaviour by officers, including being spoken to disrespectfully, insulted or physically mistreated.

In response, Hédon has recommended better traceability of police checks and the introduction of a system allowing people to challenge them more easily.

(with AFP)

Thousands of people took to the streets to mark one year since crowds stormed parliament during protests that left more than 60 people dead.

In the capital Nairobi, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters, according to news agencies. Some demonstrators clashed with officers.

Irungu Houghton, head of Amnesty Kenya, said 16 people had died by 8.30am. The death toll was also confirmed by Amnesty’s global office and the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

“Most were killed by police,” Houghton said, adding that at least five had been shot.

An official at Kenyatta National Hospital said dozens of injured people were brought in from the protests.

The official said “107 admitted, most with gunshot injuries”, referring to both rubber bullets and live rounds.

KNCHR said all the reported deaths were “allegedly from gunshot wounds”. It said “over 400 casualties have been reported, including demonstrators, police officers and journalists”.

 

In a statement, the watchdog also noted a heavy police presence and “allegations of excessive use of force, including rubber bullets, live ammunition and water cannons, resulting in numerous injuries”.

Arrests

Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment on the reports from Amnesty Kenya and KNCHR.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority, a government-funded body, said at least 61 people were arrested.

National electricity provider Kenya Power said one of its security guards was shot dead while patrolling its headquarters in Nairobi.

Large crowds were seen earlier heading in the direction of State House, the president’s official residence, in scenes broadcast by Kenyan channel NTV.

Later, two major TV channels — NTV and KTN — were ordered by the Communications Authority of Kenya to stop broadcasting live coverage of the protests. Both stations were taken off air after defying the order. A Nairobi court suspended the directive and the channels resumed broadcasting on Wednesday evening.

Can Kenyan youth protests spark real police reform one year on?

Anger against police

Isolated clashes were also reported in Mombasa, Kitengela, Kisii, Matuu and Nyeri.

Last year’s protests died down after President William Ruto withdrew proposed tax increases. But fresh anger has grown over police brutality, especially after the death of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang in custody earlier this month.

Six people, including three police officers, were charged with murder on Tuesday over the 31-year-old’s death. All pleaded not guilty.

“It’s because of the bloodshed that I’m protesting,” accountant Janet Mburu, 32, told RFI in Nairobi. “We can’t let people be killed like flies. People keep disappearing. Look at the Albert Ojwang case. He was arrested by the police and suddenly, he’s dead. They’re trying to kill us.”

Many Kenyans are still mourning those killed during last year’s unrest. Rights groups have also raised concerns about dozens of unexplained disappearances.

Oumar, a protester, told RFI: “The police are provoking. We were demonstrating peacefully, and they’re firing tear gas at us. For no reason. We’re asking the police to stop. It’s unfair. They need to remember that they’re Kenyans and that we’re fighting for them too, or at least for their children.”

On 25 June 2024, police opened fire as demonstrators broke through barriers and entered parliament. The events triggered the biggest crisis of Ruto’s presidency and drew concern from international partners.

“We are fighting for the rights of our fellow youths and Kenyans and the people who died since June 25… we want justice,” protester Lumumba Harmony told Reuters.

(with Reuters)

Biram Senghor, 86, is the son of M’Bap Senghor, one of dozens of West African riflemen, known as tirailleurs senegalais, who were shot by French colonial forces in Thiaroye near Dakar after returning from World War II service in Europe.

The soldiers were demanding unpaid wages when the army opened fire on 1 December, 1944.

“My father fought for France. He returned to ask for what he was owed and was killed,” Senghor told France’s AFP news agency from his home in central Senegal. “I still don’t know where he’s buried.”

His lawyer, Mbaye Dieng, filed a legal complaint Tuesday in a Paris court. It targets both the French state and unidentified persons for “concealment of a corpse” – a crime under French law when linked to violence.

Dieng argues that France deliberately withheld the locations of mass graves and key historical records.

“For years the family was told M’Bap Senghor had deserted,” Dieng said. “Now they acknowledge he died at Thiaroye, but his burial site remains unknown.”

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

Archeological dig

French authorities at the time admitted to at least 35 deaths, but historians estimate there could be more than 300. Despite decades of advocacy, the massacre’s full scale and burial details remain unknown.

In July 2024, six soldiers killed at Thiaroye – including M’Bap Senghor – were officially recognised as having “died for France”, a symbolic gesture that Senegalese advocates say falls short of justice.

In December of that year, President Emmanuel Macron officially recognised the killings as a massacre – calling it a tragedy that demands the uncovering of the full truth.

Recent archaeological digs launched by the Senegalese government have uncovered human remains with bullet wounds at Thiaroye cemetery. Officials say the findings underscore France’s failure to fully disclose the truth.

“The French government continues to stall,” said Senghor. “They want me to die so the matter can be buried with me.”

France maintains that relevant archives have been opened, citing a 2014 pledge by former president François Hollande. But critics say access remains complicated.

“After 80 years, we ask only for truth and dignity,” Dieng said. “And for France to pay what it owes.”

(with AFP)

Le Pen, the longtime standard bearer of the French far right, suffered a stunning blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam.

“I have accepted the possibility that I may be unable to run. Jordan has accepted the possibility that he may have to take up the torch,” Le Pen told French weekly Valeurs Actuelles.

The comments were the clearest indication yet from the normally defiant Le Pen that she is preparing for the prospect of being unable to run. 

The ruling, which Le Pen has appealed, banned her from standing for office for five years, which would scupper her ambition of taking part in the 2027 vote.

President Emmanuel Macron cannot stand because of term limits. 

Le Pen has denounced her conviction as a “political decision” and a “witch hunt”. 

Bardella, Le Pen’s protege who replaced her as head of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in 2022 while the three-time presidential candidate became the head of its faction in parliament, is widely seen as her heir apparent.

A Paris appeals court could reach a decision in the embezzlement ruling in summer 2026, which means Le Pen could still run if her conviction is overturned or the sentence amended.

“Until then, I will continue to fight,” Le Pen told the magazine.

“Of course, the situation is not ideal. But what else do you suggest? That I commit suicide before I’m murdered?” she said.

Does ‘politically dead’ Marine Le Pen still have a path to power?

‘Rules of the game’

She also said the anger of French voters should not be underestimated if she were barred from running, saying such a scenario could render the elections illegitimate.

“Many French people, regardless of their political convictions, would then understand that the rules of the game have been manipulated,” Le Pen said. 

Le Pen had previously played down a potential candidacy for Bardella, saying in April that he would be the party’s candidate “if she were hit by a truck”.

There have been persistent reports of tensions between Le Pen and Bardella as his prominence rises but the duo have always denied this. 

The contours of the 2027 presidential election remain largely unclear, with only the centre-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe the main player to clearly state he will stand to replace Macron.

Bardella, who maintains an active social media presence and is a slick media performer, has enjoyed a meteoric rise even if doubts remain about his ability to debate under pressure.

According to a recent poll, 28 percent of respondents said they would like to spend their vacation with Bardella, while 22 percent named Le Pen.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot to “inform him of the US wish for a ceasefire provided there was no Iranian retaliation,”  according to the source cited in French news agency AFP, said on Monday night.

“Rubio asked Jean-Noël Barrot to transmit this information to [Foreign Minister] Abbas Araghchi,” their Iranian counterpart, the source added.

France says ‘spiral of chaos must end’ amid fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire

 

“After the call, the (French) minister spoke to his Iranian counterpart to transmit the terms and details of the discussions (between) Americans and Israelis,” according to the same source.

 

Araghchi then indicated his “availability to continue negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme” including with France, Britain and Germany, and “after these discussions, the ceasefire was able to go into force”, it said.

Regional crisis

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned that the situation surrounding the Israel-Iran conflict remains “unstable”, reinforcing the view that diplomacy should preside over military might in resolving the Middle East crisis.

Qatar and fellow Gulf state Oman had also both been pushing for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Qatar’s prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, persuaded Iran to agree to the US-proposed ceasefire with Israel after Iranian missiles targeted an American base near Doha, a source with knowledge of the talks has said.

World reacts to Israeli strike on Iran over nuclear activity

Israel said on Tuesday it has agreed to US President Donald Trump’s declaration of a ceasefire with Iran, adding that it has achieved all its objectives in the 12-day war with its arch-foe.

The war started with a wave of Israeli strikes on Iran on 13 June, just days ahead of a sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks in Oman.

 (with AFP)

“We reaffirm our ironclad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty – that an attack on one is an attack on all,” the leaders said in a summit declaration.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday lauded NATO’s “tremendous” summit in the Hague as leaders wrapped up a meeting that saw the alliance back his demand to ramp up defence spending. 

“I think the summit was fantastic. It was a big success,” Trump told Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

Trump appeared keen to take the plaudits as he secured a key foreign policy win by getting NATO’s 32 countries to agree to meet his headline target of five percent of GDP on defence spending.

“It’s a great victory for everybody, I think, and we will be equalised,” Trump said of the new spending commitment, ahead of the summit’s main session.

NATO summit opens in The Hague amid unprecedented security and protests

Diplomats said that behind closed doors Trump insisted there was no greater ally than Washington and urged others to spend some of the new money on US weaponry.

The deal hatched by NATO is a compromise that allows Trump to claim triumph, while in reality providing wiggle room for cash-strapped governments in Europe.

It sees countries promise to dedicate 3.5 percent of GDP to core military spending by 2035, and a further 1.5 to broader security-related areas such as infrastructure.

Many people had expressed concern about the US President’s apparent hesitation to fully back the alliance.

Trump had rattled his allies by appearing to cast some doubt on the validity of NATO’s mutual defence clause, known as Article Five of the alliance treaty, telling reporters on the way to The Hague that it “depends on your definition. There’s numerous definitions of Article Five.”

Summit protests

During the two-day summit, critics had gathered to protest in several places outside the security zone reserved for the NATO summit. 

“We spend too much money for the wrong reasons,” says Marion, a handicapped LGBTQ+ activist who had come to a noisy gathering near The Hague’s Central Station of people protesting the anti-gay policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and US President Donald Trump.

But she admitted that “it’s a very difficult to be a pacifist nowadays, because I would like to help Ukraine,” she says.

Just outside the World Forum, where the NATO summit took place, a small group of pro-Ukraine activists is holding up banners.

“We see that the regime in Russia threatens not only Ukraine, but Europe just as well,” says Cyril Schmidt, secretary of the NGO Free Russia NL. “We fear that the current NATO as it is now is not well prepared for full scale war with Russia,” he says.

Another activist shows an uncanny likeness to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The man calls himself “Howard X,” and says he is an “impersonator of Kim Jong-un since 2013. He brands the same haircut and clothes as the dictator. 

He says he came to The Hague to “raise awareness” about what he thinks are the destructive policies of Donald Trump. “He’s no longer supporting democracies. He’s on the side of dictators and autocracies.

Schmidt adds that “as of now NATO very much depends on American support,” while he says he hopes that “US support will not vanish,” but in spite of Trump’s promises, Howard X is sceptical. 

“The USA can no longer be relied upon,” he says, should Europe or any of the NATO countries be invaded by a foreign power. So Europe you better pick up and arm yourselves, because dark days are coming.”

“We welcome the news that an agreement has been reached on the establishment of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which came late last night,” Erdogan said before departing for the NATO summit in The Hague.

Israel’s war on Iran had put Erdogan in a tricky spot – maintaining his hostility towards Israel without damaging his ties with Trump.

On Saturday, Erdogan slammed Israel, calling it a “terrorist state”, while warning that the war on Iran threatened to plunge the region into chaos. The speech, delivered in Istanbul at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, was just the latest in what has become an almost daily verbal assault on Israel.

But the United States bombing of Iran just a few hours after Erdogan spoke drew little reaction from Ankara beyond a short statement expressing its “concern” over the attack.

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

Words versus actions

Erdogan’s actions have also not always matched his rhetoric.The Turkish leader resisted opposition calls to close the US-operated NATO Kurecik radar base near the Iranian border.

“Turkey is not interested once again in going into conflict with America because, if you close Kurecik, then it is a NATO issue, and Israel has close relations also with NATO,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

The Kurecik radar station, Bagci said, is important to Israeli security.

“Turkey signed the acceptance (agreement) that Israel should take information from Kurecik,” Bagci added. “There is no in an article in the case of war that Turkey would not provide the information. So, this is why Erdogan, based on this fact, is not undertaking any steps against Israel.”

Earlier this month, Erdogan lobbied Baghdad not to follow Tehran’s calls to intercept Israeli warplanes using Iraqi airspace to strike Iran. All moves that are likely to play well with Trump. Erdogan values what Trump has called a “great friendship”.

The two leaders are expected to meet for the first time since Trump’s re-election on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, where Erdogan will likely be seeking an invitation to Washington.

With Turkey and Iran long-time regional rivals, competing for influence from the Caucasus to Central Asia and the Middle East, Ankara also shares the West’s concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“Turkey definitely doesn’t want a nuclear-armed Iran, because that is going to trigger a proliferation process in the Middle East,” said Serhan Afacan, head of the Center for Iranian Studies, a research organisation in Ankara.

Interim president Sharaa weighs up Ankara and Riyadh in power struggle for Syria

Refugee fears and regional risks

The United States bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities – which Washington claims has ended Tehran’s atomic programme – drew no condemnation from Ankara. But the risk of a wider conflict has raised fears of growing instability and the possibility of a refugee wave into Turkey from Iran.

Trump’s surprise move to broker a ceasefire between Iran and Israel will come as a relief to Ankara, said regional expert Professor Zaur Gasimov of the German Academic Exchange Service in Istanbul. He warned the ceasefire came just as signs were emerging of a refugee exodus.

“What we see now is already now is the mobility of people within Iran, leaving Tehran and other bigger cities, going to different directions, that is a challenge for the entire region. And maybe Turkey is a country that is about to observe a refugee influx coming from Iran by the border,” said Gasimov.

He warned Ankara is likely not prepared for such an exodus.

“That is a challenge. So, Turkey is currently observing the situation with great attention, and certain answers to this challenge is not ready yet,” said Gasimov.

Azerbaijan and Turkey build bridges amid declining influence of Iran

Economic toll

Turkey, which borders Iraq and Syria, has struggled for decades with chaos on its southern frontier. It currently hosts as many as five million refugees and has paid a heavy economic price through the loss of valuable regional markets.

Ankara will likely be eyeing the potential rewards of a weakened Tehran in the long-running competition for regional influence.

“A weak Iran is good for Turkey always, but not a dead Iran,” said Bagci.

“Iran is important for connectivity. They [Iran] have many neighbours like Turkey. They are close to Russia, Central Asian republics, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, you name it. And the destabilisation of the region is in nobody’s interest.

“That is why China and Russia are very careful in their statements, and everybody is trying now for a diplomatic solution.”

How long Trump’s brokered ceasefire will last remains to be seen. But for Ankara, the hope is that wider regional chaos has been avoided – and that it has managed, at least for now, to balance its competing interests.

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. 

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 24 May, I asked you a question about our article “EU and UK reunite in London for talks on diplomacy and defence” – that week, talks were held between France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer – after five years of rather tense relations between the two countries, following Britain’s exit from the EU in 2020.

I asked you to send in the answer to this question:  Which three issues – aside from defense and security partnerships – were also discussed – issues which are still quite politically sensitive?

The answer is: Fishing rights, food checks, and youth mobility.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Rafiq Khondaker: “What is your favorite animal, and why?”

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Nasyr Muhammad from Katsina State in Nigeria, who is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Nasyr.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Debakamal Hazarika, the president of the United RFI Listeners Club in Assam, India, as well as RFI Listeners Club members Sharifa Akter Panna from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh; Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian – Marxist – Leninist – Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India, and last but assuredly not least, RFI English listener Rodrigo Hunrichse from Ciudad de Concepción, Chile.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The overture to L’Italiana in Algerie by Giacchino Rossini, performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic; “Round Midnight” by Thelonius Monk, performed by the Thelonius Monk Quartet; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and the Act I finale of L’Italiana in Algerie by Giacchino Rossini, sung by Marilyn Horne and Paolo Montarsolo with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted by James Levine.

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 Alison’s article “From Goma to Cape Town, the young Congolese athlete pedalling for peace”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 21 July to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 26 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.   

This week, we go to East Africa where Kenyans are protesting to denounce police brutality, exactly a year after a wave of protests organised against an unjust tax, that led to police violence.

This year’s protests were triggered by the killing by the police of a teacher and blogger in his cell. Albert Ojwang, 31, had been arrested for criticising a policeman online.

On Monday (23 June), Kenyan prosecutors said they were charging six people, including three police officers, with murder over his death.

To better understand the issues surrounding this incident, Spotlight on Africa podcast spoke to Douglas Lucas Kivoi, Principal Policy Analyst, Governance Department, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA).

Africa Basel 

We also head to Switzerland for a new artistic event known as Africa Basel.

This first edition of a contemporary African art fair was created to coincide with the largest fair in the world, Art Basel, in Switzerland. It was held from 17 to 22 June, with over 30 galleries and dozens of artists.

Spotlight on Africa spoke with the two co-founders of the event, as they opened the first days of the event in Basel: Benjamin Füglister, artist and cultural entrepreneur born in Switzerland, and now the director of the Africa Basel and Sarah Hachi-Duchêne, curator at unx.art.

 

---

Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Cecile Pompeani.

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

Earlier this month, EU and Turkish officials met under the bloc’s Common Security and Defence Policy for the first time in three years.

The talks are part of a push to develop a more independent European defence system, amid concerns that a second Donald Trump presidency might weaken NATO’s guarantee to protect Europe.

Many see Turkey as well-placed to help meet the EU’s defence goals.

“We have huge potential for cooperation with Turkey,” said Federico Donelli, an international relations expert at Trieste University.

He pointed out that Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO, and that “many European defence systems are in some way compatible with Turkish military hardware because the majority of EU members are NATO members”.

Donelli said Turkey’s fast-growing defence sector could help the EU’s efforts to rearm.

“Turkey is one of the emerging players in the security market. One of Turkey’s key assets is producing efficiently at a lower cost compared with American or Israeli companies.”

Ankara’s expanding military

Turkey was recently admitted to the EU’s €150 billion Safety Assistance for Europe arms procurement programme.

While Turkey is not yet one of the top 10 global weapons producers, it has made major advances in certain areas. It is one of the world’s biggest producers of military drones and has developed a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet.

Last year, Turkish company Repkon built a munitions factory in the United States using technology designed to speed up production.

And this month, Turkey’s drone maker Baykar signed a deal with Italy’s Leonardo to develop drones together. The deal is expected to help Baykar meet EU rules that require 65 percent of the value of any arms contract to go to an EU firm.

Sinan Ciddi, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said Turkey brings valuable assets to the table.

“Turkey has a vast ability not only to procure and manufacture but also to supply these, that’s readily available. So, on the physical side, it’s great,” said Ciddi.

Concerns over Turkish politics

But Turkey’s position on the war in Ukraine has raised eyebrows. Ankara has kept ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, and Ciddi said this creates a dilemma for the EU.

“On the political side, it puts the EU in a rather precarious position of having to rely on a country like Turkey simply because, you know, Turkey has been playing both sides of this conflict, so it’s a double-edged sword,” he said.

Greece and Cyprus are also worried about closer defence ties between the EU and Turkey. Both have territorial disputes with Ankara.

While relations between Athens and Ankara have improved, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insists that any defence deal with Turkey must include a clear promise to drop threats of war.

Turkey has said for 30 years it might use force if Greece extends its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. Athens says it has a legal right to do so under a UN maritime convention.

Turkey has rejected the demand, saying the issue should be resolved through talks. Mitsotakis is due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of this month’s NATO summit.

Greek, Cypriot objections sidelined

Greece and Cyprus still have veto powers in the EU and have used them against Turkey in the past. But Federico Donelli said Russia’s actions have changed the mood in Europe.

“Nowadays, I think the priority of European countries – and the European Union as a whole – is more important than any concerns from Cyprus and Greece,” said Donelli.

“I don’t think they will be able to halt this process,” he added. “Honestly, the priority for European countries is security: to increase production and to cooperate with all actors who can help in the defence sector.”

In a move widely seen as a way to get around Greek and Cypriot opposition, the EU has now made decisions on arms procurement subject to majority voting.

Even so, Greece and Cyprus could still slow things down diplomatically. But with France and Germany pushing hard to boost Europe’s defences, deeper ties with Turkey are likely to move ahead.

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 17 May, I asked you about the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival, which opened that week.  RFI English journalist Ollia Horton was there, and I asked you a question about her article “Ukraine, Gaza and #MeToo in the spotlight as Cannes Film Festival opens”. You were to send in the names of the three documentaries about the Ukraine conflict – as well as the names of the filmmakers – that were screened on the opening day.

The answer is: Zelensky, made by Yves Jeuland, Lisa Vapné, and Ariane Chemin; Notre Guerre (“Our War”) by Bernard-Henri Lévy and co-director Marc Roussel, and 2,000 metres to Andriivka by Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Khondaker Rafiq Ul from Naogaon, Bangladesh: “What was your happiest moment in your radio – or your DXing – history?”

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Hijab Abid, a member of the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Hijab is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Hijab!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Paresh Hazarika, a member of the United RFI Listeners Club in Assam, India, and RFI Listeners Club members Ataur Rahman Ranju, the president of the Alokito Manush Cai International Radio Listeners Club in Rangpur, Bangladesh, and Samir Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal, India. Last but not least, there’s RFI English listener Rabiul Awal from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Gente Humile” by Garota, played by Baden Powell; “Stairway to Heaven” by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, played by Tetiana Mazur and Serhii Shamra; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Cities in Dust” by Susan Ballion, Peter Edward Clarke and Steven Severin, performed by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “Togo suspends French broadcasters RFI, France 24 for three months”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 14 July to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 19 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.   

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 10 May, I asked you about a scientific summit held earlier that week here in Paris. It was about bringing to Europe US scientists whose research funds were being threatened – and now, many have been canceled – by US President Donald Trump.

The summit, called “Choose Europe for Science”, was attended by EU commissioners, scientists, and ministers for research from member countries, and hosted by Paris’s Sorbonne University. It closed with speeches by French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

You were to re-read our article “France hosts summit to lure scientists threatened by US budget cuts” and send in the answer to this question: Which specific research specialties are the Europeans hoping to attract? Amongst possible others, which specific sectors of research are the Europeans targeting?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Macron’s office said France and the EU are targeting researchers in a number of specific sectors, including health, climate, biodiversity, artificial intelligence and space.”

The first “refugee scientists”, as they’re being called, are on their way here.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “How do you greet friends and relatives? How do you greet people you are being introduced to for the first time? What do these forms of greeting mean to you?” The question was suggested by Jocelyne D’Errico from New Zealand.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State in India, who is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Radhakrishna.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, as well as RFI Listeners Club members Rubi Saikia from Assam, India and Sahadot Hossain Khoka from Sunamganj, Bangladesh. Last but assuredly not least, RFI English listener Rajesh Dhakal from Mechi, Nepal.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Peaceful Journey” by Imade Suputra; the “Gigue” from the French Suite no. 2 by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Andras Schiff; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and Quatre Bergerettes, four 18th-century French folksongs arranged by Siegfried Behrend and Sharon Isbin, performed by mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer and guitarist Sharon Isbin.

Do you have a music request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “French Polynesia unveils world’s largest marine protected zone”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 7 July to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 12 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.   

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.