At a press conference in Nouméa on Wednesday, Dominique Fochi, secretary-general of the Caledonian Union and a senior figure within the FLNKS, said the movement’s extraordinary congress had voted on Saturday for an outright rejection.

“The FLNKS formally rejects the Bougival draft agreement because it is incompatible with the foundations and achievements of our struggle,” Mr Fochi declared.

Signed on 12 July under the guidance of Overseas Minister Manuel Valls, the Bougival text sets out plans for a “State of New Caledonia” with its own nationality and the option of transferring sovereign powers such as currency, justice, and policing.

However, the absence of a fresh independence referendum – a core demand for many Kanak activists – has proved a deal-breaker.

Independence party walks away from French deal on New Caledonia

“This is a blanket rejection,” said Marie-Pierre Goyetche of the Labour Party, also on the FLNKS political bureau. “We will not take part in the drafting committee proposed by the Minister for Overseas Territories.”

Ms Goyetche called on supporters to resist any attempt by Paris to push the deal through. “We are launching a peaceful appeal to our supporters to say stop to the State if it intends to force this through.”

Tensions over the issue are still fresh. In May 2024, protests against electoral changes and independence delays spiralled into violence, leaving 14 dead and causing damage worth several billion euros.

Overseas minister Valls plans visit

Undeterred, Manuel Valls announced on Sunday that he would travel to New Caledonia during the week of 18 August in an effort to rescue what he has described as “a historic compromise, the result of months of work … with all delegations, including the FLNKS”.

In a video link from prison in Mulhouse, where he has been held for nearly a year, FLNKS president Christian Tein accused President Emmanuel Macron of forcing through a flawed deal.

“No lessons have been learned from what the country has endured,” he said. “You can’t build a country like this, pushing us into a corner. It’s humiliating for the Kanak people.”

Although released from prison in June, Tein remains barred from returning to New Caledonia while under investigation over last year’s unrest. He denies any role in inciting violence.

French deal on New Caledonia ‘state’ hits early criticism

A new path to sovereignty

The FLNKS is now calling for an alternative roadmap – a “Kanaky agreement” to be signed on 24 September 2025, leading to full sovereignty for New Caledonia before the French presidential election in 2027.

Any such talks, Mr Fochi insisted, should be held under Mr Tein’s supervision.

Despite rejecting Bougival, the FLNKS says it will still meet Mr Valls during his trip. Sylvain Pabouty of Dynamik Unitaire Sud stressed the need for provincial elections – postponed since May 2024 – to go ahead in November 2025.

“We want elections to determine the true legitimacy of all political forces,” Mr Pabouty said. “We remain open to dialogue with those legitimised by the ballot box.”

Can New Caledonia’s first female congress president bridge the divide amid civil unrest?

Key provincial vote in limbo

Provincial assemblies wield most of New Caledonia’s political power, making their composition crucial. But the Bougival agreement proposes delaying the vote yet again – this time to mid-2026 – a move fiercely opposed by the FLNKS.

The July accord has the backing of the entire non-independence bloc, as well as the “Eveil Océanien” (Oceanian Awakening) party, which takes a neutral stance on the independence question.

It is also supported by two moderate pro-independence parties – Palika and the Progressive Union of Melanesia – which quit the FLNKS in August 2024.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as the French, British and other European leaders and the heads of the EU and NATO to an afternoon video conference.

They are then expected to talk to Trump and Vice President JD Vance in a second round of the conference call.

The Trump-Putin meeting on Friday – their first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago – is so far planned to go ahead without Zelensky.

This has fuelled fears Kyiv could be forced into painful concessions, including over land.

EU leaders stressed on Tuesday “the inherent right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny”, adding that “international borders must not be changed by force”.

Zelensky, speaking to reporters Tuesday, ruled out withdrawing troops from the Donbas region which Moscow claims.

Merz’s office said the conference call would discuss “further options to exert pressure on Russia” and “preparation of possible peace negotiations and related issues of territorial claims and security”.

The talks would include leaders from “Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, the heads of the European Commission and Council, the secretary general of NATO, as well as the US president and his deputy”, Berlin said on Monday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz are then also set to hold a round of talks of the so-called Coalition of the Willing of Ukraine’s military backers.

EU says Ukraine must ‘decide its own future’ ahead of Trump-Putin summit

‘Difficult’ battles

Trump on Monday played down the possibility of a breakthrough in Alaska but said he expected “constructive conversations” with Putin.

“This is really a feel-out meeting a little bit,” Trump said at the White House, but he also added that eventually “there’ll be some swapping, there’ll be some changes in land”.

Russia, as a prerequisite to a peace settlement, has demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of several regions claimed by Moscow, commit to being a neutral state, shun US and EU military support and be excluded from joining NATO.

Ukraine has said it would never recognise Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.

Ukraine said Tuesday it was engaged in “difficult” battles with Russian forces after Moscow had made rapid advances in a narrow but important section of the front line in the country’s east.

Zelensky said on social media that “we see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war. On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations.”

In Lagos, the African Digital Economy and Inclusion Conference is bringing together policymakers, business leaders, academics and other stakeholders to explore how AI can drive growth while making sure no one is left behind.

The two-day event will examine ways to combine private innovation with public policy.

With the theme AI and the African Digital Economy: Leaving No One Behind, organisers say they want to “address systemic inequalities” in digital access, participation and adopting new technologies across the continent.

Discussions include using AI and big data for economic growth, digital identity systems for cross-border trade, and gender and youth inclusion in the digital workforce.

Why the African continent has a role to play in developing AI

Infrastructure gaps

Both public and private sectors are joining the race for AI on the African continent, whose digital economy is estimated at €155 billion and expected to reach almost €700 by 2050.

Adedayo Oketola, head of the AFDEIC organising committee, said despite rapid fintech, e-commerce, and AI-driven advancements, Africa still faces significant digital infrastructure gaps.

He said many rural Africans lack internet access, with millions still unable to benefit from digital financial services and e-learning platforms.

Other challenges include poor access to electricity and a lack of experts in this field.

“This disparity hinders the equitable distribution of opportunities associated with the digital economy and draws attention to the urgency for targeted interventions,” Oketola said.

Last year, the African Union initiated a “Continental Strategy on AI” for 2030, initially developing regulatory frameworks and creating governance bodies, followed by a launch of projects.

Then, in February, some forty states joined forces to create the African AI Council, aimed at promoting the use of new technologies on the continent.

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Lack of political will

Professor Seydina Ndiaye, an AI specialist in Africa, delays – particularly in subsaharan Africa –stem from a lack of government investment.

“We have quite a few communities starting to use AI, but without government support,” he told RFI.

“The necessary resources are already available: with what we have, we can do quite a lot. It’s just a lack of real will. In speeches, everyone talks about AI, but in reality, structurally, we see very few concrete actions that allow us to move forward in this sector.”

He explains that Africa has fallen behind because of a reliance on the use of foreign technologies.

“This creates a huge gap because we are dependent. The companies that produce in this sector are very behind in relation to what is happening internationally,” he says.

The Kenyan teacher using laptop batteries to power motorbikes

Home-grown innovations

Despite this, some examples of home-grown technology are emerging.

At the private level, there are numerous initiatives around health, education and agriculture, such as DoctorIA algorithms in Rwanda which facilitate medical diagnoses in the absence of specialists.

Generative AI such as AWA in Senegal, speaks Wolof and can even be integrated into WhatsApp.

A pioneer of artificial intelligence in Côte d’Ivoire, Sah Analytics has developed an application that helps Ivorian authorities combat inflation.

“We support the Ivorian Ministry of Commerce with everything related to high-cost-of-living alerts,” its CEO and founder, Yaya Sylla told RFI’s Claire Fages.

“Citizens take photos via an application. The location is automatically geolocated. This helps the Ministry of Commerce staff respond quickly.”

From breast cancer to HIV, how AI is set to revolutionise healthcare

Facial recognition for cows

Fit For Purpose, based in Belgium, has created a subsidiary in Africa, Neotex.ai, to meet a very specific need in Kenya, where authorities required farmers to identify their cows.

Meshia Cédric Oveneke, Belgian-Congolese co-founder of the company told RFI that it took almost a year of research and development to create custom models.

“Now, with a photo, we can register a cow and recognise it at any time, just like with humans. And banks are now much more certain about who they are granting loans to and why, and this is an anti-fraud fight, an assurance to be able to collect the right data and be able to offer the right financial product.”

For Paulin Melatagia, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon, “Africa has a role to play in the development of artificial intelligence to solve African societal problems.”

He says artificial intelligence and its related tools is already helping in agriculture, particularly for predicting locust invasions and floods, using satellite images, for example.

“We can also use artificial intelligence for detecting plant diseases,” he told RFI. “Today, with certain applications deployed on mobile phones, it is enough to scan leaves, and from these images, to detect a certain number of plant diseases.”

He says artificial intelligence can help with “smart watering” for crops, which makes it possible to measure humidity, temperature and light in a field and then trigger the watering system.

Melatagia also insists that Africa’s contribution will be not only beneficial to Africa, but to the world at large, “to develop new concepts, to develop new knowledge so that AI, from a global perspective, can advance.”

The catastrophe in Gaza shows no sign of ending. Under relentless bombardment and gripped by hunger, the territory is close to collapse. Amid the devastation, humanitarian workers – most of them ordinary civilians – fight each day to stay alive.

RFI spoke with Riyad, a Palestinian from Gaza City and a member of the NGO Secours Islamique France (SIF), which provides emergency aid and long-term support in crisis zones.

RFI: What is the situation in Gaza City since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was taking control?

Riyad: The little aid entering Gaza is nowhere near enough. Gaza City has nearly one million residents, most displaced to the west – crammed into just 10 to 15 percent of the city’s territory. The rest has been emptied, declared red zones, and is now under Israeli army control.

Since Netanyahu’s announcement, we have been bracing for a new evacuation order and another complete cut-off. We are looking for safe places, but even the Mawasi area (a narrow coastal strip in southern Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone) is already overcrowded. There is no more space. We hope for a solution, but we must prepare for the worst.

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RFI: Tell us about the shortages of medicine, food and water?

Riyad: It is now harder to find medicine than food. Nothing reaches the hospitals, many of which have been destroyed. Medical centres are overwhelmed with the wounded and malnourished, from north to south. Doctors and nurses cannot treat everyone – there are shortages of medicines, equipment and even staff.

Food is also scarce since the closure of the truck crossings. The media talk about aid entering Gaza, but it is desperately insufficient. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in our history. Sometimes we go two days or more without eating. When aid does arrive, more than 90 percent is seized by desperate, hungry people. Many risk their lives to reach these deliveries, knowing they may never return.

My own family has never received aid. Food in markets is exorbitantly priced. Two weeks ago, I paid €50 for a kilo of flour. Sometimes we find tins of chickpeas – expensive, but better than nothing. People are dying from hunger and malnutrition: more than 200 so far, half of them children. There is no milk for babies, no vitamins, nothing that could save Gaza’s children.

Water is no better. The main supply line was bombed a month ago. Those with solar panels keep some neighbourhood wells running, but drinking water still comes from tanker trucks. Every day, we queue for over an hour with small tanks. This is our daily routine.

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RFI: Can SIF work on the ground in such conditions?

Riyad: Despite closures and soaring prices, our duty at SIF is to support the most vulnerable in Gaza, including the displaced. Fresh vegetables are scarce, but we try to harvest and distribute what we can. Two weeks ago, we managed to deliver nearly 5,000 parcels of vegetables and hot meals, plus a little rice – despite its high price. If more aid could enter, we would expand our work. We also sponsor almost 6,000 orphaned children across the Gaza Strip.

RFI: Are you free to do your work?

Riyad: The problems are constant – logistical, security and those imposed by the Israeli army. Some media do not report the reality. In the past two weeks, only 112 trucks entered Gaza, compared to 8,400 that were supposed to. Ninety percent of those were attacked and looted. None reached the official UNRWA or World Food Programme warehouses.

RFI: Do the people still have hope?

Riyad: Everyone here feels desperate because of the international silence. We appreciate speeches, but words are not enough. We need real pressure to end this war and this catastrophe. We are waiting for the international community to say stop to the massacre.  

Netanyahu’s decision shows he does not want to stop. People will be pushed further south, then expelled to other countries. This will destroy the Palestinian cause – and the population.

I feel destroyed inside, but I try not to show it. We have to be strong for our families and our community. We are fighting against suffering and death. It is a fight for life.

(Adaped from this interview in French by RFI’s Anne Bernas)

For the past three weeks, Epping – a market town of 11,000, north-east of London – has found itself at the heart of Britain’s simmering immigration debate.

What began with the arrest of a 38-year-old Ethiopian asylum seeker, accused of attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl, has spiralled into protests across England, far-right mobilisation and mounting fears of wider unrest.

The man was reportedly charged with three counts of sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and harassment without violence, sparking immediate local backlash.

Within hours, far-right activists surrounded the hotel where the man was being housed, demanding an end to migrant accommodation in the area.

Since then, similar protests have erupted at other hotels across England, and at least 18 people having been arrested and eight police officers injured in clashes between anti-immigration protesters and anti-racist groups.

The Labour government, wary of a repeat of the violent scenes of the summer of 2024, put 3,000 riot police on standby last weekend.

Far-right, anti-immigration protests and riots broke out across England and Northern Ireland following a mass stabbing at a Southport dance class on 29 July, 2024, in which three children were killed.

Is identity-based rhetoric fuelling anti-immigrant violence in Europe?

Policy under fire

Local frustration is fuelled by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s asylum housing policy, which places arrivals in hotels for months, sometimes years, at a cost of £8.5 million a day (just under €10 million).

“Enough is enough,” said Holly Whitbread, Conservative regional councillor for Epping, speaking to RFI. “We don’t know who these people are being housed here, and many residents don’t feel safe or protected. It’s frankly irresponsible of the government to continue to ignore us.”

Several councils are now demanding the closure of such hotels, while the Home Office has begun relocating some asylum seekers.

UK says first migrants held under return deal with France

UK-France migrant returns pact

The unrest comes as the UK has implemented a new “one in, one out” migrant returns deal with France, aimed at curbing small boat crossings on the English Channel.

Under the pilot scheme, ratified last week, undocumented arrivals will be sent back to France, in exchange for Britain accepting the same number of legitimate asylum seekers with family ties in the UK.

Starmer says the plan will help “smash the gangs” of people smugglers, with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau echoing this, saying the “clear objective” is to dismantle trafficking networks. 

Known as the Duplomb law, the legislation has been at the centre of a heated debate and fuelled a student-led petition that gathered more than two million signatures.

The law was published in the government’s official journal on Tuesday after the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest court, struck down the contested provision about the reintroduction of acetamiprid.

Judges said the family of pesticides known as neonicotinoids posed “risks to human health” and “have an impact on biodiversity, particularly for pollinating insects and birds”.

They said the measure was unconstitutional because it undermined the right to live in a balanced and healthy environment, guaranteed in the environmental charter signed in 2005.

French court to rule on agriculture law that poses threat to bees and nature

Banned in France since 2018, acetamiprid remains legal in the European Union. Some beet and hazelnut producers had called for its return to combat pests and stay competitive.

The main farmers union (FNSEA) has railed against the court ruling calling it “unacceptable and incomprehensible”.

Laurent Duplomb, the conservative senator who introduced the law, warned it would mean more imports of products containing acetamiprid and reduced French production. He said he may submit a new bill that meets the Constitutional Council’s criteria.

‘Severe consequences’

The General Confederation of Beet Growers said in a statement the ban would have “severe” consequences and “weaken” industrial sugar processing facilities.

French Health Minister Yannick Neuder has called for a European reassessment of the impact of acetamiprid on human health with a view to “banning this product” if risks are proven.

“This is about putting France on the same level of precautionary principle as other European countries,” he stressed, noting “ongoing studies, in particular, on its potential endocrine disruptor or neurotoxic role.”

French health experts oppose bill that could reintroduce banned pesticides

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard, who supported the reintroduction of acetamiprid, said on social media platform X that the government would not leave the sectors affected “without a solution”.

The issue has galvanised the protest against the Duplomb law among members of the public and the scientific community.

A petition calling for its repeal gathered more than 2.1 million signatures on the National Assembly’s website, an unprecedented number, opening the possibility of a future parliamentary debate, even if it would be essentially symbolic.

Commentators suggest the petition is a sign of exasperation with deadlock in a hung parliament and a desire to have a greater say in political matters.

Adopted by parliament in early July with the support of Macron’s supporters and the far right, the bill was criticised by the Left who said their amendments had not been taken into account.

No new debate

Far-left France Unbowed (LFI) MP Antoine Léaument said the council’s decision was a “battle won” but regretted that Macron had promulgated the bill “rather than requesting a new vote” in parliament.

Léaument also called for “strong measures to prevent the entry of products that use this pesticide into French territory.”

As for the Green Party group in the National Assembly, it has announced its intention to submit a bill to attempt to obtain “a total repeal” of the law.

While the pesticide clause has been struck out, the rest of the Duplomb law remains in place.

It approved measures simplifying paperwork for large livestock operations and the construction of water storage facilities for agriculture – though with some reservations for the latter.

France’s early summer heatwave, between 19 June and 6 July, saw 86 deaths by drowning recorded by Santé Publique France (SPF) – compared to 36 between the same dates in 2024. 

The public health agency noted that the high temperatures had “led to an influx of people to swimming areas to cool off” – often unsupervised – and is warning that this is a pattern likely to be repeated, as the effects of climate change grow.

“As authorised swimming areas were likely to be crowded, some people may have sought to swim in areas that are not designated or supervised for swimming, in natural environments,” explained Aymeric Ung, an epidemiologist at SPF, speaking to RFI.

Climate change pushed temperatures in latest European heatwave up by 4C

The dangers of wild swimming

Earlier this month, health authorities called for compliance with swimming bans, pointing to the risks associated with unsupervised sites, as almost 200 people lost their lives by drowning in less than two months in France.

Between 1 June and 23 July, 193 deaths by drowning were reported in mainland France and the overseas territories, according to SPF. The agency said this represents a 45 percent increase compared to the same period last year, when 133 deaths were recorded.

With the highest number of these recorded at sea, followed by rivers then lakes, the SPF stressed the elevated risk of drowning when swimming in natural environments, where sites are neither equipped nor supervised.

Axel Lamotte of the French Lifeguard Association said this pattern is likely to continue in the future due to unseasonal heatwaves, leading to an extended period in which swimming in unsafe bodies of water is tempting.

“In the future, we may have swimming seasons that start in mid-April or mid-May and last until the All Saints’ Day holidays, for example. We will have to adapt to this change in climate,” he said.

Seine swimming sites attract tens of thousands despite weather closures

Extending the period of supervision of beaches, lakes and rivers would require more lifeguards being trained, as there is currently a shortage of 5,000, he said.

There are other risks particular to swimming in natural bodies of water. 

“In alpine lakes, we know that the water temperature can be cold, while the air temperature is warm – conditions that can cause hypothermia,” said fire brigade captain Julien Costanzo, deputy chief of the Aix-les-Bains company in the Savoie department, eastern France.

In natural environments, underwater visibility is limited, the seabed can sometimes be dangerous and currents can form.

He added another risk factor: “We have people who sometimes swim in rivers, in prohibited areas where dams are being released. People get trapped or swept away because the water rises quite violently.”

In the neighbouring Haute-Savoie department, four people have drowned in Lake Annecy since the start of the summer, including a man who was on a boat with friends and sank after jumping into the water. According to local press reports, he was not a strong swimmer.

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Olympic legacy

While adults often overestimate their ability to swim long distances, Costanzo highlighted that many children lack swimming skills entirely, saying: “More and more children lack confidence in the water.”

So far this year, 27 children and teenagers have lost their lives by drowning, compared to 15 in 2024.

“In natural environments it’s much deeper, it’s not the same – there are currents and waves. It’s easier to swallow water,” said Anne-Sophie Portefaix, a tourist from Auvergne returning from a pedalo trip on Lake Bourget in Savoie with friends and her eight-year-old daughter, who she said “can manage in a swimming pool”.

At the Maurice Thorez aquatic centre in Montreuil, east of Paris, which was renovated last summer to host Olympic water polo training sessions, six-year-old Iliam, sporting a shark-head swimming cap, is delighted to show that he is “no longer afraid” of drowning.

This is since he started attending the pool’s free “Learn to Swim”, an initiative tied to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

This summer, 11 swimming pools managed by the Est Ensemble public authority are offering free intensive courses for five to 12-year-olds in nine towns in the Paris suburbs. The programme, partly subsidised by the National Sports Agency, is a continuation of the “1,2,3 swim with Paris 2024” initiative launched in 2021.

As France’s sports budget faces cuts, are Olympic promises being broken?

A year on from the Games, at which French superstar Léon Marchand took four gold medals, breaking four Olympic records, and with the Seine opening to bathers in July, swimming has continued to capture the public imagination.

“The Olympics inspire dreams, but beyond performance, it is also a national cause to teach all children to swim,” said Fabien Asquoët, head of the sports policy division at Est Ensemble. These courses are “a truly necessary public service in an area affected by poverty,” in addition to lessons at school, he added.

“The longer we wait [to start lessons], the more obstacles there are and the more shame,” noted Benoît Montagna, director of the aquatic centre. “People become too embarrassed to tell their friends that they can’t swim. And among teenagers and adults, trying to imitate others can put them in danger.”

The Montreuil pool’s lifeguard Lion Seller added that: “Sometimes parents themselves are afraid of water, and this parental fear, which is passed on, plays a huge role.”

Social divide

There is a clear social divide when it comes to swimming lessons. The children of unskilled workers are six times more likely than children of white collar workers to not to know how to swim, according to a 2021 study by the National Institute for Youth and Popular Education.

Those who work in the sector have observed that children from more affluent social backgrounds are often better at swimming thanks to travelling on their summer holidays.

Asquoët said: “When we ran a trial in June with 130 children aged nine and 10 at Noisy-le-Sec to introduce them to swimming in a natural environment, for many of them it was the only week of the holidays that they went away anywhere.”

In 2026, he hopes to see an increase in the number of children in their last year of primary school who will obtain their “safe swimming” certificate – across Est Ensemble, only 53 percent passed last year.

Iliam, who thought he was “drowning” on holiday last summer, is now happily practising the freestyle and has been learning how to be safe in the water if he were to get into difficulty.

“I really like it,” he said. “When I fall into the water I either swim or float on my back, do the starfish… my body saves me [by floating].”

(with AFP and partially adapted from this article in French)

“Today’s Romania is the creation of Ion Iliescu,” said Ioan Stanomir, a professor of political science at the University of Bucharest, speaking to RFI’s Romanian service, following the former president’s death.

An engineer by training and a committed Communist, Iliescu was at the centre of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

He took power during the uprising, which many later described as a coup. Iliescu then oversaw the summary trial and execution of the country’s former leader – “whose protégé he was before becoming his executioner”, according to historian Traian Sandu in his biography of Nicolae Ceausescu.

Iliescu founded the National Salvation Front (FSN) during the revolution, alongside other former members of the Communist Party. The FSN later became the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

After serving as acting president for five months, Iliescu was elected head of state in May 1990 in Romania’s first free elections in 50 years. He was re-elected in 1992 after a new constitution was adopted.

Defeated in 1996 by his Christian Democrat opponent Emil Constantinescu, Iliescu went on to win a third and final four-year term as president of Romania in 2000.

During that final term, Romania joined NATO in March 2004 and completed its negotiations to join the European Union. The country became a member on 1 January 2007.

From inner circle to sidelines

Born on 3 March, 1930 in the city of Oltenita, on the southern border of the country across the Danube from Bulgaria, Iliescu was raised by his stepmother, grandparents and latterly an aunt, after his mother abandoned the family when he was a baby. His father, a staunch Communist at a time when the party was illegal in Romania, spent several years in Moscow and was imprisoned on his return.

Iliescu studied engineering at the Bucharest Polytechnic Institute, and was then awarded a scholarship to study at the Faculty of Energy in Moscow.

While there, he reportedly befriended Mikhail Gorbachev, the future Soviet leader – a connection that later led some to suspect Soviet influence in the fall of Romania’s dictatorship. Critics called Iliescu “Gorbachev’s man in Romania”.

He joined the Romanian Communist Party in 1953, at the age of 23, and quickly climbed the ranks. He led the Young Communists, became minister for youth in 1967, and joined the Central Committee the following year, where he handled propaganda.

In the 1970s, Iliescu fell out of favour with the leadership due to his reformist views. He remained on the Central Committee until 1984 but was pushed to the margins of political power.

Romania at a crossroads: confronting communist nostalgia on election day

Speaking to Radio Free Europe in 1999 about these ideological differences, Iliescu said: “In [19]71 [Ceausescu] saw in the [North] Korean model, a possible model for him to introduce the same control in the country. And we had some discussion about this matter.

“I asked him: what are the elements which could inspire any confidence in such a system, in such a model, which is an anti-human model of organising the state? Afterwards, I was thrown out of my political position, from the leadership of the country.”

Between 1972 and 1979, he held local council roles, before moving to a government publishing house in the 1980s. The Securitate, Romania’s secret police, kept him under constant surveillance.

A televised revolution

From that obscure position, Iliescu returned to public life on 22 December 1989 as one of the orchestrators of the revolution, which had begun with anti-government protests that spread across the country. 

However, this did not surprise many viewers, as by the late 1980s rumours abounded that he was to become Ceausescu’s replacement, backed by Gorbachev. His exile from the dictator’s inner circle had positioned him as a palatable alternative when the regime eventually crumbled.

Iliescu later said the first sign of change came when the secret police who followed him “night and day” suddenly disappeared at 11am on 22 December.

He described how friends told him crowds were gathering at the country’s television studio and people were meeting there, so he joined them.

“I was in this studio of the television, addressing the country. There was a… presence of different people expressing their enthusiasm with this movement, which was taking place in our country,” Iliescu said.

“Some hours of general enthusiasm, of general solidarity, of general hope for better things… But I felt that something had to be put in order because such enthusiasm and general sentiment of liberation can lead to… anarchy and dissolution of the country.”

A group of about 20 people met to draft a proclamation and propose a plan.

“When we started to discuss this proclamation, it was already after [6pm], some shooting was provoked by somebody. We didn’t know what had happened and who was provoking it, but a panic began and a military confrontation started in the dark of the evening of the 22nd.”

They went to the Ministry of the Army to restore order and then returned to the TV station.

“We presented our proclamation to the country, with 10 points… It became the main programme of the Romanian Revolution and the setting up of the first provisional body, with the responsibility to rule the country – the National Salvation Front,” Iliescu said.

His role in the events of December 1989 remains controversial. He was accused of heightening a national atmosphere of confusion which led to violence, and alleged to have called for armed intervention by the Soviet Union.

The revolution lasted from 16 to 25 December, the day on which Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad after a two-hour trial, and saw more than 1,000 people killed – 862 of them after Iliescu had taken power.

Iliescu became Romania’s interim president and oversaw the rapid dismantling of the Ceausescu regime. In May 1990, he and his party won the elections with 85 percent of the vote. At the height of his popularity, Romanians were known to chant: “The sun shines, Iliescu appears.”

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Miners vs students

But this election victory was swiftly followed, in June 1990, by what came to be known as the Mineriads – a moment that would overshadow the rest of Iliescu’s political career.

When student protests against his leadership broke out in Bucharest, Iliescu called on the country’s coal miners – then politically influential – to come to the capital and put an end to the peaceful demonstrations by force. 

Armed with bats, shovels and pickaxes, 20,000 of them answered his call.

From June 13 to 15, the city was engulfed in violence. Reports on the number of people killed vary between four, six and 100, while estimates of those injured reach more than 1,300.

The Mineriads are now seen as an attempt to destroy the democratic opposition by turning social groups against each other. Some say the divide between working-class and educated Romanians remains visible today.

Stagnation and loss of support 

Between 1990 and 1996, Iliescu served two presidential terms marked by stagnation and a refusal to implement economic reforms. He opposed privatisation and the restitution of property confiscated by the Communist regime.

Miners’ riots throughout the decade also hampered Romania’s transition to a market economy and deterred badly needed foreign investment for years.

Iliescu was criticised for surrounding himself with corrupt figures, former Communist Party decision-makers and members of the Securitate, as well as people suspected of having ties to the Soviet and Russian secret services.

After years of rampant inflation, economic stagnation and lack of prospects, by the election of 1996 Iliescu had lost much of his popular support, and lost the presidency to university professor Emil Constantinescu.

He returned to office in 2000, amid disappointment with the centre-right government. His second term was marked by less political acrimony and a critical stance towards corruption surrounding then-prime minister Adrian Năstase.

This final term also contained two bright spots in Iliescu’s career – the Snagov consensus of 1995, which saw all parliamentary parties support Romania’s application to join the European Union, and the historic reconciliation with Hungary, which paved the way for both countries to join the EU and NATO.

Romania’s joining of the latter was marked by a historic visit from United States president George W Bush to Bucharest.

Crimes against humanity

Iliescu left the presidency in 2004 and served in the Senate until 2008. But he was later brought to court.

In 2018 he was formally indicted over his role in the 1989 revolution and charged with crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the killing of 862 people, with prosecutors alleging that he failed to prevent “numerous situations” in which people were killed and accusing him of spreading misinformation through the media, causing a panic. 

The trial was suspended and postponed, initially due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then because of procedural issues, and was eventually dropped.

In a separate case, he was also charged over allegedly bussing in miners to Bucharest to crush peaceful student protests in June 1990.

After launching the legal proceedings in 2017, the Court of Cassation decided in 2020 to start the investigation from scratch, but this case too failed to reach a resolution.

Contested legacy

In a statement on its website following his death, Iliescu’s former party, the PSD, said: “Mr President Ion Iliescu will remain for all of us a symbol of the politician and statesman. He had the courage to confront Ceausescu and his dictatorship, and directed Romania irreversibly on the Euro-Atlantic path.”

“He was a strong leader, loved by most, contested by others, as happens in democracy,” it added.

Sorin Grindeanu, the party’s current leader, said: “Regardless of divergent views, his contribution to Romania’s transition to democracy remains part of our collective memory.”

According to Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University: “Ion Iliescu must be understood in the context of his time. He stirred anti-totalitarian sentiments in the 1990s, rightly so, but he was also the object of adulation by a large part of the population.

“While he called miners to Bucharest [in the Mineriad] and sealed the slow and uncertain transition, he also pushed Romania on a Euro-atlantic path.”

Divided Romania faces uncertain future despite rejecting the far right

The Romanian government declared Thursday, 7 August a day of national mourning, and held a two-day state funeral for the former president on Thursday and Friday.

When asked by RFI’s Romanian service whether he agreed that Iliescu should receive such an honour, political scientist Ioan Stanomir said: “This is a rather delicate moment, because Ion Iliescu’s posterity also includes the memory of the victims. There are the victims of the Revolution, in particular those after December 22, 1989, and there are also the victims of the Mineriad.

‘He cannot be separated from the composition of a political system that has left a legacy of corruption, patronage, nepotism and clientelism in Romania.”

Following current President Nicusor Dan’s election victory in May this year, Iliescu congratulated him saying: “Romania needs coherence, dialogue and a firm commitment to strengthening democratic institutions and its European path. I am convinced that you will exercise this responsibility with dignity and a sense of duty to the nation.”

Following Iliescu’s death, Dan, a pro-Western centrist, called him “the main figure of the 1990s transition” and said: “History will judge Ion Iliescu.”

(with newswires and partially adapted from this article in French and this article in Romanian)

Since 2022, Mission Bougainville has been turning French Navy ships into floating science labs.

Recent graduates from the Sorbonne are stationed on board as biodiversity cadets. They work alongside the crew, collecting and studying plankton as the ships patrol thousands of kilometres of open sea.

One of those ships, the Champlain, sailed in June to the Scattered Islands near Madagascar – a remote string of French territories the Navy supplies and protects. The vessel usually patrols for illegal fishing and drug trafficking. Now, it also carries young scientists and plankton-sampling gear.

These minuscule organisms may be invisible to the naked eye, yet their role is immense. They absorb carbon dioxide, produce around 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and form the base of the marine food chain. Yet much remains unknown, especially how plankton responds to environmental change.

Mission Bougainville focuses on France’s vast Exclusive Economic Zones in the Indo-Pacific – a maritime area that spans from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific and gives France one of the largest ocean territories in the world.

The project also has researchers aboard other Navy ships operating between French Polynesia and New Caledonia, territories that offer access to far-flung waters still largely unstudied.

Nations vow to cut shipping noise as sea life struggles to be heard

Charting life on the move

The mission builds on work by the Tara Ocean Foundation, which changed how scientists understand plankton. But Bougainville takes it further by using the Navy’s existing routes to access under-researched zones and collect data over time.

“The big difficulty with plankton is that you have to study it everywhere. It moves fast, adapts fast and you cannot understand it without worldwide study. It’s all interconnected,” said Colomban de Vargas, a marine biologist with France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and co-founder of the mission.

Scientists have studied plankton for more than a century. But Bougainville’s scale and regularity are what set it apart.

Multiple Navy ships are now involved, including the Champlain and vessels operating in the South Pacific. The mission aims to gather around 100 samples per ship each year through to 2030 – enough to build a global database covering millions of square kilometres.

A major focus is what researchers call the “island effect”. The Indo-Pacific is dotted with islands and underwater mountains. In many parts of the ocean, nutrients are scarce. But land masses release material that acts like fertiliser – triggering blooms of phytoplankton.

These blooms can float for weeks and are large enough to be seen from space.

“Islands change the composition of plankton over tens, hundreds of kilometres. They create an ecosystem that moves through the ocean for weeks before disappearing, then being created again. They’re like moving forests,” said de Vargas.

These ecosystems move across the ocean, then vanish and reappear elsewhere. Scientists are now trying to understand how they form, whether they follow patterns, and how they change over time.

Plankton don’t choose where they go – they drift with the currents. That makes each island a kind of natural lab. “Each of these islands is a test tube, ideal terrain for science,” said de Vargas.

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

Climate and geopolitics

By taking repeated samples across different seasons and locations, researchers can learn how plankton adapt to changing conditions – from rising temperatures to shifts in ocean chemistry.

“Differences in plankton composition will affect the entire ecosystem, consequently affecting the economy of different territories and therefore global geopolitics,” said de Vargas.

But researchers stress that this work is still in its early stages. It will take years of sampling and analysis before the full picture becomes clear.

“You have to understand the basic functional aspects of plankton before talking about its evolution or adaptation,” de Vargas added.

Mission Bougainville is set to continue through to 2030.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Titouan Allain

Firefighters and local officials remain on high alert after France’s largest wildfire in decades was brought under control this weekend in the south of the country.

With scorching temperatures still in the forecast, there are fears that the flames could reignite.

Over the course of three days last week, the blaze swept through more than 160 square kilometres of the Aude wine region, claiming one life and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate.

Record-breaking heat, ferocious wildfires, devastating floods… August has only just begun, yet extreme weather events are already cropping up across the northern hemisphere.

According to the European Copernicus programme, this July was among the hottest on record. 

French wildfire ‘under control’, but wine region faces long road to recovery

1.5C climate goals ‘beyond reach’

It’s becoming a familiar pattern as each summer brings with it a fresh batch of worrying climate milestones.

Early August 2025 is no exception, with Canada grappling with exceptional drought and fires; Pakistan and Hong Kong battling torrential rain; and Finland and Sweden sweltering under Mediterranean-style heatwaves.

Globally, the outlook isn’t much more reassuring. The Copernicus climate service, which monitors the state of the planet year-round, has confirmed that July 2025 was the third hottest month on record – just behind July 2024 and July 2023, which still hold the all-time high.

Over the past 12 months, the average global temperature has been 1.53C above pre-industrial levels – surpassing the 1.5C target set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

While this figure alone doesn’t confirm a long-term climate shift, the trend has experts worried.

In June, a group of leading French scientists – formerly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – publicly agreed for the first time that the Paris target is now out of reach as countries have failed to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

UN court rules countries must treat climate change as an ‘existential threat’

Vietnam swelters under unprecedented heat

In Hanoi, locals are doing their best to keep cool – seeking shade, avoiding the midday sun, and adjusting to the sweltering conditions.

Northern Vietnam has been scorched by record-breaking August temperatures, with highs of over 40C on Sunday 3 and Monday 4 August – unheard of for this time of year.

According to RFI’s correspondent in Hanoi, Jean-Pierre Fage, the temperature on the city’s main roads feels several degrees hotter, with the dense traffic adding to the oppressive heat.

The Red River Delta – normally a humid, fertile hub for agriculture – saw humidity levels plunge to just 52 percent last Monday, intensifying drought conditions and prompting concerns among farmers.

Many have begun working earlier or later in the day to avoid peak heat and are ramping up irrigation efforts, according to national media.

July already brought three heatwaves to the region, with temperatures sitting 0.5 to 1.5C above seasonal norms.

A brief respite may be on the horizon, with the mercury expected to fall and storms brewing in the mountains.

But meteorologists are warning that another widespread heatwave could hit as early as this week, affecting the entire north.

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

Iran faces blackouts and water shortages

Meanwhile, the situation in Iran continues to deteriorate. In provincial towns and parts of Tehran, residents are now experiencing two two-hour power cuts each day.

Water shortages are becoming increasingly severe, as reported by RFI’s correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi.

A drought – worse than anything seen in the past five years – has tightened its grip, crippling power generation and industrial output in some regions.

Electricity in key industrial zones has been cut for days at a time, severely affecting productivity.

Authorities have now issued a stark warning: Tehran and neighbouring Alborz province – home to more than 20 million people, or a quarter of Iran’s population – could run out of drinking water within six weeks.

Protests have already erupted in several cities, and unless conditions improve, the coming weeks could see further unrest.

Moldova’s pro-European leader, President Maia Sandu, has warned that Moscow is orchestrating an “unprecedented” campaign to sway the outcome in its favour.

“The Russian Federation wants to control Moldova from the autumn,” she declared at a press conference on 30 July. “They are preparing massive interference to get their people into the next parliament.”

Sandu, who has been a vocal critic of the Kremlin, particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, outlined a broad playbook of alleged interference tactics: vote-buying funded through cryptocurrencies, violent protests, cyberattacks and information manipulation – all coordinated from a “single command point” in Moscow.

France strengthens support for Moldova as Russian destabilisation efforts persist

Diaspora targeted

With the country’s European Union accession talks officially launched in June 2024, the outcome of the parliamentary vote could cement, or derail, Moldova’s Western trajectory.

The ruling centre-right Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), led by Sandu, is currently polling at 39 percent, with the pro-Russian Socialist party trailing at just under 15 percent.

However, a sizable 30 percent of voters remain undecided.

“It’s clear Russia is pulling out all the stops,” said Stanislav Secrieru, Moldova’s national security adviser, in an interview with Politico.

He pointed to a “renewed blitz” targeting Moldovans abroad, with nearly a quarter of a million voters outside the country eligible to cast their vote.

“The campaign is designed to demobilise diaspora voters – encouraging them to stay home – and to manipulate those who do vote into supporting a fake pro-EU force.”

Moldova’s diaspora overwhelmingly supported Sandu in last year’s presidential vote, which was also dogged by accusations of Russian meddling, including a cash-for-votes scheme and staged protests abroad.

Pro-Russian governor imprisoned

In a move that has stirred controversy both at home and abroad this week, a Moldovan court sentenced pro-Russian regional governor Evghenia Gutul to seven years imprisonment for illegal party financing – a ruling the Kremlin quickly condemned as “politically motivated”.

Gutul, the outspoken governor of the autonomous Gagauzia region in southern Moldova, was found guilty on Tuesday of channelling illicit funds to the now-banned Shor party, once led by fugitive businessman Ilan Shor.

Prosecutors say she helped transport undeclared money from Russia to Moldova between 2019 and 2022, while serving as the party’s secretary.

Gutul has denied the charges, calling the ruling a “political reprisal” and accusing the government of trying to silence opposition voices ahead of September’s election. Her lawyer pledged to appeal the verdict, branding the trial “a public execution”.

The sentencing sparked protests in the Moldovan capital, with dozens of Gutul’s supporters chanting “Shame!” and accusing Sandu of stifling dissent.

Gutul, 38, has frequently travelled to Moscow and maintains close ties to Russian officials – even appealing directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year after she was briefly detained at the capital’s airport.

European leaders meet in Moldova in show of unity against Russia

‘Strategy of chaos’

Experts say the Kremlin’s interference has aims far beyond the coming elections. Speaking to RFI, Christine Dugoin-Clément, a researcher at IAE Paris-Sorbonne, described Moscow’s approach as a calculated “strategy of chaos”.

“Russian operations exploit the weaknesses of democracies and the echo chamber of social media to destabilise, confuse and polarise,” she said. “It’s not just about winning elections – it’s about undermining democratic processes over the long term.”

At the centre of the alleged interference is the Social Design Agency (SDA), a Kremlin-linked firm whose internal workings were exposed in a major data leak.

The SDA has been implicated in several influence operations, including “Doppelgänger” – an effort to impersonate reputable European media outlets to spread disinformation.

“SDA evolved from a small provincial consultancy into a key service provider for the Kremlin’s digital interference operations,” said Kevin Limonier, an expert in Russian cyberspace.

Speaking to RFI, Limonier said: “The leak shows how deeply integrated these firms are into Moscow’s political warfare strategies, but also how vulnerable they can be to exposure.”

Moldova’s vote on EU membership in deadlock as president cites ‘foreign interference’

Over recent months, Moldovan police have arrested dozens of paid demonstrators and shut down scores of pro-Russian Telegram channels – which Sandu has criticised for ignoring reports of electoral manipulation.

Police have also released videos warning voters about apps such as Taito, allegedly used to facilitate vote buying. Moldovan media outlet NewsMaker reported earlier this week that police alerted the public to a scheme involving illegal financing and paying for votes, allegedly coordinated from Russia via the Taito app, which runs on the Telegram platform.

Moldova’s General Police Inspectorate has also advised citizens to avoid using the app and to refrain from sharing any personal information.

AI-generated content too is playing a role, with Moldova becoming a testing ground for new forms of hybrid warfare – from synthetic media to cyber sabotage and even Russian missile overflights designed to stoke fear and instability.

Synthetic media is content generated or manipulated by AI to appear convincingly real. This includes fabricated news videos, deepfake social media profiles, and digitally altered images that mimic credible outlets or public figures to spread false narratives.

Authorities have flagged examples of AI-generated reports designed to look like European media outlets, pushing anti-EU disinformation to confuse voters and suppress turnout, particularly among the diaspora.

At the same time, Russia continues to deploy intimidation tactics in the physical realm. On Thursday, several Russian cruise missiles reportedly flew through Moldova’s airspace en route to targets in Ukraine – a violation that has become symbolic of the Kremlin’s disregard for Moldova’s sovereignty. Though no physical damage was done, officials warned that the incursions were intended to create a climate of fear and uncertainty ahead of the elections.

Moldova hosts first EU summit as leaders tackle Russia’s interference threat

Wider European concern

There are fears too that what happens in Moldova won’t stay in Moldova. “This election is no longer just about our country,” said Secrieru. “It’s a European election by proxy.”

The EUvsDisinfo project – the EU’s counter-disinformation arm – has labelled Russia’s campaign as a “coordinated effort” to discredit Sandu, manipulate public discourse and weaken Moldova’s democratic resilience.

The July arrest of fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc in Athens has added another twist to the tale.

Suspected of working with Kremlin power broker Dmitry Kozak – the architect of a 2003 federalisation plan that would have split Moldova – Plahotniuc is alleged to be plotting a return to power by reactivating his old political networks.

The former lawmaker is one of the chief suspects in Moldova’s “theft of the century” – the disappearance in 2014 of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system, the equivalent at the time of 12 percent of the country’s GDP.

For now, the PAS government is hoping that transparency, security and international support will counter the Kremlin’s plans. But with disinformation swirling and digital attacks intensifying, the road to 28 September promises to be anything but smooth.

The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said the location is likely being used as a rear base for RSF operations in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The study, titled How we found an RSF military camp in the Libyan desert, shows that vehicles spotted in the Libyan camp later appeared in the Zamzam displacement camp, where the RSF carried out an attack in April.

At least 100 people were killed in the assault, including more than 20 children and at least nine aid workers, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan.

“Attacks on civilians, on humanitarian workers, and on civilian infrastructure are grave violations of international humanitarian law,” she said. “Such acts are abhorrent and inexcusable.”

CIR said it also identified a direct link between the Libyan site and a senior RSF commander who was later seen in Zamzam, the country’s largest displacement camp, home to nearly one million people uprooted by the war.

‘Convoys equipped with weapons’

The investigation shows large convoys of Toyota Land Cruisers fitted with weapons, filmed at different times in the desert. The same vehicles, parked in a rocky area in southern Libya, were later seen in Zamzam.

CIR said the Zamzam camp is now being used as a base by Colombian mercenaries and other foreign fighters involved in RSF offensives against El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The city has been surrounded by the RSF for 18 months.

The findings emerged as a court in Port Sudan charged RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, two of his brothers and 13 others in absentia with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges relate to an April 2023 attack on El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

One of the accused, Abd al-Rahman Jumaa, is charged with leading the attack on El Geneina, overseeing the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abdullah Abkar in June 2023, and carrying out acts of genocide against thousands of Masalit people, including burying some alive.

According to the special court for combating terrorism and crimes against the state, the other defendants instigated the attack and committed rape, torture and looting.

‘Presence of top RSF generals’

The CIR investigation also establishes the presence of General Hamdane al-Kajli, head of security for Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF’s second-in-command.

He is seen on several occasions, notably in a vehicle spotted in Zamzam in April.

Researchers say al-Kajli was seriously wounded near El Fasher in early April while travelling in an armoured vehicle. He was evacuated to the Turkish hospital in Nyala, South Darfur, where RSF casualties are treated.

Other men directly responsible for Dagalo’s security were killed, say the CIR investigators. 

Some of the videos show RSF camouflage uniforms and shoulder patches. The vehicles, which do not carry number plates, have matching features – same model, same weapons, same water containers.

Spray-painted numbers on bonnets and doors were used to help track the vehicles across locations.

According to the CIR investigation, RSF military equipment is being transported on a large scale through Libya.

The revelations support the findings of UN experts, who highlighted violations of the arms embargo in 2024, citing a supply route from Abu Dhabi to Darfur via Chad and also via Libya.

Last April, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hit out at the continued flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan and called for an end to all external support.

In June, the RSF seized land in north-western Sudan along the border with Libya and Egypt. The group now uses the area to bring in supplies from Libya without interference.

French athletes won 16 golds in a tally of 64 medals during the 2024 Olympics, while at the Paralympics they took 85 – their best showing at the event since 1984.

Politicians from across the spectrum lined up to salute the achievements of the French stars of the Games, including cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, swimmer Léon Marchand, judoka Teddy Riner and table tennis players Alexis and Félix Lebrun at the Olympics and Paralympic swimmers Ugo Didier and Alex Portal.

Local sports clubs braced themselves for a flurry of applications, inspired by French success. 

Philippe Bana, president of the French Handball Federation, told RFI: “The Olympic effect was spectacular. It wasn’t a boom, it was an explosion. All our clubs were full. We were unable to take on any more members. We had to divide the pitches in half to accommodate more teams.”

How the Paris Olympic Games transformed the Porte de la Chapelle

The French Olympic and Paralympic committees – the CNOSF and CPSF – vowed to work towards even greater sporting glory.

“The Games have created a strong momentum that the CNOSF will continue to build on with the aim of changing mindsets and behaviours for a long-term impact.” said Gilles Erb, head of the legacy commission at France’s National Sports Agency, who is high in the ranks of the CNOSF.

“Having worked to lay the foundations for the legacy of the Games, it is now up to the CNOSF, alongside other French sports institutions, to strengthen this legacy and make it a success that benefits everyone,” said Erb.

“The Games have enabled the creation of programmes that bring people together, have an impact and encourage commitment and which have mobilised a large part of the French population – particularly the youngest audiences.”

Cutbacks in public spending

However, in January 2025, François Bayrou’s administration announced that the sport budget would be slashed from €1.7 billion to €1.4bn, as part of general cutbacks in public spending.

A petition signed by 400 leading athletes, including Riner, hit out at the plans.

“This is not just a matter of economics, it is sabotaging our ability to live together,” the signatories wrote. “With the [Olympic and Paralympic] Games, we have proven that sport is a powerful lever for education, health, social cohesion and physical and mental wellbeing.

“There is a desire to betray the ambition and vision of the Paris 2024 Games, which have succeeded in uniting and bringing together all French people, across all regions of the Republic.”

In a statement to sports newspaper L’Equipe Macron said that he agreed with the athletes, adding: “Since 2017, I have ensured that the sports budget has increased every year. We must keep our commitments and provide the necessary resources for our athletes so that the legacy of the Games benefits everyone.”

Trump to lead LA Olympics task force overseeing security and visas

In June, the government came under further attack when it announced changes to the Pass Sport scheme, established in 2021 to help children from low-income families join sports clubs. 

Nearly 1.7 million youngsters between six and 17 were benefitting from the €50 payment when Sports Minister Marie Barsacq outlined the amendments. But many will now find themselves ineligible.

Under the new system, which is set to start in September, the scheme will offer €70 to young people aged 14 to 17 whose families already receive the means tested ARS back-to-school allowance.

Children and teenagers between six and 19 with disabilities, whose guardians get the AEEH disabled child education allowance will also be able eligible for the €70, as will young people aged 16 to 30 who receive the AAH disabled adult allowance.

Students under the age of 28 who receive CROUS scholarships and bursaries will also be allowed to claim the cash.

“At the age of 14, nearly one in five secondary school students does not participate in regular sports activities, mainly due to cost constraints,” said Barsacq. “Pass Sport is an essential tool for overcoming this obstacle. I encourage young people and parents to take advantage of it to discover or rediscover a sport of their choice.”

Backlash

However, bosses at the French Football Federation have questioned the move, intended to save around €40 million.

Last year, 375,000 of its nearly 1 million members under the age of 14 joined clubs with the help of the money from the Pass Sport.

“We hope that solutions can be found to maintain this valuable aid for many families,” said the FFF. “There is an educational and social function to sport, which must be able to welcome as many children as possible, without discrimination, particularly financial discrimination.”

In an open letter to Macron and Bayrou, the 73 members of the Association of Mayors of Towns and Suburbs of France said: “The Pass Sport has put an end to financial discrimination in access to sport. It has led to a boom in sports enrolments among young girls. In large families, it has meant that we no longer have to prioritise sport for one child over another.

“By abolishing it for 6-13 year-olds, we are creating a sporting divide.”

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and Marie-Amélie Le Fur, who respectively head the CNOSF and the CPSF, have also hit out at the changes to the scheme.

“It is a harmful decision that will deprive thousands of children of access to sports, which are known to improve physical and mental wellbeing, as well as cognitive and academic performance,” Oudéa-Castéra, who was Sports Minister during the Olympics before taking over at the CNOSF from David Lappartient in June, wrote in a message on LinkedIn.

She added that sport had already made too many sacrifices.

Paris Olympics and Paralympics cost taxpayer nearly €6bn

“We must reverse this decision, which will deprive many children of access to sport and put many sports clubs in difficulty,” said François Piquemal, MP for Toulouse from the far-left France Unbowed party.

‘It’s an incomprehensible move,” he added, “but one that’s common in the world in which the president lives. As soon as there is a rare good idea that starts to get traction, back-pedalling is the order of the day when commitments cannot be honoured. However, these decisions have major consequences.”

Ronald Duart, president of a BMX club in Yvelines, west of Paris, said: “Before, three-quarters of our members in that age group of six to 13 used the Pass Sport.

“This is the first year that people have started asking us if they can pay in three or four instalments,” Duart added. “It feels that something like this is really going in the opposite direction of supporting sports participation.”

Around 30 officers from France’s elite CRS police force have been deployed in and around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera after a string of armed thefts since the summer season began.

The Var department’s police prefecture said Tuesday: “Since mid-June, three armed robberies have been carried out in the municipalities, targeting both homeowners and holiday renters. In each case, losses ran into several hundred thousand euros.”

Over the same period, there have been 23 luxury watch thefts – some during break-ins, others through street snatches – again involving valuables worth a small fortune.

Police given extended powers as Nice fights spiralling crime and drug trafficking

The local gendarmerie, which already has more than a hundred officers in the region plus around thirty seasonal reinforcements, will now receive an exceptional boost from the CRS.

“Normally, our two CRS units for the summer are based in Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël and Toulon,” Var Prefect Simon Babre said. “This year, we’re redeploying some of them to ensure a stronger presence in the Gulf.”

The operation will see stepped-up patrols and a higher profile in town centres, particularly in Saint-Tropez and Sainte-Maxime.

Escape routes – which are relatively few in the region – will also be closely monitored to allow police to act swiftly when needed, aided by surveillance cameras and local municipal police.

(with newswires)

The automatic shutdowns of four units “had no impact on the safety of the facilities, the safety of personnel, or the environment”, EDF said on its website.

“These shutdowns are the result of the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations,” the Gravelines plant operator said.

The site was fully shut after the incident, with its two other units already offline for maintenance.

Teams were carrying out inspections to restart the production units “in complete safety”, EDF said, adding the units were expected to restart on Thursday.

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“There is no risk of a power shortage,” the company added, saying other energy sources, including solar power, were operational.

Gravelines is Western Europe’s largest nuclear power plant with six reactors, each with the capacity to produce 900 megawatts.

The site is due to open two next-generation reactors, each with a capacity of 1,600 megawatts, by 2040.

This is not the first time jellyfish have shut down a nuclear facility, though EDF said such incidents were “quite rare”, adding the last impact on its operations was in the 1990s.

There have been cases of plants in other countries shutting down due to jellyfish invasions, notably a three-day closure in Sweden in 2013 and a 1999 incident in Japan that caused a major drop in output.

Experts say overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change have created conditions allowing jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.

The negotiations, which end on Thursday after nine days, come as plastic waste has doubled between 2000 and 2020. The OECD warns it could top 1.2 billion tonnes a year by 2060 if trends continue.

The first week of talks ran over schedule and ended without a clear draft, as countries remained split on the treaty’s purpose and scope. Negotiations began two and a half years ago, but major divisions persist.

Plastic production relies heavily on fossil fuels. A 2022 study by China’s Tsinghua University found 98 percent of plastic came from fossil sources, making the sector closely tied to oil and gas.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran are at the heart of what environmental groups call a “petrochemical bloc” opposed to production cuts. In previous talks in Busan, South Korea, last November, these countries rejected measures to limit plastics.

They were joined by Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

“The United States takes similar positions,” said Delphine Lévi Alvarès, international campaign officer at the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL). “They all produce oil and invest in plastic production, at home or abroad.”

Observers say these states share a common interest in expanding their petrochemical industries.

“They are therefore not interested in limiting possibilities for expansion in this sector,” said said Francis Perrin, research director at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS). 

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Plastic profits

For oil producers, plastics have become a way to secure revenue as demand for fossil fuels in transport and energy slows.

“In the coming years it is very likely that oil demand for the transport sector will stagnate… Petrochemicals and plastics will be the main drivers of growth in global oil consumption,” Perrin added.

Campaigners see the same trend as part of a bigger strategy to keep fossil fuel extraction viable.

“There is a real issue for these countries to be able to continue justifying fossil fuel extraction and finding new outlets,” Lévi Alvarès warned.

Saudi Arabia has made petrochemicals central to its Vision 2030 development plan.

“Petrochemicals is seen as a key sector in terms of diversifying the Saudi economy,” said Perrin. “For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, this diversification is essential for the kingdom’s economic and social future.”

Global plastic treaty talks open in Geneva amid urgent calls for action

Lobby power

A CIEL analysis shows 234 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered for the Geneva talks – more than the combined delegations of all 27 EU member states plus the European Union itself.

Nineteen lobbyists are part of national delegations, including Egypt, Kazakhstan, China, Iran, Chile and the Dominican Republic. Dow and the American Chemistry Council each sent seven lobbyists, while ExxonMobil sent six.

Industry lobbyists outnumber the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastic Treaty – a network of researchers advising governments on plastic pollution – nearly four to one, and the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics almost seven to one.

Campaigners say the imbalance shows the scale of corporate influence at a critical point in the talks.

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

Recycling focus challenged

Oil-producing states argue the treaty should focus on recycling, which they say only becomes a problem “at the end of its life”. Lévi Alvarès calls this “a distraction tactic”, pointing out that just 9 percent of global plastic waste is recycled.

These states also argue for “the right to determine their own industrial development curve themselves”.

Campaigners warn that this position risks weakening the treaty and ignoring scientific advice to cut production.

“Four days into the final Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, we are not on track to deliver a treaty that will protect people and nature,” CIEL and other groups said in a joint statement.

“After three years of trying to work by consensus, the negotiations are now at a breaking point.”

President Macron has denounced Israel’s plan to expand its operations and seize control of Gaza City, warning it was a “disaster” that risked locking the region into “permanent war”.

This conflict “must end now with a lasting ceasefire,” Macron urged in a statement this Monday, describing Israel’s proposed takeover of Gaza City as “a disaster of unprecedented gravity – a headlong rush into a war without end.”

“The Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza will remain the main victims of such a strategy,” he added.

Israeli plan for Gaza takeover must be halted immediately: UN rights chief

Israel announced its military would “take control” of Gaza City, a plan signed off by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet which has drawn sharp criticism from across the globe.

Macron called for the creation of a UN-mandated stabilisation mission to help secure the Gaza Strip.

“The Security Council must now act to establish such a mission and grant it the necessary mandate,” he said. “I have instructed my teams to begin work on this immediately with our partners.”

Israel defends Gaza occupation plan

On Sunday, Netanyahu defended the plan, insisting: “Israel has no choice but to finish the job and ensure the complete defeat of Hamas. We already have about 70 to 75 percent of Gaza under military control – but two strongholds remain: Gaza City and the central camps in Al Mawasi.”

Palestinian witnesses reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in the eastern suburbs of Gaza City, just hours after Netanyahu said he had ordered the Israeli Defence Forces to speed up their timetable for seizing the city.

Tanks and warplanes pounded areas including Sabra, Zeitoun and Shejaia, forcing families to flee westwards.

Germany’s Merz defends stopping weapons deliveries to Israel

Although the Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants and dismantling launch sites, residents described one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears that preparations were under way for a deeper push into the city, which now shelters around a million displaced people.

The latest military plans have intensified alarm abroad. Alongside Macron’s condemnation, Germany announced it would halt exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza, while Britain and other European allies urged Israel to rethink its policy.

The United States’ ambassador to Israel criticised what he saw as some countries pressuring Israel rather than Hamas.

Famine unfolding

Meanwhile, the United Nations and humanitarian agencies have condemned the planned expansion.

“If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza,” UN Assistant Secretary General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council on Sunday.

UN agencies warned last month that famine was unfolding in the territory, with Israel severely restricting the entry of aid.

Defining famine: the complex process behind Gaza’s hunger crisis

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.

Hamas’s October, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to a tally kept by French news agency AFP, based on official figures.

(With Newswires)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday condemned “with force and anger” the “acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in Gaza, who the armed forces admitted they had targeted.

The Paris-based press freedom group referred to al-Sharif was “one of the most famous journalists from the Gaza Strip (and) the voice of the suffering Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza”.

The organisation has urged the UN Security Council to convene under Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists and pressed for “strong action” to halt such attacks.

RSF said the Israeli army’s allegations that al-Sharif was a Hamas operative were made “without evidence”, accusing it of repeating a “well-known tactic” against Al Jazeera staff.

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

28-year-old al-Sharif – hailed by colleagues as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists” – was killed alongside four colleagues, when a tent near Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City was struck on Sunday.

Gaza officials and Al Jazeera reported that the four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. 

A sixth journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya.

Israel’s military claimed al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell and had been involved in launching rockets at Israeli targets. Al Jazeera firmly rejected the allegation, as did al-Sharif himself before his death.

The broadcaster described the strike as a “desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza.”

France’s top diplomat calls for foreign press access to Gaza

Pulitzer-prize winner journalist

Al-Sharif’s career had been marked by courage and international recognition. As part of a Reuters team, he contributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning photography covering the Israel-Hamas war in 2024. 

Known for his sharp reporting and compelling images, he built a following of over half a million on X, where he shared updates from the front lines until minutes before the fatal strike. 

His final post described intense bombardment of Gaza City lasting more than two hours. 

Journalist and human rights organisations condemned the killings. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which had warned in July that Al Sharif’s life was at risk, said Israel had failed to produce credible evidence to substantiate its claims. 

CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa director, Sara Qudah, accused Israel of a “pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence” and raised “serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom.” 

The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, had previously said Israel’s accusations against al-Sharif were unsubstantiated. 

Al Jazeera also revealed that he had prepared a message for posthumous publication: “I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent.”

International investigation reveals ‘attack on press freedom’ in Gaza conflict

Allegations of militant affiliation dismissed

This is not the first time al-Sharif’s name has been linked to such allegations. 

Last October, Israel’s military claimed he was one of six Gaza journalists affiliated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing what it said were training and salary records. 

Al Jazeera dismissed the evidence as fabricated at the time. 

Hamas condemned the latest strike, claiming it was part of an Israeli plan to launch a major new offensive in Gaza City. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to dismantle remaining Hamas strongholds in the enclave, where hunger is spreading after 22 months of war. 

According to Gaza’s government media office, 237 journalists have been killed since the war began on 7 October 2023. 

The CPJ records at least 186 deaths among journalists during the conflict. 

“Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world,” Al Jazeera said in its statement. 

Expanding the war

International reporters are prevented from travelling to Gaza by Israel, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military.

The strike on the journalists came with criticism mounting over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to expand the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli plan for Gaza takeover must be halted immediately: UN rights chief

The security cabinet voted last week to conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by Israeli troops, including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, the area designated a safe zone by Israel where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge.

The plan, which Israeli media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Israel and numerous countries, including Israeli allies.

(with newswires)

France’s bottled-water controversy has resurfaced, with new findings linking “exorbitant” levels of microplastic pollution to long-standing illegal waste dumps operated by Nestlé Waters.

According to a joint investigation by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) and the Central Office for the Fight against Environmental and Public Health Offences (Oclaesp), water from Nestlé’s Contrex and Hépar brands contains microplastic concentrations so extreme that scientists say they shatter environmental baselines.

The findings, revealed by Mediapart, are based on a confidential report submitted to prosecutors in January.

Bottles to blame

Investigators have little doubt about the culprit as they point to four sprawling, unauthorised dumps in the Vosges – in Contrexéville, They-sous-Montfort, Saint-Ouen-les-Parey and Crainvilliers – containing an estimated 473,700 cubic metres of plastic waste, much of it from discarded Nestlé bottles.

That’s the equivalent of 126 Olympic swimming pools filled not with water, but plastic detritus.

These sites, some in use for decades, sit alarmingly close to the wells supplying the mineral water sold worldwide under the two luxury-health brands.

Tests carried out on the bottled waters found contamination levels up to 1.3 million times higher than those measured in surface waters such as rivers and lakes, and between five and nearly 3,000 times above the average found in groundwater worldwide.

For Hépar, the OFB detected around 2,096 microplastic particles per litre; for Contrex, about 515 particles per litre.

By comparison, many unpolluted water bodies contain only a handful of particles per cubic metre.

Troubled waters: French government under pressure over Nestlé revelations

Health concerns, legal loopholes

While the investigators warn of “harmful effects on human health”, Europe has yet to set binding limits for microplastics in drinking water.

Scientists say the tiny particles can enter the bloodstream, organs and even the brain, but the full extent of long-term health risks remains under study.

Nestlé Waters rejects the accusations, insisting that “no pollution has been proven” and that its products remain “safe to drink.”

The company points to independent laboratory analyses which, it says, show no contamination, and claims most of the dumps have been cleaned up. Nestlé also argues that some of the illegal sites pre-date its ownership of the land.

Consumer group files complaint against French ministers over Nestlé scandal

From boardroom to courtroom

The stakes are now more than reputational. Nestlé Waters is due to stand trial in Épinal from 24 to 28 November 2025, facing charges related to illegal waste disposal.

Environmental campaigners hope the case will force stronger French and EU rules on microplastics, particularly in bottled water.

The revelations come amid a wider reckoning for the bottled-water industry, already under fire for over-extraction, packaging waste and carbon emissions.

For many French consumers, Contrex and Hépar have long been marketed as health-boosting mineral waters; the idea that they could be delivering a microplastic cocktail instead is a bitter pill to swallow.

Still, environmentalists say the scandal could have a silver lining. Public outrage may accelerate long-overdue regulation – and encourage consumers to rethink single-use plastic altogether. 

The fire has ravaged a vast area of France’s southern Aude department at the peak of the summer tourist season, killing one person and injuring several others.

Authorities said that hot, dry winds on Sunday — similar to those on the day the blaze began — and a heatwave would make the work of firefighters more difficult.

“It’s a challenging day, given that we are likely to be on red alert for heatwave from 4:00 pm, which will not make things any easier,” said Christian Pouget, prefect of the Aude department.

The fire is no longer spreading but is still burning within a 16,000-hectare area, said Christophe Magny on Saturday, chief of the region’s firefighter unit, adding it would not be under control until Sunday evening.

But the blaze will “not be extinguished for several weeks,” he said.

Some 1,300 firefighters were mobilised to prevent the blaze from reigniting amid fears that the tramontane wind, which officials said picked up overnight Saturday to Sunday, could fan lingering hot spots.

Temperatures this weekend are expected to hit 40 degrees Celsius in some areas, and Monday is forecast to be the “hottest day nationwide,” according to national weather service Météo France.

In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, a 65-year-old woman was found dead on Wednesday in her home, which was devastated by flames.

Authorities said one resident suffered serious burns and four others were lightly injured, while 19 firefighters were hurt, including one with a head injury.

Wildfire in southern France kills woman and forces mass evacuations

‘Extremely angry’

Experts say European countries are becoming ever more vulnerable to such disasters due to intensifying summer heatwaves linked to global warming.

The blaze — the largest in at least 50 years — tore through 16,000 hectares of vegetation, disaster officials said.

For livestock farmers in Fontjoncouse, the fire has ravaged grazing land and wiped out much of their flocks, fuelling outrage among those who said they did not have time to evacuate their herds.

France sends firefighters to help Greece battle blaze raging near Athens

Emmanuelle Bernier said she was “extremely angry” when she returned to a devastating scene, finding the pen that had housed her herd of goats in ruins, with 17 animals — some close to giving birth — lost in the fire.

“I will definitely change jobs. This will change my whole life,” she said.

Bernier’s property now holds only a few geese and two sick goats after she had to temporarily entrust her surviving sheep to a local winegrower, as the damage to the farm was so extensive that they could no longer stay.

“Everything here was built around the sheep, and seeing the flock leave was incredibly difficult for me,” she said.

But as she surveyed the scorched landscape, Bernier voiced some hope for the future.

“There’s still a little life left,” she said.

 (AFP)

The national fire service said it had 12 teams on the ground and six Canadair planes fighting the blaze, which has torn through the national park in southern Italy since Friday.

Reinforcement firefighters were on their way from other regions and the onsite teams were using drones to better monitor the spread of the fire, the service said on Telegram.

“For safety reasons and… to facilitate firefighting and cleanup operations in the affected areas, all activities along the Vesuvius National Park trail network are suspended until further notice,” the park said in a statement Saturday.

Nearly 620,000 people visited the volcano’s crater in 2024, according to the park.

The smoke from the fire could be seen from the Pompeii archeological site, which however remained open to tourists.

Experts say European countries are becoming ever more vulnerable to wildfires due to intensifying summer heatwaves linked to global warming.

In southern France, firefighters have contained a massive wildfire but local officials warned on Sunday that scorching heat and dry conditions could reignite the blaze, as parts of the Mediterranean region face a heatwave.

The fire has ravaged a vast area of France’s southern Aude department at the peak of the summer tourist season, killing one person and injuring several others.

A fire at a historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba in southern Spain also caused damage.

The spectacular blaze broke out on Friday at about 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), raising fears for the early medieval architectural gem and evoking memories of the 2019 fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

France sends firefighters to help Greece battle blaze raging near Athens

And in Greece, hundreds of firefighters battled a deadly wildfire near Athens for a second day Saturday, with strong winds raising fears it could spread.

A fire department spokesman said more than 260 firefighters with nearly 80 fire engines and 12 aircraft were deployed near Keratea, a rural area some 43 kilometres (27 miles) southeast of Athens.

“The fire has weakened but there are still active pockets,” the spokesman told AFP.

A new fire broke out close to the nearby town of Kouvaras on Saturday but was quickly brought under control.

 (AFP)

“Since three days ago, there have been arrests linked to an attempt to destabilise the institutions. There have been at least around 20 arrests,” a Malian security source told AFP.

A separate source within the army confirmed an “attempt at destabilisation”, adding: “We have gone ahead with the necessary arrests”.

Among those arrested was General Abass Dembele, a former governor of the central Mopti region and a respected military officer.

“Soldiers came early this morning (Sunday) to arrest General Abass Dembele in Kati,” on the outskirts of the capital Bamako, a figure close to the officer said.

“They have not told him why he was arrested.”

A member of the National Transition Council, the junta-backed parliament, spoke of “around 50 arrests”.

“All are soldiers. Their objective was to overthrow the junta,” the lawmaker said.

Since seizing the reins in Mali through back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, the west African country’s junta has ramped up repression of its critics in the face of widespread jihadist unrest.

Sahel countries navigate uncertainty following split from Ecowas bloc

‘Grumblings within the ranks’    

Since 2012, Mali has been wracked with crises on various fronts, with militants linked to the Al-Qaeda or Islamic State groups carrying out violent attacks across the Sahel nation.

Criminal and sectarian violence are likewise rife, while the economy is in dire straits.

After the coups, the junta turned its back on France, arguing that the country should be free of its former colonial ruler, as have its fellow military-run allies in Niger and Burkina Faso.

Macron’s Africa ‘reset’ stumbles as leaders call out colonial overtones

It has forged ties with new allies, notably Russia, whose mercenaries from the paramilitary Wagner group and its successor Africa Corps have helped the military fight jihadists and other internal adversaries.

Yet, like Niger and Burkina Faso, Mali has continued to struggle to contain the jihadist threat, while the regular army and its Russian allies are frequently accused of committing atrocities against civilians.

For Malian sociologist Oumar Maiga, this latest purge was “proof that the officers are struggling to control the situation. There are grumblings within the army’s ranks”.

“Some soldiers are not happy with the treatment given to the Russian mercenaries at the expense of Malian soldiers,” Maiga added.

 (AFP)

The Clean Cookstove Initiative is focused on cutting wood fuel demand and reducing the health risks linked to smoke inhalation – particularly among women and children. It also aims to help curb climate change and protect forests.

The programme is targeting smallholder farmers and rural households in five regions: Western, Central, Ashanti, Eastern and Upper West. There are plans to extend it to more parts of the country.

The stoves are designed to use around 60 percent less wood than traditional models. They are being developed and distributed in partnership with Envirofit International, a US-based clean energy company.

The project is one of six climate mitigation schemes in Ghana backed by the KliK Foundation, a Swiss organisation that has pledged about $850 million in funding.

Cleaner cooking could save 4.7 million lives in Africa by 2040, IEA says

Community impact

So far, more than 180,000 families have taken part in the programme. Many have reported saving money on fuel and noticing fewer health problems linked to smoke.

Aminatu Hakim, a mother of six from Pullima near Tumu, in the Upper West Region, says the savings she has made from using the new stove have allowed her to reinvest in her small business. 

“I’ve invested the savings in my onion business,” she told RFI. “The proceeds are now supporting my family’s daily needs.”

She described the clean cookstove as fast, efficient and significantly less reliant on charcoal than traditional cooking methods.

Ghana unveils West Africa’s largest floating solar project, boosting renewable energy ambitions

Dr Daniel Tutu Benefoh, head of Ghana’s Carbon Market Office, said the cleaner cookstoves would ease pressure on household budgets and improve public health. “The technology reduces smoke and toxic emissions in individual households by as much as 80 percent,” he said.

The government plans to distribute another 500,000 clean cookstoves over the next three years, with a continued focus on rural and underserved areas.

Across Africa, around four in five people still cook with polluting fuels such as firewood, charcoal and kerosene – often over open flames in poorly ventilated spaces.

The World Bank estimates that this leads to around 600,000 premature deaths each year, making dirty cooking a bigger killer on the continent than malaria.

Nigeria is fresh off a win at the finals of Women’s AfroBasket, their fifth-consecutive championship at the continent’s top hardwood tournament, while last month the Super Falcons clinched their 10th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations football title.

The football team’s successes in particular have come in the face of pay disparities compared to their male counterparts – when they get paid at all.

The women receive a training camp allowance but the bulk of their pay comes from per-match bonuses, which vary depending on the team’s results.

Both the women’s basketball and football teams have been plagued by late or unpaid match bonuses for years, despite their records as arguably the best teams on the continent.

But when the Super Falcons landed in Abuja after their 3-2 WAFCON victory over host Morocco last month, none of the players answered questions shouted by an AFP reporter in the press scrum about whether they would ask the president, who was welcoming them at his villa, about being paid the same as the men’s team.

Nigerian journalists on the scene said the question was useless: it was far too politically charged.

“If you speak up against what’s going on, you completely lose the possibility of getting what you’re entitled to, you could actually be blacklisted,” Solace Chukwu, senior editor at Afrik-Foot Nigeria, later told AFP.

Tour de France feats place Le Court Pienaar and Mauritius on the cycling map

Strikes over late payments

Not that there aren’t clashes: in 2021, basketballers called out the authorities when they topped Africa, protesting against unpaid match bonuses.

The Nigeria Basketball Federation at the time denied any wrongdoing, blaming the issue on clerical errors.

Like the basketball team, the women’s football team has found remarkable success, stemming in part from the country’s population of more than 200 million — the largest on the continent, complemented by a widespread diaspora.

They also benefited from early investments in women’s football at a time when other African countries focused on men’s teams, Chukwu said, helping the Super Falcons win the first seven editions of the WAFCON, from 1991 to 2006.

Yet they only played a handful of test matches before they landed in Morocco for this year’s competition, cobbled together at the last second.

The Super Falcons haven’t been completely silent in the face of mismanagement and disinterest from authorities.

But rocking the boat too much appears to come with a cost.

“Players who lead or dare to protest… always risk not being invited or sidelined outrightly,” said Harrison Jalla, a players’ union official.

After Super Falcons captain Desire Oparanozie – now a commentator – led protests over unpaid wages at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, she was stripped of her captaincy and was not called up for the 2022 tournament.

Former men’s coach Sunday Oliseh — who himself was let go from the national squad amid protests over backpay in the early 2000s – called the situation a case of “criminal” retaliation.

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) at the time denied that it dropped Oparanozie over the protests.

The NFF and the Super Falcons did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the allegations that players are afraid to speak out.

France’s Ferrand-Prévot wins 2025 women’s Tour de France

‘Sky is the limit’

Players still have hopes for women’s sports to expand.

“I think the sky is the limit,” Nigerian point guard Promise Amukamara told AFP in Abuja, fresh off her AfroBasket win.

“Obviously, more facilities should be built around Nigeria. I feel like maybe, one year we should host the AfroBasket.”

Aisha Falode, an NFF official, meanwhile, called on the government to “invest in the facilities, invest in the leagues and the players, because the women’s game can no longer be taken lightly”.

Despite the challenges, women’s sports are still finding a foothold among younger fans.

Justina Oche, 16, a player at a football academy in Abuja, told AFP that the exploits of the team inspired her to pursue a career in the sport.

“They say what a man can do, a woman can do even better,” said the youngster, whose role model is six-time African Footballer of the Year Asisat Oshoala.

“The Super Falcons have again proved this.”

Protesters gathered from Saturday morning in Yopougon, a densely populated suburb of the capital Abidjan, holding banners with messages such as: “Enough is enough!” and “No true democracy without true justice.”

“We are millions saying YES to Gbagbo and Thiam” said another banner in the crowd.

Côte d’Ivoire, a nation of 32 million that is the biggest economy of francophone West Africa, is due to hold a presidential vote in October.

Earlier this year four main opposition figures, including former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam, were barred from running by the electoral commission.

Gbagbo and Thiam joined forces earlier this year to challenge incumbent President Alassane Ouattara.

The 83-year-old leader announced last month that he would seek a fourth presidential term. His candidacy is contested after he changed the constitution in 2016 to remove presidential term limits.

“We don’t want a fourth term, and we want the electoral roll revised, that’s what we are asking for,” said Sagesse Divine, an activist who participated in Saturday’s march. “We want all candidates’ names included, and we want to go to the elections in peace, that’s all we want.”

There was no immediate comments from Ivorian authorities.

Thiam, president of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), won the party’s primary in an uncontested vote in April. Seen as Ouattara’s main rival, he has been barred from running on the grounds that he was still a French citizen at the time he declared his candidacy, even though he later renounced his French nationality. Ivorian law bans dual nationals from running for president.

Elections in Côte d’Ivoire have usually been fraught with tension and violence. When Ouattara announced his bid for a third term, several people were killed in election violence.

Ouattara is the latest among a growing number of leaders in West Africa who remain in power by changing constitutional term limits.

Ouattara justified his decision to run again by saying that the Côte d’Ivoire is facing unprecedented security, economic and monetary challenges that require experience to manage them effectively.

Over the past decade, groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been spreading from the Sahel region into wealthier West African coastal states, such as Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin.

 (AFP)

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, two Caucasian countries embroiled in a territorial conflict since the fall of the USSR, met Friday and signed a peace treaty under the watch of US President Donald Trump.

In Yerevan, however, few of the people asked by AFP were enthusiastic.

‘Acceptable’

“It’s a good thing that this document was signed because Armenia has no other choice,” said Asatur Srapyan, an 81-year-old retiree.

He believes Armenia hasn’t achieved much with this draft agreement, but it’s a step in the right direction.

“We are very few in number, we don’t have a powerful army, we don’t have a powerful ally behind us, unlike Azerbaijan,” he said. “This accord is a good opportunity for peace.”

Maro Huneyan, a 31-year-old aspiring diplomat, also considers the pact “acceptable”, provided it does not contradict her country’s constitution.

“If Azerbaijan respects all the agreements, it’s very important for us. But I’m not sure it will keep its promises and respect the points of the agreement,” she added.

Armenians warn ethnic cleansing risks being forgotten – again

‘Endless concessions’

But Anahit Eylasyan, 69, opposes the agreement and, more specifically, the plan to create a transit zone crossing Armenia to connect the Nakhchivan region to the rest of Azerbaijan.

“We are effectively losing control of our territory. It’s as if, in my own apartment, I had to ask a stranger if I could go from one room to another,” she explains.

She also hopes not to see Russia, an ally of Armenia despite recent tensions, expelled from the region.”

Anahit also criticises Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for “making decisions for everyone” and for his “endless concessions to Azerbaijan”.

“We got nothing in exchange, not our prisoners, nor our occupied lands, nothing. It’s just a piece of paper to us,” she fumes.

Shavarsh Hovhannisyan, a 68-year-old construction engineer, agrees, saying the agreement “is just an administrative formality that brings nothing to Armenia.”

“We can’t trust Azerbaijan,” Hovhannisyan asserted, while accusing Pashinyan of having “turned his back” on Russia and Iran.

“It’s more of a surrender document than a peace treaty, while Trump only thinks about his image, the Nobel Prize.”

Azerbaijan flexes its muscles amid rising tensions with Russia

‘More stability… in the short term’

According to President Trump, Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed “to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

For Olesya Vartanyan, an independent researcher specialising in the Caucasus, the Washington agreement “certainly brings greater stability and more guarantees for the months, if not years, to come.”

But given the long-lasting tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, “I fear that we will have to plan only for the very short term,” she said.

 (AFP)

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Hossen Abed Ali from Rangpur, Bangladesh and a composition written by SB Leprof from Winneba, Ghana.

Be sure you send in your music requests! Write to me at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Epitaph” by Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Greg Lake and Michael Giles, to lyrics by Peter Sinfield, performed by King Crimson, and “Ginger Milk” by SB Leprof.

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people.

The ePOP contest is your space to ensure these voices are heard.

How do you do it?

With a three-minute ePOP video. It should be pure testimony, captured by your lens: the spoken word reigns supreme. No tricks, no music, no text on the screen. Just the raw authenticity of an encounter, in horizontal format (16:9). An ePOP film is a razor-sharp look at humanity that challenges, moves, and enlightens.

From June 12 to September 12, 2025, ePOP invites you to reach out, open your eyes, and create a unique bridge between a person and the world.

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need.

We expect to be overwhelmed with entries from the English speakers!

“I am going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump declared at a press conference on 28 July during his visit to Scotland.

“There is no reason to wait 50 days. I wanted to be generous, but we don’t see any progress being made.” 

The American president admitted his efforts to end the Ukraine war had failed and that his patience with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was at an end.

Turkish President Erdogan ready to rekindle friendship with Trump

Trump later confirmed 8 August as the date for the new measures. With US-Russian trade down 90 percent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Trump warned that other countries importing Russian goods would also be hit by secondary sanctions.

“If you take his [Trump] promises at face value, then he should look at all countries that import any Russian commodities that is of primary importance to the Russian budget – this includes, of course, crude oil, and here you have China and India mostly,” explained George Voloshin of Acams, a global organisation dedicated to anti-financial crime, training and education.

Voloshin also claims that Turkey could be a target as well. “In terms of petroleum products, Turkey is one of the big importers. It also refines Russian petroleum in its own refineries,” Voloshin added.

“Turkey imports lots of Russian gas through the TurkStream pipeline. Turkey is very much dependent on Russian gas and Russian petroleum products.”

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

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ankara insists it is only bound by United Nations sanctions.

Last year, Turkey was Russia’s third-largest export market, with Russian natural gas accounting for more than  40 percent of its energy needs.

Putin has used Turkey’s lack of meaningful domestic energy reserves and dependence on Russian gas to develop a close relationship with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Putin knows that no matter what Trump wants, Turkey is not going to act in any military or sanctions capacity against Russia and Iran. You know, these are Turkey’s red lines. We can’t do it,” said analyst Atilla Yeşilada of Global Source Partners.

“Trump is 10,000 miles away. These people are our neighbours,” added Yeşilada. “So Putin doesn’t think of Turkey as a threat, but as an economic opportunity, and perhaps as a way to do things with the West that he doesn’t want to do directly.”

Ankara is performing a delicate balancing act. While maintaining trading ties with Russia, Erdoğan remains a strong supporter of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Turkey is a major arms seller to Ukraine, while at the same time, Erdoğan continues to try and broker peace between the warring parties.

Last month, Istanbul was the venue for Russian–Ukrainian talks for the second time in as many months. Such efforts drew the praise of Trump.

Trump and Erdogan grow closer as cooperation on Syria deepens

Trump’s pressure mounts on energy and trade

The American president has made no secret of his liking for Erdoğan, even calling him a friend. Such close ties, along with Turkey’s regional importance to Washington, analysts say, is a factor in Ankara’s Western allies turning a blind eye to its ongoing trade with Russia.

“I think Turkey has got a pass on several levels from Russian sanctions,” observed regional expert Sinan Ciddi of the Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

However, Ciddi cautions that Trump remains unpredictable and that previous actions are no guarantee for the future.

“Past experience is not an indicator of future happenings. We just don’t know what Trump will demand. This is not a fully predictive administration in Washington,” Ciddi said.

“We do know right now that he [Trump] is very unhappy with Putin. He blames Putin for prolonging the Ukraine war,” added Ciddi.

Change of stance

“And if he feels sufficiently upset, there is a possibility that no waivers will be granted to any country. Turkey will be up against a very, very unappetising and unenviable set of choices to make.”

Trump has successfully lobbied the European Union to increase its purchases of American liquefied natural gas (LNG), replacing Russian imports. Similar demands could put Ankara in a difficult position.

“If Trump pressures Turkey not to buy Russian natural gas, that would definitely be a huge shock,” warned Yeşilada.

“Trump might say, for instance: ‘Buy energy from me or whatever.’ But I don’t think we’re there yet. There is no way Turkey can replace Russian gas.”

However, Trump could point to Turkey’s recent expansion of its LNG facilities, which now include five terminals and have excess capacity to cover Russian imports, although storage facilities remain a challenge.

Turkey’s energy infrastructure is also built around receiving Russian energy, and any shift to American energy would likely be hugely disruptive and expensive, at a time when the Turkish economy is in crisis.

Putin retains another energy card over Erdoğan. A Russian company is building a huge nuclear power plant in Turkey, which could account for 20 percent of the country’s energy needs.

Ciddi argues Erdoğan is now paying the price of over-relying on Russia.

Turkey’s Erdogan sees new Trump presidency as opportunity

“There is no need to have resorted to making Ankara this dependent on natural gas, nuclear energy, or for that matter bilateral trade. This was a choice by Erdoğan,” said Ciddi.

“The fact it is so dependent on so many levels in an almost unique way is something that Turkey will have to rethink.”

But for now, Erdoğan will likely be relying on his expertise in diplomatic balancing acts, along with his close ties to Trump and Turkey’s importance to Washington’s regional goals, to once again escape the worst of any sanctions over Russian trade – although Trump may yet extract a price for such a concession.

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.

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people.

The ePOP contest is your space to ensure these voices are heard. 

How do you do it?

With a three-minute ePOP video. It should be pure testimony, captured by your lens: the spoken word reigns supreme. No tricks, no music, no text on the screen. Just the raw authenticity of an encounter, in horizontal format (16:9). An ePOP film is a razor-sharp look at humanity that challenges, moves, and enlightens.

From June 12 to September 12, 2025, ePOP invites you to reach out, open your eyes, and create that unique bridge between a person and the world.

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need. 

We expect to be overwhelmed with entries from the English speakers!

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 5 July, I asked you a question about an article written by RFI English journalist Amanda Morrow: “Ocean campaigners hail French move to snuff out cigarette butt pollution”. In her article, we learned that cigarette ends, or butts, are filled with microplastics and that when they break apart, they leach chemicals into soil and water.

France has banned smoking on beaches, in public parks, and at bus stops, as well as near schools, libraries, swimming pools, and sports grounds.

You were to re-read Amanda’s article and send in the answer to this question: How many liters of water can a single cigarette butt contaminate?

The answer is, to quote Amanda’s article: “According to the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, a single cigarette butt can contaminate up to 500 liters of water.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by long-time RFI Listeners Club member Nasyr Muhammad from Katsina State, Nigeria: “What is your favorite prize you’ve received from RFI, and why?”

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Kanwar Sandhu from British Columbia in Canada, who is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Kanwar.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Karobi Hazarika, a member of the United RFI Listeners Club in Assam, India, and RFI Listeners Club member Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh. Last but not least, there are two RFI English listeners from Bangladesh: Laila Shantu Akhter from Naogaon and Labanna Lata from Munshiganj.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The piano sonata in B flat, K.529, by Domenico Scarlatti, played by Ivo Pogorelich; the “Trout” Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert, performed by the Endes Quartet with pianist Rolf Reinhardt; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and a medley in honor of Ozzy Osbourne, arranged by Vincent Pora Dallongeville:

“Paranoid”, by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward;

“Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, and Bob Daisley;

“No More Tears” by Ozzy Osbourne, Zak Wylde, Randy Castillo, Mike Inez, and John Purdell;

“Bark at the Moon” by Ozzy Osbourne, Jake E. Lee, and Bob Daisley.

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 “UN gathers to advance two-state solution to Israel-Palestine conflict”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 6 October to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 11 October 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.   

In a highly publicised move, Azerbaijani security forces in Baku recently paraded seven arrested Russian journalists – working for the Russian state-funded Sputnik news agency – in front of the media. Their detentions followed the deaths last month of two Azerbaijani nationals in Russian custody, which sparked public outrage in Baku.

“That was quite shocking for Baku, for Azerbaijani society – the cruelty of the behaviour and the large-scale violence,” Zaur Gasimov of the German Academic Exchange Service, a professor and expert on Azerbaijani-Russian relations told RFI.

“And the Russian-wide persecution of the leaders of Azerbaijani diasporic organisations took place (this month),” he added.

Tit-for-tat tactics

Tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan have been simmering since December, when Russian air defences accidentally downed an Azerbaijani passenger aircraft. Baku strongly condemned Moscow’s lack of an official apology.

The deaths in custody, which Moscow insisted were from natural causes, and the broader crackdown on Azerbaijan’s diaspora are being interpreted in Baku as deliberate signals.

“This kind of news had to frighten Azerbaijani society, which is aware of the fact that around two million ethnic Azeris with Azerbaijani and Russian passports are living in the Russian Federation,” explained Gasimov. “So the signal is that we can oust them, and they would come to Azerbaijan. That should be an economic threat.”

Gasimov noted that while Baku may have previously backed down in the face of Russian pressure, this time appears different. “The reaction of Azerbaijan was just to react, with tit-for-tat tactics,” he said.

Shifting power in Caucasus

Baku’s self-confidence is partly attributed to its military success in 2020, when it regained control over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent territories from Armenian forces after a six-week war.

“The South Caucasus is changing,” noted Farid Shafiyev, Chairman of the Baku-based Centre for Analysis of International Relations.

Shafiyev argues that the era of Moscow treating the region as its backyard is over. “Russia cannot just grasp and accept this change because of its imperial arrogance; it demands subordination, and that has changed for a number of reasons. First of all, due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, and second, due to the trajectory of events following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The third very important factor is Turkey,” added Shafiyev.

Turkey, a long-standing ally of Azerbaijan, has significantly increased military cooperation and arms sales in recent years.

Turkish-made drones played a key role in Azerbaijan’s 2020 military campaign. In 2021, the Shusha Declaration was signed, committing both nations to mutual military support in the event of aggression. Turkey also plans to establish one of its largest overseas military bases in Azerbaijan.

“A very strong relationship with Ankara, marked by strong cooperation in the economic and military fields for decades, as also outlined in the Shusha Declaration several years ago, is an asset and one of the elements of Azerbaijan’s growing self-confidence,” said Gasimov.

Azerbaijan and Turkey build bridges amid declining influence of Iran

Strategic rivalries 

Turkey’s expanding influence in the South Caucasus – at Russia’s expense – is the latest in a series of regional rivalries between the two powers. Turkish-backed forces countered a Russian-aligned warlord in Libya, and Turkey-supported factions have contested Russian influence in Syria.

These confrontations have strained the once-close ties between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“No doubt that the Putin-Erdogan relationship is not as good as it used to be because we’ve either instigated or become participants in events in the South Caucasus and Syria,” said analyst Atilla Yeşilada of Global Source Partners.

Growing military buildup in Azerbaijan and Armenia a concern for peace talks

Nevertheless, Yesilada believes pragmatism will prevail – for now – given Turkey’s dependence on Russian energy and trade.

“The economic interests are so huge, there is a huge chasm between not being too friendly and being antagonistic. I don’t think we’ve got to that point. If we did, there would be serious provocations in Turkey,” he warned.

Until now, Turkish and Russian leaders have largely managed to compartmentalise their differences.

However, that approach may soon face its toughest test yet, as Azerbaijan remains a strategic priority for Turkey, while Russia has long considered the Caucasus to be within its traditional sphere of influence.

“We don’t know what will be Russia’s next target. We cannot exclude that Russia might be quite assertive in the South Caucasus in the future,” warned Shafiyev.

“I think the easiest way is to build friendly relationships and economic partnerships with the countries of the South Caucasus. Unfortunately, Moscow looks like it’s not ready for a partnership. But if it’s ready, we would welcome it,” he added.

Conservative think tanks, whose influence was once limited to Washington’s corridors of power, are now establishing connections with political actors and organisations in countries such as Poland and Hungary, working to shape Europe’s future.

This report delves into the activities of the Heritage Foundation and its burgeoning alliances with groups including Ordo Iuris in Poland and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Hungary.

These organisations advocate for conservative cultural and economic reforms, sparking heated debate over national identity, the structure of the European Union and the future of liberal democracy across the region.

Can Europe withstand the ripple effect of the MAGA political wave?

As alliances form and agendas clash, a crucial question looms: are these movements charting a course toward genuine European reform, or steering the continent toward greater division? 

Voices from both sides share their perspectives, revealing the complexity behind this transatlantic ideological exchange.

Our guests: 

Chris Murphy, Senator (D, Connecticut)

Kenneth Haar, researcher at Corporate Europe Observatory 

Zbigniew Przybylowski, development director at Ordo Iuris

Rodrigo Ballester, head of the Centre for European Studies at Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC)

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.

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people.

The ePOP contest is your space to ensure these voices are heard. 

How do you do it?

With a three-minute ePOP video. It should be pure testimony, captured by your lens: the spoken word reigns supreme. No tricks, no music, no text on the screen. Just the raw authenticity of an encounter, in horizontal format (16:9). An ePOP film is a razor-sharp look at humanity that challenges, moves, and enlightens.

From June 12 to September 12, 2025, ePOP invites you to reach out, open your eyes, and create that unique bridge between a person and the world.

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need. 

We expect to be overwhelmed with entries from the English speakers!

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 28 June, I asked you a question about an article written earlier that week by RFI English journalist Alison Hird. She profiled Miguel Masaisai, a young athlete from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who’s riding his bike across several countries in Africa.  Masaisai has a message: peace.

You were to re-read Alison’s article “From Goma to Cape Town, the young Congolese athlete pedalling for peace”, and send in the answers to these two questions: At the time of publication, which countries had Masaisai cycled across, and which countries are still ahead of him?

The answers are: At the time of publication, Masaisai had ridden across the DRC, Zambia, Rwanda, and Tanzania; ahead of him were Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

Since publication, Masaisai has pedaled through Botswana and is in South Africa. Bravo Masaisai!

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Liton Hossain Khondaker from Naogaon, Bangladesh: What is your favorite festival, religious or otherwise?

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Helmut Matt from Herbolzheim, Germany, who is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Helmut.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Alomgir Hossen, a member of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh, and RFI English listeners Shohel Rana Redoy from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Noor, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan. Last but not least, there’s Sadman Al Shihab, the co-chairman of the Source of Knowledge Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Cuckoo” from The Birds by Ottorino Respighi, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Istvan Kertesz; an anonymous cycling playlist; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and traditional music from the Kaiabi indigenous people of Brazil, recorded in 1954 by Edward M. Weyer Jr.

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 Paul Myers’ article “Petition seeking repeal of new French farming law passes one million signatures,” which will help you with the answer.

You have until 29 September to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 4 October 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.