The criticism followed one of the heaviest bombardments of Ukraine in more than a month. Hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles rained down on residential areas, leaving at least two people dead.

“Russia claims to be ready for negotiations while at the same time carrying out deadly strikes. These latest attacks illustrate once again the need to stop the killings and maintain, even strengthen, pressure on Russia,” a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

Paris reiterated its backing for United States President Donald Trump’s initiative for what it called “a just and lasting peace”.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, Moscow fired 574 drones and 40 missiles between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, setting off explosions across the capital Kyiv and hitting cities from Kherson to Lviv in the far west, a region usually spared such bombardments.

Local authorities said one person was killed in Kherson and another in Lviv.

NATO confirms support for Ukraine as Russia seeks role in talks on security

The bombardment comes as Ukrainie’s President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares for what could be his first face‑to‑face meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since 2019.

Speaking to international media, Zelensky said he expected to receive clear proposals from the West on security guarantees for Ukraine within the next week, before the meeting can go ahead.

“We should have a bilateral meeting in a week or two, as President Trump wishes,” Zelensky told reporters. A subsequent trilateral summit, including Trump, could follow depending on the outcome, he added.

Mutual defence guarantees

Ukraine is seeking long‑term security pledges, given fears that Russia could reignite the war even if a temporary settlement is reached.

Proposals under discussion range from NATO‑style mutual defence guarantees to Western troop deployments and new commitments in training, air defence and naval support.

Moscow has rejected these options outright, framing any NATO eastward expansion as one of the root causes of the war.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday branded any deployment of European troops in Ukraine “unacceptable” and accused Kyiv of shunning the prospect of “a fair and lasting settlement”.

Russia sees France as its ‘chief enemy’ in Europe, says head of French army

Zelensky, meanwhile, ruled out Moscow’s idea of China acting as a guarantor for Ukraine’s security. “China did not help us stop this war, and it has helped Russia by opening its drone market,” he said.

The Ukrainian president also revealed that his country has successfully tested a long‑range missile named Flamingo, with a reach of up to 3,000 kilometres. He said mass production could begin by late 2025 or early 2026, in a bid to lessen Ukraine’s reliance on arms deliveries from its allies.

On the ground, Ukraine reports that Russia is reinforcing its positions in the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia region, redeploying troops from Kursk, the Russian border area where Ukrainian forces had briefly pushed forward earlier this year.

Switzerland, Austria and Turkey have been floated as possible venues for a summit, while Ukraine has ruled out Hungary, citing its closeness to the Kremlin.

Moscow has acknowledged the prospect of a meeting with Zelensky, but stressed it must be “carefully prepared”.

Valls began a high-stakes trip to New Caledonia on Wednesday, urging local leaders to embrace the Bougival agreement on the Pacific territory’s future, even as divisions with the main pro-independence movement remain stark.

Addressing the customary Senate in Nouméa, Valls called the accord “a historic opportunity” and insisted there was “no credible alternative”.

Signed in July after 10 days of negotiations in France, the Bougival agreement outlines the creation of a New Caledonian state with its own nationality, while remaining enshrined in the French Constitution. It also delays provincial elections until mid-2026.

But the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) – the principal pro-independence coalition – has rejected the deal.

After a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Valls, its delegation left without public comment, saying it wished first to consult leader Christian Tein who is under judicial control and barred from the territory for his alleged role in last year’s unrest.

Nevertheless, he continues to supervise the movement’s strategy.

Later, the FLNKS issued a statement restating its refusal to postpone elections and its demand for a binding timetable towards full sovereignty by 2027. “To claim that without Bougival the country would plunge into the void is a falsehood,” the communiqué declared.

Valls heads to New Caledonia in wake of collapse of independence deal

Divisions within independence ranks

However, the FLNKS now stands isolated. Other pro-independence parties – including Palika and the Progressive Union in Melanesia (UPM) – have endorsed the Bougival text, as has the Eveil océanien, a key grouping that takes no position on independence itself.

All non-independence parties are also on board.

That left Valls able to count some successes on his first day. Virginie Ruffenach, of the loyalist Rassemblement-Les Républicains, welcomed the minister’s determination to press ahead “along the path approved by the majority”.

Still, his visit highlights the political fault lines that persist more than a year after violent riots left 14 people dead and inflicted more than €2 billion in damage.

The disturbances, sparked by a proposed electoral reform, also collapsed the local economy, with GDP falling by an estimated 10 to 15 percent.

New Caledonia independence bloc rejects deal giving powers but no referendum

Concerns on the ground

Valls also met local mayors and community leaders, though only 14 of the territory’s 33 mayors attended, with many from FLNKS-controlled communes absent.

Those present painted a sobering picture: some municipalities have had to close social action centres, while others warned of the risk of fresh unrest without progress.

Despite the challenges, Valls struck an optimistic tone, emphasising that Bougival offers a framework for stability and development.

Without such an agreement, he warned, investors would shun New Caledonia’s vital nickel industry, health services would struggle to recover, and social inequalities would deepen.

On Thursday, the minister is set to launch a drafting committee to refine the Bougival text and “clarify its spirit”, before heading north to a region hard-hit by a shortage of healthcare workers since the 2024 violence.

“On 10 September we’re not paying, we’re not consuming and we’re not working.” This is the message disseminated online by Bloquons tout.

These posts emerged last month, in the wake of the budget cuts announced by Bayrou.

The stated aim is to bring France to a standstill on 10 September. But while the slogan has been adopted by thousands of people across social media, the origins of this grassroots movement are unclear – as are its demands.

French PM unveils radical plan to tackle ‘deadly danger’ of national debt

Yellow Vests links

A group called Les Essentiels, which has links to far-right and conspiracy theorist circles, was the first to posit the date of 10 September, in a video posted on TikTok on 14 July, one day before Bayrou’s speech.

In a video created using artificial intelligence, a voice can be heard saying that this date will not be “just a hashtag that will disappear in three days”.

The call was quickly relayed by former figures from the Yellow Vests movement, with the vast majority of activity taking place via Facebook and the Telegram messaging service.

In addition, Bloquons tout organises small local meetings of around a dozen people to discuss their demands and raise public awareness of the movement.

A website called Bloquons tout now seems to be at the core of the movement, bringing together the largest number of internet users. Its Telegram channel has more than 7,000 subscribers.

French MPs unanimously vote to publish Yellow Vests’ 2019 public grievance log books

Two of them, both former members of the Yellow Vests, agreed to speak to RFI.

Nicolas, a civil servant who describes himself as apolitical, acknowledges that he doesn’t “feel like something is about to happen right away”, but says he doesn’t believe that means there won’t be any protests on 10 September.

Patrick, a construction worker and another former Yellow Vest protester, says he will definitely take part in the blockade on 10 September.

“The people have had enough. ‘Let’s block everything’ means demonstrations, blocking supermarkets and petrol stations, just like we Yellow Vests used to do,” he says.

Political divide

Within the French political class, only one party has declared its support for the movement – the far-left France Unbowed party, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

In an opinion piece published on Saturday by newspaper La Tribune Dimanche, he wrote: “We call on all those who share our principles and our determination to put an end to the Bayrou government to immediately join the local groups organising this mobilisation and do everything in their power to ensure its success.”

The leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, in an interview with the newspaper Libération on Wednesday also called for support for the 10 September shutdown.

However, she warned against political parties co-opting the movement, urging them to “stay in their lane” and not to “exploit the struggle”.

“I say this to all parties: there is no question of spoiling everything by organising a competition to see who can wave the most flags or making protesters feel uncomfortable because they feel they are following in the footsteps of one presidential candidate or another,” she stressed.

She told French news agency AFP: “The [Greens] will be involved in all initiatives,” but added that the ideal scenario would be “to have as many political parties and as many trade unions, environmental and social organisations as possible calling for a massive mobilisation that completely transcends the usual political divisions”.

The Socialist Party and the Communist Party have also pledged their support for the 10 September mobilisation. 

Communist Party spokesman Léon Deffontaines said: “We will support the movement and play an active role.” He added that his party calls for “participation in all demonstrations against the Bayrou project, including on 10 September”.

Meanwhile, Socialist Party secretary-general Pierre Jouvet said: “We are watching this initiative with great interest. The motivations and methods are still quite vague at this stage, but we understand the exasperation behind this movement.”

French PM turns to YouTube to sell budget cuts and calm public anger

These expressions of support have been criticised by the far-right National Rally party, which views the movement as the work of the far left.

At the government level, the response has been limited to stating that it remains attentive to citizen mobilisation, regardless of what form it takes.

Bloquons tout itself claims to be apolitical.

With regard to whether trade unions will participate in the called-for 10 September shutdown, while many have already called for a strike in the first weeks of September, there has been no indication as yet that they will officially join the emerging movement.

This article was adapted from the original version in French.

The petition’s creator, Didier Rykner, editor of La Tribune de l’Art, called the transfer “a true heritage crime” and urged President Emmanuel Macron to abandon the plan.

Macron announced earlier this year that the tapestry would travel to London between September 2026 and June 2027, in exchange for treasures from the Anglo-Saxon ship buried at Sutton Hoo in southern England.

“Specialists, restorers and curators agree there is a significant risk of tears or loss of material from vibrations during transport,” Rykner told French news agency AFP, calling the decision “inadmissible” and “purely political”.

France to return iconic Bayeux Tapestry to Britain for first time in 900 years

The 70‑metre embroidered masterpiece, which depicts William of Normandy’s conquest of England in 1066, has long been considered too delicate to be transported long distances. 

In February 2025, Cécile Binet from Normandy’s regional cultural authority, DRAC, said: “Any additional handling poses a conservation risk.”

These concerns have repeatedly been raised by conservators and restorers when the possibility of international transport of the tapestry arises.

The findings of a feasibility study for such a move, reportedly carried out in 2022, remain confidential. Rykner complained that the Ministry of Culture refuses to release it, saying: “If they say it’s transportable, let them prove it.”

The ministry, the DRAC and the restorers declined to comment.

For generations, the tapestry has been housed in the town of Bayeux in northern France and rarely removed from its climate-controlled display. The textile is vulnerable to the slightest environmental changes. Vibrations, temperature fluctuations and physical handling present significant risks.

Bayeux Tapestry to come to life in ambitious museum revamp

(with newswires)

Prosecutors ordered an autopsy and opened an investigation into the death of Raphael Graven, 46, in the village of Contes, north of Nice in southern France, that was broadcast on Monday on the live streaming platform Kick.

Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, or JP, had built a following of hundreds of thousands on the platform by participating in live “trash streaming”, in which he was physically assaulted or humiliated as viewers watched live and sometimes donated money.

On Monday, on the 12th day of a live stream, Graven was shown on the platform getting angry after being hit several times.

Later he was shown lying under a sheet while another man, one of two men in the room with him, known by pseudonyms NarutoVie and Safine, threw a plastic water bottle at him.

A moderator of the channel streaming the content told viewers that Graven was dead, which the Nice prosecutors office later confirmed.

“Several interviews with people present at the time of his death have been conducted without yielding leads as to its causes,” prosecutor Damien Martinelli said in a statement.

NarutoVie and Safine had been questioned by police in January in a separate inquiry, following reporting by Mediapart that they were mistreating vulnerable people online to generate revenue.

Graven was interviewed at the time as a potential victim, but he denied suffering any actual violence, Martinelli said.

Instead, Graven and another suspected victim told police the events were staged in order to generate money.

Viewers could donate money to him during the stream, and he told investigators that he earned up to €6,000 through contracts with the platform.

Minister hits out at content

France’s Minister for digital affairs, Clara Chappaz, called Graven’s death online “an absolute horror” and condemned the violent content in which he had appeared online.

She said she had referred the matter to Arcom, the regulatory authority that oversees streaming platforms, as well as well as to the Pharos platform, which investigates illegal content and behaviour online. She added that she had asked the managers of the platform for explanations.

Kick, an Australia-registered live streaming platform that shares revenue with content creators, is seen as having less stringent user terms than the market leader Twitch.

The company said on Wednesday that all those involved with the death had been banned from the platform, pending the outcome of the investigation, and that it was re-evaluating its French content.

(with newswires)

Vinatier is to appear at a hearing on Monday to face new charges of espionage, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to court documents reported by Russian news agencies.

Vinatier, who worked for a Swiss conflict mediation organisation, is currently serving a three-year prison sentence after he was convicted in October of violating Russian laws requiring individuals deemed “foreign agents” to register, and was accused of gathering military information of value to foreign intelligence services.

His appeal against the sentence was rejected in February.

The 49-year-old is one of several Westerners to have been charged under Russian security laws at a time of tense confrontation between Moscow and the West over the war in Ukraine.

An expert on the former USSR, Vinatier told the court at his trial that he loved Russia and apologised for breaking the law.

He said he always tried to “present Russia’s interests in international relations”.

France said Vinatier had been arbitrarily detained and called for his release.

French President Emmanuel Macron denied that Vinatier worked for the French state and has described his arrest as part of a misinformation campaign by Moscow.

(with newswires)

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said European powers had no right to trigger so called “snapback” sanctions under a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal, nor do they have the right to extend the October deadline to trigger them.

This comes after Iranian diplomats met in July with representatives from France, Germany and Britain – known as the E3 – for the first time since Israel attacked Iran in June.

The 12-day war between Iran and Israel derailed Tehran’s nuclear negotiations with the United States.

Iran also suspended its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing the agency’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

The E3 had threatened to trigger the “snapback mechanism” by the end of August if Iran did not resume cooperation with the IAEA.

The mechanism would reimpose wide-ranging UN sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 accord.

The Europeans reportedly offered to extend the deadline for the sanctions if Iran resumed nuclear talks with the IAEA.

On Wednesday, Araghchi said Iran rejected any extension.

“When we believe that they do not have the right to implement snapback, it is natural that they do not have the right to extend its deadline either,” he told the state news agency IRNA.

“We have not yet reached a basis for negotiations with the Europeans,” he added.

Iran said that reimposing sanctions would be illegal, and it has warned of consequences to the Europeans if they move forward with them.

(with AFP)

Strips of bare land scar the lush and green mountainsides towering above Mutsamudu, the capital of the Indian Ocean island of Anjouan.

“We lost 80 percent of our natural forests between 1995 and 2014,” Abubakar Ben Mahmoud, environment minister of the country off northern Mozambique, told French news agency AFP in a recent interview.

The clearing of the forest for cultivation has compounded damage caused by the production of ylang-ylang essential oil, used in luxury perfumes, and the manufacture of traditional carved wooden doors for which the island is renowned.

With a high population density of more than 700 residents per square kilometre, “Deforestation has been intensified as farmers are looking for arable land for their activities,” the minister said.

The brown and barren patches on the slopes are starkly visible from the headquarters of Dahari, a leading organisation in the fight against deforestation, based in the hills of Mutsamudu.

Water guardians

The NGO last year launched a reforestation programme, working hand-in-hand with local farmers who are called “water guardians”.

Under a five-year conservation contract, the farmers commit to replanting their land or leaving it fallow in exchange for financial compensation, said one of the project’s managers, Misbahou Mohamed.

The first phase has included 30 farmers, with compensation paid out after inspection of the plots.

Another significant contributor to deforestation on Anjouan, the ylang-ylang essential oil industry, has in recent years heeded calls to limit its impact.

The Comoros is among the world’s top producers of the delicate and sweet-smelling yellow flower, prized for its supposed relaxing properties and widely used in perfumes like the famous Chanel No 5.

Protected areas offer hope for Africa’s vanishing forests and wildlife

The production of ylang-ylang, vanilla and cloves makes up a large part of the archipelago’s agricultural output, which represents a third of its GDP.

The country has around 10,000 ylang-ylang producers, most based on Anjouan, according to a report commissioned by the French Development Agency for a project to support Comoran agricultural exports.

Burning wood is the cheapest source of fuel for the distillation process, the report highlighted, with 250 kilogrammes (550 pounds) needed to produce one litre of essential oil.

Some producers are trying to limit their use of wood, such as Mohamed Mahamoud, 67, who said he halved consumption by upgrading his equipment.

“I now use third-generation stainless steel alembics, with an improved oven equipped with doors and chimneys,” said Mahamoud, who has grown and distilled ylang-ylang near the town of Bambao Mtsanga for nearly 45 years.

To avoid encroaching on the forest, most of his wood now comes from mango and breadfruit trees he grows himself.

Anger flares in Comoros as residents endure cost of living and energy crises

Rivers drying up

Some producers have in recent years switched to crude oil to fuel their stills.

But that costs twice as much wood, said one ylang-ylang exporter, who asked to remain anonymous.

And high electricity prices in Comoros mean that using electrical energy would cost 10 times more, “not to mention the long periods of power cuts”, he said.

Part of the drive to reduce wood consumption comes from an alarming observation: not only is deforestation stripping Anjouan’s mountains, it is also drying up its rivers.

Children’s tale takes root in West Africa’s fight to regrow its forests

Forests are essential for “the infiltration of water that feeds rivers and aquifers… like a sponge that retains water and releases it gradually”, said hydroclimatologist Abdoul Oubeidillah.

“In 1925, there were 50 rivers with a strong year-round flow of water,” said Bastoini Chaambani, from the environmental protection NGO Dayima. “Today, there are fewer than 10 rivers that flow continuously.”

The Comoros government has meanwhile announced it also intends to take part in reforestation efforts.

“We will do everything we can to save what little forest we have left,” said the environment minister.

(with AFP)

Malians welcomed the coup that overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on 18 August 2020.

General Assimi Goita promised to root out jihadists in the north of the country, which Mali had been unsuccessfully trying to do for nearly a decade with the support of the French military and a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Then Mali experienced its second coup in 2021 and Goita, as interim president, promised “credible, fair and transparent elections” and a handover to civilian rule by June 2022.

But this never came to pass. 

Instead, Mali shifted allegiances away from France – from which it severed ties in 2022 – to Russia, which sent mercenaries from its Wagner group to fight with the army.

Rights abuses

In 2023, the Malian army regained control of Kidal, a Tuareg separatist stronghold, but Wagner has been unable to help Mali take back full control of its territory.

Many Malian towns are still controlled by jihadists, and the army and its Russian allies are regularly accused of abuses against civilians.

Earlier this year, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger quit Ecowas to form their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), dealing a blow to the credibility of the grouping.

The AES accuses Ecowas of being a tool for what it sees as former colonial ruler France’s neo-imperialist ambitions and has created a unified army that conducts joint anti-jihadist operations.

In July 2025, Mali’s military-appointed legislative body granted Goita a five-year presidential mandate, renewable “as many times as necessary” without election.

Mali’s promise of democracy fades as junta extends Assimi Goita’s rule

With the military still in power, the situation for civilians is getting worse, according to Alioune Tine a former UN expert on human rights in Mali and the founder of the Senegalese think tank Afrikajom Center.

“They came for security, but today security is deteriorating,” he told RFI. “Now, the most serious thing from my point of view is that the promises of an 18-month transition have not been kept,” he explains.

Furthermore, the junta announced in May the dissolution of all political parties and organisations, as well as a ban on meetings.

“We are witnessing a kind of authoritarian rule, with increasingly restricted civic space, making it virtually impossible for the press, civil society or the opposition to express themselves,” Tine says.

Destabilisation plot

On top of the ongoing security and economic issues,  Malian authorities are searching for possible accomplices in what they say is a “foreign government-backed plot” to destabilise the country.

This follows the arrest of a French national suspected of working for French intelligence services along with over 50 Malian soldiers last week.

In a separate move, Mali’s civilian former prime minister Choguel Maiga and a number of his former colleagues were taken into custody as part of an investigation into claims of “misappropriation of public funds”.

UN mission in Mali officially ends after 10 years

Maiga, a former junta heavyweight, was appointed prime minister in 2021 before being dismissed at the end of last year after criticising the military government.

He had criticised being excluded from decisions about the continued leadership of the generals, who had initially promised to hand power back to elected civilians in March 2024.

No connection has been made between his arrest and those of the soldiers accused of wanting to overthrow the government.

The images of chaos and panic when the Taliban swept back to power on 15 August, 2021 provoked shock and outrage around the world, as thousands rushed to Kabul airport, desperate to evacuate alongside citizens of Western nations.

Afghans raced across the tarmac, some clinging on to departing planes, others passing their young children over barbed wire fences, pleading to have them evacuated. Seven people were crushed to death in the stampede.

The Taliban had been forced from power when a United States-led coalition of forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, who was responsible for the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre in 2001.

Bin Laden, a Saudi national, had been given shelter in Afghanistan.

But, after two decades of Western presence, with dwindling public support, former US president Joe Biden announced he would pull American troops out of the country by the end of August 2021.

Facing mounting attacks from militants, the US began evacuating its nationals, triggering similar moves among Western allies, including France.

The turn of events sent shockwaves throughout Afghanistan and threw into question the future of Western involvement there on logistical and diplomatic levels.

Vivid memories

The memory of the Taliban takeover and the sudden exit by Western countries is still vivid four years on, particularly for those involved in the dramatic evacuations at Kabul airport. 

Their stories have been brought to the screen by French film director Martin Bourboulon in 13 jours, 13 nuits (“13 days, 13 nights”), which was screened as part of the official selection at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

The film is based on the book 13 jours, 13 nuits dans l’enfer de Kabul (“13 days, 13 nights in the hell of Kabul”), in which Mohamed Bida tells of his experience as the head of security, responsible for evacuating the French embassy.

As the last Western embassy to remain open in the country in August 2021, France was unprepared for the last-minute rush of people who arrived at its headquarters in Kabul, seeking refuge.

France, US have a ‘moral duty’ to help those in danger to leave Afghanistan

“The gate weighed 20 tonnes and we would only open it a little bit to let a few authorised individuals through, one at a time,” Bida recalls.

When a nearby explosion caused panic, he saw people – mainly women and children – at risk of getting trampled as they pushed at the gate.

“I phoned the ambassador to warn him a tragedy was about to unfold on our doorstep and he ordered me to open the gate to prevent it. About 500 people came in, and we sheltered them in our gymnasium.”

‘Moral responsibility’

Bida’s eyewitness account also tells of having to negotiate with the Taliban for the safe passage of a convoy of buses carrying civilians from the embassy to the airport.

He says he didn’t write the book to be seen as “the hero”, but rather as an ordinary man faced with an extraordinary situation.

Director Martin Bourboulon agreed that the film needed to be “rooted in reality,” without any exaggeration or invention around the events.

“The film’s main strength is that it’s a tale of collective heroism, diplomatic courage and moral responsibility,” he told RFI, adding that the film crew consulted hundreds of testimonials to recreate the scenes.

The French military evacuation, Operation Apagan, lasted for two weeks and saw nearly 3,000 people flown through Middle Eastern airbases.

More than 200,000 people were evacuated by the US, in what Biden described as “the largest, most difficult airlifts in history”.

Gender apartheid

Despite the Taliban’s assurances of a more tolerant and open brand of rule upon their return, many Afghans feared a repeat of their initial stint in power from 1996-2001, which was infamous for the treatment of girls and women, as well as a brutal justice system.

Over the past four years, women have become increasingly isolated – removed from public life by the Taliban authorities, who have banned them from universities, public parks and gyms, in what the United Nations has called a “gender apartheid“.

Since September 2021, girls in Afghanistan have been barred from education beyond primary level. Women have also been pushed out of public sector jobs and are forbidden to work with foreign NGOs and the UN.

In July 2023, the Taliban ordered that all hair and beauty salons – a source of income for many women – be closed down.

Women must cover themselves from head to toe outside their homes and are barred from raising their voices in public, and from travelling without a male relative. They are forbidden to look directly at men they are not related to.

A window into the hidden lives of Afghan women cut off from society

Forced returns

The UN says the human rights situation in 2025 is worse than ever, and has been compounded by a growing problem – that of forced returns of exiled Afghans.

Millions of Afghans who fled the country throughout decades of successive wars are now facing hardened immigration measures from neighbouring countries.

Pakistan renewed a deportation drive in April, after first launching it in 2023. It has rescinded hundreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, threatening to arrest anyone who did not leave.

The government has labelled Afghans “terrorists and criminals”, but analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure Taliban authorities to control militancy in the border regions.

More than 2.1 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran so far this year, according to the UN refugee agency, and many more are expected.

Their return is adding pressure in an economy already brought to its knees due to foreign aid cuts, and many have faced reprisals by the Taliban authorities.

In a report published in July, based on interviews with victims, the UN said that Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations against Afghans returned from Pakistan and Iran, including torture and arbitrary detention.

France evacuates Afghan women over fears of becoming targets for Taliban

It said violations had been committed against Afghans “based on their specific profile”, including women, media workers and members of civil society, as well as those affiliated with the former foreign-backed government that fell in 2021.

The Taliban government rejected the findings, accusing the UN of spreading “propaganda”.

“The people cited in this report may have been inaccurate, may be opposed to the system, or may want to spread propaganda or rumours and are therefore using the UNAMA for this purpose,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told French news agency 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)

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.

Macron warns Israel that Gaza occupation plan risks ‘war without end’

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.

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

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)

Earlier this month, the leaders of Italy, Turkey and Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) met in a tripartite summit – the latest sign of growing cooperation between the three Mediterranean nations.

“Turkey and Italy have both differing interests, but interests in Libya,” explains international relations professor Huseyin Bagcı of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

“Particularly, the migration issue and illegal human trafficking are big problems for Italy, and most of the people are coming from there [Libya], so they try to prevent the flow of migrants.

“But for Turkey, it’s more economic. And Libya is very much interested in keeping the relations with both countries.”

Turkey and Italy consider teaming up to seek new influence in Africa

Migration, legitimacy concerns

Turkey is the main backer of Libya’s GNA and still provides military assistance, which was decisive in defeating the rival eastern-based forces led by strongman Khalifa Haftar. An uneasy ceasefire holds between the two sides.

Libya security analyst Aya Burweilla said Turkey is seeking Italy’s support to legitimise the Tripoli government, as questions grow over its democratic record.

“What it means for the Tripoli regime is very positive. This is a regime that has dodged elections for years,” she says.

“Their job was to have democratic elections, and one of their ways to make sure they stay in power was to get foreign sponsors, like Turkey… Now, with this rubber stamp from Meloni in Italy, they can keep the status quo going at the expense of Libyans.”

Years of civil war and political chaos have turned Libya into a major hub for people smugglers. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, elected on a pledge to curb irregular migration, sees stability in Libya as key to that goal.

“The migration issue has become very, very urgent in general for Europe, but of course for Italy too,” says Alessia Chiriatti of the Institute of International Affairs, a think tank in Rome.

Trump and Erdogan grow closer as cooperation on Syria deepens

Mediterranean ambitions

Chiriatti said Meloni’s partnership with Turkey in Libya also reflects broader foreign policy goals.

“There is another dimension – I think it’s directly related to the fact that Italy and Meloni’s government want to play a different role in foreign policy in the Mediterranean space,” she says.

“Italy is starting to see Africa as a possible partner to invest in … But what is important is that Italy is starting to see itself as a new player, both in the Mediterranean space and in Africa, so in this sense, it could have important cooperation with Turkey.”

She points out that both Italy and Turkey share a colonial past in Libya. That legacy, combined with the lure of Libya’s vast energy reserves, continues to shape their diplomacy.

Ending the split between Libya’s rival governments is seen as vital for stability. Moscow’s reduced military support for Haftar, as it focuses on its war in Ukraine, is viewed in Ankara as an opening.

“Russia is nearly out, and what remains are Turkey and Italy,” says Bagcı.

He added that Ankara is making overtures to the eastern authorities through Haftar’s son Saddam, a senior figure in the Libyan military.

“The son of Haftar is coming very often to Ankara, making talks. It’s an indication of potential changes… But how the deal will look like I don’t know, we will see later. But it’s an indication of potential cooperation, definitely.”

Turkey steps into EU defence plans as bloc eyes independence from US

Shifting alliances

Libya was discussed when Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on Saturday.

Sisi backs Haftar’s eastern government. Libya had been a source of tension between Turkey and Egypt, but with relations thawing, both say they will work together on the country’s future.

Turkey’s position in Libya is strengthening, says Burweilla.

“Saddam is pro-Turkey – there is a huge difference between son and father – and the younger generation is pro-Turkey,” she says.

Such support, Burweilla said, stems from Ankara allowing Libyans to seek sanctuary in Turkey from fighting in 2011, when NATO forces led by France and the United Kingdom militarily intervened against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

“I think the Europeans underestimated the political capital that gave Turkey. Turkey is winning the game in Libya,” Burweilla says.

She adds that Ankara’s rising influence is also due to a shift in tactics towards the east.

“What they [Ankara] realised was that you can’t conquer the east of Libya by force; they tried and they failed. And the Turkish regime is very much motivated by business… They don’t care about anything else, and they’ve realised they want to make a business,” Burweilla says.

They’ve reached out more to the east, and the east, in turn, has realised that if they don’t want to be attacked by Turkey and its mercenaries, they need to make peace with Turkey as well.”

Frenchman Nicolas Guillou has been presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Canadian judge, Kimberly Prost, was involved in a case that authorised an investigation into alleged crimes committed during the war in Afghanistan, including by United States forces.

Deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan from Fiji and deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang from Senegal were also placed on the list banning them from travelling to the US and blocking their access to property.

“These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all regions,” said the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a statement.

“They constitute also an affront against the court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world.”

French officials expressed dismay at the US State Department’s move. 

A foreign ministry spokesman said the sanctions were in contradiction to the principle of an independent judiciary.

In June four judges from Benin, Uganda, Peru and Slovenia were hit with sanctions.

“As stated before by the ICC president and judiciary … the court stands firmly behind its personnel and victims of unimaginable atrocities. The ICC will continue fulfilling its mandate, undeterred, in strict accordance with its legal framework as adopted by the States Parties and without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat.”

The ICC was set up in 2002 in the Dutch capital The Hague to try individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression.

“The ICC is a national security threat that has been an instrument for “lawfare” against the United States and our close ally Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, using the “lawfare” term popular with President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Rubio said that the four recent targets had sought to investigate or prosecute nationals from the US or Israel without the consent of either nation.

 The State Department said the US was punishing Niang and Khan for supporting “illegitimate ICC actions against Israel,” including their support of the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and the Israeli former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

“I congratulate Marco Rubio who decided to impose sanctions on the judges of the International Criminal Court,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

“This is a decisive act against a smear campaign of lies against the State of Israel and the [Israeli army],” added the prime minister, who has been the subject of an ICC arrest warrant since November 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Court of last resort

Under the sanctions, the US will bar entry of the ICC judges to the US and block any property they have in the country – measures more often taken against  adversaries of the US than individuals from close allies.

International ire over Trump sanctions against ICC

The Trump administration has rejected the authority of the court, which is backed by almost all European governments.

Last Friday, Trump welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Alaska even though Putin faces an ICC arrest warrant, a factor that has stopped him from travelling more widely since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

(With newswires)

NATO military chiefs held a virtual summit on security guarantees for Ukraine Wednesday, the latest in a flurry of global diplomacy aimed at brokering an end to the nearly three-and-a-half year conflict.

“On #Ukraine, we confirmed our support. Priority continues to be a just, credible and durable peace,” the chair of the alliance’s military committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, wrote on X after the meeting.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier warned that “seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere”.

Moscow signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.

But Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.

On Tuesday, top US officer Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with European military chiefs on the “best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal”, a US defence official told French press agency AFP.

Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine, far from the diplomatic deliberations, Russian forces claimed fresh advances on the ground and Ukrainian officials reported more deaths from Russian attacks.

Diplomatic flurry

US President Donald Trump brought Zelensky and European leaders to the White House on Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Russia’s long-serving foreign minister downplayed the meeting in Washington, describing it as a “clumsy” attempt to change the US president’s position on Ukraine.

Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in US support to Ukraine, earlier said European nations were “willing to put people on the ground” to secure any settlement.

He ruled out sending US troops but suggested the country might provide air support.

Russia has long said it will never tolerate the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine.

While Trump said Putin had agreed to meet Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, Russia has not confirmed this.

Lavrov also cast doubt on an imminent meeting, saying that any summit between Putin and Zelensky “must be prepared in the most meticulous way” so it does not lead to a “deterioration” of the situation surrounding the conflict.

Did NATO’s expansion drive Vladimir Putin to war?

Fresh Russian strikes

Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram on Wednesday that its troops had captured the villages of Sukhetske and Pankivka in the embattled Donetsk region.

They are near a section of the front where the Russian army broke through Ukrainian defences last week, between the logistics hub of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.

In the eastern Kharkiv region, the prosecutor’s office said a Russian drone strike on a civilian vehicle had killed two people, aged 70 and 71.

Russian glide bombs hit housing in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka overnight, trapping as many as four people under rubble, said the town’s military administration chief Sergiy Gorbunov.

And Russian aerial attacks on the northeastern town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region wounded at least 14 people, including three children, according to regional governor Oleg Grygorov.

Zelensky said these latest strikes showed “the need to put pressure on Moscow”, including through sanctions.

(With newswires)

Camilo Castro, a Franco-Chilean yoga teacher who is about to turn 41, has been detained for nearly two months by the Venezuelan authorities “without cause and without his consular rights being respected,” his family said on Wednesday.

Castro, who lives in Colombia and was building a house there, was apprehended on 26 June at the Paraguachon border crossing between Colombia and Venezuela, where he had gone to renew his Colombian residence permit, his family said in a statement to the AFP news agency.

When asked about the case, the French foreign ministry said it does not comment on individual cases.

Castro was detained by Venezuelan authorities “like dozens of other foreigners currently detained in the country,” the family said.

In a report published in mid-July, rights group Amnesty International denounced Venezuela’s policy of “enforced disappearances” against opponents and foreign nationals that has been happening since the contested re-election of President Nicolas Maduro in March 2024.

Venezuelan authorities use hostages “as a bargaining chip for use in negotiations with other countries”, Amnesty wrote.

Castro’s family says they confirmed that he is being detained after Venezuela released prisoners in an exchange with the United States on 19 July.

Among those released was Franco-American Lucas Hunter, who had been detained in January while he was travelling along Venezuela’s border with Colombia

(with AFP)

“The military offensive on Gaza that Israel is preparing can only lead to disaster for both peoples and will plunge the region into permanent war,” Macron posted on social media.

His comments came following talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt – and hours after Israel Katz, the Israeli Defence Minister, sanctioned the army’s deployment and the recall of 60,000 reservists for the operation.

Macron said the assault was unnecessary and called instead for the establishment of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of all hostages.

He added that there should be a large-scale delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and that Hamas should give up its weapons.

“We believe that only the following course of action can bring this conflict to an end,” he insisted.

Macron also said there should be an international stabilisation mission for Gaza, and promoted next month’s conference on the two-state solution in New York.

“This is the only credible way forward – for the families of the hostages, for Israelis, and for Palestinians alike. No to war. Yes to peace and security for all.”

Macron’s declaration is likely to increase tensions with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused Macron in an official letter of fuelling anti-Semitism with his intention to recognise the Palestinian state.

The Elysée Palace responded that Netanyahu’s statement was erroneous and abject.

“This is a time for seriousness and responsibility, not for conflation and manipulation,” it said. “Far from tolerating anti-Semitism, France protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens.”

Spike in anti-Semitic incidents

France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish community, and the government has faced rising numbers of reported anti-Semitic incidents in recent years – jumping from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, before dipping slightly last year.

France – a longstanding supporter of the two-state solution – says the move of recognising Palestinian statehood is intended to push back against Hamas and revive the prospects for peace.

More than 145 United Nations members have already recognised the Palestinian state, or plan to do so.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority welcomed France’s stance and strongly condemned Netanyahu’s claims.

Its foreign ministry said his accusations were “unjustified and hostile to peace”, dismissing what it called the “old record” of conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. “No one is fooled,” it added.

The row has unfolded against a wider backdrop of diplomatic tension. Netanyahu on Tuesday also turned his ire on Australia, branding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews” after Canberra announced it too would recognise a Palestinian state.

Armed violence in eastern DRC is continuing to impact the lives of civilians, as two new reports – one from Amnesty International and another from Human Rights Watch (HRW) – have painted a harrowing picture of widespread abuses by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and other militia.

Despite ongoing peace talks, both NGOs argue that justice and accountability are urgently needed.

Amnesty’s investigation – based on more than 50 victim and witness testimonies – focuses heavily on sexual violence, forced disappearances and targeted attacks on civil society.

Survivors told of mass rapes carried out by fighters in uniforms resembling those of the M23, with many assailants speaking Kinyarwanda.

Women, Amnesty notes, face danger everywhere: in their homes, fields, or even displacement camps. The report also documents torture, abductions of journalists and lawyers, and at least five summary executions.

“The brutality of the belligerents knows no limits,” warned Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s regional director, adding that both Rwanda and the Congolese government must stop deflecting blame and bring perpetrators to account.

UN halts investigation into rights abuses in eastern DRC due to lack of funding

Focus on Virunga

HRW’s findings, while overlapping in their assessment of M23’s responsibility, shed light on large-scale killings near Virunga national park in July.

Drawing on 25 witness accounts and medical and UN sources, the group estimates that more than 140 people were killed, with the toll potentially surpassing 300. Victims were largely from the Hutu and Nande communities.

Survivors described being forced on marches, witnessing relatives butchered, and narrowly escaping execution. One woman recalled rebels ordering her group to sit by a riverbank before opening fire.

She survived by plunging into the water. Another man recounted watching helplessly as his wife and four children were slaughtered.

War crimes

Both Amnesty and HRW underline that these acts may amount to war crimes. They also highlight the regional dimension: M23’s resurgence since 2021 – reportedly with Rwandan backing – has destabilised the mineral-rich provinces of North and South Kivu, displacing more than two million people this year alone.

The group seized the regional capital Goma in January and the South Kivu town of Bukavu in February, while local militia aligned with Kinshasa have also been implicated in abuses.

Congo M23 rebels say they will withdraw from seized town to support peace push

The reports present a grim account that the violence is both systematic and widespread, targeting civilians indiscriminately through rape, execution and terror.

HRW has urged the UN Security Council, the EU and governments to expand sanctions and pursue prosecutions, while calling on Rwanda to allow independent forensic access to rebel-controlled areas.

Amnesty insists that neither Kigali nor Kinshasa can shirk responsibility, pressing them to hold perpetrators accountable and protect civilians.

As things stand, peace negotiations in Qatar and regional diplomatic efforts have been overshadowed by the mounting civilian toll. 

Maiga, 67, took office after a second coup in Mali in 2021 and led the civilian wing of the country’s military junta until he was dismissed in November 2024.

The removal came days after he criticised the junta for postponing elections.

The charges follow a report from Mali’s auditor general on the management of public funds while Maiga was prime minister.

A statement from the public prosecutor’s office said the charges against Maiga involved money laundering equal to many billions of CFA francs, or several million euros.

No trial date has been set.

Maiga’s lawyer, Cheick Oumar Konare, told AFP news agency: “We believe in justice. We are calm while awaiting the trial.”

Earlier this month, another former prime minister, Moussa Mara, was jailed after writing on social media that he supported jailed critics of the junta.

Last week, authorities in Mali said that a French national had been arrested on suspicion of working for the French intelligence services. Authorities also accused foreign states of trying to destabilise the country as they announced that dozens of soldiers had been detained for allegedly seeking to overthrow the government.

Five years after the 2020 coup, where is Mali today?

‘Covered by diplomatic conventions’

France’s foreign ministry said the arrested employee was covered by the Vienna convention on consular relations, meaning he should be released.

The junta, led by President Assimi Goita, has turned away from Western partners, notably former colonial power France and other former allies and pivoted toward Russia.

In July, the country’s military-appointed legislative body granted Goita a five-year presidential mandate, renewable as many times as necessary and without election.

Under the 41-year-old, Mali has slid into a security quagmire. 

How Moscow is reinventing its influence machine across Africa

The Malian army and its Russian allies have been tasked with fighting groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, along with local criminal gangs. However, official forces are regularly accused of abuses against civilians.

Alongside Burkina Faso and Niger, which are also led by military juntas, Mali quit the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) earlier this year, accusing the regional bloc of being subservient to colonial ruler France.

The trio set up their own confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States.

(With newswires)

The talks between Syria’s Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, and the Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, focused on “de-escalation and non-interference in Syria’s internal affairs”, said Syria’s state news agency SANA.

The delegations came together a month after deadly sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority Sweida province.

The week of violence that began on 13 July initially pitted Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin but quickly spiralled, drawing in Syrian government forces and prompting Israeli strikes.

Israel, home to its own Druze community, has argued its intervention was aimed at protecting the minority group and ensuring the demilitarisation of southern Syria.

SANA said the Paris meeting produced understandings that support stability in the region.

The discussions also touched on the Sweida ceasefire announced by the United States last month and how best to monitor it.

Syrian state television, citing a government source, said the country’s intelligence chief was also present.

Both sides reportedly reaffirmed their commitment to Syria’s territorial integrity, stressing that Sweida remains an integral part of the country.

“These talks are part of diplomatic efforts to enhance security and stability in Syria while safeguarding the unity of its territory,” SANA said.

France condemns reported atrocities against civilians in Syria’s Sweida

Despite technically remaining at war since 1948, Israel and Syria have engaged in back-channel discussions before.

After an Islamist-led offensive toppled Bashar al-Assad late last year, Israel moved troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since the 1973 armistice.

‘In two days, it all came crashing down’: A French-Syrian family torn apart

According to Syrian state television, the latest talks also explored the possibility of reactivating the 1974 disengagement agreement, alongside addressing humanitarian concerns in the south.

Both parties acknowledged “the need to step up assistance for the people of Sweida and the Bedouin communities”.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high on the ground.

On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Sweida, some demanding self-determination and accusing Damascus of imposing a blockade – claims the government has rejected, pointing instead to the arrival of several aid convoys.

The Paris encounter follows a similar meeting between Shaibani and Dermer last month, while other direct talks are believed to have taken place in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to diplomatic sources speaking to AFP.

This comes as US envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack said on social media on Tuesday night that he had met Israeli Druze spiritual leader Mowafaq Tarif to discuss Sweida “and how to bring together the interests of all parties, de-escalate tensions, and build understanding”.

JJ – otherwise known as Johannes Pietsch – gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph.

Vienna, which hosted the contest in 1967 and 2015, edged out its competitor Innsbruck to stage next year’s contest, Austrian public broadcaster ORF announced.

The final of Eurovision’s 70th edition will be held on 16 May, 2026 at the Wiener Stadthalle, Austria’s largest indoor arena, with semi-finals set for May 12 and 14, Eurovision said.

Since its inaugural show in 1956, hosted by Switzerland, Eurovision has become the ultimate pop platform, catapulting Swedish icons ABBA to worldwide fame and launching the career of Celine Dion, who competed for Switzerland in 1988.

It is the world’s biggest annual live televised music event, and some 166 million viewers in 37 countries watched this year’s contest, with a record 60 percent of viewers aged 15 to 24 tuning in. The competition got even more views on Instagram and TikTok.

Israel controversy

Created to foster European unity in the wake of the Second World War, the show has nonetheless drawn controversy throughout its history.

Austria staged a protest over General Franco’s dictatorship in Spain in 1969 and Greece submitted a song in 1976 slamming Turkey over its invasion of Cyprus.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 dominated that year’s contest – which Ukraine won and from which Russia was (and still is) barred – while 2024 saw protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, after Eurovision allowed the former to continue to participate in the contest.

These continued this year, with pro-Palestinian protesters clashing with police in Basel.

Spain’s public broadcaster asked the European Broadcasting Union, which organises Eurovision, to open a “debate” on whether Israel should be allowed to take part, a move also backed by Iceland and Slovakia, while a protest took place outside the offices of Irish broadcaster RTE calling for it to withdraw from the contest in protest at Israel’s inclusion.

Last year’s winner Nemo also joined calls for Israel to be ejected, saying: “Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold – peace, unity, and respect for human rights.”

In response to the criticism, Eurovision director Martin Green said: “As a reminder, the EBU is an association of public service broadcasters, not governments.

“As part of its mission to secure a sustainable future for public service media, the EBU is supporting our Israeli Member KAN against the threat from being privatised or shut down by the Israeli government.”

Eurovision returns amid protests over Palestine, Pride flags and parody lyrics

Israel’s 2025 entrant Yuval Raphael survived the 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, hiding beneath bodies as Hamas gunmen attacked a music festival.

As the televotes came in, Israel held the top spot until, right at the very end, the public votes for Austria clinched the win for JJ.

In an interview following his win, he called for Israel to be excluded from next year’s competition, sparking a storm of criticism in Austria, a staunch supporter of Israel.

“It is very disappointing to see that Israel continues to participate in the contest,” the 24-year-old told Spanish daily El Pais. “I would like next year’s Eurovision to take place in Vienna without Israel.”

The country’s public broadcaster ORF distanced itself from his remarks, saying they “reflected a personal opinion”.

The singer has since sought to defuse the controversy, saying via his record label Warner that he was “sorry if his comments had been misinterpreted”.

Israel has confirmed its intention to participate in next year’s event.

‘Europe, shall we dance?’

Under the slogan “Europe, shall we dance?”, Vienna, famed for its classical music heritage and the baroque splendour of its architecture, cited its experience in hosting big events in its push to win the bid.

The chosen venue, the Wiener Stadthalle, also hosted Eurovision in 2015. Located in central Vienna, it opened in 1958 and seats 16,000 people in its main hall.

The city also touted its “enormous” accommodation capacities, its “excellent” transport links, and its “cosmopolitanism”, with 2 million people living in the Austrian capital.

Thousands rally in Austria as far-right Freedom Party eyes power

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which topped elections for the first time last year but failed to form a government, has described Eurovision as a “queer, left-wing, woke spectacle” and criticised Vienna for wanting to stage it despite the high costs. Basel put up nearly $40 million to host the contest.

The last time the Austrian capital hosted Eurovision, the city installed traffic lights showing same-sex and heterosexual couples instead of a single figure – which proved so popular that the city authorities decided to keep them for good.

(with newswires)

A record 3,400 square kilometres – about the size of Moldova – has been destroyed by wildfires in Spain this year, the European Forest Fire Information System said.

Thousands of firefighters, backed by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft, have been battling more than 20 major blazes across the west of the country this week.

The fires, now in their second week, are concentrated in Castile and Leon, Galicia and Extremadura. Thousands of people have been forced to flee.

In some isolated villages, residents are defending their homes themselves. Surrounded by thick vegetation and perched on hillsides, these hamlets have been hit especially hard.

Summer of extremes as fires, floods and heatwaves grip the globe

Raquel Fernández, who lives in Montederramo, Galicia, told RFI: “Every day, new fires appear. The fires are so big that they end up merging together. It’s all mountains, and there aren’t enough resources [for firefighters] to be everywhere. The people who are saving us here are the local farmers with their tractors and water tanks.”

Across the region, farmers are trying to save the most isolated houses – including their own.

In Guimarei, south of Ourense, as the flames approach, Martín Pérez fills his water tank.

“My farm burned down two days ago, over there. A calf farm. And now I’m trying to save my house. Yesterday we saved my sister’s farm, and we’ve been there for days. It’s hell. It’s absolute hell. I’m devastated, absolutely devastated. But we have to keep fighting, that’s the way it is.”

Prosecutors examine arson link to France’s worst wildfire in 50 years

Anger with authorities

In Mogainza, Eloi Fernandez, a livestock farmer, has been battling the flames for a week.

He says he is angry with the authorities for not allowing farmers to clear the forests, which he believes could have slowed the spread of the fires.

“They ban everything. They ban making new paths, controlled burning, cutting wood for heating in winter… Everything, everything is banned. They call it a ‘nature network’. Nature network… what nature do we have left? How are they protecting it? It makes no sense, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Other residents have voiced their anger at what they regard as poor preparation and limited resources.

“No one’s shown up here, nobody,” Patricia Vila told AFPTV in the village of Vilamartin de Valdeorras in Ourense. “Not a single damn helicopter, not one plane, has come to drop water and cool things down a bit.”

France, Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands have sent firefighting aircraft to help, but the size and severity of the fires and the intensity of the smoke are making “airborne action difficult,” Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told television channel TVE.

Heatwave continues to scorch France as fire risks and pollution rise

Fernandez is worried for the future of these hamlets, which are already suffering from depopulation.

“It’s all going to die out. We in the hamlets are doomed, they’re going to be abandoned,” he said. “There are only three or four young people left, and we’re taking a real beating.”

Despite the risks, locals continue to fight tirelessly against the fires, as the Spanish authorities announce that they will release aid for farmers who have lost everything.

(with newswires, and partially adapted from the this report n French.)

The findings, published with All Eyes on Wagner, reveal how Russia is reshaping its methods while keeping a strong presence across the continent.

On 7 August, two Russian nationals were arrested in the Angolan capital Luanda after violent protests over soaring fuel prices. They face charges including criminal conspiracy, document forgery, terrorism and terror financing.

Angolan authorities said the pair had set up a network of propaganda and disinformation designed to stir unrest and bankroll the demonstrations.

The arrests shed light on Moscow’s evolving toolkit in Africa.

One of the men, Lev Lakshtanov, is accused of masterminding the operation, RFI journalist Carol Valade said.

Death toll rises in Angola after protests and looting over fuel hike

Operative in ‘cultural diplomacy’

At 64, Lakshtanov has a long track record in the world of Russian soft power. He founded Farol, a cultural NGO for Portuguese-speaking countries, backed by Rossotrudnichestvo – the state agency for cultural diplomacy created under former president Dmitry Medvedev.

Plans were under way to open a Russian cultural centre in Luanda this year.

After spending time in Brazil, Lakshtanov wound up his activities in Russia around the time of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He later appeared in the United Arab Emirates before quietly settling in Angola on a tourist visa.

With his associate Igor Racthin, he moved into Luanda’s Gamek district. The pair posed as journalists, sought contacts with opposition figures, and reached out to Buka Tanda, a Russian speaker and senior member of the youth wing of UNITA, Angola’s main opposition party.

They told Tanda they were preparing a documentary and wanted to set up a cultural centre. He introduced them to his cousin, a journalist at state TV.

Soon the group was running paid interviews with politicians and commissioning opinion polls on perceptions of Russia – until their arrest on charges of orchestrating fuel protests.

Former Wagner media operative lifts the lid on Russian disinformation in CAR

Echoes of Chad

The case mirrors events in Chad a year earlier. In September 2024, three Russians and a Belarusian were arrested in N’Djamena.

Among them were Maksim Shugaley and Samir Seyfan, both long linked to Wagner’s African influence operations.

The group posed as investors, rented property, cultivated political contacts and recruited Russian-speaking Chadians. Two presented themselves as journalists, offering training and funding to reporters – then asking them to publish pro-Russian articles for cash.

They were detained during the inauguration of a Russian cultural centre in the capital, also set up under Rossotrudnichestvo.

Wagner replaced in Mali by Africa Corps, another Russian military group

From Wagner to Africa Corps

These cases show how Moscow’s strategy has shifted. “They are now more discreet but busier than ever, expanding and becoming increasingly professional,” said Lou Osborn, of All Eyes on Wagner.

The operations now run under the umbrella of the African Initiative, closely linked to Africa Corps – the Kremlin’s new command structure bringing Wagner’s former military assets under state control.

A wider network of private actors and consultants, many tied to Wagner or Russian intelligence in the past, is also active. Angolan police and Western officials refer to this circle as “Africa Politology”.

The findings come five years after the 18 August 2020 coup in Mali, which ended decades of French influence and brought the country into Russia’s orbit.

Since then, Wagner’s troops in Mali have been replaced by Africa Corps, while Moscow has signed multiple trade and nuclear energy deals with Bamako.

Ukraine’s allies gathered on Tuesday to review the outcome of fast-moving talks aimed at ending the war, amid signs that Volodymyr Zelensky could meet Putin at a future peace summit.

Hopes of a breakthrough rose when the Ukrainian president and European leaders met US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, who said he had also spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart.

The Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, has ground to a virtual stalemate despite a few recent Russian advances, defying Trump’s push to end it.

A face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin would be their first since Russia’s brutal invasion nearly three-and-a-half years ago.

Macron said France and Britain would hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday of the so-called “coalition of the willing”, to “keep them up to date on what was decided” at the talks in Washington and the “next steps” for Ukraine.

“Right after that, we’ll start concrete work with the Americans,” Macron told French news channel LCI.

Zelensky-Putin peace talks on the table after Washington summit

With regards to a Putin-Zelensky meeting, Macron suggested Geneva could host the talks, but said it was “up to Ukraine” to decide whether to make concessions on territory, including parts of the eastern Donbas region still under its control.

Switzerland said on Tuesday it would grant Putin immunity if he came to the country for peace talks on Ukraine, despite the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant.

Last year, the Swiss government defined “the rules for granting immunity to a person under an international arrest warrant. If this person comes for a peace conference – not if they come for private reasons”, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told a press conference.

The last time there were bilateral talks, they were held in Istanbul he pointed out, referring to the three rounds of lower-level negotiations between Russia and Ukraine held in Turkey between May and July.

Pandora’s box

On the topic of concessions, Macron said Ukraine will do what “it deems just and right”, but stressed “let’s be very careful when we talk about legal recognition.

“If countries… can say, ‘we can take territory by force’, (that) opens a Pandora’s box.”

The French leader accused Putin of “rarely honoured his commitments,” and called the Russian leader a “predator, who for his own survival, needs to keep eating” – comments that underscored wider European wariness.

Putin “has constantly been a force for destabilisation. He has sought to redraw borders to increase his power,” Macron said, adding he did not believe that Russia would “return to peace and a democratic system from one day to the next”.

This did not mean that France would “come under attack tomorrow”, Macron said, “but of course this is a threat to Europe (…) let’s not be naive.”

Trump-Putin summit ends without Ukraine deal

Trump – whose summit with Putin in Alaska last Friday failed to produce any ceasefire – wrote on his Truth Social network after Monday’s meetings that “everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine”.

“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” he added.

Trump said he would then hold a three-way summit with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was part of the European delegation, said Putin had agreed to the bilateral meeting within the next two weeks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday any peace deal on Ukraine must ensure Russia’s security.

“Without respect for Russia’s security interests, without full respect for the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people who live in Ukraine, there can be no talk of any long-term agreements,” Lavrov told state TV channel Rossiya 24.

(with AFP)

The United Nations Security Council began to debate Monday a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year with the ultimate aim to withdraw it.

The future of UNIFIL has become the latest flashpoint between Washington and its European allies.

While the Trump administration has been pressing to draw down and shut the operation within months, France and its European partners are rallying behind it, arguing its continued presence is vital for stability in the region.

Created in 1978 and expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, UNIFIL has long served as a buffer force in southern Lebanon.

Its 10,000-strong contingent of international troops patrols a volatile border and supports the Lebanese army as it works to consolidate authority. For many in Europe, the mission is imperfect but indispensable.

Macron hosts Lebanon’s president, reiterating French support for ‘sovereignty’

‘Expensive failure’

The White House, however, has made no secret of its desire to curtail the operation.

Senior officials, echoing longstanding Israeli frustrations, see UNIFIL as an expensive failure that has done little to weaken Hezbollah’s grip in the south of the country.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently endorsed a plan to wind down the mission over six months, part of a broader retreat from multilateral commitments and UN spending.

But France – backed by Italy and Britain – has mounted a determined diplomatic campaign to resist an abrupt end.

European envoys argue that cutting short UNIFIL’s work would create a dangerous security vacuum.

France has pointed to the example of Mali, where a premature UN withdrawal left government forces overstretched and paved the way for extremist groups to expand.

As one French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned: “If you leave too soon, others will rush to fill the space – and not the kind of actors anyone wants.”

France’s defence minister calls on Gulf states to aid Lebanese forces

France secures UNIFIL extension

After a series of negotiations last week, France and its allies secured provisional US agreement to a one-year extension of the mandate, buying time to keep the mission alive.

Israel, though long hostile to the peacekeepers, reluctantly accepted the compromise. What happens beyond next year, however, remains the subject of debate.

The French draft resolution, circulated in New York ahead of an upcoming Security Council vote on 25 August, deliberately avoids setting a fixed withdrawal date.

Instead, it extends UNIFIL’s mandate for a year while signalling the Council’s “intention to work on a withdrawal”.

For Paris, keeping the mission’s closure open-ended is crucial to avoid emboldening Hezbollah or undermining the Lebanese army before it is ready to assume full responsibility.

France, contributing states condemn Israeli attacks on peacekeepers in Lebanon

Disarming Hezbollah

Lebanon’s government is itself deeply wary of any rapid pullback. With only 6,000 troops currently deployed in the south, Beirut says it needs time and resources to scale up to the planned 10,000.

Retired general Khalil Helou has warned that without UNIFIL, the army would have to divert soldiers from the Syrian border or other critical posts, risking wider instability. “For Lebanon, their presence is important,” he said.

Even Washington’s own representatives have softened their tone. Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Lebanon, this week called on Israel to fully honour its ceasefire commitments, including withdrawal from five Lebanese border points it still occupies.

He praised Beirut for taking steps to disarm Hezbollah and urged an “economic plan for prosperity, restoration and renovation” in the country.

Meanwhile, UN officials, have continued to underline the mission’s contribution. Peacekeepers have uncovered weapons caches and rocket launchers in recent weeks, sharing intelligence with the Lebanese army.

“UNIFIL remains critical to regional stability,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Financial constraints may still force adjustments. With UN budgets under strain, diplomats acknowledge that troop numbers could be reduced, offset by the greater use of surveillance technology.

(with newswires)

They dispatched the second seeds Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz 4-2, 4-2 and then beat Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev 4-1, 5-4 on Tuesday at the Billie Jean King Tennis Centre in New York.

Errani and Vavassori won the 2024 title after battling their way through five ties against specialist doubles pairs to lift a prize that has been awarded at the US Open since 1887.

Last February, executives at the United States Tennis Association, who organise the US Open, declared a revamp of the tournament.

They cut the field from 32 to 16 teams, placed it during the week when the qualifiers for the men’s and women’s singles draws are played and said they wanted more star singles players to compete.

The rules were also tweaked. Out went sets of six or seven games. In came sets of four games.

Organisers also scrapped the “advantage point” in a game whereby if both teams are at deuce (three points) the game can only be won from “advantage”. 

Revamped million-dollar mixed doubles tournament launches at US Open

Reconfiguration at US Open

The reconfiguration irked traditionalists and incurred the wrath of doubles specialists including Errani and Vavassori who condemned the change for reducing the mixed doubles tournament to virtually a series of exhibition knocks.

“I think it was great,” Vavassori said after reaching the last four on Tuesday evening. “It’s always nice to play with Sara for the energy. We always try to put our maximum energy on the court.

“The stadium was packed in the second match,” added the 30-year-old. “So, it was also great to see a lot of people.

“It’s nice for mixed doubles to be seen on a big stage. I think the best thing we can take from this week is that more people will get to know mixed doubles.”

For a place in Wednesday night’s final, Errani and Vavassori will play the all-American duo of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison who saw off Alexander Zverev and Belinda Bencic in the last-16.

They then disposed of their fellow Americans Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton in the quarter-final.

The other semi-final will pit Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud against Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper.

Last year, Errani and Vavassori each took home $100,000 for their efforts. Should they emerge victorious this year after four matches, they will pocket $500,000 each.

The deal, brokered by US President Donald Trump, commits both countries to respect each other’s territorial integrity – the issue at the centre of bloody wars.

The agreement is seen as paving the way for Turkey to restore diplomatic ties with Armenia.

“Ankara has been promising that once there is a peace agreement, it will open the border,” says Asli Aydintasbas, of the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“There was a brief period in the post-Soviet era when it [the border] was opened, but that was quickly shut again due to the Armenian-Azeri tensions.”

Aydintasbas says reopening the border could have wide-reaching consequences.

“Armenia and Turkey opening their border and starting trade would be a historical moment in terms of reconciliation between these two nations, which have very bitter historic memories,” she adds.

“But beyond that, it would help Armenia economically because it’s a landlocked country entirely dependent on Russia for its protection and its economy.”

Turning point

In June, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul. The meeting was seen as a turning point in relations long overshadowed by the memory of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, which Ankara still officially denies.

“There’s now a degree of personal chemistry between the Armenian prime minister and Erdogan. This was seen in a June historic meeting, the first ever bilateral contact, a face-to-face meeting,” says Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre, a think tank in Yerevan.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 after ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan seized the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

The enclave was retaken by Azerbaijani forces in 2022. Giragosian says the peace deal, along with warmer ties between Pashinyan and Erdogan, could now help Yerevan reach a long-sought goal.

“In the longer perspective for Turkey and Armenia, this is about going beyond the South Caucasus. It’s about Central Asia. It’s about European markets, potentially a new Iran in the future,” he says.

Erdogan congratulated Pashinyan on Monday over the deal, but made no official pledge on reopening the border. That decision may lie with Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev.

“They [Ankara] will be looking to Baku. Baku is basically able to tell Turkey not to move on normalisation with Armenia, not to open the border,” says Aydintasbas.

“Part of the reason is that Turkey has developed an economic dependency on Azerbaijan, which is the top investor in Turkey. In other words, little brother is calling the shots, and I think that Ankara, to an extent, does not like it, but has come to appreciate the economic benefits of its relationship with Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijani demands on Armenia

Azerbaijan is also pushing for changes to Armenia’s constitution, which it claims makes territorial claims on Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The Armenian constitution refers to the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, which has a clear clause on the unification with Armenia, with Nagorno-Karabakh,” says Farid Shafiyev of the Centre for Analysis of International Relations, a Baku-based think tank.

Shafiyev warned that without reform, the peace deal could unravel.

“Let’s say, imagine Pashinyan losing elections, a new person says: ‘You know, everything which was signed was against the Armenian constitution.’ For us, it is important that the Armenian people vote for the change of the constitution,” Shafiyev says.

Analysts note that changing the constitution would require a referendum with more than 50 percent turnout – a difficult and time-consuming process.

Time, however, may be running short. Russia is seen as the biggest loser from lasting peace in the Caucasus. For decades Moscow exploited the conflict to play Armenia and Azerbaijan against each other.

Pashinyan is now seeking to move away from Russian dominance and closer to Europe.

Giragosian warned that Armenia’s window of opportunity is limited.

“There is a closing window of opportunity – that is Russia’s distraction with everything in Ukraine. We do expect a storm on the horizon, with an angry, vengeful Putin reasserting or attempting to regain Russia’s lost power and influence in the region.”

Weakening Russia’s grip remains key, he adds. “Armenia, after all, is still a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Russian-dominated trade bloc.

“But it’s also a country that has a Russian military base. Russia still manages the Armenian railway network, for example. This is why, for Armenia, the real key here is going to be Turkey and normalising relations with Turkey.”

At present, Armenia’s only open land borders are with Georgia and Iran – both close to Russia. Opening the Turkish border would give Armenia a vital new route, while also benefiting Turkey’s economically depressed border region.

But for now, Azerbaijan may seek further concessions before allowing any breakthrough.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear three different versions of a song requested by Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India.

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: “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” by Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson, Berry Gordy, in three versions: Brenda Holloway, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Alton Ellis.

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!

Earlier this month, the leaders of Italy, Turkey and Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) met in a tripartite summit – the latest sign of growing cooperation between the three Mediterranean nations.

“Turkey and Italy have both differing interests, but interests in Libya,” explains international relations professor Huseyin Bagcı of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

“Particularly, the migration issue and illegal human trafficking are big problems for Italy, and most of the people are coming from there [Libya], so they try to prevent the flow of migrants.

“But for Turkey, it’s more economic. And Libya is very much interested in keeping the relations with both countries.”

Turkey and Italy consider teaming up to seek new influence in Africa

Migration, legitimacy concerns

Turkey is the main backer of Libya’s GNA and still provides military assistance, which was decisive in defeating the rival eastern-based forces led by strongman Khalifa Haftar. An uneasy ceasefire holds between the two sides.

Libya security analyst Aya Burweilla said Turkey is seeking Italy’s support to legitimise the Tripoli government, as questions grow over its democratic record.

“What it means for the Tripoli regime is very positive. This is a regime that has dodged elections for years,” she says.

“Their job was to have democratic elections, and one of their ways to make sure they stay in power was to get foreign sponsors, like Turkey… Now, with this rubber stamp from Meloni in Italy, they can keep the status quo going at the expense of Libyans.”

Years of civil war and political chaos have turned Libya into a major hub for people smugglers. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, elected on a pledge to curb irregular migration, sees stability in Libya as key to that goal.

“The migration issue has become very, very urgent in general for Europe, but of course for Italy too,” says Alessia Chiriatti of the Institute of International Affairs, a think tank in Rome.

Trump and Erdogan grow closer as cooperation on Syria deepens

Mediterranean ambitions

Chiriatti said Meloni’s partnership with Turkey in Libya also reflects broader foreign policy goals.

“There is another dimension – I think it’s directly related to the fact that Italy and Meloni’s government want to play a different role in foreign policy in the Mediterranean space,” she says.

“Italy is starting to see Africa as a possible partner to invest in … But what is important is that Italy is starting to see itself as a new player, both in the Mediterranean space and in Africa, so in this sense, it could have important cooperation with Turkey.”

She points out that both Italy and Turkey share a colonial past in Libya. That legacy, combined with the lure of Libya’s vast energy reserves, continues to shape their diplomacy.

Ending the split between Libya’s rival governments is seen as vital for stability. Moscow’s reduced military support for Haftar, as it focuses on its war in Ukraine, is viewed in Ankara as an opening.

“Russia is nearly out, and what remains are Turkey and Italy,” says Bagcı.

He added that Ankara is making overtures to the eastern authorities through Haftar’s son Saddam, a senior figure in the Libyan military.

“The son of Haftar is coming very often to Ankara, making talks. It’s an indication of potential changes… But how the deal will look like I don’t know, we will see later. But it’s an indication of potential cooperation, definitely.”

Turkey steps into EU defence plans as bloc eyes independence from US

Shifting alliances

Libya was discussed when Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on Saturday.

Sisi backs Haftar’s eastern government. Libya had been a source of tension between Turkey and Egypt, but with relations thawing, both say they will work together on the country’s future.

Turkey’s position in Libya is strengthening, says Burweilla.

“Saddam is pro-Turkey – there is a huge difference between son and father – and the younger generation is pro-Turkey,” she says.

Such support, Burweilla said, stems from Ankara allowing Libyans to seek sanctuary in Turkey from fighting in 2011, when NATO forces led by France and the United Kingdom militarily intervened against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

“I think the Europeans underestimated the political capital that gave Turkey. Turkey is winning the game in Libya,” Burweilla says.

She adds that Ankara’s rising influence is also due to a shift in tactics towards the east.

“What they [Ankara] realised was that you can’t conquer the east of Libya by force; they tried and they failed. And the Turkish regime is very much motivated by business… They don’t care about anything else, and they’ve realised they want to make a business,” Burweilla says.

They’ve reached out more to the east, and the east, in turn, has realised that if they don’t want to be attacked by Turkey and its mercenaries, they need to make peace with Turkey as well.”

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.   

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.