The Mayotte lagoon – one of the world’s largest at 1,100 square kilometres – once teemed with coral that sheltered fish and crustaceans.

Enclosed by an outer barrier reef and fringed by an inner reef, it normally protects the island from ocean swells and cyclones. But the ecosystem is under strain from population growth, with poor sewage treatment and waste management threatening water quality.

Surveys by the Mayotte Marine Nature Park show Cyclone Chido wiped out 45 percent of corals across the island when it struck on 14 December 2024, killing 40 people and leaving 41 missing as it swept through the territory.

Combined with bleaching linked to El Nino earlier in the year, the two events decimated about two-thirds of Mayotte’s corals, representing a 35 percent loss of coral cover across the lagoon.

The report says the combined impacts have caused “very significant degradation of coral populations” across the island’s reefs. It describes the losses as major for a lagoon long regarded as a biodiversity hotspot in the Indian Ocean.

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

Reefs already weakened

The destruction varied across sites. The north-east, where the cyclone first struck, was hardest hit, with most corals wiped out. The double barrier reef fared better, losing roughly a quarter of its coral cover.

“When you first put your head underwater, there are areas that are particularly well preserved and others where nothing is left, though before there was richness and significant biodiversity,” Yoan Doucet, head of engineering at the Mayotte Marine Nature Park, told RFI in January.

He said surveys carried out before the cyclone had already measured an average 35 percent mortality from bleaching.

“It is therefore possible that afterwards, with the passage of Cyclone Chido, reefs that were already weakened could not resist Chido’s impact.”

The scale surprised park scientists. The mortality was quite unprecedented, with the last episode of this magnitude in 1998, said Oriane Lepeigneul, marine ecosystems officer at the Mayotte Marine Nature Park.

“They serve as both a habitat and a feeding ground. When you lose that habitat, you potentially lose functionality for these species,” she told RFI. “So either these species will move elsewhere, or perhaps some of them will decline.”

The study, which involved scientific support from consultancies Marex and Creocéan, says the island’s reefs were hit hard by the combined effects of bleaching and storm damage.

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

Threats to coastal protection

The collapse of corals threatens marine life and the livelihoods of those who depend on it.

The study warns that damage to the reef barrier also compromises natural protection for Mayotte’s shoreline, leaving the coast more exposed to storms and future cyclones.

Despite the devastation, some areas showed resilience. The cyclone’s force may even help recovery in certain places by clearing dead coral that had blocked regrowth after bleaching.

“If dead corals remain standing, that prevents recolonisation by live corals. But if the rock underneath is bare, that allows new corals to settle,” Lepeigneul told RFI.

The marine park says its priority now is to conserve surviving reefs while reducing human pressures such as pollution, poor water quality and coastal development.

“What will be most important now is to manage to conserve the reefs that have resisted,” Lepeigneul added.

Active restoration measures are being explored, though researchers caution that even with coral propagation techniques, only a fraction of what has been lost could be restored.

Arnould, 29, actress and former ballet dancer known for her work in theatre and voice acting, publicly accused Depardieu of rape in 2018, alleging the assaults occurred when she was in her early 20s.

Though her case was initially dropped, it was reopened in 2020 and investigative magistrates placed Depardieu under formal investigation in 2022.

The date of the trial has yet to be set.

“Seven years later, seven years of horror and hell… I think I’m having trouble realising how huge this is. I’m relieved,” said Arnould, who filed the complaint in 2018.

Depardieu faces trial

Her lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt confirmed that Depardieu, 76, had been ordered to stand trial for the alleged assault and rape by digital penetration of Arnould in August 2018 on two occasions at his Paris home.

“My client and I are relieved and confident. This is a form of judicial truth for Charlotte while she awaits the criminal trial,” she added.

“I think I’m having trouble realising how huge this is. I’m relieved,” Arnould also wrote on Instagram.

Depardieu, 76, has denied the charges of raping and sexually assaulting Arnould, saying his relationship with her was consensual.

This decision comes after a Paris court handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence in a separate case in May, convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

That conviction and a slew of other allegations have built up in recent years and tarnished the reputation of a man previously seen as the colossus of French cinema for the past half century.

Gérard Depardieu: the rise and fall of France’s global film star

The case raised by Arnould was initially dismissed for insufficient evidence but she filed a complaint as a civil party, which led to the opening of a judicial investigation in the summer of 2020.

Depardieu denies allegations

A lawyer for Depardieu did not immediately comment when contacted by news agencies.

Depardieu denied the allegations in a 2023 letter to French daily Le Figaro, writing: “Never, ever, have I abused a woman.”

“There was never any coercion, violence, or protest between us,” he said, referring to Arnould.

Arnould in late 2021 publicly accused Depardieu, a family friend, of raping her twice in August 2018 when she was 22 and anorexic. She said she weighed 37 kilos at the time.

Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series after rising to prominence in 1974 with “Going Places”, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France’s response to the #MeToo movement.

New rape investigations launched into former French news anchor Patrick Poivre d’Arvor

More than a dozen women have accused him of abuse.

In May, a Paris court convicted him on charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) by director Jean Becker.

The plaintiffs inlcuded a set dresser, 54, identified only as Amelie, and a 34-year-old assistant director, who accused the actor of sexual assault.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender. He has appealed the ruling.

 (with newswires)

Two professional organisations representing 800 newspapers and magazines employing over half of journalists in France announced Monday that they are taking “coordinated action” against public datasets used to train generative artificial intelligence services, such as ChatGPT.

Public-access datasets

The Apig, the general news medial alliance, and the Sepm, the magazine publisher’s union, aim to remove their members’ content from Common Crawl, C4 and Oscar – public-access datasets created by bots that “crawl” the internet.

The groups denounce what they say is a system that collects and distributes copyrighted articles “without authorisation or any access restrictions”, and allows generative AI service providers “to source press material through these intermediaries, avoiding any direct negotiations with publishers and respect of intellectual property rights”. 

Their strategy involves identifying the presence of copyrighted content in the datasets, formally requesting their removal, and preparing legal action against those who have profited from their use.

French court blocks Google project to limit news content in searches

The legal framework to protect copyrighted material is not solid, Apig CEO Pierre Petillault told RFI, and the political will to support authors rights clashes with France’s interest in technological innovation.

“There is this tension between innovation and intellectual property that unfortunately sometimes leads public authorities to be a little complacent towards large digital platforms,” he said.

“There is the temptation to promote innovation” and allow European AI companies the leeway to compete with the United States.

The impact of new technologies

However, the organisations argue that protecting the “professional information” sector is crucial.

Journalism and “professional information” requires investment and content must be compensated, the groups said.

Their initiative aims for “a fair sharing of the value generated by these new technologies.

It continued: “In a context where professional journalism’s economic viability is already fragile, this unauthorised capturing of value represents a direct threat to the quality of information, and ultimately, to democracy”.

EU begins rollout of new AI rules with tech giants split on compliance

In February, five press organisations – including the Apig and the Spem – representing more than 3,000 newspapers and magazines called on the public authorities to “impose a dialogue” between AI companies and the media, to “put an end to the plundering” of their content and preserve France’s information ecosystem.

A flotilla carrying international activists and humanitarian aid set off from Barcelona on Monday evening in what organisers are billing as the largest seaborne mission yet to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

The convoy – dubbed the Global Sumud Flotilla – had first attempted to leave on Sunday under blue skies and the applause of thousands gathered on the docks of Barcelona’s old port. But strong winds, gusting at more than 56 km/h, forced many of the smaller vessels to turn back.

With calmer seas, the boats slipped out after sunset on Monday evening.

Organisers say participants from 44 countries are on board, with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Barcelona’s former mayor Ada Colau among those setting sail.

The flotilla has also attracted support from Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon and Irish actor Liam Cunningham, best known for his role in Game of Thrones.

‘Nowhere in Gaza is safe’ says RFI correspondent amid call for global media access

Famine relief

It was not immediately clear how many vessels made it out on Monday, but around 20 boats were originally expected to depart from Barcelona.

Dozens more are due to join the convoy from across the Mediterranean later this week, making it the most ambitious attempt in years to breach the Israeli naval cordon around Gaza.

The mission comes against the backdrop of mounting alarm over food shortages inside the territory.

Earlier this month, experts from the UN-backed global body that monitors famine and food insecurity warned that 500,000 people across Gaza face catastrophic hunger, with famine already gripping Gaza City.

Nearly 340 Palestinians, including 124 children, have reportedly died from malnutrition since the conflict erupted almost two years ago.

Israel has consistently blocked previous flotillas, insisting its naval blockade is a security measure aimed at preventing Hamas from importing weapons.

The Israeli military is widely expected to intercept the latest mission before it reaches the enclave.

Israel sends military to block Gaza-bound aid boat carrying activists

Escalation in Gaza

As the boats were leaving Spain, the conflict inside Gaza intensified. Israeli air and artillery strikes killed at least 31 people on Monday, according to local health officials, more than half of them women and children.

The bombardment focused on Gaza City, declared a combat zone by Israel last week, with residents reporting the use of explosive-laden robots to demolish buildings on the outskirts and in the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp.

“Another merciless night in Gaza City,” said Saeed Abu Elaish, a medic sheltering in the northwest of the city.

Hospitals said at least 13 of the dead were in Gaza City itself, which has already endured multiple raids since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 triggered the war.

The conflict has now claimed more than 63,000 lives, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel maintains that it targets militants and accuses Hamas of embedding fighters in civilian neighbourhoods, a charge Hamas denies. 

Despite the risks of interception, campaigners say the Global Sumud Flotilla is as much a symbol of solidarity as it is an attempt to deliver supplies.

Burkina Faso’s transitional assembly has passed a controversial law criminalising homosexuality, marking the first time such legislation has been introduced in the country.

The move, backed unanimously on Monday by the 71 unelected members of the transitional legislative assembly, comes nearly three years after the military junta seized power.

Under the new law, individuals convicted of same-sex relations face prison sentences of between two and five years, as well as fines.

Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala announced on national television that foreign nationals found guilty would be expelled from the country.

Uganda court rejects petition against harsh anti-gay law

Broader ‘family’ reforms

Until now, Burkina Faso had no specific laws targeting homosexuals, although LGBT+ communities have long been forced to live discreetly.

The measure is part of a broader reform of the “Code of Persons and Families“, which also tightens the rules for acquiring Burkinabè nationality through marriage and grants legal recognition to religious and customary unions.

The legislation is expected to be signed into law by junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who took power in a coup in September 2022.

Traoré has pursued a fiercely sovereigntist line, often rejecting what he calls Western “values” and drawing closer to allies such as Russia and Iran.

Authorities say the new code will be rolled out through a public awareness campaign.

In August 2023, Burkina Faso’s media regulator banned television stations from broadcasting content deemed to promote homosexuality.

Ghana activists denounce new bill that makes identifying as LGBTQ+ a crime

Criminalisation of homosexuality

Monday’s legislation builds on this hardening stance. Neighbouring Mali, also ruled by a military junta, adopted a similar law in November 2024.

Burkina Faso joins more than 30 African nations where same-sex relations are outlawed.

In countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, prison terms can extend to life sentences.

In Nigeria, Kenya and Malawi, those convicted can face up to 14 years behind bars. Uganda’s recent Anti-Homosexuality Act has drawn widespread international condemnation for introducing harsh penalties, while Ghana’s parliament earlier this year passed a bill criminalising LGBT+ advocacy and support networks.

Around a third of countries around the world continue to prohibit same-sex relations, and in some cases these laws carry the death penalty.

Despite steady progress in many regions towards decriminalisation, campaigners warn of a “troubling regression” across parts of Africa.

The international advocacy group Ilga World has voiced concern that such crackdowns risk entrenching discrimination and undermining basic human rights.

Only one person survived the landslide that destroyed the village of Tarasin in the Jebel Marra mountain range on Sunday after a week of heavy rain, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) said Tuesday.

Request for aid

The leader of the group, Minni Arko Minawi called on the United Nations and aid organisations for help recovering the bodies buried under mud and debris.

In images published by the SLM online, huge sections of the mountainside appear to have collapsed, burying the village under mud, uprooted trees and shattered beams.

The SLM, which controls parts of the Jebel Marra range, has mostly stayed out of the conflict the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Supplies needed

However, hundreds of thousands of people have fled into SLM-held territory to escape the violence, in particular a siege of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Food, shelter, and medical supplies are insufficient for the number of people arriving, and the area is also suffering a cholera outbreak.

The rainy season regularly blocks roads, adding to isolation of the mountainous areas.

The fighting has made access to much of Darfur – including the area where the landslide occurred – inaccessible to international aid organisations, severely limiting the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance.

(with newswires)

“In the face of the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X on Tuesday, announcing Belgium’s intention to recognise Palestine.

France and Saudi Arabia have led a diplomatic effort to urge countries to recognise a Palestinian state at a summit during the UN General Assembly to be held from 9-23 September in New York.

France along with Britain, Australia and Canada had already made the pledge, in a move described as a political signal also aimed at condemning Israel’s settlement expansion and military presence in the territories.

• Why is France recognising Palestinian statehood and will it change anything?

Israel has been angered by the pledges, and the United States has condemned them.

“This is not about punishing the Israeli people, but rather about ensuring that its government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground,” Prevot said, adding that Belgium will also levy “12 firm sanctions” on Israel.

These include a ban on importing products from its settlements, a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies and declaring Hamas leaders persona non grata in Belgium.

European Union member states remain divided over Israel’s war in Gaza.

During a meeting of foreign ministers in Copenhagen on Saturday some urged the bloc to exert significant economic pressure on Israel, while others were firmly opposed such measures.

However the EU as a bloc has urged the US to reconsider its decision to deny visas to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials seeking to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly and the summit.

“In the light of the existing agreements between the UN and its host state, we all urge for this decision to be reconsidered,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after the Copenhagen meeting.

(with newswires)

A “record” 37.5 tonnes of cocaine were seized in France in the first six months of this year, compared to 47 tonnes in the whole of 2024 – an increase of 45 percent.

These figures – revealed in a confidential note from late July from the national anti-drug trafficking agency (Ofast) – prompted Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to describe the proliferation of cocaine in France as a “white tsunami”.

More than half of those 47 tonnes came from, or was intercepted in, the French Caribbean territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique – whose combined population is little more than 750,000. 

“It’s easy to imagine the impact this has on the local population,” says investigative journalist Jerome Pierrat, an expert on organised crime. “An explosion in violence, in the use of firearms and in local drug use… it’s a major destabilisation of society.”

According to a recent report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Martinique and Guadeloupe have become major gateways for cocaine and marijuana entering mainland France.

Cocaine and synthetic drugs power new era of global trafficking

From South America to Europe

The reasons for the French Caribbean becoming a key entry and transit point for South American cocaine en route to Europe are largely geographical.

The French Antilles are on the doorstep of South America’s cocaine-producing countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, and close to Venezuela – one of the two exit countries for cocaine, along with Brazil.

Global production continues to increase, with the Andean countries producing 2,700 tonnes in 2022, more than double the amount produced in 2010.

Yet the traditional North American market has plateaued, Peirrat explains, with some users there turning to synthetic drugs such as fentanyl. The United States’ anti-drug trafficking measures have also forced cartels to look elsewhere – notably further south.

“Traffickers are looking for people with money to sell cocaine to, so they tend to turn to Europe, Australia, Asia, Japan and a part of China. The second biggest market in terms of purchasing power is Europe,” explains Pierrat.

In addition, because they are part of France the Antilles are not subject to extra customs checks when transporting goods to the mainland. And Guadeloupe, with its 700 kilometres of coastline and small islands, is particularly difficult to monitor.

More than 2 tonnes of cocaine washes up on shores of northern France

Record seizures

In late February, the French Navy seized 8.3 tonnes of cocaine from a cargo ship off the coast of Martinique. In March, 1.2 tonnes were seized near Martinique.

In June, 2.4 tonnes were seized on a “go-fast vessel” – a type of a small, fast powerboat favoured by smugglers – near the US Virgin Islands, while in July, French Armed Forces intercepted close to five tonnes on two ships in the Caribbean.

On the French mainland, authorities made a major haul in January – two tonnes of cocaine, valued at €130 million – in the northern port of Le Havre, France’s main maritime gateway.

Further along the chain, Pierrat highlights a recent haul on the Balzac housing estate in Vitry-sur-Seine, a working class suburb of Paris: “160kg of pure cocaine that had come over from Guadeloupe in a fake removals vehicle.”

While some drugs are still transported by plane, the cartels prefer to use sea routes for ever-larger quantities. Shipments are dispatched from Colombia’s and Venezuela’s Caribbean coasts and routed via islands such as Dominica, before landing on the many beaches of the French Antilles aboard fast boats.

Once in the Antilles, cocaine is stored locally and then shipped on to ports in northern Europe such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, and Le Havre.

Belgian port of Antwerp says record volume of cocaine seized in 2022

Surge in violence

In the fight against trafficking, French authorities are facing criminal networks capable of changing their strategies regularly.

“They are now highly structured, no longer work with intermediaries, deal directly with South American drug producers and are capable of exporting cocaine to Europe,” Guadeloupe’s Attorney General Eric Maurel recently told France Info. 

He has also warned that criminal gangs in Guadeloupe “seem to be evolving towards mafia-style structures”.

Pierrat says local officials in the Antilles have been “sounding the alarm for two or three years now,” – but to little effect.

In June this year, Maurel, alongside another judge, Michael Janas, gave a press conference warning that drug trafficking and the proliferation of firearms was driving an unprecedented surge in violence in Guadeloupe.

“All warning lights are flashing red. We are facing a wall of crime,” they told reporters. “We are at a tipping point. It’s now or never.”

The judges said that between January and June this year, Guadeloupe recorded 28 violent homicides, along with 111 attempted murders and 300 armed robberies.

Neighbouring Martinique has also seen a rise in violence, with 16 homicides since January, 13 involving firearms.

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“This is no longer a series of isolated incidents; it is a spiral of death taking root in our daily lives. And yet, the State looks the other way,” wrote Serge Letchimy, president of the executive council of Martinique, in an op-ed published in Le Monde in June. 

According to Letchimy’s figures, only 1,400 of the 188,000 containers passing through Martinique’s port in Fort-de-France in 2024 were inspected by customs – the result of chronic understaffing.

On 19 August, four MPs from Guadeloupe published a letter to the Interior and Economy ministers, demanding immediate reinforcement to fight the growing instability fuelled by drug trafficking.

Cocaine use in France doubles as workplace pressures drive demand

New measures

The French government appears to have heard their call. On a recent visit to the Antilles, Retailleau announced a raft of measures, including 13 additional investigators to bolster the ranks of Ofast.

A local ballistics lab will be opened, meaning forensic samples will no longer have to be sent to the mainland, and two mobile gendarmerie squads and two marine units are to be deployed.

Paris will also provide radar systems to monitor the strategic Dominica and Les Saintes channels and a drone to survey Guadeloupe’s coastline. Checks at ports and airports are to be reinforced.

While acknowledging that France’s planned budget cuts meant it was limited in what it could provide, Retailleau insisted: “The Republic will not give an inch on public order. We will not let these territories become a lawless zone.”

France to build supermax prison to isolate drug lords and Islamists in Amazon

‘No quick fix’

Guadeloupe MPs Olivier Serva and Max Mathiasin, two of the authors of the open letter, expressed their “relative satisfaction” after months of lobbying for reinforcements.

“I heard announcements, not empty words,” Serva told local radio. “I’m satisfied. But we expect more on regional cooperation and faster implementation.”

Mathiasin called the measures “a step in the right direction” but warned they’d have to see them in action.

In Pierrat’s opinion, given the size of the territory and its waters, 13 more investigators may not make much difference. He added that there is no quick fix for the situation, and suggesting otherwise is political posturing.

“The problem is Retailleau doesn’t have time. Elections are fast approaching, all this stuff has to be visible, talked about, it has to look like they’re doing something. But if you really want to curb trafficking you’d lay on 200 more investigators, 200 drones, you’d throw in a billion euros. And it will still take time,” he says.

Another concern is the expansion of the main ports in Guadeloupe and Martinique as part of the “Antilles Hub” project, which aims to transform them into a major regional logistics and maritime centre. 

An additional 300,000 containers are expected to transit through the ports each year. While this is intended to give the region a much needed economic boost, Pierrat fears it will also boost trafficking.

“Traffickers are very happy,” he says “It’ll be very hard to monitor all the extra containers, even with a couple of extra radars or mobile scanners. And even if you could afford to install loads more scanners that would slow traffic down, [which] makes no commercial sense when you’re trying to attract new business.”

Acknowledging these concerns, Retailleau said a mission from the General Secretariat of the Sea will be conducted within the coming weeks to “audit all port processes” both in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

France transfers first drug traffickers to be isolated in ultra-secure prison

Forgotten territories

With unemployment in the Antilles more than double that on the French mainland – 15.7 percent in Guadeloupe and 12.8 percent in Martinique, compared to the national average of 7.4 percent – plus a far higher cost of living and lower wages, the economic conditions are ripe for spreading corruption.

“The French overseas departments have the highest corruption rates in France, including civil servants,” says Pierrat. “But that’s the corollary of drug-trafficking – corruption and violence.”

He also points out that the French Antilles are no longer just a transit hub for cocaine, but indeed a growing local market for it – spurred on by the fact local traffickers are paid in cocaine. 

“I’ve been writing and making documentaries about drug trafficking for 30 years now,” he says. “It’s been growing for decades. We saw it coming. And yet all of a sudden you get the impression it sprung up over the last couple of years.

“For years it was a forgotten corner of France. The guys in French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe… nobody really gives a damn. So I’m not very hopeful or optimistic that the situation in the French Antilles will change any time soon, unfortunately for them.”

French Prime Minister Bayrou has vowed not to bow out quietly, insisting that his contested economic programme is about the future of France, not just his own political survival.

Speaking on Sunday evening from his office at Matignon, the 74-year-old head of government gave a sprawling 90-minute interview broadcast live on France’s four rolling news channels.

Switching briefly into his native Béarnais dialect of Occitan, he closed with a rallying cry: “Continuons le combat” – which roughly translates as “keep the fight going”.

Bayrou seeks unity before September vote that could topple government

Fixing France’s finances

Bayrou is facing a make-or-break vote of confidence in the National Assembly on 8 September, prompted by his decision to tie his government’s future to a tough savings package worth €44 billion.

His opponents on the left and the far right, eager to turn the page on his government, have already pledged to vote him down.

For Bayrou, however, the issue at stake is bigger than his premiership. “The question is not the fate of the Prime Minister,” he declared, “but the fate of France.”

Without at least minimal agreement from MPs and citizens on tackling the national debt, he argued, “there is no courageous policy possible.”

The centrist leader warned that if his government falls, France risks sliding into “a laxer, drifting policy” that he believes would endanger the country’s finances.

Macron gives ‘full support’ to embattled PM as crisis looms in France

‘Alternative budget’ dismissed

Yet he also held out an olive branch, promising to meet party leaders this week and signalling room for negotiation on some of the most unpopular measures, including the proposed abolition of two public holidays.

Still, he firmly dismissed the Socialist Party’s alternative budget plan, which would halve the scale of the savings next year and lean more heavily on taxing the wealthy.

“That means doing nothing on the debt,” he retorted, brushing aside suggestions that the PS is ready to take the reins at Matignon.

Socialist leader Olivier Faure has already told Bayrou to start saying goodbye. “On 8 September he will have to go,” Faure said.

Bayrou, quick to counter, shot back: “Olivier Faure wants to be at Matignon. My interview is certainly not a farewell.”

If ousted, Bayrou has no intention of disappearing from the stage. He hinted at a return to activism, perhaps even another presidential run: “When you are overturned, that is when militancy begins, when the fight begins, when meeting the French begins.”

France’s Bayrou puts debt decision to lawmakers, risking fall of government

Reaction from Left and Right

The interview drew sharp reaction, with France Unbowed MP Eric Coquerel mocking it as part of an “endless farewell tour.” Faure himself described it as “pathetic and crepuscular,” while National Rally deputy Sébastien Chenu called Bayrou a “shipwrecked Prime Minister, at the end of his rope.”

Behind the political theatre looms a deeper uncertainty. If Bayrou falls, President Emmanuel Macron will need to appoint a new Prime Minister.

Names already circulating include prominent poltical figures like labour minister Catherine Vautrin, defence minister Sébastien Lecornu and justice minister Gérald Darmanin.

Meanwhile, several senior figures sounded the alarm at the weekend. Former Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned against “collective suicide, not for the government but for the country,” urging compromise.

Justice Minister Darmanin appealed for responsibility among mainstream parties, while France’s top public spending watchdog, Pierre Moscovici, cautioned that the financial situation was “not critical, but certainly worrying.”

On Monday, 1 September, la rentrée will see France’s 12 million school pupils go back to class, with new rules and new exams to contend with.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Borne is facing mounting political uncertainty that could cut short her tenure.

Digital ‘detox’

One of the most visible changes this year is the extension of the “portable en pause” scheme, under which pupils are only allowed to use their phones on their break (pause in French).

While a 2018 law already prohibits mobile phone use in French secondary schools, enforcement has often been patchy.

The new approach obliges students to leave their devices in lockers, pouches or cases during lessons.

Piloted last year in about a hundred schools, the scheme is now being rolled out nationally – although its implementation will be left to each headteacher, in agreement with local authorities.

Education unions have noted that authorities have not seen a surge of requests, suggesting many schools believe their current rules suffice.

The digital detox also extends to the online platforms that have become central to school life.

From this term, the widely used Espaces numériques de travail (ENT) – the online platform used to share timetables, homework, grades and messages – will no longer be updated between 8pm and 7am on weekdays, or over weekends. This also applies to digital workplace software such as Pronote,

The “right to disconnect” is designed to ease screen fatigue and reduce pressure on pupils and parents alike.

France rolls out trial ban on using mobile phones in secondary schools

Exams get tougher

Students in première – the penultimate year of lycée, French high school – face a new two-hour written maths exam next spring.

It will mix multiple-choice questions with short exercises and apply either to the general curriculum or to the specialised maths track.

At the same time, grading for France’s high school diploma, the baccalauréat, is being tightened, with the overall pass mark raised to 9.5 out of 20. There will be tighter restrictions on resits too.

The brevet – the middle-school leaving certificate – is also changing. Exam marks will account for 60 percent of the final grade, up from 50 percent, with continuous assessment dropping to 40 percent.

France to show ‘Adolescence’ mini-series as part of school curriculum

Sex education and new curriculum

Another long-discussed reform comes into force this school year: compulsory sex and relationship education.

Although mandated by law since 2001, the sessions were often overlooked.

From this year, all schools – primary and secondary, public and private – must provide three annual classes under the new EVARS programme, which aims to educate students in empathy, consent and sexuality.

The education ministry has also asked schools to hold parent-teacher meetings early in the year, in order to address concerns and combat misinformation.

Meanwhile, new French and maths curricula are being rolled out from nursery through to the end of primary school, with experimental modules introducing pupils to artificial intelligence launching via the Pix digital platform.

France’s Bayrou puts debt decision to lawmakers, risking fall of government

Minister under pressure

Borne was appointed education minister only eight months ago – after a short and turbulent succession of predecessors – but nonetheless now confronts the possibility that her first rentrée could be her last.

Prime Minister François Bayrou’s decision to seek a confidence vote in the National Assembly on 8 September has placed the entire government at risk, with a negative outcome widely expected.

Borne, herself a former prime minister, insists her “only compass” is ensuring a smooth return to school.

“We’ll see what happens,” she told Le Parisien newspaper, stressing that her focus is on pupils and teachers rather than parliamentary manoeuvres.

Unions, however, have express deep frustration over the revolving door at the education ministry. “We’re tired of changing ministers all the time,” said Elisabeth Allain-Moreno of SE-Unsa.

Others highlight persistent issues that reforms have not addressed: shortages of teachers, poor working conditions and low morale.

A survey by Unsa Education found 77 percent of teaching staff would not recommend their profession, and this year more than 2,600 teaching posts remain unfilled.

Wider budget cuts are adding to the unease in the sector. Although Bayrou’s July savings plan earmarks an extra €200 million for schools in 2026, education unions fear broader austerity measures could bite in the coming weeks.

Abu Dhabi was the first Gulf capital to join the United States-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan later followed suit.

At the time, Emirati officials said the deal would help bring peace and stability to the region. But critics saw things differently.

“The justifications presented by the Emirati regime for signing the Abraham Accords have proven to be blatant lies,” Muhammad Jamil, director of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK, told the Middle East Monitor.

He said Israel’s actions after 2020 – such as settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, illegal under international law – had undermined the UAE’s justifications for the accords, yet Emirati leaders still chose to deepen their relations with Israel.

Growing links with Israel

Despite the war in Gaza, trade and business links between Israel and the Emirates have grown. In 2024, bilateral trade rose 43 percent to reach €2.76 billion.

Nearly 600 Israeli companies have opened offices in the Emirates, and around 1 million Israeli tourists visited last year. The only flights to and from Israel not suspended during the Gaza war were those from the UAE.

“In this alliance with Israel, I believe there is both a desire to please the Americans… and also a kind of similarity between two countries that are ‘artificial’,” Middle East researcher Marc Lavergne, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), told RFI.

Gaza’s largest hospital struggles to function in ‘catastrophic’ health situation

Support for Palestinians

The Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, 2023 – and Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza – put the UAE’s dual role under new pressure.

In response, Abu Dhabi launched its “Valorous Knights” humanitarian campaign. In November it opened a field hospital in Rafah, and it has since hosted thousands of Palestinians evacuated for medical treatment at the “Humanitarian City“.

More recently, the UAE announced a project to bring desalinated water from Egypt into southern Gaza.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed wrote on social media in July. “The UAE remains at the forefront of efforts to provide vital aid to the Palestinian people… whether by land, air or sea.”

When several Western governments suspended funding for UNRWA in January 2024, the UAE doubled its contribution to the UN agency.

NGOs accuse Israel of ‘weaponising’ aid to Gaza as France readies airdrop

Palestinian statehood and US ties

The UAE has at times toughened its language in support of a future Palestinian state, while also sticking closely to Washington.

In February 2025 – less than a week after Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a plan to relocate 2 million Palestinians and turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” – UAE ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba told the World Government Summit in Dubai that he saw “no alternative” to the US-backed proposals.

State news agency WAM later reported that Abu Dhabi opposed the forced displacement of Palestinians.

The Emirates have also hosted Mohammed Dahlan, a rival to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas – a move seen as undermining Abbas’s position.

“The UAE may pay for this stance in terms of image and political clout,” said Lavergne.

In September 2024, then-US president, Joe Biden elevated the UAE to the status of “major defence partner “of the US.

Hunger, disease and no escape: Gaza aid worker’s account of life under siege

Domestic sensitivities

The war in Gaza and illegal Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank are highly sensitive issues for the Emirati leadership.

Demonstrations in support of Palestinians are banned, and at Cop28 in Dubai in November 2023 pro-Palestinian protests were tightly monitored.

“How can we maintain relations with Israel when there is no two-state solution? And how can we say that Hamas is a terrorist group without calling the settlers and everything they do terrorists?” a senior Emirati official told the Times of Israel.

Lavergne said Emirati leaders “have chosen the West, or at least globalisation”. But he added they are also “dancing on a volcano” as public opinion grows, especially in the poorer, more pro-Arab emirates.

The first injection came from Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik, in southeastern Norway.

“We now injected and stored the very first CO2 safely in the reservoir,” Northern Lights managing director Tim Heijn said in a statement. “Our ships, facilities and wells are now in operation.”

Northern Lights is run by oil companies Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies.

The scheme collects CO2 from smokestacks across Europe, liquifies it and ships it to the Oygarden terminal near Bergen on Norway’s west coast. From there it is pumped through a 110-kilometre pipeline into a reservoir about 2.6 kilometres beneath the seabed.

The project is intended to stop emissions entering the atmosphere and help limit climate change.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is backed by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) as a tool to cut pollution from heavy industries like steel and cement.

Norway launches world’s first commercial carbon storage vault

A smokescreen?

But environmentalists fear it could become a smokescreen.

“I think it’s worrisome because we’ve previously seen that the oil industry which is a very powerful industry in Norway, has used the carbon capture and storage [to justify] prolonging the extraction of oil and gas,” Halvard Raavand, deputy programme manager for Greenpeace Norway, told RFI.

“In itself, storing isn’t necessarily bad, but what we’ve seen so far is that the potential in CCS is overhyped. Even the International Energy Agency has come out and warned against a kind of overoptimism on CCS.”

“This cannot end up as a sleeping pill for Norway and other countries when talking about climate action, because what’s most urgently needed is just to phase out fossil fuels.”

The technology is also complex and costly.

Without subsidies, industries often find it cheaper to buy “pollution permits” on the European carbon market than to pay for capture and storage.

‘Costs are huge’

“The costs are huge. At Greenpeace, we think it would be better if this money were invested in real solutions,” Raavand said.

“We need more investments in offshore wind power. Especially Norway which has a huge potential.”

Northern Lights has signed three commercial contracts so far: with a Yara ammonia plant in the Netherlands, two Orsted biofuel plants in Denmark and a Stockholm Exergi thermal power plant in Sweden.

The project is largely funded by the Norwegian state. Its current storage capacity is 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 a year, with plans to reach five million tonnes by 2030.

Countries including the United States, India and Japan are also moving ahead with carbon capture and storage projects.

(with newswires)

The best known structures are in the town of Carnac, where nearly 3,600 stones stretch in long rows across six kilometres of land. They were erected about 7,000 years ago.

Carnac’s mayor Olivier Lepick called them “the first experience of human-built structures”. He says the Unesco label will help protect the site and attract more visitors.

Tourists already come in summer for the beaches, but Lepick expects the recognition to bring people year-round.

“They will also come in the spring and autumn seasons which will be very good for the business and the economy of the city,” he says.

Inside France’s perfectly preserved prehistoric Cussac cave

Mysterious function

Experts are still unsure why the vast fields of stone were built. “We don’t see any understandable function,” Lepick says.

“We believe this is related to religion, probably to gods. But there were no writings at this time. So, it’s only a hypothesis.”

The Carnac site is the first in Brittany to be fully inscribed on the World Heritage list. The Vauban Tower in Finistère already appears, but only as part of a wider group of 12 fortifications across France.

France now counts 54 sites on the Unesco list. Spain and China each have 60, and Germany has 55.

The EU’s rules protect rights, including freedom of expression, the bloc’s digital chief Henna Virkkunen said Monday on X, posting a letter addressed to the US Congress.

“I will keep enforcing them, for our kids, citizens and businesses,” she wrote.

Last week Trump threatened to add tariffs on all countries with digital taxes, legislation or regulations, saying they were designed to harm or discriminate against American technology,

He has consistently criticised the EU’s two main pieces of legislation: the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which seeks to curb the power of tech giants, and the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires large online platforms to tackle illegal and harmful content.

• EU begins rollout of new AI rules with tech giants split on compliance

In the letter to the US Congress, Virkunen reiterated that the DSA and DMA were EU legislation with “no extraterritorial jurisdiction in the US or any other EU country”.

She countered claims made by the US State Department and tech company leaders, like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, that the EU rules amounted to “censorship”, stressing that the DSA upholds freedom of expression by protecting consumers not only against scams and fraud, “but also on defending our democracies and deliberate manipulation campaigns aimed at undermining free and fair elections”.

Virkkunen also objected to Congress inviting her predecessor, Thierry Breton, to appear before US lawmakers.

The European Commission had previously stated that the rules governing the technology industry formed part of the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activity. It rejected President Trump’s claim that the EU was targeting US companies, stressing that the regulations applied equally to all platforms and businesses.

“Tax and regulation issues are the preserve of our national parliaments and the European parliament,” French President Emmanuel Macron said last week at a joint news conference with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“We won’t let anyone else decide for us,” he said, warning that any move by the US to challenge the regulations would be met with retaliation from the EU.

“Should such measures be taken, it would qualify as coercion and prompt a response from the Europeans,” he added, referring to the EU’s anti-coercion instrument, which allows the bloc to punish countries seeking to pressure it to change its policies.

(with newswires)

A swastika on the flag of the military of a NATO country might be a surprising sight – but it has been the official emblem of the Finnish Air Force for more than a century.

Until now. The air force has just announced that it will permanently remove swastikas from its flags, having already removed them from its uniforms and insignia.

“We could have continued with the swastika, but it was sometimes awkward with foreign visitors. It is surely wiser to move with the times,” the new head of the Finnish Air Force, Tomi Böhm, told Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

Raised eyebrows

The use of the symbol dates back to 1918. At the time it was less than a year since Finland had gained independence, recovering from a century of Russian rule and almost seven centuries of Swedish governance.

However, the air force in fact chose the swastika as its emblem in tribute to a Swedish aristocrat, Count Erik von Rosen.

He donated Finland its first military plane in 1918, which bore his personal symbol – the swastika.

The symbol differs slightly from the Nazi swastika, which is tilted at a 45-degree angle. The swastika as used by European and Asian civilisations since ancient times is straight – as is the one used by Finland’s air force. 

This, however, hasn’t prevented raised eyebrows among NATO allies, tourists and other foreigners who spot them at military events.

NATO exercises begin in Nordic region amid heightened tensions with Russia

The confusion over the use of the swastika was further fuelled by the fact that von Rosen later became the brother-in-law of Hermann Göring, a decorated First World War fighter pilot who went on to lead Germany’s Luftwaffe during the Second World War.

The Finnish air force stressed that its use of the symbol had no connection to Nazi Germany, even if Finland had entered into a reluctant alliance with the Third Reich during the Second World War.

NATO integration

The air force has been gradually retiring the symbol in recent years. It first disappeared from its insignia in 2017, then was stripped from uniforms in 2020.

The Finnish Defence Forces, in an email to the Associated Press news agency on Friday, said a plan to renew the air force unit flags was launched in 2023, the year Finland joined NATO, but said it was not linked to joining the alliance.

The aim, it said, was “to update the symbolism and emblems of the flags to better reflect the current identity of the Air Force”.

Teivo Teivainen, a professor of world politics at the University of Helsinki, said the flags in question were introduced in the 1950s and today are flown by four Air Force units.

The Air Force and the Finnish public had for years insisted the swastikas used in Finland’s air force “have nothing to do with the Nazi swastika,” said Teivainen, who this month had a book published whose Finnish title translates as “History of the Swastika”.

Europe needs special Ukraine envoy to get meaningful peace role, Finland says after US rebuff

But now, following Finland’s joining of NATO, policymakers have decided “there’s now a need to get more integrated with the forces of countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and France – countries where the swastika is clearly a negative symbol,” he said.

Teivainen said that in 2021, German air force units bowed out of a final ceremony following exercises at a military base in Finland’s Lapland region after learning that the Finnish swastikas would be on display.

The new flag – with an emblem featuring a golden eagle – will be introduced for events such as parades and local ceremonies, the Defence Forces said.

(with newswires and adapted from this story in French)

The European Union has urged Washington to rethink its decision to block visas for Palestinian officials hoping to attend next month’s UN General Assembly in New York, warning that the move breaches international obligations.

“In the light of the existing agreements between the UN and its host state, we all urge for this decision to be reconsidered,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after a meeting of foreign ministers in Copenhagen at the weekend.

Kallas invoked international law in pressing the US to reverse what she called an “extraordinary step”, one that further aligns President Donald Trump’s administration with Israel as its war in Gaza rages on.

France says US should not refuse Palestinians access to UN summit

‘No restrictions’

The visa dispute threatens to overshadow France’s initiative to push for broader recognition of a Palestinian state at the gathering of world leaders.

French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot was among the first to denounce the move, insisting that “a UN General Assembly meeting … should not be subject to any restrictions on access”.

Several ministers in Copenhagen echoed France’s stance, underlining that the United States, as host nation of the United Nations, is obliged not to obstruct the participation of invited delegations.

Why is France recognising Palestinian statehood and will it change anything?

Breach of international law

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas had been due to attend in person, a symbolic moment given his long if fraught history of engagement with Washington.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the decision as a “clear contradiction of international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement”. That agreement stipulates that the United States cannot deny entry to officials invited to UN sessions, regardless of the state of bilateral relations.

Against this backdrop of mounting criticism, legal experts have been weighing in.

François Dubuisson, professor of international law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, spoke to RFI about why he believes the US move represents a breach of binding international commitments.

RFI: What does the agreement between the United Nations and the United States say regarding access to the UN HQ?

The United States is bound by a headquarters agreement with the UN, covering the holding of its sessions in New York. This agreement sets out a number of obligations – in particular, the duty not to obstruct the arrival of people invited to take part in UN sessions. That includes the obligation to grant the necessary visas to those invited by the UN.

Crucially, these obligations apply regardless of the US’s bilateral relations with the governments concerned. The aim is precisely to avoid situations where diplomatic tensions or non-recognition of certain states would lead to obstacles. This protection extends not only to state representatives but also to NGOs or media accredited by the UN.

So yes, the US decision is a breach of its obligations under the headquarters agreement.

RFI: Does this amount to a violation of international law?

Yes, because the headquarters agreement is part of international law and creates binding obligations for the United States.

Preventing Palestinian representatives from attending the General Assembly in September is therefore clearly a violation of international law.

RFI: In 1988, the Reagan administration refused to issue a visa for Yasser Arafat. Is this situation comparable?

There are similarities but also key differences. In 1988, a US law prevented members of the PLO mission in New York from attending the session, because of anti-terrorism legislation that led to the mission’s closure.

That provoked strong protests from the UN and even triggered legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice.

Ultimately, a US judge ruled that the headquarters agreement prevailed over domestic legislation, forcing Washington to comply. But in the meantime, the General Assembly had to decamp to Geneva to allow Arafat to address world leaders.

Today, the situation is even clearer: Palestine now holds observer state status at the UN. This means it is fully covered by the headquarters agreement. Blocking its representatives is therefore a direct violation.

RFI: Could the same outcome be expected today?

Perhaps, but things may prove more complicated. The Trump administration has shown little inclination to abide by judicial rulings, domestic or international. That could drag out any dispute.

RFI: The US justification is that the Palestinian Authority has failed to uphold its peace commitments. Isn’t that more political than legal?

Absolutely. If we look at the reality, Israel has also obstructed the peace process through its occupation and settlement policies, not to mention events in Gaza.

To single out the Palestinians is clearly political and shows the bias of President Trump.

But such considerations are irrelevant when it comes to granting visas for UN sessions. If the host country started issuing or withholding visas depending on whether it approved of a government’s policies, it would undermine the very principle of the United Nations: to bring all states together, irrespective of political disagreements.

This interview is based on the original French version by RFI’s Guilhel Delteil and has been slightly edited for clarity.

France has not run a budget surplus in over fifty years. The last time was before the 1973 oil crisis.

“Since then, our deficit has not stopped increasing, and so our debt has not stopped increasing,” François Ecalle, a former member of France’s high council on public finance and an honorary senior adviser to the Cour des Comptes public auditors, told RFI.

France’s debt at the end of the first semester of 2025 was €3,345 billion, according to the Insee statistics institute, and it has grown over the last two decades to reach 113.9 percent of GDP this year.

“Each year the public debt goes up because we have a deficit: overall, the state and local authorities and the social security system have revenue that is less than what they spend,” Ecalle says.

Crises feed the debt

That deficit – the difference between revenue and spending – comes from yearly spending, but has also gone up with various crises, most recently the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, when the government spent money to bail out businesses and support the healthcare system and other public services.

Like many states, France borrows money to cover the deficit, which costs more money, as there is interest to pay – the cost of servicing the debt.

Retirement benefits – which continue to rise, with an ageing population – are the largest item in the 2026 budget, but they are followed by the cost of servicing the debt, which Bayrou said is expected to cost €75 billion – more than the cost of healthcare or education.

Servicing the debt

Because interest rates have been on the rise, Bayrou said the cost of servicing the debt could become the single largest line item in the budget by 2029, which he says represents a serious and immediate danger.

“An immediate danger weighs on us, which we need to face, not tomorrow or after tomorrow, but today, without any sort of delay, without which our future will be denied us and the present will be made severely worse,” the Prime Minister said during the press conference on 25 August in which he announced the confidence vote he would put to parliament on 8 September.

Movement calls for September shutdown across France to protest budget cuts

The Cour des comptes public auditor agrees that reducing the debt is necessary. In July last year, the head of the institution, Pierre Moscovici, called it a “burning obligation”.

Keeping France’s yearly deficit within the European Union’s limit of 3 percent of GDP is “imperative to the sustainability of the debt”, the auditor wrote this July – if the deficit goes up, lenders will no longer trust France to pay back its loans.

Debate over how to reduce the debt

The debate – and subsequent vote in parliament – will focus on “the overall plan, its necessity and usefulness,” Bayrou said, even as the political disagreements are more on the substance of Bayrou’s particular proposals, rather than the concept of the deficit itself.

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

“There is a growing consensus among experts, politicians, and the French people, particularly around the idea that something must be done to reduce deficits and regain control of the debt,” said Ecalle.

“But there is no consensus on how to get there. And when one government starts saying how to do it, the response is to look elsewhere.”

What to tax, what to cut?

Bayrou’s draft budget has €21 billion in spending cuts, plus a pension freeze and a cap to all social benefits to 2025 levels.

Taxation is a red herring – French President Emmanuel Macron’s governments have promised no new taxes on households.

Ecalle says at some point the government needs to find new sources of revenue, through taxes – on inherited property or high pensions – but he recognises the difficulty in getting people to support such measures: taxes, like budget cuts, are never popular.

Why does France want to scrap two of its public holidays?

“The debates we are having today over how to balance the books – whether they involve spending cuts or tax increases – are debates that we have been having for decades. When I was at finance ministry 30 years ago, these were the same debates,” he says, adding that his not optimistic that the current period will be any different.

“We put off these the conflicts over taxes and public spending that we are unable to resolve today, to some point in the future.”

Rwanda received seven people from the United States in the last week of August, as part of a deportation deal with the Trump administration, which has sought to send foreigners to third countries including Eswatini, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

Authorities in Kigali announced at the beginning of August that they had reached an agreement with the United States to take in up to 250 migrants.

The move has raised fresh concerns over human rights, legality, and the growing trend of wealthier nations paying others to accept deportees.

To understand the implications for migrants, for Africa, and for human rights, we spoke to Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. A specialist on Rwanda, the Great Lakes region, and conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, he has conducted field research in Rwanda and beyond every year for the past 20 years

Rwanda agrees to take migrants from US in deal that includes cash grant

Kasakula: The first solar-powered village in Malawi

Meanwhile, in southern Africa, a community of nearly 9,000 households in rural Malawi became the country’s first village to achieve universal access to solar power at the end of August.

Kasakula town, where off-grid families have until now relied on lamps and candles, has reached this milestone, according to Brave Mhonie, general manager of the charity SolarAid Malawi and president of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi.

SolarAid is a small international charity, and chose the remote and low-income village of Kasakula to pilot its model called Energy-as-a-Service. 

---

Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.

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

RFI: On 1 September Reporters Without Borders launched a campaign to support journalists in Gaza. How do you view this initiative?

REM: For me, a long-time journalist for Radio France Internationale, it matters a lot – especially in this crucial period when journalists are being targeted one way or another by Israeli military actions. So we say thank you.

RFI: More than 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza in almost two years. Tell us about the danger.

REM: That is a good question. I think in Gaza, nobody – not even journalists – can feel safe. Wherever I am, as a journalist, as a human being, as a civilian in Gaza, I never feel safe. Even at home, in my own house, I never feel safe.

I come from the Meghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. In January 2024 Israel forced refugees to leave for the south of Gaza because the army was preparing to intervene. I had to pack my things, gather my family and we went by truck to Rafah. I left my home. In that house, in Meghazi, I used to sit in a corner. That exact spot was later hit by a large brick from a nearby house struck in an air raid. The window shattered and the brick fell where I used to sit with my coffee and work, before the Israeli invasion of Meghazi.

RSF says journalists ‘targeted’ in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital

 

RFI: You have escaped Israeli strikes and shooting several times while reporting…

REM: Nowhere in Gaza feels safe. You cross the street and there could be a strike. As soon as you move, you could face death or injury. Sometimes you are forced to go to places where strikes are happening, where Israeli actions are taking place. Even if you take precautions to do your reporting, there is always something that makes you feel in danger.

RFI: Despite this you keep working and reporting on the ground.

REM: As a reporter working in this job for 25 years, it has always felt like a duty to do everything I can to tell this story to the world. Especially now, when there are no foreign journalists here in Gaza. So it is my responsibility. I also have an obligation to myself and my family. Because this is the nature of my work, as a freelancer. If I do not work, it means I starve – I will have nothing to eat and I cannot feed my family. If I work, I can survive. Without it, I cannot live and we will not be able to cope.

RFI: Gaza is now the deadliest place in the world for journalists. Is this always on your mind?

REM: Of course, I always have that in mind. That is why I want to leave and be evacuated from Gaza. Can you imagine? I have been trying, with RFI’s help, since February 2024. Just a few months after the war began. February was my first attempt to get out. Because I always felt the situation was becoming more and more dangerous. It is no longer liveable. Not only for me as a journalist, but also as a father, caring for my children, who need a better present and a better future. Both the present and the future are missing in Gaza now. It is my dream to leave this place with RFI’s help.

Humanitarian aid flotilla sets sail for Gaza to ‘break illegal siege’

RFI: Tell us what a typical day is like for a journalist in Gaza.

REM: A typical day starts with looking for basic needs, like water. You have to make sure you always have water, wherever you are. You have to make sure your family has food – for breakfast, for lunch. You have to make sure the electricity works, to charge your phone, to charge your LED lamps.

So a journalist’s day is quite intense. You are torn between your duties as a reporter and your duties as head of the family, responsible for your loved ones.

I have to wake up early to follow the latest news, take care of daily tasks for my family, then start my working day. I must find a subject, go to dangerous areas to meet people, give a voice to those who do not have one, and produce a report for RFI.

RFI joins 135 NGOs and media groups in urging unrestricted press access to Gaza

RFI: Your colleague Rami Abou Jamous, also a journalist in Gaza, told us recently: “The Israeli army wants to bury reality.” Do you agree?

REM: Honestly, I cannot say. I cannot judge myself whether Israel wants to stifle the truth. But I can ask Israel this question: why do you forbid foreign journalists from entering Gaza?

RFI: How can we help you and all the journalists in Gaza?

REM: How can you help us? Do everything possible so that the French government lifts its decision to freeze the evacuation of journalists from Gaza. Then myself and others will be able to leave.

This interview was conducted by RFI’s Arnaud Pontus.

Dologuele is set to once again challenge Touadera for leadership of the Russia-friendly country, among the world’s poorest nations and plagued by instability for decades.

The economist by training came second to the president in the 2020 ballot, which was marred by unrest and accusations of voter fraud.

Touadera’s critics accuse him of wishing to become the CAR‘s president for life, especially after a change of constitution in 2023 allowed him to seek a third term and barred candidates holding multiple citizenships from running against him.

Though the presidential vote’s first round is scheduled for 28 December, Dologuele questioned whether the authorities would manage to organise the vote “in good time”.

Having insisted he took the “personal” decision to give up his French citizenship with a “heavy heart”, leader of the opposition URCA party also took aim at the national electoral authority’s “incompetence and avowed bias”.

Issues with the electoral roll and funding have long delayed the regional and municipal ballots scheduled to take place alongside the presidential vote’s first round.

Hundreds of first-time voters

By the authority’s count, some 2.3 million voters are expected at the ballot box, of whom 749,000 will have been enrolled for the first time.

Dologuele refused to rule out a boycott of the vote if the conditions for holding free and fair elections were not present.

“It’s like a football match. A team who knows that the referees are biased won’t take to the pitch,” the opposition politician said.

CAR refugees face hardship and uncertainty both at home and abroad

Touadera’s first election in 2016 came in the middle of a bloody civil war, which dragged on from 2013 to 2018.

That half-decade-long conflict was the latest crisis to grip the nation, which has endured a succession of coups, authoritarian rulers and civil wars since gaining independence from France in 1960.

In recent years the intervention of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Rwandan troops and Russian mercenaries from the notorious Wagner paramilitary group has helped to improve the security situation.

Yet anti-government fighters are still at large on the country’s main highways, as well as in the east near the borders with war-torn Sudan and South Sudan.

(with AFP)

The Futurs Médias group (GFM) – which owns leading Senegalese media outlets including newspaper L’Observateur, radio station RFM and television channel TFM – says it is experiencing an “unprecedented” crisis.

With advertising revenue plummeting, print sales falling, rising costs and tax adjustments, the group has not paid some employees for three months.

For its management there is only one option left: restructuring the company.

The group was founded in 2003 by the internationally renowned musician and former culture minister, Youssou N’Dour, to provide an independent media platform that could offer diverse perspectives, countering the dominance of state-controlled media.  

The group became a dominant force in Senegal’s media landscape; L’Observateur is now the most read daily paper in the country.

But since 2024, amid the national economic crisis and recent political change, GFM has been struggling.

Amid a reduction in public subsidies, the group’s profits have fallen. So to reduce its expenses, it is looking to save on salaries. Dozens of positions are now under threat, among the group’s 400 permanent employees.

Staff representatives have reacted angrily to the plan, as Mamadou Fall, general secretary of the Syndicate of Information and Communication Professionals of Senegal (SYNPICS), GFM section, told RFI.

“The release of a press release to announce a recovery plan took us by surprise,” he said. “For us, it’s brutal, it’s difficult. We don’t want any lay-offs at GFM and we want to try to save as many jobs as possible, because this could create a social tragedy in Senegal.”

Workers affiliated with SYNPICS agreed last week to file a notice to strike.

Media blackout in Senegal as publishers denounce government threats

Plurality under threat

The issues at GFM, which has correspondents across Senegal, pose a real threat to the plurality of the press sector in the country, according to Sadibou Marong, director of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) office in Dakar.

“The crisis probably means that the territorial coverage, the strength of the group… could be fundamentally damaged, and that would impact the pluralism of news,” Marong told RFI.

“News is not something that is needed or happening only in Dakar, it happens throughout the country – the regions and departments where there were correspondents. So, that is the first issue.”

But the situation at GFM is not an isolated case. The Senegalese press has been hit hard by the country’s economic crisis over the past year, and many journalists have already lost their jobs.

Other groups are going through a financial crisis, such as the Sud Communication group, which owns the daily Sud Quotidien, and has been forced to raise funds via crowdfunding.

The Walfadjri group, or WALF, another private media group, is also facing cash flow difficulties.

“This means that good journalists might lose their job and move on to communications positions,” Marong said, “and that will impact the quality of news.”

Senegal passes law to protect whistleblowers in ‘historic moment for democracy’

‘Risk of extinction’

According to the head of the Coordination of Press Associations of Senegal, Ibrahima Lissa Faye, the survival of the press in Senegal is in question.

“For more than 17 months, media companies have been in a cash deficit because of a series of inappropriate measures taken by the state that are weakening the survival of media companies and putting them in an extremely complicated situation,” he told RFI.

“And today, all private media companies are living with salary arrears, rental arrears and outdated equipment that has not been properly maintained. Therefore, there is a risk of extinction for some media outlets.”

Senegal has been suffering from an economic crisis since 2024, facing a budget deficit of 14 percent and an outstanding public debt representing 119 percent of GDP.

When President Bassirou Diomaye Faye came to power in April 2024, he pledged to support a free press and a diversified media landscape. Under Senegal’s previous president, Macky Sall, 60 journalists were arrested, assaulted, questioned or detained between 2021 and 2024, according to an RSF report.

But among the measures to cut public spending out in place by the government of his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, were a pause on the Press Support and Development Fund (FADP) and a reduction in publicly-funded advertising campaigns.

And according to Lissa Faye, these are among the root causes of the current financial crisis in the media industry.

A regional beacon

Press associations and trade unions have denounced the lack of support from the government. 

A general meeting took place at GFM on 26 August to discuss the job losses, and the Syndicate of Information and SYNPICS has also announced a rally, to be held as soon as possible.

Senegal’s media is considered vital for press freedom across West Africa, as the country boasts the most dynamic press in a region where journalists are under huge constraints. Neighbouring economies, for instance in Niger and Mali, are also much weaker. This means Senegal’s media covers wider regional issues and is read and watched beyond its borders.

In addition, said Lissa Faye, referring to the wider region’s jihadist rebellions and military coups: “We are in a very threatened region, with instability that could, in any case, take over our media or come up with another offer that may not be to our liking.”

Sahel countries navigate uncertainty following split from Ecowas bloc

For Marong, who contributed to an RSF report on reforms needed for the press sector to survive, released in April 2025, private media has also relied on public support and adverts from public sector organisations for too long.

The government has introduced media reform aimed at bringing more transparency to the landscape, he explained, and at encouraging the diversification in revenues.

These reforms include the registration of media outlets on a dedicated platform, as well as the updating of advertising laws to strengthen regulation, according to RSF. 

But the primary challenge remains the economic survival of media outlets.

“The Press Support Fund wasn’t paid in 2024 and 2025, it’s true, and with the lack in advert revenues, this creates a bit of a shortfall,” Marong said.

“But it also shows that, for a long time, the media relied on public subsidies and didn’t have the ability to reinvent themselves, to invest in digital, to invest in other promising niches, for example, mobile money. Le Soleil did it, and it was successful. Unfortunately, not all media outlets have done that yet.”

Rescue teams in Afghanistan are racing against time to save lives after one of the country’s deadliest earthquakes in recent years left more than 800 people dead and at least 2,800 injured.

The 6.0-magnitude tremor struck just after midnight at a depth of 10 km, toppling homes and cutting off villages in remote mountain areas.

Helicopters have been airlifting the wounded to hospital as survivors and emergency crews sift through the rubble of collapsed mudbrick houses.

Military teams, backed by dozens of flights, have already transported hundreds of injured residents to safety.

In some places, entire villages were levelled, particularly in Kunar province, where authorities reported more than 600 fatalities.

Earthquake risk zone

Despite the devastation, scenes of solidarity have emerged. Local residents, health workers and security forces have been working shoulder to shoulder to pull people from the ruins, carry the injured to waiting ambulances, and distribute food and water.

“All our teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided,” said Abdul Maten Qanee, a health ministry spokesperson speaking to reporters.

Afghanistan, prone to earthquakes due to its position at the collision point of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, has faced repeated tragedies of this kind.

The latest disaster comes just two years after a 6.1-magnitude quake killed around 1,000 people in the east of the country, and less than a year after another tremor struck Herat in the west.

Afghanistan: four years since Taliban takeover

Taliban appeal for help

The Taliban administration, already contending with strained resources and widespread humanitarian needs, has appealed for international help.

Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, urged foreign donors to step in: “We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses.”

So far, foreign governments have been slow to respond. Afghanistan’s foreign office noted on Monday that no offers of support had yet been received, although China later signalled its readiness to provide assistance “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity”.

The United Nations has also pledged to mobilise relief through its mission in the country, with Secretary-General António Guterres writing on social media platform X that the organisation was preparing to help those most affected.

‘Brutal’ funding cuts push UN to slash humanitarian operations

Aid funding cut since 2021

Funding for humanitarian work in Afghanistan has fallen sharply in recent years. International aid once made up the bulk of government revenue, but following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, financial flows shrank dramatically.

Humanitarian funding has dropped from €3.5 billion in 2022 to just €706 million this year, as donor priorities shift elsewhere and frustration grows over restrictions on women, including bans on female aid workers.

Nevertheless, international agencies stress that the need remains vast: more than half of Afghanistan’s population is estimated to require humanitarian assistance.

Local aid workers point out that communities are still struggling to recover from earlier disasters, with many families in western provinces still living in temporary shelters years on.

For now, the focus is on saving lives. In the hills along the Pakistani border, rescue teams continue to push into isolated districts where communications are down and damage is extensive. 

French Prime Minister Bayrou has vowed not to bow out quietly, insisting that his contested economic programme is about the future of France, not just his own political survival.

Speaking on Sunday evening from his office at Matignon, the 74-year-old head of government gave a sprawling 90-minute interview broadcast live on France’s four rolling news channels.

Switching briefly into his native Béarnais dialect of Occitan, he closed with a rallying cry: “Continuons le combat” – which roughly translates as “keep the fight going”.

Bayrou seeks unity before September vote that could topple government

Fixing France’s finances

Bayrou is facing a make-or-break vote of confidence in the National Assembly on 8 September, prompted by his decision to tie his government’s future to a tough savings package worth €44 billion.

His opponents on the left and the far right, eager to turn the page on his government, have already pledged to vote him down.

For Bayrou, however, the issue at stake is bigger than his premiership. “The question is not the fate of the Prime Minister,” he declared, “but the fate of France.”

Without at least minimal agreement from MPs and citizens on tackling the national debt, he argued, “there is no courageous policy possible.”

The centrist leader warned that if his government falls, France risks sliding into “a laxer, drifting policy” that he believes would endanger the country’s finances.

Macron gives ‘full support’ to embattled PM as crisis looms in France

‘Alternative budget’ dismissed

Yet he also held out an olive branch, promising to meet party leaders this week and signalling room for negotiation on some of the most unpopular measures, including the proposed abolition of two public holidays.

Still, he firmly dismissed the Socialist Party’s alternative budget plan, which would halve the scale of the savings next year and lean more heavily on taxing the wealthy.

“That means doing nothing on the debt,” he retorted, brushing aside suggestions that the PS is ready to take the reins at Matignon.

Socialist leader Olivier Faure has already told Bayrou to start saying goodbye. “On 8 September he will have to go,” Faure said.

Bayrou, quick to counter, shot back: “Olivier Faure wants to be at Matignon. My interview is certainly not a farewell.”

If ousted, Bayrou has no intention of disappearing from the stage. He hinted at a return to activism, perhaps even another presidential run: “When you are overturned, that is when militancy begins, when the fight begins, when meeting the French begins.”

France’s Bayrou puts debt decision to lawmakers, risking fall of government

Reaction from Left and Right

The interview drew sharp reaction, with France Unbowed MP Eric Coquerel mocking it as part of an “endless farewell tour.” Faure himself described it as “pathetic and crepuscular,” while National Rally deputy Sébastien Chenu called Bayrou a “shipwrecked Prime Minister, at the end of his rope.”

Behind the political theatre looms a deeper uncertainty. If Bayrou falls, President Emmanuel Macron will need to appoint a new Prime Minister.

Names already circulating include prominent poltical figures like labour minister Catherine Vautrin, defence minister Sébastien Lecornu and justice minister Gérald Darmanin.

Meanwhile, several senior figures sounded the alarm at the weekend. Former Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned against “collective suicide, not for the government but for the country,” urging compromise.

Justice Minister Darmanin appealed for responsibility among mainstream parties, while France’s top public spending watchdog, Pierre Moscovici, cautioned that the financial situation was “not critical, but certainly worrying.”

A former officer with Marseille’s police child protection unit will go on trial on Monday, accused of raping and sexually abusing Filipino street children.

The 46-year-old, who has already spent four years in custody, was arrested after the head of a youth shelter reported concerns.

A 17-year-old resident, herself a rape survivor, had allegedly been receiving inappropriate late-night messages from the officer assigned to her case.

Marseille prosecutors launched an inquiry that led to a raid on the man’s home in June 2021, where thousands of child abuse images were discovered on his devices.

French former spy jailed on suspicion of ordering child rapes in Africa

‘Machiavellian scheme’

Investigators soon widened their focus to the Philippines, where the man had been travelling regularly in his role as head of the French branch of a charity working with street children in Manila.

The name of the charity has not been disclosed. 

Two orphaned boys, aged 12 and 15, later testified that he paid them small sums of money for sex, first on a patch of wasteland and later at his apartment.

“This was a Machiavellian scheme – an unprecedented modus operandi in which someone poses as an ambassador for child protection,” said Celine Astolfe, lawyer for France’s Foundation for Childhood, which is a plaintiff in the case.

Four other child protection charities have also joined the prosecution.

Survivors decry failures exposed in France’s biggest paedophilia trial

Online exploitation of children

The case highlights the broader challenges faced by the Philippines, where child abuse and trafficking remain deeply concerning.

According to UNICEF and local authorities, tens of thousands of children fall victim to sexual exploitation each year, both on the streets and online. The Philippines has become a global hotspot for so-called “online sexual exploitation of children”, with perpetrators often targeting vulnerable families in poor communities.

In 2022 alone, the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Philippines reported handling nearly 13,000 cases of child abuse, including sexual violence and trafficking.

Campaigners stress that while these figures are shocking, they represent only part of the picture, as many cases go unreported.

The trial, taking place in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence, is due to conclude on Thursday.

(With newswires)

On Monday, 1 September, la rentrée will see France’s 12 million school pupils go back to class, with new rules and new exams to contend with.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Borne is facing mounting political uncertainty that could cut short her tenure.

Digital ‘detox’

One of the most visible changes this year is the extension of the “portable en pause” scheme, under which pupils are only allowed to use their phones on their break (pause in French).

While a 2018 law already prohibits mobile phone use in French secondary schools, enforcement has often been patchy.

The new approach obliges students to leave their devices in lockers, pouches or cases during lessons.

Piloted last year in about a hundred schools, the scheme is now being rolled out nationally – although its implementation will be left to each headteacher, in agreement with local authorities.

Education unions have noted that authorities have not seen a surge of requests, suggesting many schools believe their current rules suffice.

The digital detox also extends to the online platforms that have become central to school life.

From this term, the widely used Espaces numériques de travail (ENT) – the online platform used to share timetables, homework, grades and messages – will no longer be updated between 8pm and 7am on weekdays, or over weekends. This also applies to digital workplace software such as Pronote,

The “right to disconnect” is designed to ease screen fatigue and reduce pressure on pupils and parents alike.

France rolls out trial ban on using mobile phones in secondary schools

Exams get tougher

Students in première – the penultimate year of lycée, French high school – face a new two-hour written maths exam next spring.

It will mix multiple-choice questions with short exercises and apply either to the general curriculum or to the specialised maths track.

At the same time, grading for France’s high school diploma, the baccalauréat, is being tightened, with the overall pass mark raised to 9.5 out of 20. There will be tighter restrictions on resits too.

The brevet – the middle-school leaving certificate – is also changing. Exam marks will account for 60 percent of the final grade, up from 50 percent, with continuous assessment dropping to 40 percent.

France to show ‘Adolescence’ mini-series as part of school curriculum

Sex education and new curriculum

Another long-discussed reform comes into force this school year: compulsory sex and relationship education.

Although mandated by law since 2001, the sessions were often overlooked.

From this year, all schools – primary and secondary, public and private – must provide three annual classes under the new EVARS programme, which aims to educate students in empathy, consent and sexuality.

The education ministry has also asked schools to hold parent-teacher meetings early in the year, in order to address concerns and combat misinformation.

Meanwhile, new French and maths curricula are being rolled out from nursery through to the end of primary school, with experimental modules introducing pupils to artificial intelligence launching via the Pix digital platform.

France’s Bayrou puts debt decision to lawmakers, risking fall of government

Minister under pressure

Borne was appointed education minister only eight months ago – after a short and turbulent succession of predecessors – but nonetheless now confronts the possibility that her first rentrée could be her last.

Prime Minister François Bayrou’s decision to seek a confidence vote in the National Assembly on 8 September has placed the entire government at risk, with a negative outcome widely expected.

Borne, herself a former prime minister, insists her “only compass” is ensuring a smooth return to school.

“We’ll see what happens,” she told Le Parisien newspaper, stressing that her focus is on pupils and teachers rather than parliamentary manoeuvres.

Unions, however, have express deep frustration over the revolving door at the education ministry. “We’re tired of changing ministers all the time,” said Elisabeth Allain-Moreno of SE-Unsa.

Others highlight persistent issues that reforms have not addressed: shortages of teachers, poor working conditions and low morale.

A survey by Unsa Education found 77 percent of teaching staff would not recommend their profession, and this year more than 2,600 teaching posts remain unfilled.

Wider budget cuts are adding to the unease in the sector. Although Bayrou’s July savings plan earmarks an extra €200 million for schools in 2026, education unions fear broader austerity measures could bite in the coming weeks.

A “record” 37.5 tonnes of cocaine were seized in France in the first six months of this year, compared to 47 tonnes in the whole of 2024 – an increase of 45 percent.

These figures – revealed in a confidential note from late July from the national anti-drug trafficking agency (Ofast) – prompted Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to describe the proliferation of cocaine in France as a “white tsunami”.

More than half of those 47 tonnes came from, or was intercepted in, the French Caribbean territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique – whose combined population is little more than 750,000. 

“It’s easy to imagine the impact this has on the local population,” says investigative journalist Jerome Pierrat, an expert on organised crime. “An explosion in violence, in the use of firearms and in local drug use… it’s a major destabilisation of society.”

According to a recent report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Martinique and Guadeloupe have become major gateways for cocaine and marijuana entering mainland France.

Cocaine and synthetic drugs power new era of global trafficking

From South America to Europe

The reasons for the French Caribbean becoming a key entry and transit point for South American cocaine en route to Europe are largely geographical.

The French Antilles are on the doorstep of South America’s cocaine-producing countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, and close to Venezuela – one of the two exit countries for cocaine, along with Brazil.

Global production continues to increase, with the Andean countries producing 2,700 tonnes in 2022, more than double the amount produced in 2010.

Yet the traditional North American market has plateaued, Peirrat explains, with some users there turning to synthetic drugs such as fentanyl. The United States’ anti-drug trafficking measures have also forced cartels to look elsewhere – notably further south.

“Traffickers are looking for people with money to sell cocaine to, so they tend to turn to Europe, Australia, Asia, Japan and a part of China. The second biggest market in terms of purchasing power is Europe,” explains Pierrat.

In addition, because they are part of France the Antilles are not subject to extra customs checks when transporting goods to the mainland. And Guadeloupe, with its 700 kilometres of coastline and small islands, is particularly difficult to monitor.

More than 2 tonnes of cocaine washes up on shores of northern France

Record seizures

In late February, the French Navy seized 8.3 tonnes of cocaine from a cargo ship off the coast of Martinique. In March, 1.2 tonnes were seized near Martinique.

In June, 2.4 tonnes were seized on a “go-fast vessel” – a type of a small, fast powerboat favoured by smugglers – near the US Virgin Islands, while in July, French Armed Forces intercepted close to five tonnes on two ships in the Caribbean.

On the French mainland, authorities made a major haul in January – two tonnes of cocaine, valued at €130 million – in the northern port of Le Havre, France’s main maritime gateway.

Further along the chain, Pierrat highlights a recent haul on the Balzac housing estate in Vitry-sur-Seine, a working class suburb of Paris: “160kg of pure cocaine that had come over from Guadeloupe in a fake removals vehicle.”

While some drugs are still transported by plane, the cartels prefer to use sea routes for ever-larger quantities. Shipments are dispatched from Colombia’s and Venezuela’s Caribbean coasts and routed via islands such as Dominica, before landing on the many beaches of the French Antilles aboard fast boats.

Once in the Antilles, cocaine is stored locally and then shipped on to ports in northern Europe such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, and Le Havre.

Belgian port of Antwerp says record volume of cocaine seized in 2022

Surge in violence

In the fight against trafficking, French authorities are facing criminal networks capable of changing their strategies regularly.

“They are now highly structured, no longer work with intermediaries, deal directly with South American drug producers and are capable of exporting cocaine to Europe,” Guadeloupe’s Attorney General Eric Maurel recently told France Info. 

He has also warned that criminal gangs in Guadeloupe “seem to be evolving towards mafia-style structures”.

Pierrat says local officials in the Antilles have been “sounding the alarm for two or three years now,” – but to little effect.

In June this year, Maurel, alongside another judge, Michael Janas, gave a press conference warning that drug trafficking and the proliferation of firearms was driving an unprecedented surge in violence in Guadeloupe.

“All warning lights are flashing red. We are facing a wall of crime,” they told reporters. “We are at a tipping point. It’s now or never.”

The judges said that between January and June this year, Guadeloupe recorded 28 violent homicides, along with 111 attempted murders and 300 armed robberies.

Neighbouring Martinique has also seen a rise in violence, with 16 homicides since January, 13 involving firearms.

France to build supermax prison to isolate drug lords and Islamists in Amazon

“This is no longer a series of isolated incidents; it is a spiral of death taking root in our daily lives. And yet, the State looks the other way,” wrote Serge Letchimy, president of the executive council of Martinique, in an op-ed published in Le Monde in June. 

According to Letchimy’s figures, only 1,400 of the 188,000 containers passing through Martinique’s port in Fort-de-France in 2024 were inspected by customs – the result of chronic understaffing.

On 19 August, four MPs from Guadeloupe published a letter to the Interior and Economy ministers, demanding immediate reinforcement to fight the growing instability fuelled by drug trafficking.

Cocaine use in France doubles as workplace pressures drive demand

New measures

The French government appears to have heard their call. On a recent visit to the Antilles, Retailleau announced a raft of measures, including 13 additional investigators to bolster the ranks of Ofast.

A local ballistics lab will be opened, meaning forensic samples will no longer have to be sent to the mainland, and two mobile gendarmerie squads and two marine units are to be deployed.

Paris will also provide radar systems to monitor the strategic Dominica and Les Saintes channels and a drone to survey Guadeloupe’s coastline. Checks at ports and airports are to be reinforced.

While acknowledging that France’s planned budget cuts meant it was limited in what it could provide, Retailleau insisted: “The Republic will not give an inch on public order. We will not let these territories become a lawless zone.”

France to build supermax prison to isolate drug lords and Islamists in Amazon

‘No quick fix’

Guadeloupe MPs Olivier Serva and Max Mathiasin, two of the authors of the open letter, expressed their “relative satisfaction” after months of lobbying for reinforcements.

“I heard announcements, not empty words,” Serva told local radio. “I’m satisfied. But we expect more on regional cooperation and faster implementation.”

Mathiasin called the measures “a step in the right direction” but warned they’d have to see them in action.

In Pierrat’s opinion, given the size of the territory and its waters, 13 more investigators may not make much difference. He added that there is no quick fix for the situation, and suggesting otherwise is political posturing.

“The problem is Retailleau doesn’t have time. Elections are fast approaching, all this stuff has to be visible, talked about, it has to look like they’re doing something. But if you really want to curb trafficking you’d lay on 200 more investigators, 200 drones, you’d throw in a billion euros. And it will still take time,” he says.

Another concern is the expansion of the main ports in Guadeloupe and Martinique as part of the “Antilles Hub” project, which aims to transform them into a major regional logistics and maritime centre. 

An additional 300,000 containers are expected to transit through the ports each year. While this is intended to give the region a much needed economic boost, Pierrat fears it will also boost trafficking.

“Traffickers are very happy,” he says “It’ll be very hard to monitor all the extra containers, even with a couple of extra radars or mobile scanners. And even if you could afford to install loads more scanners that would slow traffic down, [which] makes no commercial sense when you’re trying to attract new business.”

Acknowledging these concerns, Retailleau said a mission from the General Secretariat of the Sea will be conducted within the coming weeks to “audit all port processes” both in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

France transfers first drug traffickers to be isolated in ultra-secure prison

Forgotten territories

With unemployment in the Antilles more than double that on the French mainland – 15.7 percent in Guadeloupe and 12.8 percent in Martinique, compared to the national average of 7.4 percent – plus a far higher cost of living and lower wages, the economic conditions are ripe for spreading corruption.

“The French overseas departments have the highest corruption rates in France, including civil servants,” says Pierrat. “But that’s the corollary of drug-trafficking – corruption and violence.”

He also points out that the French Antilles are no longer just a transit hub for cocaine, but indeed a growing local market for it – spurred on by the fact local traffickers are paid in cocaine. 

“I’ve been writing and making documentaries about drug trafficking for 30 years now,” he says. “It’s been growing for decades. We saw it coming. And yet all of a sudden you get the impression it sprung up over the last couple of years.

“For years it was a forgotten corner of France. The guys in French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe… nobody really gives a damn. So I’m not very hopeful or optimistic that the situation in the French Antilles will change any time soon, unfortunately for them.”

Dozens of vessels set off from the Spanish port city with hundreds of people aboard, including delegations from some 44 countries. 

The operation will take humanitarian aid, food, water and medicine to Gaza as Israel steps up its offensive in Gaza City.

The aim is to “open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people”, said the Global Sumud Flotilla. Sumud is the Arabic term for “resilience”.

The group defines itself as an independent organisation which has no affiliation to any government or political party.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened in recent weeks.

The United Nations declared a state of famine in the territory this month, warning that 500,000 people face “catastrophic” conditions. Israel rejected the accusation as “a lie”.

Also aboard were actors Susan Sarandon, Liam Cunningham, European lawmakers and public figures including former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.

The convoy will be joined by other ships from ports in Italy, Greece, and Tunisia in the coming days as it makes its way through the Mediterranean to Gaza, organisers said.

It is expected to arrive at the coastal enclave in mid-September.

“The story here is about Palestine,” Thunberg said at a press conference in Barcelona. “The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive.”

Thunberg, a member of the flotilla’s steering committee, told AFP the goal was to open up a humanitarian corridor to break an “illegal” and “inhuman” blockade of Gaza.

Gaza aid flotilla ‘should not have to exist’ says Thunberg

Largest solidarity mission in history

Activists will also stage simultaneous demonstrations and other protests in 44 countries “in solidarity with the Palestinian people”, Thunberg wrote on Instagram.

“This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more boats than all previous attempts combined,” Brazilian activist Thiago Avila told journalists in Barcelona last week.

“We understand that this is a legal mission under international law,” Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortagua, who will join the mission, told journalists in Lisbon last week.

NGOs accuse Israel of ‘weaponising’ aid to Gaza as France readies airdrop

Previous attempts

Israel has already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July.

In June, 12 activists on board the sailboat Madleen, from France, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, were intercepted by Israeli forces 185 kilometres west of Gaza.

Its passengers, who included Thunberg, were detained and eventually expelled.

In July, 21 activists from 10 countries were intercepted as they tried to approach Gaza in another vessel, the Handala.

Israel sends military to block Gaza-bound aid boat carrying activists

Among them was Emma Fourreau, an MEP with the hard-left France Unbowed party. She told RFI she was more hopeful this time.

“You can see that the scale has changed, that the balance of power is totally different. Maybe we can get some boats through… to break this blockade.”

Activists are calling for their countries to protect the flottilla. 

The Spanish government says it will “deploy all of its diplomatic and consular protection to protect our citizens” sailing with the flotilla, the country’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Saturday.

Madrid last year recognised Palestine as an independent state.

Israel launched its massive offensive in Gaza following the 7 October attack by Hamas in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages. At least 63,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war since then, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

(with AFP)

Rwanda received seven people from the United States in the last week of August, as part of a deportation deal with the Trump administration, which has sought to send foreigners to third countries including Eswatini, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

Authorities in Kigali announced at the beginning of August that they had reached an agreement with the United States to take in up to 250 migrants.

The move has raised fresh concerns over human rights, legality, and the growing trend of wealthier nations paying others to accept deportees.

To understand the implications for migrants, for Africa, and for human rights, we spoke to Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. A specialist on Rwanda, the Great Lakes region, and conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, he has conducted field research in Rwanda and beyond every year for the past 20 years

Rwanda agrees to take migrants from US in deal that includes cash grant

Kasakula: The first solar-powered village in Malawi

Meanwhile, in southern Africa, a community of nearly 9,000 households in rural Malawi became the country’s first village to achieve universal access to solar power at the end of August.

Kasakula town, where off-grid families have until now relied on lamps and candles, has reached this milestone, according to Brave Mhonie, general manager of the charity SolarAid Malawi and president of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of Malawi.

SolarAid is a small international charity, and chose the remote and low-income village of Kasakula to pilot its model called Energy-as-a-Service. 

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Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.

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

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.

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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!

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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 12 July, I asked you a question about our article “Seven Nobel laureates urge France to adopt a tax on the ‘ultra-rich’”. The open letter, written by seven Economics Nobel laureates, urged the French government to implement a minimum tax on the wealthiest households in France.

The laureates noted that while global billionaires hold assets equivalent to 14 percent of global GDP, French billionaires control wealth worth nearly 30 percent of France’s GDP.

Our article cited a proposed wealth tax, which was voted down by the French Senate (it did pass in the lower house, the Assembly). I asked you to send in the name of the bill and why it has that name.

The answer is: The bill is called the Zucman bill, after Gabriel Zucman. As noted in our article, “The bill was based on proposals by French economist Gabriel Zucman. Initially passed by the National Assembly, the bill would have introduced a ‘differential contribution’ ensuring that individuals with more than €100 million in assets pay at least 2 percent of their annual wealth in taxes.

“The aim was to curb the kinds of avoidance strategies employed by some ultra-wealthy individuals, who are often able to structure their assets in ways that greatly reduce their tax burdens.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Sultan Sarker, the president of the Shetu RFI Fan Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Sultan’s question was: “What do you do when tragedy enters your life? How do you deal with the sorrow, the grief?”

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Admand Parajuli, the president of the Bandhu Listeners Club in Sunsari, Nepal. Admand is also the winner of this week’s bonus quiz. Congratulations, Admand, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in W. Skikda, Algeria, and Nahid Hossain, a member of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Last but not least, RFI Listeners Club members Rasel Sikder from Madaripur, Bangladesh, and Father Steven Wara, who lives and serves in the Cistercian Abbey at Bamenda, Cameroon.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Les Sauvages” from Jean Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes; “Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here” by Theodora Morse and Arthur Sullivan, sung by the The Childen’s Music Band; “Money Makes the World Go Around” from John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical Cabaret, sung by Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Azúcar pa’ ti” by Eddy Palmieri, performed by Eddy Palmieri and La Perfecta.  

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “French PM puts government on line with call for confidence vote”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 13 October to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 18 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.   

European and US military chiefs last week reportedly presented ideas to their national security advisers on how to guarantee Ukraine’s security if there is a peace deal with Russia.

The discussions followed a summit of European leaders in Washington with US President Donald Trump on ending the conflict.

“It’s going to be a big challenge, but they will find ways of tackling that challenge without the US troops on the ground,” said Serhat Guvenc, professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

“It will be a novelty because Europe has never carried out any peacekeeping or stabilization operation of this magnitude before.”

Turkey, with NATO’s second-largest army, is seen as a possible option.

“Turkey is an option, you know. And it seems that there is some talk of Turkish contribution,” Guvenc added.

Armenia and Azerbaijan peace deal raises hopes of Turkish border reopening

Ankara signals readiness

On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss Ukraine’s security.

Ankara has already signalled it could take part in monitoring any peace deal, but Moscow’s approval would be necessary.

“If the parties agree, Turkey may send our troops to peacekeeping operations,” said Mesut Casin, a former presidential adviser and professor at Istanbul’s Yeditepe University.

Casin pointed to Turkey’s past record in UN operations.

“Turkey joined many UN peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Korea, and in many other peacekeeping operations. The Turkish army is very powerful,” he said.

“Also, remember Putin is talking many times with Erdogan, and at the same time, Zelensky is visiting Ankara.”

Turkey and Italy boost cooperation in bid to shape Libya’s political future

Balancing Moscow and Kyiv

Since the start of the war, Erdogan has kept good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.

Ankara has refused to apply most international sanctions on Moscow, while at the same time selling vital military hardware to Kyiv. That balancing act has raised questions among European partners.

“Turkey ought to have been at the Washington meeting,” said Soli Ozel, an international relations scholar at the Institute for Human Studies in Vienna.

Even though Turkey borders both Ukraine and Russia, Erdogan was excluded from this month’s summit between Trump and European leaders.

“The fact that it wasn’t backs the observation that the bigger players or the major partners are not bringing Turkey center stage, they’re sidelining it,” Ozel added.

Despite this, Ankara remains strategically important.

“They keep it in the play, it’s important because if you’re going to need troops, you’re going to need Turkey. If you’re going to talk about the Black Sea security, you need Turkey. And so you cannot really dismiss Turkey,” Ozel said.

But he warned that mistrust is limiting Ankara’s role.

“You’re not making it part of the process that will hopefully lead to a conclusion or a peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia. There is a lack of trust, and I think that has something to do with the way Turkey has conducted its diplomacy,” Ozel said.

Peace or politics? Turkey’s fragile path to ending a decades-long conflict

Doubts over influence

Some analysts suggest Ankara hopes Europe’s reliance on Turkish forces or its navy for Black Sea security could help restore influence. But others see limited gains.

“There is no automatic increase in Turkey’s influence and credibility as a result of taking part in such operations,” said Guvenc.

“It does have a certain impact, but on the other hand, such contributions do not change other Western partners’ views of Turkey.”

Rather than a reset with Europe, Guvenc sees a continuation of the current dynamic.

“What might happen is yet another manifestation of transactionalism on both sides. And if Turkey contributes to peacekeeping in Ukraine, probably President Erdogan expects concrete benefits that will help him manage the deteriorating economic situation in Turkey.

“Therefore, you cannot build a comprehensive and sustainable relationship built on that transactionalism on both sides.”

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Heimer Sia, Hossen Abed Ali, and Debashis Gope. 

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: “Angelina” by Pierre Perez-Vergara, Stéphane Planchon, and Yassine Dahbi, performed by PSY; “Like Jesus to a Child”, written and performed by George Michael, and the traditional 18th-century French drinking song “Chevaliers de la Table Ronde”, sung by the Quatre Barbus with André Popp and his ensemble.

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.

https://concours.epop.network/en/

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

 

The quiz will be back next Saturday, 30 August. Be sure and tune in!

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!

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.