Speaking at a press conference in Paris alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron said the commitments would include troops on land, sea and air as part of a “reassurance force”.

“This force does not seek to wage any war on Russia,” Macron told reporters after a summit in Paris that brought together around 30 of Ukraine’s allies.

Pressure on Moscow

European leaders gathered in Paris on Thursday in what they described as a renewed effort to press Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has vowed that Moscow will fight on if no peace deal is reached.

“We are ready, we the Europeans, to offer the security guarantees to Ukraine and Ukrainians the day that a peace accord is signed,” Macron said on the eve of the summit.

He added that preparations had been finalised earlier by defence ministers, though the details remain “extremely confidential”.

Zelensky said he was confident allies would help “increase pressure on Russia to move towards a diplomatic solution”. But he warned: “Unfortunately, we have not yet seen any signs from Russia that they want to end the war.”

Macron gathers European leaders in push for Ukraine security guarantees

Who’s at the table

The summit was co-chaired by Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and brought together some nations in the so-called Coalition of the Willing.

Leaders attending included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Following their discussions, Macron and Starmer spoke by telephone with US President Donald Trump. A White House meeting with Zelensky is also planned.

Russia’s foreign ministry dismissed the pledges as “absolutely unacceptable”.

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Vladivostok that the plans were “guarantees of danger to the European continent” and that Moscow would not tolerate the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine “in any format”.

NATO chief Rutte said earlier this week that the Paris gathering should bring clarity “on what collectively we can deliver” and on “what the American side wants to deliver”.

Macron’s office has said Europe is prepared to lead, but only if Washington provides a “backstop” through intelligence, logistics and communications. Trump has insisted the US will not deploy troops.

Tanks and missiles roll through Beijing as China commemorates 1945 victory

Putin in Beijing

On Wednesday, Putin attended a large military parade in Beijing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

He told reporters Russian forces were advancing on “all fronts” and that Ukraine’s army had been weakened to the point it could no longer launch an offensive.

Last month, Trump hosted Putin in Alaska, though those talks ended without progress.

European leaders have stepped up their language against Moscow.

“Putin is a war criminal,” Merz wrote on X, describing him as “perhaps the most severe war criminal of our time”.

Macron last month called the Russian leader “an ogre at our gates”. French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu told the daily Le Parisien that Moscow’s strategy was to “buy time and deceive its partners and adversaries”, citing Soviet-era KGB tactics.

(with newswires)

The court said France “had failed to fulfil its positive obligations to introduce provisions criminalising and punishing non-consensual sexual acts and to apply them effectively”.

It found violations of Articles 3 and 8 of the convention, which ban torture and guarantee respect for private life.

France will have to pay the 42-year-old applicant, identified only as EA, €20,000 in moral damages and €1,503.77 in legal costs.

The woman was  27 when she started working in 2010 as a pharmacy assistant at the hospital in Briey, in Meurthe-et-Moselle.

She began a sadomasochistic relationship with a department head 16 years her senior.

In 2013 she filed a complaint for rape with torture and acts of barbarism by a person abusing his authority, as well as for physical and psychological violence, sexual harassment and assault.

The defendant was initially convicted of intentional violence and sexual harassment. But in 2021 the Nancy Court of Appeal acquitted him, ruling the relationship was consensual because the two had signed a “master/bitch” contract.

Court points to failings

Having exhausted all avenues of appeal in France, EA  took her case to the ECHR.

The court ruled in her favour, pointing to “shortcomings in the legal framework” and “failings in its implementation”.

It said the sexual offences reported by EA had been excluded from the investigation, that inquiries were “fragmented”, proceedings dragged on for too long and courts mishandled the question of consent.

“Consent must reflect the free will to have a specific sexual relationship at the time it is given and taking into account the circumstances,” the court said.

“Therefore, no form of prior commitment, including in the form of a written contract, can constitute current consent to a specific sexual practice, as consent is by nature revocable.”

The court also ruled that EA was subjected to “secondary victimisation” – being made to feel she was at fault during the proceedings because of inappropriate questions and remarks.

By relying on her contract with her superior, “the Nancy Court of Appeal exposed her to a form of secondary victimisation, as such reasoning is both guilt-inducing and stigmatising and is likely to deter victims of sexual violence from asserting their rights in court”, the ruling said.

Reactions in France

“This appeal hearing is described by the lawyer and also by my colleagues as ‘nightmarish’,” said Nina Bonhomme Janotto, a jurist with the European Association Against Violence Against Women at Work (AVFT), which was a civil party in the case. “It was a public shaming.”

Marjolaine Vignola, EA’s lawyer, said she hoped the court’s ruling would motivate the French government to enact a law that better protects women.

Under French law, rape is defined as penetration imposed by violence, coercion, threat or surprise. A bill now before parliament would redefine rape as any non-consensual sexual act, and consent as free and informed, specific, prior and revocable.

If passed, it would no longer be up to victims to prove coercion but up to the accused to demonstrate that sexual intercourse was consensual.

The American company Google and its Irish subsiduary were fined €325 million. Shein, through its Irish arm Infinite Styles Services Co Limited, was fined €150 million.

The National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL) said both companies flouted their duty to get the free and informed consent of internet users before placing advertising cookies.

Google was fined for the third time in five years. CNIL inspectors criticised the company and its Irish unit for what they described as repeated negligence.

“The panel finally considered that the companies had been negligent, given that they had previously been sanctioned by the CNIL on two occasions, in 2020 and 2021, for breaches relating to trackers,” said CNIL.

Those earlier fines totalled €250 million. CNIL had initially sought a €525 million penalty for the latest violations.

‘Cookie wall’

Investigators examined Google’s use of a so-called cookie wall when creating a Google account. This practice makes access conditional on accepting cookies. CNIL said it is not illegal in Google’s case but requires informed user consent, which was not provided.

Google was also accused of inserting advertising banners between emails in its Gmail service for users who enabled “smart features”.

CNIL said this affected 53 million people in France. The regulator said the ads “constitute direct marketing” under European case law and should have required prior approval.

Google and its Irish subsidiary were given six months to comply. If not, both face daily fines of €100,000.

Sanction for Shein

Shein said it would appeal to France’s Council of State and to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The company told French news agency AFP that the penalty was “totally disproportionate given the nature of the alleged grievances”. Shein also argued that it had been working to comply with the law.

CNIL said Shein placed advertising cookies on users’ devices as soon as they landed on the site shein.com, even before interacting with the cookie banner. The regulator also faulted Shein for using banners that gave incomplete information.

“The first banner had three buttons labelled ‘Cookie settings’, ‘Reject all’ and ‘Accept’ but did not contain any information about the advertising purpose of cookies,” CNIL said.

“A second pop-up window, containing only a button to accept cookies, did not provide any information about their purpose either.”

CNIL said it was also too difficult for Shein users to withdraw consent. If they tried, new cookies were still placed and existing ones continued to be read.

France’s 2005 Disability Act gives every child with a disability the right to enrol in their local mainstream school.

Since then, the number of children with disabilities in school has increased fivefold.

“Families feel empowered to think that their child doesn’t necessarily only have a future in the medical-social sector, but could also have a future in their local school,” Nicolas Églin, president of the National Federation of Associations Serving Students with Disabilities, told RFI.

But the education system still relies on a dual model: mainstream schools, which must take all pupils, and specialised schools, often run by medical-educational institutions.

Back to school: new rules for pupils and an uncertain future for education minister

‘Solutions that do not meet needs’

While more disabled children are entering mainstream schools, there are still big gaps in support.

“There is a lot of variation in the quality of care, with solutions that do not meet needs, and children attending mainstream schools when they would be better off in a medical-educational institute,” said Sonia Ahehehinnou, vice-president of disability rights network Unapei.

Unapei surveyed its 38 member associations, representing more than 3,600 children. It found only 19 percent of disabled pupils receive more than 12 hours of schooling a week.

Thirty percent receive between six and 12 hours, 38 percent less than six hours, and 13 percent have no hours at all.

Some 70,000 children with disabilities remain in medical-educational institutions, where access to schooling is often harder. These are mostly children with multiple conditions or intellectual disabilities.

Gaps in provision

A new report from Collectif Handicaps – a coalition of 54 disability rights organisations – said: “Many children with disabilities continue to have to adapt to the system, rather than the other way around.”

The report pointed to gaps in adapted teaching materials. In the 2022/2023 school year, 18,682 pupils had no access to resources such as Braille books or tablets. Some waited up to a year, leaving families to cover the cost themselves. Campaigners said this worsens inequalities.

France struggles to decide what place screens should have in schools

The report found that children with disabilities are more likely to drop out of school early, while for those who complete their schooling, career guidance is lacking.

“Students with disabilities often face significant difficulties when approaching this decisive period. They question their abilities and the careers that will be accessible to them. The Information and Guidance Centres are not trained in disabilities,” the report said.

The report concluded that mainstream schools remain ill-equipped to guide disabled students into further education or work. “Inclusive schooling means that mainstream schools must be able to meet all the specific needs of children,” said Églin.

“We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that medical and social work professionals are much more involved in schools and that the norm is a mainstream school education for everyone.”

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This article has been adapted from the original version in French.

In a move steeped in symbolism, Turkey’s leader chose recent celebrations marking the Ottoman Turks’ defeat of the Byzantine Christians at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071 to issue an ultimatum to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“Those who turn to Ankara and Damascus will win,” Erdogan bellowed to thousands of supporters on 26 August. “If the sword is unsheathed, there will be no room left for pens and words.”

Turkey, a strong ally of Syria, has a military presence in the country and the two governments recently signed a defence training agreement.

But Turkey is unhappy with the presence of the SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces, which controls a large swathe of Syria bordering Turkey’s own predominantly Kurdish region.

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

Buying time

The SDF is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has for years been fighting Turkey for greater Kurdish minority rights.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. But Ankara is engaged in a peace process with the Kurdish militants, who have committed to disbanding.

However, Kurdish analyst Mesut Yegen, of the TIM think tank in Istanbul, says the disarmament process would be limited to Kurds from Turkey, and doesn’t include SDF forces in Syria.

Erdogan is now ramping up pressure on the SDF to honour an agreement its leader Mazloum Abdi signed in March with Syria’s new President, Ahmed Al Sharaa, to merge his military forces with the new regime in Damascus.

The deal is backed by the US, which has a military force in the SDF-controlled region as part of its war against the Islamic State.

But, according to Fabrice Balanche from Lyon University: “The SDF has no intention of implementing the agreement made in March. Mazloum just wanted to gain time.”

Balanche points out that Abdi’s SDF is a staunchly secular organisation and remains deeply suspicious of Sharaa’s jihadist connections.

Recent attacks on Syria’s Druze minority by forces linked to Sharaa appear to confirm the SDF’s fears over merging with the Damascus regime, says Balanche.

Syria’s interim president vows justice for Druze after deadly clashes

‘Israel would like a weak Syria’

At the same time, Erdogan is aware that the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish state on its border could be exploited by its rival Israel, which is looking for non-Arab allies in the region.

Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat and an analyst for Turkey’s Mediyascope news outlet, said: “Strategically, Israel would like a weak Syria, a weak Damascus, a weak Beirut and a weak Tehran.”

Turkey has carried out military incursions against the SDF, and its forces remain massed on the border.

But Balanche says American presence there will likely deter any new Turkish military action. However, he warns that Ankara could seek to fuel Kurdish Arab rivalries within the SDF, with the fall of former ruler Bashar al-Assad last December.

Turkey walks a fine line as conflict between Israel and Iran cools

“It is different now, you have a Sunni leader in Damascus, and many [Arab] tribes, many people, prefer to join Damascus,” he explained.

“So the risk is a proxy war. Of course, for the new regime, it would be a disaster. If you have no peace, you have no investment, you have no trust.”

The dilemma facing Ankara is that any new conflict against the SDF would likely weaken the Sharaa regime – a key ally.

“The French people join the Portuguese in mourning after the tragic cable car accident in Lisbon,” said Macron on social media.

“Our condolences go out to the bereaved families and we stand in solidarity with Portugal.”

Spain’s Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez said he was appalled by the terrible accident.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sadi she learned of the tragedy with sadness and sent her condolences to the families of the victims.

The opening stages of an inquiry were underway on Thursday as Portugal began a day of national mourning.

Images on social media showed the wrecked funicular against a wall and in a cloud of smoke after it failed to negotiate a bend at the bottom of a street in central Lisbon.

The lift, which can carry around 40 passengers, is a popular means of transport for the millions of tourists who visit the Portuguese capital.

“It is a tragedy that has never happened in our city,” said Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas.

Dozens of firefighters, police and medics worked throughout Wednesday evening to cut survivors from the wreckage and take them to hospitals.

Investigation into French tram crash as number of injuries rises to 68

‘Lengthy queue’

Antonio Javier, a 44-year-old Spanish tourist, told the French news agency AFP that he had been in the queue with his wife and two children to take the funicular but had given up due to the length of the wait.

“We are a little relieved,” he added.

 A witness to the accident told SIC television that she saw the funicular descend at full speed down the steep slope where it runs daily, before hitting a building.

“It crashed into a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box, it had no brakes,” the woman said.

The public prosecutor’s office told the Lusa news agency: “As required by law in such situations, the public prosecutor’s office will open an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.”

Carris, the company that manages transport in Lisbon, said that all maintenance protocols had been carried out, including general maintenance.

“Monthly, weekly and daily inspection maintenance programmes have been scrupulously followed,” the company added.

(with newswires)

They led 36-9 after the first quarter and maintained their dominance to reach half-time with a 66-34 advantage at the Spodek Arena in Katowice.

As the game wound down in the fourth quarter, Bilal Coulibaly netted the shot that took the team past the 100-point mark.

France qualified for the last-16 knockout stages before Tuesday’s game against Poland. They went into Thursday afternoon’s tie trailing pacesetters Israel and Poland in the Group D rankings.

Though the mauling took them top of the pool, they will only keep the spot if Israel and Poland lose to Slovenia and Belgium respectively on Thursday evening.

However, should France finish top of Group D, they will play the fourth best team from Group C.

Bosnia and Herzegovina advanced from that pool to the last-16 after beating Georgia 84-76.

It is only the second time since the country gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1992 that Bosnia and Herzegovina has reached the latter stages of the European championships.

Defending champions Spain lie third going into their game on Thursday night against the Group C leaders Greece.

“We played a great game but not good enough,” said Spain wing Santi Aldama after Tuesday’s defeat to Italy.

“We took good shots and missed some we would normally make,” added the 24-year-old. “I think we did a pretty decent job. We have another game so we just have to go out there and die against Greece.”

After pool matches in Poland, Finland, Cyprus and Latvia, the knockout stages will be held between 6 and 14 September in the Latvian capital Riga.

“It’s the first step toward the end of a vile impunity,” said Bouvier, who was trapped in a makeshift media centre in the city on 22 February, 2012 when shells struck. “It was long, but we are finally getting there, it’s wonderful.”

The French warrants were signed on 19 August by investigating judges from the Paris court’s crimes against humanity unit, but the decision only became public on Tuesday.

They target Assad and his closest allies for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, following a 13-year investigation.

‘Crime against humanity’

The decision is seen as a breakthrough in recognising that attacks on journalists can constitute crimes against humanity.

“It’s a crime against humanity that has been recognised, and it’s a crime against humanity against journalists,” Bouvier told RFI.

Lawyers working on the case stressed its importance for accountability.

“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that opens the way to a trial in France,” said Clémence Bectarte, lawyer for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression.

Rights groups also welcomed the move. Reporters Without Borders described it as “a major advance in a central case for the fight against impunity for international crimes committed against journalists”.

The organisation added: “The noose is tightening even in the highest circles of the fallen regime of Bashar al-Assad, which had made independent journalists and a free press enemies of the state.”

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

Deadly bombardment

The informal press centre was housed in a building in the Bab Amr district of Homs, then a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army. When the building came under fire, the journalists inside tried to flee.

American reporter Marie Colvin, 56, who worked for The Sunday Times and was known for her fearless reporting and trademark eye patch, and French photographer Rémi Ochlik, 28, were the first to step outside. Both were killed instantly by a mortar shell.

Bouvier was seriously injured in the leg. British photographer Paul Conroy and Syrian translator Wael al-Omar were also wounded.

“These bombings were not decisions made city by city,” Bouvier said. “It was really the will of the state to silence journalists and civilians.”

She praised the “incredible work” of Syrian reporter Samer Al Deyaei for documenting the case.

“Mazen Darwish, the Syrian lawyer leading the Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, said the investigation proved the attack was deliberate.

“It clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists in order to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” he said.

New legal action launched against Syria’s Assad after French court ruling

Inner circle named

Alongside Assad, who fled to Russia after being ousted in 2024, the French warrants name his brother Maher al-Assad, the de facto head of Syria’s 4th armoured division at the time.

Others include intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, army chief of staff Ali Ayoub and Rafik Shahada, then head of the military and security committee in Homs.

Bouvier underlined the importance of Assad himself being targeted. “I didn’t want us to only go after lower-ranking officials,” she said.

The French investigation began in March 2012, when prosecutors in Paris opened a case for murder and attempted murder of French nationals.

It was widened in October 2014 to include war crimes, and in December 2024 to crimes against humanity – an unprecedented move for a case involving journalists.

Even if Assad and the others never face trial in person, rights lawyers say the French warrants send a powerful message.

Bectarte said the recognition of Assad’s personal role in the Homs bombing was a “decisive step” that could pave the way for proceedings in France.

Bouvier said the move was, above all, symbolic. “Even if it will be difficult to obtain Assad’s arrest, his name is there.”

The UN on Tuesday said that growing restrictions in Cameroon surrounding the upcoming election “raise fears” over whether voters will be able to freely choose their candidate.

“A safe and enabling human rights environment is essential for peaceful, inclusive and credible elections. It regrettably appears that this is not the case in Cameroon,” said UN rights chief Volker Turk.

His Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said restrictions were being imposed on opposition activities, with several gatherings banned.

There have also been concerns regarding the exclusion of certain political figures from the race, as well as irregularities in voter registration, the OHCHR said in a statement.

‘A crucial choice’

President Biya – who at 92 is the world’s oldest head of state – announced in July that he would run again for an eighth term. If he is successful, he will be running Cameroon until he is 99.

He is currently running against at least 11 other candidates – with this division raising concern among the opposition that none will have a chance of winning.

Talks took place among opposition figures throughout August, and a collective of leading Cameroonian intellectuals last week published an op-ed calling on the opposition to unite, in order to achieve political change.

The collective – which includes lawyer Alice Kom, film director Jean-Pierre Bekolo and academics Stéphane Akoa and Baba Wame – is urging politicians to conduct “serious negotiations” and put aside their “personal ambitions” in favour of a “common strategy” and a single candidate, which members called a “crucial choice”.

But some fear the opposition is still too divided to achieve a consensus at this stage.

According to Enrica Picco, Central Africa director for the International Crisis Group (ICG): “The parties did not seize the opportunity to offer a strong alternative, though this is not the first time they were told to identify a single candidate to challenge Biya.”

Failed negotiations

Picco told RFI that even if his intention to run did not come as a surprise, “many Cameroonians, inside and outside the country, still hoped that President Biya would have listened to the many calls not only from opposition parties and civil society, but this time also from his own party and allies, to step down after 42 years in power”.

She called the failure to unite behind a single candidate a weakness of the opposition movement, and added that discussions on this had also taken place last year, and the year before that, with no results.

“Negotiations never really ended up in anything concrete, the different opposition candidates are divided. They all think that they should lead the opposition and an agreement, at this point, is very unlikely to happen,” Picco added.

According to lawyer Akere Muna, the only hope is to nominate Maurice Kamto – who came second to Biya in the 2018 presidential election, representing the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC).

This year, however, Kamto’s candidacy was rejected by the electoral commission, Elecam, on the grounds that another individual, Dieudonné Yebga, had also applied to run under the banner of the same party – MANIDEM.

Both have now been excluded from the running, because parties are not allowed to submit two candidates under Cameroon’s electoral code.

Outspoken critic of Cameroon president excluded from October election

Conflict zones

This lack of cohesion and the perception of a lack of real opposition could result in a low turnout, the ICG is warning – as could the instability in the country.

According to the organisation, rural areas and those in conflict zones could be particularly affected, with voters having to weigh up the risks involved in getting to polling stations.

“In urban areas,” she added, “we can expect more or less the same participation as in 2018 [54 percent]. Parties are not calling for a full boycott of the election.”

The conflict in northern Senegal has seen candidates and political leaders of all stripes flock to that part of the country ahead of the election.

Following visits from Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maïgari, former members of Biya’s government and allies of the president, Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motaze recently paid a working visit on behalf of Biya.

Made up of three regions – Adamawa, the North and the Far North – the area represents more than a third of the national electorate.

“In the northwest and southwest, a conflict between Anglophone separatist groups and the government has been ongoing since 2017, and in the far north we still have a heavy jihadist presence – mostly targeting civilians with an increase in attacks and kidnappings in the past few months,” Picco told RFI.

“We also have extreme weather events, like flooding that left thousands of people homeless, in the past couple of years,” she added, explaining that in those regions it could prove extremely difficult for people who want to vote to even reach polling stations.

Cameroon’s forgotten crisis displaces nearly a million people

‘Electoral ceasefire’

“For the Anglophone region, what we recommend is for both the government and the separatists to make some [form of] political gesture. For the government: to release some Anglophone political prisoners, who have not been accused of violent crimes. And for the separatists: to allow people to be free to move to vote, and not target civilians,” said Picco.

She added that the ICG had suggested “an electoral ceasefire”.

These measures would protect civilians and state civil servants going to the Anglophone region for the vote.

“Those people are likely to be targeted from both sides – from separatists, who have already announced that they will not allow people to vote, but also from the Army, because they are likely to react to the separatist violence,” Picco added. 

In terms of the far north, she believes it’s vital for Cameroon to reinforce border control ahead of the election, especially along the Nigerian border where the risks of jihadist attacks is extremely high, as is the likelihood of their attempting to disrupt the vote. 

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.”

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 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.

On Wednesday, Brussels signed off on the text – covering Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay – and attached a new “legal act” designed to shield “sensitive European products” from market disruption.

The Commission pledged to intervene swiftly if imports of beef, poultry, sugar or ethanol threaten to destabilise European producers.

However, resistance to the deal remains strongest in France, which has long been at the forefront of opposition to the agreement.

Paris has warned that the influx of cheap Latin American produce risks undermining Europe’s agricultural sector.

The new guarantees, however, were welcomed by French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas, who said the EU had “listened to France’s reservations”, though she stressed ministers still needed time to study the details.

EU and Mercosur trade bloc finalise free trade deal opposed by France

‘Timing is right’

The EU Commission now wants the 27 member states and the European Parliament to approve the agreement quickly, ideally before the end of 2025.

With Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva holding the rotating Mercosur presidency, officials in Brussels believe the timing is right. “There is no reason to wait,” one senior EU figure told AFP.

For the EU executive, the source added,  the deal is about more than trade. It is part of a wider push to deepen ties with “reliable allies” at a moment of geopolitical flux.

With tariffs on European goods rising in Donald Trump’s United States and Chinese competition intensifying, Brussels is keen to diversify its partnerships.

Cars, machinery, wines and spirits are expected to gain easier access to Latin American markets, while products such as meat, honey, rice and soybeans would be exported more readily to Europe.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted the agreement would bring tangible benefits

“We are continuing to expand our partnerships and create new opportunities for European businesses,” she said.

According to EU estimates, the pact could save exporters more than €4 billion a year in tariffs.

French farmers protest EU-Mercosur deal, block motorways in southern France

France leads Mercosur opposition

Despite such assurances, farm groups are far from convinced. Copa-Cogeca, Europe’s largest agricultural lobby, condemned the endorsement as “a deeply damaging political manoeuvre”.

In France, the powerful FNSEA union has vowed to keep fighting and called on President Emmanuel Macron to resist ratification. Farmers are due to protest in Brussels on Thursday.

The political backlash is widening, too. France’s National Rally has denounced any softening of Macron’s stance as a “betrayal”, while the left-wing France Unbowed party has demanded a “general mobilisation” against the treaty.

In the European Parliament, centrist MEP Pascal Canfin has pledged a cross-party bid to delay ratification unless more transparency and stronger safeguards are offered.

Critics also highlight environmental and sanitary concerns, arguing that South American producers do not operate under the EU’s strict standards.

However, Germany and several other member states are firmly in favour of the Mercosur pact, seeing the deal as a vital opening for their industries.

France alone cannot block the deal. At least four countries representing 35 percent of the EU population would be required to form a “blocking minority”.

With new protections now built into the package, Brussels hopes that momentum is finally turning in favour of ratification — after years of stalemate.

(with newswires)

World Boxing said last month women wanting to compete in the event in Liverpool that starts on Thursday would have to undergo mandatory genetic sex testing under its new policy.

Such tests have been banned in France since a law was passed in 1994, except for under strict conditions, so the French federation had to wait till they reached England in order to proceed with them.

The five-member team underwent testing in a World Boxing-accredited laboratory with the understanding, the French Boxing Federation (FFBoxe) said, that the results would be available before the deadline.

“We are sorry some boxers did not meet the deadline for results of testing but the rules and deadlines were published,” a World Boxing official told AFP.

Nevertheless FFBoxe was seething over the decision.

“It is with stupefaction and indignation that the French team learned on Wednesday evening the French women’s boxing team would not be able to compete in the first world championships organised by World Boxing,” it said in a statement.

“Despite guarantees given to us by World Boxing, the laboratory which they recommended to us was not up to the task of delivering the results on time.

“As a result our athletes as well as those from other countries have been caught in this trap and excluded.”

Is AI sexist? How artificial images are perpetuating gender bias in reality

‘Arbitrary decision’

Maelys Richol, one of the five boxers affected, said she felt “frustration, anger and disappointment”.

“After an entire year of work we find ourselves thrown out not for sporting reasons but because of disastrous and unfair management,” said Richol, who was to compete in the -65 category. “It is extremely tough to absorb.”

Under World Boxing’s policy, fighters over 18 who want to participate in their competitions need to take a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, genetic test.

Boxing has been rocked by organisational problems in recent years.

World Boxing have been mandated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with organising the sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

In late May, World Boxing announced they were introducing mandatory gender testing to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes wanting to take part in its competitions.

It has become a major issue in boxing since the Paris Olympics last year when Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting were at the centre of a gender row.

Lin and Khelif were excluded from the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) 2023 world championships after the IBA said they had failed eligibility tests.

However, the IOC allowed them both to compete in Paris, saying they had been victims of “a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA”. Both went on to win gold medals.

Khelif has turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to challenge World Boxing’s introduction of the genetic sex test.

Neither boxer is competing in Liverpool.

Khelif and Lin were subjected to attacks on social media, rumours about their biological sex and disinformation during the Paris Games.

The IOC leaped to their defence, saying they were born and raised as women, and have passports attesting to that.

The debate about eligibility in women’s sports categories has not just affected boxing but has also affected athletics and swimming.

The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal delivered the verdict in the “Justice for the Living” case, brought more than three years ago by five environmental groups.

They include Pollinis, a bee and biodiversity advocacy group; Notre Affaire à Tous (Our Common Cause), a climate justice organisation, and the nature conservation group ASPAS.

The campaigners said the state had failed to protect biodiversity through weak pesticide rules.

The court said in a statement that there was “ecological damage resulting from the use of plant protection products”, particularly affecting human health.

It told the government to review pesticide authorisations that have already been granted, to make sure they meet the rules.

How forests decimated by wildfires still have the power to heal

Evaluation methods criticised

Judges ordered the state to carry out risk assessments “in light of the latest scientific knowledge, particularly regarding non-target species”. The authorities were given 24 months to complete the review.

France’s food and chemicals safety agency, Anses, was singled out. The court said Anses “committed a fault by not evaluating plant protection products in view of the latest scientific knowledge”.

It also said French authorities had failed to meet the requirements of a 2009 European regulation on pesticide marketing.

That regulation states that pesticides must not have “immediate or delayed harmful effects on human or animal health” and must not have “unacceptable effects on plants or the environment”.

France’s top constitutional court rejects return of bee-killing pesticide

‘Historic victory’

Pollinis called the ruling a “historic victory”. The groups urged the government not to appeal to France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État.

The appeal court’s decision on Wednesday went further than a June 2023 ruling, which had only ordered the government to take “all useful measures to repair ecological damage”.

The organisations, only partly satisfied at the time, had appealed to push the state to close what they saw as gaps in pesticide risk checks.

Public concern over pesticide use in France has been mounting. In July, more than 2.1 million people signed a petition opposing a draft law that would have relaxed restrictions on agricultural chemicals.

The government must now update its approval procedures and re-examine pesticide authorisations that were not assessed with methods meeting these requirements. The court gave a two-year deadline.

(with newswires)

“Based on available evidence and data from field measurements, health surveillance systems and official medical reports… there is no evidence of chemical or radioactive contamination in Khartoum state,” the health ministry said in a report released this week.

The ministry said the report was based on field tests and forensic reviews carried out since April, when the army regained control of the capital from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In June, Washington imposed sanctions on the army-backed government, accusing the army of using chemical weapons last year in its war against the RSF.

It did not provide details of where or when the alleged chemical weapons attacks took place.

“Political blackmail”

Sudan’s army-backed government has repeatedly denied the US allegations, calling them “baseless” and “political blackmail”.

The health ministry said there were no reports of mass deaths or symptoms indicative of chemical poisoning. It said forensic pathology teams found no fatalities typically associated with chemical weapons.

Sudan’s brutal war needs ‘more than battlefield wins’ after US peace push

The conflict that erupted between the regular army and the RSF in April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than 14 million from their homes, according to UN figures.

The RSF too is under US sanctions. In January, the State Department determined that the group had “committed genocide” against some ethnic groups in the western region of Darfur and imposed sanctions on its leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo.

(With newswires)

The three men walked together down a red carpet in unprecedented scenes, Xi shaking their hands before inspecting massed troops and weaponry from an open-top limousine along Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue.

The state broadcast showed tanks, stealth jets, missiles and drones rolling past the tribunes as music and choreography celebrated what China described as an “epic of resistance”.

“Our world is still faced with a choice of peace or war,” Xi said. He warned that China was unstoppable.

“The renaissance of the Chinese nation is unstoppable, and the noble cause of the peace and the development of humanity will certainly triumph.”

Symbolic staging

From Beijing, RFI correspondent Clea Broadhurst described Xi’s military review: the Chinese leader “standing in his open-roofed car as he descended the Avenue of Eternal Peace, responding to the martial salute of the troops”.

His position in the stands – between Putin and Kim – carried heavy symbolism. Analysts called it an “axis of autocracies” facing off against the West, saying the carefully calibrated image was intended to resonate both at home and abroad.

For most people, the spectacle played out on TV – in Beijing, residents even crowded into a tiny laundry temporarily turned into a viewing space.

“It is extremely important, it is only when the country is strong that the people can live in peace,” one veteran told RFI from the laundry.

“A military parade is not only a show for the public – it reassures ordinary citizens and inspires the young generation to carry on our mission and build an even better country. As a former fighter, I feel genuine pride from the bottom of my heart.”

An elderly woman said the parade sent a message abroad.

“I think this shows the whole world that China is now strong, that we are very united and that our army is powerful. But this does not mean we want to wage war, it is so everyone knows that we can protect ourselves and that we are not afraid of being bullied.”

A young viewer described feeling inspired.

“I found it quite impressive, especially seeing all those well-organised formations and sophisticated equipment. It gave me the feeling of having a mission, as if I too had to make a contribution to the country. I feel pride and a sense of responsibility.”

Putin and Modi in China for Shanghai Cooperation summit hosted by Xi

Military firepower

The show of force involved around 100,000 soldiers and featured some weapons never before displayed in public.

Chinese military officials said hypersonic missiles capable of striking ships at sea were among the highlights, along with the AJX002 underwater drone and the new DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry nuclear warheads to distant targets.

China’s Fujian aircraft carrier, its most advanced yet, may also soon be declared operational – a symbol of how the navy has surpassed the US fleet in numbers of ships since 2020.

State media said the parade included 80 buglers (trumpet players) to mark the years since 1945 and 14 musical groups representing the 14 years of war in the Party’s official version of history.

The People’s Liberation Army has not fought since 1979 and has yet to prove itself in combat. Analysts also point to weaknesses in China’s submarine fleet, which still depends on older diesel models, and to doubts about its command structure after two defence ministers were removed in 2024.

European leaders absent

While some 27 heads of state and government travelled to Beijing, Europe’s presence was almost non-existent. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was the only EU leader in the stands.

Most of his European counterparts – and even many ambassadors – declined their invitations.

Brussels wanted to avoid any image of sharing the platform with Putin, responsible for the war in Ukraine.

At a recent China–EU summit, Council President Antonio Costa and Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had openly criticised Chinese overproduction and Beijing’s support for Moscow.

The EU accuses China of supplying components that feed into Russia’s war industry.

Whirlwind week for Xi

The parade capped a week of diplomatic manoeuvres for Xi, who had just hosted a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin.

`There he railed against “bullying behaviour” – a swipe at the United States – while Putin defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kim’s presence was also highly symbolic. It was only his second trip abroad in six years, and the first time he has appeared alongside both Xi and Putin.

US President Donald Trump posted online: “Give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America.”

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.

Faced with weak market conditions, the company last year suspended construction of the renewables biofuel factory in Rotterdam that was intended to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and diesel from waste.

“As we evaluated market dynamics and the cost of completion, it became clear that the project would be insufficiently competitive,” Machteld de Haan, Shell’s downstream, renewables and energy solutions president, said in a statement.

The project was first announced in 2021 as part of plans to help Europe meet internationally binding emissions reduction targets.

Shell and rival UK energy giant BP have been walking back various climate objectives and focusing more on oil and gas to raise their profits, which has drawn criticism from environmental activists.

Decreased investments

Last year, Follow This, a green activist shareholder group, already pointed out that Shell was investing less in green energy projects. “the decreased investments in its clean energy division show that Shell is not serious about the energy transition,” said Follow This founder Mark van Baal. 

More than half of Shell’s Rotterdam facility’s capacity was intended to produce SAF — a biofuel made from plant and animal materials like cooking oil and fat which produces lower carbon emissions than traditional jet fuel.

Under plans to tackle climate change, the EU requires airlines to gradually increase the amount of SAF they use to power planes.

EU agrees to increase use of greener fuels in aviation industry

Airlines, however, complain that SAF is not widely available and too expensive.

Shell warned investors last year that its second-quarter had suffered a significant write-down owing to the shelved project.

(with newswires)

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)

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)

In a move steeped in symbolism, Turkey’s leader chose recent celebrations marking the Ottoman Turks’ defeat of the Byzantine Christians at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071 to issue an ultimatum to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“Those who turn to Ankara and Damascus will win,” Erdogan bellowed to thousands of supporters on 26 August. “If the sword is unsheathed, there will be no room left for pens and words.”

Turkey, a strong ally of Syria, has a military presence in the country and the two governments recently signed a defence training agreement.

But Turkey is unhappy with the presence of the SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces, which controls a large swathe of Syria bordering Turkey’s own predominantly Kurdish region.

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

Buying time

The SDF is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has for years been fighting Turkey for greater Kurdish minority rights.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. But Ankara is engaged in a peace process with the Kurdish militants, who have committed to disbanding.

However, Kurdish analyst Mesut Yegen, of the TIM think tank in Istanbul, says the disarmament process would be limited to Kurds from Turkey, and doesn’t include SDF forces in Syria.

Erdogan is now ramping up pressure on the SDF to honour an agreement its leader Mazloum Abdi signed in March with Syria’s new President, Ahmed Al Sharaa, to merge his military forces with the new regime in Damascus.

The deal is backed by the US, which has a military force in the SDF-controlled region as part of its war against the Islamic State.

But, according to Fabrice Balanche from Lyon University: “The SDF has no intention of implementing the agreement made in March. Mazloum just wanted to gain time.”

Balanche points out that Abdi’s SDF is a staunchly secular organisation and remains deeply suspicious of Sharaa’s jihadist connections.

Recent attacks on Syria’s Druze minority by forces linked to Sharaa appear to confirm the SDF’s fears over merging with the Damascus regime, says Balanche.

Syria’s interim president vows justice for Druze after deadly clashes

‘Israel would like a weak Syria’

At the same time, Erdogan is aware that the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish state on its border could be exploited by its rival Israel, which is looking for non-Arab allies in the region.

Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat and an analyst for Turkey’s Mediyascope news outlet, said: “Strategically, Israel would like a weak Syria, a weak Damascus, a weak Beirut and a weak Tehran.”

Turkey has carried out military incursions against the SDF, and its forces remain massed on the border.

But Balanche says American presence there will likely deter any new Turkish military action. However, he warns that Ankara could seek to fuel Kurdish Arab rivalries within the SDF, with the fall of former ruler Bashar al-Assad last December.

Turkey walks a fine line as conflict between Israel and Iran cools

“It is different now, you have a Sunni leader in Damascus, and many [Arab] tribes, many people, prefer to join Damascus,” he explained.

“So the risk is a proxy war. Of course, for the new regime, it would be a disaster. If you have no peace, you have no investment, you have no trust.”

The dilemma facing Ankara is that any new conflict against the SDF would likely weaken the Sharaa regime – a key ally.

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.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winners’ names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

The ePOP video competition is open!

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

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

How do you do it?

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

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

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need. 

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

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your music requests, so get them in! Send your music requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Facebook: Be sure to send your photos to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr for the RFI English Listeners Forum banner!

More tech news: Did you know we have a YouTube channel? Just go to YouTube and write “RFI English” in the search bar, and there we are! Be sure to subscribe to see all our videos.

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

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

Go to our website and get started! At the top of the page, click on “Test level” and you’ll be counselled to the best-suited activities for your level.

Do not give up! As Lidwien van Dixhoorn, the head of “Le Français facile” service, told me: “Bathe your ears in the sound of the language, and eventually, you’ll get it.” She should know – Lidwien is Dutch and came to France hardly able to say “bonjour” and now she heads this key RFI department – so stick with it!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts that will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Spotlight on France, Spotlight on Africa, The International Report, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We also have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. 

Remember, podcasts are radio, too! As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Please keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you’ll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

This week’s quiz: On 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.

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.