The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) says Balkan networks are embedding across West Africa to move large quantities of cocaine to Europe, forging alliances with Latin American cartels and local intermediaries.

On Monday, the French Navy seized nearly six tonnes of cocaine from a fishing vessel in international waters off the West African coast. GI-TOC says such seizures only hint at the scale of trafficking through the region.

“A third of Europe’s cocaine now transits through West Africa, and that share could rise to half by 2030,” Lucia Bird Ruiz, director of GI-TOC’s Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, told RFI.

“Groups from Montenegro, Serbia and Albania are today among the most significant actors in the global cocaine trade, and their presence in the region is increasingly entrenched.”

Balkan mafia meet Brazilian cartels

The report says Montenegrin clans such as Kavac and Skaljari – rivals with ties to Italy’s ’’Ndrangheta  mafia group – have forged close partnerships with Latin American cartels.

It names Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, the country’s most powerful criminal organisation formed in Sao Paulo’s prisons, as one of their main partners. GI-TOC says this collaboration has allowed Balkan groups to control the supply chain from production in South America to retail markets in Europe.

Cocaine and synthetic drugs power new era of global trafficking

The report says West Africa offers traffickers expanding port facilities, weak oversight and a location that makes it ideal as a transit point.

As controls on direct routes from Latin America to Europe have tightened, traffickers are increasingly using coastal states such as Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde.

“The cocaine market in Europe grows larger every day, while controls on direct routes from Latin America have intensified. That is why West Africa has become so important for traffickers,” Bird Ruiz said.

Brokers in the middle

GI-TOC says a key feature of this phase is the role of brokers. Often Balkan nationals sent to West Africa for months at a time, they act as fixers, managing shipments, cultivating ties with local partners and ensuring discretion.

One such network, the report says, operated out of Freetown, Sierra Leone, where a broker set up a company to handle imports and repackage cocaine into containers bound for Belgium.

“Intermediaries are absolutely central to the way these groups operate,” Bird Ruiz said to RFI. “They provide flexibility, build relationships on the ground, and increasingly serve as the nexus point between different criminal networks.”

How the Caribbean became a front line in France’s fight against the cocaine trade

GI-TOC warns that while the main aim is moving cocaine northwards, the trade is also fuelling problems within West Africa.

Payments to brokers are sometimes made in drugs instead of cash, driving up local consumption. Crack cocaine in particular is spreading, while real prices in Ghana and elsewhere have fallen since 2019.

Bird Ruiz said the impact is already clear, with rising addiction rates, fragile health systems under strain and corruption at state level. “Some of these groups have already corrupted senior political figures in Europe,” she said. “We should expect them to deploy the same strategies in West Africa.”

Stronger cooperation

The report stresses that tackling the trade will require more than occasional high-profile seizures. It calls for stronger intelligence systems, better data collection and above all closer cooperation between African and European law enforcement agencies, port authorities and private companies.

GI-TOC warns that without such measures, West Africa risks becoming even more entrenched in the global cocaine economy.

“It’s not just a question of organised crime,” Bird Ruiz told RFI. “It’s a public health issue, a governance issue, and potentially, a security issue for the entire region.”

A reporter from French news agency AFP saw the roof of Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers in flames and smoke billowing over the capital.

Drone strikes also damaged several high-rise buildings in Kyiv, according to emergency services.

Russia has shown no sign of halting its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine, pushing hardline demands for ending the war despite efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal.

The barrage came after several European countries, led by France and Britain, pledged Thursday to deploy “reassurance” forces to Ukraine to patrol a peace deal between the warring sides – a demand Moscow has deemed unacceptable.

The attack on Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers, a sprawling government complex at the heart of Kyiv, was the first such strike of the war.

EU summons Russian envoy after mission damaged in Kyiv strike

Police cordoned off the area surrounding the building as helicopters dropped water over the roof, an AFP reporter said.

“The roof and upper floors were damaged due to an enemy attack. Rescuers are extinguishing the fire,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram.

“We will restore the buildings. But we cannot bring back lost lives. The enemy terrorises and kills our people every day throughout the country,” she said.

Russia fired at least 805 drones and 13 missiles at Ukraine between late Saturday and early Sunday, in a new record, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said emergency services were working across the country.

“Such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war,” he said on Facebook.

Strike kills infant

A strike on a nine-story residential building in the west of Kyiv killed at least two people, a mother and her two-month-old son, prosecutors said.

More than a dozen others were wounded in Kyiv, according to police.

Ukraine’s rescue service posted photos showing the building in flames, while smoke billowed from its facade.

A separate guided bomb attack on the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed a married couple, the region’s governor Ivan Fedorov said.

The barrage came after more than two dozen European countries pledged to patrol any agreement to end the war, some of whom said they were willing to deploy troops on the ground.

Macron says 26 countries pledge troops as a ‘reassurance force’ for Ukraine

Kyiv says security guarantees, backed by Western troops, are crucial to any peace deal to ensure Russia does not invade again in the future.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has said any Western forces in Ukraine are unacceptable and would be “legitimate” targets.

Efforts in recent weeks by US President Donald Trump to end the war have so far yielded little progress.

Russia, which denies targeting civilians in Ukraine, occupies around 20 percent of the country in total.

Tens of thousands have been killed in three-and-a-half years of fighting, which has forced millions from their homes and destroyed much of eastern and southern Ukraine in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.

(with AFP)

The ban, published in the Official Journal on Saturday, follows the ban on disposable e-cigarettes, which have been prohibited from sale since the end of February.

A ban on smoking in public spaces such as gardens and parks, beaches, and around schools, has also been in effect since 1 July.

The French Health Minister, Catherine Vautrin says the ban on nicotine pouches underlines her commitment to combating the “risks associated with addiction.”

“Nicotine is now considered a poisonous substance due to its harmful effects, and its recreational use presents a risk of initiating smoking, particularly among young people,” she told French news agency AFP.

The former Barnier government announced in 2024 its intention to ban nicotine pouches, also known as pouches, due in particular to an increase in poisonings among adolescents.

The global pouch market was valued by Global Markets Insights at $6.6 billion (€5.6 billion) for 2023, and could reach $27.4 billion (€23.4 billion) in 2032.

Crucial measure to protect young people

Recently introduced, tobacco-free nicotine pouches contain polymer fibers impregnated with nicotine and flavourings in a permeable fabric and are inserted between the lip and gum.

The government’s ban applies to all “products for oral use containing nicotine, with the exception of medications and medical devices.” It does not apply to chewing tobacco.

These include “portion pouches” or “porous pouches,” “paste, beads, liquids, chewing gum, lozenges, strips, or any combination of these forms,” ​​the text lists.

France rethinks smoking as new public ban comes into effect

The Alliance Against Tobacco ( L’Alliance contre le tabac), a federation of anti-smoking associations, hailed the decision as a “victory.”

“This is a crucial measure to protect young people and counter the pernicious strategies of an industry that thrives on the addiction market, to the detriment of public health,” it said in a statement.

“Faced with the decline in cigarette consumption in developed countries, nicotine pouches and new nicotine products (heated tobacco and electronic cigarettes) are the new financial El Dorado for cigarette manufacturers,” the organisation says, for whom, “far from being weaning tools, nicotine pouches and their derivatives (balls, pearls) only aim to expand the nicotine addiction market.”

‘Ineffective’ strategy

Manufacturer British American Tobacco France criticised France’s “dogmatic approach, without debate or consultation,” which “runs the risk (…) of depriving adult smokers of regulated alternatives” to tobacco.

Philip Morris France also denounced the move, accusing France of “persisting with an ineffective ban strategy.”

The tobacconists’ confederation sees it as a “foretold victory for drug trafficking.”

No more smoke and mirrors: tobacco industry should pay for its pollution, WHO says

In November 2023, the French National Food Safety Agency (Anses) called for “special vigilance” regarding these pouches, emphasising that these products, like aromatic beads, were increasingly causing poisoning.

“Children and adolescents are the main victims,” Anses noted. Like snus (tobacco in pouch form for oral use, banned for sale in Europe), nicotine pouches “can cause acute, sometimes severe nicotine syndromes: prolonged vomiting with risk of dehydration, convulsions, impaired consciousness, and hypotension requiring vascular replacement,” according to the study, which specifies that the majority of poisoned people are between 12 and 17 years old.

Aromatic beads also pose a risk of domestic accidents, particularly for children under three years old who ingest them. The number of calls to poison control centres regarding these products increased from three in 2020 to 86 in 2022, according to Anses.

(with AFP)

A viral campaign has for weeks urged French people to stage a nationwide “shutdown” next Wednesday, two days after the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou faces a confidence vote in parliament over an austerity budget standoff.

The emerging movement Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” has suggested a range of civil disobedience actions from blocking train stations to picketing oil refineries.

France’s hardline interior minister said Friday he did not anticipate a “large-scale” response to calls for protests next week, but ordered police to “show the utmost firmness” in case of any disorder.

“I don’t believe there will be any large-scale movements,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said, adding that hard-left forces and some unions have backed the anti-government campaign.

Will France’s ‘block everything’ movement jump from social media to the streets?

“It is very clear that the movement has shifted to the left,” Retailleau said. “Given the nature of these movements and their radicalism, there may be some spectacular actions.”

Intelligence officials have warned the movement’s decentralised nature makes its scale and impact difficult to predict, with law enforcement preparing for any eventuality.

In the telegram, dated Thursday, Retailleau ordered police to fully mobilise to “manage this crisis”.

“Blocking everything is worse than anything else. The country doesn’t need to be blocked,” Retailleau said.

Exasperation

“No damage to public buildings in general, and landmark buildings in particular, will be tolerated,” he said, adding schools and universities must also be protected.

Signs have multiplied that many French people are growing exasperated with political deadlock as well as issues including the cost of living and crime.

Bayrou‘s government is expected to lose Monday’s confidence vote, in a new blow to President Emmanuel Macron, now on his sixth prime minister since taking office in 2017.

France’s debt: how did we get here, and how dangerous is it?

Several French people who planned to take part in next week’s protests said they were frustrated with government policies, including Bayrou’s proposal to cut two public holidays, and said they wanted to have a greater say in political matters.

“Taxes on the rich are never voted in, while we are asked to tighten our belts,” said 35-year-old Chloe Souske from the village of Monterfil in northwestern France.

“A gap has opened up with the political elite who work for billionaires,” added Benjamin Ball, a 41-year-old from the northwestern Paris suburb of Argenteuil.

Separately, trade unions have called for protests on 18 September over France’s “horror show” draft budget.

(with newswires)

When France’s iconic monument was built in 1889, Eiffel had the names of 72 of France’s greatest scholars inscribed on the tower’s first floor in golden capital letters 60 centimetres high.

The scientists, who lived and worked between 1789 and 1889, include the artist and chemist Louis Daguerre, who invented the daguerreotype, the physicist Andre-Marie Ampere and the astronomer Francois Arago.

More than 130 years on, Paris authorities are seeking to right a historic wrong by adding the names of 72 illustrious women.

“The aim is to highlight the historical contribution of women to science and technology”, said an expert commission in charge of the project, which presented its conclusions to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Friday.

The commission said such a tribute would remedy the so-called “Matilda effect”, the term coined by American historian Margaret Rossiter in 1993 to describe the systematic suppression of women‘s contributions to scientific progress, after US rights activist Matilda Joslyn Gage.

In photos: Gustave Eiffel, a global legacy beyond the tower

The commission is chaired by astrophysicist Isabelle Vauglin, vice-president of the Femmes & Sciences association, and Jean-Francois Martins, the head of the tower’s operating company.

A list of women’s names will be proposed before the end of the year to Hidalgo, who will validate the final list.

The commission wants to limit the choice to “distinguished female experts who lived between 1789 and the present day” and who are now deceased and mainly of French nationality.

Women honoured in Paris for outstanding contributions to science

To ensure gender parity, members of the commission propose to place the women’s names above the existing frieze with the names of the men.

The Eiffel Tower is owned by the city of Paris.

One of the world’s most visited monuments, it attracts around seven million people every year, around three-quarters of them from abroad.

On Monday, Education Minister Elisabeth Borne said France should open a debate on the inscription above the Pantheon in Paris to better reflect the contributions of the women laid to rest there.

(with AFP)

They may have rebranded from OL Féminin to OL Lyonnes, but the 2025 Arkema Première League champions have no intention of changing anything when it comes to their domination of French women’s football – going after an 18th title in 19 years.

Paris Saint-Germain interrupted their run in 2021 and, along with Paris FC, the French capital’s other club, they are expected to offer the main challenge to the Lyon side – a team that won 20 of their 22 games before waltzing through the play-offs to be crowned league champions last season.

On Sunday, OL Lyonnes will play host to newly promoted Marseille side at Lyon’s 59,000 seat Groupama Stadium – the same arena used by the Ligue 1 men’s team.

It is the first time in a major European league that a women’s side will play all their league and cup matches at the same venue as their male counterparts.

Coupe LFFP offers fresh prize for France’s top women’s football clubs

“It’s about redefining what’s possible in women’s football,” said OL Lyonnes president Michele Kang. “As part of our commitment to setting the gold standard for women’s sports and inspiring future generations, creating a world-first environment for champions to thrive is paramount.”

She added: “By investing in infrastructure that meets – and exceeds – the bar set by top men’s clubs, we are showing the world that women’s football has earned its rightful place on the world stage.”

The division will be televised

Uefa, European football’s ruling body, which organised the 2025 women’s European championships in Switzerland, said around 400 million people watched the matches on TV during the 25-day tournament, which culminated in a penalty shoot-out victory for England over Spain.

French broadcasters CStar and Canal+ will show the match between OL Lyonnes and Marseilles, while Canal+ Foot will broadcast Saturday night’s game between RC Lens and PSG.

The other four matches will be shown on the Arkema Première Ligue’s YouTube channel.

Nigeria crowned African football queens after 3-2 comeback against Morocco

Top games in the Seconde Ligue will also be televised after the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the French professional game’s governing body, signed a rights deal with the French Olympic committee’s TV station Sport en France.

“It’s a good move,” said Louna Lapassouse, a striker with second tier Toulouse FC. “It’s true that women’s football in general struggles to reach a wider audience, and it’s perhaps a little more so in France. I think it will be great that we can see women’s football in a broader perspective.”

Toulouse, who kick off their campaign at Le Mans on Sunday afternoon, finished the 2024/2025 Second Ligue season in third place, eight points behind Lens and Marseille.

“It was a good season even if we didn’t go up,” said Lapassouse. “Toulouse was newly promoted from the third division so people didn’t really know us very well. I think this year we’ll have to be wary and prepare for all the teams. This season I think they’re going to be better prepared for us.”

Michael Olise’s early strike and Kylian Mbappé’s goal for Les Bleus handed the 2018 World Cup winners a 2-0 victory over Ukraine as Group D got underway.

“It was an important match because of the limited number of games (to qualify) against a quality team. We could have sealed the deal in the first half because we were in control and created a lot of chances,” coach Didier Deschamps said.

“We faltered for four or five minutes in the second half, but the main thing is that we got the result.”

Olise started and finished the opening goal on 10 minutes when he released Bradley Barcola down the left flank from deep.

The Bayern Munich man ghosted the length of the pitch to arrive unmarked into the Ukraine box and calmly sweep Barcola’s return ball into the bottom corner.

2026 World Cup: France boss Deschamps warns squad of Ukraine danger

Olise and half-time substitute Ousmane Dembélé nearly doubled the visitors’ lead either side of the break but goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin denied them impressively.

Ukraine responded by coming within inches of levelling the encounter twice inside two minutes after the hour.

Ibrahima Konate first turned a goalbound Artem Dovbyk header off his own goal-line, before new Paris Saint-Germain signing Illia Zabarnyi struck the woodwork with a headed effort following a set-piece.

Praise for Olise

But Mbappé made the win safe for France when he raced onto a pinpoint through-ball from his Real Madrid team-mate Aurelien Tchouameni before cutting inside and rifling home on 82 minutes.

That’s goal number 51 with Les Bleus for Mbappé, who goes level with Thierry Henry as France’s second all-time top scorer.

“It’s an honor to equal a player like Thierry Henry,” Mbappé told French TV station TF1.

“Everyone knows what he represents for us French people, and even more so for strikers. He paved the way, he achieved incredible things. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him. To reach this kind of milestone so early is surreal, but I like it and I want to keep going. I don’t want to stop – above all, I want to keep winning matches and winning more titles.”

Suriname plans to turn tables with Dutch-born players in bid for World Cup glory

Deschamps had praise, in particular, for 23-year-old Olise after he netted his third goal in nine outings for Les Bleus.

“Michael is brilliant in everything he does, his movement, his combinations, his passing quality,” the coach said.

The Ballon d’Or favorite Dembélé however suffered left thigh discomfort, and came off the pitch clutching the back of his right thigh.

A sign that PSG’s very long season, leading up to the Club World Cup final on 13 July, is perhaps taking its toll.

Dembélé “didn’t feel anything violent,” Deschamps said. “He was in good shape, there wasn’t the slightest apprehension about playing him”.

On Tuesday, the French team will host the other Group D leader, Iceland, at the Parc des Princes, who outclassed Azerbaijan (5-0), to lay a second stone on their path to the FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Action everywhere

Elsewhere, Gennaro Gattuso enjoyed his start to life as Italy coach on Friday as his team beat Estonia 5-0.

Italy are third in Group I after three matches, six points behind leaders Norway who have played one game more, and boast a superior goal difference.

Denmark and Scotland played out a goalless stalemate in Copenhagen as Group C started, with Greece topping the pool following their 5-1 victory at home to Belarus.

Road to 2026: Morocco maintain surge as Nigeria slip up

Switzerland opened Group B with a 4-0 win over Kosovo as group mates Sweden and Slovenia played out a 2-2 draw in Ljubljana.

Former World Cup runners-up Croatia struggled to a 1-0 win away to Faroe Islands to stay second in Group L.

Pool leaders Czech Republic beat third-placed Montenegro 2-0 to remain three points ahead of the Croats, although with two games in hand.

(with AFP)

Prime Minister François Bayrou’s austerity budget is likely to be rejected by MPs when they vote on 8 September, leading to his ousting.

He recently dismissed proposals for a wealth tax as a way of reducing France’s spiralling debt, warning that the wealthy would simply flee France.

“What will they do? They will leave,” he said in a TV interview on Sunday, echoing months of government warnings about capital flight.

However, the Conseil d’analyse économique (CSE) – an independent think tank that advises the prime minister – says its latest findings do not support the government’s stark predictions.

“The wealthy, or high capital income earners, are relatively immobile compared to the general population,” said economist Nicolas Grimprel, co-author of a recent CSE report.

Their analysis focused on France’s top 1 percent of capital income earners – approximately 400,000 households – whom they consider the best proxy for high-wealth individuals.

Among the top 1,000 taxpayers, only two leave France each year – half as many as the rate for the population overall, the study found.

Hollande v. Macron

The research examined major tax reforms over the past 15 years, including the introduction of a 75 percent supertax under Socialist president François Hollande in 2012-2013, and reductions under the economically liberal President Emmanuel Macron in the year following his election in 2017.

Macron introduced a 30 percent flat tax on capital income (PFU) in 2018, and while the top rate of income tax remained at 45 percent, combined taxation on investment income and wealth fell sharply.

He also abolished the wealth tax (ISF), replacing it with a narrower tax on real estate (IFI).

Comparing the two reforms, the study found that while wealthy individuals do respond to tax changes, the actual numbers leaving remain minimal.

“In 2017, the average departure rate for the top 1 percent of capital income earners was around 0.2 percent,” Grimprel told RFI.

Even significant tax increases would trigger only modest additional departures, the study found. “We estimate that a one percentage point increase in income taxation would lead to additional tax exile of between 0.02 percent and 0.23 percent of the affected population.”

In absolute terms, this translates to fewer than 900 additional households leaving out of 400,000 – far from the mass exodus ministers have predicted.

Billionaires highlight France’s complicated relationship with wealth

The CAE team found that recent tax cuts did encourage some returns to France from 2017-2018 onwards, although the numbers were modest

“We observe a notable reduction in net departures,” Grimprel said, while underlining this too represented only a few hundred households.

“High-wealth individuals tend to be older, which may explain their lower mobility,” he observed. “It’s also related to the nature of their income and the fact that they hold substantial assets, which creates ties to France.”

The research also examined what happens when wealthy shareholders do leave. It acknowledged that the expatriation of major shareholders tends to lower the value of the companies in which they hold shares, with a knock-on negative effect on the economy.

However, according to the report, even taking the “upper limit”, tax exile would lead to a drop of “at most 0.03 percent in turnover, 0.05 percent in total added value for the French economy, and 0.04 percent in total employment”.

France’s debt: how did we get here, and how dangerous is it?

An ’eminently political’ issue

In October 2024, the previous Barnier government announced a temporary tax increase on France’s highest earners – households earning above €500,000 or €250,000 for individuals – which it was estimated would raise about €2 billion.

But the government collapsed after being ousted in a no-confidence vote in December 2024, and the measure was never enacted.

In January, French billionaire Bernard Arnault threatened to leave the country if the 40 percent tax came into force.

France targets the rich with temporary tax hikes to bring down debt

France’s left-wing parties, backed by several former Nobel Prize winners, have continued to push for a “Zucman tax“, which would impose a 2 percent levy on wealth exceeding €100 million.

The proposal was rejected by the French Senate in June.

Bayrou has described the Zucman tax as “unconstitutional” and “a threat to investments in France”.

“Every economic issue is eminently political… involving public policy choices,” Grimprel said. Pointing to concerns about fiscal justice, he noted that when all income and taxes paid are taken into account, effective tax rates for the ultra-rich are often lower than for middle-class households.

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.”

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

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. 

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.

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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.

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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.

Born online, the movement Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” – is aiming to bring France to a standstill on 10 September.

The movement is a protest against Prime Minister François Bayrou’s 2026 budget, unveiled in mid-July, as well as the proposed scrapping of two public holidays – 8 May and Easter Monday – and the planned pension freeze, as well as wider cuts to public services.

It has also voiced demands for fairer taxation, calling for an economic reset that better supports ordinary workers and middle-class households.

With its origins elusive and its activity so far mostly limited to the online sphere, questions have been raised over whether Bloquons Tout will emerge as a genuine protest movement.

RFI put this question to Elliot Lepers, a political communications adviser who has been following the movement, and Quentin Ravelli, a sociologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

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

RFI: How would you describe this call to action on 10 September? Is it possible to define the movement at this stage?

Quentin Ravelli: It’s difficult to define a movement that doesn’t yet exist. There is a call, but it hasn’t fully taken shape. For now, it’s ambivalent, shifting – with economic demands and an effort to build consensus beyond political divides. But movements evolve constantly as events unfold. We’ll have to see how, and if, it takes off.

Elliot Lepers: It’s a very “nebulous” movement – no clear hierarchy or organisation is visible. It’s also extremely diverse, with participants coming from varied cultural and political backgrounds. That diversity is something they actively defend. In the Telegram groups, after parties such as France Unbowed expressed support, there were reminders of the need to maintain neutrality – to keep 10 September a non-partisan space, not to be exploited by parties, unions or ideologies.

Yet the movement is said to have started with accounts close to the far right, before being supported by left-wing parties. How do you view this?

EL: It’s true that the first online relays came from so-called “patriot” circles – far-right conservative forums – and some Russian interference has been documented too. But those remain marginal. What’s more significant are the large, spontaneous surges of people self-organising around genuine anger. It’s a space of politicisation, where thousands are trying to turn shared experiences into political action. Yes, there are attempts at manipulation, but they coexist with sincere mobilisation.

Movement calls for September shutdown across France to protest budget cuts

Can a movement really channel anger without aligning with a political side?

QR: Since the 2008 crisis, we’ve seen economic grievances turn into political ones – think of the Indignados [an anti-austerity movement in Spain] or Occupy Wall Street. Many movements avoid being labelled left or right. This isn’t just strategic: participants often feel that consensus around economic demands matters more than political allegiance. Urgent issues like public services, wages or inflation are seen as priorities.

Do you see continuity with the Yellow Vests movement?

EL: The Yellow Vests are often mentioned as both inspiration and something to be distinguished from. They’re part of the political culture, but I don’t see the 10 September groups as direct heirs. For instance, organisers debate whether to use the tricolour flag in visuals, or whether yellow should feature – knowing it evokes the Yellow Vests.

QR: Many former Yellow Vests aren’t mobilising, although some are. Continuity is hard to gauge. The Yellow Vests had clear demands at the start, centred on fuel, and concrete tactics like roundabout occupations. In contrast, “Let’s Block Everything” or opposing a budget is much more vague. The 10 September call is strategically blurry, echoing Yellow Vest sentiment in part, while aiming to broaden the scope of the protest.

Is the movement becoming more structured beyond the online sphere?

EL: Yes. Once you join a Telegram group, you find local offshoots by region, department or city, which then organise assemblies. These have multiplied as 10 September approaches. Early on, the focus was symbolic actions – withdrawing money, boycotting consumption. Now the tone has shifted to tangible blockades: road closures, street actions. But the movement is highly diverse, so expressions will vary from city to city.

QR: I have mixed feelings. It does reach different social groups – former Yellow Vests, health workers opposed to cuts, people angry about lost public holidays. But the tactics are unclear. The 2018-2019 roundabout blockades provided structure. Today’s calls for strikes are more vague, and how they’ll translate locally remains uncertain.

Bayrou lays out his budget strategy, one week ahead of no-confidence vote

Does the confidence vote for François Bayrou on 8 September change things?

EL: When that announcement came, I observed a spike in online interaction – people asking about consequences, not about the movement’s legitimacy. If anything, it was seen as validation of the protest mood and rejection of current policies. The challenge now is how the movement adapts – what slogans, what targets – especially if there’s a resignation.

QR: People aren’t just mobilising against Bayrou. He’s just one factor in much wider anger. This goes beyond a showdown between a prime minister and a few activists – the conditions are there for a broader confrontation.

Could 10 September be a turning point?

EL: Like all spontaneous, digital-born movements, there are phases. First comes a vague recruitment drive, then the test in the real world. That’s when ideals meet reality, creating clarification. It’s a trial by fire – either the movement crystallises into something real, or it fragments.

QR: I feel something strong could emerge – but it will all be decided in the coming two weeks, on 8 September and especially on 10 September. The day could either lead to a quick sense of victory and exhaustion, or spark the real take-off of the movement.

(This interview has been adapted from the original French version and edited for clarity)

“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.”

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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.”

While present across wider west Africa, the powerful Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, represents the greatest threat to the arid Sahel region today, the United Nations says.

In June, the JNIM warned that its well-armed fighters would target all foreign companies at work in Mali, run by the army since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, as well as any business doing public works for the state without “its authorisation”.

A recent UN report found the group’s “core ambition remains the creation of an emirate that could challenge the legitimacy of military regimes, force them to cede authority and implement sharia” law, or the Islamic legal code.

To that end, the JNIM’s raids in the west could allow it “to establish a racketeering network that extorts foreign companies and undermines the legitimacy of the Malian government”, while kidnapping foreigners “to ransom them back to their governments”, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) said.

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Chinese workers abducted

From the end of July, the JNIM has made good on its threats, attacking seven foreign-run industrial sites in one of Africa‘s top producers of gold and lithium, according to the AEI.

Six of those were run by Chinese firms, most of them in the gold-rich Kayes region to the west, with the jihadists abducting at least 11 Chinese citizens in the raids, AEI analyst Liam Karr told AFP.

“From what we can tell, China is bearing the brunt,” Karr said.

In the wake of the attacks, China‘s foreign affairs ministry said it had urged the junta “to spare no effort in searching for and rescuing the kidnapped individuals”.

It said it had “further taken practical and effective measures to ensure the safety of local Chinese citizen institutions and projects”.

Besides Chinese, the JNIM also kidnapped three Indians at a cement works in the west in early July.

“The group has no grievances against the Chinese, but it stems from the group’s desire to deal a blow to the Malian economy instead,” said Bakary Sambe, director of the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute think tank.

“Kayes holds strategic value for JNIM as a key economic hub. The region accounts for roughly 80 percent of Mali’s gold production and serves as a trade corridor to Senegal“, the country’s top supplier, according to the Soufan Center consultancy.

As a result, the JNIM’s western campaign “threatens to undermine business ties” with China, “one of Mali’s largest economic partners”, warned the AEI.

Chinese private investment in Mali came to $1.6 billion between 2009 and 2024, while the Chinese government has poured in $1.8 billion across 137 projects since 2000, AEI figures show.

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Raids spread

Mali’s reliance on Beijing has only grown since the coups that brought the military to power.

After turning its back on former colonial ruler France and the West more broadly, the junta has sought closer ties with China, as well as Russia and Turkey.

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group and its successor, Africa Corps, Chinese armoured cars and Turkish drones have helped the Malian army in its more than a decade-long fight against the jihadist insurgency.

For Karr, Russian willingness “to be a disruptor to strengthen its influence” stands “at odds with China, because China wants stability for its business interests”.

Where do jihadist groups in the Sahel get their weapons?

Despite the outside help, the Malian junta has struggled to contain the JNIM and its rival, the Islamic State-Sahel Province group.

Deadly attacks across the Kayes region piled up in August, while the JNIM hit businesses in the Malian centre “for the first time”, Karr said, with Chinese sugar refineries near the town of Segou among the targets.

Several days later, an assault on a British-run lithium mine in Bougouni in the south left a security guard dead.

The rash of jihadist raids comes as the junta, which trumpets a nationalist policy of greater domestic sovereignty over Mali’s riches, is bidding to tighten its grip on the country’s mining resources.

The military government has seized control of Mali’s largest goldmine, the Loulo-Gounkoto site in the Kayes region, from Canadian giant Barrick Mining, demanding hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes.

The violence broke out on 24 August in the village of Gbiniyiri, Savannah Region, near the borders with Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. The Birifor and Gonja ethnic groups, who have long disputed land ownership in the area, were involved.

The conflict reportedly began when the local chief sold a parcel of land to a private developer, without broader community consent, French news agency AFP reported. When the developer attempted to access the land to begin work, residents resisted violently.

Frustration reached a peak when the chief’s palace was set on fire, and the violence spread quickly to surrounding communities. 

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Violence and trauma

Ghana’s Red Cross says around 50,000 have fled the area. More than 13,000 have sought refuge across the border in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghanian officials said on Thursday.

Ivorian authorities have reported the arrival of 10,000 Ghanaians in the Bounkani region, a figure confirmed by Ghana’s National Disaster Management Organisation (Nadmo), which visited the area.

Some sources also mention Ghanaian refugees in the Noumbiel province of Burkina Faso, according to RFI’s correspondent in Accra. 

Nadmo said people forced from their homes were mostly women and children. Eight people died in a boat accident while crossing the Black Volta to reach Cote d’Ivoire, it said.

While communal disputes over land and chieftaincy are recurrent in the north of Ghana, displacement on this scale is rare.

In a statement published on Tuesday, the Ghanaian Red Cross warned of a dire humanitarian situation with “insufficient and overcrowded” tents, food shortages, inadequate medical supplies and an increased risk of disease spreading due to lack of access to clean water.

Women, children and elderly people were “exposed to violence and trauma”, it said.

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Curfew introduced

Two days after hostilities began, Ghanaian authorities deployed an additional 300 law enforcement officers to the region followed by an indefinite curfew.

The violence appears to have calmed down. Savannah regional police told RFI on Tuesday there had been no clashes in the three previous days.

On 31 August, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama dispatched a security delegation to the region. The presidency said discussions were underway between “regional security, local traditional chiefs and community stakeholders to promote dialogue”.

But the scale of the casualties and destruction, and the speed with which the violence spread, have sparked criticism of the authorities’ response.

“The problem is that the fighting is not taking place within communities, but in the bush,” says local journalist Eliasu Tanko. “It’s therefore very difficult for the authorities, deployed in communities, to intervene.”

However, the Tamale-based journalist, who specialises in security issues in northern Ghana, admits he was surprised by the scale and violence of the fighting.

The Birifor and Gonja peoples “do not have a history of clashes, they’re peasant farmers,” he told RFI. Despite age-old tensions between the groups “especially during the dry season when herders arrive in the area and destroy crops”, he insists they generally end up resolving their differences peacefully.

He argues the scope of the current clashes risks creating a dangerous precedent across borders.

“The Birifor have a certain ethnic proximity with their Ivorian and Burkinabé neighbours. Some members of the same family can live on one side or the other of the borders. If the conflict persists, we can fear reprisals from the Birifor, assisted by their brothers from Côte d’Ivoire or Burkina Faso.”

As France celebrates France Brazil 2025, a year-long cultural collaboration, this year’s Lyon Dance Biennale features eight dance companies from the South American nation.

Trained as a dancer in Amsterdam, Lima runs her own dance company in Sao Paolo, Futura.

Speaking to RFI at the Aurillac International Street Theatre Festival in August, she said she was excited to be sharing her work Bosque (“Woods”) – a meditative “human forest” – with audiences in France.

“I have been developing this project for several years. Bosque evokes this shifting landscape, a landscape that we create in the city with the city’s inhabitants and which, like nature, is alive.”

The work, she says, is an invitation to slow down and take a moment to remember that man and nature are one and the same. “That is why it is important to take care of ourselves, of the place where we live.”

Reimagining cityscapes

For Lima, collaboration – including interaction with the public – is at the heart of all her projects.

“I really like to think of artistic creation as a way to bring people together. I think it’s important to clarify that my artistic practice is total, not linear. It’s circular – it goes to the street, it goes to childhood, it goes to the theatre,” she explains.

Lima is drawn to the contrasts inherent in cities, to the layers of concrete and the possibility of occupying the space differently.

“I would like people to imagine ‘Wow! What if there were trees in this space? What if this space was occupied by something else?’ This is where imagination is a key factor.”

Turning the world on its head 

She set about designing an “upside down” forest – made of people wearing long skirts and standing on their heads so the skirts fall down and fan around them, covering their heads and arms but revealing their bare legs, like trunks.

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“For me, it’s the image of an inverted tree. I’ve always been fascinated by this image of the inverted body, because it makes me wonder if it’s the inverted body or the world upside down. I think it challenges normality, our perception of the body, and opens us up to other perceptions. It also evokes the theme of physical resistance, the one we must have.”

Lima and her team of four have used colour and texture in the costumes to mimic the forests and woods, using various shades of green, brown, orange and purple.

“We also wanted to incorporate flowers using chintz, a very Brazilian and popular fabric. It highlights the flowers of the forest and the sequins we use [because they are] a fabric widely used during Brazilian carnival,” she says.

The forest is then “landscaped” using non-professional volunteers from the local population – who have good balance and know how to do a handstand.

“There are people from yoga, circus, capoeira, hip hop who – thanks to their very particular way of standing on their heads – bring us closer to different worlds,” she says. “I think that dance and art are about bringing worlds together and creating alliances with others.”

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The power of imagination

Lima believes the Lyon Biennale will be a great boost to Bosque, which has involved some 200 performers since it was created.

“This project was produced by the Big Pulse Dance Alliance, an alliance of European festivals, and after this co-production, we will gradually be able to tour more in Europe,” she says.

One factor is key to the performance, and to her work as a whole is letting the imagination run free.

“I think art can manifest in many ways, but I deeply believe in imagination, the potential it holds, and our ability to imagine and create other worlds… Rather than thinking about what we have, let’s imagine what we can be.”

The Lyon Dance Biennale runs from 6 to 28 September in Lyon, and until 17 October in the wider Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) – the world’s leading professional body dedicated to the study of genocide – this week passed a resolution declaring that Israel’s actions against the Palestinians in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide.

Backed by 86 percent of the members who voted, the resolution details acts that the Association says fall squarely within the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide: the killing of tens of thousands of civilians, the deliberate targeting of children, the destruction of agricultural land and homes, and the systematic dismantling of health, education and cultural institutions.

It also points to explicit statements by Israeli leaders suggesting an intent to destroy the Palestinian nation in Gaza. Genocide scholars say that this amounts to the destruction of a people’s future and their ability to regenerate.

RFI spoke to Tim Williams, second vice president of the IAGS and Professor of Insecurity and Social Order at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. 

He outlines how the resolution was drafted, why it highlights children as proof of genocidal intent and how the recognition of a Palestinian state by countries – including France – could reshape the global perception of Israel’s actions.

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Recognition of genocide ‘brings obligations’

One of the striking issues is why so many governments and institutions are reluctant to use the word genocide, despite mounting evidence. Williams is clear: hesitation is often a political stance.

“I wouldn’t say that international courts hesitate to use the term,” he told RFI. “They do when it is applicable in cases. States, on the other hand, do hesitate because in the UN Convention, there is an obligation under international law on states to prevent and punish genocide.

“So by recognising genocide, it obliges states to engage in prevention efforts, which would mean that if a state recognises it, they have to exert pressure on Israel. They would have to cease all arms delivery to Israel, and ultimately intervene in the situation to try and prevent the genocide from occurring.”

Naming genocide is more than a moral gesture – it carries heavy legal and political implications. Williams describes the paradox at the heart of the Genocide Convention: to declare it compels action, but that obligation can also delay acknowledgement until long after atrocities have unfolded.

Why children matter in proving intent

The IAGS resolution gives particular weight to the killing and maiming of children, a focus Williams sees as critical. He argues that targeting children is one of the clearest signals of genocidal intent under international law.

“Children are seen as a protected part of a group, and they are particularly important because they are also the future of the group,” he said. “By destroying the children of a nation, you’re precluding any possibility to regenerate the group and strengthen it. So it’s a particularly keen indicator of intent.”

He adds that children offer an unmistakable measure of civilian harm in conflicts often clouded by disputes over combatant status. “With children, it’s particularly clear that they are not combatants. And this is even more indicative of civilian status … it doesn’t mean that all adults are combatants, but with children, it’s particularly clear.”

By highlighting the plight of children, the resolution not only underscores the human tragedy in Gaza but also strengthens the legal case for genocide.

Beyond the death toll

While media coverage often focuses on casualty figures – with more than 63,000 Palestinians killed in the conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – Williams stresses that genocide is not just about killings. It is also about creating conditions of life that make a group’s survival impossible.

“The core of genocide is, when we talk about it in public discourse, very much focused on the killing part,” he explained. “But really it’s about the destruction of the group in and of itself. And so the forced displacement of people and the removal of the conditions of life necessary are part and parcel of that destruction of a nation.”

The resolution cites the destruction of farmland, desalination plants and bakeries, along with the near-total destruction of Gaza’s housing and healthcare systems, as evidence that Israel has deliberately created unliveable conditions.

Williams warns that political plans to relocate Gazans permanently outside Gaza – once a fringe idea, now openly endorsed by Israeli leaders – could be read as further evidence of genocidal intent.

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Recognition of Palestine

The political landscape is also changing. In recent months, France, Canada and Belgium have joined a growing number of states in recognising Palestinian statehood. For Williams, these moves matter both symbolically and practically speaking.

“I think these are very important moves that have been happening in the last weeks and months,” he said. “On the one hand, a strengthening of the legitimacy of the Palestinian nation and an attempt to push forward with, possibly, a two-state solution. But also, I think it’s important symbolically, because it departs from Israel’s interests, and it’s a sign that Western countries are increasingly withdrawing their support from Israel.”

Williams argues that recognition of Palestine forms part of a larger “mosaic” of pressure that could eventually compel change.

He cautions, however, that symbolic steps must be matched with legal obligations: halting arms transfers that could be used in war crimes and enforcing rulings by international courts.

Ultimately, the IAGS has no powers of enforcement, but Williams hopes the resolution will add weight to the global debate.

“We’re a large organisation of genocide scholars, but we have no political clout,” he said. “What I do hope this resolution means is that we can say that the International Association of Genocide Scholars recognises this as a genocide, and I hope that gives political credibility also to those in the political arena who are claiming that it’s genocide and would like to exert more pressure.”

For Williams, this is also about more than Gaza: it is a test of whether the world is willing to confront genocide while it is happening, rather than decades later.

The letters, sent on Sunday and published on a UN website, said the companies must provide remedies for people harmed by their operations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The panel also said firms are obliged to use their influence to prevent abuses in their dealings with others.

Governments, the experts added, have a duty under international law to make sure companies meet these responsibilities – known as the “duty to regulate”.

Support for indigenous communities

For campaigners in the Niger Delta, the UN’s intervention is a major boost.

“It gives me so much joy that an organisation like the UN has added their voice to this campaign. I’m glad,” said Celestine AkpoBari, an Ogoni-born activist who coordinates the Ogoni Solidarity Forum and leads the Miideekor Environmental Development Initiative-MEDI.

He told RFI: “The statement is out there, that is what is important. I’m excited that they have come out to support the plights of community people and organisations that are crying for justice like the Ogoni and the Niger Delta people.”

Campaign groups say the letters may strengthen ongoing lawsuits against the oil firms.

According to the Polluter Pays project, the letters are important for both legal and moral reasons, especially as they could support existing cases against international oil companies.

“Human rights obligations may be used to interpret duties of negligence and nuisance in cases currently before the English High Court,” said Sophie Marjanac, environmental lawyer and director of legal strategy at Polluter Pays.

She pointed to cases involving the Billie and Ogale communities Nigeria and the Bodo community in India.

“The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights is probably the only international body that really has the mechanism to provide some accountability to companies under their guiding principles,” Marjanac told RFI.

London High court probes Shell over Niger Delta pollution claims

Decades of pollution and abuse

Shell, Eni, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies have operated in Nigeria since the 1950s, reaping huge profits from crude oil exports. But oil spills in the Niger Delta have caused billions of dollars in environmental and human damage.

Most of the pollution has never been cleaned up, despite lawsuits and repeated demands. In recent years, the companies have sold many of their Nigerian holdings, mostly to local buyers who lack the means to repair the damage.

Reports say the impact is especially severe in Ogoniland, where residents have received no compensation or state support.

“If you look at UNEP’s report on Ogoni, I call it a death sentence,” AkpoBari said.

“The report says that the water we drink is 1000 times worse than the level recommended by the World Health Organization. It says there is benzene, a carcinogen, in the water we drink.

“There is hydrocarbon in the air. The water we drink is coated with 20 centimetres of crude oil. The pollution has gone deeper up to the water tables. So, the land is dead, the air is dead, the river is dead.”

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He said fishing and farming – the backbone of family incomes – are no longer possible. He added that daily life has been disrupted, with students dropping out of school and crime rising as hunger and poverty deepen.

Communities in the Niger Delta and beyond now hope UN pressure will force both the oil companies and the Nigerian government to take responsibility.

Shell was ordered in 2021 to compensate Nigerian farmers for contaminated land and water after an appeals court in The Hague found its Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, liable for multiple pipeline leaks.

On Tuesday, however, TotalEnergies signed a new deal with South Atlantic Petroleum in Nigeria – the first foreign oil contract in years – aimed at reviving the industry and attracting investment.

Court cases are expected to continue until at least 2027, with one major trial due in London in November 2025.

The World Meteorological Organisation said the quality of the air people breathe was interlinked with climate change, and the two issues needed to be tackled together.

Wildfires in the Amazon, Canada and Siberia have brought home how air quality can be impacted on a vast scale, the WMO said in its fifth annual Air Quality and Climate Bulletin.

“Climate impacts and air pollution respect no national borders – as exemplified by intense heat and drought which fuels wildfires, worsening air quality for millions of people,” said WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett.

The bulletin looked at the interplay between air quality and the climate, highlighting the role of tiny particles called aerosols in wildfires, winter fog, shipping emissions and urban pollution.

Particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres (PM 2.5) are considered particularly harmful since they can penetrate deep into the lungs or cardiovascular system.

Wildfires in 2024 led to above-average PM 2.5 levels in Canada, Siberia and central Africa, the WMO said. The biggest PM 2.5 surge, however, was in the Amazon basin.

How forests decimated by wildfires still have the power to heal

Wildfire season stronger, longer

“The wildfire season has the tendency to be stronger and longer every year as a result of climate change,” said WMO scientific officer Lorenzo Labrador, who coordinated the bulletin.

Wildfires in Canada have ended up causing air pollution in Europe.

“We had that last year and this year as well. So you have a degradation in air quality across continents when the meteorological conditions are right,” Labrador told a press conference.

“What we have from these fires is essentially a witches’ brew of components that pollute the air.”

The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths each year.

The WMO called for improved monitoring and better policies to safeguard human and environmental health – and reduce agricultural and economic losses.

The bulletin highlighted pollution hotspots in northern India.

It said the Indo-Gangetic Plain, home to more than 900 million people, had seen a marked rise in air pollution and winter fog episodes, which are growing in frequency and duration due to pollution, notably from agricultural biomass burning.

“Persistence of fog is no longer a simple, seasonal weather event – it is a symptom of escalating human impact on the environment,” it said.

Meet the NGOs striving to save the last forests of the Comoros

Dramatic improvements in China

PM 2.5 levels continued to decline in eastern China last year, which the WMO put down to sustained mitigation measures.

When countries take measures to combat poor air quality, the improvement can be clearly seen in meteorological data, said Paolo Laj, the WMO’s global atmosphere chief.

“Look at Europe, Shanghai, Beijing, cities in the United States: many cities have taken measures and you see in the long term, a strong decrease” in recorded air pollution, he told AFP.

“Over a 10-year period, Chinese cities have improved their air quality in a dramatic way. It’s really impressive what they have done.”

Laj said there was no all-purpose measure that could bring about drastic change, such as switching to electric cars, “but when measures are taken, it works”.

In Europe, “we don’t realise what we were breathing in 20 years ago, but it was much worse than today”, he added.

The outbreak is in central Kasai Province, the Congolese health ministry said on Thursday.

The first case was reported on 20 August in a 34-year-old pregnant woman who was admitted to hospital with signs of haemorrhagic fever. She died a few hours later from organ failure.

“It’s the 16th outbreak recorded in our country,” health minister Samuel Roger Kamba said.

The last struck the Equateur Province in the north-east of the country in April 2022, killing six people before being brought under control in less than three months.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched experts alongside a Congolese rapid response team to Kasai Province. “We’re acting with determination to rapidly halt the spread of the virus and protect communities,” said WHO’s Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Janabi.

Four health workers were among the 15 people who had died, the WHO said.

“Case numbers are likely to increase as the transmission is ongoing. Response teams and local teams will work to find the people who may be infected and need to receive care, to ensure everyone is protected as quickly as possible,” the WHO added in a statement.

The DRC has a stockpile of treatments for this viral haemorrhagic fever, including 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine that is “effective to protect against this type of Ebola, the global health body said.

Ebola: Profile of a dreaded killer

Zaire strain identified

Six strains of Ebola exist. Health authorities say the Zaire strain is the cause of the new outbreak.

“Fortunately we have a vaccine for this Zaire strain but to deploy it we need to ensure the logistics,” Kamba said.

First identified in 1976 and thought to have crossed over from bats, Ebola is a deadly viral disease transmitted from person to person through contact with infected bodily fluids, such as blood and vomit. It causes severe bleeding and organ failure.

The deadliest outbreak in the DRC – whose population numbers more than 100 million – killed nearly 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020. 

Four times the size of France, the DRC has poor infrastructure, with often limited and poorly maintained lines of communication.

(with newswires)

The complaint relates to the downing of a Turkish-made military drone on the night of 31 March near Tinzaouaten, in the Kidal region.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Mali’s Ministry of Territorial Administration alleges Algeria shot down its drone to hinder Mali’s military campaign against armed rebels.

It said the incident violated the principle of non-use of force, adding that Algeria had refused to provide evidence that the drone entered Algerian airspace.

The ministry called the destruction of the drone a “blatant aggression” and “the culmination of a series of hostile acts and malicious actions, repeatedly denounced by the Malian authorities”.

Algeria had yet to publicly respond.

Immediately after it shot down the drone, the Algerian army said the aircraft had entered Algerian airspace near the border town of Tin Zaouatine – a stronghold for Tuareg separatists opposed to Mali’s government. It did not specify who the drone belonged to.

A few days later, the military-led juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger recalled their ambassadors from Algeria in protest.

Algeria then closed its airspace to flights to and from Mali and recalled its ambassadors from Mali and Niger, describing the allegations as “serious and unfounded”.

According to the Algerian Ministry of National Defence, radar data proves the drone had violated Algerian airspace near Tin-Zaouatine.

Algeria shuts down airspace and recalls envoys amid Mali drone row

Growing tensions

Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has been battling an insurgency by armed militants since 2012, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

Following two military coups, the ruling junta expelled French troops and turned to Russia for help in ensuring its security.

But the security situation remains precarious, and attacks from extremist groups linked with al-Qaida have intensified in recent months.

The ICJ case comes as tensions rise between Algeria and its southern neighbours, including Mali.

Algeria once served as a key mediator during more than a decade of conflict between Mali’s government and Tuareg rebels.

But the two countries have grown apart since a military junta staged military coups in 2020 and 2021, putting military personnel in charge of the country’s key institutions.

Wagner Russian paramilitary group’s troubled legacy in Mali revealed

Algeria has one of Africa’s largest militaries and has long considered itself a regional power. But military leaders in neighbouring Mali and Niger have distanced themselves as they’ve championed autonomy and sought new alliances, including with Russia.

(with newswires)

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Eric Mbotji, Hossen Abed Ali, and Jayanta Chakrabarty. 

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: “Seven Seconds” by Youssou N’Dour, Neneh Cherry, Cameron McVey, and Jonathan Sharp, performed by Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry; “Babe” by Gary Barlow, played by Take That, and “Never Let You Go” written and performed by Klaus Waldeck and Patrizia Ferrara.

The ePOP video competition is open!

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

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

How do you do it?

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

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

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need.

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

The Education Ministry said it is opening an inquiry into why Caroline Grandjean felt abandoned by her superiors after receiving homophobic threats in her school.

Grandjean’s death has become “a symbol of the teaching world”, wrote the S2DE school principal’s union on social media platform X, after the 42-year-old was found to have taken her own life on 1 September.

The director of a one-class primary school in Moussages, a village of 300 people in the Cantal department in central France, Grandjean had been the target of homophobic harassment during the 2023/2024 school year and felt abandoned by her superiors.

“The death of a schoolteacher on 1 September 2025 is a tragedy that has deeply affected the French education system,” said Education Minister Elisabeth Borne in a statement released by the ministry on Wednesday.

Borne said she had asked the education inspectorate to open an inquiry to “examine all the facts and procedures that preceded this tragic death”.

Toxic climate blamed for rise in LGBTQI+ attacks in France

‘Crushed by the institution’

Grandjean was “crushed by the institution, by her village, by her pupils”, the S2DE wrote.

“We know that this colleague did not feel supported, that she did not appreciate being offered a transfer to another school, that she did not feel this was a sign of support,” Jean Rémi Girard, of the main primary school teachers’ union FSU-SNUipp, told RFI. “We want the truth to come out.”

During the 2023/2024 school year, Grandjean found two homophobic slurs written on the walls inside the school and received an anonymous death threat in the mail.

The Aurillac public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into “public insults committed on the grounds of sexual orientation” and “death threats committed on the grounds of sexual orientation” but are yet to find the perpetrators.

Grandjean contacted unions and found support in online discussion groups with other school directors, but found little support from the Education Ministry, whose solution was for her to transfer schools.

Grandjean refused to leave her school and the decision was overturned, but after another homophobic message was found in the school, she went on sick leave.

French ministers face legal action over hospital staff suicides

Calls for demonstration

In January 2025, Grandjean shared her story with cartoonist and teacher Christophe Tardieux – known as Remedium – as part of his project Cas d’école (“Textbook Case”), a series of comic strips about the difficulties of the teaching profession.

According to him, Grandjean had grown depressed, even suicidal. 

“She was expecting support,” he said. “But her superiors, the parents, the mayor and the village residents gradually turned their backs on her. She felt she was alone in facing the attacks.”

French teachers march in protest after headteacher suicide

Grandjean’s widow, Christine Paccoud, has also called out the lack of support from the national education authorities.

“The hierarchy did not understand Caroline’s suffering,” she told France 2 public television.

She said she had urged her wife not to return to the school in Moussages, but said “she wanted to continue and go back to Moussages because she hadn’t done anything wrong”.

She added that she hopes Grandjean’s death “was not in vain”.

LGBT rights groups have called for a demonstration in front of the Education Ministry on Friday to “raise awareness about the lack of protection against homophobic violence and the need for concrete support from educational institutions, for their staff and students,” according to the advocacy group Stop Homophobia.

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.

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.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Eric Mbotji, Hossen Abed Ali, and Jayanta Chakrabarty. 

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: “Seven Seconds” by Youssou N’Dour, Neneh Cherry, Cameron McVey, and Jonathan Sharp, performed by Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry; “Babe” by Gary Barlow, played by Take That, and “Never Let You Go” written and performed by Klaus Waldeck and Patrizia Ferrara.

The ePOP video competition is open!

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

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

How do you do it?

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

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

Join the ePOP community and make reality vibrate!

Click here for all the information you need.

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

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!

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.