The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)’s Global State of Democracy 2025 report says 94 countries – more than half of those assessed – have declined in at least one key aspect of democratic performance over the past five years.

It warns of setbacks in judicial independence, press freedom and electoral integrity. Those concerns were echoed at the United Nations.

Marking the International Day of Democracy, UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised “the courage of people everywhere who are shaping their societies through dialogue, participation, and trust”, saying such efforts are vital “at a time when democracy and the rule of law are under assault from disinformation, division, and shrinking civic space”.

Since 2014, more countries have slipped backwards than advanced on civil liberties.

IDEA calls this “modern democratic backsliding” – elected leaders using legal means to weaken checks and balances from within. Freedom of expression has declined in 37 countries over the past five years, while media integrity fell in 33.

By contrast, just 17 and 10 countries respectively improved.

Global decline in freedom of expression over last decade, watchdog warns

Backsliding in central, Eastern Europe

IDEA points to sustained pressure on three pillars of democracy since 2007: representative government, checks on power, and civil liberties. Media integrity is under particular strain.

Across Europe, diversity of voices and critical coverage have dropped, undermining the press’s ability to hold governments to account.

The report identifies Poland, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey among the countries with marked democratic decline.

In Poland, government influence over the courts and public broadcasting has drawn criticism at home and abroad. Meanwhile Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has tightened restrictions on NGOs and the press, with pro-government interests dominating much of the media sector.

Romania saw mass protests in 2017 against legislation that threatened anti-corruption safeguards, while Ukraine continues to face challenges around judicial independence and corruption, despite some reforms in recent years.

Turkey remains an entrenched case of democratic erosion, with civil liberties and checks on power now among the weakest in the region.

Turkey’s embattled civil society fears worst as foreign funding dries up

Western Europe not immune

IDEA warned that even Western European democracies face “downward pressure”.

France, still ranking in the top 30 of IDEA’s scores, shows emerging warning signs. These include policing of protests, pandemic-era restrictions on privacy and movement, and concerns over judicial independence and lobbying rules.

Italy is named among five EU states described as “dismantlers” of democracy, alongside Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia. IDEA uses the term for governments that systematically undermine checks and the rule of law.

From Washington to Warsaw: how MAGA influence is reshaping Europe’s far right

Guardrails and renewal

Representation scores “collapsed to their worst level in over 20 years, with seven times more countries declining than advancing”, IDEA researchers wrote. 

“Meanwhile, rule of law – the weakest overall performer – fell most strikingly in Europe.”

European states accounted for 38 percent of global downturns in the rule of law between 2019 and 2024, underlining the strain on the continent’s institutions.

The report warns that reversing these trends will require stronger safeguards, including independent courts, plural media, and a vibrant civil society.

The UN Democracy Fund, celebrating its 20th year, says grassroots civil society and independent media remain the front line in defending democratic values – the very institutions now under pressure.

“Democracy faces a perfect storm of autocratic resurgence and acute uncertainty, due to massive social and economic changes,” IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said.

Among the defendants is Jennyfer Clain, 34, the niece of Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain, two prominent figures of the Islamic State (IS) who were known for having recorded the claim of responsibility for the 13 November terrorist attacks in Paris.

Both were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole, and were killed in an airstrike in 2019.

Appearing with her are her sister-in-law, Mayalen Duhart, and Christine Allain, the mother of their two husbands and the grandmother of their nine children.

The three are appearing before a specially-composed court without a jury – a standard practice in terrorist cases in France.

The trial is expected to run until 26 September, and the defendants face up to 30 years in prison.

The indictment, quoted by the French news agency AFP, claims the women’s departure to Syria was part of “a trajectory that had been ideologically committed for over ten years to Salafi-jihadism”.

Clain ‘clan’

The defendants are part of what investigators refer to as the “Clain clan“: over 20 members of the family, based near Toulouse, left France with their spouses and children to go to Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2015.

Among them were Marie-Rosane Clain, three of her children – including Fabien and Jean-Michel – and several grandchildren, including Jennyfer.

Jennyfer Clain, who began a religious education at the age after her stepfather, Mohamed Mongi Amri, had converted the family to Islam, entered into a religious marriage at 15 in order to join her uncles in Egypt.

Former wife of IS commander to stand trial in France on Yazidi genocide charges

She married Kevin Gonot, a friend of Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, who later became an IS member, and is currently in prison in Iraq, where he was initially sentenced to death for membership in IS before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

In 2014 Jennyfer Clain followed Gonot to Raqqa, Syria, where his mother, Christine Allain, was also living.

She had converted to Islam a few years earlier, after being introduced to the Koran by her eldest son, Thomas Collange, who had also converted his partner, Mayalen Duhart.

Starting in 2004, the couple travelled to Syria multiple times and settled there permanently in 2014, three years after the war began.

Back to France

Christine Allain, Jennyfer Clain, and Mayalen Duhart arrived in France in 2019 along with nine children aged between 3 and 13 years old, and they were formally charged.

They had been arrested two months earlier in Turkey, on the Syrian border. For two years after the fall of Raqqa they had been wandering – their husbands had already been arrested.

Top French jihadist and wife handed jail terms

Investigating judges decided to refer the three women to a criminal court because they had “remained for an extended period” within jihadist groups.

Prosecutors argue that Jennyfer Clain “integrated and contributed to the functioning of the Islamic State”, embraced its ideology, benefitted from housing and financial support provided by the group, and maintained regular contact with active members of IS throughout her stay.

What responsibility?

Interviewed in 2021, she claimed she had only “carried out normal daily activities” and played “no role” within IS, stating her main concern was her four children.

Her lawyer, Guillaume Halbique, hopes her ideological transformation during her time in custody will be taken into account.

From the moment she was placed in isolation at the start of her detention in France, “she realised she could ask questions and think for herself,” he said, adding that all she wants today is to care for her children as best she can.

Jennyfer Clain and Mayalen Duhart are facing charges of neglecting their parental responsibilities – a charge that has been imposed since 2017 on any parent who took their minor children to the Iraq-Syria conflict zone.

The women are accused of deliberately taking their children, who had been born and living in France, to a war zone to join a terrorist group, thereby exposing them to serious physical and psychological risks, including long-term trauma.

Jennifer Clain’s four children, with whom she has maintained contact during her detention, will be civil parties in the trial, represented by their own lawyer.

(with AFP)

France’s most powerful farming union, the FNSEA, has called for a nationwide day of action on Friday 25 September, turning up the pressure on the country’s new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu.

The union’s president, Arnaud Rousseau, told Le Journal du Dimanche that farmers would take to the streets across all departments to protest against what they see as unfair global competition.

The main targets are the EU’s trade pact with South America’s Mercosur bloc, tariffs slapped on French exports by former US president Donald Trump, and what Rousseau described as “a flood of international imports that do not respect our standards”.

The timing couldn’t be trickier for Lecornu, as the French government is already bracing for a day of strikes and demonstrations organised by French trade unions on 18 September.

Just a week later, farmers will be out in force, adding a fresh layer of pressure on the fledgling prime minister.

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

Mercosur under the spotlight

At the heart of the FNSEA’s anger is the EU–Mercosur agreement, which the European Commission signed off earlier this month.

While the text offers potential limits on certain agricultural imports in an effort to soothe French concerns, Rousseau insists it still undermines local producers. “We want guarantees that our sovereignty, especially food sovereignty, will be protected,” he said.

Unlike other unions, the FNSEA skipped the nationwide mobilisation on 10 September. “We didn’t take part simply because farmers are working!” Rousseau argued, pointing out that grape harvests are still underway, herds are on their summer pastures, maize and beet crops are being gathered, and cereal sowing has begun.

“We didn’t want to be drawn into the political manoeuvring around that protest,” he added.

French farmer convoys head to Paris as protests continue over pay, conditions

Expectations from PM Lecornu

Asked what he expects from Lecornu, Rousseau’s message was clear – vision and direction.

“I want from Mr Lecornu what I already expected from his predecessors: a roadmap to lift French agriculture out of doubt and give us the means to invest and innovate, so that we can guarantee the country’s sovereignty – above all its food sovereignty.”

The FNSEA’s show of force on 25 September will be a critical test for both France’s new prime minister and for Europe’s contentious trade agenda.

Since taking office on Wednesday, Sébastien Lecornu is wasting no time in trying to stamp his mark on his leadership of the French government.

His first big move has been the scrapping of the hugely unpopular idea of cutting two public holidays – a measure that had been pencilled into the 2026 budget by his ill-fated predecessor, François Bayrou.

Bayrou’s plan had earmarked Easter Monday and Victory in Europe Day (8 May) for the chop, a suggestion that quickly stirred public anger.

“I have decided to withdraw the suppression of two public holidays,” Lecornu told regional newspapers in an interview organised by Ouest-France over the weekend.

It was an early signal that the new premier is keen to change tone, after Bayrou’s attempt to impose €44 billion in savings helped topple him from office after only nine months.

The U-turn is popular, but it leaves a hole in the budget. Lecornu was candid about the challenge: “Dropping the holiday cuts means we need to find other sources of financing.”

He has opened talks with opposition parties and unions, promising “modern, frank parliamentary debate” rather than top-down decrees.

France hit with credit downgrade as new government faces budget squeeze

Ratings downgrade

The government still faces a stern financial test after credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded France’s long-term rating from AA- to A+ on Friday, warning that the country’s growing debt pile reduces its ability to absorb future shocks.

Lecornu admitted: “We are paying for instability,” but insisted he wants a “healthy trajectory” for public finances – something he sees as tied to France’s sovereignty.

The 38-year-old former defence minister is also trying to strike a pragmatic balance on taxation. He has not ruled out a wealth levy, dubbed the “Zucman tax” after the French economist who inspired it, but stressed the need to protect “professional assets” that fuel jobs and growth. “We must work without ideology,” he said.

Eric Lombard – who quit as economy minister alongside Bayrou – broadly backed Lecornu’s approach in a TV interview, calling the earlier €44 billion adjustment plan a “framing proposal” that now “must evolve”.

He too endorsed scrapping the holiday cuts and argued that any new sacrifices should fall more on the wealthiest, though targeted on savings and non-productive assets.

Who is ‘political animal’ Sébastien Lecornu, France’s latest prime minister?

Public opinion ‘unfavourable’

Yet Lecornu’s political honeymoon looks extremely short lived, after an Ipsos/BVA poll for La Tribune Dimanche shows he enters office with just 16 percent favourable opinions – even lower than Bayrou’s 20 percent when he took the reins.

By comparison, former prime ministers like Gabriel Attal, Michel Barnier and Elisabeth Borne all enjoyed far stronger ratings when they took office in the past.

Six in ten French people doubt Lecornu will manage to broker a budget compromise with opposition parties.

This comes as President Emmanuel Macron is at his weakest point since entering the Elysée in 2017, with the same poll giving him just a 17 percent approval rating, down a staggering 18 points even among his own supporters.

On the right, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella tops the rankings of politicians the French would welcome as president with 35 percent, while incumbent interior minister Bruno Retailleau follows at 27 percent. 

Despite the bruising numbers, Lecornu is betting that his mix of dialogue, pragmatism and symbolic gestures – like saving those cherished holidays – can begin to rebuild trust.

He is already promising a “grand act of decentralisation” to give local authorities more freedom, with consultations opening next week.

France has been dealt a fresh economic blow after Fitch downgraded the country’s credit rating, just as Emmanuel Macron’s government wrestles with political turmoil and the daunting task of getting the public finances back in order.

The US ratings agency lowered France’s sovereign rating from AA- to A+ on Friday, warning that without swift action, the nation’s debt pile will continue to swell until at least 2027.

For Paris, it’s an unwelcome development at a moment of deep political uncertainty.

The downgrade landed only days after François Bayrou dramatically resigned as prime minister, toppled by a parliamentary no-confidence vote over his austerity-leaning budget plans.

Bayrou had sought sharp spending cuts to tame the deficit, but his proposals failed to win over a fractured parliament.

On social media, Bayrou didn’t mince his words, blasting France as “a country whose elites lead it to reject the truth [and] is condemned to pay the price”.

France risks credit downgrade as new PM tackles budget

‘Fragmentation and polarisation’

Now the burden falls on new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who is expected to lead a minority government.

Lecornu must now craft a 2026 budget palatable to MPs from across the political spectrum, while convincing international investors that France can get its house in order.

Fitch was blunt in its assessment, saying the defeat of Macron’s government in the confidence vote was a “sign of increased fragmentation and polarisation” in French politics, warning this instability was undermining the state’s ability to deliver meaningful fiscal reform.

The agency also poured cold water on the idea that France could hit its previous target of cutting the deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2029.

Still, outgoing economy minister Éric Lombard tried to steady nerves, insisting the French economy remained fundamentally “solid” despite the downgrade.

What’s behind France’s current political crisis?

Rising costs, rising risks

A lower credit rating often means investors demand higher returns to lend money – and France’s borrowing costs were already climbing. This week, yields on 10-year government bonds rose to 3.47 percent, brushing levels usually associated with Italy, the eurozone’s problem borrower.

Bayrou had already sounded the alarm on debt servicing costs, calling them “unbearable”. France’s debt stood at 113 percent of GDP last year – nearly double the EU’s 60 percent ceiling – while the deficit was 5.8 percent, well above the bloc’s three percent limit.

Fitch now expects debt to climb further, reaching 121 percent of GDP by 2027, with no clear point at which it will level off. That could leave France dangerously exposed to any future shocks, whether economic, geopolitical, or climate-related.

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

A little light in the gloom

There are, however, glimmers of hope. The INSEE national statistics bureau nudged up its growth forecast for 2025 this week, from 0.7 to 0.8 percent.

It’s hardly a boom, but it does suggest the French economy isn’t stalling entirely – and growth, however modest, could help ease some of the fiscal pressure.

Markets, too, may not panic. Analysts note that bond traders had long anticipated a downgrade, meaning much of the bad news may already be “priced in”. In other words, the sky isn’t about to fall just yet.

And France isn’t alone in facing the wrath of the rating agencies. Rivals such as S&P Global are set to update their own assessments in November, and many eurozone governments are under scrutiny as they juggle recovery spending with Brussels’ budget rules.

Keach Hagey, Wall Street Journal reporter and author of The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future, spoke to RFI’s Thomas Bourdeau. 

RFI: How did you meet Sam Altman? 

Keach Hagey: I knew of Sam Altman through his role as president of Y Combinator [a start-up incubator], but I really met him when I went to interview him for a profile in the Wall Street Journal shortly after the launch of ChatGPT.

He gave us a tour of OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco. Then we talked for about three hours; it was a very intense interview. The idea for the book came shortly after that.

Your book is like a Who’s Who of Silicon Valley. How did you go about bringing all these connections to life?

What interested me was the intellectual history behind the story of AI. It’s a bit like a family tree of ideas… In Silicon Valley, money and ideas often go hand in hand.

What makes the history of AI a little complicated to tell is that the idea of general artificial intelligence and its existential threat were really considered from the very beginning of OpenAI. That’s fascinating.

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So Sam Altman and OpenAI were afraid of AI even as they were working on it?

Yes, and it’s really two sides of the same coin. In the beginning, when AI was considered a crazy idea, saying you were afraid of it was also a way of showing how seriously you took it.

You have to believe that something can be real in order to be afraid of it, right? If it’s just fiction, why be afraid of it? 

This ‘family tree of ideas’ also tells us a lot about how Silicon Valley works. 

Silicon Valley is actually very small considering its global influence. It’s really just a small handful of people who come from this little club that was, for many, shaped by Y Combinator.

Sam Altman’s power comes from all the people he knows and all the favours they do for each other. They can all text each other very casually, even at this very high level.

Is Sam Altman a unique character in the tech world?

[PayPal co-founder] Peter Thiel says that Sam Altman embodies the zeitgeist of Silicon Valley, and I think that’s true. He and [Facebook co-founder] Mark Zuckerberg are only a year apart in age, and their stories are, in a way, similar. They are both millennials, both left prestigious universities to found their start-ups.

Of course, Mark Zuckerberg was successful much earlier, but I think they are part of the same culture – Silicon Valley culture, which values youth above all else. Youth and speed are the most important qualities in the tech world.

Meet Jean-Zay, the supercomputer powering France’s AI ambitions

Altman was abruptly fired by his company’s board of directors in November 2023. What a twist…

At the time, I had signed a contract to write a book about him, and it was surreal, honestly. I felt like I was dreaming.

For the next five days, among those involved, as well as the journalists covering the story, I don’t think anyone slept. It was like a fog. Every hour, the story changed. 

Altman subsequently returned as CEO. The OpenAI tree was shaken, but its roots are strong…

The tree played a big role in his return. Minutes after his dismissal, Sam contacted another branch: Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, a friend of his, who became a kind of advisor throughout this process.

Emmett Shear was briefly appointed CEO in the midst of intense negotiations, and he had also been in the first Y Combinator class with Sam Altman, back in 2005. Shear and Chesky knew each other, and Chesky was able to negotiate Sam’s return.

Without this close-knit group of people, I’m not sure Sam Altman would have been able to return so quickly, or at all.

People used to talk about the “PayPal mafia”. Should we now be talking about the “OpenAI mafia”?

Since that dismissal, some OpenAI founders have launched their own AI companies… So it’s true that, in a way, OpenAI is like a breeding ground for the future of AI. In that sense, it’s like the “PayPal mafia”.

But on the other hand, I don’t know if they collaborate in the same way.

In the book, you mention that the Department of Defence has made considerable investments in AI. Is that a trend?

Yes, one of the most surprising developments has been the speed with which these young AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have embraced the idea of collaborating with the defence industry. They both have contracts with the Pentagon.

Until very recently, it was kind of taboo in Silicon Valley to work for the defence sector. I think the previous generation believed that technology was an ideal and would not be part of warfare in this way. I was surprised at how quickly everyone agreed to say “OK, let’s use AI for defence”, without asking too many questions.

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It’s also striking how quickly AI is becoming part of everyday life.

That’s true, and it’s one of Sam Altman’s fundamental qualities. He loves speed in his personal life. He loves racing cars. He liked to judge other start-up founders on how quickly they responded to their emails.

Speed is one of the great virtues of his worldview, and his company is built in his image.

What did you learn from writing about Altman’s life?

Sam’s life is a lesson in how to gain power. And in a way, power begins with a certain humility. Sam will say: “What can I do for you? How can I help you?” And that’s how he starts his relationships with people.

Sam’s algorithm is to understand what you need and how to get it. He calls it being helpful. [Tech investor and essayist] Paul Graham says it’s a way to become powerful. It’s actually the same thing because, over time, the entire Silicon Valley network feels indebted to him.

This article was adapted from the original version in French and has been edited for clarity.

The International Court of Justice ruled on Friday that France does not have to hand back the luxurious residence on Avenue Foch – one of the French capital’s most exclusive addresses – which it seized during a corruption probe into Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. He is Equatorial Guinea’s vice president and the son of long-time ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

The case was launched in 2022, with Equatorial Guinea accusing France of breaching international law by holding onto the property.

The government argued that the confiscation violated the UN Convention against Corruption and asked the court for urgent “provisional measures” to stop France selling the mansion and to return it immediately.

Equatorial Guinea accuses France of ‘neo-colonialism’ in Paris mansion row

But presiding judge Yuji Iwasawa said the country had “not demonstrated” a plausible legal right to reclaim the building.

French lawyers had told the court there was no question of a fire sale, describing the request as “yet another abusive manoeuvre” by Malabo.

“This dispute should be settled through negotiation, not courtroom theatrics,” France’s agent Diégo Colas said during a July hearing.

Equatorial Guinea’s representative, Carmelo Nvono-Ncá, bristled at that stance, accusing France of being “paternalistic and even neo-colonial” and dismissing the treatment of his country as “disdain for our sovereignty.”

Not a diplomatic mission, just a lavish ‘pied à terre’

This is not the first time the ICJ has been asked to weigh in on the dispute. In 2020, judges ruled that the mansion was a private residence rather than a diplomatic building, rejecting an earlier claim that its seizure violated diplomatic protections.

The sprawling property – fitted out with a private cinema, a nightclub and even a Turkish-style hammam – was confiscated in 2021 after French courts found Obiang guilty of embezzling millions in state funds.

He was given a three-year suspended sentence in 2017, and prosecutors seized not only the Paris property but also luxury cars and other assets.

57-year-old Obiang has long been dogged by corruption allegations well beyond France. The UK sanctioned him in 2021, citing his lavish use of public money – including splashing out $275,000 on Michael Jackson’s iconic bejewelled glove from the “Bad” tour. Switzerland and Brazil have also probed his finances.

Luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea leader’s son auctioned in Switzerland

The legal wrangling is a stark contrast to the situation at home. Despite Equatorial Guinea’s oil and gas wealth, much of the population struggles in poverty, while the ruling elite live in opulence.

The country has been led since 1979 by Obiang’s father, Africa’s longest-serving president.

While the ICJ has batted away this latest request, the broader case over the confiscated assets isn’t finished.

Equatorial Guinea maintains that France is obliged to return the property under international anti-corruption rules.

From a small-scale security-building mechanism to a heavyweight bloc showcasing China’s geopolitical ambitions, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has evolved dramatically since its inception in 1996.

Originally known as the Shanghai Five, the group was initially formed of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and aimed to resolve border disputes and bolster security cooperation.

“It was really concerned with China’s internal borders with countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and looking at things like drug misuse, gun running and political opposition,” explains Michael Dillon of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London.

Uzbekistan joined in 2001, prompting the rebranding to SCO, and India and Pakistan later became full members, with Iran the most recent addition, two years ago.

Over time, the SCO’s agenda expanded well beyond border security to include economic cooperation, cultural exchange and coordinating their political message.

The organisation now has 10 member states (with observer states such as Afghanistan and dialogue partners including Turkey), highlighting its growing global footprint.

Last month’s much-publicised SCO summit, held in the Chinese port city of Tianjin alongside China’s grand military parade marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War, provided a vivid demonstration of the organisation’s expanded role.

President Xi met with almost 30 world leaders – including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – projecting the image of a China-led alliance of mainly authoritarian regimes challenging Western influence.

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

“Xi Jinping is using this to shape perceptions of China and of himself,” Dillon told RFI. The optics of Xi flanked by Putin and Kim symbolised an assertive bloc willing to counterbalance NATO and the US-led liberal international order.

But how far does the SCO truly stand as a counterweight to NATO?

On this, Dillon is cautious. “It’s beginning to look like it,” he said, but added: “There isn’t any [military coordination], apart from the policing functions across the border with Central Asia … it doesn’t seem to have any military functions outside of China.”

Internal rivalries complicate the picture and prevent the SCO from acting as a fully cohesive bloc, such as the strained relationship between India and Pakistan – both members.

Meanwhile, relations between Europe and the SCO also reveal divisions within the former. While few European Union leaders engage with the organisation, countries such as Turkey and Hungary have shown willingness.

“The EU really does need to respond to China’s increasing influence,” says Dillon.

Russia ties strain EU-China relations as Beijing summit concludes early

But Europe faces challenges due to China’s growing economic leverage and the United States’ diminished credibility in some quarters. “Trump thinks of himself as the great strong man, but it’s clear to seasoned diplomats in China and elsewhere that Washington is incredibly weak,” said Dillon.

According to him, Trump’s actions have inadvertently contributed to China’s rise within Eurasia’s power vacuum. This environment has allowed Beijing to position the SCO as an alternative framework – even attracting traditionally Western-facing countries such as India and Turkey into the fold.

But the summit also exposed underlying tensions within the bloc. Russia’s invitation to Kim Jong-un to Moscow shortly after the Tianjin meeting showcased Putin’s rivalry with Xi for influence over North Korea. Meanwhile, Modi’s absence from the military parade suggested caution among SCO members in fully endorsing China’s military bravado.

Tanks and missiles roll through Beijing as China commemorates 1945 victory

Western observers remain divided on how seriously to take the SCO – both as symbolic political theatre and as a potentially strategic challenge.

Looking ahead, Dillon is sceptical about the SCO transforming into a formal military alliance akin to NATO anytime soon.

“I haven’t seen anything from China recently to suggest they’re trying to turn the SCO into something more permanent and as a counterweight to NATO,” he says. But he acknowledges that institutionalisation of the SCO is likely to be the next “obvious move” if China continues to consolidate its Eurasian coalition.

Lecornu has been a constant, if discreet, presence in the French government since Macron came to power in 2017. 

He joined the president’s first cabinet as a secretary of state in the ministry of ecology, before being promoted to minister – initially in charge of local authorities (2018-2020), then of overseas territories (2020-2022), and for the past three years, of France’s defence.

Few other figures have survived as long, a testament to Lecornu’s knack for building tactical alliances. RFI’s defence correspondent Franck Alexandre calls him “a political animal” through and through.

Political prodigy

Lecornu, 39, has two decades of political experience behind him.

The grandson of a French Resistance fighter, he grew up in a modest working family in Normandy and studied law at university.

After flirting with a career in the army – or even, according to Le Monde, life as a Benedictine monk – Lecornu was soon drawn to rightwing politics.

An activist for the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in his teens, by 20 he was a parliamentary assistant to one of the party’s MPs.

Within two years he was advising a junior minister for European affairs, before taking office himself as mayor of his hometown Vernon and then president of the surrounding department of Eure – at 29, younger than anyone else before him.

‘Practical approach’

Lecornu’s first national post came two years later, when he joined other conservatives in switching allegiance from traditional rightwing parties to Macron’s new centrist movement and was handed the ecology portfolio.

He cemented his position in 2019 when, with the “Yellow Vest” protests at their height, he helped Macron organise a series of town hall debates around France aimed at defusing demonstrators’ anger at out-of-touch politicians.

The president promptly praised Lecornu for his “practical approach”.  

Where did France’s culture of political compromise go, and is it coming back?

Lecornu reached across the divide again as defence minister, when he succeeded in convincing parliament to massively boost the military budget.

Appointed a few months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he also oversaw France’s support for Kyiv – something that has remained relatively constant despite more than a year of political upheaval. 

Man in the background

Throughout his rise, Lecornu has kept a low public profile. He rarely speaks about his personal life and maintains a sober presence on social media.

For Macron, that might be part of the appeal.

Unlike other recent PMs Gabriel Attal and François Bayrou, who have both been tipped as potential candidates to replace Macron as president, Lecornu is seen as unlikely to seek the top job.

As one unnamed ministerial adviser told news agency AFP, Lecornu is “a loyal soldier who doesn’t have too much charisma or presidential potential”.

‘Macron’s shield’

Now Macron is relying on Lecornu’s reputation as a dealmaker to establish a working government despite deep divisions in parliament. 

The president has instructed him to hold talks with different factions with a view to agreeing on a 2026 budget, the task that proved impossible for Lecornu’s predecessors.

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

But as a member of the president’s inner circle – Lecornu is rumoured to have frequent lunches with First Lady Brigitte Macron – he may struggle to convince his opponents to work with him.

Figures from the far right and left have denounced his appointment, calling him a stooge and accusing Macron of seeking to cling on to power. 

Meanwhile after the “Block Everything” protests on Wednesday,  and a strike planned for next week it is likely voters, too, want a more radical break with the status quo. 

According to RFI’s chief political correspondent Valérie Gas, Lecornu now finds himself acting as “Macron’s shield” – a loyalist tasked with preventing a dissolution and shoring up the president against pressure from both parliament and the public.

“Anthropologically speaking, I don’t believe there are any cultures where people don’t dance,” says art sociologist Laura Cappelle, editor of “A New History of Dance in the West: From Prehistory to the Present Day”.

The first figurative representations of humanRFI dance appeared around 40,000 years ago. But, in the absence of archaeological evidence prior to that, anthropologists have sketched out the contours and timeline of a practice that is undoubtedly much older. 

Archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel says this history can be mapped out in five stages.

The first is dance for seduction, which he says could date back a million years and a function of dance we share with many animals.

The second, which he dates to around 100,000 years ago, is linked to funeral rites. This corresponds to the emergence of group dancing.

For the three stages after that, we are able to rely on visual representations. Forty thousand years ago, trance dances appeared, “along with shamanism, magic and religion”.

A little over 10,000 years ago, ceremonies accompanying the seasons were established, in connection with the birth of agriculture.

Finally, 5,000 years ago, with the emergence of the first cities, dance became a particular skill, even a profession – in front of an audience, the body became a spectacle.

‘Thinking through movement’

But where did the impulse to dance come from? While we commonly dance in pairs or in groups, we also dance alone, without an audience, for our own pleasure.

When asked why we dance, Cappelle says: “It’s a way of thinking through movement, which brings joy and a whole range of emotions that make us feel alive. We often dance to be together, without having to talk.”

Unifying African identities through modern dance

Although she says this shared experience is being diminished today, leaving dance in danger of becoming the preserve of specialists.

“People feel that they dance less, especially in rural areas, with the decline of popular dances and nightclubs,” she laments.

She added that dance is no longer part of the curriculum in primary or secondary education in France today, and many other countries. “Today, it is entirely possible to leave the school system without ever having taken a dance class.”

Gender roles

Dance as an integral part of one’s education was seen in Ancient Greece, where it served a specific purpose, as Cappelle explains.

“The presence of dance in the education of citizens in Ancient Greece is linked to the fact that they learned war dances. They learned to wage war by learning to dance. Attacking and defending oneself was a matter of mastering the body.”

She adds that this connection between dance and combat can also be seen in capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art that incorporates dance, acrobatics and spirituality.

‘Beauty exists everywhere’: Ballet builds hope for future in Nairobi slum

This may seem at odds with the more modern idea that dance is a feminine occupation, but according to Cappelle: “The idea that dance is feminine is not universal.”

Dance was similarly primarily a masculine activity during the Ancien Régime, the political and social system in France before the Revolution of 1789. It was the rise of the bourgeoisie in the 19th century feminised it, with the stage one of the few places where women took the lead.

According to Garfinkel, the first manifestation of music for dancing was the use of bells and shells as adornment on the dancer’s body. Unlike music, however, which was codified very early on in the West, dance was not transcribed until the 18th century, using a wide variety of notation systems.

For Cappelle, dance remains perhaps the art form most resistant to any form of verbalisation.

“There are things that happen during a dance that are difficult to put into words. That’s kind of our problem as critics and researchers. It’s difficult to assign a single meaning to movement. Often, movement lends itself to multiple interpretations and generates emotional states.”

But, she adds: “For me, this ambiguity of movement is part of what makes it particularly powerful. Unlike theatre, for example, where we are limited by what our language can offer us today, with all its possible experiences, the body in motion says things that are difficult to express in any other way.”

This article was adapted from the original version in French.

National Rally (RN) – France’s largest opposition party, with 123 seats in parliament – threw its weight behind Bayrou when he was nominated in December 2024, following the ousting of Michel Barnier.

In January, its decision to abstain in a vote of no confidence brought against Bayrou by left-wing parties allowed him to fight another day.

But after nine months of entente cordiale, RN leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella have thrown Bayrou under the bus.

“We don’t have confidence [in Bayrou],” Le Pen told reporters following a meeting with the prime minister last Tuesday, and announced that all RN MPs would vote against him in Monday’s confidence vote.

Defeated by 364 votes to 194, the veteran centrist politician had no choice but to tender his resignation, which he did on Tuesday.

Former defence minister Sébastien Lecornu has been named as his successor.

What’s behind France’s current political crisis?

Disagreements over budget

Behind this change of heart is disagreement over how to rein in France’s ballooning deficit – almost €169 billion, or 5.8 percent of its GDP.

Bayrou’s proposed budget for 2026 aimed to save €44 billion, largely through cuts to public spending and slashing two public holidays.

The RN, whose support base is largely working class, says cutting back on public holidays is one example of France’s elites making workers pay.

“The abolition of two public holidays,… is a direct attack on our history, our roots and working-class France,” said party president Bardella on 15 July. “No RN MP will accept this measure, which is nothing short of provocation.”

In August, Le Pen addressed an open letter to Bayrou laying out the party’s proposed budget priorities, amounting to up to €100 billion in savings. These included capping contributions to the European Union, disinvesting in renewable energy, limiting welfare payments to migrants and massive cuts in state bureaucracy.

“We’ve always been ready to improve the proposals made when it came to supporting purchasing power, measures in favour of security or controlling our migratory flows,” said party spokesperson Gaëtan Dussausaye.

“But when Marine Le Pen sent a letter telling Bayrou his plan was a bad one and that she was at his disposal, the prime minister ignored her. That’s not respectful,” he told RFI.

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

Growing unpopularity

The tide of public opinion too has turned against Bayrou. A recent poll put his satisfaction rate at 20 percent – an all-time low.

Anger is mounting, and one out of two people in France supports the “block everything” movement and its call to bring France to a standstill on Wednesday, 10 September, according to Matthieu Gallard of pollsters Ipsos France.

He cited social issues, the feeling that purchasing power is declining, issues of social protection and public services and anger over Bayrou’s plan to tackle the deficit as fuelling the growing discontent.

“There’s very strong anger against the outgoing prime minister and the president of the Republic,” he told RFI.

France hit by ‘Block Everything’ protests as new PM Lecornu takes office

For political scientist Erwan Lecoeur, Le Pen was eager to distance herself and her party from an unpopular leader.

“She saw that her electorate was becoming very angry with the government and was no longer in line with the idea of supporting François Bayrou,” he said. “It was dangerous and out of the question to appear too close to Bayrou and to Macronism. She had to regain her independence.”

Lecoeur, an expert on the far right, also argues that Le Pen’s support for Bayrou waned after it became obvious she wouldn’t receive any leniency over her five-year ban from running for public office, handed down in March for misuse of EU funds, and which she will appeal at the beginning of next year.

“Marine Le Pen wanted to negotiate her support for François Bayrou in exchange for greater, I would say, indulgence on the part of judges and the political system for the next presidential election,” he says. “But she saw over the last few months that there was nothing to be done on that front.”

Does ‘politically dead’ Marine Le Pen still have a path to power?

Back to the ballot box

The hard-left France Unbowed party is calling for the president to resign, while the Socialists want Macron to choose a left-leaning prime minister. The RN, however, is pushing for Macron to dissolve parliament and call new elections. 

“We call for an ultra-quick dissolution [of parliament], so that the new majority that will come out of these elections can build a budget,” said Le Pen ahead of Monday’s vote.

On Tuesday, Macron ignored them all and chose his close ally, former defence minister Lecornu, as prime minister.

Le Pen said the president was firing “the final cartridge of Macronism, from his bunker along with his little circle of loyalists”.

The president needs to get a budget drafted before 7 October and reportedly acted quickly to avoid further instability ahead of the 10 September day of action and trade union calls for strike action on 18 September.

Pollster Gallard said a “clear majority” of the public wanted the president to dissolve the government, with the latest survey showing 61 percent in favour. 

“While they didn’t understand last year’s dissolution – because even if there wasn’t a solid majority in the National Assembly, there was a feeling that government could work and hold – the situation is obviously very different now,” he noted.

However, despite RN voters hoping that snap polls could usher in a far-right government, he doubts any such elections would give the party an outright majority.

“A new dissolution would probably not radically change the political balance in the National Assembly. We would still have three blocs, none of which would be close to obtaining an absolute majority.”

Lecoeur, however, is more sceptical. “In many constituencies, more than 50, the RN came within a few points of 50 percent in the second round [of the 2024 legislatives]. The RN is hoping – and they have good reason to hope – that they will do better this time.”

Legal battle

Le Pen also has personal reasons to push for early elections.

Her bar on standing for public office means she’s unable to run in the 2027 presidential or any other elections.

She has appealed the verdict, claiming it was “politically motivated” and on Monday a Paris court confirmed the appeal would take place from 13 January to 12 February, 2026.

Paris court sets January appeal date that could decide Le Pen’s political future

Dussausaye says Le Pen, as an MP for the Pas de Calais region, would be a candidate in such snap elections.

“Of course she will be a candidate because she is innocent. She will submit her candidacy to the Pas de Calais prefecture and if it’s not accepted we will use all the administrative and legal remedies available.”

These include appealing to the constitutional council – which Lecoeur argues would be a way of rallying her camp against France’s institutions and fuelling the idea that she has been wronged.

“Her objective is to wage a political battle within the political-legal arena,” he explains. “There had to be a campaign in which she could run in order to force the courts to take a position on whether or not she has the right to run.

“The judges will prevent her from standing. It will show once again how ‘politically unfair’ it is for Marine Le Pen not to be able to stand for election. It’s important to show this in order to influence public opinion and politicians before her appeal trial.”

Located in the volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Virunga is not only Africa’s first national park but also one of its most biodiverse and economically promising.

“Virunga is Africa’s first national park, and it can be Africa’s best national park,” photographer Brent Stirton told RFI.

“For me, given the resources it has, the potential for ecotourism, the hydroelectric schemes, the wider development taking place around the park, as well as the security it provides, this is a billion-dollar park.”

Despite ongoing conflict and political instability — including the current M23 occupation of parts of the park — a dedicated team continues to pursue an ambitious vision for conservation and sustainable development.

“Eight hundred rangers look after this vast area. Over the past 20 years, more than 240 of them have been killed and many more wounded,” Stirton explained.

“But what I always find extraordinary is that no one abandons their post. No one leaves.”

► Visa pour l’Image runs from 30 August to 14 September, 2025.

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

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

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

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

Crises feed the debt

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

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

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

Servicing the debt

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

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

Movement calls for September shutdown across France to protest budget cuts

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

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

Debate over how to reduce the debt

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

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

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

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

What to tax, what to cut?

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new study shows the snakes – which are Africa’s most venomous – absorb heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury into their bodies.

By clipping small fragments of scales from live animals – a process which does not harm them – scientists can measure pollution levels across different landscapes. Tissue samples from snakes killed in accidents or human conflict were also analysed.

The research, by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, was the first of its kind on an African snake species.

Fossils of colossal prehistoric snake named Vasuki unearthed in India

The study focused on black mambas collected in Durban, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

Snakes from industrial and commercial areas carried far higher concentrations of heavy metals than those found in reserves or green spaces.

“Snakes constitute a very good indicator of pollution patterns, because they are excellent predators, at the top of the food chain,” Graham Alexander, professor of herpetology and co-author of the study, told RFI.

“They do not move around a lot. And they also have a long lifespan, about 30 or 40 years, which allows them to accumulate good indicators of pollution over time in different areas,” he said.

Mirror effect

Black mambas absorb heavy metals when they feed on contaminated birds and rodents. That makes them a mirror of the risks also faced by people.

“Humans who live in these industrial areas may not be as exposed to heavy metals, because they don’t eat rats,” Alexander said with a laugh. “But they are still exposed. This therefore provides important information for human wellbeing as well as for the environment and other natural species present.”

Man who let snakes bite him 200 times spurs new antivenom hope

“We found a clear association between land use and exposure to heavy metals. What is exciting is that these data can be obtained without danger to the snakes,” Marc Humphries, an environmental chemist and director of the study, told RFI.

The study, published last month in the journal Environmental Pollution, offers a model that could be applied across the African continent. Researchers say the method could help cities build detailed maps of pollution and identify the worst-affected areas.

“In the future, this technique will become more generalised and will become an even more efficient and precise measuring instrument,” Alexander said.

This story was partially adapted from the original version in French

The presence of spirits is deeply woven into daily life in Madagascar, where people regularly honour their ancestors through ritual practices.

“In our everyday lives, we constantly think about our ancestors, because Malagasy philosophy believes that doing good for them, honouring them, helps maintain a form of balance within society,” says Rijasolo, whose series “Madagascar, land of spirits” is currently showing at the Visa pour l’image photo festival in southern France.

“This spirituality sustains people with a kind of resilience in the face of the economic situation and the prevailing uncertainty.”

At the core of this belief system is the practice of hasina, “a kind of universal energy that Christians might call the Holy Spirit, or others might call Gaia”, he told RFI.

This energy is found in nature – in mountains, trees and rivers.

“There are certain people we call ‘mpanazary’ – they are shamans who have this ability to use this ‘hasina’ to heal people or predict the future and to be in contact with ancestors,” explains Rijasolo.

Filipino photographer honours activists saving the forests

To document these intimate and often secretive practices, as he began doing in 2009, the photographer had to gain the trust of local communities.

He himself took part in some rituals in order to be accepted, while using his camera to maintain distance: “It was a way to keep my rational mind intact to be able to document what was happening.

“My camera was a kind of psychological shield.”

While this spirituality remains vibrant, it now faces threats, particularly as global warming and biodiversity loss erode the island’s unique environment.

“We know that 80 percent of Madagascar’s flora and fauna are endemic to the island,” says Rijasolo. “And this is precisely what gives strength to the ‘hasina’.”

► “Madagascar, land of spirits” is on show as part of the Visa pour l’Image photo festival in Perpignan until 14 September 2025.

“I think we had this complex in France – I certainly did and many other athletes with disabilities did too,” said Jean-Christophe Rambeau, one of the leading lights in France’s sitting volleyball team that made its debut at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Moments after addressing early-morning visitors to the French Paralympic Committee’s third annual Paralympic Day last weekend, he explained: “Before the Games, we were seen more as people with disabilities.

“And thanks to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, French society realised that we were actually athletes. And that’s really what struck me the most about these Games, the way people looked at us by the time we got to the closing ceremony.”

France raked in 75 medals, 19 of them gold, during the 11-day extravaganza – its best haul at the Paralympics since the 86 prizes harvested at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.

Though Rambeau’s team finished without a victory in its four matches, he said he was still hailed in the streets for his efforts.

“People stop me and say: ‘I saw you on the TV,'” he beamed as he surveyed the burgeoning throng of para athletes and public moving around the Communale venue in Saint-Ouen, one of the suburbs north of Paris that helped host the 2024 Games.

“I realise that with this experience of the Paralympic Games, we have become a bit like ambassadors,” added Rambeau.

“We’ve become role models. And that’s something that I would really like to push… to effectively democratise disability.”

The 43-year-old added: “We need to normalise it so that people with disabilities come to a place like La Communale and try lots of sports and for them to be seen as fully fledged athletes and no longer different because they have a disability.”

Budget cuts

That shift, however, could be set back as France cuts back on its sports spending in a bid to rein in public debt. 

In January, then Prime Minister François Bayrou announced that the sport budget would be slashed from €1.7 billion to €1.4 billion as part of broader cutbacks in public spending.

A petition signed by 400 leading athletes hit out at the plans. In a statement to sports newspaper L’Equipe, President Emmanuel Macron said that he agreed with the athletes.

“Since 2017, I have ensured that the sports budget has increased every year,” he said. “We must keep our commitments and provide the necessary resources for our athletes so that the legacy of the Games benefits everyone.”

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

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

Nearly 1.7 million youngsters between six and 17 were benefitting from the €50 payment when Sports Minister Marie Barsacq outlined the amendments.

Under the new system, which is set to come into effect this month, the payout will be upped to €70 – but limited to young people who already qualify for certain other types of income support.

‘No going back’

“Obviously, without money, you can’t do much,” commented Rambeau. “That’s for sure. But I think that thanks to the Games, there will be no going back.

“In fact, French society, France itself, has taken a new look at disability and we are on the right track, even if there are still obstacles, such as budget restrictions.”

In another corner of La Communale dedicated to para archery, Vincent Hybois, who trains the archers in the national team, agreed.

He recounted how he was sized up and down as a teenager when his disabled parents introduced him as their son. 

“The person stared at me for what seemed like ages trying to look for my disabilities,” he recalled.

“Things have changed from that point of view and so has the amount of money coming into the sport.”

How exoskeleton suits are breaking barriers for athletes with disabilities

Visible and accessible

Hybois, whose mother, Marie-Francoise, won bronze in para archery at the 1980 and 1996 Paralympic Games, added: “When she went to her first Paralympics in 1980, she had to pay for her own tracksuit top if she wanted it as a souvenir.

“By the time she finished at the Sydney Games, the tracksuits were being given out for free.

“Of course we always want and need more money… but there have been some advances.”

After testing her skills at para badminton and boccia alongside Barsacq, French Paralympic Committee president Marie-Amélie Le Fur hailed the 15 federations who had sent coaches and advisors.

“Paralympic Day illustrates our commitment to making sport accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or disability,” Le Fur said.

“With the mobilisation of those involved in sport, we reaffirm that parasport must be visible, inclusive and open.”

Paralympics legacy spurs push for inclusive sports in Paris

No ‘ghettoising’

At the end of the month, Le Fur’s executives will unveil a study on the impact of the French Paralympic Committee’s push for sports clubs to be more accessible to people with disabilities.

“I’m all in favour of open clubs or clubs where we mix Paralympics and Olympics,” said Cécile Hernandez, who won gold in the snowboard cross at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing.

“Sport is something that should break down all barriers,” added the 51-year-old, who said she aims to compete at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Milan-Cortina.

“I’m in favour of diversity and I’m not in favour of ghettoising Paralympics.

“In a way, the more we welcome Paralympic sport into a mixed structure, the better it will be for everyone.”

Among the thousands searching for missing loved ones is Amar, who fled South Sudan nearly a decade ago. He still carries a worn photograph of his younger sister – his only remaining link to her.

“I tried everything,” he said. “Phone calls, messages, asking other refugees. Nothing. Not knowing is worse than death. If a person dies, you can mourn. But when they are missing, you live in hope and fear every single day.”

Moses (a pseudonym to protect his identity) lives with the same questions. Born in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, he was separated from his parents and three younger siblings during an armed attack on his village.

“I was supposed to protect them,” he says, lowering his eyes. “But I lost them in the chaos. I do not know if they survived. I do not even know if they remember me.”

Protests erupt at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya following aid cuts

A Red Cross lifeline

Amar and Moses have turned to the Kenya Red Cross (KRC) tracing office in Kakuma, clinging to the hope of a call that could end years of uncertainty.

For families like theirs, the Red Cross provides an invaluable service through the Restoring Family Links (RFL) programme.

It enables displaced people to register missing relatives, send Red Cross messages and – in some cases – speak to family members by facilitating phone and video calls.

Rajab Mohammed, a tracing officer for the Kenya Red Cross in the Turkana region, where Kakuma is located, describes the work as painstaking but deeply rewarding.

“Each inquiry is a story of suffering,” he explains. “People have been separated from their loved ones for years. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes the trail runs cold. But for those waiting, even a single word of information can bring relief.”

Refugee numbers reach record high as global aid funding drops

‘Dignity and hope’

The Red Cross works in more than 100 countries worldwide to trace those missing and reunite families.

In Kenya alone – where Kakuma and Dadaab camps host hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced by violence in South Sudan, Somalia and the Great Lakes region – the challenge is immense.

Mohammed recalls the story of a boy in Kakuma who finally managed to speak with his mother in Burundi after six long years.

“When he heard her voice, he cried uncontrollably,” he said. “Everyone around him cried too. That is why this work matters. Reuniting families is not just about information – it is about dignity, healing and hope.”

As the sun sets over Kakuma, Amar tucks his sister’s photograph back into his wallet, as he has done countless times before.

“Hope is all I have,” he says. “If I let go of it, then I have lost her forever.”

This week, Ethiopia inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the River Nile – Africa’s largest hydroelectric project, with an eventual capacity of 5,000 megawatts.

The GERD project promises to transform access to electricity in Ethiopia, and generate export revenues by selling power to neighbouring countries.

But downstream, Sudan and Egypt view the dam as an “existential threat”.

Both rely heavily on the Nile’s waters, and fear the project could jeopardise their supply.

As climate change takes hold, disputes over shared rivers and lakes are expected to multiply. To unpack the issues, RFI spoke with Benjamin Pohl, director of Climate Diplomacy and Security at Adelphi, an international research centre based in Berlin.

Ethiopia inaugurates Africa’s biggest dam, despite concerns in Egypt and Sudan

RFI: Who owns the water? It’s a question we hear more and more often, especially when rivers cross borders.

Benjamin Pohl (BP): That’s usually the most controversial point because of competing interests. When a river flows across borders, every country wants to use as much of the water as possible. While cooperation would often mean greater benefits for all, states tend to plan primarily for their own water use – and that often clashes with their neighbours’ plans.

RFI: Is there such a thing as a “right to water”?

BP: International law does cover the use of shared rivers and lakes – notably through the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention and the Helsinki Convention. Neither Ethiopia nor Egypt, though, has signed them.

In essence, international law recognises the right of sovereign states to use shared waters, but only within certain limits.

Usage must be equitable and reasonable, it must not cause significant harm to neighbouring countries, and it should be guided by a general obligation to cooperate.

The problem, however, lies in enforcement. Unlike national legal systems, there is no global authority to police compliance. Instead, everything rests on mutual trust between states or, in extreme cases, intervention by the UN Security Council – a route that is both politically fraught and costly.

Egypt brands Ethiopia’s move to fill Nile mega-dam as ‘illegal’

‘Historic rights’

RFI: Negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan have dragged on for decades. What exactly is at stake?

BP: Talks revolve around two things: big-picture rights and very specific risks.

Egypt insists on its “historic rights”, rooted in the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement with Sudan – but that treaty excluded upstream states like Ethiopia. Cairo argues that its entire civilisation has depended on the Nile for millennia, so it has customary rights.

Ethiopia counters that it has sovereign rights to develop and use the water too, pointing out that Egypt has monopolised the Nile for centuries. Addis Ababa stresses that the GERD is for electricity, not irrigation, so water will continue flowing downstream.

Egypt, however, worries about drought scenarios… What if Ethiopia withholds water to maximise power generation? What if the dam were to fail? Or worse, what if water became a political weapon?

Two negotiation tracks are ongoing. One covers the Nile Basin as a whole, though Egypt temporarily walked away before recently returning. The other is a trilateral process between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the Blue Nile – where the GERD is located.

In 2015, they signed a declaration of principles, pledging to cooperate. Since then, technical talks have continued, but a final deal remains elusive.

RFI: What role does climate change play?

BP: Climate change disrupts rainfall patterns and the water cycle. Meanwhile, demand for water is rising fast due to population growth and economic development. In many regions, every drop is already allocated.

Now add climate change: drier conditions mean more irrigation, and hotter temperatures mean more energy use for cooling – which itself requires more water. In short, the pressure is intensifying.

Water crisis driven by climate change threatens global food production

Water diplomacy

RFI: Are there global hotspots where water-sharing tensions are particularly acute?

BP: Absolutely. Over half the world’s rivers cross borders. Conflicts are most likely where political tensions are already high – think North Africa, the Middle East or Central and South Asia.

But here’s the silver lining: most disputes don’t escalate. Political leaders usually find ways to manage them, provided there’s at least some trust and a willingness to cooperate.

RFI: Can shared water management actually improve diplomatic relations?

BP: That’s the dream of every water diplomat! And sometimes, it works.

Take the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan – it’s survived three wars. Or the cooperation between Brazil and Paraguay over hydropower, and the Senegal River basin initiative in West Africa.

These examples show that shared water can act as a bridge, even between rivals. Still, global water pressure is rising, which makes cooperation ever more essential.

RFI: Looking ahead, what worries you most?

BP: I fear tensions will get worse. But awareness is growing too – there’s nothing inevitable about water scarcity leading to conflict.

What does complicate things is that it’s now easier for countries to build big dams without consulting neighbours. The World Bank used to act as a gatekeeper, ensuring regional consensus. But today, with new sources of finance, even relatively poor countries can push ahead with mega-projects.

That means we’ll see more unilateral infrastructure – and with it, greater potential for clashes. The challenge is to strengthen cooperation so that shared rivers become a source of partnership, not rivalry.

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

The deal, announced in the Egyptian capital Cairo earlier this week, comes three months after a brief but intense 12-day conflict with Israel left several Iranian nuclear facilities damaged by Israeli and US strikes.

Since then, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have been largely locked out of Iran.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi struck a cautiously optimistic tone on Wednesday, telling the agency’s board of governors that the new “technical document” covers all Iranian nuclear sites and lays out clear procedures for inspections.

It also requires Tehran to report on the facilities that were hit in June, including the nuclear material that was present at the time.

“We now have a clear understanding of what must be done,” Grossi said.

“Iran and the agency will resume cooperation in a respectful and comprehensive way. There may be difficulties and issues to be resolved, for sure, but we now know the path ahead.”

Iran nuclear sites suffered ‘enormous damage’, IAEA chief tells RFI

No guaranteed access

Tehran, however, stressed that it had not yet agreed to open its doors to international monitors. 

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told state television on Thursday that IAEA inspectors currently have no access beyond the Bushehr nuclear power plant, where a team returned briefly last month to supervise fuel replacement.

Access to other key sites – including the heavily fortified Fordo and Natanz enrichment facilities – will be the subject of “future negotiations”.

“This agreement itself does not create any access,” Araghchi said. “Based on the reports that Iran will provide later, the type of access should be negotiated in due course.”

Iran has also warned it will tear up the deal if hostile actions are taken against it, including the re-imposition of UN sanctions that were lifted under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Last month Britain, France and Germany triggered the so-called “snapback” process, arguing that Tehran had long since abandoned its commitments.

Iran denounced the move as “illegal”, threatening to exclude the Europeans from future diplomacy.

Iran says Europeans have no right to reimpose sanctions for nuclear programme

Details unclear

For now, the specifics of this week’s deal – which has not been published in full – remain murky. 

There was no joint press conference or detailed outline of what Grossi diplomatically called the “modalities” of inspection.

The uncertainty is compounded by questions over Iran’s uranium stockpile.

While June’s strikes crippled key enrichment sites, it is unclear what has become of the material already enriched – some of it to 60 percent purity, not far off weapons grade.

Western governments continue to suspect Tehran of edging towards an atomic bomb, an accusation Iran has repeatedly denied, insisting its programme is purely civilian.

Still, even a partial framework represents progress after months of stalemate. As Grossi put it: “An important step in the right direction was taken.”

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled once again, with Moscow announcing a “pause” in negotiations and Kyiv warning that President Vladimir Putin still harbours ambitions of conquering the entire country.

The Kremlin confirmed on Friday that discussions had ground to a halt, even as US President Donald Trump signalled his patience with Moscow was wearing thin.

Meanwhile NATO pledged to reinforce its eastern flank after Russian drones strayed into Polish airspace this week, sparking fresh alarm across Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that communication channels between negotiators remained open, but expectations should be tempered.

“You can’t wear rose-tinted glasses and expect that the negotiation process will yield immediate results,” he told reporters, describing the process as effectively on hold.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky struck a much tougher note at a conference in Kyiv, urging Western allies not to take Putin at his word. “Putin’s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine,” he declared, insisting that only a fundamental change in Moscow’s objectives could bring peace.

Russia hits seat of Ukraine government in war’s biggest air attack

Trump’s dwindling patience

Trump, who has already hosted Putin in Alaska and pressured both sides into direct dialogue, voiced exasperation over the lack of progress. “It’s sort of running out and running out fast, but it does take two to tango,” he told Fox News.

The US leader said he was ready to get “very, very strong” if Russia refused to budge, though Ukraine remains frustrated that repeated threats of tougher sanctions have yet to materialise.

Kyiv continues to call for a direct summit between Zelensky and Putin, but the Kremlin has ruled it out, warning it would target any Western troops deployed as peacekeepers without Russian approval.

Ukraine has held firm in refusing to cede territory, while Russia insists any deal must include more land concessions. That fundamental clash leaves diplomacy stuck in neutral.

France sends jets to Poland and summons Russian envoy over drone raid

Drones over Poland

If the diplomatic front is faltering, the military one is heating up. Warsaw said 19 Russian drones had entered Polish airspace on Wednesday, three of which were shot down after NATO allies scrambled fighter jets.

Poland and some 40 allies condemned the incursion as a deliberate provocation, with Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki warning it represented a “destabilising escalation.”

The incident prompted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to announce fresh deployments from Britain, France, Denmark and Germany to reinforce the alliance’s eastern defences.

The UK went further still, unveiling new sanctions targeting Russia’s weapons suppliers and so-called “shadow fleet” of sanction-dodging ships. The EU also extended its sanctions regime, affecting more than 2,500 Russian officials and entities.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk flatly rejected Trump’s suggestion that the drone overflights might have been accidental.

“It was not a mistake,” he said, warning that his country now faced its gravest threat of open conflict since the Second World War. Moscow has denied responsibility and accused Warsaw of failing to provide evidence.

Russia and Belarus war games fuel European fears over Ukraine conflict

War games with Belarus

Adding to the sense of unease, Russia kicked off large-scale joint drills with Belarus on Friday, including exercises near the Polish and Lithuanian borders and in northern waters.

The defence ministry released footage of tanks, helicopters and warships in action, insisting the manoeuvres were defensive in nature.

Poland is unconvinced, announcing it would deploy 40,000 troops to its eastern frontier for the duration of the drills.

The competition will feature the 12 clubs from the top-flight Arkema Première Ligue and the 12 from the second-tier Seconde Ligue.

It starts a week after the outfits played their opening games of the league season, and will culminate in a final in Côte d’Ivoire next March.

“We wanted to increase the number of matches for clubs not playing in Europe by offering more competitive matches throughout the season,” said a spokesperson for the Women’s Professional Football League (LFFP), which is organising the tournament.

“It will also provide the platform for new players to emerge by giving them an additional competitive framework in which to prove themselves.”

Teams will be divided into five regional groups and play round-robin matches from this weekend until January. The winner of the each pool will advance to the quarter-finals.

At that stage, the three French sides involved in the 2025/26 Champions League – OL Lyonnes, Paris FC and Paris Saint-Germain – will enter the competition.

Opportunity to test skills

“It’s simply a great opportunity to compete against Première Ligue teams,” said Jose da Silva, president of Seconde Ligue Toulouse Football Club.

“It’s interesting because we have a squad of 20 to 27 players, which will allow us to rotate and give our youngest players a chance to play.

“Knowing that Toulouse’s DNA is all about training for both boys and girls, it’s a way for us to get as many players out onto the field as possible so that they can gain experience.”

Toulouse kick off their Group C campaign at Seconde Ligue counterparts Rodez AF. They will also play Montpellier and Olympic de Marseille from the top flight.

Toulouse striker Louna Lapassouse said she was relishing the chance to test her skills against Première Ligue squads.

“We’ve been able to play our game against teams that have been above us and that has allowed us to beat those teams at times,” said the 23-year-old. “So we have to stay true to ourselves and play our game.

“As the Coupe LFFP is brand new, we don’t really know yet what it’s going to be like but we’re very competitive so obviously when we join a competition like this we want to do something in it.

“We’re going to enjoy playing all these big matches and we’re certainly going to give it our all.”

Da Silva, who has been the Toulouse supremo for nearly 10 years, hailed the decision to carve up the teams into regional pools.

“It’s certainly going to create some buzz,” he beamed. “There’s Marseille, who we played when they were in the second division last season. They’ve been promoted and have reinforced their squad, and we have Montpellier, which is our neighbour.

“It’s always interesting to compete against a neighbour like that which has been in the top flight for many years and are well established there, so there’ll be a battle for regional domination.

“I’m certain people are going to come along to watch these games.”

France’s top women’s football clubs begin battle to end Lyon’s supremacy

Tournament rules

Under the rules of the competition, the winner of a match in 90 minutes earns three points and the loser zero points.

If a match were to finish in a draw, a penalty shootout ensues to determine the winner, who claims two points while the loser receives one point.

“This is an opportunity for us to build confidence in our game,” said Saint-Etienne coach Sébastien Joseph on the eve of his team’s Group B clash against Nice.

Saint-Etienne, who lost their first match of the Première Ligue season to Nantes, will also play second-tier Grenoble Foot 38 and Thonon Évian in the Coupe LFFP. 

“We want to finish top of the group,” added Joseph. “We’ve prepared well and we mustn’t start doubting everything just because we lost the first game of the Première League season.

“We were up against a Nantes team that has been working on a project for three years and at this point is a bit further along the road than we are.”

Team to beat

Following this weekend’s ties, further pool matches are scheduled for 11 October, 15 November, 10 December and 7 January.

The quarter-finals and semis will be in February and the final will be played on 14 March in Abidjan.

OL Lyonnes will be favourites to lift the inaugural trophy. The club has won 18 of the last 19 top-flight championships.

“It’s true that Lyon, PSG and Paris FC are way ahead of the pack at the moment,” said Da Silva. “And they will be expected to be there in the semis and final. But in a one-off match, anything can happen.

“It’s clear that on paper, it may seem unbalanced. But you know, a cup match is a cup match and if it goes to penalties … everything is possible.”

Presenting his new cabinet on Thursday following a big election victory in May, Rama introduced the new team member, named “Diella” – which means “sun” in Albanian.

“Diella is the first [cabinet] member who is not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence,” Rama said at a meeting of his Socialist Party.

Diella will be entrusted with all decisions on public tenders, making them “100-percent corruption-free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent”, he added.

Diella was launched in January as an AI-powered virtual assistant – resembling a woman dressed in traditional Albanian costume – to help people use the official e-Albania platform that provides documents and services.

So far, it has helped issue 36,600 digital documents and provided nearly 1,000 services through the platform, according to official figures.

Albania election a litmus test for EU accession amid deep divides

Albania hopes that fighting corruption, particularly in public administration, will put it in good stead as it prepares its bid to join the European Union.

Rama aspires to lead the Balkan nation of 2.8 million people into the political bloc by 2030.

Fears of meddling, fakes

Other countries, including France, are also turning to artificial intelligence to help with running public services.

A French programme called “Albert” will be used by tax agents, for example, to deal with the approximately 16 million queries they receive each year.

The AI tool will also be programmed to transcribe legal hearings and medical reports, track forest fires and manage HR for civil servants.

Polish radio experiment replaces journalists with AI presenters

However, the advent of artificial intelligence – notably its power to generate convincing text and images – has renewed concerns about disinformation and the potential harm the technology could cause during elections.

The EU called on Facebook, TikTok and other social media giants to crack down on deepfakes and other AI-generated content by using clear labels ahead of the Europe-wide polls held last June.

(with newswires)

More than 2,200 people were killed after the magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan just before midnight on 31 August, making it the deadliest quake to hit the country in decades.

Thousands of people remain displaced or homeless across Nangarhar and Kunar provinces and many isolated villages in mountainous areas are difficult to access, according to Laura Chambrier, of the French NGO Première Urgence Internationale (PUI). 

“The main needs are temporary shelter, primary healthcare, mental health and psychological support, and water and sanitation services,” she said.

She added that thanks to supplies already in place, their teams were able to respond with some autonomy, but that reaching remote areas is becoming “more and more complicated” as winter approaches.

The United Nations’ call for $139.6 million in aid remains unmet, and the consequences are plain to see.

“Afghanistan is facing a lot of funding gaps because donors are reducing humanitarian and development aid,” said Chambrier.

She added that the cut in US foreign aid earlier this year had resulted in PUI stopping activity in 60 healthcare facilities and almost 400 people losing their jobs – before the earthquake.

“Now with the earthquake, we have even more people in need,” she said.

Rescue efforts underway as Afghan earthquake leaves hundreds dead

Foreign aid cuts

“The funding coming in these days for [disaster] response is limited compared to a year ago,” Hans Johansen, the Kabul-based Afghanistan co-director of the French NGO Acted, told RFI.

He too cited the US government’s slashing of funding for USAID and other Western countries taking similar steps. “The earthquake response has attracted around $10 million, whereas in the early years, you would have seen a much higher number,” he said.

Western governments’ hesitancy to step in is also being shaped by their refusal to recognise the Taliban.

Aid typically bypasses national authorities by funding NGOs directly, but, as Johansen points out, the “hesitancy towards the de facto authorities means there is less attention on this crisis” in general.

According to a 10 September policy note from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs – traditionally a large donor – the EU “announced it would free [up] €1 million for aid by humanitarian organisations on the ground”, but this note does not include any mention of cooperation with the Taliban government directly. 

Women left behind

Humanitarian workers also cite Taliban decrees as creating unique risks for women in the aftermath of the disaster.

“Taliban edicts bar women from moving freely without a male guardian, ban them from many forms of work and strictly limit access to healthcare,” according to a report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. 

To reach female survivors, NGOs must navigate Taliban policy. “We have the authorisation to work with female medical staff [but] they have to be accompanied [by] a male relative,” says Chambrier.

For agencies without female staff, or where access is further restricted, there are fears women will be left behind or go untreated for days, as male aid workers are not allowed to touch them. 

‘All they dream of is leaving’: the reality of life for women under the Taliban

“Women and girls will again bear the brunt of this disaster, so we must ensure their needs are at the heart of the response and recovery,” warned UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative Susan Ferguson in a statement.

She pointed out that during the country’s last major earthquake in Herat in 2023, “nearly six out of 10 of those who lost their lives were women, and nearly two-thirds of those injured were women”.

“As a medical organisation, we are able to have female staff because of the medical activities. And we are adapting our activity to be sure so we can reach the women,” Chambrier says.

“But it is not easy for the ones that are not [able to move freely],” she said, referring to women without male relatives at hand to act as guardians. 

Macron announced the deployment on Thursday, saying the jets would help defend Europe’s eastern flank alongside NATO allies.

“Following Russian drone incursions into Poland, I have decided to deploy three Rafale fighter jets to help protect Polish airspace and Europe’s eastern flank alongside our NATO allies,” Macron said on social media platform X.

“I made this commitment yesterday to the Polish prime minister. I also discussed this matter with the NATO secretary general and the British prime minister, who is also involved in protecting the eastern flank. We will not give in to Russia’s increasing intimidation.”

Poland calls NATO talks after downing Russian drones in airspace breach

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Friday said that Russia’s firing of drones over Poland was “absolutely unacceptable”, adding that the Russian ambassador would be summoned over the incident.

“We will tell him that we will not be intimidated… Whether intentional or not, whether accidental or not, this is very serious, this is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrot told France Inter radio.

‘Unprecedented’ attack

On Wednesday, Poland called urgent NATO talks after saying Russian drones crossed its airspace during an attack on Ukraine.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Polish airspace had been violated 19 times and at least three drones were shot down after jets were scrambled. He described the breach as an “unprecedented” attack on Poland, NATO and the European Union.

Moscow denied responsibility and said there was no evidence the drones were Russian.

US President Donald Trump, who has sought to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, told reporters on Thursday the incident may have been a “mistake”.

NATO countries raise spending as Germany expands weapons output

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier Thursday discussed the drone incident with Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, his office said.

“In both calls, the leaders condemned the shocking Russian violation of NATO and Poland’s airspace,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

“Discussing how the UK and France could bolster Poland’s defences, the prime minister said the UK stood ready to support any further NATO deployments to the region.”

Germany said it would “extend and expand” its participation in NATO’s Air Policing programme. The defence ministry said it would double the number of Eurofighter jets deployed to four and keep them in place until the end of the year.

The UN Security Council will meet on Friday after Slovenia, Denmark, Greece, France and Britain requested talks on the drone incident.

(with newswires)

The “Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill” passed after a second reading, with 330 votes to 174 on 9 September – thus ratifying Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago.

However, Diego Garcia island will remain under an Anglo-American military lease for 99 years with an annual payment of £101 million (€120 million), or £3.4 billion pounds (more than €4 billion) in total.

Based on an agreement signed by a British court in May, the bill also provides significant financial support to the Mauritian government and the Chagossian community.

UK High Court clears deal to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius

Chagos Refugee Group spokesperson Olivier Bancoult expressed relief after the vote, which puts the dream of returning home within reach. “This vote shows that everything is moving in the right direction,” he said.

The announcement came as the Mauritian prime minister began his first state visit to India.

Navin Ramgoolam hopes to secure New Delhi’s support to organise a visit by Mauritian leaders and Chagossian representatives to the archipelago. The trip is expected to take place before the end of the year, with a highlight being a Mauritian flag-raising ceremony.

Colonial history

Tuesday’s vote marks a new chapter in the long story of Mauritian efforts to have Chagos returned.

Located several hundred kilometres south of the Maldives, the Chagos Islands were colonised by France in the 18th century, ceded to the UK in 1814 and merged with Mauritius in 1903.

In 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence from the UK, London detached the Chagos from Mauritian territory.

At Washington’s request, the British then emptied the archipelago of its inhabitants to establish a military base on Diego Garcia, in the heart of the Indian Ocean.

More than 2,000 Chagossians were uprooted and expelled to Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK.

Dispersed for half a century, they now hope for a return to their roots.

Chagos Islands sovereignty case – the end of the end of British colonial rule in Africa?

‘A betrayal’

However, for some Chagossians, such as the group Lalit, Mauritius is “selling its sovereignty” over the Chagos.

The group’s spokesperson Ragini Kistnasamy, who took part in a protest in front of the Mauritian parliament on Tuesday, told Le Mauritien website the bill was “a betrayal” after years of struggle.

“This bill stipulates that the king can, at any time, make Orders in Council, which he deems important for the base, concerning Diego Garcia and the other islands. It is clear that Great Britain and the United States will have total control over the Chagos.”

Handover of Chagos Islands to Mauritius ‘not an outright win’

For Mauritius’s Attorney General Gavin Glover, while this is a significant step forward, he says the biggest battle will remain in the House of Lords, the UK’s upper house of parliament.

Indeed, the bill must pass five stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords respectively (first reading, second reading, committee stage, postponement stage, and third reading), then the final stage of Consideration of Amendments before Royal Assent.

“It will be a real test,” Glover told Mauritian news portal L’express.

Glover says this is because the anti-treaty lobby in the UK remains powerful, and the political composition of the House of Lords could lead to difficult debates.

“We must remain mobilised to… prepare for the future, because implementation will also be a long-term project.”

A Foreign Office director from the UK is expected in Mauritius from 29 September to 1 October to finalise technical aspects of the process. 

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Ali Shahzad, Jocelyne D’Errico, and a composition by B. Trappy.  

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: “Love is Stronger”, written and performed by B. Trappy; “Coups et Blessures” written by Adrien Gallo and performed by BB Brunes, and “Misty”, by Erroll Garner and Johnny Burke, performed by Sarah Vaughan with Quincy Jones and His Orchestra.

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!

From a small-scale security-building mechanism to a heavyweight bloc showcasing China’s geopolitical ambitions, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has evolved dramatically since its inception in 1996.

Originally known as the Shanghai Five, the group was initially formed of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and aimed to resolve border disputes and bolster security cooperation.

“It was really concerned with China’s internal borders with countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and looking at things like drug misuse, gun running and political opposition,” explains Michael Dillon of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London.

Uzbekistan joined in 2001, prompting the rebranding to SCO, and India and Pakistan later became full members, with Iran the most recent addition, two years ago.

Over time, the SCO’s agenda expanded well beyond border security to include economic cooperation, cultural exchange and coordinating their political message.

The organisation now has 10 member states (with observer states such as Afghanistan and dialogue partners including Turkey), highlighting its growing global footprint.

Last month’s much-publicised SCO summit, held in the Chinese port city of Tianjin alongside China’s grand military parade marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War, provided a vivid demonstration of the organisation’s expanded role.

President Xi met with almost 30 world leaders – including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – projecting the image of a China-led alliance of mainly authoritarian regimes challenging Western influence.

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

“Xi Jinping is using this to shape perceptions of China and of himself,” Dillon told RFI. The optics of Xi flanked by Putin and Kim symbolised an assertive bloc willing to counterbalance NATO and the US-led liberal international order.

But how far does the SCO truly stand as a counterweight to NATO?

On this, Dillon is cautious. “It’s beginning to look like it,” he said, but added: “There isn’t any [military coordination], apart from the policing functions across the border with Central Asia … it doesn’t seem to have any military functions outside of China.”

Internal rivalries complicate the picture and prevent the SCO from acting as a fully cohesive bloc, such as the strained relationship between India and Pakistan – both members.

Meanwhile, relations between Europe and the SCO also reveal divisions within the former. While few European Union leaders engage with the organisation, countries such as Turkey and Hungary have shown willingness.

“The EU really does need to respond to China’s increasing influence,” says Dillon.

Russia ties strain EU-China relations as Beijing summit concludes early

But Europe faces challenges due to China’s growing economic leverage and the United States’ diminished credibility in some quarters. “Trump thinks of himself as the great strong man, but it’s clear to seasoned diplomats in China and elsewhere that Washington is incredibly weak,” said Dillon.

According to him, Trump’s actions have inadvertently contributed to China’s rise within Eurasia’s power vacuum. This environment has allowed Beijing to position the SCO as an alternative framework – even attracting traditionally Western-facing countries such as India and Turkey into the fold.

But the summit also exposed underlying tensions within the bloc. Russia’s invitation to Kim Jong-un to Moscow shortly after the Tianjin meeting showcased Putin’s rivalry with Xi for influence over North Korea. Meanwhile, Modi’s absence from the military parade suggested caution among SCO members in fully endorsing China’s military bravado.

Tanks and missiles roll through Beijing as China commemorates 1945 victory

Western observers remain divided on how seriously to take the SCO – both as symbolic political theatre and as a potentially strategic challenge.

Looking ahead, Dillon is sceptical about the SCO transforming into a formal military alliance akin to NATO anytime soon.

“I haven’t seen anything from China recently to suggest they’re trying to turn the SCO into something more permanent and as a counterweight to NATO,” he says. But he acknowledges that institutionalisation of the SCO is likely to be the next “obvious move” if China continues to consolidate its Eurasian coalition.

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear musical requests from your fellow listeners Ali Shahzad, Jocelyne D’Errico, and a composition by B. Trappy.  

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: “Love is Stronger”, written and performed by B. Trappy; “Coups et Blessures” written by Adrien Gallo and performed by BB Brunes, and “Misty”, by Erroll Garner and Johnny Burke, performed by Sarah Vaughan with Quincy Jones and His Orchestra.

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!

French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for the creation of a military force to secure any peace deal made between Russia and Ukraine.

Turkey, which boasts NATO’s second-largest army, is seen as a key player in any such move – especially given that Washington has ruled out sending US troops.

For its part, Ankara has said it is open to joining a peacekeeping mission.

“Macron finally came to terms [with the fact] that Turkey is an important player, with or without the peace deal. Turkey will have an important role to play in the Black Sea and in the Caucasus,” said Serhat Guvenc, professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

Macron last month held a lengthy phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, focused on the Ukraine conflict, and thanked him for his diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Turkey eyes Ukraine peacekeeping role but mistrust clouds Western ties

Turning point

For Professor Federico Donelli of Trieste University, this marks a dramatic turnaround. Previously, the two leaders have frequently exchanged sharp words, especially over Turkey’s rising influence in West Africa and the Sahel.

“In Paris, public opinion and the press criticised this move by Turkey a lot,” said Donelli. “At the same time, the rhetoric of some Turkish officers, including President Erdogan, was strongly anti-French. They were talking a lot about the neocolonialism of France and so on.”

Donelli added that cooperation over Ukraine has pushed France to reconsider its Africa stance.

“As a consequence of Ukraine, the position of France has changed, and they are now more open to cooperating with Turkey. And they [understand] that in some areas, like the Western Sahel, Turkey is better than Russia, better than China,” he said.

Analysts also see new openings in the Caucasus. A peace agreement signed in August between Azerbaijan, which was backed by Turkey, and Armenia, which was supported by France, could provide further common ground.

Macron last month reportedly pressed Erdogan to reopen Turkey’s border with Armenia, which has been closed since 1993. Turkish and Armenian officials met on the countries’ border on Thursday to discuss the normalisation of relations.

Turkey walks a tightrope as Trump threatens sanctions over Russian trade

‘Pragmatic cooperation’

But clear differences remain, especially when it comes to Syria. The rise to power of Turkish-backed President Ahmed al-Sharaa is seen as undermining any French role there.

“For Erdogan, the victory of al-Sharaa in Damascus on 24 December is the revenge of the Ottoman Empire, and Ankara doesn’t want to see the French come back to Syria,” said Fabrice Balanche, a professor of international relations at Lyon University.

Balanche argued that France is losing ground to Turkey across the region.

“It’s not just in Syria, but also in Lebanon – the Turks are very involved, and in Iraq, too. We [the French] are in competition with the Turks. They want to expel France from the Near East,” he said.

Despite this rivalry, Guvenc predicted cooperation will continue where interests align.

“In functional terms, Turkey’s contributions are discussed, and they will do business, but it’s going to be transactional and pragmatic cooperation, nothing beyond that,” he said.

One such area could be the Palestinian territories. Both Macron and Erdogan support recognition of a Palestinian state and are expected to raise the issue at this month’s United Nations General Assembly.

For now, shared interests are likely to outweigh differences – even if only temporarily.

For many critics of French President Emmanuel Macron, his nomination of close ally Sebastien Lecornu to replace François Bayrou as prime minister is a slap in the face, and further proof that the government is ignoring people’s wishes.  Participants in a movement to shut down the country on Wednesday talk about feeling unheard, and draw comparisons with the anti-government Yellow Vest movement from 2018-2019. (Listen @0′)

Tourists have long been drawn to the “village” of Montmartre, with its famed Sacre Cœur basilica, artists’ square, winding cobbled streets, vineyards and pastel-shaded houses. But the rise of influencers and instagrammers who post picture-postcard decors, as featured in hit films and Netflix series, have turned it into a must-see destination. With tourists now outnumbering residents by around 430 to one, the cohabitation is under strain. Béatrice Dunner, of the Association for the Defence of Montmartre, is calling on local authorities to follow the example of Amsterdam and tackle overtourism before it’s too late. (Listen @13′)

On 15 September 1635, a group of French colonists claimed the Caribbean island of Martinique, establishing a plantation economy reliant on slavery. Its economic and cultural legacy continues to shape the island today as an overseas department. (Listen @6’35”)

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

The bombing was attributed by Russian and Hungarian officials to Ukrainian drone forces, with Ukraine justifying the strike as part of its broader campaign against Russia following the latter’s invasion in 2022.

The strike resulted in oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia being cut off, and also exposed political divides at the heart of Central Europe’s energy security, sparking a diplomatic fallout between Kyiv, Budapest and Bratislava.

“The bombing drives home the point that Russian energy supplies remain a point of contest, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, which remains dependent on [oil] coming from the east,” said Andreas Goldthau, director of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt in Germany.

Pipeline dispute shows Central Europe’s struggle to cut ties with Russian oil

‘Not a matter of supply’

Despite EU-wide efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy – which Goldthau acknowledges is “no longer a big issue for Europe as a whole” – Hungary and Slovakia stand as outliers, locked into long-term contracts and dependent on the Druzhba line.

When the pipeline was struck multiple times in August and September, forcing a halt to crude deliveries, both governments were forced to draw on strategic reserves.

But how Hungary and Slovakia are coping, is “more a political choice than anything else,” Goldthau told RFI.

“It is not a matter of supply, but a matter of price and transport logistics, because it could eat into the margins of refineries if you have to source it from other parts and other geographies.”

Central Europe, he added, “could source through ports in Croatia, and they could have done this already by now, but they chose not to”.

‘A political decision’

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government responded to the strike angrily, calling it “an attack on Hungary’s sovereignty”.

The country’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said: “Ukraine knows very well that the Druzhba pipeline is vital for Hungary’s and Slovakia’s energy supply, and that such strikes harm us far more than Russia.”

Both Budapest and Bratislava have demanded EU intervention and accused Kyiv of jeopardising their security, just as reserves were being tapped to keep refineries running.

From Washington to Warsaw: how MAGA influence is reshaping Europe’s far right

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested the attacks might hinge on Hungary lifting its EU accession veto, warning: “The existence of the friendship depends on what Hungary’s position is.”

Ukrainian officials also say that Hungary and Slovakia have failed to diversify away from Russian oil, despite ample opportunity and EU support.

According to Goldthau, Russian leverage over the EU “is gone, by and large”. He explained: “The EU’s main suppliers are now the United States and Norway. Kazakhstan comes into play, but Russia no longer plays a role.”

Ukraine, he noted, “no longer gets any Russian oil or any Russian gas, it merely functions as a transit country”.

The attack and subsequent diplomatic spat might have provided Hungary and Slovakia “a perfect occasion to pivot and seek alternative supplies, but it’s a purely political decision to do that or not,” Goldthau said. “Whatever changes that [decision] lies at home, and not abroad.”

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.

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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!

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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.

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.