“We really need to, right now, dispel any misleading notion that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine. That is not at all what this is about,” Macron said, adding that the purpose was to “strengthen” the nation rather than deploy young French people to the front.

His assurances follow an outcry over a top French general’s warning that the country should be prepared to “lose its children” amid increasing Russian threats.

Macron said he would present the details on Thursday during a visit to the Varces army base in southeastern France, where he will outline a new framework for serving in the armed forces and respond to what he described as a growing desire for engagement among young people.

“It is very clear that we must strengthen the army-nation pact,” he said.

Europe, he warned, must stay firm as Moscow intensifies its campaign. Six people were killed in Kyiv in Russian missile and drone strikes overnight. Three people died in Russia’s Rostov region in Ukrainian strikes.

Europe demands more work on US peace plan to end Russia-Ukraine war

‘More aggressive Russia’

Macron said Russia had adopted a “much more aggressive stance” than in previous years and was waging “hybrid” warfare.

“In recent years, the conflict with Russia has escalated. Russia has launched a war of aggression on European soil. (…) It is waging a hybrid war with Europeans, an information war… This combination of factors means that yes, there is a confrontation,” he told RTL.

“We would be wrong to show weakness in the face of this threat. If we want to protect ourselves, we French – which is my sole concern – we must demonstrate that we are not weak against the power that threatens us the most.”

Macron said a US plan aimed at ending the conflict sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine was a step “in the right direction” with “elements” that should be “discussed, negotiated, improved”.

“We want peace. But not a peace that is in essence a capitulation, which puts Ukraine in an impossible situation, which gives Russia all the freedom to continue to go further, including to other European countries and putting everyone’s security in danger,” he said.

“What is put on the table gives us an idea of what is acceptable for the Russians,” he said, adding that Ukrainians were the “only ones” who could agree to the plan’s terms.

He said no-one could speak on behalf of Ukrainians on territorial concessions.

The plan will be discussed on Tuesday afternoon at a video conference involving the 30 countries of the “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine.

If the war ends in a ceasefire, the coalition aims to send a multinational force to deter any further Russian attack.

Washington’s 28-point plan initially hewed close to Russia’s hardline demands, requiring Ukraine to cede territory, cut its military and pledge never to join NATO.

Zelensky pushes EU to unlock €140bn in frozen Russian assets

Frozen assets

An updated version, drawn up at emergency talks in Geneva, aimed to “uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty”. It includes a proposal to use Russian assets frozen in Europe for US-led reconstruction projects in Ukraine.

Macron said Europeans should decide how the funds are used.

“The Europeans are the only ones to have a say” on this issue, he said.

He added that the “only red line” was Russia itself, more than three years after the full-scale invasion began.

“The only question we don’t have an answer to is whether Russia is ready to make a lasting peace,” he said. “A peace where they don’t re-invade Ukraine six months, eight months later, two years later,” he went on.

“Peace begins with a ceasefire. If Vladimir Putin wanted it, he would implement it. Today, he continues to kill civilians in Kyiv.”

France’s top general caused alarm last week after warning that the country must be ready to “lose its children” because of the threat posed by Russia.

Macron said the remarks had been “deformed” and “taken out of context”.

“Soldiers who sign up make sacrifices, but to tell all French people that they are going to be sacrificed, that makes no sense,” he said.

(with AFP)

The projection, based on the latest Cadre Harmonisé – an analysis of acute food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West Africa region, is the highest number recorded in Nigeria since monitoring began, the WFP said.

Violence has escalated in 2025, with attacks by insurgents including al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which carried out its first strike in Nigeria last month, and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Recent incidents underscore the crisis: ISWAP fighters killed a brigadier-general in the northeast, while armed bandits abducted more than 300 Catholic school students in a mass kidnapping days after storming a public school, killing a deputy head teacher and seizing 25 schoolgirls.

How Nigeria is reintegrating repentant former Boko Haram fighters

‘Repeated attacks’

“The advance of insurgency presents a serious threat to stability in the north, with consequences reaching beyond Nigeria,” said David Stevenson, WFP Nigeria country director.

“Communities are under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress.”

Rural farming communities have been hit hardest. Nearly 6 million people lack basic minimum food supplies in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, while 15,000 in Borno are projected to face famine-like conditions.

Malnutrition rates are highest among children in Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, WFP said.

Almost a million people in the northeast currently rely on WFP aid, but funding shortfalls forced the agency to scale down nutrition programmes in July, affecting more than 300,000 children.

In areas where clinics closed, malnutrition worsened from “serious” to “critical” in the third quarter.

The WFP’s biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in assistance.

WFP warned it will run out of funds for emergency food and nutrition aid by December, leaving millions dependent on its support without assistance in 2026.

More than 200 people braved the cold and rain on Sunday at the Beauval zoo, in central France, to bid farewell to Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi, both 17 years old.

The two pandas had been due to stay in France until January 2027, but they are returning early because Huan Huan has kidney failure, a chronic condition common in ageing pandas, which is currently not serious, but the zoo preferred to send her back to China before the condition worsens and she cannot travel.

The pandas, who spent two days in quarantine ahead of their flight, will leave the zoo early Tuesday morning under police protection to Paris’ Charles-de-Gaulle airport, and fly to China, where they will retire in the Chengdu panda sanctuary.

The pair arrived at the Beauval Zoo in 2012 after years of top-level negotiations between Paris and Beijing, as part of China’s “panda diplomacy”, in which pandas are sent around the world as soft-power ambassadors.

They have contributed to the success of the Beauval zoo, which saw two million visitors in 2023.

Huan Huan gave birth to three cubs – the first to be born in France. The eldest, Yuan Ming, a male, was sent back to China two years ago, but twins born in 2021 will remain at Beauval at least until 2027.

Zoo director Rodolphe Delord said their presence will continue to raise awareness about the need to protect the species. The giant panda was downgraded last year from “endangered” to “vulnerable”.

Delphine Pouvreau, a zookeeper, found it hard to hide her emotion on Sunday. “This is the last goodbye with the public. It will be very difficult on Tuesday. All the zookeepers had a strong relationship with them. We experienced the first birth of a baby panda in France here. This memory will remain etched in our hearts!” she said.

(with AFP)

The RSF, which has been fighting Sudan’s regular army since April 2023, said it was declaring the ceasefire “in response to international efforts, including the initiative of US President Donald Trump and the Quad mediators”.

The Quad group comprises the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

The RSF move came after the UAE lambasted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for rejecting the US truce proposal and accusing Washington of echoing Emirati positions on the conflict.

The UAE has been widely accused of arming the RSF, but Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied the charge.

On Monday, the RSF announced “a humanitarian truce providing for a cessation of hostilities for three months”.

UN human rights council orders investigation into atrocities in Sudan

The announcement was made in a recorded video message by Burhan’s former deputy and now bitter rival, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

On Sunday, Burhan called a truce proposal sent by US envoy Massad Boulos on behalf of the Quad group of mediators the “worst yet” and unacceptable to his government, which is based in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

The army chief called the Quad group “biased” as long as the UAE was a member, and accused Boulos of parroting talking points from Abu Dhabi.

On Monday, the UAE’s minister of state for international cooperation, Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, lambasted Burhan for demonstrating “consistently obstructive behaviour”.

“This must be called out,” Hashimy said.

Rejecting the US plan, Burhan said the proposal “eliminates the armed forces, dissolves security agencies and keeps the militia where they are”.

Civilian rule

On November 6, the RSF announced they had agreed to a proposal for a humanitarian truce put forward by the international mediators.

The army-aligned government had rejected an earlier plan in September that would exclude both the military and the RSF from Sudan‘s post-war political process.

That proposal included a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule.

Last week, Trump said he would move to end the Sudan war, after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged him during a visit to Washington to get involved.

Burhan thanked the two leaders for what he called their “honest” initiative, but urged mediators to “come with a positive and proper approach”.

As thousands flee, Sudan’s war spills over into humanitarian crisis in Chad

Among the general’s criticisms of the US proposal were claims that it “eliminates the armed forces, dissolves security agencies and keeps the militias where they are” without disarming them.

Reiterating that the conflict was “a war for survival”, he insisted that any peace agreement must compel the RSF to withdraw fully from captured territory and be confined to designated zones.

Burhan also attacked repeated claims by Daglo that the army is controlled by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

“Where are these so-called members of the Muslim Brotherhood within the Sudanese army? We do not know them. We only hear such claims in the media,” Burhan said.

Daglo on Monday said the RSF was open to talks with “all actors except for the terrorist Islamist movement of the Muslim Brotherhood and the National Congress”, the now-banned party of former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir.

Daglo worked for years for Bashir before allying with Burhan to overthrow him in 2019 as part of Sudan’s revolution. The pair then snuffed out Sudan’s fledgling civilian government.

International attention on the conflict has increased since the RSF seized the key Darfur city of El-Fasher last month after a relentless siege that has sparked warnings of crimes against humanity and genocide.

Over the past two years, the warring parties in Sudan have violated every ceasefire agreement, with negotiations to halt the war yet to make any breakthroughs.

The US peace plan requires Ukraine to cede Crimea and much of the Donbas to Russian sovereignty, cap its military at 600,000 personnel, and constitutionally commit to never joining NATO.

The proposed settlement also offers phased sanctions relief and economic reintegration for Russia, in exchange for a non-aggression pact and “reliable” US-led security guarantees for Ukraine.

Notably, European leaders learned of the plan only belatedly, and it was drafted without Ukrainian input, raising alarm about its fairness and longevity.’

‘Difficult choice’

Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky faces what he calls “a very difficult choice”, weighing the prospect of losing vital US support against the indignity of territorial loss and strategic compromise.

“The Ukrainian government will not agree to these conditions,” according to Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign policy committee. “For us, it means surrender,” he says.

Russian officials have publicly welcomed elements of the US draft that align with Kremlin positions but remain wary about enforcement, with the non-aggression pact echoing past agreements that Russia breached.

But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that “it’s clear Russia wants to cement its gains and restore its position in the global economy, but this plan does not require genuine concessions,” adding that “for any plan to succeed, it must have the support of Ukrainians and Europeans”.

European commentators and senior diplomats have also voiced strong concerns. German political scientist Constanze Stelzenmüller from the Brookings Institution described the US plan as “outrageous”, warning that “If implemented, it would allow Russia to become the apex predator in Europe. It represents a complete degradation of diplomacy.”

The abrupt nature of the US process, and its perceived disregard for European consultation, may weaken the West’s united front in future negotiations.

Experts suggest the plan is unlikely to gain acceptance “without further substantial revision and credible international guarantees”, according to a senior Chatham House analyst.

Europe uneasy as leaked US plan urges Ukraine to give up Donbas

Chatham’s Orysia Lutsevych described Trump’s plan as effectively a “brainchild of the Kremlin,” presenting Russian demands as an American peace plan and resembling a demand for Ukrainian capitulation.

She noted it limits Ukraine’s sovereignty, imposes territorial concessions, and dictates military and political terms unfavourable to Kyiv.

Her colleague Keir Giles characterised it as a transmission of Russian surrender demands facilitated by the US, “unrealistic and unenforceable,” with an inherent risk that Russia seeks to leave Ukraine defenceless for future aggression.

Both stress that meaningful negotiations require Ukrainian and European backing to modify or reject the plan point by point rather than wholesale acceptance.

Europe’s counter proposal

On Sunday, an EU counter-proposal, (as seen by Reuters) unveiled in response to US pressure, avoids explicit territorial concessions, proposing that the lines of contact be the starting point for future negotiations.

It allows Ukraine to keep a larger standing army (up to 800,000), and does not bar NATO membership outright – opting instead for “robust” coordinated security guarantees that could evolve with future alliances and consensus.

Reconstruction would be funded via frozen Russian assets and broad EU market access, aiming for a longer-term, balanced reintegration of Russia into global institutions.

Zelensky pushes EU to unlock €140bn in frozen Russian assets

At an EU-Africa summit in Angola, where emergency talks on the US proposal completely overshadowed proceedings on Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Russia must be involved in any talks.

“The next step must be: Russia must come to the table,” Merz declared.

“If this is possible, then every effort will have been worthwhile,” he added.

As the Thanksgiving deadline looms, the prospects for the US plan appear bleak.

Ukrainian leaders, with broad civil society support, remain unwilling to accept deep territorial losses or restrictions on sovereignty.

Russia, while pleased with many provisions, might object to certain security arrangements and demands for military withdrawal and remains sceptical.

“Russia has not so far received the official text of the American version of the Ukrainian settlement plan, which was adjusted during consultations between the United States and Ukraine in Geneva,” according to  Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov quoted by Tass news agency on Monday.

EU chiefs hailed progress towards a deal but also said there were outstanding issues to resolve.

EU to boost security independence and Ukraine ties with €1.5bn defence plan

“There is a new momentum in peace negotiations,” European Council President Antonio Costa said on the sidelines of the summit in Angola.

“While work remains to be done, there is now a solid basis for moving forward,” added European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

For his part, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “tremendous” progress had been made at the talks.

“I honestly believe we’ll get there,” Rubio said, adding: “Obviously, the Russians get a vote.”

(With newswires)

Continuing his African tour, French President Emmanuel Macron is in Luanda to join nearly 80 EU and African leaders at a two-day summit that marks 25 years of EU-African Union relations, which are fraying.

The EU is the leading supplier of direct foreign investment to Africa and its leading trading partner.

Yet China, the US and Russia are gaining influence, as some African countries turn away from their former colonial rulers, notably France.

“Relations between Africa and Europe need to be revisited,” Pascal Saint-Amans, a professor at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland who in Luanda, told RFI.

“Economic exchanges for a long time happened in a colonial relationship, but I believe that with the overall shift in global geopolitics, we now have a relationship that is more on an equal footing, less paternalistic, which is a very good thing.”

Macron’s Africa ‘reset’ stumbles as leaders call out colonial overtones

The seventh EU-African Union gathering comes on the heels of a G20 meeting in South Africa where a US boycott underscored geopolitical fractures.

“The challenges we face today – climate change, digital transformation, irregular migration, conflicts and insecurity – know no borders. The response to this multipolar world must be multipolar cooperation,” EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa said in a joint statement Monday.

“Together, Africa and Europe can lead the way,” they said, adding the two blocs aimed to shape “a fairer, greener, and more secure world based on shared values and mutual respect”.

Focus on trade

Tackling illegal migration to Europe and security cooperation are on the summit agenda, as is a push to grant Africa more of a voice in global governance bodies.

But boosting trade is likely the top priority, as the EU seeks to secure critical minerals needed for its green transition and to reduce its dependency on China for minerals used in electronic goods.

In 2021, the EU launched a massive infrastructure project, the Global Gateway, intended to counter China’s growing influence, with half of the €300 billion invested in Africa by 2027.

A key part of the strategy is the Lobito corridor, a railway project in partnership with the US, that passes through Angola, connecting mineral-rich areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Atlantic coast.

The EU is the leading supplier of foreign direct investment to the continent and its top commercial counterpart. Trade in goods and services hit €467 billion in 2023, according to Brussels.

What are Africa’s economic needs amid rising competition between China and the West?

Humanitarian aid

Another part of redefining the relationship is the EU’s humanitarian role in conflicts on the African continent.

The EU has sometimes become the main donor, after aid cuts by the US.

“We feel that the EU is also putting more emphasis on economic and security questions, rather than on democracy and human rights,” Danny Singoma, a member of the national consultation framework of Congolese civil society, told RFI.

“When you challenge the EU, they say ‘No, we do not interfere in internal affairs; We only help on the economic and humanitarian level.’ And that is what we want to change.”

EU flags stronger partnership with South Africa with €4.7bn investment

Shift to Ukraine

EU leaders may be distracted from African issues by Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s draft plan to stop Russia’s war, that the EU sees as tilted in favour of Moscow.

Some EU leaders will meet to discuss Ukraine on the sidelines of the Luanda summit on Monday, with others dialling in via video conference.

Europeans said they were not involved in crafting the original plan and released a counter-poposal that would ease some of the proposed territorial concessions and include a NATO-style security guarantee from the US for Ukraine if it is attacked.

(with newswires)

“The current organisation and structuring of children’s time depends on constraints that come from outside,” the final report said.

Children’s time depends on adult working hours – both of parents and educators – as well as “economic and institutional choices, and the availability of transport and facilities”.

The 133 participants, who met over seven weekends from June to November, ultimately focused more on school organisation more than on time outside of school.

Limits on screens

However, they still proposed limits on screens, whose “omnipresence”, they said, “has major consequences for their learning, their health and their development”.

They supported putting a ban on social media for those under 15 as well as maintaining the ban on mobile phones in middle schools.

French MPs call for social media ban for under-15s and night curfew for teens

Another proposal would introduce mandatory digital literacy training in schools.

Nearly half the proposals were about school rhythms, deemed “unsuited to children’s biological rhythms”.

Children suffer under “a model of society that values productivity and performance”, with free time “increasingly scarce”.

Spread out school days

The convention proposed a five-day school week, instead of the current four, to spread out learning.

Today, 90 percent of French towns have a four-day week, which makes for “days that are too dense”.

The subject has been contentious: a reform in 2013 to increase the school week from four to four-and-a-half days was dropped by most schools in 2017.

French town tests controversial school uniforms

Another proposal is for middle and high school to begin classes after 9am, “in order to respond to the physiological needs of adolescents”.

A panel of 20 teenagers came up with a proposal of devote mornings to theoretical classes, and afternoons to practical teaching, with extracurricular artistic and sport activities starting at 3:30pm, followed by lighter homework.

While a third of participants wanted to shorten school holidays to reduce the length of school days, the majority opted to maintain the current 16 weeks – eight in summer and eight during shorter breaks.

What will happen to the proposals?

The measures were adopted by 119 of the 133 participants, with two voting against and four abstentions.

Members were selected to reflect the diversity of the French population, including men and women aged 19 to 83 years-old, from different regions and professions.

France’s sex education overhaul to include consent and gender identity

The report is to be submitted to the government, which has changed since Francois Bayrou convened the convention.

The Citizen Convention on climate, convened in 2019-2020, disappointed participants, as the government put forward policies and a climate bill that lacked ambition and ignored many of the proposals.

The convention on children will be then presented to MPs in January and to local elected officials to inform debates ahead of municipal elections in March.

A tiny black dot moves across the sky over Bama, in north-eastern Nigeria. The roar of an engine grows louder, drowning out all other sounds in this town some 50 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

Kachalla, who is building a wooden door frame, pauses his hammering. “It’s a helicopter,” sighs the carpenter.

“In the Sambisa Forest, as soon as our leaders heard a helicopter flying overhead, they thought the army was watching them from the air. So it was every man for himself, we hid under the trees until the aircraft disappeared from view.”

Kachalla looks up at the sky and watches the helicopter recede into the distance, then resumes his work.

Nigeria school kidnapping draws fresh US ire

‘We were taught it was the right thing to do’

In 2020, this 30-something father left the ranks of Boko Haram. “I served as a soldier. At that time, we had no choice, we were forced to work for them. Otherwise, it was death if we refused to obey.”

Kachalla joined the Association of the People of the Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad – the official name of Boko Haram, which was the name given to the group by local people in north-eastern Nigeria – in 2014.

He confesses to having committed acts of torture and bloody crimes within various factions, following orders including from the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, who was killed in 2021.

“I also did it of my own free will,” Kachalla admits, “because we were taught that it was the right thing to do. And our leaders kept telling us that if we died, we would go to paradise.”

Jihadists in Nigeria using TikTok to spread ideology and recruit fighters

‘We hear a lot of whispered insults’

Today, Kachalla expresses his regrets only in private. He has resettled in Bama with his partner Bintugana, a former Boko Haram captive whom he “married” in the Sambisa Forest, and their two children – who were born in the Sambisa “sanctuary” led by Shekau.

Bintugana says Kachalla’s carpentry skills have helped them build relationships in Bama. Despite knowing the couple’s history, customers come to his workshop without fear.

Nevertheless, she believes their immediate neighbours still view them with contempt.

“We hear a lot of insults whispered by people, but it doesn’t bother us because they can’t physically fight us. At least our families don’t reject us. That’s why we don’t want to go back to Sambisa,” she explains.

In 2016, the Nigerian government launched Operation Safe Corridor to give members of Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP – a breakaway faction aligned with the Islamic State group) the opportunity to disassociate themselves from these groups and reintegrate into society.

The initiative is supported by the Nigerian army and the country’s security and intelligence agencies. At the same time, the state of Borno, the epicentre of the armed conflict, has also implemented a local approach: the Borno Model. Both have grown steadily alongside the mass defections from the Sambisa Forest, notably after the death of Shekau.

The Safe Corridor and Borno Model are two of the main formal mechanisms of transitional justice in the country. They are open to all repentant individuals – men, women and children – in north-eastern Nigeria.

“When we fled Boko Haram, we imagined the worst,” recalls Kachalla. “Then I simply surrendered with my weapon. I was not mistreated. My family and I were officially registered.”

Displaced by Boko Haram violence, the resourceful on Lake Chad’s shores try again

‘Extremist ideology is deeply rooted’

Mustapha Ali has taken in dozens of former combatants with similar profiles to Kachalla over the past few years. A theology expert, he teaches in the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Maiduguri.

He is also one of the pillars of the Imam Malik Centre, an educational institution for children from nursery to high-school age in the capital of Borno State, founded in the mid-1990s.

“This place is not just a place to learn about Islam,” says Ali. “Our director, Sheikh Abubakar Kyari, was the first at the time to confront Mohammed Yusuf [the founder of Boko Haram] and his misinterpretations of the verses of the Koran that led to this extremist ideology.”

Having witnessed the devastation wrought by Boko Haram in the Lake Chad basin, Ali also draws on his religious knowledge as an independent consultant for the El-Amin Islamic Foundation, a Nigerian NGO involved in deradicalisation programmes.

“I work with a maximum of 20 repentant individuals,” he explains. “We focus on specific verses from the Koran. My team of facilitators and I meet with them at least 15 times. This is essential, because extremist ideology is deeply rooted in the minds of the adults and children we work with.”

Boko Haram survivors in Cameroon share their chilling stories

A long-term process 

To start the process of reintegrating, Bintugana and Kachalla were transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Maiduguri. Bintugana was able to see her children while following a programme more focused on professional skills.

But for Kachalla and the other former combatants he was grouped with, their programme meant six months of living without any contact with the outside world.

“Every day we were given advice: how to live in peace with others, how to endure good and bad situations, how to be patient in all circumstances,” he recalls.

Chita Nagarajan is an independent analyst of armed conflicts. For five years, she headed the Centre for Civilians in Conflict in north-eastern Nigeria. The organisation has carried out numerous mediations between communities and security forces, based on human rights principles.

“Reintegration, reconciliation and healing are not one-off events,” she says. “They are long-term processes in which everyone needs support and assistance – the direct victims of violence, but also the indirect victims and even the perpetrators of that violence.”

Since 2021, Bintugana and Kachalla have been learning how to live as a family again in Bama, surrounded by their loved ones. But theirs is a fragile peace, with the armed conflict that began in the Lake Chad basin in 2009 far from over.

This article has been adapted from a report in French by RFI’s special correspondent in northern Nigeria, Moïse Gomis.

Claims that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman first emerged online in 2021 and have since gone viral. “Two billion people have been exposed to this story in French and 2.5 billion in English,” says investigative journalist Thomas Huchon.

“I’ve been working on conspiracy theories and fake news for more than 10 years, and I’ve never seen something like that,” says Huchon, who specialises in misinformation.

“Whether that be on the topic, the magnitude of the reach of the audience, of the impact it has on French society and French politics, we’ve never seen such crazy fake news having such a wide and important impact.” 

Flora Bolter, an expert in LGBTQI+ issues at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès think tank, describes it as a “perfect storm” of trends, pointing to a rise in attacks on trans rights globally, a surge in conspiracy theories post-Covid, and a “very human desire to belittle people in power, particularly attacking powerful men through their wives”.

‘Centuries of patriarchal history’: why trans rumours are wielded against women

‘So dirty, so personal’

The rumour first surfaced through videos by Natacha Rey, “a conspiracy believer with links to France’s Yellow Vest movement”, according to Huchon, and Delphine J, an internet fortune-teller known online as Amandine Roy.

While the story circulated widely in far-right and conspiracist media, the Macrons remained quiet – as did most mainstream French media.

“We didn’t want to cover it because it was so lame, so dirty, so personal,” Huchon, who was working for news channel LCI at the time, admits. “In France, we have a tradition of not talking too much about the private life of our leaders.”

They feared the “Streisand effect” –  when addressing a rumour merely amplifies it – but Huchon now believes their reasoning was flawed.

“The Streisand effect is so 20th century. It’s not true in the 21st century, with social media,” he says. “I was wrong not to cover it, and all the media outlets were wrong not to cover it.

“Today we realise that we were afraid to talk to hundreds, thousands of people on French TV about this story. And we have billions of people that have been exposed to this on the internet. I think we lost this game.” 

He cites the example of the 2020 “Hold Up” documentary which claimed to uncover a global conspiracy by world elites to control citizens through the Covid-19 pandemic.

French media actively fact-checked and then debunked this, and whilst it reached 3 million views, “from the moment it was debunked, nobody even talks about this movie anymore, only conspiracy believers”.

Listen to a conversation with Thomas Huchon in the Spotlight on France podcast episode 134

Global escalation

The rumour that  Brigitte Macron was born Jean-Michel Trogneux – in fact the name of her older brother – and that she has hidden the fact, began when Rey and Roy connected with Xavier Poussard, head of far-right publication Faits et Documents. 

Following the publication of articles on the subject, a YouTube video featuring what Huchon describes as “a fake journalist talking with a medium” reached 1 million views within days in November 2021. 

For two years, the story circulated online – “100 tweets a day, maybe 200 tweets a day, but no more than this,” according to Huchon.

But the turning point came in February 2024, when Emmanuel Macron suggested that French soldiers could fight on Ukrainian soil. 

“In the hour following this declaration, there were 17,000 tweets claiming that Brigitte Macron is in reality a man,” Huchon says. “And those tweets were coming from two countries – Russia and the United States.” 

Around the same time, Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News commentator, returned from Moscow with what Huchon describes as “secret files the Russian president gave him” which he passed to Candace Owens, a far-right influencer close to the far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement QAnon.

Owens went on to create a television series called “Becoming Brigitte” and co-authored a best-selling book of the same name with Poussard. 

French intelligence ‘unmasks’ QAnon conspiracy theorists

Destabilisation tactic

Thus, Brigitte Macron became the victim of a transphobic tactic, popular in some far-right circles, known as “transvestigation” whereby prominent women are “accused” of being trans and hiding their true identity.

Both former US first lady Michelle Obama and former New Zealand president Jacinda Ardern have been similarly targeted, as has singer Lady Gaga.

In the Brigitte Macron case, the conspiracists are using the first lady to target, and undermine, President Macron himself. By claiming the first lady was born a man it feeds the rumour, popular in Russia, that the president is homosexual, and therefore somehow “less manly” and a weaker leader.

QAnon believers also regularly push a theory the world is run by a largely Jewish paedophile ring. Peddlers of the Macron trans story have also zoned in on the fact that the Macrons met when Emmanuel was 14 and Brigitte Trogneux, aged 39, was his teacher. They claim he was therefore a victim of paedophilia.

These fake news stories seek to “destabilise” Macron and therefore France, which along with Europe is “one of the few remaining voices of opposition to the US and Russia”, Huchon argues.

“It’s not just an attack on the Macrons, but on democracy itself and the concept of truth.”

Russia steps up disinformation campaigns against French elections, Paris Olympics

Fighting back

After remaining silent for years, Brigitte Macron and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux filed a lawsuit in 2023 against Rey and Roy for defamation. They won in the first instance, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.

The judge ruled that claiming someone is transgender cannot be considered harmful to their reputation under French law since being transgender is not a slur.

Brigitte macron has appealed the verdict at France’s highest court but Bolter says it shows the complexity of the web the Macrons are caught in.

“The accusations are transphobic, definitely, but Brigitte Macron is also showing she feels insulted by being called trans and that’s a very bad position.” 

She highlights voices within the LGBTQI+ community, such as Louis-Georges Tin, who have criticised Brigitte Macron’s stance as undermining already fragile trans rights.

In a separate lawsuit, 10 people, including Rey and Roy, recently appeared in court accused of sexist cyberbullying. Brigitte Macron’s daughter Tiphaine Auzière testified to the “change and deterioration” in her mother’s condition, underlining the trauma both she and her grandchildren have suffered.

Bolter believes the cyber-bullying charges are more promising than the defamation case, as “the effects on her health are demonstrable”.

Rumour ‘will never stop’

The Macrons are nonetheless determined to “establish the truth” in the US, where they have filed a lawsuit against Owens for defamation.

In March last year, Owens posted on social media that she would “stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man”.

The trial will be held in the US state of Delaware in early 2026. The 250-page lawsuit says the Macrons will provide evidence to refute Owens’ claim, according to Le Monde.

The newspaper also reported that President Macron had asked President Trump to “calm” Owens down, during a meeting between the two heads of state on Ukraine in February this year.

The US court case is a legal gamble and risks drawing further global media attention to the story.  But if the Macrons’ legal team can show Owens knowingly “profited from claims she knew to be false, they might have a chance” of winning the case, Huchon says.

However, both he and Bolter believe the verdict won’t change much.

“The problem is not the conspiracists, it’s the platforms that allow them to have such a wide reach,” said Huchon. “The problem is social media. We have to regulate it, much more.”

“The rumour will never stop, since conspiracists aren’t convinced by facts,” he added, insisting the main issue now is how to handle the next big fake news story.

Africa has become deeply embedded in the global criminal economy, serving as a source, transit hub and destination for various illicit markets – often in overlapping roles.

The 2025 Africa Organised Crime Index – released this week by Enact (Enhancing Africa’s Response to Transnational Organised Crime), an EU-funded project that analyses transnational organised crime in Africa – indicates that criminality has increased steadily since 2019, while resilience to crime has declined.

Based on experts’ assessment of the scale of criminal markets, influence of criminal actors and effectiveness of resilience, the country with the highest overall criminality ranking is the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Libya. 

The index identifies the most pervasive criminal activities as financial crimes, human trafficking, non-renewable resource crimes, the trade in counterfeit goods and arms trafficking. 

“What is the motivation and driver behind organised crime? It’s money, big money and quick money for these gangs and these syndicates in order to move forward,” said Willem Els, senior training coordinator for the Enact project at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

“One of the target areas for that, especially in Africa, is counterfeit goods.”

Cancer of corruption

The counterfeit trade and financial crimes are the two fastest growing sectors, the report says, a pattern that matches international trends.

Els added that counterfeit goods find a way into African countries because of misconduct that makes borders “porous”.

“It is not because the borders are not patrolled or fenced or well manned,” he explained. “The main reason for porous borders is corruption. State-embedded actors are compromised by these gangs in order to facilitate the transfer of illicit goods into the countries.”

According to the report, state-embedded actors, or corrupt government officials, have increased their influence and drive criminality in Africa.

“It goes from top to bottom. Corruption is like a cancer, once it starts to infiltrate, it just seems to snowball and snowball,” said Els.

“It starts, in many cases, with some of your most senior politicians down to custom officials. It trickles through police, national prosecution authorities, and in some cases, even the bench [judiciary].”

Balkan cartels use West Africa to push cocaine into Europe, report warns

Financial hubs a target

Measures aimed at driving economic development and increasing trade between Africa and the rest of the world have also provided opportunities for criminal organisations.

“Organised crime syndicates thrive in financial hubs where they’ve got the opportunity and financial systems to operate,” Els told RFI.

“Three of the countries where criminality levels are very high are also financial hubs targeted by these gangs.

“Nigeria is the financial hub for West Africa. South Africa is the financial hub for Southern Africa. And Kenya is a financial giant for East Africa.”

Beyond these patterns, criminal markets show considerable diversity across the continent.

East Africa stands out for high human trafficking, arms trafficking and human smuggling. North Africa leads globally in cannabis trade and ranks second for financial crimes.

Non-renewable resource crimes dominate Central Africa, cocaine trade dominates West Africa, and wildlife trade is most prevalent in Southern Africa.

Historic rescue returns trafficked and endangered wildlife to Madagascar

Consequences are key

Els insists that political will to enforce good governance is of vital importance in strengthening Africa’s capacity to push back organised crime.

“If you do not have political will and leadership, we are going to sit here in five years or 10 years’ time and we are going to have the same discussion,” he said.

“It starts with good governance. It also starts with consequences.”

For Els, criminals must face the consequences of their crime whether they are in a gang, a government official, a white-collar criminal or in the private sector.

“That comes with effective policing and investigation, the legislation in place, effective prosecution in courts that are free from corruption,” he added.

“The bottom line, when it comes to fighting crime, is a country’s capacity to apply consequences when crimes are perpetrated.

“If they are not prosecuted, if they don’t face the music, then there will not be a change. It will just be business as usual.”

Els cited the example of the ongoing Madlanga Commission in South Africa, a judicial inquiry into whether criminal syndicates have infiltrated law enforcement and other parts of the criminal justice system, as well as whether senior officials may have aided illicit activity. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the probe following allegations that the country’s police minister had shielded allies with ties to the criminal underworld. 

Tieku credits his grandmother as one of his main sources of inspiration when it comes to his interest in textiles and their role in society as markers of cultural identity.

“She was a queen mother, and she loved textiles. She was an avid collector. We’re talking about collections from the ’50s, limited editions, particularly African fabric,” Tieku tells RFI.

“She would talk to me about the essence of textiles and what it means for someone to have pride in what they wear.”

While Tieku was exposed to his grandmother’s love of fashion from his childhood, it wasn’t until engineering school that he reconnected with fabrics and their hidden potential.

Working on a project investigating how textile waste could be transformed into building blocks for the construction industry, he began to think about its potential to become something useful, beautiful and meaningful.

Fast fashion, slow art

Tieku’s native Ghana has become a dumping ground in recent years for clothes that people in other countries no longer want. Some 14 million items of clothing arrive each week, he says, be it unsold pieces from the “fast fashion” industry or secondhand items.

Although locals have made a living out of reselling some of the clothes, there are simply too many to handle.

Ghana grapples with crisis caused by world’s throwaway fashion

Reflecting on the mountain of discarded items and the stories they contained, Tieku began experimenting with large cloth installations in and around Accra. They became the foundation of his travelling project “How to Heal a Broken World – Fragile Origins, Futile Foundations”.

It is a giant global patchwork which he says he will work on for the next 45 years, sewing textile installations in cities around the world.

Part of the project was created in Paris, where Tieku was invited to participate for the first time at the Also Known as Africa contemporary African art fair (AKAA) in October after winning this year’s Ellipse Prize from French foundation Ellipse Art Projects.

The dozen of his works on display drew from some 1,000 kg of secondhand clothes donated by French charity Emmaüs.

“I wanted to give the fabric a second life and also document the life of Paris in the moment, through what people wear and how people choose to be seen,” Tieku says, pointing to an eye-catching circular motif called “The Sky Sings Over Paris”.

Measuring around two square metres, the piece is made up of tiny, folded pieces of blue and grey denim, cut from old jeans and stitched together to form patterns that fan out in a spiral.

Collecting stories, memories

Tieku says he has no control over the shape each piece takes; instead, it’s the fabric that speaks to him.

He does, however, emphasise the collective experience in each city where he takes his project. He encourages people to donate clothing that has a special significance and he collects stories about them along the way.

“As it travels from city to city, [the project] accumulates history, memories… People write messages on it, for other people to see from the other side of the globe.”

A floating garden

The Paris leg has taken the total project to 400 metres of stitched fabric, but Tieku hopes to reach 700 metres by the beginning of 2026.

The next stages will happen in Basel and Milan, where similar textile creations will be added to the larger project – the final size of which the artist hasn’t yet decided. 

Meanwhile, “How to Heal a Broken World” will return to its roots in Ghana with an installation called “Bridge over Troubled Water”.

Ghana’s plastic house: a step towards dealing with the country’s pollution

Tieku has chosen the Korle Lagoon in Accra, one of the most polluted water bodies on Earth, where he says attempts to dredge the basin of textile, plastic and electronic waste have so far failed.

“I want to convert the morbid, stagnant water into a temporary blooming field where a garden grows and a sense of hope arises,” he says.

The 2.5 km-long discarded textile installation will cover a part of the lagoon between two bridges, where it spills into the Atlantic Ocean, and form a floating garden with more than 100 species of flowering plants.

Tieku hopes the project will spur viewers “to reimagine ways to bring life to what is dead and hopeless, to care for the planet and heal the world through our collective responsibility”.

The four victorious Allied powers of World War II did not opt ​​for summary justice, but instead created an International Military Tribunal (IMT) to judge Nazi criminals.

New concepts, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace were introduced on the orders of US Attorney General Robert Jackson and laid the foundations of contemporary international criminal law.

For 10 months in courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg tribunal, in front of more than 400 journalists and nearly a hundred witnesses, the world would see the extent of Nazi crimes carried out under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.

Hiding behind orders

When the trial opened on 20 November, 21 of the 24 high-ranking officials of the Nazi regime appeared in court.

Key defendants were the regime’s second in command Hermann Goring, Hitler’s right-hand man Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, the regime’s ideologue, and Hitler’s architect, Albert Speer.

Defendants also included some of the highest-ranking officers of the German armed forces: Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl of the Wehrmacht High Command, and naval commanders Erich Raeder and Alfred Dönitz.

Seven institutions were also accused: the Reich Cabinet (government), Nazi Party dignitaries, the SS, the Gestapo, the SA, the General Staff, and the High Command of the German Armed Forces.

All the defendants pleaded not guilty, claiming they were acting on orders and had not been aware of the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime.

Their lawyers knew that their clients’ guilt was beyond doubt, given the irrefutable evidence. A film depicting the horrors of the extermination camps, footage still little known at the time, was shown during the trial.

Chilling testimony of survivors

Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, a survivor of Auschwitz and Ravensbruck, delivered detailed testimony on 18 January, 1946, that stunned the assembly.

“One night, we were awakened by terrifying cries. We learned the next morning, from the men who worked at the Sonderkommando, the gas commando, that the day before, not having enough gas, they had thrown the children alive into the furnaces,” she recalled.

Her testimony helped other victims to come forward, though it would take several decades before they were heard outside the courts, which for a long time were the only places they were willing to be heard.

“Through my eyes, thousands and thousands of eyes [were watching them], and through my voice, thousands of voices [were accusing them]” Vaillant-Couturier said later.

When the verdicts were handed down on 1 October, 1946, three of the defendants were acquitted, twelve were sentenced to death and executed by hanging two weeks later. While Goring was sentenced to death, he managed to hasten his execution by swallowing a cyanide capsule.

The others served prison sentences.

Only Speer admitted a share of responsibility, a tactical choice that allowed him to narrowly escape a death sentence.

Twelve further trials were held in the same courtroom over the following years, although they were largely overshadowed by the Cold War and the reconstruction of Germany.

How Allied photos revealed true horrors of the Nazi death camps

Ideological capital

Choosing Nuremberg as the setting for the trial had strong symbolic significance.

In the autumn of 1945, Berlin and Nuremberg were in ruins. But the vast courthouse in the centre of Nuremberg was miraculously still standing despite years of war.

Situated in Bavaria’s second-largest city, steeped in its imperial past, Hitler designated it the regime’s “ideological capital”.

Speer built a vast architectural complex – the Reichsparteitagsgelände (“Reich Party Congress Grounds”) – in the southeast of the city, where the Nazi Party, the NSDAP, held its congresses from 1933 to 1938.

It was there that the so-called Nuremberg Laws, in 1935, cemented Nazi antisemitism into the Reich’s legal system.

For the past fifteen years, a memorial in the building has informed the public and attracts 160,000 visitors a year, mostly from abroad.

Nina Lutz, the memorial‘s director, says she is impressed by how well informed the visitors are.

“Everything has changed. Today we are aware of the importance of this trial for historical work on the crimes of the Third Reich. I’m always surprised by the interest and knowledge of our visitors,” she told RFI.

World marks 80 years since Victory in Europe Day under the shadow of war

Resonance with Ukraine war

Among a group of young German visitors, some are keen to see how the legal model set up in Nuremberg could still have an influence 80 years on.

“On the one hand, we see that the trial was fair, but also that criminals were acquitted. Let’s hope it will be different in the future; we’re thinking of Ukraine, for example,” one man told RFI.

“I wasn’t aware of the importance of the trial for international criminal law,” another visitor admitted, while a third said it “shows that we can do something about these crimes, but the world has to work together”.

The world remembers the Warsaw ghetto uprising, 80 years on

The Nuremberg trials are not only a crucial historical chapter after the fall of the Third Reich. They marked a turning point in international law that remains relevant today.

“The Nuremberg Principles are of central importance to international criminal law,” says Gurgen Petrossian of the Nuremberg Principles Academy. “States have incorporated these rules into their national laws. We see this in trials today where these same principles are applied.”

The trial that began this week in Koblenz, against five men accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, is just one example of how relevant the Nuremberg trials still are.

This article was adapted from RFI content in French: this piece by Pascal Thibaut and this piece by Olivier Favier.

The Paris Photo-Aperture Book Prize has been awarded since 2012 to highlight the crucial role photo books play in the evolution of photography.

This year, the prize went to Hicham Benohoud for his book The Classroom published in March 2025 by Loose Joints and was announced during the recent 28th edition of the annual Paris Photo fair.

Benohoud, 57, is a Moroccan visual artist who graduated at the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. The photos of The Classroom were taken between 1994 and 2002 when he was then an art teacher at a secondary school in his hometown of Marrakesh.

The “models” seen in the black and white images were his own students whom he staged during class.

RFI asked him some questions shortly after the Paris Photo fair earlier this month.

RFI: What was your reaction when you heard you had won the PhotoBook of the Year award?

Hicham Benohoud: I don’t normally enter photography competitions. I’ve been on the judging panel for several photography competitions myself and I find it complicated and tricky to award a prize to one candidate when every artist has a different sensibility. I believe it was the publishing house Loose Joints that submitted my work. It’s important to remember that this award is not given to a photographer but to a photography book.

I had just gone to Paris Photo for the signing of my book The Classroom, and it was at that precise moment that the publisher announced the award to me, visibly moved. Seeing my impassive reaction, she explained that this prize is to photography what the Oscar is to cinema. It was at that moment that I realised the importance of this prize in the world of photography book publishing.

I am honoured to receive this distinction and would like to thank all the members of the jury for their courageous and, above all, unlikely choice. I also dedicate this award, posthumously, to Christian Caujolle, who recently passed away and who organised my first solo exhibition The Classroom, outside Morocco in 2001 when he was director of the Galerie VU and the agency of the same name.

RFI: Why did you start this photo series The Classroom?

HB: At first, I didn’t know that photography was an art form in itself, like painting or sculpture. And far be it from me to imagine that this work would be exhibited and acquired by prestigious institutions such as the Reina Sofia Museum or the Tate Modern.

I took photos because I was bored in class and to kill time, I had set up a makeshift studio in a corner of the classroom so I could photograph my students. I taught four hours a day, either in the morning or in the afternoon, six days a week. In addition, I repeated the same lesson four times a day for an hour at a time throughout the week. I had four classes of about twenty students per day, almost five hundred students per week.

As the hours were endless, I wanted to keep myself busy in some way to break the monotony. At first, I only took portraits of my students from the front, the side and from behind. It was only when I had taken thousands of portraits that I tried to develop this work by adopting staging as a genre.

RFI: How did you come up with the composition of these images?

HB: I couldn’t improvise because the one-hour class was short and I couldn’t afford to ask my students to try out several ideas, especially since everything was done during art class.

I prepared all the scenes a few days before the photo shoots. Once I had an idea, I wrote it down on a piece of paper. I made detailed sketches with the approximate framing of a 50 mm lens, the perspective, the lighting, etc.

I knew in advance how many models would be posing, and I sometimes changed the layout of the tables to organise my image before each shot.

Only once my sketch was precise would ask my pupils to pose for me, following the drawing as closely as possible.

I only started taking photos ten to fifteen minutes after the start of the art class, once the pupils were busy with their colouring or drawings and didn’t need me to explain the lesson.

For all the scenographic devices, such as installing panels, unfurling rolls of paper, hanging string from the ceiling, etc., I did not ask any students for help. Generally, the props used came from the art storage room. I set everything up myself and once everything was in place, I brought my students into the scene before taking the photos and thanking them, asking them to return to their desks as if nothing had happened.

For the photo, I told them which posture or pose to take. I directed them like a director directs actors, but more gently.

As the process was quite restrictive, I only took photos a few days in a row each month.

RFI: How was this photo book created – the choice of photos, the layout and so on?

HB: Regarding the production of the book, I was contacted directly by the publishing house. I gave them carte blanche for the choice of photos, the number of pages, the dimensions of the book, the layout, the publication date, etc. I submitted two thousand negatives to the team and left it up to them to produce the book as they saw fit.

I admit that I was surprised by the editing of certain photos that I thought were weak, but which were selected and found their place in the book. The rhythm of the images also surprised me a lot, because I personally would have made a completely different book, smoother, in which I would have taken fewer risks.

It was in the hope of being surprised, even troubled, that I had the courage to give the publishing house complete freedom to design and produce this little book. I can see that I was rewarded for my blind trust in them, and the publishing house for the freedom and quality of this edition. To each their own profession.

RFI: What did you want to show with these photos?

HB: Through these photos, I talk about Morocco as I see it. I address the issue of the individual, who does not exist in my society because it is the family or the community that counts.

Religion and traditions are so deeply rooted that they cannot be questioned. Otherwise, you are breaking the law, especially since the constitution is directly inspired by the Koran.

I have nothing against my religion, but I don’t have the right to criticise it. So I show individuals who are also self-portraits, bound, restrained, deprived of freedom of movement and therefore of expression.

The Gambian government announced the news on 23 November in a statement attributed to the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services. 

The same statement also mentions possible ongoing negotiations between Issa Tchiroma Bakary and the government in Yaoundé, facilitated by the government of Nigeria.

The Gambian government’s statement explains that Tchiroma Bakary has been in Banjul since 7 November.

It also says that he is being hosted “temporarily” for “humanitarian reasons, in the spirit of African solidarity, and to ensure his safety.”

This information is confirmed by his entourage, who justify the choice of Banjul by the freedom it gives the former minister to continue speaking out in an environment where his safety is guaranteed.

Tchiroma contests the results of the presidential election, held on 12 October.

Paul Biya, at 92, remains the world’s oldest head of state, after scoting 53.66 percent of the vote against 35.19 percent for Tchiroma.

Cameroon’s Biya, world’s oldest president, sworn in for eighth term

Government sources in Cameroon, who claim to know everything about Tchiroma’s movements, say he passed through Yola in Nigeria on his way out of the country, but this hasn’t been confirmed.

The town of Yola is close to the border with Cameroon, and specifically to Garoua, Tchiroma Bakary’s hometown, where he was holed up before leaving Cameroon between late October and early November, according RFI’s correspondent, quoting the same sources.

Crisis resolution

The Gambian government was careful to specify that it remains “committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of all African Union member states. It also insisted that The Gambia would not be used “for any subversive activity against a third state.”

Gambia‘s main opposition party, the United Democratic Party, accused the government in a separate statement also released on Sunday, of a lack of transparency over Tchiroma’s “quiet arrival” but added it was in full solidarity with Tchiroma and welcomed the humanitarian gesture.

Spotlight on Africa: Cameroon votes, Niger Delta oil pollution, South Africa – US ties

Banjul also stated that it is “working with several regional partners,” including Nigeria, to promote a “peaceful and negotiated” resolution to the crisis.

Tchiroma has repeatedly urged supporters to protest against the official election outcome.

Security forces quashed opposition rallies just before and after Biya’s win, and several people are reported to have died. Tchiroma also urged supporters to stage “dead city” operations, closing shops and halting other public activities.

The Cameroonian government said it plans to initiate legal proceedings against him for his “repeated calls for insurrection.”

 (with newswires)

Embaló, a 53-year-old former army general, is up against 11 other candidates. The strongest of them is Fernando Dias da Costa, a 47-year-old relative newcomer backed by former prime minister Domingos Simões Pereira.

Dias also has the backing of the main opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, which led the fight for independence from Portugal in the 1960s and 1970s.

That party was barred from fielding its own candidates for the first time, after authorities said it filed papers late.

Analysts are predicting a close race between Embaló and Dias da Costa, and a runoff will be held if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

Nearly half the country’s population of 2.2 million citizens were registered, and turnout exceeded 65 percent.

Provisional results will be announced on Thursday, Idrissa Diallo, spokesperson for the national electoral commission, told a press briefing late Sunday.

Guinea-Bissau youth hope presidential vote brings better life

Contentious vote

The election is seen as one of the most contentious votes in recent history because of the exclusion of the main opposition party.

“The democracy we knew… is no longer the model we are experiencing; we are experiencing a model defined by a single person,” said political analyst Augusto Nansambe.

One of the world’s poorest countries, with half its population considered poor, according to the World Bank, Guinea-Bissau has emerged as a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe.

The small coastal nation between Senegal and Guinea went through at least nine coups between 1974, when it gained independence from Portugal, and 2020, when Embalo took office.

Guinea-Bissau’s president dissolves parliament after last week’s failed coup

Embalo claims to have survived another three since then, though his opponents have accused him of manufacturing crises as an excuse for crackdowns, which he denies.

(with newswires)

The family announced the death in a post on Cliff’s official Instagram account, saying he “has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia.”

“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him,” said the statement, signed by his wife Latifa Chambers and their children Lilty and Aken.

“To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.”

Over four decades Cliff wrote and sang songs that fused reggae with his sensibilities for folk, soul, rhythm and blues, ska and rock music, and addressed issues like politics, poverty, injustice and war protest.

The singer of hits like “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” and “The Harder They Come,” Cliff is widely seen as reggae’s most influential figure after the late Bob Marley, with whom he collaborated early in Marley’s career.

Cliff built a major following, beginning with the wildly successful 1972 film “The Harder They Come,” which starred the charismatic Cliff as a rural young man navigating gangs and street life as he sought to break into Jamaica’s music business.

It drew in part from his own experiences growing up in poverty, and introduced him and reggae music to a global audience.

“The essence of my music is struggle,” Cliff said in 1986, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2010. “What gives it the icing is the hope of love.”

Cliff said at his induction ceremony that he actually “grew up listening to rock and roll music, outside of our Indigenous music in Jamaica,” and that he drew inspiration from the greats including Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix.

“Music is about being inspired,” said Cliff, winner of two Grammy Awards for best reggae album — “Cliff Hanger” in 1985, and “Rebirth” in 2012.   

‘Original reggae superstar’

Jimmy Cliff was born in July 1944 as James Chambers in western Jamaica‘s Saint James Parish. After showing early promise as a singer, his father took him to Kingston at age 14 to pursue music.

By age 17 he was a local star, and soon moved to Britain, releasing recordings on the Island Records label throughout the late 1960s including “Vietnam”. Bob Dylan reportedly called it the best protest song he had ever heard.

Two decades of broad exposure followed. In addition to “The Harder They Come” film and soundtrack, he sang with the Rolling Stones, The Clash and Annie Lennox.

He became a star in Latin America and Africa, and headlined international music festivals.

But he never reached the heights of Marley, the king of reggae.

“The first time I recorded an album,” Cliff told French newspaper Le Monde, “I was paid one shilling. The Wailers (Marley’s band) were luckier than me at Studio One, they were paid £2 a week.”

Cliff enjoyed a new generation of fans when he recorded Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” which featured in the popular 1993 film “Cool Runnings.”

After Cliff’s death was announced, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the Caribbean nation was pausing to honor “a true cultural giant whose music carried the heart of our nation to the world.”

“His music lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaican culture enjoys today,” Holness added.

The English reggae band UB40 paid tribute on X, expressing sadness at the death of the “music icon and original reggae superstar.”

“He finally crossed over the last river,” they posted. “RIP Jimmy, your music will live forever.”

(AFP)

“I have always been in favour of reconciliation between France and Algeria,” Boualem Sansal said on France 2 pubic television Sunday night, suggesting that the two countries had “missed the boat” after the former colony’s independence in 1962.

“Sixty years have passed, and we are still using the language of the war of liberation,” he said, confirming to journalist Laurent Delahousse that he continues to hold back on what he says because of diplomatic considerations.

Measuring his words

“I am not speaking to you naturally, because naturally I am rather exuberant; here I’m controlling each of my words,” he said, evoking the impact of his comments on the “several dozen political prisoners”, in particular the detained sports journalist Christophe Gleizes whose appeal is set for 3 December.

Sansal  said he is also worried about the safety of his family if he returns to Algeria.

“If I return to Algeria with my wife, I’m afraid that this time they may also arrest my wife,” he said.

‘War’ between France and Algeria

He said France’s positions on Western Sahara partly motivated his arrest.

At the end of July 2024, France officially backed a plan for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty for Western Sahara, a territory in which Algeria backs the Polisario Front that is seeking an independent state.

“Everything started from there,” Sansal said, claiming that this triggered “a war” between France and Algeria.

In October 2024, Sansal told a far-right French media outlet that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period, and in March Algeria sentenced him to five years in prison for undermining its territorial integrity.

He said he had spoken in prison with “a very authoritarian man”, whom he believed to be a member “of the secret services” or “a very important figure”, who asked him whether he would continue his “criticisms of Algeria” if he were released.

“I said, ‘Sir, I have never criticised Algeria; I criticise a regime, I criticise people, I criticise a dictatorship’,”

Return to France

Boualem Sansal’s return to the media has been carefully orchestrated. In addition to appearing on television, he has spoken to Le Figaro and will be a guest on France Inter’s morning programme on Monday.

In the daily Le Figaro newspaper , he explained that he had written “at least ten times” to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to request his release.

Tebboune pardoned Sansal on 12 November after Germany intervened on his behalf, and Sansal returned to France last week from Berlin, where he had been receiving medical treatment.

Asked about his relationship with the former French interior minister Bruno Retailleau, Sansal said he was his “friend”, even though he admitted that Retailleau, known for his tough stance towards Algeria, may have been “in a certain sense” an obstacle to his release.

“But with or without Bruno Retailleau, they would have reacted in the same way with anyone,” he said.

(with AFP)

Claims that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman first emerged online in 2021 and have since gone viral. “Two billion people have been exposed to this story in French and 2.5 billion in English,” says investigative journalist Thomas Huchon.

“I’ve been working on conspiracy theories and fake news for more than 10 years, and I’ve never seen something like that,” says Huchon, who specialises in misinformation.

“Whether that be on the topic, the magnitude of the reach of the audience, of the impact it has on French society and French politics, we’ve never seen such crazy fake news having such a wide and important impact.” 

Flora Bolter, an expert in LGBTQI+ issues at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès think tank, describes it as a “perfect storm” of trends, pointing to a rise in attacks on trans rights globally, a surge in conspiracy theories post-Covid, and a “very human desire to belittle people in power, particularly attacking powerful men through their wives”.

‘Centuries of patriarchal history’: why trans rumours are wielded against women

‘So dirty, so personal’

The rumour first surfaced through videos by Natacha Rey, “a conspiracy believer with links to France’s Yellow Vest movement”, according to Huchon, and Delphine J, an internet fortune-teller known online as Amandine Roy.

While the story circulated widely in far-right and conspiracist media, the Macrons remained quiet – as did most mainstream French media.

“We didn’t want to cover it because it was so lame, so dirty, so personal,” Huchon, who was working for news channel LCI at the time, admits. “In France, we have a tradition of not talking too much about the private life of our leaders.”

They feared the “Streisand effect” –  when addressing a rumour merely amplifies it – but Huchon now believes their reasoning was flawed.

“The Streisand effect is so 20th century. It’s not true in the 21st century, with social media,” he says. “I was wrong not to cover it, and all the media outlets were wrong not to cover it.

“Today we realise that we were afraid to talk to hundreds, thousands of people on French TV about this story. And we have billions of people that have been exposed to this on the internet. I think we lost this game.” 

He cites the example of the 2020 “Hold Up” documentary which claimed to uncover a global conspiracy by world elites to control citizens through the Covid-19 pandemic.

French media actively fact-checked and then debunked this, and whilst it reached 3 million views, “from the moment it was debunked, nobody even talks about this movie anymore, only conspiracy believers”.

Listen to a conversation with Thomas Huchon in the Spotlight on France podcast episode 134

Global escalation

The rumour that  Brigitte Macron was born Jean-Michel Trogneux – in fact the name of her older brother – and that she has hidden the fact, began when Rey and Roy connected with Xavier Poussard, head of far-right publication Faits et Documents. 

Following the publication of articles on the subject, a YouTube video featuring what Huchon describes as “a fake journalist talking with a medium” reached 1 million views within days in November 2021. 

For two years, the story circulated online – “100 tweets a day, maybe 200 tweets a day, but no more than this,” according to Huchon.

But the turning point came in February 2024, when Emmanuel Macron suggested that French soldiers could fight on Ukrainian soil. 

“In the hour following this declaration, there were 17,000 tweets claiming that Brigitte Macron is in reality a man,” Huchon says. “And those tweets were coming from two countries – Russia and the United States.” 

Around the same time, Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News commentator, returned from Moscow with what Huchon describes as “secret files the Russian president gave him” which he passed to Candace Owens, a far-right influencer close to the far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement QAnon.

Owens went on to create a television series called “Becoming Brigitte” and co-authored a best-selling book of the same name with Poussard. 

French intelligence ‘unmasks’ QAnon conspiracy theorists

Destabilisation tactic

Thus, Brigitte Macron became the victim of a transphobic tactic, popular in some far-right circles, known as “transvestigation” whereby prominent women are “accused” of being trans and hiding their true identity.

Both former US first lady Michelle Obama and former New Zealand president Jacinda Ardern have been similarly targeted, as has singer Lady Gaga.

In the Brigitte Macron case, the conspiracists are using the first lady to target, and undermine, President Macron himself. By claiming the first lady was born a man it feeds the rumour, popular in Russia, that the president is homosexual, and therefore somehow “less manly” and a weaker leader.

QAnon believers also regularly push a theory the world is run by a largely Jewish paedophile ring. Peddlers of the Macron trans story have also zoned in on the fact that the Macrons met when Emmanuel was 14 and Brigitte Trogneux, aged 39, was his teacher. They claim he was therefore a victim of paedophilia.

These fake news stories seek to “destabilise” Macron and therefore France, which along with Europe is “one of the few remaining voices of opposition to the US and Russia”, Huchon argues.

“It’s not just an attack on the Macrons, but on democracy itself and the concept of truth.”

Russia steps up disinformation campaigns against French elections, Paris Olympics

Fighting back

After remaining silent for years, Brigitte Macron and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux filed a lawsuit in 2023 against Rey and Roy for defamation. They won in the first instance, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.

The judge ruled that claiming someone is transgender cannot be considered harmful to their reputation under French law since being transgender is not a slur.

Brigitte macron has appealed the verdict at France’s highest court but Bolter says it shows the complexity of the web the Macrons are caught in.

“The accusations are transphobic, definitely, but Brigitte Macron is also showing she feels insulted by being called trans and that’s a very bad position.” 

She highlights voices within the LGBTQI+ community, such as Louis-Georges Tin, who have criticised Brigitte Macron’s stance as undermining already fragile trans rights.

In a separate lawsuit, 10 people, including Rey and Roy, recently appeared in court accused of sexist cyberbullying. Brigitte Macron’s daughter Tiphaine Auzière testified to the “change and deterioration” in her mother’s condition, underlining the trauma both she and her grandchildren have suffered.

Bolter believes the cyber-bullying charges are more promising than the defamation case, as “the effects on her health are demonstrable”.

Rumour ‘will never stop’

The Macrons are nonetheless determined to “establish the truth” in the US, where they have filed a lawsuit against Owens for defamation.

In March last year, Owens posted on social media that she would “stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man”.

The trial will be held in the US state of Delaware in early 2026. The 250-page lawsuit says the Macrons will provide evidence to refute Owens’ claim, according to Le Monde.

The newspaper also reported that President Macron had asked President Trump to “calm” Owens down, during a meeting between the two heads of state on Ukraine in February this year.

The US court case is a legal gamble and risks drawing further global media attention to the story.  But if the Macrons’ legal team can show Owens knowingly “profited from claims she knew to be false, they might have a chance” of winning the case, Huchon says.

However, both he and Bolter believe the verdict won’t change much.

“The problem is not the conspiracists, it’s the platforms that allow them to have such a wide reach,” said Huchon. “The problem is social media. We have to regulate it, much more.”

“The rumour will never stop, since conspiracists aren’t convinced by facts,” he added, insisting the main issue now is how to handle the next big fake news story.

The schoolchildren, aged between 10 and 18, escaped individually between Friday and Saturday and have since been reunited with their parents, said CAN chairman Bulus Yohanna in a statement. 

A total of 253 schoolchildren and 12 teachers are still in captivity, added Yohanna – a Catholic Bishop who is also the proprietor of the school. 

Pope Leo XIV has called for the immediate release of the remaining schoolchildren and staff of the school, saying at the end of a mass in St.Peter’s square on Sunday that he was “deeply saddened” by the incident.

“I feel great sorrow, especially for the many girls and boys who have been abducted and for their anguished families,” the pontiff said. “I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.”

‘Wary’ of sending children to school

Gunmen kidnapped students and teachers from St. Mary’s school, a Catholic institution in Niger state’s remote Papiri community, on Friday.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions.

Blessing Jammeh’s two children – an 18-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl – were abducted.

“My children and those of other parents were taken into the bush, without clothes or shoes. They are suffering outside. This situation hurts me so much,” she told RFI. “Children are supposed to go to school. Since when should we be wary of sending our children to school?”

38 worshippers rescued

On Sunday, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that the 38 worshippers seized when gunmen stormed a church service last week, killing two people, had been rescued.

“Thanks to the efforts of our security forces over the last few days, all the 38 worshippers abducted in Eruku, Kwara State have been rescued,” Tinubu posted on his X account, referring to the attack that was recorded and broadcast online.

He said he was “equally happy” that some of the missing students from St Mary’s had been recovered and was “closely monitoring” the security situation.

“I will not relent. Every Nigerian, in every state, has the right to safety – and under my watch, we will secure this nation and protect our people,” he wrote.

Nigerians push back on Trump’s military threat over Christian killings

Christians and Muslims targeted

The attack on St Mary’s is the latest in a spate of school attacks this week that has forced the government to shut 47 colleges.

It came four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometres away

The kidnappings are mostly carried out by criminal gangs looking for ransom payments.

US President Donald Trump has claimed the abductions reflect “Christian persecution” in the West African country, but both Christians and Muslims are targeted. The attack in Kebbi was in a Muslim-majority town and local authorities say the children were all Muslim.

“We are told that the American government wants to stop these attacks, but for now, I don’t understand why our children are being stolen from us,” says Blessing Jammeh. “I try to be patient, to wait for God to help us. But how can I be happy when I can no longer see my children? I am suffering.”

Nigeria is still scarred by the 2014 kidnapping of nearly 300 girls by Boko Haram jihadists at Chibok in northeastern Borno state. Some of those girls are still missing.   

(with newswires)

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that the Leaders’ Declaration from this weekend’s Group of 20 summit reflected a “renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation”.

As host of the Johannesburg summit, Ramaphosa pushed through the declaration addressing global challenges like the climate crisis, despite opposition from the US.

Addressing the summit’s closing ceremony on Sunday, Ramaphosa said the declaration showed that world leaders’ “shared goals outweight our differences”.

The Trump administration boycotted the event because of allegations – widely debunked – that South Africa’s black majority government persecutes its white minority. It also said  South Africa’s priorities – inculding cooperation on trade and climate – ran counter to its policies. 

In an unprecedented move, Pretoria released the 122-point declaration at the start of the two-day meeting on Saturday – a decision that broke with G20 protocol and annoyed Washington.

Diplomatic tensions overshadowed the final hours of the summit as South Africa refused to stage the traditional handover of the rotating presidency, scheduled to pass to the United States for 2026. President Donald Trump plans to hold the summit at a Florida golf club he owns.

South Africa ‘will not be bullied,’ Ramaphosa says after Trump attack

What was agreed?

The declaration called for more global attention on issues that specifically affect poor countries, such as the need for financial help to recover from climate-related disasters, debt relief and support for the transition to greener energy sources.

Leaders representing 19 countries, the EU and the African Union called for climate-related funding to increase “from billions to trillions globally”, echoing commitments made as Cop30 concluded in Brazil.

The text also emphasises the “imperative” of tackling global disparities in wealth and access to development, though it stops short of endorsing the international panel on inequality championed by South Africa.

On energy transition and resources, the declaration urged efforts to secure supply chains for critical minerals amid intensifying geopolitical tensions. 

Regarding security, it said the organisation will work for a comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the occupied Palestinian territory and Ukraine.

The summit marked an important moment for African nations, more than 20 of which attended as guests.

Germany announced new investments through the pan-African insurer ATIDI, while the Compact with Africa programme – launched at the G20 in 2017 – received fresh commitments. The United Arab Emirates pledged US$1 billion to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure across Africa.

“South Africa has used this presidency to place the priorities of Africa and the Global South firmly at the heart of the G20 agenda,” Ramaphosa said.

G20 outcomes are not binding so it’s not clear whether the declaration will translate into concrete action.

Several of South Africa’s ambitions – including stronger language on taxing billionaires – were watered-down.

Africa takes centre stage as South Africa maps ambitious G20 agenda

Geopolitical crises

The summit came at a time of heightened tensions between world powers over Russia’s war in Ukraine, and fraught climate negotiations at Cop30 in Brazil.

The declaration made just one reference to Ukraine, calling for  a “just, comprehensive and lasting peace” based on the UN Charter, despite gathering the vast majority of the world’s leaders.

“Meeting for the first time on the African continent marks an important milestone,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, but added the G20 bloc was “struggling to have a common standard on geopolitical crises” and “may be coming to the end of a cycle”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed, saying: “There’s no doubt, the road ahead is tough.”

Ramaphosa, Macron step up talks on Ukraine as South Africa joins push for peace

China’s premier, Li Qiang – filling in for President Xi Jinping – said “unilateralism and protectionism are rampant”, and warned of mounting pressure on global solidarity.

Still, some praised the summit as a significant symbolic moment for the G20, which is actually a group of 21 members formed in 1999 as a bridge between rich and poor nations to confront global financial crises.

“This is the first ever meeting of world leaders in history where the inequality emergency was put at the centre of the agenda,” said Max Lawson of Oxfam – the international charity working to alleviate global poverty.

(with newswires)

Nearly 200 countries approved the deal by consensus after two weeks of fraught negotiations in the Brazilian city of Belem, with the notable absence of the United States as President Donald Trump shunned the event.

Applause rang out in the plenary session after COP30 president and Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago slammed a gavel signalling its approval.

The EU and other nations had pushed for a deal that would call for a “roadmap” to phase out fossil fuels, but the words do not appear in the text.

Instead, the agreement calls on countries to “voluntarily” accelerate their climate action and recalls the consensus reached at COP28 in Dubai. That 2023 deal called for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.

Lula pushes fossil fuel ‘roadmap’ back to centre of Cop30

Going in the ‘right direction’

The EU, which had warned that the summit could end without a deal if fossil fuels were not addressed, accepted the watered-down language.

“We’re not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more, to have more ambition on everything,” EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters.

“We should support it because it is at least going in the right direction,” said Hoekstra.

More than 30 countries including European nations, emerging economies and small island states had signed a letter warning Brazil they would reject any deal without a plan to move away from oil, gas and coal.

But a member of an EU delegation told AFP that the 27-nation bloc was “isolated” and cast as the “villains” at the talks.

The push to phase out oil, coal and gas – the main drivers of global warming –  grew out of frustration over a lack of follow-through on the COP28 agreement to transition away from fossil fuels.

French ecological transition minister Monique Barbut had accused oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Russia, along with coal producer India and “many” other emerging countries, of refusing language on a fossil-fuel phaseout.

She said Saturday the text was bland but that there was “nothing extraordinarily bad in it.”

The deal caps a chaotic two weeks in Belem, with Indigenous protesters breaching the venue and blocking its entrance last week and a fire erupting inside the compound on Thursday, forcing a mass evacuation.

Brazil climate summit hosts highest ever share of fossil fuel lobbyists

Money and trade

Finishing without a deal would have been a black eye for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had staked political capital in the success of what he called the “COP of truth”.

It was also a major test for international cooperation when Trump decided to skip COP30.

“We also have to weigh the backdrop of geopolitics, and in the end there is no other process we have,” German environment state secretary Jochen Flasbarth told AFP.

Developing nations, for their part, had pushed the EU and other developed economies to pledge more money to help them adapt to the impact of climate change, such as floods and droughts, and move toward a low-carbon future.

Fossil fuel rise drives planet closer to critical climate safety limit

The EU had resisted such appeals but the deal calls for efforts to “at least triple” adaptation finance by 2035.

“Intergovernmental negotiations work on a minimum common denominator, but our fight will continue,” a negotiator from Bangladesh told AFP in a muted reception of the terms.

The EU had also rejected language on trade in the text, as demanded by China and other emerging countries. The final deal calls for “dialogue” on trade issues.

The head of China’s delegation at COP30, Li Gao, told AFP that the summit will go down as a success.

“I’m happy with the outcome,” Li said. “We achieved this success in a very difficult situation, so it shows that the international community would like to show solidarity and make joint efforts to address climate change.”

Tieku credits his grandmother as one of his main sources of inspiration when it comes to his interest in textiles and their role in society as markers of cultural identity.

“She was a queen mother, and she loved textiles. She was an avid collector. We’re talking about collections from the ’50s, limited editions, particularly African fabric,” Tieku tells RFI.

“She would talk to me about the essence of textiles and what it means for someone to have pride in what they wear.”

While Tieku was exposed to his grandmother’s love of fashion from his childhood, it wasn’t until engineering school that he reconnected with fabrics and their hidden potential.

Working on a project investigating how textile waste could be transformed into building blocks for the construction industry, he began to think about its potential to become something useful, beautiful and meaningful.

Fast fashion, slow art

Tieku’s native Ghana has become a dumping ground in recent years for clothes that people in other countries no longer want. Some 14 million items of clothing arrive each week, he says, be it unsold pieces from the “fast fashion” industry or secondhand items.

Although locals have made a living out of reselling some of the clothes, there are simply too many to handle.

Ghana grapples with crisis caused by world’s throwaway fashion

Reflecting on the mountain of discarded items and the stories they contained, Tieku began experimenting with large cloth installations in and around Accra. They became the foundation of his travelling project “How to Heal a Broken World – Fragile Origins, Futile Foundations”.

It is a giant global patchwork which he says he will work on for the next 45 years, sewing textile installations in cities around the world.

Part of the project was created in Paris, where Tieku was invited to participate for the first time at the Also Known as Africa contemporary African art fair (AKAA) in October after winning this year’s Ellipse Prize from French foundation Ellipse Art Projects.

The dozen of his works on display drew from some 1,000 kg of secondhand clothes donated by French charity Emmaüs.

“I wanted to give the fabric a second life and also document the life of Paris in the moment, through what people wear and how people choose to be seen,” Tieku says, pointing to an eye-catching circular motif called “The Sky Sings Over Paris”.

Measuring around two square metres, the piece is made up of tiny, folded pieces of blue and grey denim, cut from old jeans and stitched together to form patterns that fan out in a spiral.

Collecting stories, memories

Tieku says he has no control over the shape each piece takes; instead, it’s the fabric that speaks to him.

He does, however, emphasise the collective experience in each city where he takes his project. He encourages people to donate clothing that has a special significance and he collects stories about them along the way.

“As it travels from city to city, [the project] accumulates history, memories… People write messages on it, for other people to see from the other side of the globe.”

A floating garden

The Paris leg has taken the total project to 400 metres of stitched fabric, but Tieku hopes to reach 700 metres by the beginning of 2026.

The next stages will happen in Basel and Milan, where similar textile creations will be added to the larger project – the final size of which the artist hasn’t yet decided. 

Meanwhile, “How to Heal a Broken World” will return to its roots in Ghana with an installation called “Bridge over Troubled Water”.

Ghana’s plastic house: a step towards dealing with the country’s pollution

Tieku has chosen the Korle Lagoon in Accra, one of the most polluted water bodies on Earth, where he says attempts to dredge the basin of textile, plastic and electronic waste have so far failed.

“I want to convert the morbid, stagnant water into a temporary blooming field where a garden grows and a sense of hope arises,” he says.

The 2.5 km-long discarded textile installation will cover a part of the lagoon between two bridges, where it spills into the Atlantic Ocean, and form a floating garden with more than 100 species of flowering plants.

Tieku hopes the project will spur viewers “to reimagine ways to bring life to what is dead and hopeless, to care for the planet and heal the world through our collective responsibility”.

The National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) site at Rousset in Provence – which has spent decades breeding primates for scientific experiments – aims to triple its population to 1,800 animals by 2029.

Rights groups have criticised the move, warning it runs counter to the European Union’s push to phase out animal testing.

The CNRS, backed by the French government, insists the expansion is necessary to reduce reliance on costly imports and improve welfare.

When Covid-19 disrupted animal shipments from China and Africa, the cost of a single lab-bred primate soared to between €15,000 and €20,000 – a price public research institutions struggled to meet.

The CNRS has framed the project as a matter of “France’s research sovereignty”.

However, One Voice, a prominent French animal rights group, says the plan goes “against the course of history”.

Although the EU has pledged to gradually move away from animal testing – and banned the practice for cosmetics in 2013 – it has not set firm deadlines.

The debate in France has intensified such that the Rousset centre opened its doors this month to allow a rare visit by journalists.

Behind barbed wire and discreet signage, enclosures spread across seven hectares of pine forest house 300 Anubis baboons, 60 Guinea baboons, 130 rhesus macaques and 120 marmosets, all born in captivity.

French animal rights groups denounce rabbit breeding in cages

Academic research

The site – soon to be renamed the National Primate Centre (CNP) – has been allocated €31 million in public funds to support its expansion.

Claire Duliere, who leads One Voice’s anti-testing campaign, argues the project is ultimately about “profitability, because it will be necessary to justify this use of public funds”.

But Ivan Balansard, head of ethics and animal research models at CNRS, counters that the plan is “anything but profit-driven: it is the public funding the public”.

Keeping the facility in France, he says, ensures better monitoring of living conditions and animal welfare. Each primate is expected to have 1.49 square metres of space on average – above EU requirements.

Founded in 1978, the centre is one of three public facilities in France breeding monkeys for research. Its primates are used only in academic work, Balansard says, including projects at Inserm and the Pasteur Institute, with only limited private sector involvement.

In 2023, around 3,500 monkeys were used for scientific research purposes in France, mostly in the fields of neuroscience and immunology. Most were ultimately euthanised to prevent prolonged suffering.

It is unclear how many came from Rousset, but the centre hopes to eventually supply 30 percent of the primates used in French research.

In comparison, the United States uses around 60,000 monkeys a year for testing, while China used 240,000 in 2021, bred across 57 centres, according to CNRS figures.

Majority of French public wants better treatment for animals, poll says

Developing alternatives

Public opinion in France appears to be hardening against animal experimentation. A 2023 Ipsos poll commissioned by One Voice found that 74 percent of people opposed it.

Technological advances – including new modelling tools and artificial intelligence – contributed to a 3.8 percent drop in the number of animals used in French research between 2022 and 2023, bringing the total to around 2 million – mostly mice.

But for now, the technology falls short of offering a complete solution.

Substitution models “cannot encapsulate the complexity of a living organism” for certain fields, particularly oncology, the national academies of medicine, sciences, pharmacy and veterinary sciences warned in 2021.

Monkeys have played a key role in the development of vaccines and treatments for diseases including polio, Ebola, HIV and Parkinson’s – a scientific legacy that continues to fuel the debate over Rousset’s future.

(with AFP)

Africa has become deeply embedded in the global criminal economy, serving as a source, transit hub and destination for various illicit markets – often in overlapping roles.

The 2025 Africa Organised Crime Index – released this week by Enact (Enhancing Africa’s Response to Transnational Organised Crime), an EU-funded project that analyses transnational organised crime in Africa – indicates that criminality has increased steadily since 2019, while resilience to crime has declined.

Based on experts’ assessment of the scale of criminal markets, influence of criminal actors and effectiveness of resilience, the country with the highest overall criminality ranking is the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Libya. 

The index identifies the most pervasive criminal activities as financial crimes, human trafficking, non-renewable resource crimes, the trade in counterfeit goods and arms trafficking. 

“What is the motivation and driver behind organised crime? It’s money, big money and quick money for these gangs and these syndicates in order to move forward,” said Willem Els, senior training coordinator for the Enact project at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

“One of the target areas for that, especially in Africa, is counterfeit goods.”

Cancer of corruption

The counterfeit trade and financial crimes are the two fastest growing sectors, the report says, a pattern that matches international trends.

Els added that counterfeit goods find a way into African countries because of misconduct that makes borders “porous”.

“It is not because the borders are not patrolled or fenced or well manned,” he explained. “The main reason for porous borders is corruption. State-embedded actors are compromised by these gangs in order to facilitate the transfer of illicit goods into the countries.”

According to the report, state-embedded actors, or corrupt government officials, have increased their influence and drive criminality in Africa.

“It goes from top to bottom. Corruption is like a cancer, once it starts to infiltrate, it just seems to snowball and snowball,” said Els.

“It starts, in many cases, with some of your most senior politicians down to custom officials. It trickles through police, national prosecution authorities, and in some cases, even the bench [judiciary].”

Balkan cartels use West Africa to push cocaine into Europe, report warns

Financial hubs a target

Measures aimed at driving economic development and increasing trade between Africa and the rest of the world have also provided opportunities for criminal organisations.

“Organised crime syndicates thrive in financial hubs where they’ve got the opportunity and financial systems to operate,” Els told RFI.

“Three of the countries where criminality levels are very high are also financial hubs targeted by these gangs.

“Nigeria is the financial hub for West Africa. South Africa is the financial hub for Southern Africa. And Kenya is a financial giant for East Africa.”

Beyond these patterns, criminal markets show considerable diversity across the continent.

East Africa stands out for high human trafficking, arms trafficking and human smuggling. North Africa leads globally in cannabis trade and ranks second for financial crimes.

Non-renewable resource crimes dominate Central Africa, cocaine trade dominates West Africa, and wildlife trade is most prevalent in Southern Africa.

Historic rescue returns trafficked and endangered wildlife to Madagascar

Consequences are key

Els insists that political will to enforce good governance is of vital importance in strengthening Africa’s capacity to push back organised crime.

“If you do not have political will and leadership, we are going to sit here in five years or 10 years’ time and we are going to have the same discussion,” he said.

“It starts with good governance. It also starts with consequences.”

For Els, criminals must face the consequences of their crime whether they are in a gang, a government official, a white-collar criminal or in the private sector.

“That comes with effective policing and investigation, the legislation in place, effective prosecution in courts that are free from corruption,” he added.

“The bottom line, when it comes to fighting crime, is a country’s capacity to apply consequences when crimes are perpetrated.

“If they are not prosecuted, if they don’t face the music, then there will not be a change. It will just be business as usual.”

Els cited the example of the ongoing Madlanga Commission in South Africa, a judicial inquiry into whether criminal syndicates have infiltrated law enforcement and other parts of the criminal justice system, as well as whether senior officials may have aided illicit activity. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the probe following allegations that the country’s police minister had shielded allies with ties to the criminal underworld. 

Demonstrators chanted “Justice for Mehdi” before observing a minute of silence at the roundabout where 20-year-old Mehdi Kessaci was shot dead by a gunman in his parked car on 13 November.

Investigations are ongoing but authorities consider the murder to be a “warning crime” linked to the anti-drug activism of his brother Amine Kessaci, 22, who was welcomed by cheers as he joined the crowd on Saturday.

Amine Kessaci is now living under police protection and the gathering was marked by heavy police presence in the southern port city hard hit by drug crime.

The young anti-drug and environmental activist threw himself into campaigning after his half-brother Brahim was murdered in a drug-trafficking feud in 2020.

“I demand justice for Mehdi. I demand justice for Brahim, my other murdered brother. I demand justice for all the victims. I demand safety for my family,” said Amine, whose presence at the gathering wasn’t confirmed until the last moment due to security concerns.

Ministers vow tough response as Marseille reels from gangland murder

A former lawmaker has called for him to be awarded France’s highest order of merit, the Legion of Honour, but the activist said it was “the mothers of the neighbourhoods (hit by drug crime) who deserve a decoration for their courage, their dignity, their daily struggle”.

“For years we have been raising the alarm, we have been speaking out because we know that silence kills. Each retreat by the institutions has facilitated the advance of drug trafficking,” he said on Saturday via a recorded message played to the crowd.

Marseille has been struggling to battle drug crime, with more than a dozen people killed since the start of the year in turf wars and other disputes linked to cocaine and cannabis dealing.

“Fear cannot beat us,” said Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan.

“We must resist and fight them, wage a war against those who kill for money,” he added, calling for unity and refusing to let Marseille be labeled a “narco-city”.

Marseille’s drug war victims, perpetrators younger than ever: prosecutor

‘Scourge’

Politicians from across the political spectrum joined the gathering, Mehdi’s death having sparked a nationwide focus on drug crime, with initiatives also planned in some 25 other towns and cities.

Many laid white flowers at the spot where Mehdi, who aspired to become a police officer, was killed.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has called the crime a “turning point” and President Emmanuel Macron urged France to step up its actions and use the same approach it has used against “terrorism”.

While drug-related homicides often make front-page news in Marseille, Mehdi Kessaci’s killing stunned the city.

Activists were among the crowd of more than 6,200 people, where some carried white flowers and wore white shirts.

For 72-year-old activist Anne-Marie Tagawa, the gathering would be a moment of “reflection, but also for us to say we are not ok with what is happening”.

She said disadvantaged neighbourhoods were “fertile ground that has been abandoned by institutions, the State”, leaving them those who would turn them into places where crime thrives and establish “systems of violence”.

France calls on drug users to ‘grow a conscience’ over deadly turf wars

The bereaved mother of Mehdi and Brahim, Ouassila Benhamdi, joined the gathering, dressed entirely in white.

“My heart is torn apart. I am inconsolable. No mother wants to see her children die before her,” she said in a speech, which someone finished reading for her as she was overcome by grief.

“I am asking the government to grasp the gravity of everything that is happening,” she added.

“This must stop, for all the families affected by this scourge.”

In Paris, crowds of demonstrators – 50,000 according to organisers, 17,000 according to the police – waved signs, chanted, danced and sang as they moved through the capital in the protests organised by the Greve feministe (Feminist Strike) collective of some 60 organisations.

“A man kills a woman every 2.5 days in France,” read one placard distributed by the feminist collective NousToutes (All of us Women).

“Nine out of 10 victims know their rapist,” read another.

“It’s 2025, is it still normal to count our dead women?” said Sylvaine Grevin, president of the national femicide victims’ federation, whose sister was killed in 2017, ahead of the start of the Paris demonstration.

Hundreds of protesters also gathered in the cold in other cities, creating crowds awash in purple – a colour linked to feminism.

Council of Europe demands action on sexual violence against women in France

“We have the right to be loved without being abused,” said 20-year-old student Juliette in Lille in northern France.

The associations behind the protests are calling for the adoption of a comprehensive framework law against violence, along with a three-billion-euro budget ($3.5-billion) to implement it.

They are also calling for improved education and funding for groups that support victims of violence.

According to official figures published Thursday by MIPROF, a government organisation tasked with protecting women from violence and fighting human trafficking, the number of intimate partner femicides rose by 11 percent between 2023 and 2024, with 107 women killed by their partner or ex-partner.

A woman is a victim of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault every two minutes, and every 23 seconds of sexual harassment, indecent exposure, or the unsolicited sending of sexual content, according to MIPROF.

The Women’s Foundation rights group estimates the minimum annual budget the government should allocate to protecting victims of domestic, gender-based and sexual violence in France is 2.6 billion euros – equivalent to 0.5 percent of the state budget.

A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during Friday morning’s raid on St Mary’s co-education school in Nigeria‘s Niger State, in the central western part of the country.

The attack came after gunmen on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

The students from St Mary’s, which has a total student population of 629, were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18. 

Local police said they have deployed a team to rescue them.

Residents described scenes of panic as families searched for their missing children.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had earlier reported 227 people had been abducted, but the figure was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out”, according to a statement issued by the Most Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger State chapter of CAN, and who visited the school on Friday.

The revised number surpasses the 276 abducted during the Chibok mass abduction of 2014.

Schools shut

Niger State governor Mohammed Umar Bago, whose government had ordered some schools shut, also ordered the closure of all schools in his state, a day after authorities in the nearby states of Katsina and Plateau shuttered all theirs as a precautionary measure.

The national education ministry has also ordered 47 boarding secondary schools across the country be shut.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled international engagements, including attending the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to handle the crisis. He has yet to comment publicly.

The attack comes just days after armed men on Monday stormed a secondary school in the Kebbi State, northwestern Nigeria, which is majority Muslim. Of the 25 schoolgirls abducted, one girl has escaped but the other 24 are still missing.

The two kidnapping operations and an attack on a church in the west of the country, in which two people were killed, have happened since US President Donald Trump threatened military action over what he called targeted killings of Nigerian Christians by radical Islamists in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s government says Trump’s claims that Christians face persecution in Nigeria are a misrepresentation of the country’s complex security challenges and that Muslims are the majority of victims of attacks by armed groups.

No group has claimed the latest attacks but bandit gangs seeking ransom payments often target schools in rural areas where security is weak.

US lawmakers split over Trump’s claim of Christian persecution in Nigeria

The Kebbi school attack was the 12th mass abduction of schoolchildren in Nigeria that has led to the kidnapping of over 1,600 students in 12 different incidents, lawyer and security analyst Bulama Bukarti told Nigeria’s Channels Television.

The latest attack brings the total to 13.

The country is still scarred by the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls by Boko Haram jihadists at Chibok in northeastern Borno state. Some of those girls are still missing.   

(with newswires)

Erdogan told reporters alongside Zelensky that Turkey was ready to resume the “Istanbul Process”, the term Ankara uses for earlier talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Erdogan has strengthened ties with Vladimir Putin and has said those relations help efforts to end the fighting.

But Sinan Ciddi, of the US think tank the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said Washington’s latest actions suggest Ankara’s influence is fading.

Ankara’s mediation, he said, had not produced results for either the Trump administration or its Western allies and has done little to move the conflict closer to a ceasefire or peace deal. “Washington is going its own way,” said Ciddi.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading Washington’s peace efforts, did not attend the meeting in Ankara despite earlier reports he would.

Some analysts say Ankara overplayed its hand by suggesting it could use its ties with Putin to deliver a summit that never happened.

Israel talks defence with Greece and Cyprus, as Turkey issues Netanyahu warrant

Changing diplomatic landscape

Russia-Turkey expert Zaur Gasimov, of the German Academic Exchange Service, said Ankara’s role has been weakened, with other countries such as Hungary now seen as possible venues for talks.

Donald Trump’s decision to deal directly with Moscow, he added, reduces the need for Turkey as a go-between.

“Russia at the moment is not interested in any kind of peace negotiations with Kiev. But Putin and Moscow are interested in direct negotiations with the United States on this issue and possibly other issues,” Gasimov said, adding that Russia still values its ties with Ankara.

“For Russia, contacts with Turkey are of paramount importance, being isolated by anti-Russian sanctions.”

Turkey ready to help rebuild Gaza, but tensions with Israel could be a barrier

Energy pressure on Ankara

Erdogan has refused to enforce most Western sanctions on Russia, saying his relationship with Moscow is needed to build peace.

But during Erdogan’s September visit to Washington, Trump told him to end imports of Russian energy, which make up around half of Turkey’s needs.

Erdogan appears to be responding, as Russian oil imports have fallen in recent weeks.

Ankara is also trying to strengthen its security ties with the European Union. Direct summits between Putin and Erdogan were once common but are now rare, with their meetings limited to the sidelines of international events.

“There is clearly a move, more effort to restore and bolster relationships with the Western world,” former Turkish ambassador Timur Soylemez told RFI.

Trump tests Turkey’s energy dependence on Russia with lure of US power

Balancing relations with Russia

Soylemez said Ankara will still try to avoid harming its relations with Moscow.

“The view from Ankara is that it’s never a zero-sum game. Actually, the trick is to prevent it from being a zero-sum game. I think that would be an ongoing effort right now,” Soylemez said.

Turkey’s ability to balance both sides, he added, remains important for a long-term peace.

“Turkish diplomacy and Turkey in general have shown there is a role for us to play,” Soylemez said.

“For example, the Black Sea, when it comes to prison exchange, when it comes to de-escalation on different topics. Basically, because we have a channel to both sides and we’re trusted by both sides.”

Turkey is working with its Black Sea NATO partners on mine clearance. Analysts say this could later help secure safe passage for Ukrainian ships under a peace deal.

But the targeting on Monday of a Turkish-flagged ship carrying a gas cargo at the port of Izmail in Ukraine by suspected Russian drones shows the risks Turkey faces as it tries to strengthen relations with Western allies without provoking Moscow.

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

2026 is right around the corner, and I know you want to be a part of our annual New Year celebration, where, with special guests, we read your New Year’s resolutions. So start thinking now and get your resolutions to me by 15 December. You don’t want to miss out! Send your New Year’s resolutions to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 18 October, I asked you a question about Morocco, where the young people are demanding reforms on education and health care, as well as tackling corruption and a cost-of-living crisis.

You were to re-read our article “Morocco Gen Z protesters call for ‘peaceful sit-ins’ to demand reforms”, and send in the answers to these two questions: What happened in the city of Agadir that lit the flame of the protests in September? And what is the combined cost the kingdom spent on renovating or building the stadiums for the Africa Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Cup?

The answers are, to quote our article: “The protests erupted in late September, after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir, in southern Morocco, sparked anger over conditions at public health facilities.” 

And for the second question: “Economist Najib Akesbi says there is a fundamental problem in how resources are allocated. ‘The needs of the majority of the population are clearly not being prioritised,’ he told RFI. ‘Instead, ostentatious, prestige-driven spending is favoured. That’s the great imbalance.’ The country’s large-scale sports infrastructure – the stadiums built or renovated for the Africa Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Cup, with a combined budget of nearly €2 billion – are the most striking examples, Akesbi argued.

‘The big problem in Morocco is that we invest massively, but often in projects that are not profitable, that generate neither sufficient growth nor enough jobs,’ he says.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: What is your favorite memory of your grandparents?  

Do you have a bonus question idea? Send it to us!

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Helmut Matt from Herbolzheim in Germany. Helmut is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Helmut.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Reepa Bain, a member of the RFI Pariwer Bandhu SWL Club in Chhattisgarh, India, and Rubi Saikia, a member of the United RFI Listeners Club in Assam, also in India.

Last but not least, there are RFI English listeners Zeeshan, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan, and Zhum Zhum Sultana Eva, from Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: Polonaise op 2, no 2 by Dionisio Aguado, performed by Julian Bream; “Raqsa cha’abya”  by Abderrahman el Hadri, performed by el Hadri and his ensemble; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Tune for T” by Laurent de Wilde, performed by de Wilde and the New Monk Trio.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “Louvre Museum in Paris shuts gallery over structural safety fears”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 15 December to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 20 December podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

Click here to find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

Click here to find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club. 

Immediately following the Paris attacks on 13 November, 2015, the French government put in place a nationwide state of emergency, granting police exceptional powers to detain and search people suspected of links to terrorism. Some of those sweeping powers have since passed into law, at the expense of civil liberties. Law professor Sophie Duroy says that while the public may have got used to authorities having greater reach, it is not always the best way to fight terrorism. (Listen @0′)

Last December, 51 men were found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot in her home in Mazan in what was France’s biggest rape trial to date. It made headlines worldwide – not least because Pélicot chose to drop her anonymity to make “shame swap sides” from victim to rapist. Independent photojournalist Anna Margueritat was one of many to cover the trial, but in her own way: as a feminist, an activist and victim of sexual violence, posting daily photos and stories on her Instagram account. Author of a recent book on her experience, she reflects on her time in court and what it changed. (Listen @16’45”)

A judge this week suspended the auction of a nearly 400-year-old calculator, after a group of academics called for the government to stop it leaving France. The object in question is a Pascaline, one of the first calculating machines, invented by French scientist Blaise Pascal in the 1640s. (Listen @10’40”)

Episode mixed by Nicolas Doreau.

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).

As bilateral relations deteriorate, Israel is stepping up defence cooperation with Turkey’s rivals, Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. Turkey has ongoing territorial disputes with both – over maritime and airspace rights in the Aegean Sea, and the division of Cyprus following Turkey’s 1974 invasion of the island. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north of the island is recognised only by Turkey.

Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli claims Israel’s deepening partnerships with Athens and Nicosia is aimed at countering the growing threat posed by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The doctrine of Erdogan is extremely dangerous. It’s extremely dangerous for Israel, and we see Erdogan’s Turkey as the new Iran, nothing less. It’s very dangerous for Cyprus and it’s very dangerous for Greece,” said Chikli.

This month, Israeli and Greek warships held joint military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean. The drill followed similar exercises by the country’s air forces.

While Ankara played a key role in bringing about a ceasefire in the Gaza war, tensions have continued.

“We saw Turkey issuing arrest warrants against 37 high-level Israelis, but I think it also relates to the fact that the ceasefire is fragile. We are not entirely sure we are moving in a positive direction,” said Gallia Lindenstrauss, an Israeli foreign policy specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Turkey ready to help rebuild Gaza, but tensions with Israel could be a barrier

Defence talks

However, Lindenstrauss claims the Gaza ceasefire has opened the door to an acceleration in deepening cooperation with Greece.

“We see the ceasefire is definitely seen as the green light to proceed in cooperation. We see defence deals… serious defence deals are being discussed,” she added.

Israeli ministers visited Athens this month for defence talks. Israel has already sold Greece and Cyprus some of its most sophisticated weapons systems, causing alarm in Ankara.

“We see an alignment of the Greek, Greek Cypriot [sic] and Israeli navies. One cannot deny the risk that this will embolden them [Greece and Cyprus]… with Israeli support,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc, of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

Cyprus could become an increasingly focal point for Turkish-Israeli rivalries, given its strategic location. The United Kingdom has two military bases on the island, with the United States having a presence on these. Turkey, meanwhile, has an air base in the soi-disant Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

“The island is like a static aircraft carrier; it can dominate the whole of the Middle East and Turkey as well,” warns former Erdogan advisor Ilnur Cevik, who is now a journalist.

“A fighter plane that lifts off from Cyprus can get to Ankara in 15 minutes maximum. Turkey wants the island to be a security zone for itself. Plus, the Turks have even thought about setting up a new naval and airbase.”

Turkey and Egypt’s joint naval drill signals shifting Eastern Med alliances

Turkey’s recent purchases of Eurofighter jets, along with a missile development programme encompassing hypersonic and ballistic capabilities, are also fuelling Israeli concerns.

“It’s not clear why a status quo actor should have such a missile programme,” said Israeli analyst Lindenstrauss.

“For example, Israel doesn’t have a missile programme despite the many threats it faces. I think middle and long-range missiles do suggest this is something more related to offensive intentions… I think all actors that have tense relations with Turkey are watching these developments,” she added. 

Turkish Cypriot vote could force shift in Erdogan’s approach to divided island

US influence

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack sought to downplay tensions, dismissing any threat of conflict between Turkey and Israel.

“Turkey and Israel will not be at war with each other. In my opinion, it’s not going to happen. And you are going to get alignment from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean,” he said, speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue, a Middle East security forum, on 1 November. 

US President Donald Trump, who retains powerful influence over both governments, regional analysts suggest, could play a key role in managing, if not resolving tensions, given his goal of bringing peace and stability to the region.

“[Washington] are very concerned. This is a topic that gets a lot of people’s attention. The United States has certainly been trying to mediate and sort of bring tensions down,” said Asli Aydintasbas of the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank.

Guvenc doesn’t rule out a reset in regional relations, but warns that for now the region remains in the grip of an escalating arms race, fuelilng further mistrust and the risky strategy of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”.

“We have partnerships – alliances of convenience, pragmatic, tactically motivated alliances – but you never know. I mean, Turkey and Israel may mend fences, and this may create a totally different strategic, regional geopolitics than the one we are talking about today. So everything is in flux, and the balances and the alliances may shift in a very short time.”

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

Historian Lisa Waller Rogers, whom you’ll hear from today, has just published a book about the long fight to end slavery in the United States. Called When People Were Things: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln and The Emancipation Proclamation, it is published by Barrel Cactus Press. I hope you can find it where you live. You might also look for Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the novel that put the spotlight on what slavery really was. 

It sounds early, but it’s not. 2026 is right around the corner, and I know you want to be a part of our annual New Year celebration, where, with special guests, we read your New Year’s resolutions. So start thinking now, and get your resolutions to me by 15 December. You don’t want to miss out! Send your New Year’s resolutions to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click here to find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

Click here to find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club. 

Madhya Pradesh is often referred to as the Heart of India. Located right in the middle of the country, the Indian region shows everything India has to offer through its abundant diversity. The IFTM trade show, which took place in Paris at the end of September, presented the perfect opportunity for travel enthusiasts to discover the region.

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board, sat down to explain his approach to sustainable tourism.

“Post-covid the whole world has known a shift in their approach when it comes to tourism. And all those discerning travelers want to have different kinds of experiences: something offbeat, something new, something which has not been explored before.”

Through its UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Shukla wants to showcase the deep history Madhya Pradesh has to offer.

“UNESCO is very actively supporting us and three of our sites are already World Heritage Sites. Sanchi is a very famous buddhist spiritual destination, Bhimbetka is a place where prehistoric rock shelters are still preserved, and Khajuraho is home to thousand year old temples with magnificent architecture.”

All in all, Shukla believes that there’s only one way forward for the industry: “Travelers must take sustainable tourism as a paradigm in order to take tourism to the next level.”

In partnership with Madhya Pradesh’s tourism board.

Also known as the Land of the Beautiful Islands, Malaysia’s landscape and cultural diversity is almost unmatched on the planet. Those qualities were all put on display at the Malaysian stand during the IFTM trade show.

Libra Hanif, director of Tourism Malaysia, explained the appeal of the country as well as the importance of promoting sustainable tourism today: “Sustainable travel is a major trend now, with the changes that are happening post-covid. People want to get close to nature, to get close to people. So Malaysia being a multicultural and diverse [country] with a lot of natural environments, we felt that it’s a good thing for us to promote Malaysia.”

Malaysia has also gained fame in recent years, through its numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which include Kinabalu Park and the Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley.

Green mobility has also become an integral part of tourism in Malaysia, with an increasing number of people using bikes to discover the country: “If you are a little more adventurous, we have the mountain back trails where you can cut across gazetted trails to see the natural attractions and the wildlife that we have in Malaysia,” says Hanif. “If you are not that adventurous, you’ll be looking for relaxing cycling. We also have countryside spots, where you can see all the scenery in a relaxing session.”

With more than 25,000 visitors at this IFTM trade show this year, Malaysia’s tourism board got to showcase the best the country and its people have to offer.

In partnership with Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. For more information about Malaysia, click here.