The 25-year-old man was arrested on Friday, suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro.

In a statement issued on Friday evening, the Interior Ministry said the alleged attacker was a Malian citizen imprisoned in January 2024 for aggravated theft and sexual assault.

He had been issued with an order (known as a OQTF) to leave France after being released in July.

The man had been placed in an administrative detention centre but failure to obtain a consular travel document required for his deportation had meant he was released after 90 days, as required by law, the statement said.

Legal resident

However, investigators since discovered that the suspect was in possession of a French passport, the Interior Ministry said on Monday, confirming reports by RTL radio.

The suspect obtained French nationality in 2018, a source close to the enquiry told French news agency AFP.

“At no point did he mention this nationality in the various proceedings he has faced over the past three years – trials, appearances before the judge for liberties and detention,” the ministry added.

“At this stage of the checks, there is nothing to call into question the fact that he is French,” the same source said, stressing that “the verifications are currently under way”.

Sexual harrassment in French public transport on the rise: report

Mentally unstable

The suspect was released from custody on Saturday evening for psychiatric reasons, according to the Paris public prosecutor’s office, after his state of health was “considered incompatible” with police custody. 

He was taken to a psychiatric hospital, prosecutors said.

The man is suspected of having lightly injured the three women on Friday afternoon on line 3 of the Paris metro before fleeing the scene.

French government to ban knife sales to minors after deadly school attack

He was identified thanks to CCTV footage and later arrested in Val-d’Oise, north of Paris, using the geolocation of his mobile phone, the prosecutor’s office said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez last week called for “maximum vigilance” during the festive season in a message to senior officials due to what he said was a “very high level of the terrorist threat” and “the risk of public disorder”.

Nunez specifically asked for particular attention to be paid to security on public transport.

(with newswires)

El-Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur State, fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in October after more than 500 days of siege.

For the first time in nearly two years, a small UN humanitarian team was able to make a short visit last Friday.

The capture of the city was reportedly accompanied by mass atrocities, including massacres, torture and sexual violence. Satellite pictures reviewed by French news agency AFP show what appear to be mass graves.

Brown described the city as a “crime scene”, but said investigations would be carried out by human rights experts while her office focuses on restoring aid to the survivors.

“We weren’t able to see any of the detainees, and we believe there are detainees,” she said in an interview with AFP.

UN urges action on Sudan’s ‘forgotten war’ as humanitarian crisis takes hold

‘Ghost of its former self’

From a humanitarian point of view, she said, El-Fasher remains Sudan‘s “epicentre of human suffering” and the city – which once held more than a million people – is still facing a famine.

“El-Fasher is a ghost of its former self,” Brown said.

“We don’t have enough information yet to conclude how many people remain there, but we know large parts of the city are destroyed. The people who remain, their homes have been destroyed.”

“These people are living in very precarious situations,” warned Brown, a Canadian diplomat and the United Nations‘ humanitarian coordinator in Sudan.  

“Some of them in abandoned buildings. Some of them… in very rudimentary conditions, plastic sheeting, no sanitation, no water. So these are very undignified, unsafe conditions for people.” 

Death toll from RSF attack rises to 60 in Sudan’s El-Fasher: activists

‘Nothing good’ 

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the regular army and its former allies the RSF that has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe.

Brown said that the team “negotiated hard with the RSF” to obtain access, and managed to look around and visit a hard-pressed hospital and some abandoned UN premises – but only for a few hours.

Their movements were also limited by fears of unexploded ordnance and mines left behind from nearly two years of fighting.

The Saudi hospital was still standing, with some medical staff present, but has run out of supplies.

UN human rights council orders investigation into atrocities in Sudan

“There was one small market operating, mostly with produce that comes from surrounding areas, so tomatoes, onions, potatoes,” she said.

“Very small quantities, very small bags, which tells you that people can’t afford to buy more.”

“There is a declared famine in El-Fasher. We’ve been blocked from going in. So there’s nothing good about what’s happened in El-Fasher.

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, driven 11 million from their homes and has caused what the UN has declared “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster“.

(with AFP)

Al-Shabaab (“The Youth”) rose to prominence in Somalia in the early 2000s and aims to establish a “Greater Somalia”, joining ethnic Somalis across East Africa under strict Islamic rule.

It has allegedly become one of al-Qaeda’s strongest and most successful affiliates.

A joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force known as the African Union Transitional Mission to Somalia (ATMIS), along with the United States and several East African nations, have been actively trying to combat the movement, but it has proven resilient against numerous counterinsurgency campaigns.

RFI: Why have Shabaab militants been able to regain the ground they lost over the past three years?

Matt Bryden: Three years ago, the offensive against the Shabaab was led by clan militias that wanted to free themselves from Al-Shabaab. They received support from the federal government and from the Americans. But clan militias can only fight on their own clan territory. Once they had liberated their own areas, they could not advance any further. So the offensive was really a series of small, local operations by different clan militias, not a coherent, coordinated campaign.

RFI: And today, have these clan militias allied themselves with the Shabaab against the government?

MB: No. Most of them are still opposed to the Shabaab, especially in the areas where they fought them. But they are not necessarily allied with the government either. That is another major problem for the federal government: it is not just fighting the Shabaab, but also some of the provinces and regions of Somalia, which are themselves fighting Al-Shabaab. In reality, the government in Mogadishu controls at most 15 per cent of Somalia’s territory – and that’s a generous estimate.

RFI: Still, these are the first elections without attacks. Isn’t that a success for President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud?

MB: Absolutely. There were voters at some polling stations, that’s true. But Somalia is a clan-based society. Members of clans that support the government turned out to vote, while other clans – those that support the opposition – did not. So the election risks deepening divisions between Somalia’s clans and regions: those that back the government, who are currently a minority, and those clans and regions that oppose it.

US launches air strikes against Islamic State targets in Somalia

RFI: President Hassan Sheikh Mohammed was beaming on Thursday during the elections. But the next day, Friday, he received very bad news. For the first time, the secessionist state of Somaliland was officially recognised by another country – Israel. Did that surprise you?

MB: For Somalia, certainly. It’s a very unwelcome surprise. Somaliland now risks receiving not only Israel’s recognition, but that of other countries as well. What Israel has done is clearly not an isolated initiative; it was coordinated with other states in Africa, with some Arab countries, and probably with the United States too.

RFI: You say other countries could follow. Two years ago, Ethiopia nearly recognised Somaliland’s independence, but eventually backed down under pressure from Somalia and Turkey.

MB: Yes, but Ethiopia’s move was not coordinated with other states and amounted to a declaration rather than formal recognition. This time, Israel has officially recognised Somaliland. From what I hear from diplomats in the region, Israel and other countries have been coordinating this decision for months, perhaps more than a year, so that Israel would not be alone. There are likely to be further recognitions in the weeks and months ahead.

With a new president, Somaliland seeks international recognition

RFI: The Israelis suggest that this recognition of Somaliland is in the spirit of the [2020] Abraham Accords, under which Israel normalised relations with countries including the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. Are the Americans perhaps behind this?

MB: Yes, absolutely. The Americans, especially since President Trump’s election, have signalled deep frustration with the situation in Somalia. They have spent billions of dollars on the country’s security, yet the situation is worse than before. As a result, the US has begun working directly with the regions of Jubaland and Puntland to fight Al-Shabaab and also Islamic State, which has been very active in north-eastern Puntland.

Relations with Somaliland are also deepening. The head of Africom, General Anderson, visited a few months ago. So it is fairly clear that the Americans see Somaliland as a potential partner, both to secure maritime routes in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, and to combat extremist movements in the Horn of Africa.

---

This interview was adapted from the original in French and has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Interior Ministry recorded 538 cases in 2025, an 11 percent rise from the previous year.

The thefts often involve small churches that are easy to access and poorly protected. Higher gold prices have also increased the value of some of the objects being stolen.

Three men were convicted on Friday for around 30 thefts from churches in northern and eastern France.

They received prison sentences, some of them suspended, after stealing cultural objects with the help of a second-hand dealer.

Hadrien Lacoste, vice president of France’s Observatory for Religious Heritage, told RFI the thefts cover different types of crime.

“The theft of collection boxes and donations is what we would call petty larceny,” he said. “Then there is a second type of theft, involving art objects that are often made from precious materials and often signed by major goldsmiths.”

These objects are works of art rather than everyday religious items, Lacoste added.

Louvre museum closed as staff continue strike over working conditions

Objects sought from abroad

Stolen religious objects are resold at flea markets or through antique dealers in France. Some are also sold outside the country.

“The Catholic Church, for example in Asia, is very dynamic, with patrons who are willing to support these communities by buying high-quality religious objects,” Lacoste said. “That’s why these objects today are closely watched from abroad.”

Because churches built after 1905 fall under the responsibility of mayors, Lacoste is calling for greater awareness of the value of what he described as shared and local heritage.

“There needs to be a real awareness of the value of this shared and local heritage, which must be preserved, showcased and secured,” he said.

Proposed measures to tackle the problem include drawing up detailed inventories for each church and installing protective display cases for valuable objects.

President Trump, who had promised to finish the war on day one of his presidency, said he was embarking on a year-end diplomatic sprint as he welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday.

At a joint news conference after the meeting, both leaders reported progress on two of the most contentious issues in peace talks – security guarantees for Ukraine and the division of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region that Russia has sought to capture.

Both Trump and Zelensky offered few details and did not provide a deadline for completing a peace deal. Trump said it will be clear “in a few weeks” whether negotiations to end the war will succeed. He said a few “thorny issues” around territory must be resolved.

Zelensky said an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine has been reached. Trump was slightly more cautious, saying that they were 95 percent of the way to such an agreement, and that he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of that effort with US backing.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that Kyiv’s allies would meet in Paris next month to discuss security guarantees as part of the peace agreement.

“We will bring together the countries of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris in early January to finalise each one’s concrete contributions,” Macron said on X after speaking with Zelensky and Trump.

Zelensky reveals US-Ukraine plan to end Russian war, key questions remain

Donbas unresolved 

Zelensky has said previously that he hopes to soften a US proposal for Ukrainian forces to withdraw completely from Donbas, a Russian demand that would mean ceding some territory held by Ukrainian forces. While Moscow insists on getting all of Donbas, Kyiv wants the map frozen at current battle lines.

Both Trump and Zelensky said on Sunday the future of the Donbas had not been settled, though the US president said discussions are “moving in the right direction”. The United States, seeking a compromise, has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area, although it remains unclear how that zone would function in practical terms.

“It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer. That’s a very tough issue,” Trump said.

Nor did the leaders offer much insight into what agreements they had reached on providing security for Ukraine after the war ends, something Zelensky described Sunday as “the key milestone in achieving a lasting peace”.

Russia has said any foreign troop deployment in Ukraine is unacceptable.

Zelensky said any peace agreement would have to be approved by Ukraine’s parliament, or by a referendum. Trump said he would be willing to speak to parliament if that would secure the deal.

EU greenlights €90bn loan for Ukraine, without frozen Russian assets   

Kremlin ‘support’ for negotiations

Shortly before Zelensky and his delegation arrived at Trump’s Florida residence, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in a call described as “productive” by the US president and “friendly” by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.

Ushakov, in Moscow, said Putin told Trump a 60-day ceasefire proposed by the European Union and Ukraine would prolong the war. The Kremlin aide also said Ukraine needs to make a decision regarding the Donbas “without further delay”.

Trump said he and Putin spoke for more than two hours. He said the Russian president pledged to help rebuild Ukraine, including by supplying cheap energy. “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed,” Trump said. “It sounds a little strange.”

As Trump praised Putin, Zelensky tilted his head and smiled.

Trump said he would call Putin again following the meeting with Zelensky.

The Kremlin expressed support for Trump’s negotiations.

“The whole world appreciates President Trump and his team’s peace efforts,” Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, posted on X early on Monday.   

(with newswires)

Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said most of the 3,090 deaths recorded until 15 December took place on the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, considered one of the world’s most dangerous.

While there has been a “significant” decrease in migrant arrivals in the Canaries, “a new, more distant and more dangerous” route to the archipelago has emerged with departures from Guinea, it said.

The group compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 437 children and 192 women among the dead.

Caminando Fronteras also noted there had been a rise in the number of boats leaving from Algeria, mainly to the holiday islands of Ibiza and Formentera in the Mediterranean.

Record number of deaths

Traditionally used by Algerians, the route is seeing a surge of migrants from Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan in 2025, the group said.

The number of deaths on this route had doubled this year to 1,037 when compared to 2024, it added.

Spain adopts plan to relocate unaccompanied minors from Canaries

At least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2024, according to Caminando Fronteras, the highest number recorded since it began tracking data in 2007.

Spain’s interior ministry says 35,935 migrants reached Spain until 15 December this year, a 40-percent decrease from the same period last year.

Nearly half of them came through the Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands.

(with AFP)

Images of the screen diva were splashed across media outlets around the globe following the announcement of her death on Sunday. Many also highlighted her role as a catalyst for social change in France.

Bardot’s libertine attitude in her breakthrough 1956 movie And God Created Woman outraged censors at the time. The French Catholic daily La Croix said she had a “career without much success” which she cut short to devote herself to animals.

The left-leaning Liberation newspaper said, however, that Bardot had a “meteoric career”.

“She was probably the last of that handful of new and free figures in which France liked to recognise itself at the turn of the 60s,” noted Liberation, which called her the “greatest sex symbol of French cinema”.   

The conservative Le Figaro said “this blonde whirlwind burst on to the screens” in a France still suffering from the fallout of the Second World War. “She shook things up, danced the mambo on the tables of Saint-Tropez,” it added, recalling her iconic scene in And God Created Woman.

Bardot: the screen goddess who gave it all up

‘She hid nothing’

International media highlighted the screen sensation and the controversy after Bardot gave up acting to defend animal rights, as well as to become a far-right supporter. She was convicted and fined five times over comments that incited racial hatred.

“She was a French cocktail of kittenish charm and continental sensuality,” said the United Kingdom’s public service broadcaster the BBC.

Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper called her “a diva rebel” who “chose liberty until the very end”.

In Spain, El Pais called Bardot a “controversial activist”, adding: “In her own way, she hid nothing. Neither the wrinkles, nor her increasingly radical character or her ideological convictions, which she evoked with crude euphemisms.”

The New York Times said that Bardot “redefined mid-20th century movie sex symbolism”, highlighting her “unapologetic carnal appetite” on screen.

But, it added: “At best, Ms Bardot was considered eccentric in her later years, prompting observations that this former sex kitten, as she was often called, had turned into a ‘crazy cat lady’.”

Bardot was repeatedly convicted for hate speech – mostly against members of the Islamic faith after migration from France’s former colonies.

French screen legend Brigitte Bardot fined for racial slurs against Reunion islanders

She actively backed far-right presidential contender Marine Le Pen when she ran in 2012 and 2017.

Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said it would be better to “forget, even if it may be difficult, the political Bardot of recent years for the duration of this obituary” and “remember THE Bardot” instead.

Bardot “will be buried in her garden near the sea,” said her long-time friend and journalist Wendy Bouchard on Monday.

“It was her wish and it will be respected,” said Bouchard, referring to the icon’s last wish to “be buried near those she cherished, her animals” with a simple wooden cross to mark her grave.

However, Saint-Tropez, officials said on Monday that Bardot would to be buried in a seaside cemetery, without giving a date.

(with newswires)

The first thing you notice about Mary is her laughter – warm, loud, and quite unexpected from one who has faced death twice.

Inside a tiny tailoring shop in the town of Thika, near the Kenyan capital Nairobi, rolls of fabric spill off the shelves and sewing machines hum. Mary sits in one corner, yarn in hand, looping stitch after stitch with meditative focus.

Knitting was not always her livelihood, it was once just a childhood hobby, forgotten somewhere between raising three children and building a business. It only resurfaced in 2017, when her body forced her to slow down.

‘I felt like the world had slapped me’

That year, Mary was diagnosed with spinal cancer and was bedridden for 11 months. She remembers the silence in her house, the long days and the longer nights, and a mind restless with fear. In an attempt to escape it all, she reached for her knitting needles.

“I just needed something to keep my mind from sinking,” she says, her fingers absently tracing the rim of a basket full of yarn.

She began knitting hats and donating them to cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital.

WHO launches plan for free child cancer medicines in low-income countries

A year later, her cancer was back – this time, stage three breast cancer. Mary remembers the doctor’s voice fading into a blur as she was told the news.

“I felt like the world had slapped me,” she says. She turned off her phone and withdrew from her friends, telling her husband she didn’t want to speak to anyone. “Everything felt violent. Even the air.”

Her treatment was gruelling – a mastectomy, 33 rounds of radiotherapy, endless visits to the hospital. Her hair disappeared. Her savings vanished. The loan of $10,000 she had taken out to expand her small tailoring shop was swallowed up by medical bills.

‘A common wound’

But what cut deepest for Mary was the stigma around losing her breasts.

“People whispered. They called me ‘the woman whose breasts were cut’. Losing them, and your sense of dignity and womanhood… it’s not something you can prepare for,” she says.

When Mary was well enough to walk around the cancer ward, she saw other women draped in scarves and oversized jumpers, disguising the area where a breast used to be.

“The conversations revealed a common wound: stigma and silence,” she says.

Silicone prosthetic breasts cost far more than most of these women can afford. So Mary turned again to the thing that had got her through her illness – her knitting, But this time she had a different purpose in mind. 

She learned how to make soft yarn breast prostheses, mastered the technique with YouTube videos and long nights of trial and error.

“Knitting saved me mentally,” she says. “It pulled me from fear into purpose.”

The karate grannies of Korogocho, fighting back at any age

Small shop, big dreams

Today, Mary’s tailoring shop is more than a business, it’s a sanctuary.

As the staff work the machines, Mary sits by the window knitting prosthesis after prosthesis – round, soft and colourful. She sells them for 1,500 shillings each, and organisations buy them in bulk to donate to cancer survivors.

She has now made more than 600 prostheses and more than 450 hats, and the orders just keep coming.

Every week, Mary also holds classes teaching women – many of whom are fellow survivors – how to knit the prostheses, in order to earn an income.

The Moroccan women artists harnessing the creative power of crafts

Hannah Nungari Mugo is a former vegetable seller, who says she felt her identity fade away after her 2019 mastectomy.

“People treated me like a broken thing,” she says. Knitting gave her something to hold on to, and she now makes around even prostheses a week.

Mary Patricia Karobia, who had a liver transplant, says she too knows what that stigma feels like. “I heard people whisper about my liver being removed.” For her, knitting is about healing, and showing others her strength.

Mary hopes one day to be able to train women throughout Kenya, but space and finances are standing in her way for now.

“Cancer took a lot from me,” she says, looking down at the colourful prostheses on her table. “But it also gave me purpose. And I want to pass that purpose on.”

They are called “repats”, short for “repatriates” – young people who left their African homes, be they in Gabon, Cameroon, Congo or Côte d’Ivoire, to chase a better education or business opportunities in Europe and are now choosing to head home to put those gains to good use.

They speak of reuniting with their families, and contributing to the African continent’s development.

In 2019, a survey supported by the French Development Agency revealed that 40 percent of members of the African diaspora were ready to return. Since then, the continent’s economic appeal has only grown. 

The study polled 800 people to identify the motivations, and the obstacles, for graduates and professionals in the diaspora who are considering working in Africa.

France sees immigration shift as more educated Africans arrive than Europeans

The key finding was the sheer number who aspire to return. Almost 71 percent were considering going back to work on the continent, with 38 percent saying they were ready to return immediately.

In terms of location, West Africa was the most popular region among respondents, at 32 percent.  

However, with many African economies still largely informal and labour markets tight, returning can be a challenge.

According to the United Nations, the number of people born to African immigrant parents in the diaspora could represent almost 20 million people worldwide. Many African countries are seeking to attract them, with return assistance programmes to support projects and business ventures.

‘You can have a life here’

Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are attracting a large number of investors and businesses. And the latter has seen a clear economic boom in the last decade.

In Abidjan, one man has made it his business to support repats coming back from Europe to Côte d’Ivoire. Pierre Djemis, a lawyer born in France, settled in his father’s country a few decades ago, and has since seen many more people express the desire to do the same.

Young voters in Côte d’Ivoire want jobs, change – but most of all, peace

To support them, he organises forums for repats twice a year, one in Abidjan, another in Paris, with the next to be held in the French capital on 24 January.

“Today, people between 28 and 35 years old are excited when they see Abidjan,” Djemis told RFI.

“It is a pleasant city to live in, a modern city where you have all the comforts you find in Paris. You have the bakeries you find in Paris, the clothing stores you see in Paris. You have beaches, a comfortable lifestyle, cars in Abidjan that you don’t even find in the 16th or 15th arrondissements.”

He added: “You can have a life here, a vibrant life, a dynamic life similar to the life that one can find in Asia, in Shanghai, Hong Kong and so on. So, these young people also want to be part of that movement; it’s the economic movement of the future.”

Djemis says he witnessed a first wave of parents who studied abroad in France, Germany, Switzerland or the United States and who returned to Africa in the 1990s as doctors, lawyers and civil servants.

Since then a second wave of repats who were born in Europe, grew up there and only know Africa through their cultural upbringing, but feel the desire to “return” to their parents’ homelands, has emerged. 

“Often, they believe there’s what’s called ‘the glass ceiling’, well known in Europe and elsewhere. At a certain level, they feel they can no longer access certain positions because of their background. And they believe they can be useful elsewhere, especially back home.”

Integration challenges

According to a study published in 2023 in the Revue Akofena journal, graduates’ motivations for returning to Côte d’Ivoire include the search for professional opportunities, attachment to their country of origin, a desire to contribute to the country’s development, and a sense of belonging to the Ivorian community.

However, they face significant challenges when it comes to professional and economic integration.

African graduates know that salaries are potentially higher in Europe. Many also struggle to adapt to professional environments that are different from the ones they studied or began their careers in. It can take months, if not years, to gain the trust of local partners. Others, meanwhile, face difficulties accessing financing for their investment.

Advisers like Djemis encourage these repats to lean on their networks gained through work or at university.

The study however notes that return migration is vital in terms of its contribution to the development of the countries to which these young people are returning.

It added that ultimately “their potential contribution… will depend on the ability of development policies to encourage return migration, facilitate the transition and create opportunities for their contribution”.

French authorities officially inaugurated the C1 cable car line on 13 December in Limeil-Brévannes, a suburb south of Paris.

Stretching 4.5 kilometres and serving five stations, it is now the longest urban cable car system in Europe.

France already has seven urban cable cars fully integrated into public transport networks, including in cities such as Brest, Saint-Denis de La Réunion and Toulouse. Planners of the C1 drew inspiration both from projects in France and from international examples, particularly in South America, where cable cars are widely used in urban settings.

 

The system operates with 105 cabins. During peak hours, a cabin arrives every 23 to 24 seconds, each able to carry up to 10 passengers.

“We estimate that around 11,000 people will use the cable car on a weekday, but we have a boarding capacity of 1,600 people per hour in each direction,” Arnaud Crolais, technical director at Ile-de-France Mobilités, told RFI.

‘Environmentally friendly’

“It is 100 percent accessible, with universal accessibility and a distinctive design for the cabins, pylons and stations.

“And it is extremely environmentally friendly. The propulsion is 100 percent electric,” he adds.

The new line links Créteil to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, passing through Limeil-Brevannes and Valenton. The full journey takes 18 minutes, including stops, compared with roughly 40 minutes by bus or car.

Connecting isolated areas

Cable car systems like this are increasingly chosen to connect neighbourhoods that are difficult to reach using traditional transport infrastructure.

“We decided on a cable car as a way to serve this isolated area,” explains Crolais.

“We are in an area with quite a few urban dividing lines. You have to cross railway tracks over 100 metres wide, a lot of road infrastructure, both national and regional. There is also a high-speed line that runs right nearby. Behind us, there is a wooded area to get over. This is a plateau and therefore somewhere there weren’t many roads big enough for a tram or bus.”

The line now connects previously isolated neighbourhoods to Line 8 of the Paris metro.

“I had to drive to avoid taking the bus. It was easier for me, as I was going to Maisons-Alfort. And now, to get to Paris, I walk to the cable car. It’s more convenient,” says Raoul, a resident of Limeil-Brévannes, told RFI.

“I don’t know yet if it’s faster, as this is my first trip. Otherwise, I think it’s good.”

Françoise, a passenger, agreed: “Very practical. There’s less traffic already and it saves time, so no stress. It’s brilliant!”

Ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in June, French and European scientists and policymakers gathered at the Mucem museum in Marseille in May for a summit organised by the Tara Ocean Foundation and the French branch of the Interparliamentary Coalition to End Plastic Pollution.

“Today, we are facing a plastic crisis, which is a major crisis affecting the oceans and the environment in all its dimensions – climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss,” Henri Bourgois-Costa, head of public affairs for the Tara Ocean Foundation, told RFI. 

French schooner Tara charts a course for change ahead of UN oceans summit

Recycling not (the only) solution 

Today, at a global level, 50 percent of plastics are landfilled, 14 percent are recycled, 17 percent incinerated and 19 percent are poorly managed, explained Fabienne Lagarde, an environmental chemist at Le Mans university.

“Recycling is the tree that hides the forest, because the end of life of plastic is also polluting,” she said.

Moreover, 98 percent of plastics today are not biodegradable, and two-thirds are not recyclable, Lagarde pointed out.

France pushes for action as high seas treaty hangs in the balance

“Most of our waste is either buried or incinerated, leading to a major environmental leak that originates primarily from land,” explained Jean-François Ghiglione, a researcher from the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the scientific director of the Tara Microplastics mission 2019, whose initial results were published in April. 

“And more than 80 percent of plastics that end up in the sea come from the land,” he added.

The study, which focused on nine major European rivers, showed that 100 percent of these rivers were polluted by microplastics arriving directly from land.

“Microplastics come from the breakdown of large waste. A large piece of waste – through abrasion, friction and UV exposure – breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, almost infinitely,” explained Ghiglione. 

These microplastics measure between 0.025mm and 5mm, and are invisible to the naked eye.

Digital boom makes Marseille a global data hub – but at what cost?

The study also showed that 85 percent of plastics in the sea are in microplastic form. 

These microplastics are also found throughout the food chain, affecting 1.4 million birds and 14,000 mammals every year. Doctors are now investigating the consequences for human health.

“We absolutely must reach a global plastics treaty that reduces the quantity of plastics, because we have scientifically shown that the more plastic is produced, the more pollution there is,” concluded Ghiglione. “The relationship is linear.”

China produced around 60 percent of the world’s new solar power in 2025, making it the world’s largest manufacturer and deployer of renewable energy. It is installing more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined.

However, a decade after the Cop21 talks in Paris – which led to the Paris Agreement, ratified by China in 2016 – China also remains heavily dependent on coal.

With Beijing now painting itself as central to global efforts to tackle climate change, the question is whether Chinese technology can help put the world on a viable climate path.

“We’re studying China’s technological progress, not only in photovoltaics, but also in wind power, solar thermal energy, onshore wind, offshore wind and nuclear energy,” Jiang Kejun, from the Energy Research Institute of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, told RFI.

If the world stays on track, he adds, it may still be possible to limit global warming to 1.5C using Chinese technology alone. That view reflects a broader shift in China’s message, with the transition framed not just as a national effort but a global one.

China’s energy transition differs from Europe’s. It is not built on reducing demand, but on meeting rising energy needs driven by urbanisation, industry and the electrification of the economy.

“Almost all the growth in energy demand comes from electricity, and almost all the growth in electricity this year has come from solar and wind,” says Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember, a global energy think tank. China’s oil consumption is no longer rising, he adds, while gas use is rising but remains low.

China is not yet replacing fossil fuels outright. Instead, it is largely avoiding new fossil demand by steering growth towards low-carbon electricity. As a result, emissions are stagnating rather than notably falling, even as renewable energy expands.

While Beijing is aiming for its CO2 emissions to peak before 2030, energy stability remains the priority in a country with one of the world’s largest power systems.

Paris Agreement turns 10 as heat rises faster than global action

Race to cut costs

China’s strategy rests on producing electricity at very low cost. Vast solar and wind projects are being built in the Gobi Desert, a huge arid region in northern China, as well as in the Taklamakan in the far west, one of the world’s largest sandy deserts, and across the open grasslands and desert areas of Inner Mongolia.

These installations have been engineered to generate cheap electricity that is then sent east through ultra high voltage transmission lines, a field in which China is a global leader.

“China has made this product very affordable,” Jiang explains. “There is no overcapacity and no unfair price competition. Even with the existing supply of about 0.6 yuan per watt for photovoltaic modules, companies can still remain profitable.”

Western arguments about overcapacity no longer make sense in a world facing a climate emergency, he argues – adding that Chinese solar power has become cheap enough to outcompete fossil fuels even without subsidies.

“Even in a baseline scenario, investing in photovoltaics or carbon-free energy supply is already much cheaper than relying on fossil fuels,” Jiang says.

In his view, falling renewable costs mean fossil fuels no longer need to play a central role in future energy systems. That shift is already visible in the price of solar equipment.

“A solar panel today costs between $50 and $60 in countries that do not impose high tariffs on Chinese imports,” says Ember’s Dave Jones. “That panel can produce electricity for 20 or 30 years.”

Falling costs help explain why Chinese solar is spreading rapidly, including in poorer countries where access to electricity remains limited.

Coal as a safety net

But despite the expansion of renewables, coal remains central to China’s power system. Beijing continues to approve new coal plants – not to drive growth, but to secure supply in a country where power shortages are politically sensitive.

“Coal-fired electricity generation in China may not be rising, but it is not falling either,” Jones explains. “The system absorbs huge amounts of solar and wind, but coal is still there to guarantee stability.”

Coal now acts as a buffer when solar output drops or demand spikes, and China is investing heavily in making its coal plants more flexible.

“This is so plants can shut down during the day and let cheap solar feed the grid,” Jones says. “It is not happening fast enough, but it is happening at scale.”

The next challenge is closing coal plants rather than simply building fewer of them. But for now, political and economic stability come before a rapid exit from coal, as electricity demand continues to rise.

Clean energy surpasses coal but policy headwinds threaten 2030 goals, IEA warns

Making solar work

Producing large amounts of solar power is only part of the task. The bigger challenge is integrating it into the grid without causing instability.

Jones points to two key tools: flexible coal generation and energy storage, where China has built a strong technological lead.

“Battery technology developed by Chinese manufacturers has advanced significantly,” he says. “Prices have fallen to the point where storage is becoming profitable, allowing solar power to become dispatchable electricity.”

China already dominates close to 80 percent of the global battery supply chain, from lithium processing to recycling. Storage itself is not seen as a major barrier, with Chinese researchers saying existing technologies are already capable of supporting large-scale solar power.

“Whether in the Gobi Desert or even in the Sahara, new storage technologies are already good enough,” Jiang says. “The problems are manageable. All of this can work.”

Beyond electricity generation is a broader industrial shift. The goal is no longer just green power, but fully integrated industrial ecosystems supplied by cheap renewables.

“In the future, within a single industrial park, investment will cover photovoltaics, wind, power generation, hydrogen purification, synthetic ammonia or olefins, right through to the final product,” Jiang says. “The system is fully integrated, and such a design can be supported 100 percent by photovoltaics.”

African leaders urge fair funding with $50bn climate call

Power struggles

However, China’s expansion in clean energy has fuelled concern in Europe and the United States, where Chinese technologies are often viewed as a source of strategic dependence.

Climate urgency is used to push back against those concerns. “My main concern is whether the world can still maintain the 1.5C warming target,” Jiang says. “The pace of warming is extremely fast. We do not have time. We must act.”

He also warns against turning the energy transition into a geopolitical dispute, saying climate discussions lose substance once international power struggles take over.

At the same time, the rise of Chinese clean technologies is not being driven solely by state planning. Much of the expansion reflects market forces and growing demand.

“Manufacturers introduce panels into new markets, they appear on shelves for the first time and demand grows organically,” Jones explains.

Both experts agree that the future of the transition now largely depends on the Global South.

“Solar power offers a real opportunity to catch up,” Jones says. “Countries do not need to follow the historic path of building dependence on oil and gas. They can electrify directly with clean energy.”

Unlocking finance and technology transfers is now critical, Jiang argues: “The key issue today is to release Chinese technology and capital flows to developing countries as quickly as possible.”

Control over renewable technologies is increasingly tied to control over future energy systems, a point energy experts say will shape the coming decade.

---

This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Clea Broadhurst.

Hakimi has sat out the tournament to nurse his left ankle which was hurt on 4 November while playing in the Champions League for his club Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich.

Though Regragui said the 27-year-old was fit and available, Hakimi was absent for Morocco’s opening day win over Comoros on 21 December and the 1-1 draw against Mali on 26 December.

“What Achraf has done to come back is extraordinary,” said Regragui. “What I can say is that Achraf will play. Whether he starts or not, it will be his first match at the Cup of Nations.”

Morocco go into the match needing a draw to advance to the last-16 knockout stages of the 24-team competition. Victory would assure them of top spot.

“What we want – because we want to go as far as possible – is that Achraf progresses with the team and that we can keep him for the whole competition.

“I think people don’t realise what Achraf brings to our team,” Regragui added.

Morocco entered the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations on the back of an 18-match winning streak and boasting the accolade of Africa’s top team in the Fifa world rankings.

Following the success over Comoros, the draw with Mali ended the world record sequence at 19. 

Nightmare ending, admits Nigeria boss Chelle after Fez thriller against Tunisia

“We have played two games without our best player, our leader and captain,” said Regragui.

“But we have not hidden. Other players have stood in for him. But would we be a different team with Achraf? Of course. He is the best player in Africa, one of the best in the world.”

Hakimi is aiming to be only the second Morocco skipper to lift the Cup of Nations trophy since the inception of the competition in 1957.

He said he had been frustrated sitting on the sidelines during the matches and by the attitude of the Morocco fans.

Jeers were heard around the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah during the draw against Mali.

Shocked Tunisians vow to recover mojo for Cup of Nations crunch against Tanzania

“We know it is not easy sometimes, that they want us to win and finish games by half-time,” Hakimi said.

“But we have to respect our opponents too. It’s not good for the fans to boo us.

“I experienced the same thing at Paris Saint-Germain when we were not winning in the Champions League.

“When we were losing games, people said we were not a great team and didn’t have a great coach, but then we went on to be champions of Europe.

“If the fans are behind us ,we can be champions of Africa together,” Hakimi added.

Elsewhere in the competition, the final round of games take place in Group B where South Africa, Angola or Zimbabwe can join pool winners Egypt in the automatic qualification spots.

Egypt face Angola in Agadir while second-placed South Africa take on Zimbabwe in Marrakesh.

At dawn, when the mist is still clinging to the grass, Nasieku Kipeke’s hands are already moving through beads. Red, blue, white… she threads them with the same rhythm her mother taught her.

The beaded bracelets she makes will end up in the hands of tourists who come to the Maasai Mara to witness the Great Migration – the epic annual journey made by 2 million zebras, wildebeest and gazelles from Tanzania to Kenya, following the path of the seasonal rains.

The money Nasieku earns from her beads pays for her children’s porridge and books and, when she can manage it, clinic visits – which she often puts off.

But this morning, her fingers are slow. Word has spread about the new luxury hotel rising near Sand River, one of the most important wildlife corridors in the reserve. For her, the development feels like a storm cloud settling over land she depends on but has no power to protect.

“When they block the animals, they block us,” she says in a low voice. “We survive because the world comes to see what lives here.”

‘Climate whiplash’: East Africa caught between floods and drought

Opportunities out of reach

Down the road, 20-year-old Lemayian leans on a crooked fence post. His ambition is to be a wildlife guide – one who can speak about lions, migration cycles and Maasai history in the same breath.

But jobs are thin on the ground now. Conservancies are tightening rules. The land for grazing is shrinking.

“They tell us tourism will give us opportunities. But sometimes I feel like the opportunity is fenced away from us, something we can see but not reach.”

For people like Lemayian, the pace of development can be a double-edged sword, promising prosperity while encroaching on and eventually closing off spaces that his family has depended on for generations.

Jane Goodall, pioneering primatologist and voice for wildlife, dies aged 91

Ole Nkaputie, a herder in his seventies, drives his cattle toward a water point. Each step is deliberate, steady, shaped by a lifetime of reading the land. To him, the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve is not a tourist attraction – it’s memory, livelihood, identity.

“The animals move like we move,” he says, as he watches his cows drink. “When you block their path, you block ours too.”

He remembers when people would assemble under a tree to debate the changes, when the elders spoke and everyone had their say.

‘Fear cannot guide us’

Dr. Meitamei Ole Dapash is a conservationist. His small office is cluttered with maps of wildlife routes and folders full of petitions and legal papers. The weight of responsibility hangs heavily over him.

“This isn’t about stopping tourism,” he says, tapping a map where the Sand River flows. “It’s about stopping harmful tourism – development that ignores the people and the wildlife it claims to celebrate.”

It was Dapash who took the fight to court, challenging the construction of the Ritz-Carlton luxury Masai Mara Safari Camp on the grounds of poor community consultation and suspect environmental review.

The women carrying the burden of Kenya’s rural healthcare on their backs

He has put himself squarely in the crosshairs of powerful interests. The threats have followed – late-night calls, anonymous warnings, intimidation.

“But fear cannot guide us,” he says. “If we lose this land, what will my grandchildren inherit? Photographs of animals that used to roam here?”

When he speaks with communities, he listens more than talks. Women like Nasieku speak of incomes drying up with bad tourist seasons. Young people like Lemayian ask who will hire them when the land they depend on is parcelled off. Elders like Nkaputie warn of a day when cultural erosion will creep in, long before anyone notices it happening.

He walks one afternoon with a group of women to the edge of the river. A herd of zebra hesitates nearby, unsure of the new noise. One woman sucks her teeth in frustration. “This place was for the animals,” she says. “Now it is for the rich.”

The winter rains have made an already precarious life worse for people like Sharafi, who is among the hundreds of thousands in the Palestinian territory displaced by the war, many of whom now survive on aid provided by humanitarian organisations.

“My children are shivering from cold and fear… The tent was completely flooded within minutes,” Sharafi, 47, said on Sunday.

“We lost our blankets, and all the food is soaked,” added the father of six, who lives in a makeshift shelter with his children in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi.

A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in place since 10 October, following two years of devastating fighting.

Thousands of displaced Gazans return home as Israel-Hamas ceasefire takes effect

But despite the truce, Gazans still face a severe humanitarian crisis, and most of those displaced by the war have been left with little or nothing.

Families are crowded into camps of tents hastily erected from tarpaulins, which are often surrounded by mud and standing water when it rains.

“As an elderly woman, I cannot live in tents. Living in tents means we die from the cold in the rain and from the heat in the summer,” said Umm Rami Bulbul.

“We don’t want reconstruction right now, just provide us and our children with mobile homes.”

Nighttime temperatures in Gaza have ranged between eight and 12 degrees Celsius in recent days.

French unions take Israel to court for restricting media access to Gaza

Insufficient aid

Nearly 80 percent of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to United Nations data.

And about 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.

Of more than 300,000 tents requested to shelter displaced people, “we have received only 60,000”, Shawa told AFP, pointing to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory.

‘Recognition brings obligation’: How declaring genocide could reshape war in Gaza

The UN refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said the harsh weather had compounded the misery of Gazans.

“People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents & among ruins,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.

“There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said in mid-December that “close to 310,000 tents and tarpaulins entered the Gaza Strip recently” as part of an increase in aid under the ceasefire.

Earlier this month, Gaza experienced a similar spell of heavy rain and cold.

The weather caused at least 18 deaths due to the collapse of war-damaged buildings or exposure to cold, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority.

On 18 December, the UN’s humanitarian office said that 17 buildings collapsed during the storm, while 42,000 tents and makeshift shelters were fully or partially damaged.”Look at the state of my children and the tent,” said Samia Abu Jabba.

“I sleep in the cold, and water floods us and my children’s clothes. I have no clothes for them to wear. They are freezing,” she said.

“What did the people of Gaza and their children do to deserve this?”

 (AFP)

Alongside their president, Centrafricains are set to elect national, regional and municipal lawmakers.

Touadéra, who oversaw a referendum in July 2023 that scrapped the presidential term limit, allowing him to seek a third term, is the favourite to win of the seven candidates running.

The 68-year-old, a mathematician with an academic background and a former prime minister, came to power in 2016 during a civil war.

Analysts say his lead was aided by civil servants campaigning for him and the significant advantage in terms of resources he enjoys over his opponents.

“The president will win because he has much more financial capacity than the opponents,” said Charles Bouessel of International Crisis Group.

Central African Republic (CAR) has endured repeated cycles of unrest since gaining its independence from France in 1960, leaving most of its 5.5 million people in poverty.

Russian ties

Touadéra’s government has been repeatedly accused of turning to Russia for security in exchange for access to gold and other resources.

In 2018, CAR became the first country in West and Central Africa to bring in Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, a move later mirrored by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

But Russian security has come at a cost. In 2023, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies think tank said Russia had made more than $2.5 billion in African gold through its mercenary missions in CAR, Mali and Sudan.

Touadéra has also launched two cryptocurrency ventures to attract investors, which the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) warned could expose state assets to foreign criminal networks.

He is also seeking investors for a long-discussed railway project linking CAR to Cameroon and Sudan, and has vowed to boost revenue from mining under a new code adopted in 2024. However, illegal mining and criminality remain rampant in CAR. China last month issued a rare warning to its citizens on the risks of kidnapping, extortion and slavery in the sector.

Touadéra’s economic initiatives have brought little relief to a country where two-thirds of people live in extreme poverty, according to 2023 World Bank data.

“We are always promised jobs and schools, but many young people remain unemployed,” said Clarisse, a university student in Bangui.

CAR in talks with US security firm as West eyes Wagner’s ground in Africa

Fragile gains  

In 2022, CAR became the first African nation – and second globally, after El Salvador – to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.

The president has also been touting his infrastructure investment, including the signing of a deal last week to launch Starlink, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service, in CAR.

He claims too to have improved security across the country.

“When I came to power in 2016, you couldn’t travel 10km without being harassed. There was no security, no roads, nothing. We have worked so hard to achieve this result today,” he told supporters this month at a rally in Bangui.

Despite his close ties with Russia, Touadéra has also signalled a renewed interest in Western partnerships, telling the Financial Times in September that he would welcome any country willing to develop CAR’s lithium, uranium and gold reserves.

His supporters see him as a peacemaker, after he struck a controversial 2019 peace accord with 14 armed groups involved in the civil war, essentially bringing warlords into the government in return for the disarming of their militias.

This reduced violence in some regions and helped economic growth rise to around 3 percent, up from 1.9 percent in 2024, according to International Monetary Fund data.

Touadéra says peace deals are proof of progress as CAR readies for election

But analysts warn the gains are fragile: rebels have not fully disarmed, reintegration is incomplete and incursions by combatants from neighbouring Sudan fuel insecurity in the east.

Human Rights Watch has also accused Russian mercenaries of executions and torture. In November, the United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission. 

“There are a lot of ingredients that could lead to a renewed cycle of violence,” said Nathalia Dukhan, Central Africa analyst for GI-TOC. Government and allied forces “have been using fear and terror” to maintain control, she added.

Security remains a top concern for voters. Jean-Claude Kolego, a trader in Bangui, said: “What we want are roads and peace.”

(with Reuters)

The former special forces commander, believed to be in his early 40s, faces eight other candidates in a fragmented field with no strong challenger.

Ousted president Alpha Conde and longtime opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo remain in exile.

Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou, officially launched last month after years of delay.

Doumbouya has claimed credit for pushing the project forward and ensuring Guinea benefits from its output.

His government this year also revoked EGA subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation‘s license after a refinery dispute, transferring its assets to a state-owned firm.

The turn toward resource nationalism – echoed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – has boosted his popularity, as has his youth in a country where the median age is about 19.

“For us young people, Doumbouya represents the opportunity to send the old political class into retirement,” said Mohamed Kaba, a mechanic in Conakry. “There is a lot of corruption right now, but I hope these things will be sorted out.”

Guinea voters back new constitution clearing path for junta leader

Doumbouya expected to entrench power

If elected, Doumbouya “will likely utilise his position to further entrench his power and that of the military over Guinea,” said Benedict Manzin, lead Middle East and Africa analyst at risk consultancy Sibylline.

“In particular he is likely to position his allies and associates to benefit from the expected economic boom associated with the launch of production” at Simandou, Manzin added.

A transition charter adopted after the coup barred junta members from contesting elections. But in September, Guineans overwhelmingly backed a new constitution removing that clause, extending presidential terms to seven years and creating a Senate.

Provisional results showed turnout at 86.42 percent, though opposition figures disputed that.

Opposition activity restricted during the campaign 

Political debate has been muted under Doumbouya. Civil society groups accuse his government of banning protests, curbing press freedom and restricting opposition activity.

The campaign period “has been severely restricted, marked by intimidation of opposition actors, apparently politically motivated enforced disappearances, and constraints on media freedom,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said Friday. These conditions “risk undermining the credibility of the electoral process,” he added.

The government did not respond to a request for comment.

Doumbouya kept a low profile during the campaign, leaving surrogates to make his case.

At a closing rally on Thursday in Conakry, he skipped a speech although he danced with his wife while Congolese star Koffi Olomide performed.

He wore a white baseball cap and track jacket emblazoned with the name of his movement: “Generation for Modernity and Development.”

About 6.7 million people are registered to vote, with provisional results expected within 48 to 72 hours of polls closing.

 (Reuters)

Loving one 

Achraf Hakimi, the sidelined Morocco skipper, publicly said thanks to former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé who was at Morocco’s match with Mali on 26 December. “It is really nice to see my friend here in my country,” beamed Hakimi who played with Mbappé for three seasons at PSG before the Frenchman answered the call of Real Madrid in July 2024. “He really likes Morocco and comes here whenever he can with his family. He loves the food here.” 

Love-in too

Morocco boss Walid Regragui was oozing gratitude too. The 50-year-old was dishing out the compliments to PSG supremo Nasser al Khelaifi for letting Morocco’s medics work with Achraf Hakimi on his return to fitness. “If Achraf is with us, it’s thanks to PSG,” said Regragui. “No other club would have freed him up two weeks before the Cup of Nations. The president is a real gentleman.”  

Mozambique feat

Would you believe it. A day after Benin register a first victory at the Africa Cup of Nations, Mozambique go and pull off the same trick. The Mambas – Benin’s nickname – ended their 39-year wait for glory with a 3-2 defeat of Gabon in Agadir. Before the Group F clash, their win: draw: loss account was 0: 4: 12 since making the first of six appearances at the tournament in 1986. Goals from Faisal Bangal, Geny Catamo and Diogo Calila won the day for Mozambique who, at 102, lie 24 places beneath Gabon in the Fifa world rankings. 

Mozambican feet

All hail one Elias Gaspar Pelembe. At the ripe old footballer’s age of 42, he continues to ply his trade. AKA Domingues, he turned out for Mozambique in their historic win over Gabon in Agadir. The second oldest footballer to play at a Cup of Nations tournament, he neverthless holds the renown of oldest to feature in an outfield position. He was substituted midway through the second-half during the day of history.

Titans neutralise

Kylian Mbappé’s dad hails from Cameroon and so after visiting his mate Achraf in Rabat, the 27-year-old popped in at Marrakesh to see Cameroon play out a 1-1 draw with the defending champions Cote d’Ivoire. The stalemate leaves both outfits on four points at the top of Group F where Mozambique have become a threat. Cameroon and Mozambique will face off on Day 12 for what will be a battle for direct qualification for the second phase. 

The Super Eagles – as they are nicknamed – had soared into a 3-0 lead at the Stade de Fes with goals from Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Ndidi and Ademola Lookman.

But slack marking at a free-kick allowed Montassar Talbi to head in Tunisia’s response after 74 minutes and Ali Abdi thrashed home a penalty on 87 minutes to set up a grandstand finish in front of just over 25,000 mainly Tunisian fans at the arena.

But Nigeria held out through seven minutes of stoppage-time to take the three points, secure top spot in Group C and a place in the last-16 at the 24-team tournament.

“Those final 15 or so minutes will give me nightmares,” Chelle told RFI. “I was going a little bit crazy about what was happening because the players deserved a big game.

“And it was a test against a big team like Tunisia.”

Just before the Cup of Nations in Morocco, Tunisia wrapped up qualification for next year’s World Cup without conceding a goal in their 10 games while Nigeria failed to reach the competition in the United States, Mexico and Canada after finishing second in their qualifying group and then losing at an African mini-tournament for a place at a contest next March offering two places at the World Cup.

Nigeria and Tunisia bosses ignore World Cup fortunes for Cup of Nations clash

Both sides entered the clash on Saturday night on the back of opening day wins. Nigeria laboured to a 2-1 victory over Tanzania while Tunisia cruised past Uganda 3-1.

But it was Nigeria who bossed the opening exchanges. Osimhen should have hit the target after eight minutes when he rose to meet Akor Adams’ cross from the right. Osimhen headed just over a few minutes later from Lookman’s corner from the same flank.

Just before half-time, Osimhen atoned for his inaccuracy when he found a gap between Abdi and Talbi to head in Lookman’s cross from the left past the Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen.

And Tunisia were breached again soon after the restart. Ndidi rose to head in Lookman’s corner. Mid way through the second-half, Osimhen turned from predator to provider. 

Fed the ball by Alex Iwobi, Osimhen drove into the penalty area and took three defenders with him. But rather than shooting, he tapped the ball inside for the unattended Lookman who slotted past Dahmen.

“Tunisia didn’t let in one goal during the World Cup qualifiers,” Chelle said. “Three goals against this team! This is for me a great game. We kept the ball so well during 70 or so minutes.”

DRC coach Desabre targets disciplined approach to counter Senegal threat

The 48-year-old former Mali international added: “We still have to play a game that will bring the confidence and shows our ambitions.

“There’s positives in Tunisia’s comeback,” Chelle insisted. “It shows that there is still something for us to work on and something to improve. It will keep me and my players motivated.”

On Tuesday, in the final Group C game, Nigeria will take on Uganda who drew 1-1 with Tanzania in Rabat while Tunisia will seek redemption against Tanzania.

The vote is the second this year in Kosovo after Kurti’s Vetevendosje party fell short of a majority in February. Months of failed coalition talks prompted President Vjosa Osmani to dissolve parliament in November and call an early election.

Failure to form a government and reopen parliament would prolong the crisis at a critical time. Lawmakers must elect a new president in April and ratify 1 billion euros in loan agreements from the European Union and World Bank that expire in the coming months.

The Balkan country’s opposition parties have refused to govern with Kurti, criticising his handling of ties with Western allies and his approach to Kosovo’s ethnically divided north, where a Serb minority lives. Kurti blames the opposition for the impasse.

To woo voters, Kurti has pledged an additional month of salary per year for public sector workers, one billion euros per year in capital investment and a new prosecution unit to fight organised crime.

Opposition parties have also focused on improving living standards.

“We want the next government to create conditions for the youth to stay here and not leave,” one voter, 58-year-old Rexhep Karakashi, told Reuters in the capital Pristina.

Opinion polls are not published in Kosovo, leaving the outcome uncertain. Many voters say they are disillusioned.

“There wouldn’t be great joy if Kurti wins, nor would there be if the opposition wins. This country needs drastic changes, and I don’t see that change coming,” said Edi Krasiqi, a doctor.

Polls opened at 7am (0600 GMT) and close at 7pm. Exit polls are expected soon after voting ends.

Political crisis hits funding  

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with U.S. backing, including a 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Serbian forces trying to crush an uprising by the 90% ethnic Albanian majority.

Despite international support, the country of 1.6 million has struggled with poverty, instability and organised crime. Kurti’s tenure, which began in 2021, was the first time a Pristina government completed a full term.

Tensions with Serbia flared in 2023, prompting the EU to impose sanctions on Kosovo. The bloc said this month it would lift them after ethnic Serb mayors were elected in northern municipalities, but the measures likely cost Kosovo hundreds of millions of euros.

 (Reuters)

RFI: Why choose the Mobilier National in Paris, France’s national furniture and decorative arts institution, for this exhibition? 

Mayank Mansingh Kaul: I think it’s a perfect venue for this kind of exhibition because what we were really hoping to highlight was how rich and diverse the contemporary practice of textile is today in both countries.  

The historic Gobelins tapestry workshop [a key part of the Mobilier National]… is an example of how that kind of craftsmanship in France is revered, is appreciated, is kept alive at the highest levels of patronage and of aesthetics, as well as interest, and how it is a very important symbol of culture to the country.

It’s extraordinary that when you walk through the galleries of the Gobelins looking at the exhibition, you are quite aware that just behind the galleries are active workshops that are producing furniture and tapestries. 

One teacher’s French love story: ‘It changed my life, it gave me my career’

RFI: What ties link France and India through textiles?

MMK: We’ve known for about 400 years that France and India have both inspired and influenced each other in textiles. 

We have, historically, for instance, very fine handspun and handwoven cotton fabric, which was exported to France, which then became a very important aspect of 18th century and early 19th century French women’s fashion. 

We also know how block-printed and hand-painted, naturally dyed textiles in cotton from India – which were exported and were [all the rage] in France – actually shaped its interiors, and shaped its fashion for a very long period of time. It also led to the establishment of certain kinds of traditions of French print itself. 

It is the same in the case of the famous hand-woven cashmere shawl – the famous cashmere shawl, with its beautiful motif of the paisley – which were exported on the luxury market to France and became important aspects of French fashion and French interiors. 

And in the same way, we know of, for instance, examples of French lace, which has now become a very important part of the Indian repertoire of textiles, which came historically 200-300 years back from France, and became embedded in India’s textile landscape. 

We also know that there has been some exchange and influence between Lyon, the pre-eminent brocade weaving centre in France, and Varanasi in north India, which is one of the most important brocade centres in India. 

One significant way in which brocades from Lyon influenced the Indian brocades from Varanasi was observed in the late 19th century and the early to mid-20th century, when aesthetic movements such as that of the French Art Nouveau and the French Art Deco were very visibly reflected in the designs of Indian brocades. 

The Moroccan women artists harnessing the creative power of crafts

RFI: Today, how do these ties continue to shape cultural exchange?  

MMK: One, of course, is the embroideries and surface embellishments… designed and produced in India for French couture houses, for French brands.  

More recently, we’ve observed artists between the two countries who are working with textiles as a medium taking and giving from each other quite actively.  

[There is also] the Villa Swagatam residency programme [run by the French Institute and the French Embassy in India] which invites artists and designers and creative practitioners from India to residencies in France, and likewise French practitioners to India. 

Recipes for remembrance: artist brings Colombia’s disappeared back to the table

So it’s at the level of design, of visual arts, of contemporary arts, of craftsmanship [and the] deep appreciation that the two countries have for craftsmanship. The two countries innately recognise [each other’s] reverence and appreciation for things handmade and artisanal.  

And I think that overarching sentiment also becomes a great means of understanding and support to practitioners between the two countries.  

---

Ce qui se trame. Histoires tissées entre l’Inde et la France runs until 4 January, 2026 at the Mobilier National in Paris.

The strikes carried out on Thursday were approved by President Bola Tinubu and launched from maritime platforms domiciled in the Gulf of Guinea, after extensive intelligence gathering, operational planning, and reconnaissance, the information ministry said in a statement on Friday.

US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday that US forces had launched a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government. He said the group had been targeting Christians in the region.

“A total of 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were deployed using MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial platforms, successfully neutralising the targeted ISIS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria from the Sahel corridor,” the Nigerian government statement said.

US launches air strikes against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria

Intelligence indicated the camps were being used by foreign ISIS elements working with local affiliates to plan large-scale attacks inside Nigeria, it added. No civilian casualties were reported, although debris fell in two towns in Sokoto and Kwara states.

Trump described the operation as “numerous perfect strikes” and warned there would be “more to come.”

The operation marks a rare joint action between Abuja and Washington and underscores growing security cooperation as Islamist violence spreads south from the Sahel.

Sokoto State authorities confirmed the strikes and urged residents to remain calm. “The ongoing operations are geared towards securing the state and ensuring the protection of lives and property,” the state government said.

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

Nigeria has battled Islamist insurgents for more than a decade, but the presence of foreign fighters linked to ISIS signals an escalation in the threat.

The Nigerian government said it remains “fully committed to the protection of lives and property” and vowed further action against transnational extremist networks.

 (Reuters)

With the campaign for the legislative elections having ended on Christmas Eve, more than 8.7 million voters are called to the ballot box on Saturday.

Given the absence from the running of the African People’s Party (PPA-CI) of former president Laurent Gbagbo, many anticipate a two-horse race between the ruling Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) and the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA), the main opposition.

The PPA-CI has chosen to boycott the vote, arguing that the conditions for free, fair and credible elections have not been met.

The party says the political environment in Côte d’Ivoire has been marked by repression, judicial harassment and restrictions on political freedoms. The boycott is also closely tied to the party’s rejection of the results of the October presidential election results – in which Gbagbo was not allowed to run – which it labelled fraudulent and illegitimate.

Pledges on prisoners

In the Abidjan district of Abobo, one of the country’s most populated municipalities, supporters of RHDP candidate Téné Birahima Ouattara, the country’s current minister of defence, treated residents to a showing of Côte d’Ivoire’s Africa Cup of Nations match against Mozambique – in which the former, the defending champions, claimed a 1-0 victory.

“We visited the various ethnic communities here in Abobo, the different charities and groups,” he told RFI’s correspondent. “Everyone is happy to have us. Everything is going well and we hope for a very large turnout.”

PDCI candidate Jean-François Dibi – supported by the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) – opted for a meeting with Baoulé traditional chiefs.

He pledged that, if victorious, he would introduce a general amnesty law for “prisoners of conscience” – referring to the opposition supporters and activists arrested and jailed in the run‑up to and aftermath of the October presidential election.

“By having a majority in the National Assembly, we will be able to obtain this general amnesty law to release all those who are in prison,” he said. “And we will give ourselves the means to pass this law so that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Six parliamentary seats are up for grabs in Abobo, where the electorate is estimated at more than 438,000 people – but where only 42 percent of registered voters turned out in October.

Ouattara wins landslide fourth term as Côte d’Ivoire president

Tidjane Thiam’s opposition PDCI-RDA on Thursday claimed there had been incidents of electoral fraud in a central district of the country – including the illegal collection of personal data, and the promises of money and motorcycles.

The party said in a statement it believes the objective is “to organise massive electoral fraud in favour of the RHDP candidate”.

The PDCI also raised the disappearance of more than 25,000 voter cards in the Port-Bouët district – although the president of the Independent Electoral Commission insisted: “There is no cause for concern.”

Beyond the binary

Alongside the traditional political parties, there are numerous independent candidates in the running. Among them is 34-year-old Zakaria Koné, who says he has been focusing primarily on direct contact with voters.

“We are more focused on door-to-door campaigning. We talk to the people, we engage [with] them on their [daily] realities and we ask them to choose progress and change, so that Abobo can escape this precarious situation,” he told RFI.

Young voters in Côte d’Ivoire want jobs, change – but most of all, peace

The new ADCI party – full name: “Today and Tomorrow Côte d’Ivoire” – hopes to embody a third way.

Led by Tiémoko Assalé, barely 18 months after its creation it is represented in 38 constituencies, and is aiming to secure a parliamentary group. But raising its profile wasn’t easy.

In Abidjan’s heavily populated district of Cocody, the party’s candidates organised a tour. Serge Djibré is their lead candidate there. “People have their own lives – they have trouble sitting down to listen to political debates, so we need to go to them,” he told RFI.

Fourteen lists are competing in Cocody, but a duel between the PDCI and the RHDP is expected – which could reflect the outcome at a national level.

Djibré believes the ADCI has got closer to the voters than other parties, saying: “We distinguish ourselves from traditional parties with a new approach based on accountability to our voters, but above all the closeness we demonstrate in our campaign.”

But many locals remain sceptical.

“It doesn’t really mean much to me,” one woman told our correspondent. “It’s a new party we don’t know about,” said another passerby. “I didn’t really pay attention to what they were saying,” a third confessed.

This article has been partially adapted from this report by RFI’s correspondent in Abidjan, Abdoul Aziz Diallo.

It was the third time Senegal and the DRC had clashed in 18 months following two meetings during qualifiers for next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Senegal won four of the six points up for grabs in those encounters.

And Senegal enjoyed the lion’s share of the chances in the first-half at the Stade Ibn-Batouta.

Bayern Munich striker Nicolas Jackson stabbed the ball wide after good work down the left from Sadio Mane and the DRC goalkeeper Lionel Nzau Mpasi got down swiftly to parry away Pape Gueye’s long-range effort.

But it was the DRC who opened the scoring on the hour mark when Cedric Bakambu prodded home from close range.

Ten minutes later, Mané levelled and his side drove on in search of the winner.

Both defences held firm for a result that leaves Senegal top on goal difference on four points ahead of the DRC.

Five things we learned on Day 5: Football, footballers and amnesia

Benin boast three points after Yohan Roche’s first-half strike furnished a team from the country with its first win in the group stages at a Cup of Nations tournament in five visits.

“This victory is important to us because it gives us a chance to qualify for the next round,” said Benin boss Gernot Rohr.

“We proved today that we have have progressed defensively,” added the 72-year-old German.

“We didn’t concede many opportunities and we recovered well, especially on the offence.”

The strike was redemption for Roche who was at fault when Benin conceded a goal in the opening day defeat to the DRC on Tuesday. 

Nigeria vs Tanzania preview

“I am happy for Yohan,” added Rohr after the match at the Stade Moulay Abdellah Annex in Rabat.

“He has recovered from that mistake against the DRC and in the next game he’s man-of-the-match.”

Rohr’s Botswana counterpart, Morena Ramoreboli, rued his side’s lack of precision.

“In the first 45 minutes, we got one opportunity which I think we should have buried and unfortunately from very same opportunity, we conceded the other side.

Morocco boss Regragui warns players to expect Mali reaction at Cup of Nations

“It is unfortunate that this is a game of football that works on who scored more goals and who made more mistakes and in this situation we made one mistake which resulted in us conceding a goal.”

On Saturday evening in Rabat, Tanzania and Uganda stage an East African derby to relaunch their Cup of Nations campaigns.

Both sides lost their respective opening games to Nigeria and Tunisia who play on Saturday night in Fez.

A total of 6.8 million people in the west African nation are eligible to vote Sunday, choosing between nine candidates, including 41-year-old Doumbouya, who is running as an independent.

The vote is unlikely to deliver any surprises. Despite his initial promise to return power to civilians when he took power in a military coup in 2021, Doumbouya is running for president – in an election with all the main opposition barred.

In the capital Conakry, the junta leader appeared in public on Thursday evening to cheers from several hundred of his supporters.

What we know about Guinea coup leader and war master Mamady Doumbouya

Dressed in sportswear, he danced to music, accompanied by tight security provided by the Special Forces, his former unit.

Earlier, Amadou Oury Bah, his campaign manager and the country’s prime minister, addressed the crowd, asking them to vote overwhelmingly for Doumbouya to allow him to “fulfill a constitutional mandate that will meet your expectations and needs”.

Guinea votes on new constitution as junta leader eyes presidency

Opposition excluded

Guinea’s opposition is calling for a boycott of the vote, which follows a tenure marked by repression, imprisonment, and disappearances of vocal opponents.

Doumbouya’s election rivals are relative unknowns since all the main opposition figures were excluded.

One of the opposition candidates running from the Democratic Front of Guinea (FRONDEG), Abdoulaye Yero Balde, also held a rally in the capital where he called on voters to support him so “the future that lies before us will be the best we have had after 67 years of independence”.

Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties, and the junta has banned protests since 2022. Many opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven to exile.

Since its independence from France in 1958, Guinea has had a complex history of military and authoritarian rule, including multiple military interventions.

In 2010, it voted in its first free and fair elections since independence.

But the military coup in 2021 destabilised the country’s democratic trajectory, and led to suspensions from the African Union and sanctions from the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) bloc.

Axis Minerals, casualty of Guinea mining purge, demands $1bn damages

Guinea holds one of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore and is the leading exporter of bauxite – a key component of aluminium. But more than half of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures for 2024.

(with AFP)

The six people freed were close associates of Domingos Simoes Pereira, head of the PAIGC party that led Guinea-Bissau to independence from Portugal in 1974.

Pereira has been in custody since the coup.

“The release on Tuesday of six opposition figures from detention in Guinea Bissau is an encouraging step,” UN Human Rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.

“More needs to be done,” he added.

“The authorities must put an end to all arbitrary detentions and all forms of intimidation, including physical attacks on human rights defenders and restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.” 

Gunmen storm party headquarters as military cements power in Guinea-Bissau

The army seized power on 26 November after ousting outgoing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo in the wake of a presidential vote.

The military suspended the electoral process and announced it was taking control of the west African country for a period of one year.

“Our office was granted access to four individuals in detention last week, which is an important step,” said Kheetan.

“However, the families of a number of others detained still have no information on their fate, whereabouts or charges against them. This may amount to enforced disappearance.

“We call on responsible actors to ensure that all those detained for the exercise of their human rights are released immediately and unconditionally.”

Guinea Bissau heads to the polls amid controversy over barred opposition

Before November’s coup, Guinea-Bissau had already undergone four military takeovers and a litany of attempted insurrections since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.

 (AFP)

Hello everyone!

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear a “My Ordinary Hero” essay by listener Rasheed Naz from Faisal Abad, Pakistan.  I hope you’ll be inspired to write an essay for us, too!

If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from The Sound Kitchen. Write in about your “ordinary” heroes – the people in your community who are doing extraordinarily good work, quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. As listener Pramod Maheshwari said: “Just as small drops of water can fill a pitcher, small drops of kindness can change the world.”

I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write about a book that changed your perspective on life, a person who you admire, festivals in your community, your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement. If your essay is chosen to go on-the-air – read by you – you’ll win a special prize!

Send your essays to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Or by postal mail, to:

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Here’s Rashid Naz’s essay:

Heroes are not always found in stories or movies. Sometimes they live among us, quietly working to make our world a better place. My “ordinary” hero is a community leader in our town, someone who has taught me that real heroism comes from serving others with kindness and courage.

Our community leader, Mr. Ahmed, is not rich or powerful, but he has a heart full of compassion. He organizes clean up drives, helps poor families, and encourages young people to stay in school. Whenever there is a problem – a sick neighbor, a broken road, or a family in need – he is the first to step forward. His actions remind us that small efforts can bring big changes.

What I admire most about him is his humility. He never seeks fame or reward. When people thank him, he simply says, “We are all responsible for our community.” Those words inspire me. He believes that leadership means service, not authority, and he proves it every day through his actions.

To many people, he might seem like an ordinary man. But to me, he is a true hero – a symbol of dedication, honesty, and hope. Because of him, I’ve learned that anyone can be a hero, not by wearing a cape, but by using their heart to make a difference.

That is why my “ordinary” hero is our community leader Mr Ahmed, a man whose quiet strength and selfless service continue to inspire us all.

 

 

Be sure and tune in next week for our annual New Year’s Resolutions program! Talk to you then!

Trump is due to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 29 December in Florida.

The meeting is the latest attempt to revive the Gaza plan, which aims to move from a ceasefire towards the creation of a new governing arrangement in Gaza, the deployment of an international force and the disarmament of Hamas.

On Friday, Turkish and Egyptian officials met their US counterparts in Miami.

With a ceasefire in place in Gaza, Washington is pushing the next phase of its plan, which would include Turkish troops in an International Stabilisation Force.

From Washington’s perspective, Turkey’s involvement is considered essential to the plan, said Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution.

Turkey and Iran unite against Israel as regional power dynamics shift

Israeli objections

Hamas disarmament depends on the creation of a new Palestinian governing entity and the presence of international peacekeepers, with Turkey acting as a guarantor, Aydintasbas said.

“Without Turkey in this process, decommissioning Hamas weapons would not occur. That is implicit in the agreement.”

Turkey’s close ties with Hamas are well known, with senior Hamas figures reportedly hosted in Turkey. While Turkey’s Western allies label Hamas a terrorist group, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said its members are liberation fighters.

Trump has publicly thanked Ankara for using its influence to encourage Hamas to accept the peace plan.

Israel opposes any Turkish military presence in Gaza, fearing Turkey would support Hamas rather than disarm it.

Israel is also concerned about cyber attacks attributed to Hamas operating from Turkish territory and doubts Turkey would act in Israel’s interests, said Gallia Lindenstrauss, a Turkey analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“There’s a risk of an accident between Israeli and Turkish forces, given the already high tensions and suspicions. It’s hard to see a positive outcome,” she said.

Israel has struggled to persuade Trump to back its position. “The US has its own priorities, and is receptive to Ankara due to strong Trump-Erdogan relations,” Lindenstrauss added.

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

Turkey’s position

Erdogan, who has cultivated close ties with Trump, has said Turkey is ready to send soldiers to Gaza. Reports have claimed Turkey has a brigade on standby for deployment.

Turkey’s relationship with Hamas is a “double-edged sword”, said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, head of the German Marshall Fund office in Ankara. From Israel’s point of view, Turkey is too close to Hamas, but “if you want to contribute to disarming them, dialogue is needed”.

Any Gaza mission would be risky, but the Turkish army has decades of experience, Unluhisarcikli said. “It has a proven track record in terms of post-conflict stabilisation from the Balkans to Afghanistan. They have proven they can operate in such environments.”

Despite strained diplomatic ties, the Turkish and Israeli militaries still maintain open communication. The two countries operate a hotline to avoid clashes between their air forces over Syria, demonstrating continued military coordination despite political tensions.

Turkey warns Kurdish-led fighters in Syria to join new regime or face attack

Regional doubts

Egypt and Saudi Arabia distrust Turkey’s ties with Hamas and question its intentions in Gaza, Unluhisarcikli said, with concerns that echo memories of Ottoman-era rule.

On Monday, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack met Netanyahu in an effort to ease Israeli concerns. However, prospects for a breakthrough are likely to depend on this month’s meeting between Netanyahu and Trump.

Incentives may be offered to encourage Israel to accept Turkey’s role, but the issue is unlikely to be resolved that way, said Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution.

“Because this is such a fundamental and existential issue for Israel, I don’t think incentives will work,” she said.

“As to whether or not Trump would go so far as to withhold military or financial aid, it would be very unlikely. Rather, it may just let this situation sort of fester. I don’t think the Americans have a clear plan to push forward if the answer from Netanyahu is to say no.”

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas!

This is Alberto Rios’ poem, which you heard him read on the programme.

Christmas on the Border, 1929

1929, the early days of the Great Depression.

The desert air was biting, but the spirit of the season was alive.

Despite hard times, the town of Nogales, Arizona, determined

They would host a grand Christmas party

For the children in the area—a celebration that would defy

The gloom of the year, the headlines in the paper, and winter itself.

In the heart of town, a towering Christmas tree stood,

A pine in the desert.

Its branches, they promised, would be adorned

With over 3,000 gifts. 3,000.

The thought at first was to illuminate the tree like at home,

With candles, but it was already a little dry.

Needles were beginning to contemplate jumping.

A finger along a branch made them all fall off.

People brought candles anyway. The church sent over

Some used ones, too. The grocery store sent

Some paper bags, which settled things.

Everyone knew what to do.

They filled the bags with sand from the fire station,

Put the candles in them, making a big pool of lighted luminarias.

From a distance the tree was floating in a lake of light—

Fire so normally a terror in the desert, but here so close to miracle.

For the tree itself, people brought garlands from home, garlands

Made of everything, walnuts and small gourds and flowers,

Chilies, too—the chilies themselves looking

A little like flames.

The townspeople strung them all over the beast—

It kept getting bigger, after all, with each new addition,

This curious donkey whose burden was joy.

At the end, the final touch was tinsel, tinsel everywhere, more tinsel.

Children from nearby communities were invited, and so were those

From across the border, in Nogales, Sonora, a stone’s throw away.

But there was a problem. The border.

As the festive day approached, it became painfully clear—

The children in Nogales, Sonora, would not be able to cross over.

They were, quite literally, on the wrong side of Christmas.

Determined to find a solution, the people of Nogales, Arizona,

Collaborated with Mexican authorities on the other side.

In a gesture as generous as it was bold, as happy as it was cold:

On Christmas Eve, 1929,

For a few transcendent hours,

The border moved.

Officials shifted it north, past city hall, in this way bringing

The Christmas tree within reach of children from both towns.

On Christmas Day, thousands of children—

American and Mexican, Indigenous and orphaned—

Gathered around the tree, hands outstretched,

Eyes wide, with shouting and singing both.

Gifts were passed out, candy canes were licked,

And for one day, there was no border.

When the last present had been handed out,

When the last child returned home,

The border resumed its usual place,

Separating the two towns once again.

For those few hours, however, the line in the sand disappeared.

The only thing that mattered was Christmas.

Newspapers reported no incidents that day, nothing beyond

The running of children, their pockets stuffed with candy and toys,

Milling people on both sides,

The music of so many peppermint candies being unwrapped.

On that chilly December day, the people of Nogales

Gathered and did what seemed impossible:

However quietly regarding the outside world,

They simply redrew the border.

In doing so, they brought a little more warmth to the desert winter.

On the border, on this day, they had a problem and they solved it.

 

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The traditional “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” sung by the Gracias Choir conducted by Eunsook Park, and “Santa Claus Llego A La Ciudad” by J.Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, sung by Luis Miguel.

Be sure and tune in next week, 27 December, for a “My Ordinary Hero” essay by your fellow listener Rasheed Naz.     

As France marks 200 years since Louis Braille invented his system of raised dots allowing blind people to read by touch, we visit the country’s only remaining Braille printing house. At the CTEB in Toulouse, a team of 12 staff and mainly blind volunteers transcribe more than 200 books each year for both adults and children, along with bank statements, brochures and other documents. Despite extremely high production costs, the centre sells its books at the same price as the originals to ensure equal access. Now deeply in debt, it’s calling for state aid to survive – arguing that, even in the age of digital Braille and audio books, turning a page is important in learning to read. (Listen @3’15”)

Scientists are increasingly convinced that the trillions of bacteria living in the human digestive system also contribute to health and wellbeing. Le French Gut is a large-scale study intended to track the connection between the microbiome and disease. Launched in 2023, it aims to recruit 100,000 French participants, to contribute samples and fill out health and diet questionnaires. Now the scientists are looking to get more children on board. Project director Patrick Vega shows the lab and biobank where the bacteria are being analysed, and talks about the discoveries in the gut that could help predict or even cure diseases. (Listen @21’20”)

Seventeenth-century French midwife Louise Bourgeois, the first woman in Europe to publish a medical book, was a pioneer in women’s health at a time when only men were allowed to be doctors and women delivered babies according to tradition, not science. (Listen @14’45”)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

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

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, hosted in Tehran by his Iranian counterpart Abbad Aragchi, declared that both countries see “Israel as the biggest threat to stability in the Middle East”, because of its “expansionist policies”.

Ankara is increasingly angry over Israel’s military operations in Syria, which it considers a threat to security. Syria‘s new regime is a close Turkish ally.

With the Iranian-backed Syrian regime overthrown and Iran’s diminishing influence in the Caucasus, another region of competition with Turkey, Tehran is viewed by Ankara as less of a threat

“Ankara sees that Tehran’s wings are clipped, and I’m sure that it is also very happy that Tehran’s wings are clipped”, international relations expert Soli Ozel told RFI.

Ozel predicts that diminished Iranian power is opening the door for more cooperation with Turkey.

Cooperation

“Competition and cooperation really define the relations. Now that Iran is weaker, the relationship is more balanced. But there are limits, driven by America’s approach to Iran”, said Ozel.

Murat Aslan of SETA, the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, a Turkish pro-government think tank, points out that changing dynamics inside Iran also give an impetus to Turkish diplomatic efforts towards Tehran.

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

“Iran is trying to build a new landscape in which they can communicate with the West, but under the conditions they have identified”, observes Aslan.

“In this sense, Turkey may contribute. So that’s why Turkey is negotiating or communicating with Iran just to find the terms of a probable common consensus.”

However, warming relations between Turkey and Iran are not viewed in a favourable light by Israel, whose ministers have in turn accused Turkey of being Israel’s biggest threat.

Tensions are rising over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s strong support of Hamas, which Ankara’s Western allies have designated as a terrorist organisation.

“Obviously, Israel does not want to see Iranian and Turkish relations warm as Israel sees Iran as an existential threat and hence anything that helps Iran is problematic from Israel’s perspective”, warns Turkey analyst Gallia Lindenstrauss at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Turkey warns Kurdish-led fighters in Syria to join new regime or face attack

This month, Israeli security forces accused Hamas of operating a major financial operation in Turkey under Iranian supervision. Many of Hamas’ senior members are believed to reside in Istanbul.

American ally

Israeli concerns over Turkey’s improving Iranian ties will likely be exacerbated with Turkish officials confirming that a visit by President Erdogan to Iran has been “agreed in principle”.

Ankara also has a delicate balancing act to make sure its Iranian dealings don’t risk antagonising its American ally, given ongoing tensions between Tehran and Washington.

Good relations with Washington are vital to Ankara as it looks to US President Donald Trump to help ease tensions with Israel. “For Israel, the United States shapes the environment right now”, observes Aslan.

“The Turkish preference is to have an intelligence diplomacy with Israelis, not to have an emerging conflict, but rely on the American mediation and facilitation to calm down the situation”, added Aslan.

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.

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 counselled 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 8 November, I asked you a question about an article sent to us by RFI English correspondent Michael Sarpong Mfum, who reports for us from Ghana. His article, “Invasive water hyacinths choke wildlife and livelihoods in southern Ghana”, is about the water hyacinth, a free-floating aquatic plant native to the Amazon River basin in South America. It’s also one of the world’s most invasive species.

The water hyacinth has found its way to Ghana, notably Lake Volta, a vast reservoir behind a hydroelectric dam that generates much of the country’s power.

Your question was: What are the consequences for Ghana’s Eastern and Volta regions from this hyacinth invasion? What did Jewel Kudjawu, the director of the EPA’s Intersectoral Network Department, warn about?

The answer is, to quote Michael’s article: “Jewel Kudjawu, director of the EPA’s Intersectoral Network Department, warned that the weed’s uncontrolled growth has dire consequences for aquatic life, fishing communities and hydropower production.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: What was the best week of your life?

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State, India. Radhakrishna is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Radhakrishna.

Be sure and look at The Sound Kitchen and the RFI English Listeners Forum Facebook pages to see the stamps from Bhutan with Radhakrishna’s picture!

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Debjani Biswas, a member of the RFI Pariwar Bandhu SWL Club in Chhattisgarh, India, and RFI Listeners Club member Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh. Rounding out the list are RFI English listeners Shihabur Rahaman Sadman from Naogaon, Bangladesh, and Bashir Ahmad, a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frederick Handel, performed by Le Concert des Nations conducted by Jordi Savall; “Igbo Highlife”, produced by Mr. Zion; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Lança Perfume” by Roberto de Carvalho and Rita Lee, sung by Rita Lee.

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 Jan van der Made’s article “EU Council president rejects political influence in US security plan”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 26 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 31 January 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. 

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.