The African Union said in a statement it would be “following with grave concern the recent developments in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, including reports of the abduction of the President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro, and military attacks on Venezuelan institutions.”

It also reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to the fundamental principles of international law, including respect for the sovereignty of States, their territorial integrity, and the right of peoples to self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

In a statement released Sunday evening, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) denounced the situation without directly attacking the United States.

It wrote that it “recognises the right of states to combat international crimes, including terrorism and drug trafficking,” arguments invoked by US President Donald Trump to justify the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president, but reminded “the international community of its obligation to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each member state”.

Ecowas echoed the African Union‘s call for “inclusive political dialogue among Venezuelans themselves.”

The UN Security Council has said it will hold an emergency session on Monday at Venezuela’s request. 

Individually, heads of states and foreign ministers also reacted to show support to Venezuelans and their right to sovereignty.

Clear violation of the UN Charter

South Africa took a firm stance, with Pretoria pointing to a clear violation of the UN Charter.

“History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states only produce instability and exacerbate crises,” the government said, adding that “the illegal and unilateral use of force […] undermines the stability of the international order.”

South Africa has reiterated that international law does not authorise external military intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. It calls on the Security Council to convene urgently alongside Venezuela.

Namibia took a similarly firm line, expressing its “deep shock” at the “violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law,” and reaffirming its “solidarity” with Venezuela, based on “a shared history of anti-colonial struggle for self-determination and independence.” Namibia added it supports all multilateral initiatives to ensure respect for international law and the sovereignty of nations.

How has France reacted to the toppling of Venezuela’s Maduro by the US?

Ghana expressed its “strong reservations against the unilateral use of force” and condemned the statements by Trump, after he announced that the United States intended to govern Venezuela and exploit its oil during a transitional period.

These statements are reminiscent of “the colonial and imperialist era,” Accra declared. “They set a dangerous precedent for the world order. Such colonial ambitions have no place in the post-World War II era.” Ghana advocates for “immediate de-escalation and the release of President Maduro and his wife.”

Chad’s Foreign Minister indicated that he had spoken with his Venezuelan counterpart on Saturday, before expressing “Chad’s commitment to respecting international law, on which the existence of a just world order depends” and “the importance of preserving the peace, stability and territorial integrity of Venezuela”.

Rejection of foreign interference

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Gilles said he has held numerous discussions with African leaders, and had received messages of solidarity from Namibia, Burkina Faso and Liberia, whose foreign minister assured that her country, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, will demand action and condemnation of the 3 January attacks.

Caracas also said it has spoken with the foreign ministers of Chad, Angola, Niger, and The Gambia, who are committed to respecting the UN Charter and rejecting any foreign interference.

So far there hav been no official statement  from the Sahel authorities of Mali, Niger, or Burkina Faso. The Malian, Nigerien and Burkinabe juntas maintain excellent relations with the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

When questioned by RFI’s regional correspondent Serge Daniel, a Nigerien official responded: “We are consulting with each other because, in matters of foreign policy, the AES countries speak with one voice.”

Daniel added that observers believe that the three countries are currently playing it safe in the face of this new situation, since Trump recently stated: “What happened to Maduro could happen to others.”

A Paris court on Monday sentenced 10 people accused of cyber-bullying President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte by spreading false information about her gender and insinuations related to the age difference between France’s first couple.

The relationship between Emmanuel Macron, 48, and Brigitte, 72, who met while she was a drama teacher at his school, has been the subject of intense interest since he became president in 2017.

Eight defendants were handed suspended sentences of four to eight months in prison while a ninth man was sentenced to six months in prison over his absence from the hearing.

Presiding judge Thierry Donard described the claims of the French first lady’s “alleged paedophilia” as “malicious, degrading and insulting”, saying the defendants had received sentences for “intentionally harming the complainant”.

They and a tenth person were ordered to follow a course against hate speech online, to be paid at their own expense.

Three individuals considered to be the key instigators online also had their social media accounts suspended for six months.

Harm to health

“The most important things are the prevention courses and the suspension of some of the accounts” of the perpetrators, said Jean Ennochi, Brigitte Macron’s lawyer, after the verdict was handed down.

Brigitte Macron herself did not appear at the trial hearings in October but told investigators after filing her complaint that the claim she is a transgender woman has “strongly affected” her and her loved ones.

In recent years, scrutiny of the couple’s relationship has extended to the widespread publication of false information that they have resolved not to ignore and instead combat in court.

Did French media silence enable Brigitte Macron fake news story to go viral?

The couple filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing US podcaster Candace Owens, who falsely claimed Brigitte Macron used to be a man.

Tiphaine Auziere, 41, Brigitte Macron‘s younger daughter from her first marriage, told the trial in rare public comments that the unsubstantiated claims had harmed her mother’s health.

“She’s constantly having to pay attention to what she wears, how she holds herself because she knows that her image can be distorted,” she said.

Prosecutors sought the heaviest sentence against Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, 41, a commentator known on social media as “Zoe Sagan” and often linked to conspiracy theory circles.

He was handed an eight-month suspended sentence and a six-month suspension of his social media accounts.

In court in October, he defended his right to what he called “satire”.

Another of the most prominent defendants, gallery owner Bertrand Scholler, 56, said that the trial was targeting his “freedom to think” faced with the “media deep state”.

The court sentenced Scholler to a six-month suspended sentence and an immediate suspension of his social media accounts for six months.

Conspiracy circles

Also on trial was a woman already the subject of a libel complaint filed by Brigitte Macron in 2022: Delphine Jegousse, 51, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium who goes by the pseudonym Amandine Roy.

The court sentenced Jegousse to a six-month suspended jail term and the suspension of her online accounts, also for half a year.

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

While these three defendants are regarded as the main instigators of spreading the false information, the other seven were presented by prosecutors as “followers” who had “let themselves go” from “their sofa”, some having simply shared or liked a few posts.

Emerging as early as Macron’s election in 2017, the claims have been amplified by far-right and conspiracy theorist circles in France and in the United States, where transgender rights have become a hot-button issue at the heart of US culture wars.

In the case against Candace Owens, who produced a series titled “Becoming Brigitte”, the Macrons are planning to offer “scientific” evidence and photos proving that the first lady is not transgender, according to their US lawyer.

Several of those on trial in Paris shared posts from the US influencer.

(with AFP)

Staff at the Louvre voted for another day of strike action on Monday, union representatives told French news agency AFP in Paris, causing fresh disruption at the world’s most-visited museum.

Disgruntled staff stopped work for three days last month, causing a complete shutdown on one day and partial closures on two others.

Management told AFP that the tourist hotspot would partially open on Monday, with visitors able to view rooms containing masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo.

Other parts of the 400-room institution would be closed to the public.

More than two months after an embarrassing daylight heist which has heaped pressure on Louvre bosses, staff are calling for more recruitment and better maintenance of the vast complex of buildings.

“Around 350 people from various professions — operations, conservation, support staff — voted unanimously” to resume strike action on Monday morning, Valerie Baud from the CFDT union told AFP.

The CGT union confirmed the vote on its Instagram account.

The Louvre workforce totals over 2,000 people.

French auditors slam Louvre bosses over lavish spending, weak security

Questions continue to swirl since the 19 October break-in over whether it was avoidable and why thieves were able to steal crown jewels worth more than $100 million.

Two intruders used a truck-mounted extendable platform to access a gallery containing the jewels, slicing through a glass door with disk-cutters in front of startled visitors before stealing eight priceless items.

As well as the robbery, two other recent incidents have highlighted maintenance problems inside the building which chief architect Francois Chatillon has described as “not in a good state”.

A water leak in November damaged hundreds of books and manuscripts in the Egyptian department, while management had to shut a gallery housing ancient Greek ceramics in October because ceiling beams above it risk giving way.

(with AFP)

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded bluntly on Sunday after Trump said he “absolutely” needed Greenland for US national security.

Calling Denmark a “historically close ally”, she warned Washington against questioning the territorial integrity of a NATO partner and stressed that Greenland “is not for sale”.

“I have to say this very clearly to the United States: it is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland,” Frederiksen said in a statement late Sunday.

She called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally”.

Greenland’s leaders went further, describing Trump’s language as disrespectful and disconnected from reality.

Meanwhile, France on Monday expressed its “solidarity” with Denmark with French foreign ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux saying that “borders cannot be changed by force. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the Danes, and it is up to them to decide what to do with it.”

EU backs Denmark’s territorial integrity after Trump appoints Greenland envoy

It’s not the first time that the US has tried to take over Danish territory.

In March 1917, the United States purchased the Caribbean islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John and (formerly French colony) Saint Croix, known as the “Danish West Indies,” from Denmark for $25 million in gold. The territory is now known as the “US Virgin Islands.”

The deal was the product of half a century of failed negotiations, finally concluded under the pressure of the First World War.

With the Panama Canal opening in 1914, US officials were determined to secure Caribbean sea lanes. They feared that Germany might seize the Danish islands, located just east of Puerto Rico, and use them as naval bases, threatening American shipping and hemispheric security.

For Denmark, the colonies had long ceased to be profitable. The abolition of slavery in 1848 had undermined the sugar economy, and the islands had become a financial and administrative burden.

Previous attempts to sell them had failed – blocked first by the US Senate in 1867, then by the Danish parliament in 1902 – despite strong local support for American rule.

US recognised Danish sovereignty over Greenland

In 1916 the balance of power changed. As war engulfed Europe, US diplomats made it clear that not acquiring the Danish islands carried risks.

Secretary of State Robert Lansing warned that Washington might occupy the islands to prevent German use if Denmark did not agree to sell. Neutral and vulnerable, Copenhagen conceded.

Surprise win for Greenland’s opposition in election dominated by Trump threats

The transaction, finalised on 31 March 1917, is still marked as “Transfer Day” in the US Virgin Islands.

But there was a parallel diplomatic bargain: the United States formally “recognised Denmark’s right to extend its political and economic interests over the entirety of Greenland.”

This declaration, signed by then Secretary of State Robert Lansing, was part of the Convention between the US and Denmark for cession of the Danish West Indies and helped secure Denmark’s sovereignty over the Arctic island for more than a century.

But with the onset of the Cold War, policy makers in Washington realised the strategic importance of Greenland, and continued their attempts to acquire the island.

In 1946, then President Harry Truman’s administration made a secret offer to purchase Greenland from Denmark for $100 million in gold, plus rights to an Alaskan oil field. Secretary of State James Byrnes presented the offer to Danish Foreign Minister Gustav Rasmussen on 14 December 1946.

Truman’s advisers saw Greenland as an essential strategic defence position against Soviet bombers that might fly over the Arctic Circle toward North America.

The Danish foreign minister was shocked by the proposal and rejected it, but ultimately the US gained access to Greenland through NATO membership in 1949 and a bilateral defence agreement (that specifically stated the “full respect for the sovereignty of each Party”) without the need to purchase it.

The offer was revealed in 1991 when declassified documents were discovered.

In 1955, the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed to President Eisenhower that the nation try again to purchase Greenland, but the State Department responded that the time had passed for such a plan.

According to diplomatic documents preserved in the US National Archives, there were discussions about acquiring Greenland took place on multiple occasions: in 1867, 1910, 1946, 1955, 2019 (under Trump I), and now 2025.

But the political context has fundamentally changed since 1917. Denmark is no longer an exposed neutral state but a NATO member embedded in European security structures.

Greenland itself enjoys extensive self-rule, with control over domestic affairs and a growing sense of national identity rooted in a history of Danish colonial domination.

Public opinion reflects that shift. An Axios poll taken in June 2025 revealed that some 85 percent of Greenlanders “don’t want to join the US.” Other polls consistently show similar opposition to US avances. Greenland’s leaders have rejected Trump’s comments outright, insisting that the island’s future can only be decided by its own population.

The National Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime (Pnaco), which was established by the anti-narcotics law adopted in June, gives investigators additional tools.

These include the ability to remotely activate mobile phones for surveillance, and investigators are allowed to keep certain details and investigation techniques from being disclosed from suspects using a so-called “sealed file”.

Preventing drug, human trafficking

Prosecutor Vanessa Perrée said these new methods are needed because organised crime involves “extremely dangerous individuals” who “undermine social order”.

“Like jihadist groups, traffickers increasingly recruit young minors via social media,” she told the French news agency AFP at the launch of the Pnaco, adding that they are lured by “derisory sums of money to take a human life”.

The new prosecutor’s office will initially take over 170 cases that include drug trafficking, human trafficking, pimping and armed robbery.

It will take over investigations into the 2024 prison escape of drug trafficker Mohamed Amra, in which two prison officers were killed, as well as the deadly shipwreck in the English Channel in 2021 that claimed the lives of 31 migrants and a series of kidnappings in 2025 linked to cryptocurrencies.

More resources

These cases had previously been handled by the National jurisdiction for the fight against organised crime, which was created in 2019 with the same aims.

The Pnaco benefits from closer cooperation with local prosecutors and increased resources, including sixteen magistrates – six specialising in organised crime and six in financial crime. Another ten magistrates are due to join in September.

Lawyers have raised concerns about how the new measures could infringe defendants’ rights. But Perrée said they are all are lawful and subject to judicial oversight.

“We operate within the rule of law,” she said, stressing that all procedures must be authorised by a judge.

“Yes, custody periods are longer and we use special investigative techniques, but they are proportionate to the stakes, the resources involved and the danger of these traffickers.”

What France can learn from Italy’s fight against organised crime

Follow the money

One of the central challenges is money. Drug trafficking in France involves an estimated €6 billion a year, and tracking financial flows is essential, particularly given the risk of corruption.

“We have seen cases involving court clerks and prison officers,” Perrée noted.

Organised crime is increasingly transnational, underlining the importance of closer cooperation with other countries.

“We still have a lot of work to do with the Emirates,” Perrée said, particularly when it comes to tracing “cash and crypto-funded property purchases”.

She also highlighted the “necessary cooperation with countries in the Maghreb”, with the aim of making the Pnaco France’s “single point of contact” internationally for these complex cases.

(with AFP)

The Al-Ahly midfielder hit the opener in the 70th minute with a sumptuous side-footed swerving strike from just outside the penalty area.

But Hossam Hassan’s charges were pulled back seven minutes from time.

Junior Olaitan’s cross from the right wing took a heavy deflection off Ahmed Fatouh and towards the net. Though the Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy managed to reel back and palm the ball away from the line, Jodel Dossou stabbed it home.

It was no more than Benin deserved for their resistance against a side some 60 places above them in the Fifa world rankings.

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

But their fight was broken mid way through the first period of extra-time when Yasser Ibrahim headed Attia’s floated cross past the Benin goalkeeper Marcel Souke Dandjinou.

And as Benin pressed for an equaliser to take the game into a penalty shootout, Egypt counterattacked. Zizo raced out of his penalty area and slid a pass into the path of skipper Mohamed Salah.

The Liverpool striker advanced and hit the ball with the outside of his left foot into the net for his third goal of the tournament.

The victory set up a quarter-final clash with the winner of Tuesday night’s last-16 game between the defending champions Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

 

Egypt went into the encounter against Benin at the Stade Adrar as winners of Group B and, as seven-time champions, favourites.

Benin, who featured in Group D during the first phase, progressed to the knockout stages for only the second time in five appearances.

“Physically it was tough,” Salah told broadcaster Bein Sport. “There are no easy games at the Cup of Nations. The days are over where teams lose 4-0 or 5-0.”

In Monday night’s other last-16 game, Nigeria take on Mozambique at the Stade de Fes.

Ademola Lookman gave Eric Chelle’s side the lead in the 20th minute at the Stade de Fes. Five minutes later, the Atalanta striker turned provider for Osimhen to double the advantage.

Barely into the second-half and the same duo combined for Osimhen’s second goal of the night and his third of the tournament.

In their second game during the pool stages, Nigeria led Tunisia 3-0 after 75 minutes before conceding two goals to lead to a nervy finale in which they almost let in an equaliser.

There was no repeat performance against a Mozambique team playing in the knockout stages for the first time in six trips to Africa’s most prestigious national football team competition.

Akor Adams, fed by Lookman, thrashed in Nigeria’s fourth goal 15 minutes from time to notch up the biggest winning margin in a Cup of Nations knockout tie since Egypt hammered Algeria 4-0 in the semi-finals at the 2010 tournament in Angola.

 

Nigeria boss Chelle urges squad to outdo Cup of Nations feats in Cote D’Ivoire

 

The Nigerians went into the game as one of only two teams at the 2025 tournament to waltz through the first phase with a 100 percent record.

Four years ago at the Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Nigeria pulled off the same feat but then lost to Tunisia in the last-16 in Garoua.

Skipper Wilfred Ndidi, who was part of that squad, said before Monday night’s game that the setback would serve as motivation for maintaining focus against Mozambique.

And his teammates were as good as his promise.

They tore into a side 64 places beneath them in the Fifa world rankings. And once in front, Mozambique could not compete with a collective seeking redemption at the Cup of Nations after failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the summer.

Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, rested for the third Group C game against Uganda, was an onlooker during the 90 minutes.

 

 

“I’m really happy with the performance from the team,” said Lookman who was deemed man-of-the-match. “Obviously the teammates helped me to get the accolade so I’ve got to give thanks to them.”

The 28-year-old added: “I hope we can continue like this.” 

In the last eight on Saturday in Marrakesh, Nigeria will play the winner of Tuesday night’s last-16 match between Algeria and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trump rebooted

Returning to the White House in January, Donald Trump launched his protectionist second term agenda at breakneck speed, ordering mass deportations of undocumented migrants, imposing sweeping budget cuts and dismantling large parts of the United States’ federal government.

Trump also deployed the National Guard in Democrat-led cities, sought to intimidate the media and freely threatened his opponents with legal action.

‘Ceasefire’ in Gaza

Under pressure from Washington, a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas, two years after the start of the war in Gaza following the 7 October, 2023 attacks. It allowed the return to Israel of the last living hostages and most of the bodies of those killed, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

But the truce remains fragile. Negotiations on the second phase of the peace plan have stalled, with both sides accusing each other almost daily of violating the agreement.

Ukraine peace efforts at a standstill

Trump’s return to the White House revived efforts to end the war in Ukraine, but talks have failed to deliver a breakthrough. The US president made repeated reversals before putting forward a draft plan widely seen as favourable to Moscow.

International discussions continue on that basis, while Russia appears unwilling to compromise and continues its slow and costly advances on the ground.

Tariffs trigger global showdown

Trump imposed tariffs on imports and on entire sectors deemed strategic, triggering a trade conflict that shook the global economy. Difficult negotiations led to numerous agreements, with uneven consequences depending on the country in question.

Talks with neighbouring Mexico and Canada continue to drag on while relations with China, above all, are extremely tense.

AI’s explosive rise

Technology giants and investors spent vast sums to fuel the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. Markets fear a speculative bubble and concerns are mounting, with AI accused of driving disinformation and copyright violations.

Many companies cited it to justify mass lay-offs too. As the technology expands rapidly, the full consequences are difficult to assess.

Gen Z in revolt

Nepal, Indonesia, Peru, Madagascar, Morocco, Bulgaria… across the world, mass movements led by people under 30 emerged in protest at poor living conditions, social media censorship and elite corruption.

They adopted the pirate flag from the manga comic One Piece as a symbol, both on the streets and online, and while their success and impact varied from country to country, together they reflected the anger of a generation.

Climate warnings fall flat

It was another bleak year for the climate. Deadly floods struck Vietnam, while hurricanes and typhoons devastated the Caribbean and the Philippines. Across Europe, temperatures surged and forest fires intensified.

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, more deadly and more destructive because of climate change. Despite this, Cop30 – held in Belém, in the Amazon – resulted in only a minimalist agreement.

Former leaders behind bars

The year was also marked by the imprisonment of several former presidents. In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro began serving a 27-year sentence for an attempted coup. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy was jailed for 20 days after his conviction for criminal conspiracy.

In South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol is in detention and on trial for insurrection and abuse of power. In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte was arrested and transferred to The Hague under a warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

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This retrospective was translated from the original version in French

A tear rolls down Jessica’s cheek as she leaves Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Inside, she and her brother had lit a small candle in tribute to their father, who passed away earlier in 2025.

“These are happy tears, because it was a joyful experience. This building is magnificent. The way it was built, the artwork inside, the stained glass windows, the statues, the paintings… everything is incredible. It was one of my dreams, so I’m glad I came,” explains this tourist from California. “It fills me with joy.”

2025 was a record-breaking year for visitors to the cathedral, with more than 11 million worshippers and tourists welcomed – crowning Notre-Dame France’s most visited monument.

Notre-Dame’s dual role

In the queue for entry, every language of the world can be heard. Foreign tourists account for a third of visitors.

Their number has been bolstered by the resumption of guided tours last June. “The slots fill up so quickly that we are forced to turn people away,” said Théo Abramowicz, president of the National Federation of Interpreters and Tour Guides.

He mostly organises tours for foreigners, but says he’s noticed renewed interest among French visitors.

“I’m seeing more and more people coming from other regions of France and setting aside a whole day just to visit Notre-Dame, which is something new.”

Pompidou Centre in Paris closes until 2030 for extensive renovations

Mass at the cathedral attracts up to a thousand worshippers and, according to the diocese, there have never been so many pilgrimages, with more than 600 in 2025.

However, Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector-archpriest of Notre-Dame de Paris, seeks to temper this enthusiasm.

“The cathedral is not seeking to attract large numbers,” he says, explaining that high visitor numbers pose a major challenge in terms of managing the flow of people. “The aim is to allow worship to take place amid the flow.”

In order to reconcile the different roles of Notre-Dame – place of worship versus tourist attraction – a few adjustments have had to be made.

“We limit entry during services to 30 people per minute in the cathedral, compared to 50 outside of services,” explains Ribadeau Dumas.

Does Paris’s most picturesque neighbourhood need protecting from overtourism?

A new attraction

Welcoming fewer people in order to provide a better experience was also the choice made for visits to Notre-Dame’s two towers, which almost collapsed in the fire.

The summit of the south tower is at the top of 420 steps, where those who make the climb are rewarded with a 360-degree view of Paris.

The annual visitor limit has been lowered to 400,000, compared to 450,000 before the disaster. The tour has also been completely redesigned to improve the visual and audio experience, explains Julie Schafir, project manager at the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, which is responsible for managing the two towers.

“We offer visitors a more comfortable experience, a chance to marvel even more and the impression of having the monument all to themselves.” 

Microsoft to create digital twin of Notre-Dame ‘to help support maintenance’

The revised tour also offers a new experience: a meeting with Emmanuel, Notre-Dame’s largest bell. The second largest in France, he weighs 13 tonnes.

“Previously, you could only see the bells from a distance, but now we’ve decided to take visitors underneath them,” explains Schafir. “Don’t worry, they’re securely fastened,” she smiles.

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This article was adapted from the original version in French by Baptiste Coulon.

Shot dead at the age of 20 while parking his car in Marseille, Mehdi Kessaci was not involved in trafficking. Investigators believe he was targeted because of his brother Amine’s outspoken anti-drugs activism – a warning, they fear, aimed at silencing opposition.

His murder, the 15th drug-related killing in the Marseille region in 2025, was described by Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez as a “turning point” and a “crime of intimidation”. It also reignited a debate about how France should respond to criminal networks whose annual turnover is estimated at between five and six billion euros.

New legislation adopted in June last year expands surveillance powers, makes it easier to seize criminal assets and has created a dedicated national prosecution service against organised crime, due to become operational in January.

But some campaigners argue that citizens themselves also have a role to play – and point to Italy’s long experience of fighting the mafia as a model.

“Italy is the country of mafia, but anti-mafia too,” says Fabrice Rizzoli, an academic specialising in geopolitics and organised crime. 

Repurposing criminal assets

A decade ago, Rizzoli co-founded Crim’HALT, an association that encourages civic engagement against organised crime. Inspired by an Italian law adopted in 1996 to allow property confiscated as part of prosecutions to be reallocated to social projects, it set out to develop a similar system in France.

Following sustained advocacy, a law adopted in France in 2021 made it possible to reuse confiscated assets for public good. Around eight buildings across the country have since been handed over to associations.

Rizzoli points to a house in Marseille, confiscated from a cocaine trafficker, that is now used by an organisation supporting women victims of violence. In the overseas territory of Guadeloupe, another confiscated building is being used to house male perpetrators of domestic violence, allowing women to remain in the family home.

“You can see that we are able to transform criminal power to public interest, to citizen power,” Rizzoli says. “We can say to people, ‘you see, change is possible’.”

Listen to a report on Crim’HALT on the Spotlight on France podcast:

France triples drug user fines during Marseille trafficking crackdown

More recognition for victims

Beyond material assets, campaigners argue that organised crime must also be challenged symbolically – by recognising and honouring its victims. Since 2017, Italy has officially marked 21 March as a Day of Remembrance and Commitment for Innocent Victims of Mafia, reading out the names of more than 1,000 victims nationwide.

“Violence is so efficient for organised crime,” Rizzoli says. “When they killed Mehdi Kessaci, of course, it was a message” – a warning that if people fought back against the traffickers, they would pay the price.

But defending the memory of innocent victims takes the focus away from the criminals, he argues, and strengthens civil society. It also provides much needed support to victims’ families who say they often feel abandoned.

Thanks to funding by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, Crim’HALT takes groups of French citizens – including bereaved families – to southern Italy each year to witness this culture of remembrance. One of them is Hassna Arabi, whose cousin Sokayna Jean, 24, was killed by a stray bullet in Marseille in September 2023 while studying in her bedroom.

Arabi recalls strong official support in the immediate aftermath. “I remember thinking it was great that everyone is here two weeks after, but what about in a year?” A silent march organised a month later drew fewer than 200 people. “I wondered what we could do to make people feel that everyone was concerned.”

In Italy, she found a very different, and welcome, response. “What struck me is the way the entire society has been involved in standing up to drug trafficking,” she says. “Every day I would call Sokayna’s mum… I wanted her to see that we mustn’t lose hope, because in the end, that’s all we have left.”

Fight against drug crime top of the agenda as Macron visits Marseille

‘Silence kills too’

That sense of collective mobilisation is also what struck Jean-Toussaint Plasenzotti, whose nephew Massimu Susini, an environmental activist, was murdered in Corsica in 2019.

After Mehdi Kessaci’s killing, some in France have said they no longer dare speak out. Plasenzotti understands the fear – but rejects silence.

“You imagine that by keeping quiet you’ll ward off the danger,” he says. “But our analysis shows you don’t ward it off. You have to face the danger head on. You have to name it, understand it, and then find the tools to make it go away.”

In Corsica, the anti-mafia Massimu Susini collective he founded recently organised demonstrations under the slogan: “The mafia kills, silence kills too”. “We gathered 5,000 people in two demonstrations, it was a record,” he says.

Inspired by the trips to Italy, Plasenzotti lobbied alongside Rizzoli for tougher rules on asset confiscation. He’s also managed to get anti-mafia education introduced in high schools in Corsica.

“Education – teaching and informing young people about this criminal system – is essential,” Plasenzotti says, to counter the promises of “money, pleasure, impunity”.

‘Silence kills’: Thousands march against the mafia in Corsica protests

Changing the narrative

Rizzoli is calling for France to formally recognise innocent victims of organised crime, starting with an official commemoration on 21 March, like in Italy. “The police narrative is that [gang members] kill each other… while the public is saying ‘it’s not our problem’,” he says. “But the violence of organised crime can be against us all. It can impact anyone. We have to change the narrative.”

Naming child victims such as 10-year-old Fayed, killed in Nîmes in 2023 by a stray bullet while in the car with his uncle, or 14-year-old Rayanne Begue, shot dead in Marseille in August 2021 after going out to buy a sandwich, challenges that complacency. 

Rizzoli argues that naming a school after innocent victims like Socayna, Fayed or Rayanne would send out a message to drug traffickers that they cannot behave with impunity.

Crim’HALT also advocates for legal reforms, based on Italy’s tried and tested experience. They include extending asset confiscation to civil courts, which would allow authorities to seize assets from drug traffickers’ family members; extending witness protection to murderers so they could denounce their accomplices; and creating a specific legal status for innocent victims and their families, particularly siblings, to help them access education or work.

“We don’t have to be naive,” Rizzoli says. “It’s not only social anti-mafia citizen power that will reduce violence.”

But if politicians, public institutions and citizens work together more closely, “we’ll be our strongest against organised crime”. 

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Listen to a report on the work of Crim’HALT on the Spotlight on France podcast, episode #136.

Ghizlane Sahli’s latest project, called “Les flux qui nous tissent” (The flows that bind us), illustrates this creative collaboration between artists and artisans.

Born in Meknes, Sahli is now based in Marrakesh, where she works with local artisans who use the famous sabra silk thread made from the fibres of desert cactus plants.

Her exquisite wall hangings of three-dimensional organic shapes are made from recycled waste such as plastic bags, caps and bottles, delicately embroidered together with strands of sabra and wool.

Shedding pollution

She finds inspiration in the magical, regenerative capabilities of nature as well as the intricate workings of the female body – capable of giving and sustaining life.

“I always wanted to talk about the pureness and the essence of us as human beings. And for me, it’s talking about nature,” Sahli told RFI in Paris, where she was taking part in the Also Known as Africa contemporary art fair (AKAA) in October.

The rich reds and whites of the shapes in her works are reminiscent of alveoli – the tiny air sacs of the lungs. But from another angle, they look like coral reefs, shells or algae. The works appear to be alive, moving, breathing. 

Paris fair celebrates modern African artists reinventing traditional crafts

Sahli explains that she came to the art scene late in life, after a career as an architect and raising four children. She used to make clothes for them, decorated with embroidery.

As well as a commentary on waste and the need to recycle, there is a secondary layer of meaning in Sahli’s work. It’s a subtle metaphor of humanity that absorbs pollution, albeit of a different kind.

“I really want to talk about universal things, as I always had that idea of a big hand taking our body and shaking it and cleaning it from all the pollution that we have during our life,” she says.

“By pollution, I mean the things that we learn through our education, through culture, through religion.”

Nature the creator

Nature is also at the heart of Zineb Mezzour’s creative universe.

Water in all its forms is a constant inspiration in her work, especially the way it interacts with different materials and transforms them. The 28-year-old artist loves to experiment with fractals, geometric patterns with endless tiny repetitions and variations, like snowflakes.

In her workshop in Marseille, she spends time recreating these natural patterns using ceramic, paper and fabric.

One of the works is a long wall hanging made up of dozens of small ceramic disks, each handmade and woven together. Each one has a pattern in blue made from a drop of cobalt oxide which disperses differently depending on the surface where it lands.

Morocco: bridging Africa and the world through contemporary art

Nearby is a long, flowing curtain in earthy tones that resembles the inside of a cave lined with stalactites and stalagmites, grown over centuries one drop at a time.

Mezzour describes her work as in “symbiosis with nature, arriving at this little moment of magical creation”.

Like Sahli, Mezzour draws parallels with human beings and their life experiences: like snowflakes, no two people are alike.

“Over time, a tiny drop of water will create something majestic,” she says. “I think each of us has our inner world with our stories, our wounds, our successes, which create something quite unique.”

Circle of life

Kinetic energy fills the wooden sculptures of Bouchra el Menjra, an artist from Casablanca who discovered woodwork about five years ago and hasn’t looked back.

Spectators seem intrigued by her pieces that sway, rock or spin gently, unsure if they’re allowed to touch them or not (they are).

Moroccan artist’s fusion of heritage and herbalism provides soft return to earth

The sculptures represents the circular pattern of life and its challenges, el Menjra explained. “The colours are earth colours, colours of fire – precisely to speak of this fire that is within us, that pushes us to create, to rise again, to always remain in motion.”

Their hypnotic movements reflect a philosophy.

“It’s a metaphor to express that in life, to move things forward, we need to get our hands dirty, we need to act so that things can evolve and things can be in motion,” the artist said.

Fun fashion

The lesson is borne out in the playful designs of Sophia Kacimi, who turned to her Moroccan roots for inspiration after a career in the French fashion industry.

Having spent years working in Paris, she was looking for a new project that could incorporate traditional artisanal skills and bring an aspect of her family’s homeland into the limelight.

That’s how Zoubida was formed. It’s a creative, collective platform where she sources fabric traditionally used for upholstery in Morocco.

Kacimi works hand in hand with local artisans to transform this colourful fabric into clothing such as jackets and dresses, as well as home accessories and furniture pieces.

“I feel as an artist, we have a duty to engage and to bring something to the world that is positive,” she told RFI. “I think it’s an extension of who I am in the end. I’m a very adult child, and I like to see people playing with my pieces and not be serious with it.”

She agrees that a new generation of artists is emerging, with women like herself at the forefront: unafraid to experiment, to fuse cultural backgrounds and turn traditions in the art world on their head.

Yahia, 17, Algeria fan

“The Africa Cup of Nations in Barbès is a celebration of football, especially when you are supporting Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia. In fact, these are my three favourite teams,” said 17-year-old Yahia, a student who was watching Algeria play against Equatorial Guinea in Barbès, a predominantly north-African neighbourhood in the north of Paris.

“My parents are Algerian and Tunisian, I was born in France but my heart is with the Maghreb countries for this football competition. I come to Barbès for the crowd, the party atmosphere. And it will be even more fun as we near the finals.”

Riad, 29, Algeria fan

“I am an Algerian from Algiers and I am a die-hard fan of the Algerian team. So much so that I am wearing the Algerian jersey underneath my shirt. I even went to work like this,” said 29-year-old Riad, who teaches German in Paris.

He came to Barbès to watch the match but couldn’t find anywhere indoors, so he and his friends resorted to standing in the cold watching on a big TV screen behind the window of a closed United Youth International cultural centre.

But, he said: “Even if it means standing in minus 10 degrees, it does not matter, we have to support our country.”

He added: “Watching the Africa Cup of Nations in Algiers is something else. Very different from here in Paris. Back home it’s bombastic. There are wide TV screens to watch the matches, everybody is on the streets when Algeria is playing – old people, kids, families.

“Everybody is out to have a good time, eating, drinking and have fun. When we are nearing the semi-finals, people will even stop work to watch the matches. This year, I believe the odds are in favour of Algeria.”

Oumar, 56, Senegal fan

“The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations so far has been interesting with good games to watch. I am Senegalese and support Senegal, but Côte d’Ivoire is next and then Mali. They’re my top three sides,” said 56-year-old Oumar, who stays in an African workers’ social residence. He shares a studio there with a friend.

For Oumar, there is no comparison between watching the tournament in Paris and watching it back home in Senegal.

“I have much more freedom to express myself at home. While watching a match I can shout, jump around, eat, drink, have lots of my friends over. Here in this small studio, I am very much restricted. There is such an ambiance back home – the music, the food, the people, old and young, all rooting for Senegal. I miss that a lot.”

Oumar said that the matches are shown on big screens in towns across Senegal, making it easy for people to watch together.

“We argue a lot too. In Senegal, everybody is a coach, they all know better. We are as passionate about football as we are about politics.”

He added: “I’m convinced Senegal will win the Africa Cup of Nations 2025. We have great players like Sadio Mané, Ibrahim Mbaye, Lamine Camara, Krépin Diatta. And the best player trophy will go to 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye.”

Elise, 40s, Côte d’Ivoire fan

“I am a football fanatic who is closely following the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. I am from Côte d’Ivoire and obviously a die-hard fan of the Côte d’Ivoire team,” said Elise, who is in her forties and was watching the Côte d’Ivoire versus Gabon match with friends at an African restaurant.

“This Africa Cup of Nations gave us quite a few surprises. Who could have predicted that the Democratic Republic of Congo would play so well and score up. I thought Cameroon would have been a tougher side.

“I am thoroughly enjoying the matches even though we were on tenterhooks during this match. That’s Côte d’Ivoire, the capacity to change the odds, fight back and grab victory at the last minute.”

Elise too says watching the tournament in France is not the same, as she feels constrained.

However, when the match ended in a Côte d’Ivoire victory and the Ivorian restaurant owner began blasting coupé-décalé music, she didn’t hesitate to break out some dance moves among the tables with her fellow supporters.

RFI: Bardot was very young when she started her film career. It was ultimately quite short but very intense, and left its mark. In what way do you think she embodied an era?

Antoine de Baecque: Brigitte Bardot represents a little piece of France that is disappearing. She embodied several moments in cinema, several eras – between her appearance in the late 1950s, which coincided with the emergence of a new style of cinema, the New Wave, and then on to films that were huge successes, both in the United States and in France. Then she said goodbye to it all very young – she ended her film career at the age of 40, in the early 1970s.

Bardot was always a kind of reflection, a mirror… that reflected the developments of the moment. And that’s what’s so powerful about Bardot in cinema, it’s that way she has of signifying something – like a phenomenon, like an apparition.

Remembering Bardot: ‘sex symbol’, ‘crazy cat lady’ and far-right supporter

RFI: Her appearance in Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman in 1956 caused a sensation in the film industry and she was elevated to the status of a symbol, a sex symbol.

ADB: It’s a paradoxical story, that God created Roger Vadim’s woman, because for Vadim [this film] was first and foremost his way of creating a woman: here is the Nouvelle Vague girl. This young woman who is going to be a bit of a model for her era.

And it wasn’t necessarily very well received. And God Created Woman was not a huge success when it was first released in France. In fact, it was when it reached the United States that the Bardot phenomenon took off in 1958.

RFI: Two years later…

ADB: Exactly, the film is French and is received [in France] with very mixed reviews. It is considered very shocking for its nude scenes, for its very transgressive nature compared to the young leading ladies of French cinema in the 1950s, which was still a fairly restrictive, very moralistic cinema.

And then the film is released in the US where it became a real phenomenon, in the sense that American youth elected Bardot as the sex symbol of her time.

RFI: The British press said Bardot in the film was the biggest shock since the French Revolution in 1789. It immediately took on a global dimension, it wasn’t just France.

ADB: Of course, [this shock] was seen in the US and the UK and even Italy. And it was this international [reaction] that, in a sort of boomerang effect, came back [to France] and on its second French release, it was a huge success.

Bardot… was truly a new [type of woman] in cinema, with this very frank, very free way of showing her body, this completely new way of choosing her men, compared to the customs of the time. She was no longer the prey, she was the predator, in a way. And that was something completely new.

Bardot: the screen goddess who gave it all up

RFI: She became an international megastar. And yet it wasn’t until 1963 that she starred in a true masterpiece, Le Mépris (Contempt).

ADB: Bardot can only be herself. That’s her greatness – she can only play herself, she can only speak in her own way, she can only appear in her own way. And so she will always struggle with cinema which wants to give her characters to play.

In Le Mépris, Jean-Luc Godard really uses her as a plant, as he says – she is a beautiful plant and there is something almost objective about it. Particularly, of course, in the famous scene that opens the film, which was actually shot later on, when Godard, in response to his producers who wanted Bardot, said: “Well, here you go, I’ll give you Bardot.” So we get a nude scene that would become a legendary scene in world cinema.

RFI: Was she a great actress, in your opinion?

ADB: No, I don’t think she was an actress. She didn’t really like cinema herself. You know, she was there, but she didn’t consider herself an actress. What she liked was being with her friends, partying or relaxing at home, in her refuges at La Madrague, [her beach house] in Saint-Tropez or [her home in] Bazoches [near Paris].

But Bardot knew very well that cinema was necessary. It was the means to become famous, the means to conquer the world. And she did it. But not as an actress. She wasn’t an actress, she was a phenomenon.

She loved to sing. She had passions. She always loved animals. That was an instinctive [thing] she always had – that is, taking in animals and defending them, and attacking very vehemently those who mistreated animals. And singing was something she did a lot, with people who wrote songs for her. La Madrague is a song that was written for her in the early 1960s. And then, of course, there was the meeting with Serge Gainsbourg…

First and foremost, it’s a love story. A passionate story of three months of mad love in the autumn of 1967, which resulted in these masterpieces of French chanson: Harley Davidson, Comic Strip, Bonnie and Clyde. And then, of course, Je t’aime… moi non plus, the legendary song recorded on 10 December 1967 – which was about Bardot at a time when she was involved in a love affair [with Gainsbourg]. [The record was shelved because Bardot didn’t want her husband at the time, Gunter Sachs, to find out.] It [was then] covered by Jane Birkin [Gainsbourg’s subsequent love interest] before we even got to hear Bardot’s version.

Jane Birkin, an English chanteuse who left her mark on French pop

RFI: Bardot said that Initials BB, a song Gainsbourg wrote about her, was the most beautiful declaration of love she ever received.

ADB: Yes, that’s absolutely right. I think that between Bardot and Gainsbourg, it’s both mythology and at the same time something that they shared intimately. No one can ever take that away from them. It’s truly a love story that became songs.

And that’s something that is also Bardot’s strength: that she chooses. At one point, she wanted to choose Gainsbourg because she loved the way he looked at her, the way he desired her, and she chose Gainsbourg over everyone else, over everything – her husband, convention, social norms, what people might say.

And the song Je t’aime… moi non plus is the embodiment of this passion. Bardot may have had a passion for certain men but, in a way, passion itself her true love – this way of loving that was very shocking for the times she lived in, being free to love and then to throw that love away. I think that’s the very essence of Bardot, that choice.

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This article has been adapted from an interview in French by RFI’s Charlotte Idrac and edited for clarity.

Half of the victims of the fire in Crans-Montana were teenagers, Wallis canton police said Sunday.

They ranged in age from 14 to 39 years old, and included 21 Swiss nationals, nine French (including one Franco-Swiss and one 14-year-old who held French, Israeli and British nationalities), and six Italians.

Other victims came from Belgium, Portugal, Romania and Turkey.

The Swiss government said on Sunday that 35 patients have been transferred from hospitals in Switzerland to specialised clinics France as well as Belgium, Germany, and Italy.

Mourning

Hundreds of people walked in silence on Sunday to a small chapel near the bar, following a memorial service for the victims and the 119 people injured.

Pastor Gilles Cavin noted that “many of the victims were apprentices, high school students, and university students”.

The fire was one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history and has led to an outpouring of grief in Switzerland, which will hold a national day of mourning on 9 January, national president Guy Parmelin said on Sunday

“In this moment of reflection, everyone in Switzerland can personally remember the victims of the disaster,” Parmelin told newspaper Sonntagsblick.

Investigation

Authorities believe the fire was likely caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles held too close to soundproofing foam on the ceiling of Le Constellation bar, which ignited and quickly spread.

The Wallis cantonal prosecutor’s office said initial witness statements “describe a fire that spread rapidly, generating a large amount of smoke and intense heat”.

The blaze began around 1:30am on Thursday in a packed basement of the bar that was crammed with young partygoers.

The French couple who ran the bar, Jacques and Jessica Moretti, are under criminal investigation on suspicion of offences including homicide by negligence, police said on Sunday.

The mayor of Crans-Montana, Nicolas Feraud, told Swiss public broadcaster RTS that there had been no negligence on the municipality’s part.

(with newswires)

Self-employed practitioners and doctors in private clinics will begin a ten-day strike on Monday aimed at denouncing a range of measures in the 2026 Social Security Budget Law.

Unions are calling for private practices to close and consultations to be cancelled or postponed. Operating theatres in private clinics are expected to be shut down, with potential repercussions for public hospitals.

The Confederation of French Medical Trade Unions (CSMF), says it expects the movement to be “extremely well followed”, with 85 per cent of its members saying they plan to strike.

Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said on Sunday that steps had been taken “to organise continuity of care with the regional health agencies, healthcare facilities and professionals themselves, so that our fellow citizens are not put at risk during this mobilisation”.

“We can also resort to requisitions, if necessary,” she said in an interview with La République du Centre, adding that she would ensure that patients can be treated, while respecting the right of professionals to strike.

French government survives cliffhanger vote on social security

Dispute over fees and controls

The new Social Security financing law introduces mechanisms to regulate tariffs and supplements to fees charged by liberal doctors, particularly those who exceed base reimbursement rates.

The government wants to control healthcare spending by giving the health insurance fund (CNAM) the power to adjust “excessively profitable” fees  and limit how much extra GPs can charge.

Self-employed doctors are opposed to such tighter controls as well as changes to sick leave prescriptions, which from 1 January are limited to a maximum of one month in the first instance. 

They claim the authorities are behaving “in an authoritarian manner”, by “bypassing” social dialogue.

They also oppose new digital management tools seen as bureaucratic and poorly adapted to their daily work, and which they deem will worsen workload and contribute to so-called “medical deserts” where healthcare provision is already sparse.

Overall, they claim the changes threaten the viability of private practice and access to care.

Doctors in England begin their longest strike in NHS history

The health minister has defended the government’s approach, citing what she described as an “exponential” rise in extra billing in recent years.

“Even if abuses concern only a minority of doctors, we cannot leave the situation as it is,” she said, “because some of our fellow citizens are giving up treatment for financial reasons.”

Cameroon beat Broos’ side 2-1 on Sunday night at the Stade Al Barid in Rabat, Morocco.

Junior Tchamadeu opened the scoring for Cameroon after 34 minutes. Christian Kofane doubled the advantage soon after the restart.

Though Evidence Makgopa halved the deficit in the 88th minute, South Africa could not find the equaliser in six minutes of second-half stoppage-time to force extra-time.

 “In the next days and weeks we will make an evaluation in detail on what was good and not good,” said Broos who steered Cameroon to the Cup of Nations crown in 2017.

“And we will see what we have to change for the World Cup and we need to be ready for that.”

Egypt and Nigeria enter last-16 fray as favourites against Benin and Mozambique

South Africa went into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations among the favourites for the title having topped a 2026 World Cup qualifiying group that included Nigeria, Rwanda, Benin, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

After dispatching Angola in Marrakesh in their opening game at the Cup of Nations, South Africa lost to Egypt in Agadir and overcame Zimbabwe 3-2 in Marrakesh to advance to the knockout stages as Group B runners-up behind Egypt.

Cameroon finished second behind defending champions Côte d’Ivoire following two wins and a draw in Group F.

“Sometimes you need luck on your side,” said Broos. “Two years ago in the quarter-final against Cape Verde our goalkeeper made a big save, otherwise we could have lost that game.

“We didn’t have luck on our side against Cameroon,” added the 73-year-old Belgian who took South Africa to third place at the 2023 Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire.

“We are not going backwards but we do have to make a good evaluation of what happened here at this tournament.

Five things we learned on Day 6: Nigeria find danger in dominance

South Africa, who qualified for the World Cup for the first time since hosting the tournament in 2010, will face co-hosts Mexico in the opening game on 11 June before taking on South Korea and a European play-off winner in the group phase. 

Following Sunday night’s success, Cameroon move on to a quarter-final showdown on 9 January with hosts Morocco who came through their game against Tanzania 1-0 at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.

Skipper Achraf Hakimi featured in the starting line-up for the first time at the tournament.

And the 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain star laid on the pass for Brahim Diaz to strike the only goal of the game after 64 minutes.

Five things we learned on Day 8: Hakimi up and running

“I’d like to congratulate my players for reaching the quarter-finals,” said Morocco coach Walid Regragui who led the squad to the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“We started the game against Tanzania in the second-half after a first 45 minutes in which there were far too many instances of poor control and choices.

“We got our act together and played with more incisiveness. We should have scored earlier but the goal arrived at the right moment.”

On Saturday, Trump ordered large-scale military strikes in Venezuela and announced that leftist leader Nicolas Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country.

The US Attorney General said Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges including “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy,” conspiracy to import cocaine, and charges related to machineguns.

The European Union has called for international law in Venezuela to be respected.

“The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition” in Venezuela, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas wrote on X after speaking with her US counterpart Marco Rubio on Saturday.

“Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint,” she wrote.

Undermining international law

Kallas said the EU was closely monitoring the fast-moving situation and that she had spoken to the bloc’s envoy to Venezuela, with the safety of EU citizens “our top priority”.

France condemned the American operation, saying it undermined international law while no solution to the country’s crisis can be imposed from the outside.

Maduro “gravely violated” the rights of Venezuelans, but the military operation that led to him being grabbed “contravenes the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law”, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X.

“No lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside”, he said, warning that “the increasing violations” of this principle by permanent UN Security Council members “will have serious consequences for global security, sparing no one”.

Earlier on Saturday, Spain offered to mediate in the crisis.

“Spain calls for de-escalation and restraint,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding it was “ready to help in the search for a democratic, negotiated, and peaceful solution for the country”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said all countries should “uphold international law”, adding that “the UK was not involved in any way in this operation” as he urged patience in order to “establish the facts”.

Bombs away for Trump, self-proclaimed peace president

Election results contested

The EU refused to recognise the results of the disputed 2024 election that handed Maduro a third term in power, and has slapped sanctions on dozens of Venezuelan officials for undermining democracy in the country.

The 27-nation bloc has stopped short however of formally recognising opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela’s rightful leader, as the United States has done.

Gonzalez Urrutia ran as a last-minute stand-in for opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from contesting last year’s election.

After the vote, Gonzalez Urrutia fled Venezuela for Madrid.

Venezuela’s Machado dedicates Nobel Peace Prize to fellow citizens and Trump

Where’s Maduro?

Venezuela has demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the US attacks on the country, amid uncertainty over Maduro’s whereabouts.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged citizens to remain calm and to trust the country’s leadership and military. “The world needs to speak out about this attack,” Reuters reported him as saying.

The United States stands behind its decision to forcibly bring Maduro before the US courts.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York, charged with “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States”.

“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” Bondi said.

Justifying Maduro’s capture, US Vice President JD Vance said that Venezuela ignored Trump’s offers to reach a settlement.

“The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States,” Vance said in a post on X.

Vance also doubled down on the US justification that Maduro was a fugitive from US law, saying: “You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.”

Trump orders blockade of ‘sanctioned’ Venezuela oil tankers

‘Serious affront’ to sovereignty

Russia, an ally of Venezuela, has demanded “immediate” clarification about the circumstances of Maduro’s reported abduction.

“We are extremely alarmed by reports that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were forcibly removed from the country as a result of today’s US aggression. We call for an immediate clarification of the situation,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also slammed the US attacks as a “serious affront” to the country’s sovereignty, echoing criticism made by fellow regional heavyweight, Mexico.

What happens now?

Jordi Canas, a Spanish former MEP with the Socialist party of Catalonia, welcomes the fall of Maduro.

“Those of us who have condemned Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorial Chavist regime, think it is good news that he is leaving power,” he told RFI, but the question of “how” still matters.

“The question is whether the intervention now by the United States is intended solely and exclusively to restore democracy, or whether its purpose is the return of a government that may be close to it and, as [Trump] himself has publicly stated in his endless press conferences, has the objective of reclaiming “its” oil. For Trump, Venezuelan oil is his oil… it’s not the oil of the Venezuelans, [he considers] it belongs to American companies.

Is the United States after Venezuela’s oil?

Canas wonders what Maduro’s departure – however welcome – will cost Venezuelans.

“Will Venezuelans regain control of their resources in order to grow economically, allow exiles to return to the country, and have a future of prosperity? Or will they fall under American oligopolies, with control of raw materials – oil, gold, mineral resources – without Venezuelans being able to use them for the benefit of the country as a whole?

“That’s the big question we now have to ask ourselves.”

(with newswires)

Following early-morning air strikes on Caracus on Saturday, the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The US administration says the deposed president is now in prison in New York awaiting trial on drug-trafficking and weapons charges.

In an official statement published on X, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that while Maduro had “gravely violated” the rights of Venezuelans, the military operation that led to him being grabbed “contravenes the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law”. 

“No lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside”, he said, warning that “the increasing violations” of this principle by permanent UN Security Council members “will have serious consequences for global security, sparing no one”.

But on Saturday evening President Emmanuel Macron appeared to take a different line.

“The Venezuelan people have today been freed from the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and can only rejoice,” he wrote on X.

“By confiscating power and trampling on fundamental freedoms, Nicolás Maduro inflicted a grave affront on the dignity of his own people,” Macron insisted, without mentioning the US attacks.

Macron’s entourage said shortly afterwards that “note had been taken of the American operation”, but France’s leftwing parties roundly slammed the president’s comments as a “disgrace” and accused him of pandering to the United States.

What we know about the US attacks on Venezuela

A ‘dark day’ for France

“Macron’s position is not the voice of France. He shames us,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France’s hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI). “He is abandoning international law. A dark day for our country,” he wrote on X.

Manuel Bompard, a fellow LFI MP, said France was “reduced to congratulating Trump’s coups de force”.

Socialist Party secretary, Olivier Faure, also expressed indignation. “France is not a vassal state of the USA and our president cannot behave like a mere spokesperson for the White House”, he said.

Patrick Kanner, the head of the Socialists in the senate said Macron was “trampling this evening on our entire diplomatic history. A disgrace”.

Communist party leader Fabien Roussel described Macron’s position as an “ultimate disgrace”, adding France had been “downgraded to the rank of the USA’s 51st state”.

US allies, foes alarmed by toppling of Venezuela’s Maduro

Leftwing demonstration in Paris

More than a thousand people, some waving Venezuelan flags, gathered at Place de la République in Paris on Saturday afternoon to protest the US attack.

“It’s to express our revolt, our rage,” said Maria, one of the protestors, carrying a Colombian flag. “We don’t agree with Trump’s invasion of Venezuela. It’s always the same  –  the biggest powers have all the power, and we only have the right to keep quiet,” she told Franceinfo.

Another demonstrator Harald, from Nantes, said he was worried about normalising attacks where a country can invade and depose a leader “a bit like what they did in Iraq.. and we see it too with China and Taiwan“.

“If everyone allows themselves to invade for their own interests, there would be no limits any more,” he said.

“We know very well that all this is about oil, it’s not about anything else, it’s not about the Venezuelan people. Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn.”

Trump has said that the United States will “run” Venezuela until a “safe” political transition can take place.

Speaking at the demonstration, Mélenchon said it was necessary “to unequivocally demand the release and immediate return of Nicolás Maduro, free, to Venezuela”.

Is the United States after Venezuela’s oil?

French support for ‘peaceful, democratic transition’

Venezuela’s Supreme Court has appointed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as interim president.

Macron has said that Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia should help oversee ​the change in power.

Urrutia ran as a last-minute stand-in for opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from contesting last year’s election, and lives in exile in Madrid.

“The transition to come must ​be peaceful, democratic, and respectful of the will of the Venezuelan people. We hope that President Edmundo González Urrutia, elected in 2024, will be able to ensure this transition as ‍quickly as possible,” Macron wrote in his post on X.

In ​a subsequent message, he said he had spoken to 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado.

“I fully support ‍her call for the release and protection of the political prisoners of Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Like all Venezuelans, she can count on France’s support to carry the voice of ‍a peaceful, democratic transition that fully respects the sovereign ‌will ​of the Venezuelan people. 

Trump takes huge political gamble in Venezuela regime change

‘Sovereignty’ never negotiable

Other French political figures were forced into a balancing act on Saturday – torn between the desire to denounce the US attack without appearing to support the leftist dictator Maduro.

“Not a tear for the plutocratic dictator Maduro, but we must realise that we are entering a world without international law, where the law of the strongest prevails,” said social-democrat MEP Raphaël Glucksmann.

Gabriel Attal, leader of Macron’s Renaissance parliamentary group, said he did not regret the departure of this “dictator”. He described the US operation as “a further sign that the world is now governed by force” and urged Europeans to adapt so as not to be confined to the role of “powerless spectators”.

The leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, said there were “a thousand reasons to condemn Nicolás Maduro’s regime: communist, oligarchic and authoritarian”, but that “state sovereignty is never negotiable”.

“To renounce this principle today for Venezuela, for any state, would be to accept our own servitude tomorrow,” she added.

The president of the rightwing Republicans, Bruno Retailleau, appeared more conciliatory towards Trump, arguing that drug trafficking requires “a firm response”, even if Venezuelan sovereignty “remains sacred”.

(with newswires)

French farmers have been protesting over a ​planned European trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc, and other issues ‍including measures to contain outbreaks of lumpy skin disease which have led to the culling of livestock.

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said Sunday that the tighter checks would make sure food coming from ​outside the EU did not include substances banned in food produced in ​the bloc.

A decree would be issued soon announcing the suspension of imports of some food products already known to contain those substances, she added.

“Imports, regardless of from where they come in the world, must comply with our standards. France is setting an example in Europe by issuing this unprecedented decree that concerns more than a dozen food products,” wrote Genevard on X.

“Melons, apples, apricots, cherries, strawberries, grapes, potatoes: ‍they will only be on sale in France if they show no residue of these substances banned in our ​country. Other products from South America such as avocados, mangos, guavas, or certain citrus fruits from elsewhere will only be allowed in if they comply with our standards,” she added.

What to know about the EU-Mercosur deal

‘Protecting’ French farmers

Prime ‌Minister Sebastien Lecornu said earlier that any imported product showing traces of these weed and fungus killers – namely mancozeb, glufosinate, thiophanate-methyl, and carbendazim ‍which are banned in Europe – will not be allowed in France.

The deal between the 27-member European Union and Mercosur countries Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay was agreed on in 2019, but has stalled as it moves through approval votes in individual countries.

Germany and Spain back the deal, but opponents in France say the trade arrangement would lead to cheap imports of South American commodities, notably beef, that do not meet the European Union’s environmental and food safety standards.

“Protecting our farmers, guaranteeing the health of French people and standing up to any form of unfair competition while making ‍sure our rules are respected – this is non-negotiable. It is up to the European Commission to make ‌sure this is generalised ​across the board. If necessary, we will do it again,” added Genevard.

A number of diplomats in Brussels have told reporters that the EU is working towards signing the Mercosur deal on 12 January in Paraguay, which is set to take over leadership of Mercosur from Brazil.

(with newswires)

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich east has been ravaged by three decades of conflict.

Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 rebel group, backed by Rwanda, has seized swathes of territory, leading to a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Although Congolese and Rwandan leaders signed a peace deal in Washington on 4 December, fighting has continued. DRC authorities have accused Rwanda of killing more than 1,500 civilians in the Congolese east since early December in their latest offensive.

Boys recount ‘torment’ at hands of armed rebels in DR Congo

According to the United Nations, more than 80,000 people have fled across the border to Burundi, while at least half a million have been internally displaced within South Kivu province alone.

But there are those who refuse to leave their posts. They include some of the rangers in national parks like Maiko, on the border of North Kivu and Maniema provinces.

This vast natural haven, stuck in the middle of the conflict, is home to an extraordinary range of animals that park rangers are keen to save at any cost. 

RFI: Alain Mukiranya, you are a forest ranger in Maiko National Park, in eastern DRC. How do you protect the park’s animals in the middle of a war?

Alain Mukiranya: It’s a huge challenge… The population, the authorities and even my fellow park rangers were on the verge of fleeing. In fact, people were already fleeing towards Kisangani [capital of Tshopo province, in north-eastern DRC], further west.

And what I did was go back to join our teams in the field. We joined forces to protect the park. We did this against the flow of the population, at our own risk.

RFI: Instead of leaving, you stayed with a team and managed to persuade some colleagues to stay with you?

AM: That was the mission I received from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN): to return, revitalise the teams in the field, boost their morale, encourage them, and continue to monitor and protect the park. I convinced them. Together, we patrolled, and none of us left.

RFI: Did your presence in the park deter people from poaching?

AM: Yes, when people see us there, they can no longer risk prohibited acts like poaching or looting the equipment and other conservation assets we have in the park.

Our presence has also reassured some of the local communities. Some even sought refuge with us because that’s where they felt safe. When the chaos erupted, the army was heading west. We stayed, and our presence reassured them. So not everyone in the local community fled. Some took refuge with us, at the park headquarters, and at another station in the area.

RFI: Did you clash with any fighters who tried to enter the park?

AM: The threat was significant, with militias needing to get their hands on weapons and ammunition. We have some here because we use them to protect the park. They wanted to come and seize our equipment to use in their war effort. But we are non-belligerent, apolitical. In times of peace or conflict, we stay and continue our work.

RFI: Did you give them your weapons in the end or not?

AM: We categorically refused. The equipment we have is for protecting wildlife and plants, and nothing else. We categorically refused, despite threats, despite pressure, and we tried to raise their awareness, to make them understand that we are here to do our job and not to interfere in politics or other situations prevailing in the area.

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RFI: In peacetime, what is the main threat to the animals in your park like gorillas and elephants? Is it professional poachers or is it the local population?

AM: In peacetime, it is poaching carried out by local communities and others who come from elsewhere, who come looking for ways to capture animals for trafficking. It all goes hand in hand.

RFI: As we begin a new year, what do you hope for in 2026?

AM: My wish for this year is the return of peace and good living and working conditions for the people living around Maiko National Park, and for all the Congolese people. For peace to return and the authority of the state to be restored.

My wish is to see the populations of gorillas, okapis, chimpanzees and elephants thrive and continue to multiply so that life can return. Tourism will also help to develop the surrounding communities, because many things will come with it, and even the local economy will benefit.

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This article is based on an original interview in French and has been lightly edited for clarity.

2025 marked the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille‘s invention of the six-dot tactile writing system that opened the door to literacy for millions of blind people.

Two centuries on, Braille is still used by around a third of France’s estimated two million blind and visually impaired people.

Yet access to reading material remains limited. Of the roughly 100,000 books published in France each year, only about 3 percent are transcribed into Braille. And just one institution systematically follows contemporary literary trends – the Centre de transcription et d’édition en braille (CTEB), based in Toulouse in south-west France.

Founded in the late 1980s, following earlier research into Braille transcription software at Toulouse University, the CTEB became France’s main centre for transcribing, editing, printing and distributing Braille books, magazines and documents.

Today its catalogue contains around 2,000 titles, with between 200 and 250 new books added each year – from Harry Potter and Disney stories to self-help manuals and recent literary prize winners.

“Our collection has books for children from the age of four. And then it’s really all styles,” says CTEB director Adeline Coursant.

“Thrillers, novels, biographies, but also practical books like recipes, computing… We even produced the first books on sexuality, with illustrations in relief, which didn’t exist before. So there’s a bit of eroticism. And the current trend is towards personal development, spirituality and so on. So we keep abreast of the latest literary trends.”

Listen to a report from the CTEB on the Spotlight on France podcast:

A costly endeavour 

Producing books in Braille is expensive. They require around three times more paper than standard editions, and the paper itself is more costly.

The process is also labour-intensive. Texts must be cleaned, page layouts simplified, and illustrations redesigned before transcription using specialist software.

Every letter and character of the transcriptions are then checked by the CTEB’s reading committee of blind volunteers.

“I’m re-reading the books, testing the transcription,” says 42-year-old Sophie Renault, who recently joined the 60-strong team.

She works in tandem with her friend Virginie, touching the design of the books the graphics department produces “to see if they are compatible or accessible for blind people and how they can be improved”.

The pair have different, but complementary, profiles. “I was born blind so I’m very bad at mental and spatial representation. Virginie is very good at manual things.”

Given all the additional work involved, the average cost of producing a Braille book is between €700 and €900. And for children’s books where intricate details of the  illustrations have to be rendered tactile, the price can rise to €1,500.

“We adapt all the drawings in the books so they’re understandable to the touch, while retaining the original illustrator’s style,” Coursant says. “You can’t ‘see’ a character in profile on a drawing… so we have to rework all the drawings.”

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Service providers

Alongside books printed out on large machines known as embossers, the centre also generates its own revenue by producing Braille versions of bank statements, tourist brochures, theatre programmes, festival guides and newspapers.

Agnès Cappelletto, one of the centre’s 12 employees, is in charge of transcribing and editing such documents. After receiving the PDF versions on her computer, she uses Duxbury software for the transcription into Braille and then prints them off page by page from a small embosser on her desk.

Today she’s processing an order for a Braille version of a lengthy Christmas Eve restaurant menu from a customer who wanted her blind father to be able to read what he would be eating.

“They can read the menu separately and discuss it afterwards,” Cappelletto says. “It wouldn’t have been the same experience for the father if his daughter had had to read the menu to him. 

“I like being of service to people,” she adds.

Making movies accessible to blind people

Paper vs digital

Given the high cost of producing Braille books, and with audio books and digital Braille available at a fraction of the cost, some question whether paper Braille has a future.

Renault is very digitally connected and says she accesses Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube on her phone, using a voice-activated screen reader. Even so, she recognises it’s not for everyone.

“I prefer to read on my computer, but people still need to have paper Braille. It’s like you, when you ‘see’. Some people need to have the book in their hand. Some people like turning pages.”

For CTEB president Blandine Gallo, who lost her sight at the age of six, it’s not just a matter of preference. Paper Braille helps people, not least children, to become literate, she argues.

“Many people oppose paper Braille and digital Braille, but we shouldn’t pit the two against each other, we need both,” she says. “We need paper Braille because it’s important to have the knowledge of the page, with the lines, with the end of the line. Children who have never ‘seen’ can’t know how a book is organised.”

While audio and digital Braille books have their place, she says paper Braille remains crucial for learning spelling, grammar and spatial organisation – skills that underpin literacy and encourage independence.

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Equality at a price

Until recently, the CTEB sold Braille books to libraries and bookshops at roughly three times the price of the original, reflecting their greater length and production costs. But in January 2023, Coursant decided to apply France’s fixed book-pricing law, introduced in 1981 by then culture minister Jack Lang.

The institution, which used to sell works from its catalogue between €60 and €122, began pricing them between €11 and €30.

“It’s about equality,” she says. “There’s no reason why a blind person should have to pay three times more because they have a disability.”

The centre is now operating at a considerable loss. “On average, we’re losing €680 per book,” Coursant explains. With up to 250 titles a year, that amounts to more than €130,000 annually. The cumulative funding gap now stands at €300,000.

“We’re in difficulty because we’re not supported enough,” she says. They’ve requested funding from the culture ministry but despite promises, it has not materialised.

“We’re not asking for a huge sum, €300,000 a year. It would allow us to supply not only all blind people in France, but also all French-speaking media libraries.”

Coursant has also floated a novel idea: adding a ten-cent solidarity contribution to every book sold in France to fund accessible publishing for people with disabilities, including those with dyslexia or who just need larger print. 

The CETB sent all of France’s MPs and senators a card in Braille this Christmas, drawing attention to their cause. As Coursant says: “It’s time the state considered blind people as French citizens.”

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Listen to a report from the CTEB on the Spotlight on France podcast, episode #137.

Diaz scored once in each of three group matches and his 64th-minute strike against the Tanzanians created history as he became the first Moroccan to find the net in four consecutive AFCON matches.

The goal came after Morocco squandered numerous scoring chances while stretching an unbeaten run in competitive and friendly matches to 23. Their last loss was to South Africa at the 2024 AFCON.

Morocco will face South Africa or Cameroon, who meet later on Sunday at a different Rabat venue, in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi, set up the last-16 winner for Diaz, while making his first start in the tournament after coming off the bench in a victory over Zambia last Monday.

The 2025 African player of the year suffered a serious ankle injury playing for PSG against Bayern Munich in the Champions League two months ago.

But Morocco lacked Azzedine Ounahi, who arrived at the stadium using crutches and wearing a medical boot on his left foot. Bilal El Khannouss took his place in midfield.

Morocco were favourites for several reasons, including home advantage, the backing of close to 70,000 supporters, and lying 101 places above Tanzania in the world rankings.

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First chance 

However, it was Tanzania who had the first chance in the third minute, but Saimon Msuva misconnected with a Selemani Mwalimu cross.

Morocco had the ball in the net after 15 minutes as Ismael Saibari nodded a Abdessamad Ezzalzouli free-kick past goalkeeper Hussein Masaranga.

The assistant referee immediately raised his flag for offside and a VAR review confirmed that the PSV striker had strayed too far forward.

Ayoub El Kaabi was the next Moroccan to come close, heading over before being injured in a collision with Masaranga. Both players resumed after treatment.

A Diaz shot was too high from the edge of the box and El Kaabi headed wide as the host nation continued their pursuit of the opening goal, but the first half ended goalless.

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In a lively start to the second period, Ezzalzouli and El Kaabi headed wide then, in a rare Tanzanian raid, Feisal ‘Fei Toto’ Salum fired over with only goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to beat.

As Moroccan pressure mounted, Hakimi rifled a free-kick against the crossbar from just outside the box on the hour mark.

A goal seemed inevitable given the relentless pressure from the host nation, and it came thanks to Hakimi and Diaz.

The full-back passed to the forward, who beat Masaranga at his near post with an angled shot from close range.

In a small town near Mahajanga, chants of the Sakalava, one of Madagascar’s ethnic groups, drift through the open windows of a house where around 60 guests, mostly young people, are gathered in a living room filled with incense and music.

During the ceremony, some participants fall into a trance, their bodies believed to be temporarily inhabited by ancestral spirits.

At one point, five people are possessed at the same time. Some bodies tremble beneath cloths, while others suddenly grow still. A woman inhabited by a male spirit removes her clothing before slowly returning to her normal state.

Watching closely is Josiane Lazare, 30, seated on a mat in the room.

She continues to welcome guests and serve drinks until well into the early hours. Lazare heads La Fac Madagascar, a platform dedicated to preserving Malagasy traditions, and plays a central role in the ceremony.

“We are searching for identity; especially young people,” she tells RFI. “This ritual allows us to interact with our ancestors, to find ourselves and understand where we come from and where we are going.”

Lazare says her generation is determined to keep traditions alive.

“We see ourselves as the ‘Gen Z of tradition’, fighting to preserve the values of our ancestors,” she explains.

Many young people feel excluded from decisions about the country’s future, she says, adding that communities where elders pass on ritual knowledge offer a different model.

“Among those who keep these traditions, there is mutual respect. Adults pass things on to us and encourage us to take our place.”

Madagascar’s Gen Z uprising, as told by three young protesters

Learning the rites

That transmission continues into the early hours of the morning.

After the sacrifice of a zebu, a type of cattle common in Madagascar, elders teach younger participants gathered around them how to cut the animal correctly. At around 3am, an elder gives instructions by the light of a headlamp.

“If you look at these horns, if we cut them properly, we’ll be able to hang the skull outside the house to honour the ancestors. Look, big brother, you need to cut a bit lower here,” he says.

A younger man struggles to follow the guidance. “There’s something I don’t understand. I followed your advice, but look, it’s not coming off, it’s too hard,” he replies.

The elder tells him to “cut even lower”.

As the sun rises, the ceremony moves into its final stages, with purification rites followed by a shared meal. Johnson Fierens, prince of Belmamoun, a local royal lineage, and host of the ceremony, gathers people in his living room to reflect on what they have witnessed.

“When you take part in something, you have to understand what it means,” he tells them. “This rite educates us, corrects us and shapes us. Respect for tradition is the key to developing our country.”

Fierens urges the younger generation to focus their energy carefully. “You are not going to learn the traditions of other countries. Use your strength for good,” he says.

A photographer’s journey into Malagasy ancestral rituals

A society under strain

The turn towards ancestral practices comes against a backdrop of deep social pressure. Malagasy society is under strain, with many young people facing poverty and lack of jobs. More than 40 percent of 18 to 35-year-olds are unemployed.

Those tensions were laid bare during a recent wave of anger among Generation Z, which led to a sudden change of government in October. Youth-led protests over electricity and water shortages spread nationwide, forcing the president to flee the country.

It is against this backdrop that some young people are turning back to their cultural roots.

Zeena Ranieri, an anthropologist and lecturer at the University of Antananarivo, says the movement reflects a society in transition.

“Every political, economic and cultural context has shaken Malagasy society,” she tells RFI. “It has become a society searching for identity and for ways forward.”

Young people, she says, feel disconnected from the paths laid out for them, education that does not lead to employment and social models that no longer offer stability or fulfilment.

“We cannot find work with what we learned. We cannot find happiness with the reference points we were given,” Ranieri says. “That’s why there is a break. We know we need a new identity and new reference points.”

For some young Malagasy, that search does not mean rejecting modern life but living alongside it. Ancestral rites offer defined roles, shared rules and a recognised place within the community.

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This story is based on a radio report in French by RFI correspondent Sarah Tétaud

“Craig, the legendary super tusker famed for its immense, ground-sweeping tusks and calm, dignified presence, passed on at the age of 54,” the Kenya Wildlife service said in a statement Saturday.

The bull elephant lived in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya –  a favorite for safari tourism.

The Amboseli Trust for Elephants said Craig had died of natural causes and that it was grateful to everyone who worked to help the animal “live out his life naturally”.

Local broadcaster NTV aired a segment on the death of Craig, describing the elephant as a rare creature and “one of the last remaining elephants identified as super tuskers in Africa”.

The term describes a bull elephant with tusks that weigh over 45 kilograms each – so long that they scrape the ground as the elephant walks, according to the Tsavo Trust, a non-profit conservation group in Kenya.

Females that grow long tusks are called iconic cows, the group says. 

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Powerful bloodline

Craig the elephant was a major attraction in Amboseli National Park. The Kenya Wildlife Service described him as an “icon” of successful conservation and a “living monument to Africa’s natural heritage”.

In 2021, he was adopted by beer maker East African Breweries through its popular Tusker brand, reflecting his prominence but also underscoring collaboration between conservation groups and others in Kenya. 

Craig “fathered a number of calves, ensuring that his powerful bloodline and gentle character live on across generations,” the wildlife service said.

Kenya’s national parks and reserves are home to a variety of wildlife species and attract millions of visitors each year, making the country a tourism hotspot.

The elephant population has grown from 36,280 in 2021 to 42,072 in 2025, the latest official figures show. 

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In the Mwea National Reserve, a protected area east of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, the elephant population grew spectacularly, overwhelming the ecosystem and requiring the relocation of about 100 elephants in 2024. 

In June this year, Zimbabwe announced it would cull 50 elephants in an effort to manage soaring numbers in a southeastern game reserve, with meat from the operation to be distributed to nearby communities.

(with newswires)

Industrial materials are becoming more prominent in contemporary art, particularly in sculpture and installations, with artists experimenting with recycled metals to explore light, perception and movement – often blurring the line between craft, design and fine art. 

Steel, long associated with construction and heavy industry, has in recent years found its way into galleries and exhibition spaces. Francisco Serrato uses the industrial material to produce visual effects that change with their surrounding environment.

Growing up with a welder for a father meant that metal has always been a part of his life, but he has carved out a different path when it comes to using it.

“Steel has sentimental value for me. It speaks to me on an olfactory level, a tactile level, an auditory level,” Serrato told RFI.

“I think of it like a member of my family. I love steel and that’s why I try to showcase it as much as possible as I see it – not as something cold or utilitarian, but rather something that speaks to people.”

Hidden beauty

Serrato had spent some time working in an industrial setting, albeit in an office, and had dabbled in metalwork with his father, but he felt he needed to explore the possibilities further. 

His background feeds into a practice that sits at the crossroads of craft, art and industrial heritage. When the opportunity arose to do some professional training, he tried a variety of different trades, from woodwork to tapestry. 

But it was steel that caught his imagination as a medium, for its hidden visual beauty. 

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“Steel is still a metal. It transmits energy, and not just physical energy. Metal can be used for electricity and for other things. It transmits heat, but it also transmits vibrations and the colours contribute to this vibrational aspect. You can see this deeper side of it.”

Hailing from France’s southern region of Provence, Serrato has always been spoiled when it comes to sunlight. One day while inspecting a work outside, he saw, to his surprise, a rainbow emerge from the otherwise flat surface.

From then on, he began to incorporate light fully into his artistic practice. 

He began experimenting with tools to create different designs on the surface of the steel sheets, producing a multitude of shapes and even optical illusions of movement – all thanks to light.

He noticed subtle changes when the works were hung next to a lamp or an open fire, or a television screen. He saw the potential for limitless “special effects” in contrast to those seen in natural sunlight.

Relinquishing control

His works sometimes look like they’ve been painted, but Serrato insists there are no chemicals used to make the colours – just hours and hours of polishing work.

“The colours emerge in the light. I heat them up which also makes them change colour. Sometimes colours form because of humidity or a slight draught when I’m using the heat. So anything can change, I don’t control the whole process.”

Serrato likens his sculptures to human characters, with no two alike. He gets a kick out of how each viewer sees a completely different work, depending on the time of day, the type of lighting or the absence of light.

His focus on process, chance and shifting perceptions echoes a wider interest in process-driven art, where artists deliberately relinquish some control over the final outcome.

“Human beings have many facets and my works are a little bit like people in that way. In the daylight they look a certain way and then in the evening light, they look different. If you turn off the lights and stand in front of the works, you’ll see them in a completely new way.”

Meet the experimental artist for whom mistakes can be magical

‘The human touch’

Environmental concerns have also increasingly shaped artistic practices, with more artists seeking to reduce waste by reusing off-cuts or repurposing industrial by-products.

Serrato is proud to say his works carry an “eco label”, meaning he uses recycled scraps of metal wherever possible. With the off-cuts from his work he has started a line of rings. He has also developed his own varnish made from orange blossom, so as to avoid using any harmful chemicals.

While he hails the progress artificial intelligence has brought to medicine and science, Serrato is also proud that his works are all handmade and that he doesn’t use computer-driven images to create his designs.

He is convinced that what draws people to art is “the human touch”.

“Even though artificial intelligence is wonderful, it makes beautiful things, people aren’t stupid. If they want something deeper, more human, they’ll inevitably turn to an artist who creates with their hands, who takes their time, who observes a landscape with their own eye.”

The British Ministry of Defence said it had cooperated with France on Saturday night to strike an underground facility in Syria that had likely been used by the Islamic State group to store weapons.

The ministry said there was no indication the bombing north of the ancient site of Palmyra had posed any risk to civilians.

“Royal Air Force aircraft have completed successful strikes against Daesh in a joint operation with France,” the ministry said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

“This facility had been occupied by Daesh, most likely to store weapons and explosives. The area around the facility is devoid of any civilian habitation,” the statement added.

The French military command later Sunday confirmed on X that it had carried out “strikes against positions of the Islamic State terrorist group” to “prevent the resurgence of Daesh”, without giving further details.

The strikes were carried out as part of Operation Inherent Resolve – the international anti-jihadist coalition coordinated by the United States, the message said. 

British aircraft used Paveway IV guided bombs to target several access tunnels leading to the facility, the statement said, adding that a detailed assessment was currently underway but that initial indications showed that “the target was successfully hit”. It did not specify the role of French aircraft.

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Ongoing presence

IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintains a presence, particularly in the country’s vast desert.

Known to Syrians as the “Pearl of the Desert”, Palmyra was home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins before Syria’s 13-year war.

IS launched a campaign of destruction after capturing Palmyra, using its ancient theatre as a venue for public executions and murdering its 82-year-old former antiquities chief.

The jihadists blew up the shrine of Baal Shamin, destroyed the Temple of Bel, dynamited the Arch of Triumph, looted the museum and defaced statues and sarcophagi.

Last month, Washington said a lone IS gunman in Palmyra attacked American personnel, killing two US soldiers and a US civilian.

Trump vows revenge after troops in Syria killed in alleged IS ambush

US forces said they struck dozens of IS targets in Syria in retaliation.

(with AFP)

With no fewer than 10 presidential elections held across the African continent, the political stakes were high in 2025.

In several countries, elections reinforced entrenched leaderships rather than opening the door to political renewal.

One of the most notable cases was in Cameroon, where veteran president Paul Biya, aged 92, secured an eighth consecutive term. While the outcome was widely expected, it nonetheless triggered major protests and renewed questions about political succession and space for opposition voices.

There was similarly little surprise in Côte d’Ivoire, where 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara won a fourth term. The vote was marked by the absence of his main political rivals, many of whom were barred from running.

The most striking, however, was Tanzania, where President Samia Suluhu Hassan claimed an overwhelming 98 percent of the vote.

The landslide came against a backdrop of unprecedented violence. Opposition figures allege that hundreds or even thousands of people died during election protests, a claim the government disputes.

Tanzania accused of hiding bodies of those killed in post-election protests

Military transition becomes lasting power

Beyond disputed civilian elections, 2025 also saw several military-led transitions harden into long-term rule.

In Guinea, General Mamadi Doumbouya claimed political legitimacy by winning a controversial presidential election, four years after taking power in a coup and promising to hand back over to civilian rule.

A similar pattern played out in Gabon, where General Brice Oligui Nguema – who had earlier overthrown the long-ruling Bongo dynasty – won the presidency with close to 95 percent of the vote.

In Guinea-Bissau, the military intervened directly to halt the electoral process, overthrowing the outgoing president and preventing the publication of results.

An attempted coup was reported in Benin, while in Madagascar a president forced out by street protests was replaced by a military officer.

Taken together, at least eight African countries are now governed by leaders with military backgrounds.

Madagascar’s Gen Z uprising, as told by three young protesters

‘Decline in democracy’

For Gilles Yabi, a researcher and president of West Africa-focused think tank Wathi, the common thread running through Africa’s 2025 elections is a growing normalisation of force.

He told RFI that leaders already firmly in power are using “all possible means” to stay there. These range from outright repression – as seen in Tanzania, where the human toll remains unclear but is believed to be extremely high – to mass arrests in countries such as Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire.

In Côte d’Ivoire, he noted, around a thousand people were detained and key opposition candidates excluded through legal and administrative manoeuvres.

In his view, 2025 illustrates “a real decline in democracy and the rule of law”.

Elections entrench the army

Asked whether some elections were designed primarily to keep the army in power, Yabi points to Gabon as a telling example.

Oligui Nguema, he pointed out, carried out his coup in the middle of an electoral process that was widely seen as lacking credibility and likely to cement the rule of Ali Bongo. Many Gabonese initially welcomed the military takeover, hoping it would finally close the chapter on decades of Bongo family rule.

“In the best-case scenario,” Yabi told RFI, “the person who carried out the coup would not have stood for election.” That, however, did not happen. Nguema ran, won, and is now an elected president. The hope, Yabi added, is that incremental steps over the coming years might still steer Gabon towards genuine democracy and respect for the rule of law.

By contrast, the situation in Guinea-Bissau sends what he described as an “extremely negative signal”.

There, the interruption of a presidential election by a military coup amounts to “a real affront” to voters who had turned out to choose a new president and parliament.

Guinea-Bissau general sworn in as transitional president following coup

A year of concern

For Yabi, there is little doubt that 2025 should be seen as a troubling year for democracy, in Africa and beyond.

The world’s major powers, he argues, are hardly setting an inspiring example. In the United States, he points to a weakening of institutions under President Donald Trump, while China continues under a one-party system.

This global backdrop, he believes, feeds into a broader contempt for international law that is increasingly visible at the African level.

“In all cases,” Yabi concludes, “we have the law of the strongest – and perhaps also the most cynical – which now seems to prevail almost everywhere.”

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This article has been adapted from the original in French by RFI’s Alexandra Brangeon.

“We’re thinking about it very seriously,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey during a visit this week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The sale has been blocked for years due to Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system. A recent Bloomberg report suggested Ankara may be prepared to return the missiles, though Turkish officials have denied this.

Political commentator Asli Aydintasbas, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, says that the strengthening relationship between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan means both sides are working to resolve the impasse.

“He [Trump] himself is working with Turkey through his very effective ambassador, Tom Barrack, to find a solution,” said Aydintasbas. “There will be stiff opposition from the Greek lobby, Israelis and other regional players. But we’ve seen Trump skirt such opposition when it came to the Saudi Arabia F-35 sale.”

Military edge

Israeli security experts warn that Turkey’s acquisition of F-35 jets poses a greater security risk to Israel than the Saudi deal due to the Turkish military’s expertise, which threatens to challenge Israel’s technological advantage.

Currently, Israel maintains a significant edge as the Turkish air force operates decade-old jets, a factor that is increasingly important amid rising regional tensions.

“There was definitely a concern in the spring that there might be a confrontation in the skies of Syria between Israel and Turkey,” said Gallia Lindenstrauss of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Syria in crossfire as Turkish-Israeli rivalry heats up over Assad’s successors

She stresses the risk of confrontation has significantly diminished thanks to “de-confliction talks”, brokered by Azerbaijan. A Syria “hotline” now exists between Israel and Turkey to prevent what Lindenstrauss describes as “accidents between the Israeli Air Force and the Turkish Air Force”.

Yet the need for such measures underscores how strained ties are. “The fact that it exists, of course, does point to the fact that things are not necessarily calm,” Lindenstrauss acknowledged.

Provocative alliances

Israel’s conflict in Gaza has heightened tensions with Turkey. On New Year’s Day, hundreds of thousands protested in Istanbul in support of Palestinians.

Tensions escalated further as Israel increased military cooperation last month with Greece and Cyprus. Both Greece and Cyprus have unresolved territorial disputes with Turkey in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.

“Israelis are provoking especially Greeks and Greek Cypriots,” said Murat Aslan of Seta, a Turkish pro-government think tank. “The Israeli pilots are educating and training Greek pilots. They are operating [drones] across the Aegean Sea. And they sold many complex missile systems. So that means Israelis are provoking Greece just to challenge Turkey here in the Aegean Sea.”

In his New Year’s address, Erdogan said he was closely monitoring what he describes as threats and provocations against Turkey and Turkish Cypriots. Aslan predicts Ankara will not remain passive. “If there is a pattern in the west of Turkey that Greeks and Israelis are cooperating, for the sake of Turkish security interests, for sure there will be a reaction,” he warned.

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

Greece, which is also acquiring the F-35, has joined Israel in opposing Turkey’s purchase of the jet, warning it would alter the balance of power.

While Trump has expressed support for the Turkish sale, analyst Aydintasbas notes the US president is learning the limitations of his power when it comes to Israel.

“Trump is going through what a lot of US presidents have experienced: frustration, and a question – ‘wait a minute, who’s the superpower here?’” she said. “Because of the power dynamic in the US-Israeli relationship, it sometimes does point to a situation in which Israelis, though the weaker side technically, end up having the upper hand because of their enormous influence in the public space.”

Aydintasbas predicts that, despite Trump’s friendship with and admiration for Erdogan, the US president will be unwilling to pay the political price of securing the Turkish jet sale. “This is an issue on which Trump is not willing to fight the US Congress… and essentially ignore the US law,” she said.

For the self-described master dealmaker, it may prove a deal too far.

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 and bonus questions, 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.

There’s no quiz this week – check in next week, 10 January, for the answer to the question about the gallery in the Louvre Museum that had to be closed.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their Resolutions – may you make good progress in keeping them! And many thanks to this week’s co-host, my daughter Mathilde Daguzan-Owensby, and for the contributions to the show from Olivia Morrow and Evan Coffey. And of course, hats off to the Magic Mixer Erwan Rome, who made this show sing! 

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Be Our Guest” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman; the traditional “Auld Lang Syne” performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra; “A House with Love in It” by Sid Lippman and Sylvia Dee, sung by Nat King Cole; “Winter Wonderland” by Felix Smith, performed by the Chet Baker Quartet; “Let it Snow” by Sammy Cahn, sung by Leon Redbone; “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson, performed by the Sam Bush Ensemble, and “We Wish you the Merriest” by Les Brown, sung by June Christie.

From the entire RFI English service, we wish you a Happy 2026!

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).

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.