The head of Lawyers Without Borders France (Avocats sans frontières France), Matthieu Bagard, met 13 of the detainees during a visit to Iraq this week. He returned to Paris on Wednesday.

Bagard told RFI all of the men he met described harsh detention conditions and said they had been tortured.

“They are suffering from extraordinary deprivation,” he said. “Some of them still have shrapnel in their bodies, some who were kidnapped, others who were not.”

He said several detainees were losing their sight and had been cut off from the outside world for years.

“They have had no news from the outside world since 2017 for the first group, and since 2019 for those who were arrested after the fall of Baghuz. This was the first time they were able to get information about their families, their children who had been repatriated to France.”

Transfer of IS prisoners to Iraq puts renewed pressure on European governments

Trials and death sentences

Iraqi authorities are seeking to obtain confessions linking the men to Islamic State activities in Iraq, in order to try them in Iraqi courts. Eleven French nationals were tried there in 2019.

Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death sentences and life terms to people convicted of terrorism offences, including foreign fighters.

Bagard and his colleague Marie Dosé said on Tuesday that the transfer of the French detainees from Syria to Iraq was illegal. They accused Paris of complicity and warned of what they described as an imminent security disaster.

“We are completely outsourcing the judicial fate of these nationals,” Bagard said. “We are passing the buck to the Iraqi authorities by saying: ‘It will be up to you to try them, and it will be up to you afterwards to keep them in your prisons for the duration of their sentences’. Whereas we could legally have them transferred to France.”

Syrian Army seizes northeast as US abandons Kurdish-led forces

Pressure on governments

Other groups are also calling for the detainees to be returned to France. Arthur Dénouveaux, head of an association representing victims of the 13 November Paris attacks, said the men should be tried in France.

About 7,000 suspected Islamic State detainees have been transferred from Syria to Iraq over the past week under a US plan to relocate them there.

The detainees, including Iraqis and Europeans, have been distributed across at least three prisons in Iraq.

Backed by US-led forces, Iraq declared the defeat of Islamic State in 2017. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) later defeated the group in Syria in 2019.

The SDF went on to detain thousands of suspected jihadists and tens of thousands of their relatives in camps.

This month, the United States said the purpose of its alliance with Kurdish forces in Syria had largely expired, as Damascus pressed ahead with an offensive to take back territory long held by the SDF.

Amnesty International has urged the United States to “urgently put in place safeguards before making any further transfers” and called on Iraq to hold “fair trials, without recourse to the death penalty”.

(with AFP)

Having left the Russian port of Taman on 21 August, 2025, the Mersin – a tanker operated by Turkish shipping company Besiktas – first stopped in Togo before arriving in Senegalese waters.

In a video seen by RFI, filmed the day after the incident on 28 November 2025, damage to the hull of the Mersin can be seen in four places – two on the port side and two on the starboard side – which caused the ship to take on water in its engine room.

The holes, the largest of which is more than a metre wide, reveal the ship’s partially damaged piping.

The images suggest the ship was sabotaged using strategically placed explosive devices.

According to several military experts, the precise nature of the holes, their location below the waterline and the spread of micro-cracks around the main impact points all point to the use of magnetic mines planted by trained divers.

The hull is dented inwards at the breach points, also confirms that the shock wave came from outside the ship.

Around 5 kilograms of explosives would have been needed for each hole in order to pierce the ship’s hull, which is made of steel plates “between 15 and 20mm thick”, according to an engineer specialising in the offshore oil sector, consulted by RFI.

A few days after the incident, the Port Authority of Dakar said divers would inspect the ship, but as yet no official conclusion on the cause of the incident has been made public.

Neutralise not sink

This deliberate targeting of the Mersin’s engine room demonstrates a desire to neutralise the ship rather than sink it, along with the 39,000 tonnes of fuel on board.

According to a naval specialist, only a country with advanced diving capabilities and resources would be capable of carrying out such a meticulous operation.

Dark vessels: how Russia steers clear of Western sanctions with a shadow fleet

This is the first time that a ship suspected of belonging to the Russian “shadow fleet” – vessels used to circumvent Western sanctions – has been targeted in African waters.

The Mersin remains moored some 20 kilometres from Senegal‘s capital, where it has been since the suspected attack.

According to the Port Authority of Dakar, the tanker is now stabilised, after initial fears that the damage could have provoked an oil spill. The breaches have been sealed and the engine room, which was flooded, is being pumped out. However, the fuel on board has not yet been removed.

Going dark

Russia has reportedly built up a flotilla of ageing oil tankers under opaque ownership to circumnavigate sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States and the G7 group of nations over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The EU lists 598 vessels that are banned from European ports and maritime services. The US – which seized a Russian-flagged tanker in the north Atlantic early in January – lists 183 vessels and asserts an extraterritorial right to act against them.

Shadow fleet targeted as EU advances frozen assets plan for Ukraine

According to experts, and a briefing paper by the European Parliament, the “shadow fleet” obscures the ownership of vessels, and ensures the companies managing them are outside Russia and fly flags of convenience – or even sometimes falsely claimed flags.

In addition, the vessels have been observed turning off their Automatic Identification System, to go “dark” at sea, where ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil occur.

According to the Kyiv School of Economics, which runs a Russian Oil Tracker, “the top three flags used by Russian shadow-fleet vessels transporting crude oil are false/unknown flag, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon”.

It said management companies for the vessels were located in the United Arab Emirates, the Seychelles, Mauritius and the Marshall Islands, among others.

With newswires, and partially adapted from this article in French by Pauline Le Troquier, RFI correspondent in Dakar.

European Union foreign ministers on Thursday agreed to the move targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Human rights groups estimate that security forces have killed thousands of protesters during unrest in Iran in December and January. Demonstrations began on 28 December over rising living costs and quickly spread nationwide.

“Repression cannot go unanswered,” the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas posted on social media. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”

Kallas said that the designation would place the Revolutionary Guard on the same footing as groups such as al-Qaeda, Hamas and Daesh, the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

“If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist,” she said.

How much is China willing to risk to protect its ties with Iran?

Deadly crackdown

The protests were met with what witnesses described as a ferocious response. The scale of the violence only emerged after more than two weeks of an unprecedented nationwide internet blackout.

The EU also imposed sanctions on 15 Iranian officials, including senior commanders in the Revolutionary Guard, over their role in the repression.

Organisations placed on the EU terrorist list face measures including travel bans and asset freezes aimed at cutting off their support networks.

Iran had no immediate official reaction. In recent days, however, Tehran had criticised European countries as the move was being considered.

The Revolutionary Guard is Iran’s most powerful armed force. It was created after the 1979 revolution and plays a central role in the country’s security system.

French prosecutor seeks jail term for Iranian woman accused of terrorism

Diplomatic tensions

Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described the crackdown as “the most violent repression in Iran’s modern history” and said there could be “no impunity for the crimes committed”.

France had previously been cautious about blacklisting the Revolutionary Guard over concerns it could sever remaining diplomatic contacts with Iran, but changed position on Wednesday to back a push led by Italy.

Kallas said she expected diplomatic channels with Tehran to remain open despite the decision.

The United States, Canada and Australia have already designated the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation.

The Islamic Republic also faces the threat of military action from US President Donald Trump in response to the killing of peaceful demonstrators. The US military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Middle East, although it remains unclear whether Washington will use force.

Widely used by industry, PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are now found across soil, water and food chains.

Exposure to PFAS is known to increase the risk of cancers, hormonal disruption and immune system disorders, as well as other health problems. Treating these illnesses carries costs that are ultimately borne by the public.

On Thursday, the European Commission published a study to measure the long-term environmental and health costs if pollution continues at current levels.

The report sets out what the Commission describes as a conservative estimate of the financial burden PFAS place on society. It examines several possible futures, looking at environmental damage alongside health impacts.

EU tightens rules on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

Cost of doing nothing

If regulations and standards remain unchanged, the study estimates that PFAS pollution would cost European society around €440 billion by 2050. This figure only covers health costs linked to a small number of currently regulated PFAS substances, out of the thousands that exist.

The report also finds that treating polluted water alone would cost more than €1 trillion if emissions continue at current levels. In contrast, cutting PFAS releases at the source by 2040 could save around €110 billion.

Because PFAS remain in the body and the environment for decades, the report said early action is essential to limit long-term damage.

The study identifies newborns, children, people living near contaminated sites and workers at those sites as the populations most exposed to PFAS pollution.

The commission said in a statement that it is committed to protecting these groups while also preventing wider social and economic consequences. It said a balanced approach is needed as alternatives to PFAS are developed for key industrial uses.

“Providing clarity on PFAS with bans for consumer uses is a top priority for both citizens and businesses,” said Jessika Roswall, the Commissioner for Environment.

“Consumers are concerned, and rightly so. This study underlines the urgency to act.”

‘A form of crisis profiteering’ – report slams rich nations over climate loans

Three possible futures

One scenario examined in the study assumes PFAS remain authorised but standards become stricter and more protective. Under this option, many contaminated sites would need to be cleaned up, pushing the total cost to around €1.7 trillion by 2050.

The most optimistic scenario is a complete ban on PFAS in Europe.

In that case, the chemicals would gradually disappear from people’s bodies over several years, leaving mainly the cost of cleaning up polluted sites. This would be the least expensive option overall, with an estimated bill of about €330 billion.

However, the report said this scenario may be overly optimistic, as a full ban faces strong opposition from many industrial sectors.

Several of the most harmful PFAS substances, including PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS, have already been banned in the European Union. In 2024, restrictions were extended to PFHxA and related substances in products such as consumer textiles, food packaging, cosmetics and some firefighting foams.

In October 2025, the EU introduced phased-in bans on all PFAS in firefighting foams. Under EU drinking water rules, all member states must also monitor PFAS levels to meet new safety limits.

The European Chemicals Agency is assessing a proposal for a universal PFAS restriction, with its opinion expected by the end of 2026.

Torrential rains and floods have killed more than 100 people in South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini since December, and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Some areas received “over a year’s rain in just days”, said World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international team of scientists studying the link between climate change and extreme weather.

The intensity of such extreme rainfall events has increased by 40 percent since pre-industrial times, according to the group – a sign that warmer ocean temperatures linked to greenhouse gas emissions are partly to blame.

“Data confirms a clear move toward more violent downpours,” WWA said.

The La Niña weather phenomenon also worsened things. “This effect was compounded by the current La Niña, which naturally brings wetter conditions to this part of the world, but is now operating within a more moisture-rich atmosphere,” the report said.

Oceanic and temperature shifts

Flooding in south-eastern Africa has become more frequent and severe as climate change makes storms in the adjacent Indian Ocean more powerful.

La Niña involves the temporary cooling of temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The World Meteorological Organisation has predicted a weak La Niña in this cycle, but warned that warmer-than-normal sea temperatures linked to climate change are increasing the chance of floods and droughts.

“Human-caused climate change is supercharging rainfall events like this with devastating impacts for those in its path,” said Izidine Pinto, a senior climate researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and co-author of WWA’s report.

“Our analysis clearly shows that our continued burning of fossil fuels is increasing the intensity of extreme rainfall, turning [it]… into something much more severe.”

South Africa floods declared national disaster after storms pound east coast

Food shortages in Mozambique

In Mozambique, more than 180,000 hectares of farmland have been flooded, leaving food hard to come by.

“Before the floods, a bag of rice cost 1,600 meticals, or 20 euros; today it costs 2,300, or 30 euros,” said Marta Josè Bila, head of a emergency shelter in Xai Xai, capital of the hard-hit southern province of Gaza.

“Charcoal costs 1,500 meticals – 19 euros – whereas before it cost 750, so less than 10 euros,” she said.

In shelters like this one, set up to host displaced people, community kitchens share what food remains. 

“Today, we prepared two pots of rice, two pots of ugali, and one pot of chicken. It’s a lot of work, but because we’re doing it together, it becomes easy,” said Melusi Ernesto Cosamanti, the 64-year-old in charge. She and her fellow cooks serve more than 1,700 meals a day.

Lora Salvador Mondlane has been living at the shelter with her children since losing her home. “We eat what we can,” she said. “We either have breakfast or dinner. The portions are small, not enough for everyone. But we have no choice.

“Everything was washed away, including our food.”

Deforestation seen as aggravating Zimbabwe, Mozambique flood crisis

South Africans ‘cut off from the world’

In South Africa, burst rivers forced the closure of Kruger National Park, one of the country’s main tourist draws. The damage is expected to take years to repair and cost millions of dollars.

Fifteen tourist camps are still closed, with some completely inaccessible, said the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp. Hundreds of people were evacuated and no lives were lost.

While animals instinctively move to high ground to escape the floods, people living nearby are at risk as crocodiles sweep beyond their usual habitats.

South Africa’s northern regions were under a red weather warning for over a week. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and the army has deployed helicopters to rescue people sheltering on rooftops and in trees.

“Some areas are inaccessible,” Ali Sablay, head of mission for the NGO Gift of the Givers, which is assisting victims with essential supplies, told RFI.

“Many bridges and roads have been washed away. Communities are completely cut off from the world. They have no electricity. All their food is contaminated, and there is no drinking water.”

This article has been partially adapted from reporting in French by RFI correspondants Gaëlle Laleix in Mozambique and Joséphine Koeckner in South Africa, with newswires.

The cross-party bill, backed by more than 120 MPs, passed the National Assembly on Wednesday with 106 votes in favour and zero against.

It now heads to the Senate for approval.

The legislation amends the civil code to specify that living together does not create any obligation for spouses to have sexual relations.

While French law has never formally included a sexual duty within marriage, courts have at times interpreted the expectation that spouses will share a home as implying a shared bed.

That interpretation had concrete consequences. In 2019, a man obtained a divorce after judges ruled that his wife’s refusal to have sex amounted to a serious breach of marital duties.

French woman not ‘at fault’ for refusing sex with husband, European court rules

A case that changed the debate

The woman, now aged 69 and wishing to remain anonymous, challenged the ruling after the Versailles court of appeal granted the divorce entirely at her fault.

After failing in France’s highest court, she took the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

That court ruled in her favour, saying a spouse who refuses sex should not be considered at fault in divorce proceedings. In a unanimous judgement, the court said “any non-consensual sexual act constitutes a form of sexual violence”.

The judges rejected the argument that consent to marriage implied consent to future sexual relations, warning that such reasoning would strip marital rape of its criminal character.

“I hope this decision will mark a turning point in the fight for women’s rights in France,” the woman said in a statement sent by one of her lawyers.

Lawyer Lilia Mhissen added: “This decision marks the abolition of marital duty and an archaic vision of the family.”

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Clearing the law

“The decision of today will bind French judges, who will no longer be able to consider that a community of life implies a community of bed,” said Delphine Zoughebi, another lawyer for the woman.

France’s civil code lists four duties attached to marriage – fidelity, support, assistance and cohabitation – but does not mention sex.

Lawmakers backing the bill say spelling this out removes any room for judges to revive older interpretations.

The bill is expected to be examined by the Senate next, with supporters aiming for it to become law before summer 2026.

Last year France added the principle of consent to its legal definition of rape, following countries including the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

(with newswires)

The Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) final on 18 January, which Senegal won 1-0 after extra time, saw a 15-minute delay after Senegal’s players left the field, apparently in protest at the awarding of a late penalty to Morocco after a VAR (video assistant referee) review.

TV coverage showed Thiaw gesturing toward his players in a move widely interpreted as telling them to walk off.

A Confederation of African Football statement said Thiaw was guilty of “unsporting conduct” and “bringing the game into disrepute”.

Senegalese forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, who play in the English Premier League, received two-match bans for “unsporting behaviour towards the referee”.

Victorious Senegal returns home

The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) was fined a total of $615,000 (€522,000) for various offences during the final.

These included the “unsporting conduct of their players and technical staff in violation of the CAF disciplinary code principles of fair play, loyalty and integrity”.

The fine was also in connection to the behaviour of Senegalese supporters – 17 of whom are still being held in Morocco, awaiting trial for acts of hooliganism.

Moroccan forward Ismael Saibari was handed a three-match ban and a fine of $100,000 for “unsporting behaviour”, while captain and defender Achraf Hakimi was suspended for two matches.

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) was fined $200,000 (€171,000) for the “inappropriate behaviour of the stadium ball boys”.

An additional fine of $100,000 was imposed for the “improper conduct” of players and technical staff who invaded the VAR review area and obstructed the work of the Congolese referee.

There was also a $15,000 fine after Moroccan supporters used lasers to try and distract Senegalese players, bringing the total to $315,000.

Senegal football federation boss hits out at Moroccan influence on African game

Pitch invasion

The CAN final took a series of dramatic turns from late in regular time when a Sarr goal was disallowed for a foul on 2025 African player of the year Hakimi.

Morocco were then awarded a penalty when star forward Brahim Diaz was fouled, sparking furious Senegalese protests.

The TV images then showed Thiaw gesturing toward his players – following which most of the team walked off and went to the changing room.

However, star forward Sadio Mane did not follow them and later persuaded his teammates to return to the pitch so that play could resume.

Morocco missed the long-delayed penalty with a weak shot from Diaz saved by Edouard Mendy. The match then went to extra time and Pape Gueye scored to give Senegal a second CAN title.

While play was halted over the disputed penalty, some supporters wearing Senegalese colours threw projectiles and others temporarily invaded the pitch before police and security staff intervened.

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World Cup

The bans of Thiaw and the four players relate to CAF matches only and will not affect preparations by Senegal and Morocco for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Senegal are in Group I with France, Norway and the winners of inter-continental play-offs involving Bolivia, Suriname and Iraq.

Morocco, who in 2022 became the first African or Arab country to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, will face Brazil, Scotland and Haiti in Group C.

Thiaw will be barred for five of the six 2027 CAN qualifying matches involving Senegal in September, October and November. The players will miss the first two qualifiers.

(with AFP)

For decades, the Euopean Union – the world’s largest trading bloc – has operated within an international order anchored by close economic and security ties with the United States.

However, Washington’s renewed willingness to wield tariffs, security guarantees and diplomatic pressure as bargaining tools has reinforced a growing conviction in Brussels that Europe must broaden its partnerships and reduce its exposure to political shock waves.

Depsite being heckled as weak and irrelevant by the White House, the EU has responded with an outward-looking strategy.

Over the past year, the bloc has struck or revived trade deals across Asia and Latin America, upgraded ties with key partners in the Indo-Pacific and pushed ahead with negotiations in the Gulf. 

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Trade diversification gathers pace

Of late, European leaders have been frank about what is driving this shift. Speaking at the European Parliament last week, Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides – who currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency – said the assumptions underpinning Europe’s prosperity could no longer be taken for granted.

“The international order we relied upon for decades is no longer a given,” he said. “This moment calls for action, decisive, credible and united action. It calls for a union that is more autonomous and open to the world.”

Shifting up a gear – into a faster, more assertive trade agenda – the EU has finalised a sweeping agreement with India, concluded its first trade deal with Indonesia and signed a long-delayed pact with the Mercosur nations of South America.

The Mercosur deal alone creates the prospect of a free trade area covering more than 700 million people.

Talks are also advancing with partners in the Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates.

EU seeks stability after Trump steps back on Greenland and tariffs

Despite transatlantic tensions, these agreements are more of a recalibration rather than a total rupture. Analysts say Europe’s drive to diversify was already under way, shaped by concerns over China’s ever-growing economic clout. 

“This movement towards diversification, looking for new partners as well as building self-reliance, was driven home by the fracture of the transatlantic partnership,” according to Garima Mohan, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. “The timing of these deals says something about the world we live in.”

The unpredictability of US policy has played a key role. Even when tariff threats are later withdrawn, they have underscored how quickly trade can become entangled with unrelated political disputes.

For Brussels, spreading risk across multiple partners is increasingly seen as simple prudence.

“There is a hope that things will change, given the importance of the US for us,” says Ivano di Carlo, a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Centre. “But there is also a realisation now that we are a bit more alone in this world.”

Trump reverses course on Greenland, drops tariff threat, citing ‘deal’

From trade to strategic autonomy

Trade policy is only one part of a wider shift that also spans defence and energy. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine exposed weaknesses in Europe’s security architecture, while criticism from the Trump administration over low defence spending injected new urgency into long-running debates.

EU leaders have since agreed to raise defence budgets, with €150 billion in loans earmarked for areas ranging from air and missile defence to drones, cyber systems and artificial intelligence.

France has been a leading advocate of greater “strategic autonomy”, a concept that has gained ground as Washington has signalled its security priorities lie elsewhere.

EU countries give final approval to Russian gas ban, commit to wind power

As the EU cut its reliance on Russian supplies, it increased imports from the United States. Today, over 14 percent of EU oil imports and 60 percent of liquefied natural gas come from the US – improving short-term security while creating new dependencies.

“We do not want to replace one dependency for another – we need to diversify,” said Dan Jørgensen, the European commissioner for energy and housing, speaking in Hamburg this week.

For policymakers, the links between trade, defence and energy are becoming clearer.

As Garima Mohan put it, “Decoupling is easier said than done.” But by leaning into its strength as the world’s largest trading bloc, the EU is betting that diversification offers the best way through a more fragmented global order.

(with newswires)

Their experiment is La Ménardière, a shared living project in the village of Bérat, 40km from Toulouse. 

On a Saturday lunchtime, six of the 12 current members gather around a large oak table in the kitchen. They’ve all helped prepare the meal. A fire crackles in the hearth.

Over roast chicken, pumpkin and a glass or two of red wine, the conversation turns to the subject that brought them together – the desire to avoid a nursing home.

“It’s like a prison for old people,” says 66-year-old Sylvie Vetter, who moved in a year ago.

Geneviève Ducurty, who spent years working as a nurse in care homes, nods in agreement. “There isn’t enough time or money, you can no longer take care of people properly.”

Their comments echo recent research that found as many as 80 percent of people in France have a negative image of retirement homes, reflecting what the authors describe as “collective anguish” about growing old in a system seen as “ill adapted, dehumanised and on its last legs”.

Alternative to institutional care

This kind of shared anxiety is what led to the setting up of La Ménardière. The project is the brainchild of Anne-Marie Faucon and Michel Malacarnet, who 30 years ago founded the Utopia cooperative of independent cinemas. 

Their aim is simple and radical: to live and grow old together, contributing to society for as long as possible, and to delay – or avoid – the moment when people are forced into institutional care.

The idea emerged in 2018. “There was an article in Le Monde saying France mistreats its elderly,” says Faucon.

A few months later, after a public showing of the film All Together, a comedy about an alternative living experiment in which a group of ageing friends move in together, she and Malacarnet sprang into action.

In 2019, they took out loans to buy La Ménardière – a late 18th-century, three-storey mansion in the centre of Bérat, a small town of 3,000 people – for €1.1 million.

Listen to a report on La Ménardière in the Spotlight on France podcast

France’s law to ensure people ‘age well’ falls short of expectations

‘A place where we move forward’

The ground floor is communal, with a kitchen, sitting rooms, a meeting room, a library and a cinema screening room. Upstairs are individual apartments. The 2.5-hectare grounds include a swimming pool, gym and vegetable garden and are home to a few chickens.

Vetter, who moved in after her divorce, has 31 square metres to herself – a small kitchen, a bathroom and a large room. “I also have access to the entire garden, the whole ground floor and the swimming pool,” she says. “I was looking for a new life project, really. I wasn’t thinking about old age. When I arrived here, what mattered to me was building something.”

That isn’t just about growing old together in shared housing. The community also works on cultural projects, and there’s an explicitly political dimension.

“We’re trying, perhaps, to change the world a little – to give people ideas and to create connections. It is not just a project for older people; it is for society as a whole.”

Malacarnet, who at the age of 83 is the oldest of the residents, moves slowly between the rooms, but his fighting spirit is undimmed. He describes La Ménardière as a house “on the offensive”.

“The concept of retirement implies defeat, whereas until now we’ve always been on the offensive, and that’s synonymous with victory,” he says. “This isn’t a retirement home. It’s a place where we move forward, where we want to help build a new world.”

The Babayagas’ house, a feminist alternative to old people’s homes, opens in Paris

Fairer economic model

The 2023 book Les Fossoyeurs (“The Gravediggers”), which exposed abuse of the elderly in some of France’s biggest care homes, reinforced Faucon and Malacarnet’s conviction that there had to be an alternative to the profit-driven care home industry.

“The book showed there’s a real problem in France, money is being made off the backs of old people. Very often, many care homes offer services that simply don’t live up to the prices they charge,” says Faucon.

“So our idea was to think about an economic model that’s fairer, more respectful of people and that allows those who don’t necessarily have a lot of money to have something better and more pleasant.”

Each member pays an entry fee of €20,000, plus €70,000 to help repay the loans and fund renovation. That sum is returned when they leave, or to their family in the event of their death. Accommodation is rented at €14 per square metre per month.

Eric and Brigitte Cabot have opted to build their own home on one of the plots in the park. 

“We’ve never lived in an apartment so I think it would be too difficult for us,” says Eric. Their house will cost them around €1,100 a month to rent, which he says is “a competitive rate for this area”. 

The couple were drawn to the project after watching their own parents die in difficult conditions.

“It was very stressful, we wanted to spare our own children the same thing,” says Eric. “When one of us goes, we won’t be alone, there’ll be a community there,” adds Brigitte.

Everyone is expected to contribute to running La Ménardière according to their abilities. Eric, a former engineer, brings his skills in mechanics, electricity, maintenance, the internet and accounting. Brigitte is a keen gardener.

She’s realistic about the challenges of shared living. “We have disputes, but we try to find solutions, we are tolerant of one another’s differences.”

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Open to the community

La Ménardière isn’t an isolated enclave and residents engage with the wider community. Two rooms are rented out on a bed and breakfast basis, bringing in much needed revenue. Schoolchildren come and do cross country running in the park, and the outdoor stables are used for concerts, plays and monthly film screenings in the summer. In winter, the events move inside.

A major study in 2024 showed an estimated 12 percent of people in France said they felt lonely, and increasingly so with age. Malacarnet says reaching out is also part of their mission.

“Some of the people who come and see us seem to be suffering so deeply from loneliness that we tell ourselves we’re fighting for them too, so that they have the right to exist. So this is also a project against loneliness.”

The residents, however, are under no illusion about what lies ahead. Illness and loss of independence are inevitable. Ducurty, the former district nurse, says the location was chosen carefully with this in mind.

“We deliberately chose a place in a town that isn’t isolated, where there’s a medical centre, a pharmacy and home care services. We’re aware that we’ll need outside help and won’t be able to do everything ourselves,” she says.

But they want to delay the nursing home option for as long as possible. “The idea is that, in this place, we’ll support one another,” she says. “When Michel or Brigitte can no longer come to film screenings, we’ll go and play cards or watch films with them in their rooms.”

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‘A utopian dream’

La Ménardière can house up to 20 residents. The selection process to become one is rigorous. Candidates stay for trial weekends and, if they decide to join, then complete a six-month probation period.

Anna Gilmartin, a 74-year-old former social worker from the UK with an Irish passport, is strongly tempted by the project and spent a week there in November.

“I’ve lived in Buddhist communities in England and in France, I like community living. The cultural side of La Ménardière is also a major pull.” 

However she’s still hesitating. “I’m not sure what I could bring to the project. I’m not very robust and they need robust people.” The lack of public transport in Bérat, she adds, is “also an issue”.

For Faucon, this uncertainty is all part of the experiment. “It’s a modest and slightly crazy dream. A utopian dream, really,” she says.

“Will we succeed? We don’t know. But what matters is trying to move towards the best possible relationships, and to support one another for as long as we can, so that the end of life is a gentle one.”

One year after the attack by the AFC-M23 group and its Rwandan allies, no one can say for certain how many people were killed.

Humanitarian groups say several hundred people died in the fighting. The Congolese Red Cross and the ICRC alone buried more than 900 bodies following the clashes. 

Furaha lost several family members on 27 and 28 January 2025. 

“The soldiers were firing randomly into houses that weren’t locked,” she tells RFI. “They came into my plot and shot my husband. A young neighbour and my son tried to help us, they were hit.”

Both her husband and the young neighbour were killed. “My husband left me with nine children. It’s hard to feed them and send them to school now.”

Furaha’s house was destroyed in the fighting and she’s calling for compensation.

So is Tumusifu, another bereaved mother. She’s praying for peace to return.

“You can ask God to help us,” she says in a tired voice. “So that the war does not happen again. We saw very grave things.”

While families mourn their dead, others, like Rachel, are struggling with painful wounds.

She heard the fighting very close by and hid under her bed. But an explosive device fell on her house, leaving her with shrapnel in her body.

“Half of the fragments were removed and the rest remained. I can’t walk long distances for now,” she says.

Living without banks

Those who escaped injury have had to adapt their daily routine.

After the city fell to the rebels, the Congolese authorities suspended activities of the provincial branch of the Central Bank of Congo, effectively cutting Goma off from the banking system. All commercial banks closed and cash machines stopped working.

The economy, however, didn’t ground to a halt and over the following months Goma’s residents organised ways to cope with the cash shortage, at a price.

The quickest way to get money is via mobile money transfers, which have surged. But to withdraw cash, people have to go through informal exchange agents who take a fee on each transaction – up to 8 percent in April 2025. 

Under pressure, the M23 ordered fees to be cut. They’ve gone down to 3 or 4 percent, though that’s still high, especially for civil servants who are now paid by phone.

To justify the high rates, agents cite “transport costs” involved in getting hold of dollars.

Some now have to travel to cities outside rebel control, such as Beni or Butembo, or send money there through intermediaries who carry it back.

Others cross the border to Gisenyi in Rwanda, where banking fees are high. Larger traders face the same problem when trying to access their accounts or receive payments.

‘Business is good’

In April, the M23 tried to relaunch the local branch of the Caisse générale du Congo (CADECO). The initiative has had little success – Kinshasa has declared it illegal and it faces cash shortages too.

Trade with the border city of Gisenyi has, however, surged. From 6am, when the Petite Barrière crossing opens, hundreds of small traders crowd the border. There’s a constant flow of goods – fruit, cereals, vegetables, meat and manufactured products.

Traders use motorbikes or bicycles known as “handicaps” to move goods across.

“Business is good,” says Evon Kasereka, who imports flasks and plastic buckets from Rwanda. “When our goods reach the border, the bicycle owners collect them. They pay the taxes and bring them across. I can move up to 20 boxes a month.”

Thousands without lifesaving aid in DRC, says UN agency

According to Déo Bengeya Machozi of Goma’s business school (ISC), trade volumes have risen by more than 30 percent due to smoother crossings and fewer obstacles, with imports from Rwanda increasing the most.

Ten days after taking Goma, the AFC-M23 movement began setting up a parallel administration. Over the weeks, it appointed a “governor of North Kivu“, organised tests to select judges and spoke of issuing visas. In August 2025, it announced the creation of the “Congolese Revolutionary Police” force.

A report by the UN Group of Experts on DR Congo found that the force includes members of the Rwandan Defence Forces and has carried out operations involving “arbitrary detention and the forced recruitment of boys and men”. UN experts said they’d spoken to “witnesses of acts of torture and inhuman treatment”.

Ongoing struggle

Some of those who fled Goma are struggling elsewhere. Christian, who fled the rebel advance in January 2025, reached Tanganyika province and now shares a tent with relatives in a displacement camp near the capital Kalemie.

“I’ve been here since February,” he says. “I received help from the World Food Programme (WFP) and then UNHCR when I arrived, but since then we’ve had no assistance. Health conditions are poor. We have no drinking water, our children are anaemic, we have no mosquito nets so we catch malaria. We’ve lived like this for almost a year.”

When a new wave of displaced people arriving recently, he says they “tried to share what little we have, but we almost have nothing”.

Who are the armed groups ravaging the eastern DRCongo?

A man called Espoir (meaning hope) left Goma after the city fell. After hiding for a few days, he got out disguised as a trader and crossed the country in fear to reach Kinshasa  – more than 2,600km away.

Now living with a host family, he appeals to the authorities.

“There’s no question of going back to Goma now. The fact the airport is closed makes travelling difficult. Many people from Goma living in Kinshasa used to travel back and forth to see family. How do they do that now the airport is closed?

“This war has affected family ties and the economy. Many families are separated against their will. That’s why we are calling for the war to end as soon as possible so people can start moving around normally again.”

This article, based on the original in French, has been lightly edited for clarity.

Strikes have intensified in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, prompting the government to order the evacuation of civilians, including around 40 children, from villages near Zaporizhzhia, as Moscow’s forces advance.

But on the outskirts of Mykolaiv, a city by the Black Sea, the Beykush estate continues to make wine – 10 kilometres from Russian positions.

To reach the vineyard now requires a military escort and passing through several checkpoints.

For security reasons, visiting the vines themselves is not always possible. Attacks are launched regularly from across the river, shaping how and when work can be done.

The pressure on Ukraine’s wine sector began back in 2014, when Russia’s annexation of Crimea wiped out more than half of the country’s national production.

Ukrainians responded by turning to local wines, a patriotic reflex that helped new vineyards emerge. That has continued since Russia’s invasion in 2022, helping sustain producers such as Beykush.

Ukraine war videos raise questions over Russia’s recruitment of Africans

‘Working is a way of holding on’

At the estate, production was stopped for just one month, even as nearby Mykolaiv was caught up in intense fighting. Since then, work has continued under constant threat.

“At the beginning of the war, work was the only thing that helped keep our spirits up,” winemaker Ola Romanenko told RFI.

“It gave us something to focus on instead of thinking about the constant danger. And even today, working is a way of holding on, of not thinking about everything else.”

The estate has not been hit directly, but drones often fly overhead before crashing nearby or heading towards Odesa. The team has had to adapt quickly to the risks.

Only four people now handle production at the winery. Romanenko lives on site, while the other employees are neighbours. During the harvest, local residents also help out so the work can be done as quickly as possible.

The winery has also set up shelters.

“We have a basement for our barrels, which is very safe,” she said. “We also have an old tasting room that is almost underground and works as a shelter. If the noise is too loud or the danger too high, we go there.”

The team stays in constant contact with the army, and helps to support it financially.

“For security, we make donations,” she said. “Some QR codes on our bottles allow people to support the rehabilitation of soldiers. Several of our employees are also serving in the army and we help them.”

Despite the conditions, production has not fallen. Beykush produces around 19,000 bottles a year across 15 different wines, and output has even increased since 2022.

France now supplies most of Ukraine’s intelligence, Macron says

‘Identity is our strength’

The wines have also gained international recognition.

“This year, at the most prestigious competition in London, Larbinat won gold in the orange wine category,” Romanenko said. “L’Oca Deserta, a red, won silver. They sell so well that some are already sold out.”

In Mykolaiv, Marina Stepanova runs one of the city’s few remaining wine shops. With frequent air raid alerts, power cuts and a curfew, opportunities to go out in the evening are limited.

She told RFI that while foreign importers were keen to support Ukraine’s wine sector in 2022, that interest has since faded. Local producers are now relying mainly on Ukrainian customers.

At the entrance to Stepanova’s shop, one shelf is dedicated to wines from the Mykolaiv region, with more Ukrainian bottles further inside. A small room at the back is used for tastings.

Here, local architect Efren Polanco invites foreign colleagues to sample regional wines.

“When you introduce yourself and say you come from France, you have your identity, your personality,” he told the visitors. “For our wine, it’s the same. Identity is our strength.”

Pouring a glass from the Beykush estate, Polanco added: “This wine is like the blood of the Mykolaiv region.”

Outside, an air raid alert sounded. Inside, the small group clinked glasses.

This article is based on a report in French by RFI’s Accents d’Europe podcast.

The Sudan National Museum in Khartoum bears battle scars. Beneath holes left in its facade by rocket fire, a large bay window lies shattered. The gardens are littered with explosives. 

Home to a vast collection tracing thousands of years of human history in the Nile Valley, the building was ransacked when paramilitaries fighting the armed forces overran the capital, soon after the war began in April 2023.

The army recaptured the city from its opponents, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), last March – finally allowing the museum’s employees to assess the damage.

“Inside, all the locks had been broken and all the doors left wide open,” said Jamal Mohammed Zein, the first member of staff to return. 

“I headed straight for the main store room, which houses more than 100,000 archaeological artefacts. Objects were strewn all over the floor. The crates had been opened and looted. Many artefacts had been broken or chipped,” he told RFI.

Suspected trafficking

As employees work to clean and repair what remains, a committee of experts is making an inventory of the losses. At least 4,000 items are missing, according to Rihab Khidir, the archaeologist who heads the panel.

“They completely ransacked the Kushite gold room, which housed hundreds of ornamental pieces,” she said. “Necklaces and rings made entirely of gold. Jewellery dating back to the time of the Kush civilisation, from the kingdom of Napata and Meroe, that was found inside royal burial chambers.”

The museum held the world’s most important collection of artefacts from the kingdom of Kush, an ancient Nubian culture whose pharaohs once conquered Egypt. It also housed objects that testified to the rich range of influences, including Islamic and Christian, that have shaped Sudan over its long history.

Museum authorities say they have evidence that at least three trucks loaded with artefacts left Khartoum in August 2023, heading west. The RSF are suspected of trying to smuggle the treasures out of Sudan, selling them to foreign dealers to finance the ongoing conflict.

From the early days of the fighting, international experts sent pleas to the RSF warning that “heritage is a red line”, according to Khidir.

“It is part of our culture, a piece of our history that has nothing to do with the current conflict. They got the message and said they were willing to cooperate, and yet everything was stolen.”

The challenge of preserving Sudan’s rich heritage for future generations

Symbolic losses

The National Museum was not the only heritage site raided. At least a dozen others across Sudan have been damaged or plundered, with the total losses estimated at nearly $110 million. 

In Darfur, scene of some of the most brutal battles, militia turned the regional museum of Nyala into a barracks.

In the city of El-Fasher, under siege for more than a year before it fell to the RSF last October, the palace of Ali Dinar, Darfur’s last sultan, was destroyed in shelling.

The palace was “a symbol of the sovereignty of the Fur people and resistance to colonisation”, said Ali Noor, secretary-general of the Sudanese committee of the Blue Shield, an international NGO that works to protect cultural heritage in emergencies.

Noor believes the destruction, in a country riven by ethnic and religious divisions, is no accident. “It is the deliberate physical and cultural extermination of entire communities from our historical heritage.”

Sudan’s El-Fasher under the RSF, destroyed and ‘full of bodies’

Global preservation efforts

Critics say Sudan’s heritage, like the human victims of its war, has suffered from a lack of global attention. But in Sudan and abroad, a patchwork of initiatives are attempting to stem the damage.

Experts from the country’s National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums have been documenting and moving collections from sites judged to be in danger. 

One of the National Museum’s curators, Shadia Abdrabo – now based in Paris on a French research grant – is compiling an online database of artefacts in all of Sudan’s museums to help establish what’s missing. 

Unesco is funding emergency efforts to secure vulnerable world heritage sites, including the former royal city of Meroe, seat of the Kushite kings, as well as the pyramids at Gebel Barkal. It has also helped train police and customs officers in Sudan and neighbouring countries to spot stolen antiquities, and appealed to international museums and collectors to refuse suspect items.

The Louvre, the British Museum and others have lent support. Meanwhile an international task force has been set up to mobilise institutions and donors outside Sudan. 

The efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Last week, the Sudanese government announced the recovery of 570 objects taken from the National Museum – roughly 30 percent of what was lost. 

The delicate figurines, vases and scarab-shaped amulets were reportedly retrieved after months of investigation helped by Interpol and Unesco.

The government has promised a financial reward to any member of the public who returns other looted objects or shares information about their whereabouts.

Museum restored online

Separately, part of the National Museum’s collection is once more on view in a virtual museum that went live at the start of this month.

Visitors can explore some 500 of the museum’s treasures in an online recreation of the building as it was before the war. A recreation of the famed Kushite gold room will be uploaded later this year.

Commissioned before the conflict started, the project was supported by the French Section of the Sudanese Directorate of Antiquities (SFDAS), a government-funded research institute that works on archaeological projects with Sudan.

“This is a great source of hope for our Sudanese colleagues, as it allows them to continue researching and promoting Sudanese heritage,” said Faïza Drici of SFDAS.

It is also hoped the virtual collection, by providing a public record, will make it harder for traffickers to sell off looted items.

In Khartoum, reopening the museum in reality remains a distant dream.

For archaeologist Khidir, still working to document the scale of what has been lost, the paramilitaries fighting Sudan’s war have missed the true value of what they stole or destroyed.

“The Rapid Support Forces are foolish,” she said. “Who do they want to rule? Those who have no history have no present. Heritage is our roots. They say their hearts are with their homeland. They say they want to govern the country, so why don’t they protect our heritage?

“This stolen heritage, this civilisation, belongs to an entire people, and even to all of humanity.”

This article has been adapted from RFI interviews by Eliott Brachet, Gaëlle Laleix and Savannah Ruellan.

Setting sail from Christchurch, New Zealand, on 20 January and wrapping up in Hobart, Australia, on 15 March, Etienne’s Polar Pod / Perseverance crew will spend their time collecting all kinds of data from the sea, the sky, the air and the ice, using special onboard equipment.

Their main goal is to study the breeding patterns of local fauna to provide evidence for the efficacy of the marine protected area (MPA) in the Ross Sea off Antarctica, now a decade old.

Perseverance is an appropriate name for the mission – one that suggests the same patience, determination and faith that have driven Etienne’s ambitious projects over the years.

At 79, the doctor and explorer has kept his spirit of adventure. It all began as a child growing up in the Tarn region of southern France, inland from the ocean, dreaming of remote snowscapes and the deep, dark waters of the Poles.

“It’s another planet. There’s no sign of humanity apart from the scientific stations that are there,” Etienne told RFI. “And I need deserts sometimes, even here in Paris. I need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world for a while.”

His thirst for challenges saw him become first person to trek solo across the Arctic to the North Pole in 1986. In 1989-1990, he led an international group across Antarctica on dog sleds.

Measuring crucial krill

The Perseverance mission will focus on measuring the quantity of krill and their reproduction levels to see if they are compatible with international fishing quotas.

Krill – tiny crustaceans resembling prawns – are key to the local food chain. If they disappear, so will the species that depend on them, including penguins, seals, whales and birds.

Norway, Russia and China all have vested interests in harvesting krill for use in intensive fish farming, dietary supplements and other consumer goods in high demand.

The data collected during the expedition will form the basis of a report for the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) – the international body in charge of regulating fishing access in the region.

The expedition’s comprehensive report will also inform negotiations within the CCAMLR to create several new MPAs, notably off the eastern coast of Antarctica in the Dumont d’Urville Sea – a project supported by France, Australia and Monaco.

Antarctica: how geopolitics plays out at the end of the Earth

For Etienne, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica represent vast “invisible wealth” – inestimable resources and incredible biodiversity, in need of protection from overfishing and the ravages of climate change.

The objective is not to outlaw fishing all together, he says, but rather to come up with a way of respecting the natural “quotas” of krill based on reproduction levels, which fluctuate from year to year.

“We don’t need big scientific programmes, it’s just common sense to create marine protected areas opposite breeding grounds,” he said, referring to the large colonies of penguins that live on shrinking coastal areas.

Stories from ‘another world’

With tears in her eyes, Sophie Colin, special advisor for marine and polar affairs at France’s Ministry of Ecology, recounts the example of the Adelie penguins, which lost a whole generation of chicks in one season when an iceberg collided with the Mertz Glacier in East Antarctica in 2010.

A large chunk of the glacier broke off, forcing penguins to travel further to hunt. As a result, the adult penguins couldn’t get food back quickly enough to feed their young.

Colin says it’s important to translate raw data into stories that people of all ages can relate to, showing that the project goes beyond science.

“We’re in another world in Antarctica; we feel a bit like explorers. There’s a huge amount of new knowledge that we acquire every year. So, in fact, it’s truly fascinating and engaging,” she told RFI.

“That’s why education is so important; it is the children who will become the first defenders of tomorrow and will know these species, these ecosystems and their importance better.”

Ice core vault preserving climate history opens in Antarctica

Etienne agrees it’s not just about science – it’s also about wonderment, learning and sharing a passion for this continent, one of the last remaining wild spots on the globe.

The “Polarpodibus” is a van that drives around France in parallel with his expeditions, visiting schoolchildren to spread the word about scientific discoveries and monitoring in Antarctica.

“Our polar oceans are truly the air conditioning, the climate control system of our planet,” said Clément Le Potier, who leads the educational programme. “We must protect these polar regions, but to do that, we must first understand them better.”

Not making an effort to protect the area would be like “leaving the refrigerator door of our planet wide open,” he told RFI, quoting Etienne.

From research to action

Etienne’s latest expedition is just the tip of a new iceberg.

During the voyage, he will try out one of his new inventions, the Tipod – a floating platform used to collect samples and measure information from the ocean.

Developed in tandem with technical high school students in Albi, southern France, it’s a mini version of his next big project: the Polar Pod, a floating research station powered by wind turbines that he hopes to launch in the Antarctic Ocean in 2029.

Plunging into these projects, in a part of the world most people will never see, is the way Etienne finds the hope to carry on for future generations.

“We cannot protect what we do not know,” he says. “This mission is a link between scientific exploration and international political action.”

Saying he wants to lower the price of medication in the United States, President Donald Trump has been putting pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron to raise the cost of an unspecified pill in France. But it’s the French public health system, not Macron, that negotiates with drug companies – keeping prices for patients in check. Sociologist Theo Bourgeron believes that Trump’s demand is not about improving care, but pressuring countries to weaken price controls and boost US pharmaceutical profits. (Listen @0′)

More than a third of the French claim they’re not drinking this month to mark Dry January. It’s part of a wider trend of falling alcohol consumption in France, particularly among young adults. But in a country famed for its wine and apéro culture, sobriety can be seen as irritating and “un-French”. We visit Le Social Bar in Paris, which has gone alcohol-free for January to show you don’t need to be tipsy to have a good time. Author Claire Touzard talks about her journey towards sobriety and why alcohol, far from encouraging conviviality, can end up excluding people. And journalist Vincent Edin argues that while France is becoming slightly more tolerant of non-drinkers, successive governments still struggle to recognise that alcoholism is a problem. (Listen @20’15”)

France conducted its final nuclear test on 27 January 1996, ending a programme that has left a lasting legacy of health problems in French Polynesia, the archipelago in the South Pacific that for 30 years was France’s nuclear testing ground. Hinamoeura Morgant-Cross, a member of the French Polynesian parliament, says the consequences of the testing have been “really traumatic for our people”. (Listen @13’50”)

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).

The bill had easily passed the lower National Assembly last year but was heavily amended in the upper house after often angry and chaotic debate led by right-wing and centrist senators.

Supporters said the changes stripped the text of its purpose.

“The debate, which should have remained dignified and deeply humanist, has turned into a dogmatic and political battle,” Patrick Kanner, head of the Socialist Party in the Senate, said ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

Centrist senator Loic Herve said opponents of assisted dying could not be expected to support the text.

“You can’t ask senators who are opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide to vote for an article like” the one adopted by the National Assembly, he said. The Senate rejected the amended bill by 181 votes to 122. The version put to the vote made no mention of assisted dying.

‘My life, my death’: French woman battles for right to die with dignity

Next steps

The draft law is set to return next month to the National Assembly. The government could allow the lower chamber to pass the legislation definitively without the Senate’s approval.

Laurent Panifous, the minister for relations with parliament, said the constitution gives the final word to the lower house.

President Emmanuel Macron promised to bring forward an assisted dying law after winning a second term in 2022. He has said a referendum could be held if the bill becomes blocked in parliament.

French parliament adopts long-debated bill to legalise assisted dying

The proposed change has been seen as one of the most significant social reforms since France legalised same-sex marriage in 2012.

A 2023 report found that most French citizens support legal end-of-life options in cases of extreme suffering. Polls show support has increased steadily over the past 20 years.

Assisted dying is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada. A similar law is currently being debated by the British parliament.

In a separate vote, the Senate passed a law to improve end-of-life care. That legislation had already been agreed by both chambers of parliament.

(with newswires)

Talks will focus on the future of relations between France and Chad, with the stated aim of building a renewed and mutually beneficial partnership, according to a statement from the French presidency.

The meeting comes after a prolonged diplomatic chill triggered by N’Djamena’s decision to end a long-standing defence agreement with France.

Chad’s presidency struck a conciliatory note earlier this week following talks between Déby and the French ambassador, saying it wanted to “redefine” cooperation with Paris so that it is better adapted to today’s challenges.

Macron seeks to reset France’s Africa policy amid shrinking influence

From rupture to recalibration

Relations began to deteriorate in mid-2024 and reached a breaking point when Chad formally terminated its military cooperation agreement with France at the end of November that year.

The move led to the complete withdrawal of French troops from the country under Déby’s leadership.

Chad had been France’s last military foothold in the Sahel, a region where Paris once deployed more than 5,000 soldiers as part of its anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane, which itself ended in November 2022.

France launches embezzlement inquiry into Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby

Tensions were further inflamed in January 2025 when Macron’s remarks about the “ingratitude” of African countries towards the French army prompted a sharp response from Déby.

The rift had already been deepened months earlier when French courts opened an investigation into the Chadian leader over alleged misappropriation of public funds and concealment, notably linked to expenses incurred in Paris.

Shifting diplomatic landscape

Propelled to power following the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, in April 2021, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno consolidated his position by winning the presidential election in May 2024 – a vote that was contested by the opposition.

As relations with Paris cooled, N’Djamena moved swiftly to diversify its international partnerships, strengthening ties with the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Russia.

The Chadian president has also shown a willingness to engage across the French political spectrum, receiving Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Rally party, during a visit to N’Djamena in March.

(with newswires)

“Now, more than ever, every child must be listened to, believed and protected. This abuse must not only be reported, but also made public,” Patrick Bloche, deputy mayor of Paris, announced on Wednesday, during a progress report two months after Paris City Hall launched a plan to combat sexual abuse of children.

In 2025, around 40 youth workers were suspended in Paris, including 20 on suspicion of sexual offences, against a backdrop of reports from distraught parents.

Beginning in January, the directors of extracurricular activities at some 620 Parisian schools have been required to undergo training designed to give them a better understanding of the mechanisms of sexual abuse.

France’s ongoing struggle to protect child victims of domestic violence

Sébastien Brochot, a prevention specialist at the Resource Centre for Professionals Working with Sexual Offenders (CRIAVS) told French news agency AFP: “This violence exists everywhere, regardless of country, social background or level of education.”

He added: “The challenge is to raise awareness among youth workers so that they can better identify, report and manage all situations in which a child may be a victim of violence.”

Common misconceptions

The training also aims to dispel common misconceptions, including the idea that there is a minimum age for victims, the perception of differing impact on girls and boys before puberty, and the idea that women are not among the perpetrators. 

It also addresses the fact that half of all assaults are committed between minors.

“This helps to put things into perspective,” says Stéphane, who has been an after-school programme manager for 25 years. Since September, he has made three reports of suspected domestic violence.

According to the Commission on Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise), one in 10 children is a victim of sexual abuse, most often within the family.

In a bid to address this, the training will also emphasise identifying profiles that are overrepresented among perpetrators – such as those who are vulnerable, depressed or suffering from low self-esteem.

Survivors decry failures exposed in France’s biggest paedophilia trial

According to Brochot, when a child who is a victim of sexual abuse asks an adult for help, the adult does nothing “in half of all cases”.

The majority of children also find it difficult to realise that they have been victims.

“Children rarely clearly verbalise what they are going through. Instead, they alert adults through their behaviour,” he said. Sudden changes in attitude, weight gain or loss and bed-wetting are all warning signs.

For Sophie Fady-Cayrel, director of the Department of School Affairs (Dasco): “The priority is to put the child’s interests before all other considerations.”

This is particularly true when a child’s words incriminate a staff member who has been at the school for a long time.

Staff are also encouraged not to “paraphrase a child’s words” and even to “bypass” their superiors if they think “they won’t do the job”.

Former French child protection officer on trial, accused of raping Filipino boys

Politically motivated

In addition to training, the action plan also includes setting up a helpline for parents, the recruitment of activity leaders in pairs and mandatory two-day training for temporary staff before they take up their posts.

Despite the announcement, unions remain critical.

“These measures are largely insufficient and extremely late,” says Nicolas Léger of the Paris administrative staff union SUPAP-FSU, who points to “a lot of communication to reassure families without additional human resources”.

He also criticised the fact that training is only being provided to extracurricular activity directors, who are then responsible for “passing it on to the 12,000 activity leaders based on what they have retained”.

Élisabeth Guthmann, co-founder of the SOS périscolaire collective against violence against children in after-school programmes, which provides support for parents and activity leaders, believe the move is politically motivated.

“For four years, Mr Bloche has been saying that violence is isolated, whereas we consider it to be systemic. Things are moving forward, but in the context of an election campaign.”

(with AFP)

France still has in its possession tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that it looted from its colonial empire.

The new law will make the restitution process easier by setting clear rules based on a scientific review of requests, involving the countries making them. 

The bill was voted unanimously by all French political groups in committee last week and will next be sent to the National Assembly lower house before it can become law.

Senator Catherine Morin-Desailly has initiated several bills related to the right of restitution. For her, this is the culmination of a process that took nearly 20 years.

France returns skulls to Madagascar 127 years after colonial massacre

“I have noticed that attitudes have changed enormously, including in our own museums, where we are now addressing issues of traceability, how we view our history, and how to re-establish dialogue with the requesting states, most of which were formerly colonised – with whom we also have the opportunity to… engage in a very fruitful cultural dialogue beyond restitution.” 

This bill concerns property whose illegal appropriation can be established with certainty, thanks to evidence from available historical sources. The artefacts must also originate from the current territory of the requesting state and have been acquired between 1815 and 1972.

How an RFI investigation helped return an ancient treasure to Benin

Benin’s God Gou 

Thirteen countries, most of them African, have already submitted requests for restitution that could benefit from this new law. Among them is Benin, which wants to recover the famous Gou God – a hammered iron sculpture made in the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1858 and stolen by French colonial troops.

‘Dahomey’ film invites colonial past to speak through Benin’s stolen treasures

For Beninese historian Alain Godonou, special advisor to the President of the Republic of Benin on heritage and museums: “Its rightful place is in the Musée international du vodou.”

He added: “If you come to Benin today and go to Porto-Novo, at the entrance to the city, you will see this museum already built, majestic, which is already in itself something very important in the urban planning of the city. This museum is eagerly awaiting the famous God Gou.”

Algeria is demanding the return of objects and personal effects of the religious and military leader Abd El Kader, while Senegal is requesting the objects from the Ségou treasure, captured by French colonial troops and Mexico is requesting the restitution of two Aztec manuscripts. 

With AFP, and adapted from this article in French by Clothilde Hazard.

“I am urging Capgemini to shed light, in an extremely transparent manner, on the activities it carries out, on this policy, and no doubt to review the nature of these activities,” economy minister Roland Lescure said in response to a question from a member of parliament.

According to information published last week by the association L’Observatoire des multinationales and reported on Monday evening by public broadcaster France 2, Capgemini supplied ICE with a tool for identifying and locating foreign nationals.

In a message posted on Sunday on the social network LinkedIn, Capgemini chief executive Aiman Ezzat said he had learned “from public sources” of the signing in December of a contract between the group’s US subsidiary and ICE.

US immigration force ICE to help with security at Winter Olympics in Italy

He said the subsidiary operated independently under US law, with strict separation from the group’s central management.

The subsidiary “takes decisions autonomously, has segregated networks, and…the Capgemini group is unable to access any classified information or classified contracts,” he said, adding that a review of the content and scope of the contract had been launched.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Lescure said he had raised the matter with the company, stressing that this explanation was insufficient and that a group must know what is happening within its subsidiaries.

‘Immediate and public cessation’

Capgemini’s CGT trade union called for “the immediate and public cessation of any collaboration with ICE”, saying such partnerships were contrary to the group’s stated values and made it complicit in serious human rights violations.

Against this backdrop, lawmakers from La France insoumise (LFI) announced on Tuesday that they had tabled a non-binding resolution against ICE.

The text calls on the French government to publicly condemn alleged human rights violations by the agency, request the opening of an international investigation, freeze European assets of ICE agents and officials identified as perpetrators or instigators of abuses, and ban those individuals from entering the European Union.

‘Supremacist militia’

At a press conference at the National Assembly, LFI lawmaker Hadrien Clouet sharply criticised what he described as a “supremacist militia disguised as a federal immigration service”, accusing the agency’s leadership and supervising ministers of guaranteeing impunity for its agents.

“It is time for France to assume its responsibilities,” Clouet said, also deploring the fact that “private French companies collaborate and work with ICE”, referring to press reports about Capgemini’s US subsidiary developing software to detect and locate foreign nationals.

LFI parliamentary leader Mathilde Panot said her group hoped the resolution would be adopted.

The federal immigration police and border police have been implicated in the deaths of two demonstrators shot dead in Minneapolis, Minnesota, prompting a wave of outrage in the United States.

According to the city’s mayor, federal agents deployed there were due to begin leaving the city on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump sought to ease tensions.

An ICE spokesperson told AFP that federal agents would also be deployed on support missions abroad, including in Italy for the Winter Olympic Games, scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February.

France’s National Assembly on Tuesday once again rejected two motions of censure aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government, clearing the way for the 2026 state budget to be adopted at a new reading.

After a brief examination by the Senate, the bill is expected to be definitively approved early next week, bringing months of parliamentary debate closer to an end.

The debate gave the prime minister an opportunity to defend what he described as a “breakthrough” budget, saying he was committing his responsibility “before history”.

Central to the plan is a €6.5 billion increase in defence spending, alongside a broader call to look beyond the immediate horizon of 2026.

The session was marked by sharp exchanges, with the head of government taking aim at critics on both the right and the left.

After PM forces through finance bill, what’s next in France’s budget battle?

Opposition divided

The joint motion of censure tabled by France Unbowed, the ecologist group and the GDR group – which includes the Communists and overseas MPs – was backed by 267 deputies.

This fell short of the 289 votes required to topple the government. A second motion brought by the far-right National Rally and its ally, the UDR group led by Eric Ciotti, garnered just 140 votes.

Both camps condemned the prime minister’s decision to invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a bill to be passed without a vote unless a motion of censure succeeds.

Opposition MPs accused him of breaking a promise made to parliament in October to refrain from using the mechanism.

French PM ditches parliamentary override in push for budget deal

Sharp criticism

Criticism of the budget’s content was sharp, particularly from the Greens. Their spokesperson, Christine Arrighi, accused the government of relegating ecological policy “to the very bottom of the list”.

She pointed to the “collapse” of the Green Fund, which supports local ecological transition projects, saying its budget would fall from €2.5 billion in 2024 to €850 million in 2026.

The National Rally attacked the budget, saying that it would increase taxes by “at least €9 billion” while continuing to drive up public debt.

As in previous votes, however, neither the Socialist Party nor the conservative Republicans supported the motions. Both cited the need for political stability and for France to finally adopt a state budget.

The Senate is expected to reject the bill on Thursday, allowing it to return quickly to the Assembly.

The prime minister could then once again stake his government’s responsibility, with final motions of censure likely to be voted down in early February, closing four months of parliamentary wrangling.

(with newswires)

France will stage a prominent display of European solidarity on Wednesday, with President Emmanuel Macron welcoming Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen to Paris for talks focused on Arctic security and Greenland’s long-term development.

The Élysée Palace said the meeting would take the form of a “working lunch”, during which Macron will “reaffirm European solidarity and France’s support for Denmark, Greenland, their sovereignty and their territorial integrity”.

The talks come just days after United States President Donald Trump backed away from threats to seize Greenland, a vast, mineral-rich Arctic island that is an autonomous territory within the Danish kingdom.

Macron warns of ‘cascading consequences’ if US seizes Greenland

United European front

According to the French presidency, discussions will focus on security challenges in the Arctic as well as the economic and social development of Greenland – areas where France and the European Union have signalled their readiness to provide concrete support.

Paris has already positioned itself at the forefront of this diplomatic effort and is planning to open a consulate in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, next month.

The Paris meeting caps a busy diplomatic tour for Frederiksen and Nielsen, who have spent the week rallying European allies amid heightened tensions over the island.

On Tuesday they were in Hamburg and Berlin for talks with German leaders, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz, before heading to Paris.

Their push for European backing underlines a broader effort to reinforce cooperation within the continent, at a time when traditional alliances have been tested.

Danish officials have said the meetings will address the “current foreign policy situation” and the need for a stronger, more self-reliant Europe.

Europe won’t yield to ‘bullies’ Macron warns as Trump pushes Greenland claim

From confrontation to diplomacy

Trump had earlier this month openly threatened to take control of Greenland and to impose tariffs on European countries – including France, Germany and the United Kingdom – should they oppose him.

The rhetoric alarmed European capitals and raised questions about the stability of long-standing alliances.

Those tensions eased somewhat last week when Trump publicly ruled out taking Greenland by force, after meeting with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte.

The two men spoke of an agreed “framework”, although no details have been disclosed. Trump has since said the US had secured broad access to Greenland through cooperation with NATO. The alliance’s officials have stressed the need for members to strengthen Arctic security in response to perceived threats from Russia and China.

From Copenhagen and Nuuk, the message has been firm but measured. Denmark and Greenland have said they are open to discussing a wide range of issues with Washington, from defence to economic cooperation, but insist that their red lines on sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.

(with newswires)

At least 32 elderly people in France were found dead in their homes in 2025 weeks, months or even years after they had died – a stark illustration of what one charity describes as the most extreme form of social isolation.

The figures were published on Tuesday by the charity Petits Frères des Pauvres, which compiled the cases from reports in regional media.

The deaths were recorded in towns and cities across France – including Évreux, Nice, Le Mans, and Montpellier – and are described by the organisation as “the ultimate consequences of extreme loneliness”.

Some of the cases underline just how invisible many elderly people have become. In Bordeaux, the skeleton of a woman in her seventies was discovered in her garden in March 2025, nearly two years after her death.

In the suburb of Montrouge, south of Paris, a decomposed body was found in a social housing studio in September – three years after the man had died – when a bailiff entered the flat as part of an eviction procedure, according to Le Parisien daily.

Half a million elderly people live in isolation in France – report

An underestimated phenomenon

The charity believes the true scale of the problem is far greater.

“This figure is underestimated,” it said, arguing that France currently lacks any reliable way of measuring the number of so-called solitary deaths each year.

While many public bodies, community organisations and funeral service professionals share that assessment, “no one is able to reliably quantify the annual number of lonely deaths in France,” the charity noted.

After failing to persuade public authorities to act, Petits Frères des Pauvres now plans to create its own national “observatory of solitary deaths” by the end of the year.

Yann Lasnier, the charity’s general delegate, told reporters that a scientific committee would be established in the first half of 2026.

It will bring together researchers, sociologists, geriatricians, frontline workers, representatives of local authorities and funeral directors, with the aim of developing a shared framework for understanding the phenomenon.

Two million French seniors live in poverty: charity report

Towards a national observatory

One of the first challenges, Lasnier said, is agreeing on a definition. Solitary deaths can include people who die on the streets, unclaimed bodies in morgues or hospitals, and those who pass away at home with no one present at their funeral – categories that are currently treated separately.

The committee will be tasked with establishing a common definition, exploring ways to prevent and detect such deaths earlier, and identifying practical solutions.

The charity estimates that around 750,000 elderly people in France have no meaningful social ties, with little or no interaction across five key social networks – family, friends, work, associations and neighbours.

The future observatory aims to collect reliable data on how often solitary deaths occur and in what circumstances, analyse risk factors, and make concrete recommendations to public authorities and social organisations.

Early findings already suggest an over-representation of men, particularly among those aged between 60 and 75.

By shining a clearer light on an often hidden tragedy, the charity hopes the initiative will not only improve understanding, but also help reconnect older people before isolation becomes fatal.

(With newswires)

After a year marked by a lack of major successes for French cinema in 2025, the César Academy revealed on Wednesday the list of nominees for its 51st ceremony.

Nouvelle Vague, a film by American director Richard Linklater, leads the way with ten nominations, including for Best Film and Best Director, followed by three other films with eight nominations. 

Filmed in black and white and in French, Nouvelle Vague brings back to life several legendary figures of French cinema such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Linklater, a leading figure in American independent cinema (Boyhood, the Before trilogy), follows the director’s first steps on the set of Breathless, a masterpiece of cinema shot in 1959 in twenty days with only a rough draft of the script.

For his first film role, Guillaume Marbeck, who plays the young Godard, was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor – a prize he won at last week’s Lumières Awards.

Postcard from Cannes #3: Surfing a wave of French cinematic nostalgia

Carine Tardieu’s feature film L’Attachement (The ties that bind us), which tells the story of a relationship that develops between a woman in her fifties and a recently bereaved family living on the same floor, has received eight nominations, as have Dominik Moll’s Dossier 137 (Case 137) and Stéphane Demoustier’s L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche (The Great Arch).

La Petite Dernière (The Little Sister), directed by Hafsi Herzi, received seven nominations, including Best Promising Actress for Nadia Melliti.  

It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year and representing France at the Oscars, only received two nominations.

Cannes 2025 ends on a high as director Jafar Panahi claims the Palme d’Or

Leïla Bekhti, the actress in one of the few box office hits of the year, Ma Mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan (My Mother, God and Sylvie Vartan) (1.5 million tickets sold), is nominated in the “Best actress” category. 

And with his flamboyant portrayal of photographer François-Marie Banier in La femme la plus riche du monde (The Richest Women in the World), Laurent Lafitte is nominated in the “Best actor” category. 

A César d’Honneur will also be awarded to US actor Jim Carrey for his career.

The ceremony, initially scheduled for 27 February, has been brought forward to 26 February, according to a statement released by French broadcaster Canal+. Camille Cottin, the actress best known for 10% TV series, will chair the event.

(with newswires)

The death in August 2025 of Raphael Graven live on the 200,000-follower video channel he shared with two other streamers on the Australian platform Kick shocked France and drew the ire of government ministers.

Owen Cenazandotti, 26, and Safine Hamadi, 23, have denied responsibility for 46-year-old Graven’s death, which followed a 12-day live marathon of physical and verbal abuse against him in August last year.

But the two men are now being held on charges including assault, incitement to hatred, abuse of a vulnerable person and recording and broadcasting violent images, said Nice prosecutor Damien Martinelli.

Investigators probe death of French streamer broadcast live

Prosecutors first opened an investigation against the group in December 2024, months before Graven’s death, when they encountered footage of him being insulted and struck, having his hair pulled and being shot with paintball guns.

‘Trash streaming’

Graven – known online as Jean Pormanove, or JP – had built a following on the platform by participating in live “trash streaming”, in which he was physically assaulted or humiliated as viewers watched live and sometimes donated money.

All three streamers were then held in January last year but released after they insisted the on-screen violence was all part of “an act aimed at creating buzz so as to earn money”.

Graven died on 18 August during a livestream in which he was struck and insulted by his younger colleagues, though an autopsy has since ruled out “intervention by a third party” playing a role in his death.

Ministers in August announced separate legal action against the Kick platform, which is also under investigation by Paris prosecutors.

(with AFP)

France issued 384,230 first residence permits last year, marking an over 11 percent increase on the previous year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Interior Ministry.

The rise confirms France’s continued role as a major destination for students, refugees and other newcomers, even as the government tightens certain migration pathways.

At the same time, the number of people regularised – foreigners without legal status who are granted residence permits – fell sharply.

A total of 28,610 people were regularised in 2025, down just over 10 percent on the year before.

According to data from the Directorate-General for Foreigners in France (DGEF), regularisations fell both for economic reasons, down 11.5 percent, and for family reasons, which declined by 6.4 percent.

Officials pointed to a change in policy earlier in the year. “There is the impact of the Retailleau circular,” published in January 2025, said Guillaume Mordant, head of the DGEF’s statistics department. The circular was designed to underline the “exceptional nature” of regularisations and to tighten the conditions under which they are granted.

Students, humanitarian permits drive overall rise

Looking more broadly at residence permits, student visas remained the main driver, with around 118,000 issued over the year.

Humanitarian permits saw particularly strong growth, rising by 65 percent to 92,600, reflecting ongoing international crises and France’s response to them.

By contrast, permits issued for economic reasons fell by 13 percent year on year, to 51,190.

“The decline concerns employees, down 11 percent, and seasonal workers, which fell by nearly 30 percent,” Mordant explained, highlighting a shift in labour-related migration trends.

Enforcement measures also intensified. Arrests of people in an irregular situation rose by 30 percent last year, with particularly sharp increases among Algerians, up 52 percent, Tunisians, up 33 percent, and Moroccans, up 19 percent.

Deportations increased by almost 16 percent overall, with 24,985 people sent back. Forced removals alone rose by 21 percent, reaching 15,569.

Fewer asylum claims

Asylum applications, meanwhile, continued to ease. There were 151,665 applications in 2025, a decrease of 3.7 percent, meaning that “applications are down for the second consecutive year,” Mordant noted.

The main countries of origin were Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan – each with around 11,500 applications – followed by Haiti, Sudan and Guinea.

Despite fewer applications, recognition rates climbed significantly. The approval rate reached 52 percent last year, meaning that more than one in two applicants was granted asylum.

“We were around 40 percent five or six years ago,” Mr Mordant recalled, pointing to a marked shift in outcomes.

Finally, the number of people acquiring French nationality also declined. In total, 62,235 people became French citizens, a fall of just under 7 percent after what officials described as a “fairly high” year previously.

This was largely due to a 13.5 percent drop in naturalisations by decree, following a circular issued in May that tightened the conditions for granting nationality.

(with newswires)

The climate of tension has been growing since January 2025, climaxing last November, when US President Donald Trump boycotted the G20 summit held in South Africa, accusing the country of pursuing policies hostile to American interests.

Trump had even said that South Africa – which in 2025 became the first African country to chair the forum – would not be invited to US-hosted events in 2026.

To appease Washington, South Africa’s Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, confirmed that the country will step back from its G20 engagements during the United States presidency of the grouping.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland last week, he described the decision as a “temporary setback”.

‘A rational decision’

“South Africa wants to avoid any problem, any crisis with the United States, and it is a really rational decision,” Koffi Kouakou, lecturer at the School of Governance at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told RFI.

“The G20, which was created to bring together all the countries of the world, not just those we like, those that resemble us, or those that are like us, is now being destroyed by President Trump. It’s truly a shame. But South Africa wants to avoid any problems, any crisis with the United States, and this is a very rational decision.”

G20 summit ends with commitment to multilateralism, despite US boycott

With this unprecedented move, the G20 becomes a sort of G19, which will in turn affect the relationships between these powerful economies and the African continent, South Africa being the only representative of Africa in the group.

“This is a very strong signal, and the G20 members must reflect on it because there will also be consequences for the role of the African Union. South Africa and the African Union represent nearly 1.4 billion people. Its withdrawal will create a void for Africa, a void of African representation within the G20,” Kouakou adds.

Minister Godongwana said he believed Africa’s voice would still be heard at the G20 through the African Union.

South Africa closes G20 year framed as ‘presidency for all of Africa’

The United Kingdom will become the 2027 president, and South Africa hopes to be reincluded then.

South Africa will host the Special World Economic Forum (WEF) Summit in April 2027.

The country’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, said in Davos that as Africa’s most industrialised economy and a key voice of the Global South, South Africa is uniquely positioned to convene global leaders to advance collective solutions to pressing global challenges

“South Africa’s leadership in climate diplomacy, renewable energy transition, digital transformation, and regional integration align closely to the World Economic Forum’s mission to improve the state of our world,” the Minister added.

 (with newswires)

Reports had been circulating for days that the agency embroiled in an often brutal immigration crackdown in the United States could be involved in US security measures for the Games in northern Italy taking place from 6 to 22 February in Milan.

In a statement overnight to French news agency AFP, ICE said:

“At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations.

“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”

It’s not known whether the HSI has in the past been involved in the Olympics, or whether this is a first.

According to the ICE website, the HSI investigates global threats, investigating the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States.

ICE made clear its operations in Italy were separate from the immigration crackdown, which is being carried out by the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) department.

“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” it said.

The protection of US citizens during Olympic Games overseas is led by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

Yet the outrage over ICE immigration operations in the United States is shared among many in Italy, following the deaths of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

‘ICE not welcome’

The leftist mayor of Milan, which is hosting several Olympic events, said ICE was “not welcome”.

“This is a militia that kills… It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it, Giuseppe Sala told Italian radio RTL 102.5. “Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?”

Alessandro Zan, a member of the European Parliament for the centre-left Democratic Party, condemned it as “unacceptable”.

Meloni positions herself as Europe’s ‘trump card’ on visit to White House

“In Italy, we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control,” he wrote on X.

Monitoring Vance

Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay any role, suggesting they would help only in security for the US delegation.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on 6 February.

On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, said their involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.

“It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,” Attilio Fontana told reporters.

One year of Trump: the ‘far-right revolution’ testing America and the world

However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any specific information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was quoted as saying late Monday that “ICE, as such, will never operate in Italy”.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) when contacted by AFP about the matter replied: “We kindly refer you to the USOPC (the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee)”.

Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis sparked outrage.

(with AFP)

Saying he wants to lower the price of medication in the United States, President Donald Trump has been putting pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron to raise the cost of an unspecified pill in France. But it’s the French public health system, not Macron, that negotiates with drug companies – keeping prices for patients in check. Sociologist Theo Bourgeron believes that Trump’s demand is not about improving care, but pressuring countries to weaken price controls and boost US pharmaceutical profits. (Listen @0′)

More than a third of the French claim they’re not drinking this month to mark Dry January. It’s part of a wider trend of falling alcohol consumption in France, particularly among young adults. But in a country famed for its wine and apéro culture, sobriety can be seen as irritating and “un-French”. We visit Le Social Bar in Paris, which has gone alcohol-free for January to show you don’t need to be tipsy to have a good time. Author Claire Touzard talks about her journey towards sobriety and why alcohol, far from encouraging conviviality, can end up excluding people. And journalist Vincent Edin argues that while France is becoming slightly more tolerant of non-drinkers, successive governments still struggle to recognise that alcoholism is a problem. (Listen @20’15”)

France conducted its final nuclear test on 27 January 1996, ending a programme that has left a lasting legacy of health problems in French Polynesia, the archipelago in the South Pacific that for 30 years was France’s nuclear testing ground. Hinamoeura Morgant-Cross, a member of the French Polynesian parliament, says the consequences of the testing have been “really traumatic for our people”. (Listen @13’50”)

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).

Within days, Syrian government troops swept aside the SDF and took control of vast areas of territory. The offensive followed the collapse of talks on integrating the SDF into the Syrian Army.

Washington’s shift proved decisive.

“The game changer was the American permission, the American green light to [Syrian President] Ahmed al-Sharaa. That opened the door to Damascus launching the offensive,” said Syria expert Fabrice Balanche, of Lyon University.

The SDF had been a key US ally in the fight against Islamic State and relied on American support to deter an attack by Damascus. But with Islamic State now weakened and Sharaa joining Washington’s alliance against the group, the Kurds lost their leverage.

“Trump viewed the relationship as temporary, not a true alliance,” said Balanche, a municipal councillor with France’s rightwing Republicans party.

French journalist arrested in Turkey while covering pro-Kurdish protest released

US withdrawal and rapid collapse

As Washington ended its support, many Arab tribes quit the Kurdish-led coalition. They aligned with Damascus, allowing government forces to advance quickly in Arab-majority areas.

Several prisons holding Islamic State members fell to government control, with reports that hundreds escaped. Fears of wider instability pushed Washington to broker a ceasefire between the SDF and the Syrian government.

Under the deal, SDF forces are to disband and merge into Syrian government units, a move backed by Ankara.

Turkey has strongly supported the Damascus offensive. It accuses Kurdish elements within the SDF of links to the PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

“Turkey is certainly behind all these operations,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “The Turkish defence minister, General Chief of Staff, has recently been in Syria. So there is probably a common action.”

Turkey blocks calls for regime change in Iran as protests escalate

Kurdish tensions inside Turkey

The assault has triggered protests by members of Turkey’s large Kurdish minority in support of Syrian Kurds. It has also coincided with talks between the pro-Kurdish Dem Party, the Turkish government and the outlawed PKK aimed at ending the conflict.

The PKK declared a ceasefire and pledged to disband last year, but talks stalled months ago. Ankara has blamed the deadlock on the SDF’s refusal to join the PKK’s disarmament commitment.

The fighting in Syria could deepen Kurdish disillusionment with the peace process, political analyst Sezin Oney, of the Politikyol news portal, warned.

“They pictured this peace process as a big win for the PKK that finally all these rights, all the political rights, cultural rights, everything would be recognized, and a new era would begin,” Oney said.

“It’s not that, and it won’t be that there is nobody in Turkey on the side of the government who was envisioning such a change or anything of the sort.”

The Dem Party had few options left. “The only thing Dem can do is rally the Kurdish public in Turkey, and it is just going to be disbursed,” Oney added.

Syrian army offensive in Aleppo draws support from Turkey

Risk of wider bloodshed

Turkish police have broken up many pro-SDF protests using water cannon and gas, carrying out hundreds of arrests.

French journalist Raphael Boukandoura was detained and later released, in a move rights groups said was meant to intimidate foreign media.

Without US intervention, Damascus would push further into Kurdish-held areas, Balanche warned. “Sharaa will seize everything.”

The risk of large-scale violence, he added, was growing in a region marked by tribal rivalries and years of war.

“Northeastern Syria is a very tribal area. The tribal leaders who are mobilizing their groups, their fighters, and they’re attacking,” Balanche said.

“Because of 10 years of civil war, you have a lot of vengeance that was under the table, and now everything is exploding. So it could be very bloody.”

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

World Radio Day is just around the corner, so it’s time for you to record your greetings for our annual World Radio Day programme!

WRD is on 13 February; we’ll have our celebration the day after, on the 14 February show. The deadline for your recordings is Monday 2 February, which is not far off!

Try to keep your greeting to under a minute. You can record on your phone and send it to me as an attachment in an e-mail to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Be sure to record your greeting from underneath a blanket. Then the sound will be truly radiophonic – I mean, you want everyone to understand you, right?

Don’t miss out on the fun. 2 February is just around the corner, so to your recorders!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 6 December, I asked you a question from Jan van der Made’s article and interview with Claudiu Nasui, a former Romanian economy minister and a current member of parliament in the pro-European Save Romania Union party. You were to re-listen to, or re-read, Jan’s “On NATO’s eastern flank, Romania finds itself at the crux of European security”, and send in the answer to this question: What does Nasui think is the core issue for defence spending? What does he think the EU needs to do?

The answer is, to quote Jan’s article: “It’s also about spending efficiency. We should buy more European – like the SAM-T and other weapon systems – to achieve economies of scale.

For cheap, efficient weapon systems, you need economies of scale, which we won’t get if we don’t buy European. So it’s about more than just investing money – how you invest matters.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by RFI Listeners Club member Debashis Gope from West Bengal, India. Debashis asked: “What is the most precious thing in life?”

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Khondaker Rafiq ul Islam from Naogaon, Bangladesh. Khondakar is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Khondakar.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Najimuddin, the president of the RFI International DX Radio Listeners Club in West Bengal, India; Bithi Begum, a member of the Shetu RFI Listeners Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club member Debashish Gope from West Bengal, India. Last but not least, there’s RFI English listener Abdul Mannan from Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh. 

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Vavavoum” by Romane and Stocchelo Rosenberg, performed by the Rosenberg Ensemble; the Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 op. 11 by George Enescu, performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Cristian Măcelaru; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Doktharake Julideh” by Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Sa’di, performed by Mohammad Reza Shajarian and the Aref Ensemble.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Paul Myers’ article “Senegal outwit Morocco to claim 2025 Africa Cup of Nations”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 16 February to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 21 February podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

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France

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

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

Over 21 million Ugandan citizens were called to the polls last Thursday in the country’s general elections.

Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, 81, stood for a seventh term following 40 years in power. He faced seven challengers, including Robert Kyagulanyi, known to most as Bobi Wine, who garnered substantial support but fell short of unseating the veteran leader. Museveni was declared the winner on Saturday 17 January, securing over 76 per cent of the vote.

In this edition of Spotlight on Africa, you’ll hear from Bobi Wine’s international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, about the formidable obstacles facing opposition candidates during the campaign.

‘He represents a population desperate for change’, Bobi Wine’s lawyer tells RFI

Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the think tank Vanguard Africa, joins us to examine the aftermath of these elections and the future of politics in Uganda, and more broadly across East Africa and other parts of the continent where democracy is severely undermined.

Somaliland, Israel and the Horn of Africa

The state of Israel recognised the independence of Somaliland from Somalia in the final days of December, prompting widespread concern and questions in an already turbulent region, and drawing largely condemnatory responses.

The risky calculations behind Israel’s recognition of Somaliland

Faisal Ali is a Somali British independent journalist. He looks with us at the motivations behind this move for every state involved. 

Episode edited by Melissa Chemam and mixed Erwan Rome.

Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.

One year after Donald Trump returned to the White House, his second administration has wasted little time putting trade at the forefront of policy.

Tariffs, the US president insists, are delivering an economic renaissance. Inflation has supposedly all but vanished. The stock market is booming. Trillions of dollars are said to be pouring into the Treasury, with the promise of tariff-funded cheques soon landing in American letterboxes. Critics, Trump has declared, are “fools”.

Strip away the slogans, however, and the picture looks far less flattering.

According to Gerald Friedman, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Trump’s tariff-driven revival is built on shaky foundations – economically incoherent, politically vindictive and geopolitically destabilising.

EU readies response to new US tariffs, France braces for fallout

The numbers don’t add up

From an economist’s perspective, Friedman says, Trump’s claims barely survive contact with reality. “Almost nothing” in the president’s upbeat assessment is true. Yes, the stock market is high, but only because a small group of technology giants dominates the indices. Remove them, and the wider market is essentially flat.

The idea that tariffs are generating vast new revenues is equally illusory. Tariffs face an unavoidable contradiction: set them high enough to block imports and they raise little money; set them low enough to generate revenue and they fail to protect domestic industry. Either way, the notion that they are filling federal coffers with “trillions” is “fantasy”.

Friedman notes that “virtually no economists outside of those being paid through Donald Trump … support his tariff regime”, particularly given its random and unsystematic application. What is billed as strategic economic policy looks more like improvisation.

Trump’s first 100 days: Trade, diplomacy and walking the transatlantic tightrope

Illusion of tariff-funded cheques

The administration’s proposal to issue tariff-funded “refunds” – between $1,000 and $2,000 per household in early 2026 – has clear populist appeal. Economically, Friedman argues, it makes little sense.

The US already runs a federal deficit of roughly $1.7 trillion a year, around 6 per cent of GDP. Washington does not need tariffs to send out cheques; it can simply borrow more. The real question is whether it should, particularly after extending large tax cuts for the wealthy that continue to inflate the deficit.

There is a deeper irony. Tariffs, Friedman points out, already constitute “the biggest tax increase as a share of GDP that this country has had since the early 1990s”, adding roughly $1,500 a year to household costs through higher prices. Refunding some of that money would merely hand back what had just been taken – while leaving the underlying economic damage untouched.

Inflation, eggs and everyday living

Trump has repeatedly pointed to falling egg prices as proof that inflation is under control. Friedman underlines that egg prices surged because of bird flu, not economic policy, and fell as the outbreak eased. They are down by about half, not by the 85 per cent the president boasts about – “one of the smaller lies”, as Friedman puts it.

Elsewhere, tariffs are doing exactly what economists expect: pushing prices up. Imports such as coffee and bananas cannot realistically be replaced by domestic production. Taxing them feeds directly into the cost of living. Households are paying more, not less.

The impact does not stop at consumer prices. Retaliation and uncertainty are quietly undermining export industries. China has cut back on US soybean imports, hurting farmers. Canada is actively reducing its reliance on the US market, deepening ties with Europe and China.

Even sectors untouched by tariffs are suffering. Higher education – one of America’s largest export earners – is losing foreign students as visas tighten and the country’s tourism has also slumped.

The combined effect, Friedman warns, is “higher prices and a reduction in employment and wages… ultimately, devastating to the US economy”.

Europe’s ‘Truman Show’ moment: is it time to walk off Trump’s set?

Gunboat diplomacy, with grudges attached

For Friedman, Trump’s economic policy cannot be separated from his personality. Tariffs have become instruments of pressure and punishment, often driven by personal vendettas rather than strategic calculation. Hostility towards Canada’s former prime minister Justin Trudeau, for example, owed as much to personal dislike as to trade policy.

This is where economics merges with geopolitics. The US, Friedman argues, is drifting away from the postwar, rules-based order it once championed towards something far older and harsher – “pre-1940”, rather than merely pre-1945. Trade policy is wielded like a weapon, diplomacy reduced to threat and coercion.

“Nobody wants to be the one who sticks his head up,” to speak out, Friedman says. Corporate leaders and officials see what happens to dissenters and keep their heads down for fear of investigations, legal costs and political retaliation. 

Occupy Wall Street protestors clash with police outside New York Stock Exchange

A symptom of deeper failures

None of this, Friedman stresses, emerged from nowhere. Echoing arguments made by Greek economist and former left-wing finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, he sees Trump as both cause and symptom. Decades of rising inequality, deindustrialisation and attacks on unions hollowed out large parts of the working class, particularly in the US and Europe.

The 2008 financial crisis was explosive. Banks were rescued, executives kept their bonuses, and almost nobody went to jail.

The lesson, Friedman says, was clear: the powerful play by different rules. Regions once loyal to centre-left parties – coal country in West Virginia, manufacturing towns across the Midwest – became some of Trump’s strongest supporters.

Trump did not invent these grievances, but he has channelled them into a politics driven less by repair than by ego and confrontation.

Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured in ‘large scale’ US strike

Judging Trump in 2026

So how should Trump’s second presidency be judged as it heads into 2026? Friedman offers a stark metric. Ignore the rhetoric and watch the behaviour of those with real power. Do Republican lawmakers rediscover a spine? Do corporate leaders decide that long-term stability matters more than short-term fear?

If they do not, the outlook is bleak. “It’s not only the America First agenda,” Friedman says, “it’s Trump’s personal, ego-driven agenda.”

Protests may continue to swell, but without resistance from political and economic elites, the consequences will stretch far beyond the US.

In 2026, the results will be difficult to spin away. Tariffs promise strength and sovereignty. What they are delivering, Friedman argues, is higher prices, weaker alliances and a dangerous slide towards a world the US once helped consign to history.

Since protests began across Iran almost three weeks ago, Turkey has tried to play down the scale of the unrest. It has distanced itself from Western allies calling for regime change and avoided offering explicit support for those demands.

The protests began on 28 December after a currency collapse triggered demonstrations by merchants and traders in Tehran. The unrest quickly spread nationwide. Activists say more than 2,000 protesters have been killed.

Alongside Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, Turkey has lobbied Washington against any military response to the killings. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said such a move would worsen the situation.

“We oppose military intervention against Iran; Iran must resolve its own problems,” Fidan said. “We want the issue resolved through dialogue.”

France summons Iran envoy over ‘unrestrained’ protest crackdown

Fear of regional collapse

According to The Guardian newspaper, US President Donald Trump’s decision to step back from attacking Iran was influenced by Turkey and its Arab allies – who warned of regional chaos if an attack went ahead.

Turkey fears that Iran could descend into civil war similar to Iraq after the collapse of its regime, said Serhan Afacan, head of the Ankara-based Center for Iranian Studies, adding the consequences would be more severe due to Iran’s size and diversity.

“Iran has a population of about 90 million, including many ethnic minorities such as Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis,” Afacan explained.

“If a conflict erupts among these groups, it could result in a prolonged civil war. Any resulting immigration from Iran to Turkey could reach millions.”

Turkey and Iran unite against Israel as regional power dynamics shift

PKK security fears

Turkey already hosts about three million refugees. Experts say Ankara’s biggest security concern is the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought Turkey for an independent Kurdish state and has an Iranian affiliate, PJAK.

Although the PKK announced a ceasefire last year and pledged to disband, Ankara fears unrest in Iran could give the group new opportunities, said Iranian expert Bilgehan Alagoz, of Marmara University.

“Day by day, we have started to see the PKK groups in certain cities of Iran demanding some separatist demands, and this is the main concern for Turkey,” he said.

Ankara also accuses Israel of exploiting the situation in Iran.

“Israel has targeted all these PKK groups and tried to motivate the PKK groups inside Iran,” Alagoz said. “Any instability inside Iran can create a space for the PKK.”

Fidan has also accused Israel of manipulating the protests.

Turkey is already confronting another PKK-linked group in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls large parts of the country. Ankara accuses Israel of supporting the SDF, adding Iran to a broader Israeli-Turkish regional rivalry.

France’s Iranian diaspora divided over deadly protests back home

Energy pressure

Turkey could also clash with Washington over Iran if the protests continue. Trump has warned that countries trading with Tehran could face 25 percent tariffs.

Iran supplies Turkey with about one-fifth of its gas needs, according to Atilla Yesilada, an analyst at the Global Source Partners think tank. “Iran pumps 10 billion cubic metres of gas to Turkey every year, roughly one-fifth of total consumption,” he said.

That supply could theoretically be replaced by liquefied natural gas imports, but Yesilada warned that Turkey is already struggling to cut its dependence on Russia, its main energy supplier.

“Combine this with increasing American and EU pressure to cut gas purchases from Russia, and Turkey is in a very difficult situation,” he said.

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.