While underlining their “defensive” aims, several European countries have now pledged military assistance to EU member Cyprus as the Middle East conflict intensifies and widens.

Britain, Greece and Portugal have gone further by also allowing the US military to use their bases under certain conditions.

Spain has ruled this out and Italy has said it has not received any such request.

“We are not at war and we do not want to join the war,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told RTL 102.5 radio on Thursday.

Here are the main military assistance pledges from Europe so far:

Britain

An Iranian-made unmanned drone struck the runway at the British air force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus on Monday.

Other drones, probably launched by Iran-backed military group Hezbollah from Lebanon, have been intercepted.

Britain said it was sending a warship, HMS Dragon, fitted with a Sea Viper missile system able to launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds.

It is also deploying Wildcat helicopters equipped with Martlet missiles that can take down drones.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially refused to have any role in the war but later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose”.

In a joint statement on Sunday, Britain, France and Germany have said they are ready to take “defensive action” following Iran’s attacks on several Gulf states.

Starmer’s initial refusal incurred the wrath of US President Donald Trump.

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said on Tuesday.

 

How the war in Iran is testing Europe’s US military base network

France

France is sending its flagship aircraft carrier — the Charles de Gaulle — to the eastern Mediterranean.

It has 20 Rafale fighter jets on board along with two Hawkeye radar aircraft.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also said Paris will dispatch additional air defence units to Cyprus.

He said that “Rafale jets, air-defence systems and airborne radar aircraft” were being deployed in the region.

France has already deployed its frigate, the Languedoc, off Cyprus.

The ship used its Aster missiles to shoot down drones fired from Yemen by Iran-allied Huthi rebels targeting vessels in the Red Sea in December 2023.

Greece

Greece has sent two frigates and four F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus.

It has also allowed the US to use its base in Souda Bay in Crete.

Italy

What could Macron’s French nuclear umbrella mean for Europe?

Rome has said it will send “naval assets” to Cyprus in the coming days along with France, the Netherlands and Spain.

Italy has also pledged “air-defence, anti-drone and anti-missile systems” to partners in the Gulf.

Italian media have reported that the assistance could include the SAMP/T air defence system.

Italy says it has not received any US requests to use its bases and such a move would likely require parliamentary approval.

Portugal

The Portuguese government has given the go-ahead for the US to use its Lajes base in the Azores as part of operations targeting Iran but only with certain conditions.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Wednesday that permission had been granted “on the understanding that these operations are defensive or retaliatory in nature, that they are necessary and proportionate, and that they target exclusively military objectives”.

Spain

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has made clear his opposition to the war in a verbal bust-up with Trump.

Madrid has ruled out allowing US military use of Spain’s bases, prompting a threat from Trump to sever all trade ties with Spain.

Spain has nevertheless said it will send its most advanced frigate — the Cristobal Colon — to protect Cyprus.

The defence ministry said on Thursday that the warship would “offer protection and aerial defence” and “support any evacuation of civilians”.

Economy Minister Roland Lescure met fuel suppliers at the finance ministry in Paris to discuss the situation after acknowledging that petrol prices could rise by a few cents at stations across France.

The meeting was called to ensure fuel retailers do not raise prices faster than global oil markets justify and to keep the impact on consumers “reasonable”, the economy ministry said ahead of the talks.

Oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Thursday. Brent crude climbed $2.65 to $83.99 a barrel, its fifth straight session of gains. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.76 to $77.42.

“It’s normal given the increase in the price oil,” Lescure told French broadcaster Franceinfo before the meeting.

“In more than 97 percent of the territory, there is no problem. That is to say we are in a normal situation where we have petrol everywhere. We need to keep calm.”

Spain denies US claim of military cooperation on Iran amid deepening rift

Limited increases

Maud Brégeon, junior minister for energy and government spokesperson, said drivers could see small price rises in the short term.

“In the short term, we can expect an increase of a few cents in France, contained and limited. Of course, there will be differences from one service station to another,” Brégeon told French broadcaster BFMTV/RMC.

She also said some petrol stations had raised prices more than the national average and called on retailers to act “reasonably” as the government reviews the situation.

Before meeting distributors, Lescure warned the government would check whether pump price increases reflected movements in global oil markets.

Officials said checks would be carried out to make sure price rises remain proportional to the increase in the cost of crude oil.

How the war in Iran is testing Europe’s US military base network

European supply reassurances

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, also sought to calm fears of major supply disruptions.

The 27-nation bloc was not dependent on oil coming from Gulf States, she said.

“It doesn’t have such an impact on us when it comes to security of supply,” Kallas said.

Meanwhile, the conflict continued to escalate.

Israel’s military said in a statement Thursday it had begun a large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure in the Iranian capital Tehran.

The assaults were confirmed by the Iranian news agency Tasnim. Local media reported several explosions in Tehran and said Iranian armed forces had responded.

Europe’s defence dilemma: autonomy or dependence?

French diplomatic contacts

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Thursday he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi for the first time since Israeli and American air forces bombarded Iran killing the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The foreign minister reiterated France’s commitment to the stability of the Middle East, to de-escalation and to the resumption of a demanding diplomatic dialogue, in compliance with international law which must govern the use of force,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Barrot also spoke to Araghchi about the French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris.

They were released in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families say were fabricated.

However, they are still waiting to leave the country.

France has described Kohler and Paris as “state hostages” taken by Tehran in a bid to extract concessions.

Ukraine was the first to announce a boycott, saying its team will skip the ceremony in Verona in protest at the International Paralympic Committee’s decision to allow six Russian and four Belarusian athletes to compete under their countries’ flags.

This was followed by similar announcements from Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Germany. The European Union also said its representative will boycott the ceremony.

“Paralympic athletes embody courage, determination, and the ability to overcome challenges. Especially in challenging times, it remains our shared responsibility to visibly embody the Paralympic values and resolutely protect the integrity of the sport,” said Germany’s national Paralympic committee in statement on Wednesday. 

Patchy Italy disability access ‘an insult’ ahead of Games

While France has not followed suit, government officials will not be among the guests, said the country’s sports minister Marina Ferrari.

“This is a decision that we have thought long and hard about, and one that is intended to be respectful of sporting institutions, the [International Paralympic Committee] and the decision that has been taken,” she said. “But it is a disagreement that we are expressing with regard to the position that has been adopted by the IPC.”

Ukraine will still compete in the Games. Valeriy Sushkevych, president of the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee, said that although he was furious at the decision, boycotting the entire competition would be counter-productive.

“If we do not go, it would mean allowing [Russian president Vladimir] Putin to claim a victory over Ukrainian Paralympians and over Ukraine by excluding us from the Games. That will not happen,” he told French news agency AFP.

‘Outraged by the decision’

The IPC has been under fire since it made the decision at its general assembly last September to allow Belarusian and Russian athletes to compete under their national flags.

At the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics last month, these athletes competed as Individual Neutral Athletes.

France’s most memorable moments in a century of Winter Olympics

Para athletes from Russia and Belarus were previously banned from competing under their own flags, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A partial ban was introduced in 2023, allowing para athletes to compete under a neutral flag at the Paris Summer Paralympics in 2024.

Several national Paralympic committees, including hosts Italy, argued that Russian and Belarusian para athletes should participate under a neutral banner.

IPC president Andrew Parsons said he and the organisation were “deeply disappointed” by the boycott, adding that the ceremony should not be “politicised” and that there are  “different ways and spaces to send messages and express views freely”.

More than 600 athletes will compete at the Games across six different sports at three sites in northern Italy, from March 6-15.

(with newswires)

The organisation said the incident happened on 5 December near Grand-Fort-Philippe as staff were returning from a medical outreach mission to people who had survived attempts to cross the English Channel.

MSF said three activists claiming to belong to the British far-right movement Raise The Colours approached the team and shouted insults.

“These individuals approached the MSF team members in a threatening manner, shouting insults and making defamatory and false statements about the organisation,” MSF said.

Video posted online

The confrontation was filmed by the activists and posted on the group’s social media accounts.

“These images sparked numerous hate messages and threats targeting exiles and humanitarian workers,” MSF said. The organisation added it had filed a complaint with a court in Paris.

French authorities have also opened inquiries into the activities of Raise The Colours.

On 23 January, police chiefs in northern France banned a rally organised by the group’s activists. Police said their actions were part of a xenophobic and anti-immigration ideology and posed a risk to public order.

In mid January, British police banned 10 activists from the movement from entering France.

At least 40 dead in Sudan’s worst cholera outbreak in years: MSF

Climate of hostility

Camille Niel, head of MSF’s mission in France, said the incident reflected a wider climate around migration.

“The repetition of these acts is rooted in a climate of impunity fuelled by rhetoric and migration policies that promote stigmatisation, rejection and hatred, to the detriment of the physical and psychological health of exiled people,” Niel said.

MSF was set up in Paris in December 1971 to provide humanitarian medical care.

In 2019, the charity was active in 70 countries with more than 35,000 staff, mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

Logistics technicians, water and sanitation engineers and administrators also work for the group, which receives most of its funding from private donors.

In January, Israel confirmed it would suspend the licences of 37 international humanitarian organisations, including MSF, that operated in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli authorities accused the groups of failing to provide lists of their employees’ names, which are required for security reasons.

MSF called the demand a “scandalous intrusion”. Israel said the measure was needed to stop jihadists infiltrating humanitarian organisations.

The continent is “structurally exposed” to the Middle East war, said Hubert Kinkoh, senior researcher at the CARPO think tank.

“Energy imports, foreign military bases, and its proximity to maritime chokepoints mean the war’s effects reach African shores quickly.”

Targets

The Horn of Africa includes possible targets for Iranian strikes, notably the 4,000 US military personnel at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.

It lies less than 100 miles (160 kilometres) from Yemen, where Houthi rebels have an arsenal of ballistic and anti-ship missiles, and drones, courtesy of Iran.

The Houthis have not engaged in the conflict despite vowing to do so, but have previously caused major trade disruption with attacks on Red Sea shipping during the Israel-Hamas war.

Somaliland, just south of Djibouti, could also be a target as it hosts a major port and military base at Berbera run by another Iranian enemy, the United Arab Emirates.

Israel recently became the only country to recognise Somaliland‘s independence from Somalia, and a Western diplomat told AFP that it may already have troops in Somaliland.

“Berbera is not a confirmed target, but its location (near the southern entrance to the Red Sea) leaves it vulnerable, particularly as Iran‑aligned groups widen the range of facilities they view as linked to US or allied operations,” said Kinkoh.

The risky calculations behind Israel’s recognition of Somaliland

Economic impact

Economically, the war is terrible timing for Africa, just as a weaker dollar and lower interest rates offered some breathing space for its many deeply indebted nations.

The war is disrupting global trade, diverting ships from the Suez Canal to the pricier route around the Cape, and hiking prices across the board, including for energy and food.

An oil producer like Nigeria might have benefited, but it locked in low prices for its exports in long-term contracts and remains a net importer of refined fuel because of its limited refining capacity.

Pump prices in Nigeria were up around 14 percent this week.

Nigerian think tank SBM Intelligence said the new crisis has exposed its government’s “wait-and-see” approach to international affairs, which leaves its “economic interests subject to forces beyond our control” — a criticism that could be levelled at many on the continent.

African economies also rely on remittances from the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in the Gulf that are now threatened. Previous crises in the Middle East have revealed the near-total lack of evacuation planning or even emergency hotlines for them.

Military drones deployed as Nigeria loses billions to oil theft gangs

Diplomatic fallout

While some African countries have done too little, others are accused of over-reach.

South Africa is perhaps the most exposed diplomatically, having already riled the United States with its opposition to Israel, and hosted Iranian warships for naval exercises in January — even if the government has since disavowed its involvement and said the military acted against presidential orders.

“South Africa will want to reinforce the signalling to the world that it is a non-aligned neutral actor. That is a message it’s going to really struggle to sell, given that Iran was so active in the exercise,” said Timothy Walker, of the Institute for Security Studies.

William Gumede, professor of public management at the University of Witwatersrand, said South Africa’s geopolitical posturing was ill-advised and could now trigger US sanctions against members of the government.

“Our economy is so vulnerable… We do not have a luxury to try to grandstand globally,” he said.

War in the Middle East: latest developments

Geopolitics

In the longer term, the war is bound to play into the shifting geopolitics of the region, which have seen Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others expand their reach into Africa — building ports and infrastructure, supplying drones, establishing military bases and drilling for oil, especially in east Africa.

Gulf powers have been accused of fomenting conflict in places like Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, and so some hope the new war may have positive consequences.

“A UAE forced to concentrate on defending its own airspace and territory may reduce its footprint in African conflicts, creating space for African-led peace processes to function more effectively,” said SBM Intelligence.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported more than 200 deaths, including those of around 70 children, in a statement released on Wednesday evening by the Ministry of Mines.

The landslide occurred on Tuesday afternoon, according to witnesses.

“The provisional death toll stands at more than 200 Congolese citizens, including approximately 70 child miners, and numerous injured who have been evacuated to medical facilities in Goma,” the statement read.

These figures could not be confirmed with independent sources by news agencies AFP and Reuters.

The mine is in a remote region, approximately 70 kilometres west of Goma, the capital of the troubled North Kivu province in eastern DRC, to which humanitarian organisations do not have access and where there are no large-scale health facilities. Telecommunications are regularly cut off.

Rebel control

A senior figure from the AFC/M23 rebel group, which controls the mine, had earlier told Reuters that only five or six people had been killed.

Since its resurgence in late 2021, the anti-government group M23 – with the support of Kigali and the Rwandan army – has seized vast swathes of territory in eastern DRC, a region rich in natural resources and ravaged by conflict for three decades.

The Rubaya mine has been under the control of AFC/M23 since 2024, and DRC authorities have not been present since then.

“The damaged site is one of those where continued operation had been discouraged pending the securing of the area and the implementation of protective measures for miners. The incident is due to the heavy rains of the last few days,” according to a second senior AFC/M23 figure.

The mine was recently added to a shortlist of mining assets being offered by the DRC’s government to the United States under a minerals cooperation framework.

Goma’s residents reflect on life a year after DR Congo city fell to M23 rebels

Precarious conditions

Rubaya produces between 15 and 30 percent of the world’s coltan, a strategic mineral for the electronics industry.

Coltan is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand for makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.

It is widely mined in the DRC, which is estimated to hold at least 60 percent of the world’s reserves.

Spotlight on Africa: the race for Africa’s critical minerals

Thousands of miners work daily in the Rubaya mines, in precarious conditions and without safety measures, most often equipped with only shovels and a pair of rubber boots.

The landslide came a month after another disaster at the site at the end of January which killed “several” people according to an M23 official, but more than 200 according to the authorities in Kinshasa. 

In recent days, fighting had intensified near the mining site, in a region where government forces have conducted attacks against the rebel group, including drone strikes.

 (with newswires)

Four years after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine began, support from European neighbours along its border is weakening.

In Poland, the wave of solidarity seen in February 2022 has given way to a new policy towards Ukrainians.

From Thursday, their special refugee status will end, placing them on the same footing as other foreigners.

Political shift

Nationalist leader Karol Nawrocki campaigned for the presidency last August with the slogan: “Poland first, Poles first”, describing Ukrainians as “ungrateful” and “a burden on society”.

Amid growing anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland, he said the country needed to end “a completely incomprehensible and unacceptable situation” that allowed “foreigners to benefit from aid at taxpayers’ expense without contributing themselves”.

In September, Nawrocki vetoed a law that would have extended the special status, preventing parliament from renewing it.

Under the revised rules, Ukrainians must obtain work permits for employers who want to hire them. They will also lose access to social benefits and healthcare if they cannot prove they have a job.

The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk defended the change.

“Most of those who reside in Poland work; their children go to school. We can therefore now gradually eliminate these extraordinary measures and move from temporary solutions to systemic ones,” the government said.

Poland’s new president brings hard line on refugees, abortion and rule of law

Employers worried

Marija Jakubowicz, who handles administrative formalities for refugees, said the change is bad news for both employers and Ukrainians.

“Employers no longer needed additional resources to hire Ukrainians. And Ukrainians were no longer forced to accept poor jobs or work for unscrupulous employers,” she told RFI’s correspondent.

Ukrainians make up 66 percent of the immigrant workforce in Poland. Employers’ associations say the new conditions will make it harder to hire workers they need.

Nadia lives in Poland with her two children and relies on the disability allowance received by her 16-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy. She says the support is not enough to cover medical treatment, including an operation on her daughter’s leg in January.

“After paying my rent, I have barely €200 left to live on. Of course, the assistance has to stop at some point. But I have nowhere else to go,” she said.

Ukrainian refugees in France face uncertainty as emergency protection phased out

Unable to work, Nadia has considered leaving Poland for what she called a more “generous” country. If she stays, she has one year to apply for a residence permit, something Ukrainians were previously exempt from.

Kajetan Wroblewski volunteers with an organisation helping refugees who continue to arrive in Poland.

Some newcomers hope similarities between Polish and Ukrainian will make integration easier. But Wroblewski says he often discourages them.

“It’s better to understand nothing in Finland but have a bed and food to eat than to sleep under a bridge in Poland,” he told RFI, criticising what he described as the state’s disengagement and public apathy.

According to a CBOS poll released in early January 2026, 46 percent of Poles now oppose accepting Ukrainian refugees, compared with 3 percent at the start of the war.

The survey’s authors say this is the worst result recorded since the poll began in 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea.

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This article was partially adapted from the original version in French

Tens of thousands of US troops are stationed across Europe on around 50 bases – a presence that dates back to the period after the Second World War, when Washington chose to keep forces on the continent to prevent another major conflict.

Many of those bases now carry out missions linked to NATO.

But in recent days, Washington has sought to use some of these facilities as part of its war in Iran, triggered by US-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and set off retaliatory Iranian attacks on US bases across the Middle East.

Host countries can refuse, because the bases remain under the full sovereignty of the states where they are located.

What was once a technical detail of military cooperation has suddenly become a political question, exposing divisions across Europe.

Some governments have refused to help, while others have offered political backing – and one leader has changed course after initial resistance.

What could Macron’s French nuclear umbrella mean for Europe?

UK U-turn

The United Kingdom was initially reluctant to support the US operation. Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused requests to use British military bases for the first strikes on Tehran, saying over the weekend that the UK did not believe in “regime change from the air”.

Trump reacted angrily. Speaking to British tabloid The Sun on Monday, he said it was “sad to see” that the US-UK relationship was “not what it used to be”.

Starmer had not been “helpful”, Trump said – adding that while the United States did not actually need the UK, “he should have helped”.

He contrasted the British position with that of other allies. “France has been great,” Trump said, adding that Germany and NATO had also been supportive. “They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from the others.”

France and Germany have offered political backing for the strikes and suggested they could play a defensive role in the region.

Starmer later reversed his position and agreed to allow the US to use British bases for attacks on Iranian missile sites.

Europe’s defence dilemma: autonomy or dependence?

Spain holds firm

Spain has taken the clearest stand against the war. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his country would not participate “in any way in the war waged by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Iran”, calling it “a senseless war with unforeseeable consequences”.

He also banned the use of the Spanish bases at Morón and Rota in southern Spain.

The Spanish government said US actions were “unilateral and do not have the backing of multilateral organisations”.

“The bases will provide no support, except in the event of humanitarian necessity,” the country’s defence minister said.

The Pentagon has since withdrawn several refuelling aircraft from its bases in Spain.

The dispute has also drawn in the European Union. After Trump reportedly threatened economic retaliation against Spain, EU industry commissioner Stéphane Séjourné said: “Any threat against a member state is by definition a threat against the EU.”

France draws nuclear red lines as Macron explores wider European deterrence role

A longstanding presence

The dispute highlights the scale of the American military presence in Europe.

US troops are stationed across Europe, operating from dozens of installations including major air bases, ports and training areas. In early 2025, the US had nearly 84,000 service members on the continent, according to the US European Command.

The American military footprint in Europe dates back to the aftermath of the Second World War and expanded dramatically during the Cold War, when US troop numbers on the continent peaked at around 475,000 in the late 1950s.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, their presence fell sharply to the tens of thousands.

Today the largest concentrations of US forces are in Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain, with smaller or rotational deployments in countries including Poland and Romania. Because the bases sit on host-nation territory, governments retain full legal authority over how they are used.

Franco-German defence project under strain as Berlin signals possible exit

As conflict escalates, European leaders have called for restraint.

“The developments in Iran are greatly concerning,” European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement on 28 February.

They urged all sides to exercise “maximum restraint”, protect civilians and respect international law.

European countries have begun reinforcing their defences in the eastern Mediterranean. France and Greece have moved naval assets towards Cyprus, and France has reinforced air defence systems after drones targeted a British base on the island.

President Emmanuel Macron set out the plan in a speech at the Ile Longue submarine base on Monday, announcing an increase in warheads and what he called “advanced deterrence”. He also invited European partners to host French assets, take part in exercises and integrate conventional forces under Paris’s sole command.

Framed as protecting “vital French interests” in Europe, the proposal raises the possibility of extending a French “nuclear umbrella” to European partners. Macron did not provide a timeline or cost for the plan. He also said Paris would “no longer be disclosing details on its nuclear stockpile”.

France already has one of the world’s most capable independent nuclear forces, with around 290 operational warheads, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its 2026 Yearbook.

Those weapons are split between sea-based and airborne systems. About 240 are submarine-launched ballistic missiles carried on four Triomphant-class submarines, while the remainder are ASMP-A hypersonic cruise missiles carried by Rafale jets.

The “strict sufficiency” doctrine, defined by the French government as “the lowest possible level compatible with the strategic environment and the foreseeable development of threat”, unchanged since the 1959-69 government of Charles de Gaulle, ensures minimal but credible second-strike capability.

Upgrades such as the M51.3 SLBM and ASN4G missile were already in the pipeline prior to Macron’s announcement. 

France to increase nuclear warheads as part of shared plan to protect Europe

Europe has long been covered by the US nuclear umbrella, in place since the beginning of the Cold War in the 1950s when the US began positioning nuclear arms in European countries.

Macron’s initiative comes as questions have been raised about the future of that protection. In March last year, Trump’s national security team called Europe “pathetic” and “freeloaders” in a group chat which was leaked to a journalist at The Atlantic magazine.

Reactions on the continent

Poland, eyeing Russian threats from its position next door to Ukraine, has welcomed the prospect of a French-led European umbrella. Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X: “We arm ourselves together with our friends so our enemies dare not attack us.”

On the streets of Warsaw, one man named Piotr told RFI: “If we don’t have our own [nuclear arsenal], we will gladly host [those of our] allies to respond, or attack, quickly.”

Magda, another local, said she would accept the French veto: “You don’t hand over the trigger.” Meanwhile Rima said she would prefer Polish input, but hopes for peace.

Meanwhile Germany, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, could be warming to the idea, with a Franco-German nuclear steering group also announced on 2 March in a joint declaration. Berlin is eyeing exercises this year and financial contributions.

However, Jacob Ross, a research fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, told RFI he questioned whether the costs would be a barrier. “Macron’s call for fair burden-sharing is interesting— but could we fund this on a European scale?” he asked.

Europe’s defence dilemma: autonomy or dependence?

In France itself, reaction to Macron’s announcement has been mixed across the political spectrum.

MP Jean-Louis Thiériot, of the centre-right Republicans, said he supported the plan, adding that it constituted “no challenge to de Gaulle’s principles, [as] sovereignty rests with the president”.

However, the far-left party France Unbowed’s Thomas Portes described it as a “muscle-flexing armament race”. Dieynaba Diop of the Socialist Party urged de-escalation, saying: “We’ve reduced arsenals before – fight escalation via Europe.”

Marion Maréchal of the far-right National Rally, meanwhile, said she was reassured, and saw no doctrinal violation in the new plan.

French authorities began investigating the late Egyptian businessman and his brother Salah last year amid allegations of a vast system of sex trafficking and abuse on French soil.

“Every time I met Mohamed Al-Fayed, he tried to assault me,” his former personal assistant Kristina Svensson told French police of her two years working at the Ritz.

Her testimony is all too familiar.

The alleged crimes of Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in 2023 aged 94, first came to light in a BBC investigation in September 2024. In it, several young women who worked at his upmarket London department store Harrods accused him of rape and sexual assault.

Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC

British police told AFP that 154 victims have so far come forward to say the former owner of Premier League club Fulham abused them.

His brother Salah, who died in 2010, is also accused.

More than 400 people come forward over Al-Fayed sexual abuse claims

But frustrated by London Metropolitan Police‘s investigation of the alleged crimes, which span more than 35 years, some victims have turned to France in the hope of finding justice.

“In England they’re ignoring the trafficking… They just want to make it about Al-Fayed and Harrods,” said Rachael Louw, a former Al-Fayed employee, speaking for the first time about her ordeal.

The French investigation, however, is handled by “a unit specialised in human trafficking”, she told AFP.

It is “a relief that our cases are actually being recognised as trafficking”.

Mohamed Al-Fayed, outsider shunned by British high society

Consumed ‘like meat’ 

Louw was 23 when her bosses sent her to Salah Fayed’s yacht on the French Riviera. Now after 31 years she was able to testify about what happened there to French investigators on February 10.

Louw told AFP she was first “spotted” by Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1993 while working as a sales assistant at Harrods. Shortly after, she was placed on a management training scheme, which required her to submit to a medical exam by a Harley Street doctor before being employed by the chairman’s office in the summer of 1994.

The medical appointment went far beyond a standard checkup, with a pelvic exam and “thorough breast exam”, smear and HIV tests.

And the results were not kept confidential.

The report, seen by AFP, was handed over to Harrods, and described Louw’s personal life: her parents’ separation when she was young, her father living in the United States and the death of her mother and grandmother.

The doctor also noted that she took a birth control pill, had a boyfriend and was in “excellent” health.

The doctor “sent confidential information to arm the rapist”, said French lawyer Eva Joly, who is representing Louw and another former Al-Fayed assistant.

“These young women were like meat, and they wanted to know if they were fit to consume,” said Caroline Joly, another member of the legal team.

Several encounters were arranged between Louw and Salah Fayed at his home in London’s glitzy Park Lane, where Louw said she was drugged with “a crack cocaine mix”.

Louw was then offered a job as an assistant to Salah in France and she was sent there by private jet.

She said she refused further drugs, “and because he didn’t push anymore, I thought it was okay”.

“I had no reason not to trust this man… this was my first job from university.”

Rape victim Pelicot recounts tale of survival, resilience in ‘hopeful’ memoirs

‘I didn’t feel safe’ 

Staff confiscated her passport as she flew from London’s Luton airport to his yacht. And once she arrived, “nothing” resembled the job she signed up for.

“I thought I was supposed to be filing paperwork, making arrangements, organising office work,” she said.

Instead “there was no office, no normal working hours, no time off. I was expected to just be with him”, she said.

Louw recalled appearing alongside Salah Fayed at dinners attended by elderly, wealthy men with “young girls and lots of touching”.

When she managed to call her boyfriend, who worked at Harrods, he was fired.

One night, Louw woke up to find Salah in her bed, claiming he was lonely, she said.

“I went ramrod straight and the rest of the night I was awake just lying there petrified,” she said, fearing any movement would be an invitation for him to touch her.

“I didn’t know what he would do to me… I didn’t feel safe.”

She saw other young women in the Fayeds’ orbit.

On a trip to Saint Tropez she encountered a red-headed “young girl”, possibly younger than herself, sunbathing on Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht that was moored just off his villa.

“Mohamed starts rubbing lotion all over this girl, she’s wearing a bathing suit and then he started to kiss her,” Louw told AFP.

“I don’t remember anything else” of that day, she said, “so I don’t know if there were drugs, I can’t say for sure whether I was drugged that afternoon,” she added.

What jolted her to escape was the prospect of being trapped alone with Salah after he bought a speedboat with only one bedroom, telling her “that he would take me to sail around the Italian coast”.

“I knew that if I went on that boat nothing good would happen,” she said.

Panicked, she booked the first Air France flight out and worked up the courage to ask for her passport back, which she received although it was clear Salah “was very angry”.

Home again, “I had blocked out” the details of what happened, she said. “I didn’t want to remember.”

For decades she feared she was bound by a confidentiality agreement she had signed at her interview, but seeing other victims speak out against Al-Fayed in 2024, she reconsidered.

“How can I be silent? There has to be a cost to what the perpetrators did. Because if they go unpunished, it emboldens the next man.

“If we women do not speak up we become complicit in our own oppression… powerful men will never change a system that benefits them.”

‘Organised system’ 

Despite the deaths of the brothers, the women hope investigators can still track down who enabled the trafficking network.

“There is no such thing as a small piece of information. Every element is useful for the investigation,” Al-Fayed assistant Svensson said, calling on victims and witnesses to speak to police.

The Swedish woman arrived in France in 1993 and was placed by a temp agency at the Ritz in 1998, then owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed, as his assistant.

Svensson, aged 30 at the time, was to help him manage his affairs after the death of his son Dodi with Princess Diana in a Paris car crash, perceived as a prestigious assignment.

During her interview with the Ritz management, the questions posed were “focused” on her appearance and her personal background, she said, even pointing out that she was the “spitting image” of Al-Fayed’s wife.

The Ritz then sent her to Harrods in London for an interview with Al-Fayed himself, and organised accommodation for her at a luxury residence he owned.

“I had brought my CV. He wasn’t interested in that. He only asked me personal questions.”

What followed was a regular pattern of meetings with Al-Fayed. Svensson said she was left in a room alone for hours with no instruction, until he eventually arrived and she would endure sexual assault and attempted rape during which “he’d laugh”.

“I hoped that in time he would see that I wasn’t interested in him and that he would take me seriously,” Svensson told police.

“I was a foreigner, with no family or network in the country, no knowledge of French labour law, and no one to lean on financially if I quit.”

In retrospect, Svensson compares herself to a closely watched “luxury product”, which Al-Fayed wanted to possess, “a doll on a shelf”.

Al-Fayed was born Mohamed Fayed in Alexandria, but later changed his surname to the grander Al-Fayed, while his brother kept the original family name.

London investigation ‘continues’ 

At the Ritz, she recalls that staff warned her that there were “microphones and cameras in every corner”. And at a villa in Saint Tropez, she said a housekeeper suggested that she block her bedroom door at night.

The Ritz Paris told AFP in a statement that it was “deeply saddened by the testimonies and the allegations of abuse” and that it is “ready to fully cooperate with the judicial authorities. Our teams do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour, which would be a serious breach of our code of conduct.

“We want to express our deepest respect to the women who spoke out,” it added.

Harrods said it “continues to support the bravery of all women in coming forward. Their claims point to the breadth of abuse by Mohamed Fayed and again raise serious allegations against his brother, Salah Fayed. The picture that has emerged suggests that this pattern of abusive behaviour took place wherever they operated.”

They said more than 180 survivors had already received counselling support through its independent advocate. The store also urged survivors to claim compensation through the Harrods Redress Scheme.

London’s Metropolitan police said its “investigation into those who could have facilitated or enabled Mohamed Al-Fayed’s offending continues” and urged victims to come forward.

“The way the Met works has moved on immeasurably, and our teams have transformed the way we investigate rape and sexual offences.”

Lawyers for the two women say their testimony helps sketch the outlines of a “powerful system” of trafficking which resembles the one established during the same period by Epstein.

France opens twin Epstein inquiries and calls on victims to testify

“As with Epstein, with the Al-Fayeds there is a frenzied consumption of young women and an organised system to procure them,” said lawyer Eva Joly, who is also a former judge and European parliament member.

“The pattern is the same: selecting vulnerable young women, transport, accommodation, isolation and money, which is used to intimidate or corrupt,” she said.

And as with the Epstein case, while the statute of limitations may have expired, an investigation into the Al-Fayeds can still establish the facts and identify any victims whose cases could be still prosecuted.

“We are only at the beginning of piecing the puzzle together in France,” Joly insisted.

Iran’s soccer chief Mehdi Taj said he and senior government officials would assess whether the squad should take part in the competition, which begins on 11 June.

“It’s not possible to say exactly, but there will certainly be a response,” Taj said during a panel discussion on Iran’s IRIB Channel 3.  

“This will surely be studied by the country’s high-ranking sports officials and there will be a decision on what’s going to happen. But what we can say now is that due to this attack and its viciousness, it is far from our expectations that we can look at the World Cup with hope.”

European also-rans set to find out opponents in 2026 World Cup playoffs

Iran booked a place in the tournament at their fourth successive finals last year, by topping Group A in the third round of Asian qualifying.

They are scheduled to play in Group G with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand, with their matches taking place in Los Angeles and Seattle.

If they were to finish their pool in second place and the US also finish the group stages as runners-up, the sides could meet in the last-32 knockout round.

If Iran were to withdraw, a replacement team would likely come from the Asian Football Confederation. 

2026 World Cup: Africa’s also-rans clash in play-offs for last chance gala

Criticism of ticket prices

Questions over Iran’s participation follow doubts over the suitability of hosts Mexico, after the death on 23 February of drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes following a Mexican special forces operation. The attack led to more than 60 deaths around Mexico in a series of reprisals.

Following assurances last week from Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, Mexican president Claudia Scheinbaum also assured fans they would not be at risk when attending matches in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

In addition, the price of tickets is causing controversy. The cheapest range from €103 to €228 for group-stage games that do not involve co-hosts.

England’s Football Association shared pricing information with the England Supporters Travel Club showing that if a fan bought a ticket for every game through to the final it would cost just over €7,000.

Fifa has reduced some prices in the wake of criticism. Fan organisation Football Supporters Europe welcomed this move but said the revisions did not go far enough – and highlighted the absence of a pricing structure for disabled fans or complementary companion tickets.

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

It said: “For the moment we are looking at the Fifa announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash. We call upon Fifa to engage in a proper dialogue to arrive at a solution that respects the contribution of fans, and the dignity of fans with disabilities.”

Fifa says nearly 2 million tickets have been sold in the first two sales phases. Residents of the three host countries drove the most purchases, followed by fans in France, England, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Spain and Argentina.

One month before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Fifa said 2.89 million tickets had been sold for 64 matches in eight stadiums. Overall, 3,182,406 tournament tickets were sold, harvesting nearly €700 million in revenue.

Travel bans

US travel and visa restrictions could also limit the number of supporters at matches on American soil.

Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are among dozens of countries whose citizens now face new entry restrictions under a policy introduced by President Donald Trump on national security grounds. Iran and Haiti are subject to broader suspensions.

The measures do not apply to players, coaches, officials or accredited staff, who will be allowed to enter the United States for the tournament. But for many ordinary supporters, obtaining a tourist visa is now likely to prove difficult.

Fan groups have warned that the restrictions risk excluding thousands of supporters from the expanded 48-team competition, much of which will be staged in US cities.

The race for the title

On the pitch, defending champions Argentina will begin their campaign on 26 June in Group J. The South Americans open against Algeria in Kansas City before further group matches against Austria and Jordan.

France, beaten on penalties by Argentina in the 2022 final in Doha, begin what is set to be Didier Deschamps’ final tournament as head coach against Senegal on 16 June. They will also face a team from the intercontinental play-offs before concluding the group stage against Norway.

The final will take place on 19 July at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey.

Khomeini, the original spiritual guide of Iran‘s modern theocracy, spent barely 120 days ensconced in a villa in the village 40 kilometres west of the French capital, before returning in a blaze of publicity to complete the ousting of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in the Iranian Revolution in early 1979.

Andre, an 86-year-old neighbour of the house that was briefly Khomeini’s headquarters, recalled the sudden storm that hit sleepy Neauphle-le-Chateau in the Yvelines department.

“One evening on the television, they announced that an ayatollah had set up home in a comfortable district in the Yvelines,” said the retired engineer, who declined to give his family name but has lived in the village since 1974.

“From the Saturday morning, there was an invasion of journalists. They were parked everywhere.”

Neauphle-le-Chateau, which is just 20 kilometres from Versailles palace, soon became a major draw. “The number of people that the ayatollah would receive, especially the young Iranians who studied in Germany,” said Andre.

“It was incredible. He organised the whole Iranian revolution from Neauphle-le-Château.”

Revolutionary exile

Khomeini, then 76, needed a new bolthole after being expelled from his exiled base in the Iraqi city of Najaf by the country’s dictator Saddam Hussein.

“The only place an Iranian could go to without a visa was France,” said Bernard Hourcade, a specialist on Iran at the CNRS, France’s main research institute.

Abolhassan Banisadr, a future president of the Islamic Republic, at first offered accommodation at Cachan, southeast of Paris. But then a friend offered the house west of the capital and Neauphle-le-Chateau became internationally famous.

The ayatollah arrived on 6 October, 1978 and left France again on 1 February, 1979. He died in Iran in 1989.

Why Iran’s power structure may prove stronger than Khamenei’s killing

According to Hourcade, one of Khomeini’s main activities at the house was to record speeches condemning the shah and calling for revolution, which were recorded on cassettes and secreted into Iran.

Michel, an 87-year-old resident, who also did not want to give his family name, recalled the “police checks” and “blocked roads” during the ayatollah’s stay.

“We weren’t bothered by his presence, but the neighbours on Chevreuse road (where the ayatollah lived) were quite inconvenienced.”

Some, like former resident Alain Simonneau, 80, played down the ayatollah’s role in the history of the village. “It was a minor event for Neauphle-le-Chateau, even if it’s part of our collective memory, whether we like it or not.”

But Lydie Kadiri, who arrived in 1999, said it is a part of history that everyone remembers. “When we say we come from Neauphle-le-Château, everyone immediately remembers the ayatollah!” she said.

The destiny of the house where the ayatollah stayed is another mystery.

The home was destroyed in an explosion in February 1980, a few months after the ayatollah’s death. Other buildings have since been erected.

“One evening, I heard an explosion and suddenly, everything burst into flames. The house shook from the blast. Some glass was cracked in my hall,” recalled Andre.

For some years, a signboard stood on the land where the house had been, signalling the link between Iran’s original spiritual guide and the village. This was vandalised in 2023.

Now pilgrimages are held each year to mark his return to Iran on February 1, 1979.

Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the US-Israeli air strikes on Iran.

A Neauphle-le-Chateau resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that between 150 and 200 people came each year with Iran’s ambassador “to celebrate the anniversary” of Khomeini’s return to Iran.

In Tehran, a road is named after Neauphle-le-Chateau. The French embassy is located on the street.

Khamenei, 86, had held power since 1989 and left no officially designated heir. The government announced 40 days of national mourning following his death on Saturday.

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf sought to project confidence, telling state television that Iran had prepared for “all scenarios”, including the death of its leader.

The constitutional machinery has been set in motion. Authorities said a provisional leadership council would be formed, as required by the constitution, to steer the country while a successor is chosen.

It is made up of President Massoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and cleric Alireza Arafi, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Guardian Council.

The Assembly of Experts must appoint a new supreme leader “as soon as possible”.

That person could be chosen “within one or two days”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera.

Observers say authorities are likely to apply the law strictly to demonstrate stability.

“You can expect Iran to apply the law rigorously to show that the country is not fragile – one leader goes, others are there,” Iran specialist Bernard Hourcade told RFI, adding that other senior Iranian officials were also killed in the strikes.

Lebanon rocked by Israeli strikes as Hezbollah joins Iran war

‘A lock that has been broken’

Khamenei’s death marks an unprecedented moment for the political order he shaped for more than three decades.

“The American-Israeli strikes have destabilised the country, and the elimination of Ali Khamenei is clearly a lock that has been broken,” Hourcade said.

But removing one man does not necessarily dismantle the structure around him.

Iran is “a system” with institutions, a structured security apparatus and a network of political and economic elites, particularly around the Revolutionary Guards, which Hourcade described as the backbone of the regime.

“Eliminating a few leaders will not change the system.”

Power extends well beyond the office of the supreme leader. The structure includes the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Iran’s elite military force; the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary group; the Guardian Council, which vets election candidates and legislation, and administrative and security networks that reach into provinces and smaller towns.

The regime has been “beheaded”, but it retains a “capacity for self-regeneration”, said Sébastien Boussois, a Middle East researcher at the European Geopolitical Institute.

“It is not because you eliminate the symbolic head of a regime and bomb a country that the country falls ipso facto.”

He pointed to two precedents: al-Qaeda survived the killing of Osama bin Laden, and the Islamic State group outlasted the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

That view is echoed by others analysing the crisis. Since the strikes, many have repeated that no regime has ever been destroyed from the air. Whether this one survives, they argue, will depend on what happens inside the country.

“There will be no overthrow of the regime unless it is the Iranian population that takes its destiny in hand,” Admiral Alain Coledefy, a former inspector general of the French armed forces, told RFI.

France mobilises to help 400,000 nationals stranded due to Middle East war

A nation divided

Reactions inside Iran have been mixed. Soon after state television announced Khamenei’s death, cries of joy were heard in some neighbourhoods of Tehran and other cities, RFI’s correspondent reported.

Videos circulating on social media showed people dancing in the streets and women celebrating with their hair uncovered. In southern Iran, a crowd toppled a monument bearing Khamenei’s image as people chanted and set off fireworks.

Similar scenes were observed within the diaspora, from Europe to Los Angeles – home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran, nicknamed “Tehrangeles”.

But there were also signs of grief and anger. A crowd gathered at Enghelab Square in central Tehran on Sunday morning. Prompted by a speaker with a microphone, people shouted “Death to America!” while beating their chests in rhythm, following Shia mourning traditions.

“There is no doubt that a large majority of Iranians have had enough of the Islamic Republic and want change,” Hourcade said. But bombing a country while claiming to liberate it, he added, remains an ambivalent approach.

Whether people will return to the streets as they did during January’s protest movement – which was met with a crackdown that left thousands dead according to provisional tolls – remains uncertain.

Military pressure is for now preventing mobilisation, people are not going out and schools are closed, RFI’s correspondent said. The authorities have also warned against any mobilisation or collaboration with what they call “enemies”.

There has so far been no violent action by citizens that could lead to an internal overthrow, such as taking control of the presidency or the government. “We are absolutely not there,” Boussois explained, pointing to the absence of a structured opposition.

EU foreign ministers warn on impact of conflict in Iran after Khamenei’s death

Risk of regional escalation

Beyond Iran’s borders, the confrontation is widening.

Tehran has promised a “terrible” response, but its immediate military capacity appears limited. “The Iranian authorities are not capable, militarily, of facing it,” Coledefy said.

That does not mean Iran lacks other means of retaliation.

“We have not yet seen the reactions of its proxies,” Admiral Alain Oudot de Dainville, a member of the French Naval Academy, and former chief of staff of the French navy, told RFI – referring in particular to the Houthis in Yemen.

Iran carried out new strikes on American bases in the Gulf and in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Sunday. Blasts were reported in several Gulf cities, including Doha and Dubai.

The position of Gulf monarchies is especially sensitive, Boussois warned. Several are viewed by Tehran as “traitor states”, he said – pointing to the 2020 Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab states, as well as the presence of major American bases in the region.

Tehran could seek to “stoke tensions” to push those states into turning against the United States, he said.

Oman, which had been acting as a mediator in indirect talks between Washington and Tehran and had until then avoided being drawn into the conflict, was targeted by Iranian drones on Sunday.

The nature of the confrontation has shifted, Bertrand Besancenot, a former French ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, told RFI.

On the American and Israeli side, the aim is to destroy the leadership of the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij and to neutralise ballistic missile installations, in the hope that weakening the regime could trigger a popular uprising.

On the Iranian side, the authorities believe this time it is a fight to the death and are using every tool available, he said. They are no longer only striking Israel or American bases, but widening their list of targets.

Despite the escalation, Hourcade does not expect a regional war. “I don’t think it will trigger a regional war – nobody wants it and nobody can afford it.”

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This story has been adapted an updated from the original version in French

Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defiantly repeated calls of “no to the war” on Wednesday after the weekend US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered the regional conflict, in his latest policy clash with Trump.

Just hours later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Madrid had “agreed to cooperate with the US military”, without providing details on what the cooperation would entail.

But Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Cadena SER radio shortly afterwards that “our position on the use of the bases, on the war in the Middle East, on the bombardment of Iran, has not changed at all”.

Trump had lashed out at Sanchez’s government on Tuesday, calling Spain a “terrible” ally and threatening to sever all trade with one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.

Sanchez defended his position on Wednesday, saying his government’s position “can be summed up in four words: no to the war”.

“We will not be complicit in something that is harmful to the world and contrary to our values and interests, simply out of fear of retaliation,” he added in a televised address.

Spain is part of the European Union, which allows goods to move freely between its 27 countries. This would complicate any bid to impose trade restrictions on a single member state.

“Trump’s words don’t always become policy. We will have to see if he follows through, and how,” said Angel Saz Carranza, director of the Esade Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics, a Spanish think tank.

Trump threatens Spain ties over Iran war refusal

‘Responsible conduct’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian commended Spain on X for its “responsible conduct in opposing the Zionist-American coalition’s flagrant human rights violations and military aggression against countries”.

French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Antonio Costa were among the allies rallying around Sanchez on Wednesday.

“The EU will always ensure that the interests of its member states are fully protected,” Costa wrote on X.

Sanchez had already found himself in US crosshairs for refusing to join NATO allies in a pledge to boost defence spending to five percent of GDP as demanded by Trump.

He has also fiercely criticised Israel’s war in Gaza and the US military operation in January that captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

US forces use the Rota naval base and Moron air base in southern Spain under an agreement signed in 1953 under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Spain, then led by conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, staunchly backed the United States by sending troops.

Spain’s participation in the Iraq war sparked huge street demonstrations and many Spaniards blame it for the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed nearly 200 people.

A branch of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks and called for the withdrawal of Spanish forces from Iraq.

France’s Macron insists on diplomacy to solve conflict in Iran and Middle East

Rally his base

Sanchez, in power since 2018, has emerged as a prominent figure for Europe’s disillusioned progressives, who see him as one of the few remaining openly leftist voices in a continent increasingly dominated by right-wing politics.

His opposition to the use of the bases is seen by some analysts as an attempt to rally his supporters around an issue that unites the Spanish left.

The popularity of his minority government has taken a hit from a string of sexual harassment and graft scandals ahead of the next general election due in 2027.

Many on Spain’s right consider Sanchez’s opposition to Trump as motivated more by domestic politics than by a moral compass.

Spain’s Pedro Sanchez: a risk-taker with a flair for survival

The head of the main opposition conservative Popular Party which tops opinion polls, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, accused Sanchez on X of using foreign policy for “partisan” purposes.

In contrast, neighbouring Portugal authorised the United States to “conditionally” use an airbase on the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean for the Iran strikes, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told parliament on Wednesday.

The authorisation was granted as long as “these operations are defensive or retaliatory, are necessary and proportionate, and exclusively target military objectives”, said the conservative leader.

At Marseille’s Vélodrome on Wednesday night, Toulouse drew 2-2 with the home team after extra time.

But they won the penalty shootout 4-3 to hand a blow to the new Marseille boss Habib Beye.

“The disappointment is equal to the hope that was placed in us in the Coupe de France,” said Beye. “We have to accept it, look ahead, face up to it, accept the sadness of the supporters and not question the disappointment.”

Paris Saint-Germain have won the Coupe de France eight times in the past 11 seasons and their elimination in the last 32 of the competition to Paris FC in January offered the remaining clubs a chance of silverware.

Marseille, who have not lifted the trophy since 1989, were among the favourites to take the crown.

All eyes on PSG as Marseille and Monaco fight for Champions League limelight

But they twice squandered the lead during the game against fellow Ligue 1 outfit Toulouse.

Leonardi Balerdi and Ethan Nwaneri missed their spot kicks in the shootout.

“I will always praise a player who takes a penalty in those situations,” said Beye. “Balerdi and Nwaneri are the most affected after the match. There is sadness.”

Beye, a former Marseille player, said the side would target one of the spots leading to the 2026/2027 Champions League.

With 10 games remaining in Ligue 1, Marseille occupy fourth place – a berth leading to the qualifying stages for next season’s Champions League.

Coupe de France coups? Dunkerque and Cannes test mettle against PSG and Reims

“Obviously we’re disappointed but we have to put it behind us,” added Beye.

“My job will be to give the players the energy to go into battle again against Toulouse. We were on top throughout the game but perhaps we lacked a touch of technical skill.”

Following a 0-0 draw against a Lorient side reduced to 10 men from the 44th minute, Nice claimed the penalty shootout 6-5.

On Tuesday night, Strasbourg progressed to the last four following a 2-1 victory over second-division Reims.

On Thursday night, an all Ligue 1 clash between Lyon and Lens will provide the last team for the semifinals.

“What I am presenting you today is more than just a change in procedures, it is a change in doctrine,” European Commission vice president for industrial strategy, Stephane Sejourne, told a press conference in Brussels. 

The new regulations – officially known as the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act (IAA) – aim to ensure that public and foreign investments support manufacturing inside the 27-nation bloc, explained an EU official.

To that end, they stipulate that companies that want public money must meet minimum thresholds for EU-made parts. Large investments from dominant foreign firms will also be subject to conditions that include employing EU workers.

EU leaders push to rescue European economy challenged by China and US

The act, originally planned for December 2025, designates up to €500 billion in subsidies over the next decade for electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries and quantum technologies.

Local-content rules require at least 55 percent components that are manufactured within the EU, so as to strengthen European manufacturing and decrease dependence on products imported from non-EU supply chains.

The text does not name China in this regard, although its measures address Beijing’s current clean tech export dominance.

Its proponents point out that rival manufacturers such as the United States, China, Brazil ​and India already have rules on local content in place, and that similar requirements could help fill the EU’s massive investment gap.

However, the “Made in Europe” measures, strongly backed by France, were pushed back several times due to disagreements, with some arguing they run counter to the EU’s pro-free trade spirit.

Much of the discord also revolved around the geographical scope implied by “Made in Europe”. Sceptics – including Germany, the EU’s largest economy – argued trade partners should be included in the definition under a “Made with Europe” approach.

EU moves to reduce reliance on China for rare earth supplies

Concerns across the Channel

Earlier this week, the British Chambers of Commerce warned the new EU regulations could have an adverse effect on the UK economy, saying in a statement that: “As the UK is now a third country supplier, [the IAA] could squeeze British firms out of supply chains, as well as increasing costs and bureaucracy.”

China has not responded to Wednesday’s announcement, but reactions have surfaced over previous weeks via state media and officials, in response to leaks and drafts.

Beijing accuses EU of slapping unfair restrictions on Chinese firms

China’s state Xinhua news agency has labelled similar EU moves “hypocritical mimicry” of China’s industrial approach. The Global Times warned that “Europe preaches open markets but erects barriers”. 

Wang Lei of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade said local-content clauses would “discriminate de facto” against Chinese firms, on top of existing EU electric vehicle duties. 

Beijing retains leverage via rare earth export curbs – key for EU batteries and turbines – and imposing tariffs on European goods such as French cognac.

The IAA extends the EU’s de-risking efforts alongside the Net-Zero Industry Act and Critical Raw Materials Act. The European Parliament and individual EU governments will now start negotiating the final text of the “Made in Europe” rules, before a final draft can be written into law. 

President Emmanuel Macron has also called a new defence and national security council meeting for Wednesday evening to assess the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East, the government said.

France is reinforcing its military presence in the region, including deploying the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Mediterranean.

The first flight organised to repatriate French nationals stranded in the Middle East since the start of the war arrived early on Wednesday morning at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport from Oman.

The aircraft chartered by Air France left Muscat, Oman, in the early evening and landed shortly before 3am on Wednesday in Paris.

The Minister for French Nationals Abroad Éléonore Caroit told journalists at the terminal that around 100 places had been reserved by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to bring back “the most vulnerable” people.

Families first

The flight was carrying customers and staff of the airline as well as families, young children, pregnant women, participants of a holiday camp and other passengers who were mainly in Dubai.

“The idea is to increase the number of such arrangements so that as many French citizens as possible can return home safely,” she added.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on France 2 television that there would be “several flights” on Wednesday, including one carrying French nationals from the United Arab Emirates and “another leaving from Egypt to bring back some of our most vulnerable compatriots (…) from Israel”.

French authorities said additional repatriation flights were planned on Wednesday as the government steps up efforts to help citizens leave the region.

Barrot also said French Rafale jets had intercepted and destroyed Iranian drones aimed at the United Arab Emirates, underlining France’s military presence in the region.

Paris says its military involvement in the region is “strictly defensive”, aimed at helping partners such as the United Arab Emirates protect their airspace from Iranian attacks.

Following the Israeli-American attack on Iran on Saturday and the Islamic Republic’s retaliation against Gulf monarchies and Israel, the airspace of many countries has been closed.

Caroit warned the “highly volatile” situation meant the airspace “could open and close, and corridors that are set up but can be suspended”.

France mobilises to help 400,000 nationals stranded due to Middle East war

Long journeys home

French tourist Xavier Figuls and his family’s holiday was cut short: this night-time landing at Roissy marked the end of a long journey, after “10 hours on a bus from Dubai to Muscat”.

The couple, originally from Perpignan, arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday morning with their 4- and 9-year-old children “almost at the start of the bombings,” Marie recalls.

“We were cut off from the outside world, and we were in a part of the city where we couldn’t hear the bombing,” she says.

“We heard from our families in France that things were starting to look very bad,” adds the Air France employee.

When the first bombs hit Dubai, 18-year-old Emmy Coutelier was in the hotel swimming pool joking with her boyfriend Adam, “far from imagining what was about to happen”.

Fear and uncertainty

After a long hug with her sister, who had come to pick her up at the airport, she recounts, still very emotional, her deep fear when “an alarm sounded in the middle of the night telling us not to stay near the windows”.

“We went down to the basement: we never thought it would happen,” says the young woman, who, when she took the repatriation flight, felt “as if she were fleeing danger, even though it’s a relatively safe country”.

Some 400,000 French nationals are present in the 15 or so countries affected by the conflict, and more are reporting to the consular authorities, “but not all of them want to return to France,” the minister said.

The government is also closely monitoring the situation of two French nationals detained in Iran since 2022 – Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris. Officials say the aim is to bring them back to France as soon as possible.

In four days, the war in the Middle East has caused the cancellation of 19,000 flights, according to specialist data provider Cirium.

(with newswires)

In a change to immigration rules announced on Tuesday, the UK will also cease granting work visas to Afghan nationals.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the ban – the first of its kind – was designed to close a back-door route to claiming asylum. 

“Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused,” she said in a statement.

“That is why I am taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity.”

The changes are the centre-left government’s latest effort to harden its immigration and asylum rules as its rivals on the right use the issue to rally support.

UK toughens asylum rules to discourage migration

Student visa statistics

The new policy will apply from 26 March.

According to the Home Office, the number of people claiming asylum after arriving in the UK with a valid visa or other permit has more than trebled in the past five years. Around 39,000 such claims were filed last year, bringing the total to 133,760 since 2021.

People from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan make up “an above average proportion” of asylum seekers accommodated at public expense, the ministry said, reporting that claims by students from the four countries had spiked.

Official figures from 2025 show that the top five nationalities with the largest number of people claiming asylum were Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The government has reported an increase in the number of applications from Pakistan and Bangladesh in particular, with over 80 percent of claimants from these countries requesting asylum after arriving in the UK on a work, study or other permit. In contrast, 83 percent of Afghan claimants arrived without documents.

A total of 12,578 people claimed asylum last year after coming to the UK on student visas, the government’s statistics show. A higher number – 13,557 – applied while on a work visa.

Over half of African states subjected to travel bans or visa bonds by US

Asylum overhaul 

The UK’s previous right-wing government also cracked down on student visas, raising financial requirements and barring undergraduates from bringing dependent family members with them to the UK. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s Labour government has continued the drive to bring down immigration and asylum numbers, especially as polls show rising support for hard-right populist party Reform UK.

Under changes introduced this week, the government made protection for refugees temporary and subject to review every 30 months, after Home Secretary Mahmood argued the UK’s system was too generous compared to other countries in Europe.

In November, the UK threatened to block all visas for Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless their governments agreed to take back migrants denied permission to stay.

The Home Office has since signed agreements with all three countries to allow Britain to deport people to their territory.

The suspects, aged 22 and 26, were arrested in the Lyon area and in the Aube region, police sources told French news agency AFP.

“We now believe we have all those who were directly involved in the attack on Quentin Deranque,” they said.

Quentin Deranque, 23, died during a clash between far left and far right supporters on the sidelines of an event at Sciences Po university in Lyon hosted by MEP Rima Hassan, a member of the far-left party France Unbowed (LFI). 

Deranque was part of a group who were in attendance to ensure the safety of activists from the far-right, anti-immigrant Némésis collective.

He died from severe head injuries two days after the incident.

More than 3,000 march in Lyon in tribute to far-right activist

On 17 and 18 February, 11 people were arrested in several French departments, seven of whom were suspected of having participated in the attack. The other four are suspected of having attempted to help them evade justice.

Six men suspected of assaulting Deranque have been charged with voluntary homicide and one with complicity.

Political tensions

Aged between 20 and 26, the seven are, according to a source close to the case, known to be either members of or close to the Jeune Garde (“Young Guard”), a far-left movement founded in 2018 in Lyon by LFI MP Raphaël Arnault, which was dissolved last June.

Two of the seven were parliamentary assistants.

Killing of far-right activist triggers turmoil across French political spectrum

The case has heightened political tensions ahead of municipal elections in March and France’s 2027 presidential race, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet.

President Emmanuel Macron – a centrist barred by term limits from standing for re-election next year – said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimise violence” and called on all political parties to “clean up” their act.

“Nothing can justify violent action – neither on one side nor the other,” he said.

(with AFP)

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White earned the honour in the Eastern Conference.

It is the first time that 22-year-old Wembanyama has won the player of the month award. NBA analysts also named him Western Conference defensive player of the month for the second month in a row.

He is the first Frenchman since Tony Parker in January 2013 to parade the player of the month prize.

NBA rise

During February 2026, Wembanyama averaged 3.5 blocks per game and lifted his league-leading season average to 2.9. He also ranked second in the Western Conference in defensive rebounds with 9.3 per game.

In June 2023, Wembanyama moved to Texas-based Spurs from the French division one outfit Metropolitans 92 where he had dominated the season’s charts in points scored, rebounds and blocked shots.

The hype framing his voyage from France to the United States described him as a generational talent and one of the sport’s most dazzling prospects since LeBron James in 2003.

Wembanyama, at two metres 21 centimetres, boasts the height of a centre (defender) as well as the shooting and silky ball-handling skills of a guard (attacker).

Wembanyama opts out of basketball World Cup duty with France

Stake in boyhood club

On Tuesday, Wembanyama confirmed he had bought a minority stake in his boyhood club Nanterre 92.

He played for the outfit between the ages of 10 and 17 before leaving in June 2021 to join French top-flight side ASVEL in Lyon in south-eastern France.

“Nanterre shaped me as a player and as a man,” Wembanyama said. “I want to help make it a benchmark club that is ambitious, inclusive and true to its values in the long term.”

The club did not reveal how much Wembanyama had invested. Executives said his stake would help fund training programmes and youth projects.

“This significant and formative decision is a natural continuation of Victor’s commitment to the club that trained him,” the club said in a statement.

French basketball prodigy Wembanyama prepares for NBA ascent

“It reflects a clear desire to make a lasting contribution to the development of a club that has played an important role in his sporting and personal development.”

After a year at ASVEL, Wembanyama moved to Metropolitans 92 before entering the NBA big time for the 2023/2024 season.

At the end of that campaign, he was named 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year. He became the first Frenchman to brandish the award since it was created in 1953 and only the sixth player to receive it by unanimous vote.

On 30 January 2025, Wembanyama was named as one of the reserves for the Western Conference in the 2025 NBA All-Star Game.

In the 2026 showpiece, he was named as one of the five players in the Western Conference’s starting line-up.

The court confirmed earlier guilty verdicts against dozens of party members over crimes including the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in 2013 and attacks on migrant workers and trade unionists.

More than 40 defendants face possible sentences of up to 15 years in prison, with the presiding judge expected to announce the punishments later on Wednesday.

Golden Dawn rose to prominence during the 2012 debt crisis, when 18 of its members were elected to parliament.

The group became known for violent anti-migrant rhetoric and for so-called “assault battalions” that targeted left-wing activists and minorities.

The turning point came in 2013, when anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed to death by party member Giorgos Roupakias.

Reviewing verdicts

In 2020, after a five-year trial, a court convicted party leaders including Nikos Michaloliakos of running a criminal organisation. Members were also found guilty over the attempted murder of Egyptian fishermen in Perama and attacks on trade unionists.

The appeals court is now reviewing those verdicts. The prosecutor has recommended that the convictions be upheld in full and has called for harsher sentences for senior figures including Ilias Kasidiaris and Ioannis Lagos.

The court also confirmed the murder conviction of Giorgos Roupakias for killing Fyssas.

Tension had been building ahead of the decision, with victims’ families led by Fyssas’s mother Magda calling for closure.

More than 200 people gathered outside the Athens court in support of Fyssas during the hearing.

The Nazi roots of today’s global far-right movements

Strike and rallies

The public sector union Adedy has called a strike in the Attica region until 11am. It has urged workers to gather outside the appeals court at 8.30am.

In a statement, the union called for the “Nazi murderers to receive the harshest possible penalties” adding that the “labor movement fights against fascism and the system that breeds it”.

The Piraeus Labor Center also urged workers and young people to join the rally. “Only through organised struggle can we crush fascism,” it said.

The left-wing opposition party Syriza called for mass participation, saying that “the presence of every democratic citizen is necessary.”

In its statement, the party warned of a resurgence of the far-right across Europe and urged citizens to honour the memory of victims including Pavlos Fyssas and migrant worker Sahzat Lukman.

Golden Dawn was once Greece’s third-biggest party, gaining around 400,000 votes at the height of its influence before losing its parliamentary representation in 2019.

(with newswires)

Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said France was sending an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the widening conflict in the Middle East following US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

“I have ordered the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, its air assets, and its escort of frigates to set course for the Mediterranean,” he said in a televised speech a day after he warned of the risk of the conflict spilling over Europe‘s borders.

France backs Gulf states as Iran launches fresh wave of missile strikes

Macron said he was also sending air defence capacities to Cyprus a day after Iranian-made drones hit the Mediterranean island’s British air base at Akrotiri.

“I have also decided to send additional air defence assets and a French frigate, the Languedoc, which will arrive off the coast of Cyprus this evening,” he said.

The United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on Saturday, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has responded by targeting US allies across the Middle East.

France prepares Middle East evacuations and deploys jets to UAE

“The United States of America and Israel decided to launch military operations, conducted outside international law, which we cannot approve of,” said Macron.

But “the Islamic republic of Iran bears primary responsibility for this situation”, he said, because of its “dangerous” nuclear programme, support for regional proxies, and orders to shoot “its own people” during protests in January.

Macron said French forces downed drones “in self-defence” during the opening hours of the conflict.

“We reacted immediately and shot down drones in self-defence in the early hours of the conflict to defend the airspace of our allies, who know they can count on us,” he said, referring to defence agreements with Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

 (AFP)

The palace in Tehran was hit in an attack on Arag Square in the south of the city on Sunday evening, local media reported.

“Following the joint US-Israeli attack on Arag square in southern Tehran on Sunday evening, parts of the Golestan Palace… were damaged,” the ISNA news agency reported. It added that windows, doors and mirrors were hit by reverberations from blasts.

Iran’s Mehr news agency carried a similar report.

Unesco warning

The former royal palace “was reportedly damaged by debris and the shock wave following an air strike to the Arag Square, located in the buffer zone of the site in the Iranian capital”, Unesco said in a statement late on Monday.

The UN cultural agency said it had “communicated to all parties concerned the geographical coordinates of sites on the World Heritage List as well as those of national significance, to avoid any potential damage”.

EU foreign ministers warn on impact of conflict in Iran after Khamenei’s death

It also pointed to protections for cultural property set out in international conventions.

The Iranian presidential office’s information channel released video and images of the palace interior.

Afarin Emami, director of the Golestan Palace World Heritage Site, said there was significant damage to “architectural decorations, especially wooden elements, including doors, windows, and decorative moldings”.

War impact

He added that after the 12-day war, objects in the palace were collected and transferred to secure storage, and no damage was done to them.

Golestan Palace was the residence of the Qajar dynasty’s kings and was registered on the Unesco World Heritage List in July 2013.

The conflict started on Saturday when the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has responded by targeting US allies in the Gulf region.

The US military said on Tuesday it had hit more than 1,250 targets in the first 48 hours of the war against Iran.

A fact sheet released by US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the region, said the targets included command-and-control centres, ballistic missile sites, Iranian navy ships and submarines, and anti-ship missile sites.

(with newswires)

The selection process was launched last November, with each candidate to be formally nominated by a state or group of states, not necessarily by their country of origin. The Security Council must begin the selection process by the end of July.

UN General Assembly spokeswoman La Neice Collins confirmed Burundi’s nomination of Sall on Monday.

Burundi currently chairs the African Union (AU), and a source close to Sall told French news agency AFP that during Sall’s time as president of the AU, from February 2022 to February 2023, his priority “was to carry Africa’s voice within international bodies”.

Ghana seeks formal UN acknowledgement of African slave trade injustice

Other candidates

The current composition of the Council could be favourable to Sall, as three African members are sitting on it this year – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia.

While the entire Security Council will elect the next secretary-general, its five permanent members – France, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, and Russia – will ultimate be the deciders, as they have power of veto.

DRC returns to UN Security Council as non-permanent member after 35 years

Two other candidates have been formally nominated: former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi, who currently heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Costa Rica has also put forward its former vice president Rebeca Grynspan, but her letter of candidacy has not yet been officially submitted to the UN.

Senegal ex-president Sall ‘could face charges’ following public finances report

Controversy in Senegal

Sall led the West African nation from 2012 to 2024. The current government accuses him of covering up unfavourable economic data and concealing the true extent of the country’s fiscal problems.

Senegal charged four former government ministers from Sall’s cabinet with corruption and embezzlement related to the management of Covid-19 funds – under a wider anti-corruption campaign by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

(with newswires, and partially adapted from this report in French.)

Federal prosecutors said the arrests followed simultaneous searches in Antwerp and Londerzeel on Sunday. The inquiry, launched last summer, focuses on people living in Belgium suspected of being part of the leadership of the Ambazonia Defence Forces, or ADF.

“Money is reportedly being raised for the armed struggle and for the purchase of arms and ammunition, and instructions for attacks and liquidations are said to be given from Belgium,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Three suspects were remanded in custody by an investigating judge, prosecutors said. One person was released. Authorities said they were working with officials in Norway and the United States, where similar investigations are under way and arrests have been made.

Cameroon opposition leader flees to Gambia for ‘safety’ after contested vote

Conflict since 2016

Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions in the northwest and southwest have been hit by violence since 2016. Separatist fighters have clashed with state forces in a conflict that has killed at least 6,000 civilians, Human Rights Watch said.

The crisis began after President Paul Biya, who has ruled for more than four decades, cracked down on peaceful protests by English speakers, who make up about 20 percent of the population.

Lucas Cho Ayaba, leader of the ADF, is being held in Norway. He was arrested in September 2024 on suspicion of playing a central role in the armed conflict for the creation of what separatists call Ambazonia. He denies committing war crimes.

The English-speaking North-West and South-West regions were once part of British Cameroon. The territory was created after German Cameroon was divided between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the First World War.

In 1961, part of British Cameroon joined newly independent Cameroon, while another part joined Nigeria.

Gunmen kill at least 20 in one of Cameroon’s anglophone regions

Abuses by ‘all sides’

In July 2023, Amnesty International said security forces, separatist rebels and ethnic militias from both sides of the country’s linguistic divide had carried out executions, torture and rape.

The group said civilians were caught between the army, armed separatists and militias. Its investigation also looked at militias in the northwest drawn from the Mbororo community, Fulani herders who have a history of conflict with settled farmers.

“The Mbororo Fulani populations have been quickly targeted by armed separatists, in part because they are perceived as supporting the authorities in power,” the report said.

“As the situation deteriorated, militias mainly composed of Mbororo Fulani – supported or tolerated by the authorities – committed abuses against the settled population.”

(with newswires)

At least 169 people were killed in Abiemnhom, in the Ruweng administrative zone bordering Sudan, according to local authorities, who emphasised that this toll is still provisional.

“People fled in all directions, so we will undoubtedly find more wounded and more bodies,” the local government’s Minister of Information, James Monyluak, told RFI’s correspondent.

The exact reasons for the massacre are currently unknown but local authorities are citing intercommunal violence, against a backdrop of growing political instability in South Sudan.

According to Monyluak, the attack took place around 4am on Sunday, when a “very large number” of armed Nuer youths from the neighbouring Mayom County, some dressed in military uniforms, stormed Abiemnhom.

Faced with the large number of victims of the attack, the authorities had no choice but to bury them in a mass grave.

Seventy-nine soldiers and police officers were reportedly killed trying to repel the attackers, the correspondent added.

The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that it had treated 80 people with gunshot wounds at the hospital in Abyei, located a few kilometers to the west.

Some victims died from their injuries, including a pregnant woman, the NGO said.

Civilians shelter at UN base

United Nations peacekeepers from the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) took in nearly 1,000 civilians at their base, where they provided emergency care to the wounded.

The South Sudanese government condemned what it called “the barbaric attack” in a statement, confirming the killing of two senior local officials.

Minister of Information Ateny Wek Ateny said the casualties include “both civilians and members of law enforcement” and that the incident would be investigated thoroughly.

South Sudan vice president charged with murder, crimes against humanity

The UN pointed to the sharp resurgence of violence in the country in recent months, particularly in Jonglei state, where fighting between supporters of President Salva Kiir and those of opposition leader Riek Machar has intensified, despite the peace agreement that both sides signed in 2018 to end the civil war that began in 2013.

Priyanka Chodhury, spokesperson for UNMISS, told RFI that “the fighting between the two parties that signed the peace agreements has intensified”.

“We are receiving reports of airstrikes and we know that there has been significant population displacement, destruction, and looting of humanitarian infrastructure. This brutal escalation of hostilities is extremely worrying,” she added, urging all parties to cease hostilities and engage in constructive dialogue.

From civil war to economic chaos: Ten years of independence for South Sudan

Deteriorating situation

Some 280,000 people have been displaced and humanitarian workers targeted during the clashes in Jonglei in the past two months, according to the UN.

On Monday, MSF said 26 members of its staff were missing following an air strike on one of its facilities. The organisation has suspended medical services in Lankien and Pieri in Jonglei state.

UN rights chief Volker Turk voiced alarm last Friday at the country’s deteriorating situation, calling for swift action to avert a return to full-scale civil war.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has been beset by civil war, ethnic violence, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011.

The 22-year-old played for the club between the ages of 10 and 17 before leaving in June 2021 to join French top-flight side ASVEL in Lyon in south-eastern France.

He left a year later for Metropolitans 92 just outside Paris. He said he was drawn to the club because head coach Vincent Collet was known for giving young players a chance.

The choice paid off. In June 2023, Wembanyama was drafted by NBA Western Conference team San Antonio Spurs as their top young recruit for the 2023-2024 season.

At the end of that campaign, he was named 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year. He became the first Frenchman to win the award since it was created in 1953 and only the sixth player to receive it by unanimous vote.

Wembanyama opts out of basketball World Cup duty with France

“Nanterre shaped me as a player and as a man,” Wembanyama said in a statement on Tuesday. “I want to help make it a benchmark club that is ambitious, inclusive and true to its values in the long term.”

The club did not reveal how much he invested. Executives said his stake would help fund training programmes and youth projects.

“This significant and formative decision is a natural continuation of Victor’s commitment to the club that trained him,” the club said in a statement.

“It reflects a clear desire to make a lasting contribution to the development of a club that has played an important role in his sporting and personal development.”

Setting records

Since joining the Spurs, Wembanyama has continued to notch up records.

On 10 February, he scored 40 points and took 12 rebounds in a 136-108 win over the LA Lakers.

He scored 37 points in the first half, the highest-scoring half by a Spurs player in the 21st century. He also passed Spurs legend Tim Duncan in career 40-point games, recording his sixth. Wembanyama became the third player in the past 50 seasons to score at least 40 points while playing 27 minutes or fewer.

“Seeing Victor become a shareholder in the club that trained him is a sign of exceptional trust and a powerful symbol for all generations of players who wear or will wear our colours,” Frédéric Donnadieu, president of Nanterre 92, said.

French basketball prodigy Wembanyama prepares for NBA ascent

Return to Paris

In January 2025, Wembanyama was one of the main attractions when the Spurs and Indiana Pacers played two regular season games in Paris as part of the NBA’s international drive to boost the popularity of its teams.

Wembanyama limbered up with his teammates on his old stomping ground at the Palais des sports Maurice-Thorez in Nanterre and he inaugurated two basketball courts in his home town of Le Chesnay, some 17 kilometres west of Paris.

In an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe on Tuesday, Wembanyama said: “I don’t even remember who approached whom first but it happened naturally. I was born and raised in France. I want to have an impact on French basketball and at Nanterre because that’s where I feel at home.”

NATO forces on Wednesday tracked the Iranian ballistic missile through Iraq and Syria and intercepted it as it headed towards Turkey’s Hatay province – home to the Incirlik air base, where a large US Air Force presence is stationed, along with nuclear weapons. Alliance member Turkey also hosts a NATO radar base close to the Iranian border, operated by American forces.

Despite the presence of US soldiers, up until this incident Turkey had not been targeted by Iran, with Ankara maintaining close ties with Tehran.

The Turkish government summoned the Iranian ambassador to make a formal complaint immediately after the missile was shot down. But Tehran denies firing the missile.

Iran’s armed forces have decentralised command and control under the so-called Mosaic defence doctrine following the killing of many of its senior military commanders. Serhan Afacan, head of the Centre for Iranian Studies, a research organisation in Ankara, suggests the attack could be the action of a local commander.

“Some radicals within the Revolutionary Guards have said Turkey should be targeted like Iran’s Gulf neighbours,” Afacan said. “The risk is always present, which is why Turkey keeps open communication with Iran.”

President Erdogan is redoubling diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, while refusing US forces access to Turkish airspace for attacks on Iran. But Erdogan’s priority, according to political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, is protecting his relationship with US President Donald Trump.

 “Erdogan has done what can be expected: he criticised Israel, but also condemned Iran for attacking Arab countries. He avoids mentioning Trump directly and has managed to preserve the relationship,” Yesilada said.

How the war in Iran is testing Europe’s US military base network

Fears of Iranian exodus

With the war escalating, Ankara’s primary concern is an overwhelming exodus of Iranian refugees. Turkey already hosts over 3 million Syrians and hundreds of thousands from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Turkey’s 540 km border with Iran is protected by a concrete wall and razor wire, and the mountainous region is snowbound; few Iranians have so far sought refuge. However, Turkish international relations expert Soli Ozel says Ankara is fearful that the current trickle of people fleeing could turn into a flood, posing a significant threat to Turkey’s stability.

“If Iran’s regime falls and turmoil follows, millions could flee. Syria’s civil war began with 23 million people; Iran’s population is 93 million,” he warned.

Last month, Turkish parliamentarians received a secret briefing on contingency plans for any Iranian exodus. “They’re working on solutions. One of those was that they were going to create a safe zone inside Iran,” said Ozel. 

The Turkish presidency denied reports by Bloomberg news agency that it was considering plans for a so-called safe zone in Iran, controlled by Turkey’s military. But Turkish officials have declared they would not allow an uncontrolled influx of Iranian refugees.

Why Iran’s ‘beheaded’ power structure may outlive Ali Khamenei

Economic fears

The Turkish economy is already reeling from government austerity measures aimed at taming inflation above 30 percent. Those efforts could receive a fatal blow with the Iran war already sending oil prices soaring.

“Rising oil prices pose a huge threat. Turkish inflation isn’t under control, and oil drives it up. Every 10 percent rise in oil adds about 1 percent to inflation,” Yesilada noted.

The analyst warned that sustained high oil prices could present political challenges: “Modest increases in wages and prices at the beginning of the year would prove insufficient to cover basic needs, potentially resulting in rising social unrest.”

Ankara has bitter memories of previous US wars in the Middle East. The US-led invasion of Iraq plunged the country into civil war, which devastated Turkey’s border economy and had far-reaching security repercussions. The fear in Ankara is that it will again be picking up the bill for Washington’s war.

At the 39th African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital and home to the headquarters of the organisation, leaders held debates on conflicts, institutional reform, financial sovereignty, critical minerals, artificial intelligence and Africa’s place in the emerging new geopolitical order.

Giorgia Meloni was a guest of honour, invited to co-host the second Italy-Africa Summit and to consider a strategy to tackle the root causes of migration.

United Nations secretary-general António Guterres was also in attendance, and called again for two permanent seats for Africa on the UN Security Council.

The rotational chair passed from Angola to Burundi, putting leadership of the AU for 2026 with the latter’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye.

Outgoing chair João Lourenço, president of Angola, parted with the warning that: “Normalising coup-makers who retake power through elections cannot become standard practice.”

With 10 military coups having taken place on the continent since 2020 and elections held in a climate of repression, plus wars in Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and insurgency in the Sahel region, observers agree that Africa needs stronger institutions and leadership.

We spoke with Liesl Louw-Vaudran, senior advisor for the AU at the International Crisis Group (ICG), and Désiré Assogbavi, an international development strategist with more than two decades of experience in policy analysis.

African Union summit opens, as continent faces conflict and climate extremes

Imprints of violence

Also in this episode, we meet South African photographer Jo Ractliffe, whose images focus on the residues of violence left by apartheid, regional conflict and population displacement.

South African photographer Jo Ractliffe captures imprints of violence

 

RFI’s Isabelle Martinetti met her in Paris, where her latest exhibition “Out of Place” is showing at the Jeu de Paume, displaying work from the past four decades.

With photographs taken in South Africa and Angola, several of which are being shown in France for the first time, the exhibition explores places marked by history and trauma.

---

Episode edited by Melissa Chemam and mixed by Erwan Rome. Spotlight on Africa is produced by RFI’s English service.

The destruction of the city of Aghdam in the contested enclave of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh is among the most visible signs of the decades-long conflict between Azerbaijanis and ethnic Armenians. Now efforts are underway to bring the city back to life.

A loud explosion breaks the winter silence as the latest disposal of collected mines takes place. ‘We’ve cleared three hundred thousand square meters and found more than ten thousand landmines,” proudly declares Elnur Gasimov, head of mine clearance operations in Aghdam.

The dangerous work, done in freezing weather, carries significant risk. Gasimov’s right hand is missing several fingers.

“We have more than 10 deminers who have lost their legs, and we lost two deminers during the explosive disposal,” Gasimov told RFI.

He explains that, with Aghdam once close to the frontline in fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, the area was among the heaviest mined during the conflict.

Azerbaijan lifts Armenia border restrictions, but hurdles to peace remain

Clearing the mines

Nagorno-Karabakh was historically home to a predominantly ethnic Armenian population. In 1993, they broke away from Azerbaijan, declaring a breakaway Republic of Artsakh. But in 2023, during a lightning war, Azerbaijani forces recaptured the region.

With access to Aghdam still tightly controlled since the end of the fighting, RFI joined a small group of journalists on a trip organised by the Azerbaijani authorities.

The city of Aghdam was once home to 40,000 people, predominantly Azerbaijani. Long a cultural centre of the region, the city was also home to Azerbaijan’s most famous football club – Qarabag – which now plays out of the capital, Baku.

Today, not a single house remains standing – all were razed to the ground, and even the trees didn’t escape the conflict. It’s a barren wasteland.

The historical Juma mosque was one of the few buildings that survived, partially intact, and was used as a shelter for farm animals by ethnic Armenians.

Imam Mehman Nesirov, 45, is the proud custodian of the fully restored mosque, where up to 100 worshippers now attend Friday prayers as life slowly returns to the city.

Nesirov fled Aghdam in 1993 as a child: “We were forced to leave because of the sound of fighting, which was getting closer and closer. Everyone was terrified and panicked.”

Nesirov explained to RFI that he and his family spent the first years of their lives living in a railway wagon. “I will never forget those years. We always prayed to God that one day we could return and pray at this mosque,” said Nesirov. “We can’t put into words how we feel that dream we had as a child, a teenager, and an adult is finally realised.”

Azerbaijan must allow ‘safe’ return to Nagorno-Karabakh: UN court

Returns and ruptures

Around a thousand people have returned to Aghdam, all housed in new state-built accommodation, as the city itself remains uninhabitable. While Azerbaijanis are slowly returning, ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh have now become refugees following the victory of Azeri forces in 2023.

“What we saw within 24 hours was the forced expulsion of the remaining 110,000 Armenians from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Richard Giragosiyan, director of the Regional Studies Center, a Yerevan think tank.

“They were leaving behind whole homes, personal possessions, family graves, and coming to Armenia, which was more of a foreign country than many people understand,” added Giragosiyan.

However, Giragosiyan claims that Azerbaijan’s forces’ success in Nagorno-Karabakh opened the door to a “diplomatic breakthrough,” with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan committing themselves to improving relations in the aftermath of the conflict. Baku in January opened its border to allow oil and grain from Kazakhstan to reach Armenia, which is important for Yerevan as it tries to rely less on Russia and move closer to Europe.

In Aghdam’s newest hotel, manager Aykhan Jabbarov welcomes rapprochement efforts between Yerevan and Baku.

 

Jabbarov, a veteran of the last Nagorno-Karabakh war whose family fled Aghdam thirty years ago, looks forward to a time when Azerbaijanis and Armenians can again live together in the city. “If we look to history, we lived together before now, every leader talks about peace … We have to build a good relationship. It will help both countries’ economy, people’s social life and the regional economy, everything.”

However, diplomatic efforts to restore relations and normalise Armenian-Azerbaijani ties still have plenty of work ahead. With repercussions of the past never far away, Ruben Vardanyan, a leading member of the breakaway Armenian administration captured by Azeri forces, was convicted this week of war crimes and sentenced to 20 years in jail by an Azerbaijani court.

In what could mark a major turning point in the history of arms control, New Start expired on 5 February. Neither US President Donald Trump nor his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has shown interest in renewing it. 

The treaty was signed between the United States and Russia on 8 April 2010 and came into force on 5 February 2011. Initially planned to last 10 years, it was extended for another five in 2021.

Its goal was to limit each side to 800 missile launchers and 1,550 nuclear warheads, with the two countries authorised to inspect each other’s stockpiles.

It was never a global treaty. Other countries signed up to the broader Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which came into force in 1970 and now has 191 parties, including the US and Russia.

But Washington and Moscow also had bilateral arms control agreements in place continuously since 1972 – until now, notes Benoît Pelopidas, an expert on nuclear threats at Sciences Po university in Paris.

“But it would be false to deduce from that that the arms race has not started yet and might start now,” he tells RFI. 

“There are reasons to think that the arms race started as early as the spring of 2010.”

Europe confronts ‘new nuclear reality’ as Macron signals broader deterrence role

‘Possible acceleration’

Even before New Start expired, implementation of the treaty deteriorated over time, culminating in Russia suspending its participation in 2023.

“And now we’re at a full level where it’s no longer implemented at all,” says Pelopidas. “It’s new diplomatically, and it enables the possible acceleration of an ongoing arms race.”

NATO called for “restraint and responsibility” after the treaty expired.

“Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and coercive signals on nuclear matters reveal a posture of strategic intimidation,” an official told French news agency AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“NATO will continue to take the measures necessary to ensure its credibility and the effectiveness of its overall deterrence and defence position.”

The Kremlin had proposed continuing to comply with New Start’s limits until February 2027, but the White House did not respond.

Moscow considers the treaty’s expiration “a negative development”, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We express our regret in this regard.”

China shuns calls to enter nuclear talks after US-Russia treaty lapses

Disarmament still possible

According to Pelopidas, disarmament is possible and has been partially achieved before, especially in the early 1990s after the end of the Cold War. 

“In 1991, we had 58,000 nuclear weapons on the planet. And we’re now at a level of roughly 12,000 in 2025, which is a massive decrease,” he says. 

“We have, between 1986 and today, dismantled or retired over 80 percent of the existing arsenal in the world. So it is not materially impossible to dismantle or disarm.”

The world’s remaining nuclear stockpile still has the potential to wreak huge destruction, he stresses, a fact that he believes should drive all nuclear powers to work towards de-escalation.

“If the theory of nuclear winter is correct, a so-called limited nuclear war between India and Pakistan that led to the explosion of 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs – that is, roughly 1 percent of the existing arsenal – would lead to the death of 2 billion people by starvation due to its indirect consequences over two years,” Pelopidas says.

“That’s how destructive the capacity of the existing arsenal is.”

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Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

The African continent is rich in resources that are critical to the energy transition, as well as to the electronics and high-tech industries. Africa holds vast reserves of coltan, gallium, cobalt, tantalum, lithium, nickel, and many other strategic minerals that sit at the heart of this global competition.

The Trump administration is seeking to counter China‘s growing dominance over the continent’s metals and mining sectors.

DR Congo weighs price of security in minerals deal with US

 

For the moment, Trump is focused on a  US – DRC agreement, which would prioritise American interests in the central African country’s supply chain. The DRC sits on vast mineral wealth and is currently engaged in a peace process with Rwanda, brokered by the United States.

DRC takes on Apple: can conflict mineral mining be stopped?

To help us analyse the context of these deals, we are joined today by three guests.

First, Clionadh Raleigh, head of ACLED – the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. We also have Akin Adegoke, Chief Digital Officer at Lotus Bank, who brings experience in driving technology-led, inclusive banking.

And finally, Frédéric Mousseau, Policy Director at the California-based Oakland Institute, who argues that, that under the guise of peace and development, the US–DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement rewrote Congo’s laws to favour American mining interests.”

Delegates also gathered at the Cape Town International Convention Centre for the 32nd edition of the African Mining Indaba, the continent’s largest conference on the sector.

You’ll also hear reactions from people on the ground in the DRC, as well as from leaders in South Africa and Zambia, on what has already been dubbed the new scramble for Africa.

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Episode edited by Melissa Chemam and mixed by Erwan Rome.

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

In a conspicuous display of military strength, Turkish F-16 fighter jets roared over the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in late January.

According to Turkish officials, the deployment was aimed at protecting Turkish interests and supporting Somali efforts to counter an insurgency by the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab. 

It follows Israel’s recognition of Somaliland in December, which Ankara condemned as a threat to Somalia’s territorial integrity.

Turkish international relations expert Soli Ozel said the jets send a message to Israel: “Don’t mess with our interests here.”

Somalia is poised to become the latest point of tension between the countries, he predicts. “I don’t think they will fight, but they are both showing their colours. Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and the Turks sending F-16s and drones are attempts to set limits to what the other party can do,” he said.

“Could it get out of hand? I don’t know. It may.”

The risky calculations behind Israel’s recognition of Somaliland

Mutual suspicion

The episode reflects broader strains in Israeli-Turkish relations, which remain fraught over Ankara’s support of Hamas and Israel’s war in Gaza.

“It’s a new chapter in the competition between the two countries, which are now the dominant military powers in the Middle East,” said Norman Ricklefs, CEO of geopolitical consultancy Namea Group.

According to Gallia Lindenstrauss, an Israeli foreign policy specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Israel is not seeking to challenge the interests of Turkey or Somalia.

Instead, she argues Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and its commitment to deepening cooperation are motivated by the breakaway’s state strategic location facing Yemen, where Houthi rebels launched attacks against Israeli cities last year.

“The Houthis were the last ones who were still launching missiles against Israel, from the Iranian proxies. This is the most major threat for Israel,” she said. 

However, Lindenstrauss acknowledges that both sides increasingly view each other’s actions with suspicion. “What Israel sees as defence, Turkey sees as something against Ankara.”

Rival blocs

Turkey’s suspicions could grow if Israel deploys military hardware in Somaliland to counter threats from Yemen, a move an anonymous Israeli expert suggested is Israel’s aim.

Ricklefs warns Israel needs to tread carefully, given the significant investments Turkey had made in Somalia over the past 15 years. Turkey has its largest overseas military base and embassy in Somalia, while Ankara has signed agreements with Mogadishu to explore potential energy reserves, as well as a naval accord.

“Turkey is running the [Mogadishu] port, counterterrorism training, charities, NGOs, and all that kind of stuff. So it appears very important to Turkey’s regional strategic ambitions,” said Ricklefs. He noted that Somalia’s location on the Horn of Africa, with coastlines in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, makes it “key for regional influence”.

With Somalia naval deal, Turkey steers into strategic but volatile region

Lindenstrauss observed that the Turkish-Israeli rivalry over Somalia is further complicated by the emergence of two competing axes: “On the one hand, you see Greece, Cyprus, Israel, the UAE. On the other hand, you see Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and Qatar,” she explained.  

“They are loose axes, but you do see that on many issues, these two axes think differently. And that’s also a cause of the rising tensions.”

Ricklefs noted that tensions have already spilled over into confrontation elsewhere. “We’ve already seen the pretty strong competition leading to violence in Libya, between blocs aligned with the Emirates and, on the other side, blocs aligned with Turkey in Libya,” he said.

As for whether the same could happen in Somalia, Ricklefs said he doesn’t believe the situation has yet reached that point. 

“I don’t think we’re there just yet with Somaliland and Somalia,” he said. “And frankly, the only party that can play a mediating role, a conflict-reducing role, in this situation is the United States.”

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.