From 1 December, France’s national health insurance will cover 100 percent of the cost of wheelchairs for people with disabilities or older adults experiences loss of autonomy.

It delivers on a pledge by President Emmanuel Macron at the National Disability Conference in 2023.

“You called on me to tell me the sometimes exorbitant cost you have to pay. It was a huge injustice,” the president said in a video posted on Instagram on Sunday.

According to the presidency the reform is a first in Europe. It covers all wheelchairs adapted to disability-related needs (from birth, acquired or accident-related) or to loss of autonomy associated with ageing.

“It’s a really revolution for people’s autonomy, you no longer have to advance a single euro,” Pascale Ribes, head of APF France handicap, told RFI.

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Disability often ‘rhymes with poverty’

Ribes has been campaigning for more than 20 years on the cost of wheelchairs.

Until now, reimbursement for the most advanced wheelchairs was extremely low. Active, lightweight models costing up to €10,000 were reimbursed at around €600, while complex electric chairs priced at €40,000 to €50,000 were capped at €5,200.

Users often had to seek top-ups from complementary insurers, departmental disability services, local authorities, associations, relatives or online fundraising campaigns.

Ribes notes that “disability too often rhymes with poverty”, forcing many people to scramble for funding or risk having to abandon essential equipment.

The new system simplifies and centralises the process: users receive a prescription from a doctor or a multidisciplinary team for complex cases, then contact a distributor who handles trials and submits a quote to national health insurance.

A 15-day “silence equals consent” rule – extended to two months for highly specific options – means the chair can then be provided without any advance payment or remaining charge.

According to the ministry responsible for people with disabilities, there are 1.1 million wheelchair users in France. Each year, 150,000 new wheelchairs are acquired.

The Elysée said the move “puts an end to an unjust and intolerable situation”, estimating annual costs could rise from €300 million to “€400 or 500 million”.

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Risk of supply shortages

A new national classification imposes price caps across 17 categories, from €360 for standard chairs to €21,000 for electric vertical-standing models.

Early negotiations were “tough” and risked excluding certain models, said Mazhoura Ait Mebarek of the National Union of the Medical Technologies Industry (Snitem), but the sector has since adapted. By late November, more than 430 approval requests had been submitted, with around 120 still pending.

Providers warn, however, that parts of the reform may strain the system. Short-term rental, used for temporary mobility needs and around 500,000 chairs annually, will be restricted to six months, with weekly rates cut from €16 to €11, less than €4 of which will be reimbursed.

“The risk is that, in time, fewer providers will offer rentals because the activity is costly,” said Julia Crépin of the distributors’ union UNPDM.

Long-term rental for people whose conditions progress rapidly, and the refurbishment of second-hand chairs, will not be operational immediately.

Lack of specialists

Technical approvals for some models may also take longer than planned. “The objective will be achieved, but not necessarily by 1 December,” said Nathalie Creveux of UPSADI –  a new trade union for small and medium-sized home healthcare providers.

But the biggest constraint could be the availability of specialists. Complex chairs must be prescribed jointly by rehabilitation doctors or assistive-device specialists and occupational or physiotherapists.

“We live in a country with ‘medical deserts’ at every level,” said Malika Boubékeur of APF France handicap, calling for a national map of qualified centres.

A monitoring committee led by disability minister Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq will meet monthly to oversee implementation of the reform.

(with newswires)

The global fight against HIV/Aids has found itself at a troubling crossroads. On one hand, scientific progress is picking up pace; on the other, the latest UNAIDS report paints a stark picture of a world struggling to keep its momentum.

International response is weakening, held back by falling funding and disrupted health services.

Worldwide, an estimated 41 million people are now living with HIV. Last year saw 1.3 million new infections, and 9.2 million people still lack access to life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

According to UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima: “the global response to HIV has suffered its biggest setback in decades.” 

But she insists that “HIV is not over,” and has called for renewed global mobilisation.

Her plea follows especially disappointing news: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria raised just over €9 billion for the next three years – far short of the €15 billion it says is needed.

This is even lower than the last replenishment round in 2022, threatening the future of crucial programmes around the world.

Trump’s aid cuts prompt African leaders to embrace self-reliance

Positive developments in the lab

But it’s not all bleak. In research centres worldwide, scientists are making remarkable advances.

Yazdan Yazdanpanah, director of the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Emerging Diseases (ANRS-MIE), describes the situation as a paradox: impressive scientific advances on one side, declining capacity to roll them out on the other – a sort of “double dynamic”.

One encouraging development is the arrival of long-acting antiretroviral treatments. Instead of taking a pill every day, people can now receive treatment once every two months.

This, Yazdanpanah explains, boosts adherence and generally feels more manageable for many. Some 43 percent of people living with HIV say these long-acting treatments are their first choice – even before considering side effects or tablet size.

Prevention tools are also evolving. A major breakthrough is injectable PrEP, which offers long-term protection against HIV.

Stamping out misinformation in France’s fight against HIV-Aids

Lenacapavir – recently recommended by the World Health Organization – provides six months of protection with a single shot.

“It’s one injection every six months to prevent HIV,” says Yazdanpanah. Thanks to an international pricing agreement, the cost could be around €35 per year in 120 low-resource countries, compared with roughly €25,300 per year previously charged in the United States.

South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia on Monday began administering the groundbreaking injection in the drug’s first public rollouts in Africa.

Eastern and southern Africa account for about 52 percent of the 40.8 million people living with HIV worldwide, according to 2024 UNAIDS data.

Under the programme, manufacturer Gilead Sciences has agreed to provide lenacapavir at no profit to two million people in countries with a high HIV burden over three years.

Critics say this is far below the actual requirement and that the market price is out of reach for most people.

Progress needs power, power needs funding

These advances, impressive as they are, risk remaining theoretical unless health systems can keep up.

In 2025, global development aid for health fell by 22 percent, driven largely by reductions or withdrawals from major US programmes.

The consequences are already being felt, says Françoise Vanni, external relations director at the Global Fund.

“There has been a crisis in international financing for the fight against HIV/Aids and for global health more broadly, with drastic cuts from a number of donor countries that have really caused major interruptions in the delivery of essential services,” she explained to RFI.

With infections rising again in several countries, she is blunt about the reality for frontline programmes: “Very concretely, it means it is much more difficult to fight these diseases effectively.”

AIDS pandemic risks ‘resurging globally’ amid US funding halt: UN

Nowhere is this fragility clearer than in sub-Saharan Africa, which bears a disproportionate share of the epidemic. The region accounts for a large share of new HIV infections and is home to 60 percent of all people living with the virus.

In 13 countries, fewer people started treatment last year. Supply shortages have been felt, too, with disruptions in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo affecting both HIV testing and access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy.

The funding crisis, compounded by the lasting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, is undermining the progress made since the early 2000s.

In Nigeria, condom distribution has dropped by 55 percent.

Community organisations – traditionally the backbone of HIV work – are also under heavy strain, with more than 60 percent of those led by women forced to suspend essential programmes.

UNAIDS makes its position clear: science alone cannot end the epidemic. The agency is urging the global community to rethink the funding model so that heavily affected countries invest more of their own resources. Without this shift, the world will almost certainly fall short of its goal to end the HIV/Aids epidemic by 2030.

At best, current trends would allow the international community merely to hold the epidemic steady. At worst, if the decline in funding continues, UNAIDS warns of a resurgence of HIV/Aids by 2030.

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

Gaël Perdriau, who has been mayor of the eastern industrial city of Saint-Etienne since 2014, throughout the trial had denied ordering the recording of a video involving his former deputy, Gilles Artigues, a Roman Catholic who had spoken out against gay marriage.

But a court in the eastern city of Lyon found the 53-year-old guilty of blackmail, criminal conspiracy and diverting public funds, handing him four years behind bars – as well as another suspended – and a five-year ban from public office, effective immediately.

Perdriau was “entirely guilty”, the presiding judge, Brigitte Vernay, said.

During the trial, prosecutors had argued that Perdriau commissioned the sex tape filmed in a hotel room in early 2015 to ensure Artigues’ loyalty, warning he would release it if his deputy broke ranks.

“He was the one with his finger on the nuclear button,” prosecutor Audrey Quey told the court, describing the mayor as the “decision-maker”.

Threats, fear

The court also handed prison sentences to three co-defendants, including the mayor’s former chief of staff and another deputy, who admitted to setting up the trap.

After the ruling, Perdriau insisted he was innocent and vowed to appeal.

But Artigues in 2017 secretly recorded a conversation with Perdriau, in which the mayor can be heard telling him he has a “USB stick” full of compromising images and threatening to release them.

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Artigues told the court the result was him being paralysed in city hall meetings.

“I was like a puppet,” he said. “They put me there, and I smiled.”

The former deputy – who testified that he had suffered suicidal thoughts – welcomed Monday’s verdict.

“Today, I think I will be able to rebuild my life,” he said, surrounded by family members.

(with AFP)

According to a security report prepared for the United Nations and seen by AFP, armed groups known as “bandits” in northwest Nigeria kidnapped “at least 25 residents” in twin assaults on the villages of Unguwar Tsamiya and Dabawa in Kano state.

Kidnappings have been rare in Nigeria’s northern commercial hub.

Separately, in northeastern Borno state, the epicentre of a long-running jihadist insurgency, nine onion farmers were kidnapped by suspected jihadists, militia commander Tijjani Ahmed said.

Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.

A spate of kidnappings in recent weeks – involving hundreds of schoolchildren – has prompted the UN to warn of a “surge in mass abductions”.

Nigeria declares security emergency after wave of mass kidnappings

At the same time, Nigeria is under intense criticism from the United States, which has threatened military intervention over what it calls the mass killing of Christians.

The Nigerian government and independent analysts reject Washington’s framing of the security situation in the country, home to myriad conflicts that kill across ethnic and religious lines.

A wave of attacks in November saw some 400 people kidnapped, including more than 300 schoolchildren in two assaults, according to an AFP tally of major incidents.

Kidnap-for-ransom

Statistics on kidnapping are hard to pin down, with many going unreported.

But in the 12 months between July last year and June 2025, at least 4,722 people were kidnapped in 997 incidents, and at least 762 were killed, according to a recent report by SBM Intelligence.

During that period, “Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom crisis consolidated into a structured, profit-seeking industry”, said the Lagos-based security advisory firm.

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It said kidnappers obtained some 2.57 billion naira (around $1.66 million) in ransom.

Motivated by money rather than ideology, bandits conduct kidnappings, extortion and looting in areas that have long suffered from little state or security presence.

Government efforts have tried to strike peace deals with bandits.

Critics say that while such accords have occasionally brought relief, they often result in the bandits keeping their arms and using areas where they have a truce as a base to attack neighbouring localities.

(with AFP)

Ekane, 74, leader of the African Movement for New Independence  and Democracy (Manidem) party, was arrested on 24 October in Douala following post-election demonstrations in what his party described as a “kidnapping” by Cameroonian soldiers.

He was being held at a military garrison in the capital Yaoundé on charges of hostility against the state, incitement to revolt, and calls for insurrection – accusations he denied.

Ekane was among opposition figures who objected to the result of the 12 October election in which Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president at 92, was declared the winner of another term.

Rival candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary claimed to have won and has called on Cameroonians to reject the official result.

Ekane’s death in detention could heighten tensions in the central African nation where security forces killed 48 civilians as they responded to protests against Biya’s re-election.

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Demands for transfer refused

Ekane was barely able to speak during a visit just days before his death, his lawyer Ngouana Ulrich Juvenal said. His sister, Mariane Simon-Ekane confirmed the death on Facebook.

Alarmed by the decline in his health, his party Manidem issued a statement on Sunday calling for his urgent transfer to another hospital where he could receive “more suitable and appropriate” medical care.

In an earlier statement on 21 November, his party said that Ekane’s oxygen concentrator and other essential medical devices he needed were locked in his impounded vehicle at a military police station in the commercial capital Douala.

France concerned about Cameroon’s violent crackdown on post-election protests

The party accused the commander of the station of repeatedly blocking lawyers’ efforts to recover Ekane’s medical equipment, calling it a “flagrant human rights violation” that amounted to a “programmed killing”.

In Sunday’s statement the party warned it “would hold the Yaoundé regime responsible for the consequences of refusing the transfer”.

Cameroon’s defence ministry confirmed Ekane’s death on Monday, saying he died “following an illness”. It said an investigation has been opened into the circumstances.

Tchiroma supporter

Ekane was a major figure in Cameroon politics, active in public and political life since the early 1990s.

He first supported opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who was banned from running, before backing the main presidential contender Tchiroma.

Following the announcement of his death, several local media outlets interrupted regular programming to broadcast live reports. Messages of grief and tributes poured in on social media.

Ekane’s detention, along with that of party member Florence Aimee Titcho and other supporters of Tchiroma, had drawn condemnation from opposition groups, which demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

Tchiroma fled to Gambia and is being hosted there on humanitarian grounds, according to Gambian authorities.

(with newswires)

The sale concerns the PPL 2000 and PPL 2001 exploration areas, located in the prolific West Delta basin and covering a combined 2,000 square kilometres.

TotalEnergies obtained the exploration rights in September after winning them in the 2024 licensing round organised by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

Under the agreement, which remains subject to regulatory approval and customary conditions, TotalEnergies will retain a 40-percent stake and continue as operator of the two blocks.

Chevron, through its subsidiary, will hold 40 percent, while Nigerian partner South Atlantic Petroleum will maintain its existing 20 percent interest.

“This new joint venture reinforces TotalEnergies’ global offshore exploration collaboration with Chevron,” the French group said, recalling that it had taken a 25-percent stake earlier this year in a portfolio of Chevron-operated offshore exploration blocks in the United States.

Nicola Mavilla, TotalEnergies’ Senior Vice-President for Exploration, said the partnership “aims at derisking and developing new opportunities in Nigeria, in line with the objectives of the country”.

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The company described the West Delta basin as a key region for expanding exploration activities in West Africa, where both TotalEnergies and Chevron have long-standing interests.

The agreement marks another step in TotalEnergies’ strategy to optimise its exploration portfolio and strengthen cooperation with major international players in frontier basins.

TotalEnergies and South Atlantic Petroleum had signed a production sharing contract for the two licences on 2 September, formalising rights that could pave the way for future discoveries in the deepwater zone.

The planned stake sale, once completed, will consolidate a trilateral partnership between French, American, and Nigerian energy players as the sector seeks to balance investment opportunities with regulatory and environmental considerations.

(With newswires)

Zelensky and Macron will discuss “the conditions for a just and lasting peace”, the French presidency said, two weeks after the leaders last met on 17 November.

“We will welcome President Zelensky to Paris to move negotiations forward,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper.

“Peace is within reach, provided [Russian President] Vladimir Putin abandons his delusional hope of rebuilding the Soviet Empire by first subjugating Ukraine. Ukraine belongs to the Ukrainian people and them alone.”

In a warning to Russia, Barrot added: “Vladimir Putin must accept the ceasefire or accept exposing Russia to new sanctions that will exhaust its economy, as well as intensified European support for Ukraine.”

Fresh talks with US

Zelensky’s visit comes the day after a Ukrainian delegation was in the US to thrash out the details of a proposed peace plan, developed by President Donald Trump after negotiations with Russia.

The plan – which requires Ukraine to parts of its territory, cap its military and commit never to join NATO – has been met with alarm by Kyiv and Brussels. EU foreign policy chiefs insist that any agreement must have the backing of both Ukrainians and Europeans.

Negotiations this week have focused on revising the framework, though it is not yet clear what changes have been agreed. 

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

Senior Ukrainian officials including Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s security council, sat down in Florida on Sunday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

“The end goal, obviously, is not just the end of the war,” Rubio said as the talks began. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”

Speaking for Ukraine, Umerov expressed appreciation for the American diplomatic efforts: “US is hearing us,” he said. “US is supporting us. US is working beside us.”

Corruption scandal

Trump said earlier this week that he would send envoys to Moscow in the coming days for a meeting with Putin about the plan.

Zelensky has been forced to change his negotiating team after his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, resigned on Friday over a corruption scandal.

Yermak’s home was searched by investigators probing the embezzlement of some €90 million from Ukraine’s energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors, a case that has triggered public outrage as Russia hammers the country’s power grid.

Corruption scandal exposes ‘absolute impunity’ in Ukraine’s energy sector

Yermak had previously been Zelensky’s lead negotiator with the US, and his removal is seen as a serious blow to the president.

It comes as Ukraine faces a mounting Russian offensive. On Saturday, Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Kyiv killed at least three people and wounded dozens more, officials said.

(with newswires) 

Unlike previous observations from Earth or other space missions that view the sun from the ecliptic plane – the flat disc in which planets orbit—Solar Orbiter positioned itself at an angle of 17° below the solar equator. This unique vantage point enabled the probe to peer directly at a region of the sun that has remained largely hidden from scientific scrutiny.

The historic images were captured by three of Solar Orbiter’s 10 scientific instruments: the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), and the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument.

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Scientific Significance

According to Milan Maksimovic, principal investigator of the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on Solar Orbiter, “these images are important in order to study the circulation of matter around the poles, which is very important for some models whose purpose is to look at the deep interior of the sun to do helioseismology.”

The RPW instrument, developed by a consortium including Paris Observatory’s Laboratory for Instrumentation and Research in Astrophysics (LIRA), consists of three components: electric antennae, a magnetic antenna, and a sophisticated main electronic box containing complex receivers.

Maksimovic, who serves as director of LIRA, noted that his laboratory had full responsibility for developing and testing the main electronic box in LIRA’s vacuum chamber facility.

The RPW instrument measures electric and magnetic waves in solar plasma, as well as radio emissions produced by the sun, providing crucial data to complement the visual observations.

Solar Orbiter’s mission continues to push the boundaries of solar science, offering insights that will help researchers better understand the sun’s behaviour and its effects on the solar system.

On 29 January 2024, cousins Hind Rajab and Layan Hamada were ​​killed with their family as they tried to flee the fighting in Gaza City in their car.

Surrounded by Israeli tanks, the two girls dialled 101, the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s emergency line.

Their last moments, their last words, were recorded.

“They’re shooting at us!” 15-year-old Layan says. “The tank is right next to us. We’re hiding in our car.”

A few moments later, six-year-old Hind comes on the line. “I’m so scared. Come and get me,” she tells the dispatcher in Ramallah, miles away in the West Bank.

Hind stayed on the line for several more hours as humanitarian staff sent an ambulance to fetch her. It never arrived.

Days later, she was found dead in the remains of the car. The ambulance was a short distance away, destroyed.

Ben Hania heard of Hind’s fate on the radio, after the Red Crescent released its recording of the call. 

“As soon as I heard the voice of Hind Rajab, it had such an impact on me. I felt desperate, powerless and so angry,” the director told RFI, saying she knew straight away she had to do something.

“My job was to find the best way, the best angle to tell this story. Part of this was respecting the order of events and above all, the Palestinian Red Crescent gave me these precious recordings of Hind talking to the staff. Everything I needed for the film was in this document.”

A voice preserved

The result is The Voice of Hind Rajab, which won the Silver Lion award at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in September.

“Cinema cannot bring Hind back and erase the atrocities committed against her. But cinema can preserve her voice […] because her story is not just hers. It is the tragic story of an entire people, a people suffering from genocide inflicted by a criminal Israeli government that acts with impunity,” Ben Hania told the audience in Venice.

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The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. 

Gaza’s Health Ministry says nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 170,000 wounded in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has gone up during since the 10 October ceasefire, both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.

Accepting the prize in Venice, Ben Hania dedicated it to the Palestinian Red Crescent “and to those who risked everything to save lives in Gaza”.

“They are true heroes,” she said.

Slow-motion tragedy

RFI interviewed the operators who took the girls’ call soon after their bodies were discovered.

Omar Alqem, a young Red Crescent volunteer, said he was in a state of shock when he realised what was happening.

“I felt like I was floating above my body. I couldn’t understand what I had just witnessed. I tried to regain my composure. I told myself: I can’t give in to emotion, or else I’ll stop doing this work. But it’s not possible to stop. In this war, too many people depend on us,” he told RFI’s correspondent Sami Boukhelifa.

Alqem spoke to Hind for about ten minutes, but felt helpless in the face of her distress. “She was able to explain to me who was around her in the car. I tried to imagine the situation, where she was hiding in the vehicle. I understood that six members of her family had all died around her. And then I thought: this is too much, I can’t go on.”

From that point on, his colleague Rana Faqih took over. A member of the Red Crescent for 13 years, she began by introducing herself. “I told her, ‘My name is Rana.’ The poor little girl was in shock. She told me her name was Soujoud, then Hind…” Faqih recalled.

“Sometimes she would tell me, ‘They’re all sleeping.’ And sometimes she would say, ‘They’re all dead. There’s blood everywhere. There are tanks.’ She sees them. She hears the gunfire and the planes…”

While Rana continued to reassure Hind, her colleagues called the Israeli authorities to obtain permission to send a rescue mission to Gaza City, where Israeli troops were deployed.

“We got the green light [from the army] to send an ambulance to the area where Hind was. We were still in contact with her, and at the same time with our paramedics,” recounted Faqih.

“And suddenly, we heard gunfire. We never would have thought that the ambulance was being targeted. It was almost right next to Hind. And then, communication with the paramedics and with Hind was cut off. We had no news for 12 days.”

On 10 February 2024, the Israeli army withdrew from the area. The ambulance was found twisted and charred. The two paramedics, Hind, her cousin and the other members of their family were all dead.

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Film meets reality

While actors play the roles of the humanitarian staff in Ben Hania’s film, the voice of Hind is real.

“At the end of the film, I used images of the ambulance that was bombed and the car that Hind was in which was riddled with over 300 bullets,” the filmmaker recalls.

“These images were widely shared on the internet, especially on social media, but they lose their impact because they’re wedged between two other events.”

She hopes that by focusing on the lead-up to Hind’s death, the film will give viewers a fuller sense of the tragedy.

The war in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion in 2022, instability in the Middle East and uncertainty surrounding the level of United States involvement in the event of conflict have seen discussions over strengthening military capabilities arise across Europe – in terms of manpower as well as weaponry.

“Many countries in Europe are reintroducing national service,” France’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Fabien Mandon, said last week, before President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday outlined his plans for the establishment of voluntary youth military service.

“At a time when all our European allies are making progress in the face of a threat that affects us all, France cannot remain idle,” Macron said at the launch of the programme, set to begin by the middle of next year.

Macron unveils voluntary military service as concerns grow over Russia

Historical context

History is the starting point to understanding military service models, according to Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, historian at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS).

“From the French Revolution onward, a very strong link was established between citizenship and bearing arms,” he told RFI. “In the 19th and 20th centuries, voting and military service went hand in hand: one was a citizen also because one participated in the defence of the nation.”

Most European states abandoned compulsory military service starting in the 1990s, Audoin-Rouzeau explained. The fading memory of two world wars, coupled with the rise of nuclear deterrence, meant that the idea of another war was more or less eliminated.

“The end of the Cold War made mass military service less necessary, in favour of a professional army made up of specialists. This was as much an economic choice as a strategic one: the increased technicality of operations required professionals.”

Hybrid solutions

France abandoned compulsory military service in 1997 under the presidency of Jacques Chirac, followed by the Netherlands the same year. Belgium had suspended conscription from 1993.

Spain followed suit in 2001, Slovenia in 2003, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Portugal in 2004, Italy in 2005, Romania in 2006, Bulgaria in 2007, Poland in 2009, and Germany in 2011.

Other countries have chosen to adapt military service, applying different models such as compulsory military service, systems based on random selection when volunteers are lacking, or selective conscription based on motivation and skills.

EU struggles for defence independence as Trump turns up the heat on security

East-West divide

There is a notable difference in approach between Eastern and Western Europe, directly linked to the perception of threat, according to Audoin-Rouzeau.

“In Finland or Eastern Europe – which are much more exposed to the Russian threat – the idea of ​​national defence remains extremely strong. In Western Europe, we believed that war could never concern us again, thinking we had fulfilled the old dream of 19th-century pacifists.”

He added that a lack of existing infrastructure and personnel would make it difficult to mobilise entire age groups. “Today, the idea that a country’s youth could be obligated to defend the homeland – and to die for it – seems dead or at least unacceptable.”

Europe’s defence vulnerabilities exposed as US shifts on Ukraine

This can be seen, he said, in the controversy sparked by Mandon’s remarks last week, when he said that “France [must] accept losing its children” – adding that Russia is “preparing for a confrontation by 2030 with [European] countries”.

However, the historian added: “We don’t know how people would react if peacetime were to turn into wartime. We mustn’t underestimate the mobilising effect of real war.”

He points to the Paris attacks of 13 November, 2015, which led to “a surge in military recruitment centres, similar to that seen in Ukraine on 24 February, 2022. As soon as the threat is there, everything can change.”

Conscription remains an effective military tool in protracted wars of attrition, where demographics become a strategic factor, Audoin-Rouzeau said. “On the Ukrainian front, it’s the number of men that makes the difference.”

Military service in the EU

Austria: Mandatory six-month military service for men, while women can enlist voluntarily.

Finland: Military service is compulsory for men and lasts from six to 12 months depending on the specialty or rank. It remains voluntary for women. The country, which has Europe’s longest border with Russia and abandoned its non-alignment policy to join NATO in 2023, is considering raising the reserve age (those who have completed their service) to 65.

Estonia: Military service lasts from eight to 11 months for men and is voluntary for women.

Denmark: In 2024, Denmark decided to gradually extend the conscription period from four to 11 months, and service has also been mandatory for women since last summer. However, not all young Danes are called up for military service: the system is based on a lottery.

Greece: Greece has always maintained mandatory conscription of nine to 12 months for men. A draft law proposes opening up a 12-month voluntary service to women, who until now could only serve as career soldiers.

Cyprus: With the island in territorial conflict with Turkey, 14 months of military service is mandatory for men. Parliament passed a law in April opening the service to female volunteers.

Ireland: Has only ever had a professional army in peacetime.

Malta: Has only ever had a professional army in peacetime.

Lithuania: In 2015, the country reinstated a nine-month conscription for men selected by lottery, having suspended it in 2008. Conscripts serve in the reserves for 10 years, which will be extended to 15 years in 2026.

Latvia: In 2023, Latvia reinstated an 11-month conscription.

Sweden: Military service was reinstated in 2017 for a period of nine to 15 months. This is a selective conscription for both sexes.

Croatia: At the end of October, it voted to reinstate conscription for men from 2026, which had been suspended in 2008. Basic military training will last two months, with an alternative of three to four months of civilian service.

Bulgaria: Launched forms of voluntary military service in 2020.

The Netherlands: Launched forms of voluntary military service in 2023.

Poland: Since 2024, it has implemented a one-month basic voluntary military training programme, which can be followed by up to nine to 11 months of specialised training for those wishing to join the active army.

Romania: Intends to bring in a four-month voluntary service programme in 2026, with an option to continue.

Belgium: The country is aiming for 1,000 voluntary recruits per year, although the debate on reinstating compulsory service has not been entirely settled.

Germany: The debate on reinstating compulsory service has been the subject of intense negotiations. A bill is due to be voted on in December, but the ruling coalition has reached a compromise on voluntary military service to bolster an army facing a shortage of recruits. Starting in 2026, all 18-year-olds will receive a form with questions about their motivation and aptitudes. Responses are mandatory for men and optional for women. The goal is to recruit 20,000 volunteers by 2026.

Non-EU countries

Norway: Twelve months of military service, which is mandatory for women too, as of 2013.

Switzerland: Conscripts can choose between 18 weeks of mandatory training or a longer civilian service, with periods of service spread out over time. But this may change as the Swiss people will on 30 November vote on the possible replacement of this system with a civic service. The obligation could be extended to women and could be carried out not just in the army or civil defence, but in working in environmental protection or helping vulnerable people.

United Kingdom: Former prime minister Rishi Sunak had expressed support for the re-establishment of compulsory national service, abolished in the UK since 1960. The project was championed by the Conservatives during the last election campaign, but has since been buried by the current left-wing Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

This article is based on a report in French by RFI’s Aurore Lartigue.

With negotiations ongoing between leading parties including the Democrats 66 (D66) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), observers are watching for signs of a more balanced approach to migration, after years of heated rhetoric and restrictive measures.

Changes in the Dutch political landscape have coincided with the launch, earlier this month, of the European Commission’s first Annual Migration Management Cycle, under the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

This EU initiative aims to enhance coordination among member states on migration management, asylum procedures and integration efforts.

The European Commission regards the Netherlands as one of the countries at risk of “experiencing migratory pressure” – but describes the situation as showing “a continued improvement”.

‘Relatively stable’

Myrthe Wijnkoop, senior policy advisor at the Amsterdam-based refugee charity Vluchtelingenwerk, agrees that despite the heated political debate, the reality is quite different. 

Asylum applications in the Netherlands have remained “relatively stable” over the past decade, she says.

UN accuses France of ‘serious violations’ of the rights of child migrants

According to the UNHCR Refugee Data Finder, there are 262,974 refugees and asylum seekers in The Netherlands – including 46,900 asylum seekers who have made their applications this year.

Notable surges in these numbers – such as the Syrian refugee peak in 2015-16 and the influx of Ukrainians in 2022 under a special temporary protection scheme – highlight that “geopolitical events, not domestic rhetoric” primarily drive refugee flows, according to Wijnkoop.

“There’s a quite stable number of persons coming every year,” she explains, adding that the political framing of a “crisis” is misplaced. “People don’t choose where they go, they leave because of persecution and violence, not because of facilities.”

UK toughens asylum system with radical overhaul

‘Left in limbo’

However, problems remain: the country’s reception centres are overcrowded and asylum procedures often take more than two years to commence.

During this period, asylum seekers face restricted rights and profound uncertainty. “Waiting times and shortages of decent housing and facilities… it’s a big problem,” says Wijnkoop. “People are left in limbo. If you imagine when you just can’t do anything the whole day but just wait… It’s devastating for people’s mental health.”

Attempts to distribute responsibility for asylum reception evenly across Dutch municipalities, embodied in recent legislation, have come up against local resistance and political hesitation. 

However, Wijnkoop remains cautiously optimistic, saying: “If the next government is upholding that legislation and is promoting the execution thereof, it can be a success.”

The PVV’s defeat is in contrast with the rising influence of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) in France, where there were 751,218 asylum seekers and refugees registered in 2025, including 77,412 new asylum claims. Waiting times for these to be processed under the French system currently exceed eight months. 

The French government under Emmanuel Macron has pursued reforms aimed at tightening asylum procedures and increasing deportations, positioning asylum increasingly as a matter of national security rather than humanitarian protection.

RFI: How does Romania’s role as a NATO eastern flank hub affect its stance in the European Union budget debate?

Claudiu Nasui: It is in our interest that more funds are allocated towards defence because we’re on the border, and we are the second biggest beneficiary of this new SAFE defence loan programme, after Poland. So we’re set to receive a considerable amount of money from the EU to rearm ourselves.

The main problem we have is that we’re not necessarily buying European equipment, which is very unfortunate and something we really should be doing.

Europe, and the European Union, have a significant technology gap in military technology compared to the United States. This is partly because we don’t have the same economies of scale as the US.

For example, when they built the F-35 jet, it was produced in such large numbers that the costs of research and development and many fixed costs were spread across many units.

Whereas in Europe, we have several different jets but don’t benefit from these economies of scale as much. The same issue applies to other weapon systems.

What I would say is that Romania should buy more European products. Right now, we’re buying a Turkish Corvette, which is not even really a Corvette but actually a patrol boat. We’re also buying a Turkish copy of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV.)

There’s a lot that we should be doing in closer integration with the European defence industry, which would help immensely.

Europe’s defence dilemma: autonomy or dependence?

If we’re talking about the F-35, it’s clearly a more advanced generation of jet than the French Rafale or the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen. So is there any discussion in Romania about buying European fighter jets?

Currently, we’re very focused on the F-16. We have many second-hand F-16s, and there is a programme to buy F-35s which may come around 2030. So that’s in about five years’ time.

As just an example, I wouldn’t have a problem buying the F-35 provided we also bought other European products like the SAM-T instead of the Patriot, or other European weapon systems. This could help Europe gain economies of scale while producing these systems and reduce our reliance on non-European partners.

What is the general attitude of the Romanian public towards the Ukraine war effort and efforts in Romania to support it, after nearly three years?

There is what we call war fatigue. Initially, people were much more willing to help Ukraine. Now, because of Russian propaganda, the length of the conflict and the toll it is taking, fewer people want to help.

Pro-Russian parties in Romania exploit our economic difficulties. We have many problems, a lot of poverty, and a government increasing taxes. They claim we’re worse off because we support Ukraine. Which is false, but because it’s repeated so often, it’s starting to seem like the truth.

Romania hasn’t helped Ukraine as much as it could have, but this is used as a political weapon. So while there is some war fatigue, the majority still support Ukraine and Romania’s support for it – even more than before.

How sustainable is the EU’s current support for Ukraine, and what changes are needed?

I think we should use the Russian assets. The discussion over these is very worrying because it should be obvious – Russia is a threat, an aggressor, and has committed war crimes against Ukraine.

We should use these frozen assets to help Ukraine now when they need it most.

Ukraine is acting like a shield for Europe. The higher the cost of aggression for Russia, the greater the chance of peace. If Russia wins or gets a shameful peace deal – like the one proposed by the Trump administration recently – it would be a huge win for Russia and a major threat to Europe.

We should be grateful Ukraine is resisting, mounting a huge war effort, and we should help so the war stays in Ukraine, not Europe. If Ukraine falls or accepts a bad peace deal, Russia would have a decade of peace to rebuild and then likely start fighting again. It’s a pattern. The 28 points in the peace proposal can be interpreted in ways to justify new aggressions.

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

Last Sunday, Europeans came up with an alternative 28-point plan. What do you think of it?

Ukraine must have the final say, as they are the ones fighting. Europe should support whatever Ukrainians decide. They are the attacked party keeping the Russians at bay.

If they want to stop fighting and sign a peace deal, even if we think it’s bad, it’s their choice. We should support that. If they don’t, we should support that too – militarily, financially and politically.

I’m not sure about the European plan, so I can’t comment. But the general attitude must be to support Ukraine, as they’re protecting Europe from Russian aggression.

Regarding funding and the push for increased defence spending, is this mainly a budget issue, a political issue or a spending efficiency problem?

It’s also about spending efficiency. We should buy more European – like the SAM-T and other weapon systems – to achieve economies of scale.

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

Romania’s new president Nicușor Dan pledges to counter Russian influence

Where should extra defence funds come from, and what spending would you refuse to cut?

I wouldn’t refuse to cut any spending to boost defence. The biggest EU expense is agricultural subsidies, and we could cut those to finance defence.

European countries already have high taxes; we can’t grow the economy by raising taxes further. Spending must be rerouted from other areas like cohesion funds.

As a Romanian who’s benefited from cohesion funds, I’d still support cutting back so we can invest in defence and secure Europe’s future. That’s paramount.

You’ve spent a lot of time in France [Nasui studied for his undergraduate degree in Paris]. How would you assess the situation there? With a huge budget deficit and a record debt of €3.2 trillion, where could they find the money?

France is already at capacity in this regard. They need a clear cost-cutting programme, similar to what Javier Milei is doing in Argentina. There is huge spending in many areas.

One problem with Macron’s government [which was elected on the basis of reform] is they focused mainly on raising the retirement age rather than true reforms. They kept the same system and just tweaked it slightly, which angered many people.

To maintain parliamentary support, they are suspending the major reform Macron invested political capital in, which again was not a true reform, just minor adjustments.

France should cut a lot of spending, as well as taxes and bureaucracy. The country is known for introducing new regulations and bureaucratic layers which hinder economic growth and innovation.

We are heading towards a “Sputnik moment” when we realise the development gap between Europe, the US and China.

Can you expand on that “Sputnik moment”?

One example would be self-driving cars. US and Chinese cities have many, but in Europe we don’t see them yet. As these technologies become commonplace in the US and China, the gap will become more apparent here.

We are already seeing it in sectors like semiconductors. Except for [the Dutch company] ASML and [Belgian company] IMEC, Europe is nowhere in the major chip industry. We lack large foundries, big investments and advanced process nodes.

More bureaucracy, regulation and higher taxes won’t help. Considering France’s economic impact on Europe, if they manage to reform, the whole EU would benefit greatly.

Cells are packed far beyond capacity, medical care is scarce and most detainees have not yet seen a judge, the UN warned, adding that Haiti’s deep humanitarian crisis has fed this collapse of the prison system.

Armed street violence is preventing people from moving around, institutions are falling apart and widespread poverty is pushing families to breaking point.

The report, published on 11 November, said more than 7,200 people – men, women and minors – were being held in facilities that are often three times over their original capacity. 

At least 82 percent of detainees are stuck in prolonged pre-trial detention. Many have spent years waiting for a first hearing.

One prisoner in Port-au-Prince told William O’Neill, the UN expert on the human rights situation in Haiti, that he had been waiting two years for a hearing in a case involving an alleged theft of shoes.

Gangs tighten grip on key towns in Haiti as violence and protests escalate

Years in cramped cells

O’Neill described the conditions as “subhuman”, adding there was not enough food or medical care and that prisoners were kept in cells for long hours with very little air, light, drinking water or access to toilets and showers.

He said 52 deaths were recorded in the three-month period from July to September, mostly from preventable diseases made worse by the lack of care and clean water.

UN figures said gangs now control around 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, often stopping courts and prison staff from carrying out basic duties.

In March 2024, attacks on the national penitentiary and the Croix-des-Bouquets prison led to the escape of 4,600 detainees. The episode further weakened the system.

Before 2021, the prison network had around 3,000 places. Floods, attacks and demolitions then cut its capacity. Violence in the west of the country worsened the decline.

Five prisons in the capital were abandoned due to extreme threats from armed gangs. No reconstruction plan has begun.

Crisis in Jacmel

Jacmel, a coastal city known for its beaches and carnival celebrations, is facing one of the most critical situations. Fourteen detainees died in the prison there in July.

The Mobile Institute for Democratic Education (IMED) said Jacmel was the most worrying prison it had seen this year. “It has no doctor. Are the authorities not informed? To me, this seems deliberate,” IMED director Kettly Julien said.

The organisation said that cells are cramped, foul smelling and overcrowded, without ventilation, adding that poor care and close contact mean disease spreads rapidly.

“As soon as one inmate falls ill, he easily transmits his disease to others,” the institute said.

Frantz Comonce, a lawyer and coordinator of the legal aid office in Jacmel, criticised the lack of food and drinking water. Families, he said, often have to bring water themselves, which many cannot afford to do regularly.

Jacmel’s prison holds nearly 800 detainees in 17 cells. Comonce said the facility needs medicine but that the most urgent needs are food and water. Detainees also need time outdoors, he added.

France to revisit Haiti’s post-slavery reparations two centuries on

Warnings ignored

Haiti’s National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (RNDDH) warned that the wave of deaths stems directly from these conditions.

“It’s not a surprise that people continue to die in prison. There have been many warning signals, but they were ignored,” programme head Marie-Rose Auguste said, accusing the authorities of failing to act.

“The authorities continue to trample on the rights to life, health and dignity of incarcerated people.”

The rights group also criticised the slow pace of judges and prosecutors, saying case files remain stalled, trials are delayed and prolonged detention remains the norm.

Inside El Salvador’s giant prison with photographer Juan Carlos

Calls for action

Meanwhile the Office for the Protection of Citizens, Haiti’s national human rights ombudsman, raised similar concerns in March, saying conditions were inhumane and contradicted international conventions ratified by Haiti.

After its investigation, it issued recommendations urging urgent measures.

Its head, Jean Wilner Morin, said the solution lies in building proper prison facilities that ensure dignity and meet international standards.

Unless the justice system cuts prolonged detention, unless cells stop being overcrowded and dirty, and unless access to water, food and care improves, the situation will only grow worse, RNDDH warned.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Peterson Luxama, RFI’s correspondent in Port-au-Prince.

French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut, whose country is hosting the meeting in a Paris suburb, told the scientists their “extremely precious” work is crucial as multilateralism has weakened.

“There is also something that should concern us all: The rise of climate-related disinformation on our social media, in our newspapers and even at the heart of our policy political institutions,” Barbut said.

“Too many people deny the results of your work,” she told the experts from more than 100 countries gathered in a skyscraper in Saint-Denis, just north of the capital.

Their work faces hurdles in the face of a US administration whose president called climate change the “greatest con job ever” and a “hoax” during a speech at the United Nations in September.

One of the lead authors of the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is US climate expert Katherine Calvin, who was fired from her job as chief scientist at NASA following orders from the Trump administration.

“The statements, for example, from the American administration on the origin of climate change, the fact that it’s a hoax, if you will, we still find that quite surprising,” said an official at the French ecological transition ministry who requested anonymity.

Irreversible changes to nature

The previous report by the IPCC, released in 2023, had warned that the world was on track to exceed the 1.5C warming threshold by 2030.

The UN now says that safer limit will be breached earlier than feared, greatly increasing the risk of violent storms, floods and droughts and irreversible changes to nature.

The meeting in France launches a process that will culminate with the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), due to be published in 2028 or 2029.

It brings together lead authors of the report in a single venue for the first time, in an effort to tackle interdisciplinary climate questions.

Fossil fuel rise drives planet closer to critical climate safety limit

The IPCC operates by consensus.

“If any country opposes the text, the report cannot be approved. Every country has a sort of veto,” climate scientist Robert Vautard told reporters last week.

While the US government stays out of the climate fray, dozens of American scientists are among the experts working on the IPCC report.

“IPCC reports are going to continue to underpin climate policies and climate action at every level, including international negotiations,” IPCC chairman Jim Skea told the gathering in Saint-Denis.

Timeline issues

There already appear to be disagreements over the timing of the next report’s publication.

A group called the High Ambition Coalition, which includes European Union countries and developing nations vulnerable to climate change, wants the assessment to come out in 2028.

That would coincide with the global stocktake – a review, required under the 2015 Paris Agreement, of the progress countries have made in limiting climate change and its impacts.

Amazon summit seals climate deal without fossil fuel plan

But a group of emerging economies and major fossil fuel-producing countries say more time is needed and are advocating for 2029.

The divide echoes the disagreements seen at the UN’s recent COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belem, which concluded with a deal that left out an explicit call to phase out fossil fuels.

Despite the disagreements over when to publish the next report, Skea told AFP in March: “I don’t think the IPCC is in crisis. We will resolve this issue about the timeline.”

(with AFP)

Uranium mining in Niger is at the centre of a standoff between the junta that took power in 2023 and nuclear producer Orano, which is 90-percent owned by the French government and has operated mines in Niger for decades.

The news was announced on state television Tele Sahel in a report Sunday evening citing comments by head of the junta General Abdourahamane Tiani.

Tiani, the report said, had claimed “Niger’s legitimate right to dispose of its natural riches to sell them to whoever wants to buy them, under the rules of the market, in complete independence”.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said in July that Moscow wanted to mine uranium in Niger.

Since the junta took power in a 2023 coup, Niger has turned to Russia, which commands the world’s largest arsenal of atomic weapons, for help in fighting the west African country’s jihadist insurgency.

At the same time it has turned its back on former colonial power France, which it accused of supporting separatist groups.

One of world’s largest uranium deposits

In December 2024, Orano acknowledged it had lost operational control of its three main mines in Niger: Somaïr, Cominak (closed since 2021) and Imouraren.

Imouraren has one of the largest uranium deposits in the world, with an estimated 200,000 tonnes. 

Orano officially retains a 60 percent stake in the subsidiaries, and has undertaken various arbitration procedures against Niger to try to win back operational control.

Niger embraces Russia for uranium production leaving France out in the cold

In late September, Orano announced a tribunal had ruled in its favour concerning the nationalisation of Somaïr in June.

It said the court ordered Niger not to sell uranium produced by Somaïr, which holds around 1,300 tonnes of concentrate on site with a market value of €250 million.

According to information recently published by LSI Africa and Wamaps – a group of West African journalists specialising in security news in the Sahel – a convoy carrying 1,000 tonnes of uranium recently left Arlit, a town in the north where the Somaïr site is located, to reach the port of Lomé, the Togolese capital, via Burkina Faso.

Niger in 2022 accounted for about a quarter of the natural uranium supplied to European nuclear power plants, according to data from the atomic organisation Euratom.

(with newswires)

Ravatomanga, a close ally of former president Andry Rajoelina, long dominated the trade through his company Sodiat.

At the busy port of Tamatave at the end of last month, workers began loading the first of three ships bound for Europe. Heavy storms are slowing operations because pallets cannot be moved in the rain, as exporters say the cardboard boxes must stay dry to protect the fruit.

They also say the crop is unusually good this year – with perfect ripeness, the desired 28mm fruit size and yields that are above expectations. “The 20,000-tonne lychee mark will easily be reached,” one exporter told RFI’s Sarah Tétaud.

Prices are climbing too. Payments to collectors and producers in direct sales now exceed 2,000 ariary per kilo (around 38 euro cents).

The good news, however, has been somewhat overshadowed.

The day before it was due to open, a lychee processing station was destroyed by a fire that exporters say still has no known cause. Meanwhile, investigators from the country’s Independent Anticorruption Bureau arrived in Tamatave – which handles about 80 percent of Madagascar’s international maritime cargo – to examine 10 years of financial flows.

Exporters say they have been asked to provide contracts, bank statements and accounting documents.

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

‘We had no choice’

The probe centres on LTC, a Mauritius-based shell company which handled payments between Malagasy exporters and foreign importers.

Exporters say Ravatomanga had strong links to the company. Investigators want to understand what kind of tax evasion schemes, money laundering systems or kickbacks might have been used, who was involved and where the missing money went.

Under pressure, long-standing tensions are beginning to surface. “Let those who played pay the heavy price,” one exporter said.

Another said they had little choice in the past. “Everyone had to collaborate with Mamy,” the exporter said. “We had no choice.”

Exporters have asked for more time so they can focus on the six key loading days. “There is a lot of money at stake, for farmers as for us, many jobs too. These six days are extremely important for Madagascar’s east coast,” one exporter said.

Madagascar revokes ousted president Rajoelina’s nationality

Exporters push back

In a separate report on the lychee sector, exporters described how Ravatomanga dominated the trade for years through Sodiat. Members of the Lychee Exporters Group said he imposed his rules from 2009 onwards and claimed the biggest share of quotas.

On 23 October, the day before his arrest in Mauritius, exporters said he phoned at least four of them. “Do not try to touch even a single kilogram of lychees from my quotas,” he reportedly warned them.

The next day, the Lychee Exporters Group met and voted unanimously to exclude Sodiat from the trade. Narson Rafidimanana, a member of the group, said importers no longer wanted to work with the company.

“Shipowners and importers no longer want to hear about Sodiat. We do not want to be linked to all his wrongdoing,” Rafidimanana said. He said the move had lifted a long-standing fear.

“It is a new era; it is a liberation because during meetings of the Lychee Exporters Group no one had the right to speak. Everyone was afraid of him,” Rafidimanana said. “The risk was having quotas taken away, that he would decide to push us aside, things like that.”

Members split Sodiat’s quotas among the 27 exporters, favouring smaller operators. Larger exporters received 25 tonnes and smaller ones 100 tonnes.

How Madagascar’s new leader Randrianirina rose from prison to presidency

Prosecutors suspended

The Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) in Mauritius has sought cooperation from the NGO Transparency Mauritius as part of its investigation into Ravatomanga’s activities, the Mauritian news site L’Express.mu reported.

Transparency Mauritius’s executive officer, Laura Jayumungal, said: “It is the FCC leading the investigation. If it needs support or information exchange, we touch base at that moment.”

Madagascar’s Justice Ministry has suspended two prosecutors from the country’s anticorruption courts after one publicly said that Ravatomanga faced no judicial proceedings, even though several complaints and denunciations had been recorded against him.

The ministry said the sanctions aimed to preserve the integrity of judicial institutions.

Exporters have reinstated air freight for early lychees, which had been blocked under Ravatomanga. The first fruit can now leave Madagascar around 10 days before the official maritime campaign.

But with an ongoing investigation in Tamatave, a fire at a processing station and questions surrounding LTC, exporters say this season is unlike any other. Even with good fruit quality and high prices, they warn the future of the trade will depend on what investigators uncover in the months ahead.

On the night of 13 November 2015, then president Francois Hollande declared a nationwide state of emergency, granting French police and intelligence services extraordinary authority to carry out searches and detain people suspected of being involved in terrorism.

These measures, extended a week later, let police bypass the ordinary judicial process and decide whom to target, with judges reviewing the legality only afterwards if officers’ choices were challenged in court.

The public largely accepted these restrictions on civil liberties because the terrorist threat remained high.

“After a traumatic event, after a crisis, it is easier to justify a reduction in rights and heightened security measures. People are expecting the government to do something, whatever it is,” explains Sophie Duroy, a professor at the University of Essex School of Law’s Human Rights Centre.

“In a way, the population may be willing to sacrifice some of their liberties because they fear the next terrorist attack.”

Listen to an interview with Sophie Duroy in the Spotlight on France podcast:

When a deadly truck attack in Nice followed in July 2016, France’s parliament incorporated these emergency powers into ordinary law, through bills passed in 2017 and in 2021.

According to Jean-Christophe Couville, national secretary of the Unité police union, France previously lacked the tools to address terrorist threats.

In the days following the November 2015 attacks, emergency powers enabled police to search over 400 people and seize dozens of arms as well as drugs, he told RFI, in what he calls “collateral effects” that he argues “maybe saved lives”.

Abuse of power

Rights defenders say it is an abuse of power to use extraordinary measures intended to fight terrorism in order to deal with ordinary crime.

Duroy points to the disproportionate impact of these powers on France’s Muslim community in the aftermath of the 2015 attacks.

“Individuals and associations were subjected to house arrest, or their places of worship were closed, for instance. Their freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of assembly – their basic liberty – was affected,” she says.

And there was “mission creep”, as police used their expanded powers more broadly.

How French Muslims have wrestled with Charlie Hebdo’s impact, 10 years on

Policing dissent

During the Cop21 summit in Paris in December 2015, police detained and placed climate activists under house arrest on the grounds that they might disturb public order.

“Because there is very little judicial oversight, it is very hard to control who you target with these measures,” says Duroy.

“And we have seen this kind of mission creep more and more in the past few years to police dissent, rather than to police terrorism.”

Other terrorist attacks – realised and foiled – continued to keep France on high alert.  

Later, during the Covid pandemic, France declared a health state of emergency, restricting peoples’ movements. Meanwhile laws introduced for the 2024 Paris Olympics temporarily authorised algorithmic video surveillance, which the government is considering renewing through 2027 in preparation for the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.

“France is the main advocate for digital surveillance technologies and for authorising them and using them on a large-scale basis,” says Duroy.

Expanded surveillance

For police unionist Couville, digital surveillance is just another means to anticipate crimes, or find culprits after the fact.

“We need these new tools,” he said. “They help us to work proactively, to identify someone who is wanted, for example. It helps us to reconstruct a crime scene and helps with arrests.”

Duroy warns, however, that more tools and repressive measures could backfire, putting the public on the defensive.

She argues that respecting human rights and international law is the best way to protect national security, because it avoids escalation and maintains public trust.

“If the population believes you are respecting their rights they would be willing to cooperate with security services and the police,” she says.

“If people think that their rights are not going to be respected or their family’s rights are not going to be respected, they will not give a tip to the police about the fact that maybe their brother is becoming radicalised or their son is becoming radicalised.”

France accused of restricting protests and eroding democracy

Siding with caution

Because counterterrorism is global, France both shares and relies on information from other countries’ intelligence services, which may be more likely to cooperate if they trust that international standards are being respected.

Yet arguing against tougher security powers is an uphill battle. 

Those trying to slow the expansion of surveillance regularly challenge these measures in court – something Duroy says is not always effective, as judges often side with governments.

“Courts have been very happy to defer to national governments in matters of national security because they trust their risk assessments and because of the very high stakes of terrorism,” she says. “No one wants to be blamed if a terrorist attack happens.”

Listen to an interview with Sophie Duroy on the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 135.

Online media Blast, which published the image of the officers, who had their faces concealed, reported that it had been taken inside a police station.

It said that police officers standing hooded in front of something turned upside-down was a “well-known practice among hooligans” – the very people police are meant to confront.

The black banner, with the words “Antifa Feminists against transphobia and racism” written on it in red and white, was seized by police officers during a demonstration against sexual and gender-based violence on 22 November in Paris, according to Blast.

Paris police headquarters “immediately opened an investigation” after the “publication of a photo showing one of its units holding a banner upside down”, Paris police told France’s AFP news agency.

The image shows around two dozen officers in uniform posing behind the banner. Wearing hats and with their neck gaiters pulled up above their noses, only their eyes can be seen. 

‘Attempt at intimidation’

“That there are people who dishonour their uniform like these (officers) is one thing. That the hierarchy remains silent and that there isn’t a single police officer who dares express their disagreement tells us a great deal about the danger women face from such individuals,” said Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

“These police officers are adopting the codes of militiamen,’ said Pouria Amirshahi, a Greens MP, on Saturday. “This is a stance, an attempt at intimidation, a provocation,” he wrote in a statement. He called on the Minister of the Interior “to remind everyone that the republican police force is the guardian of civil liberties, not of ideologies or the aesthetics of violent thugs”.  

Rights groups and left-wing parties have repeatedly accused the French police of having right-wing bias and being racist.

The force rejects such accusations, insisting that bad conduct by a small number of officers does not reflect it as a whole.

France denies police racism is widespread, but evidence tells another story

Two police officers were recently charged with rape and sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman in a courthouse cell in northern Paris. One of the men filmed the incident with a phone.

The men have admitted sexual relations but claim they were consensual.

(with newswires)

Nitrous oxide is sold in high street catering shops, primarily for use in whipped-cream dispensers – but inhaling the gas has euphoric effects. Users, often young people, fill balloons with the gas – also used in hospitals by anaesthetists – inhale it and then throw the container away.

Measures to restrict its consumption have already been taken in France. In 2021, the sale of nitrous oxide was banned for minors. And since early 2024, the quantity that can be sold has been limited. Dijon, Cannes, Lyon and Roubaix have already banned its consumption in public and restricted sales.

But this has not prevented a market – aimed at younger people – from developing. 

The appeal for young people 

In 2022, according to a study by Santé Publique France, almost 14 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds had used it.

This is a relatively recent phenomenon, becoming particularly popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. The French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), notes that from 2017 onwards, the number of places selling the substance increased. Back then it was possible to buy nitrous oxide in bars and nightclubs, which is now prohibited.

Dr Christophe Riou, an addiction expert at the Hospices Civils de Lyon, says the appeal for young people is clear. 

“What appeals to young people is that it’s ‘clean’. I’m not injecting anything, I’m not snorting anything. The fact that it’s a gas gives it a feeling of harmlessness,” he explains.

“And then there’s the idea that the psychoactive effect is short-lived – which is true. Someone who uses nitrous oxide for two hours, if they stop 20 minutes before going home, won’t look stoned.”

He added that since young people won’t smell of cannabis or alcohol, they can still claim to their parents that they’ve been behaving themselves with their friends. The product is also inexpensive. 

Spurs suspend Bissouma over laughing gas video

Damage to the nervous system

But nitrous oxide misuse is no laughing matter. Beginning in 2019, Riou began seeing young people arriving at his hospital’s emergency room with neurological problems, such as tingling in their legs and loss of balance.

The doctor recalls initial misdiagnoses, such as multiple sclerosis, until the patients told him about their use of nitrous oxide. 

Since then, the side effects have become better known. The gas attacks the nervous system and causes cognitive loss, lethargy – and potentially paralysis.

For more than a third of severely affected patients, their symptoms began after a year of regular use. And scientific evidence suggests nitrous oxide has the potential to become addictive.

EU drugs agency concerned about rising recreational use of ‘laughing gas’

The main challenge for Riou is to get users to come to him before their condition becomes serious, as they are unaware that they are exposing themselves to a dangerous substance.

“The fact that there is no label for it, neither as a narcotic nor as a dangerous or poisonous substance, is a problem for me,” he explains.

“Because, legally, the police can’t crack down on it. But someone who has a drinking problem and has had their licence revoked or caused accidents understands that their addiction has consequences. So that pushes them to seek treatment.”

In addition, because the gas affects the cognitive system and causes memory loss, this alters users’ perception of priorities and hampers their ability to take action.

Riou has observed that most of the young people he sees who manage to overcome use of the substance are supported by their parents – so their treatment is paid for by someone else. 

Push for legislation

Beyond the health consequences, the misuse of nitrous oxide is also a cause of road accidents. On 1 November, the death of 19-year-old Mathis in the north of France, who was hit by a car whose driver had just inhaled the gas, reignited the drive to legislate.

Mathis’s parents criticised the lack of a law specifically prohibiting driving under the influence of nitrous oxide. But unlike with cannabis or alcohol, it is still impossible to detect whether a driver has been using the gas.

Several bills have been tabled by French MPs but none have yet completed the legislative process.

France Unbowed (LFI) MP Idir Boumertit is championing a bill that would ban the sale of nitrous oxide to individuals, whether in physical shops or online stores. It would be reserved solely for professionals in the medical and catering sectors. 

France considers restrictions on laughing gas sales to combat recreational use

Ahmed Laouedj, a senator from the European Democratic and Social Rally, advocates criminalising the misuse of this gas. Under his bill, which has already been adopted by senators, sellers would be required to have special authorisation and consumers will have to be able to justify their possession of canisters.

“If tomorrow you stop someone in a car with 25 canisters and they don’t have a legal document of authorisation, it’s a year in prison and a €3,750 fine,” he explains.

“With this law, you will be able to issue a fine. Police officers told me again last night that when they stop young people with gas canisters today, there is nothing they can do.”

This text also provides for awareness-raising campaigns in secondary schools.

For Riou, this would be a positive step, but he fears the consequences of criminalisation of an addictive substance. In his view, this would lead to illegal production and means of acquiring the gas, ultimately resulting in an even more dangerous product.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Marie Casadebaig.

At the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice in June, Unesco and the Plastic Odyssey expedition signed a partnership aimed at restoring the world’s most endangered marine World Heritage sites.

Drawing inspiration from a successful 2024 clean-up on Henderson Island in the South Pacific – during which 9.3 tonnes of plastic waste were removed – the organisations plan to replicate the operation in other areas across the globe.

Plastic Odyssey and Unesco sign deal to restore marine World Heritage sites

Among them is the Aldabra atoll in the Indian Ocean which is one of the largest raised coral reefs in the world.

It is known for the hundreds of endemic species – including the Aldabra giant tortoise.

“Aldabra is one of 51 marine sites listed as Unesco World Heritage Sites. These sites represent less than 1 percent of the Earth’s surface, but 15 percent of marine biodiversity,” Simon Bernard, CEO of Plastic Odyssey, told RFI.

“They are true biodiversity hotspots, but they are also areas that accumulate enormous amounts of plastic waste.”

‘Impossible clean up’

The field mission occurred from 8 to 20 October with the Plastic Odyssey team, who surveyed the island to better estimate the amount of waste.

According to scientific studies 500 tonnes of plastic waste has washed up on this tiny, remote island.

“Where is the waste, how much is there and, above all, how are we going to remove it? We will need to plan a mission lasting several months – four to six months – to collect and remove everything,” said Bernard.

This mission was called “The impossible clean up” – because Aldabra is very difficult to access.

“Very often on these islands, waste accumulates on the exposed coasts, which are virtually inaccessible. There is almost no access to the sea. The island is surrounded by a belt of very sharp rocks, known as karst,” Bernard explained.

“There is no water, no food and obviously no doctor. So you really have to plan all the logistics to keep the teams alive and able to survive on site for several months.”

Recycling partners

The plan is to collect various waste items – like fishing buoys, flip-flops, and cans – using a slide-like system on the rocks that directs the debris into the sea for extraction.

After collection, each type of waste must be sent to an appropriate recycling partner.

Plastic Odyssey on sea-faring mission to target plastic waste in Madagascar

Flip-flops are difficult to repurpose, Bernard says, but they are “working with a company in Kenya that makes works of art out of flip-flops. They recycle several dozen tonnes a year.

“For all the hard plastic, we will be working with entrepreneurs in the Seychelles, on Mahé island, who transform this”.

Plastic Odyssey has also just completed a mission to Saint-Brandon, a Mauritian archipelago which is not yet on Unesco’s official list. It is rich in exceptional endemic bird species but heavily polluted with plastic. 

They collected over five tonnes and reached the ship’s maximum capacity without being able to gather everything.

The unexpected volume of plastic means they will need to return, and Saint-Brandon will be included in future Plastic Odyssey expeditions.

“Christ on the Cross” went under the hammer at the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleu just outside Paris, where it topped an estimate of €1 million to €2 million.

Excluding fees, the winning bid was €2.3 million.

Painted by Rubens around 1620, the work was found by the head of the auction house in September 2024 among belongings at a private mansion on the Left Bank. 

“It was painted by Rubens at the height of his talent,” Jean-Pierre Osenat told AFP news agency, calling the painting “a masterpiece“. 

“It’s the very beginning of Baroque painting, depicting a crucified Christ, isolated, luminous and standing out vividly against a dark and threatening sky,” he said.

The auctioneer compared the discovery to “finding the Mona Lisa”. 

Artworks stolen in Nazi-occupied Paris donated to the Louvre

Microscopic clues

Osenat came across the painting as he inventoried the contents of the mansion on behalf of owners who wanted to sell them off.

After its discovery, art experts in Germany and Belgium spent months authenticating the work using techniques including X-rays and pigment analysis.

“Microscopic examination of the paint layers revealed not only white, black and red pigments in the areas representing flesh, but also blue and green pigments… which are typically used by Rubens in his depictions of human skin,” the auction house said.

The panel on which it was painted was also prepared using a technique typical of the Dutch artist’s workshop, experts found. 

France to return iconic Bayeux Tapestry to Britain for first time in 900 years

It is one of at least four known examples of Rubens paintings of the crucifixion, but art historians said it has unique features. “This is the one and only painting showing blood and water coming out of the side wound of Christ, and this is something that Rubens only painted once,” said Rubens specialist Nils Buttner, who helped authenticate the painting.

The work is thought to have belonged to the 19th-century French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau and remained in the family, eventually passing to the owners of the mansion where it was found. 

Previous assessments had attributed the painting to one of Rubens’ many assistants and valued it at around €10,000.

It went on temporary display in September at the Church of Saint Roch in central Paris.

(with newswires)

“The countdown has officially begun, everything is going perfectly.”

Adenot was all smiles as she greeted journalists in Toulouse on Monday to discuss the Epsilon mission to the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for next February, in one of her last public appearances before her departure.

An engineer by training and a helicopter test pilot for the French Air and Space Force, Adenot is France’s first female astronaut since Claudie Haigneré 25 years ago.

The 43-year-old was selected to represent the next generation of European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts in April 2022.

Aiming for the stars lands French astronaut Sophie Adenot a ticket to ISS

To prepare herself, she says can rely on the experience of former astronauts, whom she consults whenever necessary.

“We have everything we need to stay calm because our training is designed by engineers who have been familiar with the ISS operations for over 20 years,” she explained.

“But I’m human,” she went on. “At some point, this serenity will be challenged, but I don’t know when or how. That’s a source of curiosity, in a way.”

Medical research

If all goes to plan, on 15 February she will take her place aboard a SpaceX rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the United States, which will take her to the ISS.

Hundreds of scientific experiments are planned for the 240-day mission, around 10 of which were developed by France through the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).

Her mission will serve three purposes: to improve scientific and medical knowledge, to prepare for the future of space missions and to involve young people.

EU reveals ambitious project to build and print objects in space

Adenot admits that the experiments in the field of health are the ones that most pique her curiosity. “I am intrigued and interested in this type of experiment, because they could have a direct and concrete impact on our everyday lives.”

Adenot will be analysing the effects of weightlessness on astronauts’ organs using medical imaging. Since CT scanner or MRI machines are too bulky to be taken aboard the ISS, she’ll be using ultrasound.

For 40 years, CNES has used its expertise in ultrasound analysis in space, with astronaut Thomas Pesquet employing it during his two previous missions aboard the ISS.

The ultrasound device that Adenot will be testing, called EchoFinder, is revolutionary. It will allow for autonomous ultrasound scans, without prior medical training or ground assistance.

Aristée Thevenon, an engineer at the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES), a CNES partner, explains that astronauts will be aided by augmented reality and artificial intelligence displayed on a screen.

“The idea is to place virtual spheres representing the probe’s position into virtual cubes representing the ideal probe position. When we manage to place our spheres into our cubes, it turns green, which means we have found the ideal probe position,” he told RFI.

The experiment will help prepare for future space missions to the Moon and Mars, “where communication delays, sometimes of just a few minutes, will make any real-time guidance from Earth impossible,” Thevenon says.

Back on the ground, the technology could also help improve access for patients in remote areas, where ultrasounds are not necessarily available due to a lack of technical expertise.

“We can also imagine a version for submarines, which are confined environments quite similar to those of the International Space Station,” he added.

Human ‘guinea pigs’

Rémi Canton, head of human spaceflight at CNES says that with EchoFinder, Adenot will play a dual role, both testing the equipment on herself and on fellow crew members.

For eight months, Adenot will become a kind of guinea pig to make it possible to observe physiological phenomena that are unobservable on Earth due to gravity.

This will be the case with PhysioTool, a scientific experiment designed to measure several physiological parameters, including cardiovascular ones, using sensors. 

Marc-Antoine Custaud, a researcher at the University of Angers and sponsor of this study explains that in the absence of gravity, blood circulation slows down.

“This is what we call cardiovascular deconditioning,” he explains. “Our goal is to understand how the cardiovascular system becomes unadapted to gravity, what needs to be done to make it adapt to microgravity, and how to readjust it upon returning to Earth.”

Bacteria under the super-microscope

When it comes to health and wellbeing, cleanliness is a crucial issue for astronauts: 10 percent of their mission time is spent on cleaning.

Sébastien Rouquette is an engineer and head of the Matisse-4 experiment for CNES, which will collect bacteria and bring back samples to Earth in order to analyse them in detail using a super-microscope.

His team wants to understand how micro-organisms associate with each other and settle on the surfaces of the ISS. 

“The goal is to develop innovative surfaces with coatings that limit or prevent bacterial growth,” he tells RFI.

These new antibacterial coatings would offer several advantages: they would limit the use of toxic bactericides on board and allow astronauts to save time, a precious resource on board the ISS.

The research could be useful on Earth too. “I’m thinking of door handles, handrails in the subway or on buses and hospitals. We’re starting to have some pretty serious leads on concrete applications within a few years,” Rouquette says.

How fungi and bacteria could help build habitats on Mars

The next generation

During her mission, Adenot will also conduct an educational experiment called ChlorISS, in partnership with 4,500 French schools.

The idea is to simultaneously germinate Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica rapa japonica (“Minuza”) seeds in microgravity, both on the ISS and on Earth, in order to observe the effects of gravity and light on the growth of these two plants.

Marie Fesuick, who is in charge of the ChlorISS experiment, says it will last 10 days.

“Every day, Adenot will photograph the progress of germination, then she will send the photos to schools. Students will be able to compare these photos with the observations they make in their classrooms and observe any differences,” she explains.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet sets his sights on the Moon after ISS success

Involving young people with experiments on the ISS has become an integral part of space missions.

In 2021, during his second mission, Pesquet conducted a similar experiment with the “blob”, a yellow single-celled creature, neither animal nor plant. 

“We hope to inspire some young people, to spark vocations, not necessarily in space, but in science in general,” explains Fesuick.

Adenot agrees: “It’s important that young people identify with [these] career paths. I will be as generous as possible in sharing my experience with them, as much as time allows.”

A new spacesuit

She will also have the opportunity to test a new space suit, known as the “EuroSuit“.

In development since 2023, it is designed to be worn by the astronaut inside the spacecraft during take-off and docking phases, and in case of emergency.

It was developed as part of a partnership between CNES, the French start-up Spartan Space, the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology and the innovation branch of the Decathlon sporting goods company.

According to Decathlon, the suit can be “donned or doffed in less than two minutes and completely autonomously”.

Adenot will test the prototype during her mission to validate its ergonomics in microgravity conditions, in conjunction with further tests on the ground.

She has a packed schedule between now and the launch date. She still has to undergo several tests to collect baseline medical data. “We’ll take them aboard the ISS and then compare them with the data I collect when I return to Earth,” she explains.

And she still needs to familiarise herself with handling the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will take her to the ISS.

“We rehearse the standard procedures and emergency procedures extensively, to be prepared for any eventuality.”

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

Issa is among some 40 people, mainly critics of President Kais Saied, who received lengthy prison terms on charges of plotting against the state at a mass appeal trial on Friday.

“We were marching in the protest when a group of plainclothes officers grabbed her and pushed her inside a vehicle,” Issa’s lawyer, Samir Dilou, told French news agency AFP.

“They could have arrested her the day of the verdict at her home,” Dilou added. “She wasn’t going anywhere. If she wanted to go on the run, why would she be demonstrating?”

Issa was on a list of people wanted by police after the appeal court confirmed the verdict against her, a source in the judiciary told Tunisian news agency TAP. 

She will be taken to prison to serve her 20-year term, the source said.

‘Suppression of freedoms’

The protest in the capital, called by Tunisia’s leading women rights groups the Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and Aswat Nissa, denounced what many see as a growing clampdown on dissent and rights defenders.

“This protest comes amid the authorities’ systematic suppression of free speech and the free voices of activists, journalists and others,” said Nadia Benhamed, a senior member of the ATFD.

“We reject the suppression of freedoms,” she added. “Freedom of expression and thought is our right.”

‘This country has let us down’: young Tunisians seek future abroad

Tunisia emerged as the only democracy of the Arab Spring. But since Saied staged a power grab in 2021, suspending parliament and dismissing government ministers, rights groups have criticised a rollback on freedoms.

Dozens of the president’s critics have been prosecuted or jailed, including on terrorism-related charges and under a law the president enacted in 2022 to prohibit “spreading false news”.

“We won’t give up on our gains and on our freedoms,” said Manel Othmani, another protester and activist. “We can’t surrender the freedom of speech we’ve gained since 2011.”

Opposition on trial

Issa – a member of the National Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition groups that stand against Saied – was first arrested in February 2023. 

She is one of around 40 high-profile defendants tried earlier this year for national security offences including “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group”. They were originally sentenced in April to terms ranging from 13 to 66 years in prison.

Their mass appeal this week succeeded only in reducing the maximum term to 45 years. 

Human Rights Watch slams Tunisia’s ‘repressive’ use of arbitrary detention

A European Parliament vote on Thursday called for the release of “all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including political prisoners and human rights defenders” in Tunisia.

Saied condemned the resolution as “blatant interference”, saying the European Union could “learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms”.

(with AFP)

RFI: On 28 December, you will be seeking a new mandate as president of the Central African Republic. Was it always your intention to run again?

Faustin-Archange Touadéra: Yes. Central Africans across different communities marched to ask me to stand, following on from the steps we have taken over the past two terms. The country was in deep difficulty.

We reached peace agreements with 14 armed groups. People believe peace has returned. The state’s authority has been expanded across the country. There has been clear progress for Central Africans. I am not saying everything is perfect, but we have taken a major step forward. We are holding our heads high.

RFI: Your record is something we’ll discuss – but firstly, is it on the strength of this record that you are so confident, as your campaign song suggests, that the presidency will be decided in the first round?

FT: Many of our compatriots think it will be decided in the first round. We are confident. But this is a democratic process. It is open and every camp is trying to convince as many Central Africans as possible.

CAR opposition leader relinquishes French passport to run in presidential race

RFI: You will have six opponents. Two names stand out, Dondra and Dologuélé, whose candidacy was finally approved by the Constitutional Court after months of uncertainty. Is it a good thing that this election brings together major figures who could challenge your leadership?

FT: As a candidate, I cannot comment on the Constitutional Court’s decision. I take note of it. We will compete and we will ask Central Africans to choose. The candidates you mention are not unknown. We will see on 28 December.

RFI: Those candidates claim that you did everything possible to stop them from running against you. How do you respond?

FT: In what way? What did I do to oppose their candidacies? We have laws. Everyone must respect them and follow due process. That is why we have courts. How could I interfere or stop anyone? The proof is that the Constitutional Court has given its ruling.

RFI: On 28 December there will be four votes held on the same day. That is a first for the country. Are you confident the state institutions can organise these elections under the best possible conditions?

FT: It is a major challenge for the country. Local elections should have been held earlier but there were technical problems with the voter register, which is the basis of any election. It is a first, and a big test. But we trust the men and women in these institutions to ensure the Central African Republic comes out stronger.

I am not saying everything is perfect. There are difficulties, including financial ones. Some funding promises were not kept. But the state is handling this because these elections are important for our democracy.

RFI: Is the date of 28 December fixed in stone?

FT: The constitution sets that date. Beyond it there would only be disorder. If we pass it, people will start talking about a transition and trying to share out power. We cannot take that risk. Our country has already gone through very difficult times. We must respect the deadline to strengthen our democracy and uphold our laws.

Rebel groups in CAR lay down their arms as new peace deal begins

RFI: This week you signed new security agreements with several rebel groups, including the MPC (an ex-Séléka offshoot, active mainly in the north). Are you confident that this time these deals will be respected by all sides – unlike in 2019 and 2020?

FT: We will do everything to keep our commitments. I reached out to them. They are sons of this country and I told them I do not really understand their struggle or its goals. They agree.

I think each leader understands there is no point in carrying on the violence. They gain nothing. They are making efforts. The disarmament process for the two groups is moving ahead. There are challenges, such as supporting some of the disarmed fighters. I have given instructions on this.

RFI: People continue to struggle economically and socially, especially with the cost of living. After two terms, what concrete measures are you offering to change things?

FT: You use strong words, but they must be put in context. For Central Africans, there has been progress, some of it undeniable. That does not mean everything is fine. I have never said that. This is why we have proposed a national development plan and why we are asking Central Africans for another mandate. We were really in a deep hole. We want to build on the progress made. We are confident.

RFI: One of the main concerns for people and businesses is fuel prices. They are extremely high in the country, the highest on the African continent. Civil society, global NGOs and the International Monetary Fund have criticised the pricing structure. Will there be a reform of the fuel market?

FT: We do not produce oil. We are a landlocked country and we need energy for the economy. Fuel that arrives in a port does not cost the same by the time it reaches us. It must be transported by river or barge, or by road from Douala. All of that adds to the cost.

RFI: So there is no unexplained extra cost in the Central African Republic?

FT: No.

RFI: And it is not the government’s intention to push up prices?

FT: No. The government gains nothing from higher prices – quite the opposite.

First ICC verdict for militia leaders accused of persecuting Muslims in CAR

RFI: With the civil war in Sudan, what is the situation in the north-east of your country? Do you fear spillover from the conflict?

FT: We know what war is. It destroyed part of our country and part of our population in the north. Getting supplies from Sudan has become difficult. Sudanese men and women who want peace are seeking refuge in the Central African Republic, which puts more pressure on the region’s economy and society. We take part in all meetings and contribute where we can.

RFI: In this conflict, one outside actor that everyone is talking about is the United Arab Emirates. Your opponents say you are getting closer to them and wonder if the country will become a rear base.

FT: The Central African Republic is an open country. We are not going to refuse cooperation with one country or another. These claims are disinformation. We have cooperation with the United Arab Emirates on specific projects and we continue to work in the interest of both sides.

RFI: Another partnership that draws attention is with Russia. It has been said that Wagner personnel will leave and be replaced by Afrika Corps, linked to the Russian Defence Ministry. Can you confirm discussions with Moscow?

FT: I have been asked this many times. I have always said I will not disclose all the discussions we have with friendly countries. If agreements are reached, they will be made public, but not now. You say we are in talks. Yes. We are discussing many issues – not only security or which foreign forces might leave and which ones might take their place. We have many programmes in defence, the economy, education and health.

RFI: Wagner personnel were also active in the economy. If the uniformed men leave, will the companies linked to Wagner stay?

FT: The Central African Republic is open. We have a mining code. Any company that is legally established and meets the conditions and applies for research or extraction permits can operate. These sectors, including mining and forestry, are now liberalised. Why label these companies as Wagner companies or others? For us, they are legally recognised companies that respect our laws. And it is not only Russians.

RFI: So, no special treatment? Everyone follows the same rules?

FT: Our laws are clear. There is no special treatment. You can ask the Ministry of Mines. Any company that meets the conditions is treated in the same transparent way.

This interview was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s François Mazet.

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), which brought together lawyers, academics, development experts and human rights institutions on the sidelines of a session of the African Union’s child protection committee in Maseru, is calling on African governments to examine how business impacts children’s welfare.

“Millions of children on the continent are engaged in child labour – between 70 to 90 million children in Africa and particularly in the informal sector,” Musa Kika, the NGO’s executive director, told RFI. 

“And because Africa has a huge informal sector, we actually really don’t know the extent of the problem. And it’s very difficult to track what children are doing, the hazards they are facing.”

In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more children are in child labour than in the rest of the world combined, the International Labour Organisation estimates.

Nor is the problem limited to child labour. “When it comes to business and child rights, it’s not just child labour, it also concerns how children are affected as consumers of services and products,” said Kika.

Health hazards

In a report released last week, the IHDRA describes how unsafe products and harmful corporate practices affect children.

“We were recently in Zambia in a town called Kabwe, for instance,” Kika said, “where lead, zinc and manganese mining has been happening for almost a century. Kabwe is now known as perhaps one of the most polluted towns in the world. The soil has been contaminated by lead.”

Lawsuit demands justice for Zambians ‘poisoned’ by lead mine

While medical experts report that both adults and children in the area have experienced increased health problems, young children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning.

“As a result, children are suffering deformities, deformities, developmental challenges, etc,” said Kika.

The problem represents not only unsafe mining practices, he noted, but the failure of the Zambian government to enforce environmental protection laws.

National and international action required

Children also suffer indirectly when their caregivers work in poor conditions, the report underlines, or without proper renumeration and rest periods. 

The IHRDA recommends incorporating children’s rights into both national and Africa-wide action plans on business and human rights.

“The current state of affairs is that only five out of 55 African countries have national action plans,” Kika told RFI. “So 50 countries don’t have any coordinated, coherent plan on how they are going to be mindful of child protection in regulating and carrying out business.”

Ghana faces mounting pressure to take action over illegal mining

International coordination is also essential, he said. “We are going to need a multi-pronged approach at the African Union level, continental level.

“It’s timely now because Africa has just adopted what is called the African Continental Free Trade Area, an agreement that was contracted recently trying to build a single market for Africa in terms of movement of goods and services and people.

“If that framework is fully implemented without a binding mechanism for children’s protection at continental level, there are going to be massive violations.”

France is once again mired in political turmoil after the National Assembly last week overwhelmingly rejected the revenue side of the 2026 budget.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is trying a new method: rather than attempting to push a full budget through a fractured parliament, he aims to break spending into “absolute priorities” – security, energy, agriculture and state reform – and put each item to MPs separately.

The move is intended to avoid another budget showdown, after two years of governmental instability that have steadily chipped away at President Emmanuel Macron’s authority.

Critics, however, argue that the plan is merely a repackaged version of political improvisation – a delay tactic that risks further weakening France’s credibility at home and on the world stage.

Jean-François Husson, the Senate’s general rapporteur for the budget, delivered one of the sharpest criticisms of Lecornu’s move, describing it as a chaotic and ill-timed intervention.

“If you want to give the French a dizzying ride, you could hardly do it better than this,” he remarked, arguing that the government’s approach was generating more confusion than clarity.

For author and political strategist Gerald Olivier, there is a deeper problem.

“France is sick, and France has been sick for a while,” he says. “We’re basically looking at a country with no government, no parliamentary majority and a total impossibility for any prime minister to put forward a credible programme.”

French lawmakers roundly reject income part of budget bill, send it to Senate

France technically needs to pass its budget by 31 December, but Olivier is quick to point out that this deadline has been missed before. “Last year, the budget wasn’t passed until February,” he notes.

If the same thing happens this time, the government can fall back on a temporary financial law that keeps spending aligned with the previous year’s budget for up to 70 days. A more drastic option – to rule by decree – exists as a constitutional backstop.

“This crisis exists because there is no majority in parliament,” Olivier says. “And it’s also because no party has had the courage to face the kind of medicine that France needs. That’s the larger issue.”

International credibility

As a major European power, France’s domestic politics do not stay domestic for long. International investors and European Union partners are watching closely, especially after recent warnings from credit-rating agencies about France’s deficit trajectory.

According to Olivier, the damage is already evident. “France is already in a recession, and there are investments simply passing the country by,” he argues. “No one knows what its tax status will be in the coming years.”

That uncertainty could have a ripple effect across the continent. France, he warns, risks becoming “economically weak and therefore politically weak within Europe”, potentially deepening divisions between EU member states.

France’s economy minister warns latest credit downgrade a ‘wake-up call’

“The one reassuring piece of news is that France is not the only one in this situation. Germany is in dire shape, Italy is shaky, Sweden is having problems. It seems today that everyone in Europe is the sick man of Europe,” he added.

Periods of political instability often attract external opportunists – whether governments, speculators or hostile influence campaigns. But Olivier remains cautious when asked whether foreign actors are already exploiting France’s woes.

“I don’t necessarily see it,” he says, “but if you want to consider fictional scenarios, you could find many.”

France’s EU membership, he argues, offers a buffer. “Having the EU behind you is reassuring. The idea of ‘Frexit’ would be disastrous. The euro provides protection.”

Still, the consequences of weakened governance can extend beyond the economy. A fragile budget could force France to scale back overseas military deployments – a shift that could alter power dynamics in parts of Africa and the Middle East. “This kind of instability is not healthy for anyone,” Olivier says.

A president without momentum

Macron’s political capital has been in decline since the 2022 legislative elections, when he lost his absolute majority. The surprise dissolution of the Assembly after the 2024 European elections only worsened matters, splitting the parliament into three mutually hostile blocs.

“It’s done tremendous damage to Macron,” Olivier says. “He was re-elected in 2022 because people didn’t want Marine Le Pen. He didn’t have the support he had in 2017, and disappointment set in.”

He argues that Macron himself triggered the crisis. “He dissolved the Assembly for no reason. The European elections had no influence on French politics, but he reacted as if they did – and he made things worse.”

Could the president break the deadlock? In theory, yes. “Macron could solve it instantly by resigning,” Olivier notes. “That would trigger a new presidential election, followed by fresh parliamentary elections. That’s how institutions are supposed to function.” But he sees no sign that Macron intends to take that step.

For now, he predicts “another 18 months of instability” with the possibility of yet another government reshuffle. “We’ve had four governments in 12 months. We could have a fifth one next year. There is no telling.”

France’s Le Pen asks Bardella to prepare for 2027 presidential bid

Eyes on 2027

With Macron unable to stand again, attention is already turning to the 2027 presidential race.

The National Rally – headed by Marine Le Pen and her rising protégé Jordan Bardella – enters the campaign in a strong position. Republican Bruno Retailleau could emerge from the right, France Unbowed’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon or Socialist Olivier Faure from the left. Names from the centre such as MEP Raphaël Glucksmann and the former prime minister from Macron’s Renaissance party, Manuel Valls, have been floated too.

Olivier’s concern is not who the candidates are but how honest they will be about the situation.

“No one is willing to say the country needs to make sacrifices,” he warns. “France is in debt up to 115 percent of GDP. Public spending is too high. But nobody wants to tell voters that the social state cannot remain as generous as it is.”

He singles out one controversial, far-right figure: “The only person honest about the economic reality is Éric Zemmour – and there is zero chance he will be the next president.”

Gunmen on Saturday morning raided the headquarters of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), a former liberation movement and Guinea-Bissau’s oldest political party, near the presidential palace where soldiers have set up camp since seizing power on 26 November.

Elsewhere in the capital Bissau, the offices of the opposition Social Renewal Party (PRS) were attacked, reportedly with tear gas.

The campaign headquarters of Fernando Dias, the independent candidate thought to have defeated incumbent Umaro Sissoco Embalo in last weekend’s presidential election, were also targeted.

Soldiers remained stationed around PAIGC’s offices on Saturday afternoon, RFI’s correspondent reported.

Saying members were “under pressure”, spokesperson Muniro Conte told RFI that the party leaders feared the raid was part of a plot to plant weapons that could later be used to accuse them of arms trafficking.

“This act constitutes a clear and intolerable violation of the fundamental principles of the rule of law,” the party said in a statement, calling for those responsible to be prosecuted.

Observers warn of deepening crisis after Guinea-Bissau military takeover

Protesters detained

Since seizing control, the military has installed a general, Horta N’ta Na Man, as interim president and Ilidio Te Vieira – formerly minister of finance – as prime minister. The junta says it will remain in power for one year while preparing for a return to “normalcy”. 

A dozen people who tried to protest in Bissau were arrested on Saturday, according to the head of Guinea-Bissau’s Human Rights League, Bubacar Ture, who said there was no information on their current whereabouts.

The PAIGC’s Domingos Simoes Pereira, a former prime minister and leading opposition figure, was detained in the wake of the coup and is reportedly being held at the Interior Ministry.

Dias – who received the backing of the PAIGC after the party was barred from fielding its own candidates for supposedly missing a deadline to file paperwork – remains in hiding. 

Embalo arrived in the Republic of Congo’s capital Brazzaville on Saturday, having initially fled to Senegal.

Guinea-Bissau general sworn in as transitional president following coup

‘Ceremonial coup’

The takeover, which came before the official results of the 23 November presidential and parliamentary elections could be announced, drew condemnation from the United Nations, African Union and regional bloc Ecowas.

A high-level Ecowas mission, comprising the presidents of Senegal, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone and Togo, had been due to arrive in Guinea-Bissau on Saturday but has postponed the visit until Monday.

The officers in charge claim they took control to restore order, warning of a plot by drug barons to destabilise the country. But the real motives for the coup remain unclear, with speculation swirling that it may have been carried out with Embalo’s blessing to avoid being declared the loser of last week’s vote.

Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who had been in Guinea-Bissau as part of a regional election observer mission, accused Embalo of staging a “ceremonial coup”.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, he questioned how Embalo was able to address the media despite the takeover. “Who is fooling who?” he asked. “What happened in Guinea-Bissau is quite disturbing to me, who believes in democracy.”

France is once again mired in political turmoil after the National Assembly last week overwhelmingly rejected the revenue side of the 2026 budget.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is trying a new method: rather than attempting to push a full budget through a fractured parliament, he aims to break spending into “absolute priorities” – security, energy, agriculture and state reform – and put each item to MPs separately.

The move is intended to avoid another budget showdown, after two years of governmental instability that have steadily chipped away at President Emmanuel Macron’s authority.

Critics, however, argue that the plan is merely a repackaged version of political improvisation – a delay tactic that risks further weakening France’s credibility at home and on the world stage.

Jean-François Husson, the Senate’s general rapporteur for the budget, delivered one of the sharpest criticisms of Lecornu’s move, describing it as a chaotic and ill-timed intervention.

“If you want to give the French a dizzying ride, you could hardly do it better than this,” he remarked, arguing that the government’s approach was generating more confusion than clarity.

For author and political strategist Gerald Olivier, there is a deeper problem.

“France is sick, and France has been sick for a while,” he says. “We’re basically looking at a country with no government, no parliamentary majority and a total impossibility for any prime minister to put forward a credible programme.”

French lawmakers roundly reject income part of budget bill, send it to Senate

France technically needs to pass its budget by 31 December, but Olivier is quick to point out that this deadline has been missed before. “Last year, the budget wasn’t passed until February,” he notes.

If the same thing happens this time, the government can fall back on a temporary financial law that keeps spending aligned with the previous year’s budget for up to 70 days. A more drastic option – to rule by decree – exists as a constitutional backstop.

“This crisis exists because there is no majority in parliament,” Olivier says. “And it’s also because no party has had the courage to face the kind of medicine that France needs. That’s the larger issue.”

International credibility

As a major European power, France’s domestic politics do not stay domestic for long. International investors and European Union partners are watching closely, especially after recent warnings from credit-rating agencies about France’s deficit trajectory.

According to Olivier, the damage is already evident. “France is already in a recession, and there are investments simply passing the country by,” he argues. “No one knows what its tax status will be in the coming years.”

That uncertainty could have a ripple effect across the continent. France, he warns, risks becoming “economically weak and therefore politically weak within Europe”, potentially deepening divisions between EU member states.

France’s economy minister warns latest credit downgrade a ‘wake-up call’

“The one reassuring piece of news is that France is not the only one in this situation. Germany is in dire shape, Italy is shaky, Sweden is having problems. It seems today that everyone in Europe is the sick man of Europe,” he added.

Periods of political instability often attract external opportunists – whether governments, speculators or hostile influence campaigns. But Olivier remains cautious when asked whether foreign actors are already exploiting France’s woes.

“I don’t necessarily see it,” he says, “but if you want to consider fictional scenarios, you could find many.”

France’s EU membership, he argues, offers a buffer. “Having the EU behind you is reassuring. The idea of ‘Frexit’ would be disastrous. The euro provides protection.”

Still, the consequences of weakened governance can extend beyond the economy. A fragile budget could force France to scale back overseas military deployments – a shift that could alter power dynamics in parts of Africa and the Middle East. “This kind of instability is not healthy for anyone,” Olivier says.

A president without momentum

Macron’s political capital has been in decline since the 2022 legislative elections, when he lost his absolute majority. The surprise dissolution of the Assembly after the 2024 European elections only worsened matters, splitting the parliament into three mutually hostile blocs.

“It’s done tremendous damage to Macron,” Olivier says. “He was re-elected in 2022 because people didn’t want Marine Le Pen. He didn’t have the support he had in 2017, and disappointment set in.”

He argues that Macron himself triggered the crisis. “He dissolved the Assembly for no reason. The European elections had no influence on French politics, but he reacted as if they did – and he made things worse.”

Could the president break the deadlock? In theory, yes. “Macron could solve it instantly by resigning,” Olivier notes. “That would trigger a new presidential election, followed by fresh parliamentary elections. That’s how institutions are supposed to function.” But he sees no sign that Macron intends to take that step.

For now, he predicts “another 18 months of instability” with the possibility of yet another government reshuffle. “We’ve had four governments in 12 months. We could have a fifth one next year. There is no telling.”

France’s Le Pen asks Bardella to prepare for 2027 presidential bid

Eyes on 2027

With Macron unable to stand again, attention is already turning to the 2027 presidential race.

The National Rally – headed by Marine Le Pen and her rising protégé Jordan Bardella – enters the campaign in a strong position. Republican Bruno Retailleau could emerge from the right, France Unbowed’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon or Socialist Olivier Faure from the left. Names from the centre such as MEP Raphaël Glucksmann and the former prime minister from Macron’s Renaissance party, Manuel Valls, have been floated too.

Olivier’s concern is not who the candidates are but how honest they will be about the situation.

“No one is willing to say the country needs to make sacrifices,” he warns. “France is in debt up to 115 percent of GDP. Public spending is too high. But nobody wants to tell voters that the social state cannot remain as generous as it is.”

He singles out one controversial, far-right figure: “The only person honest about the economic reality is Éric Zemmour – and there is zero chance he will be the next president.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 25 October, just days after the famous theft of the French crown jewels from the Louvre, I asked you a question about another famous theft from the Louvre. You were to re-read our article “Paris police hunt Louvre thieves after priceless jewels vanish in daring heist”, and send in the answers to these three questions: Which artwork was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, and by whom? How did he do it?

The answers are, to quote our article: “In 1911, the Mona Lisa famously vanished from its frame, spirited away by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former museum employee who hid overnight in a broom cupboard and simply walked out with the painting under his coat.”

Interesting fun fact, also in our article: The Mona Lisa at that time was not a famous painting at all. Because the theft made global headlines, when it was recovered two years later in Florence, it had become the most famous painting in the world.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: What “Instant Karma” incident have you been involved in?  

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Jayanta is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Jayanta.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Naved Rayan, the president of the RFI Fan Club in Murshidibad, India. There are RFI Listeners Club members Sahadot Hossain from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh and Karobi Hazarika from Assam, India, and last but not least, RFI English listener Khizar Hayat Shah, the president of the Sadat Listeners Club in Punjab, Pakistan.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: The “Hunting Song” from Felix Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words Op.19 No.3, performed by Daniel Barenboim; the theme from To Catch a Thief by Armando Trovajoli; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “The Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff, performed by Jimmy Cliff and his ensemble.  

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “France says goodbye to star pandas going back to China”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 12 January to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 17 January podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

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

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

In Sudan, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said last week that atrocities in Darfur – where the rebellious RSF are fiercely battling the regular army and targeting civilians – have been met with indifference and “complete impunity”.

He made the remarks following a visit to the devastated Sudanese region.

Chad has consequently become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the conflict in Sudan – and as violence against civilians intensifies in Darfur, even more are crossing the border. The influx is placing severe pressure on already scarce resources in one of Africa’s poorest countries.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council, travelled to eastern Chad recently and spoke to us while on the ground visiting refugee camps. She said that the escalating humanitarian crisis urgently requires the world’s attention and that she expects more people to flee Sudan in search of safety and basic survival.

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

Last weekend in South Africa, the final event of the country’s G20 South African presidency – the heads of state summit  – took place in Johannesburg, aiming to secure commitments on debt relief for developing countries and to address global inequalities.

World leaders signed a declaration reflecting a “renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation”, according to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

We have two guests reflecting on this significant year for Africa:

• Désiré Assogbavi, Adviser for Africa at the Open Society Foundations, a lawyer and international development expert in African institutions, policy, and politics, who took part in many of this year’s meetings in South Africa, including the Heads of State Summit in Johannesburg this weekend;

• Ivor Ichikowitz, founder and director of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, which has produced the comprehensive African Youth Survey G20 Briefing to better understand what young Africans expect from this moment of leadership.

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

Finally, we’ll hear from my colleague Ollia Horton, who recently met in Paris with the Ghanaian artist Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku, a civil engineer by profession and an artist at heart.

A stitch in time: the Ghanaian artist sewing trash into treasure

He has found an innovative way to raise awareness of the problem of textile waste in his native Ghana.

His  installations are stitched together from hundreds of pieces of used clothing, collected from cities around the world as part of a project that has spanned decades.

Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Changing diplomatic landscape

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

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

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

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

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

Energy pressure on Ankara

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

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

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

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

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

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

Balancing relations with Russia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congratulations winners!

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

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

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

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

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

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

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

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

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

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

Episode mixed by Nicolas Doreau.

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

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.