Olympic organisers and athletes themselves are counting on home-town excitement to propel them to gold, following France’s success at the Olympic Games just a few weeks ago.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, France came 14th with 54 medals, 11 of which were gold.

This year’s 236 French athletes and 22 guides will compete in each of the 22 sports, including some exclusive to the Paralympics, like goalball and boccia.

Athletes in all sports

The athletes range in age, from 16 years old (Marie Ngoussou, para athletics) to 59 years old (Rosa Murcia, para athletics and Didier Richard, para sport shooting).

Though the French delegation did not reach gender parity, the 81 female athletes are still a record.

France delivers Macron’s wish securing best Olympic medal tally in a century

In the past, France has won the most medals in the para athletics and para swimming events, and Marie-Amelie Le Fur, president of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee said the spotlight this year will be on France’s 27 para athletics competitors, along with the 21 para table tennis players and sitting volleyball teams.

France has sitting volleyball teams for the first time since the sport was introduced to the Paralympics in 1980, and the French men’s wheelchair basketball team qualified for first time since the Athens Paralympics in 2004.

French flag bearers

France’s two flag bearers are Alexis Hanquinquant (para triathlon) and Nantenin Keita (para athletics), who carried the Olympic flame at the start of the Games.

Both athletes are expected to help France bring in its medals during the Paralympics, from 28 August to 8 September.

Refugee athletes send ‘message of hope’ as they head to Paris Paralympics

Hanquinquant, who is disabled in the right leg following an workplace accident, is a six-time world champion who won a gold medal in the triathlon at the Tokyo games in 2021.

Keita, who is visually impaired, and is the daughter of the legendary Malian musician Salif Keita, won medals in Rio in 2016, in London in 2012 and Beijing in 2008.

Also in para athletics, Arnaud Assoumani, who was born without forearms, will compete in his sixth Paralympics in the high jump, in which he has won four medals, including gold in Beijing in 2008.

More French athletes to watch

Wheelchair tennis champion Stephane Houdet will compete in his fifth straight Paralympic games, where he won three gold medals, in 2008, 2016 and 2021 in men’s doubles.

Pauline Déroulède, who lost a leg after being hit by a car in 2018, will be competing in her first Paralympics, after going from being a recreational tennis player to high-level athlete following her accident.

Para judoka Sandrine Martinet, who is visually impaired, will compete in her sixth Paralympic games, with the goal of adding to her four medals by repeating her gold win in Rio in 2016.

Nacer Zorgani, who is also visually impaired, will compete in the judo tournament, four weeks after finishing his previous role as the announcer at the Olympic boxing events.

Para swimmers Ugo Didier, who was born with deformities in his feet and legs, and Alex Portal, who is visually impaired, will compete in the Paralympics for the second time of their careers. Portal’s brother Kylian will be his guide.

Multi-sport athletes

Para rower Benjamin Daviet, who is disabled in the knee, will be competing in his first ever Summer Paralympic Games, after winning ten medals in Winter Paralympics, including five gold medals in the biathlon and cross country skiing events.

Heidi Gaugain, who was born without her left forearm, races on both road and track, in the Olympic and Paralympic categories. She is the first para cyclist to win world titles in both cycling and para cycling, and will be competing in her first ever Paralympic Games.

“In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible”, the groups said in a joint statement.

The call came ahead of a meeting by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 29 August.

The period following Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, 2023 and Israel’s devastating retaliatory assault on the Gaza Strip “has been the deadliest for journalists in decades”, the letter said.

“More than 130 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been killed by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza since 7 October. At least 30 of them were killed in the course of their work, three Lebanese journalists and an Israeli journalist have also been (killed) during the same period”, it says.

‘Trampling’ on rights

“The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime”, it said.

EU’s association agreements with non-member countries are treaties that govern bilateral relations, including trade.

The agreement’s Article 2 stipulates “respect for human rights and democratic principles”, said Julie Majerczak, the head of RSF’s Brussels office.

International investigation reveals ‘attack on press freedom’ in Gaza conflict

“The Israeli government is clearly trampling on this article. The EU, which is Israel’s leading trade partner, must draw the necessary conclusions from this and must do everything to ensure that the (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and press freedom by opening media access to Gaza,” she said.

Among the signatories were the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

(With newswires)

Tonga faced significant obstacles in preparing for the event as it is still recovering from the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption, which caused widespread damage.

To accommodate the influx of delegates for the four-day meeting, Tonga’s government built over 100 prefabricated homes and capital, Nuku’alofa has seen a surge in demand for accommodations, with every available room booked for the week.

Additional efforts have included rounding up stray dogs and improving public spaces to ensure the event runs smoothly.

New Caledonia

The forum’s agenda includes the political instability in New Caledonia, a French territory where tensions have risen following the third independence referendum.

Pacific leaders are divided on how to approach the issue, with some advocating for a mediation role while others say that interference may spark more.

• Pacific leaders postpone mission to New Caledonia over reported spat

France remains reluctant to external intervention, complicating efforts by Pacific island nations to play a constructive role.

According to the New Zealand Herald, a PIF factfinding mission, requested by New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou to investigate the fallout of the recent months of violence on the archipelago, was postponed just days before the Forum. 

Major resolutions seem unlikely until leaders do conduct further fact-finding missions.

Climate change

But it is climate change that remains a central concern for Pacific nations, as it has been in previous forums.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who joined the meeting, said that “while the Pacific region is doing what it can, the G20 most industralised nations – the biggest emitters of carbon – “must step up and lead, by phasing out the production and consumption of fossil fuels and stopping their expansion immediately.”

The forum is also focused on securing more funding for the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), which aims to support communities impacted by climate change.

So far, pledges from Australia and Saudi Arabia have fallen short of the $500 million (€446 million) target.

Another key item on the agenda is the Pacific Policing Initiative (PPI). Led primarily by Australia, the PPI seeks to enhance law enforcement across the region to address growing challenges like drug trafficking and illegal fishing.

Chinese influence

The initiative also aims to curb China’s influence by integrating regional police forces.

In 2022, China signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, triggering concern in Washington and Canberra, which worry that Beijing might want to expand its naval operations.

The agreement also meant that China’s sphere of influence now extends to French territory as the Solomon Islands share a common sea border with French Caledonia. 

• China expands military might as far as French borders with Solomon Islands pact

But despite concerns from some member states about the rapid implementation of the PPI, broad support is expected.

The PIF will end on 30 August with a joint statement.

(With newswires)

Denmark also said it would bolster diplomatic staff at its embassies in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.

Following the closures in Bamako and Ouagadougou, a special representative will be appointed for the African Great Lakes and Sahel region, it said.

Mali and Burkina Faso have turned to Russia and its Wagner mercenary group for support since military leaders seized power in 2020 and 2022 respectively.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso to launch anti-jihadist force

Mali’s relations with European countries have deteriorated recently.

Earlier this month, its military junta ordered the Swedish ambassador to the leave the country after a Swedish minister criticised Malian support for Russia.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his country’s reorganisation of priorities in Africa came as Denmark and the European Union aimed to be Africa’s “preferred partner” as the continent faces whether to “orient itself more towards the East or the West.”

Charting a course for the future

“We have a clear interest in the African countries looking towards us in Europe as they chart the course for their future,” he said.

“We must demonstrate that we offer an attractive alternative to the increasing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent,” he added.

France among 16 nations to hit out at deployment of Russian mercenaries in Mali

The new Danish strategy will focus heavily on increasing trade and on water initiatives.

 In the coming years, Denmark plans to provide one billion kroner (€134 million) in development assistance to new bilateral water initiatives in Africa, and 425 million kroner in 2025 alone.

(with AFP)

After being lit at Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement in the United Kingdom, the flame made its journey to France through the Channel Tunnel.

The torch arrived at the French side of the tunnel in the town of Coquelles where 2004 wheelchair fencing bronze medalist Emmanuelle Assmann carried it from the tunnel.

The flame was then “multiplied” into 12 Paralympic flames, and will be carried by 1,000 torchbearers in around 50 towns, in 12 simultaneous relays over the coming days.

These 12 relays will converge on Paris, where the flame will arrive on Wednesday for the opening ceremony.

On of the torches was received on the French side by Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera, Paris 2024 organising committee president Tony Estanguet, and local officials.

“It’s all about inscribing sport in the hearts of people with disabilities,” Oudéa-Castera said.

British athletes light Paralympic Flame in birthplace of Games near London

One of the torches travelled from Calais to the Rock en Seine music festival near Paris on Sunday afternoon, where it was carried by DJ Barbara Butch, who had featured prominently during the Olympic Games opening ceremony in July.

Other torches were carried to Valenciennes and Rouen the north of France, while a part travelled to the southern French towns of Antibes Juan-les-Pins, Montpellier, Lourdes as well as to Strasbourg and Thonon-les-Bains in the east of the country.

Hong Kong-born martial arts actor Jackie Chan was named on Sunday as one of the torchbearers in the lead-up to the opening ceremony.

Athletes on parade

The 70-year-old, known for his stunts and acrobatic fight scenes, will carry the flame on Wednesday afternoon, the organising committee announced.

French actress Elsa Zylberstein, and dancer/choreographer Benjamin Millepied will also take part in the torch relay.

Nearly two million Paris Paralympics tickets sold as excitement builds

As with the Olympic opening ceremony, Wednesday evening’s event will take place beyond the confines of the Stade de France, with a parade through Paris from the Champs-Élysées to Place de la Concorde and a show put on by artistic director Thomas Jolly.

During the Games, around 4,400 athletes will compete in 549 events, which will take place in 18 competition sites, including 16 identical to their Olympic counterparts.

(With agencies)

President of the National Independent Authority for Elections (ANIE), Mohamed Charfi, highlighted the “positive dynamic of registrations” as he expressed hopes of a high turnout for the vote.

However, the lack of choice has cast a shadow following the rejection of 13 potential candidates.

Only two candidates were approved to challenge Tebboune: Abdelaali Hassani of the moderate Islamist party, the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), and Youcef Aouchiche of the centre-left Socialist Forces Front (FFS).

Local media reports that Hassani kicked off his campaign in the capital, Algiers, under the slogan “Opportunity,” while Aouchiche launched his in the popular Bab El Oued district with the slogan “Vision for Tomorrow”.

‘Neutralising’ opposition?

The thirteen other hopefuls, however, failed to secure the required number of signatures to enter the race, a barrier that many argue is symptomatic of a broader effort to “neutralise the opposition”.

Emmanuel Alcaraz, an Algeria expert at the Mesopolhis research laboratory in Aix-en-Provence, told RFI that the current political system “weaponises justice to get rid of opponents”, leaving Algeria with a “civilian facade” controlled by the military.

Despite the controversy, the candidates who are in the race have focused their campaigns on addressing Algeria’s pressing social and economic challenges, RFI’s correspondent in Algiers reported.

Tebboune – who took power from Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019 with 58 percent of the vote but a turnout of less than 40 percent – has promised significant social measures. 

• Algerian opposition denounces ‘unfair conditions’ in upcoming election
• Algeria arrests dozens over alleged election fraud ahead of September poll

They include a potential 100 percent increase in salaries by 2027 and a continuation of efforts to reduce inflation – which he said had already fallen from 11 to 6 percent.

“The same goes for retirement pensions. I will review everything that favours the consolidation of spending power,” Tebboune added.

FFS candidate Youcef Aouchiche has proposed a significant increase in the national minimum wage, aiming to raise it to 40,000 dinars.

“I also commit, as part of the strengthening of social protection, to creating a universal income of 20,000 dinars for all social categories,” he said.

Abdelaali Hassani, the MSP candidate, has focused on positioning Algeria as an emerging nation, pledging to address social issues such as youth unemployment, illegal migration and school dropout rates.

He emphasised the need to prevent the country’s talent from seeking opportunities abroad.

Tightened security

Amid the election campaign, security issues have also come to the fore. Earlier in August, Algerian authorities arrested 21 people in connection with an alleged plot to smuggle weapons into the country aboard a commercial ferry coming from Marseille.

The defence ministry linked the arrests to the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), a group Algeria considers a “terrorist organisation”.

According to the ministry, the group aimed to disrupt the upcoming elections by sowing disorder and insecurity. The ministry further accused “foreign intelligence services hostile to Algeria” of complicity in the plot.

MAK, founded in 2001 after protests in the Berber-majority Kabylie region, has long been a thorn in the side of the Algerian government.

In 2022, its leader Ferhat Mehenni, who lives in France, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment on charges of “creating a terrorist organisation and undermining national integrity”.

Algeria’s presidential election campaign continues until 3 September.

The detention of Durov, 39, was extended beyond Sunday night by the investigating magistrate who is handling the case, according to a source close to the investigation. This initial period of detention for questioning can last up to a maximum of 96 hours.

When this phase of detention ends, the judge can then decide to free him or press charges and remand in further custody.

• Durov: Mysterious and controversial Telegram founder

Russia has accused France of “refusing to cooperate” and fellow tech mogul Elon Musk swept to his defence. Durov holds a French passport in addition to other nationalities.

Durov had arrived in Paris from Baku, Azerbaijan, and was planning to have dinner in the French capital, a source close to the case said.

He was accompanied by a bodyguard and a personal assistant who always accompany him, added the source, asking not to be named.

France’s OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism, another source said.

Durov is accused of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform.

Telegram said in response that “Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”

“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards,” it added. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

Durov, whose “Du Rove’s Channel” on Telegram has over 11 million followers, did not post any messages since 14 August, when he celebrated the social media’s 11th birthday.

• Telegram chief Pavel Durov arrested at French airport

(With newswires)

Paris on Sunday celebrated the 80^th anniversary of its liberation from German troops in World War II with tributes, military marches and the hoisting of a flag at the Eiffel Tower.

On August 25, 1944, the 2^nd French Armoured Division entered the capital under the command of General Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque, ending 1,500 days of German occupation.

Their triumphant arrival followed a tumultuous week of uprisings, strikes, combat at barricades and street battles between French Resistance fighters and occupying forces.

On Sunday a parade followed one of the itineraries of the French division from the south of the capital to its centre.

The parade featured vintage military vehicles, as surviving veterans of the 2^nd Armoured Division looked on.

President Emmanuel Macron led the commemoration, also attended by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and an audience with prominent cultural figures including American actor Jodie Foster.

“Beyond all divisions and contradictions, to be French is to be together,” Macron said in a speech. “Free, and true to the great things that have been achieved and determined to achieve more together.”

A torch for the Paris Paralympics, which open Wednesday, was lit, ahead of a flyover by the Patrouille de France, a unit of French air force fighter planes.

British athletes light Paralympic Flame in birthplace of Games near London

Earlier Sunday, the French flag was raised under the Eiffel Tower in memory of firefighters who at midday 80 years ago took down the Nazi flag that had been flying there for four years, and replaced it with the tricolour.

Sunday’s events were the culmination of a week of festivities in and around the capital, matching in length the week of fighting in 1944 before the Germans surrendered Paris.

On Saturday, there was a tribute to the 160 men of “La Nueve”, mostly made up of Spanish republican forces, who were the first to enter Paris on the evening of August 24.

Paris honours the forgotten Spanish fighters who liberated the French capital

On Saturday night, Paris city hall was the venue for a brass band performance, a concert and a dance.

(AFP)

“The alleged perpetrator of the arson attack at the synagogue has been arrested,” Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said in a social media post on Saturday evening, adding that officers who made the arrest came under fire and had shown “great professionalism”.

French prosecutors said the suspect was arrested in the southern city of Nimes shortly before midnight Saturday.

He was shot and injured by police after he opened fire on officers during the arrest. His life was not in danger.

“He opened fire on the police intervention unit, which returned fire, injuring [the suspect] in the face,” the National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office, tasked with investigating the incident, said in a statement Sunday.

Two other people linked to the suspect were also taken into custody, it added. 

Police earlier said they were hunting for a man who, draped in a Palestinian flag, was believed to have set fires at the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the southern seaside resort of La Grande Motte, triggering an explosion that injured an officer.

French media reported that the suspect was a 33-year-old Algerian national, residing legally in France.

Tragedy narrowly avoided

Saturday’s explosion was caused when two cars outside the synagogue were set alight. One contained a gas canister which then likely exploded inside one of the vehicles, police said.

Two fires were also started at the entrance of the synagogue, damaging two doors, but were quickly put out.

Five people, including the rabbi, were in the synagogue at the time of the blast, which occured between 08:00 and 08:30 on Saturday morning, just half an hour before its Saturday service. None of them were injured.

Visiting the site of the attack, outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said: “We narrowly avoided an absolute tragedy.”

“Once more, French Jews have been targeted and attacked as a result of their beliefs,” Attal said.

“If the synagogue had been filled with worshippers… there probably would have been human victims.”

Images of an individual setting fire to the cars were picked up on CCTV.

In part of the footage, watched and authenticated by AFP, a man is seen with a Palestinian flag draped around his waist. His head, but not face, is covered by a red Palestinian keffiyeh.

The man carried two bottles filled with a yellowish liquid. The footage also seems to show the contours of a handgun.

Rise in antisemitism

“Exploding a gas bottle in a car in front of the Grande Motte synagogue at the expected time of arrival of the faithful: it’s not just attacking a place of worship, it’s an attempt to kill Jews,” said Yonathan Arfi, head of the CRIF – an umbrella organisation of French Jewish groups.

Police protection of synagogues and Jewish schools and shops is being stepped up across France following the attack. 

France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim population.

Local Jewish community leader Perla Danan denounced all the politicians and elected officials who’ve imported the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to France.

“You can’t do that with impunity. It’s put weapons into people’s hands,” she told RFI.  “The incessant hate speech and constant stigmatisation of Jewish people has become impossible for French Jews.”

Paris university refuses to cut ties with Israel amid pro-Palestinian protests

Acts of antisemitism have increased sharply in France since the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel which triggered the war in Gaza.

“We are outraged, revolted and scandalised by this, given that antisemitic acts have increased dramatically, even more so since 7 October,” Attal said.

Darmanin said this month that the government had counted 887 antisemitic acts in France in the first half of 2024, nearly three times as many as in the same period in 2023.

President Emmanuel Macron has called the synagogue attack “an act of terror”, adding on X: “The fight against antisemitism is a daily fight.”

(with newswires)

The leafy streets and gardens of the picturesque village of La Gacilly in western France are home to an annual outdoor photography festival that focuses on the environment and social issues.

This year Australia is the country of honour, with featured work from 11 Australian photographers, including Anne Zahalka.

In her exhibition “Fragments of Wild Life”, koalas cling to spindly eucalyptus trees as a fire rages below. Emus prowl in a desert lined with wind turbines and birds land on pebbly beaches to scoop up plastic lids that look suspiciously like tiny crabs.

Merging scientific research with art, Zahalka tackles disturbing environmental issues with subtlety and sometimes humour.

Many of the works on display in La Gacilly come from her project “Future Past Present Tense”, which draws attention to drastic changes in the environment and humankind’s role in its deterioration or conservation.

One of the images shows Macquarie Island, halfway between Australia and Antarctica, where spaceship-like pods have landed to shelter researchers.

Zahalka explains that great care has been taken by scientists to leave as little trace as possible. But the irony is that in the foreground, the beach is littered with bits of plastic.

“It continues to be very disturbing,” she tells RFI. “Birds are flying and eating these plastics. It is one of the environmental disasters that is unfolding and it’s really hard to prevent it. I mean, there is action but it’s too slow.”

Frozen in time

Zahalka’s work involves transforming photographs from historical archives, taking inspiration from dioramas.

Popular in museums in the late 19th century, these 3D habitat displays generally featured a panoramic painting as a backdrop, decorated with taxidermied animals, artificial plants and other objects in the foreground in an attempt to recreate an authentic scene.

“I reinvent them to depict a vision of the future that is simultaneously apocalyptic and utopian,” Zahalka says.

She also incorporates pictures of the scientists who created the original dioramas and digitally alters images to show how the environment has changed since their day.

What is tomorrow made of? Artists probe consumerist society and planetary crisis

Dioramas have fallen by the wayside now, she says, as people questioned the use of stuffed animals and the amount of time needed to make them.

“I think they were incredibly beautiful things and my work is a lament for both the lost landscapes, lost creatures and also a lost art,” she explains.

Positive ecology

Festival curator Cyril Drouhet says focusing on Australia was evident when it came to drawing the public’s attention to climate change.

“It’s a place often idealised for its pristine, unspoiled expanses,” he says in his introductory notes.

Australian photographer celebrates indigenous heritage at French festival

“But behind the clichés of exoticism surrounding this country in Oceania lies a reality that we are unaware of and that only artists can truly capture,” he goes on, pointing to Australia’s “unambitious climate policy” and the tragic record of droughts, fires and coral bleaching.

Despite the urgency of the message, Drouhet insists that the festival’s goal is to find beauty amid the world’s crises. “We are in favour of a positive ecology, not a punitive ecology,” he told RFI.

“We are not here to say that everything we do is wrong. We’re trying to make people understand.”

La Gacilly Photo Festival runs until 3 November 2024.

“The services of LCI television are withdrawn from the bundles of all distributors of radio or television broadcasting services authorised in Mali for a period of two months” from 23 August, Mali’s media regulator (HAC) said in a statement on Saturday.

HAC objected to comments made by military specialist Colonel Michel Goya in a programme broadcast on LCI titled “Wagner Decimated in Mali: the Hand of Kyiv”.

At the end of July, the Malian army and its Russian allies suffered a heavy defeat in the north of the country, with Tuareg-led rebels claiming to have killed 84 Wagner fighters and 47 Malian soldiers.

Mali on 4 August severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine, accusing it of supporting rebel groups, charges Kyiv has firmly rejected.

The communications authority said the programme, broadcast on 27 July, contained “disparaging remarks, gratuitous assertions and false accusations of exactions against the Malian armed forces and their Russian partners”.

Clampdown on foreign media

Ruled by army leaders since a double coup in 2020 and 2021, Mali is battling both a jihadist insurgency and a separatist struggle in the north.

In 2022, the junta broke away from its long-standing alliance with former colonial ruler France, and began forging closer ties with Russia, with troops from the infamous Wagner mercenary corps deployed to the country.

Since then Mali’s junta has clamped down on foreign media.

It permanently suspended RFI and its sister television station France 24 in April 2022, and public TV broadcaster France 2 at the beginning of 2024.

RFI and France 24 contest ‘definitive’ broadcasting ban in Mali

Media have also come under pressure in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, also ruled by military leaders who came to power in coups.

Burkina Faso suspended LCI in June 2023 after a journalist’s comments on the jihadist violence-linked security situation were described as “false information”.

Military regimes have turned the Sahel into a ‘black hole’ of information

(with newswires)

The liberation of Paris on 24-25 August 1944 was a key moment in World War II, marking the end of Nazi occupation in the French capital.

An uprising by the French Resistance on 19 August forced the hand of the Allies, who had initially not prioritised freeing Paris.

General Charles de Gaulle insisted on sending in the French 2nd Armoured Division, which entered Paris on the evening of 24 August, to prevent the city from being destroyed by retreating German forces.

While the liberation was celebrated with a grand parade on the Champs-Élysées on 26 August, not all who fought for the city’s freedom were honoured.

Diverse force

The French army in 1944 was a diverse force. Commanded by General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, it included 84,000 white French settlers from Algeria, 12,000 Free French troops, and 12,000 Corsicans.

But it also had 130,000 soldiers from Algeria and Morocco, along with 12,000 members of the colonial army, including marksmen from Senegal and infantrymen from France’s territories in the Pacific and West Indies.

Historian Anthony Guyon, author of a book on African fighters in the French army, says that while these colonial soldiers were officially listed as volunteers, the reality was more complex, with some conscripted under duress.

It’s “difficult to measure” the extent of this coercion, he says, because “in the registers, all the soldiers were described as volunteers”.

These troops made up more than half of the French forces, with West Africans and other colonial conscripts forming the majority of the French Liberation Army.

• France commemorates its ‘forgotten’ African veterans

Africans ‘held back’

However, as the Allied forces advanced from the successful landing in Provence on 15 August 1944 – a crucial operation that opened up a southern front – African fighters began to be withdrawn from the ranks of the First Army.

They were replaced by French Interior Forces resistance fighters and Spanish Republican soldiers who had fled Franco’s regime.

This replacement marked the start of a systematic sidelining of colonial troops, who were excluded from the liberation of Paris and the celebrations that followed.

“When the resistance triumphantly marched into France, the Free French army held back its black African soldiers so that the official liberation of Paris would appear to be accomplished only by whites,” American author Ken Chen wrote in The Nation earlier this year.

Deliberately excluded

Among the black soldiers who landed in Provence was Frantz Fanon, the world-renowned psychiatrist and anti-colonial author, who joined the French army aged just 17.

Fanon, originally from Martinique, recounted the racism he encountered within the French army and in civilian life in his pioneering book Black Skin, White Masks, published in France in 1952.

He and other historians have described this systematic exclusion of black soldiers as an effort to “whiten the Free French Forces”.

Evidence shows the disengagement of some African riflemen was a premeditated decision.

General Joseph Magnan, who commanded a division of the colonial forces, first requested that the soldiers of the 6th Regiment of African Riflemen be relieved as early as May 1944.

Though initially rebuffed, the idea soon gained traction.

Allies implicated

In 2009, the BBC uncovered documents showing that the US and UK had also played roles in this “whitening” process.

Allied High Command agreed to de Gaulle’s plan to liberate Paris on the condition that the division sent to Paris did not include black soldiers. They insisted that black soldiers be replaced by white ones, even when it became clear that there were not enough white soldiers available, the BBC’s Mike Thompson reported.

Dwight D Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, played a key role in this decision.

His chief of staff, Major General Walter Bedell Smith, wrote in a confidential memo: “It is more desirable that the division mentioned above consist of white personnel. This would indicate the Second Armoured Division, which with only one-fourth native personnel, is the only French division operationally available that could be made 100 percent white.”

British General Frederick Morgan also commented: “It is unfortunate that the only French formation that is 100 percent white is an armoured division in Morocco. Every other French division is only about 40 percent white.”

He requested that the French “produce a white infantry division”.

Tragic aftermath

The aftermath of the liberation was no less tragic for colonial soldiers.

Despite their vital contributions, historian Guyon says black fighters were progressively barred from military operations and celebrations.

Many were forced to return their uniforms and sent home under harsh conditions, with some having their pensions frozen until 1959.

In late November 1944, around 1,300 former Senegalese servicemen at the military camp of Thiaroye, near Dakar, began protesting their poor treatment and lack of pay.

Dozens were massacred by French troops, and some survivors were jailed for 10 years.

• France honours WWII colonial troops shot dead by French army in Senegal

It’s taken decades for France to fully recognise the vital role of non-white soldiers. Political leaders from north and sub-Saharan Africa were first invited to commemorate the landings only half a century after the war.

The long-overdue acknowledgment of these forgotten heroes remains a stark reminder of the racial injustices that have marred one of France’s proudest moments in history.

Roubaix’s swimming pool was designed by progressive architect Albert Baert and opened in 1932. It remains an emblematic place in the former textile town.

“There’s a real emotional bond with this place and people are very attached to it,” Karine Lacquemant, curator of La Piscine, told RFI.

As well as a sports centre, which it remained until the 1908s, the complex also served as a public bathhouse.

“It was also a place for hygiene, because [workers’ houses] were often unsanitary,” Lacquemant explained. “There were no bathrooms or showers. So here at the swimming pool, there were public baths.”

Public bathhouse returns to Paris suburb for first time in 20 years

The pool was unusual in that it drew people from all classes of society, “from the sons of workers who lived in courées [narrow courtyards] to the bosses who ran the textile factories”, said Lacquement.

Closed in 1985, the centre underwent work between 1998 and 2001 to convert it into a museum of art and industry.

Today, the old changing cubicles surrounding the pool are used as exhibition spaces in which photographs, drawings and textiles are displayed.

Photographer shows young French boxers ‘full of dreams and determined’

Azerbaijan showcased its military might in a grand parade in Baku last year to celebrate its victory in recapturing the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave from Armenian-backed forces.

Azerbaijan, buoyed by its oil wealth, is continuing its aggressive rearmament programme, heavily relying on Turkey for military support.

“The Turkish defence industry and Turkish military equipment will be providing further arms to protect Azerbaijan,” predicts Huseyin Bagci, a professor of international relations at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.”

However, Bagci noted that Azerbaijan is also turning to another ally for advanced weaponry.

“Israel is much better in this respect. Azerbaijan buys the highest technology from Israel, and Israel is providing it.”

Turkish and Israeli arms played a crucial role in Azerbaijan’s recent military successes, overwhelming Armenian-backed forces that relied on outdated Russian equipment.

Armenia’s response

In response to its loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia is also ramping up its military capabilities, with France leading the supply of new, sophisticated weaponry.

Paris argues that this support helps Armenia shift its focus away from Russian reliance and towards Western alliances.

Yerevan maintains that its rearmament is purely for self-defence.

“Right now, there is no military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” says Eric Hacopian, a political consultant in Armenia.

“The goal is to create deterrents to make any aggression against Armenia more costly. In the medium term, we aim for equality, and in the long term, superiority.”

Stalled peace talks

The rearmament comes amid stalled peace talks, with Baku concerned that Yerevan’s military buildup might indicate ambitions to retake Nagorno Karabakh.

“The truth is our territory was under occupation, so we worry that in five, 10 years, Armenia will rearm its military, strengthen military capacities, and will come back,” warned Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Baku-based Centre of Analysis of International Relations.

Yerevan maintains that its rearmament is purely for self-defence.

“Right now, there is no military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The goal is to create deterrents in the short run to make any aggression against Armenia far more costly than it has been in the past,” says Eric Hacopian, a political consultant in Armenia.

“Two is to create equality in the middle term and in the long term superiority. You can’t have any other goal when your country is constantly under threat, or attack is the only way to respond to it.”

Hacopian also notes: “The moment Armenia can defend itself, then the game is up because Ilham Aliyev is not going to risk a war that he is not guaranteed to win; Armenia rearming means he is not guaranteed to win a war which he means he won’t launch one.”

However, Hacopian acknowledges that the coming year will be dangerous for the region as Yerevan seeks to close the military gap with Azerbaijan.

“Next year is the year of living dangerously because next year is the last year that they can do a major aggression against Armenia without having to face the consequences because the gap is closing. Once it closes, the game will be up,” he says.

Ongoing tensions

Earlier this month, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire in a border skirmish, underscoring the ongoing tensions between the two nations.

Both Baku and Yerevan insist their military enhancements are for defensive purposes.

However, Bagci warns that the arms race is turning the region into a potential flashpoint.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan are like two children; they play with fire, and the house is burning, and everybody is asking the big powers why the house is burning and who has done it. They have done it together,” he says.

Despite their rearmament, both Armenia and Azerbaijan claim to remain committed to the US-backed peace process.

Analysts, however, warn that the escalating arms race could deepen mutual suspicions and further complicate efforts to achieve lasting peace.

Mickael Isambert, a beekeeper in Saint-Ours-les-Roches in central France, lost 70 percent of his honey and had to feed his colonies sugar to help them survive after a cold, rainy spring.

“It has been a catastrophic year,” said Isambert, 44, who looks after 450 hives.

A beehive typically produces 15 kilos of honey a year, but this time, Isambert said his farm had only produced between five and seven kilos.

When it rains, bees “don’t fly, they don’t go out, so they eat their own honey reserves,” said his co-manager and fellow beekeeper Marie Mior.

Low temperatures and heavy rainfall have prevented bees from gathering enough pollen, and flowers from producing nectar – which the insects collect to make honey.

‘Some died of hunger’

Bad weather has affected honey producers countrywide, with spring production dropping by 80 percent in some regions — figures that summer harvests will struggle to offset, said the French national beekeeping union (Unaf).

Rainfall rose by 45 percent on the yearly average, Unaf said in a letter to its local branches.

“With weather conditions that have been catastrophic in many regions with abundant rain… and low temperatures until late, many beekeepers’ viability is under threat,” said Unaf.

Temperatures stagnated below 18 degrees Celsius, the minimum temperature needed for flowers to produce nectar, said Jean-Luc Hascoet, a beekeeper in Brittany in western France who lost about 15 colonies.

“For some of my colleagues it was worse,” he said.

“In June, the bee population increases and the needs of the colonies grow but as nothing was coming in, some died of hunger,” said Hascoet.

French honey harvest halved in ‘worst year ever’ for beekeepers

‘Black year’

French beekeepers had already been reeling from dealing with several seasons of scorching heat and delayed frosts, according to Unaf president Christian Pons, making this “black year” even worse.

“Ten years ago, I made one and a half to two tons of honey per site, compared to 100 kilos today,” said Pons, a beekeeper in the southern Herault region.

Honeymakers earlier this year protested against “unfair competition” by foreign producers, which led to the government releasing five million euros ($5.6 million) in aid.

French consumers eat on average 45,000 tons of honey per year, about 20,000 tons of which is produced in France, according to the left-wing Peasants Confederation union.

The construction of the 1,000-megawatt plant will begin in 2027, with the project expected to cost around 500 billion Kenyan shillings (about 3.5 billion euros), according to media reports.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said a research reactor would be commissioned by the early 2030s.

“Kenya is committed to leading in clean energy. Kenya is focused on advancing nuclear technology as part of Kenya’s sustainable energy strategy,” said Mudavadi in a statement.

The project aims to increase Kenya’s energy capacity, reduce carbon emissions, and create new job opportunities.

Currently, Kenya generates about 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources, including geothermal, hydro-electric, wind and solar power.

President William Ruto, who has positioned himself at the forefront of African efforts to combat climate change, said the country could increase that figure to 100 percent by 2030.

Concerned locals 

However, the prospect of a nuclear plant on the Indian Ocean coast has raised significant concerns, particularly among activists and local residents.

The Kenya Anti-Nuclear Alliance urged the government to focus on renewable energy sources instead.

“Instead of pursuing a nuclear programme that puts the lives and livelihoods of our people at risk, we urge the government to invest in renewable energy sources that are safer, cleaner, and more sustainable,” said the group earlier this year.

The proposed plant will be located in Kilifi County, a region known for its white sandy beaches, seafood, coral reefs, and dense mangrove forests, making it one of Kenya’s top tourist destinations.

Local residents are particularly worried about the environmental impact, as they are already battling plastic pollution in the area.

Growing trend

Kenya’s nuclear ambitions are part of a broader trend across Africa. South Africa remains the only African nation with a civil nuclear programme, operating two reactors for more than 30 years.

Rwanda has signed a deal with a Canadian-German startup to build an “experimental” nuclear reactor to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Kenya’s interest in nuclear energy dates back to the 2000s, gaining momentum in 2018 when 10 other African countries expressed interest in nuclear energy.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that more than a third of the countries applying for nuclear energy are African, encouraged by the continent’s large reserves of uranium.

Over 10 days of talks in Geneva, a new group of mediators including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates tried to negotiate more aid and protection for civilians facing famine, mass displacement and spreading disease after 16 months of war between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries.

At the end of talks on Friday, the mediators, calling themselves the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group, said they had “secured guarantees from both parties to the conflict to provide safe and unhindered humanitarian access through two key arteries – the Western border crossing in Darfur at Adre and the Dabbah Road with access through the north and west from Port Sudan”.

Aid trucks were driving towards the Zamzam displacement camp in Darfur, where famine has been declared, it added. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said 15 trucks had made it over the border.

“These routes must remain open and safe so we can surge aid into Darfur and begin to turn the tide against famine. Food and starvation cannot be used as a weapon of war,” the group said in its concluding statement.

The mediators said they were also making progress on opening an access route through the Sennar junction in the southeast.

Famine and floods add to distress of Sudanese displaced by war

SAF no-show limits progress

The group acknowledged, however, that any progress fell far short of the response needed for one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises – one in five people have been forced to flee their homes and tens of thousands have died. More than half of the country’s 50 million population are facing acute hunger.

“We hope that this will be a source of momentum for much bigger steps and progress down the road,” US Sudan envoy Tom Perriello told a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

“The sad thing is, the crisis in Sudan is so severe that we could do four of these [negotiation rounds] and still be barely scratching the surface of what Sudanese people deserve.”

Sudan at ‘cataclysmic breaking point’ amid multiple crises, UN warns

In an illustration of the challenges, only a fraction of the aid available at Adre has been dispatched this week, as the army-aligned government imposed a halt to movements after the crossing opened for the first time in months.

Despite intense diplomatic lobbying, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) were unhappy with the format and did not send a formal delegation to Switzerland, though they were in telephone contact with the mediators.

“Though we were in consistent communication with SAF virtually, we regret their decision not to be present, and we believe that limited our ability to make more substantial progress towards key issues, particularly a national cessation of hostilities,” ALPS said in its statement.

(with newswires)

The elections, scheduled in three stages starting on 18 September, will allow nine million voters to elect representatives to the 90-member state legislature. Results will be announced on 4 October, said chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

“After a long gap, elections are due and will be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” Kumar said in Delhi.

The polls come after a prolonged period of uncertainty, following the region’s 2019 loss of statehood and the special privileges guaranteed under Article 370 of the Indian constitution.

The announcement of the elections has sparked a significant administrative reshuffle.

Approximately 200 officials, including Kashmir’s police and intelligence chiefs, were transferred after the election date was confirmed on 16 August.

Opposition parties allege the reshuffle could benefit India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming vote.

“We are writing to the Election Commission to investigate these transfers in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Omar Abdullah, a former state chief minister.

India’s Modi to visit Ukraine in bid to rebalance diplomatic ties

Court-mandated vote

The elections are being held after the Supreme Court set a 30 September deadline for the vote in Kashmir, where an insurgency has claimed around 80,000 lives since 1989.

Despite upholding the 2019 abrogation of Article 370, the court’s ruling has forced the BJP government to allow these elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the 2019 decision, stating it removed “unjust” laws and paved the way for peace and progress in the troubled region.

He also noted that recent village and district-level elections have helped establish democracy in Kashmir.

Restoring statehood?

Peerzada Irshad Ahmad Shah, head of the political science faculty at Kashmir University, said many people hope the elections will restore statehood and autonomy.

“They are hopeful a popular government might give new hope to the people by asking the centre to grant us our statehood back,” Shah told RFI from Srinagar, the region’s capital.

“That is our dream.”

Shah also pointed to high unemployment in Kashmir, which reached 18.3 percent last year, and expressed hope that the new government might implement reforms to create jobs.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah echoed this sentiment, saying one of the elected government’s main tasks would be to restore full statehood.

“Only as a state will we be able to start undoing some of the damage done to Jammu and Kashmir after 2019,” he said.

India offer jobs and perks worth billions in first budget after polls

Strategic importance

Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain, a retired military commander of Kashmir, said the elections would bolster India’s regional influence.

“A successful assembly election actually conveys the message that the people of Kashmir are with us and want to be part of us,” he said.

Hasnain noted that insurgency in Kashmir has largely retreated to forested areas, with 36 people, including 19 soldiers, killed in attacks this year.

The region remains heavily militarised, with thousands of troops patrolling the 1,222-kilometre border with Pakistan, making it one of the world’s most militarised zones.

India administers two-thirds of Kashmir, while Pakistan occupies the northern tip. The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since their 1947 independence, two of which were over Kashmir.

As the elections approach, analyst Shah expects the BJP to seek local alliances in Kashmir.

“Local alliances might emerge, which would benefit the BJP, knowing it cannot win seats by itself in the Muslim-majority valley,” he said.

In 2015, the BJP formed a coalition with a regional Kashmiri party, but the alliance collapsed in 2018, leading to the imposition of direct federal rule.

The upcoming elections will be a critical test of whether Modi’s reforms have gained support in the region or if Kashmir’s electorate will push back against the changes.

Less than three weeks before the 10 September presidential debate between the US vice president and the Republican ex-president, and only a month before early voting kicks off, polls show the race for the White House is neck and neck.

Former senator and prosecutor Harris leaves the DNC in Chicago with the wind in her sails, having erased the polling leads Trump was enjoying before she replaced President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket last month.

• Harris vows ‘new way forward’ for America as she accepts nomination

But in one of the many speeches at the DNC, Michelle Obama, wife of former president Barack Obama, struck a sober note. In spite of all the “enthusiasm and positivity” generated by the convention, she cautioned, the race for the White House will be an “uphill battle”.

One of the main challenges, believes Gretchen Pascalis, a spokesperson for Democrats Abroad France, may be low turnout. She is also concerned about voter suppression, pointing to Harris’s remarks on “protecting the right to vote”.

She is particularly worried about Trump’s recent, puzzling remark that his Christian supporters would never need to vote again if they elected him, a statement Pascalis calls “very dangerous and frightening”.

• Democratic convention catapults Harris into US presidential race

Show of unity

Overall, Pascalis thought that the DNC was a show of “new energy, of very democratic ideas, and of a real desire to improve the life of everyday, middle-class Americans”.

She was particularly impressed by the performance of television icon Oprah Winfrey (“What an energy she has!”), and says she supports Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as her vice-presidential running mate. 

“He complements her in many ways. And he really represents rural America. And he can appeal to certain undecided voters,” she told RFI. 

Contrasting the DNC to its rival, the Republican National Convention that was held in July, Pascalis noted: “Unlike the Republican convention, at the Democratic convention, all former living presidents actually spoke, except for Jimmy Carter, who’s unwell.”

Indeed, in the past week, former US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both took the stage to give speeches supporting Harris, as well as sitting president Biden.

But at the RNC, neither George Bush nor former Republican vice-president Dan Quale, nor party heavyweights Dick Cheney and Mitt Romney, showed up. Even Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president, did not make an appearance. 

In spite of the show of unity and positivism at the Democratic convention, however, there were sharp controversies as well. 

Palestinian question

Pro-Palestinian protesters who gathered outside the convention centre were supported by a group of 30 delegates inside, who are described as the “uncommitted” movement.

According to political magazine Mother Jones, they “represent the hundreds of thousands who voted uncommitted in lieu of supporting President Joe Biden’s primary campaign”.

During the four days of the convention, these delegates tried, in vain, to secure a slot on the main stage for either Ruwa Romman, the representative for the state of Georgia and the first ever Palestinian-American to be elected as a delegate to the DNC, or a doctor who has volunteered in Gaza.

Both requests were refused.

Members of the uncommitted movement point out that while Israeli parents Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg were invited to make a moving speech from the main stage about their son Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage during Hamas’ attack on 7 October, Palestinian speakers were only offered speaking time on the sidelines of the main venue. 

“It is quite disappointing to see that, even with our protest vote, we did not get a Palestinian speaker to be at the DNC,” says Ali Hallal, who canvassed for uncommitted candidates in Detroit.

‘Not guaranteed my vote’

“(Harris) does not have a guarantee of my vote at this point,” he told RFI. “You can’t expect an uncommitted voter to vote for Kamala without a level of guarantee of a policy change.”

Hallal points out that uncommitted voters make up a large portion in some swing states such as Michigan and Georgia.

But the prospect of people voting for a third candidate, such as the Green Party’s Jill Stein, or not voting at all, is not attractive either.

“We are dealing with the rising risk of another Trump presidency, which could drastically change the material conditions of the US at an accelerated rate for working-class people and people of colour,” Hallal says.

Pascalis, the Democrat Abroad, did not want to comment, but stressed that Harris “did talk about both protecting Israel and their right to exist” but also about “really trying to do everything to eliminate the suffering in Gaza”, and indicated that she is looking to secure a ceasefire as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko announced the move as part of the government’s broader push to ensure that Senegal’s newfound energy wealth benefits its people, fulfilling a key campaign promise made by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Sonko.

The commission, comprised of legal, tax and energy sector experts, was officially established on Monday.

It will scrutinise contracts in Senegal’s oil, gas, and mining sectors to identify areas where terms can be renegotiated in favour of the national interest. The commission has the authority to bring in additional expertise from abroad if necessary.

This move follows President Faye‘s landslide election victory, in which he promised to audit and, if needed, renegotiate contracts with foreign operators in strategic sectors.

While details of the audit and any specific renegotiation plans have not been disclosed, the establishment of this commission marks a significant step towards fulfilling that commitment.

Promises

Sonko emphasised the government’s dedication to honouring its pledge to the Senegalese people.

“As an opposition political party, we vigorously denounced the way in which agreements and conventions were concluded to the detriment, most of the time, of the strategic interests of Senegal and its people,” Sonko said.

Now in power, he promises to do better.

He said the commission will have sufficient resources to look into the contracts and hire experts from abroad if necessary.

• Senegal joins oil-producing nations with launch of first offshore field

The commission’s work comes at a pivotal time for Senegal, which became an oil producer for the first time earlier this year.

Australia’s Woodside Energy announced in June that its Sangomar oil and gas field had produced its first oil in Senegal.

Additionally, gas production is expected to begin by the end of the year at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, operated by BP.

Despite the commission’s formation, Sonko did not specify how long the contract review process would take.

Challenges

Former Senegalese MP Oumar Sy praised the decision to renegotiate the contracts but cautioned that it could be a lengthy and challenging process.

“These types of contracts are very heavy and hard to change. It might take years to do so,” Sy told RFI in Dakar.

In addition to the contract review, Sonko also announced plans to develop a restructuring and reconfiguration plan for the Port of Dakar, further indicating the government’s focus on strengthening national control over key resources and infrastructure.

This latest move follows another milestone for Senegal: the launch of its first satellite from California last Friday.

The satellite launch makes Senegal one of 12 African nations with their own surveillance and telecommunications satellites in space, a development that Faye hailed as a major step towards the country’s “technological sovereignty”.

“We were not neutral from day one, we have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace,” Modi said.

Modi is paying the first visit to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister.

As he pushed for a way forward on ending the Ukraine war, Modi urged Zelensky to sit down for talks with Russia and offered to act as a “friend” to help bring peace.

The two leaders shook hands and exchanged a warm hug at the entrance of the Martyrologist Exposition at the Ukraine National Museum, before talks at the Mariinsky presidential palace.

“Conflict is particularly devastating for young children. My heart goes out to the families of children who lost their lives, and I pray that they find the strength to endure their grief, Modi wrote on X.

Zelensky plans to discuss a summit on peace in Ukraine with Modi and also called for strengthened trade and military cooperation with India.

Four agreements between India and Ukraine are planned to provide for cooperation in agriculture, medicine, culture and humanitarian assistance, Indian officials said.

• India’s Modi visits Ukraine in bid to rebalance diplomatic ties

Putin hug ‘disappointing’

Modi’s arrival in Kyiv – a day ahead of Ukraine’s independence day – follows his two-day trip to Poland.

It also comes on the back of his trip to Moscow in July, where he hugged Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky said of Modi’s trip to Russia: “It’s a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.”

Friday’s talks come at a crossroads in the war, with Ukrainian forces launching an attack on Russia’s western Kursk region on 6 August.

Russian troops are also grinding out slow but steady advances in Ukraine’s east.

But it remains unclear if Modi could really become an effective dealmaker.

“No problem can be resolved on a battlefield,” Modi said in Poland on Wednesday before heading to Ukraine.

(with newswires)

Azerbaijan showcased its military might in a grand parade in Baku last year to celebrate its victory in recapturing the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave from Armenian-backed forces.

Azerbaijan, buoyed by its oil wealth, is continuing its aggressive rearmament programme, heavily relying on Turkey for military support.

“The Turkish defence industry and Turkish military equipment will be providing further arms to protect Azerbaijan,” predicts Huseyin Bagci, a professor of international relations at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.”

However, Bagci noted that Azerbaijan is also turning to another ally for advanced weaponry.

“Israel is much better in this respect. Azerbaijan buys the highest technology from Israel, and Israel is providing it.”

Turkish and Israeli arms played a crucial role in Azerbaijan’s recent military successes, overwhelming Armenian-backed forces that relied on outdated Russian equipment.

Armenia’s response

In response to its loss of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia is also ramping up its military capabilities, with France leading the supply of new, sophisticated weaponry.

Paris argues that this support helps Armenia shift its focus away from Russian reliance and towards Western alliances.

Yerevan maintains that its rearmament is purely for self-defence.

“Right now, there is no military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” says Eric Hacopian, a political consultant in Armenia.

“The goal is to create deterrents to make any aggression against Armenia more costly. In the medium term, we aim for equality, and in the long term, superiority.”

Stalled peace talks

The rearmament comes amid stalled peace talks, with Baku concerned that Yerevan’s military buildup might indicate ambitions to retake Nagorno Karabakh.

“The truth is our territory was under occupation, so we worry that in five, 10 years, Armenia will rearm its military, strengthen military capacities, and will come back,” warned Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Baku-based Centre of Analysis of International Relations.

Yerevan maintains that its rearmament is purely for self-defence.

“Right now, there is no military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The goal is to create deterrents in the short run to make any aggression against Armenia far more costly than it has been in the past,” says Eric Hacopian, a political consultant in Armenia.

“Two is to create equality in the middle term and in the long term superiority. You can’t have any other goal when your country is constantly under threat, or attack is the only way to respond to it.”

Hacopian also notes: “The moment Armenia can defend itself, then the game is up because Ilham Aliyev is not going to risk a war that he is not guaranteed to win; Armenia rearming means he is not guaranteed to win a war which he means he won’t launch one.”

However, Hacopian acknowledges that the coming year will be dangerous for the region as Yerevan seeks to close the military gap with Azerbaijan.

“Next year is the year of living dangerously because next year is the last year that they can do a major aggression against Armenia without having to face the consequences because the gap is closing. Once it closes, the game will be up,” he says.

Ongoing tensions

Earlier this month, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire in a border skirmish, underscoring the ongoing tensions between the two nations.

Both Baku and Yerevan insist their military enhancements are for defensive purposes.

However, Bagci warns that the arms race is turning the region into a potential flashpoint.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan are like two children; they play with fire, and the house is burning, and everybody is asking the big powers why the house is burning and who has done it. They have done it together,” he says.

Despite their rearmament, both Armenia and Azerbaijan claim to remain committed to the US-backed peace process.

Analysts, however, warn that the escalating arms race could deepen mutual suspicions and further complicate efforts to achieve lasting peace.

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

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

The ePOP video competition is open!

The ePOP video competition is sponsored by the RFI department “Planète Radio”, whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless. ePOP focuses on the environment and how climate change has affected “ordinary” people. You are to create a three-minute video about climate change, the environment, pollution – told by the people it affects.

You do not need expensive video equipment to enter the competition. Your phone is fine.  And you do not need to be a member of the RFI Clubs to enter – everyone is welcome. And by the way – the prizes are incredibly generous!

Go to the ePOP page to read about past competitions, watch past videos, and read the regulations for your entry.  You can also write to us at thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr, and we’ll forward your mail to Planète Radio.

The competition closes 12 September. We expect to be bombarded with entries from the English speakers!

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

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 bi-lingual 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”. According to your score, you’ll be counseled to the best-suited activities for your level.

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

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English – that’s how I worked on my French, reading books that were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it’s a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald’s free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in 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 29 June, I asked you a question about France’s snap elections for the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly. President Emmanuel Macron had just dissolved the Assembly after his party was rather severely trounced in the European Parliament elections by the far-right National Rally party.

The first round of voting was on 30 June, and the candidates were, as I noted then, promising the moon to voters … you were to listen to Sarah Elzas’ report on her Spotlight on France podcast, and send in the answer to this question: What did the National Rally party say they would do in July to decide what they can or cannot do, as far as their economic promises to the voters?

The answer is: As Romeric Godin told Sarah on the podcast: “Many of the spending proposals put forward by Bardella and the RN are predicated on an audit of the country’s finances, planned as of July, which would determine what can (and cannot) be done.

“That’s a traditional way to say ‘We can’t implement some promises we made before, because public finances are not in order’,” says Godin, skeptical that the RN will be able to deliver.

For Godin, the economic audit offers a way out: “They can say that if the report on France’s public finances is very bad, they will not do it in the autumn, or at all.”

The fiscal information is all there, no audit is necessary.  France’s Cour des Comptes, the country’s independent and supreme audit institution, publishes a monthly report on the country’s finances. It’s not a secret document. It’s online, and everyone can read it.

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What do you remember about your first day at your first job?”, which was suggested by Mokles Uddin Mollahis from Bogura, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Rafiq Khondaker, the president of the Source of Knowledge Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Congratulations, Riaz, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ferhat Bezazel, the president of the RFI Butterflies Club Ain Kechera in West Skikda, Algeria, and RFI Listeners Club member Hans Verner Lollike from Hedehusene, Denmark. Last but not least, there are RFI English listeners Liton Ahamed Mia, from Naogaon, Bangladesh, and Malik Muhammad Nawaz Khokhar from the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. 

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “Sous le ciel de Paris” by Hubert Giraud and Jean Dréjac, sung by the one and only Edith Piaf; the traditional valse-musette “A Happy Day in Paris” performed by AccordionMan; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Hymne à l’Amour” by Marguerite Monnot and Edith Piaf, sung by Céline Dion.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate.

You have until 16 September to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 21 September 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

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Click here to learn how to 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 a world increasingly dominated by Western beauty standards promoted through pop culture and the global beauty industry, the Decolonising Beauty campaign seeks to challenge narrow perceptions and showcase the multifaceted beauty traditions in Africa.

The campaign uses a multi-platform approach to reach a broad audience of English and French speakers in Africa and around the world.

A series of initiatives from the campaign will be announced until the end of the year involving photographers, artists, poets, media makers and content creators.

Zikora Media & Arts founder Chika Oduah tells us more.

• Read also: French lawmakers vote in favour of bill to ban hair discrimination

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompéani

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale

Abbas received a standing ovation in the Turkish Parliament on Thursday, where he addressed an extraordinary session. Deputies wore scarves adorned with Turkish and Palestinian flags as a show of solidarity.

With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watching from the balcony, Abbas praised Turkey’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.

“We highly appreciate Turkey’s pioneering role under the leadership of President Erdogan for its courageous and unwavering positions in defense of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence,” declared Abbas.

Increasing isolation

Erdogan is attempting to position himself at the forefront of international opposition to Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, even as Turkey finds itself increasingly sidelined from global efforts to resolve the conflict.

China’s recent hosting of Palestinian faction leaders highlights Erdogan’s diminishing influence.

“Erdogan was hoping to reconcile Palestinian factions, but China stole the spotlight and acted preemptively. China had more political clout over the parties,” Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics contemporary Turkish studies department, told RFI.

Abbas’s visit to Russia on Tuesday further underscores the growing importance of other nations in efforts to address the Gaza conflict.

Domestic message

Erdogan’s invitation to Abbas also serves as a way to reinforce his pro-Palestinian credentials with his domestic conservative base.

“He’s trying to keep his base intact domestically,” Sezin Oney, a commentator on Turkey’s Politikyol news portal, told RFI.

“Once upon a time, Erdogan resonated with the Arab public in general.

“The Arab Street, as it was called back then, and the Muslim population in general saw him as connected with international grassroots movements. But he doesn’t have that appeal anymore; he’s lost that appeal.”

Turkey a bridge?

Erdogan has long claimed to be a bridge between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

“This is an issue that Erdogan personally invested a lot of time and energy in,” said Selin Nasi.

However, Erdogan’s influence with Hamas has waned, particularly after the assassination of its leader Ismail Haniyeh last month, and his replacement by Yahya Sinwar, who is relatively unknown in Turkey.

“They cannot host [Sinwar], they cannot contact him, nor do they have the kind of relations that they had with Haniyeh. So they have to settle with Mahmoud Abbas at this point,” Oney said.

Abbas, however, appears to show little interest in Turkey’s playing a larger role in resolving the conflict, and Erdogan’s strong support of Hamas and his fiery rhetoric against Israel is increasingly isolating him from countries seeking to end the fighting.

Hello everyone!

Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. This week, you’ll hear what Rodrigo Hunrichse, your fellow RFI English listener, has found to be true in his life. Don’t miss it!

Here’s Rodrigo’s essay:

Seize the moment, cherish loved ones, make a good impression, avoid toxicity, plant seeds, harvest in time, write/ report regularly, study/ inform yourself, make good, love, find someone to love you back, question important things, rest regularly, good deeds should return, bad ones too, don’t judge until having good understanding of facts, don’t take their words for a fact: verify, don’t mind popular opinion, save for the uncertainty, remember good/bad people in your life so you’ll be remembered similarly, find a belief and a belonging so you have peers to support and be supported, no one is perfect especially you that know yourself, take care of yourself so to age with dignity, it’s never too late!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: “People Are Strange”, by Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger, performed by The Doors. 

The quiz will be back next Saturday, 24 August. Be sure and tune in! 

In a ceremony attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s BYD car company signed an agreement to build a billion-dollar factory in Turkey.

The factory will produce 150,000 vehicles annually, mainly for the European Union market.

Analysts say the July deal marks a turning point in Turkish-Chinese relations.

“The significance of this deal is Turkey would be considered as a transition country between China and the EU,” Sibel Karabel, director of the Asia Pacific department of Istanbul’s Gedik University told RFI.  

“This deal has the potential to reduce the trade imbalance, the trade deficit, which is a detriment to Turkey,” he adds, “Turkey also wants to reap the benefits of China’s cutting-edge technologies by collaborating with China.”

Sidestepping tariffs

China’s pivot towards Turkey, a NATO member, is also about Beijing’s increasing competition for global influence, especially with the United States.  

Karabel says the planned BYD factory offers a way for China to avoid the EU’s new tariffs on vehicles.

Turkey is already a part of China’s global investment strategy through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Beijing has shown interest in Turkey becoming a trade route from China to Europe through Ankara’s Middle Corridor Intiative.

But until now, such collaborations have until been just empty words, claims Ceren Ergenc a China specialist at the Centre for European Policy Studies.  

Turkey set on rebuilding bridges with China to improve trade

“When you look at the press statements after meetings, you don’t see Chinese investments in Turkey, and the reason for that is because China perceives Turkey as a high political risk country in the region,” Ergenc explains.

One of the main factors widely cited for Beijing’s reluctance to invest in Turkey is Ankara’s strong support of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.

Ankara has been critical of Beijing’s crackdown on Uyghurs, offering refuge to many Uyghur dissidents. Their Turkish supporters fear Beijing’s billion-dollar investment in Turkey could be part of an extradition deal struck during Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent visit to China.

“There are rumors, of course, that the Chinese side is pressing for the ratification of this extradition agreement, that they would want Uyghurs in Turkey, some of them at least, to be returned to China to be tried in China,” warns Cagdas Ungor of Istanbul’s Marmara University, referring to people China considers to be dissidents or “terrorists”.

Common ground over Gaza

Elsewhere, Ankara and Beijing are finding increasing diplomatic common ground, including criticism of Israel’s war on Hamas.

“If you take, for instance, the Gaza issue right now, Turkey and China, and even without trying,” observes Ungor, “they see eye to eye on this issue. Their foreign policies align, overlap, and their policy becomes very much different from most of the other Western countries.”

Carmakers unhappy after EU hits China with tariffs on electric vehicles

For example, Ankara welcomed last month’s decision by Beijing to host Palestinian leaders amid an escalation of threats and bombardment by Israel.

Such a move can provide common ground, Ungor suggests, and this could be the basis for future cooperation.

“There are certain issues at a global level, at the regional level, that China seems to be a much better partner(to Turkey) than the Western countries,” he concludes.

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.