Wednesday’s decision by the Greenland court marks the fourth extension of his detention since Watson was arrested in July in Nuuk, capital of the Danish autonomous territory.

In a statement, Greenland police said: “The court in Greenland has today decided that Paul Watson shall continue to be detained until November 13, 2024 in order to ensure his presence in connection with the decision on extradition.”

Police added that Watson had immediately appealed the decision.

Ahead of the hearing, Watson’s lawyer Julie Stage outlined that her team would ask for his immediate release, adding: “But unfortunately, realistically, that may not happen.”

Stage also said she was preparing an appeal to be filed with Denmark’s Supreme Court over the Nuuk court’s earlier ruling on 2 October to keep the 73-year-old in custody.

Watson was arrested on 21 July when his ship, the John Paul DeJoria, docked to refuel in Nuuk on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF).

He was detained on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant, which accuses him of causing damage to a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010 and injuring a whaler.

Watson, who featured in the reality TV series “Whale Wars“, founded Sea Shepherd and the CPWF and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

• Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has requested political asylum from France

‘Inhumane treatment’

In a rare public comment on the case, Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya recently insisted the extradition request was “an issue of law enforcement at sea rather than a whaling issue”. 

Tokyo accuses Watson of injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers’ activities, during a clash with the Shonan Maru 2 vessel on 11 February, 2010.

Watson’s lawyers insist he is innocent and say they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown.

The Nuuk court has refused to view the video.

The custody hearings are solely about Watson’s detention, with the extradition request being reviewed by Denmark’s justice ministry.

In September, Watson’s lawyers contacted the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, claiming that he might be “subjected to inhumane treatment” in Japanese prisons.

• French icon Bardot lashes out at Japan over arrest of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

Paris protest

Watson had been living in France at the time of his arrest and has written to French President Emmanuel Macron to ask for political asylum.

Meanwhile, British conservationist Jane Goodall said last week she hoped France would accept his plea, calling him a “brave man”. 

As Watson’s hearing got underway this Wednesday, several dozen supporters demonstrated outside Paris City Hall, chanting “Free Paul Watson” and holding signs reading “A hero doesn’t belong in prison” and “Saving whales is not a crime”.

French officials have previously urged Copenhagen not to extradite him, but have said offering asylum is complicated as a person must be in France to file a claim.

Japan, Norway and Iceland are the only three countries that still allow commercial whaling.

Global warming made the seasonal downpours this year about 5-20 percent more intense across the Niger and Lake Chad basins, said World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of scientists studying the link between climate change and extreme weather.

In a study published Wednesday, it also said such intense rainfall could occur annually if warming continues.

“Spells of heavy summer rainfall have become the new normal in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad,” said Izidine Pinto, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

“These results are incredibly concerning,” he said, warning that “with every fraction of a degree of warming, the risk of extreme floods will keep increasing.”

He called for the UN’s Cop29 climate summit to “accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels” when it meets in Azerbaijan next month.

This year’s floods killed around 1,500 people and displaced over 1 million more in West and Central Africa, according to the UN aid agency OCHA. The rainfall also overwhelmed dams in Nigeria and Sudan.

Deadly floods in Sudan displace thousands, hinder aid delivery

The severed floods in June, July, August and September hit an extremely vulnerable region, and have “significantly deepened a complex humanitarian crisis in Sudan, straining the capabilities of aid organisations and government bodies to respond,” the WWA said.

If global warming increases to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which could happen as early as the 2050s, downpours like this are expected to occur nearly every year in the affected regions, WWA said, calling for more investment in early warning systems and dam upgrades.

“Africa has contributed a tiny amount of carbon emissions globally, but is being hit the hardest by extreme weather,” said Joyce Kimutai, researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College in London.

She said the onus was on Cop29 to ensure rich nations contribute “meaningful finance” to help.

(with newswires)

Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s administration has submitted an amendment to its 2025 budget plan – currently under debate in parliament – to legalise online casinos.

The government argues that France and Cyprus are the only two EU member states where online casinos remain illegal.

France allows online betting, but online casino-game gambling has been banned, with previous governments arguing that the risk of addiction is too great. 

Poker, which is played in casinos and allowed online, is the exception because it is deemed to rely more on a player’s skill than on sheer luck.

There is already a growing illegal online casino market in France, which the government believes generates up to 1.5 billion euros every year, or roughly 10 percent of all the sector’s income.

By legalising, and regulating, online casinos the government believes it can “limit the impact of online games on the health of consumers”, it said.

It would also be able to tax them to the tune of 55.6 percent of gross revenues.

Europe’s largest casino opens in Cyprus

‘Castrophic’ consequences

The plan has been met with strong opposition.

Féderation Addiction –  a network of associations and professionals working in the field of addiction – has called for the amendment to be withdrawn, calling it “irresponsible and contrary to public health priorities”. 

“In 2019, 1.4 million French people were already at risk of excessive gaming, including nearly 400,000 who suffer from pathological gambling disorders,” the group said in a statement published Tuesday, warning that the number of players with problems was on the increase in France.

The real-world casino industry also voiced concern. Professionals have already protested against the plan, saying the impact on their business would be “catastrophic”, costing them between 20 and 30 percent of their gross revenues.

Gregory Rabuel, head of France’s casino association, told business daily Les Echos that the move would lead to “the closure of 30 percent of our establishments”, with 15,000 jobs at risk.

However, advocates of the government’s move argue that there already is a sizeable online casino market, and its legalisation would not add significantly to competitive pressures on bricks-and-mortar casinos compared to now.

(with AFP)

Also known by its French acronym, FPRNM, the fund has been called the backbone of France’s natural disaster prevention policy, according to the country’s CCR public assurance body in its latest report on the subject.

The fund enables local authorities, small businesses and private individuals to finance work to reduce the vulnerability of buildings exposed to natural disasters.

Initially intended to finance compensation paid to owners of property expropriated as a result of severe natural events, the scope of the fund has significantly broadened since it was first set up in 1995.

The CCR says that between 2009 and 2020 the so-called “Barnier fund” financed around 700 preventive operations for an average annual amount of more than €170 million – or more than €2 billion over the last decade.

More than half of these were reportedly linked to the construction or reinforcement of hydraulic flood protection works such as dykes and water control structures.

Other European funds contribute to the prevention of natural hazards – such as the European Regional Development Fund – enabling the average amount in the emergency coffers to be almost doubled every year.

• Climate disasters cost French insurers €6.5bn in ‘worrying uptick’

State contributions

However, since 2021, the FPRNM has been included as part of the French state’s budget, so its amount is agreed and voted by Parliament.

Until 2020, the fund was financed by a tax on the natural disaster “surcharge” – an additional contribution levied in particular on multi-risk home insurance policies to the benefit of the CCR and its contribution when natural disaster is declared by the State. 

This “surcharge” tax mechanism would have enabled the fund to be much better next year, since the natural catastrophe tax will increase from 12 percent to 20 percent from 1 January 2025.

Last year, the CCR called on the French government for a gradual increase in the resources dedicated to prevention “in view of the foreseeable rise in the cost of claims by 2050″.

• Macron pledges emergency funds for flood-struck towns in northern France

Controversial tax

On Sunday, however, the President of France Assureurs spoke out against the idea that the resources of the Barnier fund should remain static in the 2025 budget, even though the proceeds of the tax will automatically increase.

“Stop the hold-up on the Barnier fund … it’s intolerable!” Florence Lustman told France Info.

Prevention is one of the pillars of the insurance industry in France, who see it as an effective way of limiting claims.

For example, the Senate Finance Committee estimates that by 2023 there will be a gap of €73 million between the amount of the Barnier fund and the proceeds of levies on the natural catastrophe guarantee.

According to Lustman, the fund should reach “around €450 million by 2025 … and today we can only find half”.

In an interview with the French weekly Journal du Dimanche, Barnier said he believes that the fund that bears his name could be “mobilised” to finance the national plan for adapting to climate change, scheduled for the end of October and presented as a priority.

This is not the first time that the Barnier fund has found itself at the centre of controversy.

In March 2017, the French Court of Auditors criticised the fund’s management, citing “unnecessarily complex” accounting, poorly assessed expenditure and cases of undue compensation.

According to the Court, the fund ended up financing ordinary State expenditure, such as studies or subsidies to local authorities, thereby increasing its own costs.

Scholz’s visit to India this week comes at a delicate time for Germany, whose export-oriented economy faces a second year of contraction and concerns over a trade dispute between the European Union and China that could rebound on German companies.

From cars to logistics, German companies are largely optimistic about India’s growth potential, tapping into a wealth of skilled young workers, a cheaper cost base and economic growth motoring at around seven percent.

However – stung by its problematic reliance on cheap Russian gas before the Ukraine war in 2022 – Germany has pursued a strategy of reducing its exposure to Beijing.

Speaking on Wednesday, Germany’s Finance Minister Robert Habeck said: “India, the most populous country in the world, is a key partner of the German economy in the Indo-Pacific and plays a key role in the diversification of the German economy.”

“We must reduce critical dependencies and strengthen the resilience of German companies and their supply chains to and from Asia,” he added.

German presence

According to Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Commerce DIHK, German direct investments in India have been valued at around 25 billion euros for 2022 – about 20 percent of the volume invested in China.

He believes that share could rise to 40 percent by the end of the decade.

“China will not disappear, but India will become more important for German companies,’ said Treier.

“India is the litmus test, so to speak. If de-risking China is to work, India is the key … because of the size of the market and the economic dynamism in the country,” he added.

Scholz, will be travelling to India with most of his cabinet including the foreign and defence ministers, and is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday before presiding over the seventh round of Indian-German government consultations.

Habeck will arrive a day earlier to open the biennial Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business.

• India and France agree on joint defence production

Expansion into India

German firms cite bureaucracy, corruption and India’s tax system as hurdles to investment, according to a study by consultancy KPMG and the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad.

Nonetheless, they see a bright future in India, with 82 percent expecting their revenues to grow over the next five years.

Some 59 percent are planning to expand their investments, compared to just 36 percent in 2021.

For example, German logistics giant DHL plans to invest half a billion euros in India by 2026, tapping into a fast-growing e-commerce market.

Volkswagen – which has been hit by falling sales in China and high production costs at home – is considering new tie-ups in India for joint production.

It already has two factories in the country and signed a supply deal with local partner Mahindra in February.

• India and Russia sign arms, trade deals straining tense relationship with US

Similarly, Cologne-based engine maker Deutz announced a deal this year with India’s TAFE – the world’s third-largest tractor maker – for subsidiary TAFE Motors to produce 30,000 Deutz engines under licence.

In 2023, trade between Berlin and New Delhi hit a new record, with India expected to overtake both Germany and Japan to become the world’s third-largest economy by the end of the decade.

However, negotiations for an EU-India free trade deal, years in the making, still have no end in sight.

After enjoying a surge during the COVID years, the video game sector has faced declining investments and fierce competition over the past two years, despite overall sales holding steady.

Since the beginning of 2024, over 13,000 employees worldwide have lost their jobs, according to Game Industry Layoffs.

“The industry has a bit of a hangover,” says Charles-Louis Planade, an analyst at Midcap Partners, noting a retreat by many publishers to focus on their most popular franchises. 

New releases are struggling to compete with juggernauts like “Fortnite” and “GTA V Online.”

While the French market saw a rebound in 2023, surpassing six billion euros in revenue, the challenges remain. 

Gaming giant Ubisoft has faced underwhelming releases and postponed the much-anticipated “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” to February.

Also, a strike mobilised a quarter of its 4,000 employees in France on Tuesday, according to union reports.

France’s Ubisoft faces three day strike as unions protest over remote work decision

Meanwhile, the studio Don’t Nod announced plans to lay off 69 employees – over 20 percent of its workforce – as part of a reorganisation effort.

In contrast, publisher Focus (part of Pullup Entertainment) reported record revenue for its second quarter, driven by the success of “Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2,” with 4.5 million players.

Manga, cosplay, e-sports

“This event will be a platform for discussing the realities of the industry,” says Nicolas Vignolles, general delegate of the Leisure Software Publishers’ Syndicate (Sell), which organises the Paris Games Week.

“But our primary goal is to celebrate video games,” he adds, emphasizing a growing festival-like atmosphere which will tak eplace until 27 October.

While the core of the event remains access to the latest releases, this year’s edition is expanding further into pop culture, featuring more space dedicated to manga, cosplay, and e-sports. 

Attendees will even find a Tesla Cybertruck on display in one of the three halls.

“We embrace this theme park aspect,” says Vignolles, who anticipates welcoming up to 200,000 visitors, promising the “most ambitious edition” since the pandemic.

(with AFP)

The Oscar-winning director was due in civil court in Los Angeles next August for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in 1973.

The suit, filed last year, claimed Polanski took a then-teenager – named anonymously in filings as Jane Doe – to dinner at a restaurant in Los Angeles.

He allegedly gave her alcohol, and when she began to feel dizzy, drove her to his home, where he forced himself on her.

“She told him: ‘please don’t do this,'” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, told reporters in March, saying the alleged assault had caused her client “tremendous physical, emotional pain and suffering”.

The lawsuit, which sought unspecified damages, was filed in June 2023, just before the expiration of a California law that allowed for an extended window for claims against the alleged perpetrators of sexual crimes.

Court papers filed in California in July said a “conditional” accord had been reached.

The case was “settled in the summer to the parties’ mutual satisfaction and has now been formally dismissed,” Polanski’s lawyer Alexander Rufus-Isaacs told France’s AFP news agency on Tuesday.

Allred confirmed this in an email, saying “a settlement of claims was agreed to by the parties to their mutual satisfaction”.

Divisive figure

Polanski, now 91, is a controversial figure. Some in the movie world hail his creative genius, while others maintain he was always a sexual predator.

He admitted to the statutory rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in a plea bargain in 1977 to avoid a trial on more serious charges. 

But he fled to France the following year, after serving 42 days in jail, when it appeared a judge was reconsidering his release. He has never returned to the US and France has always refused to extradite him.

US court rejects disgraced Polanski’s bid to rejoin Oscar Academy

Geimer has subsequently defended Polanski, and was photographed with him last year.

Between 2017 and 2019 four women accused Polanski of abusing them in the 1970s.

In May, a French court acquitted Polanski of defaming British actor Charlotte Lewis after she accused him of raping her when she was a teenager.

The director has always denied wrongdoing.

(with AFP)

According to the Elysée Palace, Tuesday’s meeting – which takes place in the context of Hungary’s current rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union – “provides an opportunity to prepare two summits”.

During the working dinner, the two leaders “will also exchange views on the various aspects of bilateral relations, particularly in the fields of energy, defence and transport,” the Elysée Palace added.

The French president regularly meets the nationalist Hungarian prime minister – a difficult partner within the EU – before major European meetings.

The two leaders met for a working lunch at the Elysée in June, just before Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council. 

• Hungary assumes EU presidency amid controversies and corruption concerns
• Hungary’s Orban clashes with EU leaders over Ukraine, migration policies

Orban’s migration plans

This Tuesday’s meeting comes as Orban announced earlier in the day, that migrants seeking asylum must have their applications assessed before being allowed to enter the European Union. 

The Hungarian Prime Minister maintains that this model – which is in use in Hungary – is the only one that works against illegal migration.

Hotspots set up in the last safe countries for migrants – for example in Africa – could be a mass solution, Orban said after meeting the Slovak and Serbian leaders at a meeting in Komarno, Slovakia.

Follwoing the summit, Orbán, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico outlined a plan for stricter migration policies they’d like to see adopted by the EU, including more effective deportation measures and greater funding for member countries on the bloc’s external borders. 

(With newswires)

Among the 75 graphic novels being auctioned is a unique edition of “Tintin in America,” first published in 1932, which has an estimated value of 200,000 euros.

This special copy was dedicated by Hergé in 1933 to his friend and mentor, Charles Helsen, the chaplain of his Brussels scout troop.

Hergé wrote: “To Mr. Abbot Helsen, in memory of the good years spent under his supervision, discovering Adventure…Tintin is just another version of me, who would have continued on that path, all the way.”

Daniel Perez, the auction house expert covering the sale, noted that Hergé likely requested a special printing of this edition for Helsen, making it a one-off printing.

75 graphic novels

The sale of 75 graphic novels at the Tajan auction house will break up a collection built over generations by the family of Felipe Ortiz-Patino, whose Bolivian great-grandfather started the mania.

Perez said he put together the lots for sale from the collection after Ortiz-Patino “switched interests for various reasons”.

Many of the books on offer are in near-new or very good condition, displaying the original colours of their cover illustrations.

Among the highlights is a first-edition copy of “Tintin in the Congo,” published in 1931 – of which only a few thousand were printed – with an estimated value of 100,000 euros.

This edition features Hergé’s signature, alongside that of his fiancée, Germaine, who signed as “Milou” – the French name for Tintin’s loyal dog, known as “Snowy” in English.

Tintin defies critics to remain one of France’s most beloved characters

Also on offer is a rare, unsigned pop-up version of “Red Rackham’s Treasure,” estimated at 60,000. euros.

In November, Tajan plans to offer one of Herge’s original 1941 illustrations for “The Shooting Star”, another Tintin adventure, estimated at up to 500,000 euros.

(With newswires)

Vinatier, who worked with the Swiss NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), is one of several Westerners to have been arrested in Russia since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.

“The appeal against the verdict was registered on 21 October,” the Zamoskvoretsky court said on its website, a week after Vinatier’s sentencing.

Vinatier has admitted guilt and said he was unaware that he should have registered as a “foreign agent” – a tag that has been almost exclusively used against Russia’s domestic critics of the Kremlin.

The 48-year-old was arrested in Moscow in June and was also accused of gathering information on Russia’s military.

French researcher sentenced to three years in Russian penal colony

French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded that Russia release Vinatier, whose arrest came as tensions between Paris and Moscow mounted over the Ukraine conflict.

Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since the start of the war.

In early August, Russia and the West held the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. After this massive swap, France called on Moscow to free all people “arbitrarily detained in Russia”.

(with AFP)

First, the diehards among the PSG faithful can go more than 90 minutes without descending into homophobic chanting à la Saturday night against Strasbourg.

And Kang-in Lee should only lead the front line when the players either side of him – Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé – convert the chances presented to them from his selfless running.

PSG boss Luis Enrique pushed the buzzy South Korean forward for the third game of the Champions League campaign.

And the ploy with the midfielder would have paid off handsomely had the France internationals been more composed when through on goal.

Barcola was the initial miscreant. Eleven minutes in, PSG’s intricacy pierced the PSV rearguard and the 22-year-old zoomed in from the left wing.

But he failed to apply enough curve on his side-footed shot and the ball rolled just outside the left hand post of the PSV goalkeeper Walter Benitez.

Accuracy

Five minutes later, Lee was rather more old school. He belted his shot from just outside the penalty area forcing Benitez to parry the attempt away for a corner.

Then came the Dembélé horror double on the right. Nuno Mendes surged down the left and rather than feeding Barcola on the wing, the Portugal international put his foot on the ball and spotting Dembele’s run, lofted a pass over the defenders for Demebélé to stab or slot past Benitez into the goal.

Dembélé opted to lash it over the bar.

After Barcola’s second fluff, Dembélé, put through by Joao Neves’ neat chested lay-off, fired high into the stands.

Thirty minutes in, for all PSG’s territorial dominance, the hosts had nothing to show.

And four minutes later, PSG were behind. Neves tried to send a pass to  Dembélé but PSV’s Olivier Boscagli prodded the ball to Ismael Saibari who nudged it on to Noa Lang on the left.

The rangy winger ran at the PSG skipper Marquinhos, created space with a body swerve and shot past a bizarrely statuesque Gigi Donnarumma into the PSG goal.

A befuddled silence fell over the ground. And PSG, looked for a quick response before half-time.

They levelled just after the break. And it was somewhat prosaic.

From a corner on the left, the ball was moved through Mendes over to Fabian Ruiz in the centre who pushed it to Achraf Hakimi on the right. The Morocco international’s shot should have offered Benitez a routine block but it went through his legs and into the net.

Parity

At parity, the fans found their voice. Wholesome it was too. But it was PSV who should have retaken the lead on the hour mark.

Luuk De Jong’s header sent Guus Til through on goal. But with only Donnarumma to beat, he tried to slide in Lang to finish but Marquinhos intercepted.

“Football is fickle,” deadpanned Enrique after the match. “And we could have lost that game, but that’s how this sport works.

“It’s hard to accept a result like that,” the 54-year-old Spaniard added.

“We obviously had more chances than our opponents. We deserved to win the game, and it looks like we were better than PSV Eindhoven. We just couldn’t get the decisive shot on target.”

A frantic finale ensued after the video assistant referees denied PSG a penalty in stoppage time. PSG bombarded the PSV box. PSV defenders threw themselves at the ball and Mauro Junior hacked it off the goal line after Benitez blocked Marquinhos’ header from a corner.

After the final whistle, PSG’s players slumped to the turf. PSV’s warriors roared at their resilience.

But the stalemate did neither side any favours.

With the top eight qualifying automatically for the last-16 knockout stages and the next 16 going into a draw for a two match play-off, PSV lie 27th in the 36 team division while PSG are 10 places above them in 17th.

“I’m worried, yes,” admitted Enrique. “PSG are undoubtedly one of the teams who create the most chances. Luck has to be on your side when it comes to finishing.

“There’s an air of pessimism because of the unfair results. But I’m calm. My team was much better than the opposition.”

In an official decree, the prefecture of Martinique stated that “all movement of individuals in public spaces is prohibited between midnight and 5.00 am until 28 October.”

The curfew is part of broader measures that also restrict the sale and transportation of gasoline and the use of fireworks.

The latest wave of unrest occurred Sunday night into Monday, marked by reports of around a dozen roadblocks, the looting of a gas station, and injuries among law enforcement officers. This unrest follows a brief period of relative calm in previous nights.

The escalation in violence comes as the French Caribbean island prepares for a day of protests against high living costs, organised by the Assembly for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC).

The citizen collective, which has been at the forefront of the movement against rising prices, refused to sign an agreement aimed at reducing the prices of approximately 6,000 food products by an average of 20 percent.

Martinique strikes deal with distributors to cut soaring food prices

This agreement had been negotiated by the police chief, local distributors, and the territorial collectivity of Martinique.

The RPPRAC deemed the number of products included in the agreement insufficient, highlighting that food prices in the region are about 40 percent higher than in mainland France.

The group has called for continued mobilisation, with around 2,000 participants expected at upcoming demonstrations.

This curfew follows an initial partial lockdown from 18 to 26 September, aimed at curbing riots, and a subsequent nighttime movement ban that began on 10 October, which was set to expire on Monday morning.

(with AFP)

This Tuesday’s appeal at the French Supreme Court will examine in particular “the decision by the judges in Nouméa to exile the defendants without any adversarial debate, and the conditions under which the transfer was carried out,” according to François Roux, one of the defendants’ lawyers.

“Many of them are fathers, cut off from their children,” the lawyer explained.

The decision from France’s highest court is expected to be handed down quickly.

• New Caledonian activists transferred to France to face charges over deadly riots

The transfer of the five activists to mainland France at the end of June was organised overnight using a specially chartered plane, according to Nouméa public prosecutor Yves Dupas, who has argued that it was necessary to continue the investigations “in a calm manner”.

Roux has denounced the “inhumane conditions” in which they were transported: “They were strapped to their seats and handcuffed throughout the transfer, even to go to the toilet, and they were forbidden to speak”.

Left wing politicians in France have also slammed the conditions of detainees, who they underline were deported more than 17,000 km from their home for resisting “colonial oppression“. 

Ongoing investigation into violence

A total of seven activists from the CCAT separatist coalition are accused by the French government of orchestrating deadly riots earlier this year and are currently incarcerated – five in various prisons in France and two in New Caledonia itself.

Among those detained in mainland France is Christian Tein, the CCAT leader who was named president of the FLNKS independence movement at the end of August. 

They are under investigation for, among other things, complicity in attempted murder, organised gang theft with a weapon, organised gang destruction of another person’s property by a means dangerous to people and participation in a criminal association with a view to planning a crime.

Two CCAT activists who were initially imprisoned have since been placed under house arrest in mainland France.

• New Caledonia’s pro-independence alliance names jailed activist as leader

Christian Tein, imprisoned in the Alsatian city of Mulhouse, is suspected of having orchestrated the violence – on a scale not seen since the 1980s – which broke out on 13 May against an electoral reform the pro-independence movement believes will  marginalise the indigenous Kanak population.

Thirteen people – including two gendarmes – were killed and the damage is estimated at several billion euros.

The Kanak leader, born in 1968, has always denied having incited violence, claiming to be a political prisoner.

The visit reflects the depth of bilateral relations based on a deep-rooted and solid partnership, thanks to the common desire of the two Heads of State to strengthen the multidimensional ties uniting the two countries, the Moroccan royal palace said in a statement.

The monarch has described the visit as an opportunity for “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors”.

It will be Macron’s second since 2018. 

Tensions

Tensions between Paris and Rabat have risen in recent years for a number of reasons including France’s ambiguous stance on the disputed Western Sahara and also because of Macron’s attempts at rapprochement with Algeria.

A statement by the European Parliament in 2023 condemning a rollback in the kingdom’s freedom of the press also ramped up tensions, with some blaming Paris.

The two countries were also at odds after France in 2021 halved the number of visas it granted to Moroccans, a decision revoked the following year.

Macron in July initiated efforts to ease tensions with Rabat, saying at the time that Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory was the “only basis” to resolve the decades-old conflict.

“The present and future of Western Sahara are part of Moroccan sovereignty,” Macron said in a statement.

France’s diplomatic turnabout had been long awaited by Morocco, whose annexation of Western Sahara had already been recognised by the United States in return for Rabat’s normalising ties with Israel in 2020.

Morocco’s king praises French support, diplomatic gains over status of Western Sahara

But the statement, made during the Olympic Games, didn’t please Sahrawis, Algeria, or the United Nations.

While Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco, it is also claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which in 2020 declared a “self-defence war” and seeks the territory’s independence.

The UN considers Western Sahara a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991. Its stated aim is to organise a referendum on the territory’s future.

But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.

After Macron’s statement endorsing Morocco’s autonomy plan, the Polisario Front and Algeria promptly withdrew their ambassadors from Paris and have yet to replace them.

Algeria recalls ambassador after France backs Moroccan plan for Western Sahara

Economic ties

The Moroccan monarch has also called the visit an opportunity for “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors”.

Rabat and Paris are old partners and now hope to pave the way for renewed economic deals, including in Western Sahara.

French engineering company Egis is set to extend the high-speed rail line between the Moroccan cities of Kenitra and Marrakesh.

In Western Sahara, French energy company Engie has been contracted to build a water desalination plant and a wind farm.

 (with AFP)

On October 11, Fitch’s decision to downgrade France’s economic outlook to “negative” serves as a warning to Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who is struggling to push his 2025 budget through parliament. The credit agency’s assessment signals a potential downgrade if the government fails to take swift action to improve public finances.

France’s fiscal situation appears increasingly precarious. The deficit, now at €167 billion (5.5 percent of GDP), could  surpass 6 percent  by year’s end. With national debt projected to hit €3.5 trillion, or 114.7 percent of GDP, France is far beyond EU limits.

France braces for economic judgment amid political turmoil and record debt

EU rules require member states to keep budget deficits below 3 percent of GDP and debt under 60 percent of GDP.

Fitch predicts that the deficit will hover around 5.4% in both 2025 and 2026 due to ongoing political uncertainty and the challenges in implementing fiscal reforms. The agency believes the budget could pass before the year’s end, but the government may need to make concessions to win support from opposition parties. 

All eyes are now on Moody’s which will reveal its judgement on France’s economy and credit-worthiness on 25 October. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Antoine Armand emphasised the government’s commitment to improving the economy following Fitch’s assessment, but will that be enough?

RFI spoke to Erik Norland, Chief Economist with the Chicago-based CMEGroup about the possible scenarios France’s economic planners are facing.

Leaders and delegates from 200 countries meeting in the south-western city of Cali are under mounting pressure to protect the planet’s remaining biodiversity. 

The 12-day event will serve as the first major checkpoint on commitments made a year ago to safeguard 30 percent of the planet’s land and seas by 2030. Other key targets include restoring degraded ecosystems, reducing pesticide use, cutting destructive farming subsidies, and tackling invasive species. 

The stakes are especially high for Colombia – the world’s second most biodiverse country after Brazil – which is seeking to position itself as a conservation leader despite battling severe environmental destruction of its own. 

Rampant deforestation, notably for coca plantations, has surged since Colombia made a peace deal with Farc rebels in 2016. 

South America has been grappling with multiple crises, including devastating wildfires that have fuelled the destruction of critical ecosystems like the Amazon. Illegal mining and agriculture, meanwhile, are accelerating environmental degradation and exacerbating climate change. 

Underscoring the importance of regional leadership, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad described the event as “a Latin American moment”.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will host the Cop30 climate conference a year from now, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will be among the key leaders present.

‘Last chance’ deal to save world’s biodiversity agreed at Cop15

Indigenous rights 

Indigenous peoples, recognised as key guardians of nature, are expected to play a central role at Cop16, though their demands for more influence and direct funding remain unmet. 

While they account for only about 5 percent of the world’s population, indigenous peoples protect 80 percent of biodiversity, according to the World Bank.  

Despite this, they continue to face threats from land dispossession, illegal mining and violence.  

Dario Mejia Montalvo, former president of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and a leader of Colombia’s Zenu people, will be among those pushing for stronger rights and more direct access to funding. 

“Money in itself is not the objective, but recognising indigenous rights and strengthening their governance structures will require resources,” Montalvo told Mongabay, an environmental news site.

“International structures were created without indigenous inclusion. They were designed to exclude us.” 

The real test, Montalvo added, would be whether indigenous rights are genuinely respected and integrated into global biodiversity plans. “It’s about recognising that biodiversity is not just a landscape issue but a relationship between people and nature.” 

Why land rights for indigenous people could prevent future pandemics

Funding gaps

With species disappearing at an unprecedented rate, the window for action is closing. As things stand, only 17 percent of land and about 8 percent of oceans are protected. 

Talks at Cop16 will focus on pressuring wealthy nations to deliver the promised $30 billion annually to support biodiversity protection in developing countries.  

So far, pledges to a new biodiversity fund have fallen far short, with only about $400 million secured – and even less disbursed. Countries like China may also be called on to play a larger financial role. 

“This will be an implementation and financing Cop,” said Hugo-Maria Schally, the European Union’s lead negotiator at the summit.  

The headlining “30 by 30” target agreed at Cop15 in Montreal, to conserve 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030, is lagging behind schedule. 

The UN has warned that without urgent and coordinated global action, the goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2030 could slip out of reach.

Dual crises

But the summit isn’t just about money. Aligning climate and biodiversity goals is critical, with growing recognition that the two crises are inseparable. Biodiversity loss weakens nature’s ability to store carbon and support ecosystems vital for human survival. 

“The linked crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are increasingly tormenting our lives,” said Patricia Zurita of Conservation International, citing recent catastrophic wildfires and floods. 

Meanwhile, fewer than half of the world’s countries have aligned their climate plans with their nature commitments. This misalignment continues to hamper global efforts to address the twin environmental crises. 

The summit, which runs until 1 November, will test whether world leaders are prepared to bridge the gap between pledges and action on biodiversity, or risk allowing the ongoing destruction of ecosystems to continue unchecked. 

Hallal Bilal, chair of the Roots Wild Foundation, talks to RFI about the dwindling elephant population in his native Côte d’Ivoire and efforts to ensure the country’s emblematic animal does not become extinct.

RFI: What do you expect from the Cop 16 biodiversity summit? 

Hallal Bilal: That concrete and, above all, binding measures will be taken to force governments to invest much more in protecting biodiversity … and wildlife.

RFI: The previous Cop in Montreal set the goal of protecting 30 percent of the earth’s surface by 2030. Is this achievable?

Hallal Bilal: It’s achievable if everyone really does their bit. Governments alone can’t do everything, so we also need to get people much more involved. Civil society too, because these days we tend to run into problems with populations. So we need to work on raising awareness. 

RFI: For the past two years, many environmental scientists have been insisting that this 30 percent figure should be applied on a country-by-country basis. Can we ask each nation to commit to that?

Hallal Bilal: You can’t just ask, you have to demand each nation protect at least 30 percent of its territory, because the figures are pretty catastrophic. It’s an obligation.

RFI: In your opinion, which African countries are in the worst situation?

Hallal Bilal: My own country of Cote d’Ivoire has seen almost 80 percent of its forest and wildlife cover disappear.  The government and members of civil society are pulling out all the stops and things are beginning to change. So Côte d’Ivoire, and then the whole of West Africa.

RFI: Is this due to urbanisation or the development of agriculture?

Hallal Bilal: Urbanisation obviously plays a role; unemployment plays a very important role; agriculture plays a role.  Whether it’s cocoa, oil palm, rubber  – all crops contribute to deforestation.

Cocoa-producing countries call on EU to delay anti-deforestation law

RFI: Ivorian authorities hope to increase tree cover from 3 million to 6.5 million hectares by 2030. Is this objective possible?

Hallal Bilal: I think it’s possible because the government is doing a lot to promote reforestation throughout the country. The Ministry of Water and Forests has created National Tree Day and has opened up classified forest concessions to the private sector. Category 3 forests are therefore eligible for concessions, with private funding, to help the state restore its forests.  

RFI: Côte d’Ivoire’s emblematic animal is the elephant but it’s threatened with extinction

Hallal Bilal: The number of elephant specimens in Côte d’Ivoire has fallen dramatically. I think we currently have a population of between 200 and 500 elephants maximum.

RFI: How many were there 20 years ago?

There were over a thousand. I’d say the elephant is practically on the brink of extinction in Cote d’Ivoire. That’s why it’s vital to take action to protect them and help them reproduce. The government has taken important measures. A few months ago, the National Assembly passed a bill to create two elephant sanctuaries – one in the north and one in the south.

Deforestation has unfortunately been a major factor in the decline of elephants. They end up roaming in villages because they’re completely disoriented since there are no forests left. It’s a disaster.

RFI: Are these wandering elephants killed by villagers?

Hallal Bilal: No. As soon as the Ministry of Water and Forests receives any information, we immediately dispatch a team to protect the elephant and raise public awareness. People are amazed to see elephants. So they might get close to the animal, which can be risky or the elephant may panic. But otherwise, people don’t kill animals. In fact, we recently supported the Ministry of Water and Forests in moving two elephants to safety.

RFI: Is there still poaching?

Hallal Bilal: There is still poaching – for ivory, skin, meat. We still have a culture of eating bushmeat in Africa.

Gabon takes down international ivory trafficking network

RFI: Aren’t you worried that, behind the official rhetoric, deforestation will continue and some species will disappear?

Hallal Bilal: We won’t let that happen because we’re committed and passionate people. We’ve dedicated our lives to protecting nature. 

RFI: But if people agree with the way things are going, you won’t be able to do anything about it?

Hallal Bilal: In all honesty, we’re conducting a huge number of awareness campaigns, calling on the spirit of conservation that drives every Ivorian to take action. It’s our heritage and people understand that. Since 2023 we’ve recovered a huge number of animals.

Every day we take animals into our refuge. It’s transitional. We recover all the animals from the fight against poaching and species-trafficking. We care for them and prepare them to return to the wild, in safe areas.

And we’re continuing our awareness-raising campaigns, even in schools. Just yesterday, the foundation’s vice-president met with Adrienne Soundélé [head of the Soundélé Konan foundation fighting deforestation] and an official from the Ministry of Education, with a view to including this subject in the school curriculum.

Endangered elephants ‘eavesdrop’ on poachers in Republic of the Congo

This interview is adapted from the original conducted in French by RFI’s Christophe Boisbouvier. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

“What keeps me going is that right now, the world is a mess,” Goodall told RFI. “I care really passionately about the natural world, the environment, not just the chimpanzees, but all the other animals, but I also care about children. I care about the people around the world who are suffering so much today.”

Goodall has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2002 and has used this platform to raise awareness about the damage done to nature.

At 90, she is still crisscrossing the globe in a bid to help defend the chimpanzee, who she first went to Tanzania to study more than 60 years ago.

“I was given a gift, and when I speak, people listen.  And people who are losing hope, I seem to be able to give them more hope, to enable everyone to roll up their sleeves and take action,” she told RFI ahead of her talk at Unesco in Paris on Saturday.

Her visit to the French capital comes just two days ahead of the Cop16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia.

Reverse species destruction

 About 12,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including 140 government ministers and a dozen heads of state are due to attend the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, running until 1 November.

Themed “Peace with Nature,” it has the urgent task of coming up with monitoring and funding mechanisms to ensure that 23 UN targets agreed in 2022 to halt and reverse species destruction can be met by 2030.

The delegates have their work cut out for them, with just five years left to achieve the UN goal of placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.

Goodall told RFI that she hopes that promises made will be followed up “because the time for words and false promises is past”.

Thankfully, more people are aware of climate change now and these types of conferences lead to more networking behind the scenes and this “can lead to very positive results,” she says.

Wildlife populations plunge 73 percent amid warnings of biodiversity crisis

When asked about a recent World Wide Wildlife Fund report (WWF) that shows wildlife has fallen by 73 percent in the last 50 years, Goodall pointed out the obvious connections between climate change and the worsening biodiversity crisis.

One of the dangers, is that people don’t truly understand the issues at hand. “Scientific reports are a bit too scientific,” she says. That’s why she made a point of writing her own reports in an accessible language that “even the average 16 year-old could understand”.

“The trouble is everything, all the problems that we face… they’re all interrelated.”

One of the major issues is industrial agriculture, the use of pesticides and herbicides, and the significant quantity of water needed to change vegetable in animal protein, she points out. This results in a lot of CO2 produced with the use of heavy machinery, added to the methane gas produced by the animals themselves.

Stop greenwashing

Desperate measures are necessary, she says. Government and big companies really need to start “pulling in their belts and take action, not just greenwashing”.

“You may solve one problem, and if you’re not thinking holistically, that may create another problem.”

Besides biodiversity, Cop16 organisers have said Indigenous peoples will take an active part in the talks.

Even if Indigenous peoples have been all too often disappointed by the final decisions taken at biodiversity summits, that progress and increased presence was hailed by Goodall.

“Fortunately, we’re beginning to listen to the voices of the Indigenous people. We’re beginning to learn from them some of the ways that they’ve lived in harmony with the environment,” she told French news agency AFP.

Goodall also urged nations to tackle poverty to help protect the environment.

EU reaches ‘historic’ deal on contested biodiversity law

“We need to also alleviate poverty because very poor people destroy the environment in order to survive,” she said.

Preaching the importance of keeping alive the hope humanity can save the world, Goodall came with the message: “Realise every day you make a difference.”

“Each individual matters. Each individual has a role to play, and every one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day, and we can choose what sort of impact we make,” she said.

“It’s not only up to government and big business. It’s up to all of us to make changes in our lives.”

Goodall insisted that the world had just “five years in which we can start slowing down climate change”.

(with AFP)

The letter brands the contract worse than an own goal and hits out at Saudi Arabia’s record on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people as well as the impact of Aramco’s oil and gas production on climate change.

“Fifa’s announcement of Saudi Aramco as its ‘major’ partner has set us so far back that it’s hard to fully take in,” said the letter issued through the environmental and social campaign group Athletes of the World.

“Saudi Aramco is the main money-pump for Saudi Arabia, and is 98.5% state-owned. Saudi authorities have been spending billions in sports sponsorship to try to distract from the regime’s brutal human rights reputation, but its treatment of women speaks for itself.”

In April, Fifa, which organises tournaments such as the men’s and women’s football World Cup, agreed a 200-million euro sponsorship deal deal which would run through the 2026 men’s World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States as well as the 2027 women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Cases

Citing several cases of women imprisoned for campaigning for social justice, the letter adds:  “The Saudi authorities trample not only on the rights of women, but on the freedom of all other citizens too.

“Imagine LGBTQ+ players, many of whom are heroes of our sport, being expected to promote Saudi Aramco during the 2027 World Cup, the national oil company of a regime that criminalises the relationships that they are in and the values they stand for?”

Three up-and-coming French players – Emmy Jézéquel, Zalie Chaine and Elisa Rambaud – were among the names on the letter that was also endorsed by seasoned internationals such as Denmark’s Sofie Junge Pedersen, Dutch international midfielder Tessel Middag and 39-year-old Becky Sauerbrunn, who won two World Cups with the United States and led the campaign for equal pay for male and female American players.

The letter calls on Fifa to to give players a voice on the ethical implications of future sponsorship deals and adds: “We urge Fifa to reconsider this partnership and replace Saudi Aramco with alternative sponsors whose values align with gender equality, human rights and the safe future of our planet.”

Fifa bosses though appear determined to maintain their stance over the deal.

“Fifa values its partnership with Aramco and its many others commercial and rights partners,” said a Fifa statement.

“Fifa is an inclusive organisation with many commercial partners also supporting other organisations in football and other sports. Commercial revenue is reinvested into developing women’s soccer.”

(With newswires)

According to Sanofi, the sale of a controlling 50 percent stake in Opella to Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has valued the maker of France’s leading painkiller, Doliprane, at €16 billion. 

“Sanofi and CD&R announce today a plan to join forces to fuel Opella’s ambitions as a French-headquartered, global consumer healthcare champion,” it said Monday, after French officials approved the deal over the weekend. 

French Economy Minister Antoine Armand said on Sunday: “Our demands on employment, production and investment will be respected”.

The proposed sale had turned into a major political issue in France. 

The coordinator of the hard-left France Unbowed party Manuel Bompard has called for the sale if Sanofi’s Opella subsidiary to be blocked.

Memories are still fresh of shortages of the painkiller during the Covid pandemic and government pledges to boost domestic pharmaceutical production.

Trade unions had also expressed concern it would put 1,700 jobs in France at risk.

• France could block sale of ‘best-selling’ drug if production doesn’t stay local
• Drugs shortage sees France restart local production, target antibiotics use

‘Growth strategy’

For its part, Sanofi insisted the sale would help Opella expand by bringing in a partner willing to invest in a market that has more in common with the consumer goods market than pure pharmaceutical drugs.

Opella employs over 11,000 workers and operates in 100 countries.

Sanofi said it is the third-largest business worldwide in the market for over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements.

Doliprane is the brand under which Opella sells paracetamol, a non-opioid analgesic to ease mild to moderate pain and fever.

It also owns the antihistamine brand Allegra and the laxative Dulcolax.

“Together, CD&R and Sanofi will support Opella’s growth strategy as a pure-play, global and fast-moving consumer healthcare company,” said Sanofi, which will focus on innovative treatments and vaccines going forward.

French public investment bank Bpifrance is expected to take a two-percent stake in Opella at the end of the exclusive sale talks between Sanofi and CD&R.

The deal, however, is not expected to go through before the second quarter of next year.

(With newswires)

Police clamped down on the opposition demonstration in central Maputo on Monday morning, RFI’s correspondents report.

As presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane spoke to the press, police targeted his campaign headquarters with tear gas, forcing the opposition leader to flee, Lusa news agency has also reported.

The opposition had called for the strike and demonstrations on Saturday, the day when Mozambique learned that gunmen had killed the opposition lawyer and the party official after firing multiple rounds at a car in which they were travelling, rights groups said.

“They were brutally assassinated (in a) cold-blooded murder,” Adriano Nuvunga, CDD director, told Reuters by telephone.

“The indications that around 10 to 15 bullets were shot, and they died instantly,” he added, describing it as a “message” to opposition protesters planning to convene on Monday.

Mozambican civil society election observer group More Integrity said the attack happened in the Bairro Da Coop neighbourhood of the capital Maputo, killing Podemos lawyer Elvino Dias and party representative Paulo Guambe.

Human Rights Watch and the Mozambique’s Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD) also issued statements confirming the attack.

Rising tensions

The killings raised tensions ahead of protests against a disputed election result.

New opposition party Podemos and its presidential aspirant Venancio Mondlane reject provisional results showing a likely win for Frelimo – the party that has ruled Mozambique for half a century – and its candidate Daniel Chapo.

“The Mozambican defence and security forces committed this,” Mondlane said. “We have the proof. The blood of two young men flowing now! All of us, we’re going down the street. We will demonstrate with our placards.”

Africa programme director at London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House, Alex Vines, called the killing a “serious escalation” that raised tensions ahead of Monday’s strike.

The European Union and Mozambique’s former colonial ruler Portugal condemned the killing and called for an investigation.

Later, in the evening, Frelimo’s candidate Chapo condemned the attack as an “affront to the principles of democracy that we must all defend”.

Mondlane’s rise to become Mozambique’s main challenger was a threat to Frelimo, but also to former official opposition party Renamo – once a rebel outfit backed by racist white regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the Cold War.

Lack of credibility

Western observers have cast doubt on the credibility of the poll, noting reports of vote buying, intimidation, inflated voter rolls and poor transparency in collation – problems that have marred most polls since Frelimo introduced democracy in 1994 after two decades in power.

Full results are expected this week, on 24 October, but many fear Monday’s protest could turn bloody.

Mozambique’s security forces have previously opened fire on protesters, including after last year’s local elections, rights groups say.

For the president of Podemos, Albino Forquilha, the fight for electoral justice will continue.

“We are pressing effectively, using social media to convey our message,” Forquilha told RFI Portuguese service, “in order to make it clear that we will win these elections and deserve exactly that victory.”

To try to appease people’s anger, the Mozambican interior minister, Pascoal Ronda, called for calm and ordered the opening of an investigation.

“The government requests the relevant institutions, in particular the National Criminal Investigation Service and the police, to conduct rapidly throwing light on these matters and of translating the authors to justice,” he said. 

 (with newswires) 

On October 11, Fitch’s decision to downgrade France’s economic outlook to “negative” serves as a warning to Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who is struggling to push his 2025 budget through parliament. The credit agency’s assessment signals a potential downgrade if the government fails to take swift action to improve public finances.

France’s fiscal situation appears increasingly precarious. The deficit, now at €167 billion (5.5 percent of GDP), could  surpass 6 percent  by year’s end. With national debt projected to hit €3.5 trillion, or 114.7 percent of GDP, France is far beyond EU limits.

France braces for economic judgment amid political turmoil and record debt

EU rules require member states to keep budget deficits below 3 percent of GDP and debt under 60 percent of GDP.

Fitch predicts that the deficit will hover around 5.4% in both 2025 and 2026 due to ongoing political uncertainty and the challenges in implementing fiscal reforms. The agency believes the budget could pass before the year’s end, but the government may need to make concessions to win support from opposition parties. 

All eyes are now on Moody’s which will reveal its judgement on France’s economy and credit-worthiness on 25 October. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Antoine Armand emphasised the government’s commitment to improving the economy following Fitch’s assessment, but will that be enough?

RFI spoke to Erik Norland, Chief Economist with the Chicago-based CMEGroup about the possible scenarios France’s economic planners are facing.

Over 405,000 people – both Lebanese and Syrian – have crossed into Syria from Lebanon since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to figures from UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Approximately 60 percent are under 18, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Thursday, and most are struggling to meet basic needs.

The returnees are mainly people who had sought sanctuary in Lebanon from the civil war in Syria, now in its 13th year. “In Lebanon, there have been nearly one million Syrian refugees just since 2011,” says Metin Corabatir of the Research Centre on Asylum and Migration, an Ankara-based NGO.

He warns this could be just the beginning of the exodus if the fighting in Lebanon continues, threatening to overwhelm Syria.

“We are not talking only about Syrian refugees going back to Syria, but the Lebanese population is moving, crossing the border to Syria. And Syria would either try to close the borders or force them to go north to the Turkish borders,” Corabatir told RFI.

“This really would lead to a catastrophic situation for people, for countries and may pull Turkey into more tensions with Israel.”

Anti-refugee backlash

People fleeing Lebanon have been arriving at refugee camps in north-east Syria, close to the Turkish border. But Turkey, already hosting an estimated five million refugees, including over three million Syrians, is facing growing public backlash over their presence.

“Turkey basically cannot handle more refugees,” warns Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, head of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an international think tank.

Earlier this year, tensions spilled over into violence against refugees in the provincial city of Kayseri. The issue has become a significant political liability for the government, with opinion polls routinely finding large majorities wanting refugees to leave.

Even if the country has the practical capacity to take more people in, “I don’t see Turkey accepting a massive new wave of refugees”, predicts Unluhisarcikli. 

Turkey’s Syrian refugees face local hostility as economic problems mount

Border barricades

In the last couple of years, Ankara has constructed a wall along its border with Syria in a bid to prevent more refugees from entering Turkey. 

Murat Aslan, of the pro-government Seta Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, believes such efforts will only continue as the war in the Middle East threatens to trigger a new exodus.

“Turkey does not want any further waves coming from another region because Turkey is just experiencing and mending an economic crisis,” he says. “Inflation is currently under control, and we expect a decrease in it.

“What does another wave of refugees mean? A lot of spending, a lot of inflation, and other than this, societal insecurity. That’s why Turkey will not tolerate another wave.”  

But such a stance will likely be tested if Israel continues its offensive, creating more refugees and with them, the risk of Turkey facing a humanitarian crisis on its border.

Turkey continues to host more refugees than anyone else, but for how long?

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.

It’s time for you to start thinking about your New Year’s resolutions for our annual New Year’s Day show. If you’ve already made up your mind about what you’ll aim for in 2025, go ahead and send it to us … if not, be sure you send us your resolution – or resolutions if you are really ambitious! – by 15 December.

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 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 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”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled 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.

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 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 21 September, I asked you a question about a gender equality plan at France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  We reported on that plan in our article “France’s foreign ministry unveils two-year gender equality strategy”.

You were to re-read the article and send in the answer to this question: What is the Foreign Ministry’s goal for promoting women to important posts? What is the percentage they are aiming for?

The answer is, to quote our article: “According to the ministry, this year more than 45 percent of ambassadors appointed for the first time will be women, while among newly-appointed consuls-general, over 40 percent will also be women.” 

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “How would you define a truly happy person?”, which was suggested by Sabah Binte Sumaiya from Bogura, Bangladesh:

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Hans Verner Lollike from Hedehusene, Denmark. Hans is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations, Hans, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Samir Mukhopadhyay from Kolkata, India; Mizanur Rahman from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Faiza Zainab – who’s also a member of the International Radio Fan and Youth Club in Khanewal, Pakistan.

Last but certainly not least, RFI English listener Tafriha Tahura from Munshiganj, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Mazurka no. 4″ by Frédéric Chopin, arranged by Serge Forté and performed by the Serge Forté Trio; “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” by Krzysztof Penderecki, performed by Antoni Wit and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra; “La Grande Galerie de la Zoologie” by Philippe Hersant, performed by the Ensemble Bestiaire Fabuleux; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin, performed by McFerrin.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Paul Myers’ article “Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich sets women’s world record at Chicago Marathon”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 11 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 16 November 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,  

Ghana is being swamped by millions of unwanted clothes from the West, creating an environmental disaster as textile waste piles up across the country.

The scale of damage to public health and the environment has been laid bare in a new Greenpeace report that exposes the devastating impact of discarded clothing on communities and ecosystems in Ghana. 

About 15 million items of second-hand clothing arrive in Ghana each week. Nearly half cannot be resold.

The unsellable clothes end up in informal dumps or are burned in public washhouses, contaminating the air, soil and water.

“The situation is catastrophic. These clothes are literally poisoning our communities,” said Sam Quashie-Idun from Greenpeace Africa, speaking to RFI.

The report shows how Ghana has become a dumping ground for the world’s unwanted textiles, with devastating consequences for local ecosystems.

“What we’re seeing is environmental racism. The Global North is using Ghana as its trash can,” said Hellen Dena of Greenpeace Africa.

The flood of cheap, disposable fashion reflects broader problems with global waste management and environmental justice.

To explore this issue further, RFI spoke to Sam Quashie-Idun and Hellen Dena from Greenpeace Africa.  

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on Africa is a podcast from Radio France Internationale.

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!

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 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”. According to your score, you’ll be counselled 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.

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 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 14 September, I asked you a question about Algeria’s presidential elections. Held on 8 September, the incumbent, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, was reelected.

RFI English reporter Melissa Chemam followed the race closely; the day after the election she wrote an article for us, “High expectations as Algeria’s President Tebboune begins new mandate”. Her article is about what’s on Tebboune’s presidential plate economically and socially for his next mandate.

There are several worries in civil society, as Melissa noted: “The first mandate of President Tebboune saw a clampdown on civil liberties and seen the army take on a more important role.”

Your question was about the army, and its, as Melissa noted, “more important role”. In August, a few days before Tebboune declared his candidacy, a decree was issued involving the army. You were to tell me what was in that decree.

The answer is, to quote Melissa’s article: “A few days before Tebboune’s declaration of candidacy, in August, a decree was published to legalise the transfer of the senior civil administration under the direct authority of the army.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question: “What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “red”? The question was suggested by Ashik Eqbal Tokon from Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Radhakrishna Pillai from Kerala State in India. Radhakrishna is also this week’s bonus question winner. Congratulations on your double win, Radhakrisha!  

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Father Stephen Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon; Shadman Hosen Ayon from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, and Atikul Islam – who is also the president of the Narshunda Radio Listeners Family in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Last but certainly not least, RFI English listener Jahangir Alam from the Friends Radio Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Autumn” from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Carla Moore and Voice of Music; Traditional Chaabi music from Algeria; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Mr. Bobby” by Manu Chao, performed by Chao and the Playing for Change musicians.

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 “Algeria’s Tebboune refuses France visit in snub to former colonial ruler”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 4 November to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 9 November 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,  

The Paris Olympic Games and Paralympics gave French-language songs huge exposure, adding new fans to the global audience already growing on streaming platforms. But what kind of music are non-French-speakers listening to and why? A new exhibition at the recently opened International Centre of the French Language asks the question. Its curator, the music journalist Bertrand Dicale, based the exhibit on the idea that songs reveal who were are, and he talks about what popular songs reveal about France. He also highlights some surprising differences between French and foreign audiences, which have allowed stars like Aya Nakamura and Juliette Gréco to enjoy huge success abroad despite being scorned at home. (Listen @0’00)

France lags behind many countries in the use of technology in classrooms and there is no clear policy from an ever-changing education ministry. But the disorganisation may be buying educators time to consider the consequences. A report commissioned in the spring by President Emmanuel Macron advised placing limits on young people’s use of smartphones and social media, and some schools are testing a smartphone ban this year. Founded by concerned educators, the collective Pour une éducation numérique raisonnée (“For a sensible digital education”) has raised its own concerns about the push to digitise textbooks and get students learning on screens. We visit a class taught by one of its members, and see how technology is – and is not – used. (Listen @22’00)

In the midst of Nobel season, a look at some of France’s 71 prizes, from the first ever Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 to the five won by members of the Curie family for physics and chemistry. (Listen @15’00)

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompéani. 

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.