Svalbard is often described as the fastest-warming place on the planet. Located close to the North Pole, the archipelago sits on the front line of climate change, a position that has drawn scientists from around the world for decades.

For years, a unique legal status allowed Svalbard to function as a model of global cooperation. But as Arctic ice retreats and geopolitical competition intensifies, the territory is newly vulnerable.

Recent tensions linked to the possibility of a US annexation of Greenland, less than 500 kilometres to the west, have fuelled concern in Norway’s media and political circles. Could Svalbard be next?

“Norway has not faced a security situation this serious since 1945,” Eivind Vad Petersson, a senior official at Norway’s foreign ministry, told The New York Times. “When Greenland is hit by a political storm, Svalbard is inevitably splashed as well.”

Svalbard’s sensitivity lies in its legal framework. The Spitsbergen Treaty, signed in Paris in 1920 after the First World War, recognises Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago, located more than 900 kilometres north of mainland Norway.

At the same time, the treaty strictly limits Oslo’s authority. Citizens of signatory states are placed on an equal footing when it comes to access and activity in Svalbard – including hunting, fishing, mining and land ownership.

Initially signed by around 10 countries including France, Denmark, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Italy, the treaty now counts nearly 40 signatories. They include Russia, China and North Korea, whose citizens can settle in Svalbard without a visa.

For decades, this system underpinned what many saw as an Arctic laboratory of cooperation. Nowhere symbolised this more than Ny-Alesund, a small research community hosting Chinese, Korean, Franco-German and Japanese scientific stations.

“Svalbard became a hub for research, exchange and the study of climate change. It’s a place where international scientific cooperation can really happen,” Florian Vidal, a researcher at the Arctic Institute of Norway in Tromso, told RFI.

Today, the archipelago – roughly the size of Croatia – has about 2,700 residents, mainly in Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town. A study published in January found there are fewer people there than polar bears.

France to step up Greenland deployment with land, air and sea forces

Strategic ambitions take shape

In recent years, the Arctic as a region has become more politically charged. Once seen as remote, it has become a key arena of international competition at a time when the global order is shifting.

Security concerns, new maritime routes and access to resources have all raised Svalbard’s profile. Seabeds around the archipelago are believed to contain copper, zinc, cobalt, lithium and rare earths – seen as strategic for new technologies and the energy transition.

While extraction is limited by moratoriums, several major powers, including China and the US, are already looking further ahead.

Russia has played a central role in the rising pressure. “Tensions around Svalbard have existed since the 2010s, but they clearly accelerated after the annexation of Crimea and then with the war in Ukraine,” Vidal said.

In February 2024, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev warned that Moscow would fight for its “rights” in Svalbard, invoking the need to defend its “sovereignty” over the archipelago, in rhetoric echoing language used to justify the war in Ukraine.

The message was repeated in November, when Trutnev again stressed Svalbard’s strategic importance for Russia and the need to maintain a stronger presence, particularly through the state mining company Arktikugol.

Russia maintains two settlements on Svalbard – Barentsburg and Pyramiden, home to several hundred Russian citizens. Officially tied to coal mining, the sites are remnants of the Soviet era, with the mine in Pyramiden closing at the end of the 1990s.

“The Russians are artificially maintaining the Barentsburg mine to justify keeping a presence,” Vidal said.

Why Greenland’s melting ice cap threatens humanity, and could serve Trump

Testing Norway’s red lines

In recent years, these communities have become the stage for symbolic gestures viewed by Oslo as provocative.

In Barentsburg, where the Russian flag flies, a parade was held in 2023 to mark Victory Day on 9 May, celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. There were no weapons, but the military-style staging and symbols were seen by Norwegian authorities as a political message.

Vidal also pointed to the use of security vehicles with visual codes close to those of Russian forces, and to the growing prominence of the Russian Orthodox Church. A full-time priest has been permanently based in Barentsburg since March 2025.

This helps anchor Svalbard in an image of “Russian land”, Vidal said. “These episodes fit into a logic of hybrid warfare. The Russians are testing the limits of Norway’s sovereignty over the archipelago.”

The message, he added, is unambiguous: “The Russians are there, and they are not leaving.”

Svalbard also holds military significance for Moscow. Nuclear submarines from Russia’s Northern Fleet, the country’s main Arctic naval force, are based in Severomorsk in northwest Russia and must pass near the archipelago to reach the Atlantic, making it a key transit point.

France to open Greenland consulate amid Trump takeover threats

Oslo reasserts control

Faced with these signals, Norway has moved to reassert its authority without formally challenging the 1920 treaty. In a strong symbolic move, King Harald V visited Svalbard in June for the first time in 30 years.

“America has gone mad in the Arctic and Russia does not respect the independence of its neighbours. It is very important to send the king to mark the kingdom’s supremacy over its distant territories,” Norwegian daily newspaper Verdens Gang said.

“There is a form of nationalism around Svalbard on the Norwegian side, it’s a very sensitive issue,” Vidal said.

Norway has also strengthened coastguard patrols around the archipelago. Moscow has protested, arguing this violates the treaty’s ban on military use.

While permanent militarisation is prohibited, naval patrols are not explicitly banned – a legal grey area Norway now relies on.

Administrative controls have also tightened. Local voting rights have been restricted to foreigners who have lived for several years on mainland Norway, and land sales to non-Norwegians have been banned.

Scientific research is now more closely supervised, with projects requiring approval from Oslo. “We are seeing a gradual extension of Norwegian prerogatives,” Vidal said, describing a “Russian-Norwegian ping pong game”.

Rare earths mining feud at heart of Greenland’s snap elections

Pressure from multiple sides

China’s presence is also viewed with growing caution. Beijing has been a signatory to the Spitsbergen Treaty since 1925, and has operated a research station in Ny-Alesund since 2004.

Officially dedicated to polar science, the station is suspected by Norwegian and US authorities of carrying out research with potential dual use.

Two granite lion statues have become a symbol of friction, with China refusing Oslo’s requests to remove them. In summer 2024, more than 180 Chinese tourists arrived in Ny-Alesund, displaying national symbols.

One woman posed in military-style clothing in front of the statues, triggering diplomatic unease.

Norwegian authorities have also, for the first time, denied Chinese students access to the University Centre in Svalbard, citing security risks.

Svalbard has also long been a point of tension between Norway and the European Union. Several EU member states contest fishing quotas and permits imposed by Oslo around the archipelago, arguing they breach the treaty’s principle of equality.

The EU has also raised concerns over Norway’s seabed prospecting campaigns near Svalbard.

Against this backdrop, tensions surrounding Greenland have revived fears of imitation. If US President Donald Trump were to seize Greenland in defiance of international law, could Russia feel justified in challenging the status quo in Svalbard?

“We are not in a critical phase, but in a crisis that is gradually building,” Vidal said.

One strategic question remains unresolved. In the event of an attack, would NATO’s Article 5 – its collective defence clause – apply to an archipelago with demilitarised status?

Aware of this uncertainty, Norway has stepped up political signalling in recent years, including hosting delegations from NATO’s parliamentary assembly in Svalbard, without ever securing a formal guarantee.

This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Aurore Lartigue

The disinformation campaign is linked to the Russian network Storm-1516 and falsely suggested Macron was involved in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, a government source told French news agency AFP on Friday.

According to the source, the operation was detected on Wednesday by Viginum, the French agency tasked with countering foreign digital interference.

It relied on the creation of a website impersonating the French news site France Soir, on which a fabricated article was published accusing the French president of involvement in the Epstein case. France Soir denied publishing any such content.

This claim was then amplified on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the source said, confirming findings by French news channel BFMTV.

Members of France’s political and cultural elite named in Epstein files

No evidence of contact

BFMTV reports that the campaign involved a video made using artificial intelligence that was circulated on X, where it had amassed close to 700, 000 views by late afternoon on Wednesday.

The article, which had been posted earlier that day, falsely claimed that Macron had attended gatherings hosted by Epstein in Paris, at which it alleged the presence of “young boys”.

French authorities monitored the subsequent online amplification, which they said was carried out by numerous accounts likely paid for by the Storm-1516 network, whose activities they have been monitoring since 2023.

As news outlet Franceinfo reported, the French president’s name does appear more than 200 times in the hundreds of thousands of pages of documents tied to the Epstein case and published by the US Justice Department.

Former French culture minister Lang summoned to explain Epstein ties

However, these mentions do not indicate any wrongdoing. According to Franceinfo, Macron’s name appears mainly in discussions between other individuals, and there is no evidence of any meeting or exchange between him and the US financier, who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors. 

Franceinfo also linked a post on X which was flagged on Thursday by the French foreign ministry’s French Response account to the campaign. A woman using the name “Loetitia” claimed Macron was a frequent guest at Epstein’s residence in Paris, citing the fabricated article.

According to Viginum, Storm-1516 has been responsible for at least 77 disinformation campaigns since its emergence in late 2023. The agency said the group’s activities pose a significant threat to public debate on the internet in France and Europe.

(with newswires)

While the African continent is well represented at the Summer Olympics, it is a different story at the Winter Games.

In Paris in 2024, African athletes won a total of 39 medals, including 13 gold medals. At the Winter Olympics, Africa is still waiting for its first medal.

At this year’s Milan-Cortina Games, 13 athletes from the continent will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and skeleton.

Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Eritrea will each be represented by one athlete. Madagascar, Morocco and Kenya are fielding two athletes apiece, while South Africa has the continent’s largest delegation, with five athletes.

Benin, represented by Nathan Tchibozo (alpine skiing), and Guinea-Bissau, represented by Winston Tang (alpine skiing), are both making their Winter Olympics debut.

At the last Games in 2022 in Beijing, Africa fielded six athletes from five countries: Eritrea, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco and Nigeria.

South Africa first

South Africa was the first nation to take part in the Winter Olympics in 1960. Due to political boycotts against apartheid, South Africans did not return until Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, with figure skater Dino Quattrocecere and speed skater Cindy Meyer.

Morocco became the second African nation to participate in the Winter Olympics in 1968 in Grenoble, France.

Senegal made its first appearance in 1984 in Sarajevo, while Ghana made its debut in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, thanks to Scotland-born Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, who competed in the men’s slalom.

Between 1960 and 2022, 15 African countries participated in the Winter Olympics: Algeria, Madagascar, South Africa, Morocco, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Togo, Egypt, Eswatini, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Eritrea.

Cross-country skier Philip Boit, who represented Kenya in 1998, 2002 and 2006, had a memorable encounter with Norwegian world champion Bjorn Daehlie.

On 12 February 1998, during the 10km classic cross-country skiing event at the Nagano Games, Boit finished last. But he was met at the finish line by the winner, Daehlie, who personally congratulated him – an image seen around the world.

“My coach had told me about him and I’d seen him on TV. I couldn’t believe that the best cross-country skier in the world was here to congratulate me,” Boit said in an interview with Olympics.com.

Zimbabwe’s Coventry elected as head of International Olympic Committee

Women making history

Madagascar has participated in three Winter Games, in 2006, 2018 and 2022. The country’s alpine skier Mialitiana Clerc was the only African woman to compete in Beijing in 2022, having already taken part in the 2018 Games in South Korea when she was just 16 years old. 

Clerc discovered skiing in France’s Haute-Savoie mountains, where she grew up with her adoptive family. Born near Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo, the skier was adopted as a baby but has always kept in touch with her biological family.

This year she will become the first woman from the African continent to compete in three Winter Olympics. “I feel lucky because, yeah, there are not a lot of African women in the world of skiing,” she told Olympics.com. 

Fellow trailblazer Sabrina Wanjiku Simader was Kenya’s first female alpine skier to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2018. She was also due to compete in Milan-Cortina but had to pull out at the last minute, according to organisers.

Meet the man hoping to turn rugby into Africa’s favourite sport

‘Love story’ with skiing

Decades earlier, Senegalese skier Lamine Gueye made his mark on history when he took part in the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games – becoming the first skier from sub-Saharan Africa to do so.

The grandson of a prominent politician, he was sent to boarding school in Switzerland. There, he discovered skiing on weekends.

“I had no idea what that feeling of gliding was like. Skiing and I have a love story that began at that time,” he told newspaper Ouest-France.

Founder of the Senegalese Ski Federation in 1979, he took part in three Winter Olympics, five World Championships and 25 World Cups. 

Today, he is fighting to ensure that as many African participants as possible attend the Winter Olympics. 

This article was based on the original in French by RFI’s Farid Achache.

Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.

The US president last month backed off his threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.

A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss ways to meet Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but the details of the talks have not been made public.

While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump’s security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a “red line” in the discussions.

“In a sense, it’s a victory for Greenlanders to see two allies opening diplomatic representations in Nuuk,” said Jeppe Strandsbjerg, a political scientist at the University of Greenland.

“There is great appreciation for the support against what Trump has said.”

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Paris’s plans to open a consulate during a visit to Nuuk in June, where he expressed Europe’s “solidarity” with Greenland and criticised Trump’s ambitions.

The newly-appointed French consul, Jean-Noel Poirier, has previously served as ambassador to Vietnam.

Canada meanwhile announced in late 2024 that it would open a consulate in Greenland to boost cooperation.

The opening of the consulates is “a way of telling Donald Trump that his aggression against Greenland and Denmark is not a question for Greenland and Denmark alone, it’s also a question for European allies and also for Canada as an ally, as a friend of Greenland and the European allies also,” Ulrik Pram Gad, Arctic expert at the Danish Institute of International Studies, told the French news agency AFP.

“It’s a small step, part of a strategy where we are making this problem European,” said Christine Nissen, security and defence analyst at the Europa think tank.

“The consequences are obviously not just Danish. It’s European and global.”

Macron hosts Denmark and Greenland leaders in show of European unity

Recognition

According to Strandsbjerg, the two consulates – which will be attached to the French and Canadian embassies in Copenhagen – will give Greenland an opportunity to “practice” at being independent, as the island has long dreamt of cutting its ties to Denmark one day.

The decision to open diplomatic missions is also a recognition of Greenland’s growing autonomy, laid out in its 2009 Self-Government Act, Nissen said.

“In terms of their own quest for sovereignty, the Greenlandic people will think to have more direct contact with other European countries,” she said.

That would make it possible to reduce Denmark’s role “by diversifying Greenland’s dependence on the outside world, so that it is not solely dependent on Denmark and can have more ties for its economy, trade, investments, politics and so on”, echoed Pram Gad.

Greenland has had diplomatic ties with the European Union since 1992, with Washington since 2014 and with Iceland since 2017.

Iceland opened its consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.

The European Commission opened its office in 2024.

The president’s and prime minister’s offices each “asked the foreign minister to summon him so he can give an explanation”, a source told the AFP news agency.

Lang, who served as culture minister under the late Socialist president François Mitterrand, has chaired the Arab World Institute (IMA) since 2013. A source close to President Emmanuel Macron said his office believes Lang should “think of the institution”, which is half-funded by the foreign ministry.

However, on Wednesday, Lang ruled out resigning as head of the IMA. He said he was introduced to Epstein by film director Woody Allen about 15 years ago and had no knowledge of his crimes.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while facing federal charges of trafficking underage girls.

Lang’s daughter Caroline Lang – a French film producer and former actor – resigned as head of a film producers’ union on Monday following revelations about the family’s links to Epstein.

She told French investigative website Mediapart that she and Epstein had agreed to set up a company together to buy artworks but she did not invest any money in it. She described herself as being “incredibly naive”.

Epstein fallout triggers resignations, probes

Calls to resign

No charges have been brought against the Langs, and the mentions of them among millions of documents related to Epstein, released by the US Justice Department, do not necessarily imply wrongdoing.

But the 673 mentions of Jack Lang’s name and the financial links to Epstein have led to the calls for his resignation, particularly from the left. 

“I don’t know if Lang is guilty of knowingly turning a blind eye to Epstein’s actions and if, by associating with him, he helped to cover them up,” Socialist party first secretary Olivier Faure told Franceinfo. “But what is already shocking is the way he is talking about the affair today.”

He added: “At this stage, there is no evidence implicating him in the sex scandals, but he must consider resigning to protect the institution he presides over.”

Ségolène Royal, a former presidential candidate and minister in the same government as Lang said his association with Epstein “will inevitably damage the image of the Arab World Institute,” and that “his resignation should be a matter of course”.

Within the presidential Renaissance party, Renaud Muselier, Lang’s predecessor as head of IMA and now president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, also called on him to resign.

(with newswires)

French authorities on Thursday charged four people, including two Chinese nationals, on suspicion of having intercepted sensitive military data for Beijing, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

The move follows the arrest of four individuals at the weekend in the village of Camblanes-et-Meynac in the south-western Gironde region, where the two Chinese suspects allegedly rented an Airbnb as part of a plan to capture sensitive information, including military intelligence.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said two individuals have been remanded in custody and two others placed under judicial supervision, without offering details on their identities.

The probe focuses on the “delivery of information to a foreign power” likely to harm key national interests, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The case was triggered after residents on 30 January spotted the installation of a satellite dish approximately two metres in diameter, which coincided with a local internet outage.

A search the following day led to the discovery of “a system of computers connected to satellite dishes enabling the capture of satellite data”, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The set-up made it possible to intercept “exchanges between military entities”, it said.

Former French pilot suspected of sharing defence intelligence with China

‘Secret war’

The two Chinese nationals had allegedly travelled to France with the intent to capture data from the Starlink satellite internet network – founded by Elon Musk – and other “entities of vital importance” and transmit it back to China.

Their visa applications stated that they worked as engineers for a research and development company specialising in wireless communication equipment.

The two other suspects were arrested over allegations they illegally imported the equipment, the prosecutor’s office said, without providing details of their identities.

This is not the first Chinese espionage case to come to light in France. In 2021, a report on Chinese operations around the world by Irsem, the École Militaire’s Strategic Research Institute, highlighted that France was a priority for Beijing’s intelligence services.

European space giants plan new satellite powerhouse to take on Starlink

In 2025, an illegal antenna was found to have been installed near Toulouse. “There were questions about whether the intercepted information could have led to the destruction of a satellite supplied by France to a third country,” said Jérémy André, senior reporter at Intelligence Online, which revealed the case.

“This is not cold observation,” he told RFI. “Today, there is a secret war going on, and it is taking place in space in particular.”

Strategic south-west France

In a separate case, a French professor of applied mathematics working was charged in December with allowing a Chinese delegation to visit sensitive sites in a case of suspected espionage. The engineering institute in Bordeaux where he works has been partially designated as a “restricted area” since 2019.

He has been released under judicial supervision, but faces charges of “providing information to a foreign power” and “colluding with a foreign power”.

Recent Chinese espionage cases have taken place in the south-west of France, between Bordeaux and Toulouse – the heart of the French aeronautics, space and defence industries.

The village of Camblanes-et-Meynac, where the most recent case occurred, is located just a few kilometres from the only Starlink ground station in France, in the town of Villenave d’Ornon.

(with newswires)

Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the United Nations calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

In an alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on Thursday, global food security experts said that “famine thresholds for acute malnutrition have now been surpassed” in North Darfur’s contested areas of Um Baru and Kernoi, near the border with Chad.

“These alarming rates suggest an increased risk of excess mortality and raise concern that nearby areas may be experiencing similar catastrophic conditions,” the IPC experts said.

They added that the spread of famine came as the paramilitary takeover of North Darfur capital El-Fasher led to “massive displacement” of civilians into surrounding areas, “straining the resources” of local communities and “driving up acute food insecurity and malnutrition“.

Sudan conflict worsening with mass killings and famine, HRW warns

Final stronghold

El-Fasher, long the Sudanese army’s final stronghold in Darfur, fell to the RSF last October after 18 months of bombardment and starvation.

Its fall – which was accompanied by reports of mass killings, rape and abductions – pushed at least 127,000 people to flee to nearby towns already under strain, according to UN data.

Both warring sides have been accused of committing atrocities throughout the war.

The UK on Thursday sanctioned six people accused of carrying out atrocities or contributing to the violence by providing mercenaries and military equipment.

The measures targeted senior commanders in both the army and the RSF.

“Through these sanctions, we will seek to dismantle the war machine of those who perpetrate or profit from the brutal violence in Sudan,” British foreign minister Yvette Cooper said in the statement.

Race to save Sudan’s plundered heritage as museums fall victim to war

Fragile areas

Thursday’s alert, which is not a formal famine classification, signals severe food security and nutrition crises based on the latest data.

It comes nearly three months after the IPC confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) to the east.

Kadugli endured a punishing RSF siege for much of the country’s nearly three-year conflict before the army broke the blockade this week.

Nearby Dilling, where the army also broke an RSF siege earlier this month, is believed to be experiencing similar famine conditions though lack of access and ongoing insecurity has prevented a formal declaration.

The IPC said that 20 more areas in Sudan’s Darfur and neighbouring Kordofan were at risk of famine.

Drone attacks shock city in central Sudan as war inches closer

Services constrained

Across Darfur, access to lifesaving and nutrition services remains severely constrained, the IPC said.

In Um Baru, children with severe acute malnutrition have little access to treatment, while in Kernoi only 25 percent of affected children are enrolled in treatment programmes, it added.

Fighting between the army and the RSF in Kordofan – now a key battleground – has displaced about 88,000 people since October, the latest UN figures show.

The IPC experts said that prolonged displacement, conflict, and erosion of health, water and food systems “are expected to increase acute malnutrition and food insecurity”.

Across Sudan, more than 21 million people – almost half of the population – are now facing acute food insecurity, with two-thirds of the population in urgent need of assistance, according to the UN.

The US Justice Department last week published nearly 3 million government documents related to Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor and died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

The mere mention of someone’s name in the files does not, in itself, imply wrongdoing. However, the documents show connections between Epstein or his circle and some public figures who had downplayed or denied such ties.

Political contacts

Several French personalities appear in the latest files, reflecting Epstein’s repeated efforts to build links with political leaders.

He asked several contacts whether they had connections to President Emmanuel Macron, former economy minister Bruno Le Maire or former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

A review of emails by the French news agency AFP showed that businessman Olivier Colom, an adviser to Sarkozy from 2007-2012, corresponded regularly with Epstein from 2013-2018 while working at a bank.

Colom sought to facilitate political networking and organised a 2013 meeting between Epstein and his superior at the bank.

In a June 2013 exchange, Epstein compared women to “shrimp”, saying “you throw away the head and keep the body”.

AFP said it was not immediately able to reach Colom for comment. An initial search of the archive found no direct correspondence between Epstein and Sarkozy.

France uncovers Russian disinformation campaign falsely linking Macron to Epstein

Film director meeting

French film director Michel Hazanavicius first met Epstein at a dinner in Paris in March 2012, one month after his film The Artist won the top prize at the Oscars.

They exchanged emails until January 2014, with Epstein suggesting meetings in Paris or New York, though the director often replied that he was busy.

Hazanavicius said he “twice met the guy”, after being introduced through director Woody Allen.

“At one point he asked me if I knew a nice, smart girl, and that’s when Berenice told me ‘never again, you have to run away from that guy’,” he said.

The director said he and his partner, actor Bérénice Bejo, decided not to see Epstein again, adding he had “no idea who he was”.

Public explanations

French mathematician and former MP Cédric Villani told the newspaper Libération this week about meeting Epstein in October 2017.

“He presented himself as a close friend of Donald Trump,” Villani said. Epstein wanted to fund “a mathematics prize related to biology and complexity.”

Villani said he did not know about Epstein’s earlier conviction at the time.

On Thursday, former culture minister Jack Lang was summoned to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to explain his links with Epstein.

Lang’s daughter Caroline resigned Monday as head of a film producers’ union after revelations about the family’s connections to Epstein.

No charges have been brought against the Lang family. On Wednesday, Lang ruled out stepping down as head of the Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute), a cultural institution he has led since 2013.

A source close to President Macron said Lang should “think of the institution”.

Jack Lang’s daughter steps down from film post over Epstein revelations

Disinformation claims

French authorities said Friday they had detected a Russia-linked disinformation campaign alleging Macron’s involvement with Epstein.

France’s Viginum agency, which counters foreign disinformation campaigns, detected Wednesday the operation involving a fabricated article “accusing President Emmanuel Macron of being involved in the ‘Epstein affair'”, a government source told AFP.

The article appeared on a website falsely using the identity of the French media organisation France-Soir. The source said the Storm-1516 project was behind the operation spreading fabricated content.

(with newswires)

Orion – which stands for “large-scale operation for resilient, interoperable, high intensity combat-oriented and innovative armies” – was conceived in 2021. Two years later, France carried out its largest military exercises to date with Orion 23 – an operation involving 12,000 troops, including NATO allies.

The “ongoing deterioration of the international landscape and the evolution of threats” has made Orion 26 even more relevant, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

Bringing together land, air, naval, cyber, space and special forces, it demonstrates “France’s determination to protect the nation, its citizens and its interests in the long term by preparing for the most demanding military challenges”, the ministry said.

The three-month drills will be based on a “fictional but credible scenario” in which an expansionist country in the East, known as Mercury, is seeking to destabilise its neighbour Arnland in order to maintain its influence in the region and prevent the latter from joining the European Union.

Geographically, Arnland is located on French territory – but with Ukraine and Russia at war on Europe’s doorstep, the exercise also reflects what a reinforced version of the “Coalition of the Willing” for Ukraine might look like, should Kyiv need urgent reinforcement.

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

In the invented scenario, throughout 2025 Mercury has multiplied hybrid actions and increased its support for militias in Arnland. At the request of Arnland – an ally – France takes the lead of the Orion coalition on 6 January 2026, to ensure its defence and preserve balance in Europe.

The exercises include seizing entry points on contested territory, gaining the upper hand in the field, then conducting amphibious and airborne operations to secure a broader deployment zone.

From 8 February to early March, 10,000 troops will conduct amphibious and airborne operations in the Saint-Nazaire area, supported by 350 vehicles and 400 drones. 

For the amphibious phase, the French Navy will be present with the carrier strike group, while the Air and Space Force will deploy around 20 Rafale fighter jets and two surface-to-air defence systems.

In April, the exercise will come under NATO command and will focus on France’s role as a host nation, supporting allied forces transiting through its territory.

Vice-Admiral Xavier de Véricourt, commander of the Joint Force Command expert centre, told RFI more about the drills.

RFI: What’s the scenario for Orion 26?

The scenario was inspired by NATO. I’m not going to reveal all its secrets, firstly because there are confidential elements, and also because it would reveal everything to the players on all sides. It would diminish the intensity of the exercise. But, broadly speaking, it involves a country calling on a coalition, whose framework nation is France, and this coalition intervenes under French leadership. Then the situation evolves, NATO intervenes and the operation and its forces are transferred to NATO command.

The exercise begins in France and has four phases. How will they be structured?

There are three successive phases and then one phase that runs across the entire timeline. The first phase is taking place right now. It’s the planning phase, staff work. Then there’s a so-called field phase within the coalition, and finally a last field phase, but this time under NATO command.

Throughout this timeline, you have an interministerial crisis management component for the entire duration of the exercise. This involves, on the one hand, managing repercussions on French territory while our troops are supposed to be deployed abroad in support of the country calling on the coalition, and on the other hand, managing the support that would transit through French territory.

Russia sees France as its ‘chief enemy’ in Europe, says head of French army

So with Orion 26, will French forces move from national command to a broader command structure?

A NATO command, and that’s one of the challenges. But in fact there are multiple issues at stake with Orion 26. There’s the training issue, because if an army doesn’t train, it loses skills and operational performance. So the aim for us is to remain at the highest possible level of operational performance. There is also the challenge of training to deal with modern threats, in a context marked by innovation. So we inject innovation. And then there’s the issue of validating the reforms that we’ve carried out in our command structure. 

This articulation between French command and NATO command is well known, since this isn’t the first exercise we’ve conducted in this context. French forces regularly train in NATO exercises; these are familiar arrangements. But nevertheless, it’s good to practise and oil the machinery regularly so that, when the time comes, if it were to happen for real, everything is as smooth as possible.

The aim is to work on interoperability with our allies. Which other nations are taking part in the exercise?

There are 24 in total. There are 14 European countries, three Asian countries, three from the American continent and two from the Middle East. They include our close allies – the British, Germans, Italians and Spaniards. I can’t list them all, but there are many partners.

Is the carrier strike group, built around the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, integrated into the exercise?

Absolutely. In modern operations, across multiple environments and domains, we draw on land, air, maritime and cyber assets, in order to be as effective as possible in dealing with the threats we face. 

This interview, adapted from the original version in French, has been edited for clarity.

The 53-year-old was shot dead on Tuesday at his residence in Zintan, a city in Libya’s northwest. According to those around him, four unidentified armed men broke into Kadhafi’s home before killing him.

Since his release from prison in 2016, Saïf al-Islam had been living in seclusion in Zintan with only two employees, in an isolated villa on a mountain overlooking the Hamada Desert.

For security reasons, he led an extremely discreet life and communicated only with a very small circle, small enough to be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Son of former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi shot dead in home

A reformist image

Under his father’s rule, Saïf al-Islam cultivated the image of a reformer. Educated in London and fluent in English, he played a role in sensitive diplomatic missions, including negotiations over Libya’s decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction.

He became a key interlocutor with Western governments, calling for the adoption of a constitution and respect for human rights.

During the 2000s, he contributed to the release of political prisoners, including Islamists.

He also launched a reform project aimed at putting Libya on the path to democracy. That effort ran into strong resistance from the regime’s old guard and ultimately failed.

Kadhafi’s son breaks silence on Sarkozy Libya funding

A violent break

At the start of the uprising against his father’s rule in 2011, Saïf al-Islam promised “bloodbaths”, abruptly shattering his reputation as a progressive.

He was arrested while attempting to flee and spent six years detained in Zintan, held in near-total isolation.

In 2015, he was sentenced to death after a summary trial before later benefiting from an amnesty. The years in detention marked a decisive rupture in his public life and ambitions.

Despite his past, Saïf al-Islam retained support among Libyans nostalgic for the former regime.

He put himself forward as a candidate in Libya’s planned presidential election in 2021. His candidacy was controversial and widely contested. Saïf al-Islam was eventually disqualified because of his conviction.

Political disputes that followed caused the electoral process to collapse, and the vote never took place.

France urges rival parties in Libya to find political solution to end violence

Life on the margins

Marked by the death of his father and his brother Moatassem in 2011, and by the imprisonment of two of his other brothers, Saïf al-Islam mistrusted everyone.

He rarely left his home, though he sometimes walked alone near the desert. He was always accompanied by a book, a habit he had developed during his years in prison.

In 2025, he reopened official social media accounts, commenting on international affairs and signalling his continued ambition to stand in a future presidential election.

Trained in economics and architecture, Saïf al-Islam also pursued an artistic practice. He exhibited his paintings in several countries, including France, notably in Paris.

Tim Redford, in charge of the festival’s international competition and the African Perspectives section, says it acts as a cultural barometer, measuring the level of short film production around the world.

He also says there’s no getting away from geopolitics and global economics, which have great impact on the quantity – and quality – of content.

“The current climate is quite complex, and we feel it immediately in short film production,” he told RFI.

Despite having received more than 8,000 entries this year, he says armed conflicts have meant a lower number of entries – especially from Ukraine, Russia and the Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, inflation in Latin America has affected the number of entries from that part of the world.

However, he notes a rise in entries from China, which has invested heavily in the film industry in recent years, particularly in film schools.

This year’s special focus at the festival is South East Asia, a region Redford says is booming with activity.

“You can sense that there’s a [new] generation of filmmakers who are very free, very inventive in the way they talk about their society, politics and also intimate matters, pushing the boundaries of censorship a little,” he explains.

‘Nouvelle Vague’ dominates César nominations, Jim Carrey to get lifetime award

New technology

African Perspectives, now in its 36th edition, remains one of the highlights of the festival.

“It’s great because it often provides a first step into an international festival,” Redford says, noting the immense diversity he sees in the African entries – whether from Cap Verde, Nigeria, Chad or Tunisia.

“There is the use of social media and experimental forms… there is a transformation, a use of more hybrid forms than there were a few years ago. It’s a type of cinema that fascinates me, and every year I see wonderful things happening.”

Sousou’s TikTok is one of two Egyptian films in this year’s African Perspectives section.

Directed by Sondos Shabayek, this dark comedy introduces us to Sarah, a beautiful woman who sells beauty products on TikTok – but when her husband arrives home, she reverts to an oppressed housewife.

“That’s the problem with the online world, with all these women we see online and all these facades they create. I was very curious to explore what lies behind all that,” Shabayek told RFI.

With a low budget, the film was shot vertically, just like the videos seen on TikTok. On the right side of the screen is the livestream, on the left are the “likes” and readers’ comments can be seen.

“For me, the film is about a woman seeking her freedom. Her presence on TikTok is an expression of her desire to be seen and heard. Her attempt to sell products on TikTok is an attempt to achieve financial independence, which is generally very threatening to men,” the director says.

“I wanted to give the impression that we are the audience and question my point of view as a viewer… I wanted to portray the audience’s complacency, their negligence. In a way, they contribute to the environment in which this violence occurs.”

Redford says an increasing number of films “play with genres or blur the boundaries between fiction and documentary, reality and staging” as well as dealing with new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

He points to examples of how AI helps creators fill in gaps in images, and to those who use AI as a character – such as in the French film Curiosity On Planet Mars by Tommy Baron, in which a young man has an emotional relationship with a conversational AI tool.

“[AI] is beginning to revolutionise creation, film-making, writing, editing, imagery… and it certainly raises new questions about short films.”

While he says AI is “here to stay”, he admits to being concerned about its potential to replace human film crews.

African cinema takes to global stage with diverse storytelling

Parallels with the past

But the focus is not all on the future. Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb, a veteran of the festival, this year presents his film Boomerang Atomic, which uses archives to shine a light on little-known colonial history.

This 22-minute documentary delves into the long-lasting consequences of the 17 atomic bomb tests carried out by France in Algeria in the early 1960s.

Bouchareb is pleased to be back, 30 years after his first time at Clermont-Ferrand.

The award-winning director, of both short and long films, often turns his eye to historical events. His film Indigènes, about African soldiers in the Second World War, won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 – awarded collectively to all five of the film’s leads.

Boomerang Atomic focuses on the lead-up to the first atomic detonation in Reggane, a town in the centre of the Sahara, which took place on 13 February, 1960, under the initiative of General Charles de Gaulle.

‘Telling stories differently’: Tunisian cinema shines at Franco-Arab Film Festival

For Bouchareb – there are parallels between those events and the threat of nuclear war in today’s world.

“We thought that many things had been debated sufficiently so that we could no longer go back on them,” he says. “But in the end, we realise that with human beings, anything is possible. Dropping another atomic bomb on a country is possible today, and even more so tomorrow. I can’t keep up with this world anymore. Everything is moving so fast. The presence of war… it’s always there.”

This article was based on interviews in French by Sigfried Forster. The International Short Film Festival runs until 7 February.

After a lifetime of clashes with successive powers in Nigeria, the recognition comes nearly three decades after Fela’s death and long after his influence reshaped global music.

He was one of several artists getting the award at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, the eve of the main Grammys gala.

Other recipients included Cher, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon and Chaka Khan.

Fela’s son Femi Kuti accepted the award on his father’s behalf.

“Thank you for bringing our father here,” he told the audience.”It’s so important for us, it’s so important for Africa, it’s so important for world peace and the struggle.”

In the 1970s, Fela the multi-instrumentalist and full-of-life performer invented Afrobeat: a mixture of jazz, funk and African rhythms.

That laid the groundwork for Afrobeats – a later genre that has attracted a global audience by blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary pop sounds, with its roots in Nigeria.

Two years ago the Grammys introduced the category of Best African Performance in 2024 and it has been dominated by Afrobeats artists, especially from Nigeria.

Of the five nominees for the Best African performance this year, three are Nigerian Afrobeats singers, after another Nigerian, Tems, won last year.

‘Black President’

“Fela’s influence spans generations, inspiring artists such as Beyonce, Paul McCartney and Thom Yorke, and shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats,” said a citation on the Grammys list of this year’s honorees.

Known also as the “Black President”, the activist and legendary musician, died in 1997 at the age of 58.

His legacy lives on through his sons, Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti, and grandson Made.

Nigerian Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, 79, dies in Paris

“This acknowledgment coming at this time when all three of us are present. It feels wonderful,” Grammy-nominated Made Kuti told French news agency AFP ahead of the ceremony.

“It feels wonderful that all of us are still practicing Afrobeat, still taking the legacy as far as we can take it.”

Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, Fela’s first cousin and head of the family, told AFP on Friday the award was “a celebration for the African people and they should take (it).. as their award. Another African is being celebrated.

“But we also want to send a message to those who are giving these acknowledgements, please …not wait till people are dead,” she said.

Onward and upward

As to what would have been Fela’s reaction, Ransome-Kuti said: “I’m sure he would have said better late than never” although “in his lifetime he was not particularly interested in being recognised in the external world particularly the western world”.

Fela was arrested frequently by military governments during his career, sometimes for political activism and sometimes also on allegations of theft, which he denied.

His first brush with the law dated back to 1974 when he released his famous album “Zombie”, generally considered by the military authorities in power as a diatribe levelled at them.

Paris exhibition celebrates Fela Kuti, the rebel king of Afrobeat

His songs were long, defiant and explicitly anti-governments in power and anti-corruption.

His manager, Rikki Stein, speaking on the phone from Los Angeles ahead of the ceremony, was confident the award would “significantly uplift Fela’s music”.

“Fifty albums out there. I’m sure it’s going to continue onward and upward.”

“An increasing number of people what weren’t even born when Fela died are expressing interest in listening to Fela’s music and hopefully Fela’s message,” he told AFP.

(with AFP)

“It started with my grandmother. She had thyroid cancer during the Nineties. Then her first child, my auntie, had thyroid cancer too.” 

Hinamoeura Morgant-Cross was a child in Tahiti when France last exploded a nuclear bomb. She has few memories of the years when her home was a testing ground, but they have changed the course of her life.   

“My mum had thyroid problems… And also, my sister had thyroid problems. She has to take medication for the rest of her life. My auntie also got breast cancer a few years ago.  

“And I have had chronic myeloid leukaemia since I was 24 years old.” 

France tested nuclear weapons in Polynesia for 30 years. The explosions started in 1966, after France had already tested several bombs in the Algerian Sahara.  

After Algeria claimed independence, France moved the tests to its colony in the South Pacific. They continued until 27 January 1996 – more than three years after the United States’ final test, four since the United Kingdom’s and five since the Soviet Union’s. 

France chose two uninhabited atolls as its test sites, Moruroa and Fangataufa, which between them took the impact of 193 explosions – the biggest around 200 times more powerful than the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima.  

At least 41 took place in the open air, before tests were moved underground in 1975. Mushroom clouds drifted over the ocean, carrying radiation to populated islands – including Tahiti, more than 1,200 kilometres away. 

Only in the years since the programme ended has the true impact come to light. While the French military measured radiation levels after each explosion, the data was kept secret until victims’ associations won a legal battle to have it partially declassified in 2013.  

“Around 20 boxes” of documents out of thousands were released in that first batch, according to Patrice Bouveret of the Observatoire des Armements, a Lyon-based campaign group that helped make them public. But the information was enough for journalists and researchers to map a far broader pattern of exposure than France had ever publicly acknowledged. 

One 1974 test alone exposed an estimated 110,000 people to more than the annual “safe” dose of radiation, according to a 2021 investigation led by public-interest newsroom Disclose.  

The revelations pushed French President Emmanuel Macron to order the opening of all archives – with the exception of details that might suggest how to build a nuclear device. Tens of thousands of documents have since been released and continue to lay bare the gap between what French authorities knew about the risks, and what they told those most affected. 

France ‘concealed devastation’ of nuclear tests in French Polynesia

‘Cocktails of cancer’

“Every family in French Polynesia has a lot of cancer. It’s just not one. Some have, as we say, cocktails of cancer,” says Morgant-Cross, today a member of the French Polynesian parliament and an anti-nuclear campaigner.  

“But it’s hard for them to think that it can be related to the nuclear tests because of the decades of French propaganda saying that French nuclear tests are clean.” 

Visiting Tahiti in September 1966, president Charles de Gaulle declared that all precautions had been taken to ensure the tests would “not cause any inconvenience whatsoever to the dear people of Polynesia”.  

Nearly three decades later, president Jacques Chirac – who ordered France’s final nuclear tests in 1995-96, reversing a moratorium that had halted the programme since 1992 – was still insisting that they had “strictly no ecological consequences”. 

For years, Polynesians were told their lifestyle and eating habits were to blame for health problems, according to Morgant-Cross. She only made the connection between her family’s history of cancer and the nuclear tests, she says, when she met survivors in other countries.  

Seeing the list of diseases that research has linked to radiation exposure, she realised the thyroid cancer that afflicted her relatives, as well as her own rare form of leukaemia, were among them. 

“These aren’t illnesses that show up immediately after an explosion,” says Bouveret. “It’s not like a week later you get sick. They develop a long time afterwards.” 

In 2023, France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Inserm, used declassified military data to estimate how much radiation thyroid cancer patients had been exposed to and calculate what role it played. Researchers said nuclear tests “are most likely responsible for a small increase in the incidence of thyroid cancers in French Polynesia” – though they warned the estimated doses were probably inaccurate.  

The difficulty of proving harm to health has been a barrier to compensation. France introduced a law in 2010 allowing victims to claim reparations from the state, but the criteria to qualify – which include demonstrating exposure to a certain level of radiation – have proved hard to meet. 

Only 1,026 people had successfully claimed by the end of 2024, Bouveret says – 607 in mainland France, 417 from Polynesia and two from Algeria. “It’s ridiculous when you consider the number of people who have been impacted by these diseases.” 

A bill to reform the law is before the French parliament. It would also bind the state to cover the costs of treating illnesses caused by radiation – estimated at some €855 million, and currently borne by French Polynesian social security. 

Paris owes a debt to French Polynesia, says Macron

A society upended

The broader consequences of France’s nuclear tests are even harder to quantify.  

The programme kicked off massive construction, drawing islanders to help build military bases and research stations. Many stayed to work at the new sites, concentrating the population and shifting labour away from traditional fishing and farming.  

Corals were flattened to make way for ships, which may have contributed to a dramatic rise in ciguatera – a type of food poisoning caused by eating fish sickened by toxins from plankton found on damaged reefs.  

“They really poisoned our main food,” says Morgant-Cross. “We eat fish from breakfast to dinner.” Today the archipelago is largely dependent on food shipped in from elsewhere, and like other parts of overseas France, suffers from high cost of living. 

As de Gaulle promised, the nuclear programme brought economic opportunities – but they depended on jobs and money provided by the French state, binding Polynesia ever more tightly to France.  

Bouveret believes that helped stymie the archipelago’s aspirations to independence. Now, given the costs of caring for nuclear victims and containing the lingering radiation on Moruroa and Fangataufa, he says separating from France looks “extremely difficult”.  

For Morgant-Cross, the first step is to “decolonise minds” and help Polynesians fathom the damage done. While she was at school in the 1990s, she recalls, children were still taught “we should be grateful” for the nuclear tests.  

Things have changed since then, but confronting the past remains difficult – and not only for the generation who remember when speaking out could cost people their jobs or lead to arrest.  

“As a mother of two boys, I really hope that they don’t have the burden of this issue like myself,” she says.  

“I felt some trauma, but without understanding where it came from. And I understood with my grandmother, when I saw the fear in her eyes… I saw how guilty she felt because of the leukaemia that I have. She felt that if she had protested more, maybe I would not be sick today. 

“It’s really traumatic for our people.” 

Listen to a version of this story on the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 139.

The EU is Australia’s third-biggest trading partner, after China and Japan, while Australia is the bloc’s 20th-biggest trading partner.

But negotiations between Brussels and Canberra hit a wall in 2023 after five years of painstaking discussions over Australia’s push for access to the European market for its agricultural products such as beef and lamb.

This time around, talks are zeroing in on duty-free quotas for imported Australian beef, which the EU hopes to cap at around 30,000 tonnes per year, while Canberra wants access for 40,000 tonnes.

Supporters in the EU say a free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia would offer a range of opportunities, not just in the food industry.

The EU wants to cut its reliance on China for critical raw materials – needed for clean technologies like wind turbines and electric car batteries – and Australia’s rich deposits would help Brussels diversify imports.

How Trump’s trade threats have reshaped Europe’s global strategy

Policy of derisking

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who is currently in Canberra, reiterated that Europe was “very interested in expanding further our cooperation in the raw materials sector”.

Wadephul urged Australia to work with Europe to support the “international rules-based system” which has come under pressure from Washington and others.

US tariff threats and China’s use of trade restrictions on products like magnets are forcing more countries and blocs to band together and reorientate their exports.

“We have to have a policy of derisking, and we have to have a policy which emboldens us – Germany and the European Union – to withstand all the pressure we do feel from big powers in order to preserve not only our economic but especially our political independence,” Wadephul told reporters.

He added that he would like to conclude an FTA with Australia “quickly,” as well as strengthen cooperation on supply chains and trade in critical minerals.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed “Germany’s strong support” for the FTA, adding she hoped to see progress in the “near future”.

International trade tensions force EU to cut 2026 eurozone growth forecast

‘Like-minded partner’

In the meantime, the EU’s top trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic and agriculture chief Christophe Hansen will hold talks with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell next Thursday, the EU executive said.

“The EU is committed to strengthening relations with Australia, a strategic and like-minded partner. As always, progress in the sensitive phase of negotiations will depend on substance,” EU trade spokesman Olof Gill said.

If the talks are fruitful, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen could visit Australia later this month.

The EU deal with Australia would be the bloc’s third major agreement this year and bolster its efforts to stave off pressure from the Trump administration.

Brussels has recently clinched two deals that had been two decades in the making: the first with the South American Mercosur bloc, and then with India.

The EU is treading carefully to avoid a major new backlash from farmers, who are angry at the Mercosur deal because they fear it will cause an influx of cheaper goods produced with lower standards and banned pesticides.

European agricultural lobby groups will be paying close attention to the quotas for lamb, mutton and beef as well as sugar and rice, with the umbrella farm group Copa-Cogeca already warning against “any additional pressure” in sensitive sectors.

(with newswires)

Tinubu condemned Tuesday’s “beastly attack”, which he said was carried out against villagers who had rejected extremist Islamist ideology.

“President Tinubu expressed rage that the attackers killed the community members who rejected their obnoxious attempt at indoctrination,” a presidential statement said on Wednesday.

The main attack occured late Tuesday in Woro village, while another attack was reported in Nuku village.

Ayodeji Emmanuel Babaomo, the Red Cross secretary in Kwara State, said the death toll stood at 162, “as the search for more bodies continues”.

He told French news agency AFP that gunmen had burned shops and a traditional ruler’s home in Woro and that wounded people fled into the bushes.

Babaomo said the organisation has been unable to reach the communities where “scores of people were killed” because of the remoteness of the area – about eight hours from the state capital and near Nigeria’s border with Benin.

Conflicting casualty reports

Residents told Reuters news agency the gunmen, thought to be jihadists who often preached in the village, demanded that locals ditch their allegiance to the Nigerian state and switch to Sharia Islamic law. When the villagers pushed back, the militants opened fire.

Earlier, a local lawmaker in Woro, Sa’idu Baba Ahmed, gave an initial toll of 35 to 40 dead but said he expected more bodies would be found. He later put the death toll at more than 170.

The attack was confirmed by police, who did not give a casualty figure. 

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While no group has yet claimed responsibility, the Kwara state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq blamed “terrorist cells”.

He said their attack as a “cowardly expression of frustration” in response to ongoing military operations against armed extremists in the state.

Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area, told the Associated Press agency the attacks in Woro and Nuku were carried out by the Lakurawa, an armed group affiliated with the Islamic State group.

President Tinubu blamed the attack on Boko Haram jihadists.

Complex security crisis

Nigeria is in the grip of a complex security crisis, with an insurgency by Islamic militants in the north-east alongside a surge in kidnappings for ransom by gunmen across the north-west and north-central regions over recent months.

Last month, the military said it had launched “sustained coordinated offensive operations against terrorist elements” in Kwara State. Local media reported that the army had “neutralised” 150 bandits.

Jihadist attacks have intensified over the past year in Nigeria. The powerful Al-Qaeda affiliate Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) – which operates across the northern border in Niger – claimed responsibility for its first attack in Nigeria at the end of October, in Kwara State.

Researcher Brant Philip said the latest raid occurred very near the site JNIM attacked, suggesting a “direct overlap” between JNIM and Boko Haram, with the groups appearing to have a “loose alliance”.

US strikes on Nigeria set ‘deeply troubling precedent’ for African governance

US involvement

Nigeria is under pressure to restore security since US President Donald Trump accused it last year of failing to protect Christians after numerous Islamist attacks and mass kidnappings.

In response, Trump ordered US air strikes in December on IS group-affiliated militants in Nigeria.

On Tuesday, the head of US Africa Command said the US had sent a small team of military officers to Nigeria.

The Nigerian authorities say they are cooperating with Washington to improve security and have denied there is systematic persecution of Christians.

Experts say Muslims as well as Christians have been killed in the country’s violence, often without distinction.

(with newswires)

The conflict is Europe’s deadliest since the Second World War, with hundreds of thousands of people killed, millions forced to flee their homes and much of eastern and southern Ukraine left decimated.

Underscoring the human toll, Zelensky told France 2 journalist Léa Salamé on Wednesday that 55,000 of his country’s troops had been killed, a rare assessment of battlefield losses by either side.

 “And there are a great number Ukraine lists as missing,” he said, through translated comments.

While denying that he was trying to scare anyone, the Ukrainian leader issued a blunt warning to European countries.

“Life in Europe is cool, it’s nice… That’s why I say we are all fighting to defend this way of life,” he said. “But today, it is very clear that if Ukraine does not stop [Vladimir] Putin, he will invade Europe.”

Zelensky is calling on Europeans to review their priorities, which he believes are too focused on “their internal affairs”.

“I think the pressure on Putin is not enough… My opinion is that we need to engage in dialogue, but with conditions,” he said, asserting that the Russian president’s “interest” is “to humiliate Europe”.

Putin ‘only scared of Trump’

He accused Moscow of taking advantage of the cold weather to try to tip the balance of the war by increasing strikes against energy infrastructure since the beginning of winter. This has left many people, including residents of the capital Kyiv, without power in temperatures as low as minus 20C in recent days.

“Russia wants to inflict more suffering on Ukrainians so that they accept what our American friends call a ‘compromise’, But in fact, it is an ultimatum.”

Zelensky said the US president’s role in ongoing peace talks would be crucial, and that “Putin is only scared of Trump”.

He suggested that Trump could use economic sanctions against Russia or transfer weapons to Ukraine to “maintain this pressure on Putin“, adding that Kyiv would not compromise on sovereignty.   

US backs security guarantees for Ukraine at summit of Kyiv’s allies in Paris

Zelensky’s comments came as a second day of trilateral talks gets under way on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.

These US-mediated talks are the latest chapter in the so far unsuccessful diplomatic effort to halt the war, which started on 24 February, 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The main sticking point in the negotiations is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops out of swathes of the Donbas region, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, as a precondition of any deal.

It also wants international recognition that land seized in the invasion belongs to Russia.

Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine. It claims the Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as its own, and holds pockets of territory in at least three other Ukrainian regions in the east.

Kyiv still controls around one-fifth of the Donetsk region.

International intervention force

But Zelensky has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow, and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

“We Ukrainians are well aware of the price that every metre and every kilometre of this land costs our army,” he told France 2.

“To conquer eastern Ukraine, it would cost them [the Russian army] 800,000 more [soldiers’] lives. It will take them at least two years, with very slow progress. In my opinion, they will not last that long.”

Macron demands ‘robust security guarantees’ before any Ukraine territorial talks

Instead he raised the suggestion of a “frozen front line” and the creation of a special economic zone, with international oversight.

“We must be in control of our part. They must control theirs. But, between us, we need an international intervention force, an international presence,” he added.

French diplomatic visit

European leaders have balked at their exclusion from peace talks led by Trump’s administration, forced instead to shore up Ukraine’s negotiating position from the sidelines.

France and the United Kingdom have been leading efforts to put together a peacekeeping force that could be deployed to Ukraine after any deal.

On this subject, French President Emmanuel Macron stated in early January that “several thousand” French soldiers could be deployed.

Macron also reiterated this week the importance for Europeans “to restore their own channels of discussion”.

He said in December that Europeans would have to re-engage in direct talks with Putin if the latest US-led efforts to broker a Ukraine peace deal were to founder.

In this vein, Macron’s most senior diplomat, Emmanuel Bonne, travelled to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian officials.

“These discussions exist at a technical level, in full transparency and in consultation with President Volodymyr Zelensky and with the main European colleagues,” the president’s office said on Tuesday.

(with newswires)

Campaigners have warned that the expiry of the New START treaty could trigger a global arms race, urging nuclear powers to enter negotiations.

The United States has said any new nuclear agreement would have to include China, whose nuclear arsenal is rapidly expanding, but international efforts to draw Beijing to the negotiating table have so far failed.

China’s foreign ministry joined a growing chorus expressing regret on Thursday over the expiry of the treaty, saying it was “of utmost importance to safeguarding global strategic stability”.

Nevertheless, “China’s nuclear capabilities are of a totally different scale as those of the United States and Russia,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference.

Beijing “will not participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage”, he said.

Russia and the United States together control more than 80 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads.

China’s nuclear arsenal, meanwhile, is growing faster than any country’s, by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

China is estimated to have at least 600 nuclear warheads, SIPRI says – well below the 800 each at which Russia and the United States were capped under New START.

France and Britain, treaty-bound US allies, together have another 100.

How Trump’s trade threats have reshaped Europe’s global strategy

Fears of nuclear war

Signed during a warmer period of relations, US President Donald Trump did not follow up on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin‘s proposal to extend New START’s limits for one year.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the expiry a “grave moment”.

“For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals” of Russia and the United States, Guterres said in a statement.

“This dissolution of decades of achievement could not come at a worse time – the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is the highest in decades,” he said, after Russian suggestions of using tactical nuclear weapons early in the Ukraine war.

Pope Leo XIV said each side needed to do “everything possible” to avert a new arms race.

A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called for “restraint and responsibility” and said that the US-led military alliance “will continue to take steps necessary” to ensure its defence.

A group of Japanese survivors of US atomic bombs during World War II said they feared the world was marching towards nuclear war.

“Given the current situation, I have a feeling that in the not-too-distant future, we’ll actually have a nuclear war and head toward destruction,” Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of the Nihon Hidankyo group, told a press conference.

In the run-up to the treaty’s expiry, the metaphorical “Doomsday Clock” representing how near humanity is to catastrophe moved closer than ever to midnight, as its board warned of heightened risks of a nuclear arms race.

The long half-life of France’s nuclear tests in Polynesia

‘Impossible’ without Chine

Moscow said it considered that both Russia and the United States were “no longer bound by any obligations” under New START.

“The Russian Federation intends to act responsibly and prudently,” it added, but warned it was ready to take “decisive” countermeasures if its national security is threatened.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters of the treaty’s expiry that “we view it negatively.”

Trump, who has frequently lashed out at international limits on the United States, also looked ready in his first term to let New START lapse as he insisted on including China.

But some observers say the expiry owes less to ideology than to the workings of the Trump administration, where career diplomats are sidelined, simply not having the bandwidth to negotiate a complex agreement.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated a call for a new agreement that includes China.

“The president’s been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China,” Rubio said.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which warns of nuclear risks, agreed that China should engage.

But “there is no indication that Trump or his team have taken the time to propose risk reduction or arms control talks with China since returning to office in 2025”, Kimball said.

The treaty, signed in 2010 in Prague by then presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, limited each side’s nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.

The European Union must be “more transactional” in global climate negotiations and consider using financial and trade leverage to assert its position, the French ecology ministry said Tuesday.

The comments came before a meeting of EU environment ministers in Cyprus on Thursday to review last November’s UN climate summit, which ended with a watered-down pact that omitted EU demands over fossil fuels.

Monique Barbut, France’s minister for ecological transition, had already expressed disappointment over the Cop30 outcome and said the EU must be prepared to “assert its red lines” and reject similar proposals in future.

‘Tougher world’

The EU must be “less naive” and “more assertive, more demanding, and more transactional if we want to have an impact in these negotiations”, her office said ahead of the meeting.

“We are in a tougher world where the European Union, when it comes to climate negotiations, is more isolated,” a senior source from Barbut’s office told reporters.

“States that had previously been somewhat hesitant to speak out are doing so much more freely since the American withdrawal” from the global fight against climate change, the source added.

US President Donald Trump has withdrawn the world’s largest economy from the Paris Agreement on global warming and the UN climate treaty that underpins it.

His administration sent nobody to the last UN climate summit in Brazil, where the EU’s call for the inclusion of a “roadmap” leading the world away from fossil fuels was left out of the final deal.

The EU ended up accepting that version instead.

Half of 2024 global emissions produced by just 32 fossil fuel firms, study finds

Climate finance

The EU is the largest payer of climate finance – money to help developing countries transition to a low-carbon future – and Barbut’s office suggested the 27-nation bloc could use this in a more “political” manner.

The source also questioned if the EU should “continue to demonstrate climate and financial solidarity with countries” that have failed to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement.

These include updating their national pledges for cutting emissions, the latest round of which were due last year.

Paris Agreement turns 10 as heat rises faster than global action

But more than 60 countries – some of them major climate finance recipients such as India, Egypt, and the Philippines – have still not turned in their latest plans.

“We have tools like trade agreements”, whose implementation can be conditional on compliance with the Paris Agreement, the minister’s office added.

Cyprus currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

One of the key issues on the agenda will be implementation of a European strategy for water resilience across key sectors such as agriculture, tourism and energy.

In addition, delegates will discuss challenges related to the circular economy and the plastics recycling market.

(with AFP)

The thieves who robbed the famed Paris museum last October made off with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) in jewels, but dropped the empress’s diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they escaped, leaving it crushed and broken.

Investigators have yet to locate the other jewels, but recovered the dropped crown.

The Louvre said in a statement the piece had been “badly deformed”, but remained “nearly intact” and would be restored to its original state, “without the need for reconstruction”.

Strike shuts Paris’s Louvre again as video of jewel heist aired for first time

The museum said the crown was damaged when the thieves tried to remove it through a narrow hole they had sawed in the glass case where it was displayed.

The Louvre said the crown still had all its pieces, except for one of the eight golden eagles that adorned it.

It retains all 56 of its emeralds and all but 10 of its 1,354 diamonds, the museum said.

It said an expert committee led by the museum’s president, Laurence des Cars, had been selected to supervise the restoration, which would be carried out by a qualified expert chosen in a competitive selection process.

Authorities have arrested all four alleged members of the heist crew, but have not found the mastermind — or the remaining jewels.

The thieves made off with eight other items of jewellery, including a diamond-studded tiara that belonged to Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.

“We want to see widespread lung cancer screening by 2030, and it will start in March with more than 20,000 people eligible for targeted screening,” said Rist.

Speaking to Franceinfo for World Cancer Day on Wednesday, the health minister said the pilot would help identify the population most likely to benefit from pre-emptive checks, with a view to making them routine.

“We are really moving towards mass screening, as we do for breast cancer or colon cancer.”

Lung cancer is the deadliest form of the disease in France, responsible for some 30,000 deaths a year. Most cases are caused by smoking.

With symptoms slow to appear, low survival rates are partly explained by the difficulty of catching lung cancer early. One analysis found that almost a fifth of patients died within three months of diagnosis.

Anti-tobacco groups hail France’s decision to ban nicotine pouches in 2026

Potential to save thousands of lives

France’s pilot screening programme, first announced last year, will target people aged 50 to 74 who either smoke or quit within the past 15 years. 

A full-scale programme to screen high-risk individuals for lung cancer could prevent more than 10,000 lung cancer deaths in France over five years, according to modelling conducted to help design the project. 

Between 2.4 and 4 million individuals may be eligible nationwide, depending on which criteria health authorities use.

Lung cancer screening has already been tested with a small number of people in some parts of France, including the Somme and Corsica. Several other European countries are also in the process of developing large-scale programmes, including Poland, Croatia, Italy and Romania.

From breast cancer to HIV, how AI is set to revolutionise healthcare

Doctors can use CT scans, chest X-rays or sputum samples to check for early signs of lung cancer. Trials in other countries indicate that annual CT scans are the most effective, with the potential to reduce the risk of dying by around 20 percent. 

France currently screens for three types of cancer – breast, cervical and colorectal – with target age groups systematically invited for regular checks that are paid for by the national health service. 

Rist said the Health Ministry was also preparing to roll out another pilot programme to better target people at high risk of developing breast cancer, the most prevalent form of the disease in women, with more than 60,000 cases diagnosed in France a year.

Libyan television channel Libya al-Ahrar said people close to Saïf al-Islam had also confirmed his death without revealing the circumstances.

His adviser and representative to the national dialogue committee, Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, also announced the passing of the 53-year-old in a Facebook post, without further details.

Media reports said Saïf al-Islam was killed south of the city of Zintan, in western Libya. He was alone at home when four armed men broke into the residence and opened fire.

Libya al-Ahrar said the attackers disabled surveillance cameras before storming the house and killing him, citing comments by Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim.

Saïf al-Islam’s lawyer later confirmed to the French news agency AFP that “a commando of four people” had killed him at his home.

Lebanon frees Hannibal Kadhafi, son of Libya’s ex-leader, held for a decade

First reactions

His cousin, Hamid Kadhafi, described the killing as a martyrdom. “Doctor Saïf al-Islam fell as a martyr,” he told Libya al-Ahrar by telephone.

Saïf al-Islam’s lawyer, Abdallah Zaydi, condemned what he called a “cowardly assassination” and an “odious crime that adds to the series of crimes committed against the Libyan people”.

Photos circulating on social media showed Saïf al-Islam’s body lying in the back of a vehicle.

His political adviser said the body had been taken to a private hospital in Zintan and that four judges had arrived in the city to open an investigation.

“He will not be buried before the end of the investigation,” the adviser said.

Kadhafi’s son breaks silence on Sarkozy Libya funding

Denials and past charges

Some sources accused Brigade 444, an armed group led by Mahmoud Hamza, of carrying out the assassination.

The brigade denied any involvement. “We affirm that no force is deployed in Zintan and we deny the existence of any decision to pursue Saïf al-Islam Kadhafi,” the group said in a statement.

Long seen as a potential successor to his father, Saïf al-Islam was wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

He was arrested in 2011, sentenced to death in 2015 and later released under an amnesty.

Nick Checker, the newly appointed head of the US State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, arrived in Bamako on Monday for an official visit, where Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop welcomed him.

The leaders focused their discussions on two main issues: resuming bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fight against terrorism, and strengthening economic and trade relations between Mali and the United States.

Trade, not aid   

Diop told news agencies that no official statement would be issued concerning Checker’s visit, but it coincides with US President Donald Trump’s pivot to a “trade, not aid” foreign policy approach.

Trump has slashed foreign assistance, including dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mali is known to be mineral-rich, with substantial reserves in gold, lithium and uranium. 

According to the official statement from Malian authorities, both sides view the reactivation of their relations as a “win-win” partnership.

Mali’s economy near standstill amid JNIM fuel attacks

Fighting jihadism

Checker emphasised his country’s respect for Mali’s sovereignty, and added that the American desire to revitalise bilateral cooperation with Bamako came without any form of interference.

A diplomat at the US embassy in Bamako told news agencies on condition of anonymity that the “United States sees how the jihadists are settling in the Sahel” and wants to prevent escalations.

A Malian diplomat, also on condition of anonymity, said that Washington’s envoy had “come to make an offer of services to AES countries [Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso] to see under what conditions the United States can get involved in the fight against jihadists in the Sahel“.

Niger faces multiple crises three months after military coup

“Among the conditions of US involvement are the return to constitutional order and the end of the Africa Corps contract,” the Malian diplomat said. 

Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012, fuelled notably by violence pitting the military against groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, and the actions of criminal gangs.

The visit also comes at a time when Russia is exerting greater influence in the region, including supplying mercenaries from its Africa Corps to help combat jihadists.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have cultivated closer relations with Russia since their military leaders took power in a series of coups between 2020 and 2023, cutting ties with the West.

France halts counter-terrorism cooperation with Mali after diplomat’s arrest

Resuming security cooperation

The US Bureau of African Affairs, which is part of the State Department, said last week it also planned to consult other governments in the  region, including military-run Burkina Faso and Niger, “on shared security and economic interests”.

While welcoming this approach, Malian Foreign Minister Diop nevertheless emphasised that this dynamic would have to take into account the regional context, and in particular the establishment of the Alliance of Sahel States.   

US security cooperation with the three countries had been curtailed since the coups, but last month, the deputy commander of US Africa Command (Africom), Lieutenant General John Brennan, told French news service AFP that Washington wanted to collaborate further.

“We have actually shared information with some of them to attack key terrorist targets,” Brennan said.

“We still talk to our military partners across the Sahel states, even though it’s not official.”

(with newswires)

“It’s a relief because we had to stop operations for three months after the attack of the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard against the Ocean Viking in August” Claire Juchat said. “People are still leaving Libyan shores because they have no other choice.”

A hostile operating zone

The Ocean Viking resumed rescue operations in late December, following the attack in late August 2025. According to the NGO, the vessel was fired upon with 100 bullets for around 20 minutes while carrying survivors and searching for another boat in distress. No one was injured, but the ship was damaged and remained docked for several months. She compared the operating environment to “a war zone”.

Italy confines Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship for 20 days

Despite the risks, Juchat says returning to sea was necessary. “We rescued 120 people in the past few weeks,” she said. “Of course, it’s a bit scary to be back at sea because we know that the Libyan Coast Guard are still very active.”

The Libyan coast guard, which is organisationally part of the Libyan navy, acts as a proxy force for the European Union to prevent migrants from reaching Europe’s borders.

The EU has financed Libya‘s  migration policy through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which provided €465 million between 2015 and 2021, and through the NDICI-Global Europe instrument, which allocates €65 million for the 2021-2027 period. It remains unclear how much of that funding reaches the Libyan coast guard.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights says evidence indicates the vessel that attacked the Ocean Viking was handed over by Italy through an EU-funded programme. Following the incident, SOS Méditerranée filed a complaint with French prosecutors in Marseille, southern France.

The EU’s response

Critics argue that the EU’s policy enables abuse. Libya is not considered a “place of safety” for disembarkation by the United Nations, due to a lack of security and human rights violations.

SOS Méditerranée and 42 other humanitarian and civil society groups have previously urged the European Commission to suspend cooperation with Libya on search and rescue, accusing the EU and Italy of funding of legitimising a “culture of impunity for violence.”

Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship back in the water after 10-day stoppage

The European Commission has said it would maintain its approach. “This is what we have been doing and we keep on doing at different level, and this is our policy for now,” Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier responded last year to the concerned parties.  

Juchat also criticized Italian policies that require rescue ships to disembark rescued people in distant northern ports.

“Sometimes up to Genova or Ravenna,”  Juchat said, noting how this removes rescue vessels from the central Mediterranean for days and increases fuel costs, further limiting the NGO’s ability to operate.

The warrants, issued in July last year, target Nili Kupfer-Naouri, linked to Israel is Forever, a pro-Israel advocacy group, and Rachel Touitou, associated with Tsav 9, an activist group opposing the delivery of aid to Gaza.

They require both women to appear before an investigating magistrate but do not order their arrest.

Lawyers for the non-governmental organisations that filed the complaint said the case is the first time a national legal system has examined whether blocking humanitarian aid could qualify as complicity in genocide under international law.

The allegations relate to actions said to have taken place between January and November 2024, including a specific incident in May.

Investigators believe the two activists tried to block aid trucks heading to Gaza at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom crossings, which are key entry points for humanitarian supplies.

UN investigation labels Gaza violence as genocide prompting Israeli backlash

Legal threshold tested

The warrants followed complaints filed by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights along with rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan.

Their lawyer, Clémence Bectarte, said the investigation is unprecedented in genocide law and argued that deliberately preventing aid from reaching civilians in a war zone could meet the legal threshold for criminal responsibility.

In addition to the main allegation of complicity in genocide, both activists are also suspected of public provocation to commit genocide after allegedly calling for aid to be stopped from entering Gaza.

Investigators may expand the case, with warrants potentially issued for around 10 other individuals.

‘Recognition brings obligation’: How declaring genocide could reshape war in Gaza

Accused deny wrongdoing

Lawyers for the two activists reject the accusations and say their actions have been misrepresented.

Olivier Pardo, who represents Kupfer-Naouri, said she took part in pacifist protests against what she believes is the diversion and resale of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other groups.

Kupfer-Naouri has described the investigation as “anti-semitic madness.” She is currently in Israel and has said she is ready to speak to French investigators.

Touitou has also denied the allegations, writing on social media that peacefully protesting against a terrorist organisation’s handling of aid should not be criminalised.

The case is part of a wider series of legal actions in France linked to the Gaza war.

These include complaints over alleged war crimes and over the Hamas attack that triggered the conflict on 7 October 2023.

(with newswires)

Anses, France’s public health and food safety agency, said vaping is often seen as an alternative to smoking but is “not without risks” for health.

About 6 percent of people in France vape daily, or more than three million people, according to 2024 figures from Santé publique France, the national body responsible for monitoring population health.

While the harms of tobacco are well documented, Anses said the health effects of vaping are less well known, particularly in the medium and long term.

Scientific studies suggest vaping “is associated with possible health effects in the medium and long term”, notably for the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, it said – adding the risks are linked to repeated inhalation of toxic substances.

This included aldehydes, which were described as irritants with cancer-related effects.

“The absence of combustion does not mean absence of exposure to dangerous substances,” Anses warned.

The work drew on nearly 3,000 scientific publications, international reports and industry declarations, with 14 experts involved.

“Our aim is to look at everything science says and assess the strength of the evidence,” said Carole Leroux, one of the coordinators of the Anses analysis, speaking to the press ahead of its publication.

Psychedelic therapy gains ground in Europe, under strict conditions

Harms over time

Anses said nicotine-containing vaping products carry a probable risk of cardiovascular effects, such as increases in blood pressure and heart rate. It said studies also point to possible effects on the respiratory system, including chronic lung disease and lung inflammation.

On cancer, several studies showed biological changes compatible with early stages of cancer development, but Anses said these do not allow it to conclude that e-cigarettes have a cancer-causing effect at this stage.

The agency also flagged possible risks during pregnancy. Vaping, particularly when nicotine is used, has “possible harmful cardiovascular and respiratory effects” on children exposed before birth, including changes to heart and respiratory cells as they develop.

Anses stressed that vaping’s effects are not as severe as those caused by tobacco.

Tobacco use is France’s leading cause of avoidable early death, killing about 75,000 people each year, including 45,000 from cancer.

Benoît Labarbe, who heads the Anses unit that evaluates tobacco and related products, said that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking but “must remain a transitional option”.

French gut study explores how microbes influence health over time

Youth uptake

Anses warned about how long people keep vaping. In 2023, 32 percent of vapers in France had been using e-cigarettes for more than four years, up from 24 percent in 2022.

“This trend reflects a stabilisation and growing loyalty to e-cigarettes among regular users,” the agency said, adding that longer use is often seen among former smokers.

A 2023 Anses study also looked at teenagers and said adolescent users have “their own dynamics and motivations”, different from adults.

Among 510 teenagers aged 13 to 17 who were surveyed, 32 percent had never smoked or had only tried a cigarette once, a “much higher proportion” than among adults, where the figure is 2 percent.

This “reflects entry into vaping without prior tobacco use, often driven by curiosity, taste or a fashion effect,” Anses said.

There was not sufficient hindsight on cancer risks because vaping products only emerged in the early 2010s.

The agency said the question is also harder to study because most adult vapers are current or former smokers and it recommended an in-depth study of those who have never smoked.

If the court upholds last year’s bombshell ruling by a lower tribunal, Le Pen would be banned from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, widely seen as her best chance at the top job.

The prosecution also sought a four-year prison term with three years suspended and a €100,000 fine for the figurehead leader of the National Rally (RN) party, which has been riding high in the opinion polls.

Le Pen had hoped her appeal against her ban over a fake jobs scam at the European parliament – an accusation the 57-year-old has denied – would clear the way for her to run in the election after Emmanuel Macron stands down.

But during closing arguments lasting nearly six hours, attorney general Stephane Madoz-Blanchet told the court that “Marine Le Pen was the instigator, following in her father’s footsteps, of a system that enabled the party to embezzle €1.4 million”.

The first trial found Le Pen, along with 24 former European lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European parliament funds to employ RN staff in France.

Le Pen, the RN and 11 others are appealing the March 2025 ruling, which also sentenced her to four years in jail, with two suspended.

Macron visits eastern France following far-right win in Alpine by-election

Presidential race at stake

Le Pen made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, losing to Macron both times. But he cannot run again next year after two consecutive terms in office.

During the appeal trial, she has denied that the RN had any “system” to embezzle European parliament funds and has said her party acted in “complete good faith”.

The appeal ends in February, with a verdict expected within months.

If she then appeals to the supreme court, its judges will rule before the 2027 presidential elections, they have said.

Le Pen has said she will decide whether to run after the ruling in the appeal trial, and has indicated that her lieutenant – 30-year-old RN president Jordan Bardella – could be the party’s candidate instead.

French magistrate says US officials sought to sway Le Pen conviction

A poll in November predicted that, should he run, Bardella would win the second round of the 2027 elections, no matter who stands against him.

During Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutor Thierry Ramonatxo pushed back at claims that the judiciary had in any way aimed to “block a party leader’s ascent to the highest executive office” in the initial ruling.

“To suggest that the judiciary could oppose the will of the sovereign people is inaccurate,” he said.

“A judge is the guardian of the law and merely applies it.”

A French court last year handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence to a 76-year-old man over a death threat against the judge who convicted Le Pen.

Clashes in and around Aleppo have displaced around 170,000 people since mid-January, as the Syrian army seeks to extend its control over previously Kurdish-controlled areas.

Ongoing hostilities between government forces and armed groups continue to trigger displacement in several parts of the country, according to the UN.

While political transition is underway after the fall of Bashar al-Assad at the end of 2024, reconstruction and recovery efforts are hindered by instability and lack of funding. 

Access to healthcare remains unreliable, and basic services are severely disrupted. A harsh winter and long-term drought are exacerbating the crisis.

More than 16 million Syrians are expected to need humanitarian assistance in 2026 – yet the UN’s response plan is only 33.5 percent funded, leaving a $3.2 billion gap.

“It is an incredibly fragile moment for Syria,” said Slente, secretary-general of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), speaking to RFI on a visit to the Syria, including areas in and around Damascus. 

“This is a country where two out of every three Syrians need humanitarian assistance, and 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.”

A year after Assad’s fall, Syrian hopes for transitional justice are fading

Returning to ruins, landmines

Around 3 million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the Assad regime, over 1 million from other countries and nearly 2 million from within Syria.

“Syria has had a new government in place for the last year,” Slente said, “and it’s time to sort of recap on our programming here and adapt our programming to the new realities on the ground. A vast percentage of the population here are in dire need of humanitarian assistance on the ground.”

Many people are returning to their homes to find almost nothing after more than 13 years of civil war, she added.

One of the DRC’s priorities now is to work on getting rid of the landmines that still litter areas where fighting took place, and pose a deadly threat to returnees.

The organisation recently finished training local teams to help clear mines, Slente said.

“We are helping build the capacity here of the National Mine Action Centre in the Ministry of Emergencies that needs to coordinate that very big endeavour of clearing Syria of unexploded ordinance and landmines. It means that now we can get more jobs done on the ground with the clearing of mines, getting them out of fields and villages, so that people can actually be safe when they move around the territory.”

As Syrian workers return home from Turkey, local businesses feel the loss

Upheaval in Kurdish north

In north-eastern Syria, near the border with Turkey, civilians say they are still fearful.

After months of tension, Kurdish-led forces have ceded swathes of territory to advancing government troops. Under a deal agreed last week, Kurdish forces and administrative institutions are to be integrated into the state.

It is a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing swathes of territory in battles against the Islamic State jihadist group during the civil war.

“We are afraid that they will attack our regions and that massacres and genocide will occur,” one woman told RFI’s reporter in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, where government forces entered on Tuesday.

Another resident said he was hoping for “a positive resolution to the conflict, so that no more bloodshed occurs”.

This episode was mixed by Nicolas Doreau.

This week, we discuss recent US airstrikes in northern Nigeria and the fact that many people of  African descent feel threatened by the recent enforcement actions by ICE in many US cities. 

The United States launched airstrikes in northern Nigeria in late December, saying it had targeted Islamic State jihadists – at Abuja’s request – to halt the killing of Christians. However, experts have challenged Washington’s claims that Christians are being massacred in Nigeria, arguing that the narrative, promoted by sections of the American right, oversimplifies far more complex conflicts.

US strikes on Nigeria set ‘deeply troubling precedent’ for African governance

First, we talk to Isa Sanusi, from Amnesty International Nigeria, to discuss the aftermath of the US strikes and of US President Donald Trump’s invasive strategy to fight jihadism in West Africa.

US to increase cooperation with Nigeria to pursue Islamic State militants

US African diaspora in Minneapolis

Meanwhile, within the United States, anti-immigration policies have intensified since the Trump administration took office a year ago, affecting even some people who are living in the country legally.

In Minneapolis in January 2026, two people were killed in shootings involving US federal immigration agents. On 7 January, 37‑year‑old Renée Nicole Macklin Good, an American woman, was fatally shot by an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a federal enforcement operation.

Then, on 24 January, 37‑year‑old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a United States citizen and intensive care unit nurse, was shot and killed by officers from United States Customs and Border Protection in a separate incident in Minneapolis.

US immigration agent’s fatal shooting of woman leaves Minneapolis in shock

Others were killed without making the headlines. Human rights lawyers have cited at least nine such cases, and possibly more, including Keith Porter, Parady La, Heber Sanchaz Domínguez, Víctor Manuel Díaz, Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz, Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, and Geraldo Lunas Campos.

Anti-immigration policies have particularly targeted Somali migrants and Somali Americans, among other immigrant communities.

Minneapolis is also the city where George Floyd, a Black American man, was killed by police in 2020, an event that sparked the global Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

Dr Rashad Shabazz joins us from the United States. He is a historical geographer specialising in race, culture and the built environment at Arizona State University.

He has recently published a series of studies on the diversity of Minneapolis, undertaken while working on a new book about one of the city’s most famous residents, the musician and singer Prince.

Music from us

Finally you’ll also hear music from the Cameroonian French duo, OKALI.

The song Gathering celebrates gathering and sharing; Traveler explores travel and cultural exchange.

Episode edited by Melissa Chemam and mixed by Erwan Rome.

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

With the end of the Syrian civil war, Turkey claims that nearly a million refugees who were living there have already returned home.

Their departure is being welcomed by the Turkish government, amid growing public animosity over the presence of more than 3 million refugees.

But for many Turkish companies, Syrians are an economic lifeline – as seen in Gaziantep, an industrial city close to the Syrian border. 

The Inci Boya company is one of hundreds of small factories and workshops in the city. With a couple of dozen workers, hundreds of pieces of furniture are spray-painted each day. With long hours in air thick with dust, it’s arduous, dirty work. As in many factories in Gaziantep, Syrians make up a large share of the workforce. 

“I can’t get people from my own community to work in my sector,” explains owner Halil Yarabay. “Many workshop owners and many businesses are unfortunately experiencing this.”

He blames societal changes, “Our children, our youth… they consider such work beneath them. They consider they’ve failed in their family’s eyes by working with their hands as a furniture maker or a mechanic.”

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

Realities of returning

But local authorities claim nearly 100,000 Syrians have already left the city – including including several who worked at Inci Boya.

During a welcome tea break, the topic of going home is on everyone’s tongue. Ahmed Hac Hussein has been working there for more than five years. He, too, is thinking of leaving.

“Many people are returning,  I have a relative who moves a family back to Syria every day,” he said. “For me, I lived in Aleppo for 35 years. I have so many friends there, I haven’t seen them for 14 years. I have three sisters there, and I haven’t seen them either. I want to go.”

However, Hussein, who lost his home in the war, acknowledges that the economic realities in Syria make returning difficult.

“You need to have money to pay the monthly rent. You need a job, but there is no work. My brother went back to Aleppo, but he says business is too slow.”

Listening is Hussein’s son, Ibrahim, who started working here a year ago after leaving school. He feels differently: “I grew up here; this place became my second home. I love it here a lot. I was two years old when I came here, and I never went back. I don’t want to go back.”

Demographic time bomb

Turkish companies such as Inci Boya will be hoping many Syrians feel the same as Ibrahim, claims Atilla Yesilada, Turkey’s economic analyst for consultancy Global Source Partners.

He says around 900,000 Syrians work in small businesses and factories across Turkey.

“They’ve filled all the low-paying jobs. Without Syrians, business owners say they’ll go bankrupt, since that keeps costs down.”

This reliance on Syrian workers, and their departure, also comes as Turkey faces a demographic time bomb. “The birth rate has declined substantially. The Turkish birth rate is 1.5, and you know, replacement is 2.1,” Yesilada added.

He warns the outlook for Turkey is grim, given the experience of other countries. “[The birthrate is] coming down significantly, and it’s been going down for 20 years.… [the example of] China shows that there is nothing you can do about it.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently called on families to “serve the nation” by having at least three children. His minister of family and social services claimed nearly half of Turkish families didn’t have children.

To attract workers, visa and work permit restrictions were lifted last year for all Turkic Central Asian nations.

Turkey blocks calls for regime change in Iran as protests escalate

Rising costs

But at the Inci Boya factory, owner Halil Yarabay is already counting the cost of Syrians leaving, and says a bidding war to keep these workers is beginning.

“Labour costs are rising. Employees we paid 10,000 TL a week now cost up to 15,000,” he said.

Some larger companies in Gaziantep – such as Tat Holding, which makes furniture and sweets among many other products – are even considering following their workers back to Syria, says its CEO Salih Balta. 

“Syria is close to Gaziantep and allows us to produce and export at up to 35 percent lower cost,” he explained.

Balta claims that producing in Syria – a member of the Arab League – would allow his company to export tax-free to 17 Arab countries under its free trade agreement. “For us, the Gulf countries are a very important market,” he said.

Gaziantep, along with many cities across Turkey, has seen protests against Syrian incomers. Several polls have found that the majority of people want them to return. But this could ultimately prove a double-edged sword, as businesses face growing economic pain over the loss of their Syrian workforce.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 13 December, I asked you a question about the then-new US security strategy, which presented Europe as lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.

You were to re-read our article “EU Council president rejects political influence in US security plan”, and send in the answer to this question: What did the EU Council president, Antonio Costa, say about the difference in the idea of “free speech” between Europe and the United States?

The answer is, to quote our article: “The United States cannot replace Europe in what its vision is of freedom of expression,” Costa said.

“There is no freedom of speech if citizens’ freedom of information is sacrificed to defend the techno oligarchs in the United States.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by RFI Listeners Club member Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India. Jayanta’s question was: “What inspiring act have you witnessed that could motivate a nation or society?”

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Khizar Hayat Shah from Punjab, Pakistan. Khizar is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Khizar.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Faheem Noor, the president of the World United RFI Listeners Organization in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan, and RFI Listeners Club members Solomon Fessahazion from Asmara, Eritrea, as well as Deekay Dimple from Assam, India.

Last but not least, there’s RFI English listener Liton Hossain Khan from Naogaon in Bangladesh.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Scherzo” from the Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57, by Dmitri Shostakovich, performed by the Quintetto Chigiano; “What’s Going On?” by Marvin Gaye, Al Cleveland, and Reynaldo Benson, performed by Marvin Gaye; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “ Pithecanthropus Erectus” by Charles Mingus, performed by Mingus and his ensemble.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, tune into Alison Hird’s report on alternative retirement living on the “Spotlight on France” podcast number 138 (Reinventing retirement, saving a Paris cinema, counting the French), which will help you with the answer.

You have until 23 February to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 28 February podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

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

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

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

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

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

Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

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

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

Washington’s shift proved decisive.

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

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

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

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

US withdrawal and rapid collapse

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

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

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

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

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

Turkey blocks calls for regime change in Iran as protests escalate

Kurdish tensions inside Turkey

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

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

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

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

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

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

Syrian army offensive in Aleppo draws support from Turkey

Risk of wider bloodshed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.