The wing will form part of a $450 million prison announced in 2017, which is expected to be completed by 2028 and hold 500 inmates.

The prison is to be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town bordering Suriname that once received prisoners shipped by Napoleon III in the 1800s, some of whom were sent to the notorious Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana.

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced plans to build the high-security wing during an official visit to French Guiana on Saturday, saying: “I have decided to establish France’s third high-security prison in Guiana.”

Drug trafficking

Darmanin was quoted by French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche as saying that the prison also aims to keep suspected drug traffickers from having any contact with their criminal networks.

French prison attack probe shifts from terrorism to drug gangs

“We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,” he told reporters. “My strategy is simple – hit organised crime at all levels. Here in Guiana, at the start of the drug trafficking route. In mainland France, by neutralising the network leaders. And all the way to consumers. This prison will be a safeguard in the war against narcotrafficking.”

Darmanin, who forged a reputation for a tough stance on drugs in his previous role as interior minister, added that the prison’s location “will serve to permanently isolate the heads of drug trafficking networks” since “they will no longer be able to contact their criminal networks”.

He also said in a Facebook post that 15 of the wing’s 60 spaces would be reserved for Islamic militants.

French media, quoting the Justice ministry, reported that people from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories would be sent in priority to the new prison.

‘Astonishment and indignation’

The announcement has angered many across French Guiana, a French overseas territory situated north of Brazil.

Jean-Paul Fereira, acting president of French Guiana’s territorial collective, an assembly of 51 lawmakers that oversees local government affairs, said the announcement came as a surprise, as the plan had never been discussed with them.

“It is therefore with astonishment and indignation that the elected members of the Collectivity discovered, together with the entire population of Guiana, the information detailed in Le Journal Du Dimanche,” he wrote in a statement posted on social media on Sunday.

France to seize drug users’ phones in crackdown on prison attacks

Fereira said the move was disrespectful and insulting, noting that the agreement French Guiana signed in 2017 was for the construction of a new prison meant to alleviate overpopulation at the main prison.

“While all local elected officials have long been calling for strong measures to curb the rise of organised crime in our territory, Guiana is not meant to welcome criminals and radicalised people from [mainland France],” he wrote.

Also decrying the plan was Jean-Victor Castor, a member of parliament in French Guiana. He said he wrote directly to France’s prime minister to express his concerns, noting that the decision was taken without consulting local officials.

“It’s an insult to our history, a political provocation and a colonial regression,” Castor wrote in a statement issued on Sunday, as he called on France to withdraw the project.

A spokesperson for France’s justice minister did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Cocaine use in France doubles as workplace pressures drive demand

Guiana has the highest crime rate of any French department relative to the size of its population, with a record 20.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, nearly 14 times the national average.

Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is a strategic hub for so-called drug mules, mainly from Brazil, who attempt to board flights to Paris’s Orly Airport carrying cocaine originating from neighbouring Suriname.

(with newswires)

Five years on from Brexit, the United Kingdom and the EU have marked a new chapter in their often-fraught relationship, following Monday’s landmark summit in London that unveiled a significant shift from estrangement to engagement.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen hailed a series of new agreements as a “win-win” for both sides – slashing trade red tape, boosting defence cooperation, and paving the way for smoother people-to-people ties.

Describing the moment as “historic,” von der Leyen praised the tone of renewed cooperation, while Starmer declared, “Britain is back on the world stage”.

The upbeat mood reflected not only a thawing of relations but a pragmatic reset aimed at tackling shared challenges – from global security to economic recovery.

Trade and an end to ‘sausage war’

At the heart of the summit was a breakthrough on trade. Under the new deal, many of the cumbersome checks on animal and plant products that have disrupted UK-EU trade since Brexit will be scrapped.

British businesses, long frustrated by paperwork and delays at borders, will now find it easier to export key goods – including sausages, seafood, and even raw burgers – to EU markets.

The move also offers relief to traders in Northern Ireland, where post-Brexit arrangements had led to significant logistical headaches.

Though critics argue that aligning with EU rules edges the UK closer to Brussels’ orbit once again, proponents insist the benefits are clear.

“Good for jobs, good for bills and good for our borders,” Starmer said, summing up the government’s stance.

EU and UK reunite in London for talks on diplomacy and defence

Youth mobility

In a nod to the younger generation, both sides announced plans to develop a youth mobility scheme, potentially restoring some of the freedom of movement lost after Brexit.

Although the details remain sketchy, officials suggested it could mirror similar UK arrangements with Australia and Canada, allowing limited, temporary stays for work and study.

Also on the cards is a measure that will allow British passport holders to use fast-track e-gates at European airports – a small but symbolic change likely to be welcomed by holidaymakers fed up with long queues since the UK’s departure from the EU.

Five years on, has Brexit put Britain at a disadvantage in EU talks?

Security partnership

Defence featured prominently in the summit’s agenda, with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirming that British troops could participate in EU-led missions in the Western Balkans.

The new pact allows UK forces to join military exercises and even attend select EU defence meetings – moves that underscore Britain’s desire to remain a key European security player.

Significantly, British defence firms will gain access to a proposed €150 billion EU fund currently under negotiation, unlocking investment potential and strengthening the UK’s role in collective European defence.

Lammy pointed to continued instability in the Balkans as an example of where British troops can play a complementary role alongside NATO.

EU and UK clash in first post-Brexit legal battle over North Sea fishing ban

Fishy business, choppy waters

Monday’s deals included a 12-year extension to EU fishing rights in UK waters – a controversial move at home, particularly in Scotland – but one viewed as necessary to facilitate broader gains in trade and diplomacy.

While the fishing industry voiced anger, the deal helped resolve one of the last symbolic holdouts from the Brexit era.

Unsurprisingly, the political fallout was swift. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of turning Britain into a “rule-taker” once more, while the pro-Brexit Reform UK party dismissed the agreements as a betrayal.

But Starmer held firm, insisting that the UK would not rejoin the single market or customs union and would not accept unrestricted freedom of movement.

Lammy, for his part, took a pragmatic tone: “The British people have moved on,” he said. “This is a deal that delivers prosperity and security”.

For all the noise, the summit marks a tangible shift from isolation to engagement – as Starmer put it: “We’re not going back. We’re going forward”.

(with newswires)

Agathe Habyarimana, 82, who has been living in France since 1998 and whose extradition has been repeatedly requested by Kigali, will not face trial by a French court at this stage, the sources said, asking not to be named.

The former first lady fled Rwanda with French help just days after her husband’s plane was shot down in April 1994, triggering the genocide which saw around 800,000 people slaughtered in one of the 20th century’s worst atrocities.

Remembering Rwanda’s genocide

The investigation has been under way since 2008, when a French-based victims’ association filed a legal complaint against Habyarimana who was questioned over suspicions that she was part of the Hutu inner circle of power that planned and orchestrated the killings of mainly ethnic Tutsis.

In the investigation she had the status of assisted witness, which in France’s legal system is between being a witness and being charged.

The investigating magistrates in charge of the case said in a ruling delivered on Friday that “at this stage, there is no serious and consistent evidence that she could have been an accomplice in an act of genocide” or could have “participated in an agreement to commit genocide”.

“While the rumour is persistent, it cannot serve as proof in the absence of detailed and consistent evidence,” they added, emphasising that the “incriminating testimony appears contradictory, inconsistent, and even false”.   

Rwanda marks 1994 genocide amid tensions over M23 rebellion in DRC

‘As quickly as possible’   

The decision could mean that the case against her will be dismissed in the coming months and formally classified as dropped.

But French anti-terror prosecutors, who wanted her to be charged, in September already filed a case with the Paris court of appeal, with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

“Mrs Habyarimana is awaiting with great serenity the outcome of the proceedings,” said her lawyer Philippe Meilhac, welcoming the new ruling.

“It is time for the necessary dismissal of the case to be delivered as quickly as possible.”

Her case has added another element to tensions between Paris and the post-genocide authorities in Kigali under President Paul Kagame, which has accused France of being complicit in the killings and then sheltering the perpetrators.

French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Rwanda in 2021, recognised France’s “responsibilities” in the genocide and said only the survivors could grant “the gift of forgiveness”.

But he stopped short of an apology and Kagame, who led the Tutsi rebellion that ended the genocide, has long insisted on the need for a stronger statement.

A historical commission set up by Macron and led by historian Vincent Duclert also concluded in 2021 that there had been a “failure” on the part of France under former leader Francois Mitterrand, while adding that there was no evidence Paris was complicit in the killings.

 (AFP)

The leaders of Britain, France and Canada warned on Monday that their countries would take action if Israel does not stop a renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions.

The Israeli military announced the start of a new operation on Friday, and earlier on Monday Netanyahu said Israel would take control of the whole of Gaza.

International experts already have warned of looming famine.

“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law,” a joint statement said.

“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank … We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”

The three governments added they “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza”, and that the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable.

France urges EU to reassess Israel trade partnership over Gaza rights abuses

In response, Netanyahu said that “the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on 7 October while inviting more such atrocities”.

He said Israel will defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved, reiterating Israel’s conditions to end the war which include the release of the remaining hostages and the demilitarisation of the Gaza strip.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing the hostages the Palestinian militant group took on 7 October 2023, when it attacked Israeli communities.

“We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate,” the three Western leaders said in their joint statement. They said they would not stand by while Netanyahu’s government pursued “these egregious actions.”

The Western leaders also stated their support for efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and said they were committed to recognising a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution to the conflict.

UN rapporteur says Israel’s war in Gaza is ’emptying the land completely’

Hamas welcomed the joint statement describing the stance as “an important step” in the right direction toward restoring the principles of international law.

Israel’s ground and air war has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.

The war began with the 7 October 2023, Hamas-led attack in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, including over 690 civilians, and seized 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

 (Reuters)

In recent years the Swiss food and drinks conglomerate has been under pressure over its Perrier and other brands as EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as natural mineral water.

“In addition to Nestle Waters’ lack of transparency, it is important to highlight the state’s lack of transparency, both towards local and European authorities and towards the French people,” said the report by a commission of inquiry of the French Senate.

The report follows a six-month-long Senate inquiry involving more than 70 hearings.

“This concealment is part of a deliberate strategy, addressed at the first interministerial meeting on natural mineral waters on October 14, 2021,” said the report.

“Nearly four years later, transparency has still not been achieved,” said the report.

Perrier  – one of the most famous mineral waters in the world, obtained from a spring in southern France and traditionally served on ice with a slice of lemon — was acquired by Nestle in the early 1990s.

Perrier could lose ‘natural mineral water’ label after contamination found

‘Highest level of the state’

In late 2020, new management at Nestle Waters claims to have discovered the use of prohibited treatments for mineral water at its Perrier, Hepar and Contrex sites.

The company reached out to the government to submit a plan to tackle the problem in mid-2021, and the Elysee Palace afterwards.

Eighteen months later, a plan to replace prohibited ultraviolet treatments and activated carbon filters with microfiltering was approved by the authorities.

The method can be used to remove iron or manganese but the producer has to prove that the water has not been altered.

European law stipulates that natural mineral waters cannot be disinfected or treated in any way that alters its characteristics.

The report said that “despite the consumer fraud represented by water disinfection”, the authorities have not taken legal action in response to the 2021 revelations.

“It was at the highest level of the state that the decision to authorise micro-filtration below the 0.8-micron threshold was taken,” the report said.

Troubled waters: French government under pressure over Nestlé revelations

 ‘Known since 2022’ 

“We understand better why the French government did not inform the European Commission — it was clearly too busy covering up a massive fraud,” said Ingrid Kragl of the NGO Foodwatch, claiming the cover-up “allowed Nestle to sell fraudulent products and deceive consumers”.

The independent food monitor has filed a complaint against Nestle Waters, accusing it of deceiving consumers. An investigation has been launched by a Parisian judge.

During her hearing before the committee on March 19, Nestle Waters chief executive Muriel Lienau stated that “all” of the group’s waters were “pure at the source”.

But on Monday senator Antoinette Guhl announced that she was taking legal action over this comment for “possible perjury”.

In a statement, Lienau said she acknowledged the report, which “recognises the importance of sectoral issues requiring regulatory clarification and a stable framework applicable to all.”

Nestle Waters also insisted that it had “never contested” the legitimacy of the Senate‘s work.

Nestlé and Sources Alma face inquiry over methods used for French mineral water

Nestle under pressure

Nestle has already been under pressure in France after its French subsidiary was charged in a case involving contaminated Buitoni-branded pizzas that are suspected of having led to the death of two children in 2022.

The move to allow microfiltration was in line with decisions taken by the authorities, including the office of then-prime minister Elisabeth Borne, even though she did not appear to have been informed, the report added.

The commission also charged that President Emmanuel Macron‘s office “had known, at least since 2022, that Nestle had been cheating for years”.

Alexis Kohler, then secretary general at the Elysee who stepped down earlier this year after eight years in the post, had met with Nestle executives.

Macron in February denied any acknowledgement of the case.

In 2024, Nestle Waters admitted using banned filters and ultra-violet treatment on mineral waters.

The company paid a two-million-euro ($2.2-million) fine to avoid legal action over the use of illegal water sources and filtering.

It said at the time though that the replacement filters were approved by the government and that its water was “pure”.

(with newswires)

The two-time Oscar-winning actor was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or by festival chiefs Thierry Fremaux and Iris Knobloch before the screening of Highest 2 Lowest, with co-star A$AP Rocky and his partner Rihanna among the VIPs in the audience.

Before handing over the prize to Washington, Fremaux introduced a montage of the actor’s memorable performances – including in Malcolm X and Mo’ Better Blues, both directed by Lee.

Clips were also shown from Glory, which earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1989, and Training Day, for which he won the best actor Oscar in 2002 – the same year Halle Berry won best actress for Monster’s Ball, making it the first year that both leading performance awards went to black actors.

“It’s a total surprise, I’m so emotional,” Washington said, a member of the audience told French news agency AFP.

Cannes film shines light on secret life of migrant maids

Scuffle on the red carpet

The cast of Highest 2 Lowest put on a show on the Cannes red carpet, with Spike Lee in an orange pinstriped suit and an orange and blue hat, and A$AP Rocky showing off a gold dental piece.

However, Washington’s first appearance at the festival was marred by a testy encounter with a photographer as he entered the Grand Lumière Theatre.

The photographer was seen grabbing the actor by the arm as he posed in front of a bank of cameras. Washington shook him off and then pointed his finger at him and appeared to say “Stop it” a number of times, videos showed.

Iran’s Panahi pokes fun at Iran’s jailers in Cannes comeback

His mood was no doubt lifted by rave reviews of him and Lee’s film. Loosely adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low, the Hollywood Reporter said the film has “wit, high style and kinetic energy to burn”.

The Guardian praised Washington’s “magnificent form” in the movie, saying he played a music mogul with “grinning monarchical assurance”.   

Long history 

Lee has a long history at Cannes, having brought several films to the festival including his groundbreaking first film She’s Gotta Have it (1986) and Do the Right Thing in 1989.

He won the Grand Prize for BlacKkKlansman in 2018 and was president of the jury in 2021.

Besides the screening of Highest 2 Lowest (in the out of competition category), Lee is also promoting Talk Me, a short film on which he was the executive producer. It premieres on Thursday and is in the running for La Cinef category prizes.

Postcard from Cannes #1: Honouree De Niro unleashes attack on ‘philistine’ Trump

Although Cannes usually hands out honorary awards in dedicated ceremonies, it is not unusual for actors to receive them unexpectedly – as happened with Harrison Ford at the premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023.

This year’s planned honorary Palme d’Or went to 81-year-old Robert De Niro, who gave a rousing speech on the opening night of the festival, slamming US President Donald Trump’s attack on the arts.

(with AFP)

France is gearing up for a major economic boost as this year’s “Choose France” summit, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to draw a record €20 billion in new investments.

The annual event, held at the majestic Palace of Versailles, has become a hallmark of Macron’s campaign to transform France into a magnet for global business.

Now in its eighth edition, the summit showcases the French President’s proactive charm offensive aimed at courting top international companies.

Macron’s commitment to fostering a more business-friendly environment has helped reframe France’s image from a sluggish, high-tax economy into one that’s dynamic and open for investment.

Posting on X, a visibly elated President Macron announced that social media platform Snapchat “chooses France!”

“The new office and augmented reality centre in Paris clearly demonstrate how attractive France is to foreign investors. Thank you!” he added.

Wave of investment 

Speaking on RTL radio this Monday, Finance Minister Eric Lombard confirmed that €17 billion worth of deals had already been pledged ahead of the summit’s start, with further announcements expected during the event, bringing the total amount of direct investment to €37 billion.

That figure marks a strong leap from the €15 billion secured at last year’s gathering.

Among the headline investments is a €6.4 billion commitment from US logistics giant Prologis, which plans to build four data centres in the Ile-de-France region.

Meanwhile, UK-based fintech Revolut has announced a €1 billion expansion plan for its French operations over the next three years and will also be applying for a French banking licence.

The summit will also feature investment pledges from major players like Amazon, the UAE’s MGX, and Britain’s Less Common Metals Limited, which is active in the strategically vital rare earth sector.

Portuguese tech firm Tekever is set to build a drone assembly plant in southwest France – a €100 million project that will contribute to the country’s growing industrial capabilities.

AI showcase pays off for France, but US tech scepticism endures

Challenging times

This latest wave of investment comes at a crucial time for Macron’s government, which is under increasing pressure to safeguard industrial jobs amid global economic headwinds.

Challenges such as ongoing trade tensions and sluggish growth across the Eurozone have made foreign direct investment even more vital.

“Faced with global competition, France is stepping up and showing it has the tools to succeed,” said Lombard during his radio interview. He reaffirmed the government’s confidence in meeting its 2025 economic growth target of 0.7 percent.

Despite a slight dip in the number of projects across Europe, France has remained the continent’s top destination for international investment for six consecutive years, according to EY’s latest European Investment Monitor.

Choose France summit kicks off with big hopes for foreign investment

Macron’s team sees this continued leadership as proof that their mix of pro-business reforms – such as tax cuts and streamlined regulations – is paying off.

Still, the picture isn’t entirely rosy. While foreign firms are increasingly investing in France, some major French companies are looking abroad.

Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi recently revealed plans to invest over €18 billion in manufacturing operations in the United States, sparking criticism from French lawmakers.

According to Amnesty International, Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency has hastened trends already unfolding over the past decade.

Just one hundred days into his second term, President Trump has demonstrated a complete disregard for universal human rights, making the world both less safe and less just, the organisation’s latest report claims.

“His all-out assault on the very concepts of multilateralism, asylum, racial and gender justice, global health and life-saving climate action is exacerbating the significant damage those principles and institutions have already sustained and is further emboldening other anti-rights leaders and movements to join his onslaught,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, wrote.

While Africa’s armed conflicts caused relentless civilian suffering, including increasing levels of sexual and gender-based violence, and death on a massive scale, international and regional responses remained woefully inadequate.

The NGO also denounces global failures in addressing inequalities, climate collapse, and tech transformations that imperil future generations, especially in fragile zones. 

To discuss the implications for Africa in detail, this week, Spotlight on Africa’s first guest is Deprose Muchena, senior director for regional human rights impact at Amnesty International. 

Meanwhile, in South Africa, experts reflect on a recent visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as the country leads the G20 this year and tries to become a platform for peace talk.

Did Zelensky’s South Africa visit signal a diplomatic pivot by Pretoria?

We talked to the French business and veteran diplomat, Jean-Yves Ollivier, founder of the Brazzaville Foundation, who was a key actor in organising Zelensky’s meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Finally, we hear from Djiby Kebe, one of the founders of  Air Afrique magazine, created by and for young members of the African diaspora in Paris and Abidjan. Inspired by the once-successful Pan-African airline of the same name, the publication centres on culture and travel.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

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

One of the most prolific actors in film history, Depardieu has appeared in more than 200 films and television series since his on-screen debut in 1967, working with directors including Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott and Bernardo Bertolucci.

A national icon in France – Depardieu is a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and of the Ordre national du Mérite – he has made the rare crossover to stardom in the anglophone world, with his Hollywood hits including Green Card (1990), for which he won the Golden Globe for best actor, as well as Hamlet (1996), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), La Vie en Rose (2007) and Life of Pi (2012).

The 76-year-old is known for his portrayals of towering historical figures including Joseph Stalin, Auguste Rodin, Christopher Columbus and Rasputin, as well as heroes of French literature – characters and their creators alike – such as Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean Valjean, Obélix and the Count of Monte Cristo.

Origins

Born Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu on 27 December 1948 to an impoverished family in Châteauroux, central France, he was one of six children.

By the age of 13 he had left school, barely literate, and was dabbling in crime. According to his 2014 autobiography, Ça s’est fait comme ça (“It just happened like that”), he worked as a prostitute as well as robbing graves, selling black market cigarettes and alcohol at a nearby American air base and stealing cars.

Acting proved his salvation, with money the motivating factor by his own admission. He left his hometown for Paris at the age of 16 to pursue it. There he met director Agnès Varda, the first to cast him – in a short film that was never completed.

He made his screen debut in Roger Leenhardt’s 1967 short film Le Beatnik et le minet (“The Beatnik and the Twink”). But it was his performance as a young thug in 1974’s Les Valseuses (“Going Places”) that was to be his big break.

Leading man

In 1981 he won his first César Award for best actor, for his performance in François Truffaut’s The Last Metro (1980), set in Nazi-occupied Paris and co-starring Catherine Deneuve.

This kicked off two decades as France’s premier leading man, a period in which he appeared in his biggest hits, including Maurice Pialat’s Police (1985), 1986’s Jean de Florette, which raised his international profile, and the 1993 adaptation of Emile Zola’s Germinal.

Ten years on from his first, he won his second César best actor award, for his career-defining role in Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he also received an Oscar nomination.

French celebrities distance themselves from Depardieu, accused of rape

Flops have been a rarity in Depardieu’s career, but two notable box office failures were Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) in which he played Columbus. The film took just $3 million on its opening weekend, for which Scott blamed US audiences’ difficulty in understanding European accents.

In United Passions, the story of the origins of football federation Fifa, Depardieu played its founder Jules Rimet. The film lost $26.8m worldwide and was blasted by critics as propaganda, as its release coincided with Fifa’s 2015 corruption case.

It was only shown at Cannes after Depardieu lobbied the director of the festival directly, who eventually agreed to an open-air public screening on the beach.

Courting controversy

Depardieu is no stranger to the headlines – famously once declaring that he drinks up to 14 bottles of wine a day, being banned from driving for six months after crashing his scooter while four times over the legal alcohol limit, and urinating into a water bottle on an Air France flight, which he then spilled on the floor.

He is currently under investigation for alleged tax fraud. French tax investigators suspect him of falsely declaring his tax residency as Belgium since 2013 to avoid paying taxes in France. This followed a vocal dispute with the French government over the wealth tax introduced by then-president François Hollande, in which he referred to his home country as a “filthy mess”.

Cancel Depardieu? French cinema split over film icon

Financial crime prosecutors opened a probe in February, which resulted in raids in France and Belgium as well as police interviews, although the actor has not been questioned.

He acquired Russian citizenship in 2013 from President Vladimir Putin, who Depardieu has praised, calling him “the man Russia needs”. In 2015, he was banned from entering Ukraine for five years after apparently supporting the Russian annexation of Crimea.

In December 2023, after a documentary aired that included footage of Depardieu making sexually suggestive comments about a young girl in North Korea, President Emmanuel Macron defended the actor on national television, saying: “Gérard Depardieu makes France proud.”

A few weeks later, Macron expressed his regret over the comments, saying that it was important “for women who are victims of abuse to speak out”.

Sexual assault allegations

On Tuesday, Depardieu was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on the set of a movie in which he starred and was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence by a Paris court.

He was also fined a total of €29,040 and the court requested that he be registered in the national sex offender database.

Depardieu was convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of Les Volets Verts (“The Green Shutters”) in 2021.

The actor, who denied the accusations, did not attend the hearing in Paris. His lawyer said that his client would appeal the decision.

Depardieu is the highest-profile figure in French cinema to face such accusations in the wake of the country’s #MeToo movement, and his trial has been viewed as a test of France’s willingness to confront sexual violence and hold influential men accountable.

The actor is facing allegations of sexual harassment and assault from more than a dozen other women, and a Paris court is still deciding whether to go ahead with a second trial for his alleged rape and sexual assault of Charlotte Arnould, the first woman to file a criminal complaint against him in 2018.

Depardieu denies all the allegations. “Never, but never, have I abused a woman,” he wrote in an open letter in French newspaper Le Figaro in 2023. “I have only ever been guilty of being too loving, too generous, or having a temperament that is too strong.”

(with newswires)

Promised the Sky opens Un Certain Regard

Franco-Tunisian director Erige Sehiri returns to Cannes with Promised the Sky, which opens the Un Certain Regard section. Her previous film, Under the Fig Trees, drew wide acclaim for its focus on women’s lives and quiet resilience.

Sehiri’s new story centres on Marie, an Ivorian pastor living in Tunis, who opens her door to two young women – Naney, a mother seeking a better life, and Jolie, a determined student. Their fragile household is shaken when they take in Kenza, a young girl who has survived a shipwreck.

Set against a backdrop of growing hostility towards sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia, the film explores themes of solidarity, migration and the search for identity.

Aisha Can’t Fly Away shows life in the margins

Morad Mostafa’s debut feature, Aisha Can’t Fly Away, also screens in Un Certain Regard. It follows Aisha, a 26-year-old Somali care worker living in Ain Shams, a working-class neighbourhood in Cairo with a large migrant population.

Violence between local gangs and different communities is a constant threat, with the authorities turning a blind eye. Based on Mostafa’s own experience growing up in the area, the film offers an intimate and sometimes unsettling view of daily life for migrants in Egypt.

Mostafa’s earlier short, I Promise You Paradise, was shown at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2023 and went on to win the Poulain d’Or prize at this year’s Fespaco festival. Aisha Can’t Fly Away marks Egypt’s first return to the Croisette since Clash in 2016.

Postcard from Cannes #1: Honouree De Niro unleashes attack on ‘philistine’ Trump

Indomptables brings Cameroonian noir to Cannes

French-Cameroonian actor and comedian Thomas Ngijol surprises audiences with Indomptables, a gritty thriller selected for the Directors’ Fortnight. The film follows Commissioner Billong as he investigates the murder of a police officer in Yaoundé.

Inspired by A Crime in Abidjan, a documentary by Mosco Levi Boucault, the story explores justice, corruption and personal limits in a violent and fractured society. Ngijol plays the lead role himself, and the film was shot entirely in the Cameroonian capital.

“The ensemble of the cast is perfect,” the selection team said. “Thomas Ngijol is absolutely extraordinary, not only as a director, but also as an actor.” The team described the film as a powerful and unexpected addition from Cameroon.

My Father’s Shadow marks a first for Nigeria

For the first time, a Nigerian film is part of the official competition at Cannes. My Father’s Shadow, by Akinola Davies Jr, is set during Nigeria’s 1993 presidential election – the country’s first attempt to return to civilian rule after years of military leadership.

That vote, widely seen as the fairest in the nation’s history, was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida, triggering mass protests. Around 100 people died in the unrest that followed.

In the midst of that chaos, the film follows two brothers spending the day together in Lagos. Blending fiction and autobiography, Davies reflects on family, power and the weight of political memory.

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L’mina reveals Morocco’s hidden miners

In the Moroccan town of Jerada, coal mining never truly stopped despite the official closure of pits in 2001. In L’mina, French-Moroccan visual artist and filmmaker Randa Maroufi reconstructs the reality of this underground economy in a 26-minute short.

The film features Jerada residents who play themselves, acting out scenes drawn from their daily lives. This collaborative approach offers a raw and authentic glimpse into the community’s resilience and resourcefulness.

L’mina is screening in Critics’ Week and is Maroufi’s fifth short film.

Life After Siham explores grief and memory

Life After Siham, by Franco-Egyptian director Namir Abdel Messeeh, is an emotional documentary selected by ACID – a group that supports independent filmmaking at Cannes.

Following the sudden death of his mother, Siham, Abdel Messeeh revisits family archives, old home videos and childhood memories. Through an investigation into his family history between Egypt and France, the film becomes both a tribute and a personal journey into grief, memory and identity.

Messeeh’s earlier film, The Virgin, the Copts and Me, combined humour with cultural reflection. This new work strikes a more introspective tone.

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This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Yann Le Ny

Assembled in just four and a half months, the exhibition, entitled “Treasures Rescued from Gaza – 5,000 Years of History”, at the Institut du Monde Arabe honours Gaza’s rich past and looks to protect what’s left of a cultural legacy that has endured empires, invasions and now war.

“More than ever, especially since 7 October and the destruction that followed, Gaza deserves to have its history told,” said museum president Jack Lang, a former French culture minister.

His words resonate in the low-lit basement gallery, where the rescued artefacts are displayed beneath the building’s 240 ornate mashrabiyas, or screens.

A civilisation under siege

The exhibition features some 130 rare pieces spanning from the Bronze Age to the present.

The artefacts were placed in storage at the Geneva freeport in 2007, following an exhibition at the Museum of Art and History in Switzerland.

They were meant to be returned to Gaza for display in a planned 20,000-square-metre museum backed by Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural agency, but the project was abandoned as the situation in Gaza deteriorated.

Their lengthy exile may have saved them – unlike so much left behind in Gaza, these artefacts survived the Israeli airstrikes.

Long before the destruction seen today, Gaza was a thriving port and a key stop on caravan routes, linking Asia, Africa, Arabia and the Mediterranean. For thousands of years, it was a crossroads of civilisations and ideas – a place where cultures met and flourished.

Rescued treasures

Displayed on wheeled trolleys in a space that evokes a storage depot, the rescued artefacts are shown in a setting that reflects their fragility and displacement.

One section maps the destruction of archaeological sites in Gaza damaged in Israeli bombing raids, using satellite images and research compiled by several groups. Alongside it is a record of recent discoveries, offering a glimpse of what has been lost – and what remains.

These are not symbolic treasures: they were physically rescued from Gaza and nearly lost.

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“Nothing is worse than abandonment and forgetting,” said Lang. “This exhibition, which I would describe as a matter of public salvation, pays tribute to Gaza – vibrant and wonderfully young.”

The collection is brimming with extraordinary pieces: a tilted marble Aphrodite, a royal oil lamp that spent more than 2,000 years underwater, a bronze Osiris, an alabaster vase from Egypt, small figurines, a cavalryman’s head from the 5th century BCE, and a vast Byzantine mosaic alive with animals and people.

Layers of history

Excavations in Gaza began in the mid-19th century before gaining pace under the British Mandate (1922–1948). They were then further expanded after the Oslo Accords in 1993.

That’s when a Palestinian Antiquities Service was created, later teaming up with the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem to document and protect sites across the enclave.

At the Institut du Monde Arabe, a cultural centre dedicated to Arab civilisation and heritage, visitors can browse early 20th-century photographs showing digs and ruins across Gaza’s 365 square kilometres – visual proof of a land layered with history.

In January 2024, three months into the latest Israeli offensive, the Saint Hilarion Monastery was added to the Unesco World Heritage List under an emergency procedure – the first site in Gaza to receive that status.

By 25 March, 2025, Unesco had identified damage to 94 cultural sites using satellite imagery: 12 religious buildings, 61 historic or artistic structures, seven archaeological sites, six monuments, three collections of cultural artefacts and one museum.

A personal mission

Much of the exhibition draws on the collection of Jawdat Khoudary, a Palestinian builder who began saving artefacts found during construction work in Gaza. In 2008, he opened a private museum that housed more than 4,000 pieces.

Only the ones stored in Switzerland survived. The rest have been destroyed.

Now a refugee in Egypt, Khoudary donated the surviving objects to the Palestinian Authority. They form the heart of the Paris exhibition – remnants of a collection that was almost entirely wiped out.

His donation ensures that at least part of Gaza’s archaeological heritage is preserved.

The idea that cultural memory shapes national identity runs throughout the exhibition, echoing the words of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the January 1999 issue of Dossiers d’Archéologie, a French archaeology magazine.

“However great the suffering and however long the road to freedom and dignity, a people exists only through an awareness of being the heir to a history that gives it identity, places it in the world and ensures its survival,” Arafat wrote.

At a time when Israel is blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza and denying the existence of a humanitarian crisis, this exhibition offers a different message: one of memory, identity and survival.

“Some of its treasures will survive this war – and ensure that Gaza is not completely wiped off the map,” said Lang.

► “Treasures Rescued from Gaza: 5,000 Years of History” is on display until 2 November, 2025 at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.

This story was adapted from the original version in French by RFI’s Anne Bernas

The kataklè is a three-legged royal chair from Dahomey, a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from 1600 until 1904. 

It was discovered to be at the National Museum of Finland, the Kansallismuseo, thanks to a lengthy investigation by art historian Marie-Cécile Zinsou, of the Zinsou foundation, one of the museum’s curators, Pilvi Vainonen – and RFI journalist Pierre Firtion.

The kataklè was returned to Benin by Finland on Tuesday, with Finnish minister of culture Mari-Leena Talvitie handing it over to the Beninese authorities during a ceremony at the Marina Palace, the presidential residence in Cotonou, Benin. 

A whispered clue

The first 26 pieces of the treasure were returned to Benin in November 2021 by the Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly.

The museum, along with the French Ministry of Culture, had announced the restitution of 26 works from the royal treasury in Abomey in 2018, as approved by President Emmanuel Macron.

These pieces were looted in 1892 by French Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds during the sacking of the city of Abomey, after the Second Franco-Dahomean War, taken from the royal place.

Despite housing approximately 70,000 African objects, the Quai Branly returned this limited restitution of 26 pieces thanks to a specific French law, passed in December 2020, which allowed for exceptions to the principle of inalienability of public collections for them and for a separate item, returned to Senegal.

Among them were anthropomorphic royal statues, recades (a type of sceptre associated with Dahomey), the gates of the royal palace of Abomey, thrones, seats, and a first kataklè.

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RFI’s Firtion was in Cotonou in November 2021 covering the restitution of the 26 royal objects, when a source whispered to him: “There aren’t 26, but 27 treasures.”

“What if it was true?” he asked himself, as he recalls in a French-language podcast series on the story.

Soon after, Firtion joined forces with Zinsou and Vainonen, delving into texts on Beninese art and the restitution of works of art to Africa.

Lost in storage

He discovered that this kataklè had arrived at the Trocadéro Museum of Ethnography in Paris at the end of the 19th century.

Then in 1939, the museum, by then renamed the Musée de l’Homme, agreed to an exchange with the National Museum of Finland – a common practice at the time.

The Musée de l’Homme wanted to enrich its collection of Finno-Ugric objects from everyday life, and in exchange sent around 40 objects to Helsinki, mainly from Africa and Asia. Among the lot was the kataklè.

It was never exhibited, instead ending up in the storage rooms of the National Museum of Finland, where it remained for decades. Over time, curators lost track of it, as it was listed as belonging to Dahomey. 

In the online inventories of the Musée du Quai Branly, Firtion identified a piece donated by Colonel Dodds to the Trocadéro Ethnography Museum, which was not returned to Benin… a three-legged stool, called a kataklè.

The journalist also travelled to Marseille’s Mucem museum in 2024, where the pieces potentially exchanged with Finland for the kataklè in 1939 were being stored – and where he learned that the exchanged pieces still belonged to the museum originally owning them.

After intensive research on her side, Vainonen got back to Firtion and told him it had been found in Finland.

A wider debate on restitution

Benin’s request for restitution is not an isolated one.

As early as 1973, the president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC), Mobutu Sese Seko, was the first to speak at the United Nations General Assembly, calling for the country’s cultural heritage to be returned to it.

Since then, a growing number of African countries – including Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and Nigeria – have called for works of art and priceless artefacts to be returned.

In 2021, Belgium handed the government of the DRC an inventory of 84,000 Congolese artefacts dating from the colonial period – although their return hasn’t taken place yet.

Netherlands agrees to return 119 Benin statues to Nigeria

Germany handed 22 artefacts looted in the 19th century back to Nigeria at a ceremony in the capital, Abuja, in December 2022. In February this year, the Netherlands agreed to return 119 Benin bronze statues to Nigeria.

Two British universities began returning pieces to Nigeria around the same time: the University of Aberdeen, which returned Benin bronzes in 2021 and Cambridge University, in 2022.

After a prolonged period of strained relations following the UK’s departure from the European Union five years ago, a renewed phase of cooperation looks likely.

Leaders are discussing plans for a new defence and security partnership. If agreed, it could reshape how the UK and EU cooperate on global threats.

The talks are being driven by global tensions – especially the war in Ukraine and uncertainty about the United States’ long-term role in European security under Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Both sides see a need to work more closely on defence, trade and migration.

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Reset of Franco-British ties

France is playing a key role in the push for closer ties. It has linked French fishing access to wider UK–EU talks and worked with Britain on joint military support for Ukraine.

As NATO countries increase cooperation, France and the UK are forming what some diplomats call a key military alliance within Europe.

The proposed security deal would allow Britain to take part in certain EU defence programmes and benefit from parts of a €150 billion European defence fund. British companies like BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce stand to gain from this access.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain is “prepared to pay our fair share” to join the initiatives. He added that UK firms must keep control of their intellectual property and export rights.

European officials say this deal should be straightforward due to NATO ties and shared concerns over Russia.

But for Starmer, it is about more than strategy. “I want a closer relationship on security, on defence, on trade and on the economy,” he told The Guardian. “Let’s look forward, not back … We’re in a new era.”

His comments reflect broader unease across Europe since Trump’s return to the White House. Many EU capitals no longer trust the US to automatically support European defence, making intra-European cooperation more important.

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Fish back on the menu

Despite the warmer tone, some areas remain tense. Talks are continuing over fishing rights, food checks and youth mobility.

Fishing – one of the most contested issues during Brexit – is back on the table. France and other EU coastal nations want continued access to UK waters beyond 2026. The UK is offering a four-year extension, but that falls short of EU hopes.

Officials fear the gap could also affect a deal on easing food checks.

Starmer has said he will not lower UK food standards, which are mostly inherited from EU rules. “We do not want to lower our standards on food,” he said.

He has also accepted that the European Court of Justice will continue to play a role in handling some post-Brexit disputes, especially those involving Northern Ireland.

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Migration and mobility

Perhaps most politically sensitive is the EU’s proposal for a youth mobility scheme allowing 18- to 30-year-olds to live, work, or study across the Channel.

Starmer’s team is exploring a time-limited and capped model – possibly a “one in, one out” approach – that avoids returning to free movement.

Even this idea has drawn criticism from Reform UK, the Eurosceptic party led by Nigel Farage.

Starmer said the government is taking a “serious, pragmatic” approach to all the issues. Officials say this summit is just the start of what could become a regular series of annual meetings between the UK and EU.

The London summit comes a day before a key meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, where Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia will top the agenda.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau emerged as the undisputed leader of Les Républicains (LR) on Sunday, after securing a landslide victory in the party’s internal election with over 74 percent of the vote.

The win, over his rival Laurent Wauquiez, not only solidifies his control over the party but also propels him to the forefront of potential right-wing candidates for the 2027 French presidential election.

Retailleau’s triumph was comprehensive, with more than 120,000 party members casting their votes – an 80 percent turnout that signals renewed interest and momentum within a party that was on political life support just a year ago.

Posting on X, Retailleau thanked party members for voting for “the return of a proud and sincere right-wing”. 

Since taking up the post of Interior Minister in September 2024, the 64-year-old has breathed new life into the centre-right.

His message of unity and firm right-wing values clearly resonated with members hungry for direction and purpose.

Annie Genevard, the party’s secretary general, struck a hopeful tone after the results were announced: “Unity is more necessary than ever, a guarantee of our credibility and the effectiveness of our action in the service of France”.

The call for cohesion comes after years of infighting that have plagued the right, weakening its impact on national politics.

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Retailleau for 2027?

Retailleau’s defeated opponent, Laurent Wauquiez, conceded gracefully, warning against the “poison of division” that has often splintered the right.

Yet he remained firm on distancing the party from Macronism, insisting the right must remain a distinctive force of change, not one blurred into the political centre.

Retailleau’s success was backed by key party figures, including Senate President Gérard Larcher, Xavier Bertrand, and former presidential contender Valérie Pécresse.

This broad support cements his role as the dominant figure on the right – a fact not lost on political observers eyeing the 2027 presidential race.

Although speculation is growing, Retailleau insists he’s not abandoning his ministerial duties. “I think that if I am elected … the president of LR will strengthen the minister. And conversely, having this visibility will give strength to LR,” he remarked confidently.

His dual roles, he argues, are mutually reinforcing, enabling him to advance the party’s agenda from within the government while also shaping its future.

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Immigration and national identity

Retailleau’s campaign – firmly focused on immigration and national identity – set a resolute tone.

He has championed tougher naturalisation rules and challenged Algeria to accept repatriations – positions that helped energise the party’s base.

However, challenges remain. The wounds from former president Éric Ciotti’s flirtation with the far-right RN are still fresh, and the relationship between Retailleau and Wauquiez – now weakened but still influential – must be carefully managed.

And not everyone in LR agrees on how their next presidential candidate should be selected, with some calling for a broad open primary stretching from Renaissance to Les Républicains.

With Nouvelle Vague, in the main competition at Cannes, Linklater pays homage to his idol, French director Jean-Luc Godard, by re-enacting the making of his iconic debut, 1959’s Breathless.

Also celebrating a French cultural icon, director Sylvain Chomet – of The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist fame – lovingly brings the life and work of Marcel Pagnol to the screen in animation form, with A Magnificent Life. 

Both films look back at pivotal moments in movie-making history and place writer-directors at the heart of their stories. 

Godard’s charisma

Using black and white film, with expertly designed sets and costumes, Linklater takes us back to Paris in the 1950s, in what he describes as “a love letter” to a period that saw the birth of the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) cinema movement. 

Using the metatheatre technique – by which the film itself draws attention to its nature as a performance and the circumstances of its production – Linklater teases out Godard’s playful, and often irritating, approach to directing, thanks to an excellent cast. 

Guillaume Marbeck as Godard is extremely charismatic, but also gawky at times. With his black sunglasses fixed to his face, cigarette permanently lit, he consults the crumpled little notebook kept in his jacket pocket, just like the real Godard. 

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Linklater says it took him six months to find the right combination of lesser-known actors in order to “keep the magic” intact – just like the original cast of Breathless, who were young and carefree, working on a shoestring budget. 

American actress Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg and and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo not only look like their 1950s counterparts, they master their voices, accents and gestures too. But even if they are playing real people, they don’t get bogged down in these details, bringing an electric energy and humour to the screen.

The film is structured around the 20 days spent shooting the film in the streets of Paris, with no formal script, just scribbles on bits of paper and napkins: the rest was inside Godard’s head. 

Much to the chagrin of the film’s harried producer, Georges de Beauregard, Godard would sometimes stop shooting after two hours, telling his actors he’d run out of inspiration for the day. 

Little did Beauregard know, Breathless would go on to become one of the cult films of the Nouvelle Vague movement. Sotheby’s will auction part of an original manuscript written by Godard in Paris from 4 June, and judging by the enthusiasm of the Cannes crowd for Linklater’s homage, the bids are likely to start high.

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Unlike with Godard’s film, nothing was left to chance in the making of Nouvelle Vague and the script is seamless, full of sharp, witty repartees and quotes – a delight for any cinema fan. 

It’s a reminder that sometimes good storytelling doesn’t need a whole lot of artifice, but rather authenticity and spontaneity. As Godard said, all you need to make a plot is “a girl and a gun”.

The cinema bug

For Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol (A Magnificent Life), Chomet spent years painstakingly making hand-drawn images, pulling together a delightful fresco of Pagnol’s life from childhood to old age, with the protagonist voiced by French actor – and Cannes opening ceremony host – Laurent Lafitte.

He poignantly uses the ghost of Pagnol’s boyhood self as a catalyst to help the French novelist, playwright and filmmaker write his memoirs for a magazine column. Together, they relive events including the death of Pagnol’s mother and the Second World War.

Born at the turn of the 19th century, Pagnol made his name in theatre before catching the cinema bug with the arrival of the talkies.

Despite numerous setbacks, he stuck with film, even opening his own studio near Marseille. 

Chomet, like Pagnol, makes a point of keeping the distinctive southern French accent in the mix – brushing aside any concerns from snobby Parisians. Loud, melodious and full of idiomatic expressions, it makes for a great theatrical effect and some very funny moments.

The screening of Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol in 2025 marks 70 years since the inauguration of the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honour. In 1955 it was awarded to romantic drama Marty by Delbert Mann by that year’s jury president – Pagnol.

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Sudan’s army chief and de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has appointed former United Nations official Kamil Idris as the country’s new prime minister, offering a potential turning point more than two years into a devastating conflict.

Idris, a seasoned diplomat and former presidential contender, previously led the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization. He also represented Sudan at the UN through its permanent mission, bringing a wealth of international experience to his new role.

A statement from the country’s ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council confirmed the appointment, reading: “The chairman of the Sovereignty Council issued a constitutional decree appointing Kamil El-Tayeb Idris Abdelhafiz as Prime Minister”.

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Humanitarian crisis

Idris is no stranger to Sudanese politics. In 2010, he stood in the presidential election against long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir, a figure synonymous with decades of Islamist-military dominance.

His appointment comes as Sudan continues to reel from a civil war that erupted in April 2023 between Burhan’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has caused immense human suffering, with tens of thousands killed and an estimated 13 million people displaced.

The United Nations has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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A country divided

Idris takes over from veteran diplomat Dafallah al-Haj Ali, who served as acting prime minister for less than three weeks after being appointed in late April.

Burhan had earlier pledged to establish a technocratic wartime government to “complete what remains of our military objectives, which is liberating Sudan from these rebels.”.

In a counter-move, the RSF announced plans to form its own government in April, shortly after signing a charter in Kenya with a coalition of military and political allies.

The announcement has fuelled concerns among international observers that Sudan could face permanent fragmentation.

The country is already effectively split: the army controls the north, east and central regions, while the RSF and its partners hold sway over most of Darfur and parts of the south.

Near complete official results showed Montenegro‘s centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) had boosted its tally in the 230-seat parliament to 89 in Sunday’s poll, short of the 116 seats required for a ruling majority.

Chega, led by former television sports commentator Andre Ventura, and the Socialist Party (PS) tied in second place with 58 seats each.

There are still four seats left to be assigned representing Portuguese who live abroad.

Ventura said he was confident Chega would pick up a couple as it did in the previous general election in 2024 to overtake the PS, making it Portugal’s main opposition party for the first time.

“We didn’t win these elections but we made history,” Ventura told his supporters, who chanted “Portugal is ours and it always will be”.

“The system of two-party rule in Portugal is over,” he claimed.

Even with the backing of the recently formed business-friendly party Liberal Initiative (IL), which won nine seats, the AD would still need the support of Chega or the PS to pass legislation.

But Montenegro, 52, a lawyer by profession, has refused any alliance with anti-establishment, far-right Chega, saying it is “unreliable” and “not suited to governing”.

His previous minority AD government was able to pass a budget because the PS abstained in key votes in parliament.

However, relations between Portugal‘s two mainstream parties have soured during the campaign and it is unclear if a weakened PS — which had its lowest score in decades, losing 20 seats — will be willing to allow the centre-right to govern this time around.

Little incentive to cooperate

Montenegro said he expected a “sense of state, a sense of responsibility” from other parties so he could “continue to work”.

But Portugal will stay in campaign mode, with local elections later this year and a presidential election in January.

This could reduce the incentive for parties to cooperate while they focus on highlighting their differences to sway voters.

Montenegro will be shielded from the threat of fresh polls in the near future since the constitution prohibits snap elections within six months of a vote, as well as during the final six months of a presidential term.

Sunday’s election — Portugal’s third in three years – was triggered when Montenegro lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in March after less than a year in power.

He called for the confidence vote following allegations of conflicts of interest related to his family’s consultancy business, which has several clients holding government contracts.

Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing, saying he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the firm.

“It is not clear that there will be increased governability following these results,” University of Lisbon political scientist Marina Costa Lobo told AFP;

She said Chega was “the big winner of the night”.

Support for Chega has grown in every general election since the party was founded by Ventura in 2019, advocating tougher sentences for criminals and restrictions on immigration.

It won 1.3 percent of the vote in a general election in 2019, the year it was founded, giving it a seat in parliament.

That was the first time an extreme-right party had been represented in Portugal’s parliament since a coup in 1974 toppled a decades-long far-right dictatorship.

Chega became the third-largest force in parliament in the next general election in 2022.

It quadrupled its parliamentary seats last year to 50, cementing its place in Portugal’s political landscape and mirroring gains by extreme-right parties in other parts of Europe.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has made a strong appeal to Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza, calling for an “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of assistance to the besieged Palestinian territory.

His statement on Sunday followed Israel’s announcement that it would permit only a “basic amount” of aid to enter the Strip, where conditions have deteriorated significantly since the imposition of a blockade in early March.

“After three months of diplomatic efforts, the Israeli government finally announces the reopening of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Barrot wrote on social media platform X. “It must be immediate, massive and unhampered. It must put an end to the catastrophic humanitarian situation and definitively end the famine”.

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Israel expands ground operations

Israel’s announcement came hours after its military began expanded ground operations across northern and southern Gaza, and amid renewed indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that the limited aid entry was intended to prevent a full-blown hunger crisis, though the move falls far short of international demands.

Since the blockade began on 2 March, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached crisis levels.

United Nations agencies, Gaza’s health ministry, and multiple foreign governments have warned of famine, with growing shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.

According to Gaza health officials, 57 children have already died due to starvation – a number that is expected to rise.

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‘Collective punishment’

Netanyahu’s government has insisted that the blockade aims to exert pressure on Hamas and prevent the militant group from seizing humanitarian aid.

However, critics argue that the continued restrictions amount to collective punishment and exacerbate civilian suffering.

Barrot’s statement underscores France’s increasing impatience with Israel’s stance, reflecting broader international frustration as eports from Gaza describe extensive airstrikes, displacement, and mounting casualties.

On Sunday alone, over 50 Palestinians were reported killed, including 22 in an attack on tents sheltering displaced families in Al-Mawasi.

Survivors described harrowing scenes, with entire families wiped out.

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Talks remain deadlocked

Meanwhile, diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict remain deadlocked as Israel insists on Hamas’ total disarmament and the release of hostages as prerequisites for any ceasefire.

Hamas, for its part, has expressed willingness to release all hostages in exchange for a comprehensive, permanent ceasefire – an offer Israel has yet to accept.

While negotiations continue in Doha, with involvement from Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, hopes for a breakthrough remain slim.

On the ground, Israeli forces are intensifying their operations, with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stating the military would provide “flexibility” to support any potential hostage deal.

The vote was seen as crucial for the direction of the EU and NATO member bordering war-torn Ukraine.

The ballot came five months after Romania’s constitutional court annulled an election over allegations of Russian interference and a massive social media promotion of the far-right frontrunner, who was not allowed to stand again.

Dan, who campaigned for an “honest” Romania, gained more than 54 percent of the vote, while US President Donald Trump admirer Simion secured close to 46 percent, according to near complete results.

Turnout was close to 65 percent, compared to 53 percent for the May 4 first round, in which Simion was the leading candidate.

Both candidates claimed victory.

Dan, 55, told jubilant supporters gathered in a Bucharest park that Romania’s “reconstruction” would begin on Monday, calling it “a moment of hope”.

“In today’s elections a community of Romanians who want a profound change in Romania won,” Dan said.

Far-right leader Simion, 38, said “I am the new president of Romania,” as he addressed cheering supporters in front of parliament.

He called on people at polling stations “not to allow any electoral fraud”.

‘Hallmarks of Russian interference’

Romania’s government said it had detected a “viral campaign of fake news” bearing the “hallmarks of Russian interference” after the founder of the Telegram platform, Pavel Durov, indicated that France had asked for Romanian conservative voices to be silenced.

France’s foreign ministry said it “categorically” rejected Durov’s allegations.

Simion and Dan both campaigned on a platform of change in the country of 19 million amid anger over politicians deemed corrupt who have ruled one of the EU’s poorest countries since the end of communism 35 years ago.

“I voted thinking about a better life,” Catalin Birca, 57, a pensioner in Bucharest, told AFP, adding that he wanted his country to remain pro-European.

“What are we doing otherwise? Going back to where we started from?” he added.

Dan has promised a country that is “honest”.

Pledging to put “Romania first”, Simion had vowed to “restore the dignity of the Romanian people.

He criticised what he called the EU’s “absurd policies” and proposed cutting military aid to Ukraine.

The president has significant sway in foreign policy, including holding veto power at EU summits.

‘Georgescu for president’

Simion voted in Mogosoaia, just outside Bucharest, together with far-right Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu was the front-runner in last year’s cancelled presidential election and was barred from taking part in the rerun.

As the duo arrived, dozens of people, some holding flowers, shouted: “Calin Georgescu for president.”

The election campaign took place in a tense atmosphere.

The cancellation of last year’s vote and subsequent barring of Georgescu drew tens of thousands onto the streets to protest in sometimes violent rallies.

Top US officials also criticised the decision to scrap last year’s ballot.

The surprise resignation last week of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the collapse of his pro-European government coalition — after their candidate failed to make the runoff vote — further raised the stakes.

The new president will have the power to appoint a new prime minister and Simion’s nationalist AUR party could enter government after negotiations on the formation of a new parliamentary majority.

The election turmoil has increased economic uncertainty in the EU’s most indebted country, which has grappled with high inflation.

“The stakes of these elections are huge because there is widespread chaos in Romania right now after the annulment,” voter Runa Petringenaru told AFP.

Trzaskowski was expected to get 30.8 percent of the vote and historian Nawrocki 29.1 percent, according to an Ipsos poll, with neither candidate passing the 50 percent threshold required to win in the first round.

Preliminary results are expected early Monday.

An overall victory for Trzaskowski would be a major boost for the centrist government led by former European Union leader Donald Tusk, which has been at loggerheads with the current nationalist president.

A Nawrocki win would likely extend the political deadlock and analysts predict that fresh parliamentary elections may have to be called.

“This result shows how strong we have to be, how determined we have to be, how much work lies ahead of us,” Trzaskowski told supporters in the historic town of Sandomierz in eastern Poland.

The two candidates have widely diverging views on abortion and LGBTQ rights. The election also comes at a fraught moment for Europe as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, far-right populists make electoral gains and ties with Washington are under strain.

“These are very important elections,” voter Marcin Woloszynski, a 42-year-old economist, told AFP.

“They offer two diametrically opposed visions of Poland… a democratic, European, open, confident, honest Poland on one side, and the opposite on the other,” he said after casting his ballot in Warsaw, a Trzaskowski stronghold.

Anti-communist icon Lech Walesa, who in 1990 became Poland’s first democratically elected president since World War II, said the election was a “chance to restore order in our country”.

“This is a time of big discussions over the future of Poland, Europe and the world,” he was quoted by Poland’s PAP news agency as saying.

Foreign policy, social issues

The electoral campaign in the EU and NATO member largely revolved around foreign policy, showcasing a clash of philosophies over Poland’s engagement with the EU and the United States.

But social issues have also played a major part.

Trzaskowski, 53, has promised to support abortion and LGBTQ rights.

“These elections are about rights for women and minorities, rights for children and animals,” said Anna Rusztynska-Wolska, a 69-year-old doctor, after voting.

“They are about security in the European Union and in the world because the more Poland is a country that respects the rule of law (and is) rich and well-managed, the better it will be for all of us,” she said.

The former ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), which backs Nawrocki, was frequently at odds with Poland’s Western allies and EU institutions in Brussels over rule-of-law concerns.

Nawrocki, 42, is an admirer of US President Donald Trump. He said Trump told him “You will win” when they met at the White House earlier this month.

The key to the election could be whether supporters of Slawomir Mentzen, a far-right candidate who came third in the exit poll with 15.4 percent, back Nawrocki in the second round.

Mentzen is a eurosceptic libertarian staunchly opposed to abortion and migrants.

He has accused the country’s one million Ukrainians of taking advantage of Poland.

Anna Urbanska, a 74-year-old pensioner, said the key electoral issue was immigration, which has risen sharply in recent years.

“I don’t want these immigrants to be allowed in here, in Poland. I want us to be able to live more peacefully,” she said on the eve of the vote.

High stakes for Europe

The governing coalition is hopeful a Trzaskowski victory would enable it to carry out undelivered campaign pledges.

Tusk’s administration has been prevented from easing Poland’s stringent abortion laws and introducing other changes by the president’s power of veto.

Poland’s head of state is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, steers foreign policy and can introduce and veto legislation.

The stakes are high for Europe.

Under Tusk, a former EU leader, Poland has grown more important on the continent, reinforcing its position as a key voice on NATO’s eastern flank against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday, for the first time since the disastrous shouting match in the White House in February, as Russia launched a “record” drone barrage on Kyiv, after talks with Moscow which did not yield a ceasefire.

“We discussed the talks in Istanbul, where the Russians sent a low-level delegation with no decision-making powers,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram following the meeting with Vance.

That took place at the US ambassador’s residence in Rome — the Villa Taverna — after the two of them attended Pope Leo’s inaugural mass in the Vatican.

“We also touched on the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defence cooperation, the situation on the battlefield and the future exchange of prisoners,” Zelensky added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak were also present at the meeting, where the two sides discussed steps towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

A senior Ukrainian official from the president’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Zelensky and Vance also discussed preparations for Monday’s telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The official said that the encounter went “better” than the Oval Office row three months ago, when Vance publicly accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” towards Trump, who fuelled the row by telling the Ukrainian leader he should be more “thankful” and that he had no “cards” to play in negotiations with Russia.

Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska were earlier granted an audience with Leo following his inauguration.

“We thank the Vatican for its willingness to become a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” Ukraine’s leader said after meeting the pontiff.

“The martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen,” Leo XIV said during his inauguration.   

‘Record’ drone barrage 

Ukraine on Sunday said that Russia had launched a record number of drones at the country overnight, targeting various regions, including that of the capital Kyiv, where a woman was killed. Another man was killed in the southeastern Kherson region.

The attacks came only two days after the first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years, which failed to produce a truce.

Putin said in an interview released on Sunday that his focus was on eradicating what he called the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and guaranteeing Russia’s security.

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched “273 Shahed attack drones and various types of imitator drones”, of which 88 were destroyed and 128 more went astray “without negative consequences”.

Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said it was a “record” number of drones. “Russia has a clear goal — to continue killing civilians,” she said.

The Russian military said it had intercepted 25 Ukrainian drones overnight and on Sunday morning. Moscow also claimed it had captured Bahatyr, another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as it intensifies the war effort despite the Istanbul peace talks.

Russia and Ukraine hold first peace talks since 2022

‘Root causes’

In his interview with Russian state TV, Putin said Moscow’s aim was to “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis, create the conditions for a lasting peace and guarantee Russia’s security”, without elaborating further.

Russia’s references to the “root causes” of the conflict typically refer to alleged grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for launching the invasion in February 2022.

They include pledges to “de-Nazify” and demilitarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country’s east, push back against NATO expansion and stop Ukraine’s westward geopolitical drift.

Kyiv and the West say that Russia’s invasion is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.

Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia started the war, with millions forced to flee their homes.

Friday’s talks in Turkey led to an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.

Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday that he would speak by phone with Putin on Monday in order to stop the “BLOODBATH” in Ukraine.

 (AFP)

Gabriel Boga was only ten years old when it happened: the fall of the Ceausescu regime in December 1989. “The atmosphere changed overnight. There was freedom.” 

For decades, Nicolae Ceausescu, and his wife Elena had ruled Romania with an iron fist. “They called him the last Stalinist in Europe,” says Catalina Andrei, Boga’s partner because of “the restrictions” he imposed on the citizens.

There was greater freedom, but the Romanians had little time to enjoy it: the harsh realities of capitalism were beginning to take hold, and throughout the 1990s, little changed for them in material terms, following the final throes of Ceaușescu’s communist regime with its bankrupt  – economy, hours-long queues at bakeries, and strict food rationing.

Ceausescu’s rule was defined by “a lot of populism, cult of personality, the idea of nationalism,” says Andrei. “Our history was the ‘greatest’ in this part of Europe, we were taught. We were encouraged to listen to nationalist music.”

She added that Ceausescu also “tried to reduce the involvement of foreigners in [the] economy” in a show of “national independence,” resulting in a refusal to borrow abroad – and leading to near bankruptcy in the 1980s and a decade of dire poverty for the Romanians.

Nostalgia

Boga and Andrei founded the Museum of Communism, located in Bucharest’s Old Town, in order to respond to questions about Romania’s recent history, but also to respond to a “certain sense of nostalgia” for times past, and maybe serve as a warning that not everything was ideal under Ceausescu. 

“People who are in their mid-30s, have never experienced communism directly,” says Emanuela Grama, an associate history professor with Carnegie Mellon University, contacted by RFI via Zoom.

“And what they have is stories shared by their parents,” she added, but with a lack of immediate experience combined with nostalgia for the communist past, where propaganda preached equality, food and universal education for everybody. 

The current school curriculum doesn’t help much.

“During history lessons in high school, we never discussed policies that were toxic to the society,” says Fransesca Cristea (27) who was born some eight years after the fall of the Ceausescu regime.

“We do not talk about the fact that the Romanian women were not able get abortions. We don’t talk about the ‘Pitești experiment‘, where communist authorities tortured and brainwashed intellectuals to transform them into brainless monsters. About the fact that your own neighbours were spying on you and that you were not able to have a conversation,” she says. 

But most people have forgotten the horrors. “We don’t really talk about it,” says Cristea. Unlike South Africa or Germany, which went through difficult periods of confrontation and reckoning with the darker parts of their history, Romania does not appear to have come to terms with its past. “There were trials, but they dragged on, and in the end, all the witnesses are dead,” she says.

The lack of proper education, the reluctance to talk about the past, and the lingering appeal of communist ideals—such as equality, national independence, and the promise of free food, education, and employment for all—continue to fuel nostalgia for the communist era.

The role of TikTok

And then there is TikTok. “This is not the generation that would turn on the TV to get their news. They will really turn to social media,” says Grama.

“[This is] a technology that has been extraordinarily powerful in creating and increasing polarisation of thought and beliefs.”

On TikTok and other social media platforms, nostalgia for the communist past appears to be exploited by certain members of Romania’s far-right groups, which have been gaining in the polls over the past year.

French cyber agency warns TikTok manipulation could hit Romania’s vote, again

Earlier this week, Marius Lulea, vice-president of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) – whose founder, George Simion, is the presidential candidate for the upcoming elections – publicly praised Ceaușescu, describing him as a “sovereignist” and commending him for “standing up … against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia” in 1968.

According to Grama, this was Lulea’s “way of talking about pushing for some independent Romania, disconnected from the European Union,” under the guise of “promoting freedom.” They do not seek “political independence and standing proud in Europe,” but rather an “isolated, marginalised Romania”—a perspective that causes “profound tensions” within Romanian society.

For Christian Preda, a political science professor at the University of Bucharest, the current nationalist propaganda goes even further: not only does the far right exploit nostalgia for communism, but both George Simion and his “political father”, Călin Georgescu (who was excluded from running for president after the cancellation of the 2024 elections), also flirt with nostalgia for Romania’s fascist movement during the interwar period.

“It’s a combination of communist and fascist nostalgia,” he says. 

But Francesca Cristea rejects the argument that feelings of nostalgia are being exploited by the nationalists.

She belongs to the Aromanian minority, which was viewed with suspicion by the authorities, and grew up hearing the horror stories told by her grandparents, who were brutally deported from their home in Timișoara and abandoned in a barren field outside Bucharest, left to fend for themselves, and barely survived.

“The citizens of Romania did not help them because the communists had said they were ‘contagious’,” she explains, referring to the stigma attached to their ethnic minority status.

Because of her grandmother’s stories, she “never forgot” and never took the narratives spread on TikTok seriously. However, in her role as Head of Policy and Programmes at Europuls – an NGO promoting European integration in Romania – she did attempt to engage with the hate groups on TikTok that had been threatening her organisation.

‘Hatred sessions’

During the cancelled presidential elections last year, when the pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu ran on an ultra-nationalist platform and came first in the initial round of voting, Cristea observed on TikTok that people were “holding some sort of hatred sessions”, where influencers encouraged users to “hate the government”, with individuals joining live sessions saying they would kill, claiming that all decision-makers were thieves and that government institutions should be burned down.

“The hate was overwhelming,” she says.

It proved impossible to have a meaningful discussion, she explains. “I joined live sessions just to understand people’s perspectives,” she recalls. “I was telling them that Romania had received substantial funding from the EU, and that infrastructure, hospitals, and schools were being built with European funds,” but this was dismissed as “disinformation”.

Suggestions that the EU’s contributions should be verified were dismissed, with some alleging that “the numbers are being falsified” by “the system”, which is “controlled by a foreign hand” that “manages and controls us.” In the end, she gave up and deleted her TikTok account.

Meanwhile, Cătălina Andrei hopes that her Museum of Communism will begin to attract more Romanian visitors.

“We are aiming to expand to the local population,” she says, and is happy that schools have started to take an interest.

“Many young Romanians are visiting,” she says, and “we welcome the young ones, to explain what the bad aspects of communism were, so that we make sure we will not go back to that kind of ideology again.” 

The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) – taking place from 9-13 June and co-hosted by France and Costa Rica – aims to speed up global action on ocean conservation.

In the lead-up, the Tara Ocean Foundation launched a public outreach mission aboard its schooner to engage citizens, scientists and policymakers on urgent marine issues.

Founded in 2003, the foundation has carried out numerous scientific expeditions to study ocean ecosystems and monitor the effects of climate change and pollution.

Climate-driven changes to ocean colour fuel urgency ahead of UN summit

Tara left the port of Lorient on 7 March and has already visited several coastal cities. It will arrive in Nice on 8 June.

The vessel will dock in Marseille on 19 May, where a conference on plastic pollution will be held at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem).

‘Reversing burden of proof’

One of the campaign’s key goals is to promote the Ocean Protection Principle – a call to shift how environmental responsibility is assigned.

It calls for “a real paradigm shift: reversing the burden of proof“, which places the responsability on industries and entities seeking to exploit the ocean to demonstrate their activities do no harm, rather than requiring scientists or advocacy groups to prove damage.

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

This concept is part of a wider initiative launched after the 2022 UNOC2 in Lisbon, where progress on ocean protection was deemed insufficient.

In response, Tara Ocean and its partners introduced the “Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean” initiative, which seeks to embed long-term, enforceable protections into international frameworks. 

The foundation hopes to see the Ocean Protection Principle included in the Nice Ocean Action Plan. 

UNOC says the draft plan consists of a political declaration and a list of voluntary commitments, which are due to be adopted after the talks in June.

Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, who became the first US head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on 8 May, did his first tour of the square in his popemobile ahead of the mass.

Pope Leo XIV made his debut tour of St Peter’s Square, greeting tens of thousands of pilgrims and well-wishers ahead of his inauguration mass.

He stood in the white vehicle as it drove through cheering crowds, smiling, waving and making the sign of the cross.

He laid out his priorities for his papacy Sunday, criticising an economic system that exploits nature and the poor during a homily delivered in front of world dignitaries.

“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest,” Leo said.

US Vice President JD Vance is among the hundreds of dignitaries due to attend the inauguration mass that begins at 10am local time (0800 GMT).

Leo will preside over the ceremony rich in rites and symbols, where he will receive his special papal ring before giving a homily that will set the tone for his papacy.

After spending two decades as a missionary in Peru, the 69-year-old is unknown to many Catholics, but during the past week he has offered glimpses of the kind of leader he will be.

In meetings with journalists, clergy and diplomats, he repeatedly called for peace in a world full of conflicts and defended social justice.

He also emphasised traditional Catholic values, including the importance of a family built around a “stable union of a man and a woman”, and defended the rights of the unborn.

Inacia Lisboa, 71, originally from Cape Verde but who lives in Rome, said she got up early to get a good spot to see a man she said had already “entered my heart”.

Asked what she wanted to hear from him, she told AFP: “The first thing is that he prays for us all, for peace in the world — we need it so much.”

Zelensky, Merz    

Leo’s elevation has sparked huge enthusiasm in the United States, which is being represented on Sunday by Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic.

Before becoming pope, the new pontiff on his personal X account reposted criticism of President Donald Trump’s administration over its approach to migration and also pilloried Vance, but the account is no longer accessible.

Vance was the last world leader to meet with Pope Francis, the day before the Argentine died on 21 April, after 12 years as pontiff.

Other notable guests expected include Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky — who memorably met Trump in St Peter’s Basilica at Francis’s funeral — and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte is also on the list provided by the Vatican, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and a host of European royals.

Italian authorities have deployed thousands of security officers for the event, alongside snipers on rooftops and anti-drone operations.   

Fisherman’s ring

Leo XIV was elected the 267th pope on 8 May after a secret conclave vote of cardinals that lasted less than 24 hours.

Succeeding the charismatic but impulsive Francis, he takes over a Church still battling the fallout of the clerical child abuse scandal, and trying to adapt to the modern world.

Modernity is not the concern on Sunday, however.

Although no pope has been crowned during an inauguration mass since Paul VI in 1963, the event is still a grand affair steeped in tradition.

Leo will begin by visiting the tomb of Saint Peter — who in the Christian tradition was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and the first pope — located under the altar of the basilica that bears his name.

Leo will then receive the pontifical emblems — the pallium, a strip of cloth worn over the chasuble, his robe and the fisherman’s ring, which is forged anew for each pope and which he will wear on his finger until he dies, when it will be destroyed.

With other cardinals and clergy, the pope will walk in procession into St Peter’s Square, where large screens will display the proceedings to the crowds.

At the end of the ceremony, the pope will greet the delegations of heads of state, though it is not clear if any of them will also be accorded a one-to-one private audience.

 (AFP)

The kataklè is a three-legged royal chair from Dahomey, a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from 1600 until 1904. 

It was discovered to be at the National Museum of Finland, the Kansallismuseo, thanks to a lengthy investigation by art historian Marie-Cécile Zinsou, of the Zinsou foundation, one of the museum’s curators, Pilvi Vainonen – and RFI journalist Pierre Firtion.

The kataklè was returned to Benin by Finland on Tuesday, with Finnish minister of culture Mari-Leena Talvitie handing it over to the Beninese authorities during a ceremony at the Marina Palace, the presidential residence in Cotonou, Benin. 

A whispered clue

The first 26 pieces of the treasure were returned to Benin in November 2021 by the Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly.

The museum, along with the French Ministry of Culture, had announced the restitution of 26 works from the royal treasury in Abomey in 2018, as approved by President Emmanuel Macron.

These pieces were looted in 1892 by French Colonel Alfred-Amédée Dodds during the sacking of the city of Abomey, after the Second Franco-Dahomean War, taken from the royal place.

Despite housing approximately 70,000 African objects, the Quai Branly returned this limited restitution of 26 pieces thanks to a specific French law, passed in December 2020, which allowed for exceptions to the principle of inalienability of public collections for them and for a separate item, returned to Senegal.

Among them were anthropomorphic royal statues, recades (a type of sceptre associated with Dahomey), the gates of the royal palace of Abomey, thrones, seats, and a first kataklè.

‘Dahomey’ film invites colonial past to speak through Benin’s stolen treasures

RFI’s Firtion was in Cotonou in November 2021 covering the restitution of the 26 royal objects, when a source whispered to him: “There aren’t 26, but 27 treasures.”

“What if it was true?” he asked himself, as he recalls in a French-language podcast series on the story.

Soon after, Firtion joined forces with Zinsou and Vainonen, delving into texts on Beninese art and the restitution of works of art to Africa.

Lost in storage

He discovered that this kataklè had arrived at the Trocadéro Museum of Ethnography in Paris at the end of the 19th century.

Then in 1939, the museum, by then renamed the Musée de l’Homme, agreed to an exchange with the National Museum of Finland – a common practice at the time.

The Musée de l’Homme wanted to enrich its collection of Finno-Ugric objects from everyday life, and in exchange sent around 40 objects to Helsinki, mainly from Africa and Asia. Among the lot was the kataklè.

It was never exhibited, instead ending up in the storage rooms of the National Museum of Finland, where it remained for decades. Over time, curators lost track of it, as it was listed as belonging to Dahomey. 

In the online inventories of the Musée du Quai Branly, Firtion identified a piece donated by Colonel Dodds to the Trocadéro Ethnography Museum, which was not returned to Benin… a three-legged stool, called a kataklè.

The journalist also travelled to Marseille’s Mucem museum in 2024, where the pieces potentially exchanged with Finland for the kataklè in 1939 were being stored – and where he learned that the exchanged pieces still belonged to the museum originally owning them.

After intensive research on her side, Vainonen got back to Firtion and told him it had been found in Finland.

A wider debate on restitution

Benin’s request for restitution is not an isolated one.

As early as 1973, the president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC), Mobutu Sese Seko, was the first to speak at the United Nations General Assembly, calling for the country’s cultural heritage to be returned to it.

Since then, a growing number of African countries – including Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and Nigeria – have called for works of art and priceless artefacts to be returned.

In 2021, Belgium handed the government of the DRC an inventory of 84,000 Congolese artefacts dating from the colonial period – although their return hasn’t taken place yet.

Netherlands agrees to return 119 Benin statues to Nigeria

Germany handed 22 artefacts looted in the 19th century back to Nigeria at a ceremony in the capital, Abuja, in December 2022. In February this year, the Netherlands agreed to return 119 Benin bronze statues to Nigeria.

Two British universities began returning pieces to Nigeria around the same time: the University of Aberdeen, which returned Benin bronzes in 2021 and Cambridge University, in 2022.

“Nicusor (Dan) is the one who can keep order,” says Eugenia, referring to the centrist mayor of Bucharest. Eugenia is almost 90 years old. She walks with difficulty, supporting herself with a cane, but today’s vote is crucial for her.

“I had 60 years taken by the communist regime. And I had enough.

Eugenia says she’s “almost sure” that communism could come back if the nationalist Pro-Russian George Simion were to win. 

“The Russians are very interested in our country, they invaded Romania seven times,” she said. 

Decebal, 55, voted for Simion. He wants change and hopes for an improvement in living standards. “Inflation is high and wages are low. We’re forced to have several jobs,” he told RFI. “Simion promised change in this direction. Now we wait and see.”

If nationalist George Simion wins the rerun, held after last year’s vote was annulled over allegations of election interference, he would become the country’s first far-right president.

That would make Romania part of a growing group of EU members with nationalist leaders critical of Brussels and keen to cut military aid to Ukraine.

But in this more affluent part of Bucharest, it’s hard to find voters who support Simion.

Jonas, sporting a bright red jacket and a black T-shirt, is also voting  for Dan, and “hopefully for a continuous future within the European Union,” he says. 

He is not surprised by the sudden rise in popularity of the far-right AUR party and its leader George Simion, the other presidential candidate.

“We’re not yet at the point where we understand that we needed to grow slowly to reach where we want to be. Everyone wants to move faster and faster, but sometimes speed isn’t always the best thing..” 

Jonas hopes that being part of the EU would give “more opportunities to the young people” to “grow inside the Union.” 

Patricia (20) agrees, Nicosor Dan’s values “align” with her own, she says. But she was surprised about the sudden rise in popularity of the nationalists in the first round of the elections. Although she belongs to the Tiktok generation, she has no account. “Not my style,” she says curtly, before heading off. 

Mirca, who lives in Colombia and is one of Romania’s four million people living abroad, happened to be in Bucharest during the vote. He was surprised and concerned about the high level of popularity of Simion among Romanians abroad. 

“I think there is a lot of misinformation in these elections and people are getting ideas about what is  good for the country… For me it is about how to remain stable, as a member of the European community, supporting each other, supporting the Ukrainian cause,” he says.

Marcel, another voter, says he was not surprised about the surge in popularity of the far right. “I believe it stems from the frustration that has built up in society over the past decades due to successive governments making numerous promises but consistently failing to fulfil them. I understand that people have been deceived time and again.” he says.

But whoever wins will face Romania’s massive economic problems, and will have to “provide some solutions,” he adds.

Apart from that, Marcel says that the new president will face some “tough external policy questions,” like the situation in Ukraine and the relationship with the EU and the US.

“We may or may not like it, but the current US government is still one of our strategic partners,” he says.

Polling stations will close at 9pm local time, with exit polls to be published shortly afterwards and results expected to come in overnight.

The latest opinion polls predict a very close race, suggesting that Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, has managed to narrow the lead that Simion, a former football hooligan, holds.

The impact of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is being felt far beyond US borders. Observers say this ripple effect can be seen across Europe, not just in policy but in the continent’s political culture itself.

For Dr Célia Belin of the European Council on Foreign Relations, the stakes are nothing less than the future of European liberal democracy.

In her latest ECFR report, MAGA Goes Global: Trump’s Plan for Europe, Belin warns that what might appear to be chaotic decisions from the Oval Office are, in fact, part of an ideological project.

“There’s actually a strong direction, a clear destination,” Belin told RFI. “Trump, surrounded by loyalists and MAGA Republicans, is ready to implement his plan – to push back on liberal democracy, and to push back on Europe.”

According to her, he sees Europe as “an extension of his political enemies – liberals and progressives” and views its institutions as bureaucratic hurdles rather than allies in global leadership.

Culture wars without borders

Trump’s administration – bolstered by figures including Vice President JD Vance and media mogul Elon Musk – has also made overtures to Europe’s far right.

They have voiced support for Germany’s far-right AfD party and France’s Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, including on Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) – helping to disseminate nationalist and populist rhetoric across the continent.

“We’re seeing a systematic attack on the liberal model that Europe represents,” said Belin. “This ‘Trumpian wave’ has fired up nationalist opposition in Europe, even if it hasn’t created a united front.”

‘Free Le Pen’: US conservatives rally behind French far-right leader

Non merci to MAGA

However, some of the European political parties that share Trump’s scepticism of liberal institutions are treading carefully when it comes to embracing his brand of politics.

While leaders such as Viktor Orbán in Hungary openly welcome MAGA-style backing, others see it as a double-edged sword.

Following her recent legal conviction, Le Pen received support from MAGA-aligned figures. But her party responded with conspicuous silence.

“They don’t want or need this Trumpian support,” Belin noted. “Their political strategy is not about aligning with MAGA America – it’s more French, more sovereignist.”

Embracing Trump too openly could risk undermining years of effort to mainstream the National Rally’s image. “Nationalists are realising that now – it brings fuel to the fire, yes, but it also complicates their own domestic positioning,” said Belin.

Trump’s first 100 days: Revolution or destruction? The view from France

Europe responds

French President Emmanuel Macron was among the first European leaders to sound the alarm on the changing nature of the US-European alliance. 

“I want to believe that the United States will stay by our side but we have to be prepared for that not to be the case,” he said in a televised address to the nation in March.

I January, in a speech to French ambassadors, he said: “Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz followed suit, criticising Musk’s decision to give the AfD a platform just weeks before Germany’s federal elections.

However, Belin points out that the European response is still taking shape. “It’s brand new as a phenomenon,” she said. “Europeans were prepared to be challenged on trade, on security – even on Ukraine. But this cultural challenge is unprecedented.”

Meloni positions herself as Europe’s ‘trump card’ on visit to White House

Still, as Belin notes, Trumpism is not a winning formula everywhere. “Turning fully Trumpist would derail Marine Le Pen’s strategy. It’s not a winning strategy in France,” she said. “But in more insurgent political systems, it might be.”

And there is concern too that Trumpism could outlive Trump himself.

“There’s been a transformation in the perception of America’s global role,” Belin said. “And that will stick around. It will be pushed by some of the nationalist parties in our countries. That is the Trumpist legacy”.

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 winners’ names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the 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 journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 19 April, I asked you a question about Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel Prize-winning author from Peru. You were to re-read Paul Myers’ article “Nobel prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa dies aged 89”, and send in the answers to these questions: In which year did Llosa win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and what did the Nobel Committee write about his work?

The answer is, to quote Paul’s article: “His Nobel Prize in 2010 came 51 years after The Cubs and Other Stories. The Nobel committee said the accolade was an award for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, “What are the obstacles that impede your happiness?”, which was an idea from Erwan Rome, who suggested we look at the philosophy questions asked on the French baccalaureate exams, the French leaving-school exam. This one was for the 2018 students.

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

The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Father Stephen Wara from Bamenda, Cameroon. Father Steve is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations, Father Stephen,on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are RFI Listeners Club members Samir Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal, India – who noted Vargas is one of his favorite Latin American writers; Mahfuzur Rahman from Cumilla, Bangladesh; Niyar Talukdar from Maharashtra, India, and last but not least, RFI English listener Tanjim Tatini from Munshiganj, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “En route à Bengal” inspired by traditional Bengali folk music, arranged and performed by the Hamelin Instrumental Band; Traditional Peruvian Cumbia; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “The Loud Minority” by Frank Foster, performed by the the Loud Minority Big Band.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read Ollia Horton’s article “Ukraine, Gaza and #MeToo in the spotlight as Cannes Film Festival opens”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 16 June to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 21 June 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 learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

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

According to Amnesty International, Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency has hastened trends already unfolding over the past decade.

Just one hundred days into his second term, President Trump has demonstrated a complete disregard for universal human rights, making the world both less safe and less just, the organisation’s latest report claims.

“His all-out assault on the very concepts of multilateralism, asylum, racial and gender justice, global health and life-saving climate action is exacerbating the significant damage those principles and institutions have already sustained and is further emboldening other anti-rights leaders and movements to join his onslaught,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, wrote.

While Africa’s armed conflicts caused relentless civilian suffering, including increasing levels of sexual and gender-based violence, and death on a massive scale, international and regional responses remained woefully inadequate.

The NGO also denounces global failures in addressing inequalities, climate collapse, and tech transformations that imperil future generations, especially in fragile zones. 

To discuss the implications for Africa in detail, this week, Spotlight on Africa’s first guest is Deprose Muchena, senior director for regional human rights impact at Amnesty International. 

Meanwhile, in South Africa, experts reflect on a recent visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as the country leads the G20 this year and tries to become a platform for peace talk.

Did Zelensky’s South Africa visit signal a diplomatic pivot by Pretoria?

We talked to the French business and veteran diplomat, Jean-Yves Ollivier, founder of the Brazzaville Foundation, who was a key actor in organising Zelensky’s meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Finally, we hear from Djiby Kebe, one of the founders of  Air Afrique magazine, created by and for young members of the African diaspora in Paris and Abidjan. Inspired by the once-successful Pan-African airline of the same name, the publication centres on culture and travel.

Episode mixed by Erwan Rome.

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

While protests continue over the jailing of the Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, his account on social media platform X has been cancelled.

X, formerly Twitter, claims it was in response to a Turkish court order. Dozens of Imamoglu supporters have also had their accounts suspended, drawing widespread condemnation.

The controversy is stoking broader concerns over the stance of the world’s tech giants towards Turkey.

“These international tech companies find it well to keep good relations with the Turkish authorities because their only evaluation is not just on the side of democratic standards,” said Erol Onderoglu of the Paris-based Reporters without Borders.

“But there is another challenge which is based on financial profit. The country’s advertising market is very vibrant regarding social media participation,” he added.

Google is also facing criticism. The US tech giant was recently accused of changing its algorithms, resulting in a collapse in people accessing the websites of Turkey’s independent media and therefore depriving the companies of vital advertising revenue.

Turkish radio ban is latest attack on press freedom, warn activists

Fewer alternative voices

Until now, the internet has provided a platform for alternative voices to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who controls around 90 percent of the mainstream media.

“Google has a very big effect when you search the web for news, the most visible ones are always from pro-government media or state media. But the omission of independent media from results is just a mystery right now,” said Volga Kuscuoglu editor of Bianet English edition.

Turkey’s independent media is battling arrests and fines by the Turkish authorities. Reporters Without Borders’ latest index on press freedom saw Turkey slip further down the rankings to 159 out of 180 countries.

Koscuoglu fears the government is seeking to extend its control over the media to the internet.

“We don’t know whether there was any political pressure as no reports have been made about that,” said Koscuoglu. “But the government has passed several laws in recent years and those were aimed to bring large social media under control in Turkey.

“You wouldn’t expect Google to be excluded from this control; so yes, there could be political influence on that decision.”

How Turkish voters are beating internet press clampdown before polls

Threat to reduce bandwidth

Duvar, one of Turkey’s largest and most prominent independent news portals, closed its doors in March, citing a loss of revenue following the collapse in internet hits, which it blamed on Google’s change to algorithms.

Google was approached to comment on the accusations but did not reply.

However, a spokesperson speaking anonymously to Reuters news agency said that any algorithm changes were simply aimed at enhancing the search facility.

Internet experts believe the Turkish government has controlled the world’s tech giants by making them liable to Turkish law.

“The government, in addition to warnings, financial penalties and an advertisement ban, was going to impose a bandwidth restriction,” said Yaman Akdeniz, a co-founder of Turkey’s Freedom of Expression Association.

“The government was going to throttle the social media platforms that didn’t comply…up to 50 percent of their bandwidth access was going to be reduced, and that was going up to 90 percent of their bandwidth being restricted from Turkey.

“Social media providers didn’t want to risk that,” he concluded.

Press freedom concerns as Ankara forces internet giants to bow to Turkish law

‘Extinction of pluralism’

With some of Turkey’s independent media organisations claiming their web activity has dropped by as much as 90 percent in the past few months, many are struggling to survive and are laying off journalists.

The experience of Turkey could well be the canary in the mine.

Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders claims the plurality of the media is at stake.

“Extinction of pluralism within the media, which means that you’ll have just one echo from a country which is the official line, is extremely dangerous,” he warned.

“This is the main concern not only in Turkey but in dozens of countries around the world,” he added.

“Journalists are trying to make viable another view within society, another approach from the official one.”

Questions over Google’s power as effective gatekeeper to the internet and what critics claim is the lack of transparency over the search engine’s algorithms are likely to grow.

Meanwhile, the algorithm changes leave Turkey’s besieged independent media, already battling arrests and fines, fighting for financial survival.

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 winners’ names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the 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 journalists. You never know what we’ll surprise you with!

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

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

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

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

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

This week’s quiz: On 12 April I asked you a question about the drop in air pollution in Paris. That week, Airparif, an independent group that tracks air quality, reported that between 2005 and 2024, levels in Paris of the two most harmful air pollutants – fine particles and nitrogen dioxide – fell by 55 percent and 50 percent respectively.

You were to re-read our article “Air pollution in Paris region ‘cut in half’ over the past 20 years” and send in the answer to this question: According to Airparif, what are the policies that led to the reduction in Paris’ pollution? What are some of the concrete steps that were taken?

The answer is, to quote our article: “Antoine Trouche, an engineer at Airparif, told France Inter radio that several concrete steps had made a difference.

These included ‘the Euro emissions standards, taxation of industrial pollutant emissions, and increased public transport and cycling infrastructure’.

He also pointed to ‘the replacement of diesel vehicles with petrol and electric vehicles.’”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Jayanta Chakrabarty from New Delhi, India: “Suppose you find an old magical lamp which when rubbed a genie appears and tells you he will fulfill one wish. What would your wish be?”

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Malik Allah Bachaya Khokhar, the president of the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. Malik is also the winner of this week’s bonus question. Congratulations on your double win, Malik.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Ramu Reddy, a member of the RFI Pariwar Bandhu SWL Club in Chhattisgarh, India, and RFI Listeners Club members Sardar Munir Akhter from Punjab, Pakistan, as well as Deekay Dimple from Assam, India.

Last but not least, RFI English listener Ataur Rahman Ranju, the president of the Alokito Manush Cai International Radio Listeners Club in Rangpur, Bangladesh.

Congratulations, winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme:  “Free Wheelin’” by Thierry Durbet and Laurent Thierry-Meig; “Arc en Ciel 3” by Philippe Bestion; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer, and “Un Nuit à Paris” by Kevin Godley and Lol Cream, performed by 10cc.

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

This week’s question … you must listen to the show to participate. After you’ve listened to the show, re-read our article “France hosts summit to lure scientists threatened by US budget cuts”, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 9 June to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 14 June 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 learn how to win a special Sound Kitchen prize.

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

Relations have been turbulent since Donald Trump took office in January. Cooperation on trade, health, defence and diplomacy has suffered after several of Trump’s executive orders.

The US is South Africa’s second largest trading partner, but exports to America now face 30 percent tariffs.

On 7 February, Trump issued an executive order to resettle white South African refugees, saying the country’s leaders were doing “some terrible things, horrible things”.

US media say the first group of Afrikaner (white South Africans) “refugees” is due to arrive as from 12 May. South Africa expressed its “concerns” to the United States on 9 May and reiterated that “allegations of discrimination are unfounded”.

On 14 April, South Africa named former deputy Finance Minister Mcebesi Jonas as its special envoy to Washington after ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was expelled.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Rasool was “no longer welcome” in America, calling him “a race-baiting politician who hates America” and Trump.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump spoke on the phone on 24 April in what was described as a cordial exchange. Trump invited Ramaphosa to Washington and suggested he “bring the golfers over”.

South Africa unites against Trump as US freezes aid over land reform

RFI: Where are we at today with the relationship between South Africa and the United States?

Ronald Lamola: The relationship has always been dynamic and evolving, obviously with more challenges since the election of President Trump, particularly with the number of executive orders that are not based on any facts or truths.

In South Africa, the expropriation bills are aimed at redressing the imbalances of the past to ensure there is equitable distribution of all the resources of our country. This is done in line with the constitution, which has got sufficient safeguards against any arbitrary use of power by the executive or by the state.

It is in that context that we continue to engage with Washington because the relationship remains important. Washington is our strategic trading partner, the second biggest after China.

RFI: Is there more going on behind the scenes than we can see? Are relations improving despite the tensions?

Ronald Lamola: Indeed, there are still challenges, but we continue to engage at a diplomatic level.

International Court of Justice hears South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

RFI: Is South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice being used as a bargaining chip?

Ronald Lamola: No, it cannot be used as a bargaining chip. This is a matter of principle.

Our history is linked to that of Palestine and, as Nelson Mandela said, the struggle of South Africa is not complete until the Palestinian people are also free. There has been propaganda that Iran or Hamas is paying for these legal fees.

You can check the departmental websites where all reports are recorded. It is the South African government tax money that is paying for this case. There is no other hidden hand paying for the case.

RFI: Can you imagine a scenario where the United States might ask South Africa to drop the case against Israel in order to continue enjoying good relations with Washington?

Ronald Lamola: Unfortunately, I cannot imagine things that I don’t know.

RFI: What would South Africa’s position be if that were to happen?

Ronald Lamola: I don’t want to speculate about anything or any scenarios. We deal with what is in front of us.

As you are aware, in one of the executive orders, this issue of the case has been raised and, also in some of the bills that are before Congress. But this is a matter of principle. It’s based on the Genocide Convention. Principles cannot be negotiated.

RFI: Where does the case at the ICJ stand now?

Ronald Lamola: We are waiting for Israel to respond. As you are aware, we filed a memorial last year in June. The case has to take its normal course. The court must decide because the future of the world is dependent on certainty, on a rules-based international order, which is based on international law.

We have to ensure that international law is respected by all. The might cannot always be right.

RFI: South Africa says it will not cut ties with historic allies. President Ramaphosa said that South Africa will not be bullied. Is there a price to pay for standing by your principles?​​​​​​

Ronald Lamola: Nations must respect and abide by the rule of law. We are signatories to the Genocide Convention. We will respect and live by the UN Charter. Obviously, there will be pain that may come with it, but this is the pain we need to pay for the people of the world.

South Africa is a product of solidarity. We would not be free if it was not for the people of the world who suffered and stood in solidarity with us. So, we owe it to the people of the world to ensure that the UN Conventions and the UN Charter are protected and defended.

EU flags stronger partnership with South Africa with €4.7bn investment

RFI: The US is South Africa’s second largest trading partner. How can your country absorb the blow of 30 percent tariffs, if they go through by mid-July?

Obviously, it is going to be very difficult and damaging to our economy. We see it also as an opportunity for us to engage in bilateral agreements with the US that are mutually beneficial.

There are South African businesses invested in the US, and also US businesses invested in our country. About 601 companies from the US have invested in South Africa, responsible for more than 150,000 jobs in our country.

It is an important dynamic relationship, which has also brought a lot of technology in our country and improved our economy.

But, we also have to diversify markets. We are glad that the EU is opening its market to work with us and trade with us. We are also looking at other countries to trade with us.

We will, however, continue to engage with the US because we believe the relationship is mutually beneficial and we have to continue to nurture it for the benefit of our two nations.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity

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.