“We were treated like animals,” said Yacine Haffaf, a French surgeon. “It was three and a half days of daily humiliation, intimidation and abuse.”

Haffaf, 69, heads Waves of Freedom, which led the French contingent of the Global Sumud Flotilla. He was on board Jeannot III, one of the vessels intercepted by the Israeli military on 3 October, and among the 31 French citizens later expelled to Athens.

“Soldiers would suddenly storm into our cell when we were sleeping, pointing guns with green laser dots at us and ordering us into a corner,” he said. “We realised after a while that they didn’t intend to shoot but wanted to terrify us.”

The Global Sumud Flotilla left Barcelona in September to challenge Israel’s blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The mission involved 42 boats carrying 462 civilians from 57 countries.

Most of the activists have since been released from Ketziot, a high-security prison in Israel’s Negev desert. The facility is mainly used to detain Palestinians accused by Israel of terrorist activity.

Israel said the flotilla’s “true goal was provocation in the service of Hamas, not humanitarian assistance”.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the participants “terrorists” in a video shared online.

He said he is “proud that the flotilla activists are being treated as terrorists”. In a second video, he said that they should not be sent home immediately.

“I think we must keep them in Israeli prison for a few months so they can get a taste of the terrorist wing,” he added.

French lawyers representing those expelled from Israel said legal proceedings are under way.

“We will file, in the coming weeks, a criminal complaint to the French public prosecutor for arbitrary detention and mistreatment of the French nationals who were in the Global Sumud Flotilla,” said Lucie Simon, one of five lawyers representing them.

Gaza flotilla boarded by Israeli navy amid calls to lift blockade

Claims of abuse in custody

Haffaf said the detainees were denied essential medicine.

“One of our comrades suffered an asthma attack. We hammered on the cell door to demand medicine, but it only came 48 hours later,” he said. “Despite the inhumane treatment, we refused to bow down and would chant ‘Free Palestine’ to the soldiers.”

Several other activists described similar treatment. Tabea Zaug, a Swiss national, said detainees were treated differently depending on their skin colour and passport.

“I have white skin, blue eyes, I have a Swiss passport. They treated me much better than other passengers on board,” she said after her release.

Zaheera Soomar, a South African activist, said her hijab was forcibly removed and she was stripped naked in front of Israeli soldiers. The South African group said they received harsher treatment than others.

French activist Lyna Altabal said dogs were released into the cell where she was held. French–Palestinian Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament for France Unbowed (LFI), told RFI she was beaten by soldiers.

French nationals on Gaza aid flotilla deported from Israel, sent to Greece

Shahd Hammouri, a lecturer in international law at the University of Kent, said Israel’s actions were illegal.

“The humiliating mistreatment of civilians illegally detained in an Israeli prison is a violation of their human rights and of the torture convention,” she told RFI.

Hammouri added that Israel acted unlawfully by seizing the ships in international waters and transferring the detainees to Israeli territory. “Israel does not have the authority to cross the borders with them,” she said.

“Under the law of occupation, you should never hold people you catch outside the territory where you caught them.”

She also rejected Israel’s claim that Palestine has no recognised borders.

“The International Criminal Court, one of the highest courts in the world, rejected these claims in a 2021 judgment and confirmed that Palestine is a sovereign state under international law,” Hammouri said.

Return to Greece

Thirty-one French nationals were expelled from Israel to Greece on 6 October. During their detention, they received consular protection from the French government.

A French diplomatic source said the Consulate General in Tel Aviv stayed in contact with Israeli authorities and the families of those detained. In Athens, consular staff met the group at the airport to help arrange their return home.

The source said officials helped them find flights, contact relatives, and, if needed, book accommodation for the night.

But Haffaf disputed this account.

“They brought chocolates and protein bars and explained that the French government would not pay for the plane fare to Paris,” he said.

“We were left to fend for ourselves in Greece. Thank God for the wonderfully generous Greeks who came to greet us with music at the airport.”

He said Greek supporters brought food and clothes, since the group was still wearing prison uniforms, and hosted them overnight. “We had nothing, no money, no phone, nothing,” he said.

“It is true that we knew the risks, but I thought our government would step forward and take care of us in our hour of need.”

Possible action against France

Lawyer Simon said that her team is considering taking the French state before the administrative court of justice for failing to protect French citizens wrongfully arrested in international waters and arbitrarily detained in an Israeli prison.

She argued that the government should have done more.

“Consular protection means protection before their arrests, protection through diplomatic channels or by sending a vessel like Spain and Italy to escort the flotilla and more specifically the French nationals,” she said.

Warning them of the risks before they travelled to Gaza is not enough, she added.

She compared the government’s stance to what she called “the short skirt theory”.

“You’re wearing a short skirt, so you know that you might get raped. It’s the same theory. I cannot understand that a state bound by international law can behave like that towards its citizens,” Simon said.

Meanwhile, MEP Rima Hassan is calling for strikes and blockades – similar to those in Italy and Spain – to increase pressure on the French government over its response to events in Palestine.

Looking ahead

Back in Paris, Haffaf – who has carried out humanitarian work in conflict zones such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen – said that while he usually manages to return to normal life after a mission, this time is different.

“I am completely exhausted, both mentally and emotionally. It has been a roller coaster of emotions. Staring down the barrel of a gun is not the same as operating under bombs in Gaza,” he said.

Like most of the activists, he plans to volunteer again.

“This mission created a huge impact in mobilising the hearts and minds of citizens across the world,” he said. “We may not have succeeded in breaking the blockade this time, but we opened a way. We mobilised more people and more resources for future flotillas to Gaza.”

The investigation found that Hungarian intelligence services recruited Hungarians working in the EU’s institutions to spy on them, in a bid to ascertain whether its policies or decisions could threaten Orban and his ruling party, Fidesz.

The report – written by Szabolcs Panyi of the Budapest-based independent publication Direkt36, alongside Belgian journalist Lars Bové of De Tijd and Hannes Munzinger and Elisa Simantke of Germany’s Paper Trail Media – details how Orban’s intelligence service set up a network hidden in plain sight between 2012 and 2018.

It cites unnamed Hungarian EU officials and other sources familiar with the operation.

The EU said on Thursday that it would probe the report’s allegations. Spokesman Balazs Ujvari said: “We remain committed to protecting Commission staff, Commission information and networks from illicit intelligence gathering actions. We will be setting up an internal group to look into these [allegations].”

“Hungary, under Viktor Orban’s government, built a spy network in Brussels in the 2010s, operating covertly. Hungary dispatched intelligence officers under diplomatic cover to the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the EU,” according to Panyi.

At least half a dozen operatives – working under diplomatic cover – were active. Their mission, according to Panyi, was broad.

“They tried to recruit Hungarian citizens working within the EU institutional system as secret collaborators or informants to provide information about any countermeasures against, for example, the Orban government’s crackdown on media freedom, rule of law, or judiciary independence,” he told RFI, “as well as any steps the EU Commission was preparing regarding the embezzlement of EU funds in Hungary.”

These operatives were also reportedly asked to “rewrite” or remove sections of drafts “to ensure the texts reflected Orban’s government’s worldview”, according to the report.

Between 2015 and 2019, the mission was headed by Oliver Varhelyi, who has since become a member of the European Commission, the EU’s executive body.

The Commission spokesman indicated the EU’s executive was not aware of the allegations at the time Varhelyi was vetted to be a commissioner, saying: “I don’t think we had this type of information at that moment.”

EU strips Hungary of €1bn in frozen funds over corruption concerns

Incentives

Hungary’s methods resembled those of several notorious intelligence services, said Panyi. “Hungary acted in a manner similar to Russia’s, China’s and Iran’s agencies. They created a covert spy ring in Brussels.”

This operation involved mapping every Hungarian citizen in Brussels with access to information, conducting in-depth background checks and identifying those most likely to cooperate – and their tactics were direct.

“They offer money and career advancement, and appeal to patriotic duty,” Panyi explained, noting that several EU staff members resisted these recruitment attempts.

But not every effort failed. In one case uncovered by Panyi and colleagues, “a large media company” under pressure from the Hungarian government sought help from the European Commission.

However, a Hungarian citizen representing the Commission allegedly leaked details to the Hungarian government almost immediately. The affected company suspects confidential details ended up on Orban’s desk within days, according to Panyi.

Security weaknesses

In 2017, the network unravelled. Its leader – identified only by the initial “V” – and his agents “acted too recklessly” and were reported to EU security, leading to identification by Belgium’s intelligence service, VSSE.

“It was a serious affair. Practically everyone was burned. The entire [Hungarian intelligence] network had to be rebuilt from scratch,” recalled a source who was familiar with the Hungarian intelligence service’s operations at the time in the report.

While Panyi said it is unclear if the operations spying on EU institutions continued after this, he added that: “We know through our Belgian partners that the Hungarian government has bought a very prestigious building in central Brussels, right across the street from the Belgian prime minister’s office… and Belgian intelligence is paying special attention to it.”

The report exposes profound weaknesses in the EU’s ability to protect its institutions. A security system designed around trust between member states has proved vulnerable.

“The EU is utterly unprepared for the scenario in which a member state goes rogue or becomes hostile,” says Panyi.

He notes shortcomings in the bloc’s vetting process – in particular, a flawed system that alerts national agencies when citizens gain access to sensitive documents, which inadvertently flagged targets for Hungarian intelligence.

What can Europe learn from Orban’s victory in Hungary’s elections?

In response to the report, Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot said: “It is unacceptable to spy in Belgium, and we do everything possible to prevent it and to defend EU institutions against espionage.”

The Hungarian government has not so far responded to French news agency AFP’s request for comment.

Hungary’s nationalist leader Orban has been at loggerheads with Brussels since his return to power in 2010 over what the EU says is his undermining of democratic institutions and divisive foreign policy stance.

(with newswires)

French politics have been deadlocked ever since Macron took the gamble last year of snap polls that he hoped would consolidate power – but ended instead in a hung parliament and more seats for the far right.

Macron was due to meet with leaders of all political parties apart from the far-right National Rally (RN) and the radical left France Unbowed party at 1230 GMT on Friday at the presidential palace, informed sources told AFP.

Macron’s office said he would pick a name by Friday evening after his seventh prime minister Sebastien Lecornu threw in the towel on Monday following months of stalemate over an austerity budget.

The centrist president, facing the worst domestic crisis of his presidency since 2017, has yet to address the public.

Outgoing French PM says snap election less likely as budget talks advance

Speculation

Lecornu, a Macron loyalist, agreed to stay on for two extra days to talk to all political parties and told French television late Wednesday that he was optimistic that a new cabinet could get a spending bill through parliament.

His two predecessors were toppled in a standoff over spending bills, and a new cabinet lineup he unveiled on Sunday was criticised for not breaking enough with the past.

Lecornu, who served three years as defence minister, offered no clue over who the next premier would be.

He claimed his mission was finished, but several politicians believe the president could rename him, at the risk of exasperating the opposition and triggering another no-confidence vote.

Others have said Jean-Louis Borloo, a former minister under right-wing presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, could be a potential candidate.

But the 74-year-old centrist said on Thursday he had heard nothing of it and had “zero” contact with the president’s office.

Could former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve be the man for the job? Or could the head of the country’s supreme audit institution, another Socialist named Pierre Moscovici, help straighten the country’s finances?

As Macronists turn their backs on the president, left and right struggle to unite

No ‘ambitions’

Lecornu has said a revised draft budget for 2026 could be presented to a council of ministers on Monday, the deadline for the bill to pass parliament by the end of the year.

This would imply a new cabinet being announced by the end of the weekend.

Lecornu on Wednesday suggested that a more technocratic government could be named, whose members should have no “ambitions” to stand in the 2027 presidential elections.

The escalating crisis has seen former allies criticise the president.

Former premier Edouard Philippe, a contender in the next presidential elections, earlier this week said Macron himself should step down after a budget was passed.

But Macron has always insisted he would stay until the end of his term.

Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party declined to take part in talks with Lecornu this week, said Wednesday she would thwart all action by any new government and would “vote against everything”.

Le Pen’s anti-immigration RN senses its best ever chance of winning power in the 2027 presidential elections, with Macron having served the maximum two terms.

Le Pen has been barred from running after being convicted in a corruption case, but her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella could be a candidate instead.

Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011, is facing off against four candidates: former ministers Jean-Louis Billon, Ahoua Don Mello and Henriette Lagou, and former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo.

Billon, a dissident from Tidjane Thiam’s Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), is launching his campaign with a parade in the Abidjan district of Koumassi. He will then hold a rally in Marcory, another district of the economic capital, led by Mayor Aby Raoul of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).

Billon’s key challenge is to persuade PDCI supporters to carry on backing him. The party has yet to issue voting instructions following the rejection of its president Thiam’s candidacy.

“The first obstacle comes from within your own party,” one of his aides noted, while remaining optimistic and citing discreet negotiations in his favour.

Rallying support

Ahoua Don Mello, a former member of Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), is now running as an independent and has not received the party’s official support.

His campaign focuses on promoting national economic sovereignty – ideas he says he will present “in major cities and small villages”. He will hold a meeting in Cocody before heading to Bouaké, in the centre of the country.

Former First Lady Simone Ehivet will be in Bouaflé, in central Côte d’Ivoire, where she plans to meet cocoa producers – opportunity to highlight one of the key pledges of her campaign: adding value through the local processing of agricultural products.

Henriette Lagou, who was a candidate in 2015, will also campaign in the centre. She is due to hold a rally on 13 October in Daoukro, the PDCI stronghold. Her slogan: peace and social cohesion.

Incumbent Alassane Ouattara is to hold a rally on 11 October in the city of Daloa in the central-western region.

Why Côte d’Ivoire’s election could be more complex than it seems

‘March for peace and freedom’

Voter mobilisation is a challenge for all candidates, including for the ruling Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP).

“We cannot afford to give Alassane Ouattara just 50 percent. If we give him 50 percent, it means we have failed,” said RHDP executive secretary Ibrahim Cissé Bacongo. “We have to secure the highest possible score. That starts at 75 percent,” he added.

The campaign is being held in a particularly tense context. Thiam and Laurent Gbagbo both had their candidacies rejected by the Constitutional Council in early September and their parties have since called for demonstrations.

The Common Front – an alliance bringing together Thiam and Gbagbo’s parties – plans to hold a march in central Cocody on Saturday.

Initially aimed at demanding “dialogue for inclusive, transparent and democratic elections”, organisers say it’s now a “march for peace and freedoms”.

Protests erupt in Côte d’Ivoire after opposition leaders blocked from election

At least 30 PDCI and PPA-CI activists have been charged and placed in pre-trial detention, mainly for “public order offences”.

There is uncertainty over whether the march will go ahead. The authorities banned a similar gathering last Saturday, citing “risks of public disorder”.

Put to the European Parliament on Wednesday as part of a package of broader farming reforms, the measure passed with a comfortable majority: 355 in favour and 247 against.

Many of Europe’s livestock farmers see plant-based foods that mimic meat products as potentially misleading for consumers, and a threat to their already troubled sector.

France has already issued its own labelling restrictions on vegetarian products, though the EU’s Court of Justice subsequently overturned them.

EU rules France can’t stop veggie products being called ‘steak’

Céline Imart, a French MEP from the conservative Republicans party and member of the European People’s Party, proposed the EU-wide ban. She argued that using meat-related terms for plant-based products distorts reality.

“We are witnessing an offensive from plant-based substitutes, and also from companies – especially American food tech firms – investing millions in lab-grown meat,” Imart told RFI.

“I’m sorry, but a steak is a steak. It’s meat. When I see a cat, I call it a cat. When I see a dog, I call it a dog. I don’t say it’s a cat-dog. No! It’s the same thing.”

‘A distraction’

However, not all legislators agreed. Pascal Canfin, a centrist French MEP from the Renew Europe group, dismissed the measure as a distraction from more serious challenges facing European agriculture.

“People who want to eat meat know what meat is. And those who don’t want to eat meat also know that a vegetarian burger is not meat,” he said.

“Let’s not treat consumers and Europeans like idiots. The real paradox is that many of those who voted in favour of this today also support the EU-Mercosur deal – when it’s actually Brazilian imports that pose the real threat to European livestock farming.”

EU Commission endorses Mercosur deal despite French reservations

Influence of meat lobby

Green Party MEPs have pointed to what they describe as undue influence from the meat industry.

French Green MEP Marie Toussaint condemned the vote as a stunt by the political right. “Given the state of agriculture today, it’s clear that this is just a right-wing tactic to distract from the real issues,” she said.

The proposal now needs the backing of the bloc’s 27 member states, as well as the European Commission, before it can become law.

The EU already bans the use of dairy terms such as “milk” or “cheese” to refer to plant-based alternatives. 

Most of France’s documented foreign residents are immigrants, with 5.1 million born abroad and 900,000, mainly minors, born to foreign parents in France.

According to a report released this week by France’s national statistics office Insee, they represent 8.8 percent of France’s total population of 68.4 million – below the European average of 9.6 percent.

The proportion is lower than in neighbouring Italy, where foreigners make up 8.9 percent, Spain (13.4 percent), Belgium (13.8 percent) and Germany (14.5 percent).

The figures, which are based on data from the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat, puts France 15th out of 27 EU countries. The top three with the highest percentage of foreigners in their population are Luxembourg (47 percent), Malta (28 percent) and Cyprus (24 percent).

Facts vs feelings: is France really being ‘flooded’ by foreigners?

African residents overtake Europeans

France also has fewer foreign residents from other countries in the EU: 2.3 percent of the total population, compared to the EU-wide average of 3.1 percent.

Foreigners from outside the bloc make up 6.5 percent of France’s residents, marginally higher than the EU average of 6.4 percent.

According to Insee, the figures reflect a long-term shift. In 1968, almost 75 percent of foreigners in France came from European countries, while around 25 percent were from African nations.

In 2024, in contrast, nearly half – 46 percent – of foreigners living in France are nationals of African countries, while 35 percent hail from European countries and 13 percent from Asian countries.

France sees immigration shift as more educated Africans arrive than Europeans

One-third of immigrants naturalised

Some 2.6 million immigrants have acquired French citizenship, according to Insee – a third of all people who moved to France.

That brings France’s total foreign-born population to 7.7 million, or 11.3 percent of all residents.

People from African countries were most likely to naturalise, with 37.2 percent of African immigrants acquiring French nationality. Among residents born in Asia, the percentage was 34.8 percent, and for people born in the Americas or Oceania, 31.4 percent. 

People from other EU countries were least likely to seek French citizenship – presumably because they already enjoy freedom of work and movement in France without the need to go through immigration procedures.

(with AFP)

Since early September, the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) have enforced an embargo on fuel imports to the country, torching fuel tankers almost daily and cutting off key routes to the towns of Kayes and Nioro du Sahel, on the Senegalese border.

The army is escorting convoys in an attempt to ensure the flow of goods, one of which arrived in Bamako on Tuesday, 7 October.

Talks have been under way between Malian intermediaries and the jihadists, so far without success.

“Contact hasn’t been broken, but this isn’t going to be resolved overnight,” a Malian security source close to the discussions told RFI.

‘Too many go-betweens’

Around 10 days ago, local officials from Mopti region, acting with the support of Mali’s intelligence services, reached out to JNIM forces in the hope of securing safe passage for fuel trucks and ending the blockade on Kayes and Nioro.

Others have since joined the effort, including community leaders and unofficial mediators.

At the same time, separate channels have reportedly been opened to negotiate the release of two Emirati hostages captured by JNIM in late September.

However, according to the same security course, JNIM has been demanding a single, official negotiation channel directly with the Malian state.

“There are too many go-betweens, too many scattered discussions. They also want the process to be made public – that’s one of their key conditions. But that’s a difficult ask,” they said.

A civilian figure from Mopti involved in the talks confirmed that the jihadists are pushing for a streamlined, clearly identified dialogue process, saying: “All these parallel efforts have muddled things.”

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

JNIM’s demands

Another sticking point is the fate of detained jihadist fighters. JNIM is insisting on the release of several of its members held by the Malian army, although no official figures have been disclosed.

One source told RFI that the list includes bomb-makers and explosives specialists. They added that “several of those prisoners have died in detention” – making their release impossible.

Meanwhile, the army is aiming to secure the release of its own soldiers held by JNIM. Over the past few years, dozens of Malian troops have been captured in a string of jihadist attacks on military bases.

Under siege in Léré, the latest Malian town cut off by jihadists

JNIM’s demands reportedly extend beyond prisoners. According to some sources speaking to RFI, the group wants the transitional authorities to stop cracking down on informal petrol sales in villages – a key source of fuel for its fighters.

Malian security officials, however, have flatly denied that claim.

Other conditions cited by RFI’s sources include ending army checks at bus stations and requiring women to wear veils on intercity coaches, underscoring the ideological undertones of the group’s campaign.

This article has been adapted from the original version in French by David Baché.

The plan, announced by the European Commission in Strasbourg, comes as Europe’s steelmakers face what officials call “crushing” competition from China.

It still needs approval from the 27 EU governments and the European Parliament – a process that could take several months.

At the Parliament, many lawmakers welcomed the move as overdue.

“It was time,” said Belgian socialist MEP Kathleen Van Brempt. “It is a good first step. It is essential that we have a plan. We want our own steel because we want reliable green steel. For that, we need a new, full recovery plan. So today is a first step, yes, but we need more.”

EU-US trade deal averts tariff hikes, but sparks unease in Europe

Push for fair trade

Some members of the European Parliament raised concerns that the plan could amount to protectionism and end up hurting European manufacturers that rely on imported steel.

That view was rejected by French centrist MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne of the Renew group, who told RFI the EU’s approach was different from the unilateral tariffs seen in the United States.

“Protectionism, in my view, is what Donald Trump can do and it is deadly,” she said. “So no, we are bringing everyone together to work on trade that is fair and that is win-win for everyone.”

Van Brempt said the plan also sends a long-awaited message to Washington that Europe is ready to defend itself.

“This is a political response, and I appreciate that the Commission is giving political answers,” she said. “But now we need to move forward. We are still only halfway.”

France leads EU fightback against Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs

Concern in UK

The new EU measures will apply not just to steel from China or the United States but also to British exports – a serious blow to a sector that sends most of its output to the EU.

The EU buys about 80 percent of the UK’s steel exports, worth nearly €4.5 billion a year.

British steelworkers’ union Community called the EU plan an “existential threat” to the industry.

The head of UK Steel, the country’s main industry body, urged the British government to respond.

He said London should start talks with Brussels to avoid a global trade imbalance and warned that other producers such as China could redirect exports to other markets, undercutting British mills.

The industry is hoping for an exemption from the new EU tariffs. Without it, the sector warns that 37 000 jobs linked to British steelmaking could be wiped out.

Sonia Mejri, 36, will be the first French citizen ever tried for genocide and the first French returnee from Syria to face this charge in connection with the Islamic State (IS) group.

The crime carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Mejri, a former wife of an IS commander, also faces charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and other terrorist offences. She will appear in custody before the special assize court in Paris, which has a panel of professional judges instead of a jury, on a date still to be set.

“The innocence of my client will be recognised by the judges,” her lawyer Nabil Boudi said ahead of the trial.

Accusations of enslavement

An anti-terrorism investigating judge ordered the trial in September 2024 for Mejri and her then husband, Abdelnasser Benyoucef, accusing them of enslaving a 15-year-old Yazidi girl in Syria in the spring of 2015.

The magistrate said Benyoucef “knew that by acquiring” the teenager and subjecting her to confinement, repeated rapes and severe deprivation, “he was participating in the attack directed by IS against the Yazidi community”.

Mejri was described as the “guarantor of the confinement” of the girl. She reportedly held the apartment key and carried a weapon to prevent her from escaping.

Prosecutors accused her of “serious attacks on the physical and psychological integrity” of the teenager, who was forced to live under “conditions of existence likely to bring about the destruction” of her community.

Former wife of IS commander to stand trial in France on Yazidi genocide charges

‘Coordinated Plan’

In January the Paris Court of Appeal partly overturned the referral, saying there had to be multiple victims for the crime to qualify as genocide.

“The appeal judges could not agree on the charges, which demonstrates the fragility and weakness of the prosecution,” Boudi said.

But in May the Court of Cassation, France’s highest judicial authority, ruled that genocide charges can be brought even if only one person is targeted, provided the act forms part of “a coordinated plan aimed at the group’s total or partial destruction”.

The court approved the genocide proceedings on 1 October.

The lost childhood of traumatised Yazidi children abducted by IS

Victim’s testimony

Sexual violence was used by IS as a weapon to break Yazidi resistance and spread fear, including through the creation of slave markets.

The victim’s testimony is central to the case. Her lawyer, Romain Ruiz, declined to comment.

The young woman said she was held captive for more than a month in spring 2015 in Syria and could not drink, eat or bathe without Mejri’s permission. She accused Mejri of assaulting her and of knowing that her husband raped her daily.

Her account matches evidence gathered by human rights organisations that have documented IS’s use of sexual slavery and the creation of a “war booty department”.

Defence and civil parties

Mejri has denied wrongdoing in relation to the Yazidi girl, telling investigators that her ex-husband was the “owner” and that she had “no rights” over her.

“The defence lodged multiple appeals. Licra is pleased that this genocide trial… can finally take place,” said Ilana Soskin, lawyer for the French anti-racism group.

“The charges are neither weak nor fragile; they are well-founded, factual and legally sound,” added Inès Davau, lawyer for the NGO Free Yezidi Foundation. She said that given the “persistent impunity”, it was “time for justice to be served”.

Benyoucef, who has been the subject of an arrest warrant and is presumed dead since 2016, is expected to be tried in absentia for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorist offences.

(with AFP)

Israel has established itself one recent years as a major player in technological innovation. The country is home to large companies in the sector and is a major exporter of software, medical devices and cybersecurity technology.

But since the start of the war in Gaza and amid rising tensions with Iran, the country has entered a new economic era – and the figures speak for themselves.

In the last quarter, Israel’s GDP contracted sharply. Household consumption is falling, private investment is slumping and production is slowing down.

The outlook is not encouraging. Growth is forecast to be no more than 1 percent in 2025, and was just 0.9 percent last year. This is in stark contrast to 2022, when the Israeli economy grew by 6.5 percent.

Inflation is around 3 percent and the budget deficit is skyrocketing. To support the Israeli currency, the shekel, the Central Bank has had to inject more than $30 billion into foreign exchange markets.

On a human level, nearly 170,000 people have left the country since 2023 – many of them young graduates representing a highly skilled workforce. This brain drain is exacerbating the sense of economic and financial instability.

Investor flight and diplomatic isolation

There has also been a notable loss of confidence among foreign partners. Foreign direct investment is falling, international financing is freezing up and several major contracts are being called into question.

The European Union, Israel’s largest trading partner, is considering reducing certain collaborations – a worrying sign for an economy that depends heavily on trade with the 27 member states.

NGOs call on EU to stop doing business with Israel’s ‘illegal’ settlements

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund withdrew from several Israeli defence companies this summer.

In the United States, some tech giants such as Microsoft are reviewing their commitments in Israel under pressure from public opinion.

Even long-standing allies such as Colombia are seeking to do without Israeli equipment. Bogotá has just unveiled its first locally produced assault rifle, having put an end to its orders from Israel.

These withdrawals are creating a domino effect, with the loss of this support and capital weakening Israeli growth and threatening its position on the international stage.

France pays tribute to victims of Hamas attack, two years on

Beyond the figures, the effects are being felt in everyday life. The cost of living remains high, and taxation is likely to increase to finance military spending and fill the budget deficit.

In the medium and long term, the loss of attractiveness and talent could lead to business closures and rising unemployment.

For Israel, the challenge is now clear: to regain the trust of its partners and halt this spiral of isolation before it permanently undermines its economic model.

Israel still has undeniable assets – recognised technological expertise and a diversified economy – but its future depends more than ever on the political and diplomatic choices of its leaders.

This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Stéphane Geneste.

They call themselves “wowo” after the Chinese goods trucks that are a common sight here.

“I am able to move the cargo of an entire truck,” Alphonsine tells RFI, smiling, as she stands near the crowded pedestrian corridor at the border crossing.

“We are the ‘wowo’ mothers – like the trucks that carry big loads. We work as a team. If we have to unload the truck, we do it and then we carry the cargo to its destination in [DRC], according to the owner’s instructions.”

These women haul loads of up to 30 kilograms – flour, cooking oil, soft drinks and other everyday goods – for small traders who often dodge formal customs procedures. 

Many of the women, who are of all ages, work entirely in the informal sector, according to the Association of Women Active in Cross-Border Trade (AFACT), a local group that supports female traders.

The women carrying the burden of Kenya’s rural healthcare on their backs

Hard work, small returns

Each trip pays around 1,500 Congolese francs – less than one US dollar. To earn $5 a day, a woman needs to haul roughly a tonne of goods, in several runs. The work is exhausting, but many see no alternative.

“Each of us has a quantity we must carry,” Keren told RFI as she stacked packs of soft drinks. “I have 25 packs. The trader bought 100. That’s not much. OK, let’s go for the last trip.”

Many of the traders are small shopkeepers or market sellers who buy stock in Zambia and bring it back to the DRC. They often prefer to keep a low profile and let the porters handle the border crossing.

“The small trader comes to buy all sorts of items – juice, wheat flour, vegetable oil,” said Régine Mbuyi, one of the wowo women.

“He asks me to get these products across. If he is acting in good faith, he also gives me money to pay customs and other public services. But if he has nothing, I have to manage on my own.”

Illegal logging threatens livelihoods of hundreds of Ghanaian women

Customs authorities say this informal trade costs the state nearly $3,000 in lost revenue each day.

To tackle this, Malaxe Luhanga, head of a small cross-border transporters’ association that represents local porters, wants the work to be officially recognised and taxed.

“We can apply a grouping system according to the category of goods and have them officially taxed,” he told RFI. “We can adopt this system, which is accepted by member countries of Comesa, to make trade and taxation easier for public authorities.”

Comesa – the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa – is a regional trading bloc that includes both the DRC and Zambia.

Crossing the border often means paying a chain of bribes.

“There are three barriers,” says Anto, balancing a sack of flour on her head. “At the exit from Zambia, I pay 500 Congolese francs. In the corridor, I give 1,000, and a bit further on, I pay another 1,000. Once outside the corridor, other public agents are waiting. Sometimes I negotiate and they let me pass.”

The karate grannies of Korogocho, fighting back at any age

Sexual harassment

On top of having to pay bribes, many of the women also face verbal abuse while doing their work.

“They often insult me,” says Jacquie, a young widow waiting at the end of the corridor. “These agents say: ‘Why are you here? Where is your husband? Is he incapable of feeding you?’ I don’t care – we put up with it because they don’t know my situation.”

Some women have reported more serious harassment.

“When an agent stops me, sometimes he asks for sexual favours to let the goods through,” says Régine Mbuyi. “It also happens that during the search, these agents allow themselves to touch us, even on intimate parts. It’s humiliating.”

Amnesty International has reported on this harassment, exploitation and violence faced by women working as informal cross-border traders across southern Africa. The women have no social protection or legal recourse.

AFACT has repeatedly denounced these abuses of power.

“Some girls have been humiliated and stripped, and we have proof. We also have women who have been publicly whipped. When the association wants to intervene, we are told to leave the situation as it is. Why can’t a woman do work of her choice?” says AFACT president Solange Masengo. 

RFI was unable to get a response from the mayor of Kasumbalesa or the local deputy head of customs.

Despite the exhaustion, the abuse and the risks, the wowo women of Kasumbalesa keep going, shouldering their burdens day after day to support their families and keep local trade alive.

This story was adapted from a two-part series by RFI’s Denise Maheho published and broadcast in French.

In his report for the European Sentiment Compass 2025, Pawel Zerka, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, suggests Europe is living its own “Truman Show moment”.

The United States, he says, is no longer the ally Europeans had been accustomed to having. Instead, under Trump, Washington is not only pulling the strings in trade, defence and digital disputes – it is waging an outright “culture war” on Europe.

The big question is whether the EU has the courage to step off the set, reclaim its autonomy and begin writing its own story.

Europe’s uncertainty after Trump’s first 100 days

Trump 2.0

Transatlantic tensions are nothing new. Rows over trade, NATO spending and climate policy have flared under every president from Kennedy to Obama. But Zerka insists that Trump marks a rupture.

“There is a clear difference vis-à-vis previous presidents, and even vis-à-vis Donald Trump 1.0,” he told RFI. “Before, we had never seen a US president targeting Europe so clearly and aggressively.”

This time round, the barbs are sharper, the interventions more deliberate. Trump openly mocks Europe’s migration and climate policies, last week using the world stage of the United Nations to declare that Europeans are “going to hell” with their “crazy” ideas.

Such rhetoric, Zerka argues, is not just bluster. It is part of a deliberate strategy to humiliate Europe, a way of painting the European Union as weak, dependent and incapable of agency.

And this culture war is not confined to speeches, Zerka says – the Trump administration has moved from commentary to active interference.

In Germany, US Vice President JD Vance and former Trump advisor Elon Musk openly backed the far-right AfD party during the country’s legislative elections in February.

Similar interference was seen in Poland, Romania and Ireland, where Washington lent support to Conor McGregor, a former mixed martial arts champion who had thrown his “Make Ireland Great Again” hat in the ring for the country’s upcoming presidential election on 24 October, but withdrew from the race in September. 

McGregor’s political ambitions had been boosted by an invitation to the White House on St Patrick’s Day, with Trump calling him his “favourite” Irish person.

“We haven’t seen anything like this before,” Zerka stresses. “There’s such active involvement in domestic politics of European countries, supporting rivals of the governments in place – and very often those rivals are problematic political players.”

“There is a lot of appetite among the European public for an assertive Europe, but leaders keep finding themselves in situations where they look ridiculous and Europe gets humiliated” – Pawel Zerka

Europe’s new right: how the MAGA agenda crossed the Atlantic

A Truman moment

So what does it mean for Europe to “walk off the set”? In Truman Burbank’s case, it was about courage – daring to leave behind the artificial comfort of a staged life. For the EU, Zerka says, it is about dignity and identity.

“European leaders must be ready,” he argues. “Currently they are buying time with Trump, because they depend so much on America for security, especially with Russia’s war in Ukraine. But the danger is that by playing along, they risk repeated humiliation – whether at NATO summits or in trade negotiations – where Europe ends up looking ridiculous to its own public and to the wider world.”

The challenge, Zerka believes, is that many EU leaders still don’t grasp the true nature of the confrontation.

They treat disputes over tariffs or defence spending as technical haggles, missing the larger picture – that they are part of a cultural battle over values, sovereignty and the very meaning of the West.

Without that recognition, Europe risks stumbling from one Trump-scripted crisis to another, always reacting, never setting the agenda.

The role of the prophet

In The Truman Show, it was a character named Sylvia who first whispered the truth to Truman, that his life was staged. In today’s Europe, Zerka sees Denmark as playing that role.

Trump’s suggestion that the US might buy Greenland directly questioned Danish sovereignty, giving Copenhagen a unique impetus for defending European autonomy.

“Denmark is the one country really trying to show Europe the difference between reality and illusion,” Zerka says, adding though that Sweden and Finland, both scarred by the Russian threat and largely resistant to Trump’s personal appeal, could also be well placed to push for European autonomy.

Then there are what he calls the “door holders”, the heavyweight countries whose choices could swing the EU’s future one way or another: France, Germany and Poland.

Each stands at a crossroads. Elections in the coming years could see them drift towards the pro-Trump “director’s crew” – Hungary, Italy, Slovakia – or rally behind the prophets calling for strategic autonomy.

The outcome, Zerka warns, will determine whether Europe claims its agency or sinks deeper into dependency.

Can Europe withstand the ripple effect of the MAGA political wave?

Walking the line

However, with Russian aggression on its doorstep, Europe cannot simply sever ties with Washington. Yet, Zerka argues, the notion that Europeans must appease Trump to preserve the transatlantic bond is a fallacy.

“It’s completely the other way around,” he says. “Only if Europe steps up in building its own capacities, and shows assertiveness, can it become a real partner rather than a subordinate.”

That means investment in defence, technology and energy resilience. It also means recognising the culture war for what it is, and refusing to be defined by Trump’s caricatures.

Trust in the EU is its strongest since 2007, with polls showing that citizens increasingly view the bloc not just as an economic club but as a community of shared values, and destiny.

Zerka believes European leaders must harness the public appetite for a more assertive Europe. The risk of inaction, he warns, is cultural subordination.

The reward of courage, by contrast, is the chance for Europe to write its own story, and participate in the transatlantic partnership as an equal.

“The ocean is changing rapidly, with record extremes and worsening impacts,” said Karina von Schuckmann, lead author of the programme’s latest Ocean State Report, which was released this week. 

“This knowledge is not just a warning signal – it is a roadmap for restoring balance between humanity and the ocean.”

The world’s oceans are facing numerous threats: warming waters, rising sea levels and pollution, all of which are contributing to a decline in marine biodiversity.

Surrounded by oceans on two sides, the African continent is particularly affected, explains Simon van Gennip, an oceanographer at French research centre Mercator Ocean International, which contributed to the Copernicus report.

“Like South America, Africa is exposed to different climatic stressors depending on its western and eastern fronts,” he told RFI.

To the north, the Mediterranean is overheating. Between May 2022 and January 2023, surface temperatures rose by up to 4.3 degrees Celsius.

It is experiencing an increase in marine heatwaves – periods of above-average temperatures lasting more than five days in a row.

Stronger, longer heatwaves

In the North Atlantic, which is warming twice as fast as the global average, the waters off Morocco and Mauritania accumulated 300 days of marine heatwaves in 2023.

Mercator counted 250 days of marine heatwaves off the coasts of Senegal and Nigeria.

“We have never seen heatwaves of such intensity, duration and extent,” said van Gennip. “There is no part of the North Atlantic that was not affected by a heatwave in 2023. It is truly extraordinary.”

The phenomenon continued in 2024 and 2025, he noted, adding that new monitoring tools had allowed scientists to form a clearer picture of warming waters.

“We looked beneath the surface and also observed this phenomenon at depths of 50 and 100 metres,” he said.

Warmest oceans in history drive mass bleaching of world’s corals

Researchers are still trying to understand the causes. One suggestion is a dip in vast dust clouds from the Sahara, which can help cool the ocean by reflecting the Sun’s radiation.

“What worries me most is that these marine heatwave episodes are becoming more and more recurrent, stronger and longer. This trend is unsustainable and there is an urgent need for action,” warned van Gennip.

For marine organisms, prolonged thermal stress can lead to problems with growth and reproduction, or even death, he explained.

“Ecosystems are declining or fragmenting as species migrate to more favourable waters. This has consequences for the maritime economy, tourism, fisheries and aquaculture.”

Shrinking habitats

Researchers also investigated changing conditions for micronekton – small organisms that are able to swim independently of ocean currents, such as crustaceans, squid and jellyfish.

These species, ranging in size from 2 to 20 centimetres, are an essential link in the food chain. They feed on smaller zooplankton and in turn form prey for larger predators including tuna, marlins and sharks.

Researchers studied micronekton habitats across the world’s oceans, dividing them into “provinces” with comparable temperature patterns and richness in phytoplankton, the microalgae that constitute the first link in the food chain.

French scientists map plankton, the ocean’s mysterious oxygen factories

Like the Pacific coast of South America, the west coast of Africa is rich in phytoplankton because it is subject to “upwelling”, the rise of cold water that brings nutrients to the surface.

As water temperatures increase, the concentration of phytoplankton decreases, scientists found. African coasts are among the most affected, along with parts of South America.

“We observed, across all oceans, that the most productive provinces – characterised by significant production of phytoplankton and micronekton, such as upwelling regions – decreased in size between 1998 and 2023,” said researcher Sarah Albernhe. 

The regions off the coast of Africa decreased by 20 to 25 percent.

Conversely, warmer habitats that are unfavourable to micronekton have expanded over the past 26 years, Albernhe said. Some have increased by more than 25 percent of their initial size.

At the same time, remaining productive zones are moving towards the poles, where cooler waters can still be found.

The province off the coast of Mauritania – which has shrunk by about 20 percent – has shifted about 2.5 degrees northward, or the equivalent of about 300 kilometres.

Carbon exporters

Over time, these trends could lead to “either the relocation of micronekton populations that follow their preferred habitat to new latitudes, or the extinction of species that can no longer find the habitat that suits them”, Albernhe warned.

“This will have consequences for the food chains that depend on this phytoplankton, and potentially for the structure of the ecosystem.”

Fishing would be affected as boats travel ever further to fish more intensively in smaller areas.

How Europe’s appetite for farmed fish is gutting Gambia’s coastal villages

Micronekton is also a powerful carbon pump. It stores at least 15 to 30 percent of the carbon captured by the ocean, making it the largest CO2 sink on the planet. 

It helps bury carbon deeper in the ocean as organisms swim from the surface, where they feed on smaller prey at night, down to the depths during the day to hide from predators.

As they descend, they deposit excrement, scales or other carbon-laden parts of themselves. “They are responsible for a very high export of carbon to the depths. They really help us regulate the climate,” said Albernhe.

Rising sea levels, acidic oceans

Global warming has also left Africa’s coasts buffeted by fast rising waters.

Due to the Earth’s rotation, “it’s the western edges of the oceans that are generally affected by rising sea levels”, explained oceanographer van Gennip.

“In the case of the African continent, it’s the east coast of Africa – Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique – that is experiencing a much faster-than-average rise in sea levels.

“The global increase is 3.7mm per year, and in these regions, we see values ​​around 5mm per year.”

The acidity level of oceans has also increased by 30 to 40 percent in the past 150 years, according to the Copernicus report.

In Africa, this trend is especially noticeable in the Indian Ocean, particularly the area south of Madagascar and South Africa, van Gennip said. But waters off Morocco and Mauritania are also registering significant declines in pH.

More acidic waters have direct consequences for corals, havens of vital biodiversity: all African reefs, located mainly around Madagascar and as far as South Africa, are in danger or vulnerable.

This article was adapted from the original in French by Géraud Bosman-Delzons.

Macron hailed the ceasefire deal as a “great hope” for the region, but said the “acceleration” of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank was an “existential threat” to a Palestinian state.

It was “not only unacceptable and contrary to international law” but “fuels tensions, violence, and instability”, he told the meeting in Paris on Thursday.

“It fundamentally contradicts the American plan and our collective ambition for a peaceful region.”

Israel and Hamas earlier agreed a Gaza ceasefire deal to free the remaining living Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.

It is being seen as a major step towards ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.

The deal brokered through indirect talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh came two years after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which triggered a relentless retaliatory assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Europeans, Arabs flesh out Gaza transition ideas following ceasefire

While Europe has strongly supported the ceasefire efforts led by US President Donald Trump, Washington and several European countries are at odds over whether it is the right moment to recognise a Palestinian state.

Macron, in a September 22 speech at the United Nations, recognised a Palestinian state on the heels of similar announcements by Canada, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The Paris meeting brought together the top diplomats of five key Arab states – Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – with European counterparts from France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Turkey and the European Union were also represented.

‘Unnecessary and harmful’

“A ceasefire is not yet a lasting peace,” said French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot. “It is the first step on a long road to a political solution that will guarantee Israel’s security while recognising the legitimate rights of the Palestinians to a state.”

France is hoping that backing up its recognition of a Palestinian state by discussing what happens the “day after” the war ends can boost the prospects of a two-state solution, which Paris still regards as the sole chance for long-term regional peace.

The ministers discussed participating in the International Stabilisation Force evoked by Trump as part of his peace plan and support for the Palestinian Authority which runs the occupied West Bank.

Before the ceasefire deal was announced, the Paris meeting had angered Israel, further straining French-Israeli relations in the wake of Macron’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had in a message on X denounced the “unnecessary and harmful” meeting “concocted behind Israel’s back” at the sensitive moment of the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The runners-up at the last Africa Cup of Nations go into their game against Lesotho on Friday night in third place in Group C with 11 points.

Benin lead the pack with 14 points ahead of South Africa on goal difference. They play Rwanda, who have 11 points.

As the teams enter the last two games, four nations have the chance of advancing automatically to the World Cup next summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada. 

“Now we have the last two games, and our only thinking for now is this game versus Lesotho,” said Chelle, who was appointed in January.

“We are thinking of how to win it. After that, people can do the mathematics and try to calculate what happens next. But the reality for now is that we focus only on this game.”

2026 World Cup: France makes a successful debut against Ukraine

South Africa penalised

South Africa were in pole position but on 29 September, Fifa, which organises the World Cup, docked the team three points and three goals for fielding an ineligible player in their game against Lesotho in March.

Teboho Mokoena played in the 2-0 win even though he should have been serving a one-match suspension after accumulating two yellow cards.

South Africa face bottom-of-the-table Zimbabwe on Friday and conclude their campaign with a game at home to Rwanda on Tuesday.

“I was disappointed when we knew that points would be deducted that some people started to doubt that we would qualify for the World Cup,” said South Africa boss Hugo Broos.

“Because we were not beaten on the pitch – we weren’t beaten directly by Lesotho or Nigeria. If they had beaten us and people started doubting, then I would understand. This wasn’t the case.”

Broos, who steered Cameroon to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title, added: “The only difference is if we hadn’t had points deducted, then we would qualify with the next win. But even with three points ahead, we have to win – and therefore nothing has changed.”

Four African teams qualified so far

The nine winners of the African qualifying groups advance directly to the World Cup.

The four best runners-up across the pools progress to a knockout tournament in November to determine Africa’s representative at the intercontinental playoffs.

Zidane’s son describes pride of playing for Algeria in quest for 2026 World Cup

On Thursday night, Algeria became the fourth team to book their ticket for the tournament.

Skipper Riyad Mahrez set up both of Mohamed Amoura’s goals and also scored in the 3-0 win over Djibouti to take the team to the World Cup for the first time since 2014 – where they lost in the last-16 to eventual champions Germany.

On 17 September, 1981, Badinter, then France’s justice minister, stood before the National Assembly and declared: “Those who believe in the deterrent effect of the death penalty misunderstand human nature.”

Badinter, who was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris on Thursday, was unwavering in his conviction that the fear of dying does not stop people from killing.

And yet, 44 years later, the debate rumbles on. More than 50 countries retain the death penalty, often using the argument that it deters violent crime. But that claim, say many experts, doesn’t hold up.

Robert Badinter, who ended France’s guillotine era, enters the Panthéon

The myth of deterrence

“If anything, the numbers tell the opposite story,” says Alain Blanc, former president of the French criminal high court and vice-president of the French Association of Criminology.

“After abolition in France, we didn’t see any increase in crimes that had previously been punishable by death and were now punishable by life imprisonment.”

Data from elsewhere supports his view. In Canada, the homicide rate has dropped from 2.8 per 100,000 people in 1976 – the year the death penalty was abolished – to 1.91 in 2024, according to Statistics Canada.

In the neighbouring United States, 27 of 50 states retain capital punishment, and the homicide rate is higher in those states. In 2020, the homicide rate averaged 7.5 per 100,000 in “retentionist” states, compared to 5.3 in abolitionist ones, according to FBI crime reports.

“The death penalty rests on the idea that once people know they risk execution, they’ll stop committing crimes. But if every criminal thought rationally about the risks, there wouldn’t be many crimes to begin with,” Blanc told RFI.

‘A culture of violence’

Researchers also point to the idea that the death penalty in fact reinforces the idea that violence is an acceptable response to wrongdoing.

Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, executive director of the NGO Ensemble contre la peine de mort (“Together Against the Death Penalty”) notes that countries which still practise executions often share a “culture of violence”.

“I’m not saying the death penalty creates crime,” he explained to RFI, “but it perpetuates it. It stems from the same culture – that of vengeance, of weapons, of taking justice into one’s own hands.”

Once that mindset takes hold, he warns, society begins to see state-sanctioned killing as normal. “The death penalty sends the message that the ultimate act of violence – cold, calculated killing – is legitimate.”

Fighting to end death penalty worldwide 40 years after its abolition in France

The absence of reason

The deterrent argument also collapses when you consider that most perpetrators of violent crime act under extreme emotional pressure or psychological distress, experts argue.

Chenuil-Hazan told RFI: “When you study violent crime it becomes clear that fear of death plays no role. You generally find three types of criminals: the psychotic – such as serial killers or terrorists – for whom fear of death is irrelevant; the opportunist, who doesn’t plan ahead; and organised crime, where it’s all about money and power, not fear.”

Crimes of passion or impulse, he adds, are ruled by emotion, not logic.

Political scientist Sébastian Roché, research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), agrees. “What characterises violent offenders is their lack of self-control. They’re not capable of regulating their behaviour or calculating risks.”

Anne Denis, who heads Amnesty International France’s death penalty commission, echoed this argument, saying: “No criminal commits a crime believing they’ll definitely be caught and sentenced to death.”

Politics and punishment

Still, executions persist. Last year they were recorded in 15 countries, with 1,518 people put to death according to Amnesty International’s 2024 report.

This was a 32 percent increase from 2023, marking the highest number of executions since 2015.

In the US, President Donald Trump declared last December that once he was inaugurated for his second term he would “direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters”.

When he took office on 20 January, one of his first orders was to “restore” the death penalty, following his predecessor Joe Biden’s moratorium on executions.

On Friday, Roy Lee Ward, a 44-year-old who has spent more than 20 years on death row, is due to be executed in Indiana – the state’s third execution in less than a year. Seven more executions are scheduled for this month.

According to Denis, Trump’s stance allows him “to avoid creating proper social systems and psychological support for disadvantaged communities”, members of which make up the overwhelming majority of death row inmates – 95 percent, according to the Equal Justice Initiative NGO.

Iran executed record 834 people last year, according to rights groups

However, political use of the death penalty is not confined to the US. “If you want to legitimise an iron fist, people need to be afraid,” explained the CNRS’s Roché.

In Iran, Amnesty International reports, the authorities use executions as a tool of political repression, targeting dissidents and minorities – particularly Kurds and Baluchis.

“In China,” added Chenuil-Hazan, “it’s a way for President Xi Jinping to clear the field around him and show who’s boss.”

Last month, China’s former agriculture minister Tang Renjian was sentenced to death for corruption. While China continues to execute people every year, the exact numbers remain a state secret.

“People want to believe there’s a simple solution to crime,” says Chenuil-Hazan. “Execution feels cheap and easy. It saves us from having to think about prevention policies, which are complicated, expensive and take time to work.”

This article has been adapted from RFI’s original version in French.

Thousands of people lined the Rue Soufflot to applaud as officers carried a symbolic coffin draped in the French flag into the national mausoleum.

The casket contained Badinter’s lawyer’s robe, a copy of his speech against capital punishment and several books, his wife told TF1 television.

Inside the Pantheon, Macron said Badinter’s voice would continue to inspire France’s fight for equality and human rights.

“As he enters the Pantheon, we hear his voice advocating for these great, essential, and unfinished battles,” he said, citing “the universal abolition of the death penalty”, the fight against anti-Semitism and the defence of the rule of law.

“These are causes that transcend centuries,” he added.

Badinter’s remains will stay in the cemetery of Bagneux, south of Paris, where he was buried after his death in 2024 aged 95.

His legacy also includes a 1982 law to decriminalise homosexuality.

A life dedicated to justice

The son of Jewish parents, Badinter lost his father in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He became one of France’s most respected lawyers, defending clients that others refused to represent.

His campaign against capital punishment began in 1972 after one of his clients, Roger Bontems, was executed for his role in murdering a nurse and a guard during a prison escape.

He was haunted by his failure to save Bontems when, five years later, he convinced a jury not to execute Patrick Henry for the murder of a seven-year-old boy – a verdict that made him widely hated at the time.

Robert Badinter, who ended France’s guillotine era, enters the Panthéon

“Guillotining is nothing less than taking a living man and cutting him in two,” Badinter argued.

He saved six men from execution during his career, earning both death threats and admiration.

When he became justice minister under President François Mitterrand in 1981, Badinter made abolition his first priority.

Parliament approved the bill on 9 October that year. Until then, capital punishment in France was carried out by beheading with the guillotine – a practice dating back to the French Revolution of 1789.

The last person executed in France was Hamida Djandoubi in 1977, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of murder.

After ending capital punishment, Badinter urged parliament to decriminalise homosexuality, a reform passed in 1982.

Tributes and condemnation

At the Pantheon, magistrates, musicians and several former prime ministers joined the tribute.

The facade of the building was lit up with a photo of Badinter and the words: “French justice will no longer be a justice that kills. The death penalty is abolished.”

Singer Julien Clerc performed “L’assassin assassiné” (Murderer Murdered), a song long linked to Badinter’s campaign against executions. Former president François Hollande and members of Badinter’s family attended the ceremony.

France pays tribute to Badinter, minister who won fight to end death penalty

Earlier in the day, local officials said Badinter’s tomb in Bagneux had been defaced with blue graffiti reading: “Eternal is their gratitude, the murderers, the paedophiles, the rapists.”

Macron condemned the act on social media, writing: “Shame on those who wanted to sully his memory. The republic is always stronger than hate.”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she had filed a complaint with prosecutors to find and punish those responsible.

Politicians across the spectrum also condemned the vandalism.

Badinter now joins other national heroes in the Pantheon, including writer Victor Hugo, Resistance fighter and singer Josephine Baker and Simone Veil, who led the fight to legalise abortion in France.

Azerbaijan lie 122 places below second-placed France in the Fifa world rankings.

The Group D minnows, who have never featured at a World Cup tournament since its inception in 1930, visit the Parc des Princes in Paris with a point from their two games against Ukraine and Iceland in September.

“They held Ukraine to a 1-1 draw and we didn’t exactly have an easy time when we beat Ukraine,” said Mbappé.

“The match against Azerbaijan is a match that’s simply worth three points and the challenge isn’t to score lots of goals,” added the Real Madrid striker. “But of course, if we can, that’s what we’ll do.”

The 26-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain star has been on target in each game of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign to take his tally up to 52 goals and within touching distance of Olivier Giroud’s record of 57.

“I’ll match his feat at some point,” said Mbappé, as he prepared to represent his country for the 93rd time.

“I’m not offering up anything earth-shattering when I say that I can score goals against anyone. I’ll beat the record at some point. Maybe against Azerbaijan, who knows.”

France, who lost the 2022 World Cup final to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina, lead their qualifying pool with six points following victories over Ukraine and Iceland. Iceland lie second with Ukraine and Azerbaijan on one point apiece.

2026 World Cup: Mbappé stars as France squeak past Iceland to lead Group D

Deschamps’ swan song

After Friday night’s encounter with Azerbaijan, France will play in Iceland on Monday in the fourth of the six-game qualifying phase for the first World Cup to feature 48 teams.

The tournament next summer, to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be France’s last with Didier Deschamps at the helm.

The former France midfielder, who captained the 1998 World Cup-winning team, took over as manager in 2012 and steered the national side to victory in Russia 2018.

Zidane’s son describes pride of playing for Algeria in quest for 2026 World Cup

The 56-year-old said on the eve of the clash against Azerbaijan that he had adapted to the habits of young players during his tenure.

“Players are more sure of themselves, they have more confidence,” Deschamps told the French news agency AFP . “Before, young players did what we told them to do and that was it. Now they’re more comfortable because they are ready earlier, they play earlier, they’re more mature.”

He added: “It is by adapting to players who are inevitably getting younger – since I am getting older – that you navigate between not being an old fool, nor a fake youngster.”

Teams from Europe will have 16 spots at the 2026 World Cup. The winner of each of the 12 groups qualifies directly for the month-long tournament. The remaining four spots will be decided through play-offs in March 2026 involving 16 teams.

Husamettin Dogan was the only man still claiming innocence among 51 convicted of sexual abuse at the original trial last year. 

The court in Nîmes denied his appeal on Thursday after four days of hearings, rejecting his defence that he had not knowingly committed rape. 

The ex-construction worker, 44, saw his sentence increased to 10 years in prison, less than the 12 sought by the prosecution but more than the nine he received after the original trial.

He must also complete five years of mandatory treatment. 

‘Take responsibility’

Pelicot’s former husband, Dominique Pelicot, admitted to drugging her with sedatives and inviting dozens of strangers to abuse her over the course of nearly a decade.

Dogan acknowledged meeting Dominique Pelicot online and visiting his house in June 2019 with the intention of having sex with his wife. He claimed to believe she had consented, despite videos of the night showing her inert and snoring while he penetrated her.

Gisèle Pelicot addressed the court directly on Wednesday, saying Dogan must “take responsibility” for his actions and “stop hiding behind [his] cowardice”.

Public prosecutor Dominique Sie told the defendant his denials were symptomatic of wider misconceptions around sexual violence.

“As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing,” Sie said.

“There needs to be an evolution for you, and for society, from rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Gisèle Pelicot wins top human rights award for fight against rape culture

High-profile trial

The verdict against Dogan marks the end of one of France’s biggest ever rape trials. Sixteen other men convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot said they planned to appeal after the original verdict in December 2024, before dropping out. 

The first trial, which lasted four months, made headlines around the world – many dedicated to the bravery of Gisèle Pelicot in facing her attackers daily in open court.

‘A very difficult ordeal’: Gisèle Pelicot’s statement after mass rape trial

The case also renewed debate about how sexual violence is prosecuted in France and led to a push to include consent in the legal definition of rape.

Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, where he is being held in solitary confinement. His 50 co-defendants received terms ranging from three to 15 years. 

Civil proceedings are due to begin in November to settle damages owed to Gisèle Pelicot and her family, to be paid jointly by the convicted men.

(with newswires)

Since 1985, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been defending journalists and press freedom around the world.

For RSF director Thibaut Bruttin, who took over the reins of the Paris-based organisation in July 2024, press freedom has never been in greater peril, on an international scale.

This “tipping point” is the result of an “economic crackdown” on global media, coupled with “the biggest hate campaign against journalism, triggered by the Trump administration,” Bruttin told RFI.

‘Alarming deterioration’ of US press freedom under Trump, warns RSF

United States President Donald Trump has cut funding for public service media, cracked down on visas for journalists and filed legal complaints against news outlets.

Around the world, including in Ukraine, the Middle East and Latin America, the profession of field reporter has become more dangerous, and more deadly.

“If you look back, journalists back in the 1960s and 70s were privileged witnesses of history. They were welcomed, or at least tolerated, by most of the forces present in war zones. Then they became collateral victims, then they became hostages and persons of value, who are now being silenced,” Bruttin said.

‘Bloody pages of history’

On Thursday, Bruttin will represent RSF in the Normandy town of Bayeux for the annual war correspondents’ prize week (Prix Bayeux), an event that includes free public exhibitions, round tables, conferences and screenings.

It is also a time for mourning and remembering.  

At a ceremony in the war memorial park, Bruttin will unveil a stone engraved with the names of 73 journalists killed in the line of duty in the past year.

“It’s the only place, as far as I know, in the world where there is a list of all the journalists killed in action since the end of World War Two,” he said, adding that the families of journalists killed in Ukraine, Mexico and Syria will be present.

“It’s a deeply moving moment, and it’s very important to remind [people] that freedom of the press is not a given. It’s something that has been conquered. The history of the press is full of bloody pages,” he said.

“The primary safeguard for civilians is the action of the press. If there is no press on the ground, who is going to be giving the facts?”

The particularly heavy death toll of journalists between 2024 and 2025 is attributed to the Israeli operation against Hamas militants in Gaza, where foreign media is forbidden and only Palestinian journalists have been operating, at their peril.

RSF reported that Israel is responsible for the killing of more than 200 journalists in Gaza, and found evidence that in 56 cases those journalists were deliberately targeted.

New documentary shows life in Gaza for AFP journalists

This openly flouts article 2222 of the United Nations Security Council (signed in 2015), which explicitly outlines the importance of protecting journalists in conflict zones, and a mechanism for accountability in this regard.

“For the first time in history, we have the army of a democratic government [Israel] actively pursuing a smear campaign against journalists, plus targeting them and claiming that they target them,” Bruttin said.

‘Smear campaign’

For RSF, collective strength and international solidarity are instrumental in highlighting such situations.

The NGO launched a petition on 1 September in support of Palestinian journalists, which has been signed by more than 250 media organisations.

Following that, on 24 September RSF obtained the support of 21 UN member states who called for the opening of Gaza to foreign media and the evacuation of Palestinian journalists.

“If you use social media tools today, you will see that the smear campaign of the Israeli Defense Forces against Palestinian journalists has almost disappeared. It wasn’t easy to do, but we managed,” said Bruttin.

French photojournalist Antoni Lallican killed in Ukraine drone attack

Bruttin says RSF was also instrumental in getting the French prosecutor’s office to launch an investigation into war crimes over the death of French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, who was killed by a drone attack attributed to Russia in Donbas, Ukraine on 3 October.

RSF was able to present evidence to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office to prove that Lallican was deliberately targeted.

The future of journalism

To mark their anniversary, RSF has teamed up with the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli, also founded in 1985, to publish a special album of drawings and photos, which goes on sale in France on 6 November.

For Bruttin, Studio Ghibli shares many of RSF’s values, such as integrity and authenticity.

This includes a shared belief in the need for regulation when it comes to artificial intelligence – something Studio Ghibli has been vocal about after AI was used to copy and recreate their trademark drawing style.

RSF says the press cannot afford not to keep up with technological advances, and has been building an ethical charter for AI and the newsroom and conducting a pilot project to help journalists build their own tools.

French press take on digital databases to defend journalist copyright against AI

For Bruttin, RSF’s goal is to be “a driving force for change within the industry, to build a coalition between media professionals, policymakers and the general public”.

He said: “Our primary focus today is both the safety of journalists, but also the future of journalism, because sometimes you can save the individuals but fail to address the systemic problems of the media ecosystem.

“We are very keen on demonstrating that it’s not about journalists at the end of the day, it’s about the people’s relationship to facts.”

The 27-year-old, who was born in France a few months before his father bagged a brace for France in the 1998 World Cup final win over Brazil, played for his native country at youth level.

But never having represented France at senior level, he was able to opt for Algeria via his paternal grandparents, who were born in North Africa.

“I’m very happy to be here with the Algeria team,” said Zidane as the 26-man squad went through its final paces in Oran for Thursday night’s Group G game against Somalia.

“It makes me proud and I will give everything at 100 percent to make the Algerian people proud.”

Algeria, who lead the pool with 19 points after eight games, will qualify for next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada as long as they match the results of second-placed Uganda and third-placed Mozambique, who each have 15 points.

“All my family are proud of me and back my choice,” added Zidane, who turns out for the Spanish second-division side Granada.

“My grandfather is happy that I’m in Algeria and that I’ve made this decision.”

Mbappé and Kolo Muani sparkle as Deschamps hails Zidane as likely France coach

Son of a legend

Zinedine Zidane played 108 times for France, scoring 31 goals over 12 years. As a coach, he steered Real Madrid to 10 trophies between 2016 and 2021, including a hat trick of wins in the Champions League.

“My father had his journey, his career,” said Luca Zidane. “As for me I have my journey, my career.”

Though technically a “home” game for Somalia, Thursday’s fixture will be played in Oran due to security concerns over staging matches in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

On Wednesday night, Egypt became the third side from Africa to reach the World Cup after a 3-0 victory over Djibouti.

Mohammed Salah nabbed a pair after Ibrahim Adel opened the scoring in the eighth minute of the game, which was played at Morocco’s Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca because Djibouti lacks a stadium that meets the technical requirements of World Cup organisers Fifa.

Ghana’s Black Stars get into the World Cup groove

Cape Verde on verge of historic qualification

Elsewhere in African qualifiers on Wednesday night, Group D pacesetters Cape Verde scored two late goals in Tripoli to salvage a 3-3 draw against Libya and maintain pole position in the pool.

On Monday, Cape Verde take on bottom-of-the-table Eswatini and need to match the result of second-placed Cameroon’s game against Angola to claim a place at the World Cup for the first time. 

In Group I, Ghana thrashed the Central African Republic 5-0 to inch closer to a fifth appearance at world football’s most prestigious national team tournament.

Ghana lead the pool with 22 points from their nine games. Madagascar, 2-1 winners on Wednesday night against Comoros, lie second on 19 points.  

On Sunday, Ghana entertain Comoros and Madagascar play in Mali.

The nine group winners in African qualifiers will progress to the first World Cup to feature 48 teams. 

The four best-ranked runners-up will enter African play-offs in November, from which the winners go to intercontinental play-offs in March.

The regional court ruled on Thursday that the decision by a lower court to keep the 44-year-old in custody was “legitimate and well-founded”, according to a statement released by the court’s press service.

Sehili’s lawyer, Alla Kouchner, said she plans to appeal the ruling in Russia’s final court of appeal, as reported by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Sehili, a celebrated figure in the world of ultra-cycling – a sport of extreme long-distance rides – had set out from Lisbon in early July, aiming to pedal across 17 countries and reach Vladivostok, near the borders with China and North Korea, by early September.

The journey was meant to crown a new record for the fastest human-powered crossing of Eurasia.

However, when seeking to enter Russia from China Sehili reportedly chose a border post that is only open to trains and buses, and not accessible to cyclists.

According to Vladimir Naïdin, a local prison observer, Sehili faced the choice of either taking public transport and forfeiting his record, or pressing on by bike. He chose the latter.

French cyclist arrested in Russia to be detained until October

From adventure to arrest

Convinced that border guards would show leniency, Sehili approached them openly, expecting to receive only a slap on the wrist.

Instead, he was arrested and charged with “illegal border crossing”, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

“He only had his sporting achievement in mind,” his partner Fanny Bensussan told France 3 Occitanie last month, explaining that Sehili never intended to break the law.

Initially detained until 4 October, Sehili’s custody has since been extended to 3 November while investigations continue.

Relations between France and Russia have been frosty since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A number of Western nationals have been detained in Russia since then, with diplomatic tensions heightened around such cases.

(with AFP)

As French politicians remain deeply divided over how to address the country’s growing deficit, one measure appears to unite public opinion across the political spectrum: the Zucman tax. Devised by 38-year-old economist Gabriel Zucman, the idea is to add a two percent tax on the ultra-rich, who often use holding companies to shield their wealth from income taxes. While the left sees it as fiscal justice, many on the right are concerned about additional taxes in a country that already has a lot, and maintain taxing the wealthiest will drive them abroad. (Listen @2′)

Ali Akbar left his native Pakistan aged 18, looking to make enough money to buy his mother a decent home. Since arriving in France in 1973, he’s managed to do just that – selling newspapers like Le Monde on the streets of Paris’s Left Bank district. A popular figure in the neighbourhood, Akbar – the capital’s last remaining hawker – was recently selected for the National Order of Merit by President Emmanuel Macron, a former customer. He talks about loving his work, the collapse of the newspaper culture and how recognition by France will help to “heal” the injuries of his past. (Listen @18’30”)

France abolished the death penalty on 9 October 1981. Forty-four years later, the justice minister who fought to change the law, Robert Badinter, is entering the Pantheon, the monument dedicated to French heroes. (Listen @11′)

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani

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

Speaking to MEPs in Strasbourg, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has warned that the continent is facing a deliberate and escalating “hybrid warfare” campaign from Russia – airspace violations, drone overflights of military bases and critical sites, sabotage of undersea cables and a stream of cyber-attacks and malign influence operations.

“Two incidents are coincidence, but three, five, ten – this is a deliberate and targeted grey zone campaign against Europe, and Europe must respond,” she told the European parliament on Wednesday.

Von der Leyen has set out a plan for Europe to become more proactive in addressing emerging threats rather than simply reacting to them.

She said this would require practical, coordinated action across the bloc.

The European Commission will present a “road map” to EU leaders later this month, outlining concrete milestones and targets up to 2030.

“Only what gets measured gets really done,” she said, stressing the importance of turning plans into results.

Poland calls NATO talks after downing Russian drones in airspace breach

‘Drone wall’ defence

One flagship idea is the so-called “drone wall” – an affordable, high-tech network of sensors and counter-measures able to detect, intercept and, if necessary, neutralise hostile unmanned aircraft.

To date, the European Commission’s reasoning has been straightforward – using advanced fighter jets to counter inexpensive drones is neither practical nor cost-effective, so Europe needs defence systems that are better suited to current challenges and more affordable to operate.

Von der Leyen has remarked that Ukraine’s experience – where small drones are intercepted almost daily – offers useful lessons in developing efficient and cost-effective anti-drone technologies.

There is also an economic as well as a security argument, as the Commission wants EU-funded defence work to create jobs at home – at least 65 percent of any project financed with EU money must be sourced within the continent.

Too much procurement has gone to firms outside Europe, so redirecting orders internally would both strengthen supply chains and spread industrial benefits across member states.

Zelensky to urge EU leaders to speed up Europe’s drone shield plan

EU toughens stance in incursions

The recent spate of invasive incidents – reported over Poland, Estonia and Romania, with drone sightings in Denmark, Germany and Belgium, plus undersea cable damage and cyber intrusions – has hardened attitudes.

At a summit in Copenhagen last week, European leaders struck a tougher tone, with French President Emmanuel Macron urging decisive action, including shooting down drones when necessary and targeting shadow fleets that undermine sanctions.

This comes as EU member states have already lifted defence spending to post-Cold War highs, with the bloc now pushing for cooperation on capability projects that can be built at scale across the Union.

Von der Leyen underlined the choice Europe must make, stating: “We either can shy away and watch Russian threats escalate, or we meet them with unity, deterrence and resolve.”

(With newswires)

Ten years after the jihadist attack that decimated the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine and the family of its late cartoonist Charb are calling for him to be laid to rest among France’s national heroes in the Panthéon.

“Charb ticks all the boxes,” writes Riss, who succeeded him as Charlie Hebdo’s editor-in-chief, in an editorial due to be published on Wednesday. His “values,” Riss argues, were “exactly those of our democracy.”

Charb – whose real name was Stéphane Charbonnier – was one of 12 people killed when armed extremists stormed the paper’s Paris offices on 7 January 2015.

Riss himself was seriously wounded in the attack, which also claimed the lives of fellow cartoonists Cabu and Wolinski.

Calling him “a journalist executed for his opinions by terrorists on French soil,” Riss says the idea of enshrining Charb in the Panthéon is “not such a stupid one after all.”

French newspapers torn between tributes and defiance on Charlie Hebdo anniversary

‘A strong, unifying gesture’

Would Charb have approved? “No,” admits Riss, “but this isn’t about a reward or an honour – it’s about the values he embodied.”

Whatever the outcome of the request, he adds, the aim is also “to sustain and rekindle reflection on Charb’s values and those of the newspaper.”

A Panthéon induction, he argues, would “engrave in the marble of the Republic the French people’s deep attachment to freedom of expression.”

In a letter addressed to the President of the Republic and published by Charlie Hebdo, Charb’s parents and brother echo that sentiment. “We would like to anchor this event permanently in the country’s history through a strong, unifying gesture,” they wrote.

Beyond freedom of expression, they highlight other ideals that drove Charb’s life: “anti-racism, social justice and secularism” – values that, they say, “unite the great majority of French citizens of all opinions and faiths.”

Tributes honour victims a decade after Charlie Hebdo attack shook France

Satire targeted by jihadists

The request coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten’s publication of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which triggered violent protests in several Muslim-majority countries. Charlie Hebdo’s decision to reprint the drawings in 2006 turned the magazine into a target for jihadists.

To mark the anniversary, the paper is republishing the cartoons in its Wednesday edition, describing the moment as “the anniversary of an international manipulation.”

“These publications [in 2005–2006] and the attack of 7 January 2015 were momentous events,” Riss writes. “Today they have become part of history,” with streets and squares now bearing the names of the victims.

Riss says he proposed the idea of Charb’s induction into the Panthéon to his friend’s family, noting that he and other staff members regularly visit schools to talk about freedom of expression. “It’s not absurd to bring someone from our generation, a contemporary, into the Panthéon,” he told reporters.

Charb was 47 when he was killed – a man who believed that laughter, equality and liberty were all worth defending.

(With AFP)

In a statement released this week, Foodwatch, a French consumer group organisation, slammed ten dairy products marketed to children.

Among the products are several popular names: Babybel Mini Rolls, Petits Filous, Smarties yoghurts, Kiri Goûter, P’tit Louis, Danonino, P’tite Danette, and Nesquik Petit, among others.

According to Foodwatch, all of them fail to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) nutritional standards.

“None of these unbalanced products pass the WHO’s nutrition criteria crash test,” Foodwatch explains.

The warning comes as public health experts continue to raise concerns about the impact of ultra-processed foods on children’s health.

According to Santé Publique France (French Public Health Agency), excessive consumption of those products contributes to childhood obesity and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers.

More of the world’s children are obese than underweight, UN warns

‘Misleading marketing tactics’

Foodwatch is also calling out what it describes as “misleading marketing” tactics.

The packaging of these dairy products often features colorful designs, cartoon characters, games, and puzzles – clearly aimed at children.

But they also target parents, the group notes, with reassuring labelling like “contains calcium and vitamin D for bone growth” or “no artificial colors or flavors.”

“These products are not healthy, yet they’re marketed as if they are,” the organisation warns.

French consumer group sounds alarm on cadmium levels in chocolate

In late September, Foodwatch, along with over 100 other organisations, urged the French government to eventually release its long-overdue national strategy for food, nutrition and climate, which has been delayed for more than two years.

One of the expected measures was the ban on advertising unhealthy food to children.

But according to the watchdog, “the outgoing government has backtracked on the ban measure, relying instead on the self-regulation by the companies, which does not work as Santé Publique France has already pointed out.”

In response, Foodwatch launched an online petition, which had gathered nearly 68,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.

The rise in renewable energy marks a key milestone in moving away from fossil fuels, which are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change.

Renewables made up 34.3 percent of global electricity in the first half of 2025, overtaking coal’s 33.1 percent, while gas stayed at 23 percent, according to Ember, a UK-based energy think tank.

“We are seeing the first signs of a crucial turning point,” said Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, senior electricity analyst at Ember.

“Solar and wind are now growing fast enough to meet the world’s growing appetite for electricity. This marks the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth.”

While solar power surged 31 percent in early 2025, far outpacing wind, which grew  7.7 percent, coal and gas slightly declined.

Also over the past five years, solar panels have driven about 80 percent of global renewable energy growth, followed by wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal power, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Solar overtakes coal in EU’s energy mix as renewables continue to rise

UN climate summit objectives

At the 2023 UN climate summit in Dubai, countries pledged to phase out fossil fuels and triple renewable capacity by 2030.

However, the IEA said on Tuesday that the world will “fall short” of reaching this target.

Last year, the Paris-based agency had forecast that the world would come close to the Dubai target with the addition of 5,500 gigawatts of renewable power.

The IEA now sees only a 4,600 GW increase by 2030 due to “policy, regulatory and market changes since October 2024.”

Renewables on the rise in India and Europe

The IEA cut its forecast for the United States by nearly 50 percent due to the Trump administration’s early end to renewable tax credits and tighter regulations.

Trump called climate change “the greatest con job ever” at a UN speech last month and renewables an expensive “joke” that “don’t work.”

China’s shift from fixed tariffs to auctions “has shaken up the profitability of the projects” but China remains the biggest growth driver, on track to meet its 2035 wind and solar power target five years ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile, India is expected to become the second-largest market for renewable energy, with capacity expected to increase 2.5 times in five years.

The IEA also raised growth forecasts for the Middle East, North Africa, and several European countries including Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain.

(with AFP)

As French politicians remain deeply divided over how to address the country’s growing deficit, one measure appears to unite public opinion across the political spectrum: the Zucman tax. Devised by 38-year-old economist Gabriel Zucman, the idea is to add a two percent tax on the ultra-rich, who often use holding companies to shield their wealth from income taxes. While the left sees it as fiscal justice, many on the right are concerned about additional taxes in a country that already has a lot, and maintain taxing the wealthiest will drive them abroad. (Listen @2′)

Ali Akbar left his native Pakistan aged 18, looking to make enough money to buy his mother a decent home. Since arriving in France in 1973, he’s managed to do just that – selling newspapers like Le Monde on the streets of Paris’s Left Bank district. A popular figure in the neighbourhood, Akbar – the capital’s last remaining hawker – was recently selected for the National Order of Merit by President Emmanuel Macron, a former customer. He talks about loving his work, the collapse of the newspaper culture and how recognition by France will help to “heal” the injuries of his past. (Listen @18’30”)

France abolished the death penalty on 9 October 1981. Forty-four years later, the justice minister who fought to change the law, Robert Badinter, is entering the Pantheon, the monument dedicated to French heroes. (Listen @11′)

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani

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

After a 13-year break, Turkish and Egyptian warships last week carried out a major naval drill in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The exercise is the latest step in repairing ties after years of tension that began when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Mohamed Morsi, a close ally of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“It marks the consolidation of the improvement in relations,” said Serhat Guvenc, professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, adding the drill sent “a powerful message to Israel of a new alignment”.

Guvenc said naval drills in the eastern Mediterranean have typically involved Cyprus, Greece and Israel, but this time Egypt broke with those countries, signalling it was no longer part of the anti-Turkey camp in the region.

Erdogan’s Washington visit exposes limits of his rapport with Trump

Shift in alliances

The Turkish-Egyptian exercise follows years in which Cairo built strong ties with Ankara’s rivals in the region. The shift has not gone unnoticed in Israel.

“Definitely, this is a major event that Turkey and Egypt have conducted a naval exercise after so many years,” said Gallia Lindenstrauss, an Israeli foreign policy specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

The joint drill comes as Ankara has expanded and modernised its navy in recent years. Lindenstrauss said this has unsettled some of Turkey’s neighbours, giving Israel common ground with Greece and Cyprus.

“Some of them also have quite big disputes with Turkey, such as Cyprus and Greece,” she said. “Greece and Cyprus relations with Israel have been developing since 2010. We’ve seen a lot of military drills together. We saw weapons procurements between the three actors, and this has been going on for some time. So Israel is not alone.”

Turkey has long-standing territorial disputes with Greece and the Greek Cypriot government in the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

Guvenc said Israel has gained the upper hand over Turkey in their rivalry centred on Cyprus.

“The Greek Cypriots acquired a very important air defence system from Israel and activated it. They made life far more difficult for the Turkish military, in particular for the Turkish Air Force,” he said.

“This gives you an idea about the shifting balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean as a result of Israel taking sides with Cyprus and Greece.”

Macron and Erdogan find fragile common ground amid battle for influence

Tensions over Gaza

Despite those rivalries, Turkey and Egypt are finding common ground in their opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza and in wider concerns over Israel’s growing regional power.

In September, Sisi reportedly called Israel an enemy.

“There is competition over who is the most dominant and important actor in the Middle East, in the Muslim world in general,” said Lindenstrauss.

“I really can’t imagine a unified Turkish and Egyptian action against Israel. I can imagine them cooperating to pressure Israel to change its position, which is what is happening now.”

Cairo and Ankara remain at odds over Libya, where they back rival governments. But analysts warn that the fallout from the Gaza conflict is increasingly shaping the region’s power calculations.

Guvenc said the outcome of peace efforts could determine the future balance in the Mediterranean.

“We see an alignment of Greece, Greek Cypriots and Israel. But once the Gaza issue is tackled, from an Israeli perspective, Turkey is strategically more important than these two countries,” he said.

“But if the strategic makeup of the region may not secure a solution, we may see deterioration in the general situation. Then outside actors will be invited by one side or the other, such as Russia, China or even India, to further complicate the issue.”

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

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

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

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

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

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

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

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

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This week’s quiz: On 26 July, I asked you a question about Paul Myers’ article “Petition seeking repeal of new French farming law passes one million signatures”.

It was about the Duplomb law, which was passed by the French parliament on 8 July. The law would allow the pesticide acetamiprid to be used, after a ban since 2018. French farmers protested the ban because it is allowed at the European level; they say it puts them at a disadvantage with their European counterparts.

But two weeks after the bill passed, Eléonore Pattery, a young student from Bordeaux, launched a petition calling for a recall.

And that was your question: you were to write in with the number of signatures on that petition as of 20 July, and also how many signatures French law requires before the lower house of Parliament, the Assemblée Nationale, has the right to hold a public debate on the contents of the petition.

The answer is, to quote Paul’s article: “Late on Sunday, the 20th of July, the number of signatures had risen to 1,159,000.

Under French rules, once a petition crosses that threshold and has verified signatures from throughout the country, the Assemblée Nationale has the right to hold a public debate on the contents of the petition.

The regulations also state that even if a petition gathers 500,000 names, it does not mean that the legislation will be reviewed or repealed.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by RFI Listeners Club member Jocelyne D’Errico from New Zealand. She wanted to know how you feel and what you think about soulmates.

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

The winners are: RFI English listener Kalyani Basak from West Bengal, India. Kalyani is also the winner of this week’s bonus quiz. Congratulations, Kalyani, on your double win.

Also on the list of lucky winners this week are Akbar Waseem, a member of the RFI Seven Stars Listeners Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan; RFI Listeners Club member Rasel Sikder from Madaripur, Bangladesh, and RFI English listeners Sadman Shihab Khondaker from Naogaon and Momo Jahan Moumita, the co-secretary of the Sonali Badhan Female Listeners Club in Bogura, both in Bangladesh.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: España by Emmanuel Chabrier, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ataúlfo Argenta; “Hoe-Down” from the ballet Rodeo by Aaron Copland, performed by the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Mama Used to Say” by Junior Giscomb and Bob Carter, sung by Junior Giscomb.

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 “Moldova’s pro-EU ruling party wins majority in parliamentary elections“, which will help you with the answer.

You have until 27 October to enter this week’s quiz; the winners will be announced on the 4 November podcast. When you enter, be sure to send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby

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

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

In his report for the European Sentiment Compass 2025, Pawel Zerka, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, suggests Europe is living its own “Truman Show moment”.

The United States, he says, is no longer the ally Europeans had been accustomed to having. Instead, under Trump, Washington is not only pulling the strings in trade, defence and digital disputes – it is waging an outright “culture war” on Europe.

The big question is whether the EU has the courage to step off the set, reclaim its autonomy and begin writing its own story.

Europe’s uncertainty after Trump’s first 100 days

Trump 2.0

Transatlantic tensions are nothing new. Rows over trade, NATO spending and climate policy have flared under every president from Kennedy to Obama. But Zerka insists that Trump marks a rupture.

“There is a clear difference vis-à-vis previous presidents, and even vis-à-vis Donald Trump 1.0,” he told RFI. “Before, we had never seen a US president targeting Europe so clearly and aggressively.”

This time round, the barbs are sharper, the interventions more deliberate. Trump openly mocks Europe’s migration and climate policies, last week using the world stage of the United Nations to declare that Europeans are “going to hell” with their “crazy” ideas.

Such rhetoric, Zerka argues, is not just bluster. It is part of a deliberate strategy to humiliate Europe, a way of painting the European Union as weak, dependent and incapable of agency.

And this culture war is not confined to speeches, Zerka says – the Trump administration has moved from commentary to active interference.

In Germany, US Vice President JD Vance and former Trump advisor Elon Musk openly backed the far-right AfD party during the country’s legislative elections in February.

Similar interference was seen in Poland, Romania and Ireland, where Washington lent support to Conor McGregor, a former mixed martial arts champion who had thrown his “Make Ireland Great Again” hat in the ring for the country’s upcoming presidential election on 24 October, but withdrew from the race in September. 

McGregor’s political ambitions had been boosted by an invitation to the White House on St Patrick’s Day, with Trump calling him his “favourite” Irish person.

“We haven’t seen anything like this before,” Zerka stresses. “There’s such active involvement in domestic politics of European countries, supporting rivals of the governments in place – and very often those rivals are problematic political players.”

“There is a lot of appetite among the European public for an assertive Europe, but leaders keep finding themselves in situations where they look ridiculous and Europe gets humiliated” – Pawel Zerka

Europe’s new right: how the MAGA agenda crossed the Atlantic

A Truman moment

So what does it mean for Europe to “walk off the set”? In Truman Burbank’s case, it was about courage – daring to leave behind the artificial comfort of a staged life. For the EU, Zerka says, it is about dignity and identity.

“European leaders must be ready,” he argues. “Currently they are buying time with Trump, because they depend so much on America for security, especially with Russia’s war in Ukraine. But the danger is that by playing along, they risk repeated humiliation – whether at NATO summits or in trade negotiations – where Europe ends up looking ridiculous to its own public and to the wider world.”

The challenge, Zerka believes, is that many EU leaders still don’t grasp the true nature of the confrontation.

They treat disputes over tariffs or defence spending as technical haggles, missing the larger picture – that they are part of a cultural battle over values, sovereignty and the very meaning of the West.

Without that recognition, Europe risks stumbling from one Trump-scripted crisis to another, always reacting, never setting the agenda.

The role of the prophet

In The Truman Show, it was a character named Sylvia who first whispered the truth to Truman, that his life was staged. In today’s Europe, Zerka sees Denmark as playing that role.

Trump’s suggestion that the US might buy Greenland directly questioned Danish sovereignty, giving Copenhagen a unique impetus for defending European autonomy.

“Denmark is the one country really trying to show Europe the difference between reality and illusion,” Zerka says, adding though that Sweden and Finland, both scarred by the Russian threat and largely resistant to Trump’s personal appeal, could also be well placed to push for European autonomy.

Then there are what he calls the “door holders”, the heavyweight countries whose choices could swing the EU’s future one way or another: France, Germany and Poland.

Each stands at a crossroads. Elections in the coming years could see them drift towards the pro-Trump “director’s crew” – Hungary, Italy, Slovakia – or rally behind the prophets calling for strategic autonomy.

The outcome, Zerka warns, will determine whether Europe claims its agency or sinks deeper into dependency.

Can Europe withstand the ripple effect of the MAGA political wave?

Walking the line

However, with Russian aggression on its doorstep, Europe cannot simply sever ties with Washington. Yet, Zerka argues, the notion that Europeans must appease Trump to preserve the transatlantic bond is a fallacy.

“It’s completely the other way around,” he says. “Only if Europe steps up in building its own capacities, and shows assertiveness, can it become a real partner rather than a subordinate.”

That means investment in defence, technology and energy resilience. It also means recognising the culture war for what it is, and refusing to be defined by Trump’s caricatures.

Trust in the EU is its strongest since 2007, with polls showing that citizens increasingly view the bloc not just as an economic club but as a community of shared values, and destiny.

Zerka believes European leaders must harness the public appetite for a more assertive Europe. The risk of inaction, he warns, is cultural subordination.

The reward of courage, by contrast, is the chance for Europe to write its own story, and participate in the transatlantic partnership as an equal.

DZ Fest is the only festival focused on Algerian culture outside the country. It has been run every year since 2022 in the United Kingdom.

This year the festival took place in the latter half of September with events in both London and Nottingham.

Spotlight on Africa travelled to London to talk to the organisers and guests of DZ Fest, and to some Algerians living in the UK

Founder and creative director Rachida Lamri – an artist, musician and member of the London-based Arabo-Andalusian orchestra – curated a programme showcasing Algerian music, traditions, and cuisine.

We also met:

• The Algerian chef Djamel Ait Idir, who runs couscous workshop in his restaurant, Khamsa, in Brixton, South London
• Fayssal Bensalah, an Algerian-born novelist and a lecturer teaching creative writing in Cardiff, Wales
• Comedian Mehdi Walker, also born in Algeria, who lives in France but performs his comedy sketches in English
• Artist and filmmaker Leila Gamaz, who lives between Bristol and Morocco. 

Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Nicolas Doreau.

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

Ankara is celebrating a diplomatic win after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hosted by US President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday.

In the Oval Office, Trump praised his guest in front of the world’s media.

“He’s a highly respected man,” Trump said. “He’s respected very much in his country and throughout Europe and throughout the world, where they know him.”

Erdogan smiled as he listened. The Turkish leader had been frozen out by President Joe Biden, who made clear his dislike for the Turkish leader.

Trump, by contrast, has long cultivated a friendship with him. But even that relationship has limits, with Israel’s war on Gaza still a source of strain.

Turkey walks a tightrope as Trump threatens sanctions over Russian trade

Restraint over Gaza

Erdogan is a strong supporter of Hamas, which he refuses to label a terrorist group, calling it instead a resistance movement. Yet he chose not to let the issue overshadow his visit.

Analysts say this restraint was deliberate.

“There’s been a concerted effort not to get into a spat about Gaza,” Asli Aydintasbas, of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told RFI. “Uncharacteristically, he remains silent on the Gaza issue and that is by design.”

During his trip, Erdogan kept his criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza to remarks at the UN General Assembly, echoing broader international condemnation.

He also met French President Emmanuel Macron in New York and welcomed France’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

Erdogan is also seeking wider backing as concerns over Israel’s actions grow, an issue that also came up in his talks with Trump.

“Turkey’s concerns with Israel are not actually limited to Gaza,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, of the German Marshall Fund in Ankara.

He said Ankara is also uneasy about Israel’s actions in neighbouring states, adding that the two countries’ policies towards Syria clash sharply.

“Turkey wants a stable Syria and one that’s centralised,” he said. “Whereas Israel wants a decentralised and less stable Syria.”

Turkey warns Kurdish-led fighters in Syria to join new regime or face attack

Energy and Russia

Turkey’s close ties with Russia risk becoming another flashpoint.

Sitting beside Erdogan at the Oval Office, Trump called for an end to Turkish purchases of Russian energy. He also criticised Erdogan’s long-standing policy of balancing relations between Washington and Moscow.

“Trump does not want a balancing Turkey, at least today,” said Aydintasbas. “That was more obvious than ever in his rhetoric and his dealings with Erdogan.”

She said Erdogan had assumed for the past decade that his balancing act between the West and Russia was acceptable. “It must come as a surprise,” she added.

Turkey is the third-largest importer of Russian oil and gas. But in a move seen as an attempt to placate Trump, Ankara this week signed a multibillion-dollar deal to buy US liquefied natural gas over 20 years.

The two leaders also signed a strategic agreement on civil nuclear cooperation, which could pave the way for Turkey to buy US-made nuclear reactors.

As Trump rails at UN and shifts Ukraine stance, Macron urges US to end Gaza war

Limited gains

Despite these gestures, analysts said Erdogan achieved little in return. He had hoped Trump would lift a US embargo on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets. Instead, Trump only gave a vague promise to address the issue.

For Erdogan, however, the White House meeting itself may have been the main prize.

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said before the meeting that Trump wanted to give Erdogan “legitimacy”.

“For Erdogan, this is a big win,” said Sinan Ciddi, of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies. The Turkish leader, he said, has long sought a White House photo-op to showcase at home.

“He gets to show that he has met the US president, has gravitas on the world stage and is signing deals with Washington,” Ciddi added.

“At a time when he is jailing leaders and dismantling democratic governance inside Turkey, he is being legitimised by the leader of the so-called free world.”

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.